the ground were it not for their interest and profit to uphold them And there is as little question to be made but that most of the zealous Preachers in the separated congregations would soon return to that Church which they have causlesly left and forsaken were it not for the profit and advantage they reap by it They find a more fruitful crop as to temporal advantage by sowing in those by-fields and unlawful enclosures then they could expect by laboring in Gods Vineyard where alone they ought to have been true Laborers and work-men Though I will not say that the Disciples and followers of these men do so highly affect them as to pluck out their eyes for their sakes as St. Paul tells us the Galathians once would have done for his yet it is easy to be observed by any that will but a little inquire into it that their liberality and bounty is so great towards them that many of them will almost starve themselves and their families to feed and to cloth their admired teachers they will leave themselves neither scrip nor shooes nor purse rather then not be contributers towards filling the purses of those whom they look upon to be the only soul-saving teachers They make but little conscience to rob their Parish Ministers of their Dues to bestow them upon these House Preachers Like the wicked sons of Athaliah the usurper they take away the dedicated things from the house of God to bestow them upon Baalim 2. Chro. 24.7 And while they find their admirers so bountiful to them it 's no wonder if they continue their separation from the Church and use their utmost endeavors to keep up a faction which it's well known affords more profit to the greater part of them then those livings which the best of them held during the sad times of confusion So long as they can by this craft get such a plentiful livelyhood it 's no wonder if like the Silver-smiths at Ephesus they decry Apostolical Doctrine and Government it's self and cry up their own fancies as the only Diana's to be worshipped But would to God these persons would timely consider what is like to be the issue of this whether this be any better then to make gain their godliness and what it can profit though they should gain the whole world and lose their own souls at least if not the souls of others too thereby at the last Would they would consider how much alike they are to the Priests and Prophets of Israel spoken of by the Prophet Micah Chap. 3.11 Who did teach for hire and Divine for money i. e. they taught such Doctrines as they knew to be most pleasing to their hearers not regarding the truth and that too meerly for the sake of profit And yet will these too as well as they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord amongst us None evil can come upon us But let them read the next verse and see what is like to be the issue and event of this Therefore shall Sion for your sakes be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps But 3ly ult A third cause or reason of these persons separating from our Church and consequently disturbing the peace and unity of it is a fond and unjustifiable desire of preserving their reputation and credit I do not design hereby to blame any man for using his utmost care to keep a good name because it is a thing so tender that like a glass that is broken and shatter'd in pieces if it be once lost it is very hardly recovered A good name is rather to be chosen then great riches says Solomon It is a pearl of such inestimable value that there is no man that truly weighs it but would with the Merchant in the parable part with all he hath rather then go without it It is not this I say that I do in the least design to speak against But there are a sort of persons in the world that are much to be blamed who having once espoused an opinion having once been patrons of a cause and abettors of a faction and having thereby procured the name of zealous and holy men we may as soon remove mountains as perswade them to renounce that cause though never so much convinced of the unjustifiableness of it and all because as they phrase it they shall thereby give scandal to the world but in plain terms it is because they shall for ever lose that name and reputation they have gotten for it That this is the plain English of the business whatever is pretended to the contrary will most evidently appear if we may but look a little back to what hath heretofore passed Time was when most of our dissenting teachers might have kept their livings upon their conformity This favor was offerr'd to them though but little deserving it by our gracious Prince upon his return to his undoubted rights Upon this how notorious is it that they met together to consult and debate upon it They perswaded the people that they spent their time in fasting and seeking God to direct their consciences but we have more reason to think that they were consulting their own credit and whether upon their conformity the people would not only deride them but hate them too for setting up those things upon deliberation which they before had rashly and unadvisedly pull'd down We can never imagine that they could be strangers to the Government and Discipline of the Church unless we will make them of the number of those who spoke evil of those things they understood not We can never imagine that they could be ignorant of what would be required of them before they could be admitted into it And therefore if it was so plain a business that there consciences would not suffer them to conform why did they not at very first profess it openly and tell the world as much without any more ado and without so