unprofitable and numerous the Conditions of Church Communion This hath rent and torn the Church of God in pieces these thirteen hundred years and yet those that are the Guides and Governours of Churches either cannot or will not see it Let the Histories of the Church be consulted and this may be easily observed What is it that divides the Greek and Roman Churches from each other What is it that divides the Greek Churches among themselves What is it that divides the Roman Churches from those of the Protestant Profession What divides the Lutherans and Calvinists What is it that divides the Christian People of this Nation Is it not the Imposing of things doubtful dark uncertain and unnecessary and this with a pertinacious and inflexible rigour and severity one against another Do not all these Churches agree in the great Essentials of the Christian Religion Do they not all believe the common Articles of the Christian Faith Do they not all believe the Lord's Prayer to contain the sum and matter of all the Requests that we are to make to God Do they not believe the Ten Commandments to comprehend the main if not all those Duties that we owe to God and Men And are not these things in which all agree sufficient for the Union of Christians Might they not live together in Love notwithstanding their other Differences Or though they could not communicate together as indeed Protestants cannot communicate with the Romish Churches might they not maintain Love and Peace under distinct Communions Might they not repute each other Christians and Christian Churches though not equally sound and perfect These things methinks might be done were it not that a Spirit of Imposition and Arbitrary Domination over the Judgments and Consciences of Men hath possessed the Guides of Christendom All men must believe and think and speak according to their apprehensions or else they are no Christians Their Judgments yea sometimes their Prejudices and their Dreams must be made the Conditions of Communion and if any refuse to swear to their words and will see with their own Eyes and believe and practise according to the Light of their own understandings they are Hereticks and unworthy the Name and Communion of Christians And hence proceed the various Separations and Divisions and all the direful and tragical Effects of them which have made the Christian World a Bedlam and sometimes a Field of Blood to the reproach of Christians to the scandal of Infidels and to the perverting of many Professors of Christianity to Atheism or Apostacy to some other false Religion SECT VI. TO press this a little Whosoever considers the great variety and difference that is to be observed in Human Minds must find that Imposition of many doubtful and unnecessary things is no proper means of preserving Peace and Union in the Church of God especially among Protestants where a judgment of discretion or a liberty of believing according to the convictions of our own minds is confessed the undoubted right of every Reasonable Man Is it imaginable that Men whose understandings are almost of as various degrees and sizes as are the shapes and figures of their faces should agree in the same sentiments and perceptions concerning things dark doubtful and unnecessary Is it imaginable that all Christians should have the same thoughts and make the same judgment concerning the Determinations of the Council of Trent Is it conceiveable that all the Christians in England or all the Clergy in England should have the same conceptions and entertain the same Opinions concerning the Doctrine Discipline and Liturgy of this Church To me it seems altogether as improbable as that twenty thousand blind Men should from twenty thousand places move and march and at last meet together and put themselves in good order on New-market Heath or the Plains of Sarum And why should Impositions be made where there is no probability or indeed possibility of Assent unto them Or are such Impositions which make Division in our Church a likely means of making Peace in the Churches of Christendom He that can believe it may with as much reason believe that the casting on fewel and combustible matter is a means to extinguish a furious raging flame or the way to preserve a Ship from sinking is to commit it to the Wind and Waves without any Pilot or Person to sit at the Helm and manage the Course of it That the gradual Difference of Mens Understandings is very great and almost infinite cannot reasonably be denied Parents Teachers of Schools Tutors and all kind of Artificers find it so in the Experience of every day It hath been so in all Ages and will be so for all that I can see as long as the World endures Whether there be an inequality among Souls or whether this great variety proceeda from the differing mixtures of the Elements that compound our Bodies and out of which our Organs are made I will not determine though I incline to believe the former for 't is past my imagination to conceive how the various mixtures of sensless Elements or Atoms should produce all that variety that is observable in the Understandings of Men from the greatest Statesman Philosopher or Divine to the meanest Peasant or the most blockish Dolt Parents first find a vast difference in the capacities of their Children some of them are of quick and pregnant Wit and Ingeny they easily receive and apprehend whatever is proposed to them others are dull and heavy and receive with difficulty such things as are offered them for their Learning and Knowledge Some of them are capable of understanding some things whereas of other things they are as uncapable almost as the veriest Idiots The Experience of Schoolmasters next is much the same Some of those Children that are committed to their care do readily learn and receive whatever they reach and inform them Others with difficulty and much labour Some can never be brought to learn any thing that is regardable by all the care and endeavours in the World Tutors at the University find the like variety among their Pupils Some Youths hear their Lectures and understand and remember the Contents of them and if they be examined concerning them will give a good and fair account of them But others hear them but neither understand nor remember almost any thing of them and if the same things be repeated over again with all the clearness that can be expressed by words yet they still remain without Knowledge or Understanding therein You may as well think to draw a Cable through the Eye of a Needle as to impress Learning upon some mens Minds Artificers and Mechanicks speak the same Language and give us the same Informations Some Apprentices easily learn the Arts that they profess others do it with great difficnlty and are but bunglers at the last Non puede ser mas negro el cuerbo que las alas saith the Spanish Proverb The Crow cannot be blacker than her wings And
will they tell us how many miles we must move Northward ere the pole be elevated one degree higher than 't is in the place of our present abode and habitation When will they determine the quantity of the paralacktical Angle of the Sun Is it two degrees or three degrees and some prime minutes as Albategnius will have it or is it only 14 or 15 seconds as Vendeline determines it or at the most but 30 seconds even when the Sun is nearest the Earth as Tacquet resolves it Astron lib. 3. p. 131. 132. When will they fix the distance of the Sun and Moon from the Earth and from each other when will they determine the nunber of the Earths Semidiameters by which these distances may be measured when will they agree in the height and extension of the Atmosphere and how much the Diameter thereof exceeds that of the Earth in its length and extension when will they consent in the proportion that the several planetary Orbs have to each other with many other questions of like nature and uncertainty too many to mention If the variety of mens Judgments in matters of Humane Learning and Philosophy be so great it cannot reasonably be expected that they should be one and the same in the Doctrins of Religion There are as great depths and as many unfathomlessabysses in Religion as in any part of Learning or Philosophy and indeed those very things that are difficulties in Religion at least some of them are not peculiar to Christianity but were the same before it was known in the world and are indeed difficulties in Philosophy as much as in Religion Such are the difficulty of reconciling the Divine Prescience and Decrees with Liberty Contingence or the Liberty of mans will with the Infallibility of Gods Such is the original of Evil and many things about the nature and acts of God and therefore whil'st there are controversies and obscurities in the one there will be in the other The things themselves being mixed and blended the obscurities that attend them must be mingled and confounded also In brief There is nothing but a profound Ignorance that can make Men of one Judgment pardon the expression for 't is Catachrestical and improper in the obscure dark and unnecessary Doctrines of Religion This is obvious among the Papists themselves for though the common People which are kept in Ignorance and not permitted to read the Bible manage no Controversies concerning Points of Religion nor are divided in their Judgments about them yet their Learned Men are at as great Differences and there are as great Feuds among them as among Protestants unless it be in such things where their Interest unies them This is sufficiently known by all Learned men what everlasting Quarrels there are between the Jesuites and Dominicans the Jansenists and Molinists and many other Orders among them insomuch that his infallible Holiness himself durst not determine them for fear of disobliging the one or the other Party of them Ignorance indeed keeps men quiet and free from raising Controversies and running into variety of Judgments Plough-men Carters do not use to differ about the signification of words in the Greek Hebrew and Oriental Languages but Linguists do and will everlastingly differ about them Tradesmen and Farmers have no Debates about the passing of things out of a State of Possibility into a State of Futurity or whether there needs a Decree of God for the effecting of it The Mercers and Haberdashers are not divided in their Opinions about the variation of the Sun 's farthest declination the mutation of his Excentricity or the unequal Motion of his Apoge These are things they pretend no knowledge in and therefore they entertain no diversity of Sentiments concerning them But Astronomers have been of different Judgments in all these things as may be seen in the Author lately quoted pag. 45. 