in the Low-Countries and with the Massacre of his Eldest Son and Heir Don Carlos a young Prince who discovered his dislike of the Bloody Designs of the Papists of his days But since the States of Europe have laboured to cut the Spaniards Short and to bring down their haughty pretensions they have scarce been able to keep their own without their Neighbours Charitable Assistance much less to invade the other Kingdoms and Territories of Europe in gratification of the Court of Rome But the French Monarch esteemed the richest Prince of all Europe raised to a Powerful and Large Kingdom was become dreadful to all his Neighbors whiles he stood still He seemed therefore to be the fittest Instrument to carry on the Popish Designs in Europe and in England and able to suppress the Protestant Religion every where This was the French aim in the last Dutch War as may appear by the words of their Embassadors to all Popish Princes chiefly in Germany and Spain And in consideration of this War the Pope was willing to gratifie the French King in all his demands in making those men Cardinals whom he had recommended to him And likewise to shew his readiness to crush the Protestant Party the French King to please the Pope hath pulled down several hundred Churches and oppressed the Protestants of his Dominions contrary to his former Grants and Promises I could instance several known proofs of this Agreement between the Pope the Jesuits and the French King to govern the World between them and to assist one another in the subduing Europe and in Ruling it by this Triumvirat The Pope was to have the Souls and command the Consciences of men to furnish him and his minions with what moneys they would have The French King was to Govern the Bodies and command their Estates And the Jesuits by a compliance with them both were to have a large share in the Conquered Countreys and a great part in the Government of the World The Dutch a sturdy generation and powerful by Sea stood in their way these must be oppressed by a Nation no less valiant and strong it was no difficult matter to blow up the Coals and kindle a War The uncivility of the former furnishing daily causes of discontent to the latter but when the growing greatness of the French discovered to us our own danger and that our Prince became the Moderator of Peace and War stopping this furious Champion in his full Career it is not to be imagin'd what displeasure the Popish Party conceived against our King and Nation what threatning speeches what furious expressions dropt from their mouths The Emperor only and the Spaniard no Friend of the French Greatness would have been willing to assist the Pope if only Religion had been concerned but when they had an inkling of the Triumvirat and saw to what all these proceedings would abutt they chose rather to aid the Hereticks against their Pope than to suffer them to incrcase their Enemies Power and Greatness But seeing that Protestant England would not suffer the Pope and the French to triumph over all their Neighbours but give a check to their proceedings a Peace must be concluded with the Dutch Hereticks that they might have more leasure to work mischief to and overthrow this strongest Bulwark of the Protestant Religion Open War was dangerous against a Nation so Couragious therefore private Plots and secret Conspiracies must do They had no other way but to cast us into a confusion by a sudden attempt and the Massacre of our Prince and of his Subjects and to animate us one against another The Father must be stirred up against the Son the Children must rise against their Parents Relations and Affinity Consanguinity and the ties of Friendship and Blood must be all set aside to promote the Interest of this Catholick Religion and Holy Cause sanctified by the Popes Benediction The burning of the City of London could not destroy that Nest of Hereticks they must there be all Massacred therefore in their famous City that is so soon risen out of its Ashes to the wonder of the World No pitty nor compassion must be had of innocent babes who might one day revenge the murder of their Parents but they must all the Mother and the Child feel the stroaks and sharp swords of these zealous followers of Jesus of these Roman Catholicks and Jesuits But how far did their fury intend to run God knows Once the name of a Protestant must not be left alive in all England Blood and Rivers of Blood must be spilt to make way for a Religious Generation of Jesuits Franciscans Jacobins and other Fryers to plant in this Land and secure it for the Pope their Sovereign Kings and Princes Nobles and Clergy Gentry and Commonalty must all be witnesses of their impartial zeal the whole Nation must be destroyed O Inhumanity O Hellish Fury O unheard of Cruelty Blessed be thy Holy Name O Lord our God for the discovery of their malice and rage against us continue thy Protection to our gracious Prince guard him by thine Almighty Power secure his person against all present and future Conspiracies preserve thy People and this Church and send us all to be truly thankful and to reunite again in the sincere worship of thee the only true God for Jesus Christ his sake Amen This Plot hath been working many years and preparations were making in all the Convents upon the Sea-Coasts of Spain and France chiefly of the Jesuits But that which is the end of all this Discourse is that if we had not been divided in Religion the Papists would not have made this attempt and we should be infallibly secure from all future mischiefs which they will yet endeavour to work amongst us if we could be perswaded to set aside all Partiality