as you are called in one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all And how pathetically does the same Apostle exhort us again to the same thing by all the mutual endearments that Christianity assords If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind These vehement Exhortations to Peace and Concord do strictly oblige us to hold Communion with that Church which requires nothing that is Unlawful of us The Church of Rome will not admit us unless we profess a belief of Transubstantiation and Purgatory and a certain kind of Infallibility no body knows where unless we will worship the Host and Saints and Images and do many other things directly repugnant to the Word of God We cannot therefore Communicate with her unless we should partake of her gross and superstitious Errours But the Church of England does not exact any thing from us that God has forbidden therefore we may Communicate with her without Sin and if we may it must be a Sin in us if we do not do it Certain it is that every causless Separation is a very great one so great that some of the Antients have thought it is not to be expiated by the Blood of Martyrdom and I know no Cause sufficient to defend our leaving a Communion but a necessity of being involved in Sin if we should remain in it Now since it must be confessed that Schism is a very grievous Sin we had need be well assured that we have just occasion for it before we withdraw from the Communion of a Church and if we have rashly withdrawn we are bound to return without delay Then we may consider farther that all Christians are â—bliged to endeavour as much as they can to avoid all differences of Opinion that may occasion Quarrels and Contests among them This will appear from that passionate Intreaty and Admonition which the holy Apostle gave the Corinthians when they were in danger of being rent into several Factions upon misunderstandings and emulations not much unlike unto ours Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Such an Universal agreement and harmony in the Church is very desirable and every one is bound to promote it And the first step that can be made towards this happy Concord in Opinion and Affections is to dispose our minds to a calm and teachable Temper to be always ready to acknowledg the force of an Argument though it contradict our former Perswasions never so much to be grieved at the Animosities and uncharitable Contentions which a diversity of Judgment is wont to produce to follow after the things which make for Peace to be desirous to see an end of these unchristian Divisions and glad of every Opportunity that may bring us nearer to one another and think we have gained a glorious Victory when we have overcome any mistake that kept us at a distance from our Brethren This is a generous and truly Christian disposition and that which has an immediate tendency towards the reconciling all manner of Differences On the other side there can be little hopes that men should ever agree wheâ— they seem resolved to maintain the point in Controversie whatever it is when they do not study to be Satisfied but to cherish their Scruples and hunt abouâ— for New ones when their old Objections are fully answered This is a most perverse and untractable Humour which takes away all possibility of a good Accord For while either of the Dissenting Parties is thâ—â— unwilling to be Convinced and searches after Exceptions there will never be wanting some Cavil or otheâ— that must be sure to serve them to perpetuate the Dispute But 't is a shrewd Sign we esteem our Cause littlâ— better than Desperate when after the Weapons we began the Fight with are wrested from us we snatch up any thing that comes next to hand to throw at our Adversary This Obstinacy does not well become us In all our Debates our aim should be to find out the truth and not to triumph over our Antagonist All sober Christians especially where the Peace of the Church is concerned should always strive to bring the Controversie to a happy issue and composure and not seek for Pretences to widen the breach And then we might all join in Praising and Glorifying of God and be reâ—tored again to that blessed estate they were in at the â—â—rst Preaching of the Gospel when the Multitude of â—â—em that believed were of one heart and of one soul and â—â—ntinued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowâ—hip and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers These â—ew Considerations I have now mentioned might be â—omething useful to the procurement of such a holy and â—eavenly Peace in all Christian Societies throughout the World And if we were but careful never to be byassed by Passion or Interest if our greatest Zeal and Concern â—ere placed upon the more Weighty and Substantial matâ—â—rs of Religion if we should seriously consider how â—rievous a Sin it is to Separate from a Church without â—ny just cause and if we were disposed to Peace and â—illing to have our Doubts and Scruples satisfied I â—â—ink most of the Prejudices against the Church of Engâ—â—nd might be easily removed and we might all joyn in â—â—e same Communion to the Glory of God and the â—â—y and Comfort of all good Protestants and the Conâ—â—sion of those that design to swallow us up and have 〈◊〉 other hopes of prevailing but by the help of those â—â—fferences which for that end they have a long time â—â—st studiously fomented amongst us Let not our unreasonable Fears and groundless Jealousies encourage their Attempts with too great a probability of Success It would be a sad addition to our Miseries if the Guilt and Shame of them too might be laid to our Charge With what remorse should we reflect upon it when the heat of our Passion was over if the Protestant Profession should be farther endangered and the Agents of Rome get greater Advantages daily by those Distractions which have been secretly managed by them but openly carried on and maintained by our selves With what face should we look to see our Enemies not only triumphing over us but mocking and deriding us for being so far imposed upon by their cunning as to be made the immediate instruments of our own ruin But God Almighty in his wise and gracious Providence so consound all their Devices that tend to the subversion of the Truth and so Unite and Compose our Differences that hereafter we may have no just occasion to fear either
