absolve by commission from God more than declaratively I mean I know no one that maketh the Priest's Absolution to be other in Effect than declarative though it signifies more than if pronounced by a Layman Nor your Fourth That the Natural Body and Bloud of Christ is in the Elements of Bread and Wine really Our Church-Catechism saith that The Body and Bloud of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithfull in the Lord's Supper And I know no Divine of ours that explaineth this otherwise than thus That Believers feed on the Body and Bloud of Christ in the Lord's Supper as truly and really as they do on the Elements but not after a corporal and carnal manner but after a spiritual viz. by applying to themselves the Benefits of Christ's death by faith And I presume you will neither assert this to be Popish Doctrine nor deny that 't is true Doctrine Nor do I know any one of our Divines that holds your Fifth Proposition for it may not be called a Doctrine viz. That our Conformable Congregations are no better than Conventicles where the Minister reads not the Communion Service at the Altar Which you assert to be tantamount to the allowing of Prayers in an Vnknown Tongue because in multitudes of Congregations the People cannot hear a line from him I say I know of no Divine of our Church that ever asserted that such Congregations as the forementioned are no better than Conventicles There was indeed lately a foolish Book published to Prove them Conventicles but it is strongly conjectured that this Book was written by a certain Layman And what Church he is of I cannot say nor is it a pins matter to know But I may as much suspect him to be a Protestant Dissenter as a Popish upon the score of that his Position it being nothing of kin to the allowing of Prayers in an Vnknown tongue For as there is not One of your Multitudes of Congregations wherein the People cannot hear a line from him that reads at the Communion Table except you mean wherein every one of the People cannot for I doubt not the Major part can in all where the Minister hath a voice to be well heard from the Pulpit so all that is read is known before to those who are not Strangers to our Prayers or at least they may have Books to enable them to go along with the Minister whether they can or cannot hear distinctly one sentence from him Nor do I know any one of our Divines that hath ever taught your 6th Doctrine That whole Christ is under each Element which you intimate is the onely foundation on which the Sacrilegious Romish Practice stands But if I could believe that Doctrine to be true I should notwithstanding judge it an intolerable thing to refuse the Cup to the Laity against the express Institution of our Lord. Nor know I any Divine of ou Church guilty of the 7th particular of your Charge viz. That there are those who interpret the Ten Commandments so as that he who will ever be saved must do a great many works of supererogation And if I did know any one that so interpreted the Commandments as to make any one such work necessary to Salvation I would not call him a Papist for it but an Ignoramus who understands not the word Supererogation Nor know I any one that teacheth Original Sin thereby understanding Corruption of Nature to be rather our Misfortune than our Fault which is your 8th Doctrine Nor consequently that Concupiscence is no sin which is your 9th Nor your 10th That man hath a power in his own will to chuse and doe what is spiritually good i. e. without the Assistence of Divine Grace And with this Assistence I hope you Dissenters do all hold it Nor know I any one of our Divines who teacheth That we are not accounted righteous before God or Justified onely for the Merits of Christ that is that there is any other Meritorious cause of our Justification besides the Active and Passive obedience of Christ Nor your 11th That we are not Justified by Faith alone Understanding by Faith not a dead but a living Faith that purefies the heart and works by love Nor your 12th That good works must go before justification and are not the fruits of Faith but Faith it self For I know no one of our Church that asserts more than this that a sincere Resolution to obey all God's Commandments must in order of nature go before Justification Nor your 13th That there is no Eternal Predestination of persons to life and the means tending thereunto I know of none of our Church that have ever taught this Doctrine as you have expressed it nor any worse than this That Eternal Predestination to life is not Irrespective or Absolute which no Article of our Church saith it is And Abundance of you Dissenters hold this Doctrine as well as Church of England men And thus have I gone over all the Doctrines contradictory to the 39 Articles taught by your Ecclesia Loquens yours I say for she is not ours and I declare again that I know of no Divine of our Church that teacheth or holdeth such Doctrines If you know any as one would think you do very many I pray name them You say we spare any names in these cases but be you entreated not to spare them But if you won't be prevailed with we shall very shrewdly guess at the reason Sir to deal freely with you I cannot but wonder at your adventuring into the World this other Celeusma since the Author of the former had so ill success and must needs have repented him heartily of that Undertaking All that have consideratively read his Answerer I am confident are convinced that after a Great Cry Little Wooll appeared or rather none at all Nor can such be ignorant what foul play was used to make our Divines of the Church of England broach Heresie And I doubt not but you your self have blushed at it if you have ever read the Parallela imparia sive Specimen fidei Celeusmaticae Could you catch us thus dealing with the Books of your Authors as ours have been dealt with by that Author and some others that might be named we should at another kind of rate have been exposed than they have been But Sir for God's sake let us make as much Conscience of vile Calumny than which there is not a more express Transgression of the Law of God nor of the very Light of Nature as of Obedience to Authority in such things as no Divine Law can be produced against and nothing but strained and far-fetcht Consequences And for God's sake also let us at length be perswaded to have so great a concern for our common Religion as to give over exposing it by such unchristian doings to the Scorn and Derision of our Common Enemy But I cannot take my leave of this heavy Charge of yours till I have asked you what you inferr
in all things that may Lawfully be done I cannot therefore see how they can avoid being self-condemned if they should forsake our Communion for if they judge it Unlawful they sinned Wilfully when they entred into it if they think it Lawful they would then Sin in withdrawing from it since it is injoyned by that Power which they confess they are bound to obey in Lawful things If they should say that they once thought it Unlawful after that they judged it to be Lawful and now conceive it Unlawful again This strange unsteadiness in Opinion would look a great deal more like Humor than Judgment And it might occasion vehement Suspicions in some not otherwise very Censorious that this Uncertainty proceeds not from Conscience but Design and that all their Compliance was only to serve a present turn to decline an Ecclesiastical Censure to keep a beneficial Place or to be qualified for an Office in some great Corporation Thus men might be apt enough to suspect but I am willing to believe any thing rather than that they that have always made shew of so great a Tenderness should be guilty of so much Hypocrisie and Prophaness together as to dare even to approach to the Lord's Table under great dissatisfaction of mind it may be meerly to advance some Secular end But I hope their Behaviour for the future will sufficiently clear them from such an imputation I shall therefore apply my self only to those that do still forbear our Communion and offer something very briefly which I conceive may be useful for the satisfying their most known and ordinary Doubts that as we do all profess the same Faith we may all agree in the same way of Discipline and Worship and all become peaceable and orderly Members of the same Church And for the obtaining this most Excellent end First I shall desire them impartially to consider of some things that may incline them to be Peaceably minded and tend to the removing of the general Prejudices they have unhappily conceived against the Church of England Then I shall endeavor to give what satisfaction I can to the chief Objections against us which they are wont to urge in Defence of the present Separation And lastly I shall exhort them to a brotherly Vnion upon such Motives and Arguments as the Gospel suggests and make for the Credit and Safety of the Protestant Religion The things that I would commend to their serious Consideration which may serve to dispose them to Peace and to remove the Prejudices they have taken up are such as these In the first place they should be very careful that it be not any sinister end or corrupt Passion that did either engage them in the Separation at the beginning or provokes them now to continue in it I do not mention this because I know any one of our Dissenting Brethren to be guilty of it but because it must be confessed that mens minds are too often influenced by their carnal Interests and Affections These will be always mixing themselves in all their Consultations these do commonly blind and pervert their Judgments and lead them into ten thousand Errours These are the occasion that Fancy sometimes passes for Conscience that Melancholy Fumes are admired for Divine Inspirations and that the overflowing of our Gall is looked upon as pure Zeal These and the like are very dangerous and usual Mistakes that do frequently proceed from the prevalency of our Passions If therefore we do divide from a Church it will most highly concern us to be very Cautious that we be not acted by any such Principle For if we hope to Gain and grow Rich by our Departure if we are Ashamed or Scorn to retract the Opinions we have once Professed if we imagine we have more Light than the first Reformers when indeed we are very Ignorant if we cannot endure to be Opposed in any thing if we Murmur and Repine at our Governors when they require our Obedience where we are unwilling to pay it these are signs that our Affections are turbulent and unruly and while we are thus disposed we can never be assured but that Covetousness Pride and Impatience might be the greatest Motives that induced us to make a Separation and the strongest Arguments that we have to maintain it But I cannot charge our Dissenting Brethren with these things I believe that many of them may be Upright and Sincere in their Intentions But because they are all in the same estate of Degeneracy and Corruption which others are I would intreat them to be very careful that they be never led away by these or the like temptations but that they would always labor to preserve those holy Dispositions of Integrity Meekness Humility and Condescension which are the best Preparatives to the receiving of the Truth in the Love of it After they have thus freed their minds from all irregular Passions and Designs it would conduce exceedingly to the PEACE of the Church if they would be sure to express their greatest Care and Concern in the more Weighty and Substantial things of Religion This would prevent many of the Quarrels that do often arise in matters but of small Importance If real Holiness and Piety be the thing that we aim at then when we may be secured of this we should not be so very forward to enter upon fierce and endless Disputes about the external Modes and Circumstances of Worship If I may serve God there in Spirit and in Truth why should a Gown or a Cloak or a Surplice fright me from the Church when either of these is injoyned by my Superiors If I may be instructed in the way of Salvation and eternal Happiness why should I forsake the Publick Assemblies because I am not allowed to joyn my self to what Congregation I please and had not an immediate hand in the choice of my Pastor When our hearts are bent upon the great things of Religion we shall see but little Reason to be Contentious about matters of lesser Consequence a few indifferent Rites will scarce be able to tempt us to break off Communion with that Church with which we are at perfect Agreement in all Fundamental and Necessary points The next thing that may tend to the promoting our Vnion is the Consideration of the heinous Nature and Guilt of Schism which is nothing else but the Separating our selves from a True Church without any just Occasion given The want of due apprehensions of the Sinfulness of this seems to be the main Cause of our present Divisions Men are not generally sufficiently sensible how much they do Oppose that Spirit of Peace and brotherly Love which should diffuse it self through the whole Body of Christian People when they suppose every slender Pretence enough to justifie their departing from us and setting up a Church against a Church They think it a matter almost Indifferent and that they are left to their own Choice to joyn with what Society of Christians they please
