A Peaceable and Friendly ADDRESS TO THE Non-Conformists Written upon their desiring An Act of TOLERATION Without The Sacramental Test DUBLIN Printed at the Post-Office-Coffee-House in Fish-Shamble-Street for John Foster Bookseller at the Sign of the Dolphin in Skinner-Row 1697. Imprimatur Hoc Scriptum cui Titulus A Peaceable and Friendly Address to the Non-Conformists c. July 19. 1697. Narcissus Dublin To His Grace the Lord Primate of IRELAND My Lord THe hope which I have of doing some good or at least the confidence that I shall do no hurt in Publishing this small Piece has induced me to expose both it and my self to the censure of the world And altho there may be nothing else in it which may recommend it to your Grace yet I assure my self You will approve of that temper and calmness which I have endeavoured with all care to preserve in every period of it For as bitterness or sharpness of style is contrary to Charity no less than mirth and drollery in matters of Religion are to the seriousness of Christianity so have I ever observed that such a satyrical way of writing is much more effectual to raise the Passion than to convince the Judgment of an Adversary For which reason I have been studiously careful to avoid all expressions which might exasperate or give offence to our Non-conforming Brethren and shall with God's Blessing continue the same care if ever there be an occasion for me any further to defend what I have here written And upon this occasion I beseech your Grace to give me leave to remember to the World how Eminent an Example of Temper and Moderation You have constantly shewn Your self as to all others and at all times so particularly to those to whom I now am about to Address my self No man could be more true and firm to the Established Church and at the same time more mild and gentle to those who dissent from her than Your Grace has always been Of which Your unbyassed Steadiness through all changes and vicissitudes together with the great lenity even in those times when it was most in your Grace's power to have used severity towards them is a demonstration beyond all exception Nor can I omit to take notice of the admirable good effect which your moderate way of Dealing with such persons has had upon divers of the Non-conforming Ministers who were in these parts at the time when your Grace formerly sate in the Chair of this Diocess several of whom as I have been informed being not only convinced by the Arguments but even won by your Obliging and Christian temper did freely and readily yield to receive Ordination at your Grace's hands according to the form prescribed by our Church and continued ever after to conform to the worship and discipline of it Nor have I any thing else to excuse my presumption in this Dedication but only the hope that your Grace will be ready according to your accustomed Candour to approve of and encourage every man tho in the meanest station who endeavors according to his capacity to follow any part of that excellent pattern which Your Grace for so many years has set to the World That Your Grace may enjoy all the Happiness of this Life until such time as You shall exchange it for a Crown of Eternal Glory Is the most earnest and hearty Prayers of Cork July 15. 1697. Your Grace's Most Obedient Chaplain And most Obliged Humble Servant EDW. SYNGE An Advertisement to the Reader THe following Address was Written in the year 1695 upon occasion of some Papers which a little before had past between the Establish'd Church and Protestant Dissenting Party in Reference to a Bill of Indulgence then under consideration in or ready as was suppos'd to be brought into the House of Commons Which Controversy having been for some time silenced by the frequent Adjournment of both Houses of Parliament it was thought unseasonable to Publish any thing in that Interval which might relate to it But because it is not improbable but that our Dissenting Brethren will now the Parliament meets again endeavour to gain the same Point which before they aim'd at it is hoped that those Papers may at least be as seasonable now as they would have been had they been Publish'd at the time when they were Written A Peaceable and Friendly Address To the Non-Conformists Written upon their Desiring An Act of Toleration without the Sacramental Test SInce it is the Duty of every Christian to promote the Peace and Unity of the Church and heartily to endeavour that there may be no Divisions amongst us but that we may be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment 1 Cor. 1.10 In one spirit and with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 And since when one party of Christians separate from another it must either be for a just cause or without a just cause it will follow that where-ever there is Schism in any Church and one Congregation set up in opposition to another and refusing to join in Communion with the other there must of necessity be a sin either on the one side or the other either in them who give the others a just ground of separation or in them who separate without a just ground That there is a separation between you and us and thereby a Schism made in our National Church is too apparent but where the sin of this Division lies whether upon uâ— for giving you a just cause of dividing or upon you for separating from us without any such cause this is what on both sides we ought to enquire after and to reform it where ever we find it And in order to the making of this discovery I do as I trust in the fear of God and in a true spirit of Meekness and Charity beseech you all calmly and seriously to weigh and consider these following things which I offer unto you First Is there any of those things which are necessary to the salvation of a Christian wanting in the Communion of our Church Do we not profess and teach the true Christian Faith in all its fundamental Articles And if some of our Divines do perhaps differ from yours in the determination or rather the manner of expressing of some Theological Points will any one venture to say that the explicit belief of such Doctrines in difference is absolutely necessary unto Salvation Do we not require all men to lead vertuous and holy lives And is any part of Christ's Institution omitted by us in the Administration either of Baptism or the Lord's Supper Or what is there more required by God in order to any man's Salvation than a true Faith an holy Life to be admitted into the Church by Baptism and to own our Communion with it by the frequent participation of the Lord's Supper In short if we are deficient in any thing which is necessary to Salvation let us know what it
