Weather Mountains want too much That being past a Mole-hill now they grutch Witness that great regret some of them have express against that Kindness and Favour which they King and two succeeding Parliaments have beyond denial evideneed to our Dissenting Protestant Brethren who with Fury bite the Chain which restrains them from falling foul upon their former Prey Besides their unreasonable stickle to prevent the least Abatement in Matters which respect the Ceremonial part of our Worship A Conformity to which goes with them for the whole Duty of a Minister Obedience to Government a very good and Gospel Doctrine was the constant Theme of the Pulpit but our high men have done with it as the Priest did with the Sword of Goliah wound it up in the Ephod and laid it behind the Altar Though when time was our whole Duty was placed in a wild Notion and extravagant Pretence to Loyalty No Man being esteemed Loyal or a Lover of his Prince who did not so far doat as to follow the Measures and promote the Designs of turning the best tempered Government in the World into a Despotick and Arbitrary Rule These wife Master-builders had raised the Fabrick of Sovereign Power to that â—mmense Height and extravagant Projecture as no way agreed with the just Methods of any civil Architecture putting in the mean time the Mischief of the Project far from themselves Supposing that if it did fall it might perhaps grind their Enemies to Powder but never dreamt of its tipping upon their own Heads as we have before observed Insomuch that whatever they heard which might awaken them to prevent their impending Ruine went for nothing but the ever-jealous Notions and muâ—â—nous Suggestions of disloyal and dissaffected Men. But when they began to feel the Massy weight of an overgrown Monarch with what Zeal did they stickle to put a Bridle into the Mouth and Hook into the Nostrils of that Leviathan whose Tusks had ript up the Belly of our Laws and Liberties upon whose Neck they had so lately thrown the Reigns of Government which the Prince whom God now hath blest us with hath delivered back again to the People Esteeming the Prerogative never better asserted than when the Rights and Properties of the Subject the great end of Government are kept inviolate and that Caesar can never have his due if the People be denied what 's theirs Being so great an Artist in governing as to carry a steddy Hand and keep the Ballance even for if too much weight be put into one Scale the other will kick up as our late King by a costly Experiment found true But as it pleased the Almighty to raise up a Moses to deliver us from the Brick-kilns and to break the Yoak from off the neck of our civil Liberties so we trust he will rescue us from the iron Furnaces too loosing every Burthen and letting our Consciences go free which have not been so much gauled with Points of Doctrine and Articles of Faith and Religion as with the rites and Ceremonies of it We so generally agree as to Matters of Faith that Dissenters in respect of that are so few as to their Number and as to their Quality so inconsiderable that they are not able to make any Schism or cause any disturbance amongst us Could we but find a Temper to accommodate these lesser things which by a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation Christian Charity and Forbearance might easily be effected we should have an end of Controversie Heats would cool Animosities would cease they 'd want Fuel to feed them and Matter to work upon The making Sides and Parties to elect Members for Parliament would be at an end which have so frequently fermented the Humours of the Body politick into lasting and dangerous Factions and Distempers Were but our Contests about the Form and Rites of Religion by some wise and prudent Concordate framed by our Governours determined and moderated we need not fear we should fall out about Matters of State being all agreed to bear out share in the Charge necessary for its Grandeur and Defence We should all sit under our Vines and Fig-tress leading a peaceable and quiet Life when once these Bones of Contention were taken out of the way and Apples of Strife which they say grow upon a Tree that 's neither good nor evil become forbidden Fruit. Besides we are not sturdy Beggars we ask not Talents but Shekels we only desire to wash and be clean from those additions to Divine Worship which we are afraid may defile our Consciences and not be so well pleasing to God Things which the Imposers tell us are Matters indifferent when abstracted from their Authority But suppose it should be an inconvenience to take them away yet sure so great a good as an universal Quiet would be sufficient to commute for no greater Nuisance But we are perswaded of the contrary from the Reasons we have alledged besides the Authorities of some of the greatest Prelates and Members of the Church of England viz. Hooper Bishop of Worcester Jewel Bishop of Salisbury Sands Arch-bishop of York Horne Bishop of Winchester Why should I again name Cranmer Ridley Grindal upon this subject who endeavoured to have the Habits of the Clergy as a Popish Relique cast out The Arch-bishop of St. Andrews speaking in his Sermon at the Assembly of Perth did acknowledge That the Conveniency of them was doubted by many but not without Cause c. Novations in a Church even in the smallest