themselves Which giddy Principle if it should prevail would certainly throw us into an absolute Confusion and introduce all the Errors and Mischiefs that can be imagined But our blessed Lord founded but One Universal Church and when he was ready to be Crucified for us and Prayed not for the Apostles alone but for them also that John 17. 20 21. should believe in him through their word one of the last Petitions which he then put up amongst divers others to the same purpose was That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me This it is plain was to be a visible Vnity that might be taken notice of in the World and so become an inducement to move men to the embracing of the Christian Faith Therefore as we would avoid the hardening of men in Atheism and Infidelity and making the Prayer of our dying Saviour as much as in us lies wholly ineffectual we should be exceeding Cautious that we do not wilfully Divide his holy Catholick Church We are often warned of this and how many Arguments does St. Paul heap together to perswade us to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond Eph. 4. 3 4 5 6. of Peace One Body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all And how pathetically does the same Apostle exhort us again to the same thing by all the mutual endearments that Christianity affords If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ Phil. 2. 1 2. if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind These vehement Exhortations to Peace and Concord do strictly oblige us to hold Communion with that Church which requires nothing that is Unlawful of us The Church of Rome will not admit us unless we profess a belief of Transubstantiation and Purgatory and a certain kind of Infallibility no body knows where unless we will worship the Host and Saints and Images and do many other things directly repugnant to the Word of God We cannot therefore Communicate with her unless we should partake of her gross and superstitious Errours But the Church of England does not exact any thing from us that God has forbidden therefore we may Communicate with her without Sin and if we may it must be a Sin in us if we do not do it Certain it is that every causless Separation is a very great one so great that some of the Antients have thought it is not to be expiated by the Blood of Martyrdom and I know no Cause sufficient to defend our leaving a Communion but a necessity of being involved in Sin if we should remain in it Now since it must be confessed that Schism is a very grievous Sin we had need be well assured that we have just occasion for it before we withdraw from the Communion of a Church and if we have rashly withdrawn we are bound to return without delay Then we may consider farther that all Christians are obliged to endeavour as much as they can to avoid all differences of Opinion that may occasion Quarrels and Contests among them This will appear from that passionate Intreaty and Admonition which the holy Apostle gave the Corinthians when they were in danger of being rent into several Factions upon misunderstandings and emulations not much unlike unto ours Now 1 Cor. 1. 10. I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Such an Universal agreement and harmony in the Church is very desirable and every one is bound to promote it And the first step that can be made towards this happy Concord in Opinion and Affections is to dispose our minds to a calm and teachable Temper to be always ready to acknowledg the force of an Argument though it contradict our former Perswasions never so much to be grieved at the Animosities and uncharitable Contentions which a diversity of Judgment is wont to produce to follow after the things which make for Peace Rom. 14. 19. to be desirous to see an end of these Unchristian Divisions and glad of every Opportunity that may bring us nearer to one another and think we have gained a glorious Victory when we have overcome any mistake that kept us at a distance from our Brethren This is a generous and truly Christian disposition and that which has an immediate tendency towards the reconciling all manner of Differences On the other side there can be little hopes that men should ever agree when they seem resolved to maintain the point in Controversie whatever it is when they do not study to be Satisfied but to cherish their Scruples and hunt about for New ones when their old Objections are fully answered This is a most perverse and untractable Humour which takes away all possibility of a good Accord For while either of the Dissenting Parties is thus unwilling to be Convinced and searches after Exceptions there will never be wanting some Cavil or other that must be sure to serve them to perpetuate the Dispute But 't is a shrewd Sign we esteem our Cause little better than Desperate when after the Weapons we began the Fight with are wrested from us we snatch up any thing that comes next to hand to throw at our Adversary This Obstinacy does not well become us In all our Debates our aim should be to find out the truth and not to triumph over our Antagonist All sober Christians especially where the Peace of the Church is concerned should always strive to bring the Controversie to a happy issue and composure and not seek for Pretences to widen the breach And then we might all join in Praising and Glorifying of God and be restored again to that blessed estate they were in at the first Preaching of the Gospel when the Multitude of Acts 4. 32. Ch. 2. 42. them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul and continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers These few Considerations I have now mentioned might be something useful to the procurement of such a Holy and Heavenly Peace in all Christian Societies throughout the World And if we were but careful never to be byassed by Passion or Interest if our greatest Zeal and Concern were placed upon the more Weighty and Substantial matters of Religion if we should seriously consider how grievous a Sin it is to Separate from a Church without any just cause and if we were disposed to Peace and willing to have our Doubts and
prevailed with many of the more undiscerning sort especially to forsake our Communion But it is always very dangerous to judge of things not by our Understandings but by the various impulses and motions of our Affections When we have Scripture and Reason on our side we cannot be Deceived but when we Determine as we are swayed by the present byass of our Passions these may be Charmed or Raised or Flattened by several sorts of Spirits and quickly betray us into strong Delusions Therefore if any one should be tempted as some have been to leave the Church on this Account that he thinks he may be more affected in another Place before he goes I would desire him to consider what it is that does thus Affect him If it be the Matter and Substance of the Prayer I suppose that may be usually the same at least as good in our ordinary Offices as it is in their unpremeditated Petitions and so it will not be necessary to make a Separation for this If it be only the chiming and harmony of the Words he is taken with this is no more but a kind of sensitive Delight and to apply the Prophet's Expressions here it is but like a very lovely Song of one Ezek. 33. 32. that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well on an Instrument This will by no means excuse our departing from the Publick Assemblies this would be in effect to say that we may make Divisions in the Church of God to gratifie our own private and it may be mistaken Fancies But if any one hath left us for a time upon this Pretence and made some Trial of both ways then I would desire him strictly to examine his own Conscience whether he have not often been as Dull and Indifferent at a Conceived Prayer as ever he was at the Service of the Church And then on the other side let him consider whether he do not believe that very many may be as serious and devout at the Common Prayer as ever he was at any in the other way he is pleased to prefer And after he has thus inquired if he see Reason to acknowledge both as doubtless he will then the Scales will be even at the least Experience will shew that men may be Fervent and Affectionate with a Form and Cold and Inattentive without one And therefore when we are heavy listless and unaffected at a Prayer by a Form this Defect cannot proceed from the Manner of the Devotion but from the Indisposition of the Person that uses it And when we Separate upon this occasion we are guilty of a double Iniquity in Dividing the Church without sufficient Cause and charging our own Formality upon a good and wholesome Constitution My intended brevity will not permit me to give a particular Answer to all the Exceptions that have been taken at our Liturgy only in the general I say I know nothing in it that can be pretended to be Sinful in it self The most that is urged are some supposed Inconveniences which if we should grant to be real they cannot make our Communion Unlawful and then as I have often intimated it must be a Sin to Separate from it and we may not commit a Sin to decline an Inconvenience This would be to do evil that good may come of it They that are willing to improve every slight Exception into a Cause of Separation should beware of this The question is not whether there be not any thing in the Order of our Divine Service which a man could wish to be altered For that can never be expected under any Constitution The main inquiry is this whether any thing Unlawful be appointed to be used which will make an Alteration not only desirable but necessary And whether we are bound to withdraw till such Alteration be made Which has never been proved Men generally forbear our Publick Worship without ever examining into it upon no other ground but because they prefer their own Arbitrary way before it Which I do not admire but this is very strange and unreasonable that they should take such a disgust at our Liturgy and fly away from it as if it were Popish and Antichristian when they never have so much as read it at least considered it as they ought And here I shall take the Confidence to affirm that the Liturgy some abhor so much was made and reviewed with that Prudence and Moderation that Care and Circumspeâ—tion that there is not any thing now extant in that kind that has been compos'd with greater Wisdom and Piety If we should take the liberty to compare it with the performances in the other way not to mention the many undecent incoherent irreverent expressions to say no worse that might be collected let any Prayer made occasionally and extempore by the ablest and most cautious of those that magnifie that way and despise ours be taken exactly in writing and published to the World and I am very confident that one man without any great pains may find more things really exceptionable in that single Prayer in a short time than the several Parties of Dissenters with all the diligence they have hitherto used have been able to discover in the whole Service of our Church in more than a hundred years And yet some of our Brethren that seek industriously for Scruples in the Common Prayer will readily join in other sudden conceived Prayers without any Scruple when they cannot tell but that there may be some dangerous Heresie in every Sentence and some great Indecencies and Absurdities in every Word This is such partiality and unequal dealing as cannot be easily excus'd But if they should allow of the Forms of Prayer in our Liturgy there are certain Ceremonies injoyn'd which they think give them occasion enough to depart from our Communion A man that were unacquainted with the true State of our case that should stand by and only hear the bitter Cries and Invectives that have been made against Ceremonies would be ready to imagine that sure our Church was nothing else almost but Ceremonies But he would be mightily surprized when upon inquiry he should find that these Ceremonies which had occasioned all this noise should be no more than Three the Surplice the Cross after Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament He would be amazed to think that these should be the things about which so many massy Books had been written So great discords and animosities rais'd Such a flourishing Church once quite destroyed and now most miserably divided after it had been so happily restored And his wonder must be increased when he should perceive that of these Three there was but One and no more in which the People were any way concerned The Cross and the Surplice are to be used only by the Minister and if his Conscience be satisfied no mans else need to be disturb'd about them To Kneel at the Lord's Supper all indeed are commanded but supposing this to be Unlawful it could hinder us
one Church in one Place Because there is no other Rule of Catholick-Communion but to Communicate in all Religious Offices and all Acts of Government and Discipline with those Christians with whom they live For to Renounce the Ordinary Communion of Christians or true Christian Church is to divide the Vnity and Communion of the Church and to withdraw our selves from Ordinary Communion with the Church in which we live into p. 21. distinct and separate Societies for Worship is to Renounce their Communion and when there is not a necessary cause for it is a Schismatical Separation And a little after I added If all Christians are Members of the one Body of Christ nothing can justifie the distinction of Christians into several Churches but onely such a distance of place as makes it necessary and expedient to put them under the Conduct and Government of several Bishops for the greater Edification of the Church in the more easie and regular Administration of Discipline And therefore nothing can justifie the gathering a Church out of a Church and dividing Neighbour Christians into distinct Communions Now then let us consider what follows 1. You say either that the French Protestants have no Church here but are Schismaticks in not Communicating with ours Or that ours is guilty of Schism in making the Terms of Communion so streight that it is not the Duty of of every one though a licensed Stranger to Communicate with this Church Ans If any Foreign Church among us which by Royal Favour is allowed the Observation of their own Discipline and Rules of Worship Renounce Communion with the Church of England or Communicate with our Separatists she is Schismatical her self as the Protestant Churches in France Geneva or Holland would be should they do the like But if there be any reason to allow those Foreigners which are among us to Form and Model their Congregations according to the Rules of their own Churches to which they originally belong this is no more a Schism than there is between the Protestant Churches of France and England which own each others Communion A bare Variety of Rites and Ceremonies makes no Schism between Churches our Church pretends not to give Laws to other Churches in such matters but leaves them to their Liberty as she takes her own and why an Ecclesiastical Colony may not for great reasons be Transplanted into another Church as well as a Civil Colony into another Kingdom while they live in Communion with each other I cannot tell It is a different thing to gather a Church out of a Church and to Transplant some Members of one Church into another maintaining the same Communion though with some peculiar and different usages with the consent of the Church to which they come The case of Strangers and Natives has always been accounted very different both upon a Religious and Civil account Every particular National Church has Authority over her own Members to direct and Govern her own Communion and prescribe the Rules of Worship but as she does not Impose upon other Churches at a distance so she may allow the same liberty to the Members of such Foreign Churches when they live within her Jurisdiction without breach of Communion for tho the Communion of the whole Christian Church is but one and all true Catholick Churches are Members of each other yet the Authority and Jurisdiction is different every Church challenging a peculiar Authority which it exerciseth in its own Communion and therefore for the Church of England to suffer Foreign Churches to observe their own Customs and Usages is not to allow of distinct and separate Communions in her own Bowels