Ark wherein were preserv'd the Clean and Unclean And without Vanity I may speak it though we have too many wicked People belonging to the Church of England yet there are at the same time a far greater Number of truly pious Christians that live up to the Strictness of Religion to be found in the Communion of this Church than amongst all the Dissenters in the whole Kingdom As for the two places in Scripture produc'd for your Separation read like truly Wise Men consider the Coherence and Design of them and it will plainly appear that by the first Text is meant That Christians in the Church of Corinth shou'd not meddle with Unclean and Abominable Practices that were us'd by the Heathens in the Worship of their False Gods These they were not to touch to have no Fellowship with them in these but rather to reprove them that is in Judgment to condemn by Word to reprove and in Conversation to avoid them So that this is nothing at all touching the Duty of one Christian communicating with another though it has too often been so abus'd and mis-interpreted And for the second Text it is certainly to be understood also of Idolaters and according to most Interpreters of the Roman Idolatrous Polity and is a Command to all Christians to forsake the Communion of That Church lest they endanger their own Salvation by Communicating with her in her Idolatrous Worship And if this be the true Sense of the Words it abundantly justifies our Separation from the Roman Church but affords not the least Plea for Dissenters to separate from Ours And now I pass to THE SENTENCE YOU Latitudinarians Presbyterians Independents Seekers and Quakers You have had a fair and impartial Tryal upon an Indictment for your Opposing and unjustly Separating from the Church of England The Jury has brought you in Guilty You stand condemn'd by many Laws of this Realm You are condemn'd by the Holy Scriptures you are condemn'd by the Practice of the Church of Christ for above 1500 Years together and by that of all Reform'd Churches who were zealous for Episcopal Government us'd Liturgies and Publick Forms of Prayer had Festival Commemorations of Saints not to pray to 'em but to praise God for 'em had their Rites and Ceremonies in their Publick Worship more in Number and more liable to Exceptions than those us'd in our Church at this Day You are separated from a Church that was planted by our Lord and his Apostles water'd with the Blood of Holy Martyrs and redeem'd by the Blood of the Holy JESUS You are withdrawn from a Church that proposes no sinful Terms in all her Communion a Church wherein a Man may be as faithful a Servant of the True God as Loyal a Subject to his Prince as Honest a Man in his Dealings as good a Neighbour and as firm a Friend as can be found in any Church or Society of Men in the Christian World Therefore You Sir Anthony ' Squire Mouth Maggot and Ponteus with all the rest who are obstinate Opposers of so Excellent so Incomparable a Church You must go to the Place from whence your many Erroneous Opinions came Rome or Geneva there to be dealt with according to your Merits And the Lord have mercy upon your Souls Here follow their several CONFESSIONS Sir Ant. Here now behold upon my bended Knees I confess the Justice of the Court ask Mercy of this abus'd Corporation and bid Adieu to it and all my silly and credulous Votaries in these mournful Words Good People I own that our Rise was unjust Our Fall the Desert of Deceit and of Lust Squire O Pan aliique Dii Dat mihi ut intùs Sim pulcher I know not what God can be a Friend to me I invoke them all that tho' I appear in the darkest Colours to the Worlds Eye I may not always suffer the gloomy Storms of an evil Conscience nor be continually frighted with the Deformities of my Soul Siccinè perpetuo cruciantur crimina Luctu Hic turpem spectate virum ludibria Fati Ah scelus Ah Facinus me vix mercede potitum Sub Veneris Ouercu Threnis mea Musa reliquit I who once was a great Man amongst Poets Historians Linguists Orators especially in the Opinion of the Fair Sex have scarce a Word left to plead in my excuse I must withdraw Time and true Repentance may do much but 't is impossible I can presently retrive my lost Reputation and what signifies a Chair of State without it I 'll then make a Vertue of Necessity in this Publick Place abdicate my Office and with all Humility resign That which I cannot hold Farewel Scydromedia when I am gone Farewell for ever Judge I heartily wish that All Dissenters wou'd make such ingenuous Confessions as these two Gentlemen have now made However I shall in another Place fairly represent this their Civil Behaviour towards the Court to gain 'em a Reprieve and if possible a Pardon The first I do the latter I dare not promise Quak. Verily Friends our Light within us our Personal Light we have trusted to like an Ignis Fatuus has led us upon many perillous Boggs and amazing Precepices and there left us Presbyt Ah Brethren I that have often preach'd Hell and Damnation to others