as lawful Nay I do not discern what consistency there is between one part of the Preface and another part between the allowing the fore-mentioned mutations as reasonable and necessary Pag. 82. and 93. and this passage Pag. 89. which implies they are neither necessary nor reasonable For there he says we do heartily and sincerely desire Vnion with our Brethren if it may be had on just and reasonable Terms but they must not think that we will give up the Cause of the Church for it so as to condemn its Constitution or make the Ceremonies unlawful which have been hitherto observed and practised in it if any Expedient can be found out for the Ease of other mens Consciences without reflecting on our own if they can be taken in without Reproach or dishonour to the Reformation of the Church I hope no True Son of the Church of England will oppose it Now whether the fore-mention'd dispensings with and Retrenchments of our Church-Orders and Practices upon the fore-mention'd Reason and Argument for the sake of Union with them whom he is pleas'd to call Brethren be not so far a giving up the Cause of the Church as to condemn its Constitution and to make the Ceremonies unlawful which have hitherto been observed and practised in it I leave you to judge as also whether the taking in Dissenters upon such Terms will not necessarily reflect reproach and dishonour upon the Reformation of that Church which at her first Reforming thought fit to retain and impose those Constitutions and Ceremonies as just and reasonable and as such hath ever since continu'd them without imagining that continu'd Imposition inconsistent with Christian Wisdom or with any regard that 's justly due to the Scruples and Exceptions of troublesome men relating to the Administration of Sacraments in a Christian Church To which troublesome Men the Dr. is pleased to give the Title of Brethren more than once in the later end of the Preface which is it self in my Opinion too absurd a contradiction to that Book whose main design is to prove them Schismaticks He tells us Pag. 364. That 't was the great Wisdom of our Church not to make more things necessary as to Practice than were made so at the Settlement of the Reformation but whether there be sufficient reason to alter those Terms of Communion which were then settled for the sake of such whose Scruples are groundless and endless I do not says he take upon me here to determin And I wish he had not taken it upon him in the Preface especially to determin it so much to the Reproach and Dishonour of our Church as to imply she hath hitherto been guilty of Transgressing the Obligation of Christianity in not making those Alterations for the sake of Union with such Persons whose Scruples are groundless and endless and which as himself Affirms p. 372. might be remov'd by a little Impartiality and â—lue consideration there being no depth of Learning no subtilty of Reasoning no endless quotation of Fathers necessary about them but the dispute lies in such a narrow compass that men may see light if they will And why ours or indeed any Church should be Reproached as Defective in Christian Wisdom for not complying with such humersom Persons or not altering her Constitutions for the sake of such wilfully blind and perverse Dissenters I confess I do nor understand Now these Premises being duly consider'd do I think abundantly justifie the first charge and make it too reasonable to adhere to this conclusion that the Doctors Preface hath destroyed what he had said for our Church in his Book And in reference to the other charge that the Preface has effectually destroy'd that Church of England which the Doctor had taken pains to defend in his Book The same premises do really contribute so much to the making it good that for ought I see no more need to be added to that End than the bare application of them to that Censure and to the Doctor 's own Notion of the Church of England For he asserts p. 249. of his Book that the National Church of England diffusive is the whole Body of Christians in this Nation consisting of Pastors and People agreeing in that Faith Government and Worship which are Establish'd by the Laws of this Realm And Pag. 302. All Bishops Ministers and People taken together who profess the Faith so Establish'd and worship God according to the Rules so Appointed make up this National Church of England And this is the Church of England which the Doctor has taken pains to defend in his Book If therefore the Church of England takes its denomination not only from the Profession of that Faith but also from its consent in Worshipping God according to such and such Rules he that would destroy those Rules will consequently destroy that Church which is denominated such and diversified from other Churches by its embracing and adhering to those Rules But it appears from the premises that the Doctor 's Preface would have several considerable Alterations made of those Rules and that upon such an account and for such reasons as do consequentially destroy that Order and those Rules of Worship that are Established by Law and therefore that Preface does effectually destroy that Church of England which he had taken pains to defend in his Book These are all the things says the Dr. which appear to me reasonable to be Allowed in order to an Vnion and which I suppose may be Granted without detriment or dishonour to our Church And says this Writer these are all I plead