would not arietare as he doth against our Bishops themselves as well as the rest of the Clergy with his cornuted Arguments p. 2 3 9 10. But I humbly conceive this Practice of our Parochial Ministers to read what the Book prescribes of the Communion-Service in the Desk to be a kind of Prescription which say the Ecclesiastical Laws Tit. de Prescrip c. 1. is a certain Right congruous to the Time taking Force from the Authority of the Laws which hath not been interrupted except for a little space in some few Places which was attended with a great Concussion in the State The Practice did not cease but was only hindred a little by Force or the Male-Administration of a Power which came to be questioned Wherefore methinks the Practice which the Ministers of our Church have been and are generally in possession of not having been bonâ fide by any Legal Process and Judicial Determination interrupted being really for Edification should still obtain But this Master of the Ceremonies stands upon his Punctilio's and if every Diminutive Puncto be not precisely observed according to the novel Conceit his narrow Soul hath of the meaning of the Law which yet wise Men used to account Universal Practice a good Interpreter of he would peremptorily conclude the most grave and Orthodox Assembly not hitting his Cue tho in the Chappel-Royal would commence a Conventicle p. 7. Difficiles Nugae This 't is for a Lenten Lawyer to feed upon Mint Annise and Cummin and neglect the weightier Matters of the Law Out of meer pity to him I cannot but thwart his great-letter'd Aphorism with another in little Letters as significant viz. Minimum est curare minima The Earl of Clarendon's Saying to Cressy p. 137. may serve for an Exposition of it viz. They do equally mistake who believe that the Out-works of Religion must be equally with the same Passion guarded and preserved as the Walls themselves that no Form or Ceremony or Circumstance in Religion may not be alter'd or parted with more than the Faith it self But this invariable Lawyer in his Retirement will not permit his Diocesan to determine a doubtful Rubrick by a secundum usum p. 9. but will have all tied up to the Letter tho the Law it self in the Preface to the Book expects It should be allowed such just and favourable Instruction as in common Equity ought to be allowed to all Humane Writings And again there it saith Reading should be in such Order as is most easy and plain for the understanding both of Readers and Hearers And if Doubts arise about the Use and Practice concerning the Manner how to understand do and execute the Things contained in this Book the Discretion of the Bishop is to be regarded Who I have heard in the Diocess of London hath not now any more than his two immediate Predecessors when no Communion was blamed Reading of Communion-Service in the Desk for the Edification of the People but rather when they have been by several Ministers consulted in that particular case both at their Visitations and other Times when they have come to preach in their Churches on Holy-Days have ordered them to be read as they used to do when they were not there Perhaps thinking that good Advice which King James gave in little Matters to the Arch-Bishop of Spalato viz. That he should leave Things as he found them But this fervent Stickler is for his new Way which if Parish-Ministers will not walk in according to his guidance then they are Conventiclers and Nonconformists of the worser sort p. 7 8. If they will not walk to and fro betwixt the Desk and the Altar after his measures will not be chancell'd when they read Common-Prayer to the whole Congregation they must be censur'd for cancelling the Laws p. 13. Whatever any of them have to plead for their Practice he fancies he can easily answer their Pleas how rational soever by begging the Question and holding the Conclusion Those who yield that the Letter of the Rubrick may favour his Opinion yet with the allowance of their Superiors for Peace sake and Edification comply with the general Practice as comporting with the Spirit and End of the Law he reprimands as wilful Transgressors p. 4. And those who are persuaded that comparing one Rubrick with another and other Parts of the Law with the Canons as expressing the Sence of the Law-makers they have sufficient Warrant to abide in the Desk and so differ in Judgment from him he doth Dictator-like determine to be Conventiclers and Nonconformists of the worst complexion Whereas the former upon expence of Circumstances are not culpable and the latter stand upon the Justification of their Practice notwithstanding this Lawyer 's Opinion is against them For besides that the former may well conclude themselves faultless from what I have noted of Custom Usuage and Practice with the Import of the Statute about Conventicles which this Gentleman looked upon without Spectacles If they were wilful Transgressors there would have been some Law for their Punishments or the Bishops would have sharply remark'd them in their Visitations had they had a Warrant for it or something would have been proposed in the Convocation when sitting not to have suffered such Transgressors to have gone unpunished none of which do easily occur The latter have not only the Plea of the former which as a concurrent Evidence will much strengthen their Justification and Observation of