enough to scare People out of all Sense as well as Religion am now under the Sentence of Condemnation My Soul alas is like a glimmering Candle in a dark deceitful Lantern a Lantern I say whose Sides are all Dark I can give but little or no Direction to the People I have a small Degree of Light or Comfort now left to support me And Oh! I must expect less when I come to die Indep My Spirit is like very like may well be compared unto I say 't is like a poor venemous disturb'd Spider in a broken Cobweb it makes all the haste it can to escape the Broom of Impartial Justice Seeker 'T is as plain as the Sun in a Cowcumber that there are some few good meaning People among the many Sorts of Dissenters I have sought pry'd and narrowly look'd into them and truly have never been able to fix in any of their Persuasions to my content Since I foolishly departed from the Church of England in vain have I pursu'd what is not to be had in Error and Schism namely True Peace and Satisfaction of Mind Judge I observe our Phanatical Canters are very unlucky at Simile's and after all their Juggling when they come to be serious to make a right Discovery they 're at a loss Then they cry out Alas Sirs how sadly have we been cheated misled and deluded nay almost inevitably ruin'd our selves and others by forsaking the Church of England And I need use no more Words to advise the Dissenters to return speedily to that Pillar and Ground of Truth which cannot deceive them The SPEECH to the CHURCH ALL you Gentlemen Lovers of the Church of England of that most sound incomparable Religion and
be Impiety because 't is prosperous and permitted that is not hinder'd by Force and Violence inconsistent with a free Moral Agent then the Great Sultan and the Great Cham and the Great Mogull as well as the Great Bishop of Rome are by an equal Sound-Consequence the greatest Favourites of Heaven And then the Argument of Symmachus had been unanswerably conclusive against the Primitive Christians who for 300 Years and upwards lay groaning under the Yoke of the Heathens Tyranny or Lastly If Permission were still a Mark of Approbation then Dionysius or Diagoras had argu'd logically well when having robb'd the Delphick Temple and immediately after escap'd a Shipwrack He gave it out that the Gods had approv'd his Sacrilege Not at all that he believ'd but laugh'd at Providence Riches and Prosperity are not always Blessings to the Enjoyers of them but very often bestow'd on the worst of Men to their hurt The Divine Wisdom reserving a better Reward for his dearest Servants in the World Presb. and Indep My Lord We are not satisfi'd that our dividing and separating from the Church of England deserves so bad a Name as that of Schism if it does we must expect a very severe Sentence and the Court must be justifi'd in its Proceedings against us Judge You have had enough offer'd before by the Church's Advocate but to leave the Matter more clear take the Judgment of your Principal Men who when time was reason'd thus against those that subdivided from them If we be a Church of Christ and Christ hold Communion with us why do you separate from us If we be the Body of Christ do not they that separate from the Body separate from the Head also If the Apostle calls those Divisions of the Church of Corinth wherein Christians did not separate into divers formed Congregations in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Schisms 1 Cor. 1. 10. may not your Secession from us and professing you cannot join with us as Members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly call'd Schism You gather Churches together out of your Churches and set up Churches in an opposite Way to our Churches and all this you do voluntarily and unwarrantably not having any sufficient Cause for it In the same Book they tell us of a Twofold Schism Negative and Positive Negative when Men do peaceably and quietly withdraw from Communion with a Church from which they are departed The other is when Persons withdrawing do consociate and withdraw themselves into a distinct and opposite Body setting up a Church against a Church which say they Camero calls a Schism by way of Eminence And farther tells us there are Four Causes that make a Separation from a Church lawful 1. When they that separate are grievously and intolerably persecuted 2. When the Church they separate from is Heretical 3. When 't is Idolatrous 4. When 't is the Seat of Antichrist And where none of these Four are found there the Separation is insufficient and Schism Now we are fully assur'd that none of these Four Causes can be charg'd upon our Congregations Therefore you must not be displeas'd with us if we blame you as guilty of positive Schism All which is as true now as it was then and as applicable to us and them and it was to them and their Dissenters The Presbyterians and Independents are indeed more guilty of Schism in separating from the truly Apostolical Church of England than they could be in dividing from each other Seekers