Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any Person shall without making any Interpretation of his own unless it be such as shall be allowed to be Orthodox by his Diocesan or two other Bishops Subscribe and Declare his Assent and Consent unto and Approbation of the Articles of Religion mentioned in the Statute made in the 13th Year of the late Q. Elizabeth except only the 34th 35th and 36th Articles and also except these words in the 20th Article Viz. The Church hath power to decree Rites Ceremonies Authority in Controversies of Faith in like manner as he is already Obliged to Subscribe and Declare his Assent and Consent unto and Approbation of all the said 39 Articles Every such Person shall be as capable of taking any Degree in either Vniversity or being Ordained Priest or Deacon or of being Collated Admitted or put into and to Hold and Enjoy any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion as if the said Person had Subscribed and Declared his Assent and Consent unto and Approbation of all the said Articles of Religion And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every Person Ordained between the Year of our Lord 1644 and the First of May in the Year 1680 according to the Form of Ordination used by laying on of hands by the Presbytery shall be as capable of any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion as if he had been Ordained according to the Form of Making and Ordaining Priests and Deacons in the Church of England And that every Person Ordained only by Presbyters since the Year of our Lord 1660 shall not be admitted to any Benefice unless he receive a second Imposition of Hands from some Bishop to recommend him to the Grace of God for the Work or Exercise of his Office in the Place or Charge unto which he is call'd and the Bishop shall frame his Words accordingly And Whereas by a Statute made in the 13th and 14th Year of His Majesties Raign that now is Entituled An Act for the Uniformity of the Publick Prayer and Administration of Sacraments other Rites and Ceremonies and for Establishing the Form of Ordaining Consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church of England there are two Declarations imposed upon several Persons and in such manner as is there specified Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person that hereafter shall be Presented or Collated or Put into any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion shall declare his unfeigned Assent and Consent to the Vse of all things contained and Prescribed in the Book of Common-Prayer nor Make and Subscribe the other Declaration or Acknowledgment Viz. I A. B. do declare That it is not Lawful to take up Arms against the King c. according to the Formes in the said Act in the 13th and 14th Year of His Majesties Reign directed and appointed but that Both the said Declarations shall be wholly Omitted any thing in the aforesaid Statute to the Contrary Notwithstanding And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person shall hereafter be capable of being collated Admitted or put into any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion before such time as the said Person shall have taken the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which Oath of Allegiance is contained in the Statute made in the 3d Year of King James before the Bishop of the Diocess who is hereby Impowred to administer the same and shall also Make and Subscribe the Declaration mentioned in an Act of Parliament made in the 30th Year of His Majesties Reign that now is Entituled An Act to prevent Papists from Sitting in either House of Parliament And the Name of every Person so taking the Oath and Making and Subscribing the Declaration aforesaid shall be Enrolled with the Day and Time of his Taking the same in Rolls to be kept by the respective Bishop of each Diocess for that purpose And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person shall hereafter be Obliged to take the Oath of Canonical Obedience or to make the Subscription required by the Canons or to go to the Bishop for a License to Preach being already lawfully Ordained any Statute or Custome to the contrary Notwithstanding And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That from henceforth no Person whatsoever wear a Surplice during the time of Reading Common Prayer or Preaching or Performing any Religious Worship in any Church or Chappel whatsoever except only in the Chappel of the Kings Majesty and all Cathedral Churches of this Realm of England and Dominion of Wales And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That from henceforth no Minister or other Ecclesiastieal Person shall be Obliged or compelled to use the Signe of the Cross in Baptism or any Parent Obliged to have his Child Christened by the Minister of the Parish if the said Minister will not use or omit the Sign of the Cross according to the Desire of the Parent who in that Case may procure some other Minister to do it Nor shall the Child of any Person be refused Baptism for want of Godfathers and Godmothers so long as the Parent is present to fill their place And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Minister or Ecclesiastical Person that shall Officiate in the Administration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper shall refuse it to any Person that desires to be admitted to the same although such Person shall not use the Gesture of Kneeling in the Act of Receiving nor come up to the Communion Table but shall go to such Convenient Place in the Church where such Person is and there give it him in some other decent Gesture of Ordinary use in the Reformed Churches Nor shall any Minister be troubled for the withholding his own Act in delivery of the Sacrament from any whom he Judges notoriously unworthy or unfit for it Nor for suspending his reading the Sentence of Excommunication against any of his Parish until he be satisfied in the Case that his crime deserves it And to the intent that Vniformity may so far as it is needful and so far as it can be still maintained Be it enacted Moreover by the Authority aforesaid That every Parson Vicar and Lecturer shall conform to the Liturgy of the Church in the Ordinary Lords-day Service reading the same by himself or by his Curate as by Law it is Established Reserving a Necessary and Just Liberty for his Conscience in any Matter or Words which himself esteems unlawful and so to him it is sin in the By-Offices Occasional Service the Rubricks and otherwise and also for Prudence in the whole Mannagement to Act with respect to Time Place and Circumstances so as appeares most conducive to Edification And so long as the main Body of the Service appointed is there Read and the Substance of
