agreeable is it to the Christian Temper to be willing to sacrifice all such Doubts and Scruples to the Interests of publick Order and divine Charity for better surely it is to serve God in a defective imperfect manner to bear with many Disorders and Faults than to break the Bond of Peace and brotherly Communion For this we have the example of our Blessed Lord and Saviour who lived and died in Communion with a Church where there were far greater Corruptions both as to Persons and Practises than can be pretended to be in ours at this day yet though he was the great Reformer of mankind he forsook not the Jewish Church but assembled with them in their Publick Synagogues which answer to our Parish-Churches preached in the Temple tho they had made it a Den of Thieves observed their Festivals tho some of them of humane Institution nay commanded his Disciples to continue to hear the Scribes and Pharisees tho they were a most vile and wretched Generation of Men. Great were the Pollutions and Misdemeanours in the Churches of Rome Corinth Galatia yet no one Member of them is ever commanded to come out or separate from those Churches to joyn in a purer Congregation or to avoid mixt Communions or for better Edification For men to be drunk at the Sacrament was certainly a worse Fault than to kneel at it or for a wicked Man to intrude himself yet the Apostle doth not advise any to withdraw from that Church but only every one to examine himself We ought to do all that we can do without sining submit to an hundred things which are against our Mind or we had rather let alone for the sake of Peace and Unity so desirable in it self so necessary for the Glory of God the Honour of Religion for our common Interest and Safety for the Preservation of what I may without Vanity call the best Church in the World I cannot stand now to tell you how earnestly this Duty of maintaining Unity amongst Christians is pressed in the New Testament how concerned our Blessed Master was that all his Disciples should agree together and live as Bretren how severely the Holy Apostles chid and rebuked those that caused Divisions and Strife amongst Christians reckoning Schism and Contention amongst the most heinous and dangerous Sins It should make both the Ears one would think of some amongst us to tingle but to hear what Sense the Primitive Christians had of the sinfulness of separating from and breaking the Communion of Christians nay what the old Non-conformists here in England have said of it yet remaining in Print charging the People to be as tender of Church-Division as they were of Drunkenness Whoredom or any other enormous Crime And did Men know and consider the evil of Schism they would not be so ready upon every slight occasion to split upon that Rock Let us therefore divert our Fears and Scruples upon greater Sins It is far more certain that causless Separation from the Communion of Christians is sinful than that kneeling at the Sacrament or praying by a Book is such Why then have Men such invincible Scruples about one and none at all about the other They run headlong into the Separate Assemblies which surely are more like to Schismatical Conventicles than any thing in our Church is to Idolatry Let Men be as scrupulous and fearful of offending against the Christian Laws of Subjection Peaceableness and Charity as they are of worshipping God after an impure manner and this alone will contribute much to the making up those Breaches which threaten sudden Ruine to our Church and Nation I only add here that in all that I have now said I am not conscious to my self that I have used any Argument or affirmed any thing but what many of those very Ministers who now dissent from us did teach and maintain and print too against the Independents and other Sectaries that divided from them when they preached in the Parish-Churches And if this was good Doctrine against those who separated upon the account of Corruptions for purer Ordinances in those days I see not why it is not as good against themselves when upon the very same Pretences and no other they divide from us now The Lord grant that we may all come at last to be of one Mind to live in Peace and Vnity and then the God of Love and Peace shall be with us FINIS Take heed of separating from the Publick Assemblies of the Saints I have found by experience that all our Church-calamities have sprung from this root He that separates from the Publick Worship is like a man tumbling down a Hill and never leaving till he comes to the bottom of it I could relate many sad stories of Persons professing godliness who out of dislike to our Church-meetings began at first to separate from them and after many changes and alterations are turned some of them Anabaptists some Quakers some Ranters some direct Atheists But I forbear you must hold Communion with all those Churches with which Christ holds Communion You must separate from the sins of Christians but not from the Ordinances of Christ Take heed of unchurching the Churches of Christ lest you prove Schismaticks instead of being true-Christians See M. Edm. Calamy 's Godly Man's Ark Epist Dedic to the Parish of Aldermanbury Direction 14th
God hath not commanded and yet never think to flatter God by it nor place any Religion in it but he may do it only out of obedience to his Superiours for outward Order and Decency for which end our Ceremonies are appointed and so there is no Superstition in them But now a man cannout out of Conscience refuse to do what God hath not forbid and is by lawful Authority required of him but he must think to please God by such abstaining and in this conceit of pleasing or humouring God by indifferent things consists the true Spirit of Superstition Have great and honourable Thoughts of God and behold all these things will be clean to you 2. Which is the particular Rule of my Text Lay out your great care and zeal about the necessary and substantial duties of Religion and this will make you less concerned about things of an inferiour and indifferent Nature As on the one hand our fierce Disputes and Debates about little things and circumstances are apt to eat out the Heart and Life of Religion so on the other side minding those things most in which the Power of Religion doth consist is the best way to cure our Scrupulousness about little things This was the Apostle's Advice to the Romans cap. 14. amongst whom eating or not eating some Meats observing or not observing some days had occasioned as much trouble and Scruple as forms of Prayer and Ceremonies do now amongst us ver 17. The Kingdom of God is not Meat or Drink but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost What needs all this Stir and Bustle This censuring disputing and dividing about Standing or Kneeling these are not the great matters of our Faith they are not worth so much Noise and Contention The great stress and weight in our Religion is laid upon the Duties of a righteous and holy Life and a peaceable Spirit and Conversation and then he adds ver 18. