work in comparison of Church-government Take heed of engaging your selves in a Sect or Faction a narrow Sectarian separating mind will make all the Truths of God give place to the opinions of his Party and measure the prosperity of the Gospel by the prosperity of his Party he will not stick to persecute all the rest of the Church of Christ if the interest of his Sect require it Overvalue not any private or singular opinions of your own or others for if once spiritual Pride and Ignorance of your own weakness make you espouse particular opinions as peculiarly your own you will think your conceits more illuminating and necessary than they are as if Mens sincerity lay in the imbracing of them and their Salvation on the receiving of them and think all that are against your Opinion deserve to be cast out as Enemies to Reformation and perhaps Twenty Years after experience may bring you to your wits and make you see the falshood or smalness of all those points which you made so great a matter of and then what comfort will you have of your persecutions O the deceitfulness of the heart of Man Little do the many real Separatists who cry out against Persecution suspect that the same spirit is in them Whence is Persecution but from thinking ill of others and abhorring or not loving them and do not you do so by those whom you causlesly separate from It is one and the same sin in the Persecutor and Divider or Separatist which causeth the one to smite their Brethren and the other to excommunicate them the one to cast them into Prison as Schismaticks and the other to cast them out of the Church as profane the one to account them intolerable in the Land and the other to account them intolerable in the Church the inward thoughts of both are the same that those whom they smite or separate from are bad and unlovely and unfit for better usage But I have observed that Professors of Religion did oppose and deride almost all that Worship of God out of pretended Conscience which others did out of profaneness Saints Rest part 1. c. 7. Sect. 14. It was none of the old cause that the People should have liberty and the Magistrate should have no power in all matters of God's Worship Faith and Conscience And as it is not the old cause so it is not the good cause For first It contradicteth the express revelation of the Will of God in the Holy Scripture Moses as a Magistrate had to do in matters of Religion and so had the Kings of Israel and Judah Law and Providence are both quite changed if Toleration of false Worship and other abuses of Religion tend not to the ruine of the Common-wealth If Magistrates must give liberty for all to propagate a false Religion then so must Parents and Masters also which would be a Crime so horrid in the Nature and Effects of it as I am loth to name with its proper titles The Magistrates will quickly find that the distractions of the Church will breed and feed such distractions in the Common-wealth as may make them wish they had quenched the fire while it was yet quenchable Our unity is not only our strength but their strength and the fire that begun in the Church may if let alone reach the Court. Pag. 423. of his 5 Disputations He lays down this as the summ of what he had said That Man may determine of Modes and Circumstances of Worship necessary and commanded in genere but not determined by God in specie Sect. 65. and then infers Sect. 67. If the mischoosing of such circumstances by Church governors be but an inconvenience and do not destroy the Ordinance it self or frustrate the ends of it we are to obey 1. For he is the Judge in his own work and not we 2. The thing is not sinful though inconvenient 3. Obedience is commanded to our lawful Governors Sect. 70. And when we do obey in a case of miscommanding it is not a doing evil that good may come of it as some do misconceive but it is only a submitting to that which is ill-commanded but not evil in him that doth submit It is the determiner that is the cause of the inconvenience and not the obeyer Nor is it inconvenient for me to obey though it be worse perhaps to him that commandeth while he sinneth in commanding he may make it my duty to obey Pag. 461. Sect. 6. The reasons of this are obvious and clear even because it is the Office of the Governors to determine of such Circumstances It is the Pastor's Office to guide and oversee the Flock and when he determineth these he is but in his own way and doth but his own work and therefore he is therein the Judge if the case be controvertible If none shall obey a Magistrate or Pastor in the works of their own Office as long as they think he did them not the best way all Governours then would be presently overthrown and obedience denyed We are sure that God hath commanded us to obey them that are over us in the Lord 1 Thes 5. 12. Heb. 13. 7. 