and Prejudice and joyn together all unanimously in the profession of one Religion and in the same manner This I shall prove in the next Chapter CHAP. II. The danger of Division in a Nation about matters of Religion and what pernicious consequences it hath had in foreign Countries and in this THE chief intent of all Societies of men is Union and the Publick Security against all invasion and disorder foreign and domestick For that purpose we gather together in one Body and under one Head we bind our selves together with Laws and Relations we entertain a mutual correspondency amongst our selves and pretend all to promote the general good of the politick Body Nations are to be looked upon as large Families where the Universal Father and all the rest are members of the Family highly concerned in one anothers good and preservation All the individuals are united in one publick interest in the happiness of the whole or division therefore discord is an apparent enemy to the Society because it opposes the very intent of it and lays open a Nation to these following mischiefs and to their dismal consequences I. It weakens the Society and People
be quiet In Bohemia and Poland what stirs and disturbances have the Socinians raised In Germany and the Bishoprick of Munster what wickednesses have not the Anabaptists committed I should be endless if I reckon'd up all the Mischiefs Blood Tumults War and Calamities which small and inconsiderable disputes about Religion have brought upon men in the Primitive Church and in these latter days Look only into our own Nation and consider the late Tragedies acted by our own Countreymen upon the Person of their King and Nobles Look into the cause of their unreasonable fury and you shall find nothing but their mistakes about Religion to have thus transported and carried them to that excess of cruelty and rage In Queen Elizabeths days the Separatists began to quarrel with our Discipline and Government and laid a foundation for the Brownists the Familists and their Successors to build their confused Babel Their bold Pamphlets in the Queens Reign and in King James's time threatned the Nation with the following disturbances in the State The restless Puritans were always bawling in the Peoples ears against our Church and its Rulers and what troubles did they not breed but all former disputes were but sports and plays to the late disputes about Religion in our Royal Martyrs days for it is observable that when men have wearied themselves in disputing about trifles they try the cause and decide the difference a nearer way with the dint of their sharp swords This was the end of our unhappy divisions we remember yet the late Civil War the Calamity under which the Land groaned the Disorders and Miseries that we and our Families suffered This my Brethren proceeded from the same cause which yet you are unadvisedly fond of and embrace with an invincible tenacity They were at first discontented at our Church and Religious Worship they exclaimed continually against our formalities and practices and differed from us in the same punctilio's as some of you do They were at first as modest in all their behaviour towards us See the Kings Portraiture desiring nothing but liberty and freedom for themselves and their way of worship but when they had gathered into a head their pretensions were so high that they would oblige all men to conform and subscribe to all their irregularities and extravagancies I cannot call to mind the sad condition of our Church of England in those unhappy days without Tears when our Governours were deposed our Clergy banished with their Prince our Nobility and Gentry sequestred our Laws obliged to submit to the power of the Sword our Kingdom and Government in the hands of lawless Tyrants Sects and Divisions in Religion multiplying every day and rising out of the filthy spawn of the Jesuits the wicked principles which they spread amongst us to disturb us and puzle the weaker sort in the Notions of Religion All these Evils with innumerable others which we can better remember than speak of sprung from your Forefathers Non-Conformity And will not their Chidren be better advised will they wittingly draw again the same danger upon their heads will they not be persuaded to prevent such mischiefs for the time to come The burnt Child dreads the fire We have been already burnt and almost consumed in the hot fire of a Civil-War Shall we cast our selves again into it or entertain the same causes that brought forth that sad calamity Our Enemies took occasion to blow up the coals into a grievous flame who knows but they are busily employed about the same wicked purposes and will cast us headlong into the same misery why shall we be so foolish so mad and such Enemies of the publick and of our selves and posterity as to assist the Jesuits and Romanists in their grand design to ruin us and our Nation This proceeding of yours may seem very strange my Brethren and may cause a greater wonder when we have seriously considered and proved it to you CHAP. III. That there is no reasonable cause of dividing from our Church and that the most scrupulous Conscience may and ought to conform according to the Laws of God as well as man HAD you as good and allowable causes to alledge for your separation from us as we and our Forefathers had to depart out of the Idolatrous Church of Rome your zeal would deserve a commendation and none could charge you with the Crime of Schism or Faction For in such a case you would have in Conformity to the Examples and Command of Christ and his holy Apostles forsaken those who had first forsaken