this time how many excellent Discourses have been Published for the satisfaction of Dissenters written with the greatest Temper and Moderation with the utmost plainness and perspicuity with all imaginable evidence and strength of Reasoning so short as not to require any considerable portion either of Time or Cost so suited to present Circumstances as to obviate every material Objection that is made against Communion with us and yet there is just cause to fear that the far greatest part of our Dissenters are meer strangers to them and are not so just to themselves or us as to give them the reading And that those few that do look into them do it rather out of a design to pick quarrels against them and to expose them in scurrilous or cavilling Pamphlets then to receive satisfaction by them I do heartily and from my Soul wish an end of these Contentions and that there were no further occasion for them but if our Dissenting Brethren will still proceed in this way we desire and hope 't is but what is reasonable that the things in difference may be debated in the most quiet peaceable and amicable manner that they may be gravely and substatially Managed and only the Merits of the Cause attended to and that the Controversie may not be turned off to mean and trifling Persons whose highest attainment perhaps it is to write an idle and senceless Pamphlet and which can serve no other use but only that the People may be born in hand that such and such Books are Answered Which is so unmanly and disingenuous a way and so like the shifting Artifices of them of the Church of Rome that I am apt to persuade my self the wiser Heads of the Dissenting Party cannot but be ashamed of it If they be not 't is plain to all the World they are willing to serve an ill Design by the most unwarrantable Means But however that be we think we have great reason to expect from them that they should hear our Church before they condemn Her and consider what has been said for the removing of their Doubts before they tell us any more of Scruples Tender-Consciences and the hard Measure that they meet withal I confess could I meet with a Person that had brought himself to some kind of unbyasdness and indifferency of Temper and that design'd nothing more then to seek and find the right way of Serving God without respect to the Intrigues and Interests of this or that particular Party and in order thereunto had with a sincere and honest Mind read whatever might probably conduce to his satisfaction fairly proposed his Scruples and modestly consulted with those that were most proper to advise him and humbly begged the guidance and direction of the Divine Grace and Blessing and yet after all should still labour under his old Dissatisfactions I should heartily pity and pray for such a Man and think my self obliged to improve all my Interest for Favour and Forbearance towards him But such Persons as these I am afraid are but thin Sowed and without breach of Charity it may be supposed there is not One of a Thousand III. Thirdly We desire that before they go on to accuse our Church with driving them into Seperation they would directly charge her with imposing sinful terms of Communion And unless they do this and when they have done it make it good for barely to accuse I hope is not sufficient I see not which way they can possibly justifie their Separation from us 'T is upon this account that the whole Protestant Reformation defends their departure from the Church of Rome They found the Doctrine of that Church infinitely corrupt in several of the main Principles of Religion New Articles of Faith introduced and bound upon the Consciences of Men under pain of Damnation its Worship overgrown with very gross Idolatry and Superstition Its Rites and Ceremonies not only over-numerous but many of them advanced into proper and direct acts of Worship and the use of them made necessary to Salvation and besides it's Members required to joyn and communicate in these corruptions and depravations nay and all proposals and attempts toward a Reformation obstinately rejected and thrown out in which case they did with great Reason and Justice depart from her which we may be confident they would not have done had no more been required of them than instead of Worshipping Images to use the Sign of the Cross in Baptisme or instead of the Adoration of the Host to kneel at the Receiving of the Sacrament A learned Protestant Divine of great Name and Note has expresly told us That had there been no other faults in the Church of Rome besides their useless Ceremonies in Baptisme and some other things that are beyong the measure and genius of the Christian Religion they had still continued in the Communion of that Church Indeed did the Church of England command any thing which Christ has prohibited or prohibite any thing which Christ has commanded then come ye out from among them and be ye seperate saith the Lord were good Warrant and Authority But