of it and in the Effects that it produces in the World Union is the effect of good Knowledge sound Understanding for that Union that is seen among the Ignorant is no other than what is found in a heap of Logs or Stones which doth not indeed deserve that name Those that fill the World with Controversies Quarrels and Contentions are for the most part men of small understanding and of raw and undigested notions 'T is half-witted people that set the Churches of Christendom together by the Ears and kindle those flames in the House of God that are like utterly to waste and consume it Men of great understanding are modest and peaceable they will not contend for trifles nor express great Zeal for any thing but the great Essentials of Faith and Godliness They will not suspend the Peace of the Church upon uncertain or unnecessary things In things of that nature they can permit men to their Liberty and where Liberty is permitted there is seldom any Controversie but where there is unnecessary restraint there is everlasting quarrels and will be to all Generations Let me add further Union is an effect of great holiness and sanctity of mind and nature Let mens Knowledge be never so great if they be not born of God and partakers of a Spirit of Holiness and Sanctification they will quarrel and contend everlastingly not in compliance with their Consciences but in favour to their Lusts If enquiry be made 't will be found true that the holiest persons and such as have most of the Image of God impressed upon their Sou's are alwaies the most peaceable quiet and give least disturbance to the World and what I have said of Persons is true of Churches those Churches whose Members are most holy most renewed sanctified and transformed are the most freest from Divisions Quarrels and Separations Again Union is an Effect of great Self-denyal Mortification contempt of the World and all the Pomp and Glory of it This I do confess is comprehended in what I said in the preceding Paragraph but that what I intend may be the more obvious and apparent I have chosen to discourse it separately and by it self Men of unmortified Lusts and Passions men that cannot deny themselves in any thing men that are fond of the World and the Advantages of it will never rest nor permit others to do so They will move all stones and make all tryals that they can imagine will serve or advance their Pride their Ambition their Riches their Honours or whatever are their darling and be oved Lusts Many of the Antient Schisms and Heresies that so plagued the Church of God were occasioned by the Pride and Covetousness of Churchmen The Church continued for many years a Virgin Thebuthis was the first that corrupted it with false Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was not made a Bishop as Hegesippus reports Euseb lib. quar cap. 22. Novatianus a Presbyter of the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being puffed up with Pride became the Author of a Sect which called themselves Catharists but by others were called Novatians Paulus Samosatenus broke the Peace of the Church and espoused the Doctrine of Ebion and Artemon and affirmed our Lord Jesus a man of common human Race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus lib. 7. cap. 27. And what he was for his Morals those that please may read Eus lib. 7. cap. 30. He was covetous unjust proud effeminate he permitted his Presbyters to partake in the same sins that conscience of their own guilt might hinder and restrain them from opening and exposing his vile abominations Arius was a proud man and affected Domination and because Alexander was preferred before him and made Bishop of Alexandria he mutinyed the Presbyters and raised those Divisions in that Church that from thence were spread into almost all the Christian World Vid. Theod. lib. 1. cap. 3. 4. But it would be endless to mention the Quarrels and Contentions which have been raised in the Church of God by men of unmortified Lusts and Passions and no Union or Peace will be had in the Christian world whilst those Vermine are lodged and nourished in the breasts of men They are humble mortified and self-denying men that live quietly and give no disturbance to the Church or World in which they live and whereof they are Members SECT III. SOmething having been said of the Causes of Union and Peace let me add some few words of the Effects thereof and but a few for I intend no large or elaborate Discourse Union would make the Church strong and impregnable were the Members thereof united in and among themselves Were they of one mind and one heart they would stand firm like a Rock against all the Assaults of their Enemies For besides their own proper strength which would be consequent to their Union God would stand by them and be their Protector and Defender 'T is Faction and Division that weakens the Church and causes God to withdraw his defence and guardianship from it and then it becomes a prey to the Enemies thereof Moreover were the Church of God at Union and Peace within