which were Schismatical but onely to exempt such Congregations of Strangers from her particular Jurisdiction and to leave them to the Government and Authority of the Church to which they belong There was no such thing indeed allowed in the Primitive Church as distinct Congregations of Foreigners under a different Rule and Government and it were very desirable that all Christians who have occasion to live in other Countries would conform to all the innocent and laudable customs of the Church where they sojourn which seems most agreeable to Catholick Communion but yet distinct Congregations of Foreigners who own the Communion of our Church tho they observe the customs of their own are not Schismatical as the Separate Conventicles of Dissenters are 2. But does it not follow from the obligation to communicate or to be ready to communicate with any true Church where distance does not hinder that a Member of the Church of England is not obliged to constant Communion with that Church but may occasionally communicate with the French Church nay with Dissenters too if he believes that any of their Congregations is a true Member of the Catholick Church Ans This is a great Mastery of Wit to turn my own Artillery upon me I prove the Dissenters to be Schismaticks because they set up a Church within a Church whereas there ought to be but one Church and one Communion in one place every Christian being bound to Communicate with the sound part of the Catholick Church in the place wherein he lives for according to the Laws of Catholick Communion nothing but distance of place can suspend our obligation to actual Communion Hence you conclude that we must Communicate with Schismaticks if there be any among us or so near to us that distance does not hinder our Communion But you should consider that our obligation to Catholick Communion does equally oblige us to renounce the Communion of Schismaticks whether at home or abroad and tho we should allow them to be true Churches yet if Schismatical they are not Catholick Churches and therefore not the objects of Catholick-Communion But however we may lawfully Communicate with the French Church that is among us as occasion serves Yes no doubt we may because they are in Communion with us But then follows the Murdering consequence that a Member of the Church of England is not bound to a constant Communion with her I pray why so every Member as a Member is in constant Communion for to be in Communion with Resol of Cases p. 10. a Church is to be a Member of it as I proved at large but then Church-Communion does not primarily respect a Particular but the Universal p. 13. Church and therefore it is no interruption of our Communion with the Church of England to Communicate actually with any Church which is in Communion with her for as all Christians who are neither Hereticks nor Schismaticks are Members of the Catholick Church so they are in Communion with the Catholick Church and every sound part of it The State of Communion is constant with the whole Catholick Church the acts of Communion are performed sometimes in one part of it sometimes in another as our presence abode or occasions require and thus it is possible actually to Communicate with the French Church either in England or
that are acquainted with the History of things in the last Age will acknowledg that more good hath been done to the Souls of Men by the Preaching of Vsher Potter Abbot Jewel and some other Bishops by Preston Sibbs Taylor Whately Hildersham Ball Perkins Dod Stock and many thousands Adversaries to the separated Churches than ever was done by Ainsworth Johnson Robinson rigid Separatists or Cotton Thomas Hooker and others though Men of precious Memory Promoters of the way of the Churches Congregational And therefore if the Bishops and Conforming Preachers now apply themselves as we hope when the heat of Contention is more allayed they will to the profitable way of preaching against Popery and Prophaneness exciting their Auditors to the Life of Faith in Christ c. there may be as good Ground if not better considering how much the Spirits of Separatists are for their Party and the speaking of the Truth in Love and edifying in Love is necessary to the growth of the Body Ephes 4. 16. to expect by them a Blessing in promoting the Power of Godliness than from the Separatists So that whether we consider the Worship or Doctrine or the preaching of it the Church of England in their Apprehension doth not want a sufficiency of Means for the Conversion and Edification of Souls And consequently the Argument taken from Edification in justification of forsaking the Communion of it is inclusive and of no force But this branch of it will be further confirmed under the third General But however this will not be so easily quitted for supposing the Doctrine good and those that teach it capable as far as Learning and Parts are requisite to improve it to the Conversion and Edification of others yet if they themselves are loose and scandalous it may give just Offence and be thought a sufficient cause to separate from the Worship in which such do officiate P. 3. Therefore I shall shew that the badness of the Ministers is of it self no sufficient Reason to forsake the Communion of a Church or to separate from the Worship administred in it What holy Mr. Rogers saith is a great Truth It is not to be denied Seven Treatises Tract 3. c. 4 p. 223. but that the Example of ignorant and unreformed especially notorious Persons in the Ministry hath done and doth much harm and if either they cannot be convicted or if their Crimes be such as cannot remove them out of their places there is just cause of Grief that such should have any thing to do in God's Matters which are so weighty and to be dealt withal in high Reverence But yet before the Objection is admitted it is to be premised 1. That if there be such in the Church it doth not proceed from their Conformity to it For good and pious Men of this sort always were and still are in the Church What there were formerly Defence part 1. p. 57. may be read in Mr. Baxter who thus delivers himself When I think what learned holy incomparable Men abundance of the old Conformists were my Heart riseth against the thoughts of separating from them such as Mr. Bolton Mr. Whately Mr. Fenner c. and abundance other such yea such as Bishop Jewel Bishop Grindal Bishop Hall c. yea and the Martyrs too as Cranmer Ridley Hooper himself c. What there are now in the Church he also tells us I believe there are many hundred godly Ministers Ibid. p. 12. in the Parish-Churches of England And of his own knowledg saith I profess to know those of Ibid. p. 11. them whom I take to be much better than my self I will say a greater word that I know those of them whom I think as godly and humble Ministers as most of the Non-Conformists whom I know So saith Dr. Bryan In some Countries I am sure there are Dwelling with God Serm. 6. p. 313. many Sober Godly Orthodox able Preachers yet in possession of the publick Places 2. It is to be premised that this Argument if of any yet is of no farther force than against the Congregations where such are and so is of none against the Church it self where are good as well as bad nor against Parochial Communion where such are not So Mr. Baxter argues I doubt not but there are many Defence part 1. p. 11. hundred Parish Ministers who preach holily and live holily though I could wish that they were more And what reason have you to charge any other Mens Sins on them c. or to think it unlawful to join with the Good for the sake of the Bad this is to condemn the Sound for the sake of the Infected Having premised this we shall re-assume the Case and consider how it is stated and resolved by them 1. It 's granted that it is not unlawful to join with bad Ministers in some Cases where they may have better So Mr. Rogers As it is far from me to be a Tract 3. p. 223. Patron of such or to justify them so yet while we may enjoy the Ministry of better I would not refuse to be partaker of the Prayers which are offered by them 2. It 's granted that it 's lawful and a duty to hear and join with such where a better cannot be had That it is lawful so Mr. Rogers Who can blame him Ibid. who desireth to pray with better than they be And yet better to join with them sometimes than to leave the publick Assemblies altogether So Mr. Baxter No Cure dir 17. p. 114. People should chuse and prefer an ungodly Minister before a better but they should rather submit to such than have none when a better by them cannot be had That it 's a Duty so the old Non-Conformists The Scripture teacheth evidently that Letter of Ministers in Old-England to the Brethren in New-England p. 11. the People must and ought to join with them unworthy Ministers in the Worship of God and in separating from the Ordinance they shall sin against God For the Worship is of God and the Ministry is of God the Person unworthily executing his place is neither set up by some few private Christians nor can by them be removed And warrant to withdraw themselves from the Worship of God because such as ought not are suffered to intermeddle with Holy Things they have none from God So Mr. Ball To communicate with Ministers no better Tryal of the grounds c. 13. p. 311. V. Tombs Theodulia p. 17. than Pharisees in the true Worship of God is to worship God aright to reverence his Ordinances to rely upon his Grace to hearken unto his Voice and submit unto his good pleasure This they maintain by several Arguments As First Such were always in the Church and Communion Arg. 1 must never have been held with the Church if no Communion was to be where such were So the old Non-Conformists argue If the Minister make Letter of the Minist in Old-Engl c.
there is nothing Answer Indifferent in the Worship of God for then there is nothing in it matter of Christian Liberty 2. A restraint of our Liberty or receding from it is of it self no violation of it All Persons grant this in the latter and the most scrupulous are apt to plead that the Strong ought to bear with the Weak and to give no Offence to them by indulging themselves in that Liberty which others are afraid to take But now if a Person may recede from his Liberty and yet is bound so to do in the case of Scandal and yet his Liberty be not thereby infringed why may it not be also little infringed when restrained by others How can it be supposed that there should be so vast a difference betwixt restraint and restraint and that he that is restrained by Authority should have his Liberty prejudiced and yet he that is restrained By anothers Conscience 1 Cor. 10. 29. as the Apostle saith should keep intire And if it should be said this is Occasional but the other is perpetuated by the Order perhaps of a Church I answer that all Orders about Indifferent things are but temporary and are only intended to bond so long as they are for the good of the Community And if they are for continuance that alters not the case For though the Apostle knew his own Liberty and where there was Just Reason could insist upon it yet he did not suppose that could be damnified though for his whole life it was restrain'd For thus he resolves If meat make my Brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the World standeth which certainly he would not have condescended to if such a Practice was not reconcileable to his Exhortation of standing fast in that Liberty c. 3. Therefore to find out the tendency of his Exhortation its fit to understand what Christian Liberty is and that is truly no other than the Liberty which Mankind naturally had before it was restrain'd by particular institution and which is call'd Christian Liberty in opposition to the Jews which had it not under their Law but were restrain'd from the Practice and use of things otherwise and in themselves Lawful by severe Prohibitions Now as all the World was then divided into Jews and Gentiles so the Liberty which the Jews were before denied was call'd Christian because by the coming of Christ all these former restraints were taken off and all the World both Jews and Gentiles did enjoy it And therefore when the Apostle doth exhort them to stand fast in it it was as the Scope of the Epistle doth shew to warn them against returning to that Jewish State and against those who held it necessary for both Jew and Gentile still to observe all the Rites and Orders of it Now if the Usages of a Church were of the same kind or had the same tendency or were alike necessarily impos'd as those of the Mosaical Law then Christians would be concerned in the Apostles Exhortation but where these reasons are not our Liberty is not at all prejudiced by compliance with them As long I say as they are neither peccant in their Nature nor End nor Number they are not unlawful to us nor is our Liberty injur'd in the use of them And so I am brought to the last General which is V. That there is nothing required in our Church which is not either a duty in it self and so necessary to all Christians or else what is indifferent and so may be lawfully used by them By things required I mean such as are used in the Communion and Service of our Church and imposed upon the Lay-members of it for these are the things my Subject doth more especially respect This is a Subject too Copious for me to follow through all the particulars of it and indeed it will be needless for me to enlarge upon it if the foundation I have laid be good and the Rules before given are fit measures for us to Judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of things by for by these we shall soon bring the Cause to an Issue I think there is nothing to be charged upon our Church for being defective in any Essential part of Divine Worship as the Church of Rome is in its Half-Communion nor of any practice that is apparently inconsistent with or that doth defeat the ends of any Institution as the same Church doth offend by having its Service in an unknown Tongue and in the multitudes of its Ceremonies I think it will be acknowledged that the Word of God is sincerely and freely Preached the Sacraments intirely and truly Administred the Prayers for matter inoffensive and good And therefore the matter in dispute is about the Ministration of our Worship and the manner of its performance and I think the things of that kind Objected against refer either to Time or Forms or Gesture To Times such are Festivals or Days set apart for Divine Service to Forms such are our Prayers and the Administration of our Sacraments to Gestures as Standing up at the Creed or Gospels and Kneeling at the Lord's Supper But now all these are either Natural or Moral Circumstances of Action and which as I have shewed are inseparable from it Of the former kind are Days and Gestures of the latter are Forms of Administration and so upon the reasons before given may be lawfully determined and used Again these are not forbidden by any Law either expresly or consequentially and have nothing that is indecent disorderly or unedifying in them and which if any should engage his own opinion and experience in he would be answered in the like kind and have the opinions and experience of Thousands that live in the practice of these to contradict him And if there be nothing of this kind apparent or what can be plainly prov'd as I am apt to beleive there cannot then the Proposition I have laid down needs no further proof But if at last it must issue in things inexpedient to Christians or an unlawfulness in the imposure are either of these fit to be insisted upon when the peace of one of the best Churches in the World is broken by it a lamentable Schism kept up and our Religion brought into imminent hazard by both Alas how near have we been to ruin and I wish I had no reason to say how near are we to it considering the indefatigable industry the united endeavours the matchless policy of those that contrive and desire it Can we think that we are safe as long as there is such an abiding reason to make us suspect it and that our divisions are both fomented and made use of by them to destroy us And if this be our danger and Union as necessary as desirable shall we yet make the breach wider or irreparable by an obstinate contention God forbid O pray for the Peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Let Peace be within thy Walls and Prosperity within thy