where do we meet with these prohibitions not in the word of God not in the nature and reason of the things themselves nor indeed do we find our Dissenting Brethren of late very forward to fasten this charge and much less to prove it whatever unwary sayings may fall from any of them in the heat and warmth of Disputation or be suggested by indirect consequences and artificial insinuations And if our Church commands nothing that renders her Communion sinful then certainly Seperation from her must be unlawful because the Peace and Unity of the Church and obedience to the commands of lawful Authority are express and indispensable duties and a few private suspicions of the unlawfulness of the thing are not sufficient to sway against plain publick and necessary Duties nor can it be safe to reject Communicating with those with whom Christ himself does not refuse Communion This I am sure was once thought good Doctrine by the cheifest of our Dissenters who when time was reasoned thus against those that subdivided from them If we be a Church of Christ and Christ hold Communion with us why do you Seperate from us If we be the Body of Christ do not they that Seperate from the Body Seperate from the Head also we are loath to speak any thing that may offend you yet we entreat you to consider that if the Apostle call those Divisions of the Church of Corinth wherein Christians did not separate into divers formed Congregations in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Schisms 1 Cor. 1. 10. may not your Secession from us and professing you cannot join with us as Members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly called Schism You gather Churches out of our Churches and set up Churches in an opposite way to our Churches and all this you do voluntarily and unwarrantably not having any
sufficient cause for it And in the same Book they tell us of a Two-fold Schism Negative and Positive Negative when Men do peaceably and quietly withdraw from Communion with a Church not making a Head against that Church from which they are departed the other is when Persons so withdrawing do consociate and withdraw themselves into a distinct and opposite Body setting up a Church against a Church which say they Camero calls a Schism by way of Eminency and further tells us There are Four Causes that make a Separation from a Church lawful 1. When they that Separate are grievously and intollerably Persecuted 2. When the Church they Separate from is Heretical 3. When it is Idolatrous 4. When it is the Seat of Antichrist And where none of these Four are found there the Separation is insufficient and Schism Now we are fully assured that none of these Four Causes can be justly charg'd upon our Congregations therefore you must not be displeased with us but with your selves if we blame you as guilty of positive Schism All which is as true now as it was then and as applicable to us and them as it was to them and their Dissenters Admit then there were some things in our Constitution that might be contrived to better purposes and that needed amendment and alteration yet I hope every Defect or supposed Corruption in a Church is not a sufficient ground for Separation or warrant enough to rend and tear the Church in peices Let Mr. Calvin judg between us in this matter who says That wherever the Word of God is duly Preached and Reverently attended to and the true use of the Sacraments kept up there is the plain appearance of a true Church whose Authority no Man may safely despise or reject its Admonitions or resist its Counsels or set at nought its Discipline much less Separate from it and Violate its Unity for that our Lord has so great regard to the Communion of his Church that he accounts him an Apostate from his Religion who obstinately Separates from any Christian Society which keeps up the true Ministry of the Word and Sacraments that such a Separation is a denial of God and Christ and that it is a dangerous and pernicious Temptation so much as to think of Separating from such a Church the Communion whereof is never to be rejected so long as it continues in the true use of the VVord and Sacraments though otherwise it be over-run with many Blemishes and Corruptions VVhich is as plain and full a determination of the Case as if he had particularly designed it against the Doctrine and Practice of the Modern Dissenters from our Church IV. Fourthly We entreat them to Consider whether it be pure Conscience and meer Zeal for the Honour of Religion and not very often Discontent or Trade and Interest that has the main stroke in keeping them from Communion with our Church Far be it from me to judg the Secrets of Mens Hearts or to fasten such a Charge on the whole Body of Dissenters yea I accuse not any particular Person but only desire they would lay their Hand upon their Hearts and deal impartially with themselves and say whether they stand clear before God in this matter And there is the more reason to