37. SECT VIII YET after all that I have said to evince the Improbability or rather Impossibility of Union among Christians in many things especially such as are dark and doubtful and of little use or necessity I do not intend to affirm that Christians can agree in nothing or that all Uniformity of Judgment is impossible and impracticable among them no I do with much assurance say That Christians may do and will agree in all the Essential and Constituent Parts of Christianity and that Peace and Love may be maintained notwithstanding very great variety of Opinions and some different practices too in other things That Christians will agree in the great Essentials of Christian Religion is apparent for they do so Greeks and Romans with all the several Subdivisions that are among them do consent in one Common Creed Rule of Life and Compedium of Prayer and Devotion all Protestants Calvinists Lutherans and Arminians or by whatever other title they may be known or called consent with them in the great Agenda Credenda Petenda in Religion In these things there is no diversity among them those things are so obvious in the Scripture and many of them in the Light of Nature and by the Providence of God have been so superintended that in the greatest defections of the Church and Apostacy of Christians the knowledge and belief of them hath been preserved and continued amongst all Yea I am past doubt that if only these things were made the Conditions of Communion among Christians with Liberty of Difference in other things and some variety of practices in particular Churches more Unity Peace and Love would thereby be produced and Knowledge Piety and Godliness be more advanced than by any other means in the world In the daies of the Apostles and in some Ages after them persons were admitted into the Christian Church upon their belief and consent to these few plain things yea upon a bare consent to the Contents of the Baptismal Covenant and whilst they continued that Consent and Faith they were continued in the Communion of Christians and I do not yet understand why men may not be Christians and partake in the Communion of Christians upon the same terms now as then I think the Apostles were as wise men and knew as well what they did as any that have come after them in the Government of the Church and I do not as yet see any reason why their Laws and Conditions of Communion should be altered I am afraid the alteration of them hath done more hurt and occasioned more mischief to the Church of God than they that were the Authors thereof will be able to give a fair account of to God Almighty one day It is not to be doubted but that there was great diversity of Opinions and some diversity of Practices in things of inferiour nature among Christians and among Churches even in the Primitive Church The Jewish and Gentile Converts had not the same Opinions nor were not of the same Judgment Some differences there were among them both in Opinion and Practice as is obvious in the
of Divines joyned with uncorrupt Faith and an unblemished Life are not sufficient qualifications for the Priesthood The Impositions must be all swallowed or the Candidates for it may go feed Swine For the Flocks of God which he hath purchased with his own blood they shall not feed though there be no others to substitute in the Room of them and they wander go astray and perish eternally by the want of Teachers and Instructers SECT 10. HAving besought our Civil and most especially our Ecclesiastical Governours to consider these few things now discoursed I proceed to make some Answer to the Objection What would you have And in general I reply I am no Advocate for Universal Liberty that men should be left to believe speak and do as they list I would not that permission should be given to any to blaspheme God ridicule the Christian Religion decry and burlesque all Morality and laugh at the day of Judgment and a State of Rewards and Punishments I would not that men should be permitted to Preach Rebellion and Mutiny the People against their Prince nor that they should be allowed to sow Sedition or teach such Doctrine as will subvert Order and destroy all Peace among men for these things and others of like nature I am no Patron Let these be prevented by all just care and endeavours and let such as offend in any of them undergo the sharpest punishments But in particular for satisfaction to this grand Query or Objection as being the chief business of my undertaking I humbly propose these several things which follow 1. That nothing be Made or Imposed as Conditions of Communion but a few plain obvious and necessary things In these Concord among Christians may be expected and will be found but in many Doubtful and Unnecessary things it is impossible Grammarians Historians Natural Philosophers and Mathematicians agree in some things There are certain Axioms common Notions and Propositions in which they do mutually consent whatever their Differences be in thousands of other things In some few great plain and useful things Christians do and will agree though in many things of less certainty use and importance they may and will differ to the worlds end Existimat ejus Majestas nullam ad incundam concordiam breviorem fore viam quam si diligenter separentur necessaria a non necessariis ut de necessariis conveniat omnis opera insumatur in non necessariis Christianae libertati locus detur Epist Causaboni ad Card. Perronium p. 31. Let the things Imposed as Terms and Conditions of Communion be the Great Essential and Constituent Parts of Christianity Let them be such as are of the Essence of Religion such as without Assent and Consent unto no man is or can be a Christian That Religion I mean the Christian Religion hath its Essential and Constituent Parts cannot reasonably be denyed for if it have no Essential Parts 't is not Quid Compositum 't is no compound thing which no man in his wits I think will affirm and if it be a compound thing it must have its Essential Parts distinguishable from those that are Integral and Accidental We are not to be tyed up to the one as to the other Certainement il seroit bien à desirer qu'il n'yeust pour tout aucune diversité ni bigarrure entre les fideles à cet regard Mais parce que dans l'infirmité où nous vivons en cette chair mortelle ce bon heur est plus a souhaiter qu' à esperer il fant restreindre la necessité de l'union de nos sentimens aux poincts qui sont Essentiels sans la creance des l'on ne peut parvenir au salut A leur égard tous les fideles doivent sentir une mesme chose Nulle ne peut y avoir de diversité sans rompre Mais quant aux auters qui ne sont pas de cette importance nous devons y souffrir la diversité quand il y en a l'example de l'Apostre qui oblige bien ci apres tous les fideles à cheminer d'une mesme ragle en ce a quoy ils estoyent parvenus mais supporte neantmoins ceux qui aux reste sentent quelque chose autrement que luy les fideles parfaits esperant que Dieu le leur revelera aussi Comme vous voyez que dans un estat pourveu que tous les citoyens tiennent les maximes fondamentales necessaires pour la sanction des devoirs essentiels à sa conservation l'on tolere entre eux de la diversité en plusieurs autres subjects de moindre importance Daille on Phil. 2.2 3. Let the Essential Parts of Christianity be so carefully collected that there be no defect nor no redundance Let there be no defect lest such persons as are no professed Christians be admitted to the Communion of the Church Let there be no redundance lest those that are true Christians and believe all the Essentials of the Christian Religion be excluded and denyed their proper Priviledge and Right Jacobus Acontius discoursing of a Common Creed to be used among all Christians and to be reputed the Test and Condition of Communion speaks as followeth Ac oportet quidem confessionem ejusmodi esse instar definitionis cujusdam quemadmodum enim requiritur ut definitio neque plura complectatur neque pauciora quam res ipsa quae definitur viz. ut nihil desit nihil redundet ita in fidei symbolo nihil deesse oportet eorum quae sunt ad salutem cognitu necessaria nil etiam contineri debet absque cujus cognitione contingere salus possit Si deesset etenim aliquid cognitu necessarium fieret ut qui Christianus haberi non debuit neque Ecclesiae Dei Membrum propterea quod profiteretur illud symbolum haberetur pro Christiano Sin contineretur Symbolo aliquid non necessarium cognitu usu venire posset ut qui confiterentur quae essent necessaria ut qui cum suâ qualicunque fide salvi esse possent propterea quod non reciperent id absque cujus cognitione contingere salus possit cum essent pro Christianis Ecclesiae membris agnoscendi rejicerentur at sineque desit neque redundet quicquam jam neque rejicerentur nisi qui sunt rejiciendi neque recipientur nisi qui sunt recipiendi atque ita aptissimum fuerit Symbolum quo Christiani à non Christianis discernuntur Acontii Strat. Satanae lib. 7. pag. 366. 4. Let some difference be made between a Confession of Faith and a Summary or Institution of Christian Religion In a Confession of Faith let nothing be inserted which is not necessary to Salvation In a Christian Institution all things may be discoursed which may be thought any way useful or advantageous Whatever is mentioned in a Creed Symbol on terms of Communion beyond what is absolutely necessary breaks the Church of God into Sects and Factions and
