to their own private Fancies and Interests than to that Duty they owe to the publick By what undue means and for what mischievous purposes the use of the Liturgy The Illegality and Mischief of the disuse of the Liturgy suggested though enjoyned by the Laws of the Land and those Laws never yet repealed came during the late unhappy Confusions to be discontinued is too well known to the World and we are not willing here to remember But when upon His Majesties happy Restauration it seemed probable that amongst other things the use of the Liturgy also would return of course The concern of its Enemies at the King's Restauration in opposing it the same having never been legally abolished unless some timely means were used to prevent it Those men who under the late usurped Powers had made it a great part of their business to render the People disaffected thereunto saw themselves in point of Reputation and Interest concerned unless they would freely acknowledge themselves to have erred which such men are very hardly brought to with their utmost endeavours to hinder the Restitution thereof In order whereunto divers Pamphlets were published against the Book of Common-Prayer the old Objections mustered up with the Addition of some new ones more than formerly had been made to make the number swell whereof the Reconciler hath thought good to bring several again upon the Stage In fine great Importunities were used to his Sacred Majesty that the said Book might be revised and such Alterations therein and Additions thereunto made as should be thought requisite for the ease of tender Consciences whereunto His Majesty out of His Majesties gracious Condescention for a Review his Pious Inclination to give satisfaction so far as could be reasonably expected to all his Subjects of what Perswasion soever did graciously condescend In which Review we have endeavoured The moderation of the Church observed therein to observe the like moderation as we find to have been used in the like Case in former Times And therefore of the sundry Alterations proposed unto Rejecting some Alterations offered because of dangerous consequence or frivolous us we have rejected all such as were either of dangerous Consequence as secretly striking at some established Doctrine or landable Practice of the Church of England or indeed of the whole Catholick Church of Christ or else of no Consequence at all but utterly frivolous and vain But such Alterations as were Admitting all that seemed explaient tendred to us by what persons under what pretences or to what purpose soever tendred as seemed to us in any degree requisite or expedient we have willingly and of our own accord assented And that not of necessity but willingly to Not enforced so to do by any strength of Argument convincing us of the Necessity of making the said Alterations ☞ for we are fully perswaded in our Judgements and we here profess it to the World that the Book as it stood before established by Law doth not contain in it any thing The Churches Protestation with reference to the Book before established in vindication of the Honour of it contrary to the Word of God or to sound Doctrine or which a godly man may not with a good Conscience use and submit unto or which is not fairly defensible against any that shall oppose the same if it shall be allowed such just and favourable Construction as in common N. B. Equity ought to be allowed to all humane Writings especially such as are set forth by Authority and even to the very best Translation of the holy Scripture it self And here I call to mind what I have read in Bishop Gauden touching an eminent Person concern'd in the Tendry of divers Alterations I cannot but commend saith Consid touching the Liturgy in reference to His Majesties late Declaration P. 33. he the Candor Justice and Ingenuity of Mr. Baxter who lately profess'd to me that he saw nothing in the Liturgie which might not bear a good Construction if men look'd upon it as it became Christians with eyes of Charity But to proceed Our general aim therefore in This Undertaking was not to gratifie This The Integrity of the Church in her Proceedings or That Party in any their unreasonable Designs but to do That which to our best Understandings we conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church the procuring of Reverence and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the publick Worship of God and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of Cavil or Quarrel against the Liturgie of the Church And as to the several Variations from A general account of the several Variations admitted the former Book whether by Alteration Addition or otherwise it shall suffice to give This general account That most of the Alterations were made either First For the better Direction of them that are to officiate in any part of Divine Service which is chiefly done in the Kalendars and Rubricks or Secondly For the more proper expressing of some words or phrases of ancient usage in terms more suitable to the language of the present Times and the clearer explanation of some other words and phrases that were either of doubtful signification or otherwise liable to misconstruction or Thirdly For a more perfect rendring of such portions of holy Scripture as are inserted into the Liturgy which in the Epistles and Gospels especially and in sundry other places are now ordered to be read according to the last Translation And That it was thought convenient that some Prayers and Thanksgivings fitted to special Occasions should be added in their due places particularly for Those at Sea together with an Office for the Baptism of such as are of riper years which although not so necessary when the former Book was compiled yet by the Growth of Anabaptism through the Licentiousness of the late Times crept in among us is now become necessary and may be always useful for the baptizing of Natives in our Plantations and others converted to the Faith If any man who shall desire a more particular account of the several The more particular account referr'd to ocular Inspection Alterations in any part of the Liturgy shall take the pains to compare the present Book with the former we doubt not but the Reason of the Change may easily appear And having thus endeavoured to discharge our Duties in This weighty Affair as in the sight of God and to approve The Churches Sincerity in all asserted our Sincerity therein so far as lay in us to the Consciences of all men although we know it impossible in such variety of Apprehensions Humours and Interests as are in the World to please all nor can expect that men of factious peevish and perverse spirits should who like after all to quarrel still against Her be satisfied with any thing that can be done in this kind by any other
