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
a tender regard to conscientious brethren and must not use my liberty to be an occasion of their suffering But to this I say 1. The moderate judgment and practise of some who in the mean time have maintained their plea for reformation and exercised their Ministry according to their capacities and opportunities hath been advantagious to the general interest of Nonconformists 2. If so bad a consequence should indeed follow as is objected I would for that season forbear the said use of my liberty and pâ—â—take with my brethren in their sufferings Object 6. It may weaken my own party and make many of them more indifferent towards reformation An. 1. I disclaim being of a party as such I confine not godliness to any peculiar way narrower than mere Christianity If any among us place their Religion in being of a party they deceive their own souls and it behoves me being a Teacher among them to let them understand so much 2. While I use my liberty and shew my moderation and charity towards all true Churches I do not shew an indifferency towards all opinions and forms and constitutions but by word and deed I manifest a desire and indeavour of the best constitution that hath the greatest tendency to make the best Christians and to advance holiness and peace in the Churches Object 7. It may raise suspiti on s that I may proceed further in Conformity and that I am but a lukewarm Nonconformist An. 1. The Kingdom of God stands not either in Conformity or Nonconformity as such 2. I desire that my zeal in the matter of Nonconformity may be proportionable that is neither more nor less than the thing it self requires 3. I am not willing to stand at a greater distance from others than I needs must 4. How ready soever I am to pursue peace and concord I am not like to conform till the grounds of my Nonconformity which are with me of great weight be removed Object 8. Hereby I may lose or lessen my reputation and interest among those of my own side An. 1. My reputation and interest among men must give place to the pleasing of God and the keeping of a good conscience 2. To me the most valuable benefit of reputation is an advantage thereby gained of being acceptable and successful towards men in the work of the Ministry and that which is most advantagious hereunto is the reputation of integrity and to do all things advisedly honestly peaceably without partiality hypocrisie and felfishness is the best means of such reputation Object 9. It will not please those of the other side unless I absolutely conform and it may be some of them will despise and hate me the more An. 1. My design is not man pleasing and I think it looks not like such I were very ill advised indeed if while I venture the displeasing of my own I should aim at the pleasing of a different party 2. In reference to the other side my design is not to please them but to convince them that what in me lies I follow after Church-peace and concord and that the cause of the divisions that are lies not on my part 3. Tho on the Conforming side there may be some who hate those most that come nearest to Conformity if they are not thorow therein yet there be others who are more valuable that are of a better spirit with whom my moderation may have good effects Ob 10. It may hazard a breach in our own congregation and the dissolution thereof as things now stand with us and consequently hinder the good of souls that is now gained by the word and prayer An. 1. Indeed such an evil is carefully to be avoided in this time of our difficulty and danger but I rationally hope that it will not so fall out Our friends are not ignorant of the latitude of my principle and the practise here propounded will ' be no great surprisal to them it being no more than what I declared that I did before I came to my present station among them 2. I shall keep a watchful eye upon this concern if I see any distemper that threatens a breach arising upon this occasion I will for a while suspend my liberty and I wil proceed herein no otherwise than they can bear I will be calm and gentle towards them and not carry it peremptorily in any wise And this I shall do not for my own private ends the Searcher of hearts knows but sincerely for their good 3. I will by degrees insinuate into them the equity of their bearing with me in my perswasions as I bear with them in theirs and of allowing me the liberty of my own acts in things that concern my self alone when in such acts as concern the society I do nothing without their consent 4. If it should come to pass that they will impose upon me what is not fit for me to comply with in that case I will not violently break from nor stay to make breaches among them but quickly withdraw my self The Sum of the Matter I consult not my private interest in the case but am sincerely solicitous to know and do herein what is my duty to do I would do what I can to justifie my Catholick principle and spirit and I would abstain from the appearance of unwarrantable separation I would give no occasion to any of disowning or reproaching a form of Divine Worship which is found in the substance thereof and accepted of God from the sincere tho it be less perfect in divers material points and less convenient for the mode I would in all things be a faithful guide to the people to whom I preach the Gospel I would lead them in the way of peace and concord and be free from giving them an occasion of withdrawing from the established worship more than is necessary I would shew my self a freeman governing my own acts according to my conscience and not subject to the opinions and affections of others or the imagined interests of a party If I cannot mollfie them that seek to suppress me I would render them more inexcusable I would testifie what in me lies that Nonconformists are capable of an accommodation and silence them that gainsay it A Defence of my Endeavours for the Work of the MINISTRY THAT I might not be wanting to my just Vindication in this Cause I hold my self obliged to present the aforesaid Defence to the consideration of all impartial Readers it takes its rise from the several heads of the Bishops charge against me all which were owned by himself before many Witnesses and are here set down 1. That forasmuch as I did not exercise the Ministry in subordination to the Bishop and as regulated by him I transgressed against the nature of my Office as not being the Office of a Pastor mentioned Eph. 4. 11. 2. That I violate my oaths and promises which I made at my Ordination to obey the Bishop or Ordinary 3. That I trespass against
