principal motives why we rejected the Papacy was the constant Tradition of the Vniversal Church § 5. Concerning our Churches own Testimony Her Modesty and Moderation hath been always exemplary so far from assuming the Title of Catholick to her self only as St Austin tells us the Arians did and since them the Romanists c S. Aug. Ep. 48. ad Vincen. That she hath counted it a sufficient honour to be an humble and nevertheless for that eminent Member of the Universal Church and with her a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and though she vindicates to her self an authority to interpret the Holy Scripture within the bounds of her own Discipline for the edification of her own Family in Truth and Love and also asserts to her self an Authority in Controversies of Faith Article 20. namely for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing consent touching true Religion yet I cannot well omit to observe the wise modesty of our Church in her asserting her own authority in Controversies of Faith which expression I may have leave to illustrate from such another instance of Wisdom and Moderation in the recognition required to be made of the Kings Supremacy in our subscription according to the 36. Canon and in our Prayers wherein we acknowledge Him Supreme Governour of this Realm in all Causes and over all Persons It is not said over all Causes as over all persons forasmuch as in some Causes Christian Kings do not deny some spiritual power of Gods Church distinct from its temporal Authority which yet refers to the King as their Supreme Keeper Moderator and Governour Even so the Church declares her Authority in Controversies of Faith not that the Church of England or any other Church no not the Universal Church hath power to make any thing which is in controversy matter of Faith which God hath not so made The Church owns that she hath no power against the truth but for the truth Neither may it expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Article 20. But she hath power to declare her own sense in the Controversy and that I may express my own meaning in better words than my own d Pref. of Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Eccl. Records c. To determine which part shall be received and profest for truth by her own Members and that too under Ecclesiastical penalty and censure which they accordingly are bound to submit to not as an infallible verity but as a probable truth and rest in her determination till it be made plain by as great authority that this her determination is an error or if they shall think it so by the weight of such reasons as are privately suggested to them yet are they still obliged to silence and peace where the decision of a particular Church is not against the Doctrine of the Vniversal Not to profess in this case against the Churches determination because the professing of such a controverted truth is not necessary but the preservation of the peace and unity of the Church is is not to assert infallibility in the Church but authority Wherefore Mr Chilingworth e Chilingw Pres §. 28. had very just reason to declare Whatsoever hath been held necessary to salvation either by the Catholick Church of all Ages or by the consent of Fathers measured by Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule or is held necessary either by the Catholick Church of this Age or by the consent of Protestants or even by the Church of England That against the Socinians and all others whatsoever I do verily believe and embrace Whereas the Pope and Church of Rome do challenge to themselves an authority supreme over all Causes and Persons by their Infallibility by which they exclude all others from their peace and themselves from emendation Neither are their followers much in the way thereunto by what Card. Bellarmine doth assert of this supreme Authority If the Pope saith he f C. Bellarm de Pontif. Ro. l. 4. c. 5. should err in commanding any Vices or forbidding any Vertues The Church is bound to believe those Vices are good and those Vertues are evil unless it would sin against Conscience g In bono sensu dedit Christus Petro potestatem saciendi de peccato non peccatum de non peccato peccatum c. Bell. c. 31. in Barklaium However in his Recognitions h Locuti sumus de actibus dubiis viâ—tâ—tum aut vitiorum Recogn operum c. B. p. 19. he minceth the matter in a distinction of doubtful and manifest Vices and Vertues O Blessed Guides of Souls How did the Illustrious Cardinal miss being Canoniz'd for that glorious Sentence and to help him for a Miracle to qualify him for an Apotheosis why did not some cry out of it So many words so many Miracles Thus many of the Romanists make the Pope such a Monarch in the Church as Mr Hobbs doth his Prince in the State i Hobbesius de Cive c. 7. art 26. c. 12. art 1. The interpretation of Holy Scripture the right of determining all Controversies to fix the rules of good and evil just and unjust honest and dishonest doth depend on his authority in the power of whom is the chief Government But this Doctrine is as bad Philosophy as that of the Cardinals is Divinity Among these excesses let us not forget the Moderation of our Church which holds she may revise what hath slipt from her wherefore in her 19. Article she declares As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred a charge agreeable to the Moderation of our Church considering what might have been further said which by the same proportions of reason she supposeth true of her self and of all others viz. That they are fallible and may erre § 6. Of the use of Reason with Reference to divine matters there may be elsewhere occasions in this Treatise to discourse * Ch. 6. §. 9 10. Yet here it is to be observed our Church doth not make its own reason a rule of Faith nor the sole Interpreter of Scripture much less the reason of private men yet because mankind hath no reasonable expectation of Miracles especially when ordinary means are sufficient and abounding and because the Holy Spirit of God in the testimony of his Church hath all along certainly conveyed to us the sense of many places beside That what is most needful to be heeded is very plain our Church doth allow and suppose rational mens perceiveing the sense of Scripture by the due use of their understanding which practice must also necessarily engage such to a high regard of what was anciently received in the Catholick Church For as nothing is held among us more agreeable to reason than our Religion so in expounding our Religion and in interpreting Scripture our Church makes use of the best and the truest reasons as is manifest in what she declares and enjoins and
the late History of the Irish Affairs Which most remarkable Story is a strange proof of the dangerous influence on Kingdoms which is to be expected from the propagation of the Roman Faith and is also a great Instance of the Moderation of our Governments and how ineffectual the same is on such § 8. The Rules and Orders of our Church are mildly and moderately framed Our Church being ever most remov'd from the guilt or humour of Domineering over the Consciences of any She teacheth and enforceth the Divine Commands and useth her Liberty in those things which are left undetermin'd and are within her own just Compass The Precepts of the Church which are very few are justly affirmed to bind by virtue of the Command of God yet their Obligation which is declared not to be Universal only to her Sons and that but so long as she judgeth expedient is intended or remitted as just reason of the Case requires No Councils Evangelical are any where made into Laws in our Church or set up as a Fund for Merit and Supererogation but are left free for our further exercise and endeavour after Christian Perfection Which because it cannot be thorowly attained in this imperfect state therefore the Moderation of our Church no where pretends to this perfection either of Knowledg or of Grace So K. James affirmed to the Cardinal He never should boast of this Church as being perfectly without spot or wrinkle § 9. For Illustration sake if we would compare the moderation of our Laws with the Laws of the Roman Church we cannot better do it than by taking into Consideration a Chapter of Card. Bellarmine's * C. Bellarm l. de Pontif. Ro. cap. de comparatione Legum wherein he useth very neat Sleights to elevate the heaviness and number of the Pontifical Laws and to make them fewer and lighter than were the Ordinances among the Jews For saith he the Laws absolutely impos'd upon all Christians by our Church are scarce found any more than four viz. To observe the Feasts of the Church And the Fasts and to Confess once a Year and to Communicate at Easter Indeed the Men of that generation are so wise that until any be a through Proselyte there is all shew of Moderation that may be to entice them into their Communion But first what Bondage was there ever among the Jews comparable to that one Obligation among the Romanists to believe the Church and Pope of Rome infallible with the Consequences of that in practice which are heavier than all the Jewish Observances set together 2ly On the Supposition that there were only those four general Precepts of the Church we may consider how great Burdens any one of them singly do contain 1. In that their Feasts are so excessive in their number and the observation of them have so many Superstitions V. Ch. 9. The same 2. is to be said of their Fasts 3. In that Auricular Confession of all Mortal Sins with all their Circumstances is enjoyn'd as by Divine Right V. Ch. 11. 4. The slightest Precept of the four is the last of Communicating at Easter But considering therewith the round belief of Transubstantiation which all are required to have we may truly say with our Bishop Hall * Remains p. 30. The Pope's little Finger is heavier than Moses 's Loins But perhaps one reason why the Cardinal saith there are so few Precepts of the Church is because he will say that many of the rest are Divine Commands as Extreme Unction c. The rest saith he of which the Tomes of Councils and Books of Canon Law are so full are not Laws but Admonitions only or pious Institutions without obligation to Fault However there are great store of them of a great Bulk But it is strange that so many Canons of Councils and other Laws enforced with Anathema should have no intended obligation to a Fault in case of Transgression Why were such Laws made or why were such Anathemaes annexed Or saith he They are Conditional Laws as of Celibacy in case any enter into sacred Orders which are not to be accounted burdensome because the Law leaves them to their choice as also in case of Vows How many and how strict observances are contained under such conditional Obligations is too well known to be largely insisted on The Purifications the choice of Meats among the Jews had not all of them comparably so many Rites and Orders and Laws as the Pontifical Oeconomy hath But to make the Precepts of the Church show very light and easie indeed The four Laws of the Church saith Bellarmin are rather a determination of the Divine Law than any new Law for by the Divine Law we are bound to dedicate some time to the Worship of God sometimes to Fast to Confess to Communicate True indeed But then the general Rules of Scripture the edification of Christian People the practice of the Primitive Church the ends of Religious Actions themselves ought to give measure to Laws as in the Church of England is practised and not to let their Commands run out into such lavish extremity where God hath left us at so large and safe freedom Lastly he saith The Commands of the Church have a most moderate Obligation for in their Fasts those who are Sick and Aged are accepted And for Festivals their observation also is dispensed with upon a just Cause So that in conclusion the Church of Rome is the most moderate Governour that ever was for there it is the easiest matter to get off from the strictest Precepts that are if you have Money but the Poor cannot be comforted * Nota diligenter quod hujusmodi gratia dispensationes non conceduntur pauperibus quia non sunt ideo non possunt consolari Taxa Cancel Apostol So great is the moderation of the Church of Rome so large are her Indulgences whether for Commission of Sin or for Omission of Duty § 10. Having mentioned the mildness of the Churche's Power It is meet for the further shewing her Moderation to note That our Church in the Government of her Ecclesiastical Courts in their manner of Process Sentence Appeals doth make use of the Law of Equity moderating even the practice of that also with all due Subordination to other Superiour Laws According to Equity our Church desires all its Laws may be interpreted ¶ Benignius leges interpretandae sunt quo voluntas earum conservetur Capienda est occasio quae praebet benignius responsum She admits of a mitigation of a rigid Sentence She doth sometimes dispense with her General Rules upon the exception of a particular Case Just reason requiring she admits a commutation of her Censures When there is sufficient Cause she is ready to abrogate any such Laws as are found inexpedient and inconvenient The reason of her Laws ceasing they are made to cease also And to take cognizance of their desires who ask a relaxation of strict or rigid Law there
THE MODERATION OF THE Church of England Considered As useful for allaying the present distempers which the indisposition of the Time hath contracted BY TIMOTHY PULLER D. D. Pref. to the Book of Com. Pr. It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first compiling her publick Liturgy to keep the Mean between the two Extremes In which review we have endeavoured to observe the like Moderation LONDON Printed by J. M. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXIX NISI DOMINUS ADFUISSET NOBIS 24 Psl 1. Prâ—â— Ieus Simpl MODE BATION Printed for Rich Chiswell in St Pauls Church yard ANIMO ET FIDE The Right honble Francis North Baron of Guilford 1703 TO THE MOST REVEREND Father in GOD WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop OF CANTERBURY Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please your Grace THis Essay for the Vindication of Our Church addresseth in just Gratitude to Your Archiepiscopal See with this assurance that the Moderation of the Church of England oweth it self as much to the wisdom and admirable temper of Your Graces Predecessors as to any one thing whatsoever next to the most Divine and supreme influences which so signally govern'd them and the rest of our first Reformers to follow incomparably the sage advice which Gregory the Great anciently sent to Your Predecessor Austin of Canterbury That of the divers usages of several Churches he should chuse what was most religious and right for the use of the English for said that Bishop of Rome things are not to be loved for the sake of a place but places for the sake of good things according to which determination of that Learned and Pious Father it may be easy now to decide What Church whose Primates which Constitution deserves our love and honour most unless any will prefer that which is extravagantly corrupt before what is most moderately and excellently reformed Your Grace best knows how that Brotherly * Novit Fraternitas tua c. B. Greg. Ep. ex Registro l. 12. Indic 7. c. 3. sort of Communication was generally preserved in the Church by other Patriarchs even with the Bishops of Rome so long as these were Examples of the same Moderation with S. Gregory who with a Primitive Roman Courage protested against the insolency of their stiling themselves Universal which well enough agrees with the Solecism of those who call only themselves Catholicks Before which novel kind of Phantastries 't is well known such as Boniface the Martyr the Apostle of the Germans as Baronius mentions * Ad an 726. n. 58. Tom. 9. mutually desired advice not only from Rome but of the Primates of England And whereas even since the first Reformation there have been Archbishops of Canterbury who have not only with wondrous success govern'd and defended Our Church from both sorts of Adversaries but have testified to the Equity of Her Rubricks with their own Blood when we consider what kind of adverse parties were the Authors of Their Martyrdom even the same who have given the Reformed Church of England Her two most extreme refining Tryals We must acknowledge them in the direct succession with Your Grace to be not only the Glorious Instruments but also the most famous Witnesses and Proofs of the Moderation of our Church who bear the first Names in Her Dipticks and deserve here first with Reverence to be mentioned to Your Grace who also for your inviolable adherence to the Church in spite of sufferings must hereafter be celebrated among Her Confessors There may be some account why in this Argument such an undertaking as this were it more worthy should especially desire Your Patronage not only in humble deference to the Authority Your Grace doth sustain in our Church to the universal joy and serious triumph of all whose affections have not been depraved with Schism and ill nature but in a more immediate reference because to Your special Archiepiscopal Prerogative belongeth the peculiar right and faculty of those dispensations which are a part of the Equity of our Church and her liberal benignity in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath been always honoured as a most venerable part of Her Laws Since therefore unto Your Clemency is so suitably committed in this publick Constitution the Custody of our Churches Indulgence and Benignity The Moderation of the Church with more than usual confidence returns to Your Grace for what her Casuists calls Inculpata Tutela and fears not now to be denied since Clemency is not only the Dignity of Your Title but Your Nature Neither is Your Primacy in our Church more eminent than Your Moderation is exemplary and known unto all Which I presume only to mention to borrow from thence a most Reverend Lustre and Life to the Noble Truth I have defended And so far as I have not improperly now asserted the Cause of the Church in which You preside I am sure not to sink in my trust of being supported by Your Graces good acceptance of the sincere undertaking of May it please Your Grace Your most obliged humble and dutiful Servant TIMO PULLER TO THE READER IF ever the practice of Moderation as well as any discourse thereon were seasonable it may be supposed now when for ought we know the lasting happiness of the Kingdom and the Church may depend immediately upon this rare and desirable temper acknowledged of all most excellent Yet it is a most unaccountable mystery of our present condition that notwithstanding the late surprizing discoveries have had nothing more notorious than that the chief design of the Jesuit Faction among the Romanists hath been the utter subversion of the present established Church of England nevertheless they who call themselves our Protestant Dissenters cannot be induced to come into entire union with our excellent reformed Church but rather chuse to unite with those Romanists in many of their unreasonable Cavils One of the methods which they who are Principals or Accessories in our Divisions for our extirpation have used hath been to engage the outcry in popular appeals concerning Persecution or Moderation This word and thing it self hath indeed much in it which is very Divine and therefore the more likely to be made use of with design by those who have used the most holy things to the most unhallowed purposes But I suppose the Experience which the late Age hath taught us will not so presently be out of print in our minds as to make us remit all our caution against the rigours of both extremes however they bear the same goodly pretences and unite in the same reproach of our Church Wherefore in sincere desire to assist the truth and equity of our Churches cause as well as to awaken if I may be so happy some into a more intimate sense of our common real interest I thought it an act of Justice as well as duty to enter some
