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book_n	church_n	doctrine_n	write_v	3,156	5	5.6690	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60455	A sermon preached in St. Saviour's Church in Dartmouth, July 24th. anno Dom. 1698 Together with some refections on the opinion of those, who affirm, that the only difference between the Church and the meeting-house, is that of a few ceremonies. In a letter to a friend. By Humfry Smith, M.A.	Smith, Humphry, b. 1654 or 5.	1698 (1698)	Wing S4086; ESTC R224030	30,983	72

Dissenters and therefore all the zeal that is pretended for it in opposition to them might very well be spar'd For the Dissenters are of the Church of England too They have the same faith and the same kind of worship the only difference being that of a few Ceremonies You may perhaps think it fit to let these Papers come into the hands of some who are pleas'd with this Notion and so will allow me to make some short Reflections upon it It will be granted I think that this Pretence will not hold with relation to all our Dissenters from the Establish'd Church Such as deny the Eternity of the Son of God and the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity Such as cast off the use of the two Holy Sacraments Such as despise the Rule of Scripture and are prepar'd for all the Extravagancies of Enthusiasm Such Dissenters as these surely must be thought to stand at a greater distance from us than that of a few Ceremonies As for the men too who are of more sober Principles it will not Universally hold that they preach no other Doctrine but that of the Church of England You have seen the private letters which several years ago I was oblig'd to write to a Preacher of some ●ame amongst the Presbyterians and Independents about some passages in one of his Printed Books together with his Mr. Fiavel's Fountain of Life opened answers And you very well Remember that tho● I was concern'd for such things as are own'd by Our Church Ceremonies were not at all the Subject of that Controverysy But supposing the Doctrine which is preach'd in the Conventicles to be always the very same with what is taught in the Churches the accord alas is not yet so great as is pretended There is still a considerable difference even that which is between such as obey those that have the Rule over them and such as do not that which is between such as preserve the Vnity of the Church and such as Schismatically divide from it And this the Ancient Fathers declare to be a very great difference yea as great as was between that part of the Congregation of Jsrael which adher'd to their Cyprian de unitate Eccles Oper. Ed Ox. p. 116. Chry●st ●om 3 p. 822. Ed. Savil. Leaders and the company of Corah who perished in his Gainsaying But if this be so great a difference may some say it is in the power of the Governours of the Church of England to remove it assoon as they please Let them but take away the causes of Separation and there will be an end of all discord We shall then according to the desire of St. Paul with one mind and one mouth glorify Rom. 15. ● 6. God even the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That is Let the Church who hath given no real ground of offence yield their cause and go and joyn with the offended and then the peace is made This indeed is a notable Expedient and it is pity that such a healing method had not been found out in former ages Here would have been a present remedy for the Novation Schism which disturb'd the peace of the Christian Church for so long a time It was but for the Catholicks to have gone over to them who forsook their Communion without sufficient reason and then the Union would have been reestablished Or in the Case before-mention'd it was but for Moses and Aaron to have parted with some of that Authority which was thought too much for them seeing all the Congregation were Holy Num. 16. 3. and that Ecclesiastial Sedition would have been presently ended Till our Dissenters shall be able to prove that their Separation from us was absolutely necessary which all their past attempts in order to it sufficiently assure us will be a very great difficulty for them that carnal thing as St. Paul 1 Cor. 3. ● Gal. 5. 20. account's it enters the very Constitution of their Religious Assemblies and makes them Essentially differ from such as are held in the Unity of Christ's Church But could some wonderful Art at length be found out to hea● their Schism notwithstanding their adherence to the Principles on which they made a very unnecessary division The difference between the Church and the Meeting-House would yet be manifestly greater than that of a few Ceremonies It cannot yet be forgoten that the Dissenters once violently seiz'd that which they now seem so willing to have freely deliver'd up to them the legal Establishment of our National Church Having open'd their way through the Greatest of it's Defenders down they threw it and set up themselves And when this was done had we still the same Church of England which we had before only abating a few Ceremonies Did the Enemies of the Reformation rejoyce in and the Friends of it lament no greater a change than that Certainly the Learned even at Geneva were of another Vide Epistol Jo. Diodati ad Theolog. Westmonast Opinion For when Diodati and the Other Ministers there were courted by the Assembly of Divines to approve the Proceedings in England their Answer was That now a Church was rent In pieces which was the Eye and Excellency of all the Churches Christ's own choice purchase and peculiar and that they perfectly trembled with ho●●our at the deformity which was brought on the most beautiful face of it It must certainly be no difficulty to shew that ●ven our moderate Dissenters disagree from the Church of England in matters of no small importance Yea that they have Express'd a huge dislike of some very considerable things in it Which are however Sufficiently Justified by the 〈◊〉 of other Reformed Churches by the Practice of the purest and most primitive times and which is above all by the Word of God it's self Lest any that favour the Separation should consider this as too Severe a Charge I will mention a few Particulars wherein I am confident it may at any time be fully made ou● Amongst these I am sure you will allow me to name Th● Government of the Church by Bishops You have 〈◊〉 with so much strength of Reason and such clear Evidence asserted that Government Making in so plainly appear to have a Sufficient Foundation in Holy Scripture and to have been of Constant and only Use in the Christian Church in all times and all Countries till the Presbyterian Discipline was first set up in a few places in the last Age that I believe A Treat of Ch. Government Pub. An. Dom. 1692. the most learned of the Adversaries will deliberate yet longer ere they will pretend to answer your Discourse on that Subject Indeed the Great Patrons of that Model which now by all means would Supplant Episcop●cy were abundantly sensible of the novelty of the thing And Disciplinam qualem habuit vetus Ecclesia nobis de esse neque nos di●●●temur Sed cujus erit aequitatis nos eversae disciplinae ab iis accusari qui