put Men upon this Enquiry not only because Secular Ends are very apt to mix with and shelter themselves under the shadow of Religion but because this has been an old Artifice made use of to promote Separation Thus the Donatists in the Primitive Times upheld their Separation from the Catholick Church and kept their Party fast together by Trading only within themselves by imploying none to Till their Grounds or be their Stewards but those that would be of their side nay and sometimes hiring Persons by large Sums of Mony to be Baptiz'd into their Party as Crispin did the People of Mappalia And how evident the same Policy is among our Modern Quakers is too notorious to need either Proof or Observation Time was when it was made an Argument to prove Independency to be a Faction and not matter of Conscience because Needy broken decayed Men who knew not how to live and hoped to get something turned Independents and became sticklers for it that some who had Businesses Causes and Matters depending struck in with them and pleaded for them that so they might find Friends be sooner dispatched and fare better in their Causes that Ambitious Proud Covetous Men who had a mind to Offices places of profit about the Army Excise c. turned about to the Independents and were great Zealots for them Thus it was then and whether the same Leaven do not still spread and ferment and perhaps as much as ever there is just cause to suspect VVhoever looks into the Trading part of this City and indeed of the whole Nation must needs be a very heedless and indiligent Observer if he do not take notice how Interests are formed and by what Methods Parties and Factions are kept up how many Thousands of the Poorer sort of Dissenters depend on this or that Man for their VVork and consequently for their Livelihood and Subsistence how many depend upon others for their Trade and Custom whom accordingly these Men can readily Command and do produce to give Votes and increase Parties on all Publick Occasions and what little Encouragement any Man finds from them that once deserts them and comes over to the Church of England There is another thing that contributes not a little to this Jealousie and Suspicion that many of the Chifest and most Stiff and Zealous of the Dissenting Party are they at least the immediate Descendants of those who in the late Evil-Times by Rapine and Violence shared among themselves the Revenues of the Church and the Patrimony of the Crown and are said still privately to keep on foot their Titles to them And if so what wonder if such Men look on themselves as obliged in point of Interest to widen Breaches foment Differences increase Factions and all this to Subvert and over-turn the Church of England being well assured they can never hope but over the Ruins of this Church to make way to their once sweet Possessions Let Men therefore impartially examine themselves and search whether a Worldly Spirit be not at the bottom of their Zeal and Stiffness These I confess are Designs too Base and Sordid to be owned above Board but be not Deceived God is not Mocked Man looks to the outward Appearance but God looks to the Heart V. Fifthly We desire them to-Consider Whether it be not a Just Prejudice to their Cause and that which ought to prevail with Men Modest and Peaceable that in those things wherein they differ from us they are Condemned by the Practice of the whole Catholick Church for Fifteen Hundred Years together This were I minded might afford a large Field for Discourse but I shall instance only and that very briefly in a few Particulars
other things he tells us 't was then commonly maintaind That the Scriptures cannot be said to be the Word of God and are no more to be Credited then the Writings of Men being not a Divine but Humane Tradition that God has a Hand in and is the Author of the Sinfulness of his People not of the Actions alone but of the very Pravity which is in them that all Lies come forth out of his Mouth that the Prince of the Air that Rules in the Children of Disobedience is God that in the Unity of the God-head there is not a Trinity of Persons but that it is a Popish Tradition that the Doctrine of Repentance is a Soul-destroying Doctrine and that Children are not bound to Obey their Parents at all if they be Ungodly that the Soul of Man is Mortal as the Soul of a Beast that there is no Resurrection at all of the Bodies of Men nor Heaven nor Hell after this Life I instance only in these as a Tast not that they are all or the Hundred part no nor the worst there being other Blasphemies and Impieties which my Pen trembles to Relate Secondly The Liturgy of our Church being discharged and thrown out and every one left to his own liberty 't is scarce possible to believe what wild and prodigious Extravagancies were upon all occasions used in Holy things not in Preaching only but especially in Prayer the most immediate Act of Worship and Address to God It is an affront to the Majesty