kind of Protestation and proof also of the Moderation of our Church That if our Dissenting Brethren will but please to come near and view such fair and open testimonies as I have enumerated some sympathy with so just a temper may help to cool some of those Calentures to asswage and allay some of those unreasonable disorders which have discomposed the minds of many at present adverse to our Peace That while so remarkable a part of our Churches beauty appears from such a lifting up of her Veil so gentle and chearful an aspect may we hope win over some of those into better esteem of our Communion whom any Symmetry can affect whom any Moderation can overcome if they are not already irreconcilable that so the mildness and gentleness of our Church may no longer aggravate their separation with so much the more injustice unthankfulness and disingenuity even as the Moderation of our Church and Government renders the attempts of such Romanists as are concerned in them not only more scandalous and pernicious but most impious horrid and execrable As for others among us who sometime have appeared weary of their contests however unsetled hovering as it were in some motions for Union and frequently are toiling themselves in tedious contemplations of new Plots and Schemes of Government framing to themselves Idea's not very Platonical for peace and settlement I conceive a seasonable conviction among such of the real Moderation of our Church might save some of them their grievous labours for the future for how deficient they generally have been they themselves have shewed and if our Church is very moderate already I need not say they have been very superfluous There are indeed those who are still requiring that the Protestant Profession among us be setled in a due Latitude whereas we sincerely think the very thing desired is already the true temperament of our Church and such also as in no sort encourageth any indifferency or neutrality in Religion nor offers any such Principles to her Sons as allows them Proteus or Vertumnus like to be susceptible of divers shapes and forms in Religion as our Adversaries who do not understand our Church do suspect whereas the more any are fixed according to the right Principles of our Church the truer and firmer Protestants such are we shall manifestly prove and the more any are such the more truly moderate they are and their designs for peace must needs be the most discreet of any and the more to purpose So great a blessing I confess is less to be hoped for so long as the Masters of Factions have got such a mighty Dominion over the minds of their followers and have so far entangled them in their own passions and prejudices neither is it any wonder that noise and passion and hardy confidence iced over with some sanctimonious pretences can engage the affections of the vulgar more than ingenuity and real Moderation and when once this humour obtains of disaffecting what is setled with a lust after Novelties if what some love to call the pattern in the Mount should slide down from Heaven in the midst of them it would not continue long in favour and therefore no wonder if the Church of England is antiquated among such who are for new Modes in Ecclesiastical matters to gratify their sickly phansies and most divided interests While this affection is thus cherisht and thus kept up the mischief on 't is as when we preach such Doctrines as the duty of Communion with the Church and the like they generally are most absent whom the same concerns most so all testimonies which are brought in the cause of Gods Church are seldom taken notice of by such whom they are most proper to convince among the Romanists and the Separatists the Keepers of the peoples understandings not suffering them to peruse what may awaken or enlighten them and the more proper any thing is for that purpose the more industrious are they slily to stifle the reputation of such endeavours However I think it but just to vindicate unto publick authority the same fair interpretations which all private persons would gladly have for what they say or do and where the Church hath given mild interpretations on purpose for the general satisfaction of all it is but reasonable to make recognition of the same and when they are perversly wrested fairly to set them forth and certainly it is our duty to consider publick appointments which oblige us with all respect to their true ends and measures equally represented and it may be thought but a debt of gratitude for us to acknowledge such Liberties and Indulgences as we enjoy and to defend from malignant detractions the just wisdom of the Church in its excellent poise between undue extremes And so long as I have uprightly designed so just a duty the easy foresight of many ignorant or malicious exceptions hath not dasht me out of countenance but excited me and the more because I hope I have not only endeavoured to set forth the Moderation of the Church but to imitate the same In so much that where any thing is spoken to our Adversaries in our own defence I hope it hath not taken example from their own intemperate heats and since the Son of Syrach hath bid us Eccl. 37. 11. Not consult with a coward in matters of war nor with an envious man of unthankfulness nor with an unmerciful man touching kindness we despair to communicate advice of the Churches mildness with those who are of unmerciful tempers themselves therefore the more need we have all as well as we can to confirm one another in the recognition of those Virtues which justify the wisdom of our Church and afford our selves greater satisfaction in our Conformity although some are continually of such disturbed Spirits uneasy to themselves and morose they can seldom allow any time to reflect chearfully and thankfully upon the blessings they enjoy however they may give us leave to delight our selves in the serious contemplation of such proportions and measures as in the frame of our Church are most observable Which cannot but afford a rare and serious pleasure as well as use as it must be very delightful to behold any imitation of the Divine Wisdom which hath made all things in number weight and measure which governs the World and all his Creatures according to unsearchable measures of Righteousness and Equity who dispenseth all things sweetly and easily The more any Civil or Ecclesiastical Governments partake of such proportions it cannot but afford a fine and delicate reflection to find them out and admire them Such is the lovely prospect which we cannot but with delight take on the goodly frame and constitution of our Church of England Suitable to the rare temper of our excellent Monarchy we live under and the most benign disposition of our Laws which give very much to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. 27. subjects industry liberty and happiness and yet reserve
5. In her Orders also for dispensing the Holy Scripture to all within her Communion § 6. In governing the reading of the Scripture and communing on the same § 7. In her judgment of the Canonical and Apocryphal Books § 8. The Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture our Church rather doth take for granted than prove too laboriously or uncertainly § 9. All immoderate extravagancies concerning interpretation of Holy Scripture avoided by our Church p. 48 Chap. V. Of the Moderation of the Church in applying the Rule of Faith to it self § 1. Avoiding extremes on either hand in relation to the authority of the Vniversal Church § 2. The Decrees of Councils § 3. The Testimony of the Fathers § 4. Other Traditions § 5. Our Churches own Testimony § 6. The use of Reason § 7. The Testimony of the Spirit § 8. Of the testimony and operation of the Holy Spirit the judgment of our Church according to great Moderation more largely declared p. 77 Chap. VI. The Moderation of the Church in its judgment of Doctrines § 1. Our Church doth wisely distinguish between what is necessary for Salvation and what is not § 2. Her Articles are few § 3. Which are generally exhibited not as Articles of Faith but consent Concerning subscription § 4. Our Articles are propounded so as to avoid unnecessary controversy § 5. The wise Moderation of the Kings of England in their Injunctions to Preachers and Orders taken to preserve Truth Vnity and Charity § 6. The Controversies of the late Age are well moderated by the determinations of our Church § 7. As our Church requires our consent in nothing contrary to sense or reason so it hath also contain'd it self from immoderate curiosity in treating of venerable mysteries § 8. Our Church doth not insist upon such kinds of certainty as others without just cause do exact § 9. Doctrines are so propounded to those in our Churches Communion as not to render useless their own reasons and judgments The reasonableness of which is proved and the Objections answered § 10. The use which we are all allowed of our private judgments is requir'd to be menag'd with a due submission to the Church The duty of which submission is laid down in sundry Propositions p. 114 Chap. VII Of the Moderation of our Church in what relates to the worship of God § 1. Our Prayers are not mingled with controversy § 2. They are framed according to a most grave and serious manner with moderate variety and proper length § 3. In the zeal of Reformation our Church did not cast off what was good in it self § 4. In all our Churches there are the same Rules § 5. Common Prayers for the vulgar required in English To Ministers and Scholars a just and moderate liberty allowed § 6. The obligation of the Church leaves the method of private Devotions to a general liberty § 7. Of the Moderation of the Church in appointing her hours and times of Prayer § 8. In her use and judgment of Sermons § 9. In what is required of people with reference to their Parish Church § 10. The excellent Moderation of the Church in her Orders for the reverent reading of Divine Service and Consecrating the Sacraments in such a voice as may be heard § 11. In her Form and use of Catechizing § 12. The interest of inward and outward worship are both secured according to an excellent Moderation in our Church § 13. The Moderation of the Church in what relates to Oaths p. 166 Chap. VIII Of the Moderation of the Church in relation to Ceremonies § 1. In the Ceremonies of our Church which are very few and those of great antiquity simplicity clear signification and use our Church avoids either sort of superstition § 2. They have constantly been declared to be in themselves indifferent and alterable but in that our Church avoids variableness is a further proof of its Moderation § 3. They are professed by the Church to be no part of Religion much less the chief nor to have any supernatural effect belonging to them § 4. Abundant care is taken to give plain and frequent reasons and interpretations of what in this nature is enjoined to prevent mistakes § 5. The Moderation of our Church even in point of Ceremonies compar'd with those who have raised so great a dust in this Controversy § 6. Many innocent Rites and usages our Church never went about to introduce and why § 7. The Obligation of our Church in this matter is very mild § 8. The Moderation of our Church in her appointment of Vestments § 9. The Benedictions of our Church are according to great Piety and Wisdom ordered § 10. The Moderation of our Church in her appointments of Gestures § 11. Of the respect which is held due to places and things distinguished to Gods Service our Church judgeth and practiseth according to an excellent Moderation p. 201 Chap. IX Of the Moderation of our Church with respect to Holy-Days namely both the Feasts and Fasts of the Church § 1. The Feasts of the Church are few and those for great reason chose with care to avoid the excesses of the Romanists § 2. The further behaviour of the Church in her Feasts most useful and prudent § 3. We celebrate the memory of Saints but of none whose existence or sanctity is uncertain § 4. The excellent ends of our Churches honour to Saints are set down § 5. That they are Festivally Commemorated not out of opinion of worship or merit or absolute necessity thereof to Religion § 6. Our Church runs not into any excess in any Prayer to Saints § 7. Nor with reference to Images § 8. Whether our Church in any of these practices be justly charged of Popery by those who Canonize among themselves those who are of uncertain sanctity § 9. The Moderation of our Church in its honour given to Angels § 10. And to the Blessed Virgin § 11. Our Church hath taken great care that a special honour be had to the Lords Day and that the Lords Day nor any other Festival be abused to Luxury and Impiety § 12. The Moderation of the Church with reference to its Musick and Psalmody § 13. The Moderation of our appointed Fast The Lenten or Paschal Fast how far Religious by the Precept of the Church p. 234 Chap. X. Of the Moderation of the Church in reference to the Holy Sacraments § 1. The Moderation of our Church raiseth no strife about words relating thereunto § 2. Her Moderation in what is asserted of the number of Sacraments § 3. In that her Orders for the Administration of the Sacraments are most suitable to the ends of their appointments § 4. In that our Church doth not make the benefit of the Sacraments to depend upon unrequired conditions In reference to Holy Baptism § 1. Our Church doth make nothing of the essence of Baptism but the use of the invariable Form § 2. The Moderation of our Church toward Infants unbaptized
copulata S. Cypr l. 4. Ep. 9. Hierom and others of the Fathers fitly call the Church a Company united to their Pastor For the Administration of the power of the Church cannot belong to the body of this Society considered complexly but to those Officers in it whose care and charge is to have a peculiar over-sight and inspection over the Church and to redress the disorders in it Wherefore the Church is not improperly exprest by the Clergy which may be justly counted the Church representative that as S. Cyprian saith Every act of the Church may be governed by its Rulers g Vt omnis actus Ecclesie per praepositos suos gubernâ—tur S. Cypr. Ep. 27. For when we speak of the Church making Laws we must mean the governing part of the Church * Duâ— dub l. 3. ch 4. p. 589. In the form of Church Policy presented to the Parliament in Scotland 1578. by Andrew Melvill h V. Spots Hist l. 6. p. 289. it was agreed That sometime the Church was taken for them that exercise the spiritual Function in particular Congregations More certain it is that the Form of Christs Church is that outward disposition and order of superiour and inferiour communicating mutually to the conservation of the whole body and the edification and encrease of every member thereof Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19. And in those things which concern the outward form and manner of Government in a National Church where the King is supreme in all Causes and over all Persons many matters necessarily and properly belong to the disposition of the supreme Power the people exhibiting their consent by the King upon these and the like good Foundations The third Canon declares the Church of England a true and Apostolical Church and the ninth Canon declares the same the Communion of Saints as it is approved by the Apostles Rules in the Church of England upon which account the Authors of Schisms in the same Canon are censured and the 139th Canon of the Church concerning the Authority of National Synods doth thus declare Whosoever shall affirm that the sacred Synod of this Nation in the name of Christ and by the Kings Authority assembled is not the true Church of England by Representation Let him be Excommunicated and not restored till he repent and publickly revoke that wicked Error § 2. Having now explained what is meant by Moderation and what by the Church of England we may more intelligibly proceed in justifying the Moderation of the Church of England of which some inartificial proofs may be premised The first of which may be the Confession and acknowledgments of our Adversaries on both sides Yea if the scattered Concessions which have been made by our Adversaries at sundry times and upon divers occasions should be gathered together in a bundle there is scarce any judgment or practice or constitution of our Church but hath been acknowledged sometime by some or others of them as reasonable and moderate Yea there is scarce any extravagance among themselves but hath been also confest and decryed by several of their own Communion so great is the force of truth upon the minds of men at some times when they are in a free humour to disclose themselves and it might make a very pleasant and useful Collection to have these well gathered and set together particularly they have in their lucid intervals acknowledged the Moderation of our Church sometime as really convinced thereof Notwithstanding saith one who left our Communion De Cressy 's Exomolog c. 9. the English Church hath been more moderate and wary than publickly to pretend to such a private spirit and by consequence hath left a latitude and liberty for them in her Communion to renounce it as many of the most Learned among them have done Another of them speaks thus of the Church of England k Conference between a Prot. and a Papist 1673. p. 6 7 8. I believe her Moderation hath preserved what may one day yet much help to close the breach betwixt us We observe that she and peradventure she alone has preserved the face of a continued mission and uninterrupted Ordination Then in Doctrines her Moderation is great In those of greatest concern hath exprest her self very warily In Discipline she preserves the Government by Bishops but above all we prize her aversion from Fanaticism and that wild error of the private spirit with which it is impossible to deal from this obsurdity the Church of England desires to keep her self free She holds indeed that Scripture is the Rule of controversy but she holds withal That it is not of private interpretation for she is for Vincentius his method But I see that moderate counsels have been discountenanced on both sides Others of the same denomination have appeared to acknowledge the Moderation of our Church but it is manifest they have done it upon design using that acknowledgment only as an Art either to Proselyte some uncertain ones of our Communion or else to divide us thinking by their publick owning our Moderation thereby to render us more odious to those of another immoderate extreme Yet the generality of both extreme adversaries join together in reproaching us for this Moderation and by their immoderateness in so doing do also justify the Moderation of our Church Thus do the great Bigots of the Church of Rome and the rigid Disciplinarians and other Novellists in their zeal count all merciful Moderation lukewarmness l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Med. 12. Wherefore these apply to us what the Spirit said to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea m Vid. Mr. Henderson 's 1. 2d. Paper Collegium Laodicensium est senatus Moderatorum hominum Brightman in Apocal. c. 3. p. 105. Antitypum est nostra nimirum Anglicana ibid. p. 101. Rev. 3. 16. Because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my mouth reproaching commonly our Moderation by the name of neutrality and want of zeal n Cesset igitur Anglia Medietatem suam quae mera neutralitas est sub titulo prudentiae moderationis palliare potiâ—â— serve resipiâ—ce Parker de Eccl. Pol. l. 1. c. 25. and when some temperate interpretations have been offered the Romanists o Scio enim ejusmodi Modificationes ubi aliquid temperatum offerebatur nihil aliud esse quà m Satanae dolos c. Ep. c. Bellarm ad Archipresb Anglic. they have received them with invidious reflexions lest any of their Company should be won over to us by the Moderation of our Church In the mean while none persue the Church of England upon this account so much as the rigid and severe of either extreme the hot heads among the Romanists with their Anathema's and the other Zelots with their Curse ye Meroz Whereas the learned men of other reformed Churches have not only observed frequently and admired the Moderation of our Constitution as Dr Durel in his View of the Reformed
