own and study to honour God by abstaining from these things by which he never said that he was dishonoured O that all tender Consciences would seriously consider this for they would soon discern that your Ministers by forbidding those things now in dispute lay greater Burthens upon the Consciences of their Brethren and clog them with more duties than God hath laid upon them Whereas we who think those things may be done lay no other Burthen upon the Conscience than what God himself hath laid which is to obey our Governours in all things wherein he himself hath not bidden us to do the contrary ANSWER I shall only touch of Additions in the Service Book there are added three whole Verses to the Fourteenth Psalm and one Verse to the Thirteenth Psalm REPLY If it be granted that there are those Additions he speaks of yet it was not the Mistake of the Common Prayer Book but of the Translations which the Common Prayer followed viz. the Septuagint and Vulgar But I wonder how he came to be so cautious as not to call these Additions to Scripture for that certainly was his meaning The Additions to the 14th Psalm are accounted for in one of the old Bibles by this Note That of this 14th Psalm the 5th 6th and 7th Verses which are put into the Common Translation and may seem unto some to be left out in this are not in the same Psalm in the Hebrew Text but are rather put in more fully to express the manners of the wicked and are gather'd out of the 5th 140th and 10th Psalms the 59th of the Prophet Isaiah and the 36th Psalm and are alledged by St. Paul and placed together in the 3d to the Romans But the saying that there is a Verse added to the 14th Psalm is a notorious Falshood there are only these words I will praise the Name of the Lord most Highest which are in the seventh Psalm and the last Verse What then can this Man be thought to mean Would he insinuate that these Additions are Inventions of our own or that they are inserted by the Church upon some wicked selfish design I hope it appears that they were not nor we upon the score thereof obnoxious to the Penalty of Deut. 4.2 before quoted by him But I would fain know whether they are not deeply guilty of the Crime they charge us with who teach That nothing is to be used in the Worship of God but what is prescribed by God himself for if that be not a Scripture Truth then what an Addition is this Do not they who teach this for a Scripture-Rule and Precept impose upon Mens Consciences as much as Papists and like them and the Pharisees of old teach the Traditions of Men for the Doctrines of God Nay is not this directly contrary to the Gospel it self which tells us that Sin is the Transgression of a Law and that where there is no Law there is no Transgression And thus you all along see with how keen an edge those Weapons turn upon you which you make use of in fighting against us ANSWER In a word I may say of all the Ceremonies in the Service Book as one of your own Church saith of the Succession of Church-Officers and in particular that of Bishops He tells us That our English Bishops received their Orders in the Communion of the Church of Rome and ergo they had as good Orders as any of the Church of Rome they must needs be as good when they are the same But 't is but a weak Proof for the Succession of their Bishops when they must go to Rome for it REPLY One would think it were high time for you to have done with this old Accusation of Popery and that you should have more Prudence than to give us Occasion to upbraid you with your fawning upon and sneaking to it in the late Reign while the Bishops and Clergy of our Church made such a brave and vigorous Defence against it even to the hazard of their ALL. If indeed it be true that our Bishops received their Orders in the Church of Rome then his ergo is good and the only good one he has made in this Paper and the Argument is a good one against the Papists and no weak one neither for the Succession of Church-Officers against you if you pretend to impugn it which if you do it lies at your door to prove a failure in their Succession since our Bishops are in possession of their Authority He ought to have quoted his Author for a Reason before mention'd But what if it be true is therefore Episcopacy unlawful or the Succession of our Bishops not good He may as well argue that the Water is not good or comes not from the Fountain-head because the Conduit thro' which it is convey'd is faulty But since this Man questions the Succession of our Bishops and upbraids us with having our Orders from the Church of Rome it is but reasonable to demand Whether your Preachers have any Orders at all and if they have Whence they had them and thro' what Channel they were convey'd down to them and whether you have any Arguments to urge for the Validity of Their Orders which we cannot with much more reason make use of to prove the Goodness of Ours But we may see how far Envy and Malice will sometimes make People overshoot themselves This Man rather than not send forth his Bolt at our Bishops and Clergy will strike at the whole Reformation and call in Question the Validity of the Orders of all the Reformed Churches of Luther and Calvin himself nay even the Authority of their own Ambassadors As for our Ceremonies tho' they be superstitiously abused