Authority for it is not so absurd as may by some be imagined for the Common People to take upon trust from their lawful Teachers what they are not competent Judges of themselves But the difficulty here is how shall a private Christian govern himself when the very Guides and Ministers of Religion determine differently concerning these matters in question amongst us Some warranting and allowing them others as much disapproving and condemning them by what Rule shall he choose his Guide To which I briefly reply 1. As for those who scruple at Conformity and are tolerably able to judge for themselves let not such relye barely upon the Authority either of the one or the other All we desire of them is that they would equally hear both sides that they would think that the Ministers of the Church of England have some Sense and Conscience too as well as other Men and are able to say somewhat for what they do themselves or require of others that laying aside all Prejudices Favour to or admiration of Mens Persons they would weigh and consider the Arguments that may be propounded to them being diffident of their own Apprehensions and indifferent to either part of the Question that they would think it no shame to change their Mind when they see good reason for it Could we thus prevail with the People diligently to examine the Merits of the cause our Church would every day gain more Ground amongst all wise Men for we care not how much Knowledge and Understanding our People have so they be but humble and modest with it nor do we desire Men to become our Proselytes any further than we give them good Scripture and Reason for it 2. But as for those who are not so capable of examining or judging for themselves as few of the common People who separate from us really are they not being able to give any tolerable account of their dissent from us only in general Words declaiming against Popery Superstition Antichristian and Unscriptural Ceremonies Humane Traditions c. such had better trust to and depend on those Ministers of known Sufficiency for their Office who are regularly and by the Laws of the Land set over them than any other Guides or Teachers that they can choose for themselves This to be sure is the safer course which in doubtful cases is always to be taken I speak now of these present Controversies about Forms and Ceremonies so hotly agitated amongst us which are above the Sphere of common People out of their profession not of such things as concern the Salvation of all men which are plain and evident to the meanest Capacities When therefore in such cases about which we cannot easily satisfie our selves we follow the Advice of the publickly authorized Guides and Preachers of Religion if they chance to mislead us we have something to say or apologize for our selves Our Error is more excusable and pardonable as being occasion'd by those to whose Judgment by God's Command we did owe a great Respect and Submission But when we choose Instructors and Counsellors to our selves according to our own Fancy and liking and they teach us contrary to the Doctrine of our lawful Ministers if then we prove to be in the wrong and are betray'd into Sin we may thank our own Wantonness for it and are more severely accomptable for such Mistakes Thus let a Man that is troubled with any threatning disease apply himself rather to the Licensed Physicians or Chyrurgions of approved Skill and Honesty and if he chance to miscarry under them yet he hath this contentment that he used the best and wisest means for his Health and Recovery But if he leaves them all and will hearken only to Quacks and Empiricks tho they advise him quite contrary to what the others prescribed if under their hands he grows worse and worse he must then charge his own perverse Folly or idle Humour as the cause of his Ruine 4. In order to the curing of our Scruples we should thoroughly understand and consider what is the true Notion of lawful and how it differs from what is necessary and from what is sinful That is necessary or our Duty which God hath expresly commanded that is sinful which God hath forbid that is lawful which God hath not by any Law obliging us either commanded or forbid for Where there is no Law saith the Apostle there is no Transgression Rom. 4. 15. There can be no Transgression but either omitting what the Law commands or doing what the Law forbids For instance If any Man can shew where kneeling at the Sacrament is forbid in Scripture where fitting is required where praying by a Form is forbid and extemporary Prayers are enjoyned then indeed the Dispute would soon be at an end but if neither the one nor the other can be found as most certainly they cannot then kneeling at the Sacrament and reading Prayers out of a Book must be reckon'd amongst things lawful And then there is no need of scrupling them because they may be done without Sin nay where they are required by our Superiours it is our Duty to submit to them because it is our Duty to obey them in all lawful things This way of arguing is very plain and convincing and cannot be evaded but by giving another Notion of Lawful And therefore it is commonly said that nothing is lawful especially in the Worship of God which God himself hath not prescribed and appointed or that hath been abused to evil Purposes And on these two Mistakes are chiefly grounded Mens Scruples about indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in God's Worship 1. That only is said to be lawful in God's Worship which he himself hath prescribed and appointed so that this is thought Exception sufficient against the Forms and Usages of our Church that though they are not forbid yet they are no where commanded in Scripture Who hath required these things at your hands Now here I only ask Where our Saviour or his Apostles have forbid us doing any thing in God's Worship which is not by himself commanded or where in the New Testament we are told that God will be angry with us for doing any thing which he hath no where forbid either by general or particular Laws For unless this can be shewn there can be no colour for this Pretence and we are sufficiently sure that no such Place can be produced out of the Bible It is acknowledged by all that the Holy Scriptures as to all that is necessary to be believed or done in order to Salvation as to all the essential and substantial Parts of Divine Worship is a plain and perfect Rule but it is as certain that the outward Circumstances of Time Place Habit and Gesture are not determined in the New Testament as they were in many cases by Moses's Law and yet God cannot be at least visibly and publickly worshipped without them If therefore these be not determined in Scripture and it is unlawful to
we be said to give offence to others in either of these sences by conforming to the Institutions and Rites of the Church of England 1. Not in the first sence for that can onely be in one or both of these two cases either first by doing that which is essentially and in its own nature evil and a sin Or secondly by doing that which is directly a temptation and a snare to induce another to do that which is a sin Now if it can be shewn that complying with the Rites and Service of the Church of England is giving offence in either of these sences then I here profess I will my self immediately turn their Proselyte and renounce Conformity and protest against it for ever 1. It hath scarce ever yet been so much as intimated that the Church of England requires any thing as a condition of Communion with her that is essentially evil None of our adversaries that I know of have yet dared to charge her Doctrine with falshood or her Discipline with any thing that is in it self evil And when any shall adventure to do it I doubt not but he will find enough to enter the lists with him Even our bitterest Enemies of the Romish Communion have dared to charge us no further in either of these but onely that we are defective in both and reject many things which the Church of Christ as they pretend hath believed and practised in the ancient and primitive ages of it They would rather chuse to call us Schismaticks than Hereticks or to prove us Hereticks not because we believe or teach any things for necessary Doctrines which are false but rather because we do not teach or believe all things that are Christian and true Neither do they charge our Liturgy and Service or Form of Worship with any thing that is materially evil no nor redundant but onely deficient in many Usages and Rites which they pretend to be Apostolical And if our own Brethren must be more spightful and bitter against us than our worst Adversaries let them look to it that even they become not their accusers at the great day But yet thanks be to God they have not adventured to do this and will be unsuccessful enough when they do it and therefore themselves free us from giving any offence in our Conformity in this sence of giving offence i. e. doing any thing which is formally a Sin our selves and thereby inducing others into the same evil by joyning with us 2. Neither secondly do I see any one sin that Conformity is directly introductive of or a temptation unto and I will believe it will puzzle the most curious and inquisitive to find out any such I have so much charity for my dear Mother the Church and so much duty I thank God yet left in me as to dare to justifie her from this imputation I am sure she intends no sin in what she doth nor knowns of any evil that her Communion will betray any man into All that she designs in her Doctrine is to teach the truth as it is in Jesus and to keep close to that Symbol of Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints And what she intends and aims at in her Liturgie and Discipline is by the one to keep men from innovating and corrupting that Faith or debauching it in their manners and deteining it in unrighteousness And by the other to direct them to worship God in such a way as is suitable to his own nature and to the Principles of such a holy Religion and thereby conciliate that grace that may enable them to live so as the Worship of such a God and the Belief of such a Religion require and oblige them to do I must confess in one thing the Church of England may be an occasion of a great deal of sin in the world but it is such as will as little advantage our Brethren to have it granted as it will be any disparagement or disadvantage to be caused by it I mean in being an occasion of all that in and guilt that all those bring upon themselves that rail and cry out so much upon it that separate and divide from it and studiously maintain and keep up an unreasonable and downright Schism against it But certainly all men will see that this is an offence onely taken and not given and ought no more to be objected against the Church than Murther and Adultery Theft and Robbery ought to be charged upon the Laws of God that declare the same to be sin Were there no such thing as the Constitution of a Church these men would not be guilty of Schism and unjust Separation from it But so if there were no Law there would be no transgression and Adulterers may as well accuse the Law for their sin in one case as Schismaticks can accuse the Constitution of the Church in the other They are both in this case equally culpable i. e. indeed not at all In a word and to conclude this Period if Piety and becoming expressions of Devotion in the publick Worship of God If Gravity Decency and Order in the Offices of Religion And if engaging men to a due respect and regard to the rules of the Gospel be sins or evils to be eschewed and dreaded by men then I will grant that Conformity to the Church of England may possibly give offence in this sence of giving of it but if not I do not see any reason to apprehend or fear any danger at all of it By these considerations it will appear we are free from giving offence by our Conformity to the Rules of our Church in this first sence of Scandal and giving Offence 2. I proceed therefore now to enquire if we cannot clear our selves sufficiently from it in the second notion of these things also And this I think will best and most plainly be determined by considering what can be thought just cause of sorrow and grief to a good man or a reasonable discouragement or hinderance to him in his way of Duty I mean still cause of these given to him by another Now these I think I may reduce pretty safely to these three Heads 1. Some dishonour offered to God and his Religion 2. The Wickedness and Profaneness of men 3. The making the way of Religion and Duty more cumbersome and difficult than otherwise it would be These are great and just causes of offence and grief to a good man It cannot but greatly afflict a good man to behold his God whom he adores and honours and loves above all things affronted and dishonoured his Laws violated his Authority contemned and trampled upon by daring and foolish men Rivers of waters saith the holy Psalmist run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law Psal 119. 136. And it cannot but be cause of the like sorrow to such a man to see other men for whom he hath a great and concerning charity and whom he loves as his own soul to live in sin