him and divided your selves from those abominations whereof the belief and practice can never consist with the Salvation of your immortal Souls But though we and our Church are falsely aspersed with Popery and Popish Superstition the Accusation is false and so ill grounded that it would not deserve a refutation were it not that this strange conceit is greedily entertained by many of our Non-Conforming Brethren The accusation is commonly delivered in gross because there is none can justifie this charge by any particular instance It is the common Practice and Art of Impostors and of abusive Tongues when they cannot make good the objected crime to bring their accusation in this manner that their malice might be less discoverable and their charge more weighty But why should we be declared to be Popishly affected against our wills we disown this charge as a grievous calumny that hath no other foundation but the pride and unreconcileable hatred of our Enemies Did ever any Church write more smartly against the Pope and Papists than the Learned Divines of the Church of England read over the thirty nine Articles and Bishop Jewel and the Archbishop Laud against Fisher and in these our days read but the writings of these Learned Divines of the present Bishop of Lincoln of Dr. Stilling fleet and Dr. Pierce and you shall find that none professes to be greater enemies of Popery than we do But methinks that this late Popish Plot and all the Papists endeavours against the Church of England should justifie us in the eyes of all the World better than any Arguments can that we are not Papists nor Popishly affected can we think the Papists and Jesuits who are not so easily mistaken in their judgments of us would have laid a Train to blow us up had we been on their side can we think them so blind that they cannot see their friends from their foes would they offer to burn destroy and kill us and our Children were we so inclinable to Popery as our mistaken Brethren falsely conceive what mad men are you Priests and Jesuits Popes and Cardinals of Rome thus to conspire and spend so much Treasure to destroy your own Brethren Did you not understand all this while that we were all agreed and that we are so near related that we may shake hands Why will you needs murder us and our Families for our Religion sake when we are as much or within a small
matter as much Papists as you I am afraid I shall never be able to persuade neither the Pope nor his Jesuits that we of the Church of England are such Friends of Popery as you my Non-Conforming Brethren would have us to be I shall be rather able to make them take us for Turks and Jews than Roman Catholicks Wherefore then will you needs accuse us so falsely against all equity and probability What do you find of Popery in us and our Church Is it the Government by Bishops and their Suffragans It is possible that this Order established in our Church may give occasion to the weaker sort to look upon us near a kin in this respect because they are mistaken in the Notion of Popery and in the chief and essential properties of that Religion God forbid that all Monarchical Government in Gods Church on Earth should be Popish and Antichristian Then we must include the Primitive Churches setled by the Apostles in Asia and the East under the Government of Bishops to be Popish also Then the Grecian Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople The Egyptian under the Arch-Bishop of Alexandria and the Antiochian and Jerusalem Churches and generally all the Churches of Christ in Constantine's days and since were Popish Nay all the Fathers St. Cyprian St. Austin St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom were Papists as well as we and our Bishops Hier. ad Macceb Aug. in Psalm 45. by that reason For all their Churches were governed by Bishops and a Monarchical Authority The Calvinists also whom you say are your nearest Brethren are also Papists if this reason were good for they wish that they might have Bishops to govern them in their reformed Churches and that it could consist with their safety in the midst of their Enemies to have the same form of Government as we have here in this Land Examin but their Letters mentioned by Dr. Durel and a Letter of Peter Martyr to Beza at the end of his Common-places at his return from the Assembly of Poissy concerning the Bishop of Troye in France who embraced the Protestant Religion Peter Martyr pag. 801. and was universally received and acknowledged by all the Calvinists in his Diocess Ministers and others as their Lord and Bishop And you will have no cause to think them to be Enemies of Episcopacy as the Papists and you would persuade us for divers ends But there is a vast difference in the point of Church-Government between the Papists and us They render Homage to the Pope as the Supream Lord of the Church on Earth we acknowledge none but Christ and under him our Lawful Sovereign They differ from us much in their Episcopal Laws which savour of Tyranny and are not so conducing to the Reformation of mens manners and the good of Christianity as ours The Name Prerogatives and Honours of the Popish Bishops are for the most part yet continued to our Protestant Prelates by the liberality of our Religious Kings And is this the cause that you accuse them of Popery Do their Honors and Riches grieve you Are you displeased to see the Rulers of our Church appear with decency splendor and the respect of their Country I am perswaded that if the Kings Majesty would take from them their Lordships their Estates and Dignities and send our Bishops amongst you to beg their bread as the