of Religious Worship that there should be any thing in it Childish and Trivial Absurd and Frivosous that its Sacred Mysteries should be exposed to Contempt and Scandal by that Levity and Distraction that Heat and Boldness those Weaknesses and Indiscretions those Loose Raw and Incongruous Effusions which in most Congregations of those Times did too commonly attend it But the things I intend to Instance in are of a far worse colour and complexion for whose Ears would it not make to tingle to hear Men in the Pulpit telling God That if he did not finish the good Work which he had begun in the Reformation of the Church he would shew himself to be the God of Confusion and such a One as by cunning Stratagems had contrived the Destruction of his own Children That God would Bless the King and Mollifie his hard Heart that delights in Blood for that he was fallen from Faith in God and become an Enemy to his Church let thine Hand we pray thee O Lord our God be upon him and upon his Fathers House but not upon thy People that they should be Plagued O God O God many are the Hands lift up against us but there is one God it is thou thy self O Father who dost us more Mischief then they all We know O Lord that Abraham made a Covenant Moses and David made a Covenant and our Saviour made a Covenant but thy Parliaments Covenant is the greatest of all Covenants I presume the Devout and Serious Reader desires no more of such intolerably Profane and Lewd Stuff as this is They that are curious of more may find it besides others in The short Uiew of the late Troubles in England where Times Places and Persons are particularly named Thirdly The Fences of Order and Discipline in the Church of England being broken down what a horrid Inundation of all manner of Vice and Wickedness did immediately over-flow the Land The Assembly at Westminster Petitioned the Parliament That some Severe Course might be taken against Fornication Adultery and Incest which say they do greatly abound especially of late by reason of Impunity And Mr. Edwards speaking of the whole Tribe of Sectaries tells us He was confident that for this many Hundred Years there had not been a Party that hath pretended to so much Holiness Strictness power of Godliness tenderness of Conscience above all other Men as this Party hath done that hath been guilty of so great Sins horrible Wickedness provoking Abominations as they are with much more both there and elsewhere to the same purpose and the Charge very often made good by particular Instances So that indeed Hell seemed to have broke loose and to have Invaded all Quarters in despite of their Covenant and all the little Schemes of their so much Magnified Reformation The Covenant Cries God grant not against you for Reformation of the Kingdom the Extirpation of Heresies Schisms Profaneness c. and these Impieties abound as if we had taken a Covenant to maintain them and since it was taken these Sins which we have Covenanted against have more abounded then in the space of Ten Times so many Years before as Mr. Jenkin tells the Lords in Parliament And that all that I have mentioned which yet is infinitely short of what might be said was the effect of the Ruin of the Church of England and let in by the Method they took for Reformation we have from their own confessions We says Mr. Edwards in these Four last Years have over-passed the Deeds of the Prelates and justified the Bishops in whose time never so many nor so great Errours were heard of much less such Blasphemies or Confusions we have worse things among us then ever were in all the Bishops Days more corrupt Doctrines and unheard of Practices then in Eighty Years before I am persuaded if Seven Years ago the Bishops and their Chaplains had but Preached Printed Licensed dispersed up and down in City and Country openly a Quarter of these Errours Heresies Blasphemies which have been all these ways vented by the Sectaries the People would have risen up and stoned them and pulled down their Houses and forced them to forbear such Doctrines O how is the Seene changed within these few Years and not long after he tells us that These are Risen Increased Reign and Prevail so far under a Parliament Sitting not under the Bishops Corrupt-Clergy Court-party but under a Parliament And in his Epistle to the Lords and Commons before the first part of his Gangraena he tells them That the Errours Heresies Blaspemies and Practices of the Sectaries of this Time had been Broached and Acted within these Four last Years in England and that in your Quarters and in the places under your Government and Power for which I tremble to think least the whole Kingdom should be in Gods Black Bill that together with their Reformation come in a Deformation and worse things were come upon them then ever they had before they had put down the Book of Common-Prayer but there were many amongst them that had put down the Scriptures flighting yea Blaspheming them he tells them they had cast out the Bishops and their Officers and they had many that had cast down to the ground all Ministers in all the Reformed Churches they had cast out Ceremonies in the Sacraments and they had many that had cast out the Sacraments themselves with many more sad complaints which he there makes
