pain of Deprivation is more than I can prove neither will I judg conscientious Nonconformists who meekly dissent 8. Again the Nonconforming Brethren scruple Subscription to the 35th Article of the Church of England touching Homilies which Article stands upon two Points First that the two Books of Homilies contain a godly and wholsom and necessary Doctrine Secondly that therefore they judg them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly The former Point I cannot think the Nonconforming Brethren who have read the Homilies will deny The Article doth not say that there is nothing in any of the Homilies savouring of humane Weakness and Imperfection for the main they may and do contain a godly wholsom and necessary Doctrine though there may perhaps be in them some tolerable Defects as is incident to most good Books not divinely inspired and even to the best Translation of the holy Scriptures Touching the latter Point the Nonconforming Brethren by their Subscription to the 6th Article must needs own and allow that the Apocrypha-Books as Hierom saith the Church doth read for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners but yet doth it not apply to stablish any Doctrine This plainly intimates that they are not against all reading of other Books than the Bible in the Church due distinction being put between the one and the other Neither will they condemn but rather approve the French Protestant Churches heretofore who in the want of daily Pastors did in many Places use to read both privately and publickly Mr. Calvin's Sermons upon Job as Mr. Beza in his Preface to them doth relate And we may well think that this and no other was the Intention of the Composers of this Article and of the Homilies as thinking it better in the want of Pastors qualified with ministerial Gifts and Ability to compose edifying Sermons-daily and continually of their own that the People have sound and godly Sermons of others composing read to them in publick than be without all publick Instruction This Sense will well stand with the Words of the Article and it is agreeable to the Opinion both of Conforming and Nonconforming Brethren And therefore as to this also I may well conclude that there is no difference between the two Parties 9. There is but one more Article unsubscribed by the Nonconforming Brethren and that is the 36th concerning the Book of Ordination Touching which if the Episcopal Brethren will own the Nonconforming Brethren ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be valid and will cordially embrace them as Brethren and Fellow-Ministers as in Conscience they are bound all other Matters will either be accorded or what cannot be fully accorded may be tolerated with mutual Brotherly Love to each other according to that Apostolical Canon Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 3.15 16. But if the Episcopal Brethren shall judg the Nonconforming Ministers ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers of Christ and their Ordination to be null and their Baptism Preaching dispensing the Lord's Supper and all other their Ministerial Acts to be meer Nullities then there is no hope of Accord nor of Toleration with mutual Brotherly Love a Schism there is and like to be Concerning which I will set down a Passage which I find related by Mr. Clark in the Life of that eminent Nonconforming Minister Mr. Greenham On a time the Bishop of Eli sent for him to appear about his Nonconformity at which time the Bishop told him that there was a great Schism in the Church asking him where the Blame was to be laid whether upon the Conformists or Nonconformists To which he readily answered that it might lie on either side or on neither side For said he if they loved one another as they ought and would do all good Offices each for other thereby maintaining Love and Concord it lay on neither side otherwise which Party soever makes the Rent the Schism lies upon their score The Bishop was so pleased with this Answer that he dismissed him in peace 10. They who repute Men ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be no Ministers and their Ministerial Acts to be Nullities are not regular Sons of God's Church in England but a Sect Combination and Party of Men in it who are tainted and defiled with an uncharitable Principle contrary to one Article of the Christian Faith The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints For God's Church in England doth own and embrace the Protestant Ministers in Holland France Helvetia and Geneva ordained by Presbyters without a Bishop to be true Ministers of Christ and the Churches guided by them to be true Churches This hath been the constant Doctrine of God's Church in England all along from the beginning of the Reformation to this day And unless we so hold we yield the Cause to the Papists and overthrow the Protestant Cause The Papists ask Where was our Church before Luther To which the Answer hath been often made That wheresoever upon Earth God had a People believing in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost retaining Baptism and the Lord's Supper for Substance sound and good and living righteously soberly and godly there was our Church We are sure from God's Word and the sound Belief of all Christian People that such a Church God had upon Earth before Luther and will have to the End of the World We do not derive our Church and our Ministry from Rome and the Roman Papacy but from Christ and the holy Scriptures and the Evangelical Covenant by the Tenour whereof upon our sincere Repentance and Incorporation into Christ by lively Faith all things become ours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 22. And consequently whatsoever is true just good any way useful to God and Christ Jesus and the Souls of Men among Papists Jews Turks and Heathens that becomes ours for spiritual Uses to our Souls In leaving the Papacy we have not left Christ and his Church but we have left Idolatry false Worship Superstition and the Way of Damnation and are become a found part of and joined to that holy Catholick Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ the blessed Company of all faithful People built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone Upon this Divine Foundation all the Protestant Churches stand and they who deny Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be valid must will they nill they fall in with the Principles of the Papists against the whole Reformation because the Cause is common 11. The Ministry of the Nonconforming
