excellent counsel they would not suffer him but suborn some other person of great sanctity to be the Author of it Amongst other reasons lest the ill opinion that was generally conceived of the person should derogate from the weight and value of the counsel and advice Therefore the more extreamly to blame are those that acknowledging the truth and excellency of the Doctrine of the Church of England can yet find in their hearts to undermine the success of it by sowing suspicions and in raising scandals against them that are to propagate it It will be to the immortal glory of the Great Constantine that when at the Nicene Council the Bishops and Clergy had exhibited to him a great bundle of Libels one against another he burnt them all together before their faces as thinking them fitter for the fire than the light And protested he had so great a zeal for the reputation of Church-men and such a sense of the concern and consequence of their good same and reputation that if he should see one of them in the most scandalous commission he would cover such a mans shame with his own Purple But as I doubt in these dayes there is little of the Spirit and Charity of Constantine so thanks be to God there is little need of it in this case for I doubt not to convince this suggestion against the Church-men of as much falshood as the former against the Church of frivolousness For though there want not those in these dayes that are so quick-sighted as to discover spots in the Sun it self Though I say there be both those that have great skill in all the methods of uncharitableness such as can insinuate little whispers and jealousies first and then foment and hatch them up to a story and then aggravate the fact and lastly make the folly of some one man be the scandal of the whole Order And also those Atheistical persons whose interest it is in order to the extenuating their own villanies as much as may be to render the persons of those that reprove them as ridiculous as they can and to that purpose are become great proficients of late in a scurrilous kind of drollery whereby they can sublimate their own vices and debaucheries into a kind of vapour a meer frolick and Gentile humour and on the other side aggravate the meer humane infirmities of graver men into great deformities yet all their combined wit and malice will never be able to affix any scandal upon the Body of the present English Clergy 1. For their Learning and Ability If the Preaching of the present Age be not better than that of former I would fain know the reason why the Homilies are in no greater reputation and should expect to see the people desire their Pastors to read them in the Congregation and save the labour of their own compositions If the Sermons of foreign Divines be better than those of the English what is then the reason that all Protestants abroad admire the English way of Preaching insomuch that some foreign Congregations as I am credibly informed defray the charges of the travails of their Pastor into England as well as dispense with their absence that they may return to them instructed in the method of English Preaching Whether the Preaching in the Church of Rome be to be preferred before ours he that hath not a mind to travail into those parts may yet indifferently well resolve himself if he take but the pains to read a Book written by Erasmus of the Art of Preaching which whosoever hath done or shall do I verily perswade my self he shall quickly be able to reckon up more follies and ridiculous passages than all those gathered together by the Author of the Inquiry into the Causes of the Contempt of the Clergy Lastly He that shall take the pains or have the curiosity to compare the Preachings generally in our Churches with those ordinarily in the Conventicles will either find them very unequally matcht or else if he hath any reason at all he hath reason to suspect himself intolerably prejudicate For on the one side he shall find sound Theology strength of Argument gravity of Expression and distinctiness of Method on the other side nothing more frequent than puerile and flat oft-times rude and sometimes blasphemous expressions Similitudes instead of Arguments and either apish Gestures or tragical Vociferations instead of Eloquence Besides a wise man may in great measure take an estimate of the wisdom and abilities of a Preacher or Writer by the very subject he chooses to discourse on and not only by the manner of handling it And he that shall impartially apply himself to this little trouble may easily observe the Sermons and Tractates of the Non-conformists generally to be either about Predestination which besides the danger of it amongst the people for mistakes nothing but unskilfulness could make any man confident enough to undertake the unfolding of or about Union with God and Christ which themselves confess to be unintelligible and they help to make it so or the sweetness beauty and loveliness of Christ's Person which is seldome handled with any better effect than the stirring up some sensual passion or other in the fond Auditors as I have seen verified by experience God forbid that I should charge all the Non-conformists with such indecencies as these but it is manifest it is such kind of discourses as I have intimated that are the most taking and ravishing amongst them But then on the other side you shall hear Discourses of the Nature and Attributes of God and the reason of Religion deduced thence of the Divine Providence and Arguments of Contentment Reverence and Submission inferred therefrom of the Eternal reasons of Good and Evil and indispensable obligations to Virtue as the consequence of that principle laid upon the Consciences of men of the nature of Faith the necessity of Holiness of Charity of Obedience to Governours all which are good and profitable and of great weight and importance If we now compare the Writings of both parties the difference will yet be more legible Although it hath been observed of old by a Wise and Great man That generally the ablest of men have not been most given to writing of Books as being loth to make themselves Themes for fools to comment upon but a middle sort of men are most disposed and usually have best success that way whose Genius is more adequate to vulgar capacities yet let any man of competent judgement lay passion and prejudice aside and say if the Writings of the Divines of this Church both in the Controversies of Religion and most other parts of Learning have not matcht any other Profession any other Church but extreamly overmatcht their Opponents It were easie to name Men and Writings but I conceive it needless in so clear a case 2. But then for the lives of Church-men Though I will not render evil for evil nor retaliate the reproaches cast upon the Sons of