and most exact that can be formed but because it is short and expressed in the words of Scripture and an Evidence of his Judgment that the Communion of Christians and consequently the Peace of Churches yea of Christendom must be suspended only on a few plain necessary things And peradventure our Common Creed with the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments as I have already intimated might be Impositions sufficient for the Union of Christians and Churches 8. Let the Ministers of the Gospel be obliged to declare their Fai h in and Assent unto no more than some such brief Symbol or Confession or rather to those three Summaries of Christianity abovesaid Let them not be obliged to subscribe unto a multifarious number of Articles or to profess a Faith or Consent unto them Let them heartily believe those few great things and reduce their Faith to Practice and persuade others I mean their several Congregations to do so and this will be a more effectual way of producing and preserving Peace and Union than any other way or means whatsoever and with less mischief and inconveniencies 'T is true good large numerous and swinging Impositions ratified by severe Laws and prosecuted by something like an Inquisition would peradventure silence more Disputes and Controversies but then there are two small mischiefs consequent thereunto The one is it would destroy the best part of Mankind from off the face of the Earth The other is it will destroy all serious Religion and leave nothing but an empty name or shadow of it in the World And I am of the mind that some serious Religion though attended with Controversies and Contentions about some smaller things is more eligible than no Religion or an outside Formality and Vizour of it though accompanied with the greatest Agreement Union and Sameness of Judgment and Apprehension imaginable Men are not Masters of their own Persuasions and cannot change their Thoughts as they please He that believes any thing concerning Religion cannot turn as the Prince commands him or accommodate himself to the Law or his present Interests unless he arrive at that pitch of Atheism as to look on Religion only as a matter of Policy or as an Engine for Civil Government Burnet in his Preface to his late Book of the Right of Princes 9. Let Ministerial Qualifications be set as high as prudently they may Let them be required to have good Skill in the Learned Languages and Philosophy Let them be skilled in History especially that of the Church Let them know something in the Controversies of Religion and in the Writers of the Primitive Times And in these things let them undergo a strict Tryal and Examination and if they be not found competently instructed in them let them be rejected Let it not be thought a sufficient Qualification to have seen a University and spent some little time there Let enquiry be made what Advantage they have made what Learning they have obtained by the time they have spent there Persons may come as arrant Fools and Ignorants from thence as they went thither and sometimes much more If no place in the Ministry nor Preferment in the Church were to be obtained without Learning it would oblige young Scholars to follow their Studies and imploy their Time in the prosecution of necessary Qualifications for the Ministerial Office that they might be capable of it But where little else is required in order thereunto but Submission to the Ecclesiastical Yoke and a good wide Throat that can swallow a Pompion 't is no wonder if nothing else be Learnt or Laboured after by a great many 10. Let greater care likewise be taken of the Piety and Sobriety of their Conversations Ad Personarum quidem delectum quod attinet qui ad munus ejusmodi publicum eligi debent tales esse oportet ut duo ista in iis inveniantur Primò Doctrina sana orthodoxa Deinde vita mores convenientes non modo professioni Religionis Christianae verum etiam tam sancto singulari muneri Ad hoc etenim vocantur ut alios tum sermone tum vitae exemplo doceant Theses Salmur De Minist Evangel vocatione Let none be admitted to the Sacred Office that are of Impious Lives and Immoral Conversations such persons give occasion to men of Prophane and Atheistical Tempers and Inclinations to scoff scorn and deride all Religion and burlesque it out of the World and to others that are of pious and devout Inclinations to forsake Publick Assemblies and run after Private Meetings and Conventicles These things are obvious and no man that hath Eyes in his head can very well miss the Observation of them And thus 't will be till greater care be taken of the Lives and Practices of those that are admitted to minister in holy things of which at present I see no great I kelihood seeing those that make the fiercest Declamations against Separation Conventicles do sometimes complain also of the Atheism Prophaneness and Debauchery of the Times take no care of removing away the Causes and Occasions of them For I do not doubt but that very much of the Impiety Irreligion Separation and Division which do abound among us is in a great degree imputable to the Ignorance and Wickedness of Clergy-men Were Clergy-men persons of Wisdom Learning and Gravity and of unblemished Conversation that had nothing to do with any of the unfruitful Works of Darkness themselves they would shame and rebuke the Licentiousness of the Age and more easily draw people from the Private Assemblies to the more Publick Worship of God 11. If the Governours of the Church shall think fit to Commend a Christian Institution or Form of Doctrine to the Clergy for the Direction of their Sermons and Publick Discourses I know no hurt in it it may have its Advantages and Utilities but the Imposing such a thing is to me an Aversion I know not what to compare it to better than a Rack where mens Joynts Limbs are retched and extended to their very great torment and vexation To Impote a large Confession containing many and uncertain Propositions and such as have exercised the Wits of Learned men for many Ages and are like to do so to the Worlds end is to set mens Minds upon the Tenters and to exercise an insupportable Tyranny over their Judgments and Consciences to the breaking of the Peace of Christians and the Ruine of multitudes of good and pious and holy men and this to the great detriment of Religion and the Souls of men and the Joy of the Devil and his Angels And I do protest I cannot but wonder by what fate even some good and excellent men are engaged in favour of Impositions Is it not as evident as that the Sun shines at Noon that they have Rent and Torn and Divided the Churches of God in all Ages for these 1300 years and have engaged them in those Heats and Animosities against each other that by mutual Censures and
of it and in the Effects that it produces in the World Union is the effect of good Knowledge sound Understanding for that Union that is seen among the Ignorant is no other than what is found in a heap of Logs or Stones which doth not indeed deserve that name Those that fill the World with Controversies Quarrels and Contentions are for the most part men of small understanding and of raw and undigested notions 'T is half-witted people that set the Churches of Christendom together by the Ears and kindle those flames in the House of God that are like utterly to waste and consume it Men of great understanding are modest and peaceable they will not contend for trifles nor express great Zeal for any thing but the great Essentials of Faith and Godliness They will not suspend the Peace of the Church upon uncertain or unnecessary things In things of that nature they can permit men to their Liberty and where Liberty is permitted there is seldom any Controversie but where there is unnecessary restraint there is everlasting quarrels and will be to all Generations Let me add further Union is an effect of great holiness and sanctity of mind and nature Let mens Knowledge be never so great if they be not born of God and partakers of a Spirit of Holiness and Sanctification they will quarrel and contend everlastingly not in compliance with their Consciences but in favour to their Lusts If enquiry be made 't will be found true that the holiest persons and such as have most of the Image of God impressed upon their Sou's are alwaies the most peaceable quiet and give least disturbance to the World and what I have said of Persons is true of Churches those Churches whose Members are most holy most renewed sanctified and transformed are the most freest from Divisions Quarrels and Separations Again Union is an Effect of great Self-denyal Mortification contempt of the World and all the Pomp and Glory of it This I do confess is comprehended in what I said in the preceding Paragraph but that what I intend may be the more obvious and apparent I have chosen to discourse it separately and by it self Men of unmortified Lusts and Passions men that cannot deny themselves in any thing men that are fond of the World and the Advantages of it will never rest nor permit others to do so They will move all stones and make all tryals that they can imagine will serve or advance their Pride their Ambition their Riches their Honours or whatever are their darling and be oved Lusts Many of the Antient Schisms and Heresies that so plagued the Church of God were occasioned by the Pride and Covetousness of Churchmen The Church continued for many years a Virgin Thebuthis was the first that corrupted it with false Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was not made a Bishop as Hegesippus reports Euseb lib. quar cap. 22. Novatianus a Presbyter of the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being puffed up with Pride became the Author of a Sect which called themselves Catharists but by others were called Novatians Paulus Samosatenus broke the Peace of the Church and espoused the Doctrine of Ebion and Artemon and affirmed our Lord Jesus a man of common human Race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus lib. 7. cap. 27. And what he was for his Morals those that please may read Eus lib. 7. cap. 30. He was covetous unjust proud effeminate he permitted his Presbyters to partake in the same sins that conscience of their own guilt might hinder and restrain them from opening and exposing his vile abominations Arius was a proud man and affected Domination and because Alexander was preferred before him and made Bishop of Alexandria he mutinyed the Presbyters and raised those Divisions in that Church that from thence were spread into almost all the Christian World Vid. Theod. lib. 1. cap. 3. 