of means to the neglect of another Because there are so many Arguments which may sufficiently satisfy any of their Authority because some are convinced by some others by others We are encouraged in our Church to receive the Holy Scriptures as the word of God both from inward and outward motives both of divine and moral consideration But for our greater certainty and safety in a matter of so great concern our Church doth not lay the weight of so great a cause on slight or uncertain Foundations as the infallibility of the Church much less demonstration from the evidence of oral tradition or the testimony only of the Divine Spirit held by some so absolutely necessary to convince every one of the Divine Authority of Scriptures that without such an inward testimony there can be no kind of certainty whatsoever The Moderation of our Church excellently governs her judgment herein neither refusing the just Authority of Gods true Church nor denying any necessary influence of the Holy Spirit of God according to which Moderation guiding our selves we shall have occasion elsewhere to justify the real certainty of our Faith ch 6. § 8. In convincing also those of the Authority of Holy Scripture who do deny the same the wisdom and temper of our Church prudently hath omitted a twofold medium as improper to confute obstinate Adversaries The one is of proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures by Scriptures themselves which though it be a sufficient proof among them who have received them as divine yet to others it can never stop the objection from returning infinitely if the objector please to be dissatisfied The other method is alledging the Testimony of the Spirit for though the Church of God hath the Holy Spirit yet those that dispute this point may not have the Spirit neither can any ones saying so be a proper Argument to convince another Thirdly Our Church avoids the Circle of proving the Scripture by the Church and the Church by the Scriptures again because our Church doth first acknowledge the Holy Scriptures as superiour to it self o Article 6. 20. as one of the first principles of its Doctrine and against those who deny that principle of the Holy Scriptures veracity it doth dispute no otherwise than by reasons convincing the certainty of Tradition But as Archbishop Laud in his Preface against Fisher takes notice While one Faction cries up the Church above the Scripture and the other the Scripture to the neglect of the Church According to Christs Institution the Scripture where it is plain should guide the Church and the Church where there is doubt should expound the Scripture § 9. Whereas many run into very immoderate extravagancies concerning the interpretation of Holy Scripture our Church contains it self within very wise and just proportions in its judgment and practice concerning this matter 1. Concerning Holy Scripture it doth own what the Ancient Fathers p S. Chrys Hom. 3. in â— Thess S. Aug. in Ps 8. V. Second Part of the Homily of the knowledge of H. Scrip. have testified That what is absolutely necessary unto Salvation of all either for knowledge or practice is so fair and intelligible and plain to be understood of any that there needs no interpreter of the meaning of the sense to them who understand the words 2. For the understanding other places in Holy Scripture which are more obscure our Church doth suppose and acknowledge plentiful means allowed of God both to the Church and by and in the Church to all particular persons as much as is necessary that such places be understood For those which are mysterious and intricate are for the curious and wise to enquire into They are not the repositories of Salvation but instances of labour and occasions of humility and arguments of mutual forbearance and an endearment of reverence and adoration as the Archbishop of Spalato and our Bishop Taylor use to speak Such means for the interpretation of Scripture are the ordinary assistances of the Holy Spirit of God The instructions of the Church the use of our Reason especially in comparing one Scripture with another which excellent means of finding out the sense of Holy Writ our Church her self doth often use and recommends the same to those of her Communion according to the ancient practice of the Church Yet if we speak properly we do not call the Scripture the interpreter of it self nor properly a Judge of matter of Faith q S. Scripturam Judicem qui sentiunt rectè sentiunt sed siguratè â—oquuntur Gro. de Impâ—rio sum pot Though it be the Rule according to which the judgment which is of Doctrines is made and in Analogy with which Interpretations of Scripture also are to be govern'd But because of the danger of the vulgars being misled our Church doth send them frequently to their Pastors and Ministers for publick instruction and private advice and counsel and inferiour Ministers it refers to their Bishop r Exhortation to the Holy Communion Canon 53. The same method our Church directs for resolution of doubts which may arise referring to the Liturgy Preface concerning the Service of the Church Forasmuch as nothing can be so plainly set forth but doubts may arise in the use and practice of the same to appease all such diversity if any arise and for the resolution of all doubts concerning the manner how to understand do and execute the things contained in this Book the parties that so doubt shall alway resort to the Bishop of the Diocess who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting and appeasing of the same And if the Bishop be in doubt he may send for the resolution thereof to the Archbishop 3. Our Church doth not attribute more or less authority to the means of interpreting Scripture or any part thereof than God hath given it for that purpose and here the Moderation of the Church might be illustrated from the manifold extravagancies others have run into in this matter on all sides 1. Some make the Holy Spirit of God the only immediate interpreter of Scripture unto all persons whatsoever that at any time understand any thing thereof Others run into another extreme of slighting the illumination and assistance of the Holy Spirit 2. Some assert the Church of Rome only to have an infallible and absolute Authority herein others deny both the Church Universal and all parts thereof all authority to teach those under her Discipline or interpret any Scripture to them 3. Some have maintained that the publick Magistrate is the only interpreter of Scripture others deny him any kind of authority over or about the Church 4. There are those who make humane reason the only interpreter of Scripture Others reject all use of reason in divine matters Among these and many more extravagancies of men The Moderation of our Church keeps on one hand from the Tyranny of those who make such Authorities the Rule of interpreting Scripture which
say O but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost is within me Some man perchance will say forsooth as the tree is known by the fruit so is also the Holy Ghost The fruits of the Holy Ghost according to the mind of St Paul are these Gal. 5. Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faithfulness Meekness Temperance c. Contrariwise the deeds of the flesh are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Wantonness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Debate Emulation Wrath Contention Sedition Heresy Envy Murder Drunkenness Gluttony and such like Here now is the Glass wherein thou must behold thy self and discern whether thou hast the Holy Ghost within thee or the spirit of the flesh If thou see thy works be vertuous and good consonant to the prescript rule of Gods word savoury and tasting not of the flesh but the Spirit then assure thy self thou art endued with the Holy Ghost otherwise in thinking well of thy self thou dost but deceive thy self The Holy Ghost doth always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts b 2d Part of the Hom. for Whit-sunday But to conclude ye shall briefly take this short lesson Wherever ye find the spirit of arrogance and pride the spirit of envy hatred contention cruelty c. Assure your selves that there is the spirit of the Devil and not of God albeit they pretend to the world outwardly ever so much Holiness for as the Gospel teacheth us The Spirit of Jesus is a good holy sweet lowly merciful Spirit full of charity and love full of forgiveness and pity not rendring evil for evil extremity for extremity According to which rule If any man live uprightly of him it may be safely pronounced That he hath the Holy Ghost within him if not there is a plain token he doth usurp the name of the Holy Ghost in vain As for the manner and measure of the operations of the Holy Spirit The modesty and Moderation of our Church doth not decree any thing lest as St Austin saith Humane infirmity proceed beyond what is safe Yet our Church gives a right account in sundry places of its Homilies c Second Part of the Homily of Falling from God How the Holy Spirit comes to be withdrawn from men By all these Examples of Holy Scripture we know that as we forsake God so shall he even forsake us When he withdraweth from us his word the right doctrine of Christ his gracious assistance and aid which is ever joined with his Word and leaveth us to our own wit and will and strength He declareth then he beginneth to forsake us d First Part of the Homily of falling from God which is as it follows after any do neglect the same if they be unthankful to him if they order not their lives according to his Example and Doctrine c. From whence we see also that our Church judgeth the promise of the spirit is as the blessings of the Gospel are generally conditional For as God for his part delivered his Son to suffer death for us so again we for our parts should walk in a godly life as becometh his Children so to do e 2. Part of the Homily of Alms-deeds He that is first made good by the Spirit and Grace of God afterward bringeth forth good fruits As for those who affirm a supernatural and immediate illumination necessary without which other ordinary means are insufficient either to give us certainty of the authority or interpretation of Divine Writ 1. They affirm that which no where is declared 2. That which we have little reason to credit from them that affirm so We having neither experience of their extraordinary knowledge or goodness but have found them most mistaken of any in their interpretations of Scripture and also by the notes of having the Spirit delivered in Scripture what is quite different hath appear'd 3. The holding such an opinion tends to lessen the authority of the written word of God and to make the dictates of the humane spirit if not sometime the Diabolical equal with the Holy Canon And those others who lay the stress of the proof of the authority of Scripture and the certainty of Faith and the interpretation of Scripture upon such uncertainties as only the internal testimony of the Spirit as is yet neither proved necessary or real however of which there is no proof unto others verily such labour unprofitably to overthrow Christianity and render all our Faith uncertain 4. Their Doctrine leads to such Enthusiasm as is not consistent with the peace of Kingdoms much less the peace of Gods Church But such is the constant Moderation of our Church though it doth reject and oppose all fanatical and ungrounded pretences to the Spirit Yet our Church most frequently and with all humble reverence owns the necessity of the gracious aids and assistance of the Spirit as the phrase is in our Homilies several times used as without which we can do nothing pleasing to God For in the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost resteth all wisdom and all ability to know God and to please him f 3d Part of the Homily for Rogation Week Therefore we pray that in all things he will mercifully direct and rule our hearts we pray to God to grant us his Spirit that those things which we do may please him g In the Absolution Collect after the H. C. Hom. of falling from God To prevent us in all our doings c. because of the ill condition of those who are not governed by the Spirit of God CHAP. VI. The Moderation of the Church in its judgment of Doctrines § 1. Our Church doth wisely distinguish between what is necessary for Salvation and what is not § 2. Her Articles are few § 3. Which are generally exhibited not as Articles of Faith but consent Concerning subscription § 4. Our Articles are propounded so as to avoid unnecessary controversy § 5. The wise Moderation of the Kings of England in their Injunctions to Preachers and Orders taken to preserve Truth Vnity and Charity § 6. The Controversies of the late Age are well moderated by the determinations of our Church § 7. As our Church requires our consent in nothing contrary to sense or reason so it hath also contain'd it self from immoderate curiosity in treating of venerable mysteries § 8. Our Church doth not insist upon such kinds of certainty as others without just cause do exact § 9. Doctrines are so propounded to those in our Churches Communion as not to render useless their own reasons and judgments The reasonableness of which is proved and the Objections answered § 10. The use which we are all allowed of our private judgments is requir'd to be menag'd with a due submission to the Church The duty of which submission is laid down in sundry Propositions § 1. BEcause all things in Divine Revelation are alike true but not alike necessary for furtherance of Faith and Piety and establishing Union among Christians
not required of any Lay-person whatsoever meerly in order to his Communion with our Church Although the Church of Geneva l A quibus discedere neque Ministris nequeâ—ivibus liceret Beâ—a in vita Calvini urgeth subscription not of the Ministers only but the people m Extet forma quaedam Doctrinae ad quam omnes Episcopi Parochi jure-jurando astringantur ut nemo ad munus Ecclesiasticum admittatur nisi spondeat Calvin ad Angl. Protect There is perfectly another reason why subscription is required of all who receive the priviledge of degrees in our Universities and in Case of factious Appellants n Canon 98. who are inhibited unless they first subscribe and especially of the Ministers of the Church o Discrimen latum est inter verbi Ministros plebeios homines quos Ministri informant Testis enim est historia Ecclesiastica non per plebeios sed potiâ—s per Clericos introductas esse haereses Schismata Forbesius in Irenico l. 2. c. 12. namely because she may be as secure as she can of them to whom she commits so great a trust in the instruction of the people Wherefore of them who are entrusted with the Ministry of the Church it is required that they disavow all obligations and opinions to break the Peace of the Church and that they assent to the use of those things which are for the unity of Christians in this Kingdom among themselves which is no more than the Law of Nature hath granted every Society which the Church hath in all Ages practised and which our Adversaries themselves did use For the p Vi. Disc of Toler Sect. 13. Presbyterians required a subscription to their solemn League and the Independants had their Church Government Therefore in that our Church takes all the security she can by Sponsors at Baptism and by subscription of Ministers is a proof of her wisdom and great care of her own especially among us where the Ministers of the Church have blessed be God another Tenure than in Holland during the precarious pleasure of their Pay-Masters Beneficed men among us having a Freehold and not to be turned out but in a legal way upon great cause deserving Neither is subscription required by our Church of its Ministers unless they can do it willingly and ex animo nor unless they can with freedom of mind assent and consent to the uniform practice of the Church This if they cannot do with a quiet mind they are left free by the Church to enjoy a laical indulgence which is very large and exceeding bountiful As for dissatisfaction or weakness what said King James q Conference at Hampton Court How long will such Brethren be weak Are not 45 years sufficient r Qui decennali disciplinâ nondum usqueâ—o prosecerunt ut tam faciles in Theologiá quaestiones intelligant non possunt apti esse ad sustinendum onus pastorale in Eâ—clesiâ Dei Forbes Iren l. 2. c. 12. to grow strong in Some of them are strong enough if not Head-strong But I wonder there should be such earnest Recusants to subscription of the followers of Calvin among us whenas he to the English Protector writes thus 'T is fit to look after the desultory humour of them who would have too much lawful to themselves The door is to be shut to curious doctrines and one expedite means for that purpose is if there were a summary of doctrine received of all which all may follow in Preaching to the observing of which all Bishops and Parish Priests may be bound by an Oath that no one may be admitted to any Ecclesiastical Office unless he first engage that he will keep inviolate that consent of Doctrine And so for Catechism And as to a Form of Prayer and Ecclesiastical Rites I very much approve that there be a constant Form extant from which it may not be lawful for the Pastors in their Functions to depart in regard of the simplicity and unskillfullness of some and that the consent of the Churches among themselves may more certainly be manifest Lastly to prevent the desultory levity of those who affect Novelties And in his Epistle to Farellus Å¿ Calv. Ep. 87. Calvin writes It always prevail'd in the Church which was decreed in ancient Synods That those who would not be subject to the Laws of Common Discipline should be dismissed from their Function § 4. The very frame of the Articles shews the great Moderation and Wisdom of the Church they being propounded on purpose so as to avoid unnecessary controversy propounded not with a Laodicean indifference or lukewarmness in what we ought to contend for t Parkers Eccles Pol. l. 1. c. 25. as some charge our Church with It is not meant here or elsewhere by Moderation such a Latitude which Bishop Taylor saith u Ductor Dub. l. 3. â— 4. §. 23. hath something of craft but very little of ingenuity which can only serve the ends of peace and external Charity or a fantastick Concord but not the ends of truth and holiness and Christian simplicity It is not meant here as if our Articles were framed like the dubious Oracles of Delphos that the Subscribers might understand them which way they please like a shoe for every foot as if they were to deceive by ambiguous terms x Conference at Hamp C. p. 15. The Judicious Bishop Sanderson y Pax Ecclesiae p. 52. in his directions for the Peace of the Church lays down this as the first That particular Churches would be as tender as may be in giving their definitions and determinations especially where there may be admitted a Latitude of dissenting without prejudice done either to the substance of the Catholick Faith or to the tranquillity of the Church or to the Salvation of the dissenter In which respect the Moderation of the Church of England is much to be commended and to be preferred not only before the Roman Church which with unsufferable tyranny bindeth all her Children upon pain of Damnation to all her determinations even in those points which are no way necessary to Salvation but also before sundry other Reformed Churches who have proceeded further than this Church hath done It is a sufficient proof of the sincerity of our Church if what it hath declared and intended to declare hath a true clear and certain meaning and her Articles do surely conduce to peace if it appear all agree in the true usual literal meaning But in respect of what is not intended to be declared by them z King Charles I. Declaration 1630. published with the Articles If even in these curious points in which the present differences lye most men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England for them then may be infer'd what the Right Reverend Bishop of Chester hath said a No necessity of Reformation of the Doctrine of the Church of England 1660. This rather gives a Testimony of