17 c. And therefore a certain duty may not be forborn on uncertain conjectures or upon every miscarriage of them that we owe it to This would un-church all Churches as they are Political Societies for if Pastors be taken down and the work of Pastors the Church is taken down Sect. 7. And the things in which the Pastor is now supposed to err are not of themselves unlawful but only by such an accident as being over-weighed by another accident shall cease to make them unlawful For instance p. 461. Sect. 4. If of two Translations of Scripture or two Versions of the Psalms the Pastor use the worser so it be tolerable we must obey And Sect. 7. If the Pastor appoint a more imperfect Version of the Psalms to be sung in the Church as is commonly used in England the obeying of him in the use of this will not bring so much hurt to the Church as the disobeying on that account would do For besides the sin of disobedience it self the Church would be in a confusion if they forsake his conduct that preserves the Union and some will be for this and some for that and so the Worship it self will be overthrown And let it still be remembred that we allow both Magistrates and Pastors to see to the execution of God's Laws and to determine of circumstances in order thereto that are necessary in genere p. 482. Sect. 35. but not determined of God in specie p. 422. Sect. 65. It may be very sinful to command some Ceremonies which may lawfully yea must in duty be used by the Subject when they are commanded p. 398. Certain things commonly called Ceremonies may lawfully be used in the Church upon humane imposition and when it is not against the Law of God no Person should disobey the Laws of their lawful Governors in such things If there should be any Pastors of the Churches who instead of concurring to heal the Flock of these dividing Principles shall rather joyn with backbiters and incourage them in their misreports and slanders because it tends to the supposed interest of their party or themselves Let them prepare to Answer such unfaithfulness to their Consciences which will be shortly awakened And to the great Shepherd of the Flock who is at the door and who told even the Devils Agents that A House or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but is brought to nought For farther Satisfaction I refer the Reader to Mr. Baxter's Case of Separation in the Appendix to his Life p. 67 to p. 80. where he thus concludes More may be seen in Mr. Nye's Book for hearing the Parish Preachers and in Mr. Tomb's who wrote against Infant Baptism vindicating the lawfulness and duty of joyning in ordinary Communion in Word Prayer and Sacrament with the Parish Churches FINIS In the 3d. Part of his Life p. 169. Preface to 5. Disput p. 6. Defence of Principles of Love p. 64. Preface to Christian Direct ad finem Epistle Dedicatory to Saints Rest Saints Rest p. 551. p. 666. P. 55. P. 57. P. 12 13. Defense p. 89. Christian Directory p. 747. See Christ Direct p. 606. Christ Direct p. 902 P. 807. P. 810. Ibid. P. 812. P. 814. 1st Edit P. 815. P. 856. P. 857. P. 857 P. 〈◊〉 P. 859. P. 882. P. 882. P. 896. P. 901. Christian Directory P. 179. 2d Edit P. 902. P. 915. Five Disp P. 361. P. 401. P. 409. P. 411. P. 412. Christ Direct p. 884 Five Disp P. 412. P. 416. P. 117. See Christ Direct P. 885. P. 418. Confirmation p. 207 220 230. Christ Direct p. 916. Christ Direct p. 49. Christian Directory p. 616. 1st Edit Christ Direct p. 137. 2d Edit Five Disp P. 411. Defense P. 177. Christ Direct p. 607. Christ Direct p. 48. P. 49. Baxter of Confirmation p. 3. Dispute the 4th of Church Government P. 358. P. 359. See Christ Direct P. 874. P. 361. P. 364. Christ Direct p. 748. See Christ Direct p. 848. Defence p. 38. P. 176. P. 54. Cure of Divisions P. 200. P. 174. P. 179. P. 185. Five Disp p. 363. Sacrileg Deserting P. 103. P. 101 102. Baxter against Cramdon p. 83. Cure of Divis p. 393. Saints Rest P. 519. Church Government P. 131. 5. Disput Preface p. 4. Five Disp p. 20. P. 352. Sigonius de Repub. Heb. l. 2. c. 8. * Mr. Baxter Defense P. 65. Christ Direct p. 916. Cure of Divis p. 80. Defence p. 36. Sacrilegious deserting p. 92. Saints Rest P. 518. Preface to Confess Defence p. 17. Epistle to separate Congregagations Defence p. 50. Answ to Exceptions p. 170. Defence P. 68. Defence p. 21. P. 52. Key for Catholicks Baxter's Holy Commonwealth Epistle to separate Congregagations Christ Direct p. 733. Cure of Divisions P. 359. Defence p. 3. Cure of Divis p. 77. p. 282. P. 288. P. 290. P. 292. Christ Direct p. 66. Part. 3. Preface to Cure of Divisions Curâ—… p. 152. P. 24. P. 〈◊〉 P. 188. P. 22. Preface to Confess Christ Direct p. 734. Christian Directory P. 854. p. 36. part the 4th Baxter of Confirmation P. 293. Christ Direct part 4. p. 73. Cure of Divis p. 254. P. 261. Holy Commonwealth Eddit to Pres Prop. Of Confir P. 309. Cure of Divisions P. 253.
Mr. RICHARD BAXTER's LAST LEGACY IN SELECT ADMONITIONS AND DIRECTIONS TO ALL Sober Dissenters To whom Being dead he yet speaketh LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationer's Hall 1697. THE PREFACE TO DISSENTERS THE Instructions here recommended as Mr. Baxter's Legacy were collected out of his own genuine Writings and perused by him in his Life-time and being much for his Reputation with all sober Persons he seemed well pleased with them notwithstanding much obloquy and reproach from divers Dissenters for in the Preface to his Christian Directory he says It was objected that his Writings differing from the common Judgment had already caused offence to the Godly to which he answers If God bless me with opportunity and help I will offend such Men much more by endeavouring farther than ever I have done the quenching of that Fire which they are still blowing up and detecting the Folly and Mischief of those Logomachies by which they militate against Love and Concord and inflame and tear the Church of God And in his Second Admonition to Bagshaw