ANIMADVERSIONS UPON A LATE TREATISE Entituled The Protestant Reconciler Humbly pleading for Condescention to Dissenting Brethren in things Indifferent and Unnecessary for the sake of Peace And shewing How Unreasonable it is to make such things the Necessary Conditions of Communion By a WELL-WISHER to the Churches Peace and a LAMENTER of her Sad Divisions My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Prov. xxiv 21. Qui deliberant jam desciverunt Tacitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui spirnit modica paulatim decidet Ecclus xix 1. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. TO THE READER Courteous Reader THou wilt find in these Papers some publick Memorials both of Church and State which tend to maintain just and charitable Thoughts of our present Establishments and Governours with certain Considerations of no small moment to be duely weighed by all that importune or attempt a Change and may possibly evince That our Peace and Happiness dependeth rather upon a teachable Spirit and Christian Obedience and Submission in the Subject than any great Necessity of Condescension or Alterations by Authority which yet are left entirely as they ought to be to the Religious Prudence of those who are over us in the Lord to whom they properly belong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 7. 16. SOME ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE Protestant Reconciler c. SECT I. The Reconcilers Apology in his Preface GOD is my Witness what I have discoursed in these Papers is my fixed Judgement which I have taken up upon Convictions which I am not able to resist and not from any carnal Motives or any Prejudices whatsoever Yet being sensible of my own weakness and proneness to mistake in judging and most unwilling to do the least dis-service to the Church of which I am at present an unworthy Member or to those Reverend Superiours whom from my heart I honour and own as the true Apostolick Guides and Rulers of the Church which if I be mistaken in my Judgement I unwillingly may do I therefore do entreat my Brethren of the Clergy who shall peruse these Lines to do it with the exactest scrutiny and if upon perusal they do find or judge my Reasons unconcluding and that my Judgement in this Matter is not according to Truth that out of their abundant Charity they would be pleased to convince me of my Error There being nothing in the World in which I shall more heartily rejoyce than a clear Conviction that in that part of my Discourse which doth concern my ever-honour'd Superiours I have been mistaken Teach me my Reverend Brethren and I will hold my peace cause me to understand wherein I have erred and I will thankfully yea I will publickly retract it I hope I shall not be accused of Singularity or Unkindness to the Church of England Since what I plead for in this Book Ibid. p. 55 is only the Religion of my King and that which I have learn'd from his most excellent Declaration c. Since I my self do from my heart conform to all that is required by the Church of England c. Since I verily believe all separate Congregations in the Nation which are not subject to the Government of our Diocesans are schismatical and all they that do abet and head them and exercise among them a spiritual Jurisdiction independent on them do set up Altar against Altar and therefore out of pure commiseration to their souls do plead in their behalf Since I do only plead for this Condescension because I do really believe 't is for the Glory the Safety the Advantage of the Church of England and of the Protestant Religion that it will be highly instrumental for the Good of Souls and will conciliate so great Renown and Credit to our Reverend Bishops as to make future Generations rise up and call them Blessed And therefore if I have been somewhat transported beyond the measures of my Station it is pure zeal for my Religion and the Good of Souls and for the Honour Safety and Advantage of the Church of England and her Apostolical Governours which caused me to be thus transported Since I who do now humbly plead for Condescension do intend God willing to plead as stiffly and I hope with more Conviction for submission to the Constitutions of the Church of England Since lastly I am very willing and desirous to be convinced of my Error and such conviction being given to retract what I have writ on this Subject I hope what is written with all the P. 60. modesty I could and as much deference to my most honour'd Superiours as the application of the present Subject would permit I say if these things be consider'd I hope that I have given no just occasion of offence to any Member of the Church of England All this I allow of so far as it is not evidently protestatio contra factum for in that case the Reconciler himself will excuse P. 118. us from believing of men's demurest Protestations He entreats his Readers who shall peruse these Lines to do it with the exactest scrutiny and professeth wherein-soever he shall be convinced of Error not only thankfully to accept of it but publickly to retract c. SECT II. The Reconciler's Proposition laid down THat things indifferent which Ch. 1. P. 4. may be chang'd and alter'd without sin or violation of God's Laws ought not especially under our present circumstances to be imposed by our Superiours as the conditions of Communion or as conditions without which none shall minister in sacred things though call'd to that work and none shall be partakers of the publick Ordinances which Christ hath left to be the ordinary means of Grace and of Salvation to Mankind but shall upon refusal to submit to them for ever be excluded from the Church and from the Priviledges belonging to the Members of it A farther Declaration of what he means to contend for 1. He who saith that it is sinful P. 2. and mischievous to impose these unnecessary Ceremonies and to retain these disputable expressions of our Liturgie which may be alter'd and removed without transgressing the Law of God saith true 2. And he also who pleads that Separation from Communion with us on the account of these few scrupled Ceremonies and disputable expressions of our Liturgie is sinful and unreasonable as well as mischievous doth also speak the words of Truth and Soberness Or That one should not impose these P. 3. things as conditions of Communion and that the other should not when they are once imposed refuse Communion upon that account Elsewhere it is only the doing that P. 333. which the first Reformers declar'd to be lawful upon great occasions The Churches using her Liberty in matters wholly lest to her Liberty Not that the Ceremonies be abolished Ibid. or the Conformists forbid to use them but that others should be
dispensed with in their omission The few Ceremonies are frequently express'd to be Kneeling at the Communion the Cross in Baptism and the Surplice The scrupled and disputable expressions in the Liturgy are no where set down So that of these no definite Conclusion can be made Elsewhere he refers to the Treaty of the Savoy In the Treaty of the Savoy abatement P. 330. of the Ceremonies and alteration in some disputable passages in our Liturgy were all that was contended for Though I think there was there also a spick and span new Liturgie or Directory by some drawn up and pleaded for Elsewhere he refers to the Agreement Pref. p 10. between Dr. Bates Dr. Manton and Mr. Baxter in a Conference with the Bishop of Chester and Dr. Burton at the invitation of the Lord Keeper Bridgeman drawn up in form of an Act by the Lora Chief Justice Hales for a Comprehension Ch. 10. 331 and limited Indulgence or a new Act of Uniformity which should neither leave all at liberty nor impose any thing but necessary Upon which saith he Mr. Baxter queries Whether after such an Agreement it be ingenuity to say we know not what they would have And yet the Query will remain unsatisfied till we are told who impowred them to act in the Name of the rest or how we may be assured their Brethren are of the same mind Elsewhere to His Majesties Declaration Pres p. 5. from Breda April 4. 1660. of Liberty to tender Consciences and that no man be disquieted or call'd in question for Differences of Opinion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom c. And His other Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Octob. 