end But I hope their Behaviour for the future will sufficiently clear them from such an imputation I shall therefore apply my self only to those that do still forbear our Communion and offer something very briefly which I conceive may be useful for the satisfying their most known and ordinary Doubts that as we do all profess the same Faith we may all agree in the same way of Discipline and Worship and all become peaceable and orderly Members of the same Church And for the obtaining this most Excellent end First I shall desire them impartially to consider of some things that may incline them to be Peaceably minded and tend to the removing of the general Prejudices they have unhappily conceived against the Church of England Then I shall endeavour to give what satisfaction I can to the chief Objections against us which they are wont to urge in Defence of the present Separation And lastly I shall exhort them to a brotherly Vnion upon such Motives and Arguments as the Gospel suggests and make for the Credit and Safety of the Pretestant Religion The things that I would commend to their serious Consideration which may serve to dispose them to Peace and to remove the Prejudices they have taken up are such as these In the first place they should be very careful that it be not any sinister end or corrupt Passion that did either engage them in the Separation at the beginning or provokes them now to continue in it I do not mention this because I know any one of our Dissenting Brethren to be guilty of it but because it must be confessed that mens minds are too often influenced by their carnal Interests and Affections These will be always mixing themselves in all their Consultations these do commonly blind and pervert their Judgments and lead them into ten thousand Errours These are the occasion that Fancy sometimes passes for Conscience that Melancholy Fumes are admired for Divine Inspirations and that the overflowing of our Gall is looked upon as pure Zeal These and the like are very dangerous and usual Mistakes that do frequently proceed from the prevalency of our Passions If therefore we do divide from a Church it will most highly concern us to be very Cautious that we be not acted by any such Principle For if we hope to Gain and grow Rich by our Departure if we are Ashamed or Scorn to retract the Opinions we have once Professed if we imagine we have more Light than the first Reformers when indeed we are very Ignorant if we cannot endure to be Opposed in any thing if we Murmur and Repine at our Governours when they require our Obedience where we are unwilling to pay it these are signs that our Affections are turbulent and unruly and while we are thus disposed we can never be assured but that Covetousness Pride and Impatience might be the greatest Motives that induced us to make a Separation and the strongest Arguments that we have to maintain it But I cannot charge our Dissenting Brethren with these things I believe that many of them may be Upright and Sincere in their Intentions But because they are all in the same estate of Degeneracy and Corruption which others are I would intreat them to be very careful that they be never led away by these or the like temptations but that they would always labour to preserve those holy Dispositions of Integrity Meekness Humility and Condescension which are the best Preparatives to the receiving of the Truth in the Love of it After they have thus freed their minds from all irregular Passions and Designs it would conduce exceedingly to the PEACE of the Church if they would be sure to express their greatest Care and Concern in the more Weighty and Substantial things of Religion This would prevent many of the Quarrels that do often arise in matters but of small Importance If real Holiness and Piety be the thing that we aim at then when we may be secured of this we should not be so very forward to enter upon fierce and endless Disputes about the external Modes and Circumstances of Worship If I may serve God there in Spirit and in Truth why should a Gown or a Cloak or a Surplice fright me from the Church when either of these is injoined by my Superiours If I may be instructed in the way of Salvation and eternal Happiness why should I forsake the Publick Assemblies because I am not allowed to join my self to what Congregation I please and had not an immediate hand in the choice of my Pastor When our hearts are bent upon the great things of Religion we shall see but little Reason to be Contentious about matters of lesser Consequence a few indifferent Rites will scarce be able to tempt us to break off Communion with that Church with which we are at perfect Agreement in all Fundamental and Necessary points The next thing that may tend to the promoting our Vnion is the Consideration of the heinous Nature and Guilt of Schism which is nothing else but the Separating our selves from a True Church without any just Occasion given The want of due apprehensions of the Sinfulness of this seems to be the main Cause of our present Divisions Men are not generally sufficiently sensible how much they do Oppose that Spirit of Peace and brotherly Love which should diffuse it self through the whole Body of Christian People when they suppose every slender Pretence enough to justifie their departing from us and setting up a Church against a Church They think it a