for in this Book But 1. there is this little difference between these Authors The Reverend Dean supposes they may be Granted but this Author endeavours to prove they ought to be Granted 2. Though that Author mentions only such and such things as appearing to him reasonable to be Allowed yet to make them appear so to others he urges an Argument which will infer it as reasonable to dispense with a great many other things not mention'd And so though this Author pretends that these are all he pleads for in his Book yet the Arguments he makes use of if they prove any thing prove it the duty of our Governours to dispense with a great many more Constitutions even all that enjoyn any Indifferents whereby our Brother is offended Chap. 3. And therefore whereas he adds here As for those who deny the lawfulness of Lyturgy and the right Constitution of our Churches and who would be exempted from the Jurisdiction of their Bishop and set up Congregations separate and independent upon him I know not how to plead for them without pleading for Schism Confusion and Disorder I doubt his Arguments will if they prove any thing prove it as unlawful for Governours to impose a Lyturgy and require Obedience to Episcopal Government as to impose Ceremonies For I am confident he is very sensible that a great many whom he seemed to account weak Brethren are mightily offended
Impositions nor 2. are ever like to have who 3. are like to make a most mischievous use of it to the dishonour and prejudice of the Church and yet to pretend himself most unwilling to do the least dis-service to the Church is so palpably Protestatio contra factum that hardly any thing can be more so But why talks he only of doing dis-service to the Church as if that only were concern'd when the contents and design of his Book cast as great a slur upon and tend as much to the reproach and disparagement of the State as of the Church for he knows well enough that the Laws enjoyning Uniformity and imposing our Ceremonies are made by the King and that with the Consent not only of the Lords Spiritual but Temporal also and the Commons so that this Author in thus attempting to prove those Laws repugnant to the Law of God and inconsistent with so many of the grand momentous obligations of Christianity is so far from shewing himself unwilling to do dis-service to the Church that he has spent a great deal of time and pains and employed as one may guess the utmost of his Art and Industry to do as great a dis-service to that and the State both as for ought I know he could possibly do it with his Pen for what greater dis-service can there be done in that way to any Government than to Assert and Maintain a Position from which it follows by undeniable consequence That the Governours of this or that Nation have for multitudes of Years successively agreed in Enacting Laws contradictory to the Practice and Commands the Exhortations Arguings and Examples of both Christ and his Apostles For this is the immediate consequent of this Position and his manner of proving it That Superiours ought not to impose things Indifferent and Alterable without Sin as the Conditions of Church-Communion and Ministration Besides what greater Affront could be offer'd to the King himself then to publish such a Book at that very time when His Majesty gave such demonstration of his Resolutions to uphold and defend the Act for Uniformity and of his Zeal for the Church by requiring a strict and vigorous Execution of the Laws against Dissenters This man's undertaking therefore thus manag'd in contradiction to the Laws of the Land at a time when the King himself and inferiour Magistrates were more industriously zealous in executing those Laws than they have been for many years is in my Opinion such a daring and impudent pragmaticalness as ought to be encountered and chastised with a Punishment as notorious as the Crime Especially since as was before intimated I doubt not but this very Writer could have fill'd as many sheets as this Preface contains with Testimonies justifying the Constitutions of our Church and State in matters indifferent and I am confident had I had but my own Library about me three parts whereof are still at Oxford I could have done so my self But in some of the few Books I have here I meet with such passages as abundantly confirm me in that Confidence and withall make me very much suspect this Prefacer's sincerity and ingenuity in quoting For whereas he has in this Preface quoted Beza as an Enemy to all Symbolical Rites pag. 25 and affirming that they should be entirely excluded from the Christian Church and Zanchy as an Enemy to our Ceremonies and besides pretended pag. 35. That 't were endless to set down all that Bucer Calvin Chamier Daneus Farel Povanus Vrsin and Zipper with many others have said against the Vse and Imposition of them and pag. 36. that Cassander testifies without telling us where he so testifies that most have conceiv'd them fit to be condemned and abolished as foppish ludicrous ridiculous yea as noxious and pernicious Durell has given us such a different Account of things as is very opposite to this Prefacer's pretensions For in his forementioned Book Cap. 17. He Affirms that the Christian Church from the Apostles time to this day was never without nor in the judgment of the most Learned and Famous Protestants either can or ought to be without some significant Ceremonies pag. 182. to which purpose