Sins are not thus Deadly For in many things we offend all and as for those Sins which the Regenerate commit through Humane Frailty only they are not thereby put into a state of Damnation And though all Sin be in its own Nature Deadly or Damnable yet through the Mercy of God and the Merits of Christ Sins of meer Infirmity are not imputed to true Believers and therefore not Deadly to them But there are some Sins so heinous that he who Commits them is thereby put into a Damnable state and till he recovers himself by true Repentance and Actual Reformation he cannot upon any good ground promise to himself that the wrath of God does not abide upon him And 't is of such Sins as these that this passage is to be understood as appears by Deadly Sin being added to Fornication From Fornication and all other Deadly Sin Good Lord deliver us So that this Petition seems to be of the same Nature with that of the Psalmist Keep back thy Servant also from presumptuous sins let not them have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great Transgression Psal 19. 13. Whereas therefore these Words of the Litany seem to suppose that some Sins are not Deadly we should be very unjust to make such a Construction of them as if they implyed that some Sins are in their own nature Venial and so slight that they will be forgiven without any consideration for as I have shewn we may hold that distinction which the Words suppose and yet retain that Protestant Doctrine that no Sin is forgiven but through the Mercy of God and the Merits and Mediation of Christ Again some are offended with our praying against Sudden Death But why should we not by Sudden Death understand our being taken out of this World when we are not fit to die For sometimes a thing is said to be Sudden to us when we are not prepared for it And in this sense can any good Christian find fault with the Petition But suppose that by Sudden Death we mean what is commonly understood by it that is a Death of which a Man has not the least warning by Sickness Are there not reasons why even good Men may desire not to die suddenly May they not when they find themselves drawing towards their end by their good Instructions and Admonitions make impression upon their Friends Companions and Relations to the bettering of them May not their Counsels be more effectual with them than ever they were before And is it not reasonable to believe they will be so As for themselves may not the warning they have of Approaching Death be improved to make them more fit to die than they were in their perfect health In a Word he that thinks himself to have sufficiently perfected holiness in the fear of God and not to stand in need of those Acts of Self-Examination Humiliation and Devotion by which good Men improve the warnings of Death which Mortal Sickness or Extream Age gives them let him suspend his Act and refuse to joyn with us when we pray God to deliver us from Sudden Death There is yet another Objection which I should not have named but that some of the Dissenters who seem to understand very little of Religion by making it have it often in their Mouths That is when we pray to be delivered by the Mystery of Christs Holy Incarnation c. by his Agony and Bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion c. and by the coming of the Holy Ghost They say some of them that this is Swearing some that it is Conjuring and I know not what For which sayings favouring of great profaneness they ought to be severely rebuked and that is all the answer they should have were it not that some of them may be grosly ignorant of the true Sense of these Petitions And therefore I say that they might easily suppose if they would give their Minds to it that we pray to be delivered through the Saving Efficacy of Christs Incarnation and Passion c. And yet I do not take this to be the principal meaning or that which was intended For I conceive that to be this that when we say By the Mystery of thy Holy Incarnation and by thy Cross and Passion c. Good Lord deliver us we implore Christ who has already shewed such inestimable goodness towards us by taking our Nature to his Divinity to Die upon the Cross to be Buryed to Rise again to ascend into Heaven and there to intercede with the Father for us and by sending the Holy Ghost to qualifie the Apostles for their great Work of carrying the Word of Salvation into the World I say we implore him who hath already done such mighty things for our Salvation and we plead with him by that goodness which he hath already given us such great demonstrations of by those wonders of Mercy that he hath wrought for us that he would now go on to deliver us by his powerful Grace from these Evils which we pray against And this is so reasonable so devout and affectionate so humble and thankful a way of Praying that I am sorry that any who call themselves Believers should be so ignorant as not to understand it or so profane and unlike what they pretend to be as to deride it Though God does not need to be put in mind of his former benefits towards us yet it is fit for us to mention them in our most earnest Prayers not only because we are to make a grateful acknowledgment of them to him but likewise because by this means we encourage our selves to ask in Faith since he who unaskt hath done such great things for us will not fail upon our earnest and humble prayer which himself also hath required to give us all other good things that we need and to deliver us from all real evils of which we are in danger I proceed next to consider whether there be any just cause to find fault with the reading of the Apocryphal Lessons in our Church And 1. It must be acknowledged by those who allow the usefulness of Sermons and Catechising in the Church that those Chapters may be read in the Church though they are not Divinely inspired Writings since no sober Man will pretend that the Minister Preaches or Catechises by Inspiration But if other good Instructions may be read or recited in the Church besides the Word of God it self why may not some Lessons out of the Apocryphal Books be read which contain excellent Rules of good Life and Exhortations and Encouragements to Virtue and Piety especially since those writings were greatly esteemed by the Church in its purest Ages when they and other Humane Writings were also Publickly read as well as the Holy Scriptures 2. If it be said that those Chapters of Canonical Scripture which are omitted in the Calendar would be more profitably read instead of the Apocryphal Chapters it ought
our Saviour the great friend and lover of souls A command so reasonable so easie so full of blessings and benefits to the faithfull observers of it One would think it were no difficult matter to convince men of their duty in this particular and of the necessity of observing so plain an Institution of our Lord that it were no hard thing to persuade men to their interest and to be willing to partake of those great and manifold blessings which all Christians believe to be promised and made good to the frequent and worthy Receivers of this Sacrament Where then lyes the difficulty what should be the cause of all this backwardness which we see in men to so plain so necessary and so beneficial a duty The truth is men have been greatly discouraged from this Sacrament by the unwary pressing and inculcating of two great truths the danger of the unworthy receiving of this holy Sacrament and the necessity of a due preparation for it Which brings me to the III. Third Particular I proposed which was to endeavour to satisfie the Objections and Scruples which have been raised in the minds of men and particularly of many devout and sincere Christians to their great discouragement from the receiving of this Sacrament at least so frequently as they ought And these Objections I told you are chiefly grounded upon what the Apostle says at the 27th verse Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord. And again ver 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself Upon the mistake and misapplication of these Texts have been grounded two Objections of great force to discourage men from this Sacrament which I shall endeavour with all the tenderness and clearness I can to remove First That the danger of unworthy receiving being so very great it seems the safest way not to receive at all Secondly That so much preparation and worthiness being required in order to our worthy Receiving the more timorous sort of devout Christians can never think themselves duly enough qualified for so sacred an Action 1. That the danger of unworthy receiving being so Obj. 1 very great it seems the safest way wholly to refrain from this Sacrament and not to receive it at all But this Objection is evidently of no force if there be as most certainly there is as great or a greater danger on the other hand viz. in the neglect of this Duty And so though the danger of unworthy receiving be avoided by not receiving yet the danger of neglecting and contemning a plain Institution of Christ is not thereby avoided Surely they in the Parable that refused to come to the marriage-feast of the King's Son and made light of that gracious invitation were at least as faulty as he who came without a wedding garment And we find in the conclusion of the Parable that as he was severely punished for his disrespect so they were destroyed for their disobedience Nay of the two it is the greater sign of contempt wholly to neglect the Sacrament than to partake of it without some due qualification The greatest indisposition that can be for this holy Sacrament is one's being a bad man and he may be as bad and is more likely to continue so who wilfully neglects this Sacrament than he that comes to it with any degree of reverence and preparation though much less than he ought And surely it is very hard for men to come to so solemn an Ordinance without some kind of religious awe upon their spirits and without some good thoughts and resolutions at least for the present If a man that lives in any known wickedness of life do before he receive the Sacrament set himself seriously to be humbled for his sins and to repent of them and to beg God's grace and assistence against them and after the receiving of it does continue for some time in these good resolutions though after a while he may possibly relapse into the same sins again this is some kind of restraint to a wicked life and these good moods and fits of repentance and reformation are much better than a constant and uninterrupted course of sin Even this righteousness which is but as the morning cloud and the early dew which so soon passeth away is better than none And indeed scarce any man can think of coming to the Sacrament but he will by this consideration be excited to some good purposes and put upon some sort of endeavour to amend and reform his life and though he be very much under the bondage and power of evil habits if he do with any competent degree of sincerity and it is his own fault if he do not make use of this excellent means and instrument for the mortifying and subduing of his lusts and for the obtaining of God's grace and assistence it may please God by the use of these means so to abate the force and power of his lusts and to imprint such considerations upon his mind in the receiving of this holy Sacrament and preparing himself for it that he may at last break off his wicked course and become a good man But on the other hand as to those who neglect this Sacrament there is hardly any thing left to restrain them from the greatest enormities of life and to give a check to them in their evil course nothing but the penalty of humane Laws which men may avoid and yet be wicked enough Heretofore men used to be restrained from great and scandalous vices by shame and fear of disgrace and would abstain from many sins out of regard to their honour and reputation among men But men have hardened their faces in this degenerate Age and those gentle restraints of modesty which governed and kept men in order heretofore signifie nothing now adays Blushing is out of fashion and shame is ceased from among the children of men But the Sacrament did always use to lay some kind of restraint upon the worst of men and if it did not wholly reform them it would at least have some good effect upon them for a time If it did not make men good yet it would make them resolve to be so and leave some good thoughts and impressions upon their minds So that I doubt not but it hath been a thing of very bad consequence to discourage men so much from the Sacrament as the way hath been of late years And that many men who were under some kind of check before since they have been driven away from the Sacrament have quite let loose the reins and prostituted themselves to all manner of impiety and vice And among the many ill effects of our past confusions this is none of the least That in many Congregations of this Kingdom Christians were generally disused and deterred from the Sacrament upon a pretence that they were unfit for it and being so they must necessarily incur the