it self it would be beautiful and lovely in the Eyes of the World Did the Members thereof agree together were they of one judgment in the Doctrines of Religion and of one practice in the duties and actions thereof how comely and decorous would the prospect be And how would it ravish those that behold and consider it even the very Enemies thereof would cry out and say How beautiful are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Were the Church of God at Peace and Unity with it self it would be a mighty means to Convert the World and bring it over to the Christian Religion Were there a great and mutual Friendship and Amity among the several Parts and Members of it it would be a mighty Evidence of the Truth of Christianity and almost all Mankind would fall under the sorce of it The Authority thereof would be irresistible 't is the Factions the Feuds the Divisions the Strifes Hatreds and Contentions that are in Christendom and among the Churches thereof that makes them a scorn and abhorrence to Turks and Infidels as well as to the Atheistical and prophane that are among them 'T is the everlasting Quarrels and mutual Censures and Condemnations of each other that makes Christianity a poor languid thing and takes off all the convincing power thereof in the apprehension of its Enemies Again were the Church of God united and at Peace in it self the mutual offices of Love and Kindness of Charity and Compassion which would be exercised by the Members thereof would very much sweeten and abate the Miseries and Calamities of the present Life and State The Rich would minister to the wants and necessities of the Poor and the Poor would chearfully serve and minister to the advantages of the Rich. According to their capacities they would mutually help and
Conversation becomes penal and liable to censure when it discovers it self so 't is time enough to punish Erroneous Persons when their Errours do appear for these entangling Impositions which are a sort or kind of preventing Medicines do as I must say still rather choak honest men than bar the Hereticks or persons of dangerous and mischievous Judgments No particular Church ought with rigour to require Subscriptions to Articles that are evidently true and necessary to be professed because in the Division of hearts that is in the World it is certain that some good men may dissent and then either they shall be afflicted or tempted to Hypocrisie Of either of which if Ecclesiastical Laws be guilty they are not for Edification they are neither just nor pious and therefore oblige not Bishop Taylor Duc. dubitantium lib. 3. pag. 358. 15. If the Bishops of the Church did vigilantly inspect both the Lives and Doctrine of the Clergy I do not see any great danger consequent to the Intrusion of some ill and Erroneous Persons into the Sacred Function for as soon as their Prophaneness and Errours are manifest they are liable to Admonition and Censure and if they remain obstinate and incorrigible they may be suspended and removed from the Ministerial Office This I do confess requires great Care and Intendance over the Inferiour Clergy which yet I think no more than is the duty of those that are the Overseers of God's House and do or should watch for Souls But alas that the honour which attends the Episcopal Office should be one thing and the Labour that is annexed unto it another that the former should be loved so much by some men in the World who have no extraordinary kindness if any at all for the latter Personally to inspect and superintend the Doctrine and Manners of the Clergy is a drudgery that these cannot bear and must be done therefore by Commissaries and Officials and Arch-Deacons who think nothing penal or worthy of rebuke in them unless it be some defection in Conformity nor nothing worthy of praise unless it be the virtue of Canonical Obedience 16. Personal Inspection into the Lives and Doctrines of the Inferiour Clergy is indeed a thing unpracticable in the Church of England whilst Diocesses are of the present Latitude and Extensions Is a Bishop like to oversee the Life and take knowledge of the Doctrine of such Presbyters as he never sees nor knows no more of than he doth of such as Live under the Empire of the Grand Seignior or the great Duke of Moscovy To do these things by Delegates and Proxies is to change the Nature of Ecclesiastical Government into a worldly and secular Method of Rule and Empire of which I see no footsteps in the primo Primitive Church for the first two hundred years but those that were Bishops did the work of Bishops and Delegation of Episcopal Power and Duty without the Office I find none nor I believe never shall though Bishops of After-Ages I do acknowledge did find a way of devolving the most troublesome and laborious part of their Office to others they themselves reretaining what was most easie and honourable and it is well if they could have gone to Heaven too by the Labour and Duties of their Proxies Qui Episcopatum desiderat opus bonum desiderat opus non honorem saies Hierom on Tit. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then Prefecture was not Honour but Care of the Governed This did not make those that were chosen to it to lift up themselves for they were called to danger nor those that were not chosen to be troubled as neglected But the matter is not so now but quite contrary Chrysost in Act. c. 1. 