Christ The only Separatist here then is He that is No Christian and any one with half an Eye may see to whose share the greatest part of Separatists of this sort will fall Secondly The Church of England may signifie the Christians of England as form'd into distinct Societies for the Worship of God and presential Communion with each other therein Now that the Dissenters are form'd into such worshipping Bodies and consequently not of this sort of Separatists is more visible then many would have it and therefore 't is undeniable they are a part of the Church of England in this Sense also The Separatist here then is he only that though he professeth Christianity doth not ordinarily worship God publickly or with an Assembly united to that End and of this sort of Separatists the Loose Devotees of the Titular Church of England are all that we know Thirdly The Church of England may signifie the Christian Congregations of England as united under the same Civil Government and submitting to it and the Separatists from the Church of England in this sense are chiefly the Jacobites the generality of whom are so far from belonging to the Dissenters that they arrogate to themselves the sole Honour of being the True Sons of the Church of England Yet here indeed it must be confess'd that though the Dissenters have approv'd themselves the fastest Friends to the Civil Government they are really separated from some very Considerable Advantages which it hath thought fit to bestow upon the prelatical Party for whereas the Dissenting Ministers and People enjoy no more than the bare Protection of the Civil Magistrate in their Religious Worship from the Rage of malignant Persecutors the Prelatists have a very considerable part of the profit of the Land assign'd them by Law for the Maintenance of their Ministry vastly exceeding in proportion what is left to the poor Layity The Clergy having a Tenth of the profits of the Land though 't is probable they are not one Man to a thousand All the Separation then that can be found under this Head among the Dissenting Clergy is a Separation from Tithes and Maintenance from Archbishopricks and Bishopricks from Deaneries and Archdeaconeries from Prebends and Parsonages from Masterships and Fellowships and from other such fat Benefices Our Layity too are chargeable with a Separation of this very kind they being separated from all Civil and Military Offices whether those of Justices or Mayors Sheriffs or Recorders Generals or Admirals Colonels or Captains or whatever other honourable or profitable Posts can be thought upon The Sacramental Test having secured all such places to the Members of a distinct Communion This Separation we doubt not but the Conformists though they are never like to be guilty of it themselves will have the Charity to pardon to us because it redounds so very much to their own Advantage Fourthly The Church of England may signifie the Christian Congregations of England thus united under one civil Government as agreeing or disagreeing with each other in Doctrine Church Goverment or Worship for there can be no Separation but that which is local and unavoidable to all farther than they differ in some one of these And here Sir you must own 1. As to Doctrine that the dissenting Ministers by their Subscriptions plainly shew there is no Separation on their part and indeed those that are acquainted with the preaching and writing on both sides will easily judge who keep closest to the doctrinal Articles The Separatists from the Church of England then in this sense are on the one hand the Socinians and Arminians by what Names or Titles soever dignifi'd or distinguisht and on the other hand the poor deluded Quakers and such like Enthusiasts 2. In the Business of Church Government the Dissenters are not asham'd to own a Separation rather do they think they should have great Cause to be asham'd of themselves and their Churches if herein they separated not from the prelatical Party The Dissenters say there 's a great deal of Reason why the power of Governing a Church should be vested in the same person that hath and exerciseth the power of Teaching and administring the Sacraments therein and who can this be but its proper Pastor who best knowing the Diseases of the People is therefore most fit to apply the Remedy The power of the Keys is certainly essential to the Office of a Gospel Minister and whoever ordains him to that Office must of necessity invest him therewith and though he should express a contrary Intention either that Act or the whole Ordination must be a Nullity Every Minister of Jesus Christ hath Authority from him to govern no less than to teach but through the Influence of the Ceremonious Party the Laws of the Land have debarr'd the Pastors of single Congregations in their own Communion from the Exercise of this Power and have made them miserable Vassals to the Hierarchy Here then our Separation is from the Prelates as Creatures impos'd upon the Church and ingrossing to themselves that power which belongs to the Pastor of every Congregation and which 't is naturally impossible