Question proposed for the Resolution whereof I shall 1. Enquire into the Nature of the Holy Sacrament that so we may truly understand what Gesture is agreeable or repugnant to it 2. Shew that the Nature of the Lord's Supper doth not absolutely require and necessarily oblige us to observe a Common Table-Gesture in order to our worthy Receiving 3. That Kneeling is very Comely and agreeable to the Nature of the Lord's Supper though no Table-Gesture 4. That the Primitive Church and Ancient Fathers had no such notion of the necessity of a Table-Gesture as is maintained and urged by Dissenters 1. As to the Nature of the Sacrament I shall endeavour to discover it under these following Heads First the Sacrament in the Holy Scripture is called the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper and and Banquet by the Ancient Greek Fathers because of that Provision and Entertainment which our Lord hath made for all worthy Receivers It is styled a Supper and a Feast either because it was Instituted by Christ at Supper-time at night or because it represents a Supper and a Feast And so it is not of the same Nature with a Civil and Ordinary Supper and Feast though it bear the same name There is some resemblance between this Holy Feast and Civil Feasts and the shewing wherein it lies will in part explain its Nature There are three things Essential and Necessary to a Feast and included in the notion of it Plenty good Company and Mirth And upon the account of these the Sacrament is considered in its own Nature properly a Banquet a Feast but then it is a Heavenly and Spiritual one consisting of Spiritual Graces and benefits Communion with Christ and with all true believers signified by and tendered under the outward Elements of Bread and Wine and even in these three particulars which are Essential to it considered as a Feast and are necessary ingredients into all Feasts whatsoever it very much differs from Civil and Ordinary Feasts For though there be Plenty yet it doth not consist of Variety of Dishes to gratifie our Palats or satisfie our Hunger as other Feasts do and particularly the Passover did where the Body was filled and Feasted as well as the mind The provision wherewith our Lord hath Furnished out his Table is not of an Earthly and perishing but of an Heavenly and Immortal Nature even the Body and Blood of Christ which we Spiritually Feast upon Alas if we only fix our Eyes and Thoughts upon what is placed on the Table and those small portions of Bread and Wine allotted us to Eat and Drink without lifting up our Hearts as * * * So St. Cypr. St. Chrysost and St. Aug. expound this Exhort of the Minister at the Communion Cyp. de orat Dom. Chrys Hom. de Encaeniis Aug. de ver Relig. c. 3. our Church exhorts us to do by the Minister in her Communion-Office to those Heavenly and Invisible good things couched under and signified by the outward Elements of Bread and Wine what is there in all that we see that deserves the name of a Feast or can by the help of any figure but an Irony be called by that name Did ever any Man esteem that a Feast where there was not Meat enough to fill his Mouth nor Drink enough to quench his thirst It is upon the account therefore of those Invisible and Spiritual good things wherewith the Souls not the Bodies of worthy Communicants are Strengthened and Refreshed of which the Bread and Wine are but the Types and Shadows that the Sacrament is and may truly be called a Feast or Banquet And for this reason †††St. Chrys in Ps 90. Greg. Naz. orat 40. Athanasius St. Cyril Hierosol Catech. and others the Greek Fathers called it a Spiritual Feast and the Table a Mystical Table and the Cup the Cup of Mysteries and the Sacrament take it all together was by them Styled the Mystical Supper the Mystery and Mysteries as Presenting one thing to the Eye and another to the Mind 2. As Plenty is one necessary ingredient into the Nature of a Feast so also is Choice and Select Company Feasts are made in expectation of Friends and Acquaintance A Man may Dine alone but in Proper and Ordinary Speech no Man is said to Feast alone Now though the Sacrament doth resemble our Common Feasts in this Particular and therefore hath obtained the name of Communion and the Guests Communicants which Phrases do naturally import Number or Society yet if we consider what the persons are that constitute this Society and with whom Communion is held the Nature of this Spiritual Feast will further appear And truly our Communion is with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost the three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity though principally our Lord Jesus the Master of this Feast in and through whom we all have Eph. 2. 18. access by one Spirit to the Father as St. Paul speaks This high and inestimable priviledge and Honour of being admitted into the Presence of God and holding a friendly Correspondence and Converse with him at his Table is founded on the Blood of Christ which we thankfully Commemorate at this Solemnity by which we who were afar off are made nigh as the same Eph. 2. 13. Divine Writer hath it Moreoever by Eating and Drinking at the Lord's Table we are United to and hold Communion with all Faithful Christians and worthy Communicants the Members of his Mystical Body the Church whom he hath redeemed and cleansed by his most precious Blood And that which qualifies a Man for such Communion doth not Consist in External Garbs or Ornaments of the Body but in Holy and Virtuous Dispositions of Soul in a Penitent Humble Charitable Thankful and Obedient Heart 3. Another thing necessary to a Feast is Mirth and Joy which implies also good discourse and in this too the Sacrament resembles our Common Feasts But then the Joy is of a Spiritual Nature and flows from different Causes Not from what we Tast and See not from our Appetites and Phansies pleased and tickled with the richness and Variety of Dishes which adorn the Table nor from our Blood and Spirits raised and fermented by generous Wines but from Divine and Heavenly Considerations From the Boundless and Unaccountable Love of God in sending his onely Begotten and Beloved Son into the World to lay down his Life and shed his Blood as a propitiation for our Sins from the wonderful Condescention of our Dear Lord and Master in undertaking this hard Task in appearing Clothed with our Flesh in the form of a Servant and at last Humbling himself to the Death of the Cross for our Sakes from the Victory he hath gained for us over Death and Hell and all the Spirits of Darkness from the miraculous Redemption he hath wrought and the Right and Title to Eternal Life which he hath purchased for us Sinful Dust and Ashes by his own most Precious Blood This is
Men if it be to make plain the great things in Religion to the understandings of Men or whatever the import of it is in relation to Faith or Virtue which is the condition of our Salvation it is to be found in this Church whose Constitution is apt and fit to do all this And St. Jude seems to tell us that true Edification was a stranger to those who separated from the common building but those who kept to the Vers 19. Communion of the Church built up themselves in their most holy Faith and pray'd in the Holy Ghost And the honest Christian with greater assurance may expect the Grace and Blessings of Christ and the Divine Spirit whose Promises are made to them who continue in the Communion of the Church and not to them who divide from the Body and have greater hopes of Edification from their Teacher than the Grace of God from Apollos that waters than from Christ the chief Husbandman who gives the encrease 2. This Constitution is us'd and manag'd in the best way by the Pastours of our Church to Edifie the Souls of Men. This will appear if we consider these two things 1. That there are strict Commands under great Penalties laid upon the Pastours of our Church to do this who are not left to their own freedom and private judgment or the force onely of common Christianity upon them thus to improve Mens Souls committed to their charge but have Temporal Mulcts and Ecclesiastical Censures held over them to keep them to their Duty That when they do inform or direct their Flocks about their Belief they should keep to the Analogy of Faith or Form of sound Words Or when they perswade to practice their Rules and Propositions must be according to Godliness That whenever they Exhort or Rebuke Preach or Pray whenever they Direct or Answer the Scruples of Mens Minds in the whole Exercise and Compass of their Ministry they are to have an Eye to the Creed to regard Mercy and Justice the Standard of good Manners in short to preserve Faith and a good Conscience with substantial Devotion which will to the purpose Edifie Mens Souls and effectually save them 2. That these Commands are obey'd by the Pastours of our Church and they do all things in it to Edification For the truth of this we appeal to good Men and wise Men in the Communion of our Church who have Honesty and Judgment to confess this truth and with gratitude acknowledge that the Pastours of the Church of England have led them into the ways of Truth and Righteousness cured their Ignorance and reform'd their Lives and upon good grounds given them an assurance of Heaven To say such as these are prejudic'd and want sincerity and knowledge to pass a judgment is onely to prove what we justly suspect that they want true Edification among themselves and should be better taught the Doctrine of Charity Our Protestant Neighbours impartial Judges will give their Testimony to this Truth who have own'd and commended the Government of this Church condemn'd the Separation magnifi'd the Prudence Piety and Works of her Governours and Pastours and wish'd that they and their charge were under such a Discipline and translated many of their Pious and Learned Works to Edifie and Save their People Our The Unreasonableness of Separation p. 117. dissenting Brethren themselves at least in the good Mood and out of the heat of Dispute give their consent to this that the Instructions and Discourses of our Pastours from their Pulpits are Solid Learned Affectionate and Pious and their only Crime was that sometimes they were too well studied and too good If in the great number of the English Clergy some few may be lazy one particular person may clothe his Doctrine in too gay a dress another talks Scholastically above the capacity of his hearers a third too dully a fourth too nicely and opinionatively and here and there a Pastour answers not the true design of Preaching to inform mens Minds to guide their Consciences and move their Affections what is this to the general Charge That no Edification so good is to be had as in the separate Meetings the pretended Cause of their Separation For 't is no more a true Cause than want of Accommodation or Room in Churches for some to separate where good Edification and Conveniency too may be easily had And since they compel our Pastours to speak well of themselves by their detraction and speaking ill of them they must gladly suffer them as fools boldly to say 2 Cor. 11. 19. That since the Reformation and many hundred years before there hath not been a Clergy so Learned and Pious so Prudent and Painful and every way industrious to Edifie and save the Souls of Men as now is in the English Church The Second Argument to confirm the Answer is That those that usually make this pretence for Separation do commonly mistake better Edification We have prov'd already that good and sufficient Edification to save the Souls of Men is to be had in the English Church For if teaching plainly the Articles of Faith and laying down clearly Rules of Manners using well-composed Prayers and proper Administration of Sacraments be not good and sufficient Edification I know not what Edification means it may be heating of fancy stirring up of humours this or that and Men may as well define the thing they call Wit as what Edification means And therefore to desert the plain and great Duty of our Church-Communion for disputable doubtful or truly mistaken Edification is to be guilty of the sin of Schism In most cases to judge what is better or best is very hard and requires a sincere and considering head and so it is in the business of better Edification which is so easily mistaken especially by the generality of the People who are usually ignorant of such nice things and prejudic'd by their Parties and Affections and are mutable and various according to their fancies For better Edification purer Administrations and Churches and things that are more excellent absolute Perfection and a less defective Way of Worship are hard to understand perplex mens minds and fill them with innumerable doubts and scruples and put them upon refining and purging so long till they weaken and destroy the Spirit of Religion And so they run themselves into a known sin for dark and dispâ—â—able advantages which indeed are only mistakes and principally are these three that follow 1. In taking nice and speculative Notions for great and Edifying Truths When Doctrines have been rais'd only to please the temper of the curious and inquisitive yet have made many think their hearts were warm'd when their heads and fancies were gratifi'd And dark and obscure Discourses about Angels the state of separated Souls and things of the like nature have made Colos 2. 18 some call the Preacher high and mysterious while others teaching the way of Salvation plainly by Faith and a good Conversation
or their great Modesty and Fear of being out as we speak compells them to keep their Eye constantly upon their Notes as they and others have the forenamed advantages by it so no Man can be in the least prejudiced by it who will but turn his Eyes another way and not look upon the Preacher Then the Sermon will sound as well as if it were all pronounced without Book or if this make it unprofitable by the same reason the Holy Scriptures become unprofitable when they are read out of the Bible and they also must be got without Book to make them edifying Nay this exception will lye also against some of your own Preachers of great note who read every word I am sure they did so heretofore and this was then thought no hindrance to your profiting by them or if it were you heard them when you could not profit by them so as you could by those that did not read And so you may do now by our Preachers of this kind nay so you ought to do when you have nothing to say against them but what they are equally chargeable withal whom you highly commend III. But after all I have some reason to fear that when men complain they cannot profit by our Sermons they mean nothing by profiting but that their affections are not moved in the hearing of them so as they are by the Sermons of Nonconformists Unto which I have many things to say if this Paper would contain them but it will be sufficient to touch only upon these three 1. That Men have several Talents both among you and among us which are all very profitable Some for informing the Judgment others for moving the Affections and others which is most desirable for both you are not able to say that all yours move you so as some do and yet you make such account of all that it hath ever been lookt upon as a very disorderly thing among your selves and worse than that I shall prove by and by for People to run from their own Minister to hear some other though of the same way meerly to have the affections more moved Because 2. This alone is so far from profiting by Sermons that it is very great unprofitableness to be moved by a Sermon and do nothing thereupon but only commend it That is to be tickled and pleased a while but not altered nor changed a whit or to be warmed perhaps a little for the present and then left as cold as a stone without any spiritual life or indeavour to be the better 3. But the great thing of all is this that affections raised meerly by the earnestness of the Preacher at present in the hearing of a Sermon and it is well if the affections which some People speak of be not Motions which they feel meerly from the tone of the voice as from a taking phrase a similitude or some such trifle are nothing comparable to those which we raise by Gods blessing upon our own serious consideration when we reflect upon what we have heard which sort of most excellent affections the Sermons that are preached in our Churches cannot fail to produce if you please but to attend to the matter of them and press them upon your Hearts Nay your Judgments being well informed it would not be hard for you if you would but take a little pains with your selves to excite such affections unto that which you know to be your Duty as would abide and remain when the others that were excited in the hearing of a Sermon are gone and