young Students by reading of late Writers and ungrounded Divines do broach many times unprofitable seditious and dangerous Doctrines to the scandal of the Church He injoin'd That none under a Bishop or Dean do presume to preach in any popular Auditory the deep points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the Vniversality Resistibility or Irresistibility of Gods Grace But rather confine themselves wholly to those two Heads of Faith and a good Life which are all the subject of the ancient Sermons and Homilies That no Preacher of any denomination whatsoever shall presume to fall into bitter invectives and undecent railings against the Persons of either Papists or Puritans but modestly and gravely when they are occasion'd by their Text free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the Aspersions of the Adversaries King Charles of Blessed Memory set forth with the Articles a Declaration 1630. wherein he required thus In these curious and unhappy differences which have for so many hundred years in different times and places exercised the Church of Christ We will that all further curious search be laid aside and these disputes shut up in Gods promises as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scriptures and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England It is to be wisht that all the Directions concerning Preachers in the several Kings Reigns since the Reformation were Imprinted on the minds of all the Clergy and others especially His present Majesties Directions Dated October 14. 1662. Which among other great reasons inducing were set forth because of the extravagance of sundry young Divines who took upon them in their popular Sermons to handle the deep points of Gods Eternal Counsels and Decrees and other fruitless controversies serving rather to amuse than profit the hearers which is done for the most part and with greatest confidence by such persons as least understand them Therefore they are admonisht not to spend their time in the search of such abstruse and speculative notions However that they presume not positively and doctrinally to determine anything concerning the same And for the edifying the people in Faith and Godliness That they in their ordinary Sermons insist chiefly on Catechetical Doctrines wherein are contained all the necessary and undoubted verities of Religion declaring withal unto their Congregations what Influences such Doctrines ought to have into their Lives and Conversations and stirring them up effectually as well by their Examples as their Doctrines to the practice of such religious and moral duties as are the proper results of the said Doctrines as Self-denial Contempt of the World Humility Patience Meekness Temperance Justice Mercy Obedience and the like and to a detestation c. And because these licentious times have corrupted Religion in the very roots and foundations That where there is an Afternoons Exercise it be especially spent either in explaining some part of the Church Catechism or what may conduce to the Exposition of the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church as occasion shall be offered The only cause they grew into contempt among the people being this that they were not understood The subscription for University Preachers in the University of Cambridge keeps its Subscribers within the same bounds and by the way I may note the Moderation and Excellent temper of our Vniversities at this time Having known for many Years together in Cambridge there have seldom been disputed in our Schools those Controversies which in the Age before did so much divide both Foreign Churches and ours and also our Vniversities themselves of our other Vniversity I am assured the same from my most Reverend Diocesan the Lord Bishop of Lincoln Having mentioned our Vniversities I conceive a very proper proof of the Moderation of our Church of England may be taken from the general practice in our Universities those noble Seminaries of the Church where among the Theses which are disputed in the Divinity Schools commonly one is given to assert our Church against the Romanists the other to defend our Church against other Sectaries The care of very many of our Bishops hath been also the same as may appear from one of their Exemplars of Subscription I have set it down in the Margent m Ego Curatus cui licentia praedicandi verbum Dei concedenda est sacras literas purè sincerè tractabo easque prudenti simplicitate populo exponam nec in sermonibus meis de rebus jam constitutis suscitabo Controversias nec spargam contentiones neque innovationem ullam doctrinâ vel Ceremoniis suadebo V. 1. Vol. Episcopii praes Praevorstii de concionibus because of its excellent use In the Instructions of King James 1618. to the Divines He sent over to the Synod of Dort One was That they should advise the Ministers of those Churches that they do not deliver in the Pulpit to the people those things for ordinary Doctrines which are the highest points of Schools and not fit for vulgar capacity but are disputable on both sides and that they carry themselves with that advice moderation and discretion as became them c. After all these great Testimonies of Moderation in our Church it is proper to mention what we meet with in the Pacific Dr Hammonds Discourse of Gods Grace and Decrees § 24. This I suppose the reason both of our Churches Moderation in framing the Article of Predestination and of our late Kings Declaration in silencing the debate of the Question For if by these methods the Church could but have prevailed to have the Definitions of the several pretenders forgotten All men contenting themselves as our Article prescribes with the Promises of God as they are declared in Scripture the turmoil and heat and impertinence of disputes had been prevented which now goes for engagement in Gods cause And blessed be God the design of the Churches Moderation and of our Gracious King the Churches Moderatour and Governour hath thus far had excellent effect in the Church and our Universities that for a long time there hath been a great silence from that noise and learned squabble which sometimes formerly disturbed the Churches Peace so that now we may be more at leisure without prejudice and passion to review and admire the wise and excellent determinations of our Church § 6. To shew how well the Controversies of the late Age have been moderated by our Church might deserve a just Treatise by it self But our Church seems to observe the same advice which King James gave to the Divines going over to Dort 1618. In case of opposition between any over-much addicted to their own opinions their endeavours should be that certain Positions be moderately laid down which may tend to the mitigation of heat on both sides Our Church throughout hath done the same thing as might be instanced at large in the Controversies between us and the Romanists and between others also Indeed the Articles and especially the Homilies do copiously and
know it to be such are in a hopeful and ready way to be reduced Lastly If the dissenter from the Church err not but the Church doth manifestly enjoin unjust conditions of its Communion whoever they are who from the word of God Catholickly interpreted and the use of their own reasons come into the profession of the true Faith and Christian Doctrine If they are divided from that part of the Church which is unjust in its conditions of union they themselves not being the cause of the Division they in very deed notwithstanding are united mean while to the Church Catholick I conclude this Chapter with that in the Answer to the Bishop of Condom Part. 6. p. ◠Error as Vice is for the most part in extreams we owe respect teachableness and submission unto all them whom God sets over us to instruct us this is not contested But this is no reason to change this submission into voluntary blindness which is rather a Spirit of servitude CHAP. VII Of the Moderation of our Church in what relates to the worship of God § 1. Our Prayers are not mingled with controversy § 2. They are framed according to a most grave and serious manner with moderate variety and proper length § 3. In the zeal of Reformation our Church did not cast off what was good in it self § 4. In all our Churches there are the same Rules § 5. Common Prayers for the vulgar required in English To Ministers and Scholars a just and moderate liberty allowed § 6. The obligation of the Church leaves the method of private Devotions to a general liberty § 7. Of the Moderation of the Church in appointing her hours and times of Prayer § 8. In her use and judgment of Sermons § 9. In what is required of people with reference to their Parish Church § 10. The excellent Moderation of the Church in her Orders for the reverent reading of Divine Service and Consecrating the Sacraments in such a voice as may be heard § 11. In her Form and use of Catechizing § 12. The interest of inward and outward worship are both secured according to an excellent Moderation in our Church § 13. The Moderation of the Church in what relates to Oaths § 1. IN treating of the Moderation of our Church in what relates to the Divine Worship I first speak of Prayer because the matter of the Sacraments is handled by it self Ch. 10. In our publick Prayers our Churches Moderation is apparent in that it never intended to intermingle matters of doubtful Controversy but hath sufficiently provided for the simplicity of the plainest and the devotion of the most intelligent Thus our Bishops according to great Moderation also justified our Church in their debate with the Presbyterian Brethren The Church hath been careful to put nothing into the Liturgy but what is either evidently the word of God or what hath been generally received in the Catholick Church neither of which can be called private opinion and if the contrary can be proved we wish it out of the Liturgy Yet because as Bishop Taylor saith they could not Prophesie they put in some things which since have been called into question a Exorti sunt in Angliâ morosi scrupulosi delicatuli nimium ne superstitiosos planè dicam homines quibus Ecclesiae suae hactenus usurpata Liturgia visa est multis abroganda c. Ludo. Capellus de Liturg. by persons whose interest was highly concerned to find fault with something b Quaedam sunt quae rapi possunt ab inquietis in materiam contentionis Bucer de Liturgiâ Anglic. § 2. Our Prayers are framed both according to a grave modest and serious manner every one of them being moderately short and all together not immoderately long and so more accommodate to render Devotion more earnest and intent and properly intermitted by other parts of Divine Service that by a moderate variety the Devotions of Christians may be both entertained and advantaged And to stir up Devotion in Christian people they bear in our Church a moderate part in the publick Prayers and Praises for as Mr Baxter well notes c Christian Direct p. 856. It was the decay of zeal in the people that first shut out the Responses The use of the tongue keepeth awake the mind and stirreth up Gods Graces in his Servants and so much doth the edification of the people give measure to the appointments of our Church that the parts of Divine Service are to be used in the accustomed place of the Church Chappel or Chancel Or in such place as the Bishop of the Diocess or Ecclesiastical Canon 14 Ordinary of the place shall think meet for the largeness or straitness of the same so as the people may most be edifyed § 3. The Moderation of the Church is always to be admired That in the heat of Reformation when the Essays were first had for the refining our Liturgy from Romish corruption and innovation our Church was not so transported with zeal but that it retained what was pious and profitable among the Prayers in use And whereas generally oppositions are most fierce at first and in process of time they become moderate the excellent temper of our Church was such it was most moderate at first which wisdom and mercy of God in tempering the Spirits of the first Reformers can never be enough taken notice of Wherefore the use of some Collects and passages in our Liturgy which before were had in the Romish Communion is so far from being a real argument against our Church that it is a proper proof of our Churches just Reformation that it maintained its freedom from prejudice and passion in the midst of its zeal If some parts of the Prayers themselves and Liturgy have been drawn into matter of debate it is no more than what all words and writings are liable to when they meet with those who are concern'd to be displeas'd But the exceptions against them being such that I speak my Conscience in what I know the most probable means to reconcile any to a just apprehension of our Liturgy and to confirm them in the same is well to consider the feeble weakness of the exceptions which are used against it Which King James noted long since How mighty and vehement informations against the Common Prayer were supported with weak and slender proofs But saith the King d King James's Proclamation for Uniformity 1603. we were nice or rather jealous that the publick Form thereof should be free not only from blame but from suspicion so as neither the common adversary should take advantage nor the troublesome at home cavil between which two sorts of Adversaries the Moderation of the Church hath always been tryed So that all these things considered Archbishop Cranmer e Archbishop Cranmer's Letter had very good reason to declare that he with some others he should chuse would by Gods Grace take upon him to defend not only the Common-Prayers
made between a Preaching and a non-Preaching Minister a Canon 46 67. Preface to the Homilies who though he be not so profoundly learned as others of which learned sort blessed be God we have some good abundance yet if he be blameless in his Life and faithful in his Office and observant of the appointments of the Church by the grace of God there are so many helps ready provided by the wisdom of the Church among us That a not-Preaching Minister may perform a Ministerial Office both for the necessary edification of the people and the just satisfaction of the Church more than many Preaching Ministers of whose discretion and wise order the Church cannot be so well secured Hear we Archbishop Whitgift b Answer to the Admon 1572. I am fully perswaded That he cometh nearer the mind of the Apostle who orderly preacheth once a Month than some who are back-biters at other Mens Tables and run up and down seldom or never studying though they preach twice a day For though no Church doth more promote and encourage the proficiency of her Sons in all useful literature yet the Church thinks it not reason to reject the Ministry of a not-preaching Minister otherwise reasonably qualified Can. 34. where it is necessary especially when as the Church declares the Sacraments are effectually administred by them that have not the gift of Preaching Artic. 26. The care of the Church is also to be taken notice of in requiring those who are beneficed to procure at least a Sermon to the people once a Month c Can. 46 47. And especially there being wholsome Homilies for the other Days the Church hath done her part in providing for the spiritual sustenance of her Children both for their necessity and entertainment and those who can Preach as Blessed be God there are many think it their duty to do the same frequently and constantly § 9. The order of the Church is also That none neglect their own Parish Church and with great reason to avoid unspeakable confusion Yet even in d Stat. 1. R. Eliz. c. 2. 