Imprimatur Tho. Tomkyns Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episc Cant. à Sac. Dom. Ex Aed Lambethanis Sept. 20. 1669. THE Churches Peace ASSERTED UPON A CIVIL ACCOUNT As it was great part of it deliver'd in a Sermon before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor in Guild-Hall-Chappel Iuly 4. By AD. LITTLETON Presbyter Opto equidem ut si fieri potest nemo de fratribus pereat si tamen quosdam Schismatum Duces dissensionis Auctores non potuerit ad salutis viam consilium salubre revocare caeteri tamen vel simplicitate capti vel errore inducti vel aliquâ fallentis astutiae calliditate decepti à fallaciae vos laqueis solvite c. S. Cyprian de Unitate Ecclesiae LONDON Printed for Philip Chetwind MDCLXIX THE PREFACE TO THE READER 'T IS sad to consider that as we owe all our Vnsettlements to our Divisions so we our selves are so settled upon the Lees in these our Divisions that he that endeavours to remove us does but put us upon a new Fermentation and an exercise of Passion The charming name of Peace it self is now become an Alarm and entertain'd by most as unwelcom news and they that bring any tidings of it lookt upon as Enemies and Ill-affected The reason of this 't is no hard matter to find out for seeing many People have engaged themselves into parties out of a wrong apprehension of Interest as long as that prejudice lies in the way there is no hope of doing any good or ever reconciling them to that which seems to dis-interest them Let the best Oratour in the world go to perswade any man against his Interest he shall but lose his own labour and the others good opinion to boot Wherefore I have in this Discourse endeavour'd to undâ—ceive people bâ— evincing That the particular interests of us all as we are Brethren and Companions are involv'd in the Churches Prosperity and that her Peace by which the whole and every part the Government and every Person under the Government is â—â—cur'd is at least ought to be the Center of all our concerns If Jerusalem miscarry if the things of her peace be hid from her eyes none of her Inhabitants what-ever their Zeal or their Wealth their Religion or their Interest may be must hope to escape I do again confidently say that mistaken Interest is the main ground and principle of our present Divisions because had they arose out of pure Conscience that 's a more treatable thing and is willing if it be a good conscience to be inform'd whereas now the humour of most is to run after things without any examination and to cry up one thing and condemn another many times which they have little or no knowledge of the one or the other Now Reader to apply to thee whether thou art for the Church or against the Church this discourse will be serviceable and useful to thee upon this meer account as thou art an honest English-man and wishest thy self well and thy Countrey no harm If thou art a Friend to the Church here thou wilt find some Arguments to confirm thy judgment and to inable thee in debating with others that are not Friends If thou separatest from the Church then thou must know that 't is mainly for thy sake that this comes abroad to find thee out because such discourses cannot meet with thee where they are deliver'd What-ever thy Opinion be and whether it were Conscience or Interest that made thee take it up which thou art best able to resolve thy self do not prejudge me but weigh impartially the truth and reason of things I desire not to be credited any farther then I have them on my side If thou findest the Language any where harsh and severe do not presently be offended 't is the nature of truth and reason so to express themselves and I do assure thee my design is only to convince thy understanding without any intention of breaking thy head One thing for thy further satisfaction I must not conceal from thee which besides the importunities of some Friends and others worthy Citizens which heard me that day was in part a reason of this Publication that some while after I had Penn'd this Discourse I met with a Sermon in Print of Doctor Reynolds the present Lord Bishop of Norwich Preached in the Parliament-House Jan. 9. in the Year 1656. upon this very subject Intituled The Peace of Jerusalem wherein he has over and above his pious inlargements upon the latter part of this Psalm for he takes all the four last verses for his Text in his Exhortation to those then in Power so Learnedly and Solidly as his manner is by several strenuous Arguments prov'd that The Christian Magistrate has a coercive power in matters of Religion Page 23. shewing plainly 't is but a trick and a design in those that cry it down Page 22. and that the difference of dispensations in the Jewish and Christian Church doth not a whit alter the case Page 26. nor Christian Liberty priviledge or exempt men from that Power Page 29. That with me and I think with any indifferent Reader he leaves no place of doubt I was glad to see that the Church even then when her Friends were under hatches was