25. 1660. of which more particularly afterwards These saith he are the very terms of Ibid. p. 7. Peace which here I plead for c. Elsewhere to the Excellent Dr. Stillingfleet in his Preface to the Unreasonableness of Separation where he propounds this material Question Is there nothing Pref. p. 15. to be done for dissenting Protestants who agree with us in all Doctrinal Articles of our Church and only scruple the use of a few Ceremonies and some late Impositions Add saith the Reconciler and some disputable expressions in our Liturgie The short of his Concessions in Answer hereunto is this 1. As to the Ceremonies The Sign of the Cross either wholly taken away or if that may give offence to others the use of it confined to the publick Administration of Baptism or left indifferent as Parents desire it 2. They who scruple Kneeling at the Lord's Supper to receive it with the least offence to others and rather Standing than Sitting 3. As to the Surplice in Parochial Churches it is not of that consequence as to bear a Dispute one way or other And as to Cathedral Churches there is no necessity of Alteration 2. As to the use of God-fathers and God-mothers The Parents to be permitted to joyn with the Sponsors or publickly to desire the Sponsors to represent them in offering the Child to Baptism Then the Sponsors to perform the Covenanting part representing the Child and the Charge afterwards given in common both to Parents and Sponsors 3 As to some Temper in the manner of Subscriptions An absolute Subscription to all those Articles which concern the Doctrine of the true Christian Faith And a solemn promise under their Hand or Subscription of peaceable submission to the rest so as not to oppose or contradict them either in Preaching or Writing upon the same penalty as if they had not subscribed to the 36. Then as to the other Subscription required 1o. Jacobi to the Three Articles The First saith he is provided for by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy The Third the same with that to the 39 Articles And as to the Second about the Book of Common-Prayer it ought to be consider'd saith he 1. Whether for the satisfaction of the scrupulous some more doubtful obscure passages may not be explain'd and amended c. 2. Whether upon such a review by wise and peaceable men not given to wrath and disputing it be not great Reason that all persons who officiate in the Church be not only tied N. B. to a constant use of it in all publick Offices which they ought in person frequently to do but to declare at their first entrance upon a Parochial Charge their approbation of the use of it after their own Reading of it 3. Whether such a solemn use of the Liturgie and approbation and promise of the use of it may not be sufficient instead of the late Form of declaring their Assent and Consent These saith the Doctor are all the Things which appear to me reasonable to be allowed in order to an Union and which I suppose may be granted without detriment or dishonour to our Church And these saith the Reconciler are Pref. p. 19. all I plead for in this Book For as for those who deny the Lawfulness of Liturgie ☜ 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 on him I know not how to plead for them without pleading for Schism Confusion and Disorder And yet these I fear are the greatest part of Conscience-non-Conformists Those likewise who revile our Reverend Bishops as Tyrants and Usurpers and profess not to know what is meant by the Church of England must here consequentially be excluded I note also that the Excellent Dr. St. Ibid. p. 16. had answer'd and that truely saith the Reconciler That there is no good N. B. ground for any scruple of Conscience as to the use of our Ceremonies much less for separation from other Acts of Communion on these accounts That the primitive Church did anciently receive in the posture of Adoration where the Reconciler adds of his own He durst not say Kneeling of which more hereafter And that he doth not question but the practice of our Church in the use of God-fathers and God-mothers may be justified Next he refers to Dr. Tillotson in his Ibid. p. 19. Sermon on John 13. 34 35. It is not for private persons to undertake in matters of publick Concernment but I think we have no cause to doubt but the Governours of our Church notwithstanding all the Advantages of Authority and we think of Reason too on our side are persons of that piety and prudence that for Peace-sake and in order to a firm Union among Protestants they would be content if that would do it not to insist on little things but to yield them up whether to the Infirmity or Importunity or perhaps in some very few things to the plausible Exceptions of those who differ from us If then saith the Reconciler hereupon this be not done it must be in his Judgement through defect of piety and prudence in some men or of content with what is reasonable in others Here should be noted
Stillingfleet as he sometimes P. 270. P. 81. P. 109. Pref. p. 15. caresses him the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet the Excellent Dr. Stillingfleet and through him I fear casts some dirt upon his Dear Mother the Church of England in her publick Declarations The reading of some Dissenters Books seems unto me to have a little inspeevish'd him and disturbed the more calm and temperate disposition of his nature so that he treats his Adversaries now and then with too much slighting and contempt Thus what Dr. Womock alledgeth out of Meisner a Learned Lutheran P. 155 c. he calls trifling Arguments giving the lye to St. Paul Falshoods and Fooleries miserable Trifles But particular persons may the better bear with him since he sometimes forgets himself in his Duty of Reverence to the Church and the Apostolical Governours thereof That passage I think is somewhat scandalous and vain where he tacitly resembles the Ceremonies which he elsewhere calls trivial things unto the P. 208. May-pole Let him that will have a May-pole have it and he that would P 341. not have it have no May-pole Sect. IV. I Desire it may be well considered by how great and sacred Authority and that upon the maturest examination the things excepted against stand established Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical that of the Convocation which is the Church of England Representative and of the Parliament which includes King Lords and Commons the Consent of the whole Nation involved and This not once but often time after time the Objections to the contrary frequently canvassed and deliberated upon All sorts of Authority meet here with Advantage This the Reconciler had in his eye when he said with a deal of Reason for it I know that it is not in their power meaning the Reverend Bishops at present Pref. p. 9. sent to make such Concessions they being as much tyed to the observing of the Laws as any order of men and having no power to dispense with them or to make any Proposals for the healing of our Breaches till by his Majesties Authority they meet in Convocation for that end And therefore wonder at the wickedness and injustice of those men ☞ who clamour so much against them because such Condescensions are not immediately made that is because they do not change the Laws which is not in their power to do All the Arguments therefore which the Reconciler doth so copiously insist upon for an enlarged Charity in the censuring and judging of others whose Consciences as he saith we cannot know but by their professions