duly to apply while it lodges in so few Hands And together with the Prelates the Dissenters acknowledge a Separation from Lay-Chancellors Officials Surrogates Proctors and the whole Gang of Spiritual Court-men whom they look upon as having no Authority from Jesus Christ but as the Spawn of a monstrous Prelacy and the most intolerable Grievance that the Nation this day groans under And as the Dissenters separate from the subjects of this Church-Government the Prelates Lay-Chancellors c. so also do they own a Separation from the Exercise of it as it proceeds from them and is manag'd by them Themselves in the Preface to the Commination acknowledge their want of a Godly Discipline and since they have the Front to own this Defect and never had the Grace to reform it in all the time that is run out since Edward the sixth's Reformation to septimo Gulielmi tertij it would be no less then High Treason against Jesus Christ the head of the Church not to disown and separate so far at least from this imperfect Church as to supply this want by a godly Discipline among our selves There is this further Disorder among them which will very much account for our Separation that whereas they distrust and dishonour the Ordinance of Excommunication by putting all their Confidence in the carnal Sword the Dissenters think the Discipline of Christ sufficient to its own End without such a Supplement as quite enervates the Virtue and obscures the Lustre of it This constrains them to separate from many of the prelatical Canons particularly from those wherein they Excommunicate Persons for saying That there is any thing in the Government of the Hierarchy or in their Articles or in the Book of the Common Prayer that is repugnant to the Word of God And above all the Dissenters hold themselves bound in
Consort of Musick others only for Organs some dislike both and others can get neither And here Sir by the way 't is worth your while to observe that among the Dissenters the poor and rich Congregations the larger and the lesser worship God in the same innocent unceremonious manner whereas in the prelatical Church the rich Congregations worship with abundance of Pomp while the Poverty of others obliges them to a like simplicity with the Dissenters So that a Church of England Courtier is one sort of a Worshipper a C. of E. Cathedralist of another kind a C. of E. Citizen yet less theatrical and a C. of E. Peasant of a sort by himself In a word this Diversity of Worship is so very considerable and makes these pretended Uniformity Men look so little like Members of one and the same Church that I am very confident a perfect stranger to them all at one time visiting the Royal Chappel at high Devotion and by and by looking into Westminster-Abbey and anon tracing to St. Lawrence's in the City and shortly after travelling to some homely Countrey Church and strictly observing all their various ways of Worshipping would be ready to swear that these men never had an Act of Uniformity read among 'em but were each of them a much more distinct sort of Worshippers and less of a piece than the Dissenters are with the last mention'd and honestest sort among themselves From all this we may naturally infer that either the several Formalities instanc'd in which are so much magnifi'd by one Party and neglected by another of the same Communion do appertain to the prelatical Church or they do not if they do those separate from it that use them not if they do not belong to it those are Separatists that use them this however is certain as they differ more or less in these things so far they separate each from other If the Church Guides have only recommended these things without enjoining them and have left them to be observ'd or omitted as best agrees with the Judgments and Consciences of others Why might not the same Course be taken with all the other Ceremonies Why is not the Gesture at the Supper why is not the Cross in Baptism why are not the Surplice and other Vestments and many things of the like nature left in their own Indifferency to be embrac'd or rejected as every one is determin'd in his own Mind If so considerable a Diversity may consist with Uniformity and is actually found in the prelatical Church why might not this be allow'd in Order to so great a Benefit to the Church as the Union of the two great parties would be But besides what hath been already said of their Discord I dare be so bold to affirm that abundance who ordinarily join in local Communion with the Prelatists do mentally and really separate more from them than many others of a distinct Communion So do all those both Ministers and People that pervert the doctrinal Articles and hold Opinions inconsistent with the most natural and genuine meaning of them They are in the same Predicament who lead a Vicious Course of Life for as the former have separated from the Truth which the Church doth profess so have these from that Purity which it declares necessary to Salvation A Dissenter that is sound in all the Articles of Faith and orders his Conversation accordingly is incomparably more of the