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. Thus when you betake your selves to your Prayers let it be your greatest care to fix in your Minds a due sense of God's Infinite Majesty of your own Vileness and Unworthiness of your manifold Wants and Necessities and the greatness and goodness of the things you petition for and his readiness to grant them upon your humble Request and the more you do this the less sollicitous you will be about the form or words of your Prayers He that minds those things most on which the efficacy of his Prayers for Christ's sake doth depend will not stand in need of nor require new Phrases every time to stir his Attention or to raise his Affection Thus let Men be very diligent and conscientious in preparing themselves for the Holy Communion let them come thereunto with lively apprehensions of Christs Love in dying for us with hearty Resolutions of Amendment and true Charity towards all Men the more concerned they are about these necessary things the less afraid will they be of offending God by kneeling at the Administration or coming up to receive it in one part of the Church rather than another for they will find that they are quite other things in which true Religion consists in a new Nature in a divine temper of Mind in the constant Practise of Holiness Righteousness and Charity which make a Man really better and more like unto God He that places any Religion in not putting off his Hat or sitting at the Sacrament or not standing up at the Creed or Gospel as I before shew'd you hath no worthy Thoughts of God so neither hath he any right Notion of Christianity which consists only in unfeigned Piety towards God and sincere Love to our Brother not in any external Rites or Observances which are in their own Nature variable and mutable and are different in several Churches 3. It would greatly contribute to the removing these Scruples which hinder the blessed Union of Christians amongst us if men were but really willing to receive satisfaction This alone would go half way towards conquering them But when they are grown fond of and nourish their Doubts and Prejudices and converse only with those Men read only those Books and hear those Discourses which are made of their side which serve to heighten and strengthen their Jealousies and Suspicions when they avoid the means of Conviction as dangerous Snares and Temptations and look upon this tenderness or aptness to be offended as a sign of Grace and extraordinary Conscientiousness there can be but little hopes of recovering such Persons to a right apprehension of things Whereas would they come once to distrust their own Judgments to suppose that they may perhaps be all this while mistaken would they calmly and patiently hear faithfully and impartially consider what is said or wrote against them as eagerly desire and seek for satisfaction as Men do for cure of any Disease they are subject unto would they I say thus diligently use all fit means and helps for the removal of their Scruples before they troubled the Church of Christ with them it would not prove so very difficult a Task to convince and settle such teachable Minds If therefore any Man be possessed with Doubts or Scruples against any thing practised or required in our Church let him first read some of those excellent Books that are written with all the fairness and evidence imaginable on purpose to explain and justifie those things that are most usually excepted against let him consult with some of our Church before he leaves it Let him honestly repair to the Minister of his Parish or some other whom he hath in greater estimation and ingeniously open his Mind to him declaring what it is he most stumbles at and hear what can be offered for the Resolution of his Doubts If consulting with one Person will not do it let him advise with others and try this often before he condemns us and divides from us Would men do this seriously with earnest desire of instruction without doubt we should have far fewer Separatists and they who after this did still dissent from us would be far more excusable in it than otherwise they are and this is no other than what men ordinarily do in their temporal affairs When they have any fear or suspition about their worldly concerns they presently repair to those who are best skill'd and most able to resolve them and in their judgment and determination they commonly acquiesce and satisfie themselves Hath any man a scruple about his Estate whether it be firmly setled or he hath a true legal Title to it The way he takes for satisfaction is to advise with Lawyers the most eminent for Knowledge and Honesty in their profession If they agree in the same opinion this is the greatest assurance he can have that it is right and safe Thus is it with one that doubts whether such a custom or practise be for his health the opinion of