by the Papists yet that is no Argument against the present use of them in the Church of England who retains them not because they are of Rome but of an Ancienter date than that now corrupted Church and if they are therefore unlawful because they are used by her then every thing done in that Church is so which I suppose you will not say We only reformed from the Errors and Corruptions of that Church and not from what was Apostolical Primitive and Innocent because they used it And whatever Opinion these People would have others entertain of them yet their admired Mr. Calvin declares in express words that He would not have any Man think him so Austere or bound up as to forbid a Christian without any Exception to accommodate himself to the Papists in any Ceremony or Observance for says he further it is not my Purpose to condemn any thing but what is clearly evil and openly vicious But for a full Answer to all you Object against us upon this score I refer you to the Case of Symbolizing with the Church of Rome by Dr. Eowler our present Bishop where he quotes those very words of Mr. Calvin ANSWER Sir we desire not Separation but Reformation for I hope we have all of us so tender
is all Mens Worship of God and that he that will not communicate with faulty Worship must renounce Communion with all the World and all with him Mr. Calvin assigns two Marks of the visible Church the Word of God truly preached and Sacraments administred according to Christ's Institution and saith That altho' there be many Faults and Corruptions in such a Church yet as long as it retains those Marks Separation from it is not justifiable nay altho' some of those Faults be about Preaching the Word and Administrations of Sacraments for saith he all Truths are not of equal Moment but as long as the Doctrine according to Godliness and the true Vse of the Sacraments is kept up Men ought not to separate upon lesser Differences but they ought to seek the amending what is amiss continuing in the Communion of the Church and without disturbing the Peace and Order of it I had not I own the Opportunity of consulting every one of these Authors but I have given you their sence and very words upon the unquestionable Authority of those two Reverend Bishops of our Church the present Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Chichester The former whereof in his Vnreasonableness of Separation hath with great Evidence proved that all the Old Non-conformists did think themselves bound in Conscience to communicate with the Church of England and did look upon Separation from it to be a sin notwithstanding the Corruptions they supposed to be in it And the latter in his Case of Lay-Communion produces the concurrent Testimony of the most eminent Non-conformists that there is nothing required in the Parochial Communion of the Church of England that can be a sufficient reason for Separation from it and though he has collected the sence of a great many yet you may believe him when he tells you that for One Hundred he could easily have produced Two if the Cause were to go by the Poll. These Reverend Authors do not put their Readers off with only telling 'em that the Learned observe and some Authors say so and so but they quote Book and Page and which therefore if you have a Mind to be further satisfied you your Selves may consult Those Non-conforming Ministers might probably be under such Prior Engagements or dislike some things so far that they could not satisfie themselves in making the Declarations and Subscrpitions which are required of Ministers in order to preserve the Peace of the Church and the unity of Christians which does so much depend upon that of its Officers and Teachers But there being no Declarations or Subscriptions required of the People nor any thing more than to attend upon and joyn in the Worship practised and allowed in the Church they according to the Doctrine of those Gentlemen ought not to separate To which I shall not need to add any more than that remarkable Annotation of the Reverend Mr. Pool upon Luke 2.41 One thing says He there is observable The Pharisees and Scribes and Priests had in those days much corrupted the Worship of God by their Traditions yet they retained the Substance of Gods Institution We find both our Saviour and his Disciples and other people of God not wholly forsaking the Jewish Church because of its Corruptions Yet we cannot think they joyned with them in any thing of their Will-Worship from whence we may learn a tenderness as to a total Separation from a Church and the Lawfulness of attending divine Ministrations though attended with Vsages which we approve not provided there be no Idolatry in the Service And the Truth of it is if Separation be justifiable upon the Score of some small whether real or fancied Errors which may be in any Church then Communion must not be held with any part of Christ's Church if not with ours for she is certainly as free from Error as any Church in the whole World and the living in her Communion like Members of so Holy an Institution as safe a way to Salvation as any I know in the world And I so firmly believe what I say in this matter that I challenge all her Adversaries to Compare ours and other Churches with the word of God and the Primitive Church and if they cannot produce one that is freer from Error in Doctrine and Worship than she is or comes nearer to the Primitive Pattern nay if amongst all Competitions and contending Sects among us there is not one to be found that delivers the Truths of the Gospel with greater purity and sincerity That doth teach a Religion more holy and useful that lays greater stress upon a pure Mind and a blameless and undefiled Life that doth give more forcible Arguments for Vertue or more powerful Disswasives from Vice theâ— I hope you will have better thoughts both of her and my Invitation of you into her Communion and be convinced that you have no just grounds to continue in your Separation upon Pretences of Impurity in her or greater Purity elsewhere But I would have you speak out Is Communion with us sinful or is it not If you say it is you say it without Proof you therein contradict the Opinion of the most eminent of the old Presbyterians you oppose your selves to the Opinion and Practice of the most candid and most honest among those now alive who do not wholly separate themselves from our Communion and if your own Teaches will be true to their real Sentiments I dare be confident they will not say so nay you do herein condemn your own Practice of occasionally joyning with us now and unless you will declare you were then mistaken in your Judgments you make your selves guilty of base Hypocrisie in constantly joyning with us when the Penalties of the Law were inflicted upon those that refused it If you say that Communion with us is not sinful and that therefore you may occasionally joyn with us then let the Assembly of Divines draw the Consequence who say that to separate from those Churches ordinarily and visibly with whom occasionally you may joyn without sin seemeth to be a most unjust Separation That which you quote for One I have shewed to be no Command for you to leave our Church nor can you make it any way applicable thereto till you have proved that there is something taught or practised in our Church which is as bad as the unclean thing there spoken of But did I or ever any Man else say that it was Schism to obey God rather than Man And therefore what need he put me to prove it But that is not your Case my Brethren you causelessly and willfully separate from a sound part of Christ's Church and if that is not Schism I will yield up the cause for ever But let us more particularly examine this mans Notion of Schism and see whether even according thereto you be not guilty of it ANSWER I know Schism properly signifies a Cutting in two a disagreeing in Mâ—â—â—â— a Division in the Church of Christ consisting
a regard for the everlasting Salvation of our own Souls that we shall endeavour to make choice of such a Minister as may be able to divide the Word of Truth aright and give to every one their Portion in due season REPLY I have observed but very little Coherence in any part of this Paper but I see none at all in this Clause on the contrary the very design of chusing another Minister is a Proof beyond denial of your Desire of Separation Your Reformation was the drift of my Paper and 't is Nonsense for you to retort it upon us till you have given some better Proofs that there are really such Faults in the Constitution of our Church as ought to be amended But if the Reformation you desire be as to Matters which you either have proved or can prove to be really evil I doubt not but the next Convocation that sits will readily gratifie you herein nay I verily think that they would take away some of those Ceremonies you scruple or however leave the Use of them to every ones liberty as the Canons of 40 have done Bowing towards the East if you could secure them against the evil Consequences of unnecessary Alterations or give them sufficient Grounds to believe that the Dissenters of this Kingdom would then Vnite in the Communion of the Church or that the major part of you who are distinguish'd from the other Sects by the Name of Presbyterians would thereupon come over thereto or indeed that such a Method of proceeding would not drive more out of the Church than it would bring in But if the Reformation you talk of be such as would maim and wound at least if not Vnchurch us or however lay us open to all manner of Confusion it is unreasonable you should be complied with and you do thereby plainly shew your Desires to be either after Ascendency over us or Separation from us Of which another Evidence is that you use no Endeavours to get your selves satisfied of the Lawfulness of joyning in our Worship You only read Books and hear Persons of one side You are full of Prejudice against us and are glad of any Pretence to separate from us You cry out against the Common-prayer but pray let me ask you and answer it to your Consciences Have you ever seriously and impartially read and examin'd that Book Have you a desire to hold Communion with us if you could perswade your selves that you might lawfully do it Have you proposed your Scruples to the Divines of our Church or Have you read what they have written in order to your satisfaction If you have done all these things then you have acted fairly But then let me ask again Have you met with any of your own Teachers that are able to give a sufficient Answer to their Arguments They may possibly put