4. But it would be endless to mention the Quarrels and Contentions which have been raised in the Church of God by men of unmortified Lusts and Passions and no Union or Peace will be had in the Christian world whilst those Vermine are lodged and nourished in the breasts of men They are humble mortified and self-denying men that live quietly and give no disturbance to the Church or World in which they live and whereof they are Members SECT III. SOmething having been said of the Causes of Union and Peace let me add some few words of the Effects thereof and but a few for I intend no large or elaborate Discourse Union would make the Church strong and impregnable were the Members thereof united in and among themselves Were they of one mind and one heart they would stand firm like a Rock against all the Assaults of their Enemies For besides their own proper strength which would be consequent to their Union God would stand by them and be their Protector and Defender 'T is Faction and Division that weakens the Church and causes God to withdraw his defence and guardianship from it and then it becomes a prey to the Enemies thereof Moreover were the Church of God at Union and Peace within it self it would be beautiful and lovely in the Eyes of the World Did the Members thereof agree together were they of one judgment in the Doctrines of Religion and of one practice in the duties and actions thereof how comely and decorous would the prospect be And how would it ravish those that behold and consider it even the very Enemies thereof would cry out and say How beautiful are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Were the Church of God at Peace and Unity with it self it would be a mighty means to Convert the World and bring it over to the Christian Religion Were there a great and mutual Friendship and Amity among the several Parts and Members of it it would be a mighty Evidence of the Truth of Christianity and almost all Mankind would fall under the sorce of it The Authority thereof would be irresistible 't is the Factions the Feuds the Divisions the Strifes Hatreds and Contentions that are in Christendom and among the Churches thereof that makes them a scorn and abhorrence to Turks and Infidels as well as to the Atheistical and prophane that are among them 'T is the everlasting Quarrels and mutual Censures and Condemnations of each other that makes Christianity a poor languid thing and takes off all the convincing power thereof in the apprehension of its Enemies Again were the Church of God united and at Peace in it self the mutual offices of Love and Kindness of Charity and Compassion which would be exercised by the Members thereof would very much sweeten and abate the Miseries and Calamities of the present Life and State The Rich would minister to the wants and necessities of the Poor and the Poor would chearfully serve and minister to the advantages of the Rich. According to their capacities they would mutually help and
as the Degrees and varieties of Mens understandings are vastly great and many so are their prejudices and Anticipations Some persons suck in certain Opinions with their Milk they receive them from their Parents and such as give them their Education Thus some are prejudiced for the Doctrine of Calvin and others for the Doctrine of Aaminius thus some persons are prejudiced for Episcopal Government in the Church and others for a Presbyterian Parity Thus some contract a kindness for a pompous and ceremonious Religion and Way of Worshipping God others contract a fondness for a very plain and and simple Way and Method of Worship and Devotion Moreover some men read but one sort of Books and care not to read any thing that is written in opposition to their Anticipations or if they do read any thing of that nature 't is with so great a prejudice that their judgments are rather confirmed than altered thereby They are strongly persuaded of the truth of their own apprehensions what is intended to shake them doth but as the Wind by Trees fix and establish them That this is a fault I do easily grant but 't is easier to observe than cure it and that mens prejudices are strangely fixed and confirmed thereby cannot be denied Besides men are strangely prejudiced against some Opinions by the infamous reports that have been raised concerning those that have defended and maintained them Thus the Papists are prejudiced against the Doctrine of Protestants by impudent and frontless Lyes that have been raised against Luther and Calvin and other great instruments in the Reformation And thus many among us have an Implacable Pique and Displeasure against Dissenters and all their Opinions because some men do report them a company of seditious People that can never be quiet but are always libelling Authority and disturbing all Order and Governments wheresoever they live And others are as much prejudiced against Episcopacy and the peculiar Opinions of that sort of men because they are reported to be a generation of men that are proud and imperious lovers of Empire and Domination that engross the Revenues of the Church and employ them in Luxury and Sensuality but care not for the Souls of men If they will obey the Orders of the Church and submit to its Institutions they may defie all the Laws of God and without restraint or control make what haste they please to Hell they countenance the Ungodly and Prophane and persecute and oppress such as fear God tremble at his word they are impatient of such Meetings and Assemblies where a company of poor Christians meet together to hear Gods Word and call upon his Name but they can very patiently bear the Assemblies of riotous Sensualists and Blasphemers that convene to defie God promote their own Damnation and of as many others as they can Again some Persons receive prejudice against Opinions from the real faults of some single Persons or a few men that have embraced and entertained them Some Dissenters have used some uncomely indecorous and unadvised Expressions in their extemporate Prayers and therefore they reproach and reject all extemporate Effusions some of them have preached Doctrine not agreeable to some mens conceptions or have used homely Language and Similitudes and therefore all their Mouths must be stopped and the Church of God will do better without them than with them Some Conformists read the Liturgy without any seeming seriousness or Devotion they are in such haste to have done with it that they can scarce give themselves time enough to pronounce the words in their full extensions and therefore they infer that all forms of Prayer are inconsistent with and enemies to Devotion and good for nothing but to promote Laziness and introduce Formality and a kind of Lifeless Worship of God Another thing that sixes mens prejudices is their worldly Interest and Advantage this is that which is the strength of the Papacy and the support of the Antichristian Hierarchy and Kingdom The Romanists are by their Education seasoned and imbued with the Opinions of that Church and their Interest confirms them in the belief of them When they come to the use of their Reason and a Capacity of judging concerning them men do seldom embrace Opinions that are inconsistent with their worldly Advantages or forsake those though never so unreasonable that do favour and advance it By believing the Doctrine of that Church they possess Estates and Honours they live in Ease and Peasure and exercise Dominion over the Consciences of men and these things are pleasant to depraved Natures and corrupted Minds and by them men are charmed and bewitched into a Belief of the wildest and most unreasonable persuasions in the World 'T were impossible to hold the Members of the Church of Rome to a belief of its own Doctrine were there no worldly Interest to biass and sway their Judgments thereunto Bishopricks and Abbacies Caps and Miters and the many Preferments and Advantages wherewithal that Church abounds do more to preserve it than all the Power of Princes yea than all the writings of the greatest and most learned Champions of that cause And 't is not only in the Roman Church but in some other Churches of Christendom besides that Interest doth either form mens Opinions or fix their Anticipations and make them steddy and immutable therein The variety of mens Understandings and Prejudices being thus obviously great and many how is it possible that there should be Union and Concord among Christians if Church Communion be suspended upon the belief and acknowledgment of doubtful and unnecessary things May not their concord with as much reason be suspended upon a similitude of faces features and proportions SECT VII BUT I shall argue the improbability of it from Experience as well as from its proper Causes Do we not see great variety of judgments and apprehensions in all parts of Learning and Knowledge Do not Grammarians differ in the sense and meaning of words and in the explication of the Idiotismes and peculiarities of the learned Languages Do not our Mythologists differ in the account they give of the Fables of the Greek and Latine Poets Do not some Learned Men think that they are at least many of them corruptions of the true History of things which we have in the Holy Bible Hath not the Learned Bochartus among others given very probable reasons for it and hath not an English Doctor and Divine of our Church derided and laughed at him for it Have not and do not our Theological Criticks and Translators differ in their Opinions even concerning the Signification of words as about the Original of them Is there any agreement or concord among them or do we need to go far for proofs of it The first verse in the Bible will furnish us with enough ×‘×¨× ×©×™×ª In the beginning is translated by the Jerusalem Targum ×‘×—×•×›×ž× in Wisdom By the Arabick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and by Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