Mendicant Fryers of Rome though then they would be much more like the Papists than they are at present you would scarce take the pains to accuse them for being Popishly affected But I have this Charitable opinion of you my Non-Conforming Brethren that you would never have thought to accuse our Bishops and their Church Government of Popery had not the Jesuitical Party that insinuate amongst you minded you of it for their own ends and out of a displeasure to see the excellent Order Decency and Splendor of our Church free from the abominations of Idolatry and their Monkish absurdities But that you may not be so soon mistaken my Brethren in a matter of so great a moment as Popery and Superstition is I beseech you to understand what Popery is and what not that you may not be so easily cosened and imposed upon by your Enemies and ours in this Nation Popery comprehends all those Heresies and grievous Errors which the Pope and the Court of Rome have delivered as Articles of Faith by which the Popes Authority or rather Tyranny is established in the World contrary to Gods Word and Glory and the Salvation of mens Souls According to this definition if our first Reformers had retained the abuses of Popery the Transubstantiaton Purgatory Images the Merits of Saints Indulgences Pardons and such like follies not warranted but contrary to Christ's Doctrines and Christianity you might then accuse us with reason of being guilty of Popery But shall we for our Conformity to Christs Commands and the Primitive Church in Discipline and Government be accused by you of Popery and Antichristianism What is there in our Government or Church that tends to promote the Popes Interest or to draw men away from Christ and our dependency upon him and his merits If something of the Civil Power be intrusted in the hands of our Bishops I hope none of you will presume to appoint our Wise Princes and Parliaments whom they are to settle in Authority under them That proceeds from our Princes Will who is Gods Vicegerent amongst us For our Articles our Catechism our Rubrick and way of Worship is as free from Popery as our Government and Ecclesiastical Laws For how can that be Popish which opposeth all the Errors and Mistakes of the Papists which Teacheth to implore Gods assistance and direction against the Heresies and Designs of the Pope which was used in the Christian Church before ever the Pope claimed an universal superintendency How can that be Popish which agrees with Gods Word and the Doctrines and Practices of all the Reformed Churches Enemies of Popery and which their most Judicious Divines embrace as most consonant with Faith and Piety Search into every thing Authorized in the Church of England and let the most refined Soul and quickest Eye tell us under what Ceremony or in what Article of our Faith or in what corner of our Rubrick or in what part of our Devotions they perceive any Colour of Popish Superstition I dare affirm and willl engage to prove that most of our Non-Conformists are far more Superstitious and Popish in their Belief and Practice than any in the Church of England In those particulars in which your Conformity is required What is there of Popery of Superstition or contrary to Reason or good manners For if there be nothing to be excepted against Why will you not joyn with us your Brethren You cannot be angry with Set Forms in general because Christ our Saviour recommended one to us as an Excellent Pattern to draw ours by You may be displeased at the reading of our Prayers but if
you will shut your Eyes they may seem to you as good as if they had been pronounced memoriter Grieve not to hear the same requests offered up and loath not the same Prayers which you hear so often because you are pinched with the same necessities every day and stand in need of the same God and the same Blessings and therefore may we offer up the same Prayer In the matter of our Prayers if any of you will shew us any thing contrary to Gods Will or Word we will correct and dash it out Be not offended at the Cross in Baptism this was practised in Christs Church before ever Popery was known in the World and is a significant sign used by the Primitive Christians to embolden and encourage us betimes to wear and receive the marks in our bodies of Christs Holy Religion Be not offended at our outward Reverence which we express at the mentioning of the Name of Jesus as we will not condemn you that omit this respect judge not us that observe it nor any other outward Action of the Assistants will not be laid to your charge in the Publick Service of God if you intend only Gods Honour I know that meer Formality too visible in many of our Conformists and their apparent Contempt of the outward Devotions discovered in their Actions and Behaviour is a discredit to our Worshipping of God and a discouragement of our dissenting Brethren As therefore they should take heed how they lay such stumbling-blocks in their way the others should remember not to interpret every thing at the worst sence and not to be distasted at the excellent Prayers of our Church because of the prophaness of some persons that assist at or ought to be patterns of our Devotion and Piety Likewise in the renounding of the Covenant why wilt thou be so scrupulous or rather headstrong to maintain obstinately the lawfulness of that which the Kings Majesty and the Wise Council of our Nation have pronounced to have been an unlawful Oath imposed upon the Subjects against the known Laws of the Land Have not we sufficiently seen the wicked sequels of this Engagement or Combination The Fruits that this Tree hath born declare