Doctrine and Distinction but the contrary it fully assures us that the Power of Order is all the Power which Christ communicated to his Apostles and their Successors it being abundantly sufficient through his gracious Assistance and Concurrence for the ordering guiding governing and disciplining of the Church unto the end of the World And what Power of regular Jurisdiction is in Bishops distinct from the Power of Order is not Divine but Humane from Man's Law and not from God's Law And therefore if it should be supposed that Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop is an Error as being against an innocent Law of Man yet is it not therefore null and invalid for though it ought not to be done yet being once done it is firm and valid because done by those who by God's Law are confessed to have Power to do it being equal with the Bishop as to the Power of Order it being very absurd and a Contradiction in adjecto that those should have Power to order who have no Power to ordain and that those should have equal Power to order who have not equal Power to ordain 23. True it is that besides that fixed Pastors of each particular Church there were in the primitive Times the Apostles as general Overseers who did use to visit the Churches and took care of them But this was no Act of external Jurisdiction distinct from the Power of Order but what may innocently and safely be done by an eminent Presbyter qualified with Gifts and Graces for the Work of his own free accord according to the general Rules of God's Word Mr. John Dury a Scotish Presbyter in the Reign of King Charles I. made it his business for thirty Years together purely upon a Christian Account and of his own free Heart without all colour of external Jurisdiction to visit the transmarine Churches Lutheran and Calvinistical and by writing personal Conserence and unwearied Travels to reconcile them touching Predestination Christ's Ubiquity and the Sacrament tho the Success was not answerable through the unreasonable Stiffness of the Lutheran Party And in the Reign of King Charles II. Mr. Thomas Gouge a Nonconforming Presbyter did for several Years together in Person use to visit all the Counties in Wales purely upon a Christian Account at his own Charge without all shew of external Jurisdiction having the Bible for his Warrant and the Glory of serving God and doing Good for his Reward making it his business to promote Religion and Learning An Apostolical and most blessed Work and not without great Success 24. True it is that the Distinction between Bishop and Presbyter is of great Antiquity and large Extent But that in the time of Cyprian it imported more than with us at this day doth the Distinction between the Dean and Chapter of each Cathedral Church between the Warden and Fellows of Manchester between the Parish-Minister and his Curate will not be easily proved Now all know that all these are but one Order in the Ministry and this Inequality is not at all inconsistent with the Principles and Practice of the Presbyterian Brethren 25. Finally the great Principle of those of the Church of England who hold Ordination by Presbyters without a Bishop to be invalid is this that to every Church there ought by God's Law to be a Bishop and no Bishop no Church ordinarily Now either they will stand to this their Principle or they will not If not then they undo their whole Cause and stultify themselves If yea then also their Cause cannot stand for they will not deny the parish-Parish-Churches to be true Churches But these in England are more than nine thousand and the Diocesan Bishops are but some six and twenty Can six and twenty Men be Bishops to more than nine thousand Churches if to every Church there must be a Bishop Either then you must grant that the parish-Parish-Churches are not true Churches and then Separation from them is a Duty and you yield the Cause to the Brownists Or if you admit them to be true Churches upon your own Grounds you must needs yield that the several Parish-Ministers who are but Presbyters are as true Bishops as they are Churches and then Ordination by them without a Diocesan must needs be valid and Diocesan Bishops are no Bishops of God's making This then is the Issue of the Matter that the Parish-Ministers who are but Presbyters are Bishops of God's making and Diocesan Prelates are Bishops of Man's making The Nullity of all external Jurisdiction in the Church not derived from and dependent on the State 1. THere cannot be external Jurisdiction without external Supremacy For all Jurisdiction doth necessarily import a Supream in whose Sentence and Decision all contending Parties are to acquiesce and from whom there can be no Appeal Therefore there cannot be external Jurisdiction without external Supremacy Now under God all external Supremacy is in the State Let every Soul be subject unto the higher Powers Rom. 13.1 that is those who bear the Sword as is afterward declared ver 4. and the Context plainly shews Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.13 14. Herewith agrees the old Oath of Supremacy and the 37th Article of the Church of England unanimously subscribed by the Episcopal and Presbyterial Clergy 2. To set up a contrary external Jurisdiction and Supremacy in the Church is to overthrow the Nature of the Church and to undermine the State and to act contrary to the Example of Christ and his Apostles and to imitate that Man of Sin the Son of Perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped 2 Thess 2.3 4. 3. Christ himself considered as Man in the Days of his Flesh and State of Humiliation had no external Jurisdiction he exercised none he claimed none but disclaimed it saying My Kingdom is not of this World John 18.36 Man who made me a Judg or a Divider over you Luke 12.14 It belonged not to him to exercise external Jurisdiction but to be a Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers Rom. 15.8 He came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20.28 And therefore in Obedience to God and out of Love to us he owned and submitted to the Jurisdiction of the Roman President in Judea He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross for a Pattern to all his Followers and Disciples and to shew that his Kingdom was not of this World Phil. 2.8 John 19.11 1 Pet. 2.21 4. All external Jurisdiction is necessarily either supreme or subordinate But Christ considered as Man in his State of Humiliation had neither Not supreme for