most Supreme Lord of all or at least I think 't were not amiss to be as equally severe against Atheism Prophaneness gross Immorality and a contempt of all Religion as against some small Errours in Opinion and Differences in Practice from the Established Doctrines and Methods of Divine Worship prescribed Ecclesiastick Rulers whose Government I have said is paternal are more especially obliged to consider this forasmuch as they are or at least should be best acquainted with the understanding of the Patience Long-suffering and Forbearance of God But all should consider it forasmuch as all have experience of it and must have or they are undone Civil and Ecclesiastick Governours both have experience of much Indulgence and Connivance from God Almighty and they have still great need of more and 't were well that they which enjoy and need so much would impart and communicate some degree and measure of it towards others 8. That the requiring of greater Uniformity in Opinion and Practice in the things of Religion than the Church of God is capable of is no means of Union Peace or Concord but a most effectual and certain means of Division Separation Strife and Contention The Christian World hath found this true by sad and lamentable Experience and there is no man of sense or brains but may easily perceive it if he apply himself to the consideration of it Were it a likely way to promote Peace in a Kingdom yea or in a single Town or Village to oblige all the Inhabitants thereof by Laws Penalties and Executions to learn and speak the Greek the Chaldee or the Arabick Language and no other Are they capable of it or have they Time Leisure Wit or Helps sufficient to obtain a skill and dexterity in it Have they Teachers to instruct them in the meaning reading and pronunciation of it Or supposing they had Teachers Have they all of them opportunity leisure or capacities for it Would this make Union Peace or Concord amongst them Or would it not certainly mutiny trouble and divide them No more is it any probable means of making Peace Union and Concord among Christians to oblige them to think speak and do the same things in the many doubtful and Controverted Cases and Points of Religion and Worship in agitation among us Are their minds all of the same shape and size Are they all of equal capacity and comprehension Yea are the minds of all Clergy-men of equal quickness and perspicuity Are they of the same vigour And have they the same advantages for the improvement and cultivation of them Or are Impositions likely to unite them Or are they not rather a sure Means and certain Engine of Division and Separation 'T is morally impossible that men should have the same thoughts and apprehensions in the Controversies of Christianity as I have said and proved in the preceding Discourse and if the Governours of Churches will require things impossible they may easily perceive that it is not the way to make Peace but War not Union but Division not Love and Friendship but Hatred Variance and Strifes For though some will assent to all that they require out of Interest and for their Advantage others by the hope of a fair and passable Interpretation others will run with the Herd and swallow all without any chewing or consideration yet there will be men of tender scrupulous and severe Consciences that will everlastingly dissent from them I do humbly conceive some regard ought to be had to such persons by Governours in their Impositions and that those that are most afraid of offending God should not for that very reason be exposed to the greatest Sufferings and Calamities 9. That it seems something hard that it should be in the power of Church-Governours who have all their Power for Edification not for Destruction to make men Schismaticks at their list and pleasure and yet so it is if they may Impose what Controverted Doubtful and Unnecessary Doctrines and Practices they please upon the Belief and Observation of men If this be granted those that are Good and Catholick Christians this day may be a company of Schismaticks to morrow 't is but the Imposing of some Doubtful Opinions on their Faith and some Suspicious Actions upon their Practice and the work is done And on this Supposition 't is come to pass that all the Christian World are by some part or other thereof accounted Schismaticks The Romanists account all Schismaticks that refuse and dissent from their Impositions The Protestants are of several Judgments and various Practices and are more than enough severe in their Censures of each other Some seem to account all those Churches Schismatical that have no Bishops or Episcopal Ordination others think them Schismatical that do assert the necessity of it and will Impose the Belief and Practice thereof The Case being thus an honest and sober man would be shrewdly tempted to think that God never gave any Power to Church-Governours to Impose Doubtful and Unnecessary things upon the Belief and Practice of Christians and thereby make Schisms Separations and Divisions at their pleasure but that all the Power they have is to Command and Impose things plain necessary and certain and that those are enough to maintain the Churches Peace 10. That it seems very hard also that men that believe all the Antient Creeds assent to all the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion and live a pious and holy Life denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts living righteously soberly and godly in this world should be denyed the Communion of the Church And yet thus it may and thus it doth happen by reason of the Imposition of some Doubtful and Unnecessary things Thus 't is in England let a man be sound in the Faith and live an Angelical Life in the exercise of all kinds of Christian Virtues yet if he scruples Kneeling at the holy Sacrament he may not partake in it if he doubts the lawfulness of Godfathers and Godmothers or the use of the Sign of the Cross in Baptism he may not have his Child Baptized or admitted into the Church of God though he be a person sound in Judgment and of unblameable and exemplary Conversation in all Godliness and Honesty No Clergy-man can officiate in the Church that suspects or doubts any thing in the Liturgy Book of Ordination and Articles to be contrary to the Word of God besides some other Subscriptions which a thinking man may be able to find such difficulties in that he cannot answer to his own satisfaction Be his Abilities never so great be his Desires to serve God in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus never so warm lively and passionate yea though he have been solemnly devoted thereunto he must not come near the Altar nor meddle with any Publick Ministrations for the promoting the Honour of God and the Salvation of Souls The greatest skill in Languages and Philosophy the largest knowledge in Fathers Councils Histories and the latter Books and Writings
Prayers they will occasion the same Divisions and Separations the same Factions and Schisms as if they had been put into the Publick Test and Symbol of Communion and those persons that come into the Church at one door will be shut out at the other and what is given to them with the right hand will be taken away with the left Let the matter of of Publick and Common-Prayers be plain and indisputable let them contain nothing that can reasonably be scrupled let the Confessions Supplications and Thanksgivings that do compound them be such as all Good Men may consent unto and readily and heartily say Amen I must adde Let them be expressed in the Language and Words of Scripture this will make them the more grateful and savoury to Pious and Devout Minds this will render them the more unexceptionable to all men and certainly no words can be more proper to express our Requests and Desires to God withal than those that have the Holy Ghost for their Author A Proposal of this nature was made to some Bishops suddenly upon His Majesties Restauration but 't was rejected A Lyturgy so formed and expressed would not serve their Ends nor promote their Purposes so effectually as that which had been formerly established and in use and therefore in defiance to all Peace and Union That must be Re-established 'T is true there are not many things exceptionable therein but something had been long objected against some passages in it and the whole had been several years disused in almost all Congregations and if from thence occasion had been taken to new Cast and Mould it I do humbly conceive it might have promoted more Love and Union more Charity and Peace than the Imposing it as we have done with almost no Alterations I remember a passage in Cyprian De Oratione Dominica When Christ hath told us sayes he that whatsoever we ask the Father in his Name he will give it us Quanto efficacius impetramus quod petimus in Christi nomine si petamus ipsius Oratione Agnoscet Pater Filii verba c. It this be true that our Petitions are more efficacious for being put in the words of Christ's Prayer I am more persuaded that our Confessions and Lyturgy if they were formed only in Scripture-Language would be safer from exception 20. I would also wish further that some Liberty were indulged to such persons being otherwise of sound Judgments and Loyal and peaceable Principles as are not satisfied in their minds concerning the Lawfulness of a Form of Prayer I do confess that I never read or heard any thing said or written against Forms of Prayer that would convince me of the unlawfulness of them nevertheless because there are many Learned Pious and Good Men of other thoughts and apprehensions I do heartily wish that they might be permitted the Liberty of their Judgments and Consciences in that Case nor am I able to see any danger mischief or inconvenience consequent thereunto There were greater Differences and Varieties among the Antient Churches without any breach of Love or Charity than the use of a Form or Extemporate Conceptions do amount unto and so it might be still if Christians both Clergy and Laity were as meek humble and peaceable as then they were and as great Enemies to Pride Empire and Domination as then they seemed to be What is said by Socrates and Sozomen concerning the different Practices of differing Churches is often mentioned and sufficiently known by Learned Men. 