quite vanished and can never be recalled but by your own serious Meditation upon those Divine Truths which entred into your Mind and would have touched nay peirced your Hearts if you would have brought them thither and held them close to your Consciences Which ought to be every Christians care more than I doubt it is in order to their profiting by Sermons and that they may not be barren and unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ IV. And now it is time for all those who are concerned in what hath been said to apply it to the present case and going down into themselves to enquire where the fault must necessarily lye if the Sermons preached by our Ministers have proved unprofitable to them which supposeth that they who object this against coming to Church have come heretofore at least to the Sermon but went away and came no more because they reaped no benefit thereby Else how can they pretend that our Sermons are unprofitable if they never heard them Now I have demonstrated that the blame cannot be justly cast upon the Sermons which in themselves are every way fitted to do Men good and therefore we must seek for the cause of this Unprofitableness some where else and where are we so likely to find it as in those that heard the Sermons Whom I beseech in the fear of God by whose Word we must one day be all judged to consider with themselves impartially and to ask their Consciences such Questions as these 1. Quest Had you not some Prejudice in your Mind against the Person of the Minister whom you came to hear either upon the score of his Conformity or of his strictness in it or some other account If you had and carried it along with you there is great Reason to think this made his Pains unprofitable to you because you could not hear him with that indifference which you would have heared another man withal But looking upon him perhaps as a Time-server as the Language of some hath been a Formalist or one who you presumed before-hand had little or nothing of the Spirit in him you minded not so much what was said as who said it and disliked those things which out of another Mouth you would have accepted For if such Prejudices as these be not laid aside they bar the Heart so strongly against the most excellent Instructions that though an Angel from Heaven should deliver to us the most Important Truths yet we taking him for a Minister of Satan it would stop our Ears against him and make his Message ineffectual 2. Quest Or might not this be rhe reason of your reaping no benefit that you came to Church but once or twice and concluded too hastily there was no Good to be got there being willing also perhaps to have this excuse for absenting your self wholly from it whereas if you had constantly attended our Ministry you might have found your selves so much improved thereby as never to have thought of leaving the Church upon this account that you could not profit in it Make a Tryal now for it is not too late I hope if you can shake off all Prejudices and for some time continue diligent Auditors of the Minister of your Parish and that which at first may seem to you dull or hard or obscure will after you are used to it be clear easie and awakning when you are acquainted that
of Antient Friends * * * See Spirit of the Hart. p. 12 13 c. George Fox declar'd he had Power to bind and loose whom he pleased †††p â—7 and said in a great Assembly * * * p. 41. that he never lik'd the Word Liberty of Conscience and would have no Liberty given to Presbyterians Papists Independents and Baptists From the Subordinate End of the Dissenters I pass The Principal End of the Dissenters the first part of it to the Principal and begin with the first part of it the removal of Popery A very good and commendable end And I heartily pray to God to prosper all Christians who persue it by fit and lawful ways But the Methods of Dissenters do not so well lead to it as those of the established Church Bare Reason maketh this manifest It may be also proved to us by Historical Inference This likewise is the Judgment of the Papists themselves who take their measures from this Principle that they shall enter in through the Breaches of the Church of England First Common Reason sheweth that the Interruption which may by Dissension be given to this Church will rather weaken than improve the Protestants Interest both at home and abroad Abroad the Protestant Interest will suffer much in the overthrow of this Church For by such means a principal Wheel is taken out of the Frame of the Reformation Nay Signior Diodati * * * Florentissima Anâ—lia Ocellus ille Ecclesiarum Peculium Christi singulare c. was wont to praise it in a more excellent Metaphor and to call it the Eye of the Reformed Churches and it is plain to considering Men that the Church of England which had greater regard to the Primitive Pattern than some others of the Reformation can give a more full and unperplexed answer to all the Objections of the Romanists than some other Churches who are cramped in a few points unwarily admitted If therefore Dissentions put out this eye of the Protestant Churches the dark Doctrines and Traditions of Popery will the sooner spread themselves over Reformed Christendom At Home the Dissettlement of the Church of England will sooner introduce than root out Popery I am constrain'd thus to judge by the following Considerations First the design of keeping out Popery by the Ruine of this Church is like the preposterous way of securing the Vineyard by pulling up of the Fence or of keeping out the Enemy by the removal of our Bullwark Under that name this Church is commonly spoken of and they do not flatter it who give it that Title â—ts Constitution is Christian and it is strong in its Nature and if such a Church hath not ability with God's assistance to resist the assaults of Romish Power much less have they who dissent from it And it is Fanaticism properly so called or Religious Frenzie to lay aside a more probable means and to trust that God will give to means which are much less probable supernatural aid and success God supporteth a good Cause by weak means if they are the only means he hath put into our power against a bad Cause though externally potent But he who in cases of emergence assisteth honest Impotence and Infirmity will never work Miracles in favour of Mens Presumptions and Indiscretions The Romanists are a mighty body of Men and though there are Intestine Fewds betwixt the Secular and Regular Clergy as likewise betwixt the several Orders yet they are all united into one common Politie and grafted into that one stock of the Papal Headship They are favoured in many places by great Men they have variety of Learning they pretend to great Antiquity to Miracles to Martyrs without number to extraordinary Charity and Mortification they have the Nerves of worldly Power that is banks of Money and a large Revenue They have a Scheme of Policy always in readiness there are great numbers of Emissaries posted in all places for the conveying of Intelligence and the gaining of Proselytes they take upon them all shapes and are bred to all the wordly Arts of Insinuation There is given to their way in the Jargon of Mr. Coleman * * * Coll. of Lett. p. 8. c. a very fit name of Trade Traffick Merchandize Against all this Craft and Strength what under God can Protestants oppose which is equal to the Power of the Church of England A Church Primitive learned pure and nor embased with the mixtures of Enthusiasm or Superstition A Church which is able to detect the Forgeries and Impostures of Rome which hath not given advantage to her by running from her into any extream which is a National Body already formed a Body both Christian and Legal a Body which commendeth it self to the Civil Powers by the Loyalty of its Constitution a body which hath in it great numbers of People judiciously devout and who are judged only to be few * * * See L. de Moulin's Advances c. p. 26. because they are not noysie but prudent though truly exemplary in their Religion And there is in the Church of England something more considerable than number for Union is stronger than Multitude Take the Character of this Church from Monsieur Daille * * * De Confess Advers H. Hammond c. 1. p. 97. 98. a Man whose Circumstances where not likely to lead him in this matter into any partiality of judgment and who at that time was engag'd in a learned Controversy with one of our Divines The Character is this As to the Church of England purged from Forein wicked Superstitious Worships and Errors either Impious or dangerous by the Rule of the Divine Scriptures approved by so many and such illustrious Martyrs abounding with Piety towards God and Charity towards Men and with most frequent examples of good works flourishing with an increase of most learned and wise men from the beginning of the Reformation to this time I have always had it in just esteem and till I die I shall continue in the same due Veneration of it And indeed it is to me a matter of astonishment that any men who have been beyond the Seas and made Observations upon other Churches and States should be displeased at Ours which so much excel them Now is it probable that such a Church as this is should have less strength in it for the resisting of Popery than an inferior number of divided Parties of which the most Sober and most Accomplish'd is neither so Primitive nor so learned nor so united nor so numerous nor so legal And against which it will be objected by the Romans that it is of Yesterday Amongst these Parties there are some who have not fully declared themselves And who knows whether they have not a Reserve for the Romish Religion against a favourable Opportunity though sometimes they speak of Rome as of Babylon I mean those People who are called Quakers who speak in general of their Light
and in such doubtful manner that Inquisitive Men cannot yet understand from what quarter of the Heavens it shineth The Men of design amongst them may embrace any Religion and the melancholy will make a tolerable Order amongst the Romans and the Priests will find for them a second St. Bruno Again There are some who though they have declared themselves against Popery yet they have scarce any formed way of keeping it out For what hindreth a crafty Jesuit from gathering a particular Congregation out of many others and modelling of it by degrees according to his pleasure and what a gap do they leave open for Seducers who take out of the way all Legal Tests and admit Men who are Strangers to them to officiate amongst them upon bare pretence of Spiritual Illumination Furthermore the Romanists have more powerful ways of drawing Men from the Parties of the Dissenters than they have of enticing them from the Church of England for such Men too frequently go out from us through weakness of imagination for which the Church of Rome hath variety of Gratifications They will offer to the Severe such strictnesses as are not consistent with the general Laws of a National Church which being framed for Men of such various Conditions must have some Scope and Latitude though no licence in it and many of those who now joyn themselves to the Dissenting Parties would then chuse to be admitted as Members of this or the other Superstitious Fraternity And it is at least my private Conjecture that if the Revenue of the Religious Houses which were dissolved had been judiciously applyed to the service of Men either weak in mind or indisposed by temper or singular in their Inclinations amongst the Reformed there might have been a Diversity here I mean such as there is in our present Colleges without a Schism Likewise they have Mental Prayer and as they call them Spiritual Eructations for those who contemn or scruple forms * * * See Rational Discourse of Prayer chiefly of Mystic Contemplation chap. 14. pag. 74. They have mystical Phrases for such who think they have a new Notion when they darken understanding with Words And accordingly the third part of the Rule of Perfection a very mystical Book written by Father Benet a Capuchin was in the Year 46 reprinted in London * * * A Bright Star centring in Christ our perfection Printed for H. Overton in Popes-Head Alley 1646. with a new Title and without the Name of the Author and it passed amongst some of the Parties for a Book containing very sublime Evangelical Truths And it pleased some Enthusiasts when they read in it That Christ's Passion was to be practis'd and beheld as it was in our selves rather than that which is considered at Jerusalem * * * Ch. 18. p. 189. Also they use much gesture and great shew of Zeal in preaching and have singular ways of moving the zealous temper of the English from whence some of them in Rome it self had the Name of Knock-breasts * * * Picchia-Petti Inglesi S. R. C. Pâ—sth p. 125. given to them A Romish Preacher comes forth out of an obscure Cloyster into the Pulpit and appears all heavenly in the Exercise And having excited a warmth in their affection he retires again and does not mix with Conversation and is not observed as other Ministers by many eyes and the People never seeing him but in this Divine Figure look upon him as an Angel coming to them out of Heaven and then ascending thither again It may be observed also that the Romanists have greater shews of self-denial for the moving of English Piety than the Dissenters They have rough Cords mean Garments bare Feet Disciplines Whips Pretences of not touching Money or enjoying Property though some of these are often no other than Arts used by ordinary Beggars Again they have ways not only of humouring the infirmity but even the Foppishness of Humane Nature Processions and other Rites of the Romish Religion are so ordered as to be Games for Diversion and the Mass with Scenes pleaseth though it be not understood Dissenters do now think that Popery may be very easily subdued by their Arms But if Recluses were once crept out of their dark Cells as Serpents from under the deadly night-shade they would have cause to alter their Opinions and not to think too highly of themselves after a wilful removal of the Church of England which is sufficient under God for this Encounter This Church designs to make Men good by making them first Judicious as far as means can do it But some others desire to bring them to their side by catching of their Imaginations and by that way they can neither reform nor fix them Some new Device shall in time bring them over to a new Party Dissention it self amongst Protestants weakneth their Interest and that which weakens one side strengthens another And many men entangled in Controversy and wearied with endless wrangling are too apt for mere ease and quiet sake to cast themselves in servile manner into the Arms of pretended Infallibility Our Dissentions have already introduced too much of that which is the very spirit of Jesuitism the doing of Evil that pretended Good may come of it the serving of a Cause by any means whether they be just or unjust Some Dissenters do accidentally prepare the way for Romish Religion by running into an other extream upon pretence of avoiding Popery by decrying the Church of England as Antichristian and Popish and by condemning that as Popish which is Christian and decent As Episcopacy Liturgy Observations of the Nativity of Christ and other Festivals Reverence of bodily Gesture particularly in receiving the Holy Communion Preservation of places and things set apart for Holy uses with reverend care By this means they bring Popery into Reputation Men will be apt to say if such a Body as the Church of England be Popish it is sit we sit down and consider of it for surely they are not so inclined without weighty Reasons If the Clergy of it be inclined to that Religion the Introduction of which together with great numbers of the Popish-Clergy will diminish their preferment it must be the Power of the Truth which moveth them against their worldly Interest They will continue their Argument and say further If such good things as these abovementioned be Romish and it be lawful to judge of the whole by the parts of it which are before us surely that which is Popish is also Primitive and Evangelical That which we have examin'd is good and that which we have not may probably be of the same kind Secondly the History of our late Revolutions sheweth that Popery will not be smother'd in the Ruines of the Church of England but rather be advanced upon them It made great Progress in the late Times insomuch that the Dissenters do remove the Odium of the late King 's execrable Murther from themselves and