he stiles himself a Long-maligned and resisted endeavourer of the Churches Vnity and Peace and in p. 11. of that Book he thus declares his Christian temper and resolution If Injuries or Interest would excuse any Sin I think their are few Ministers in England who have more inducement to the angry separating way than I have But shall I therefore wrong the Truth God forbid and p. 52. He further tells Bagshaw I repent that I no more discouraged the Spirit of peevish quarrelling with Superiours and Church Orders and though I ever disliked it and opposed it yet that I sometimes did too much encourage such as were of their temper by speaking too sharply against those things which I thought to be Church Corruptions and was too loth to displease the Contentious for fear of being uncapable to do them good meeting with too few Religious Persons that were not too much pleased with such invectives and when Mr. Bagshaw objected that he chose to communicate on Easter-day in a very populous Church purposely that it might be known he answered p. 76. If a Man by many years forbearing all publick Prayers and Sacraments should tempt others to think that he is against them or counts them needless How should he cure that Scandal but by doing that openly and pleading for it which he is supposed to be against Ministers being bound to teach the People by Example as well as Doctrine The Question which he maintained against Mr. Bagshaw was Is it lawful to hold communion with such Christian Churches as have worthy or tollerable Pastors notwithstanding the Parochial order of the Ministers Conformity and use of the Common prayer-Prayer-Book And concludes p. 89. That we ought to do so when some special Reasons as from Authority Scandal c. do require it He saith I wrote a Book at the end of my Cain and Abel on purpose to shew the lawfulness of communicating with the Church of England but before it was printed Dr. Owen having heard of it sent me 12 Arguments against joyning with the Church of England which I answered whereupon a swarm of Revilers poured out their keenest Censures upon me one said I was an Apostate another said that my Treatise of Episcopacy fully proved the duty of Separation and I were reported to be a pleader for Baal and Anti-christ in Answer to all which I published a Treatise in defence of Catholick Communion to which I refer you I will tell the World a certain Truth I Preach I Write I frequently and openly talk against Separation and for the lawfulness of joyning with the Church in the use of the Liturgy and to rebuke Mens extreams and censures of the Episcopal Clergy and for an impartial Love of all true Christians I sharply reprove the weak Reasonings of those that are otherwise minded and by this I occasion the true Sectarians every where to speak against me Apol. p. 62. I take it for a duty to Preach against Schism Sedition and Rebellion and all Principles that tend to breed or feed them and to use all Opportunities and Interest in the People to promote their Loyalty and Publick Peace p. 18 19. I did not vary from my most early Opinion concerning these things for in my Epistle to the Saints Rest I gave the same Admonition to my Flock at Kidderminister in these words I charge you in Christ's name as you will answer it when we shall meet at Judgment that you faithfully and constantly practise these Directions Above all see that ye be followers of Peace and Vnity in the Church and among your selves I differ from many in several things of considerable moment yet if I should zealously press my judgment on others so as to disturb the Peace of the Church and separate from my Brethren I should fear least I should prove a Firebrand in Hell for being a Firebrand in the Church And for all the interest I have in your Judgments and Affections I charge you that if God should give me up to any Factious Church-rendring course that you forsake me and follow me not a step believe not those to be Friends of the Church who would cure her by cutting her Throat Vpon writing my Cure of Church Divisions Mr. Bagshaw p. 152. Published other Invectives against me as that one worthy of credit told him that the Learned and Judicious Mr. Herle having read that Book said That it had been better for the Church of God if Mr. Baxter's Friends had never sent him to School and that Mr. Cawdry had a like opinion of that Book and that another Person as knowing in the Mystery of Godliness as either of them told a Friend of his that notwithstanding the noise about Mr. Baxter he would end in Flesh and Blood But Mr. Baxter was well fortified against these obloquies having been surfeited as he says with humane Applause But notwithstanding all these Clamours and vexatious Troubles Mr. Baxter kept a constant course pleading for Concord and Vnity almost in every Book which he set forth and that with such cogent Arguments as the like are scarce to be found on any other Subject which he hath written upon as from the following Admonitions collected out of a few of his many Treatises will appear to the Judicious Reader and many more may be observed in those that are conversant in his Writings wherein although some things accidentally written may seem to be contradictory yet as he told Mr. L'Estrange he was well able to reconcile them And by his distinctions he hath reconciled many seeming Contradictions by help whereof as Mr. Silvester observed in the Preface to his Life as he could speak what he would so he could prove what he spake I am well perswaded that by the following Collections any impartial Separatist may find sufficient Arguments to resolve all his Scruples and Objections against Conformity to the Established Worship for which end they are