'T is plain from them that though they differed much in some Rites and Customs yet they did not separate from each other and treat and repute each other as Schismaticks They reputed it and very justly saith Sozomen a foolish thing to separate from each other for the sake of some differing Customs whilst they agreed in the capital Points of Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 7. cap. 19. Amongst many Diversities reckoned by Socrates he mentions the great Diversity of their Prayers and these are his words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Universally among all Sects you will hardly find two Churches that do altogether agree among themselves in the Manner of their Prayers In ritu precandi Valesius interprets it Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 22. If any shall say that Socrates speaks here of Sects and not of the Catholick Church I answer 't is true he speaks of the Novatians some few lines before and of the Macedonians some few lines after but 't is certain that the most of the Varieties that he takes notice of in that Chapter were found among the Catholicks and I see no reason that we should understand the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which after Valesius I have translated Sects in so narrow a sense as may respect only the Novatians and some other Separatists and Hereticks it seems more agreeable to the Historian to understand the word in a sense so large and comprehensive as may reach the Catholicks as well as those that were separated and divided from them But supposing this doubtful he affirms in this same Chapter that those that were of the same Faith by which he means the Orthodox in opposition to Separatists and Hereticks differed among themselves in Rites and Customs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which he gives many Instances in the Church at Rome Alexandria Egypt Thessaly and Antioch They agreed in the same Faith but in Rites and Customs there were great varieties among them sayes that Historian Nor am I ignorant that some men think and report Socrates a Novatian and that what he speaks of this great variety of Customs and Practices in Churches is in favour to himself and others of that Persuasion Persons that separate from the Church being willing to take notice of every little variety that may be observed in particular Churches to countenance their own Departure from them to prove themselves True Churches notwithstanding their Separation If the matter of this Objection be granted I know not what prejudice it is to the Allegations produced from him for though he were a Novatian I hope he might speak Truth and that the Credit of his History is not blasted by that supposition nor could he be so utterly bereft of all Sense as to report such things wherein 't were easie to confute him if they had been false Would he have affirmed such a Diversity of Customs if there had been a present Concord in Christian Churches concerning them And would he have inscribed his History to Theodorus whom he calls a holy Man of God and therefore a Bishop though of what City is uncertain who could not be ignorant of it if there had been no such Diversity This is to suppose Socrates a Fool or a Mad Man which is an imputation that none but men of that Tribe will charge him withal But the supposition of Socrates to be a Novatian is in earnest but an Idle Dream there being no Evidence for it that is of any weight or value and many
Episcopacy When it shall please God therefore to send us a Parliament that are able to distinguish wisely betwixt Tolerable and Intolerable Opinions and Persons and so by Law to permit to the One the Liberty of their Assemblies and to restrain the Other and shall then prepare a Bill for Declaring the Constitution of the Church as National making the King to be Head of all the Congregations which shall be Tolerated as well as of those which are Parochial and the Diocesan Bishops to be His Officers or Delegates for keeping good Order amongst them all leaving to the Pastor of every Parish or Congregation that Power which Christ hath committed to him for Feeding and Ruling the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made Him Overseer without confounding this Internal Power of His with the External of the Other derived from the King but preserving the Rights of both so that the One be not swallowed up of the Other Nor forgetting the Concession of a sort of Episcopacy to perform the ordinary Work of the Apostles and Evangelists in that Multiplication of Supervisors over the Parochial-Clergy which I propose also in these Papers then shall the Grounds be laid for a firm and lasting Concord in the Nation about the Matter of Religion There were two Bills in the House of Commons that sate last at Westminster the One for the Vniting those that could come in to the present Church Establishment the Other for Ease to such as cannot These Bills had they passed and become Laws might be a good Interim for making up our Breaches till some more effectual means were also applied but when they would serve for excellent Scaffolds to stand upon while the Work is in hand the Fabrick it self should be formed out of such Materials as these which I now offer and which I find put to the End of that Book I have before mentioned in the last Half Sheet thereof and called Materials for Vnion Should it but please the King then and a Parliament to consider the Contents only of what Mr. H. hath there proposed and pass the Sense of it into a Law it would unite and heal us it would make us a Glorious Church indeed firm and Compacted among our selves and therefore impregnable to the Assaults of all our Enemies Tho there were Differences in Judgment among us and some Difference in Practices yet there would be little or no Difference in Affections All would mind and promote the common Peace and unite in resisting the Common Enemy This would put a Period to the Attempts of Rome for to what purpose should the Factors and Emissaries of the Roman Conclave attempt to subvert an Established Church and Religion where there is no probability of prevailing And what likelihood is there to prevail where all Parties are satisfied The One in the Favour and Encouragement of the Government and Laws the other in their Indulgence and Protection by them SECT XIII ALthough it be plain enough from what I have discoursed that I plead the Cause of none but Tolerable Dissenters and am Advocate for no Persons or Churches that maintain pernicious Errours and are impenitent and incorrigible in them Yet to prevent all Misunderstandings I do again here subjoyn That I plead not the Cause of such as subvert the Christian Faith in the great Essentials of it which the Jews Mahometans Socinians and all other Infidels do I would not have Men permitted to Preach down Jesus Christ and the Gospel and to Preach up meer Theisme or the Religion of the Antique or Modern Heathens nor of such as Preach Immorality and Licentious Prophaness I would not have Men permitted to encourage or justify Violence or Rapine Sensuality or Lust Rebellion or Treason or any thing that is plainly Wicked and condemned by the Light of Nature as well as the Doctrine of Christianity And of this kind are many Popish Doctrines as is evident to all Men that have conversed in the Writings of their Casuists and such as have the Conduct of Conscience among them Particular Instances whereof may be seen in the Mystery of Jesuitism and the Jesuits Morals by any Man that hath a desire to be satisfied concerning them Nor of such whose Doctrines are inconsistent with Civil Government and Publick Peace and such is the Doctrine of the Romanists A Papist if he be true to the Opinions and Decrees of their own Popes and Councils must be a Rebel and a Traytor whensoever his Holiness pleases to command it This hath been sufficiently proved by many Authors and is obvious enough to such as read their Books And if there be any other Sect or Sort of People that maintain such Doctrines as do disturb the Peace of Mankind necessarily and truly and not occasionally and by accident for so the Gospel doth it I have nothing to say on their behalf But if the Toleration that I have proposed and pleaded for should be thought a Means of increasing the Separation from the Publick Congregations I reply Let care be taken as I said that the Clergy who officiate in them be Men of Worth Ability and good Conversation that is such as preach and live Piously and love the Honour of God and the Souls of Men And let some Discipline be restored to particular Churches under the Inspection of the Bishops and difference be made between the Precious and the Vile by the Exercise of it that none be reputed and accounted Christians and admitted to all the Priviledges of Christians that know nothing but the Name of Christianity and live in open Defiance to all the Laws thereof And if these two things were done there would be no great danger of encreasing the Separation by Tolerating some Dissenting Churches but on the contrary I do think that Separate Churches would be drained and emptyed and in a few Years almost quite dissolved thereby For in my Observation 't is the Ignorance and Prophaness of Clergy-Men and the Corruption and Impurity of Churches that began and doth continue the Divisions and Separations that have been and still are among us Let the Cause be removed and taken away and the Effect will cease Nay suppose some single Persons few in number should leave the publick and Allowed Congregations on occasion of this Toleration and joyn themselves to separate Assemblies What great hurt is there in it and why should any Publick Preacher be offended at it What hurt or wrong is it to my Physician if I leave him and go to another if he cannot cure me or I do not like his Methods and Prescriptions Hath he any Reason to be offended if another do that which he cannot do I know the Minister of my own Parish does oftentimes meet some or other of his Parishoners going to their Conventicles when he hath been going to Church and the like in his and their Return and yet I never heard that he grew into any Passion or Displeasure with them about it much less that he prosecuted them