Separation from them necessary and so consequently justifiable whereas the things objected against in our Church are at worst only doubtful and suspicious or rather not so good and expedient as might be devised and this surely makes a wide difference in the case But doth not St. Paul say Rom. 14. 19. I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean it is unclean Doth not he expresly tell us That whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin that is Whatever we do without a full Persuasion of the lawfulness of it tho it be not so in it self yet is a Sin in him that doth it against his Conscience And doth not the Apostle say He that doubteth is damned if he eat before he is convinced that it may be done I desire here therefore only to be rightly understood and then these things are soon reconciled 1. When I speak of a Scrupulous Conscience I suppose the Person tolerably well perswaded of the lawfulness of what is to be done but yet he doth not like or approve of it he hath some little Reasons and Exceptions against it it is not the best and fittest all things considered This is properly a Scruple and is certainly the case of all those who do sometimes to save themselves from the severity of the Laws joyn in our Worship and communicate with us which we presume they would never do did they judge it absolutely sinful and forbidden by God So that though it should be granted that a man cannot innocently do that of which his Conscience doubts whether it be lawfull or not yet a Man may and in some cases is bound to do that which is not unlawful though upon some other Accounts he scruples the doing of it 2. If the Question be about things wherein we are left wholly to our selves and at liberty having no very weighty Reason for the doing of them then it may be the safest way to forbear all such things we scruple at Of such cases the Apostle speaks in the fore-mentioned Places of eating or not eating some Meats neither of them was required by any law Eating was no instance of Duty or was it any ways forbid where to do or not to do is perfectly at our own choice it is best for a Man to forbear doing that of which he hath some suspicion tho he be not sure that it is sinful As suppose a man have Scruples in his Mind about playing at Cards and Dice or going to see Stage-Plays or puting out his Money to Usury because there is no great Reason or Necessity for any of these things and to be sure they may be innocently forborn without any Detriment to our selves or others though we do not judge them absolutely sinful yet it is safest for him who cannot satisfie himielf concerning the Goodness and Fitness of them wholly to deny himself the use of them But in these two cases it is most for the quiet of our Consciences to act against or notwithstanding our Fears and Scruples when either our Superiours to whom we owe Obedience have interposed their Commands or when by it we prevent some great Evil or Mischief 1. When our Superiours other Civil or Ecclesiastical whom by the Will of God we are bound to obey in all lawful things have interposed their Commands our Scruples will not excuse or justifie our Disobedience If indeed we judge what is commanded to be absolutely unlawful tho it be a false erroneous Judgment yet whilst we are under such persuasion we are by no means to do it upon any Inducement whatever If I only doubt of the lawfulness of any particular Action and it be an instance wherein I am at liberty I am still bound not to do it For Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin I am certainly innocent when I forbear I may commit a Sin if I do it Wisdom would therefore that the safer part be chosen But now if I am by the command of my Superiours obliged to it my choice is then determined it then becomes my Duty and it can never be safe or advisable to neglect a plain Duty for an uncertain Offence Thus most and best Casuists do determine about a doubtful Conscience particularly the forenamed reverend Bishop in the same Sermon Whatsoever is commanded us by those whom God hath set over us either in Church Commonwealth or Family quod tamen non sit certum displicere Deo saith St. Bernard which is not evidently contrary to the Law and Will of God ought to be of us received and obeyed no otherwise than as if God himself had commanded it because God himself hath commanded us to obey the Higher Powers and to submit our selves to their Ordinances But now this is more plain concerning Fears and Scruples only about the conveniency and expediency of things these ought all to be despised when they come in Competition with the Duty of Obedience Would men but think themselves in Conscience bound to pay the same Duty and respect to the Judgment and Authority of Magistrates and Governours whether in Church or State as they do expect their Servants and Children should to themselves they would soon see the reasonableness of such submission For all Government and Subjection would be very precarious and arbitrary if every one that did not approve of a Law or was not fully satisfied about the reasonableness of it was thereby exempted from all Obligations to obey it This is to give the Supreme Authority to the most humoursom or perverse sort of Christians for according to this principle no publick Laws and Constitutions can be valid and binding unless every scrupulous tho a very ignorant Conscience consent to them 2. We are not to mind or stand upon our Scruples when they probably occasion a great evil a general mischief They are not fit to be put in the balance with the Peace of the Church and Unity of Christians Suppose for once that our publick way of Worship is not the best that can be divised that many things might be amended in our Liturgy that we could invent a more agreeable Establishment than this present is which yet no man in the World can ever tell for we cannot know all the inconveniences of any Alteration till it comes to be tryed yet granting all this it cannot be thought so intolerable an Evil as contempt of Gods Solemn Worship dividing into Sects and Parties living in Debate Contention and Separation from one another If there be some Rites and Customs amongst us not wisely chosen or determined some Ceremonies against which just Exceptions may be made yet to forsake the Communion of such a true Church of Jesus Christ and set up a distinct Altar in opposition to it to combine and associate into separate Congregations is as it is somewhere expressed like knocking a man on the head because his Teeth are rotten or his Nails too long How much more