you off with Noise and Clamour instead of true Reason but certain it is they have none of them yet answer'd those excellent things that have been writ in the defence of our Church If they think their Cause so good and themselves able to defend it let them try their Skill at Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity and the several Treatises writ by our Divines in the Reign of King Charles the Second not above two of which were ever answer'd but those Answers were Replied to without ever a Rejoinder some or all of which I would have those among you that have Time and Capacities for it to peruse particularly those that I have already had or shall have occasion to mention or refer to as also a Perswasive to Communion with the Church of England by the late Bishop of Chichester and The Case of Indifferent Things by the present Bishop of that Diocess The Discourses about Conscience and a Scrupulous Conscience by the present Archbishop of York and Dr. Calamy wherein you will be inform'd how far that Pretence will and will not bear you out in your Separation Our Church is freed from the Imputation of Popery by Dr. Hooper and all your Objections against the Common-Prayer answer'd by Dr. Claggett and Dr. Comber which latter has largely and devoutly Explain'd and Paraphras'd upon every part of it Mr. Evans has in two parts stated and resolved for you the Case of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament And several more Discourses there are all writ with that Candour and Calmness which if you have leisure is sufficient to invite you to peruse and consider them And indeed one would wonder that after so many excellent Tracts writ in vindication of our Church there should be such a Person as a Dissenter in England I have all or most of these things by me and the Use of them is at the service of any of you that will desire and accept of it but you must put in practise the Advice of Epictetus which is to seek after Truth with the indifference of Travellers who matter not whether their way be to the right or left or forward so that it lead them to their Journeys end ANSWER Sir as for your accusing us of Schism the keeping it up in the Church of God and rending and dividing the Body of Christ and all for separating from those Errors the Church is guilty of from which we have a Commandment to separate our selves Come out from amongst them saith the Lord and touch not the Unclean thing and I will receive you now whether it be right to obey GOD or Man judge ye Now if you can make it appear that it is Schism to obey GOD rather than Man and that it 's a rending and dividing the Body of Christ when we contend but for the pure Administration of his Ordinances according to his own Appointment Now if you can prove this I will yield you the Cause REPLY Your saying that I accused you of Schism the keeping it up in the Church of God and rending and dividing the Body of Christ is false I did not positively charge you therewith I signified to you the Guilt and Danger of that Crime that you might take care not to incurr either by separating upon Humor or Prejudice without just Grounds and Reasons And I was purposely thus cautions in expressing my self that I might not baffle my own Design by saying any thing that might disoblige or exasperate Persons whom I had some Grounds to suspect were self will'd and too inclinable to be soon angry but since you will force me to speak out I 'll tell you my Mind freely and because this Man seems to exult in vindicating you from that Charge and says it wholly upon us I will endeavour to make it appear that notwithstanding any thing he has said you are Schismaticks still That therefore which I do say and for which I have both good Reason and good Authority is this that forasmuch as you withdraw your Communion from that Church that I mean to which I invited you with which you lawfully may and with which therefore you ought to
Man if he sets up Altar against Altar Church against Church and Heads a Separation from the external Communion of the true Church of Christ and be he who he will and let his Pretence be what it will if he sets himself here in Opposition to me and that true Church of which I am a lawful Minister I must say of him that he does exceedingly trouble our City and that too by Teaching Customs which are not lawful for us to Receive neither to observe being Members of the Church of England for if any Man seem to be contentious we have no such Custom nor the Churches of God from whence we may by the way observe that the Apostle disputing concerning an Ecclesiastick Ceremony with the Corinthian Church appeals to the Custom of the Churches of God as sufficient to confute even the most contentious without any express Determination of the word of God in matters of that Nature I know very well who they were that said these men do exceedingly trouble our City and of whom they spake it and upon what Principle they spake it and I know that your Application of it to me is not Parallel in any of these but I am sure that the Expression as applied by me is as to the matter of Fact true and I know further that they were the Children of Edom that cryed out upon Jerusalem Down with it Down with it even to the Ground It is I do own a daring and provoking piece of