many meetings and debates about it No! no! they then thought what some of them have plainly enough declared since that they did not scruple what we do but only they thought it unhandsome i. e. not for their credit for them to do it But surely if it be better for a man that hath been overtaken in a fault to confess it and to do so no more as I suppose they will none of them deny then is it better too for them to renounce those erroneous tenets which occasion'd their former dislike of our Church and to evidence that they were mistaken by their free and open complyance with it And this would be so farr from procuring shame in the thoughts of all sober and considering men that it would be very much their glory Let them call to mind the many examples of this kind that have gone before them Let them but peruse St. Austine's retractations and there they 'l find a copy which I could with they would imitate and write after Let them consider whether
much blame and reprove you for it for the phrase there used is a Meiosis and hath more in the meaning then is expressed And what is that which he so highly reproved them for Why it is for this when ye come together in the Church I hear that there be divisions among you 1. Cor. 11.18 And if the Apostles were thus careful and circumspect to prevent it and so sharply reproved those that were guilty of it we can never imagine but that they looked upon those as very ill men who fomented a Schism and Division in the Church But this is not all neither Let us consider a little further what odious names and appellations they have bestowed upon schism and division They call it carnality they call it the work of the Flesh nay They call it the very work of the Devil Whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal 1. Cor. 3.3 And again verse 4. While one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos are ye not carnal And if that rule be true noscitur ex socio we may nearly guess what a man is by the company he usually keeps then we may also guess of the evil of this sin of causing variance and seditions by those and those no Peccadillos with which the Apostle hath conjoyned them Now the works of the flesh says St Paul are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies and so on in the 5. Chap. of his Epistle to the Galathians 19.20 verses And then verse the 21. he tells us what will be the punishment of this sin of causing variance and seditions as well as of the rest no less then an utter deprivation of the Kingdom of Heaven of the which says he I tell you as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God One of the main things which we lay to the charge of the Church of Rome and of which I do verily believe they are guilty is Idolatry But I would to God that all that lay that sin to their charge would consider that this sin of making a schism and divisions in the Church is reckon'd up by the Apostle in the same Catalogue And therefore though they may not receive that punishment of not inheriting the Kingdom of God as Idolaters yet as Schismaticks and dividers of the Church they may And so to though they renounce all communion and fellowship with them here yet they cannot fail if they persist in it of being made their companions in that pit of darkness hereafter Though they seem to hate and abhorr one another so much as to grate their teeth one against another in despite and anger yet let them take heed that they meet not one another in those Everlasting Burnings where they shall weep and wail and gnash their teeth too the one for his Idolatry the other for fomenting schism and division in the Church Thus we see what an ill Character the Writings of holy men that were inspired from above have given us of schism And if we should trace the sense of the church a little further we should find that the primitive Fathers held this sin in no less abhorrence and detestation and that they thought it equal with the most notorious sins even such as were reckon'd up by the Apostle forenamed But I shall forbear and only remember you how evident and apparent it is that to make a Schism in the Church of God and to promote and encourage divisions in it is a sin of a very deep dye which appears both from our Saviour's care and the diligence and circumspection of the Apostles to prevent it from the odious names and appellations they have bestowed upon it and the punishment which they have threatned for it And therefore we may with the greatest seriousness say unto those who do promote and encourage division and do all they can to widen the differences in the Church to those we may say as St. Paul and Barnabas said to the men of Lystra in another case Acts 14.15 Sirs why do you these things why will ye thus make and still foment and carry on a schism and division in the Church But here they think to wipe of all that is thus said against them by telling us that their departure or separation from our Church is altogether involuntary and that they cannot hold communion with us without sin so that when we say to them why do ye these things They are presently ready to reply in those words of David to Eliab 1. Sam. 17.29 What have we done What evil is there in what we do Is there not a cause Have we not sufficient reason for it Here therefore we have an occasion given to examine their pleas and pretences for their separation and to see if they can in the least justifie or excuse themselves in it I shall not wast so much time or trouble your patience so far as to speak particularly to every little exception they make against our Church for they are generally so weak and senseless