he should have added and open practices do reach P. 88. more strongly against the harbouring or insinuating of undue Fears and Jealousies concerning our Superiours whom the fifth Commandment enjoyns us to honour We cannot be too careful of all unjust and uncharitable Imputations to our Governours Let me here call to mind some few Clauses of the Act of Uniformity in the first year of Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory confirmed again in the eight year of her Reign If any Minister shall preach declare Prim Eliz. or speak any thing in derogation or depraving of the said Book of Common-prayer c. or any thing therein contained The crime and Penalty of derogating from depraving or despising any thing contained in the Book of Common-prayer or of any part thereof and shall be thereof lawfully convicted according to the Laws of this Realm by Verdict of twelve men or by his own Confession or by notorious Evidence of Fact he shall lose and forfeit to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors for his first offence the profit of all his spiritual Benefices or Promotions coming or accruing in one whole year next after his Conviction and also that the person so convict shall for the same offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of six months without Bail or Mainprise c. And it is Ordain'd and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons whatsoever after the said Feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming shall in any Interludes Plays Songs Rhimes or by other open words declare or speak any thing in the derogation depraving or despising of the said Book or any thing therein contained or any part thereof Then every such person being thereof lawfully convict in form aforesaid shall forfeit to the Queen our Soveraign Lady her Heirs and Successors for the first offence and hundred The zeal of the Queen Lords Temporal and commons in urging the Bishops and other Ordinaries as they will answer it before God to see to the execution of this good and wholesom Law Marks c. And for a due execution hereof the Queens most Excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do in God's Name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their knowledge that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesses and Charges as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues wherewith Almighty ☞ God may justly punish his people for neglecting this good and wholsom Law Provided always and be it Enacted A Provision touching such Ornaments of the Church and Ministers as are to be retained with a power left to take farther order about Rites and Ceremonies That such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof shall be retain'd and be in use as were in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward until other order shall be taken by the Queens Majesty with the Advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the Great Seal of England or of the Metropolitan of this Realm And also That if there shall happen any Contempt or Irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the mis-using of the Orders appointed in this Book the Queens Majesty may by the like Advice of the said Commissioners or Metropolitan ordain and publish such farther Ceremonies as may be most for the advancement of God's Glory the edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christ's holy Mysteries and Sacraments And now I have occasion to remember that the first step of the Reconciler's Apology is in these words Since what I plead for in this Book is only the Religion of my King c. And that he Pref. p. 58. begins his Preface with some remarkable Sayings ad amoliendam invidiam of King James King Charles the Martyr and his present Majesty It may not be amiss to shew a little more particularly how far it may be said with ingenuity and truth that he hath learned of them or pays a deference to their Judgements and Authorities To begin therefore saith he Pref. p. 3 4. with the Testimonies of our Learned and Judicious Kings That
extraordinary a Charity should in any thing be imposed upon I wish heartily that we had once Reason to believe or that we could persuade the People to believe as His Majesty upon the Professions of some then did That the most able and principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinions did with an Harmony of Affections submit to These excellent Foundations which were to lie unshaken at the bottom of all His Majesties designed Superstructions that we might pronounce of them to their perpetual Honour They are all zealous for the Peace of the Church They are all ☞ Loyal in their Duty to their King They all approve Episcopacy English Diocesane Episcopacy They all approve a Set Form of Liturgy and do only with modesty desire such Alterations in the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book as may not shake the Foundations of it They all disapprove and dislike the sin of Sacrilege as well as Rebellion and the Alienation of the Revenue of the Church the Sale of Bishops Deans and Chapter-Lands Did their Followers thus think and believe of them they would I am persuaded be soon reconciled to a good Opinion of us of the Church of England by Law established and cry out of them as the strangest Assertors of Presbyterian Opinions in the world 3 In order to this Indulgence Commissioners we know were under the Broad Seal Appointed and the Result of their Debates commended to the Convocation or Synod and so tendred to the examination and consent of Both Houses in Parliament the Product whereof we had at last in the Act of Uniformity which His Majesty did pass into a Law And it is to me a Transport of Admiration in the Reconciler so to adore a Declaration of His Majesties by the Advice of His Council only as to prefer it beyond tho maturer Thoughts of That Sacred Person upon the united judgment of the whole Nation We have liv'd in days wherein a Vote or Ordinance of Parliament hath born down both the Obligation of Laws and the Repute of His Majesties most solemn Declarations And how the Reconciler may scape I know not but sure I am that some others would be look'd upon with a very evil Eye as Popishly affected and so many Friends to Arbitrary Government should they presume almost to Deifie a Proclamation from the King at This Rate beyond an Act of Parliament wherein the United Wisdom of the King and all Estates of his Subjects the Wisdom both of Church and State is concerned What a miraculous Cure would it be to our present Convulsions were the Dissenting Populace but a little leaning to the Reconciler's mind That a Divine Sentence is in the King's Mouth and his Lips transgress not in Judgment even where the United Judgment of the whole Nation may possibly Opine otherwise But we will leave him undisturb'd in his Extatical and Rapturous Loyalty and content our selves with That of the more Currant Stamp which is like best to hold It will not be amiss therefore here to take notice how the Wisdom of the Nation did utter it self in the aforenamed Act of Uniformity not without some reference made to This Declaration XIV carel II. And so to add This other Text of Solomon to the Precedent ' In the multitude of Counsellors there is safety Prov. 11. 