But we think there are some things in the Constitution of that Church might be contriv'd to better Purposes and we would find out a Church that needs no Amendment no Alteration Judge Then you must be of no Church on this side Heaven you seek in vain because such Perfection is not in this World yet as great a Degree of it in the Church of England as in any Church or Congregation on Earth and for ought yet appears much greater But that every suppos'd Corruption in a Church is not a sufficient Ground of Separation or Warrant enough to rend and tear the Church in pieces Let Mr. Calvin judge between us who says That where-ever the Word of God is duly preach'd and reverently attended to and the true Use of the Sacraments kept up there is the plain Appearance of a True Church whose Authority no Man may safely despise or reject its Admonitions or resist its Counsel or set at nought its Discipline much less separate from it and violate its Unity For that our Lord has so great a Regard to the Communion of his Church That he accounts him an Apostate from his Religion who obstinately separates from any Christian Society which keeps up the true Ministry of the Word and Sacraments That such a Separation is a Denial of God and of Christ And that 't is a dangerous and pernicious Temptation so much as to think of separating from such a Church the Communion whereof is never to be rejected so long as it continues in the true use of the Word and Sacraments Though otherwise it be overrun with many Blemishes and Corruptions Which is as plain and full a Determination of the Case as if he particularly design'd it against the Doctrine and Practice of the Modern Dissenters from our Church Quak. I hope the Nation will yet believe us to be very honest harmless Men who deal fairly and kindly with all Persons never oppressing griping or defrauding any Man we are at a Word avoid abundance of that vain unnecessary Talk which others use in Trading and therefore I humbly desire that the Court would acquit us Judge You have forfeited much of that good Opinion that the Nation once had of you and all the Riches you boasted of were gotten by Peoples Credulity trusting you too much before they try'd you All your Religion is now dwindled into a bare Pretence of Honesty which at best is not equal to that of the more Ancient Heathens Your YEA or NAY your Single Word shall bite as much as a Thousand a Lye may soon be told and if the World complains of you for any Dishonesty in over-reaching or deceiving your Neighbours all is put off with your Spiritual Distinction 'T is not say you downright Cheating of Men but a sanctifi'd Out-witting 'em which is own'd and practised amongst you Presbyt My Lord We have two or three Gentlemen to produce in our Vindication Judge Who are they Presbyt St. Hierome Aerius and Honest John Calvin The first says That Bishop and Presbyter are all one The second That they differ nothing in Order Dignity and Power And the last was so offended with Episcopacy That he threw out the Bishop of Geneva and turn'd the Name of Bishop into that of Superintendent and under that Title He and his Godly Successours have there about one hundred Years govern'd that Church Judge Hierome must be a Saint now for letting fall one single Sentence in favour of the Presbyterians But
that truly fears God ought most carefully to avoid The Church of England loves Religion and Goodness in all Men and declares there 's nothing more Valuable in the World but cannot excuse the Body of Dissenters from being the Occasion of many Impieties in the Nation Their very Separation destroys the true Spirit of Religion which is Charity it le ts loose great Numbers who cannot govern themselves moving them to live Atheists or Idolaters to pour Contempt upon the whole Church of Christ confirms Men in their evil Courses and exposes the Church as a Prey to the Common Enemy Gentlemen give me leave to say That to propose Maintenance of Charity and all Virtue by overthrowing the Church is as improbable a Project as his who in Henry the Seventh's time propos'd a Rebellion without Breach of the Peace When the Government of King and Bishop was subverted there were presently as many Religions as Men monstrous Swarms of Errors and Heresies broke in upon us more than had been before known in the Church of God and upon this an Inundation of all sorts of Wickedness over-spread the Land So horrible was the Effect that one of their own Authors tells us That for many hundred Years there had not been a Party pretending Godliness Tenderness of Conscience Strictness above other Men as this Party did that has been guilty of so many Sins horrible Wickedness provoking Abominations as they are Hell seem'd to be broke loose to have invaded all Quarters in despite of their Covenant and all the little Schemes of their so-much-magnified Reformation That they have overpass'd the Deeds of the Prelates justified the Bishops in whose Time never so many nor so great Errors were heard of much less