that they themselves are become almost ashamed to insist any longer upon them I shall therefore pass all such by I shall not stay so long as to tyth their mint and cummin for it will scarce be worth the while but come directly to the weightier matters which they themselves say they have to object against us And because they are so well known to take all occasions and opportunities to infuse such things into the heads of their Disciples and followers not only in their meetings and conventicles but to creep into private families and to infect them also it will be more necessary to speak somewhat to them by way of prevention to such as are not yet infected and by way of cure if possible to such as are The very strength of all their objections against our Church and their greatest pleas for their separating and dividing from it may briefly be drawn up under two heads which I shall first lay down and then return as brief an answer as the subject is capable of First they say that this Church doth too nearly comply with the Church of Rome and is not wholly cleansed from it's superstitions And Secondly that this Church commands and enjoins those ceremonies in it's worship and service which are no where commanded by God and therefore it is meerly will worship which is condemned by the Apostle and therefore cannot be comply'd with without sin First then they say that this Church doth too nearly comply with the Church of Rome and is not wholly cleansed from it's superstitions The charge indeed is great and were it as true as it is utterly false and malicious it would not only justifie their separation from it but also most justly exasperate the minds of all men against it But it is most certain
themselves for not obeying the same Let us when ever opportunity serves put the case thus unto them Suppose that you that are masters of families should command your children and houshold to appear before you at such a time and at such a place and there to joyn with you to worship God in such a posture and by the use of such a prayer which you have composed in consideration of their weakness and that they might all speak the same things This you have given sufficient notice of and none can pretend ignorance of it Suppose now that some of them should come and tell you that you exceed your bounds that you take too much upon you in restraining them thus of their liberty and in tying them up so strictly to the use of such things as God has no where commanded but hath left them altogether free Suppose one that is a little more sawcy and confident than the rest should venture to tell you that if you intend to have his company at your prayers they shall then be at such an hour and not at that time which you have appointed A second encourag'd by the example of the other tells you that your Prayers shall be in such a Room and not where you have ordered Another comes and asks you what you have to do to appoint the posture or the habit in which their Prayers shall be performed he is resolv'd to come in what dress he pleases and there either to sit or stand or loll at his pleasure not so much for his ease as meerly to cross you and to shew that he will not do as you order and prescribe What I pray would you now think of these people What would you their Masters and Governors do to such servants Would you think that you your selves had done any thing amiss herein or that you had done more then you could justifie and so beg their pardon or would you not rather look upon them as a company of unmannerly servants would you not handle them a little ruffly for such sauciness and put them out of your houses as persons unfit to live in any civilised families sure enough they would And then we may presently come upon them with a ye are the men you are these very sawcy refractory servants For a kingdom is but a larger family over which the Prince is the Governor and master And therefore when he hath by his Laws enjoyned such and such ceremonies as are no ways contrary to the commands of God you that disobey your Prince in these things do justifie your own children and servants in their disobedience to your selves But come and let us reason together a little further why may not Christian Kings use the same authority as the Kings of Israel and Judah did Produce your cause bring forth your strongest reasons Shew us when and where and how they lost such authority This seems to be no less a right then what is founded in nature and approved of by God himself Abraham shall become a great and mighty Nation says God and then it follows I know that he will command his children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.18.19 There is nothing more plain then that the Governors and Princes of Judah did exercise such power and that it did of right belong unto them And this is a thing that hath been often proved beyond all contradiction especially in a late piece called the modern pleas for comprehension toleration c. To which I shall refer my reader Thus you see that this objection against our Church of enjoyning some ceremonies which are no where particularly and precisely commanded by God is of no validity at all And that in regard the worship of God cannot be performed without some ceremonie and who so fit in order to the avoiding of confusion to determine in this case as our Governors to whom God hath enjoyned obedience and told us that we must submit to every ordinance of man for his sake In regard the Church doth no more then what every Master of a family doth expect from his children and servants And in regard too that it is no more then what hath been