not in so hopeless and desperate a Condition but that her cause was fairly pleaded with acceptance before her Adversaries and This it was encouraged me to entertain some hopes if not of the like acceptation of my weak performance yet of a ready excuse for my dutiful endeavour before those that have been always and I hope ever will be the Churches Friends For though that were at such a time when our Church-Government was laid aside which yet that Reverend Person I make no question did even then out of his great Learning in his Conscience approve and wish restor'd and therefore out of prudence the main Controversie which is with the Authors of the division those that made the first breach seem to be wav'd and his style particularly directed against those Sects which improving the Schism into Heresie have departed from the Foundation yet those weighty Arguments he brings are generally applicable to all and are apparently of force against the most specious Sect we have amongst us and that upon this ground Page 31. that divisions and sub-divisions in the Church do exceedingly tend to weaken to distract to betray it To make good this I shall apply one of his Arguments which alone is enough to carry the Churches cause Page 28. Whatever things are per se subversive and dangerous to the prosperity of States and Nations come under the proper cognizance of the Civil Magistrate to prevent But Heresies Blasphemies Idolatries Impieties against God and Schisms too say I and so the Reverend Author himself joyns them Page 8. Blasphemies Heresies Schisms Idolatry Superstition do as well endanger the Prosperity of States as sins against the second Table
matter of no great concern what Religion they are of or whether they be of any at all But alas we have now in this Church that disadvantage without travelling for it Our people stay at home and see fashions and some as Travellers use to put on the habit and garb of each Country they go through have appeared in all shapes taken up all Opinions and Forms and done exercise in them all till at last they have taken the degree of Doctors in the Scorners Chair and have turned profest Atheists How do the Romanists triumph in our dissensions make Bonfires out of our flames and daily get ground of the Protestant Cause whilst we Protestants our selves do their work for them by unnatural quarrels destroying our common Mother the Church How do prophane persons make themselves merry at the miscarriages of the Church and harden themselves in their Atheistical Reasonings against God himself when they see so much ado made such zeal and heat shown on all sides about Forms of Worship and the Circumstances of Religion when the mean while the great Duties of Christianity wherein the life and power of Religion lyes are by most of us of all perswasions neglected and how can they chuse but think Religion it self a trifle if that be it that makes us so earnest about trifles and yet so regardless in those things which the worst of Atheists themselves confess are necessary for the preservation of men whether singly in their own persons or joyntly in Society such as are Iustice Temperance Charity and the like What can Neighbour-States and Churches abroad think of us that after God had so wonderfully restored us to the astonishment of the world we have so strangely and with no less astonishment to the dishonour of God and our own shame lost the Miracle and let it fall to the ground and given up the Cause in a manner to which God by his extraordinary Providences and his Anointed our late Soveraign the blessed Martyr by his unparallel'd sufferings gave such testimony And at last what can we our selves look for now that God will yet work more Miracles for our preservation who have by our divisions in his Worship and our Spiritual fornications not only forfeited his protection but procured his displeasure and at once both disobliged his mercy and provoked his Justice To me to speak what I apprehend freely it appears in the posture we now stand in a very shrewd symptom and a dangerous indication that God himself and Religion and all are now about to take their solemn leave of the Country together with the Churches peace And then what will become of our brethren and companions for whose sake we are to endeavour the Churches peace when God has once forsaken the Land And thus I have done with the first Argument The second is that the peace of the Church in the uniform Worship of God is a necessary expedient to make Religion the happy instrument of Government by securing that influence it has upon the minds of men in awing Subjects to obedience and uniting our brethren and companions in love without which obedience and love 't is impossible that any people should hold together and prosper since where discontents and divisions prevail a Society must needs of it self naturally tend to dissolution A House a City a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand is a State-Aphorism we have from the mouth of