is that is wanting amongst us and let the necessity of it be proved and then if we receive it not the Sin is ours Secondly is there any thing required by us from those who Communicate with us which is a Sin and therefore not to be practised with a good Conscience However unnecessary or impertinent any thing may be esteemed yet nothing is to be looked upon as a Sin but what is contrary to the Law of God Are then any of our Constitutions contrary to God's Law Or has God any where forbid us to use the Sign of the Cross after Baptism a Ring in the Celebration of Marriage a Surplice in Divine Service the posture of kneeling at the reception of the Lord's Supper or any of those Rites and Ceremonies which are appointed to be used amongst us And can any thing be called a Sin which God has no where forbid But if you shall say that tho the bare use of these things is not forbid yet we use them after a superstitious manner whereby they become sinful I intreat you to consider that we have sufficiently declared that we place no holiness in any such things as these wherein our Superstition if any there were could only consist but that we only use them as things in themselves indifferent ordained by human Authority for decency and order and at any time alterable by the same or the like Authority that appointed them To conclude this Point either such things as are indifferent in themselves may possibly be used without Superstition as Circumstances in the worship of God or else it will scarce be possible to perform any outward Worship at all without Superstition For outward Worship cannot be performed without Outward Circumstances And no Man sure will pretend that all the Outward Circumstances of Worship are prescribed or regulated by God himself Since then our Rites and Ceremonies of Religion are things in themselves indifferent and therefore such as may be used without Superstition do you your selves teach us how we shall more effectually disclaim all Superstition in the use of them than we already do And if we give you not satisfaction in the matter the fault is justly ours But to charge us with Superstition in the use of those things which do not necessarily imply that sin in themselves and that at the same time when we do positively renounce not only the Name of Superstition but also the thing it self In my poor opinion is not so agreeable unto Christian Charity which believeth all things and hopeth all things 1 Cor 13.7 Thirdly If then in the Communion of our Church there be neither any thing wanting which is necessary to Salvation nor on the other side any thing prescribed in it which is sinful does it not apparently follow from hence that our Communion is at least innocent And that any Christian may with a good Conscience join with us in God's Worship and Sacraments since thereby he needs not involve himself in any sin either of Commission or Omission If you shall say that our Communion tho' to us who are persuaded of the Lawfulness of it it may be innocent yet to you would be sinful because some of you judge it absolutely unlawfull to Communicate with us and no Man ought to act directly against his own Conscience and others of you do at least doubt whether it be lawful or not Whereas in such Cases as these every man ought to be fully persuaded in his own mind Ro. 14.5 And he that doubteth is damned if he Conform as well as if he eat because he Conformeth not of Faith that is to say is not throughly persuaded of the Lawfulness of what he does for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin v. 23. To those who judge our Communion unlawful I must again urge what I have already said in the two preceding Paragraphs and tell them that their Judgment in this is not only false but also apparently uncharitable except they can shew either that something is wanting and not to be had in our Church which yet God has commanded or something appointed and required which God has forbidden for nothing can be absolutely sinful and unlawful except it be to omit the one or to do the other But as for those who only doubt that is to say are not well assured whether it be lawful to Conform to our Communion or not If they are not able by any means to clear their doubts and satisfie their Scruples yet surely in such a Case they ought to choose that way which is most safe and free from the danger of sin and if there be a plain and evident Law of God which direct them one way they ought not to forsake that way and go another upon such suggestions as they own to be but obscure and doubtful Now what can be more evidently commanded than that we should seek and promote the Peace and Unity of the Church as I have said at the beginning of this Address And that we should give obedience unto the commands of lawful Authority Rom. 13.1 1 Pet. 2.13 But on the other side the case in hand supposes a man to be only doubtful and not resolved either way whether it be lawful to conform to the Rites and Ceremonies by Law Established in our Church Now if after a reasonable time for enquiry he is not able to determine this doubt so as positively to satisfy himself upon solid grounds that such Conformity is unlawful what reason can be given why such a doubt which probably may be the effect of his fancy or prejudice only and not of any sober and impartial reasoning because it never comes to a determination should be put in the ballance against those plain commands of God which I have mentioned And as long as such a man remains doubtful as to both sides why may not the above objected words of St. Paul be more strongly urged for Conformity than against it For why should a man refuse to conform if he be only doubtful and not fully perswaded in his own mind that he ought not to conform And why may I not say that he that doubteth is damned if he refuseth conformity rather than if he conform because he refuseth not of Faith that is to say is not throughly perswaded of the lawfulness of such a refusal there being two plain Laws of God which direct him to conform and nothing but a doubt which is raised but upon obscure grounds that restrains him from it for whatsoever is not of Faith whether it be an action or a refusal is sin But if you shall say that to impose such things upon you in the worship and service of God as are in themselves indifferent and not commanded by any law of God is an infringement of your Christian liberty which you are bound not to yield or give way to but to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free Gal. 5.1 I answer that if any Church should