People commanded to do that which all should do lest it should be wholly left undone If all the Congregation will speak all that the Clerk doth it will answer the primary desire of the Church Governors who bid the People do it Of Bowing at the Name Jesus And of Priests Altars c. Q. 86. Is it lawful to bow at the name of Jesus Answ That we may lawfully express our reverence when the names God Jehovah Jesus Christ c. are uttered I have met with few Christians who deny nor know I any reason to deny it If I live and joyn in a Church where it is commanded and peremptorily urged to bow at the Name of Jesus and where my not doing it would be divisive Scandalous or offensive I will bow at the Name of God Jehovah Jesus Christ Lord c. My judgment of standing at the Gospel and kneeling at the Decalogue when it is commanded is the same Q. 122. May the name Priests Sacrifice and Altars be lawfully used Answ The New Testament useth all the Greek names which we Translate Priests Sacrifice and Altars and our Translation is not intolerable if Priest come from Presbyter I need not prove that if it do not yet all Ministers are Subordinate to Christ in his Priestly Office And the word Sacrifice is used of us and our offered Worship 1 Pet. 2. 5. Heb. 13. 15 16. Phil. 4. 18. Eph. 5. 2. Rom. 12. 1. and Heb. 13. 10. saith we have an Altar which word is frequently used in the Revelations in relation to Gospel times We must not therefore be quarrelsome against the bare names unless they be abused to some ill use The Ancient Fathers and Churches did ever use all these words so familiarly without any Question oa Scruple raised by the Orthodox or Hereticks about them that we should be wary how we condemn these words lest we give advantage to the Papists to tell their Followers that all Antiquity is on their side The Lord's Supper is by Protestants truly called a Commemorative Sacrifice Of the Communion-Table c. Q. 123. May the Communion Tables be turned Altarwise and railed in and is it lawful to come up to the Rails to Communicate Answ 1. God hath not given a particular command or prohibition about these Circumstances but only general rules for Edification Unity Decency and Order 2. They that do it out of a design to draw Men to Popery or to incourage Men in it do sin 3. So do they that rail in the Table to signifie that Lay-Christians must not come to it but be kept at a distance 4. But where there are no such ends but only to imitate the Ancients that did thus and to shew reverence to the Table on the account of the Sacrament by keeping away Dogs keeping Boys from sitting on it and the professed Doctrine of the Church condemneth Transubstantiation the real Corporal-presence c. in this case Christians should take these for such as they are indifferent things and not censure or condemn each other for them 5. And to communicate is not only lawful in this case where we cannot prove that the Minister sinneth but even when we suspect an ill design in him which we cannot prove yea or when we can prove that his personal interpretation of the Place Name Scituation and Rail is unsound for we Assemble there to Communicate in and according to the professed Doctrine of Christianity and the Churches and our own open profession and not after every private Opinion and Error of the Minister Whether we shall receive the Lord's Supper at a Table or in our Seats Whether the Table shall be of Wood or Stone Round or Long or Square Whether it shall stand on the East or West side of the Temple or in the middle Whether it shall have Rails or no Rails All these are left to Humane Prudence As for standing at the reading of the Gospel Page 148. he says If I live where Rulers peremtorily command it as a signified consent to the Gospel I would obey them rather than give offence And for kneeling when the Decalogue is read That the thing it self is lawful is past doubt and if it be commanded and the omission would be offensive I would use it though mistaken Persons were present because I cannot disobey nor differ from the whole Assembly without a greater hurt and scandal than seeming to harden the mistaking Person and because I could and would by other means remove that Persons danger as from me by making him know that it is no Prayer And the rather because in our times the Minister may in the Pulpit tell the People the contrary We must not lightly differ from the Churches where we live in such things I like best to kneel in Prayer and Confession of Sins To stand up in Praises to God at Singing and Reading Psalms of Praise and other Hymns to set at Hearing the Word because the body hath necessity of some rest Of the Creed Q. 139. What is the Use and Authority of the Creed Is it of the Apostle framing or not Answ It s use is to be a plain explication of the Faith professed in the Baptismal Covenant And for the satisfation of the Church that Men indeed understand what they did in Baptism and professed to believe 2. It is the Word of God as to the matter of it whatever it be as to the order or Composition of the Words 3. It is not to be doubted but the Apostles did use a Creed commonly in their days which was the same with that now called the Apostles and the Nicene in the main 4. And it is easily probable that Christ composed a Creed when he made his Covenant and instituted Baptism Matth. 