but divers Churches distinguished by their several places of Assembling as one Parish-church from another and by diversity of External Order as the allowed Congregations of Foreigners in London from the Parish churches The same true Religion for the substance thereof is exercised and the same holy ends are pursued in the one and the other And there will be no opposition between them but what an unchristian Enmity proceeding from Worldly lusts and interests will produce If any object the inconveniencies that may follow the permitting of Church-Assemblies besides those of the established Order I have this to reply 1. Our Rulers may so provide if the Clergy would â—ot gainsay that few may stand in need of that permission in comparison of those that now do and the way is to fix the terms of Church-communion and Ministerial Liberty so as to comprehend all sober Protestants and this is done by requiring no more as necessary to the one or the other than what Christ hath made necessary thereunto 2. After such Comprehension setled the Toleration of all tolerable Dissenters within such limits as will secure publick peace and safety is more agreeable to the wisdom and clemency of Rulers and the charity of Christians than the Rigorous constraining of the said Dissenters to what they cannot bear and the restraining of them from the liberty of serving God according to their eonsciences 3. But if the present state of things must continue the inconveniences that may follow the present practise of the Protestant Nonconformists are far less than what will follow the deserting of their Ministry and the neglect of fouls in so great a need of their help The considerations aforegoing I submit to the judgment of impartial Readers in reference to the case of Protestant Nonconformists of whom I am Moreover I judg it necessary to give some account of my own principles and practice I have not wilfully forsaken my Ministerial station in the established Order but am driven from it I am ready to make Oath before any that have power to administer it to me That my conscience is not satisfied that it is lawful to observe all the terms that are imposed Let it be noted That I do not affirm the unlawfulness of the terms but that they are unlawful to me in regard of my conscience and I am ready to render Reasons of my dissatisfaction It hath been alledged That so much hath been written for Conformity as may satisfie any that have a mind to be satisfied But I profess in his sight who knows my heart That I have a mind to be satisfied if I knew how I set up no Faction or severed Party against the common interest of Religion but according to my mean ability I seek the edification peace and concord of all Christians of all persuasions and the encrease of true godliness among them all I renounce not Parochial Churches as no true Churches I have not forsaken the communion of such Churches nor encouraged others to forsake them but have communicated with them in the Worship of God and so shall do and this my principle and practice I am not sparing to declare to my friends that are of another mind in this particular Nevertheless where a Parish Minister is utterly unmeet for the charge of souls I cannot encourage any to commit the charge of their souls to him But as for all conscientious and faithful Conformists I highly prize them for their works sake and seek to promote their Reputation and the success of their Labours I will thankfully accept the liberty of Ministeral imployment in the said Churches when it shall be granted me And for the obtaining of my liberty I am ready to submit not only to whatsoever is in specie or particularly injoined in Gods word but to whatsoever is necessary in genere and left in specie to humane determination if it be determined according to the general Rules of Gods Word I have given an account of my self according to the latitude of my own principles but I have not done it to the prejudice of others that are of sound faith and good life but of narrower principles touching Church-government for by the considerations here propounded their due liberty is provided for § 5. That I do not violate the Authority of the Civil Magistrate I AM licensed by the King to be a Teacher and to teach in any place licensed and allowed by him His Majesty hath declared the same to be grounded on his Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs In the last Law against Conventicles it is provided That neither that Act nor any thing contained therein shall extend to invalidate or avoid his Majesty's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs Of my License granted by his Majesty there hath been no Revocation that I know of If upon Reasons of State it hath seemed good to hiâ— Majesty to grant no more Licenses since such a time I do not see that it follows thereupon that he hath made void the Licenses that he hath granted His Majesty hath graciously declared That he had seen better effects of one years Indulgence than of many years severity before that time Tho the Parliament were dissatisfied in the way of the Kings granting the Indulgence yet they approved the thing it self and accordingly passed a Bill for the grant of it tho by occasion of their speedy Recess it passed not into a Law It appears that the Parliament hath the matter of Indulgence or Liberty to Dissenters still under consideration by the Bill of Comprehension which at their last meeting was voted in the House of Lords with the concurrence of divers Bishops but their Prorogation hindered the compleating thereof Now when this is the sense both of King and Parliament about this matter I humbly hope that our Superiors will take it into their prudent