To sum up all in the words of my Author In this Catalogue the Reader may see great Errors and yet may turn himself again and behold greater namely damnable Heresies and yet turn himself again and read Horrid Blasphemies and a third time and read Horrible Disorders Confusions strange and unheard of Practices not only against the Light of Scripture but Nature as in Women's Preaching in Stealing away Men's Wives and Children from Husbands and Parents in Baptizing Women Naked in the Presence and Sight of Men c. And thus we see by what means it was that the Nation came to be Pestred with Opinions and Practices Impious beyond the Example of Former Ages and such as were not once named among the Gentiles to the Infinite Prejudice and dishonour both of our Religion and our Nation It being the Observation which an Ingenious Forreigner who resided at London in those times made upon this occasion one of the Fruits says He of this Blessed Parliament and of these two Sectaries Presbyterians and Independents is that they have made more Jewes and Atheists then I think there is in all Europe besides I doubt not but that the greatest part of our Dissenters do from their Souls Detest the Heresies Blasphemies and Wickednesses that have been mentioned but then the Consideration ought to oblige them to double their diligence to prevent the like dismall Effects for the time to come and not to open the Gap again at which they must necessarily flow in upon us By what has been done they may see what a Blessed Reformation they may expect by the Ruin of this Church for the thing that hath been is that which shall be the same causes set on foot by the same Principles will Eternally produce the same Effects and though Men at first may mean never so well yet Temptations will insensibly grow upon them and Accidents happen which in the Progress will carry them Infinitely beyond the Line of their first Intentions and engage them in Courses out of which when they come to discern their Errour it may be too late for them to Retire In the beginning of the long Parliament I make no question but the far greatest part of them met together with very honest and good Intentions and designed no more then to Correct some little Irregularities which they apprehended to be in Church or State But wee see how these very Persons were carried from one passage to another and in time transported to those very things which at first they had so vehemently protested and declared against till at length Horrid Enormities came to be acted by and under them which no age can Paralel which ought to be a Sufficient Caution to all how they shake the least Stone that belongs to the Foundation least by picking out one after another the whole House tumble about their Ears when it is beyond their own Power to support it I shall shut up this Head with a breif Recapitulation of some of those Inferences which Mr. Edwards makes from the State of those Loose and Licentious times we have been speaking of and then leave the Reader to judg whether they be not as Applicable to the present Circumstances under which we are He infers thus First we may hence see how dangerous it is to despise and let alone a small Party Secondly That it is more then time fully and Effectually to settle the Government and Discipline of the Church Thirdly What the Mischeif Evil and Danger of a Toleration and pretended Liberty of Conscience would be to this Kingdom and what it would Prove and Produce Fourthly That it Sufficiently Justifies in the Sight of the World those Ministers and People who are Zealous for setling Religion and cry out for Government who Preach Petition speak often one to another of these things Fifthly what a great Evil and Sin Seperation is from the Communion of the Reformed Churches and how highly displeasing to God for Men to make a Rent and Schism in the Church of God Sixthly That all such who have been deceived and drawn away under pretence of greater Purity Holiness c. and have any Fear and Awe of God and his Word be Exhorted to leave and forsake them and return to the Publick Assemblies and Communion of this and other Reformed Churches And God grant we may hearken to this Counsel and may seriously lay these things to heart VIII Eighthly We desire it may be considered what plain and apparent Advantages Separation gives to the Common Enemy of the Protestant Religion in these Nations The Church of England is notoriously known to have been the most strong and standing Bulwark of Protistancy ever since the Reformation for being Founded on Scripture-grounds and the Practice of True Genuine Primitive Antiquity and having been reformed by the most wise