such Blasphemies and Confusions We have worse things amongst us more corrupt Doctrines and unheard-of Practices than ever were in all the Bishops days Our Reformation is become a Deformation We first put down the Common-Prayer and then some put down the very Scriptures slighting and blaspheming them Some cast down Bishops and their Officers others cast to the Ground all Ministers and all the Reformed Churches Some had cast out the Ceremonies in the Sacraments others had cast out the Sacraments themselves With abundance more too tedious to repeat Another of their Authors tells the Parliament in a Sermon That the Covenant cries God grant not against you for the Reformation of the Kingdom the Extirpation of Heresies Schisms Profaneness c. These Impieties abound as if we had taken a Covenant to maintain them since it was taken These Sins which we have Covenanted against have more abounded than in the space of ten times so many Years before Another makes this Remark That one of the Fruits of this Blessed Parliament and of those two Sectaries Presbyterians and Independents is That they have made more Jews and Atheists than are in all Europe besides Gentlemen of the Jury You may see by what means it was that this Nation came to be pester'd with Opinions and Practices beyond the Example of former Ages to the infinite Prejudice and dishonour of our Religion and Nation You may guess what a blessed Reformation we may expect from the Ruine of the Church The same Causes set on foot by the same Principles will eternally produce the same Effects And tho' Men at first may mean never so well yet Temptations will insensibly grow upon them and Accidents occur which in the Progress may carry them infinitely beyond the Line of their first Intention and engage them in such Courses out of which when they come to discern their Errour it may be too late for them to retire Diss Advoc. 'T is in vain to plead against Matters of Fact but I would have you know our Dissenters are more for Spirit and Truth more modest and peaceable than those of that Time we are more conformable to the Laws less turbulent and offensive to Government and generally speaking did we believe that our Schism or Separation from the Church was a Sin or the Occasion of Sin we should no longer remain in the Practice of it but presently join with the Church and never more forsake her Communion Ch. Advoc. You may guess at the Spirit and Temper of the Dissenters by their obstinate and indefatigable Stiffness in Opposing the Church Let the World judge let themselves be Judges in this Case When the Church requires no Popish no Antichristian Terms of Communion when the Dissenters can offer no Argument that has not been abundantly answer'd they entrench themselves within their strongest Holds of Stiffness and Resolution never never to yield tho' they are sufficiently convinc'd and baffl'd If the Dissenters have any thing more of Moderation and Peace than appear'd in the late Times of Anarchy and Confusion we are oblig'd to the Church the Pillar and Ground of Truth and to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws that lay some restraint upon them But once remove This Church or quite let loose the Reins of Government and we shall soon find what manner of Spirit does influence these Men. The first Race of Dissenters were far more for Unity and Peace than these are they meddl'd not with Things out of their Line nor mixt themselves with Matters of State All they desir'd was to have no Violence offer'd to their Consciences When they could not conform as Ministers they did as Private Christians Men that were most eminent amongst 'em for Learning Piety Preaching Writing Experience and Fame have done more towards the Unity of the Church than our Modern Dissenters do at this day They have own'd our Communion lawful they have receiv'd the Communion kneeling they have bred up their Children to the Ministry of the Church they have join'd in the Liturgy they have been married according to the Form of it The ancient Nonconformists would not separate tho' they feared to subscribe But now the Government has been so kind to settle Liberty of Conscience by a Law our Conscionable Men turn their Backs upon the Church and make no scruple tho' by causeless Separation to cut themselves off from its Communion not considering that nothing next to the Glory of God shou'd be more heartily desir'd and endeavour'd by all Men than the Unity and Peace of the Church and consequently there 's scarce a greater Sin than Schism is that rends and divides it A Sin if you believe the ancient Fathers that shuts Men out of Heaven a Sin that cannot be expiated by the Blood of Martyrdom This is the Sense which the best and most pious Christians that ever liv'd had of it That 't is better to suffer any thing than that the Church of God shou'd be rent asunder That 't is every whit as glorious and a far greater Martyrdom to die for not dividing the Church than for refusing to sacrifice to Idols That a Person going from Church to Schismaticks tho' in that capacity he should die for Christ yet can he not receive the