the Law that ought to be expounded to the most benign and favourable Sence for the Benefit of those who are to be regulated by it but they have expresly 1. The Order That Morning as well as Evening-Prayer shall be used in the accustomed Place of the Church Chappel or Chancel and that they take to be the convenient Seat made for the Minister to read Service in Can. 82. For in the Preface to the Common-Prayer Book 't is asserted that as the Apostle teacheth All Things done in the Church ought to be referred to Edification pleasing God and profiting his People And the Compilers of the Book like not that which may more confound or darken than declare and set forth Christ's Benefits to us but signify further If Men declare themselves to be more studious of Unity and Concord than of Innovations which as much as may be with true setting forth of Christ's Religion are always to be eschewed they will mostly use such Orders as they think best to set forth God's Honour and Glory to the reducing of the People to a most perfect and godly Living without Error or Superstition But if the Minister without necessity pass from the Desk to the Altar at the East End of the Chancel from the Altar to the Pulpit thence back again this would more confound and be less for the Profit of all the People and make them jealous of that Superstition which the Papists have by the Protestants been charged with in such needless Motions Passes and Repasses according to
Parish-Churches No Conventicles From the Minister's reading in the Desk when there is no Communion FOR THE VINDICATION OF THE Practice of Parochial Ministers IN ANSWER to a late PAMPHLET stil'd Parish-Churches turn'd into Conventicles pretended to be written by Rich. Hart but really penn'd by Mr. T. A. Barister at Law Shewing how he hath defamed the Church of England contrary to Canon XI of those 1603. By O. V. in a Letter to his Friend N. D. both true Sons of the Church of ENGLAND 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. Hist Eecles lib. 5. cap. 23. LONDON Printed for John Gellibrand 1683. Reverend SIR HAVING notice the other Day from the Term-Catalogue of a Pamphlet called Parish-Churches turned into Conventicles Printed for Obadiah Blagrave I was desirous to know the Import of it at this Season when our Diocesan and I suppose yours in the Diocess of London with the rest of our Right-Reverend Fathers are by all amicable means labouring to bring Dissenters to the Communion of our Church Soon after I procured it and when I had it I could not but stand amazed for a while at the Contradictions implied in the Title-Page and the Bombastick Nonsence or canting Language in the first Period of the Book wherein the Author seems to account those Reverend Fathers to whom he directs his Discourse little better than inconsiderate Fools who think not of the Obligation of Humane Laws compar'd with pag. 3. ad finem Whereupon I was warm'd into a sollicitude to know who this doughty Writer was After a little Enquiry I was shortly informed by an ancient Gentleman of Essex that it was one Mr. T. A. a Barister at Law and by another that it was the very same that married a late Judge's Daughter and lives at G. B. in Essex who delivered it to the Book-seller for whom it was printed having the Name of Richard Hart for a Disguise and by a third who had good reason for what he affirmed that it had been a dozen Years in hatching I understand also that the Vicar of the Parish where he dwells is a very Orthodox conformable and peaceable Man and in good esteem with your Bishop my Lord of London and therefore can't suppose he hath given him any just provocation You who go often to London where I hear our Reverend Brethren are frequently emitting Persuasives to Communion with us in our Common-Prayers and all the Offices of Divine Service may do well by Letter or otherwise to find out what that same Minister of G. B. thinks of this late Lawyer and his bold Undertaking who would so confidently give Measures to all of us that we may better know the Design of these Sheets he hath addressed to us For since I was so inquisitive it hath been signified to me that he was fourteen or fifteen Years ago a profess'd Papist and that he now differs but in one Point from them viz. in that of the King's Supremacy if he do not equivocate therein That his own Uncle Dr. A. upon the Discovery of the Popish Plot went beyond Seas and he himself is still looking to Rome with which if any should write no Peace as Bishop Hall did it is verily thought it would much vex his Gizard For tho as a mighty Zealot he cries up our Statutes and Canons p. 3 4 9 c. and as I am ascertain'd hath for no less than twelve Years last past been a great Bustler in the Rituals and Circumstantials of Religion however to this Day he hath not learnt to have different Conceptions of Time and Place from Rites and Ceremonies so that no Ministers near him in the Country or of his Acquaintance in the City can be quiet without his Instruction and Guidance in their Offices presuming to tell his Reverend Fathers and all the World too what is Law and what is not yet his Business in this Scrip is contrary to the 11th Canon of those 1603 To affirm and maintain that there are within this Realm other Meetings Assemblies or Congregations of the King 's born Subjects than such as by the Laws of this Land