known and experienced Physitians is the only proper means to determine him in such a case The reason is the same here When any private Christian is troubled and perplexed with fears and scruples that concern his Duty or the Worship of God he ought in the first place to have recourse to the Publick Guides and Ministers of Religion who are appointed by God and are best fitted to direct and conduct him I say to come to them not only to dispute and argue with them and pertly to oppose them but with all modesty to propound their doubts meekly to hearken to and receive Instruction humbly begging of God to open their Understandings that they may see and embrase the truth taking great care that no evil affection love of a Party or carnal interest influence or byass their Judgments Who do not by this desire men to pin their faith upon the Priests Sleeve or to put out their own eyes that they might be better guided and managed by them but only diligently to attend to their Reasons and Arguments and to give some due regard and deference to their Authority for it is not so absurd as may by some be imagined for the Common People to take upon trust from their lawful Teachers what they are not competent Judges of themselves But the difficulty here is how shall a private Christian govern himself when the very Guides and Ministers of Religion determine differently concerning these matters in question amongst us Some warranting and allowing them others as much disapproving and condemning them by what Rule shall he choose his Guide To which I briefly reply 1. As for those who scruple at Conformity and are tolerably to judge for themselves let not such relye barely upon the Authority either of the one or the other All we desire of them is that they would equally hear both sides that they would think that the Ministers of the Church of England have some Sense and Conscience too as well as other Men and are able to say somewhat for what they do themselves or require of others that laying aside all Prejudices Favour to or admiration of Mens Persons they would weigh and consider the Arguments that may be propounded to them being diffident of their own Apprehensions and indifferent to either part of the Question that they would think it no shame to change their Mind when they see good reason for it Could we thus prevail with the People diligently to examine the Merits of the cause our Church would every day gain more Ground amongst all wise Men for we care not how much Knowledge and Understanding our People have so they be but humble and modest with it nor do we desire Men to become our Proselytes any further than we give them good Scripture and Reason for it 2. But as for those who are not so capable of examining or judging for themselves as few of the common People who separate from us really are they not being able to give any tolerable account of their dissent from us only in general Words declaiming against Popery Superstition Antichristian and Unscriptural Ceremonies Humane Traditions c. such had better trust to and depend on those Ministers of known Sufficiency for their Office who are regularly and by the Laws of the Land set over them than any other Guides or Teachers that they can choose for themselves This to be sure is the safer course which in doubtful cases is always to be taken I speak now of these present Controversies about Forms and Ceremonies so hotly agitated amongst us which are above the Sphere of common People out of their profession not of such things as concern the Salvation of all men which are plain and evident to the meanest Capacities When therefore in such cases about which we cannot easily satisfie our selves we follow the Advice of the publickly authorized Guides and Preachers of Religion if they chance to mislead us we have something to say or apologize for our selves Our Error is more excusable and pardonable as being occasion'd by those to whose Judgment by God's Command we did owe a great Respect and Submission But when we choose Instructors and Counsellors to our selves according to our own fancy and liking and they teach us contrary to the Doctrine of our lawful Ministers if then we prove to be in the wrong and are betray'd into Sin we may thank our own Wantonness for it and are more severely accomptable for such Mistakes Thus let a man that is troubled with any threatning disease apply himself rather to the Licensed Phisicians or Chirurgions of approved Skill and Honesty and if he chance to miscarry under them yet he hath this contentment that he used the best and wisest means for his Health and Recovery But if he leaves them all and will hearken only to Quacks and Empiricks tho they advise him quite contrary to what the others prescribed if under their hands he grows worse and worse he must then charge his own perverse Folly or idle Humour as the cause of his Ruine 4. In order to the curing of our Scruples we should thoroughly understand and consider what is the true Notion of lawful and how it differs from what is necessary and from what is sinful That is necessary or our Duty which God hath expresly commanded that is sinful which God hath forbid that is lawful which God hath not by any Law obliging us either commanded or forbid for Where there is no Law saith the Apostle there is no Transgression Rom. 4. 15. There can be no Transgression but either omitting what the Law commands or doing what the Law forbids For instance If any man can shew where kneeling at the Sacrament is forbid in Scripture where sitting is required where praying by a form is forbid and extemporary Prayers are enjoyned then indeed the Dispute would soon be at an end but if neither the one nor the other can be found as most certainly they cannot then kneeling at the Sacrament and reading Prayers out of a Book must be reckoned amongst things lawful And then there is no need of scrupling them because they may be done without Sin nay where they are required by our Superiours it is our duty to submit to them because it is our Duty to obey them in all lawful things This way of arguing is very plain and convincing and cannot be evaded but by giving another Notion of Lawful And therefore it is commonly said that nothing is lawful especially in the Worship of God which God himself hath not prescribed and appointed or that hath been abused to evil Purposes And on these two Mistakes are chiefly grounded Mens Scruples about indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in God's Worship 1. That only is said to be lawful in God's Worship which he himself hath prescribed and appointed so that this is thought exception sufficient against the Forms and Usages of our Church that though they are not forbid yet they are no where commanded in