Crown of Martyrdom That such a one has no Part in the Law of God or the Faith of Christ or in Life or Salvation That without this Unity and Charity a Man cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven tho' he shou'd deliver up himself to the Flames or cast his Body to Wild Beasts yet this wou'd not be the Crown of his Faith but the Punishment of his Falshood not the glorious Exit of a Religious Courage but the Issue of Despair He may be kill'd but not crown'd He rents the Unity of the Church destroys the Faith disturbs the Peace dissolves Charity and profanes the Holy Sacrament These and many other severe things are to be found in St. Cyprian And now if the Glory of God the Peace of the Church and the Good of Souls are as necessary as indispensible in these Days as they were of old How dangerous how desperate is the Condition of those Men who endeavour to deprive us of them If Father Mouth Father Elymas Father Pen and the rest of our Dissenting Fathers can prevail with the unthinking People to fall in love with their Vices can be such degenerate Christians if we may call them Christians as to make no scruple of Schism and Separation which are so fearful and damnable then the Determination will be so natural the Case so plain that the Jury will scarce need to go from the Bar to consider any further of it Diss Adv. I have no more to offer We 'll leave it to the Court. Ch. Advoc. With all my heart only beg pardon that our Pleadings have been a little too tedious Judge You Gentlemen of the Jury I take you to be wise and honest Men who will not contend so much for Conquest as Truth You have heard this Cause debated by Learned Council on both Sides go and consider duly which of them is Best for Doctrine Worship Discipline and Life How dangerous a thing it is to make Publick Ruptures in Church or State Whether Church or Conventicle stands upon the best and surest Foundation Whether any Man 's private Opinion or Fancy Humour or Interest ought to be advanc'd above the Judgment of the Ancient Fathers the Practice of the Church for many hundred Years or above the Quiet and Peace of a Nation Remember that TRUTH is now upon Trial and that it will be to your lasting Reputation if without partiality you do what 's Right and Just in defence of Truth To that purpose I give you more than ordinary Time while I dispatch some other Affairs of less moment you may agree upon your Verdict Exit Jury Judge Call in the Quakers You stand here Indicted for Coining and Altering the King's current English Language pretending a greater Findness and Propriety of Expression than other Men undertaking to teach the most Learned Doctors and Professors in both Universities and to contradict the whole Nation You are Lords High Commissioners for Youing and Thouing but are under a Foreign and therefore unlawful Authority You had your Commission and Example from Ignatius Loyola the first Broacher of this whimsical Nicety and may justly be suspected and question'd for it What say you Friends 1 Quak. I say YOU to Many THOU to One Singular One Thou Plural Many You. The Reasons are 1. These Words are so used in the Bible and all other Literal Translations 2. From their Agreement with the Second Persons Singular and Plural in other Languages LATIN GREEK and HEBREW As 1. Thou is singular because in  Latine Tu is singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek Su 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew Attah 2. You is only plural because in  Latine Vos is plural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek Humeis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew Attem Judge He that has any Judgment in the English Tongue or is Master of any Sense will confess That THOU is not of the singular Number because Tu Su or Attah are so but because English-men use THOU in the singular Number Neither is YOU of the plural because Vos Humeis or Attem are of the plural but because English-men use YOU sometimes in the plural Number 'T is the Usage of a Nation that is the Reason of their Language and all English-men except Quakers use YOU to One as well as to Many The Variety of English in this being above most other Languages And though we use THOU singular for the more strict Translation of the Scripture yet the Original is as capable to be translated into You as Thou The Translations of the Bible may be varied according to the commonest Use of a Language but the perpetual Use of a Language does not depend upon one or more Translations 'T is plain that You and Thou as all other words have their diverse Acceptations We find in Scripture and all other English Authors YOU to One as well as YOU to Many Gen. 18. 3 My Lord 4. Let a little water I pray YOU be fetched Job 18. 2. Bildad said to Job How long will it be ' ere YOU make an end Jer. 2. 28 O Judah 29. Wherefore will YOU plead with me Jer. 3. 