are held and allowed which may rightly challenge to themselves the Name of true and lawful Churches He acknowledges our Parish-Churches to be true Churches yet arraigns them for Conventicles But the best of it is we who really officiate according to the Liturgy and Practice of our Church need not fear to traverse the Action of Defamation which this poor Lawyer doth prosecute us upon no more than he doth dread an Excommunication for his Contra-Canonical Charge for he will not be able with all the Law he makes shew of to prevail with any one Justice of the Peace to convict any one of us for Twenty Pounds a Holy-Day for preaching at a Conventicle whiles we do conscienciously in our reading of Prayers observe the Usage and Practice of our Church but will indeed be laugh'd at by those of the Long-Robe for playing the Tom-Fool again in a Gown by which he could never get his Bread having it seems left it off in despair of having his wise Counsel accepted Belike he would at the Sessions or Assizes when his mimy Face should appear with Gravity and Laughter at the same instant but make the Bench merry just as the Title of his Pamphlet doth considerate Readers when by the Practice of the Parish-Churches he would prove that they serve God contrary to their Practice c. Alas poor Lawyer being dash'd out of countenance he would disrobe himself again become an Appendant to the obsequious Family of Ignatius Loyola and turn a Puny Prophet as they do of what they are plotting to effect giving us already a taste of that Office when for a meer Non-observance of his Locality he predicts they will in a short time become triumphant over our Church p. 2. and over our Church-Doors we must write in Capital Letters what he doth in the Roman or Latin Style p. 16. Because the Priesthood among us fell within it could not stand without and there will be an End of the Church of England Which there might be some kind of pretence for if our Church which yet he somewhat reckons Apostolical had no better Foundation as he would suggest pag. 2. than that of the Apostatical Popish Church in laying claim to a Power of enjoining what God never commanded But our Church stands not on such a sandy Foundation as this wavering Prophet doth imagine And tho I perceive upon certain Report that he pretends to be a Perfectionist in his Practice conformable to our Liturgy and Canons yet those who have strictly observed his Steps have found he is not faultless in his Conformity to the Laws of God and his King and one of us might say to him in the Words of St. Paul Rom. 2. 1 3 21 23. Therefore thou art inexcusable O Man whoever thou art that judgest For wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest dost the same Things But thinkest thou
this O Man that judgest them that do such Things and dost the same that thou shalt escape the Judgment of God Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God For it seems he is remarkably obnoxious for his Irreverence at the Minister's Prayer and Sermon which in one of our Statutes whether he knows it or no is call'd Divine Service by reading some Book of his own yet neither the Bible nor Service-Book all the time contrary to Primo Eliz. wherein he is required to abide orderly not only during the Time of Common-Prayer but Preaching or other Service of God there to be used or ministred and contrary to the 18th Canon wherein he is required not to disturb the Service or Sermon by walking or talking or any other way nor depart out of the Church during the Time of Service and Sermon without some urgent or reasonable cause Yet this as well as the former he hath often done as several Gentlemen have noted who have occasionally been there hearing his own Minister a Man they say without all Exceptions in every respect Further he is tax'd for being a Hinderer of the Word of God to be sincerely preached a Defender of Popish and Erroneous Doctrine against the 110th Canon which describes such as Schismaticks And indeed this Roman AEmylius doth so flirt at our Sermons p. 17. that it is easy to give credit to this part of his Character Having thus discover'd this daring Author and his Design at least that of his Pamphlet because he doth in some Pages of it charge us and the Generality even Thousands of our Brethren whom yet he calls Reverend Fathers with no small Offence before God i. e. he saith with very great Sin p. 4. particularly A playing fast and loose with God Almighty and putting Tricks upon our Mother the Church of England cheating of her and with great perfidiousness yea with being Sacrilegists p. 3. worse than the worst of Conventiclers p. 7. blinder than the Presbyterians p. 17. Such Offenders against the common Orders of the Church hurt the Magistrates Authority and wound the Consciences of weak Brethren like himself p. 5. To say no more of that which he accounts the Nakedness of his Reverend Fathers and yet lays it open I shall take occasion to divert you with some Strictures here and there on his other Pages that we may plainly see the Illogicalness of his Arguing to convict us of these heinous Crimes he doth reproach us with To prove his great Assertion That Parish-Churches are turned into Conventicles by reading the Communion-Service or any part thereof in the Desk he doth p. 7. alledg the Definition of a Conventicle or that which by the Statute doth