Church of England than the most exquisite Formalist that hath learnt all his Gates and his Postures but is neither sound in his Head nor in his Heart The one separates only from some little particularities that are against his Conscience and the other from that which is vital and essential both to a Christian and a Church and which his own Conscience and the Scripture and the Consent of all Christians urge upon him as indispensably necessary Nay so Obnoxious is the Prelatical Church on the account of Separation that great Numbers of those who join with them have as mean an Opinion of their Ceremonies and in their Judgments and Affections separate as much from them as the Dissenters having nothing that engages 'em to an Observation of them but a bare Establishment by the Civil Magistrate whose Authority in this Case has been rejected by many very great Men But a legal Establishment is a formal Word that enchants abundance and it 's enough for these that somewhere or other they have met with some word that gives 'em a little Liberty in their own Minds to communicate with the Church And whilst with very hard shifts this sort of Church-men have made themselves judge it barely lawful to abide in that Communion they are loth to leave the Sun-side of the Bank little thinking in the mean time that to join with a Church less pure and edifying when a better may be had tho' with Reproach is to prefer carnal policy before christian Wisdom Pollution to Purity and Peace with men to Peace with God and our Souls salvation But lest it should be objected that these are but Trimmers or half Churchemen at best let me observe to you Sir that on the other hand there are very many who have the Honour to be of the high Church as they themselves phrase it who do yet very substantially separate from the main body Among these we will first rank the Jacobites who have private Assemblies and Ministers if not Prelates of their own and who perhaps can be content to wave the Consecration of places as the Dissenters have done before them Matters are now come to that pass even among high Church-men themselves that the voice is lo here is the Church in one mans mouth and lo there in anothers in the Judgment of these Churchmen the far greater number of the prelatical Church have deserted its Principles and have lost the great Characteristick of a true Church of England Man viz. Passive Obedience Loyalty to a jure divino Succession upon which verry account it is that the abdicated Prelate of Bath and Wells hath scatter'd his Pastoral Letters against holding Communion with that part of the Church which have taken the Oaths to the present Government 'T would do well if his Brother of Sarum and he cou'd concert this affair at least we desire that our Prelate befor he addresses any more discourses against the Dissenters would free himself and his party from that Guilt of a sinful separation which the Jacobite Sons of the Church are daily reflecting upon them But besides these high Church Separatists there are not wanting a considerable Number of another sort who would willingly exclude some of those Offices which themselves and their Congregations statedly perform How glad would many of this strain be to have conceiv'd Prayer before Sermon and singing of Psalms totally suppress'd but they know well enough should not these be parts of their Service great Numbers would soon desert 'em Tho' how they can reconcile this kind of
Loyalty as when they are try'd they perfectly leave in the lurch to be redeemed by those that can find in their Hearts to submit to a suffering State which they might avoid at the same Easie but Unconscionable rate as these Men do It cannot but be a mighty strengthening to the Atheistical Party that some Men who Preach up Piety will not endure the strict exemplary Practise of it no not in others whether of their own or a different Communion much less in themselves but make it the subject of scorn and ridicule when they are out of the Pulpit Nor doth it want a share in this malignant influence that there are so many prints and footsteps yet visible of those more than Heathenish Barbarities which have been all along acted upon one sort of Christians upon their Protestant Dissenting Brethren From all this it is undenyably evident that the Faith Humility and Self-denyal of the Nonconformists in parting with their Livings and casting themselves entirely upon Providence their stedfastness in refusing the Oaths and Subscriptions by them judg'd unlawful their Sobriety and endeavouring to practice what they have preacht to others hath been a standing not to say the only Witness to this Generation That there is a GOD and that the Convictions of his Being and Government lye at the bottom of some Mens Actions Secondly Concerning his Discourse against the Socinians give us leave to observe what have been the fruits of the Church-mens over-valuing the Rational way of Preaching as if all Points were capable of being comprehended and explained by it to a demonstration It had been better in this respect if our Rational Divines had contented themselves