heavy on one mans shoulders as he thought it did formerly on the Bishops here But I do not as yet discern the divine Right of Episcopacy in the state and priviledges thereof here following wherein I desire information and would gladly receive satisfaction if there be such divine Rights indeed None can be justly offended with me for examining in my own defence that Right which I am accused to have invaded do not discern that a Bishop infimi gradus I mean one that hath none under him but Parish-Ministers who are pretended to have no Episcopal governing-power I say I discern not that such a Bishop can by divine Right challenge to himself alone the Episcopal Authority over hundreds of particular Churches For every particular Church should have its proper Pastor or Bishop And particular Churches with their proper Pastors are so evidently of Divine Right that some eminently learned men in the Church of England have declared their judgment That no Form of Church-government besides the meer Pastoral Office and Church-assemblies is prescribed in the Word of God but may be various according to the various condition and occasion of several Churches Neither do I discern how it is possible for one man to do the work of a bishop towards hundreds of Churches I mean the work of a bishop infimi gradus under whom there are no subordinate Bishops or Pastors For the work of such a bishop is to oversee all the Flock to preach to them all to baptize and confirm all that are to be baptized and confirmed to administer the Lords Supper to all to bless the Congregation publickly and privataly to admonish all as their need requires to excommunicate the impenitent to absolve the penitent and that upon knowledg of their particular estate If such a Diocesan bishop saith it sufficeth that he perform all this to the Flock by others namely by the Parish-Ministers as his Curates and by other Officers his Substitutes it is answered 1. That the Pastoral Authority is a personal trust 2. It is desired that he shew his Commission from Christ the Prince of Pastors to do his work by others for I am now inquiring what is of divine and not of humane Right 3. None but a bishop can do the proper work of a bishop But if it be said That the Parochial Congregations are not Churches but only parts of the Diocess which is the lowest particular Church I desire proof from Scripture That such Congregations as our Parishes having their proper Presbyter or Presbyters invested with the power of the keys are not particular Churches properly so called The reason of my desire of this proof is because the Scripture is a perfect Rule for the Essential constitution of Churches tho accidents there unto belonging may be regulated by humane prudence 2. It is most evident in Scripture that a particular Congregation of Christians having their proper Pastor or Pastors Presbyter or Presbyters are Churches properly so called And a Parochial Minister I conceive to be a Pastor or Elder according to the Scripture Moreover if a Diocess containing a hundred two hundred five hundred or a thousand Parishes as somewhere it doth do constitute but one particular Church and those particular Parishes be not properly to be accounted Churches but only so many parts of that one Diocesan Church why may not ten thousand yea ten times ten thousand Parishes be likewise accounted but one particular Church and brought under one man as sole Bishop or Pastor thereof In all this I have not argued against the right of an Arch-Bishop or Overseer of other Bishops such as Titus must needs be if he were Bishop of Crâ—te where Bishops or Elders were to be ordained in every City If either Scripture or Prudence guided by Scripture be for such an office I oppose it not and nothing here spoken makes against it If our Diocesan Bishops be in very deed Arch-Bishops or OOverseers of inferior Bishops to wit Parish-Ministers I do not here argue against it but only say that in their Archiepiscopal Diocess or Province they cannot exercise their authority any otherwise than according to the rules of Gods word for the edification and peace of the Church and that they cannot discharge the inferior Bishops from their obligation to Christ whose immediate Ministers and Stewards they are and to whom they are immediately accountable Moreover I do not discern that any Bishop can by divine right so challenge or claim such a circuit of ground for his Diocess as for example the County of Sussex as that thereupon he can by the said right prohibit all other Pastors whatsoever to do the work of the Ministry in any case without his licence within such a circuit of ground or that such a measure of ground is related to his Episcopal office as a propriety for government Ecclesiastical like as certain territories and dominions are as a propriety in reference to Civil government related to the temporal Soveraingty of a Prince The partition of one Church from another by local bounds is not of divine institution but of humane prudence from the convenience of the thing I say convenience not absolute necessity And the state of things may be such as to compel to vary from it in some particulars It is supposed by learned men that in the Apostles times there were several Churches at Rome under their several Bishops or Pastors in the same local bounds as one of the Circumcision and another of the Uncircumcision And if it were not so de facto I think few will deny but that it lawfully might have been so If upon the aforesaid diversity of condition in the persons namely as being of different nations and languages there may be several Churches under several Bishops or Pastors within the same local bounds why not also upon other diversity of condition which may render them as uncapable of being of the same particular Church as if they were of divers nations One instance may be an unmovable diversity of persuasions about points of Religion As for example Why may not Lutherans and Calvinists of the same nation town or village have their several Churches under their several Pastors and live in peace Nothing could hinder the said peace but want of Christian Humility and Charity And consequently why among us may not Christians that have invincible diversity of persuasions in matters of Church Government live peaceably within the same precincts in their several Churches Besides all this if the local bounds assigned for one mans immediate Pastoral charge be so vast and the multitude of Souls therein be so great as to render it impossible for any one man to fulfil that charge towards them can it be judged an usurpation against dwine right if another Pastor without license from him should perform ministerial service within those bounds Likewise let it be 〈…〉 ered what may or may not be done in any circuit of gro 〈…〉 â—here the inhabitants are destitute of competent provision