28. 19. 5. That the Apostles did cause the baptizable to understand the Three Articles of Christ's own Creed and Covenant and used many explicatory words to make them understand it 6. It is more than probable that the matter opened by them was still the same when the words were not the same 7. And it is also more than probable that they did not needlesly vary the words lest it should teach Men to vary the matter And Lastly No doubt but this practice of the Apostles was imitated by the Churches and that thus the Essentials of Religion were by the Tradition of the Creed and Baptism delivered by themselves as far as Christianity went long before any Book of the New Testament was written And the following Churches using the same Creed might so far well call it the Apostles Creed Of the Apocrypha Q. 150. Is it lawful to read the Apocrypha or Homilies Answ It is lawful so be it they be sound Doctrine and fitted to the Peoples Edification 2. So be it they be not read scandalously without sufficient differencing them from God's Book 3. So they be not read to exclude or hinder the reading of the Scripture or other necessary Church duty 4. So they
tenderest of their Unity and Peace Own the best as best but none as a divided Sect espouse not their dividing interest confine not your especial love to a Party but extend it to all the Members of Christ Deny not local Communion when there is occasion for it to any Church that hath the Substance of True Worship and forceth you not to sin Love them as true Christians and Churches even when they drive you from their Communion I have found that Reformation is to be accomplished more by restoration of Ordinances and Administrations to their Primitive Nature and Use than by utter abolition Mr. Bagshaw objected to Mr. Baxter that he chose to communicate in a very populous Church upon Easter-day purposely that it might be known To this Mr. Baxter Answers p. 76. If a Man by many Years forbearing all Publick Prayer and Sacraments should tempt others to think that he is against them or thinks them needless How should he cure that Scandal but by doing that openly pleading for it which he is supposed to be against Ministers being bound to teach by Example as well as Doctrine Of the Liturgy § 1. Mr. Baxter in the 2d page of his exceptions against the Liturgy urged an Objection of Mr. Hales in these Words To load our Publick Forms with Private Fancies on which we differ is the most soveraign way to perpetuate Schism See also p. 48. The Bishops gave this Answer to the Objection We heartily desire that according to this Proposal great care may be taken to suppress private Conceptions of Prayer lest private Opinions be made matter of Prayer as it hath and will be if private Persons take liberty to make publick Prayers To this I agreed p. 201. Cure of Divisions in these words Every Separatist Anabaptist Antinomian doth too willingly put his Errors into his Prayers The Sense of which Mr. Bagshaw thus expounds p. 7. Of his Antidote by mentioning of Separatists as a distinct body of Men from the Antinomian Anabaptists c. It is evident he can mean no other but his Presbyterian and Congregational-Brethren § 2. That which God prescribed is lawful but God prescribed Forms of Prayer as the Titles and Matter of many of the Psalms prove which were daily used in the Jews Synagogues Christ Direct 2d Edit p. 139. Q. 74. Is it lawful to impose Forms on the Congregation in publick Worship Answ Yes and more than lawful It is the Pastors duty so to do for whether he forethink what to pray or not his Prayer is to them a Form of Words and they are bound to concur with him in Spirit or Desire and to say Amen So that every Minister by Office is daily to impose a Form of Prayer on all the People only some Men impose the same Form many times over or every day and others impose every day a new one pag. 140. Ibid. Pag. 142 143. Mr. Baxter shews the conveniencies and inconveniencies both of see and prescribed Prayers and adds My own judgment is that somewhat of both ways joyned together will best obviate the inconveniencies of both though by this I cross the conceits of prejudiced Men on both extremes I think I cross not the judgment of the Church of England which alloweth free Prayers in the Pulpit and at the Visitation of the Sick Nor of the Famous Non conformists Cartwright Hildersham Greenham Amisius Perkins Bains c. Mr. Cartwright all the time that he lived abroad used the same Form before Sermon and after and read Prayers in the Church and concluded with the Lords Prayer § 4. Pag. 102. Of Mr. Baxter ' s life Part 1. Under pretence of the purity of their Churches the Separatists set themselves against the same Men that the Drunkards and Swearers set against doing what they could to make them odious and put them down only they did it more profanely than the Profane in saying Let the Lord be glorified let the Gospel be propagated abusing Sacred Scripture to their purpose All this began in unwarrantable Separations and too much aggravating the faults of the Churches and Common People and Common-Prayer-Book and Ministry which because they thought they needed amendments it required their obstinate Separation and allowed them to make odious any thing that was amiss and if any Man had rebuked them for making it more faulty than it was they called him a pleader for Antichrist and Baal and every eror in the mode of Worship was Idolatry Popery Antichristianism Superstition Will-worship c. When many of their own Prayers were full of Carnal Passion Faction Disorder vain Repetitions unsound and loathsome Expressions and their Doctrine full of Errors and Confussion § 5. Pag. 169. Part. 3. Of B' s Life I wrote a Book called Cain and Abel intending a third Part to tell Dissenters why I went to the Parish Church and Communicated and why they should not suffer as Separatists least they suffer as Evil doers which a Bookseller importuned me to let him Print but for Reasons then given I delayed it but at last consented to publish the Reasons of my Communicating in the Parish Churches and against Separations But a Manuscript of Dr. Owen's containing Twelve Arguments against joyning with the Liturgy in Publick Churches was sent me which I answered whereupon a swarm of Revilers powred out their keenest Censures whom I answered Another said that my Treatise of Episcopacy fully proved the duty of Separation whereupon I explained that Treatise and all these things together I Published in a Treatise in defence of Catholick Communion to which I refer such as desire farther Satisfaction § 7. I shall name but one Passage more on this Head in his Defence of the Principles of Love pag. 88. The Covenant he saith bindeth us to Reformation according to God's Word and the Example of the best Reformed Churches But to prefer no Publick Worship or a worse before the Liturgy is Deformation and Profaneness and it is greater Reformation to prefer the Liturgy before none than to prefer Extemporate Publick Worship before the Liturgy for all the Reformed Churches in Christendom do commonly profess to hold Communion with the English Churches in the Liturgy if they come among us where it is used so that it seems in Mr. Baxter's Judgment a breach of the Covenant to prefer no Publick Worship before the Liturgy or to refuse Occasional Communion in the use of the Liturgy as if it were unlawful when in Mr. B's as well as in the Judgment of all the Reformed Churches it is to be preferred to Extemporate Publick Worsip My Opinion as to Liturgy in general is 1. That a stinted Liturgy is in it self lawful 2. That a stinted Liturgy in some parts of Publick Service is necessary 3. In the parts where in is not necessary it may not only be submitted to but desired when the peace of the Church requireth it 4. It is not of such necessity to take the matter and words out of the
Foundation and Form of Government which being wholly in the Bishops and Clergy who in Convocation have the sole Power of making Canons for the Government of the Church and there being no Censure to be inflicted but according to those Canons the Lay-Chancellor are but inferior Officers intrusted by their Bishops with some part of the Executive Power the Bishops themselves as well as their Chancellors having the Canons to direct and over-rule them in the Execution and if there be any extra-judicial Process there lye Appeals from them both Moreover the Chancellors being bred up to the Study and Practice of the Canon and Civil Laws are most fit for Executing the Canons being acquainted with the Nature of Evidences Probations and judicial Process which meer Presbyters cannot be presused to understand so well and this Office of Chancellors being allowed by the Laws of the Land they may be submitted to as they are the King's Officers by Mr. Baxter's own Concessions This may satisfie the impartial Reader against those bitter Invectives of Mr. Baxter against the Species of Diocesan Bishops as being Anti-Christian and the Military Instruments of the Devil Those that treated with the Bishops 1660. did yield to such an Episcopacy as the old Nonconformists would scarce generally have consented to i. e. to Bishop Usher's Model Episcopacy is not such an upstart thing nor defended by such contemptible Reasons as that the Controversie is like to die with this Age undoubtedly there will be a Godly and Learned Party for it while the World endureth And it is a numerous Party All the Greek Church the Armenian Syrian Abassine and all others but a few of the Reformed For Denmark Sweden part of Germany and Transilvania have a Superintendency as high as that I plead for p. 11. If you know no Godly Persons of the Episcopal way I do and as my acquaintance increaseth I know more and more and some I take to be much better than my self I will say a greater word that I know those of them whom I think as Godly Humble Ministers as most of the Non-conformists whom I know p. 12. And I believe there are many hundred Godly Ministers in the Church of England and that their Churches are true Churches And I am confident most of the Ministers in England would be content to yield to such an Episcopacy as you may find in the Published Judgments of Bishop Hall Usher Dr. Forbes Hodsworth and others Preface to the Five Disputations p. 9. Christ Direct the Second Edition p. 189. Part 3. Q. How doth the Holy Ghost set Bishops over the Church Answ By making the Office it self so far as the Apostles had any hand in it Christ himself having made their Office The Holy Ghost in the Electors and Ordainers directeth them to discern the fitness of the Persons and so to call such as God approveth of and calleth by the Holy Ghost in them which is done by the ordinary help of God's Spirit in the wise and faithful Electors and Ordainers the Holy Ghost doth qualifie them for the Work by due Life Light and Love Knowledge Willingness and Activity and so inclining them to it and marking out the Person by his Gifts which was done at first by extraordinary Gifts and ever since by ordinary special and saving in some common and only fitted to the Churches Instruction in others so that whoever is not competently qualified is not called by the Holy Ghost when Christ ascended he gave gifts to Men some Apostles c. Eph. 4. 