consideration and be favourable to honest and peaceable people under their Jurisdiction But supposing tho not granting that my License is not in force I proceed to some other considerations I acknowledg the Kings Supremacy in all causes and over all persons Civil and Ecclesiastical As the power given to Spiritual Pastors is declared in Scripture to be given for edification and not for destruction so the power given to the Civil Magistrate in matters Ecclesiastical is given to the same intent As in Naturals the inferior subordinate causes have no power of acting against the efficacy of the Superior so in Morals the inferior Ruler hath no authority against the Superior Therefore if Magistrates being all of them subordinate to God shall command any thing contrary to his Law such their command cannot beget an obligation on the subjâ—ct to fulfil it tho the subject must not Resist their power The Civil Magistrate notwithstanding his Authority in Ectlesiâ—sticks cannot discharge any Minister of the Gospel from the exercise of his Ministry in those circumstances wherein Christ commands him to exercise it The Civil Magistrate is to judg what laws are fit for him to enact and execute about Ecclesiastical matters and the Ministers of the Gospel have a right of discerning which is called a judgment of discretion about their own pastoral acts what they ought and what they ought not to do according to Gods word otherwise they must be held obliged to a Blind Popish Brutish Obedience But whatsoever the Ministers discern to be their duty to do they ought to do the same only in such ways as are consistent with their Loyalty to God and the King The Bishop hath no external jurisdiction in his publick Courts but what is derived from the King as Supream and the Ecclesiastical Laws by which the Bishop is to proceed are the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws Consequently no Minister that lives under any Bishops Jurisdiction which is but derived can be obliged to obey the Bishop proceeding in his Court any further than he is obliged to obey the King who hath the supreme jurisdiction under God and Christ and that is no further than is consistent with obedience to God I Presented this clear and open defence with desire and expectation of his Lordships answer in writing according to his promise as I apprehended but he refused to receive it I trust through the grace of God that I am ready to renounce any error whereof I shall be convicted and to receive any truth that shall be made manifest to me And I give this account before men in the sense of that great account which I must give to the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of Souls who searcheth the hearts and reins and will give unto every one according to his works FINIS Several Tracts not yet Printed prepared for the Press and left under Mr. John Corbet's own hand-writing intended shortly to be published are as follows 1. THE true State of the Ancient Episcopacy 2. The present Ecclesiastical Government compared with the Ancient Episcopacy 3. A Consideration of the present State of Conformity in the Church of England 4. A Discourse of the Church and of the Ministry thereof 5. A Tract of Certainty and Infallibility 6. Of divine Worship in three parts 1. Of the Nature Kinds Parts and Adjuncts of Divine Worship 2. Of Idolatry 3. Of Superstition less than Idolatry 7. Matrimonial Purity Those already lately Printed of Mr. John Corbet's are 1. Kingdom of God among men with a A Discourse of Church-Unity and Schism 80. 2. Self-Imployment in secret 3. An Account given of the Principles and Practises of several Nonconformists 4. An humble endeavour of some plain and brief Explication of the Decrees and Operations of God about the free Actions of Men. More especially of the Operations of Divine Grace
THE Nonconformist's PLEA FOR LAY-COMMUNION WITH THE Church of ENGLAND Together with a Modest Defence of Ministerial Nonconformity and the Exercise of their Ministry By Mr. JOHN CORBET late of CHICHESTER LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1683. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER HERE thou hast some Remains of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Corbet late of Chichester Those that knew him say that he was a man endued with the wisdom that is from above that is first pure and then peaceable gentle meek moderate and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisie therefore it is conceived that any thing which he had designed for publick use may be well accepted of by all those that desire to follow after peace with all men so far as is consistent with purity Whether the design of these Remains of his be not to vindicate the truth and to promote purity first and then peace is left to thee to judg after thou hast impartially perused and considered them in the fear of God and if in any measure they conduce to so good an end it is hoped thou wilt be thankful to God for the benefit which the Church of Christ and therein thy felf mayst receive by the use of them Thou hast them just as they were left under his own hand if himself had lived to publish them thou mightest possibly have had them in some better method but it is not thought sit that any other person should take upon him to alter any thing in them The Nonconformists Plea for Lay-Communion with the Church of England c. NOtwithstanding my Nonconformity and the exercise of my Ministry in that state I am inclined upon the following considerarions to have communion with Parish-Churches in the worship of God at those times in which our own Congregations do not require my presence therein 1. I own Parish-Churches having a competent