Excommunications they censure the whole Universe of Christians unto Hell I doubt not but that God will be more kind to them all then they are to each other or else I know not what will become of them and where their Portion must fall But this is one of the happy Effects of Impositions which I can hardly mention without Indignation and yet some good men seem to be mightly in Love with it and hug and embrace it as an excellent Instrument of Union and Peace Je demande que nous distinguions soigneusement entre le's Doctrines si clairement estabilies en la parole de Dieu que tous les Chrestiennes sont obliges de les recevoir celles qui ont besoin pour leur eclaircissement du travail de la Meditation des hommes pour les eclaircir que nous n'en admettions point d'autres que les premiers pour fondamentales invariables que quant aux autres nous puissons nous dispenser de les recevoir sans prejudice du salut qui ne doit dependre que des premiers Je pretends que tout celase fasse sans rompre la paix l'union que nous devons entretenir avec ceux qui ont des sentiments different I desire that we do carefully distinguish betwixt those Doctrines that are so clearly established in the Word of God that all Christians are obliged to receive them and those that have need of the Thoughts and Industry of men for the Elucidation of them and that we admit no other than the first as fundamental and invariable and that we may dispence with our selves in receiving the others without hazard of our Salvation which doth not depend but on the former And I do affirm that this may be done without breach of that Peace and Union which we ought to maintain with those that in these second sort of things are of different Opinions See that excellent Book La reunion du Christianisme p. 159 160. and all over 12. Many things may be forbidden by our Governours to the Clergy which they ought not to oblige them to abjure or renounce Suppose a Clergy-man should have entertained an Opinion that Ordination by Presbyters is lawful and valid and that a Particular or Parochial Church is endowed with all Power that Christ Jesus hath given to his Church Peradventure our Governours may without any hurt or injury to him or any other else forbid him the publishing of these Opinions or making Proselites to them but why he should be obliged to renounce them I do not understand He may be a good man and capable of serving God in the Gospel of his Son though he should be of that persuasion in those things and though he cannot renounce them he may be very willing to silence and keep secret his Sentiments in obedience to his Superiors and for the sake of Peace Again to the like purpose Submission to many things may be more safely required than approbation and there are multitudes of pious and peaceable men that could endure and bear with many things that they can never approve Many men peradventure might endure the use of the Cross in Baptism and the denial of the Sacrament to such as refuse to take it kneeling and the singing of Prayers in an unintelligible tone and many other things which they would never like nor approve And indeed such is the World and such is the Church that many things must be endured which cannot nor ought not to be approved for neither the one nor the other will ever be so good as they should be And here do I like well that good tempered Rule of St. Austin and which indeed is alwaies reasonable Adhibendus est modus temporaque servanda nec in confirmatione virtutis negligenda est disciplinae severitas nec immoderatione coercionis dirumpendum vinculum societatis Cont. Ep. Parm. l. 2. c. 6. 13. If Silence and Submission had been required where Abjuration and Approbation hath been Imposed the Christian World had known more Peace and Religion had flourished and been much more successful than it hath been for many hundred years Silence and Submission would have obtained all those ends which have been sought for in vain by peremptory and rigorous Impositions But when some men are not satisfied that others do quietly bear and submit to their Pride their Domination and imperious Folly but they must also approve it justifie it commend it This is so monstrous a piece of Tyranny that I know not to whom originally to impute it unless to the Devil who requires the same of his Servants but those that are the Freemen of Christ can never endure it Nay I will add this little on the contrary hand That had some things been condemned only to Silence instead of Renunciation and others been required only as to Submission instead of Approbation I do believe we should have never seen those Divisions nor known those Persecutions nor heard those Outcries and Complaints of Schism and Separation nor been in this danger of being swallowed up by the Papists as now we are But there are some Clergy-men in this and some in another World that were of another mind though it is like they have by this changed their Opinion at least some of them and others will do it in due time Decisiones Divisiones pariunt quo plures fuerint decisiones eo plures inde oriuntur Divisiones Schismata Curcellaeus ubi supra 14. If Hereticks in Fundamentals and Persons of pernicious and dangerous Opinions creep into the Church let them after due Admonition by their Superiours and Collegues be rejected This is the Method that the Apostle prescribes and I know not where to find a better Impositions to obviate Hereticks have kept many sober and useful men out of the Church but in my apprehension very few Hereticks They are usually men of a lubricous and slippery ingeny and 't is a very hard matter to set any traps or gins which they will not escape or to make any nooses out of which they will not slip their necks and I am abundantly convinced that where One Heretick or dangerously Erroneous person Many excellently Learned and Pious Persons that might have been very useful Instruments in the Church of God have been excluded by this means There is care ought to be taken to prevent Ignorant and Scandalous Persons from entring into the Church or Ministry yet that hinders not but that some such Varlets do intrude into it I think now that the same Methods of proceeding which are used against wicked and immoral men are to be used against men of unsound and dangerons Opinions The Governours of our Church do not think fit to Impose Laws and Rules of severest Temperance Sobriety Justice upon all such as are admitted into the Sacred Office and I know no reason why they should prescribe stricter Rules to their Judgments than they do to their Lives and that as a wicked
against it as those that please may Read in the Life of Socrates and Sozomen prefixed to this Edition of their Works by Valesius So long as Christian Religion was a simple Profession of the Articles of Belief and a hearty prosecution of the Rules of good Life the fewness of the Articles and the clearness of the Rule was the cause of the seldom prevarication Dr. Taylor in his Liberty of Prophecying SECT XI BEfore I proceed to the remaining Proposals I must take leave by the way to speak with an Objection or two of some folks who are like to be troublesome That Conceived Prayers in Publick Assemblies are unlawful I never yet saw proved and I believe never shall Neither do I think it any such Novelty as some men imagine There are several Passages in the Fathers that make it seem very probable that they made use of Extemporate Conceptions I will mention a few of them Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus denique sine monitore quia de pectoreoramus precantes sumus omnes Tertullian in Apologetico cap. 30. What Tertullian means by praying without a Monitor or Teacher and by praying out of the heart unless it be by a habit by present Conceptions I understand not Nor do I know how he that prays by a Form can be said to pray without a Teacher We worship with Supplications according to our ability 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the One God c. Origen contra Celsum l. 8. And in the same Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to present given in Ability which latter words expound the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and makes it appear that their Prayers were Extemporate To this same sense some understand those words of Justin Martyr The President as his Ability serves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sends up Prayers and Thanksgivings the People joyfully saying Amen Apol. 2. cap. 39. But 't is objected that those that use that way of Praying do many times speak Nonsense and blaspheme in their Addresses and Supplications to God Almighty to which I have these few things to say 1. I believe those that make this report of mens Extemporate Conceptions do not speak upon their own knowledge they having little or no Communion with such as make use of them and those that are their Informers peradventure may be none of the most upright just and impartial men but may put an ill sense upon words that are very innocent and of sound and safe signification 2. Let this Objection be acknowledged true what can reasonably be inferred from it Is it unlawful to be used because some men have not skill enough to perform it Will not the same Argument hold against Preaching And may it not with as much reason be said some men Preach Nonsense False Doctrine Slanders others Preach foolishly and pedantickly not to the Edification but to the Amazement of their Congregations and therefore Preaching is unlawful If this Method of Argumentation be good in one case 't is good in both but I am of Opinion 't is good in neither and that the better way of Arguing from those miscarriages