32 Eliz c. 1. Q. Elizabeth's Injunctions 1559. § 33. the Precept is exprest with this indulgence Except it be by the occasion of some extraordinary Sermon in some Parish of the same Town and in the Articles for enquiry in the first Year of her Reign one was Whether you know any that in contempt of their own Parish Church do resort to any other Church So in the Homily e The Homily of the right use of the Church 't is said That to the said House or Temple of God at all times by common order appointed are all people that be Godly indeed bound with all diligence to resort unless by sickness or other most urgent causes they be letted therefrom So willing was always our Church and the Constitution of the Kingdom to allow all reasonable Liberty provided it might not be abused No Man saith the Bishop of London-Derry in his Vindication was ever punisht for instructing his own Family but it may be for holding unlawful Conventicles or for instructing them in Seditious Schismatical or Heretical Principles Nor for going to the next Parish to hear a Sermon thousands did it daily and never suffered for it But it may be for neglecting or deserting his Parish Church f Quisque in suâ Parochiâ sacris coetibus adâ—â— ibi Christi Ceremoniis vacet Sacramentaque omnia percipiat ut qui haec sacere â—â—â—ligal Excommunicetur Eucer de Eccs Angl. Censura c. 3. and gadding up and down after Non-Conformists and strange unknown Forms of serving God § 10. Because as Bucer observed too many did not in the reading or reciting the Divine Service use that devout reverent and intelligible manner as was fit The special care of the Church hath always been very great of this as appears from the admonition to all Ministers Ecclesiastical in the beginning of the second Part of the Homilies and in Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions 1559. and in the several Articles for enquiry by all which all care is taken g Vi. Librum quorundam Canonum 1571. That all Ministers and Readers of publick Prayers Chapters and Homilies shall be charged to read leisurely plainly and distinctly h 39 Article 35. and the Rubrick requires the Minister to read the Lessons standing and turning himself so as he may best be heard of all such as are present Which Precepts contain as much as the general Missal i Liquet omnino requiri ut Ministri Ecclesiarum has preces Psalmos conciones recitent summâ gravitate religione disertè quoque perspicué Bucer de Ordin Eccl. Anglic. c. 1. Canatur legatur drticulatim explanatè reverendo gestu ad aedificationem orantis interea laici Wicelii Meth. concor c. 17. Rubricks which require the Priest to read neither too precipitantly fast nor too morosely slow with a voice mean and grave fit to excite Devotion and which is accommodate to the Hearers But whereas in the Mass the Romanists are enjoin'd a secret and private whispering In our Church it is otherwise Ordered for the common benefit which Order our Homily of the Common-Prayer and Sacraments defends from divers testimonies of Scriptures and Doctors and the Constitution of Justinian k Justin Novel Constit 23. who lived 527 Years after Christ which is this We Command that all Bishops and Priests do celebrate the Holy Oblation and the Prayers in Holy Baptism not speaking low but with a clear or loud voice which may be heard of the people that thereby the minds of the hearers may be stirred up with great Devotion in uttering the Prayers of the Lord God for so that Holy Apostle teacheth in his first Epistle to the Corinthians c. 14. Therefore for these causes it is convenient that among other Prayers those things also which are spoken in the holy Oblation be uttered and spoken of the most religious Priests unto our Lord Jesus Christ our God with the Holy Ghost with a loud voice Which is as our Homily takes notice a plain Decree of Justinian for Praying and Administring of Sacraments in a known tongue contrary to the opinion of them that would have ignorance make devotion To this head of right reading the Divine Service belongs the Order of our Church to use the Divine Service in publick as Order hath prescribed l Non transcuâ—â—â—ndo 〈◊〉 Syncopando Syn. Ling. 14 4. Can. 14. not chopping and changing adding and plucking away m Second Part of the Homily for Whit-sunday as the Homily speaks of the Romanists intermingling their own Traditions Yet though the Church doth not allow her Clergy to mangle her Offices yet where need is remissions are allow'd as in the Office of private Baptism Communion of the sick and the like And if any Liberties left to the prudence and discretion of the Ministers be a proper instance of the Moderation of the Church many might be
Christ which of themselves are sufficient motives to Religion and make the same proceed from the most free and most suitable and noble principle that can be of affection and thankfulness to God § 13. Because an Oath is an act of Divine Worship in which we solemnly invoke God as a witness to what we swear It is but proper here to take notice of the Moderation of our Church in what relates to Oaths 1. Our Church doth in the 39. Article of Religion excellently declare and in the Homily against perjury at large prove The lawfulness and benefits of swearing for causes necessary and honest and for the ending of controversy and sets forth also the sore danger of perjury 2. Our Church doth at large testify against customary and unnecessary Swearing and the mentioned Homily declares the danger and vanity thereof Both these purposes of the Homily are briefly contained in the 39th Article Thus As we confess vain and rash Swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle So we judge That Christian Religion doth not prohibite but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a cause of Faith and Charity so it be done according to the Prophets teaching in Justice Judgment and Truth In a few lines also of the Homily our Church seems fully to determine the whole Controversy which our Sectaries have rais'd concerning Swearing When Christ so earnestly forbad Swearing it may not be understood as though he did forbid all manner of Oaths but he forbiddeth all vain Swearing and forswearing both by God and by his Creatures as the common use of Swearing in buying and selling and in daily Communication to the intent every Christian mans word should be as well regarded in such matters as if he confirm'd his Communication with an Oath for the truth is as Theophylact writeth no man is less trusted than he that useth much to swear Beside the practice of the Gentiles to swear by Creatures the Jews had fallen into that Custom which gave our Saviour and St James occasion to forbid such S. Mat. 5. 34. S. James 5. 12. kind of Swearing which also was in use among the Manichees as St Augustine notes x Jurabant saepissimè nulloque mentis scrupulo per Creaturas c. Faust 22. Seeing then all Swearing by the Creatures is counted by the Homily Vain-Swearing It can be deemed no other to swear by the y V. Catechism Trident Blessed Virgin or by Saints or their reliques since they have no delegated power to know our hearts or to punish Perjury At the solemn Inauguration of the Emperour he saith I swear unto God and S. Peter c. When any enter into a Monastery they say I vow unto God and to the Blessed Virgin and to S. Dominic or some other their particular Saint 3. Concerning the matter and obligation of lawful and unlawful Oaths we may hear our Church excellently advising and declaring Therefore whosoever maketh any promise binding himself thereunto by an Oath Let him foresee that the thing he promiseth be good and honest and not against the Commandment of God and that it be in his own power to perform it justly and such promises must men keep evermore assuredly But if a man at any time shall either of ignorance or of malice promise and swear to do any thing which is either against the Law of Almighty God or not in his power to perform let him take it for an unlawful Oath Of an unlawful Oath the same Homily determines in the Case of Herod That as he took a wicked Oath so he more wickedly performed the same These full and just determinations of the Church might be fitly commented on by what Bishop Sanderson hath writ of the obligation of Oaths especially in his third Prelection and may very justly also be applyed to the Case of the solemn League and Covenant which sufficiently justifies the abjuration of the Covenant as it is required in the Act of Uniformity 4. Our Church lays a great charge and weight on the words of the Prophet Jeremiah Ch. 4. V. 2. Thou shalt swear in Judgment Truth and Righteousness Whosoever sweareth let him be sure in his Conscience That his Oath have these three conditions z Homily against Perjury which also are mentioned in the 39th Article and largely insisted on in the Homily All which do sufficiently testify against the Equivocations and mental reservations which the Jesuits allow and defend which is a most notorious artifice of deceit a great profanation of the divine name and contrary to the nature and end of Oaths And that we may observe how rightly our Church judgeth of the Power of the Pope or of any other in rescinding and dispensing with lawful Oaths a Vi. Duo brevia Pontisicis Ro. 1. dat 1606. 2. dat 1607. contra juram Fidel. in R. Jac. Apologiâ yea dispensing with men aforehand to make unlawful Oaths and Vows as in Marriages within the degrees Levitical b Apol. of certain Proceedings in Courts Eccles p. 2. c. 2. p. 18. The sixth part of the Homily against wilful Rebellion speaking of the Bishops of Rome discharging the Subjects of the Kings of England of their Oath of Fidelity to their Soveraign Lord as particularly Innocent III. to King John calls it fitly A feigned discharging of their Oath and fealty and a vain cursing of the King Which practices of the Popes rely upon two Principles of the Church of Rome 1. That the Pope hath an absolute and Oecumenical Authority over the whole World and that all Oaths are to be taken with a reserve of his pleasure and that he hath the sole power to declare and dispense in what relates unto them 2. That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks which Doctrines are published in the Books of the Famous Romanists neither prohibited nor animadverted on c Nullo modo Fides servanda Haereticis etiam Juramento firmata Simanca In interpreting Oaths as our Church doth not encourage any loose sense that the taker by any evasion may collude the design of the Law so also our Church rejects such rigid interpretations which force the words to a severe sense but where a fair and easy construction may be made by the natural interpretation of the words which is agreeable to truth and justice and may secure the intention of Superiours such a construction our Church is ready to allow of and encourage d Vi. Q. Eliz Admon V. Article 37. 5. The general Oaths enjoined or defended in our Church are but few and those for great causes appointed and with great Moderation framed As 1. The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy The necessity and Moderation of which hath been largely expounded in the Apology of King James and others d See the Admonition of Q. Eliz 1559. of the Oath of Supremacy Nunc mitius ac moderatius substitutum est Sander de Schism Angl. p. 149. since which the
though it be a significant Ceremony and of no other use yet as it is a compliance with the practice of all ancient Churches so it is very innocent in it self and being one and alone is in no regard troublesome I said she hath only one Ceremony of her own appointment For the Ring in Marriage is the symbol of a civil and religious contract It is a pledge and custom of the Nation not of the Religion And other circumstances of her worship are but determinations of time and place and manner of a duty They serve for other purposes beside signification for order and decency for which there is an Apostolical Precept and a natural reason and an evident necessity or a great convenience n Ductor Dub. l. â— c. 4. R. 20. Neither is any Ceremony used in our Church by any beside the Minister § 2. The constant Moderation of the Church from the beginning of the Reformation o Instit of a Christian man p. 46. hath always faithfully declared its Rites and particular Forms of Worship to be such things as are in their own nature indifferent and mutable that they might be limited or revoked Every particular national Church hath authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies Article of Religion 34. It may be lawful for just causes to alter change or mitigate or recede from Ecclesiastical Decrees saith the Homily of Fasting Much more to the same purpose The Church declares in the 20 Article and in the Preface of the Ceremonies and in the Homilies especially in the beginning of the last Preface added to the Common Prayer-Book 1662. It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England ever since her first compiling of her publick Liturgy to keep the mean between the two extremes of too much stiffness in refusing and too much easiness in admitting variation from it In the same Preface it is added In which review we have endeavoured to observe the like Moderation as we find to have been used in like Cases in former times As this is an unquestionable proof of the Churches Moderation So give me leave to make it a good instance also thereof in that on the other hand she doth wisely avoid the other extreme of variableness being not given to change but upon good reason thereunto moving because of the many inconveniencies that ensue upon frequent unadvised mutations So often as any private persons willingly and purposely recede from the appointments of the Church the 34th Article provides for their open rebuke Neither are we ignorant saith King James in his Proclamation for Uniformity of the inconveniencies that do arise in Government by admitting innovation in things once setled by mature deliberation and how necessary it is to use constancy in the upholding of the publick determinations of States for that such is the unquietness and unstedfastness of some dispositions affecting every year new forms of things as if they should be followed in their inconstancy would make all actions of States ridiculous and contemptible And if authority should upon all wrong apprehensions of parties make new usages nothing in the outward worship of God would continue no not the very Sacraments p Illud autem penituâ— infixum esse oportet nec tutum esse nec ad sovendam concordiam utile temerè desciscere ab iis quae Majorum autoritate tradita sunt quaeque longo saeculorum usu consensuque confirmata nec quicquam omnino novandum est nisi hue aut cogat necessitas aut insignls inviâ—et utilitas Erasmus de amabili Eccl Concordiâ § 3. The Moderation of the Church further appears in that our Rites are no where made any part of Religion or Worship but only used in subserviency to Religion and without them the Religion and worship of God is acknowledged entire This is manifest from what hath been declared before of their indifferent and mutable nature And to prevent all just occasion of exception the Church of England doth publickly declare that her Constitutions concerning indifferent things are made without any opinion of worship by them or absolute necessity of them q Theatricum Ceremoniarum apparatum nimis rigidè magnificè exaggerant Ceremoniarum Magistri exactores quasi sine illis nec veritas nec dignitas nec efficaci a Sacramentorum consistat Chemnitii Examen Can. 13. Sess 7. Conc. Trid. King Edw. 6. Injunctions 1547. yea all are admonisht to consider that God is not appeased by them much less is his grace by them merited or satisfaction made for sins In the 2d year of King Edw. 6. In the Articles of Archbishop Cranmer it is enquired whether the Ministers have declared unto the people the true use of Ceremonies That they be no workers of Salvation but only outward signs and tokens not mystical but of clear signification not Sacramental but naturally and properly fit to put us in remembrance of things of higher perfection Then it was also declared That the Ceremonies are not superstitiously to be abused as thereby to drive away Devils c. or by putting trust and confidence for health and salvation in the same r See Bishop Gauden before Bishop Brownrigs Sermons of the Cerem in our Church Thus our Church is God be thanked far from any such impious Tyranny and Vsurpation over mens Consciences which the Pharisees of old did and the Church of Rome at this day doth exercise equalling if not preferring her Constitutions to the Laws of God having declared her self by solemn protestation enough to satisfie any ingenuous impartial judgment That by requiring obedience to these Ceremonial Constitutions she hath no other purpose than to reduce all her Children to an orderly Conformity in the outward worship of God so far is the Church from seeking to draw any opinion either of divine necessity upon the Constitution or of effectual holiness upon the Ceremony Å¿ Biâ—hop Sandersons judgment in one View p. 99. V. Bishop Morton Ep. to the Non-Conf § 4. So great is the Moderation of our Church that lest any should lose the benefit of her Communion or continue uneasy in their own scruples she hath condescended to expound such Injunctions as could be foreseen to have any objection t Super his aliqua moderatio adhibenda est pro Conscientiarum sedatione etiam multitudini errantium piè condescendendo aliqua declaratio facienda Petr. de Aliaco de reform Eccl. Fascic R. Expet In the end of the Office for the Holy Communion lest Kneeling should by any persons either through ignorance or malice be misconstrued and depraved It is declared that thereby no Adoration is intended or to be done c. as there may be seen more at large To the same purpose is the 5. Rubrick after the Holy Communion To take away all occasion of dissention or superstition In the 30th Canon the lawful use of the Cross in Baptism is copiously and excellently explained u See second Rubrick after publick Baptism
