ditch it is not their saying they were led thither will help them out S. 20.5 Furthermore although Christ upon occasion of the two disciples desiring of him that they might sit the one on his right hand and the other on his left in that temporal Kingdom they fancied he was to have said to Peter and all the Apostles Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them but it shall not be so among you I say though this be so express as you see yet notwithstanding the Pope as pretended successour to St. Peter claims a Supremacy over Kings and a priviledge to be appealed to as the last and highest Tribunal upon earth And in case any Kings turn hereticks to him in denying his Claim and casting off his yoke he takes upon him a power to chastise them to excommunicate them and then to depose and dethrone them and to dispose of their Kingdomes and to absolve their subjects from the duty of their allegiance to their natural Prince And for what reason is this swelling power of overtopping Kings assumed The pretence is that the Pope as head of the Church being Superiour to all Christian Kings as being but members of that body whereof he is head they upon that account are under his conduct and government in using their secular power for the interest of the Christian Religion and Catholick cause and for the chastising of such as are heretical or undutiful and disobedient This is the Pretence But the true design is to render the Pope the more magnificent and venerable the more awful and terrible in the eyes of all and to lift him up to the highest pinnacle of worldly Pomp and greatness attainable in this world and to use the power and interest of such Kings to support and secure him in his Pontifical Chair of State and as executioners of his wrath and displeasure against all that shall but peep and mutter any thing against him or any of his decrees or orders or give him the least disturbance That this is the design tho' the other be pretended appears in that the Pope is well enough contented that these Kings should tolerate or connive at any wickedness in their Dominions though never so dishonourable to Christ and Christianity and destructive to his Religion in the power of it provided they be but tender of his Interest and will not connive at any Affronts put upon his Government as Papal Men may do what they will provided they meddle not with the Popes Crown or the Monks bellies was the saying of Erasmus S. 21.6 Again as the Popes do claim a supremacy over Temporal Princes for themselves so they do a priviledge and exemption for their subordinate Clergie from the Temporal power Concil Trid. Sess 25. as holding immediately under their Ecclesiastical Head the Pope which is another device to strengthen their Interest For hereby all his Clergy are the faster tied and engaged to their grand Master the Pope and at the greater liberty act securely in abetting his Interest and serving his designs as occasion and opportunity serves S. 22. 7. As the false Apostles broached Doctrines tending to Licentiousness to increase their party and strengthen their Interest so the Authors and Founders of Popery have set on foot certain corrupt doctrines good for nothing but to increase their party and wealth thereby and to strengthen their Interest Such is that of a pretended power vested in the Pope and from him derived to every Priest of absolving men and forgiving their sins upon such easie terms as the confessing them to the Priest and doing such slight Penances as he out of his Indulgence to them if they please him is pleased to appoint And which is yet worse if worse can be viz. the Doctrine of the Popes power not only of granting Indulgences for Sins past but also Dispensations to commit them for time to come And that such a power is pretended to we learn from Authors of their own Espenseus hath told us that They allow not only the Laity but also their very Clergie-men to dwell with Whores and Harlots and to beget Bastards for a certain Tax Comment on Tit. p. 478 479. Also De Continentia Lib. 2. Cap. 7. And the Princes of the Roman Empire assembled at Noremberg in the years 1522 1523. complained that the Popes sucked the marrow of the peoples Estates by Indulgences and that they heightened the imposture by their hireling Cryers and Preachers and that Christian piety was banished while to advance their Market they cried up their Wares for the granting of wonderful peremptory pardons not only of Sins already committed but of Sins that shall be committed So that by the Sale of these Wares as they said together with being spoiled of their money Christian Piety is extinguished while any one may promise himself impunity upon paying the rate that is set upon the Sin he hath a mind to commit Fasciculus rerum experendarum fol. 177 178. And if the people can believe that the Pope hath power by his Dispensations to bear them out for money in such Immoralities they may as well believe also that he hath power to dispense with their taking of such Oaths and entering into such Obligations which they never intend to keep or to do any other thing as bad especially if it any way tend to the advancing of the Catholick Cause And if so by what Test can they be discovered to be really what they are when they have a mind to conceal it or what security can such Oaths or other Obligations be to Protestant