14. And This properly too while the Sentence is still the King 's and the Council his Subjects Whereas in the First year of the late Queen Elizabeth there was one Uniform Order of Common-Service and Prayer and of the Administration of Sacraments Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England agreeable to the Word of God and Usage of the primitive Church compiled by the Reverend Bishops and Clergy set forth in one Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. and injoyned to be used by Act of Parliament holden in the First year of the said late Queen entituled An Act for the Uniformity Commendation of the Common-Prayer-Book c. very comfortable to all good People desirous to live in Christian Conversation and most profitable to the Estate of this Realm upon the which the ☜ Mercy Favour Mercy Favour and Blessing of Almighty God is in no wise so readily and plentifully poured as by Common-Prayers due using of the Sacraments and often preaching of the Gospel with Devotion of the Hearers And yet This notwithstanding a great number of People in diverse parts of This Realm following their own sensuality and living A Character of the dissenting and separating Multitude without Knowledge and due Fear of God do willfully and schismatically abstain and refuse to come to their Parish Churches and other publick Places where Common-Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and preaching of the Word of God is used upon the Sundays and other days ordained and appointed to be kept and observed as Holy days And whereas by the great and scandalous neglect of Ministers in the said Order or Liturgy so set forth and injoyned as ☞ aforesaid great Mischiefs and Inconveniences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 during the times of the The head of Nilus late unhappy Troubles have arisen and grown and many People have been led into Factions and Schisms to the great decay and scandal of the Reformed Religion of the Church of England and to the hazzard of many Souls For prevention whereof in time to come for settling the Peace of the Church and for allaying the present Distempers which the indisposition of the Time hath contracted His Majesty's Declaration Octob. 25. 1660. referred to with his commission for a Revien the King's Majesty according to his Delcaration of the five and twentieth of October 1660. granted his Commission under the Great Seal of England to several Bishops and other Divines to review the Book of Common-Prayer and to prepare such Alterations ☜ and Additions as they thought fit to offer And afterwards the Convocations of both the Provinces of Canterbury and York being by his Majesty call'd and assembled and now sitting His Majesty hath been pleased to Authroize and Require the Presidents of the said Convocations and other the Bishops and Clergy of the same to review the said Book of Common-Prayer and the Book of the Form and Manner of making and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons And that after mature consideration they shall make such Additions and Alterations in the said Books respectively as to them should seem meet and convenient And should exhibit and present the same to His Majesty in Writing for his farther allowance or Confirmation Since which time upon full and mature Deliberation they the said Presidents Bishops and Clergy of both Provinces have The Alterations and Additions made upon That Review by the Convocations of both Provinces upon full and mature deliberation exhibited and presented to his Majesty And b◠his Majesty upon due consideration 〈◊〉 approved allowed and recommended to This Parliament And thereupon the Book enacted accordingly reviewed the said Books and have made some Alterations
which they think fit to be inserted to the same and some Additional Prayers to the said Book of Common-Prayer to be used upon proper and emergent occasions and have exhibited and presented the same unto His Majesty in writing in one Book entitled The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church c. All which His Majesty having duly considered hath ☞ fully approved and allowed the same and recommended to This present Parliament that the said Book of Common-Prayer with the Form of Ordination and Consecration of Bishops Priests and Deacons with the Alterations and Additions which have been so made and presented to His Majesty by the said Convocations be the Book which shall be appointed to be used by all that ossiciate in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Chappels and in all Chappels of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities and in all Parish-Churches and Chappels within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed and by all that make or consecrate Bishops Priests or Deacons in any of the said Places under such Sanctions and Penalties as the Houses of Parliament shall think fit Now in regard that nothing conduceth more to the settling the Peace of N. B. The Benefits of Uni formity this Nation which is desired of all good men nor to the Honour of our Religion and the Propagation thereof than an universal Agreement in the publick Worship of Almighty God And to the intent that every Person within this Realm may certainly know the Rule to which he is to conform in publick Worship and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and the Manner how and by whom Bishops Priests and Deacons are and ought to be made ordained and consecrated Be it enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by the Advice and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons in This present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same c. And be it farther enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the several good Laws and Statutes of This Realm which have been formerly made and are now in force The farmer good Laws and Statutes for Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments confirmed with Reference to this Book for the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments within this Realm of England and places aforesaid shall stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever for the establishing and confirming of the said Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. herein before mentioned to be joyned and annexed to This Act and shall be applied practised and put in ure for the punishing of all Offences contrary to the said Laws with Relation to the Book aforesaid and no other Provided also that the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration The Book of Q Eliz. continued till This was to take place c. heretofore in use and respectively established by Act of Parliament in the First and Eighth years of Queen Elizabeth shall be still used and observed in the Church of England until the Feast of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the year of our Lord God 1662. when by This Act the other Book aforesaid was to take place in the room thereof so that there was no period of time wherein there was a Liberty or Exemption from the Legal Obligation to Uniformity Such now is That August Authority by which the Things in Question are determined and established And as the Reconciler cites it out of Bishop Taylor A peaceable mind and willingness to learn P. 224. and a charitable Exposition are the just Dispositions of Subjects God Grant they well perform it As He there devoutly and piously adds This was the Religion of Queen Elizabeth ☜ whose Motto was Semper eadem This was the Religion of King James whose Motto was Beati Pacifici This was the Religion of King Charles The Royal Martyr and best of Kings and Men. And This is the Religion of His Gracious Majesty the Inheritor of his Fathers Kingdoms and Princely Vertues who calls aloud upon his Subjects to make