although in matter of their acknowledged liberty that 't is pity their observance is not better placed Even the Quakers themselves in what they in abuse of the Laws call Marriages use Ceremonies of joining hands and standing while they also declare their consent mutually in a Form and in many other practises of opposition as meeting for what they call Marriage in the Afternoon burying their people in a cross manner they are constant and as formal where they are Antipodes to Authority as any Romanists can be in his Crosses and Incensings So that if superstition l Sensi enim dolens gemens multas infir morum perturbationes fieri per quorundam fratrum contentiosam obstinationem superstitiosam timiditatem S. Aug. Ep. 118. be going beyond measures we may conclude that none are so superstitious as those on either hand who oppose the Moderation of our Church And really it is a very great justification of the Moderation of our Church That our present Anti-Ceremonial Dissenters though they have wanted no endeavours to the utmost of their wits and powers hitherto have been able to make no other exceptions against our Church and what is therein constituted than what have been answered already very often and very fully to the conviction of the most learned and the more ingenuous amongst themselves § 6. But so far is the Church of England from multiplying Ceremonies that we know there are many innocent usages m See Sprint's Necess of Conform p. 85. to 101. which have been in the Primitive Church in sundry places and at divers times which our Church of England never went about to introduce either by practice or command as the holy Kiss the use of the Veil the threefold immersion or use of the white garment in Baptism and many others which since our Church passeth by their use we do not mention which sheweth that Order and Edification gives bounds as is meet to the number and use of Ceremonies in our Church which stops that objection in its career Who shall determine their convenient number n Interest of England p. 89. The Church hath received just rules and our Church hath observed the same with just Moderation And hereunto may be added that as our Church hath not rejected all Rites and usages meerly because they were in use in the Roman Church no more than the Reformation of Hezekiah or Josiah rejected all things received or imitated in the corrupt worship of the Ten Tribes So many practices which had pious and useful beginnings in the Church of Rome and afterward were grievously corrupted have not been admitted in our Church partly because she hath not been forward to multiply ritual observances partly that such occasions of corruption may not be invited when by experience it hath been seen how easily there hath come excess Among what had useful beginnings cannot be number'd the old wayes of superstitious purgations by Fire and Water Ordeals and Combates c. which are all abolisht among us o V. Ridley's View c. l. 1. c. 5. §. 5. Reform leg Eccl. de purg c. 21 § 7. Concerning the Ceremonies appointed in our Church it must further be taken notice That the obligation to them is very mild for though the intent of the Church is doubtless to bind all to the preservation of regular order yet as the Institution of a Christian Man hath it p P. 47. Forasmuch as such things be of themselves mean and indifferent men may upon causes reasonable well omit the same so that it be not in case of contempt or scandal p V. Whitgift Answ to Admon p. 29. V. Bishop Sanderson's judgment c. p. 19. And of the Church we have no reason to complain for securing its own Orders against contempt and for providing against scandal to those of her Communion especially since her Rites themselves are such as might deserve every where to be observed But how far particular persons have to do to moderate yet further the great Moderation of the Church we leave it to all sober Consciences and to our Superiours to judge who also must judge of the true interest of the Church how far popular exception ought to influence any change Uniformity certainly is so excellent that the certain purchase of it would be worth somewhat but the truth is our Governours have to do with those that are so unresolved of what they would have that this makes their most cautious deliberation necessary q Bishop Bramhal to M. Militier For as a learned Prelate observes It is a rule in prudence not to remove an ill custom when it is well setled unless it bring great prejudices and then it is better to give one account why we have taken it away than to be always making excuses why we do it not Needless alteration doth diminish the venerable esteem of Religion and lessen the credit of antient truths Break Ice in one place and it will crack in more § 8. It may be as proper in this place as any where to annex the notice of our Churches Moderation in its appointments of Vestments r Canon 24. 25. 58. 74. for Holy Ministrations as being herein neither undecently deficient nor immoderately extravagant The Vestments in use by order among us being very few and those very modest and useful for Ornament distinction and commonefaction free from all superstition and shew of luxury of the same kind of those in use in the Reformed Churches ſ D. D. Durel of Reform Ch. Sect. 2. §. 21 22. Neither are they in the Church of England Consecrated by any solemn Benediction nor to any supernatural effects t Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. §. 29. As we think not our selves the holier because we use them so neither should others think us therefore unholy In the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth 1559. § 30. u Canon 74. 1603. Etiam Episcoporum famuli in omni vestis genere se modestè compositè ornabunt V. Libr. quorundam Canonum 1571. Her Majesty being desirous to have the Prelacy and Clergy of this Realm to be had as well in outward reverence as otherwise regarded for the worthiness of their Ministry that they may receive the honour and estimation due to the special Messengers of God willeth and commandeth them to wear such habits c. Not thereby meaning as 't is added to attribute any special holiness or worthiness to the said Garments but as St Paul saith Let all things be done decently Wherefore in the third Part of the Homily of Idolatry Our Church excepts against that costly and manifold furniture of Vestments in the Church of Rome as fetcht from the Jewish usage Hoopers ingenuous acknowledgment of his error about Vestments see in Dr Durel x Vindiciae S. Eccl. Angl. l. 16. p. 140. a MS. Letter § 9. The Benedictions of our Church are performed with great piety and wisdom Notwithstanding the contempt which many entertain the
our Church reformed Scintilla Altaris That to avoid excess of Dedications wherein others are too burthensome she sometimes uniteth two of the Apostles at once in one Festivity as S. Simon and Jude S. Philip and James § 8. The more immoderate is their reproach who brand our reformed Church for being guilty of Popery only because the memory of the just among us is blessed f Coâ—â—mus Martyres cultu dilectionis non servitutis S. Aug. c. Faus l. 22. Notwithstanding those very exceptors are really like the Romanists Canonizing and Sainting one another for being of some particular humour and faction in this for one that they will not keep a Festival or remember an Apostle with honour Indeed in the Church of Rome they have Canonized the worst of men and let any one tell the difference when many of those others Saint each other and affect no other Title but of your Holiness And here let any equal and intelligent Christians judge whether those who hold Communion with the Church of God notwithstanding sundry infirmities and failings ought not and may not more properly according to the stile of Scripture to be called Saints than those who separate from the outward Communion of Gods Church although they usurp the name peculiarly to themselves And here we cannot but observe the Modesty of those in Communion with the Church of England which is true Christian Moderation They never were so forward to rush suddenly as it were into the Holy of Holies in calling themselves and one another absolute Saints but rather while they are in their way and Pilgrimage chuse to be honoured with more modest titles even as Pythagoras in all Ages hath been commended for his Moderation in laying aside the great name of Wife and chose rather to be called a Lover of Wisdom § 9. The same Moderation which our Church useth toward Saints she observeth likewise with respect to the Holy Angels Yea indeed great is the modesty and sober wisdom of our Church in that it is no where excessively curious nor positive in determining of the nature actions knowledge number Orders or special Guardianship of Angels Our Church doth not deny that there is a distinct Order of Angels but no where takes upon her to show how those Orders are disposed But avoiding the extreme of those who are stupidly insensible of the conduct of Holy Angels the Church of England doth glorify God for their Creation for their admirable order and Ministry and affection to us we pray to God we may imitate their readiness and chearfulness in praising and serving him and ministring daily for the good of others yet our Church hath always held the Angels to be in the number of those who worship and not of those who are worshipped and for us to worship those who are themselves worshippers would be such a voluntary humility as is sinful namely to address our selves to such substitutes as God no where hath appointed to receive his peculiar honour g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. c. Cels l. 8. Neque Invocationibus Angelicis sed 〈◊〉 purè manifestè Orationes dirigens ad Dominum qui omnia sâ—it Iren. l. 2. c. 57. which the Synod of Laodicea A. D. 364. calls Idolatry § 10. The like Moderation doth our Church excellently well observe in the honour she gives to the Ever Blessed Virgin Mary so highly favoured of God as to be the Mother of our Lord whom our Church celebrates and always humbly calls her Blessed And as it is in the Institution of a Christian man set forth by the Convocation 1537. We may worthily say she is the most blessed of all other Women h Maria Mater Domini principatum inter Mulieres tenuit S. Aug. Scrm. 136. Hanc ego Christi Matrem veneror sed non illi Divae modò sed Deae nomen tribuens R. Jac. Apol. pro Jur. Honor Reginae judicium diligit Virgo Regia falso non eget honore de B. V. Mariâ S. Bernard Ep. 174. and we no where doubt but she is highly graced in Heaven as she received a most special priviledge upon Earth But our Church doth no where believe that she had an immaculate conception which the Romanists celebrate with an Holy-day on purpose Neither doth our Church believe she was ever raised from the dead and assumed into Heaven which they solemnize with another Festival Neither did Erasmus i Erasm Ecclesiastes l. 2. without cause admire how it came to pass they salute the Mother of Christ with more Religion than they invoke Christ himself or the Holy Spirit calling her the Fountain of all Grace and sundry expressions they use of the like affiance in the authority and merit of the Blessed Virgin to succour help and save Sinners as may be seen in the Rosary and Psalter and specially Litanies to the Virgin Mary k V. Consult Cassandr Art 20. p. 140. Jube Filio c. Cùm vix aliud in toto choro sit alienius à scripturis sanctis quod cum Evangelio Christi atque doctrinâ Apostolicâ perditiùs pugnet Wicelius de abusu Eccl. p. 392. In their form of auricular Confession they are taught thus to begin l Manuale Confessionum Cap. 10. p. 128. I Confess to the Omnipotent God to the Blessed Mary always Virgin c. and when they enter into their Monasteries they vow themselves to God and the Blessed Virgin and in all things they are so superdevout m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Virgin that an Oath by her is accounted most sacred and any of the Festivals may be sooner expunged than that of her Assumption into Heaven and although they prohibite the Bible yet they freely suffer sundry Books of Devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Mother tongue § 11. Our Church hath taken great care that a special honour be had to the Lords Day and that neither the Lords Day nor any other Festival be abused to Luxury or impiety n Haeccine solemnes dies decent quae alios non decent Tertull. Ita Festa moderanda ut neque nimia neque tam flagitiosè profanentur Bucer Censur c. 26. It appears from the Offices in our Liturgy the Rubricks Canons Homilies and Statutes of the Land and Injunctions of our Kings since the Reformation that there hath been a first and special care taken for the Holy Celebration of Sunday or Lords Day wherein we are equal to any Church among the Reformed o Vi. D. Crackenthorp Defens Eccl. Aug. c. 54. The other Festivals being over-ruled that in a Concurrence of Offices they may not disturb its Solemnity the very religious observation of which is earnestly also perswaded in our Homilies and especially in the 13. Canon with which agree the Injunctions of K. Edw. 6. and Q. Eliz. requiring p Coimus in coetum ut Deum quasi manu factâ precationibus ambiamus orantes coimus ad Divinarum literarum commemorationem
all other matters referring to that Sacrament and all the other five Sacraments also in every thing referring to Faith and Doctrine and Rites agree in heart and confession of mouth with all things received in the Roman Church and all the decrees of that Council made or to be made exhibiting all duty to the Pope as the universal Bishop of the Church c. Such gainful and advantageous bargains will they be sure to make for themselves and the keeping up their usurpations before they will allow any concession or mitigate any extreme rigour in their most unwarrantable practises or they will not fail to annex such conditions as shall render their concessions ineffectual § 2. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation which the Church of Rome receives as an Article of Faith absolutely and simply necessary to Salvation and propounds it to be received by all under a terrible Anathema y Conc. Trid. Sess 13. Can. 2. is by our Church plainly denied as contrary both to Holy Scriptures and all testimonies of venerable antiquity and as a doctrine liable to grievous consequences z V. Hist. Transubst à Jo. Dunelmensi which judgment of our Church may appear to them that peruse our Articles 28 29. Order of Communion Rubricks Homilies several Statutes of the Land particularly the late Statute wherein is provided that all that are in office do declare that they do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever yet such is the accurate Moderation of the Church of England in avoiding one error it runs not into other extremes for in the Office of the Holy Communion in the Church Catechism in the Apology for the Church of England is asserted the real presence a Archbishop Vsher's Serm. 18 Febr. 1620. of Christ in the Sacrament according to Scripture and the judgment b Patres dehortantur à quaestione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hâc piâ Moderatione si Rex Eccl. Angl. utuntur quae invidia R. Jac. ad C. Per. of the Church of God but the particular mode and manner thereof any otherwise than that it is spiritual mystical and sacramental the Church of England according to the same Rule and practice of the Catholick Church doth not too curiously pry into or search See Ch. 5. § 6. § 3. As the Church of England doth earnestly and passionately invite and expostulates with those of her Communion to frequent the Holy Sacrament as in the exhortations before the Holy Communion in the Conclusion of the Homily of the place and time of Prayer and in Q. Eliz. Articles for Doctrine and Preaching all Ministers are required to excite the people to often and devout receiving the Holy Communion c V. Librum quorundam Canonum 1571. Jam vero singulis mensibus coenam celebrari maximè nobis placeret Calvin Ep. p. 452. and in Colleges and Collegiate Churches the Holy Communion is required to be administred every Sunday unless there be reasonable cause to the contrary d V. Rubr. 4. after H. C. Canon 23. V. Rubr. 8. after H. C. Canon 21. 1003. Rubr. 8. after H. C. and on the first or second Sunday of every month So also the Church of England doth lay its general Command according to great Moderation in requiring every one thrice at least every year to Communicate e Qui in nataii D. Paschate Pentecosle non Communicant Catholici non credantur Conc. Agath Can. 18. well tempering her Injunction in accommodation to the necessity of the Age between the earnest practice of devotion which was in the Primitive Church f Quando Domini nostri adhuc calebat cruor fervebat recens in credentibus fides S. Hieron ad Demetr Ep. 8. when they commonly Communicated at least every Lords Day and Festival and between the remissness of the Church of Rome g Dolemus tantam Christianorum incuriam ut semel tantùm in anno sumant c. Concil Rhem. 1583. which expresly requires all of her Communion to celebrate but once every Year h In Pentecoste rarior est Communio ideo fortasse Concilium Tridentinum hoc tempore nuptias solennes fieri permisit C. Bellarm. de Matrim Sacram. l. 1. c. 31. and the followers of the Directory who for many years together lamentably neglected the administration and participation of the Eucharist i V. Coena q. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. S. Eccl. Angl. Vindic. c. 3. as beside our own memory Mr Prin often testifies and the History of the Times soon after the Reformation tell us of some who from adoring the Elements fell to contemn them wherefore there issued out a Proclamation k Fuller's Eccl. His P. 387. concerning the irreverent talking of the Sacrament § 4. As our Church offers the Holy Eucharist only to those who have given due testimony of their knowledge and Christian belief in having been confirmed by the Bishop l V. Rubr. after Confirm Injunctions of King Edw. 6. Canon 29. So it requires that none be admitted Godfathers or Godmothers at Christening or Confirmation but such as have received the Holy Communion Yet because S. Paul remits every particular Christian to a Self-examination without any order either to Minister or Lay-Elder to exclude any from the Holy Communion upon their Examination therefore the Moderation of our Church is such it doth not depress adult Christians below the order of persons first to be Catechiz'd requiring them to such rigid Examinations as have been sometime used like the auricular Confessions of the Romanists among which Examiners of the adult Professors the being of a party hath been too often the note of preparation for their Church Communion Neither doth our most moderate Church judge any uncapable of the Sacraments whom she judgeth not unworthy of her Communion m Homily of the Sacrament We must take heed saith the Homily lest of the Memory it be made a Sacrifice lest of a Communion it be made a private eating Wherefore as the redemption of our Lord is offered to all that do not wilfully reject so great grace so is the Holy Communion in our Church to all that are not unfit to receive it And such as are the Church is not wanting to admonish and forewarn n V. Exhorta and Admon before the H. C. and takes all due care to provide against their intrusion as the general corruption of mankind now doth admit according to the Rubrick and Canon o Canon 26. concerning Notorious Offenders On which Bishop Andrews his note was Our Law will not suffer the Minister to judge any man a notorious offender but him who is so convinced by some legal sentence § 5. Our Church of England doth not admit any private Masses p Conc. Trid. Sess 22. Can. 8. 39 Artic. 31. Hom. of Sacr. which in