matter almost Indifferent and that they are left to their own Choice to join with what Society of Christians they please themselves Which giddy Principle if it should prevail would certainly throw us into an absolute Confusion and introduce all the Errours and Mischiefs that can be imagined But our blessed Lord founded but One Universal Church and when he was ready to be Crucified for us and Prayed not for the Apostles alone but for them also that should believe in him through their word one of the last Petitions which he then put up amongst divers others to the same purpose was That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me This it is plain was to be a visible Vnity that might be taken notice of in the World and so become an inducement to move men to the embracing of the Christian Faith Therefore as we would avoid the hardening of men in Atheism and Infidelity and making the Prayer of our dying Saviour as much as in us lies wholly ineffectual we should be exceeding Cautious that we do not wilfully Divide his holy Catholick Church We are often warned of this and how many Arguments does St. Paul heap together to perswade us to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace One Body and one Spirit even
Indifferent at a Conceived Prayer as ever he was at the Service of the Church And then on the other side let him consider whether he do not believe that very many may be as serious and devout at the Common Prayer as ever he was at any in the other way he is pleased to prefer And after he has thus inquired if he see Reason to acknowledge both as doubtless he will then the Scales will be even at the least Experience will shew that men may be Fervent and Affectionate with a Form and Cold and Inattentive without one And therefore when we are heavy listless and unaffected at a Prayer by a Form this Defect cannot proceed from the Manner of the Devotion but from the Indisposition of the Person that uses it And when we Separate upon this occasion we are guilty of a double Iniquity in Dividing the Church without sufficient Cause and charging our own Formality upon a good and wholesome Constitution My intended brevity will not permit me to give a particular Answer to all the Exceptions that have been taken at our Liturgy only in the general I say I know nothing in it that can be pretended to be Sinful in it self The most that is urged are some supposed Inconveniences which if we should grant to be real they cannot make our Communion Unlawful and then as I have often intimated it must be a Sin to Separate from it and we may not commit a Sin to decline an Inconvenience This would be to do evil that good may come of it They that are willing to improve every slight Exception into a Cause of Separation should beware of this The question is not whether there be not any thing in the Order of our Divine Service which a man could wish to be altered for that can never be expected under any Constitution The main inquiry is this whether any thing Unlawful be appointed to be used which will make an Alteration not only desirable but necessary and whether we are bound to withdraw till such Alteration be made Which has never been proved Men generally forbear our Publick Worship without ever examining into it upon no other ground but because they prefer their own Arbitrary way before it Which I do not admire but this is very strange and unreasonable that they should take such a disgust at our Liturgy and fly away from it as if it were Popish and Antichristian when they never have so much as read it at least considered it as they ought And here I shall take the Confidence to affirm that the Liturgy some abhor so much was made and reviewed with that Prudence and Moderation that Care and Circumspection that there is not any thing now extant in that kind that has been compos'd with greater Wisdom and Piety If we should take the liberty to compare it with the performances in the other way not to mention the many undecent incoherent irreverent expressions to say no worse that might be collected let any Prayer made occasionally and extempore by the ablest and most cautious of those that magnifie that way and despise ours be taken exactly in writing and published to the World and I am very confident that one Man without any great pains may find more things really exceptionable in that single Prayer in a short time than the several Parties of Dissenters with all the diligence they have hitherto used have been able to discover in the whole Service of our Church in more than a hundred years And yet some of our Brethren that seek industriously for Scruples in the Common Prayer will readily join in other sudden conceived Prayers without any Scruple when they cannot tell but that there may be some dangerous Heresie in every Sentence and some great Indecencies and Absurdities in every Word This is such partiality and unequal dealing as cannot be easily excus'd But if they should allow of the Forms of Prayer in our Liturgy there are certain Ceremonies injoyn'd which they think give them occasion enough to depart from our Communion A Man that were unacquainted with the true State of our case that should stand by and only hear the bitter Cries and Invectives that have been made against Ceremonies would be ready to imagine that sure our Church was nothing else almost but Ceremonies But he would be mightily surprized when upon inquiry he should find that these Ceremonies which had occasioned all this noise should be no more than Three the Surplice the Cross after Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament He would be amazed to think that these should be the things about which so many massy Books had been written so great discords and animosities rais'd Such a flourishing Church once quite destroyed and now most miserably divided after it had been so happily restored And his wonder