offer to impose the belief or practice of any thing as an essential part of Religion and necessary to Salvation which God hath not particularly required Against such an Imposition as this every Christian ought to stand up and assert his Christian liberty as the Apostles did against the Jewish Ceremonies which some would have imposed upon the Church as absolutely necessary to Salvation Acts 15.1 And this is what the Apostle exhorts the Galatians unto and is as far as I can understand the true notion of Christian liberty as it is stated in the holy Scriptures For if way should be given to such sort of Impositions as these in process of time so many things through the pride and vanity of some and the ignorance and mistakes of others might come to be introduced into the Christian Religion as might render it as the Jewish was a yoke too heavy to be born Acts 15.10 But to plead Christian liberty as an exemption from such Laws and Rules which an Established Church shall think fit to make about things in themselves professedly indifferent and only for order and regularities sake as it has no foundation that I can find either in Scripture or Reason so the apparent consequence of it must be not that decency and order which St. Paul directs the Church to provide for in the service of God 1 Cor. 14.40 which cannot be maintained without some established Rules in circumstantial matters But on the contrary that disorder and confusion which we may imagin must be in such an Assembly where every man shall esteem it unlawful to demean himself according to any human prescribed Rules and where therefore every the most ignorant person will be guided by nothing but the suggestions of his own thoughts in all such things as God himself has not particularly determined For the avoiding of which confusion and irregularity every settled Church has always found it necessary to follow that direction which St. Paul long since gave and to make and prescribe certain Rules for the establishment of Decency and Order in their Congregations And if our Liturgy be an infringement of Christian Liberty not only all other Churches are guilty of the same but even your own Directory which imposes some things which in themselves are indifferent cannot be excused from it And if you shall say that our Ceremonies are too numerous and burthensome besides that others who perhaps may be as competent Judges are of another opinion If this were really so yet the most it would amount to would be only an inconvenience of which hereafter and not a sin And tho St. Austin complained of the number and burden of Ceremonies in his time yet we never find that he looked upon that as any cause for separating from the Established Church And lastly If you shall say that many of our Rites and Ceremonies are altogether unnecessary and that the Governors of a Church ought not to lay unnecessary impositions upon the people besides that what some may think unnecessary others may judge to be expedient Let us suppose that our Governors were guilty of a fault in imposing some needless things upon us yet will it not follow that our compliance even with such things for Peace and Unity's sake would be any Sin but rather I think a vertue And therefore upon the whole I cannot but conclude that any good Christian may at least very innocently join himself to the Communion of our Church Fourthly Then if the Communion of our Church be Lawful and Innocent in its self what imaginable reason can there be why you should refuse to join with us in it For sure you do not think that every Man is at his free Liberty either to join himself to the Established Church of a place or to set up a distinct Church for himself for this would be the way not only to divide but crumble the Church till the different fancies of Men should bring it to nothing And if you shall tell us that some of our Constitutions are not so conveniently settled as they should be for promoting the Glory of God and the Practice of Piety Besides that there never was any Human Appointment so perfect as to be free from all defect and inconvenience And that what may seem inconvenient to one may perhaps be thought convenient by another there being scarce any particular Rules of convenience so fixed but what will be differently thought of by different Men according to the diversity of their Apprehensions and Circumstances I desire to know whether one or more bare inconveniences which yet are or may be free from sin can be a sufficient reason to separate from an Established Church And if so what Church is there upon the face of the Earth from which this principle will not justifie a Division It is indeed the duty of every Man soberly and peaceably to seek for the Rectifying even any inconveniencies which he perceives to be in the Church But since it is a Rule of Charity that it beareth all things endureth all things suffereth long is not easily provoked and seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13 4. c. Methinks every good Christian should be contented to bear even with many inconveniencies untill such time as God should touch the hearts of those in whose power it should be to remedy them rather than occasion a Division in the Church which besides the sin is certainly a greater inconvenience than all those which you can complain of put together But if you shall say that you find your selves more Edified in Godliness and Piety by your own Meetings than by frequenting our Assemblies Not to ascribe this to your prejudice and prepossession nor to make any comparisons which may seem odious or may tend to exasperate I shall only tell you if this be a real truth and not a bare fancy only it may seem to be a reason why you should hold some Assemblies besides the Parochial Congregations for your mutual Edification and to provoke others to emulation which might be a means to promote a general reformation of all neglects or disorders in the Church provided that nothing were therein said or done which might give any of your own members or others a just occasion to look upon you as a separate Church set up in opposition and not in subordination to the establish'd one But what reason you can ground upon this for a down-right separation and an utter refusal of our Communion I confess I am not able to find But if you shall say that you do not absolutely separate from us nor utterly renounce our Communion but that you sometimes come to our publick Worship and receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper after our prescribed Form which is by some of you asserted and pleaded for under the name of occasional Communion I desire to be informed if occasional Communion with us be lawful why should constant Communion with us be thought unlawful If it be a sin to join with us