things are dangerous had it been in our Power to have disswaded or declined them most certainly we would c. Mr. Sprint also though a Conformist yet saith It may be granted that offence and hinderance to Edification do arise from these our Ceremonies He confesseth also That the best Divines wisht them to be abolished Which by her own Confession is in the Power of the Church to grant Which speaking in the Preface of the Common Prayer See 34. Art of Religion saith that the Ceremonies which remain may be for just Causes taken away altered or changed and gives good reason for it because they are in their own nature indifferent and so alterable The Words be these The particular Forms of Divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged It is but reasonable upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various Exigency of times and occasions such Changes and Alterations should be made therein as to those that are in place of Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient accordingly we find that in the Reigns of several Princes of Blessed Memory since the Reformation the Church upon just and weighty Considerations her thereunto moving hath yielded to make such alterations in such Particulars as in their respective times were thought convenient c. As for weighty Causes sure we never had any more ponderous to incline the
who despised a Crucified Saviour and in a literal Sense were Enemies to the Cross of Christ in opposition to which Gainsayers they by the frequent use of it let them see that they were not ashamed of the Gospel and that God forbad that they should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ But this Practice did not long preserve it self from a Superstitious Taint the Primitive Christians thinking nothing well done without it such was their Opinion of it yea into a direct Idolatry did this Superstition degenerate that in succeeding Generations it came to be adored and worshipped Prayers being by the Church directed to it as to God himself which Aquinas alledges * cantat enim Ecclesia O crux ave spes unica c. 3. q. 25.4 in Justification of the Conclusion he makes concerning its Adoration in the highest degree Crux Christi saith he in qua Christus Crucifixus est tum propter representationem tum propter Christi Contactum latriâ adoranda est Crucis vero Effigies in aliâ quavis materiâ priori tantum ratione adoranda est That is the Cross of Christ upon which he was crucified in respect of its Representation as also because it (a) And might not the Lips of Judas by the same reason be adored with Divine Honour toucht the Body of Christ is to be worshipped by the highest Worship But the Effigies or Figure of the Cross of what Matter or Mettal soever it is made of in the first respect only viz. its Representation is in the same manner to be worshipped Nor is this the Freak or Fancy of this single Doctor only but the stated Judgment of the Roman Church otherwise she would never allow it to be solemnly prayed to in her publick Offices In domiâ—ica de passione domini in hymn Cantat enim Ecclesia O crux ave spes unica hoc passionis tempore â—â—ge piis justitiam reisque dona veniam That is hail holy Cross our only hope in this time of Passion give an increase of Righteousness to holy Men and to the guilty Pardon of Sin Can those Churches be blamed which already have or ours if now it should lay aside such Rites as have been and yet are so unreasonably abused to Superstition and Idolatry The Conclusion which the Canon Law hath made in the like Case seems very rational viz. Supposing our Ancestors have done some things which might at that time be blameless Dist 6. Cap. 3. Quia and afterward be turned to Superstition and Error we are taught by Hezekiah's breaking the brazen Serpent that Posterity may destroy them without any delay and with great Authority And that which makes us hope that our Lawgivers may in due time give ear to the Requests so often made both by those which are within and without the Communion of the church of England and fulfil the repeated Promises which have been made of taking away the Occasions or Causes of its Schism is that our Church it self lays no great * As we have had more than once occasion to take notice of stress upon this Rite For in the Rubrick of private Baptism it allows that Sacrament to be compleat and sufficiently administred without it where the essential parts viz. the Matter and Form as by Christ prescribed be observed though this Humane addition should be omitted Seeing then our Forefathers have had so moderate an Opinion concerning it Besides the modesty of our Desires which are not to have the Breast-plate of Righteousness or Holiness to the Lord in the least defaced or expunged but only that a Bell may be taken off the Ephod which hath rung Awk in the Ears of many weak yet very true Sons of the Church We hope therefore c. Obj. But though the Rubrick injoins not the Sign of the Cross to be used in the private Administration of Baptism yet it binds the Parents to bring the Child into the publick Congregation and all the * Which are the Words of B. Sparrow in his Rationale if I mistake not for I have not the Book to consult and I have not lately read it Pomp and Ceremony is to be observed as in publick Baptism Res That the Rubrick recommends it I grant that it binds or commands