the established Laws Their Rule because he protests They shall ever be His. And the Reconciler hath told us that it is only the Religion of His King which in This Book he pleads for SECT VII IN the next place before I leave §. VII This Subject I desire all my Country-men diligently to hearken unto the Church Her self in her publick Apologies about These Matters in the Book so established which because so few do observe in Their Common-Prayer-Books I will here present them with The Preface of our Governours concerning the Alterations made in the publick Service It hath been the Wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first The constant moderation of the Church of England compiling of her publick Liturgy to keep a mean between the Two Extreams of too much stiffness in refusing and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it For as on the one side common experience sheweth that where a change hath been made of The danger of unnecessary changes things advisedly established no evident necessity so requiring sundry inconveniences have thereupon ensued and those many times more and greater than the evils Ipsa mutatio consuetudinis erlam quae utilitate adjuvat novitate perturbat D. August Ep. 118. that were intended to be remedied by such change so on the other side the particular Forms of divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being Necessary changes to be made by Authority only in things alterable and upon weighty important considerations things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various Exigencies of times and occasions such Changes and Alterations should be made therein as to those that are in place of Authority from time to time seem either necessary or expedient This is quoted by the Reconciler as the chief ground-work of his Proposals P. 35 36. but let us hear the whole Accordingly we find that in the Reigns of several Princes of blessed Memory since the Reformation the Church The practice of the Church accordingly upon just and weighty Considerations her thereunto moving hath yielded to make such Alterations in some particulars as in their respective times were thought convenient yet so as that the main Body and Essentials of it as well in the chiefest materials as in the frame and order thereof have still continued the same unto This day and do yet stand firm and unshaken notwithstanding all the vain attempts and impetuous A Character of the Adversaries of the Church assaults made against it by such men as are given to change and have always discover'd a greater regard
not yet possible to demonstrate so as Conscience may build upon it that he and his Apostles used the same Tricliniary Gesture at the Eucharistical Supper It is at best but a Probability that they did not change their Gestures from what it was before 3. Though this were de side certain yet who sees not that this same Gesture might be then only occasionally used from the Custom or Practice at the Pass-over Who can tell what Gesture might have been used by them had this Sacrament been celebrated by it self and not in conjunction with that other Feast 4. Christ's binding Pleasure cannot possibly be fetch'd from the Historical Relation of a variable Gesture but one time nay though often used He sate daily teaching as we reade in the Evangelist St. Matthew yet is there no Preacher that thinks himself bound to that Gesture now 5. There is no account to be given why this Circumstance alone by it self were it never so certainly determined what it was in the first Pattern should See Bp. Sanderson de conscient Plaelect 3 § 16 c. be more binding than any other in that Example which are yet every-where now freely omitted For ' Persons for Actions for other Circumstances of Time and Place c. which I shall not here enlarge upon If in all these we are at liberty why is there any Scruple left of a single Gesture 6. There is a confessed variation allowed of by all Dissenters in the other Sacrament of Baptism from the first Copies I mean from Immersion or Dipping into Suffusion Aspersion or Sprinkling And this is well observed and urged by the Reconciler If notwithstanding Baptism by Immersion is suitable P. 289. to the Institution of our Lord and his ☜ Apostles and was by them ordained and used to represent our Burial with Christ as St. Paul explains the Meaning of that Rite I say if notwithstanding this all our Dissenters do agree to Sprinkle the Baptized Infant why may they not as well submit to the significant Ceremonies imposed by our Church For since it is as lawful to add unto Christ's Institutions a significant Ceremony as to diminish a significant Ceremony which he or his Apostles instituted and use another which they did never institute what Reason can they have to do the latter and yet refuse Submission to the former Why should not the Peace and Union of the Church be as prevailing with them to perform the one as is their Mercy to the Infants Body to neglect the other 7. It is very remarkable that other Protestant Churches of great Name do continue the Gesture of Kneeling as well as we from whose Communion we must on this account as well separate And the Reformed Divines of Polonia not ☞ only of the Bohemian but the Augustan and Helvetian Consession have with one Consent in three General Synods condemned the Ceremony of Sitting at Receiving the H. Sacrament as a less decent and less Religious Rite and proper to the Arrians or Arrian-Baptists who denied Christ's Divinity and accordingly handled his Sacraments irreverently placing themselves cheek-by-jowl as Fellows with their Lord at his Table and introduced this Gesture into their Churches contrary to the customary and allowed Practice of all the Evangelical Churches throughout Europe Synod General Cracov An. Dom. 1573. Act. 6. Synod Petricov General An. Dom. 1578. Syn. Wlodislav Gen. An. Dom. 1583. Act. 5. which were again confirmed Syn. Torunens Gen. 1592. This is discoursed more at large by the Rev. Mr. Ashwel in his learned Books de Gestu Eucharistico and de Socinianismo And he hath no less demonstrated the Antiquity of this adoring Gesture however the Reconciler is pleased to call it more than once our Novel Custome p. 293 294. of receiving in a Kneeling Posture Hom. 3. in Ep. ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom Fall down and participate And St. Augustin notes that the Apostle St. Paul represents those as unworthy Receivers Ep. 118. who did not discern or difference that sacred Food from other Meals veneratione singulariter debitâ by a Veneration peculiarly due unto it And elsewhere he In Ps 98. tells us Nemo Panem istam manducat nisc prius adoraverit No Man eats that Bread until he have first adored 8. Let the Declaration of the Church be heard for the preventing as far as is possible all manner of Scruple or Offence at this Ceremony Whereas it is ordained in this Office for the Administration of the Lord's Supper that the Communicants should receive the same Kneeling which Order is well meant for a signification of humble and grateful Acknowledgment of the Benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers and for the avoiding of such Profanation and Disorder in the H. Communion as might otherwise ensue yet lest the same Kneeling should by any Persons either out of Ignorance and Infirmity or out of Malice and Obstinacy be misconstrued and depraved it is here declared that thereby no Adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any Corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and ' Blood For the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their natural Substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhor'd of all faithful Christians and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the Truth of Christ's Natural Body to be at one time in more places than one And with such an Explication as this Mr. Calvin allows of Adoration at the Sacrament Such Adoration saith he I Inst 1. 