17. Since the necessary Superintendance of the Lives and Doctrines of the Inferiour Ministers and People can never be reconciled with the present Extent of Diocesses it were to be wished in the next place that Bishops and Suffragans were multiplied and encreased to that number as they might be capable of performing all the Duties of the Episcopal Office and this I think might be done if our Superiours pleased without altering the present Constitution or diminishing the Revenues or just Honour of the present Bishops and Episcopal Sees For Example hereunto St. Augustin is noted who sent a Bishop to Fussala only because it was at too great a distance for his Care I think you may find it in his 260 Epistle Caveant ergo Doctores Episcopi saies St. Jerom on Matth. c. 5. Let the Bishops take heed who though they find Vicarios in Officiis shall find none in Tormentis according to Chrysostom and him if they neglect their Charge This multiplication of Overseers would advance very much the Reputation of the Priesthood for if they were diligently watched it would preserve and encrease Knowledge and Sobriety among them which are the things that must give them a Reputation 'T is not a distinctive habit nor Titles of Honour nor the Countenance of Authority and Laws that will procure them an Esteem and Veneration but 't is great Knowledge and Soundness of Judgment great Piety Mortification Self-denial Contempt of the World Love to God and Men Compassion towards Souls and Zeal for the Salvation of Sinners that must make them loved and esteemed in the World And these things would be mightily promoted assisted and encouraged by the Superintendence and Personal Inspection Care and Example of Good and Excellent Bishops 18. As the Personal Inspection of Bishops would advance the Reputation of the Clergy by promoting Knowledge Wisdom and Sobriety among them so the Wisdom Good Conversation and Esteem of the Clergy would mightily advance and encrease Piety Virtue and Godliness among the Laity There 's nothing that I know of unless it be the Influence and Assistances of the Divine Grace that contributes more to the making of men good than the Wisdom and Piety of those that Preach the Gospel For although in all places there are some yea many that are incurably wicked and so perverse and crooked that nothing will make them straight yet there are more Good and Pious men to be found where the Gospel hath been preached by Wise and Pious Preachers than in any other places whatsoever The Ignorant and Impious seldom or never convert Souls at least in my Observation Animum non faciunt qui non habent Like begets its Like Those that are themselves strangers to Godliness and Virtues are not likely to make others so I do not absolutely deny that a wicked man may be an Instrument of another man's Conversio and Reformation but I do believe 't is very seldom and of rare experience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 1. p. 277. 19. Let nothing be inserted in the Publick Lyturgy of the Church but what is agreeable to the Doctrines contained in the three Summaries of Christianity formerly mentioned If things of dark and uncertain nature be mingled in our Publick Offices and
Scripture And St. Paul allowed it and communicated with them therein And thus it was in the Ages subsequent to the Apostles as Eusebius reports from the Letter of Ireneus to Victor Bishop of Rome lib. 5. cap. 24. Victor had Excommunicated the Asiatick Churches because they would not observe Easter after the Roman manner for which Ireneus Bishop of Lyons in France reproves and admonishes him not to Excommunicate and Cut off whole Churches for observing the Tradition of their Fathers for they had alwaies observed it on the fourteenth day of the Month and would not change it to comply with the Roman Custom who observed it on the Lord's Day Ireneus tells Victor That there was not only a Controversie about the Time of Observing Easter but also about the Observation of the Fast that did precede it some thinking themselves obliged to observe one some two some more and some forty Daies and this variety was not a Novel Custom lately introduced but had been such long before in the Times of their Progenitors and Predecessors but this brake no Peace though they differed about the Number of the Daies of Fasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The diversity of the Fast did commend the Agreement of Faith He adds that Hyginus Anicetus Pius Zystus and Telesphorus which Ruled the Church of Rome before him though they never observed Easter after the Custom of the Asiatiques nor permitted it to be done in their Church yet they kept Peace with those that came to them from other Churches where it was so observed and gives instance in Polycarpus who being at Rome in the time of Anicetus was treated by him with Love and Honour and permitted to consecrate the Eucharist in his Church And if Bishops and Church-men were as humble pious peaceable as those two Bishops were there might be the same Peace among them and their Churches though they differed in some Customs Practices and Observations I know no more reason that Bishops and Churches should quarrel one with another for the sake of some differing Opinions and Practices than that they should quarrel about the difference in their bodily strength and stature I have instanced in the face before or the various sorts of Fashions and Ornaments wherewith they are covered and adorned Were it not a pleasant thing to observe men hussing and raging anathematizing cursing each other because one wears brown coloured Cloth and another wears Gray one wears Serge and another Freeze one buckles his Shoes and another ties them with Strings And are not many of the Contentions of Christendom indeed founded and established upon Reasons of equal weight and value Are not most of the unchristian Feuds and Heats that are in England of this sort and kind What if one man fits at the holy Sacrament another stands and another kneels Is not a Unity of Affection and Faith reconcilable with this diversity of gesture What if one man reads his Prayers and another repeats them from his Memory What if one man uses a Form and another prayes Extemporately may they not believe the Common Faith and live in Love and Peace together I am sure this may be and if it be not so 't is not hard to tell what is the reason of it nor where the blame