20. YOU O house of Israel You to one Lord You to one Job You to one Judah and You to one Israel We find also that THOU is not only us'd to a singular One but to a plural One or a singular Many as Jer. 4. 1. THOU O Israel 29. THOU O City Isa 26. 20. Come my people enter THOU In which places Israel is a plural One or singular Many a City is a plural One or singular Many People is a plural One or singular Many and yet Thou O Israel Thou O City Thou O People 2 Quak. But in strictness if it be proper for the Scripture to translate Thou to One why may not I say Thou to a King to a Judge a Minister a Father now as well as to say Thou to GOD Judge 'T is not so proper to say Thou to a King as to God because the King cannot judge of our Hearts as God can If we say Thou O GOD He understands whether we speak with that Reverence and Honour to Him which belongs to our Duty But the King cannot tell our Honour to him but by such Words and Actions as declare it And for other Superiours though Thou in Scripture be commonly us'd to them according to other Languages which have not so good distinction of Words for the second Person as English has yet YOU in our Days being a Term of Respect and Civility of Honour and Reverence and THOU except in Scripture and other Literal Translations being a Word for the most part of Contempt Insolence Imperiousness and Indignity We ought to prefer You before Thou though it be to One And if other Languages have not so good a Propriety to set forth their Humility towards and to shew their Estimation of one another we should not contemn or dispute against our own Language because others are not so good but to use
in this Matter Henry I confess These are Truths not to be deny'd many Particulars to be avoided and many to be practised by every good Christian I know that the World is grown to that pass that the repeating of the plainest Texts is accounted by many as unconcluding in Divinity as in Philosophy But 't is time for us to lay aside all our Sophistry and to prefer the Wisdom of God before our own O! my deluded Brethren have we not troubled the Nation and our selves too much with unreveal'd Secrets hearkning to Fables and rejecting the Truth Have we not been for making a Church a Saint a Minister a Heaven a Christ a Light a God in our own Imagination while the Truths in Scripture are nothing worth in respect of These Have we not delighted in Tattlings Wandrings busying our selves in Things which concern us not Are not our Opinions new Opinions contrary to the Church Don't we use our Liberty for a Cloak of Disorder a Cloak to Sacrilege a Cloak to usurp the Divinest Imployments To cry All are one in Christ Jesus therefore all are one in a Kingdom a Church a Family We are all free from beggarly Rudiments the Rudiments of the Ceremonial Law therefore we are free from Ceremonies of Order and Decency among Christians therefore no Tythes to be paid no Priests to be maintain'd tho' the Priesthood of Christ be not a Levitical but long before a Levitical Priesthood a Priesthood after his Order that received Tythes a Tything Priesthood before the Levitical Law was instituted and that not for a short duration but for ever after the Order of Melchizedech We have declaim'd against Priest to destroy Minister we say Christ is an High-Priest and yet have deny'd his Ministers to be Priests of an Inferior Order Our Lives have been questioning tatling opposing railing damning Lives And truly Friends such Lives are contrary to the Light of Christ the Light of the Word or any Light but that which the Scripture calls Darkness And however we may come off before an Earthly Judge 't will be too hard for you to answer these Things at an higher Tribunal Then Brethren 't will be better for you to say Lord we have believed trusted hoped in thy Word than We have disputed question'd and contemn'd it Better for our Light to say O Lord we have receiv'd thy Prophets in thy Name give us we beseech thee a Prophet's Reward than We have slain thy Prophets revil'd and set at naught thy Ministers and their Ministry Therefore as you love your Salvation as you desire the Favour and Fruition of God if your Souls Reputations and Consciences are dear to you no more of these Things which the Light of Eternal Truth tells us we must avoid Judge What say you to the Practical Part of Religion Can you clear your selves in the foregoing Particulars Henry I wish we could do so But alas when I examin'd my Life by the Rules of Truth I found little of the Christian in me while I adher'd to my own Light For is this Brotherly Love to separate from the Church and think nothing worth our Labour but what opposeth it Is this to prefer one another in Honour when we think our selves so holy that we abhor the Congregations of Church-men think we are polluted to join in Prayer and Communion with them so wise that all Words besides our own are vain Words all Books but ours are meer Errours that we and none else have the Light the Word the Truth all Privileges