I deny The Words in the Common Prayer are these viz. Yet nevertheless if the Child which after this sort is baptized doth afterward live it is expedient that it be brought into the Church to the intent that if the Minister cerof the same Parish did himself baptize that Child the Congregation may be tified of the true Form of Baptism by him privately before used And nothing more than a bare Certificate according to the Rule is needful where Baptism hath been administred by the Minister of the Parish Whatever the Author of the Rationale hath affirmed to the contrary But suppose it baptized by a Stranger 't is not in that case positively commanded that the Child be brought into the Congregation But the Judgment of the Church declared that it is a thing expedient or fit Seeing then it is not a Ceremony of that use now as it was among the Primitive Christians who too soon caused it to degenerate into Superstition besides that many of our Brethren are by it driven from our Assemblies suffering their Children to die unbaptized as of mine own knowledge I can testifie or at best forc'd into separate Communions to avoid that Rite by which means the Breach is widened and the Schism made more inveterate And seeing our Church hath that moderate Opinion of it that the Omission of it is no prejudice either to the Sufficiency or Lawfulness of the Act. Why should it be thought by any unreasonable for us to intreat our Superiors for an * The Rubrick of the first Book of Edw. the Sixth commands that the Child be signed by the Minister on the Breast as well as on the Forehead Now seeing this is omitted Why may not that on the Forehead be left indifferent Abatement in this respect Of Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper III. A Third thing which hath caused several to stumble and fall from us is the Posture of Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper We all agree in this that the utmost Humility Reverence and Thankfulness that we can pay to the Almighty for his ineffable Love to Mankind commemorated in that holy Office is not the half that is due the way of payment is only questioned The Tribute of Honour is not denied though it be doubted by such as dissent from us whether the Coin we are prescribed to pay it in be current If we agree the substantial part of our Duty is it an insuperable difficulty to find a Temper by which we might accord no greater difference Is it not a spot which will scarce ever be taken out of the Ancient Church that the different Calculation of Easter should breed such irreconcilable Feuds
one and maintain the other We have with Patience submitted not for Wrath but Conscience sake to the Commands of our Superiors We have bowed the Neck to an uneasie Yoak earnestly supplicating the Divine Majesty to send a Moses to deliver us from those Burthens which we have received so many Solemn and Royal Promises should never oppress nor grieve us whilst we behaved our selves peaceably under the Civil Government and Constitutions of the Land But here I thought to have made a stand and have eased both the Reader and my self of any further trouble and fatigue in the Prosecution and Pursuit of this unpleasing Argument were I not prest with the Reason of another most just Plea for a Relaxation and Abatement in the Matters aforesaid which I had thought to have omitted lest it should appear too invidious as to others and too opiniative of our selves I mean our Fidelity to the Interest and Constancy in the Communion of the Church in the late Times of Defection and Apostacy when both by Threatnings and Flatteries we were so strongly tempted to make a Breach in it When the Declaration for Indulgence was commanded to be publisht by us in our Churches we did not we durst not submit though we thereby forfeited the Favour and eminently incurred the Displeasure of a Potent Monarch bigotted to the Romish Religion in whose Hands we were and to be used by him at his Pleasure We could have very much rejoiced in a due Enlargement but we rather kept within our Inclosure than brake the Hedges and lay the Fences waste to obtain it I mean a general Violation of the Canons and Rubricks of the Church the enacted Laws and Statutes of the Common-wealth Relying in the mean time upon the Goodness and Providence of God wholly submitting our selves to his Will hoping that he would so far move the Hearts of our Rulers in due time and in a regular way to hear our Complaints and redress our Grievances And that which puts weight into this Ballance is that too many of those who clamoured high and made (a) Who were fierce Despisers of those that were good heady high minded Traytors having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power of it 2 Tim. 3.3.5 a great noise for Conformity to the Rituals of the Church baiting and bantring any whom they supposed guilty of the least defect and omission of their Duty in that respect accounting themselves the white Boys and only Sons of the Church yet were the first that turn'd colour and became Red-letter'd Men divers of which both of the Clergy and Laity I could name but I spare them and are at this day living and looking for a day to retrieve their lost Cause They still retaining those Spots and Crimson Tincture they received from the Scarlet whore which they resolve no Nirre either of Scripture or Reason