must be increased when he should perceive that of these Three there was but One and no more in which the People were any way concerned The Cross and the Surplice are to be used only by the Minister and if his Conscience be satisfied no Mans else need to be disturb'd about them To Kneel at the Lord's Supper all indeed are commanded but supposing this to be unlawful it could hinder us only from partaking in that Ordinance and not in the rest But of that farther by and by In the mean time I do not understand but that some Ceremonies and particular Determinations of Circumstances are absolutely necessary in the Worship of God since it cannot be performed without them they that will have no Ceremonies can have no external Worship This I think will not be denied But the Ceremonies that are appointed in our Church are thought by some to be significant superstitious and breaches of our Christian Liberty and therefore not to be indured These are the great Objections against the few Ceremonies that are in use among us and these I shall briefly Consider First we are told our Ceremonies are significant And why may not a significant Ceremony be Lawful Are not Kneeling and lifting up the Eyes and Hands to Heaven significations of the Reverence we owe to the Divine Majesty Yes But Ceremonies that signify something naturally may be permitted but not those that signify by institution There should be some solid reason or some plain Scripture Authority brought to to make this difference good And here it is pleaded that every significant Ceremony is a Sacrament and it is downright Popery to make more Sacraments than God has made This I confess were very material if it could be proved But we acknowledge nothing to be a Sacrament but what is An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof Now if this be a true Definition as it is owned by us and must be acknowledged by our Dissenting Brethren that talk so much of their approving the Doctrine of our Church
so they would soon again become more odious to the several Subdivisions of Dissenters than Episcopacy it self And this being a thing so easily foreseen we are not now urged with the necessity of setting up either of these The great expedient that has been proposed of late is to indulge a Liberty of choosing what Church and what way of Worship any man pleases that is to grant a publick Toleration of divers Religions But this though it might gratifie the present humor of some part of the Nation and serve some mens Occasions better than any Establishment would be quickly disliked by most of those that now contend so Zealously for it For there must needs be a constant Emulation and Strugling betwixt the several Tolerated Parties which would give a continual Disturbance and as soon as any of them began to grow Numerous and Powerful and had any Hopes of succeeding they would presently imagine it very necessary to impose their own Discipline upon all the rest and this probably might soon put an end to the so much desired and magnified way of Toleration Or if we could suppose them contented to allow the same Freedom to others which they injoyed themselves yet it could not possibly be avoided but that this Indulgence must strangely multiply our Divisions while some Members of their Separate Churches would take Offence and withdraw and make choice of a new Pastor and incorporate themselves into another new Church and that after a while upon the like Pretences might be split into another and another and so on without any stop And then this would certainly set open the Gate to a Flood of Heresies and such monstrous and extravagant Opinions as must be confessed by the most prejudiced Dissenter to be of far more dangerous consequence to the cause of Religion than that sober and pious Liturgy and those few indifferent Rites which are now injoined This the experience of the Late Times found to be true The Church of England was no sooner overthrown but some of those that had been the most forward and busie to pull her down when they saw how suddenly the swarms of other Sectaries increased upon them were forced to acknowledge that the Constitution which they had destroyed was a great check and restraint to those Errors which grew Bold and Licencious under the Liberty they had procured The Bishops then who just before had been the common Theme of Popular Obloquy had some good Words unwillingly dropt upon them and their Diligence and Success in suppressing Absurd Heretical and many times Blasphemous Doctrines was allowed some just Commendation That Government which they had traduced and rendered as odious as was possible by all the arts of Defamation that could be used was found upon Trial to be far more desirable by some of its greatest Enemies than that Anarchy and Confusion they had contended for with so much Violence But if we cannot be made sufficiently Apprehensive of the dismal Effects that will almost Naturally follow upon a Publick Toleration yet methinks we should now be a little Suspitious of it since we know it is the main Engine the Papists have been working with these many years If there be no Remedy but that our Church must fall let us not throw it down our selves by methods of their Prescribing let us not act as if we were prosecuting the Designs of the Conclave and proceed just as if we were governed by the Decrees of the pretended Infallible Chair We may be ashamed to look so like Tools in the hands of the Jesuits when we suffer our selves to be guided by those measures which they had taken and talk and do as they would have us as if we were immediately inspired from Rome For we cannot be ignorant that Toleration has been a Device of theirs and it would not be any part of our Wisdom to grow unreasonably fond of the Invention of our Enemies and think to strengthen the Protestant Interest by those very means which their Subtilty