constitute a Conventicle But the Logicians will tell this Well-wisher to Syllogisms before he comes to Argumentation that every Definition must reciprocate with the Thing defin'd Wherefore if the statutable Definition of a Conventicle doth not agree to the Exercise of Religion in our Parish-Churches this Logicaster will be baffled and found after all his Travel upon this Errand in a Condition worse than Balaam's Asse p. 3. For A Conventicle is a Meeting of above four Persons besides those of the same House for any Exercise of Religion in other manner than according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England 22 Car. 2. But the general Exercise of Religion in our Parish-Churches is not in any other manner than according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England when the Minister doth read the Communion-Service so far as is appointed in the Desk when there is no Communion because it is and hath been since the Reformation the general Practice of our Church And tho this quick-sighted Zealot for a Station at the Altar could not see it where he discourses of what constitutes a Conventicle yet he owns it as a Custom in the same Page where he blunders fearfully in denying and asserting contradicting himself being proper to him Place and Number to be needful to make a Conventicle For if it be a Custom according to him then it is a Usuage and in this case Custom Use and Practice are greatly to be regarded by reason Practice in the Statute is industriously brought in to note that an Opposition to it is of the Essence of a Conventicle so that where there is an Observation of the Practice of the Church of England in her Common-Prayers there is not a Conventicle And therefore this Accuser of us did not wisely in describing a Conventicle to put in the exceptive or restrictive only to the Observation of the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book and Canons p. 7. for he might have easily learn'd from the Book called Reformatio Legum Eccles Tit. de consuet c. 1. That Custom Use and Practice are ever allowed and here in this case as part of the Rule when neither against Reason or an express Law and where a Law is not clear in a Circumstance as after we shall see this Writer can here produce nothing positive that is explicite especially of a particular Place Custom is accounted a good Interpreter of the Law For our Ecclesiastical Laws affirm That Custom is a certain Jus or Right instituted by Manners or Practice which is taken for the Law when the Law is deficient or not sufficiently explicit Or it is a certain Right by the Manners or Uses of the whole People or of the greatest Part of them begun by Reason continued and setled having the Authority of a Law For of that which is not written plainly the Right comes which Use hath approved for daily Manners allowed by the consent of the Users to imitate the Law when the Customs are not repugnant to the Word of God or the Edification of the Church say they Can. 4. But methinks this Gentleman never regards that however our Law-makers were so careful before they past the Law against Seditious Conventicles to put in the Word Practice as part of the Definition that they might exempt Sermons the Ministers Prayers before and after Sermon Singing of the Psalms c. Usuages of our Church So that when the Bill came up from the Commons without the Word Practice or Usuage the then Lord Treasurer the Earl of Southampton at a Conference of both Houses about it told Sir Job Charlton If that Word Practice or Usuage were not in he should every day there being more than four Strangers at his Table have a Conventicle in his House when his Chaplain said Grace before and after Meat for which there was no Form in the Liturgy Sir Job then being so hard put to it told his Lordship That he might desire all but four of his Strangers to take a turn in his Garden Which occasioned Laughter by all those present of both Houses and so the Word Practice was put in which this feeble Denominator of Conventicles hath not well weighed or else he
sure if the People be not edified the great Canon of the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 26 must be evacuated and Dr. Beveridg's learned Sermon thereon be of no signification But this Magisterial Lawyer who would correct Magnificat conceiting the Church commands to go up to the Altar when there is no Communion but can see none for ascending the Pulpit p. 17. If he would but open his Eyes he might see an express positive Precept for the Sermon then or one of the Homilies tho none such for going up to the Altar on a Non-Communion Day However he is miserably out in his Law when he tells his Reverend Fathers that this part of the Liturgy gives sole Authority to their Sermons p. 17. whereas they legally receive Authority from the Bishop empower'd by this same Statute to preach the Word before they can as Priests read the Communion-Service at the Table And when they enter upon Livings to reside there being allowed to be Preachers by whom the Bishops No but according to his Opinion by reading the Communion-Service at the Communion-Table when there is no Communion and obliged also by that which he before profess'd to own for Law viz. Can. 45. to preach one Sermon every Sunday in the Year the Bishop at their Institution having committed to them the Care of Souls It