Is it to live peaceably as is possible when we think it an excellency to disturb Order to find fault with every thing but our own Inventions and agree in nothing but to disturb that which is establish'd Is this the Peace we are to exercise Is this the Quietness of Illuminated Christians The True Light shews us That if we have Faith we must have it to our selves not to disturb the Church of God with it We may all be Christians and yet have our several Opinions But if we have our Opinions different from the receiv'd Opinions of the Visible Church we ought to keep them to our selves not to divulge or disperse them to disturb our Brethren How can we say that we hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering when we scarce know what Article of Faith we have not rejected We dispute of Heaven or Hell of any Light or Way to Heaven but that within us First We contemn'd and threw off the Bishops the Worship and Discipline appointed and approv'd by them Next We contemn'd the Presbyters which we us'd as a Means to destroy Bishops We rejected the Independents which shew'd us a different Way from Presbytery Is there any thing we now approve in any of them but the Extempore's And not them neither but as they serve a Turn Is this holding fast to seek all new to reject old Doctrines old Principles Rules and Ceremonies We are Waverers Questioners of all things Holders of nothing The Truth tells us We are to study Quietness to esteem a Minister very highly in Love for his Works sake to withdraw from every Brother that walks disorderly to follow the Churches of God But our Lives do directly oppose the Truth Nobis quiet a movere merces videbatur We have always been for Troubled Waters if we cou'd but question or contradict put an odious Gloss or Interpretation upon the Church That was a Pleasure to us We love the Clergy so well that we wou'd detain their Tythes that Poverty might make them Blessed We rail against Tythes not that we think 'em unlawful but for other Reasons We have a long time made it our Business to revile the Clergy of England to finite the Shepherds that the Sheep might be scatter'd and to draw the Hearts of the People from them Are not we to withdraw from every Brother which walks disorderly And does not he walk disorderly who walks contrary to those Duties which the Apostles have taught in their Epistles Are we not to follow the Churches of God But we have followed every Separation a Meeting-house a Desart a Secret-chamber a Schism-shop a Seducing-school any Place but a Steeple-house How do we follow the Apostles if we don 't as they require Do we practise that Lowliness Meekness and many other Christian Duties Do we agree with others as far as we can and wait till God shall be pleas'd farther to reconcile us We shou'd not permit Women to lay aside their Silence and Subjection and to become Speakers in our Seducinghouses I 'm sure they don't instruct in Meekness but question with Impudence evade by Ignorance gloss by Impertinence and conquer by no Dispute but violent Bawling and invincible Insolence Women's Disputing lost us Paradise and Women's Preaching can do no less than lose us the Truth of our Doctrine and the Peace and Safety of the Church And if my Brethren would duly consider the Plainness and Authority of these unerring Rules
those that are acquainted with St. Hierome's Writings well know that this Passage was intended to beat down the Usurpation of the Deacons at Rome who then began to out-top the Presbyters on this Account he was tempted to magnifie and extoll the Place and Dignity of Presbyters in the Church And though he said that Bishops and Presbyters are all one He yet in other places excepts the Office of Ordination and Government And does at other times plainly and frequently assert the Authority of Bishops over Presbyters and did himself constantly live in Communion with and Subjection to Bishops John Calvin could not advance himself at Geneva without the Bishop's Fall and yet had all things belonging to a Bishop but the Name As Old Noll had in the Monarchy but the bare Title of King The Geneva or Presbyterian Discipline was begotten in Rebellion born in Sedition and nurs'd up by Faction Aerius was one of the worst Friends you cou'd have produc'd he was vex'd to see himself slighted and not preferr'd to a Bishoprick as his Companion Eustathius was And this made the haughty Man start aside and talk extravagantly against Bishops â—â—at the Church branded and excommunicated him for an Heretick and Epiphanius represents him little better than a Mad-man distemper'd by Pride Emulation Envy Covetousness Ambition These were the Causes of his opposing Episcopal Government If you consult Blondell Salmatius and Daillé whose great Parts Learning and indefatigable Industry cou'd if any thing have made out the contrary you 'll see they have been forc'd to grant That Episcopacy obtain'd in the Church within a few Years after the Apostolick But our Church can safely carry it higher even to the Apostles themselves so much you urg'd me to speak concerning the Antiquity and Dignity of Bishops in the Church Dissent We all acknowledge we have had Freedom enough to speak for our selves we have but one thing more to plead and then we shall submit to your Lordship's Determination Our Separation from the Church must be allow'd because there are in it many wicked People scandalous ill Livers who for want of due Exercise of Discipline or by the Inadvertence or Connivence of its Governours do remain in it and so give us just occasion of Offence and Separation There are two Texts of Scripture for us in this Case 2 Cor. 6. 