must be laid If Peace and Love may be preserved amidst some diversity of Opinions in the lesser things of Religion and some variety of Practices also as I am very sure it may if nothing else do hinder it it may be hoped that the Christian world may enjoy some quiet once again and lost Charity Love and Kindness may revive among the Disciples and Servants of the God of Love and Peace but if nothing will satisfie the Guides and Rulers of Christendom but Uniformity in all things and no Liberty be given for some diversities of Practices there will be nor can be any Peace or Concord upon Earth for Christians never will agree in many things nor is it morally possible they should as I have evinced I suppose at large already The truth is the idle Dream the fond Imagination of a possibility of making Christians of one uniform Judgment and Practice hath filled the Christian world with variance strife and contentions with blood violence rapine and oppression with proscriptions and banishment Yea hath left little more than the name of Christian Religion in most parts of the world For that men may be of one Judgment and Practice in Religion there must be Impositions and these Impositions must be inforced by Laws and the contempt or breach of these Laws must be penal and those penalties must be sharp and severe and severely executed and so bring us to such a pass or else they are only Maukings and men will laugh at them and differ still as much as ever And sure it is that men fearing God will not debauch their Consciences nor sin against God they will not hazard their Souls to preserve and secure their Lives their Bodies and their Estates they will not run the hazard of being damned everlastingly to escape the temporary punishment of imposing and domineering Rulers and Church-men and therefore they must be imprisoned fined banished hanged and damned too if it were in the power of their good Friends and Prosecutors to do it And these are the blessed Effects of Tyrannical Impositions these the means of Peace Union and Concord among Christians and Churches But I would fain learn who taught them these means waies and methods of Peace Unity and Concord Of all the Creatures upon Earth a man would suspect they learned it from the Devil who was a murtherer from the beginning surely they never learnt them from the holy Jesus for he never used any such methods of Peace nor taught any such to his Disciples that I can find in the Gospels Ye know not what manner of spirit you are of And what follows When they have banished ruined burnt and murthered all the Dissenters of one Age the next Age furnishts them with more to exercise their Cruelty upon and imploy their Rage which they call by the name of Love and and Zeal for Union and Peace And thus for the maintenance of their Impositions and an Imaginary Peace by the means thereof they are obliged to live in perpetual War and to maintain some Legions in constant pay to ruine and destroy those which are much better than themselves and dearer to God and Christ as they may also dearly know when they come to account to him for it But if they chance to ruine all Dissenters and none arise in succession to them then must men grow to a carelesness indifferency in all Religion they shall retain the name and perform and exercise some of the exteriour parts and formalities thereof but as for the Power of it and a consciencious reverence and veneration for the Authority and Laws thereof they are utter strangers thereunto Impositions and Prosecutions upon the breach of those Laws that do
to rail upon each others Persons and Opinions is rude and insufferable It is very pertinent Advice bere of a Spanish Author Estu dia de suffrir con paciencia quales quier defectos y flaquezas agenas mirando que tu tienes mucho que te sufran los otros Si non puedes hazer a ti qual desseas como quieres tener al otros a tu sabor Patiently endeavour to bear the Imperfections and Weaknesses of others considering that there is much in you that others must bear and endure If you cannot make your selves such as you would be how can you expect that others should be according to your list or as you would have them Neither are the Preachers of both sides to rail at or reproach each other in their own proper and peculiar Churches and Congregations or in their Printed Books and Pamphlets If they do think fit to meddle with each others peculiar Opinions let them do it with calmness and meekness let them in fair language confute one anothers Arguments without all unnecessary Reflections or personal Provocations Reproaches and Mutual Exposing of each other to common scorn does no good No man ever becomes a Convert in his Judgment by being railed on exposed or derided This Method of proceeding enkindles and enrages mens Spirits it heals no Wounds nor makes up any Breaches but makes them greater and more uncapable of Cure No ay ninguno sin defecto ninguno sin carga ninguno es sufficiente para si ninguno es complidamente sabio para si y portanto conviene llevarnos unos a utros No man is without defect no man without fault none is sufficient for himself and therefore we must bear and tolerate each other Menos precio del Mundo What is said in these last Directions in the behalf and favour of an interchangeable Love and Offices of Kindness betwixt Approved and Tolerated Ministers and Churches is no more than what Amyraldus pleads for betwixt the Lutherans and Calvinists and the Churches of those Professions Having spoken of the great distance and prejudices of those two Parties against each other he adds Nunc in magnam spem venimus fore ut in posterum tempus omnino melius se res habeant Nam producere quidem in suggestum Augustanum reformatae confessionis Ministrum qui intemperie aliqua animi vel Dogma Calvinianum in iis in quibus dissentimus ad populum spargeret vel in Dogma Lutheranum inveheretur uti preposterum