and Malice had contrived to destroy it But if this Consideration should be laid aside What need can there be otherwise that we should desire to be Indulged in our departure from a Church when we may Communicate with a safe Conscience As we may certainly do in ours whose greatest Adversaries have not been able after the most curious Search they could make to find out one thing in the whole Constitution which they could positively affirm to be Forbidden and till that can be made appear we must still say that it cannot be Unlawful If the Imposition of some Indifferent things be thought a sufficient ground for a Separation as it is now generally urged since the proof of their Unlawfulness is despaired of then we must have Separated from the Apostolical Churches who had some such Usages as the Holy Kiss and others whose Indifferency is acknowledged by their being wholly disused We must have Separated from the first Churches that succeeded them which had all some Indifferent things injoined We must Separate at this time from all the Reformed Churches in the World for there is none of these which does not require the use of such things as we should judge cause enough to depart from them Nay when we have once Separated from the Church of England upon this account we must then Separate from one another and every man must be a Church by himself for it is impossible that any Society whether meerly Humane or Christian should subsist without the orderly determination of some Indifferent things And sure we can never hope to maintain our Separation upon such a Principle as would not only part us from all the Churches that are or ever were and tear Christendom into ten thousand pieces but scarce leaves us so much as the Notion of a Church and makes Christian Communion absolutely impracticable Let us not give those of Rome the pleasure of seeing that Church which has always opposed them with the greatest Vigor and been the constant mark of their Envy quite Ruined or extreamly Weakned by a pernicious Mistake that would Divide and Divide us again and again and never make any end of Dividing Let us shew at least that we are well inclined unto Peace by coming as far as we can and if there should be any thing that we may possibly suspect to be Unlawful let not this hinder us from joining in those other holy Offices in which we have not any pretence of a Doubt Let not our groundless Scrupling at a Ceremony or two fright us from the whole Worship of God against which we have not any Exceptions And for those that esteem our Communion in all particulars utterly Unlawful which I suppose are but very few and I know they have but very slight Arguments for the severe Judgment they pass upon us if they will meet let them do it in the most private manner that they can without any vain Ostentation of their Numbers which cannot be any Satisfaction to their Consciences but may make their Adherents over forward and bold and tend to the creating of Jealousies in the Government And while they are upon these terms they cannot reasonably expect any Connivance They might sooner hope for it from his Majesties wonted and often experienced Clemency when they shall make it appear that their Dissent is modest and humble and such as has no other but a Religious Design in it Than when they assume a high degree of Confidence and think to extort Indulgencies by Clamors and Discontents and resolve to Assemble openly in Opposition to a Royal Command as if it were a piece of Christian Fortitude to outbrave Authority These are but ill Methods of courting the Favour of a Prince But I hope for the future we shall all upon all Occasions behave our selves as becomes good Subjects and sober Christians and make no Disturbances neither on a Civil nor Ecclesiastical account Let it Pity us at last to see the Ghastly Wounds that are still renewed by the continuance of our Divisions Let us have some Compassion on a Bleeding Church that is ready to Faint and in eminent Danger of being made a prey to her Enemies by the unnatural Heats and Animosities of those that should Support and Defend her Why should we leave her thus Desolate and Forlorn when her present Exigencies require our most Cordial Assistance If the condition of her Communion were such as God's Laws did not allow we might forsake her that had forsaken him But since this cannot be Objected against her since she exacts no Forbidden thing of us Let us strengthen her Hands by our unanimous Agreement and since we do not Condemn her Doctrine let us not Despise her Worship since the Substantials of Religion are the same let not the Circumstances of external Order and Discipline be any longer an Occasion of Difference amongst us And so shall we bring Glory to God a happy Peace to a Divided Church a considerable Security to the Protestant Religion and probably Defeat the subtle Practices of Rome which now stands gaping after All and hopes by our Distractions to repair the losses she has suffered by the Reformation May the Wisdom of Heaven make all Wicked Purposes unsuccessful and the blessed Spirit of Love heal all our Breaches and prosper the Charitable Endeavours of those that follow after PEACE Amen FINIS John 17. 20 21. Eph. 4. 3 4 5 6. Phil. 2. 1 2. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Rom. 14. 19. Acts 4. 32. Ch. 2. 42. Exod. 25. 40. Heb. 3. 5 6. Luk. 22. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. Heb. 13. 17. See 2 Sam. 17. 1 Chron. 17. 2 Chron. 6. 8. John 10. 22. 1 Cor. 14. 40. Heb. 13. 17. Rom. 4. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 12. 10. 23. Matth. 6. 9 c. Luke 11. 2. Ezek. 33. 32. Common Prayer in the Catech. Ibid. in Publick Baptism Josh 22. 26. Acts 15. 29. Rubr. after the Communion See Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 8. See Rubr. before the Communion 1 Cor. 11. 21. Ver. 28. 2 Tim. 4 3. Joh. 11. 52.