done by Kings and Princes in the Old Testament And I am sure that they can never prove that they have been divested of this power in the new And that we may not pass the least part of the objection unanswered I shall in a few words shew you that this is not that will-worship which is condemned by St. Paul and therefore they cannot have the least shadow of reason to separate from our Church upon this account and so disturb the peace of our Jerusalem If you look into the 2. Chap. of St. Pauls Epistle to the Colos you will find verse 18. That the Apostle forbids the worshipping of Angels as a bold invention of men for which there was no revelation From thence he proceeds to speak against such superstitious people as did forbid marriage and the eating of some sorts of meat as in themselves utterly unlawful And those that were of this humor he directly charges verse 23 with will-worship So that it is very plain that those persons whom he charges with will-worship are such as do enjoyn or command any thing to be done or not done as if it were the will and command of God he should be so served when it is but a meer constitution of the will of man and enjoyned for some prudent considerations Now all the world must needs acquit our Church from this when she hath plainly declared as it is in the preface to the Common Prayer-Book that none of these ceremonies are imposed under the notion of necessary or religious but are of an indifferent nature and only used as decent and comely in the judgment of the present Governors who may alter these things and constitute others in their stead when they see fit which they could not do did they look upon them as things in themselves necessary And thus have we fully answered the main objections which are commonly made against our Church and shewed that it hath no affiance at all with the Church of Rome in any thing that is sinful And that the enjoyning some ceremonies which God hath not particularly and precisely commanded is not that will-worship which is condemned by the Apostle and therefore we may reassume what we did at first lay down and say that to separate and divide from this Church upon such accounts is highly blameable in any nay Extreamly sinful But what if after all this we should undertake to shew that these are but meer pretences and that the great maintainers of a separation from our Church have not really any such thoughts of her but yet least the people should suspect their separation from her to be causeless they are willing that they should think so of her Alas how commonly hath the world been deluded by specious pretences When Mary anointed
our Saviours feet with a pound of Spikenard which says the Text was very costly Judas cryes out of a wast tells them that the Ointment might have been sold for an hundred pence and given to the poor Here indeed was a fair pretence viz charity to the Poor But St. John the Evangelist tells us that this was but a meer out-side a meer pretence and that covetousness was the true cause of his muttering against it for this he said says St. John not that he cared for the poor but because he was a Thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein John 12.6 And so too we have a great deal of reason to think that the real causes of the separation from our Church and of the clamor that is made against it are quite otherwise then what is commonly pretended It will be worth a while therefore to search a little into the true causes of our divisions because we shall thereby discover the true images of things through those dark mists which cunning but ungodly men have endeavored to cast before the eyes of the vulgar we shall hereby discern how sadly the ignorant but well-meaning vulgar are deluded with meer pretences and that while their teachers cry conscience conscience it is meerly their own lusts that promote and carry on divisions in the Church But because those that separate and divide from our Church are commonly distinguished into a two-fold rank and order the teaching and leading men and the silly and deluded vulgar we shall therefore reckon up the causes under a two-fold head and shew that some of them are to be appropriated to the one and some to the other And least those leading men who think themselves some body in their own conceit should take it in great dudgen if they should be put off to the last and that we may not offend them in this we shall therefore speak to them in the first place 1. First then the first cause or reason of these persons separating from the Church and consequently disturbing the peace and unity of it may be an ambitious and aspiring spirit There is no question to be made but that there have been and are still many such men in the world who viewing themselves in a false glass do Pigmalion like fall in love with their own parts and from an overweening conceit of them they will not only adore them themselves but expect that all the world should adore them too and those that do not see as much in them as they do in themselves they conclude that all such are blinded by emulation and envy From this over-weaning conceit of themselves comes a fancy that none are so worthily deserving of the more honorable places in the Church as they And when they come to make suit and claim for such places if they happen to be put by and others perhaps more deserving to be preferred before them This very thing shall presently put them into a rage they will forthwith bethink themselves of a revenge they will hereupon study how to make themselves considerable at the cost of those who they judged did consider them too little