shall ever take out Whilst such as they accounted and traduced as Betrayers of our Church stuck close maintain'd their Posts and in the day of Tryal proved faithful and true to its Interest We continued constant in the Exercise of our Ministry fortifying our People committed to our Care using the best Arguments we could joined with our own Examples to continue in the Communion of our Church and to stand fast in the open and zealous Professions and Defence of the Faith once delivered to the Saints comforting and to the best of our skill building them up in it notwithstanding the Threats and Menaces we met with from the profest and rampant Enemies of our Church and Religion But lest this should look like boasting I shall say no more but leave the Argument to be considered by our Superiors according to the Merits of it As for those who in the Day of Temptation went out from us because they were not of us we heartily pitty and pray for them and for their reduction to the Communion from whence they departed that they would be zealous and repent considering from whence they are fallen and return For which Reason we should be willing to use all the Weapons of our Spiritual Warfare And they are so happy as to fall into an Age and Hands which design no other we being sufficiently convinc'd that a Club may sooner dash a Man's Brains out than beat Understanding into his Head Only first give me leave to enquire who were the best Sons of the Church of England and deserve most at her hands Whether those who when time was were great Sticklers for Conformity in the strictest manner to all and every of its Rites Great Amorists and much in love with our Church and Religion whilst it lookt plump and fair to the Eye But when the Hand of the Lord had toucht it and was become black by reason of Affliction shrunk and shrievell'd upon the account of its Sorrow forsook their first Love Then their Language was What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved What 's the Church of England more than that of Rome Whether I say were these better Sons of the Church than those who though perhaps not so exactly satisfied with all and every thing that 's injoined yet brake not the Communion of it But buckling on the Helmet and being girt about with Truth were steddy and valiant in her most dangerous Conflict The other are fit to be Members of that Church whereof outward Prosperity is the Mark and Character who so long as ours was triumphant it had no greater pretended Votaries and Zealots than themselves But these Dive-dopping Plant-Animals dropping from the Tree upon which they grew and falling into the Waters of Tiber or Sea of Rome presently set up for Solon-geese mightily gagling for their espoused Religion Who having learnt the Romish Cant from their new Dictators we are ridiculed and lampooned by them in every Tavern and Coffee-house the bottom of whose Dishes and Glasses they better understood than the Reason of their Change and new-fashioned Religion Then they had the Face and Brow to tell us that the Church they once so much clamored for was till an Age or two past a Duck under water By whom the first and trite question we were usually interrogated upon was Where was your Religion before Luther To which we have answered a thousand times and can truly say again that the Platform of it is contained in the Holy Scriptures which is the only Rule of Faith and tried Foundation upon which our Religion is built 'T was instituted by Christ practiced in the Primitive Church though Tares grew up in the Field I mean Corruptions in the Bosom of it and what could not be amended or endured were necessary to be avoided For we can find whatever these Antiquaries may boast of no Foundation for Purgatory Prayers for the Dead or in a Tongue the People understand not no Warrant to direct them to Saints as the Object no Exemption of the Blessed Virgin from original Sin or Communion celebrated by halfs or in one kind c. in all
Institution are duly administred pure and separate from those Rites and Ceremonies which are by them accounted to be at best of doubtful Disputation and have been the Causes accidentally at least of â—very great Contest and Confusions amongst us For this Reason good Mr. (a) Acts and Monuments Vol. 3. Fox prayed that God would ease us of them viz. because they have been the Cause saith he of much Blindness and Strife In the other Men of Scruple know they cannot injoy God's Ordinances of hearing the Word Praying Communicating in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper nor their Children baptized but these Divine Institutions must be levened with those Ceremonies which to them are doubtful they fear unlawful which makes them abstain from celebrating the Evangelical Passeover because these sowre Herbs must be its Sawce Which though it be affirmed by the Imposers to be insipid and to have no taste either good or bad but of an indifferent nature yet when they taste they see and according to the best of their Understandings find the contrary they feel a Flavour of Superstition upon their Palats and the more intently they look the greater Eye of Red they espy in them And upon the closest Application of their Judgments find a Fust of Popery or else they mistake They like the Meat well but the Cookery is too much of the Garlick strain Is it not then likely