Impudence to have a Company of Vzziah's unto whom it appertaineth not to burn Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn Incense compared with the Holy Apostles of our Blessed Saviour who gave such undeniable Proof of the Divinity of their Commission And a good Man cannot but be troubled at the Injustice and Confusion of breaking in upon sacred Rights and invading Holy Offices But however I do assure you that having as I hope now discharged my Duty to the full in this particular I shall give no farther Disturbance to my self than to lament our Divisions and beseech God to compose them and to take what care I can to secure the Rigths and Priviledges which do yet belong to the Church and Minister of this Parish from being either withheld or encroached upon And this as it is all the Disturbance or indeed Incivility that I have offered you notwithstanding sufficient Provocation during the time that I have been in this place so need you not be apprehensive of any other from me for the future Only forgive me that Wrong and give me leave to maintain my Fidelity to the Church to be firm to my Subscriptions and my Vows of Ordination constantly to use and as well as I am able to defend that Liturgy which I have solemnly testified my Approbation of in the Presence of God and in the face of his congregation Pardon me in these things and excuse me that I am resolutely bent not to speak beneath the Dignity of my Function and the Station I am in and you may depend according to the Opportunities you give me of performing them upon all the good Offices which can reasonably be expected from either a good Neighbour a charitable Christian or an honest Minister ANSWER Sir You charge us with causing Divisions among us by bringing in another Preacher as if the Preaching the Gospel by the Authoriz'd Ambassadors of God were the only Cause whom alas you do not consider it 's the unlawful Impositions Superstitions Traditions that is the principal Cause of those Divisions that we are among us for all those are removed we cannot be united REPLY And notwithstanding this impertinent Cant I say still that the bringing in another Preacher does and will maintain the Divisions among us and further that such Preachers are the main if not the only true Causes of them thro' the just Judgment of God upon a sinful People who have not lived answerably to their holy Profession and that Excellent Church which God in wonderful Mercy and by miraculous Providences hath established and preserved among us And I shall alwaies be of that Opinion till it is proved that those Men are Ambassadors authorized by God to preach the Gospel in this Nation and that there are any unlawful Impositions Superstitions and Traditions in our Church which are a just cause for the People to forsake their own Pastors and give themselves up to the guidance of those Intruders And this is a sufficient Reply to his complemental Conclusion with the false Accusation of Vnlawful Impositions Superstitions and Traditions clamorous Phrases which every ignorant Wretch can make use of when he has a mind to reproach our Church Methinks it would have been but fair dealing to have made good this Charge by shewing what Vnlawful things we impose wherein we are superstitious and by what Traditions we make the Word of God of none effect But he knows that to cry out against any Man of a different Opinion is enough to raise the whole Discontented Party against him If he thinks he has given sufficient Proof of Vnlawful Impositions in our Church I think I have proved he has not and in reference to whatsoever is imposed upon us meerly by the Churches Authority I shall only further say That none of the things imposed are Unlawful in themselves that to abridge Authority is the exercise of their Power in things of a middle nature that are of themselves indifferent and neither simply good or evil is to cancel and make Authority useless because their Power lies mainly in things of that nature since things that are simply and absolutely good are commanded by God himself and things that are in themselves evil forbidden by him that if where some are impower'd to give Orders others are not under an Obligation to observe them Authority is nugatory and ridiculous and that before these latter days there were never any Christians in the World that held themselves bound not to do a lawful thing meerly because it was commanded and imposed upon them which makes Obedience and Observance of those things a Duty in us which before they were clothed with a particular and punctual Command were no ways obligatory What this Man means by Traditions I can hardly guess As for Traditions about Matters of Doctrine we hold none but those which are deliver'd to us in the Writings of the Penmen of Holy Writ and for the proof of the Authority of those Sacred Books we look upon the written Tradition of the Church to be a good Argument If by Traditions he means the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church then they have already been consider'd as far as he gave me occasion to do it And I shall only add that I do believe what the Church of England declares in the 34th Article of her Religion That whosoever thro' his private Judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions i. e. Customs and