4. §. 37. would call legitimate which stops not in the Signs but is directed to Christ in Heaven Now I cannot but observe a want of ☜ Candor in the Reconciler as in some other matters relating to the Church so particularly with reference to this Declaration The Rubrick concerning Kneeling P. 208. at the Sacrament in the second Book of Edward the sixth begins thus Although no Order can be so perfectly devised but it may be of some either for their Ignorance and Infirmity or else for Malice and Obstinacy misconstrued depraved and interpreted in a wrong part yet because Brotherly Charity willeth that so much as conveniently may be Offences should be taken away therefore We willing to do the same c. declare that by Kneeling at the Sacrament no Adoration of the Elements is intended Now saith the Reconciler who can tell why this whole Preface in our present Common-Prayer-Book is left out Had he with Ingenuity and Truth transcribed that whole Rubrick of King Edward's Book as it lies it would more See Mr. Hamon L'Estrange P. 207 208. evidently appear that there is no material difference between it and the present I do not think it worth the while to take that pains here For as he represents it 't is visible enough that the full
our Government by Bishops is Popish our Liturgy Popish our ministring of Baptism with the Cross Popish our Kneeling at the Communion Popish our Holy Duties Popish and almost Every Thing Popish Wherefore the Brownists having learnt that the Pope is Antichrist and the present Church of Rome Babylon and hearing a Voice from Heaven crying Go out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Sins and that ye taste not of her Plagues have upon your former Premises gathered a Practical Conclusion ☜ and made an actual Separation and Rent from the Church of England And surely my Brethren as they had their Original from your Positions so now are they strengthned by your Practices For they may well think that such learned and vertuous Men so famous and renowned Preachers knowing a Wo pronounced against them if they preach not the Gospel would never suffer themselves to be silenced for matters which they judged indifferent And therefore they will take it as granted that the things you stick at are in your opinion simply unlawful And upon this dangerous Position they will build another For if the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is enjoined at this day to be performed be such as a Minister cannot execute his Function with a good Conscience then they conclude that neither may the People hear it with a good Conscience because their Presence were an Approbation of it Thus the unquiet Will of Man will still be working even till it run it self upon the Rock of its own Destruction Here we see the true Occasion and Rise of all those separate Congregations in the Nation whom the Reconciler himself notwithstanding his abundant Charity to Dissenters believeth to be schismatical Pref. p. 59. And 't is agreed on all sides Book p. 23. saith he that Schism is a very great Offence and by the Writers of the Church of England and by the Primitive Fathers it is declared to be a Sin in its own nature damnable How little Encouragement then have we to indulge unto or confide in such Men or their genuine Off-spring or whatsoever may be urged for the Men their schismatical Principles With what Reason and Zeal have the most learned and pious Sons of the Church of England appeared all along even against those first Dissenters and leading Patriarchs of the Non-conforming Brotherhood O what a grief ought this to be to their Souls saith one so to Mr. Mason ep ded to his Serm. oppose themselves against such a Learned and Religion Church and so irreverently to traduce that holy Book of Common-Prayer a Work of so great and admirable Excellency Concerning which I may truly affirm that it hath been cut up like an Anatomy every Vein of it hath been opened every Corner searched every Rubrick ransack'd not a Word but hath been weighed in the Ballance not a Syllable but hath been sifted to the uttermost and yet for all this like to the Bridg of Caesar the more it is opposed the stronger it stands And again To come to the Form Id. Serm. p. 22. of Common-Prayer as it was established by Queen Elizabeth O what Blessings hath the Lord vouchsafed the People of this Land by means of that Book How many Millions of Souls have received comfort by it How many thousands of Learned Men have commended and defended it You shall hear one for all even that Judicious Jewel in whose opinion it containeth nothing either disagreeing from Holy Scripture or misbeseeming sober Men. And yet it hath pleased our Gracious Soveraign that some things should be explained that the Publick Form of Prayer might be free not only from Blame but from Suspicion This excellent Book we know hath been since deliberately reviewed and certain Alterations made in it by the best Advice and Authority in the Kingdom And yet some Men raise fresh Objections even from those Alterations What can we suppose will ever satisfy them unless they may themselves prescribe and govern all Let me here recommend to an impartial Consideration the Words of a very Reverend Person on this occasion When God that here calls us unto Peace shall one Day call us to account Dr. Frank. Serm. at St. Paul's on Col. 3. 15. how gracious and thankful we have been for his calling us to it what we have done or not done towards it Consider I beseech you whether you think seriously in your Hearts that it will there pass for true Endeavours for Peace to answer thus Lord we have been all for ' Peace ☞ and we petitioned for it but we could not have it upon our own Conditions We would have agreed for a Publick Service but we could not have it of our own making We could well enough have condescended to an Uniformity but they would not let us that were the Inferiours set the Rule We yet agree in the Articles of the Faith only for Indifferences we keep still off We are all saved too we confess by the Cross of Christ but the very Sign of it we thought enough to keep us still asunder We were zealous for thy Worship but we would not be confined to it by any imposed Rule of Reverence and Order We could indeed have yet submitted to it our selves but we some of us had taught the People otherwise and were ashamed to unteach them We might perhaps have easily come in at first but now we have so long stood out that it is not for our Honour to retreat they will call us Turn-coats and Apostates and we shall lose the People quite Gracious and kind notwithstanding we have been in our Deportments but 't was only to our own Party Thankful besides to God though we kept not indeed any solemn Days of Thanksgivings or as perfunctorily as we could we would go no further In the Sum We have done all we could to have Peace upon our own Terms but we could not obtain it unless we would submit to Decency and Order And so it stands And when our Governours and Superiours call'd to the same account shall be content to stand to our own Confessions that they imposed nothing but for Unity and Order Think soberly I beseech you on which hand lies the true Plea for the Endeavour of Peace where lies the Perverseness where the Compliance And if this be the business as I fear it is too near it I shall leave the whole World to judg whether Peace truly rule in the Hearts of those who upon their own Terms only seek it whether they answer their Callings or are thankful Nevertheless if it shall still be thought expedient for mere pitty and commiseration-sake to some weak and prejudiced Dissenters to importune the Church and State for some Condescension farther in scrupled Ceremonies and certain disputable Clauses of the Liturgy which is the professed Design of the Reconciler alone to plead for in certain Passages of his Treatise it ought certainly to be done without any affront to the