And hereupon they will contrive some fair pretence to draw a party after them and make a faction Thus we are told how that Arrius missing of a prelation to the order and dignity of a Bishop Alexander being preferr'd before him he broatch'd and troubled the Church with an heretical opinion whereby he denyed the Divinity of our Saviour Christ And some conceive that the occasion of Tertullian's defection from the true Faith and of his fall to Montanism was because that after the death of Agrippinus he sufferr'd a repulse and was put by the Bishoprick of Carthage I could produce divers instances of the like kind were it at all needful But it is much to be thought that our present age will afford too many that it would turn us out too many persons who have chose to set up a party against the Church and to be leaders of a faction meerly because they might not be Governors of it and could not satisfie or content themselves with what their Governors thought them deserving But what a sad thing is it and how unchristian too for men who pretend to be holyer and more conscientious then others to abuse and delude the world so grosly as to pretend that their separating from the Church is upon the account of conscience when it is meerly from an over-weaning conceit of their abilities that they are wiser and better then others and will therefore disturb the peace of the Church if they are not preferred before others Is this humor in the least answerable to our Saviours Command of Learning of him who was lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 Or doth it any ways answer his Apostles charge that in lowliness of mind we esteem others better then our selves Phillip 2.3 Certainly had they not quite laid aside and forgotten some of the weightier precepts of the Gospel they would quickly lay aside that vain fondness they have for themselves they would cast an eye upon their deformities as well as upon their excellencies and then they would begin a little to contract their plumes and think others as good if not better then themselves and no longer disturb the peace of the Church upon this account because they have not those honorable places in it which they vainly and groundlesly think they do deserve Secondly a second cause or reason of these persons separating from the Church and consequently disturbing the peace and unity of it is interest or the desire of gaining riches and money what sin is there indeed that the charming force of these will not perswade some men to Judas betrayed his Master for Thirty Pieces of Silver and the Husbandmen in the parable instigate and prompt each other to murder and to kill the heir to get the inheritance to themselves The love of money says the Apostle is the root of all evil 1. Tim. 6.10 And therefore why may it not be supposed to be the root of this evil we are now speaking of viz of the disturbance of the peace of the Church Nay he that reads but the next words following in the Text forenamed will find that the Apostle hath asserted as much himself The love of money says he is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the Faith And the same Apostle St. Paul hath left an instance of it upon record 2. Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world There is no question but that some of those Doctrines which make the partition wall betwixt us and the Church of Rome somewhat higher and which they are so zealous to maintain are oweing meerly to interest and to the profit they get by them As I could instance in their Doctrines about purgatory about pardons and indulgences their Praying for the Dead and such like which would certainly fall to
a little false glory be of weight enough to be put in the scale against the peace of the Church If they have not an infallibility amongst them equal with that of Rome they will think that they might be mistaken and deceived Let them view that place of St. Paul and apply it to themselves 1. Cor. 13.11 When I was a Child I spake as a Child I understood as a Child I thought as a Child but when I became a man I put away Childish things If these and such like considerations will not work upon them to renounce and forsake their former errors for fear of losing their reputation of being called wavering men and time-servers and the like certainly they are of a quite different strain from the Apostles who rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Gods sake Acts 5.41 and are to be ranked amongst those timerous rulers of the Jews John 12 Who believed on our Saviour Christ but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him being lovers of the praise of men more then of the praise of God And thus have I now shew'd you what are the true causes and reasons of the separation from our Church and consequently of the disturbance of it's peace and unity as to the teaching and leading part of our dissenters I proceed now to speak of the second sort of our dissenters those that forsake the publick assemblies and so disturb the unity and peace of the Church viz the well meaning but ignorant and deluded vulgar As first of all the first cause or reason of these persons dislike of our Church and consequently of their separation from it is prejudice whereby I mean that which proceeds from education It is certainly true that nothing makes a deeper impression upon us nothing is more hardly routed out then those documents and instructions which we receive in our infancy and Child-hood Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem testa diu The vessel retains a gust or tincture of that liquor that was first put into it The first