AN ENDEAVOUR AFTER Further Vnion BETWEEN CONFORMING NONCONFORMING PROTESTANTS In several Particulars By a Minister of the Church of England Printed in the Year MDCXCII An Endeavour after further Vnion between Conforming and Nonconforming Protestants 1. THE Nonconforming Brethren scruple subscribing this Clause in the 20th Article of the Church of England The Church hath Power to decree Rites or Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith I conceive that here is nothing dissonant from the Principles and Practice of the Nonconforming Brethren themselves The foresaid Clause hath two Parts one supposeth that the Church hath Power to decree Rites or Ceremonies the other supposeth that the Church hath Authority in Controversies of Faith I begin with this latter first By the Church I understand the Society of Faithful People in Christ Jesus the Body of Christ This Society must needs have Ministerial Authority in Controversies of Faith as is plain from 1 Cor. 2.15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no Man Now the Church is a Spiritual Society consisting of Men endued with the Spirit of Christ whereby they are capable of discerning spiritual things spiritually and consequently of discenning judging and deciding each Man for his own Soul what is of Faith and what is not of Faith This Reason is plainly hinted in the following Verse in these Words We have the Mind of Christ that is we who are godly in Christ Jesus have spiritual Understanding in the things of Christ we know his Voice and follow him and turn from the Voice of Strangers Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World 1 John 4.1 Now the Church is Christ's Beloved and here she is commanded not to believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World But she may not presume to try the Spirits if she have no Authority to try them and she cannot have Authority to try the Spirits and to discern between the Voice of Christ and the Voice of Antichrist but she must needs have Authority in Controversies of Faith Do not the Nonconforming Brethren reject Socinianism Arianism Pelagianism the Popish Mass and other the like Heresies and Delusions By what Authority do they reject them and embrace the contrary Truths and oblige all their Flocks so â—o do if really the Church hath no Authority in Controversies of Fâ—â—â—h It is then plain from their own Principles and Practice that they do well allow the Church to have Authority in Controversies of Faith that is Ministerial Authority dependent on and subject to Christ her Head which is the plain meaning of the Article as is manifest from the whole Tenour thereof and the rest of the Articles subscribed by the Nonconformist Brethren themselves 2. Then for the other Branch That the Church hath Power to decree Rites or Ceremonies that is decent and useful Rites or Ceremonies circa Sacra about holy Things That there are such the Nonconformists will not deny I instance in the taking of an Oath this is a Sacred Thing a Religious Act and a part of God's Worship pertaining to Natural Religion common to us and Heathens unalterably fixed by God as touching the Substance thereof but not as touching the external Form and Manner of taking it here is a Latitude left by God And there may be innocent Variety divers Countries may have divers Fashions and the same godly Man and Church of God may see cause to vary the Rite and Solemnity of Swearing As Abraham Gen. 14.22 swore with his Hand lifted up unto the Lord the most high God At another time he made his Servant swear with his Hand put under the Thigh of Abraham his Master Gen. 24. Those who in the late Times in these Nations took the solemn League and Covenant swore with their right Hand lift up to Heaven But now both Conforming and Nonconforming Protestants generally in England and Ireland and as I suppose in Scotland also swear with their right Hand laid upon the Bible as a Rite or Ceremony not unlawful Again it is well known that the French Protestant Ministers do use to preach with their Hats on but the Protestant Ministers in England Scotland and Ireland not to name other foreign Churches do use to preach with their Hats off Now Preaching the Gospel is a sacred Thing a religious Act as all agree and the Nonconformists will not deny but that for Substance it is unalterably fixed by God but whether with the Hat on or off is not precisely determined by him Here there may be innocent Variety it is clearly a Rite or Ceremony about a religious Act one Church hath this Rite or Ceremony another Church hath another Rite or Ceremony quite contrary and yet both Ways lawful before God in the Judgment of the Nonconformist Brethren themselves For in things of this nature Custom creates a Law otherwise the Apostle had argued very weakly But if any Man seem to be contentious we have no such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 3. Again giving notice to the People by the ringing or tolling of a Bell at what time to assemble for God's publick Worship as also the testifying of our Joy and Thankfulness to God on a 5th of November by ringing of Bells and by Bonfires and on the like extraordinary Days of Thanksgiving are clearly Rites or Ceremonies circa Sacra about holy Things no where prescribed by God and yet held lawful and useful by the Nonconformist Brethren themselves And therefore they must needs own that the Church hath Power to decree innocent useful and decent Rites or Ceremonies circa Sacra about holy Things there being clearly some such Ceremonies or Rites in use among all the Churches of Christ approved by the Nonconformist Brethren no where ordained by God it being sufficient as to things of this nature that they are no where forbidden by God and being established by general Usage and Custom of the Church where we live that is equivalent to a Decree and proves that the Church hath Power from Christ to begin and introduce such laudable and useful Rites and Ceremonies as to continue the Use and Observation thereof Nee Disciplina ulla est in his melior gravi prudentique Christiano quà m ut eo modo agat quo agere viderit Ecclesiam ad quamcunque forte devenerit Quod enim neque contra fidem neque contra bonos more 's injungitur indifferenter est habendum pro eorum inter quos vivitur Societate servandum est August Epist 118. ad Jan. 4. It being thus plain that the Church hath Power to decree Rites or Ceremonies and that these may not be the same in all places then not only this part of the 20th Article of the Church of England but also the whole 34th Article as being for substance the same