is thus Some men are neither able to Pray extemporately in a decorous manner nor to Preach soundly and to the Edification of their hearers therefore they must let it alone till they be better instructed in the one and in the other Or in Prayer let them use a Form which I do not doubt is lawful and in their Sermons let them take assistance from Books whose Authors were better skill'd in the Art of Preaching than themselves but in the mean time let them not condemn those that need not these Helps and Assistances but can Pray and Preach in comely grave and profitable manner out of the abundance of their own hearts Another Objection as wise as the former is this In Extemporate Prayers men set their hands to a blank and say Amen to they know not what they give the same blind Assent to the Prayers of every Priest or Extemporizer that the Papists do in things doctrinal to the Authority of the Church This very silly Objection hath been insisted on urged against Extemporate Prayers by some very great men To which I reply 1. If men said Amen to Petitions before they heard them or before He that Prayes had expressed himself in words concerning them there might be something of sense and truth in it but Assenting to Petitions before they are made and uttered is a thing that I understand not nor those I believe that have Communion in those kind of Prayers and if Persons do not give their Assent till the Petition be formed or expressed by words I hope they may deny their Assent if they judge the matter of it unlawful 2. According to this Doctrine no man can joyn with another in Prayer safely unless he know aforehand what is the Matter and Contents of it and thus we must have Forms of Prayer for all occasions and emergencies if it were possible to hit of them as well as for ordinary Cases or else persons may set their hands to a blank and say Amen to they know not what We must have an Universal Form of Blessing before Meat and of Thanksgiving after it or Form of Prayer for all Masters of Families Tutors c. which must be alwaies used and no other Form a Notion that some of those that are in Bedlam may possibly believe but it would be strange that any that are out of that place should believe it unless some few that ought to be sent thither 3. The experience of multitudes of good and pious People doth confute this Objection every day They are sure they do joyn heartily in Extemporate Prayers and that they do not set their hands to a blank or say Amen to they know not what They know that they Assent not to Petitions before they be expressed and that they do Dissent where they do not approve them though 't is very seldom that they have occasion for it For who are those persons that express themselves in words sinful blasphemous and without sense they do not know But enough of this and peradventure some may think I have said too much to take notice only of such a brainless Objection This is sufficient to my purpose that Dissent from a Publick Lyturgy and the Use of Conceived Prayers are no Reasons for making Churches or Persons Schismatical If any things of this nature are enough to denominate single Persons or Societies of Men Schismatical 't is in the Power of those that are uppermost to make whom they please Schismaticks Persons and Churches may walk in all the Statutes and Commandments of the Lord blameless and yet be cut off from the Church of God as Schismatical and consequently be excluded Life Eternal for 't is affirmed of late that whoever is cut off from a particular True Church is cut off from the Church Universal out
of which there is no Salvation and so for ought that I can see a Man or a Society of Men may be very good Christians and yet shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven Which I shall be very ready to believe when I can think the Surface of the Moon to be no broader than a Sieve or the Body of the Sun no bigger than the Globe that Atlas bears upon his shoulders in Cornhill Ce seroit un grand bien que les fideles fussent si purfait ment d'accord qu'il n'y eust ent'reux qu'un seul sentiment sur toutes les choses de la religion Mais ce bon heur estant plustest a souhaitter qu' a esperer pour l'infirmité de nostre intelligence tamdis que nous voyageons en la terre l'Apostre nous ordonne de nous retiner moderer en telle sorti qu'il si rencoutre de la diversité dans nostre concord Daillé ubi supra SECT 12. TO proceed therefore to three or four things more I have to propose and are yet behind The one of them that is the One and twentieth is Let not these Tolerated Churches be accounted Schismaticks but let them have the same Estimation that the Churches of the Jewish Communion had from those that were of the Gentile Communion some Diversity in Rites and Ceremonies there was between these Churches then but they did not repute each other as Schismaticks they accounted each other True Churches notwithstanding that Diversity of Opinion and Practices that were among them and so for ought I can see might we also Is it reasonable or just to deny those to be true Men that do differ in the Manner of their Dress and in the Colour or Fashion of their Garments Or can it be affirmed with Truth that the Indians in America are not of the same Humane Race with us because they go almost naked and we cover and dress and adorn our selves with all the fine things that Nature and Art can furnish us withal In some parts of Persia as Herbert reports in his Travels they expose their Dead in others they burn them and we bury them The Essedons among the Scythians mince their Dead Friends with the Flesh of Beasts and eat them Morendo il padre ad alcuno tutti i suoi parenti portano ivi piu pecore amuzzetele fattele in pezzi minuzzano ancho il morte padre de colui che gli ha invitate e mescolate tutte le carni insieme mongiano di compagnia e scorticata e nettata la testa del morto la indorano e se ne serveno per un simulacro al quale agni anno fanno maggiori ceremonie amazzano maggior vittime as the Italian Giovanni Boemo has it in his Book of the Customs of Nations The differing Manners of People are reconcilable with the same Common Nature And if these be true Men notwithstanding those things in which they differ from us so may these that I have spoken of be true Churches notwithstanding they may differ in some things from those that have the Countenance Favour and Establishment of the Government and the Law Another of them that is the Two twentieth is Let it not be thought a Scandal or Reproach for the People of several Communions sometimes to communicate in such parts of Worship as they can with each other Why should it be thought an infamous thing for a Church-man to go to a Separate Meeting and hear their Sermons and partake with them in their Prayers Do they not Preach the same Doctrine and offer up the same Petitions though not in the same words that is Discoursed and are sent up to the Throne of Grace in the Publick and Allowed Assemblies and Congregations And why should not the Tolerated and Dissenting part of Christians come sometimes and hear the Discourses and Prayers of the Established Ministry Do they not Preach the same Jesus the same Faith the same Repentance and the same Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel Will not many of both Parties Live together hereafter in the same Heaven Will they not behold the Face of the same God and his Christ and joyn together in the same Prayers and Hallelujahs in the same Quires of Saints and Angels for ever more And shall Christians that will live together for ever in the World to come live at that Distance and Separation in this that they will not so much as own each other nor communicate in the Service of their common Lord and Master Surely this is not well there is fault somewhere and I am afraid that neither Party is Innocent This strangeness and distance is not seemingly in Brethren those that have the same God for their Maker and the same Jesus for their Redeemer and the same holy Spirit for their Sanctifier those that are begotten by the same Word to the same Eternal Hope of Glory should not live like Aliens and Strangers much less like Enemies to each other They should have a mutual dearness and tenderness for each other and communicate together in what they can notwithstanding their differences in some yea in many smaller things To advance yet one step more Let it not be thought a crime for a Publick Minister to Preach in a Separate Assembly nor for a Tolerated Preacher to do the like Office in a Publick Congregation I know no hurt in such a mutual Enterchange of Love and Duty to and for each other But I am very much assured much good would be consequent unto it It would beget and encrease Love and Kindness it would take off those Prejudices and False Apprehensions that through Ignorance and Strangeness men of different Judgments have entertained of each other I do not at all doubt but that there are multitudes of persons of contrary Judgments in some things that would love each other with great Dearness were they intimately acquainted and known to each other Yea I will add that such a friendly correspondence and entercourse of Kindness between Conformist and Nonconformist would do more to Heal the Breaches and Unite the Judgments and Practices of the Differing Parties than many Impositions sharp and severe Laws and Executions Men are to be drawn by Love and Kindness by Charms and Attractives to Union and Conformity not to be driven to it with Beetles and Sledges with Swords and Axes The Three and twentieth is In this Enterchange of Love and Duty let nothing be Preached but those common Truths in which both Parties are agreed Let them not be allowed to meddle with those Doctrines which are the Subject and Matter of Controversie between them This will not generate Love or serve any good end that I know on but will enkindle Wrath and make Animosities and Feuds and set those that differ at an irreconcilable distance from each other There are things enough in which they agree to furnish matter for their Discourses of this kind And to come into each others Congregations