principles we imbibe are not commonly written in sand to be defaced by every blast of wind but they are commonly as durable as if they were engraved with an iron pen in brass or marble It is a common expression amongst us that possession is an eleven points of the Law But sure enough that person that hath the education and training up of Children in any Religion hath odds enough against any other that shall come after him for while the wax was warm and soft he clapt his seal upon it and that impression we know cannot easily be altered Prejudice is so sore an evil that it will render the most convincing testimonies ineffectual And of this the Jews in rejecting the Messias is an everlasting instance There was not so much as one single circumstance either of time or place of lineage or descent of Doctrine or miracles which their own writings had foretold him by but he answer'd it exactly But they having imbibed an opinion that the Messias was to be a great temporal Prince that should fight their Battels and free them from all slavery because they could not discover this in him they therefore became blind as to all other Characters If then it fared so ill with our Saviour himself upon the account of prejudice what wonder is it if the Church of England be despised and rejected too upon the same score How commonly hath this Church which is absolutely the best reformed Church throughout the whole world been branded with the odious names of superstition and Popery from which as I have shewed she is the most innocent and free How commonly have persons in our late sad times been trained up in an utter abhorrence of her How frequently have we found some persons so prejudiced and incensed against her that if we go about to undeceive them and to give them better information they will look upon us as their utter enemies and they are ready to cry out to us as the possessed did to our Saviour in the Gospel what have we to do with you Are you come to torment us altogether forgetting that caution of St. John 1. John 4.1 Of trying the spirits whether they be of God or no and that for a very good reason which he hath there laid down because there are many false Prophets that are gone out into the world Most sad it is to think that poor Souls should be so obstinate and so resolutely unwilling to hear good instructions and that they should be thus afraid of those that mean nothing but their good They have been taught from their cradle to think ill of this Church and in that they think themselves wise enough and who is he that can be admitted to instruct them But alas this is that which will highly aggravate their fault and make it indelible For upon this account it was that our Saviour told the Pharisees John 9.41 If ye were blind ye should have no sin but now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth This then Isay is the first cause or reason of these persons dislike of our Church and consequently of their separation from it viz prejudice Secondly A second cause or reason of these persons dislike of our Church and consequently of their separation from it is the want of Christian charity I mean charity for their Governors which if it could once be received and entertained amongst those many Gospel-graces which they think themselves to be the only possessors of we might then have some hopes of seeing them come into our Churches and there to profess and hold the same faith with us in the unity of the spirit and in the bond of peace Sure I am that if we should go into any of the separated congregations and confused assemblies a great part of that multitude could give us no good account of that concourse if we should question them about it And if some of them should tell us that they are there met together to worship God yet I am confident that like that uproar that was stirred up by the Silver-smiths at Ephesus Acts 19 the more part of them could not tell wherefore they should come to worship God here rather then in the publick and solemn assemblies Perhaps some of them might tell us that there they have pure ordinances and a true Gospel-worship and that in our Churches there is nothing but superstition and Popery a mixt worship and a serving of God after the Commandments of men But then if we ask them further what they mean by superstition and will-worship and by serving God after the Commandments of men and the like they are as little able to give us any good account as the Child that is yet to learn his A. B. C. Like Parrots they have only learnt the expression and the found but as for the true sense and meaning of the words that they are altogether strangers to And to
many of them God knows are like to continue so for their Rabbi's and Teachers will never instruct them in it for that would utterly spoil their trade and they will not learn it of others And therefore could we but once press them to a reception of that superexcellent and truely-gospel grace charity how much would it tend to the abating at least if not to the utter eradicating all hard conceits either of our Church or of the Governors of it out of their minds St. Paul the Apostle in the 13. Chap. of his 1. Epistle to the Cor. gives us a very larg description and a very high Encomium of charity and amongst divers others tells us that these are its properties to suffer long and to be kind not to behave it's self unseemly not to be overhasty to think any evil to bear all things to believe all things to hope all things and to endure all things And were it not I say for want of this they would not thus despise Government and speak evil of those things which they so