78 c. Of Sacriledge Q. 171. What is Sacriledge Ans It is a robbing God by the unjust alienation of Holy things As deposing Kings silencing true Ministers the unjust alienating of Temples Utensils Lands Days separated by God himself and justly consecrated by Man Mr. Vines his Letter to Mr. Baxter p. 35. of the 5 Disput concerning Sacriledge As for your Question about Sacriledge I am very near you in the present Opinion The point was never stated nor debated in the Isle of Wight I did for my part decline the dispute for I could not maintain the cause as on the Parliament side And because both I and others were unwilling it was never brought to open debate The Commissioners did argue it with the King but they went upon grounds of Law and Polity and it was only about Bishops Lands for they then averred the continuance of Dean and Chapter Lands to the use of the Church Some deny that there is any sin of Sacriledge under the Gospel and if there be any they agree not in the definition Some hold an Alienation of Church-goods in case of Necessity and then make the necessity what and as extensive as they please The most are of Opinion that while the Church lies so unprovided for the donations are not alienable sine Sacrilegio If there were a Surplusage above the competent maintenance it were another matter It is clear enough the Donors wills are frustrated and that their general intention and the general use Viz. the maintenance of God's Worship and Ministers should stand though the particular use might be superstitious I cited in my last Sermon before the Parliament a place out of Mr. Hildersham on Psal 51. touching Sacriledge it did not please If his description of it be true then you will still be of your own mind I dare encourage no Purchasers c. Mr. Baxter's Advice to separating Brethren Mr. B' s Epistle to separate Congregations Consider this It is the judgment of some that Thousands are gone to Hell and Ten thousands on their march thither that in all probability had not come there if they had not been tempted from the Parish Churches for injoyment of Communion in a purer Church Pag. 21. Of Defence The Interest of the Protestant Religion must be much kept up by means of the Parish Ministers and by Doctrine and Worship there performed and they that think and endeavour contrary shall have the hearty thanks and concurrence of the Papists And I am perswaded that all the Arguments of Bellarmin and other Books that have been written have not done so much to make Papists in England as the Multitude of Sects among our selves Defence p. 21. In The Second Admonition to Bagshaw p. 78. It is Lawful to hold Communion with our Churches having but tolerable Ministers notwithstanding the Parochial Order and the Ministers Conformity and the use of the Common-Prayer-Book and that we ought to do so when some special reason as from Authority Scandal c. do require it A Ministers personal faults do not allow a People to separate from the Worship of God nor all Ministerial faults but only those that prove him or his Ministration utterly intolerable Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet p. 50. The word Schism signifieth any sinful Division among Christians there may be a Schism in a Church when no party divideth from it as when one says I am of Paul c. 1 Cor. 3. 3. A Man may cause
as the first and that they must wait for the coming of new Apostles and so they dissolved and turned Seekers The case of the Summer Islands as related by Mr. Vaughan a worthy Minister come from thence upon discouragement would make a Christians heart to bleed To hear how strict and regular and hopeful that Plantation once was and how one godly Minister by Separation selecting a few to be his Church rejecting all the rest from the Sacrament the rejected party were dolefully estranged from Religion and the selected party turned Quakers But our own case is yet a more lamentable proof what Separation hath done against Religion so that it is my wonder that any good man can over-look it Above all things I intreat the dividing Brethren if they can so long lay aside partiality to judge of the reasons of their separation The defects of the Liturgy and the faults of those by whom we suffer are easily heightned even beyond desert But when many of us vent untruths and slanders against our Brethren and multiply publick untruths we never make scruple of communion with such Suppose one should say that a People guilty of such sins as are condemned Exod. 23. 1 2. Psal 15. 3. Rom. 1. 