Princes of their true allegiance to them And what is said in this is the more considerable it we add thereto those other two loose Doctrines of theirs the one touching the lawfulness of their breaking Faith with Hereticks such as they esteem Protestants to be and the other the Jesuitical Doctrine of Equivocation with mental Reserves Wherein also they exactly follow their Leaders the false Apostles For they as I have shewed thought or at least taught that in some cases they might deny Christ in word so they did but retain a belief in him in their hearts and partake with Idolaters in their Idol Sacrifices so they did but retain in their minds a belief that there were no other Gods but one and intended not any honour to the Idol The very complexion of these and such like Doctrines shews them to be calculated not to promote Religion and Virtue but to hook in filthy lucre to gratifie any that will but be for them in giving scope to their Lusts and to set men free from all ties of Religion and Conscience when they stand in the way of their Cause and Interest That which the Prophet of Old from the Lord charged upon the Priests then when he said They eat up the sin of my people and set their heart on their Iniquity Hos 4 8. falls upon
follow the steps of the false Apostles as in any of those other things I have instanced in For although they the false Apostles could not stand before the powerful conviction of the faithful Apostles but found their hearts to sink within them as to the Cause they maintained as knowing in their consciences they were not able by the strength of truth to defend it against the assaults of the holy Apostles yet then they would in face and outward appearance glory and boast as if they had the victory and all because they had no other way to hold their party to them and to carry on their design which they were resolved to stick to whatever was said against it and also because they found that this course of theirs would do them as much service as a demonstration would do among their credulous followers who hung upon their lips and were willing to take all they said upon trust as suiting most with what they liked best See for this the 2 Cor. 5.12 We commend not our selves again unto you saith St. Paul but give you occasion to glory on our behalf that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance and not in heart meaning the false Apostles All that I shall add is only to observe from what was last delivered That the false Apostles even then when they set the best face upon their Cause and gloried over their opposers and carried it outwardly with never so great confidence and boasting yet since their own corrupt Interest was concerned in the Contest there was just cause for their followers to suspect what they pleaded in their own defence and that it was wisdome in them that did so and folly and unhappiness in those that suffered themselves to be imposed upon and deluded thereby without looking more narrowly into the matter themselves as those did who tryed them that said they were Apostles but were not and found them liars Rev. 2.2 And if so then in as much as a Corrupt self interest of Popish Guides is also concerned in and depends upon the cause they labour to defend as I have shewed those who have committed themselves to their Conduct have no more reason to be confident of the goodness of their Cause upon the account of the confidence and boasting of those who undertake to defend it than the followers of the false Apostles had in reference to their cause But in point of greatest prudence are concerned to look upon all they say with a jealous eye and with the greatest care and diligence to scan the matter themselves and to search the Scriptures themselves and impartially to consider as well what is said against them and their Cause as what is said for it and them and not carelesly or desperately to venture their souls upon such mens confident pretences whose Corrupt interest it is to deceive them APPENDIX WHat you shall find in this Appendix was first intended to be brought in by way of Digression at the close of the Answer to an Objection from St. Paul's Compliances at the end of the 9th Section of the foregoing Discourse to which it properly relates But it s running out to such a length as it hath done hath altered that intention as tending to too great an interruption in the line and method of that Discourse And I have the rather thought it meet to add this to the whole Discourse lest any should think a compliance in the use of some undetermined circumstances in the administration of Gods Publick Worship should be of like nature with the corrupt compliances of the false Apostles and their party discovered in the said Discourse That which I have to add therefore upon the foresaid occasion take as follows From what hath been said in the foresaid Section touching St. Paul's Compliances somewhat may be observed which may be of good use to Christians in many dubious Cases There I have shewed how that St. Paul sometimes withstood the use of Circumcision and sometimes yielded to it The reason of which did arise from the different circumstances that did attend the use of the same thing upon different occasions When it was urged upon the Gentiles as necessary to their salvation St. Paul withstood it But to avoid stumbling in the