Establishments ☜ or Reflection upon the Authority of those that are to govern us We should not at the same time endeavour to extort that by plain dint of Argument and Necessity which we sue for as an Act of special Grace and Favour And I do readily enough subscribe to the Words of Bp. Taylor which he makes use of in the case If the Question be Who P. 224 225. shall yield The Governours certainly have Authority and others say they have Reason The one ought to be pittied and the other to be obeyed but both ought to yield Only the Subject must yield outward Obedience though otherwise it were not necessary yet if it be lawful it accidentally becomes so And if it be not lawful or if he thinks it is not yet he must be careful he give no offence but modestly humbly and without reproach offer his Reasons against the Law But then the Governours also must yield so far as they apprehend Reason so to do They must not consider how much is possible for them but how much is fit they must meditate nothing of Empire doing things meerly because they have Power in their Hands but much of Charity they must consider which will do most good to the Souls to which they relate they must with Meakness instruct the Gainsayers and with Sweetness endeavour to win them and bear with the Infirmities of the Weak if they can perceive the Weakness to be innocent SECT XI I Have now finished my Animadversions upon the first Proposition of the Reconciler which he prosecutes so largely and with so many reflecting Passages upon the Church of England in this his Book against the Imposition of unnecessary Ceremonies as he calls them and retaining some Disputable Passages in the Liturgy which he nowhere reckons up It only remains that I press him to a speedy Dispatch of his promised Endeavours upon the second wherein he undertakes to prove with Words of Truth and Soberness That Separation from Communion with us on the account of those few scrupled Ceremonies and Disputable Expressions is sinful and unreasonable as well as mischievous I will only remember him that this is one of the best Periods in his Apology or Preface for a favourable Construction of what he hath already done and that Disservice as well as Disrespect which the Application of some Arguments and Phrases in his Treatise may do the Church of England and her Honoured and Apostolical Governours Since I who do humbly plead for Condescension do intend God willing to plead as stiffly and I hope ☞ with more conviction for Submission to the Constitutions of the Church of England He hath given us some taste here and there of his great Abilities this way I will only touch upon a few Passages and so conclude These Arguments fall many of them with more weight on our Dissenters P. 58. provided they can shew no Law of God plainly forbidding their Submission to these things For let me ask them in the Spirit of Meekness these few Questions Do they prefer Mercy before Sacrifice who will not submit to Rites or Circumstances or to the Use of things nowhere forbidden in the Word of God to prevent Schism and all the dreadful Consequences of it but rather will give cause to their Superiours to judg them scandalous Resisters of Authority and pertinacious Disturbers of the Churche's Peace Are they compassionate towards the Sheep according â—o our Lord's Example who rather will refuse to become Labourers in his Harvest and Teachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God than submit to these little Things in order to their regular Performance of this blessed Work Do not they scandalize offend and contribute to the Ruin of Christ's little ones who do involve them in a wretched Schism on the account of things which they may lawfully submit to Do not they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men who forbid them to enter when they may Do not they impose heavy Burdens also and that NB. without Authority who say to their Disciples Hear not the Common-Prayer Receive not the Sacrament Kneeling Suffer not your Children to be signed with the Sign of the Cross Communicate not with that Minister who wears a Surplice or with that Church which imposeth any Ceremonies or Constitutions but concerning the Time and Place of performing Publick Worship If the good Shepherd should lay down his Life for the Sheep ought not they to lay down their unnecessary Scruples for their sakes If nothing doth so scandalize Christ's Followers as to find their Teachers at discord and divided can they act as becometh his Disciples who are not willing to procure Unity and Concord and to avoid this Scandal by their Submission to things indifferent in their own Nature and not forbidden in the Law of God Though it could be lawful for the Dissenter to refuse Obedience to the P. 149. things imposed yet if it be not absolutely his Duty so to do he cannot be excused for neglecting what is so expedient for the Peace Unity and Welfare of the Church Once more The great Rule of P. 187. Equity if duly weighed would mightily conduce unto the Satisfaction of Dissenters in many of their Scruples and let them see that in those matters which are not apparently forbidden by the clear Word of God they ought to yield Obedience to the Commands of their Superiours for do not they expect Obedience from their Children in like cases If as the Author of the Friendly Debate doth put the case you had Ibid. commanded your Children and Servants to come at ten of the clock into your Parlor to Family Devotions requiring them to come dressed and to kneel at their Devotions would you permit them to refuse to come at the Time and to the Place appointed because all Times and Places are indifferent to God or in the Garb appointed because God regards not Habits or to refuse to kneel because they may pray standing Would you not esteem them Contemners of your lawful Authority and needlesly and sinfully scrupulous in those matters And must you not by the same Rule be guilty of contemning the Lawful Authority of your Civil and Spiritual Fathers and of the Masters of Christ's Family by your Refusal to submit unto their Constitutions in Matters of like nature upon the like accounts I have done both the Reconciler and the Church Justice in the exhibiâ—ing these excellent Passages again to view And I must conclude that I have not any-where offended him who hath solemnly declared That there is nothing Pref. p. 3. in the World in which he shall more heartily rejoice than in a clear Conviction that in that Part of his Discourse which doth concern his ever honoured Superiours he hath been somewhat at least mistaken However it prove I have endeavoured and offered at it without Gall and Bitterness or any such Transports which are unbecoming a Loving and Dutiful Son in wiping off the