sufficiently the Nature of it We need not the Verdict of our Religious Governors to understand it to have been an unjust Action contrary to our Laws and Liberties for we have seen our selves deprived thereby of both by those very persons who required it from us Why must we yet continue in our mistakes Neither are the words of the renunciation so strict but that any good Christian who intends but to demean himself quietly in the Government may abjure the Covenant in the manner appointed for we do but say that there lies no obligation upon us or any other to cause any stirs rebellion or tumult in Church or State Did you therefore understand what is desired from you I cannot think but that every one of you that is a good Christian would readily comply with so moderate a reconciliation But this Abjuration concerns only those persons of you that enter into Offices and Employments in the Kingdom And it is all the reason in the world that such as are intrusted with any publick Charge should promise not to cause any disturbance in that Government in which they are employed and by which they are secured and their Estates from Invasion Why must we be so fond of a Scotch contrivance put into their heads by Richelieu and the Jesuits whom he sent over purposely to overthrow the Glory of the Protestant Religion in Europe the Episcopacy of the Church of England and to cast us into a confusion in revenge of our assisting them of Rochel against their Prince It may be the whiteness of the Surplice offends thy weak Stomach or Conscience and keeps thee at a distance from our way of Worship But consider my Brother or Sister that Religion consists not in colours and wearing of Apparel It concerns not thy Soul if thou wearest in Gods Service White Black Green Yellow or Red. If thou hadst not a prejudice against this Garment it would please thee as well as Black Gowns and Cloaks with Capes But is it not a sad sign that such a trivial matter shall cause thee to cast off all respect to thy God and the Authority of thy Governours and because of a decent colour and habit which thou dost but fancy to be unbeseeming thou shalt refuse all Communion and Correspondency with thy Brethren on Earth and I am afraid in Heaven too For they shall be all cloathed in white Garments as Priests and Prophets to offer up continually Rev. ix 14. Chap. iii. 4 5. Chap. vi 11. the Sacrifices of their Praises to God In short for I am ashamed to mention and mind you my Non-Conforming Brethren of the usual Objections against us and our Conformity and the Childish causes alledged by some of you for your standing at a distance from us and refusing all Religious correspondency with us I beseech you weigh them all in equal Scales without partiality or prejudice and you will find no reason to refuse Conformity with us I desire you to consider that if your Children and Servants in your Families did breed a disturbance amongst themselves upon such weak grounds and for such slight causes did entertain quarrels and disputes to the disquieting of your Houses would not you seek a remedy with a Rod to make them more peaceable and would not you dismiss such unruly Servants and take in others of a quieter disposition Would you not endeavor to silence their bawling and when they canton in your Families and divide it into parties in Contempt of your Authority and Commands would you not seek to bring them together and oblige them by some way to reunite in One This is the case of Christs Church among us in England I look upon the Presbyterian and Independents chiefly with some other of the more moderate Non-Conformists to be our Brethren belonging to the same Family Christ our Lord. for our Faith and Religion is the same in effect most part of our differences are but trivial childish and unreasonable about such things which concern not the honor of the Lord of the Family nor the publick interest good and preservation of it when considered in themselves And if there be any difference in our Religion between them and us it is in such matters as may be casily reconciled when well sifted out and are not of an absolute necessity to the Salvation of mens Souls Our happiness depends not upon postures gestures garments colours forms crosses surplices and other such like things which are indifferent in themselves and were they not enjoyned might as well be omitted as observed It is therefore a shame for you to quarrel and break the Peace of Christ's Family I mean his Church about such Trifles No doubt but our wise Saviour will take some course speedily to discover to us our error and
to be reconciled with us and their own duty by all the Reasons and Commands of God and Man You know and may easily discover in your usual hearers if you please to give your selves the trouble several wicked vices as pride selfconceitedness hypocrisie hatred malice envy c. which their Non-Conformity alone hath bred and nourished in their Souls You know that the blessed rules of the Gospel and the sweet temper of Christs Religion requires from you another disposition and other carriage than many of you and most of your followers exprest to us your Brethren and your Christian Governors If you have a sincere regard to Religion and a desire to advance Gods Glory on Earth you will at last endeavour a reconciliation for fear of the mischiefs which our separation from one another is like to bring upon us all Remember that a compliance with your Peoples Non-Conformity is no longer seasonable in regard of the obstinacy of those that continue in it against all Law and Reason You have sufficiently complied with their humors do you now