esset atque temerarium sic etiam in formula Concordiae injustum pronunciari debet quemadmodum Augustanae confessionis preconem apud reformatos vel detonare in Calvinum vel eas res quas probare non possumus magna vi persuadere velle nemo est qui non judicet minime ferendum esse quique id non pariter prohibendum arbitretur Ac Ministrum Augustanum à Reformato invitari item Reformatum ab Augustano ut Communionis testandae causâ Reformatus populum Augustanum Augustanus populum Reformatum publicè alloquatur ea lege atque omine ut sese contineant intra ambitum earum rerum quae sunt utrisque Communes quaeque ad aedificationem spectare possunt Res est quam non modo licitam utilem sed absolute necessariam esse putamus Vid. Amyral in Irenico pag. 386 387. Something to the same sense he speaks p. 383. Hoc unum ex concordiae formulâ utrinque stipulari sat erit ut neque Reformatus in Ecclesia Augustana quidquam turbarum excitet adversus ejus doctrinam disputando neque Augustanus in Reformata pariter sed ut uterque contentus fidem cognitionem habere apud se ut loquitur Apostolus silentio se contineat ne quid temere deblateret ex quo animorum offensio vel scandalum oriatur The Difference between the Calvinists and Lutherans is as great and in some things greater than betwixt the Churches of Publick Establishment and those that I do wish might be tolerated among us and why there might not be the same interchanges of Love Familiarity and Kindness betwixt them as this Learned and Pious Pacificator wishes and desires yea hopes might be amongst the Augustans and Reformed I can see no reason What reason might be given why a Conformist might not hear Dr. Owen Dr. Bates or Mr. Baxter at Pinners-Hall or elswhere yea or why he might not Preach there himself What reason can be given why these worthy and excellent men might not be permitted to Preach at Guild-Hall Chappel Bow or other Churches in the City Is not their Doctrine as sound their Ministerial Qualifications as great and their Manner of Preaching as likely to do good at least as some of the Conformable Clergy I am not ignorant what Objections the Interest Passions and Prejudices of men do make against what I have proposed and discoursed nor shall I undertake to answer them Humble holy mortified men that love Peace and the Souls of men before their own petty Interests and Advantages can easily answer them themselves and others will not be convinced by any thing that I shall reply unto them There 's no confuting the Objections that are made by Pride Covetousness Ambition Love of Empire and Dominion and other Passions of Infernal Race and I have no present Inclination to spend any Words upon the Objections of inconfutable Men. It is true that what I propose may seem at present unpracticable by reason of the Inconsistency of such Practises with the Established Laws But it is not impossible I hope that His Majesty who is the Breath of our Nostrils with His Parliament may come to think fit that such Laws be relaxed for the Uniting and Strengthening the Protestant Interest against the Roman and French Enemy And if it should please God to incline the Heart of the King and His Great Council so to do then will that which I have said be not only very practicable but as I think very useful that is to lessen and abate Differences restore decayed and dying Love and to bring Christians to a greater Uniformity in Judgment and Practice than any other Means or Endeavors whatsoever Redintigrationem amicitiae necessario sequi debet officiorum sedula communicatio atque familiaritas Amyrald ubi supra The Last Proposal I have to offer that is the Twenty-Fourth and chiefest therefore reserved to the last is this Let these Tolerated Churches be made and then reputed Parts of the National Church whereof the King is the Head What other Head to find for it under that Consideration after all that hath of late been said concerning it I am as yet to seek If the Bishops be made the Head of the national-National-Church by the same Reason all the Bishops of the Christian World must be the Head of the Universal Church and indeed those that affirm the One affirm the Other which some Men will say is French Popery and I know not how to confute them If the arch-Arch-Bishops be the
Head of the Church it will be enquired whether they claim their Title Jure Divino or Humano If Jure Divino they must prove it which will not easily be done If Jure Humano I hope they will grant the King Superior to them and that they are but His Officers and Delegates which is the same thing that I desire and which is agreeable to the Opinion of our First Reformers as is apparent in Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation For Cranmer took a Commission from K. Edward by which he held his Bishoprick and exercised his Jurisdiction Vid. Par. 2. pag. 6. And so Bonner had done before him from King Henry the Eighth Vid. Par. 1. l. 3. p. 267. And this is the same thing that hath been lately proposed by that Thoughtful Man Mr. Humfrey in the End of a Discourse written by Himself and Others and dedicated to the Right Honourable the Earl of Hallifax that great and sagacious Statesman I know some Men are Deaf Adders who will not be brought to regard it let a Man have Charmed never so wisely but These I take it are such only who are Enemies to Peace and will part with nothing for the sake of it And why now these Tolerated Churches should not be accounted true Churches and Parts of the National-Church whereof the King is the Head I do not imagine In my Apprehension they look very like the Churches we read of in the New Testament which no Man doubts were of Divine Appointment For although I do not know but that some particular Persons from among the Clergy fittest for it As St. Paul chiefly imployed himself in Preaching the Gospel and meddled but little with Baptism may be lawfully and prudently chosen and employed