nothing at all sinful or unlawful then to make us suspect every thing for such or at least that there is great danger of displeasing God by the most indifferent and innocent Actions by these means ensnaring and entangling Mens Consciences and rendring Religion a most troublesome burden to them A scrupulous Conscience therefore starts and boggles where there is no real Evil or Mischief is afraid of omitting or doing what may be omitted or done without Sin Which I know not how better to illustrate than by those unaccountable Antipathies or Prejudices that some men have against some sort of Meats or living Creatures which have not the least harm or hurt in them yet are so offensive and dreadful to such Persons that they fly from them as they would from a Tyger or Bear and avoid them as they would do the Plague or Poyson Just thus do some Men run out of the Church at the sight of a Surplice as if they had been scared by the apparition of a Ghost I. proceed to the second thing I propounded to observe to you some few general things concerning this scrupulous Conscience as 1. That this is a very sickly crazy temper of mind a great indisposition a state of weakness and infirmity It ariseth from Ignorance and want of right understanding our Religion from undue timerousness or unsetledness of mind from melancholy or unreasonable prejudices and mistakes about the nature of things Such scrupulous Persons are like fearful Women that wander in the dark who seeing nothing to affright them yet fancy many things which make them tremble every step they take or like those who see only by an uncertain glimmering twilight their Imagination once abus'd and prepossess'd transforms every Object into a Monster or Gyant Thus this Scrupulous is the same with what in other Words some call a tender Conscience so tender that every thing hurts and wounds it like a tender Eye which the least Dust or Smoak grievously offends or a tender constitution of Body which the least Air or Wind mightily disorders and discomposes Now this is far from being any Vertue or Commendation in us this is no desirable Qualification nor a matter of Ambition to be thought men of such tender Consciences no more than it is for a man's Reputation to be sickly and often indispos'd A good Conscience is firm and steady well setled and resolved and such needless Scruples about things lawful are at the best a sign of an ungovern'd Fancy and a weak Judgment As the niceness and squeamishness of a mans Stomach that distasts wholsom Food is a simptom of an unsound and unhealthy Body This doth not argue any extraordinary holiness or purity above others as the Pharisee conceited of himself stand off come not ' nigh me touch me not for I am holier than thou because he washed himself so often No we are yet in a childish state and whilst we are frighted with such Bug-bears and Phantasms we have not yet arrived to the Understanding or Resolution of a Man 2. This Scrupulosity about little matters may be and is often a sign of Hypocrisie I take not upon my self to judge any Persons Let every man look to himself but thus certainly it was with the Scribes and Pharisees of old They strained at every Gnat stumbled at every Straw would starve sooner than eat their Meat with defiled hands would not for the World wrong a man of a Cummin-seed or a spear of Mint and by this wonderful exactness and strictness in some instances they easily gained the Reputation of the greatest Saints so that it is said to have been an ordinary Proverb among the Jews That if but two persons in the World went to Heaven one of them would be a Scribe the other a Pharisee Yet for all this if we will believe our Saviour's account of them they made nothing of swallowing Camels living in the greatest and most known Wickedness Alas their Consciences would not give them leave to enter into the Governours Hall to go amongst the Heathens for fear of being polluted by them yet at the same time they stuck not at suborning false Witnesses against the best and most innocent Person that ever lived They blamed the Disciples for plucking the ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day as if they poor tender-hearted men were offended and grieved to the Soul at such Prophaneness and yet they thought it nothing to deny relief and succour to their own Parents when in Want or Distress they made no Bones of Rapine and Extortion oppressing the Poor or devouring Widows Houses By their curiosity about these external Observances they hoped to make amends for their gross Transgressions in other cases of far greater weight and moment Since they denied themselves many things which God had allow'd them they hop'd he would readily forgive them tho in some other things they took a greater Liberty than he had permitted them Had any of us been present when Mary St. John 12. 