Mankind by making the sinister intentions of men co-operate towards them He made use of the unnatural cruelty of Joseph's brethren towards him to the preservation of the whole family of Jacob sending Joseph into Aegypt as an Harbinger and Nurse to provide for them in a famine And in respect hereof Joseph tells them it was not they but God sent him thither The Cruelty of Pharaoh who sought by severities to break and wear out the Israelites harden'd them and prepared them for all the difficulties they were afterwards to encounter The obstinacy and incredulity of the Jews proved to be the riches of the Gentiles The persecution of the Apostles at Jerusalem made way for the spreading of the Gospel into all other Countreys Instances of this kind are innumerable or if they were not yet were it very unsafe for those of the Church of Rome to make this objection lest they provoke us to say what cannot be either denyed or justified That the barbarous Tyrant and Usurper Phocas brought in the Universal Pastorship of the Bishop of Rome and that the most bloody and rapacious Princes have ordinarily been the great Patrons and Indowers of their Church thinking it seems to hallow their own Villanies and legitimate their unjust acquisitions by dividing the spoil with the Bishop and Church of Rome 3. The English Reformation was the most compleat and perfect in its kind as retaining the most antient Doctrine and soundest Confession of Faith founded upon the holy Scriptures and agreeable to the first General Councils the most Primitive Church-Government and a Liturgy the best accommodate to reconcile and unite mens Devotions Such a Liturgy as Mr. Fox the Author of the Martyrologie is not afraid to say was indited by the Holy Ghost but certainly had a great testimony in the unspeakable joy and contentment holy men took in it in King Edward the Sixths dayes their zeal for the maintenance of it longing for the restitution of it and sealing it with their blood in Queen Maries dayes and the universal triumphs and acclamations at the restoring of it in Queen Elizabeths Reign And admirable it is to consider how happy this Church and Nation then was in what Glory and Majesty the Prince reigned in what Peace and Concord the Subjects lived but especially it is remarkable how devout and pious an Age that was as is scarce perhaps to be parallel'd since the time that Christianity flourisht under Constantine the Great what reverence was then yielded to the Ministers of Religion What devotion to the publick worship How general an acquiescence of hearts and minds in it Which the greater it was the more just is our wonder and the more reasonable our inquiry what should be the Cause that in the same Church and amongst devout and honest-minded Englishmen such a zeal should terminate in so cold an indifferency as may now be observed or rather that such a blessed harmony should degenerate into so much discord as is now too discernable amongst us We read Ezra 3. that when the second Temple at Jerusalem was building the young men rejoyced at the reviving glory of their Nation and Religion but the old men that had beheld the far greater splendour and more stately Majesty of the former Temple built by Salomon they wept as contemplating how far this came short of that so that it was hard to say whether the shouts of the young men or the lamentations of the elder were the more loud And truly when we consider in how low a condition the Church of England was some few years since till it had a happy Resurrection with the return of our Gracious Soveraign will see cause to rejoyce and thank God that we are in no worse condition than we are But he that understands and considers what was the felicity of the first Age of our Reformation and compares it with the present condition of our affairs will have just cause to lament the difference For in those dayes so venerable was the Society of the Church that to be cast out of it by Excommunication was as dreadful as to be thunder-smitten that Sentence was like Proscription amongst the Romans which they counted a Civil death and dreaded as much as a Natural But now it is become a matter of Ambition with some and a piece of Glory And to be cast out of the Church is as good as Letters testimonial or recommendatory to other Assemblies There were few or none then that did not constantly frequent the Church now the Church is become the Conventicle in many places and the Conventicle the Church in respect of the fulness and frequency of the one and the unfrequentedness and destitution of the other Aristonicus came to a certain City in Greece where he observed many Temples but few Men that would hear him He therefore instead of the usual phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cryes out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear O ye Stone-walls less hard than the hearts of men The Application is too easie in our case In that time we speak of the Liturgy and publick Prayers were counted a principal part of Gods worship now they are not only nothing without a Sermon but in danger to desecrate the Sermon too by their conjunction The Bible is scarce Canonical if it have the Prayers bound up in the same Cover and so extreamly offensive are they grown to some that they will rather totally neglect the publick Worship of God and never receive the Communion whilest they live than have to do with the Common Prayers Heretofore there were but few things scrupled in the establisht Religion and those were very few that made use of any such pretence or scruple but now it is become the great point of Sanctity to scruple every thing There was one indeed and he a great man that said there were tolerabiles ineptiae in our Liturgy and the most favourable return he met with was that he had his tolerabiles morositates Now the title of ineptiae is counted too mild an expression whatever suits not the present humour is either Jewish Popish or Superstitious This Change is sadly lamentable that good Laws should be thus trampled upon the best Church in the world thus despised and the best minded People thus abused Now my business is therefore in the first place to enquire from what Causes this hath come to pass PART I. An Enquiry into the Causes and Origin of the Separation from and Contempt of the English Reformed Church CHAP. I. Wherein are represented several things that are pretended but are not the true Causes of our distractions and dissatisfactions viz. 1. Corruption in Doctrine 2. The too near approach of this Church to the Roman 3. The Scandalousness of the Clergy All which are disproved WE have a Proverbial saying amongst us that Every one that is forty years old is either a Fool or a Physician But without a Proverb to justifie the undertaking there are but few that at