is a Court of Faculties constituted on purpose to grant in many Cases not repugnant to the Law of God * Camden Britan. p. 110. a Dispensation of some Canons And if the Ecclesiastical Senate among the Disciplinarians might for the greater good of the Church dispence with a Rigid Law why Altare Damasc p. 85. may not the same be done in a Christian Kingdom by such Authority as the King and the Laws have constituted And we count it a great Moderation in our Establishment that there is amongst us a right of Appeal allowed in case of unjust Censure And the Moderation of our Public Government hath been such that Permissions which have been sometime known upon occasion were never allowed to make void the Laws of the Kingdom or the Church It may be added that in the separation and division of Causes which is made between our Ecclesiastical and Civil Courts as excellent Proportions and Measures are observable so instead of all is that the Rules of Ecclesiastical Practice are with all reserve and subordination to the Laws of the Kingdom For our Church useth no other voluntary Jurisdiction than what is established or confirmed and limited by the Statute or Municipal Law For the execution of which and to correct the Excesses and Defects which shall be found among the Ministers or People and to promote Piety Righteousness and Sobriety of Life and Conversation there are among us frequent Visitations appointed and practised by the Bishops and Arch-Deacons CHAP. XIII Of the Moderation of the Church and Kingdom referring to the Administration of Public Laws towards Offenders § 1. The occasion of that Mistake which is concerning the unlawfulness of Coercion in cases which concern Religion § 2. It may be very well consistent with the Moderation of the Church besides her own Censures to approve and sometimes desire such Coercion § 3. The Vse thereof in many Cases relating to Religion the undeniable Right of the Christian Magistrate § 4. Some of the chief Objections hereunto Answered § 5. Sundry proper Instances of the great Gentleness and most indulgent Care of our Church toward all its Members § 6. The Moderation of the Church and Kingdom not without their requisite and just Bounds § 7. The Recourse which our Church desires may be made to the Secular Arm is not but upon urgent and good Occasion § 8. Our Government defended from unjust Clamours of Persecution of the Romanists on one side and the Separatists on the other § 9. The Kings of England since the Reformation and especially his present Majesty Glorious Examples of this Moderation The effect of this Moderation yet much desired and wanted § 1. AS the nature of Moderation hath been Explained Ch. 1. The most proper Instances thereof are such as shew the Gentleness and Mildness of the Church with reference to such Censures and Punishments as are used and approved by Her Which is most necessary to be observed because the most general but groundless Objection against the Moderation of our Church hath been upon this Occasion Which if we truly consider ariseth either from a mistake in Judgment that all Coercion in matter of Religion is unlawful or else from an Impression which on the Phancy and Affection of easie and soft Dispositions hath been made from the Complaints of several to whom whatever looks like Penalty is commonly irksome and very unpleasing especially if it happens that they are guilty of the same wherefore they seem in haste to fly unto Religion as their Sanctuary against Punishment as if God's Religion and His Church had different Altars among us therefore I doubt not but when the Prejudice against the former Mistake is taken off Religion and the Church will appear to have the same Interest and the Moderation of the Church may be fairly acknowledged § 2. For the distinct understanding what is right in this Case we may first Consider how far toward this Coercion the Church can move of it self 1. We cannot but acknowledg the Church as a Society established by our Lord Christ and which was necessary to the being of a Church had Rulers therein appointed with Authority and Power to effect the necessary Ends of Government Which could not be without a power of Discipline to Rebuke Article 33 and Censure and Exclude from such a Society those who will not observe its just Laws Which proceeding was suitable to the Apostolical Practice and Command with relation to Offenders and agreable to what was practised among the Jews in their Synagogues the common Reasons of which are perpetually the same Namely that such a Community and Fellowship as the Church is be maintained in Unity Peace and Purity since without these no such Society can subsist and that such Offenders may if possible be reduced and amended who are bound to submit to such Censures by virtue of their own first Consent which was the Condition of being admitted to partake of the Privileges of such a Communion But in that general Contempt which is cast on Sacred things through the grievous Corruption of the Age since many are insensible of their Duty and Relation to the Church as Members and also are apt to despise the Church and her Spiritual Discipline Therefore the Church in a Christian Kingdom being in other Circumstances than considered alone by it self receiving thereby Defence in the exercise of its Power so far that many times the Christian Magistrate is pleased to add to the Spiritual Censures of the Church if need be such outward and sensible Punishments as may touch the Bodies or Goods or Temporal Interests of such Delinquents In such a case the Church hath reason to accept of such Defence and to approve also and defend the same civil Animadversions on Offenders since they are very lawful and useful and worthy a Christian Magistrate § 3. He being appointed of God for the punishment of Evil-doers and to execute Wrath on them Since they on whom the Church rightly inflicts her Censures are Evil-doers therefore such also the more they undervalue the Censures of the Church the more justly are they the subjects of the Civil Magistrates Punishment And since Offences which affront the Majesty of Heaven are of the highest Nature the more Religious a Magistrate is the more care he will take to see such Punished And since Christian Magistrates owe that duty to God from whom alone they receive their Power and Soveraignty they are therefore especially to take care of Religion and Common Reason and Experience instructs us This cannot be done unless such Laws are guarded with Sanctions of Punishments that so They may be indeed a Terror to those who will break the Peace and Order of the Church Especially when the Peace of the Church hath so great an Influence on the Peace of the Public State or Kingdom Which when it is Christian the Religion of the Kingdom is the chief part of its Laws This is the use of no other Power than what
for University Preachers we promise We will preach without odious invectives and indiscreet discourses by name or plain Circumstances we will not defame any Man Much to this purpose is set forth in our Homilies * Homily against Contention That by being soft meek and gentle in answering we may overcome our Adversary with gentleness especially in Matters of Religion and God's Word which should be used with all modesty soberness and chastity For it is better to give place meekly than to win the Victory with breach of Charity Of such an Apostolical Spirit is our Church * â—ius simplex affectus interdum toleranduâ— est etiamsi cum aliquo conjunctus est Errore Erasm de amab Eccl. Concor So S. Austin call'd the Pelagians and Optatus of Milevis his Contempory call'd the Donatists Brethren and before them S. Cyprian wisheth and persuadeth that none of the Brethren might perish So our Church calls and treats the Dissenters as Brethren In confuting Opinions Our Church always spares the Persons how severe soever she is upon the Error because in the Divisions of hearts that are in the World it is certain some good may dissent * Duct Dub. l. 3. c. 4. So moderate also and just is our Church she is far from deterring others from her Communion by branding any with the note of Heresy unless upon just reason and cause distinguishing also between a Heretic and those who are by Heretics seduced * Quidam Schismatum Duces caeteri tamen vel simplicitate capti vel errore inducti vel aliquâ fallentis astutiae calliditate decepti à fallaciae laqueis vos solvite S. Cypr. de unit Eccl. Yea where there might be just cause Our Church rather chuseth to imitate St. Paul 's demeanour at Athens where finding the City full of Idols or wholly given to Idolatry He doth not fall foul upon Bishop Sanderson's Preface to his Serm. §. 16. them nor exclaim against them in any reproachful manner no nor so much as call them Idolaters though they were such and that in a very high degree but tempering his speech with lenity and condescention he telleth them only of their Superstition and that in the calmest manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye are somewhat Act. 17. 23 too superstitious the comparative degree in such kind of speaking being usually taken for a diminuent term § 5. In reference to Peace and Charity which is the excellent Bond of Ecclesiastical Society the Moderation of the Church appears from its most earnest and frequent Precepts and Desires and Declarations for Peace It being that quiet condition of Being in which any thing may exercise its proper and suitable Actions in order to its good and perfection Wherefore because the proper Actions of the Church regularly tend to the perfection of Truth and Goodness and these most obtain when Peace bestows upon them Ornament Strength and Blessing Therefore our Church hath done so much to procure to keep to restore this Peace every where especially among the Churches * See the Questions in the Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons K Edw. 6. and Q. Eliz. Injunc §. 21. Homily of Charity Hom. against Contention § 6. The Moderation of our Church gives it a singular advantage to convince Dissenters upon right and proper Principles in defect of which in disputation with the Romanists Bishop Sanderson and others have observed many have disserved their Cause either mistaking the Question or mingling some of their own false Principles with their Argument either over-shooting or coming short of the Mark Wherefore those of our Separatists are very injurious to the Protestant Cause who take so much pains to elevate and depreciate the Labours of our Conformable Clergy which so sensibly have prest the Romanists because they have manag'd those Controversies upon the only right Principles Which requires greater variety and depth of true Learning than seems to be well consisting with the Principles of a rigid Separation § 7. Because of the excellent Moderation of our Church it hath bin judged by the most Learned and the most equal Judges of things so well pitcht in Her Principles and of so rare a temper in her Constitution that it is rightly resolved to be the best and most proper for * Accepi perniciosam esse in omni arte vel Doctrinâ assertionem audacem extremam Gerson de vitâ Sp. Arbitrating and reconciling the present Differences of Christendom Wholsom indeed was the Advice which King James gave his Divines which were to be at Dort In case of main opposition between any over-much addicted to their own Opinions your endeavours shall be that certain Propositions be moderately laid down which may tend for the mitigation of heat on both sides The same is already performed in our Constitution for a general Accommodation of Controversy Neither will any I hope have the worse Opinion of our Church because Grotius thought the Church of England a right Medium of * V. Bp. Bramhalls Vind. p. 23. Reconciliation Whose Pacificatory Design Mr. Baxter took to be one of the most blessed noble Works that any Man Ib. p. 22. can be imploied in And certainly Peace without the loss of Truth is a most valuable acquist Yet Mens fingers do Vià Media Bp. Halls Remains p. 387. so itch after the maintenance of their Opinions that they can hardly contain themselves from flying upon the fairest Moderation of any Vmpire Wherefore no wonder if the Church of England hath the fortune of other wise and good Arbitrators not to please both Parties †Hic accidit quod usu veniri solet iis qui contrarias Opiniones student reconciliare ut utrique in Mediâ Opinione oppugnandâ vires suas consocient ipsi interim in opinione suâ multò quà m antè obfirmatiores In Hist Concil Trid. l. 3. p. 239. Therefore our Church hath this left her as such have to be satisfied in her own integrity But however in this Matter Our Church cannot I conceive so properly be termed an Arbitrator or Umpire of the Differences of the Church how fitly soever she is qualified to be as she hath determined for her self which she hath right to do according to the Word of God and the practice of the Universal Church Yet in this Our Church hath performed so much as might be made use of in order to a due Reconciliation For suppose a Kingdom or State well setled as was the Primitive Church by Christ and there happens a Rebellion or Division the means of Reconciliation are the Laws to attempt a Reconciliation further is in no hand of right but theirs who have Power of the Law Any design further is but a Speculation and so in the Church to speak of Reconciliation otherwise than upon the foundation of its establishment is neither safe nor obtainable What is removed from the foundation is the proper Matter of Charity and mutual forbearance But as the
and others that do not hold with them they do very much hazard their right and title to the said Catholic Church as much as by any thing CHAP. XVI Of the Moderation of the Church of England in her Reformation § 1. The Reformation of our Church as it had just grounds and was by just Authority so it was managed with due Moderation the Idea of our Reformation having bin impartial § 2. The whole manner of it so far as concerned our Church was with great temper § 3. She separated from the Romish Errors not from their Persons any more than needs must § 4. Our Charity exceeds that of the Church of Rome which denys Salvation to all who are not of her Communion § 5. The Preparation of our Church to submit to the Church Vniversal saves us from Schism § 6. The Reformation of our Church was the more Christian because not fierce but well governed § 7. Albeit the Moderation of our Church seems to have enraged her Adversaries yet because of this Moderation our Church is the better prepared to survive Persecution § 8. The Moderation of our Church in her Reformation was founded on Rules of absolute Justice as in sundry great Instances is made to appear § 1. THe moderate and orderly Reformation of the Church of England Bishop Bramhall well calls the Terror and Eye-sore of Rome * Answer to the Bp. of Chalcedon p. 244. because of 3 Conditions of a lawful Reformation well agreeing thereto viz. Just Grounds Sufficient Authority Due Moderation 1. Just Grounds Under which head I shall not take too large a compass to illustrate the Moderation of our Reformation either from the manifold Usurpations and Corruptions of the Church of Rome at that time nor from the invidious task of looking into the extreme Rigors of any other Models of Reformation Neither is it here necessary to reflect more particularly on Matters of Fact historically relating hereunto which have bin copiously set forth by a multitude of Writers both Ecclesiastical and Civil which abundantly justify this Reformation both in its Causes and Proceedings clearly manifesting how this Church was justified therein from the unjust conditions of Communion which the Church of Rome peremptorily insisted upon 2. That it might have Just Authority the said Reformation was manag'd by the Guides and Governors of the Church and was confirmed by Supream Authority and so in every particular was as legal as any Reformation could or ought to be as doth sufficiently appear from Matter of Fact recounted in the Histories and Monuments thereof Wherein the Princes acted their parts and the Clergie theirs they calling together the Bishops and others of the Clergie to consider of what might seem worthy Reformation and the Clergie did their part for being called together by Regal Power they met in a National Synod of 62 and the Articles were agreed on and were afterward confirmed by Acts of State and Royal Assent * Arch-Bp Laud §. 24. Any Reformation otherwise than Regular is as much against the Principles of our Church as any one can wish and had the Doctrine of our Homilies bin well regarded it might have prevented much mischief consequent on later Reformations Lest any Persons upon colour of destroying Images make any stir or disturbance in the Common-Wealth it must always be remembred that the redress of such public Enormities pertaineth to the Magistrates and such as are in Authority and not to private Persons In the Homilies against wilful Rebellion is set forth at large the sufficient reason of our Church's Reformation viz. the Intolerable Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome To the same purpose * Angli necessitate dirâ cogente secessionem fecerunt Casaub ad C. Per. the Apologie of the Church of England doth express it self more largely than need be repeated We did nothing rashly or insolently for the sake of any worldly pleasure or advantage but upon great advice and deliberation we shook off a Yoke which we had no obligation to endure †Postermò ab illo decessimus cui obstrecti non eramus ejusque jugum ac tyrannidem excussimus Apol. Eccl. Angl. §. 150 159 160 c. The Church of England did but behave her self as became a free Church enjoying the Rights of a Patriarchal See according to the Rules of the Universal Church it reformed it self when it had high need For as King Henry the 8th said in his last Letter to the Pope Better is it in the middle way to return than always to run forth head-long and do ill 3. The Due Moderation of our Reformation will appear if we consider 1. The Idea or Form of our Reformatation was neither taken from Luther nor Calvin as the Romanists love to speak of us * Impia mysteria instituta ad Calâ—ini praescriptum Bulla Pii 5. contra R. Elizab. Calvinicas aliquot deprecationes substituit De Schism Angl. p. 165. In illis Angliae legiâ—us quae alios actus Sacrilegos ut Participationem Calvinianae coenae similes Communicationes in eorum ritibus praecipiunt Suraii Def. l. 6. c. 11. nor from any other but from the Holy Scriptures according to the use of the Primitive Church which were only its measures according to which our Church practis'd the part of the Elective Philosopher and chose what she thought most agreeable among the rest she seemeth to come nearest the Augustan Confession and the Consultation of Herman Arch-Bishop of Colon which was also set forth in English 1548. Among others that have reformed their Churches I have often saith Saravia admired the wisdom of those who restored the true Worship of God to the Church of England who so temper'd themselves that they cannot be reproved for having departed from the Ancient and Primitive Custom of the Church of God and that Moderation they have used that by their Example they have invited others to reform and deterred none * Sarav Desins Praef. * Ea omnia sublata sunt quae nimium onerosa operosa sunt Lud Capel inter Thes Salmur 6. Between those who were loth to bid adieu to their Ceremonies and others whose Reformation had no bounds our Godly Reformers compiled the excellent Model of our Liturgie in so moderate and well-temper'd a Mode as neither part had Alliance of D. off c. 1. just cause to think themselves agrieved †So that the Church of England appears faithfully to have practised the same counsel which P. Gregory the Great gave unto Austin the Monk when he was sent over into England From all Churches chuse whatsoever things are Pious and Religious whatsoever things are Right and being gathered into one bundle commend them to the Minds of the English for their use ¶ B. Greg. Epistol ex registro l. 12. indic 7. For having laid their Ground that Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation Artic. 6. They do upon that * Huic Basi Reformationem Britannicam niti