3. took the Ointment of Spikenard very costly and anointed the Feet of Jesus and had heard Judas's Rebuke Why was not this Ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the Poor He scrupled such a profuse expence tho about our Saviour himself He thought it might have been better employ'd to more useful purposes Should we not from this have strait concluded him the most charitable and conscientious of all Christ's Disciples and yet this over-great care for the Poor was only a pretence and covering for his theevish Intention They therefore who are so scrupulous about little indifferent matters ought to approve their Honesty and Sincerity by the most accurate Diligence in the Practise of all other Duties of Religion which are plainly and undoubtedly such They who pretend to such a tender Conscience above other Men must know that the World will watch them as to the fairness and justice of their Dealings the calmness of their Tempers their behaviour in their several Relations their Modesty Humility Charity Peaceableness and the like If in all these things they keep the same Tenor use the same caution and circumspection and be uniformly conscientious then it must be acknowledged that it is only Weakness or Ignorance that raiseth their Scruples not any vicious Principle and the condition of those who are under the power of such Scruples is much to be commiserated But when I see a Man scrupling praying by a Book or Form and yet living without any Sense of God or Fear of him afraid of a Ceremony in God's Worship and not afraid of a plain damnable Sin of Covetousness rash censuring his Brethren of Hatred and Strife Faction and Schism and disobedience to Superiours when I see one that out of Conscience refuseth to kneel at the Sacrament and yet dares totally neglect the Communion who takes great care not to give offence to his weak Brother but can freely speak evil of Dignities and despiseth his lawful Governours it is not then
agreeable is it to the Christian Temper to be willing to sacrifice all such Doubts and Scruples to the Interests of publick Order and divine Charity for better surely it is to serve God in a defective imperfect manner to bear with many Disorders and Faults than to break the Bond of Peace and brotherly Communion For this we have the example of our Blessed Lord and Saviour who lived and died in Communion with a Church where there were far greater Corruptions both as to Persons and Practises than can be pretended to be in ours at this day yet though he was the great Reformer of mankind he forsook not the Jewish Church but assembled with them in their Publick Synagogues which answer to our Parish-Churches preached in the Temple tho they had made it a Den of Thieves observed their Festivals tho some of them of humane Institution nay commanded his Disciples to continue to hear the Scribes and Pharisees tho they were a most vile and wretched Generation of Men. Great were the Pollutions and Misdemeanours in the Churches of Rome Corinth Galatia yet no one Member of them is ever commanded to come out or separate from those Churches to joyn in a purer Congregation or to avoid mixt Communions or for better Edification For men to be drunk at the Sacrament was certainly a worse Fault than to kneel at it or for a wicked Man to intrude himself yet the Apostle doth not advise any to withdraw from that Church but only every one to examine himself We ought to do all that we can do without sining submit to an hundred things which are against our Mind or we had rather let alone for the sake of Peace and Unity so desirable in it self so necessary for the Glory of God the Honour of Religion for our common Interest and Safety for the Preservation of what I may without Vanity call the best Church in the World I cannot stand now to tell you how earnestly this Duty of maintaining Unity amongst Christians is pressed in the New Testament how concerned our Blessed Master was that all his Disciples should agree together and live as Bretren how severely the Holy Apostles chid and rebuked those that caused Divisions and Strife amongst Christians reckoning Schism and Contention amongst the most heinous and dangerous Sins It should make both the Ears one would think of some amongst us to tingle but to hear what Sense the Primitive Christians had of the sinfulness of separating from and breaking the Communion of Christians nay what the old Non-conformists here in England have said of it yet remaining in Print charging the People to be as tender of Church-Division as they were of Drunkenness Whoredom or any other enormous Crime And did Men know and consider the evil of Schism they would not be so ready upon every slight occasion to split upon that Rock Let us therefore divert our Fears and Scruples upon greater Sins It is far more certain that causless Separation from the Communion of Christians is sinful than that kneeling at the Sacrament or praying by a Book is such Why then have Men such invincible Scruples about one and none at all about the other They run headlong into the Separate Assemblies which surely are more like to Schismatical Conventicles than any thing in our Church is to Idolatry Let Men be as scrupulous and fearful of offending against the Christian Laws of Subjection Peaceableness and Charity as they are of worshipping God after an impure manner and this alone will contribute much to the making up those Breaches which threaten sudden Ruine to our Church and Nation I only add here that in all that I have now said I am not conscious to my self that I have used any Argument or affirmed any thing but what many of those very Ministers who now dissent from us did teach and maintain and print too against the Independents and other Sectaries that divided from them when they preached in the Parish-Churches And if this was good Doctrine against those who separated upon the account of Corruptions for purer Ordinances in those days I see not why it is not as good against themselves when upon the very same Pretences and no other they divide from us now The Lord grant that we may all come at last to be of one Mind to live in Peace and Vnity and then the God of Love and Peace shall be with us FINIS Take heed of separating from the Publick Assemblies of the Saints I have found by experience that all our Church-calamities have sprung from this root He that separates from the Publick Worship is like a man tumbling down a Hill and never leaving till he comes to the bottom of it I could relate many sad stories of Persons professing godliness who out of dislike to our Church-meetings began at first to separate from them and after many changes and alterations are turned some of them Anabaptists some Quakers some Ranters some direct Atheists But I forbear you must hold Communion with all those Churches with which Christ holds Communion You must separate from the sins of Christians but not from the Ordinances of Christ Take heed of unchurching the Churches of Christ lest you prove Schismaticks instead of being true-Christians See M. Edm. Calamy 's Godly Man's Ark Epist Dedic to the Parish of Aldermanbury Direction 14th