seems this Lawyer 's Zeal doth not spend it self in that Care because he writes of Sermons with so much contempt And yet one acquainted with him might demand of him according to his Hypothesis whether reading Communion-Service in a Parish-Church or Chappel on Sundays and Holy-days to above four the standing at the Communion-Table when there is no Communion if there be no Sermon or Homily were that a Conventicle yea or no If yea that would be strange News and must the Parochial Ministers be bound to preach or homilize every Holy-Day tho not above five or six in the Church How then comes this Director with his Ironies to depreciate Sermons as he doth p. 17. Or would he account the Prayer read at the Altar as he contends having not the whole viz. the Sermon prescribed in the Book to be the Sacrifice of Fools p. 3. If no according to him there may in some Cases be an Omission of a Thing enjoined in the Rubrick and yet no Conventicle much more the Non-observance of that Circumstance of Place when there is no Communion that the Reason of the Thing doth not require it and yet no Conventicle against the Intendment of his Pamphlet Whereupon it may be further noted That if his Argument he labours in had any thing of weight in it for such a strict Observation of Place and Station then laying stress on the Rubrick for the Sermon and Homily in the Directions about the Communion-Service which shew every of these is to be performed should be preach'd or read at the Communion-Table the Lawyer 's Argument would have more in it than he thought of or would have But the greatest Emphasis of all he hath to say lies in that 't is said Then the Priest shall return to the Lord's Table it seems it is not going up to the Altar which yet in the same Page he says the Church commands but cannot produce her express Warrant unless he relating to the Church of Rome had the Rubricks in the Roman Missal or Breviary running in his Mind viz. Reversis Ministris de Pulpito ad Altare and Sacerdos revertat se ad Altare ad Divinum Officium exequendum But that respects the Communion-Time when the Table is covered with a fair Linnen Cloth and then may likely import no more than turning to the Table after the reading of the Creed whilst the Alms for the Poor are collected And we know the Timing of Things to be read is not always according to the precise Order of the placing the Rubrick in the Book For the Exhortations to be read antecedent to the Communion are to follow immediately after the Sermon or Homily and seem most proper to be read there where the Sermon is by the Ordinary appointed to be preached And upon this occasion it may be noted that the Import of the Prayer for the whole Estate of Christ's Church Militant looking at the Petitions of it seems likely to be originally composed chiefly only for those who could read Homilies or were not able to compose a Prayer for themselves before the Sermon or Homily however as to its place in the Rubrick it be post-pon'd for therein you know we pray Give Grace O heavenly Father to all Bishops and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word and rightly and duly administer thine holy Sacraments And to all thy People give thy heavenly Grace and especially to this Congregation here present that with meek Heart and due Reverence they may hear and receive thy Holy Word truly serving thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of their Life Whereas this Lawyer saith p. 17. All the Rubricks belong to the Communion-Service when there is no Communion as well as when there is one Which taking the Rubricks universally for all and every of them implies a Contradiction a usual Thing in his Pamphlet I know of none that doth strictly appoint the Place when there is no Communion it being presupposed from the Reason of the Thing but one of the last is chiefly to be regarded which respects the Thing and Time viz. Morning-Service and appoints so much of the Matter then to be read not naming where but implying there where the Minister is reading the Morning-Service unto which such a part of the Communion-Service is appendag'd for further Edification of all the People And how fond soever this Writer is of having the Priest enjoined to stand at the North-side of the Communion-Table when there is no Communion with all his Strains of unanswerable Arguments in his own conceit he hath not prov'd it to be the Intention of our Church Tho to prove what he would have and to overthrow the Pleas against it he hath made a fearful Spluttering with his Ergo's as a Disputant able to baffle as he imagines all Opponents who he presumes dare not stand seeing him come blustering and hearing him say like Cleveland of the quondam Arch-Bishop of York Now my young Sophister what think'st of this Chimaera 's real Ergo falleris For it may be demanded of this eager Disputant who contends so much for the Ministers standing to read on the North-side of the Altar when 't is said his own Adoration is towards the East How at an Oblong Table plac'd Altar-wise close up to the East Wall of the Chancel the Minister can be said to stand on the North-side of the Table when indeed it is but at the North-End where it may be the Table being narrow he hath scarce Elbow-Room with his broad Book yet that was carefully provided for in the Scotch Book Which I hear so gravell'd a great Doctor