he quoted the sentiments of Luther Melancthon and Calvin pag. 186. and then said I could here produce very many more of the most Learned and Renowned Persons in the Reformed Churches of the same Opinion with Luther Melancthon and Calvin in this point Nor says he do I remember to have read any Reform'd Writer of any Note especially of those who were at the beginning of the Reformation whose Judgment and Authority is principally to be attended to in this dispute who Condemns significant Ceremonies meerly as such if so be no supernatural vertue be attributed to them for the producing Spiritual Effects nor Religion placed in them nor Merit or Justification expected from the use of them Out of which number he do's not except Beza himself but proceeds to Vindicate him as to that very Passage which this Prefacer has quoted out of his Epistle to Bishop Grindal as if it were for his turn and manifests that it ought not to be understood of such Symbolical Rites as are design'd to signifie only mens duty but such only as are meant to signifie and exhibit Spiritual Priviledges and the Divine Grace And in his Sixteenth Chapter he largely Answers that Epistle of Zanchy quoted at large by this Prefacer pag. 28. c. against imposing Linnen Garments and most of his Answers are taken out of Calvin Bucer P. Martyr and Zanchy himself And as to our Churches retaining the Use of the Cross in Baptism its Thirtieth Canon Acquaints us that That resolution and practice hath been allowed and approved by the Harmony of Confessions of later years Now this Assertion of the Composers of that Canon and those other of Durell as to the number of Persons approving the Imposition of Ceremonies makes me very much suspect this Author's ingenuity and honesty in quoting And I doubt he has contented himself with quoting many Testimonies besides those out of Gesselius pag 38. c. only by Retale and at second hand from others without examining the quotations himself and consulting the passages as they lye in the Original Authors which is an intolerable Neglect in any man that undertakes to Write and Publish a Discourse and Preface of this Nature and Consequence And one quotation which makes me suspect this is that Pag. 45. and 46. out of Baxter's Disput of Human Ceremonies Chap. 24. it should be 14. Sect. 3. R. 2. where he says 'T is shrewdly Argued by Mr. Baxter against our Ceremonies This seems to be coming after Christ to amend his Laws correct his Works and make better Laws and Ordinances for his Church than he himself hath done for if Christ would have such Rites imposed on the Churches he could better have done it himself than have left it to man for these Rites are equally necessary or unnecessary throughout all Ages and
certain Grievances imposed upon the Members thereof by the Church of England And 't is the drift of this Man's Preface and Book to load the Church it self with the Burden of this Reproachful Complaint Besides the Opinion which this Prefacer owns as true That the Ceremonies required in the Church of England do bring no Profit but many Evils to the Church is a flat Contradiction to the Doctrin of the 30th Canon touching the Use of the Cross in Baptism viz. That the Christians shortly after the Apostles Time used it in all their Actions thereby making an outward Shew and Profession even to the Astonishment of the Jews that they were not ashamed to Acknowledge Him for their Lord and Saviour who Dyed for them upon the Cross And this Sign they did not only use themselves with a kind of Glory when they met with any Jews but signed therewith their Children when they were Christned to dedicate them by that Badge to His Service whose Benefits bestowed upon them in Baptism the Name of the Cross did represent and this Vse of the Sign of the Cross in Baptism was held in the Primitive Church as well by the Greeks as the Latins with one consent and great applause at what time if any had opposed themselves against it they would certainly have been Censur'd as Enemies of the Name of the Cross and consequently of Christs Merits the sign whereof they could no better endure And what must this Prefacer then be counted who in complyance with Father Beza Father Zanchy and Father Calvin as he pretends Pag. 23. Censur'd this and other Ceremonies as Fooleries and the endeavouring to uphold them as Labouring about Hay and Stubble or rather about things more vain than they and brands them as things bringing no Profit but many Evils to the Church whereas this Canon you see expresly teaches the contrary and tho' it Acknowledges that in process of time the sign of the Cross was greatly abused in the Church of Rome especially after the Corruption of Popery had once possessed it yet withal it affirms that the Abuse of a thing doth not take away the Lawful Vse of it Nay so far was it from the purpose of the Church of England says the Canon to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy France Spain Germany or any such like Churches in all things which they held and practised that as the Apology of the Church of England confesseth it doth with reverence retain those Ceremonies which do neither endamage the Church of God nor offend the minds of Sober Men. In which respect among some other very Ancient Ceremonies the sign of the Cross in Baptism hath been retained in the Church For the very remembrance of the Cross which is very precious to all them that rightly Believe in Jesus Christ and in the other respects mention'd the Church of England hath retained still the sign of â—â—…in Baptism following therein the Primitive and Apostolical Churches and accounting it a Lawful Outward Ceremony and Honourable Badge whereby the Infant is Dedicated to the Service of Him that dy'd upon the Cross In the next place I observe that this Prefacer confesses Pag. 9. that the Bishops themselves have no Power to dispense with the Laws for Uniformity or to make any Proposals for the healing of our Breaches and if they have no such Power I wonder upon what grounds this Author assumes to himself the Power of making such Proposals and such as would destroy the Act of Uniformity and Metamorphose the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book into a Directory I know he has produced the Testimony of King James King Charles the First and King Charles the Second to justifie the design of his Book but with how little Reason Candor and Ingenuity he has done it I shall leave you to judge when you have consider'd the reflexions I have to make upon them As to that of K. James it may suffice 1. To remember that notwithstanding that excellent determination as the Prefacer styles it his Majesty was so far from changing or antiquating or so much as dispensing with the Ceremonies of the Church of England that he ratified them anew and gave those Divines who appear'd against them at the Conference at Hampton-Court a Severe Reprimand for scrupling Conformity to them upon such inconsiderable Reasons as were then urg'd for those Scruples and this Establishment he continued all his Reign 2. To take Notice that whereas this Writer calls that which Casaubon represents as K. James his Opinion a golden Sentence and which fully justifies all which he pleads for the words of that Golden Sentence as quoted by himself do only affirm That those things which by the Constitutions of Men without the Word of God were for a time received into the Church of God may be Changed Mollified Antiquated And this too is so far from being there his Majesties peremptory Determination that 't is only said his Majesty Thinks Conceives Believes they may be antiquated Whereas this Writer is not content to think our Church-Constiâ—utions May be but the whole scope of his Book is to prove they Ought to be alter'd and antiquated 3. That which his Majesty is said to Believe does in the quotation refer not to All but only to Most Ecclesiastical Observations and therefore it is not evident from that quotation That our Church-Ceremonial-Observations are in the number of those which the King Conceived might be antiquated For which reasons this first quotation signified little to this Writers purpose supposing it a Candid and Impartial quotation which because I have not that Epistle by me I have not at present the opportunity of examining But if this Prefacer has treated King James in this Testimony no more candidly and ingenuously than he has King Charles in the next he has in plain English play'd the Knave with two Kings For hapning to have the Exact Collections by me I consulted the Kings Answer to that Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom and there found p. 26. of that Collection immediately after the words by him quoted these following Provided that this Case be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the Decency and Comliness of Gods Service discountenanced nor the Pious Sober and Devout Actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first Labourers in the Blessed Reformation scandalised and defamed Which Proviso being added does so cramp and consine the Condescension spoken of in the former words that they are on that account rendred insignificant to the Writers design and so they are upon another For they only say That his Majesty would willingly comply with the Advice of a Parliament for the making a Law to Exempt Tender-Consciences from Punishment or Prosecution but does not say either that 't was the duty of a Parliament to give him such Advice nor that it was his own duty to comply with it when given and yet nothing
of Christianity And by being Schismaticks they disown themselves to be Persons of the same Communion with us nay are guilty of a capital Error and a customary Crime which excludes men while impenitently persever'd in from the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore they ought not while in those circumstances to be accounted persons of the same Communion with us or real members of Christs Body I have now consider'd several things which I thought fit to be taken notice of in this Preface and in the many Testimonies quoted by the Prefacer as so many justifications of the design of his Book But how ill they are suited to that purpose at least for the generality of them is I think apparent enough from the Reflexions I have here made upon them But I wish heartily I had been in or near some Library where I might have had the opportunity of examining the quotations and consulting the Authors quoted for then possibly I might have discovered much more impertinency in the quotations and insincerity in the quoter 'T is plain the Author has ingag'd himself in a very bold Attempt He has undertaken to prove That things indifferent which may be changed and altered without sin ought not especially under our present Circumstances to be impos'd by Superiours as the Conditions of Communion or of ministration in Sacred