little understand The forenamed Apostle hath taken all the care imaginable to prevent any such thing He hath strictly commanded us Heb. 13.17 To obey them that have the rule over us and to submit our selves And as if he had foreseen that men would be ready to withhold their obedience to the commands of their Governors under a pretence that the things they command are not plain and clear to them and therefore for ought they know may be unlawful As if he had foreseen I say this pretence he hath annexed a very strong reason to enforce their obedience to all things of this nature which is this for they watch for your Souls says he as they that must give account Which is as much as if he had said more at large thus If your Superiors do command and enjoyn any thing that is lawful nay suppose that it be in some measure doubtful whether it be lawful or no yet in all things of this nature you must be obedient It is not a bare conceit and fancy that the thing commanded may be unlawful that will excuse your disobedience for there is nothing less then a plain command of God to the contrary that can supersede the commands of your Governors And because many of you may be apt to be overmistrustful of the wisdom of the sincerity and integrity of your Governors and so may be as apt to suspend your obedience to them till you your selves shall see a very good reason for the thing commanded do but consider that your Governors are placed over you by God himself that they watch for your Souls their main business is to see that you lead your lives in all godliness and honesty Nay consider further that they must all give an account unto God at the great and general audit when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed how they have acquitted themselves in such offices and employments And therefore you may not without the plainest reason suspect their good intentions whatsoever they define and lay down they define not only for you but for themselves too they do not only teach others but themselves also And therefore if you had but common Christian charity for your Governors you would never thus deny obedience to their commands nor withdraw your selves from the communion of our Church in which there is nothing at all enjoyned or commanded but what is altogether agreeable with or at least no ways contrary to the word of God Again Thirdly ult Another cause or reason of those persons dislike of our Church and consequently of their separation from it is if I may so express it for want of a due use of their Christian liberty This perhaps may seem a little strange to some persons at first because this is one of their great pleas for their not yielding obedience to their Governors in things indifferent viz that their commanding and enjoyning such things doth too much intrench upon their Christian liberty and would again entangle them in the yoke of Bondage But yet I question not but to make it good And if they would but impartially consult the true meaning of that Text which they so commonly have recourse to Gall. 5.1 They would find that the liberty which the Apostle there speaks of is not that liberty which they challenge to themselves That freedom which our Saviour Christ purchas'd for us is a freedom from sin freedom from the curse of the law freedom from the ceremonial Law of Moses as Circumcision and Sacrifices and the like and not in the least any freedom from paying our obedience to the commands of our Governors in all lawful and indifferent things And it is a wonder to me that any man should be so much besides himself as to think that the least drop of Christs Blood was so vainly spent as to purchase freedom for us in things absolutely indifferent i. e. in such things as were in their own nature indifferent concerning which there was no command For these were free before and therefore free to be performed before and after they are commanded only the command is necessarily to be obeyed Their great scrupulosity and timerousness as to the use of such indifferent and harmless ceremonies and which God hath no where forbidden will rank them amongst those nice Jewish Christians of which the Apostle St. Paul speaks Colos 2.21 Who cry'd out touch not tast not handle not and that too upon the same account after the Doctrines and Commandments of men For God I say hath no where prohibited the use of them and they have no other reason for their not using them but because those teachers which they have heaped up unto themselves do tell them that they must not use them And therefore we may apply that saying of our Saviour to the Jews John 5.43 unto these people and say though your Governors come to you in the name of God who hath entrusted them with the care of these things and therefore they may very lawfully enjoyn them yet these you will not hear but if another come in his own name and tells you without any reason at all that you may not use them him you will receive and hear Thus they can suffer fools gladly if another man bring them into bondage they can suffer it patiently enough but if their Governors command no more then what they may safely comply with then they kick and fling and will by no means endure it then they cry out of a restraint of their Christian liberty whilst alas they are the greatest slaves to the Doctrines and commandments of other men And thus I say it is for want of a due use of their Christian liberty that makes them out of conceit with our Church and consequently to separate and divide from it And now I have done with my Text and shew'd you which was the main point of it that it is a duty highly concerning and