Truth it self So then whether 't were fear or love was the Principle which gathered mankind into Nations and Common-wealths and brought them to live in Community under the same Laws and Priviledges we find them both in Religion Whereupon 't is the remark of a Roman Historian that as Romulus founded the City by Arms so Numa setled it by Religion and then came Ancus and found leisure to adorn it with Temples and publick Buildings Thus Religion secured the acquists of the Sword on one hand and prepared the design for the Truel on the other And till Religion be in a better condition amongst you then for ought I see 't is now in I cannot not tell what you may think of your Building 'T is true it seems to me in our present divisions that much what like the Iews after their return we rebuild our City with a Sword in one hand and a Truel in the other but so as if that Sword were to be used against our selves not against an Enemy as theirs was I wish heartily that the peace of the Church may be so setled amongst us and the rubbish of our late ruines there removed that you may lay your Foundations upon fair even ground and raise the Superstructures with comfort and honour that when you have built up your Walls and your Palaces Peace may be within your walls and plenteousness within your palaces which would then most certainly be when as you are obliged to an Vniformity of building the City so the Citizens themselves would joyn all in an uniform Exercise of Religion whose first Character it is that 1. It aws the consciences of men and binds them up to their good behaviour in a strict attendance upon the duties of every one in his place and a careful obedience to the Law in common And thus Machiavil himself tutours his Prince that he will put on the shew at least of Religion to make his Government dreadful though he hold it dangerous to his interest to be bigotted into it and would have him take up no more of it then will serve his turn But if the mask and vizard the bare appearance of Religion be in the esteem of carnal worldly Policy so considerable a help to Government how serene and awful would it be in its genuine native countenance with what rays of Divinity would the truth and power of it cloath the Magistrate that the people would behold him as an Angel of God For since all Government derives its power from God the more of God it shews the more powerful it must needs be Wherefore if once Religion grow mean amongst a people no wonder if they grow familiar and sawcy with the Government and having got the reins of conscience upon their neck run away with their Rider and 't is well if not dismount him too When men are suffered to set their mouths wide open against Heaven to blaspheme God and deny him in a breath and to droll in Scripture-language and jeer at sacred things how can it be expected that earthly Majesty should preserve its reverence with the people but that God will suffer some to be as bold with their Governors as they have suffered others to be with him that by way of Reprisal he may recover his lost Honour and those that have slighted him may be meanly esteemed For as God subdues the people under their lawful Prince so it must be the Princes care to subdue the people to God by keeping up the aw and port of Religion And this is done in the uniform and unanimous
where there is no express command of God against them though there be no express command for them we are to comply with publick order and decent custom If they would but do thus ingenuously there would be some likelihood of Peace But they would have the Church submit to them and then all should be well Which of them for they cannot all be comply'd with that 's impossible for to take in one and leave out another will be the ground of further discontents and to gather all at a cast into the comprehension would possibly be to please none of them at least to displease the better half If they would but once agree among themselves and say what they would have they would then have some fair pretence to be consider'd But here 's the misery on 't 't is very hard for them themselves to define what will satisfie Conscience because that being not engag'd upon certain Rules may to morrow judge that necessary the necessity whereof to day it doth not fore-see and if any mens Consciences are to be satisfied thus at random the Church will never know when it has done but be still to seek upon new emergencies Whereas would they come to some certainty of demands wherein the whole party in all its subdivisions would agree they might the better be treated with there would be some hope in time of a good understanding But if their meaning is to be left to such a latitude to do whatsoever they shall upon occasion find agreeable to their Conscience i.e. possibly sometimes to their interest or humour to do there 's no body so void of reason but must needs see of how dangerous a consequence it is to any Government to leave any sort of men whatsoever their Principles be