Things And consequently he has undertaken to prove That all Churches or States who have so imposed Indifferents have by that Imposition been guilty of violating the Law of God To Excuse which Attempt from the prejudice of Singularity he pretends pag. 3. to strengthen it in his Preface against that and other prejudices by the concurrent suffrages of many worthy persons both of our own and other Churches who have declar'd themselves as he would perswade us to be of the same Judgment and have pursu'd the same Design Now besides all that has been already objected to those Suffrages if I had the opportunity of doing it I would challenge the Author to evince that any tolerable number of the Suffrages which he has produc'd are pertinent and punctual to his design as worded by himself That design consists of Two Parts one more general That things indifferent which may be alter'd without Sin ought not to be impos'd as the Condition of Communion or ministration in Sacred Things The other more particular That especially they ought not to be impos'd under our present Circumstances as the Conditions of Communion with us of the Church of England The Suffrages produc'd to rescue this design from the imputation of Singularity amount in the Contents of the Preface to about 35. Now let him manifest if he can 1. That so much as one of those Suffrages speaks particularly of our present Circumstances here in England I mean those Circumstances that were present to the publishing of his Book 2. Let him manifest if he can That among his 35 Suffrages there are so many as five that affirm it unlawful to make Indifferents which are Alterable without Sin the Conditions of Church-Communion and Ministration Nay I doubt he cannot manifest that so much as one of them comes fully up to this design of his Book But if the major part or two parts in three of the Testimonies be impertinent what shall we think of that man who has the confidence and conscience to write at such a rate and pretend so much when the proof falls so intolerably short of the pretense Besides if my memory fail me not I have seen a Book heretofore which Answer'd Cressy against Dr. Pierce's Sermon meerly by quoting passages out of Authors extant before that Book of Cressy's which contained sufficient Answers to the most material parts of it And I believe that this Author could have done the like in reference to this Preface I mean that he could have heaped up as many and as pertinent Testimonie out of the Writings of single Persons and Acknowledgments of Church-Societies in favour of this Position That it is lawful to make things Indifferent which may be altered without Sin the conditions of Church-Communion and Ministration as he has pretended here in favour of the Contradictory and if he could I leave it to you to judge with what sincerity he could profess Pref. pag. 1. that he was most unwilling to do the least dis-service to the Church of which he is a member when he has in this Preface done it the grand dis-service of heaping up such a multitude of pretended Testimonies against the lawfulness of her Practice and omitting the much greater number of pertinent Suffrages which I have some reason to believe himself could have as easily produced in defence of that Practice But this Profession of his is very obnoxious upon another Account for if he were at all sincere in making it what ail'd him 1. to Print his Book at such a time And 2. in English At such a time when he Acknowledges pag. 9. that the Bishops themselves have neither any Power to make such Concessions as his Book would have to be made no nor any Power to make any Proposals for the healing of our breaches till by his Majesty's Authority they meet in Convocation for that end And I do not think that this Gentleman had any prospect of a Parliaments being called soon after the publication of his Book or that it is an Article of his Faith that his Majesty may summon a Convocation to meet to that end out of Parliament and then what could the publishing of such a Book at such a time be but the promoting on his part that which has been of late the grand Fanatical Design of such weak Brethren as Baxter Alsop Troughton c. viz. the rendring our Governors both in Church and State odious by representing their Constitutions as unlawful and attempting to prove them contradictory both to the Commands and Example of Christ and his Apostles But what ail'd him 2. to compose and print his Book in English was it because he expected either a Parliament or Convocation whose major part should be made up of Clergy-men or Gentlemen so ill bred as not to understand Latin or did not the Author understand it himself so well as to write a Book in it or did he publish it in English for the sake of the weak Brethren and the devout Sisters that they might be furnished with Arguments against Ceremony-Imposing-Laws from one end of the Gospels and Epistles to the other For he has shewed himself so dexterous in discerning and multiplying prejudices and exceptions against such Constitutions that 't is to be hoped a little more improvement of his Topical Parts may gain him Parker's faculty of Espying in those Impositions in general as he did in the Use of the Cross in particular a contradiction to all the Ten Commandments Now for a man to put forth such a Book against those Impositions for the sake of illiterate English men who 1. have no power at present to retrench or null the