the worldly increase with their Power And for illustration-sake when the House being garbell'd had much less right but more force the Army as yet agreeing with them and the good King being in their hands than they gave to the Declarations of their Pleasure the Title not as before of Ordinances but of Acts of Parliament * * * Whill Memoirs p. 363. Oliver likewise declared plainly That there was as much need to keep the Cause by Power as to get it And being potent he entred the House and mock'd at his Masters and commanded with insolent disdain that That Bawble * * * Speech at the Dissol of the House Jan. 22. 1654. p. 22 meaning the Mace of the Speaker should be taken away Men may intend well but using the help of the illegal secular Arm they can never secure * * * Id. ibid. â— 529. what they propose but frequently render that which was well settled much worse by their unhinging of it But such means it comes to pass that the Civil State is embroyl'd and Religion sensibly decays in stead of growing towards perfection where publick order is interrupted and Men gain a Liberty which they know not how to use Secondly It appeareth by the History of our late Revolutions which began with pretence of a more pure Religion that our Dissentions occasion'd great Corruptions both in Faith and manners Then the War was Preached up as the Christian Cause And one of the City-Soldiers mortally wounded at Newberry-fight was applauded in an Epistle * * * Hill 's Ser. called Temple work A. 1644. to the Houses as one whose Voice was more than humane when he cryed out O that I had another Life to lose for Jesus Christ Then this Doctrine so very immoral and unchristian was by some * * * D. Crisp in Ser. called Our sins are already laid on Christ p 274 275. Preached and by great numbers embrac'd The Lord hath no more to lay to the charge of an Elect Person yet in the heighth of Iniquity and the excess of Riot and committing all the Abominations that can be committed than he hath to lay to the charge of a Saint Triumphant in Glory Then certain Soldiers * * * H. of Indep part 2. p 152 153. enter'd a Church with five Lights as Emblems of five things thought fit to be extinguish'd viz. The Lord's-day Tythes Ministers Magistrates the Bible Then by a publick Intelligencer who called himself Mercurius Britanicus ** ** ** Merc. Brit. N 13. Nov. A. 43 p. 97. the Lord Primate Vsher himself was reproach'd as an Old Doting Apostating Bishop Instances are endless but what need have we of further Witnesses than the Lords and Commons and the Ministers of the Province of London whose Complaints and Acknowledgments are here subjoyned The Lords and Commons in one of their Ordinances * * * Die Jovâ—z Febr. 4 1646. use these words We have thought fit lest we partake in other Mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their Plagues to set forth this our deep sense of the great dishonour of God and perillous condition that this Kingdom is in through the abominable Blasphemies and damnable Heresies vented and spread abroad therein tending to the Subversion of the Faith contempt of the Ministry and Ordinance of Jesus Christ The Ministers made a like acknowledgment saying Instead ** ** ** Testim to Truth of J. Chr. p. 31. of extirpating Heresie Schism Profaness we have such an impudent and general inundation of all these evils that Multitudes are not asham'd to press and plead for publick formal and universal Toleration And again We the Ministers of Jesus Christ do hereby testify to all our Flocks to all the Kingdom and to all the Reformed Churches as our great dislike of Pilacy Erastianism Brownism and Independency so our utter abhorrence of Anti-Scripturism Popery Arianism Socinianism Arminianism Antimonianism Anabaptism Libertinism and Familism with all such like now too rife among us Thirdly some Dissenters by the Purity of Religion mean agreeableness of Doctrine Discipline and Life to the dispensation of the New Testament and a removal of humane Inventions and thus far the Notion is true but with reference to our Church it is an unwarrantable Reflexion For it hath but one Principal Rule and that is the Holy Scripture and Subordinate rules in pursuance of the general Canons in Holy Writ are not to be called in our Church any more than in the pure and Primitive Christian Church whose Pattern it follows humane Imaginations but rules of Ecclesiastical Wisdom and Discretion But there are others among the Dissenters who by the Purity of Religion mean a simplicity as oppos'd to composition and not to such mixtures as corrupt the Circumstances or parts of Worship which in themselves are pure Quakers and some others believe their way the purer because they have taken out of it Sacraments and External Forms of Worship and endeavoured as they phrase it * * * G. Fox in J. Perrot's Hidden things brought to light p. 11. to bring the Peoples minds out of all Visibles By equal reason the Papists may say their Eucharist is more pure than that of the Protestants because they have taken the Cup from it But that which maketh a pure Church is like that which maketh a pure Medicine not the fewness of the Ingredients but the good quality of them how many soever they be and the aptness of their Nature for the procuring of Health Men who have this false Notion of the purity of Religion distill it till it evaporates and all that is left is a dead and corrupt Sediment And here I have judged the following words of Sir Walter Rawleigh not unfit to be by me transcribed and considered by all * * * Hist of the World l. 2. 1. part c. 5. p. 249. The Reverend Care which Moses had in all that belong'd even to the outward and least parts of the Tabernacle Ark and Sanctury is now so forgotten and cast away in this Superfine Age by those of the Family by the Anabaptist Brownist and other Sectaries as all cost and care bestow'd and had of the Church wherein God is to be served and worshipped is accounted a kind of Popery and as proceeding from an Idolatrous Disposition Insomuch as time would soon bring to pass if it were not resisted that God would be turned out of Churches into Barns and from thence again into the Fields and Mountains and under the Hedges and the Officers of the Ministry robbed of all Dignity and Respect be as contemptible as these places all Order Discipline and Church-Government left to newness of Opinion and Men's Fancies Yea and soon after as many kinds of Religions would spring up as there are Parish Churches within England Every Contentious and ignorant person clothing his Fancy with the Spirit of God and his Imagination with the gift of
He was an eminent Minister of the Presbyterian Party Epist Dedicat to Gangraen print 1646. One who as he tells the Parliament had out of Choice and Judgment from the very beginning Embarqued himself with Wife Children and Estate and all that was dear to him in the same Ship with them to sink and perish or to come safe to Land with them and that in the most doubtful and difficult Times not only in the beginning of the War and Troubles in a Malignant place among Courtiers where he had Pleaded their Cause justified their Wars and Satisfied many that Scrupled but when their Affairs were at lowest had been most Zealous for them Preaching Praying stirring up the People to stand for them and had both gone out in Person and lent Mony to them He held Correspondence with considerable Persons in all parts of the Nation and was careful to have the best Intelligence from all Quarters and professes to lay down the Opinion and Errours which he mentions in terminis and in their own Words and Phrases Syllabically and as near as might be Now amongst infinite other things he tells us Catal. and discov of Errors p. 15 c. vid. 2 d. Part. p. 5. 22. 24 27. 105. 110. fresh discov p. 115. 16â— alibi passim 't was then commonly maintained That the Scriptures cannot be said to be the Word of God and are no more to be Credited than the Writings of men being not a divine but Humane Tradition that God has a Hand in and is the Author of the Sinfulness of his People not of the Actions alone but of the very Pravity which is in them that all Lies come forth out of his Mouth that the Prince of the Air that Rules in the Children of Disobedience is God that in the Unity of the God-head there is not a Trinity of Persons but that it is a Popish Tradition that the Doctrine of Repentance is a Soul-destroying Doctrine and that Children are not bound to Obey their Parents at all if they be Ungodly that the Soul of Man is Mortal as the Soul of a Beast that there is no Resurrection at all of the Bodies of Men nor Heaven nor Hell after this Life I instance only in these as a Tast not that they are all or the Hundred part no nor the worst there being other Blasphemies and Impieties which my Pen trembles to Relate Secondly The Liturgy of our Church being discharged and thrown out and every one left to his own liberty 't is scarce possible to believe what wild and prodigious Extravagancies were upon all occasions used in holy things not in Preaching only but especially in Prayer the most immediate Act of Worship and Address to God It is an affront to the Majesty of Religious Worship that there should be any thing in it Childish and Trivial Absurd and Frivolous that its Sacred Mysteries should be exposed to Contempt and Scandal by that Levity and distraction that heat and Boldness those weaknesses and Indiscretions those Loose Raw and Incongruous Effusions which in most Congregations of those Times did too commonly attend it But the things I intend to Instance in are of a far worse colour and complexion for whose Ears would it not make to tingle to hear men in the Pulpit telling God That if he did not finish the good Work which he had begun View of the late troubles in Eng. cap. 43. p. 567 c. See also Edwards Gang 3 d. Part a little before in the Reformation of the Church he would shew himself to be the God of Confusion and such a One as by cunning Stratagems had contrived the Destruction of his own Children That God would bless the King and Mollifie his hard Heart that delights in Blood for that he was fallen from Faith in God and become an Enemy to his Church let thine Hand we pray thee O Lord our God be upon him and upon his Fathers p. 17. House but not upon thy people that they should be Plagued O God O God many are the Hands lift up against us but there is one God it is thou thy self O Father who dost us more Mischief than they all We know O Lord that Abraham made a Covenant Moses and David made a Covenant and our Saviour made a Covenant but thy Parliaments Covenant is the greatest of all Covenants I presume the Devout and Serious Reader desires no more of such intolerable Profane and Lewd Stuff as this is They that are curious of more may find it besides others in The short view of the late Troubles in England where Times Places and Persons are Particularly named Thirdly The Fences of Order and Discipline in the Church of England being broken down what a horrid Inundation of all manner of Vice and Wickedness did immediatly over-flow the Land The Assembly at Westminster Petitioned the Parliament That July 19. 1644. some Severe Course might be taken against Fornication Adultery and Incest which sry they do greatly abound especially of late by reason of Impunity Further discov p. 187. 3 d. Part p. 185 c. And Mr. Edwards speaking of the whole Tribe of Sectaries tells us He was confident that for this many Hundred Years there had not been a Party that hath pretended to so much Holiness Strictness power of Godliness tenderness of Conscience above all other Men as this Party hath â—lone that hath been guilty of so great Sins horrible wickedness provoking Abominations as they are with much more both there and elsewhere to the same purpose and the Charge very often made good by particular Instances So that indeed Hell seemed to have broke loose and to have Invaded all Quarters in despite of their Covenant and all the little Schemes of their so much Magnified Reformation The Covenant Cries God grant not against you for Reformation of the Kingdom the Extirpation of Heresies Schisms Profaneness c. and these Impieties abound as if we had taken a Covenant to maintain them and since it was taken these Sins which we have Covenanted against have more abounded than in the space of Ten Times so many Years before as Mr. Jenkin tells the Lords in Parliament And that all East Sermon Jan. 27. 1646. p. 29. that I have mentioned which yet is â—nfinitely short of what might be said was the effect of the Ruin of the Church of England and let in by the Method they took for Reformation we have from their own confessions We says Mr. Edwards in these Four Cat. and discov p. 73 74 76. last Years have over-passed the Deeds of the Prelates and justified the Bishops in whose time never so many nor so great Errours were heard of much less such Blasphemies or Confusions we have worse things among us than ever were in all the Bishops Days more corrupt Doctrines and unheard of Practices than in Eighty Years before I am persuaded if Seven Years ago the Bishops and their Chaplains had but Preached