Minister and number of credible Professors of Christianity for true Churches and the Worship there performed as well in the Liturgy or Common prayer as in the preaching of the word and prayer before and after Sermon to be in the main sound and good for the substance or matter thereof And I may not disown the same in my practice by a total neglect thereof for my judgment and practice ought to be concordant 2. Tho I judg their form of Worship to be in many respects less perfect than is to be desired yet I have found my heart spiritually affected and raised towards God therein and more especially in the receiving of the Lords Supper I judg that this form may be used formally by the Formal and spiritually by those that are Spiritual It is my part to make the the best of it being the Established Form 3. I am desirous of joining as far as I may with all Congregations worshipping God in Christ out of my high regard to all Christian Worship and out of my love to the communion of Saints universally and a desire to testifie that I am a truly Catholick Christian. 4. Tho I am constrained by force of conscience to be among those that dissent from the enjoined Conformity yet my design and business is not to advance a severed party as such but true Christianity or godliness among all that profess the Christian Faith and what in me lies to keep up a Reverend esteem of Gods Ordinances celebrated among them all 5. Tho I have reason to have a very tender regard to those that own and accept my Ministry for their edification and satisfaction yet by ways of love and concord I am to seek the edification of others also while I lay no stumbling-block before the one or the other sort Against the putting of this intention in practice I meet with these Objections Obj. 1. I may seem a contradiction to my self and to justifie what I disallow having refused to give my assent and consent to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common-Prayer Ans. 1. The denying of assent and consent to all and every thing contained in that Book doth not gainsay the lawfulness of partaking in that Worship it being sound for the substance in the main and the mode thereof being laudable in divers forms and orders and passable in the most though in some offensive inconvenient or less perfect 2. The chief matters for which I refuse to declare an assent as is enjoined lye not in rhe ordinary Morning and Evening Prayer but in other parts as the Order of Baptism Confirmation Burial of the dead c. and in certain Rubricks or Rules to which I cannot subscribe Obj. 2. It is to countenance a more defective and inconvenient way of worship and it tends to the rooting of others in their formality and to the encreasing of their number Ans. 1. My partaking in any Divine worship which is holy and good for the matter and allowable or passable for the mode in the main doth not involve me in the blame of some sinful defects therein to which I consent not and which I cannot redress 2. I do not acquiesce in this Form of worship only nor do I by my example induce others so to do seeing in other Congregations I both dispence and attend upon the word and prayer in another â—â—rm and judg it necessary for me so to do 3. It is to me indubitable that this form is so far profitable and edifying as that meerly for the defects found therein there is no cause of renouncing it or the Communion of the Churches for its sake especially while other prayer and the preaching of the word is not there by excluded Object 3. It is against our engagements for reformation An. 1. I am engaged to indeavour reformation only according to my power and calling and this practise doth not gainsay my indeavours of the same within those limits 2. My engagement to indeavours of reformation doth not necessitate me to unwarrantable separation 3. My engagement to indeavours of reformation doth also ingage me against Schism Object 4. It will offend that is to say displease many of my own side An. 1. They have no reason to be more offended with me for practising according to my principle than I am offended with them for practising according to theirs 2. It is a trouble to me to do any thing in Religion displeasing to those that are seriously religious and more especially to those that own my Ministry and suffer under the same impositions under which I do but I may not sin for their sakes by a renouncing of true Churches or by a perpetual neglect of communion with them Object 5. It may prove an occasion of raising a greater enmity against those that cannot be satisfied to partake in this worshâ—p yea it may stir up a greater severity against them An. This objection if that which is suggested in it be true is of great mdment for I must have
for their Souls and lie neglected by such as claim the Pastoral châ—â—ge over them Is it an intrusion or usurpation if in that case one that is dedicated to the work of the Ministry shall endeavour without licence from the said neglecters by preaching and other ministerial service to save souls that are so exposed Furthermore let it be considered how any Clergy-man can be the proper pastor of a people that doth not the work of a pastor towards them which work I have before set forth Lastly I cast in this consideration also how any Clergy-man can be the proper pastor to a people against their wills I doubt not but a people may sin yea greatly sin in not receiving a pastor duly offered to them and so they may as greatly sin by receiving such a pastor as may be imposed on them But how any one can actually bear the pastor al relation to a people that never consented to that relation I would be better informed Thus it hath been examined whether I am culpable