●am soli penitus Sustulerunt cum postlim●io reducere conaremur nobis hactenus obstiterunt Calvin in Epist ad Card. Sadol Quod Si nu●c Anglicanae Ecclesiae instaturat●●e Suorum Episcoporum Archi Episcoporum Auctoritate 〈◊〉 perstant Quemadmodum hoc illi nostra memoria contigit ut ejus Ordinis homines non tantum insignes Dei Martyres sed etiam Praestantissimos Pastores ac Doctores habuerit fruatur Sane ●sta Singulari Dei beneficientia qu●● 〈◊〉 ●it Illi perpetua Beza ad Tract de ministr Ev. grad ad Had. Sarav c. 18. instead of recommending it to others were ready at first to make Apologies for it themselves as an Expedient they were forced upon even against their own Inclination Being willing if it had been possible for them to retain what was justified by the unquestionable practice of the purest Ages Should any Society of Christians undertake to change the Observation of the Lord's-Day from the first to the third or fourth or any other of the Week the boldness of such an attempt would doubtless be very Severely censured unless the Men were able to plead that it was not matter of choice but the effect of some very great Necessity Now I verily believe that the presumption is in no sort less of wilfully throwing down Episcopacy to fill the Room of it with some new Contrivance Has the Lord's Day Sufficient Discimus quidem ex hoc loco non ●am fuisse tunc aequalitatem inter Ecclesiae Ministros quin u●us aliquis Autorirate consilio prae esset Calvin Com. in Tit 1. 5. Warrant from Holy Scripture so has that Form of Church-Government Is the one confirm'd by the undoubted Practice of the Catholick Church in all Ages so is the other also Indeed the mischief of Innovation appears to me much greater in the Case of Bishops than it could be in that of the Lord's-Day Were we obliged by some new Law to meet together upon another day of the week and not the first there would be only the change of a Circumstance of Worship which was of Divine Institution But should the Order of Bishops be Overthrown to make room for those Teachers who are so much offended at it there is too much Reason to conclude that somewhat essentially necessary at least to the well-being of the Church would then be wanting The Authority of them who were Ambassadors 〈◊〉 Christ and had the Ministery of Reconciliation hath been undoubtedly conveigh'd down by a Succession of Bishops in the Christian Church And putting aside that Succession I should be glad to learn a way how any Person can justly pretend a Commission to transact with the People the great Business of their Souls and speak to them in the Name of the Lord. Another thing which I shall not scruple to mention as a matter of importance wherein we differ from the Dissenters is an Excellent Liturgy We of the Church of England do publickly Worship God by the use of known Forms compil'd at first with much care and study by the Glorious Martyrs of our Reformation and abundantly approv'd since by the best the wisest and most learned Men Whereas on the other hand the Dissenters in their Meeting-Houses do only offer up unto the most High such a service as the Premeditation Or perhaps the present Invention of their several Preachers shall be able to furnish This certainly is a considerable difference and that the advantage is much on our side must needs be very plain to any unprejudiced Person Putting aside the regard we ought to have for the Authority and example of our Lord Christ who both taught and commanded his Mat. 6. 9. Ezke 11. 2. Disciples to make use of a Form when they pray'd Not considering the undoubted practice both of the Jewish and the Christian Church which is manifestly for us yea particularly the practice of those Churches a nearer resemblence to which some men express so great a value for calling them the best Reformed I say Omitting all these Considerations which would strongly conclude for a preference to Publick Forms above the Compositions or Ex-tempore-Effusions of private Persons I would venture to appeal in this matter to the Common Sense even of any Judicious Dissenters themselves who would but Seriously think upon it Such Persons cannot but say that the Liturgy of the Church of England was contriv'd by men of Considerable Abilities for such a work the fame of their great Learning and Sincerity being unquestionable in the World And can they who are so diligent to find out somewhat to Scruple at in this Liturgy imagine that every Preacher in a Conventicle is qualified to frame a better and more acceptable Service Yea can such Preachers be suppos●d able to do this anew once or twice every Week and that as many of them seem willing to have it understood without thinking before hand on the words they are to utter Were the Ex-tempore-Prayers of some of the most eminent for that faculty but put in Writing that so they might be duly Examin'd as some passages of that kind were not See Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence long since in a Neighbouring Kingdom It might perhaps then abundantly appear that they who are so fond of such performances have the least reason of any in the World to criticize on the Prayers of Our Church and censure the defects of them But a Liturgy may Some say would be a tolerable thing were it of a different Make from that of the Church of England Wherein several of those Forms are to be met with which are still of Use amongst the Papists And this now some People look upon as a terrible Objection against the Book of Common-Prayer Whereas You well know Sir that 't is rather a considerable Proof of it's Excellency We have in it the Lords Prayer the Apostles Creed the Gloria Patri Te Deum and some other Forms of Prayer Thanksgiving and Confession of Faith which the Romanists make Use of But then our agreement with them in these instances is because besides the Corruptions they have added they still retain many Things which are pure and primitive The business of those Excellent Men who framed our Liturgy was not to make a new Religion but to reform the Old Whence as a most learned Forreigner has observ'd Passim variae a va●iis Reformationis Autoribus conditae praescriptae ●unt S. Liturgiae formulae simplic●s purae in Germania Gallia Anglia Scotia Belgio c. quam minimum ●ieri 〈◊〉 ab antiquis formulis Primitivae Ecclesiae abscedentes Ludovicus Capellus Thes Salm. Th. de Li●●●g par 3. Th. 6. the first Authors of the Reformation not only in England but also in Germany France Scotland the Netherlands c. prescrib'd Forms of publick Prayer differing as little as possible from the Ancient Forms of the Primitive Church And indeed we begin every Day to be more and more convinced of the great Wisdom and