his History of Pretended Saints Ch. 3. which other observable Testimonies notoriously do verify Arch-Bishop Whitgift frequently traced their footsteps in the dust they themselves raised I am persuaded saith he †Def. of Answ to the Admon p 349 that Antichrist worketh effectually at this day by your Stirs and Contentions whereby he hath and will more prevail against this Church of England than by any other means whatsoever These Divisions the Character of a Carnal and Unspiritual Temper the Learned Mede ¶ V. Medes Life §. 44. p. 30. rightly judged At once weaken and dishonour the Protestant Cause and occasion the grand Enemy to triumph who seeing much of his Work done for him by those who would seem most averse from him while they bite and devour one another claps his hands saying Aha Aha our Eye hath seen it so would we have it The Lord-keeper Puckering spake of the unquiet Puritans in Queen Elizabeth's time who pretended to be at War with the Jesuits yet by their separation they did join and concur with the Jesuits in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion King James in his Letter to the Assembly of Perth * Dat. Aug. 25. 1617. took notice how many of the Discipline shook hands with the upholders of Popery King Charles I. of blessed memory declared truly It is possible that a Papacy in a multitude may be as dangerous as in one Bishop Sanderson in his excellent Preface to his Sermons saith It hath bin observed that where the Jesuits have bin most busy other Factions have bin most Insolent and that those who have lived in those Countries where there are the most rigid Presbyterians there are the most zealous Romanists for saith he they help together to pull down the same form of Government Our present Lord Bishop of Lincoln †Popish Principles c. p. 78. takes notice of the favour the Papists had under Oliver Cromwel and the freedom from the punishment of the Penal Laws more than ever they had before under King Charles the Martyr No Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy was pressed upon them our Liturgie and Common-Prayer were taken away so that there was no way then to discover or legally convict a Popish Recusant Notwithstanding the same Oliver in a Speech to one of his Parliaments 1654. Sept. 4. * V. Mr. Fowlis Hist of pretended Saints p. 13. profest that he could prove by witness that they had a Consistory and Council that ruled all the Affairs in England And in the Year 1647 when the King's Cause was at the lowest ebb then the Romanists by approbation of the Sorbon Doctors were ready to give such full satisfaction and assurances of their fidelity to the Civil and Political Government in the Kingdom whatsoever it shall be †P. Walsh p. 522. Which they refused to do when by the Moderation of the Government they had a Convocation permitted them for that purpose at Dublin since the re-return of his Majesty Then the Roman Leviathan had a fine time to play his Game and to sport among the People which are like many Waters Then they laid their fruitful Spawn of Divisions in the Church as well as Dissention in our Kingdom As Arch-Bishop Laud most truly on the Scaffold declared The Pope never had such an Harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us 3. The same experience which our Church and Nation hath had of the Conspiracy of the Sectaries and the Romanists at least in event other Churches and Nations have also observed * V. Lib. Ecclesiast p. 10 11. As in Switzerland the Anabaptists were animated by the Papists And in Bohemia some furious Divines carried on the Pope's Interest A Jesuit who suffered at Strasburg confest that he was one of the thirty Jesuits who was employed to be Agents for the Roman Cause in the late German Wars †V. Mr. Fowlis Hist of our pretended Saints p. 12. And Crucius ¶ De Doctr. Jesuit l. 4 in his Speech as we have it in Hospinian saith We are sent into Germany not only or chiefly that we might be Teachers and Preachers and Schoolmasters in the Schools and Churches but that we use all means that the Protestants do not encrease that we may join our mutual Endeavours Strength and Arms that more easily we may root them out And for our overthrow if they are our Incendiaries as it is believed we may say with reference to them what Pliny in his Natural Philosophy speaks of the nature of things considering their Principles and the Fires which break forth out of the Caverns of the Earth It is the greatest wonder of all that every day All things are not in a conflagration * Excedit profecto omnia miracula ullum diem fuisse in quo non cuncta conflagrarent Plin. Hist Nat. l. 2. c. 107. 4. That sundry of our Separation have bin thus acted hath bin often among us in fact deprehended together with the Confessions of those who have bin both Actors and acted by them Which is matter of such known discovery that it needs no repetition here Yea of this sometime they have suspected one another for one of the Independent * P. Sterry 5 Nov. 1650. Brethren said The same Spirit saith he which dwells in the Papacy when it enters into the purer form of Presbytery as fuller of Mystery so is fuller of despite and danger †Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas Juven Satyr 15. In the late Morning Exercise against Popery one saith ¶ Serm. 4. p. 103. The Papacy together with their Religion have had a Party and kept up an Interest among the Protestant Churches But because the Dissenters love to have it thought that those of our Church are more guilty herein as there seems to be insinuated Therefore § 11. Unto all this if any object and tell us of the Advice of Cardinal Allen to the Persons who undertook to reduce Ireland again to Popery Among other things they should apply themselves to the Conformists and possess them with the Factiousness Disobedience and Disorders of the Nonconformists that so they might be provoked to spend their fury on each other to their mutual ruin We answer We hope that the Church of England and her right conformable Clergy have bin so setled by the establishment of our Church as not to have had their Principles corrupted by Popish Influence As appears 1. from the constant and stout opposition which Popery hath had from the Fathers and Sons of our Church And 2. in that the many surmises of the contrary have proved upon the test very notoriously foolish and false Let any of them prove our Principles and Practices such as we are able to do theirs to serve the real Interest of Rome 3. Let them know that those who have bin most violently slandred as favourers of Popery
to have heard any Protestants reprove our Religion It must be confessed we have escaped the Lion's Mouth but have fallen into a Den of Dragons our Enemies are those of our own house § 4. Wherefore according to a most sober Judgment it may be thought a proper means to awaken such to see their Error in the evil Consequences of their Separation if some of the most earnest among them would please sincerely and faithfully to consider now how oft they have bin made use of as meer Tools and Instruments to Purposes the utmost reaches of which they did not know but may now if they will but reflect And it might reasonably be hoped that many would repent of their vain and scandalous Jealousies and may for the time to come refrain such false and foolish Accusations of our Church if they please but impartially to consider how many Sectaries among us which seem with greatest Zeal and least Knowledg to run into the furthest extreme from Popery have not only serv'd the Design of what they appear averse from but indeed have still a very great sympathy with them in their Principles and Practices and do but charge us with what they are most guilty of in Fact themselves § 5. But before we enter upon this undertaking to shew how those who are in separation from our Church do really conspire with the Romanists To prevent any mistake let it be remembred First That we do not deny that most of our Dissenters do openly demonstrate a very zealous and undoubted abhorrence of Popery their real purpose in which is not here questioned but believed * Sunt alii qui etiamsi non spiritu Aegyptiaco dolo moliuntur reditum ad Papismum at incuriae latae culpae reatum tamen incurrunt Alt. Damasc p. 558. For such is our Charity for those who are generally seduced we count it indeed the unhappiness of their Error that many of them do entertain such Principles as are agreeing with Popery but we do not charge upon them the knowledg of or consent to the Consequences of their own Principles but conclude they are sown in their minds not by their own direct choice so much as by the slight of Men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive 2ly Among the diversities of Sects thus influenced we acknowledg it most manifest that some are more acted than others by far * hâc in re scilicet unâ multùm dissimiles ad caetera penè gemellî Horat. l. 1. Ep. 10. Nevertheless all that are in separation from our Church in that their very division from us do actually joyn with the Romanists to strengthen their hands and weaken the Interest of our established Reformation more or less And I suppose it may be taken for granted that generally they who raise most clamour against our Church as guilty of Popery they most of all others will appear most actuated by the Roman interest 3ly And since of late especially some of the worst Principles of Popery have appeared among us most manifest from such most notorious practices as are the very proper Consequences of their generally approved Doctrines It may be judged most seasonable even at this time that all sincere Persons be awakened to see whither those Divisions naturally lead in which so many have bin engaged whose interest they serve whom they join with and are acted by how ignorant soever they are thereof Especially since of late there hath bin so much discovery made that the overthrow of the Church of England hath bin all along one of the principal aims of the Conspiracies of our Adversaries and that they have endeavoured to effect the same by what our Separatists call Liberty of Conscience tho God preserve our Liberty and our Conscience from such Snares so artificially laid by the Romanists who have made most use of the Dissatisfactions and Oppositions of our Domestic Dissenters to compass their intended Designs Thus Thuanus tho of the Roman Communion declares in his History of the Gun-Powder Treason here in England * Rejecto libello supplice pro Libertate Conscientiae oblato The first design of their Conspiracy began upon the Papists Petition for Liberty of Conscience being rejected § 6. But because many are huge concern'd to shift off the conviction of this great Truth if any say Oh now is the time for Protestants to be united against the Common Adversary and why is such a distinction kept up between Church-men and Separatists Very true why is there who hath made and continued the difference Wherefore the proper means for consolidation of such an Union among all true Protestants among us which is most earnestly desired by us is for our Separatists to come off from such their Divisions as are still designed for the overthrow of our Church especially since the Presbyterian Brethren well observed That a more firm union and consent of all Grand Debate p. 3. 1661. such as well in Worship as in Doctrine would greatly strengthen the Protestant Interest against all those Dangers and Temptations which our Intestine Divisions and Animosities do expose us unto from the Common Adversary 2. For them also to forsake such Principles and Behaviours as serve the Interest of the Roman Church and peaceably to return into Communion with our most moderate Church which is ready to over-look what is past if it may be secure of their Communion for the time to come But never let it be thought that our Church will ever come into their Schism or that we will go about to sail to Rome by a side-wind of Separation § 7. And now to prove the forementioned Proposition That our Separatists I do not say all alike nor that any sort agree in all these Instances following but more or less do conspire in Fact however not in intent with the Romanists One single proof of the whole might be sufficient namely from their separating and dividing from such a Church as ours is which Division is the main Art and Counsel and Design of the Roman Engineer * Vâ—que facilius Catholici Sectarios opprimere possint variis obductis causis artibus alios ab aliis ut divellant occasiones captandae Jo. Paul Windeck de extirp Haeres Antidoto and from their constant and common business which is by Reproaches much alike to vilify and deprave our Church in all its Constitutions and Offices and especially they jointly labour to vilify our Clergy calling them Ministers of Satan †Clero Anglicano nihil putidius Campianus Jesuita and Baal's Priests c. Which beside that it is a cursed unjust and ingrateful practice so a more acceptable Work our Separatists could never do for the Church of Rome 2. As they serve the Romanists now by their Practices so may they more hereafter by their Opinions for so many Points as they are off from our ¶ See the 8 9 Parag of this Chap. Church so much the
nearer are they coming to them sundry ways as in opposite Errors the Causes may be commonly the same Thus Arch-Bishop Laud * Pref. of the Conference against Fisher observed The Rigid Professors on either side have quite leaped over the Mean and have bin rigid the other way as Extremity it self and is a very natural motion For a Man is apt to think he can never run far enough from that which he once begins to hate Of which sort the several Factions and Interests among us have bin continually like the Friars at the Council of Trent who were always watchful and zealous to maintain their peculiar Doctrines among which extremes our Church if she might be listened to would reduce all to a due temper upon surer and more reasonable Foundations than the Bishops at that Council laboured to do 3. As our Laws by one name call both sorts of Separatists Recusants so our Romanists and Sectaries behave themselves much alike The one have their private Masses the other their Conventicles both contrary to the Laws of our Kingdom and our Church Both the Romanists and the Separatists join in requiring a License for the Exercise of their Religion in private Houses 4. Both our Romanists and Sectaries by encreasing our Divisions help with joint force to make a general Toleration necessary which would give the Romanists the greatest advantage they can desire They both supplicate with equal earnestness to be tolerated whereas the Principles of each lead them not to tolerate others 5. Their pretences to all mildness and gentleness are equally supple and assuring but how mild they are when they are uppermost odious experience testifies so that Instances of their extreme Rigors which are most known need not be enumerated We need not call on the Inquisition to testify to the Rigors of the Romanists nor look into all the Severities of the Disciplinarians who have bin known to inflict Censures for a suspicion of Covetousness a superfluity in Raiment for dancing at a Wedding for using their Liberty in their Recreations and have kept others as well as themselves from the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper upon uncharitable Accounts It hath bin observed where the Discipline in Scotland was established the People had a high Commission in every Parish and groan'd under the Arbitrary Decrees of Ignorant Governors If there arose a private Jar between the Parent and the Child the Husband and the Wife these Domestical Judges must know it Formerly and lately among some they have bin scarce allowed in Conscience to marry without the consent of the Teacher or when they have it hath bin matter of complaint 6. It hath bin already observed at large Chap. 13. § 58. how both the Romanists and the Separatists agree in their groundless and unjust accusing the Government of Persecution like the Donatists of old who cried out Persecution when they most of all had afflicted the Catholics The Romanists have their dire Anathema's and heavy Censures the Separatists their cruel Maranatha's and preach Damnation most of all against them that differ from them especially if they be of the Church's side 7. Nevertheless both sorts can very easily give out Indulgences to their own Parties God sees no sin in his Children say some Sectaries Which is a greater Bribe to be of their Party than any can be found in the Penitentiary Tax for Sins as they are sold at Rome 8. When the Papists and the Separatists have bin at a loss that they cannot justify their Proceedings by the Laws of God or Man then they meet in one common Sanctuary whereby they are bold to sanctify the most extravagant Practices pretending Providence for their Warrant Thus Pope Pius 5. in his Speech in the Consistory of Cardinals at Rome after the murder of King Hen. 3. of France sundry times in one Oration he magnifies the Exploit of that wretched Zealot as brought about by the special Providence of God * Non nisi Dei opt Max. particulari Providentiâ dispositione perpetratum The same impudence or ignorance others have used to defend such Practices as no Laws Divine or Humane could justify sheltring them under the wide pretence of Providence which hath bin well call'd †Answer to Mr. Jenkins p. 16. Regiment politicum fundatur in extraordinarià Dei Providentiâ Ibid. p. 15. A fine pliable Principle it will lap about your finger like Barbary Gold 9. The Romanists enlarge their Creed in sundry Articles without belief of which there is no Salvation and very many Separatists deliver their peculiar Doctrines as absolutely necessary to a state of Salvation tho among the divided Sects many of them are contrary one to another They both often stuff their Prayers and their Chatechisms with Matters of doubtful Controversy and in maintaining the same they are alike too dogmatical 10. We need not here prove what is so well known namely the mean Opinion which the Romanists have of Holy Scriptures supposing they receive their Authority from the Pope yet receiving their own Traditions with equal affection and reverence The Separatists by casting off to another extreme the real Authority and Testimony of God's Church which hath bin all along the Keeper the Witness the Defender the Interpreter of Holy Scriptures by degrees many of our Separatists have come to throw off the Holy Scriptures as a Rule of Faith and Manners The Romanists they add their own Traditions to the Word of God and many Sectaries call their Teaching and their Impulses the Word of God which often is quite contrary thereunto The Romanists set up the Pope for an Infallible Interpreter many of the Separatists account the Private Spirit an Infallible Interpreter V. Ch. 4. § 3. 11. The Romanists pretend that Miracles and extraordinary Gifts have not ceased but are still necessary Signs of a true Church It is also the very height of Enthusiam to hold as many of our Separatists do That Immediate Revelations from God and extraordinary Illapses from the Holy Spirit are necessary and common among all the Faithful Which Pretences lying obvious to an easy Confidence cannot easily be wrested from such as will hold them to their own destruction 12. The Romanists assert an implicit Faith which is determinately resolved into the authority of their Leaders Whether the like is ever required by the Leaders generally of Factions among us I do not now enquire But however that the same is granted by their Followers appears most evident For when many can give no reason for what they hold they keep close to their Ring-leaders and move and change with them generally and how much the Authority of the Persons they have in admiration governs them more than any sway of Argument is daily experienced And whereas a due regard on this side the implicit Faith of the Romanists is due to Governors V. Ch. 6. § 9 10. toward such how scrupulous delicate and wary are they not to say disregardful but in following their Masters of