believing Jews who were not as yet satisfied touching its cessation and to prevent a breach in the Church and to gain the more upon such as were inclinable to Christianity he yielded to the use of that and other like things among them I think we may safely suppose that St. Paul knew well enough when he did so that Circumcision was not in it self or by positive command necessary to the Jews under the Gospel by the taking place of which it was abolished for he said Circumcision is nothing 1 Cor. 7.19 Nor was it simply unlawful in it self for if it had no Circumstance could have sanctified it or made it lawful So that when he yielded to it it was upon account of Expediency by reason of circumstances attending it which made it expedient such as was the Peace of the Church and the better propagation of the Gospel And yet when he yielded to it upon the account of Expediency we may well suppose it was not wholly and altogether expedient without any inexpediency at all but only more expedient than inexpedient For otherwise it may well be thought that his yielding to the use of it somewhat tended to nourish the opinion the Jews had of its perpetuity under the Gospel and to minister some advantage to those who taught a necessity of it unto Salvation and could not be very grateful to the believing Gentiles who opposed it nor to St. Paul himself neither So that in some respect it was inexpedient to yield to it when he did yield to it but in other respects more inexpedient to withstand it and not to yield to it From all which we may observe that when two Inexpediencies come in competition the one attending the doing and the other the not doing of the same thing so that there is a necessity to yield to one of them in doing or not doing of it then that which is least inexpedient is to be yielded to Or which is the same that when all circumstances are considered then that which hath more of expediency than inexpediency in it is to be chosen Just as on the other hand when two Precepts the one moral the other but positive come in competition the less is to give place to the greater To fit these general Rules to particular cases requires some skill but if these things were well considered and practised it would go a great way towards the lessening those undue distances which are among us As for instance Suppose some circumstances in the external form of our Publick Worship establisht by Law were so inexpedient as some deem them to be Yet if they would but lay aside Prejudice Partiality Passion and Interest of Parties in making a judgment of
Circumstances of the administration of the true worship And therefore these Scriptures when duly considered are without any colour of reason or truth alledged against the lawful use of undetermined Circumstances of administration of the Substance of Gods worship An opinion doubtless it is no less dangerous than false For since it cannot be conceived as I suppose how the publick worship other than the use of the Lords prayer and the reading the Scriptures and the reciting some words of Scripture in the administration of Baptism and the Lords Supper if so much can possibly be managed without doing something therein in reference to external administration which is not particularly determined and commanded in the New Testament such a position as that must needs tend not only to fill mens minds with endless scruples and their mouths with endless disputes but also to interrupt and put a stop to the administration of Gods publick worship should it be admitted Even under the Mosaical dispensation when things pertaining to the worship of God were far more minutely determined than they are under the Gospel many things were done of a religious nature and some of them more immediately respecting the worship of God which yet were neither commanded by God nor the doing of them censured by him so far as appears so long as any thing Commanded by him was thereby neither opposed nor justled out nor any thing done in the name or under pretence of things appointed by him which were not so as the Pharisees did when they taught for doctrine the commandments of men Of things of this nature these following are instances The rearing of an Altar by the two Tribes and half for a sign or witness that they and their posterity were people of the God of Israel and to prevent Apostasie in their posterity Josh 22.25.34 The erecting of a stone by Joshua for somewhat a like purpose Josh 24.26 27. Solomons hallowing the middle part of the temple for sacrifices 1 King 8.64 The keeping of the Passeover fourteen dayes by order of King Hezekiah and with the advice of the Heads of the people tho' God had appointed but Seven as also the Levites then helping the Priest in the Priests appropriate work 2 Chro. 30. The observation of the dayes of Purim The anniversary fasts of the 4th 5th 7th and 10th month The building of Synagogues for publick worship and appointing governours therein and the ordering what prayers should be made and how and after what manner the Law and Prophets should be improved to common benefit by reading and exhortation and what discipline should be used therein The determinate hours of prayer in the Temple Act. 3.1 The altering the gesture and some other things in eating the Passeover from what was used in the first Institution and conformed to by Christ himself under that alteration The seast of Dedication which Christ graced with his own presence The admitting of Proselytes by Baptism as wel las by Circumcision a practice which our Saviour was so far from testifying his dislike of as a humane invention that he chose the same rite by which to initiate his disciples These things with what was said before if there were no more to be said in the case would be enough to shew that it 's no just exception against our external form of publick worship in that it is not expresly and particularly commanded in Scripture for if it were it would be a just exception against every external form of publick worship whatsoever because there is no one in particular commanded with exclusion of all the rest Which still plainly renders it a thing more inexpedient yea and much more than so to be accessary by rending from the communion of the Church to the bringing on us all those sad effects of our divisions which every good man is sensible of than it is or can be to bear with what does not so well please them in our form of worship as somewhat else different therefrom would do Methinks it should make such as are more considering men among those that divide the Church by withdrawing from her communion to be very jealous of the expediency of their practice when they consider that before men took this liberty there was little of the sad effects forementioned visible among us but since that those bad effects are grown notorious and formidable and that 's no honour to Separation that it hath brought forth such fruit they may know what it is by what it hath done by its fruits ye shall know it And therefore such as would be loth to lye under the guilt unrepented of of being accessary to the drawing on us the sad events we speak of had need to examine again and again whether the grounds upon which they have made or incouraged those divisions which have been the cause of them be such as will abide the trial before God and whether they have any ground to think that what they contend for in case they could obtain it would ever countervail or compensate the damage which Religion in its reputation and the Souls of men have already sustained and are like farther to suffer by the course they have taken to effect it And when ever they do enter into such consideration it will doubtless be their wisdome not to flatter themselves with conceit as I fear some do as if they are not nor can be accessary to the bringing on us these sad effects of our divisions but that they are wholly owing and imputable to our Governours who as they perhaps suppose have given them just occasion of withdrawing from communion in the publick worship by making the terms of it so difficult and unsatisfactory as they have done For tho' that which they surmise should be so far true viz. That the conditions of communion are made more uneasie unto some than they need to be yet it will not follow but that tho' the Governours in some respect do ill in doing so the people may do very well in submitting to them tho' less pleasing to themselves rather than by causing divisions by not submitting to them to draw on such things as may well displease them much more than the uneasie terms of Communion need to do as long as they are but only less desirable and not absolutely sinful in themselves as doubtless those in question are not For if they were it would be wonderful that so many wise inquisitive and good men as well of the old Nonconformists as others as since the Reformation have submitted to them should not be sensible of it No not after all that could be said to work such a sense in them by such as have turned every stone to do it And it is not altogether inconsiderable to remember that however the case is now yet in the Apostles dayes they were such Christians as were less knowing in the right use of their Christian Liberty that caused troubles in the Church about things indifferent in their own nature Rom. 14. These things I have noted upon this occasion for no worse end than to satisfie the Scrupulous That although they should not or could not be perswaded that our external form of publick worship is best in it self yet that to conform to the use of it under present Circumstances is not only lawful but also very much better than to be accessary to all the evil effects and consequences of our divisions and causeless Separations and that there is upon account of the danger of being so much more cause to scruple Nonconformity than Conformity to our form of publick worship But if all the arguings and reasonings which have been used by many shall still fall short of their desired effects to close up our unhappy breaches and to heal our divisions the consequences of them are so dreadful that I could then heartily wish that if the Higher powers think it fit and rather than the wounds of our Church should be still kept bleeding to the exhausting of her strength and the endangering her very life and being that a Sacrifice were made of some such things as can least be born with and best spar'd to the publick peace and tranquillity of the Church if that might procure it Peace and Edification being the ends unto which all External circumstances of order are to be accommodated by way of means Thus much I thought good to add touching the point of Expediency from St. Paul's example THE END