in many Cases with the direct affirmations of the Scriptures and paid some more deference to the simple act of believing them for whilst every thing must be brought down to our Reason and levell'd to our Capacities they have conjur'd up the Evil Spirit of Socinianism which will exercise all their Skill to get down again It hath been the constant way of this Church to let in the worst of Evils upon the Nation as in the late Reigns Popery and Socinianism now in this and when they have made themselves and others abundance of Labour and grievously expos'd the Nation then if they have helped never so little to extinguish the Fire which but for themselves had never flam'd out nor consum'd so many worthy Patriots to set up their Crests and loudly to proclaim their own Atchievments and that too when their Victories are not so compleat nor the Enemy's Defeat so absolute as they themselves do represent And here Sir by the way I hope you will not forget to enquire in what Communion Atheists and Socinians do most abound And further I wish all to be caution'd against Arminianism by the prevalency of Socinian Errors for those who magnifie the Power of Man's Will and those that exalt his Understanding beyond the measures of Truth and Sobriety are not very far distant from each other Thirdly As for Popery we are sorry to see the Church of England so much symbolizing with it and so hard put to it to defend its self upon its own bottom our concern on this account will appear very just by making use of the Instance before us Here is a renown'd Prelatical Bishop discoursing vehemently against Infallibility and at the same time pleading with Might and Main for the power of the Church in imposing symbolical Ceremonies but can any thing be more absurd than that Men who confess themselves fallible and prove it too both by Word and Deed to the satisfaction of all the World should obtrude their Sentiments and Composures Forsooth as if they were as Infallible as his Holiness at Rome pretends to be or our blessed Saviour and his Apostles really were And is not this done to the height of Arrogance whilst all that will be benefic'd among them are forced indispensably To Declare Assent and Consent to all and every thing contain'd and prescrib'd in and by the Book of Common Prayer And all that have refus'd to comply with their Modes how much soever against their Consciences have been Prosecuted with the utmost Severity How laudable and consistent when compar'd with our Prelatical Platform is the Popish way of first asserting the Infallibility of the Church and then erecting a Court of Inquisition to defend it How will this or any other Prelate be able to overthrow our Popish Adversary's Arguments for Salt Oyl and Spittle when their Ceremonies stand upon the very same Foundation and will they nill they our Church-men shall be constrain'd to admit them whensoever their Good Lords and Masters shall think sit to follow the Romish Prelates in the Imposition of them The Truth on 't is when the Protestant Prelates have to do with the Papists they are forced to the Dissenters Arguments against themselves by magnifying the sufficiency of the Scripture Rule but when the same Men encounter the Dissenters because the Scripture-sufficiency is but an unpromising Topick and sure enough to fail them they shift Hands and wield the same Weapon against us which they will by no means allow the Papist viz The Power of the Church this is no very good sign of a good and defensible Cause but who can blame the Patrons of it that attends to the Straits and Necessitys to which they are sometime reduced not excepting the Bishop of Sarum himself And thus by degrees have we trac'd our Prelate down to his fourth Discourse wherein he is pleas'd to charge the Dissenters with the Guilt of a needless Separation we hope presently to make it appear that his Lordship is Guilty of a much more needless Clamour but that we may the better discover the unreasonableness of that whole Party which raises such a dust about Separation and how unjustly they appropriate to themselves the Title of the Church of England we shall in few words attempt an impartial stating of this Case The Church of England is a thred-bare term that may signifie many things of a very different Nature which therefore ought not to be huddl'd up under one Name without some little Explication and since our Author hath not thought it at all advantageous to his Cause to give us any for your clearer insight into the present Controversie you may please Sir to take the following just distinctions First The Church of England may very properly signifie that part of the Catholick Church of Christ which is resident in England In this Sense the Church of England is neither one Sect of Christians nor another among us but every Man that hath given up himself to God in Christ by Baptism or hath been warrantably devoted by others in his Infancy and leads a Christian Life is truly a Member of it From the Church of England in this sense we neither do nor can separate but upon such Grounds as would Separate us from the Body of