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing so Rev. 18. 4. Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Judge This I take to be none of the least Absurdities the Dissenters are guilty of Are there no such Mixtures no Offenders no ill Livers amongst you Are they all holy harmless and pure that come to your Congregations If not you have the same Reasons to separate to come out from among them as to withdraw from the Church for fear of Pollution and by the same Argument you must never join in any Communion while the World endures The want of Discipline we may thank you for You You Dissenters are the Cause that so many Immoralities are now tolerated That Excommunication and other necessary Censures of the Church which formerly kept People in good Order and preserv'd the Honor and Reputation of Religion are by your Encouragement of Disobedience both omitted and mock'd at And were you truly Men of tender Consciences this one Consideration would make your Hearts ake Look into the State of the Church under the Jewish Administration and you 'll find that the Sins of neither Priest nor People owning the True God became at any time the occasion of Separation to them What Sins could be greater than those of Eli's Sons And yet did not the People of God Elkanah and Hannah by Name refrain to join with them in the Publick Worship 1 Sam. 2. 17 24. In Ahab's time when all Israel halted betwixt God and Belial yet then did the Prophet Elijah summon all Israel to appear on Mount Carmel and held a Religious Communion with them in Preaching and Praying and Offering a Miraculous Sacrifice 1 King 18. All along when both Prince Priests and People were very much deprav'd and debauch'd in their Manners we don't find that the Prophets at any time exhorted the Faithful and Sincere to separate from the rest or that they themselves set up any separate Meetings but continu'd in Communion with the Church preaching to them and advising them to Repentance Look into the New Testament you 'll see in the Apostolick Churches of Corinth Galatia and the seven Churches of Asia many of the Members were grown very Bad and Scandalous yet we don't read the Example of any Good Man separating from the Church or any one Precept rightly understood from the Apostles so to do They don't tell them that the whole Body was polluted by those filthy Members and that if they would be safe themselves they must withdraw from their Communion but exhort 'em to use all Means to reclaim them And if neither private nor publick Admonitions and Reproofs wou'd do then to suspend them from the Communion of the Church till by Repentance and Amendment they render'd themselves capable of being restor'd to Peace and Pardon Our Blessed Saviour knew the Jewish Church to be a corrupt Church Priests and People lewd and vicious yet kept in Communion with it and commanded his Disciples so to do We read that the Scribes and Pharisees who rul'd the Ecclesiastical Chair at that time had perverted the Law corrupted the Worship of God were blind Guides devoured Widows houses were Hypocrites and such as only had a Form of Godliness yet did not our Saviour separate from their Communion but was made under the Law freely submitted himself to all the Rites and Ceremonies of it He was circumcis'd on the Eighth Day redeem'd by a certain Price being a Son and a First-born observ'd the Passover and other Feasts enjoin'd by their Law Yea and that of the Dedication too which was but of Human Institution was baptiz'd amongst them preach'd in their Temples and Synagogues reason'd with 'em about Religion exhorted his Disciples to hear their Doctrine though not to follow their Practices Now what greater Cause on the Account of Corruption and Manners could be given to separate from a Church than was there Yet how carefull was our Saviour both by his Example and Precept to forbid and discountenance it Consider the Representations of a Church given in Scripture and elsewhere to shew that it is a Mixture of Good and Bad 'T is call'd a Field in which Wheat and Tares grew up together a Net wherein are Fishes of all sorts a Barn wherein there is Corn and Chaff a Vine that has fruitful and barren Branches an House in which are Vessels of Gold and Silver and of lesser Value a Marriage-Feast at which were wise and foolish Virgins c. St. Hierome compares the Church to Noah's