chiefly in the Government of several Congregations even as many as they can personally know and be acquainted withal and if they be called Bishops and have a peculiar Consecration and nothing be done in Ordination Censures and Absolutions but with their Knowledge Direction and Approbation I would have no Controversie with them about it Yet I do professedly avow that I can find no such thing in the Scripture nor in the Practice of the Church for 200 Years I know 't is said That the Apostles were Diocesans and that they governed all or most of the Christian Churches whil'st they lived but I see no Proof of it and there 's one Argument against it which I cannot tell how to answer and 't is this If the Christian Churches in the Apostles days had no Governours but themselves 't is certain that for the most part they had none at all for they never fixed in any place but having preached the Gospel planted Churches and settled Officers amongst them they left them and went to other Places and Countreys 'T is true they did sometimes return and visit the Churches that they planted but who Governed them in the intermediate Periods of Time Or were there no Ordinations Censures or Absolutions performed in them or none but by their Direction and Command That some Acts of Discipline were performed by their Direction and Command I do acknowledge but that all were so and that none ought to be performed without it I see no reason to believe Touching the Practice of the Church after the Apostles till the end of the Second Century I must say That I can find no Evidence of Diocesan Episcopacy or of any Churches bigger than some single Congregations among us at this day I think the Churches of Corinth Ephesus Antioch c. single Congregations and that they all Communicated at one Altar and that there are many Congregations in England as numerous and some much more numerous than they Yea I will add after all that hath been said of late to the contrary that I am not convinced that the Church of Carthage in Cyprian's days which was Two hundred and fifty Years after Christ was any bigger than some of our Parochial-Congregations In an Epistle to the Clergy of Carthage he tells them That from the beginning of his Episcopacy he determined to do nothing by his own private Judgment nor without their Counsel and the Consent of his People A primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim nihil sine Consilio Vestro sine consensu Plebis meae privata sententia gerere Ep. 6. ex Edit Goulartii What doth St. Cyprian mean by His People in these words Doth he mean the whole or Major Part of a Diocess in the Modern sense of the Word Did he assemble his Diocess and take their Consent in all things that did concern them Credat Judaeus Appella Many Passages of like nature might be produced from this great Saint and Martyr and are by Learned Men which I will not repeat And for ought that I can perceive Diocesan Episcopacy was unknown in this Nation for several hundreds of Years after Christ Jesus The Culdees were the great Preachers of the Gospel and Promoters of Christianity in Scotland Those Culdees were no Bishops nor had any Ordination but such as was performed by the Monk or Abbot of the Monastery in the Island Hii This Monk who was himself no Bishop and his Pressters gave them their Orders and from thence came Aidan and Finan into England and are called Bishops but had no other Ordination than that abovementioned Wini was the first Canonical Bishop in Britain as Bede reports Non erat tunc ullus excepto Wini in tot a Britannia Canonice Ordinatus Episcopus Lib. 3. cap. 28. Which was near Six hundred Years after Christ The Prefecture and Jurisdiction of Bishops in England seems to me of Humane Institution and derived partly from the Favour of Princes and partly from the Usurpation of the Pope and thus gotten and obtained they enjoyed and exercised it for many Hundreds of Years even till the days of Henry the Eighth who reassuming the Authority that had been granted by former Princes and usurped by the Pope obliged them to acknowledg their Jurisdiction by derivation from Himself and subjected them to a Premunire in case of refusal And of this Opinion those Bishops seem to be that took Commissions from K. Henry the Eighth and K. Edward the Sixth for their holding their Bishopricks and Exercise of their Jurisdiction as I have signified already Let our present Diocesans therefore as such acknowledg themselves the King's Officers and by Deputation from Him let them exercise such Authority circa sacra as appertains to Kings Let them enjoy their Honour and Revenues as a Reward of their Service Let the Powers granted by Christ to such Bishops as I have above conceded lawful and their Presbyters be left inviolable And let our Diocesans supervise them in the Exercise of them and see that they neither neglect nor abuse them And all our Controversies about Church-Government will come to an end Such Churches as should be thought worthy of Toleration as well as those that have the Approbation of Authority would submit to such an