that the best and wisest Men will choose that part which hath least of hazard Now according to the Opinions on boâ—h sides the controverted Rites may be omitted and yet the Sacraments duly administred otherwise surely the Bishops and Clergy in Scotland would not have received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper sitting as their Practice was before the late Abolition of Episcopacy Nor would our Rubrick declare that in private Baptism where it is to be administred without Godfathers and Sign of the Cross the Child is sufficiently baptized forbidding any to question it Whence we may conclude that the most wary Men will be apt to forsake the Communion of the Church of England as the most unsafe of the two Which by the Expedient propounded might be easily prevented for the future and seems no faint Argument for an act of Comprehension though it should not bring over those who are actually engaged as Pastors and Ministers of indulged Congregations So that the Act of Indulgence seems by a necessary Consequence to draw after it another of Comprehension as large and powerful as the Inveteracy of our Schism shall require and Wisdom of our Lawgivers shall think fit to grant least those Riots which the former Act hath suffered to grow up should so far exhaust the Sap that the Tree of the Church should shrink and dwindle into a degenerate Plant. But if it would submit to have some of its Luxuriances which have been esteemed as Right-hands to be cut off it might become a more thriving yea and pleasanter Plant than ever So far superseding the Act of Indulgence as to take away the subject Matter of it that in process of time it might become useless there remaining few or none that would flee to it for succor yea and all the Penal Laws too whilst all could chearfully submit to its equitable Orders and inoffensive Rules and Canons For when the Controverted things are once removed the rest of her Commands would not be grievous 4thly Suppose the Dissenters should not be gaâ—n'd Yet is there not regard to be had to the tender Consciences of Conformists who rather than violate the Peace or break the Unity of the Church have a long time laboured under an heavy Burthen Suppose these make their Wants known and Desires open Is there no Mercy no Pity to be extended to them nor Consideration to be had of them Must their Jaws be ever bored through with these Thorns and their Faces ground without any remorse Thanks be to God we have a Prince now whose design and endeavour is to lose every Burthen and to let the oppressed to free Nay the Fathers of the Church have put on Bowels of Compassion too If any be inexorable they are our Brethren with whom such Complainants have been accounted no better than Traytors to the State betrayers of the Church and if they perish in the Pit become Slaves and Vassals to the Caldaeans nay whatever becomes of them it moves them not Pray God this Sin be not laid to their charge which can be esteemed no less if we may take the Judgment of one dignified among them Who thus expresseth himself I am perswaded this is one of the provoking Sins of the Conformists That they have been so backward of doing what they were convinced they * See the Preface to the Common-Prayer c. 34 Article of Religion Every particular or national Church hath Authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church might have done with a good Conscience when they were earnestly prest to it by their Dissenting Brethren and had Authority to do it but they refused it They have the same Price now put into their Hands The King invites them the necessity of uniting Protestants against the common and implacable Enemy cries aloud to them the Groans of burthened and oppressed Consciences of their Brethren plead with them But I am afraid they do but surdis canere We may seek them earnestly but they will not be found of us Nay I wish there may not be the same reason to believe now what a Reverend Doctor and Dignitary of the Church hath some years since declared to the World viz. That they seem rather resolved to break all in pieces and hazard our Religion and let these sad Effects our Divisions still continue than to abate their Rigour in imposing what they may lawfully alter or abolish Nay that which puts so keen an edge upon our Complaints as to cut every good Man to the Heart is That this Judgment which hath laid so heavy upon us hath begun at the Church Those whom God designed to be Fishers of Men have spent their time and pains in gathering up these Shells and Pebbles upon the Shore and as one well observes have wrangled about them too But such is the present and remarkable Providence of god that many of the Bishops and Clergy are pleading for that now as to themselves they too much slighted and decry'd as Humour and Faction in others Now they plead Conscience and urge it in excuse for not swearing Allegiance and Fidelity to the Government to whom I wish as large Dispensations as be consistent with the Nature of Government and present Constitution of the Kingdom But we ever understood those things which are destructive to the State to be out of the Question and beyond the Bounds of it yea and Modesty too It might be said as it was in another case If they ask this let them ask the Kingdom also For as it hath been ever thought that a Liberty in such things