be they never so honest to such a Liberty And such a Liberty if they had it would be so far from composing differences that those everlasting quarrels and irreconcileable animosities they have purely out of Conscience taken up one against another which are now partly in kindness to the common cause they are engag'd in for the reputation of Schism and partly for fear of the Laws smother'd and kept in would then instantly break out with violence into open flames whilst some sticking rigidly to those measures they have already attain'd and comparing themselves with themselves severely censure those that upon pretence of greater light and more plentiful effusions of the Spirit walk beyond their line and rule And those on the other hand priding themselves in their Spiritual Priviledges and the purity of Ordinances despise their Brethren as carnal and narrow-spirited men that still keep close to outward forms and walk according to the flesh and the will of man in the beggerly rudiments of the world Thus you see if we do not come to an agreement as I do not see how we ever shall unless authority interpose in the exercise of Religion the hearts of English-men are never like to be united either in brotherly love to one another or in common affection to our Countrey but that the awe and union of Religion being lost the hazard of the Churches Peace threatens disturbances also to the Civil State which is our third and last Argument Taken from the particular constitution of our Government wherein the Civil and Ecclesiastick State are so nearly united that like Hippocrates twins they are both well or ill together and run the same hazard of health and must take share of the same fortune so that who wishes well to the Government to the concerns of our Brethren and Companions must by unavoidable consequence favour the prosperity of the Church To prove this I shall not pretend to the Law though however unkind Lawyers may be to the Churches interest in its Iurisdiction there 's enough in the Law it self to this purpose nor shall I quote King Iames his Apophthegm though he must be acknowledg'd a wise man and one that well understood the nature of Government nor shall I tell you out of our own Stories that men of this Robe have usually undergone the greatest Offices of State and publick imployments which 't is very uncharitable wholly to impute to Church-mens ambition and to allow nothing of merit in the case upon which those preferments and publick trusts were grounded nor what great benefactures some of them left behind them to Community from those secular advantages they were assisted with nor yet shall I insist upon our own experience an irrefragable proof in the late times when the design seemed levell'd only at the Hierarchy but was carried on to the ruine of Monarchy it self and the overthrow of Prelacy was so zealously prosecuted that they brought all Orders into confusion and Mar-prelate proved the Mar-all of the Nation And if we did not buy wit then at a rate dear enough we may if we please make farther tryal to our greater cost I shall only make a general Propose That Magistracy and Ministry are the two Pillars and supports of Society there 's no body I think will deny and if either of these Pillars fail the whole Structure is in danger of falling nor can publick order be secur'd unless the two Swords the Sword of Iustice and thâ— Sword of the Spirit assist each the other in the administration of affairs and in the execution of their several offâ—â—s Now for any man to take upon him to be a Minister or if he be one to exercise that Function without the approbation and against the plain sense of the Law is as irrational and irregular a misdemeanour and must needs be of as dangerous a consequence to the publick as for any man to create himself a Magistrate or to execute the office of a Magistrate without Law I say for one that has no Commission or has been put out of the Commission of Peace to act notwithstanding as a Iustice let him be as wise and as honest a man as he will is sure a high crime I know not how the Law may call it And it is the very same or worse in the Ministry because this office has a more immediate influence on the Consciences of men the most busie and sturdy principle in humane Nature 'T is confest on all hands that a man cannot exercise the office of a Minister without a Call Let me ask then whether theirs be an ordinary or extraordinary Call If extraordinary by the way 't is Enthusiasm to say so let them make it appear by Miracles and Languages If Ordinary certainly they knew afore-hand before they came into Orders for to such I speak what the legal constitution requires of them is their Canonical Obedience if they did know this and yet came with a resolution to disobey this is manifest prevarication if they did not know and their ignorance betray'd them into a snare the men are to be pitied but their ignorance is by no means to be excused if they knew it before and were then satisfied but have