as it is now by Law Established which are really equivalent with the Declaration of Assent and Consent to the Vse of the Book and it is to no more than to the Vse of it the Declaration is required to be made by the Act it follows that to take away One of these injunctions and not the Other could be of no Signification Upon notice hereof therefore given to some Members of the House it was moved at the Committee to take away the whole Subscription as well as the Declaration and it being carried in the Affirmative the Bill as it is here presented hath that Amendment There are some few Additions more inserted as necessary thereunto for the obtaining its end the reasons whereof appear in their own light yet is it Judged fit that publick notice be given of two or three of them The One of them is the Parenthesis about the Beginning where the Thirty-Nine Articles are imposed on every Minister to Subscribe which notwithstanding the Exception of Three of the Articles do yet require more Caution Whosoever have read a Book called A part of a Register wherein there is a Relation of several things in reference to the Nonconformists in Q. Elizabeths days they will find that there was nothing so greivous to them and exasperated them then against the Bishops so much as the Subscriptions of those times and the Subscription to the Articles was one among the rest which makes me wonder what our good men did now mean to impose the Subscription of these Articles so rigidly upon all for the enjoyment of the benefit of either of their Bills of Vnion or Indulgence They know not really what it is they were a doing for if the Persecuting Spirit should be raised hereafter about this Subscription and the thing be so pressed that all who Subscribe not shall be Prosecuted by the Law there were like to arise greater troubles to tender Consciences and scruples more unanswerable then could be about the Cap and Tippet the Surplice and Cross in those dayes The doubtfulness of many about the Ceremonies is not to be compared to a Conviction of Conscience that a man must not Subscribe to any point which he believes untrue By this means therefore should these Articles of the Church intended for Peace become the instruments of Torment and be had in the greatest Detestation which consequently will defame and then ruine the Protestant Religion There will be Persecution in the Church that 's certain for the Devil will have it so There will be Tender Consciences that 's certain for God will have it so When there are no other things then to trouble Mens Consciences but this Subscription Exceptions and Scruples will be raised against these Articles and it a Parliament do not prevent them in their Bill by a present mitigation they Act not like wise Men and do not see Ten Years before them The only remedy against this evil is to provide a liberty in both the Bills that every Consciencious Man that really scruples any of the Articles may explain his sense which if it shall not pass unless it be allowed to be Orthodox by the Bishop or by two other Bishops in case the Diocesan be partial there can be no harm in it at least none in comparison of this mischief which is to be prevented hereby Another of them is about the Middle concerning Orders In the late Times when the Bishops were down many were ordained by Presbyters and the House was willing to allow those Orders as good in a Case of Necessity upon which account only the rigid Episcopalian will allow of the Ministry of the Reformed Churches beyond the Sea but there being others that have been Ordained since the return of the Bishops the House made no provision for such in the Bill being not willing we may suppose to countenance a neglect of the Bishops out of that case And what then shall such do There is an Ordination to the Office or Ministry it self and he that is Once Ordained to that whether by Presbyters or Bishops cannot receive the Spiritual Power or Character or be made Ministers Again But there is a laying on of hands to the Work of that Office in regard to a new Charge as Paul and Barnabas who were Ministers before and yet are separated to that peculiar Work unto which they were called by the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the Hands of those who are named Act. 13. Such an Ordination now as this may be repeated and is the only Medium for resolution of this dimculty The Third of these Insertions is the last whole Clause concerning the Common-Prayer the due consideration whereof is the very main hinge upon which the whole matter of this Comprehension does turn If Union it self be necessary it must be necessary to know what is the Bottom upon which we can be United In all Reconcilements between different Parties the first thing that is to be found out is a Medium for their Agreement When we have found this it must be considered how far each Party can come up to that Medium and then we can make the Accommodation The Medium of Reconciliation in this Business at this time between the Conformist and Nonconformist is the Common-Prayer Some Persons as is said before do hold that a stinted Form of Prayer and our Parish-Churches are unwarrantable by God's Word who though they may be Indulged are thereby uncapable of Comprehension Others are ready to maintain the Lawfulness of both these and the Enquiry about such is How far they can do that which is enjoyned That is How far they can Read the Common-Prayer and how far they cannot Conform to it This is the Critical Point in regard to this Bill between the Conformist and Nonconformist The One can Read all the Other so much only as will serve for Union The Nonconformist now who hold a Form of Prayer and the Parish-Churches lawful are for the most part of them able through Providential Merey to Conform to the Ordinary Lord's Day Service their Exceptions which make the Liturgy to them unlawful lying in other Parts or Moments of the Book And consequently if the Bill may be hemmed up with the Clause here offered it will do Without that Clause it is apparently imperfect With it it will be what we may call Perfect that is Perfect in its kind so far as to answer its end and bring in All of the Willing and Many of the Vnwilling that go under the Name of the Presbyterian Perswasion This being premised the Bills the Titles only as they were in the House being voluntarily omitted are as followeth THE Bill for Comprehension WHereas the Peace of the State is highly concern'd in the Peace of the Church Therefore at all Times but especially in this Conjuncture it is most Necessary to be preserved In Order therefore to remove Differences and Dissatisfactions which may arise among Protestants Be it enacted by the Kings most Excellent