by trespassing against the divine right or rights of a Diocesan Bishop in exercising the Ministry where he claims the right of being pastor And it hath been examined in that form which the matter being a tender point is capable of As for his humane rights they are his preeminence and jurisdiction under the King as Supreme and to which he is intituled by the Law of the Land Now I am no usurper against this for I claim no such preeminence I exercise no such jurisdiction As for my obededience to his jurisdiction as an officer subordinate to the King it shall be spoken of in its own place § 4. That I do not violate any true bonds of Church-Unity nor in any respect cause divisions and offences THE Case of Schism now in controversie is not to be hudled up but well stated whereunto many considerations are prerequisite Those that are set down I take to be of moment but the express application of them I forbear and doubt not but the considering and impartial Reader will excuse me therein and judg that he himself can easily do that part with more convenience than I can in this writing Church-Unity is not to be built upon the doctrines and ordinances of men but upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone and none are to be shut out from the Communlon of the Church or the work of the Ministry whom Christ hath not excluded but qualified and called thereunto according to the Scriptures which are the rule of admission and exclusion from the said priviledges 2. The unity of the spirit which we are charged to keep in the bond of peace is not concord in external forms and orders without participation of the same new nature and walking in the same holy way It is said Eph. 4. One body and one spirit and one hope one Lord one faith one Baptism one God and Father of all but not one ceremony one posture of body one garb of Church-ornaments one habit of vestments one ritual and unity of assent to all opinions and formalities An holy fellowship in the spirit of grace and in the life of faith and love is far more excellent than the greatest complyance in ceremonies and unnecessary doctrines of doubtful disputations and consequently is far more regardable in that estimation and reception of persons either for Church-Communion or the holy Ministry Touching Schism let this be noted It is not Secular power and interest that of it self can constitute a true Church or Pastor noâ— can it excuse those that are born up by it from Schism when they act Schismatically and do all that they can to continue the snares of division neither are all they without more a do to be accounted Schismaticks who are destitute of Secular power and who cannot in all points observe the commandments of men or neglect to give their necessary help in Christs service when they are forbidden of men Schism is the causing of divisions in or from the Church as the Apostle sets it forth Rom. 16. 17. Mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine that ye have learned And let them be marked indeed whosoever they are The guilt of it lies as much upon those that make unwarrantable separations and they are most culpable that are the chief causes of the division and such are they who impose unlawful terms of Church-Communion and Mâ—nisterial liberty and they also that rigorously impose such terms thereof as Christ and his Apostles never warranted them to impose either expresly or by consequence Let the case of such as are cast and kept out of a Church by wrong sentence or by imposition of unlawful terms of communion or unnecessary terms that are unlawful to them by unremovable doubts of conscience be considered for such a case may be What shall they do Must the unrighteousness of others be a perpetual bar to them against the injoyment of those priviledges to which they have a right before God Why may they not lawfully injoy Gods ordinances in distinct assemblies if they hold them peaceably and charitably Let the case of such Ministers as are cast and kept out of the Ministry by the imposition of unlawful terms or unnecessary terms that are unlawful to them by unremoveable doubts of conscience be considered for this case also may be What shall they do when they are under an obligation to Christ to fulfil their Ministry and when the necessities of fouls make theirs as well as others ministry to be necessary and when all the help that can possibly be given both by them and by those that dissent from them is little enough Every pastor tho he be under the publick judgment of Superiors hath a judgment of discretion also that is to say a right of discerning about his own call aâ—d obligation to this service Let it be here also considered whether the necessary means of saving souls such as is the due preaching of the Gospel be not incomparably more precious than uniformity in matters of opinion and ceremony and accidental order There is a great difference between inimical segregation like sedition in a Commonwealth and a going severally upon weighty reasons and without breach of charity And among other weighty reasons this may be one That all Christians of sound faith and good life that are dissatisfied about some humane injunctions and orders in a Church may not for lack of tender regard towards them be utterly abandoned and exposed to be led aside into the errôrs of the wicked as to heresie apostacy or a course of irreligion It is in the power of Rulers to grant this Indulgence to such Dissenters when it is not in the power of Dissenters to change their Judgments And this is not to set up Church against Church or according to an ancient manner of speaking Altar against Altar but only either occasional and temporary Assemblies or at the most