comply with your obligations to God and Man you have had a care of the salvation of their Souls now look to the preservation of your own and run not your selves into the remediless sin of a wilful denial and opposition of God truth to the last The Apostles in their yielding to the Jewish mistakes laboured always to make them sensible of their Error by minding them still that Moses Ceremonies were not needful to be observed and at last told them plainly That they were a denyal of Christs coming in the Flesh Galat. It would become your Learning and Integrity my reverend Brethren to deal thus plainly with your Congregations if you would be true followers of the Holy Apostles Tell them that Conformity to the Church of England is no such a Crime as they have imagined that they are bound to obey Mans Laws when they are not contrary to the Commands of the Gospel That they should be reconciled with our Worship and Church and strive to Conform as near as they can to what is required from them Tell them that Schism and Separation from the approved way is a grievous sin That their Souls are in danger of Damnation by resisting and disobeying the lawful Commands of their Superiors under God That they should take heed of not persisting obstinately in their errors and not to refuse obedience to the least Command of the Gospel when discovered to them Tell them to be more in love with Truth than with Faction more desirous of meeting with the rest of their Brethren in Gods Worship than fond of their private and unlawful meetings where the Gospel may be Preached it is true because it is in opposition to their other Brethren and to the Authority of the Nation they are not warrantable by Gods Word Tell them in short that the Blessed Gospel of our Saviour as well as his Interest and our Glory requires us all to joyn and unite together in all Acts of Piety on Earth that we may avoid the Devils temptations and be more fit to unite together in Heaven to sing oraises to our great God and Redeemer Our Blessed Saviour who is dead for you as well as for us and is gone to prepare a place for us in the glorious Mansions of Eternity intends not to receive you by your selves and appoint your aboads distinct from the rest of Christians why are you so serupulous or so superstitious as for trivial matters now to divide from us in that Worship which is to prepare us for Gods presence O my Brethren did we but consider how ridiculous our Nation appear to our Neighbours and to the Blessed Angels above and how pleasing our Divisions are to our Enemies of Rome we should doubtless blush for shame to have hitherto encouraged a separation so childish and ill grounded for no other cause but the humor and mistakes of the vulgar sort seeing that it renders us liable to the reproach of Men and Angels and causeth us all to be in danger of the ruin of our worldly interest and what mischiefs it causeth to the Souls of men do you judge If the respect to Religion be pretended examin whether this pretence can avail against an apparent Duty or excuse you from a submission to the Laws of God and Man examin whether at present you draw not more evil upon the heads of your Followers and Religion it self by an opposition to Conformity than you would by yielding to Reason and Law and to your Christian obligations I know that some prophane and vicious persons refuse to be conformable for other reasons because they have cast off all respects for their God and Religion I know the Jesuits and the disguised Papists amongst you will not Conform to our Church but exclaim against our Religious Worship because they have a wicked design to manage the ruin of the Nation But I intend not these lines for their benefit and perusal but only for such of our Non-Conforming Brethren whose hearts God may at last move with a sence of their duty to joyn with us in Gods Service They that hereafter shall refuse and continue in an obstinate refusal and in their usual clamors against us may justly be suspected for Papists or some hired to promote the Jesuitical design the overthrow of Church and State Were the differences in Religion between us in the Fundamentals a Separation would be well grounded But we all agree in the chief Articles of our Faith we embrace together the same Religion and Belief we worship the same one God Creator of Heaven and Earth and expect Salvation through the Merits of a Crucified Christ we subscribe to the same Covenant of Grace and acknowledge but two Sacraments as Seals we look upon the Holy Scriptures as the only infallible Rule of our Faith and Practice In a word we agree in all the essential parts of the Christian Religion many of the circumstances in which we disagree are so inconsiderable that if we had not an earnest desire to contend they would not be able to cause any dispute much less to disturb the publick peace The chief differences are about Church Government and Gods Publick Worship for the latter they are so frivolous idle and impertinent that I shall say no more in vindication of our practices than hath been already said but for the Government we agree in the chief Principles and Maxims though we differ in the conclusion For we all say that in all Church Governments amongst Christians that there is a regard to be had to the Models allowed of and appointed by the Holy Apostles and Primitive Fathers That the Rules of the Gospel ought not to be opposed but obeyed in the prescribing of Laws for the preservation of Christian Societies That in all Church Government there is a special regard to be had to the end of all Government which is the safety of the whole to keep it