30 c. i. e. raising false reports reproaching our Neighbours strife and debates should not be communicated with especially when not one of those offenders is called to repentance for it what answer will you give to this which will not confute your own objections against communion with many Parish Churches in this Land As to Popery The interest of the Protestant Religion must be much kept up by the means of the Parish Ministers and by the Doctrine and Worship there performed and they that think and endeavour contrary to this of which side soever shall have the hearty thanks and concurrence of the Papists Nor am I causelesly afraid that if we suffer the Principles and Practices which I write against to proceed without our contradiction Popery will get by it so great advantage as may hazard us all and we may lose that which the several Parties do contend about Three ways especially Popery will grow out of our divisions 1. By the odium and scorn of our disagreements inconsistency and multiplied Sects they will perswade People that we must either come for unity to them or else all run mad and crumble into dust and individuals Thousands have been drawn to Popery or confirmed in it by this Argument already And I am perswaded that all the Arguments else in Bellarmine and all other Books that ever were written have not done so much to make Papists in England as the multititude of Sects among our selves Some Professors of Religious strictness and great esteem for Godliness having run from Sect to Sect and finding no consistency turned Papists themselves 2. Who knows not how fair a game the Papists have to play by our divisions Methinks I hear them hissing on both Parties saying to one side Lay more upon them and abate them nothing And to the other Stand it out and yield to nothing hoping that our divisions will carry us to such practices as shall make us accounted Seditious Rebellious and dangerous to the Publick Peace and so they may pass for better subjects than we or else that they may get a Toleration together with us And shall they use our hands to do their work We have already served them unspeakably both in this and in abating the odium of the Gunpower-Plot and other Treasons 3. It is not the least of our danger lest by our Follies Extremities and rigors we so exasperate the common People as to make them readier to joyn with the Papists than with us in in case of competitions invasions or insurrections against the King and Kingdoms peace The Papists account that if the Puritans get the day they shall make great advantage of it for they will be unsetled and all in pieces and not know how to settle the Government Factions and Distractions say they give us footing for continual attempts To make all sure we will secretly have our party among Puritans also that we may be sure to maintain our interest Let the Magistrate cherish the disputations of the Teachers and let him procure them often to debate together and reprove one another For when Men see that there is nothing certain among them they will easily yield saith Contzen the Jesuit Of Toleration Shall the meer pretence of Carnal Liberty be thought an Argument for a wicked damning Liberty a Liberty to destroy and deceive as many as they can will merciful Rulers set up a Trade for Butchering Souls and allow Men to set up a Shop of Poyson for all Men to buy and take what they will yea to proclaim this Poyson for Souls in the Streets and Church Assemblies Saints Rest p. 133. Could I have believed him that would have told me five years ago that when the Scorners of Godliness were subdued and the bitter Persecuters of Church were destroyed that such should succeed them who suffered with us and were our intimate Friends which we took sweet councel and went up together to the House of God should draw their Swords against each other and seek each others blood so fiercely O what a potent instrument for Satan is a misguided Conscience when it is set at Liberty Of Spiritual Pride Proud Men will not grow in the same Field or Church where Tares do grow but will transplant themselves because God will not pluck up the Tares especially if any Ministerial neglect of Discipline be conjoyned and instead of blaming their own Pride lay the blame on the corruptions of the Church The Pharisees Liturgy is frequent in separate Assemblies God I thank thee I am not as other men But this is very remarkable that it is a pretence of our impurity and a greater purity with you that is pleaded by such as first turn over to you and that this height of all impieties should be the usual issue or a way pretended so exact and clean doubtless it is not Gods mind by this to disâ—ouragâ— any from purity and true Reformation but to shew his detestation of that spiritual pride which maketh Men to have too high thoughts of themselves and too much to contemn others and to desire to be further separated from them than God in the day of grace doth allow of Consider this it is the judgment of some that Thousands are gone to Hell and Ten Thousands on their march thither that in all probability had never come there if they had not been tempted from the Parish Churches for injoyment of communion in a purer Church He that causeth differences of Judgment and Practice and contendings in the Church doth cause divisions though none separate from the Church If you may not divide in the Church nor from it then you may not causelesly divide from it your selves And commonly Appearance Advantage