before it lay under any ill character But that this Church doth not so syncretize with that of Rome as to make its Communion unsafe or sinful I suppose the following Considerations will give sufficient security to an unprejudiced mind In the mean time let me intreat him that hath entertained any suspicions of that kind against her to give an ingenuous Answer of these two or three Queries 1. If there be such a dangerous affinity betwixt the Church of England and the Romish how came it to pass that the blessed instruments of our Reformation such as A. Bishop Cranmer Ridley Latimer and others laid down their lives in testimony to this against that For if those of the Church of Rome could have been so barbarous as cruelly to murder those excellent persons for some slight Innovations or for differing from them in Circumstantials yet certainly such wise and good men would not have been so prodigal of their own blood nor weary of their lives as to cast them away upon Trifles It is probable at least therefore that those of the Church of Rome thought the English Reformation to be essentially different from them and it is more than probable that those holy men aforesaid thought so and did not offer to God the sacrifice of fools 2. Or how comes it to pass that all those of the Roman Communion withdraw themselves from ours and are commanded so to do by the Head of their Church under peril of damnation And on the other side the true Protestants of the Church of England think it their duty to absent themselves from the Roman Worship lest they should defile their Consciences with their Superstitions I say how comes this distance and apprehension of sin and danger reciprocally if the differences between them be inconsiderable 3. Whence comes it to pass that the Bigots of the Romish Church have more spite against our Church than against any Sect or Party whatsoever but that they take us not only for Enemies but the most mortal and formidable of all those they have to do with Or Lastly if both the Church and Church-men of England are not far enough removed from any participation with that of Rome how comes it to pass that they of all men most zealously and constantly upon all occasions stand in the gap and oppose the return of Popery into England when other men either slight the danger or are so fond of their own private sentiments as apparently to run the hazard of this for the sake of them Any reasonable man would think those men have not really such an abhorrence of Popery as they pretend and that there might easily be found terms of accommodation between them when he shall observe them more fond of every petty Opinion than concern'd for the publick Security against that common Enemy And that they will rather venture the danger of that breaking in upon them than forgo the least fancy or opinion nay will be instrumental in procuring a Toleration and suspension of the publick Laws for that which they are so jealous others should have any kindness for And for proof of this I call to witness the transactions of the last year when those very men that would be thought the Atlas's and only supporters of Protestant Religion and would give out as if their Zeal was the only Bulwark against Popery had by their separation from and enmity to this Church weakned the common interest and by their restless importunities and unlimited desires of liberty in a manner extorted a suspension of the Laws touching Religion Had not His Majesty and His Parliament timely foreseen the consequence and the whole Nation been awakned into an apprehension of the danger by the serious and constant admonitions of the Episcopal Clergy Popery might have come in like a Landflood upon us notwithstanding those quicksighted Watchmen that can spy Popery so far off I say had not the Church-men especially bestirred themselves and shewed both a better courage and zeal against Popery and also a better skill in that warfare than their Accusers the so much dreaded Enemy had ere this time been in fair hopes of attaining his desires This was a passage of so much glory to the true Church-men and so great and illustrious an instance of their integrity that I am in hope whilest it shall remain in memory Malice it self will be ashamed to lay any imputation of inclining to Popery either upon the Church or Church-men of England I shall not need to add to all this That there are as understanding men in Religion persons of as holy Lives and of as comfortable Consciences of this Churches Education as are any where to be found in the world besides Which three things together fully acquit any Church of participation with Popery For that degeneracy of Christianity is for nothing more truly hateful nor by nothing more discoverable than by its blind devotion principles of immorality and the bad security it gives to the Consciences of men which who so acquits any Church of as every considerate man must needs do this Church he shall after that very unreasonably leave any ill character upon her at least of that nature we now are speaking of 3. But there is a terrible Charge yet to come and that is against the Sufficiency but especially the Sanctity of the Clergy and Ministry of the Church of England as if they like the Sons of Eli 1 Sam. 2. 15. made men to abhor the offerings of the Lord. And this is made the pretence of resorting to Conventicles and forsaking the Church Now if this was as true as it is horribly false it might be an Objection perhaps fit for a Papist to make who is taught that the efficacy of all Divine Offices depends upon the intention and condition of him that administers But no Protestant without contradicting his own principles can make use of it to justifie his recession from the Church For if the efficacy of all Divine Ordinances depend upon the Divine Institution and the concurrence of Gods Grace with my use of them what can it prejudice me that he that administers is an evil or unlearned man so long as I prepare my self to receive benefit immediately from God in the use of the means appointed by him This therefore may serve for a malicious stone to cast at us from whom they are departed but no argument in the cause nor excuse for themselves Yet I confess nevertheless this way of arguing for we must be forced to call hard word by that name is of great prevalence with injudicious persons and able to prejudice them against the best Constitutions in the world For they not understanding the reason of things give reception and entertainment to any proposition in proportion to the opinion or reverence they have for the person that recommends it It is a known story how well the Spartans were aware of this and therefore if in their Council a man of a bad life had propounded