regular and justifiable Methods it stands like a Rock impregnable against all the Assaults which the Church of Rome makes upon it This has ingag'd them to Plant all their Batteries to beat it down as being the only Church considerable enough to stand in their way and when not able to effect it by any other Arts they have betaken themselves to the old Artifice of Ruining us by dividing us In Order hereunto they have upon all occasions strenuously promoted the Separation mixed themselves with our Dissenters put on every shape that they might the better follow the Common outcry against our Church as Popish and Antichristian spurring on the People to call for a more pure and spiritual way of Worship and to Clamour for Liberty and Toleration as wherein they well knew they themselves were like to have the greatest share And that having subverted all Order and beaten People out of all sober Principles they foresaw they must be necessitated at last to center in the Communion of the Romish Church This was a Trade they began betimes almost in the very Infancy of the Reformation Witness the Story of Faithful Commin a Dominican Fryer who passed under the notion of a Zealous Puritan and was much admired and followed by the People for his seeming Piety spiritual Gifts and Zeal against Popery But being apprehended Anno. 1567. and accused for an Impostor was examined at large before the Queen and her Council and put under Bail when finding the Climat was like to be too hot for him and having by a cheat brought off his Bail and told his deluded followers that he was acquitted by her Majesty and the Council and warned of God to go beyond the Seas to instruct the Protestants there and that he would come again and having assured them that Spiritual Prayer was the chief Testimony of a true Protestant and that the set Form of Prayer in England was but the Mass Translated and having with abundance of extempore-Prayers and Tears squeezed out of them a Collection of a Hundred and Thirty Pounds for his Journey besides private Gifts away he goes for Rome and acquaints Pope Pius Quintus
with what he had done and by what Methods and how odious he had made the Church of England to the Puritans and that it would be a stumbling-block to that Church while it was a Church Upon which the Pope commended and rewarded him with Two Thousand Ducates for his good Service All which particulars are more fully made out from Secretary Cecil's Papers whose Memorials were lately brought to light Witness also that other passage concerning Thomas Heath a Jesuite who much about the same time was sent over into England to Act the same Part which he did not only by Preaching but by crying up Spiritual Prayers and running down all set Forms as being without any warrant from Scripture by Labouring to refine the Protestants as he called it and to take off all smacks of Ceremonies that in the least tended to the Romish Faith For all which he was mightily flocked after and admired every day more and more But Anno. 1568. he was discovered by a Letter that casually dropt out of his Pocket as he was Preaching in the Pulpit at Rochester importing that the Counsel of their Fraternity had sent him Collections and Instructions for carrying on the Work and that this way of dividing Protestants was the only way for the recalling Men back again to the Mother Church Hereupon he was examined by the Bishop of Rochester and did not much deny the main of the charge and upon the searching of his Lodgings there were found several Books fitted for his purpose as against Infant Baptism c. and in one of his Books a Licence from the Fraternity of the Jesuits and a Bull of Pius Quintus giving him leave to preach what Doctrine that Society pleased for the dividing of the English Protestants or as he called them Hereticks The issue was that Heath was close Imprisoned set in the Pillory at the High Cross his Ears cut off his Nose slit his Forehead branded and he condemned to perpetual Imprisonment but soon after he dyed suddenly being suspected to have poysoned himself The whole account hereof being published from the Authentick Register of the Church of Rochester The same Course we need not doubt the Papists held on in the succeeding times these being some of the main Directions which Contzen the Jesuit gives for the reducing Popery into a Country that it be done under pretence of ease to tender Consciences and that Liberty be granted to that end and that as much use be made of the division of Enemies as of the agreement of Friends What a stroak they had in fomenting the differences and distractions that brought on the late Civil Wars and how active they were both in the Counsels and Proceedings of the Parliament Party the World needs not to be told at this time of day great numbers of them both Comman dersand others serving in their Armies great industry was used to corrupt the Loyalty and Affection of those of that Religion and private promises and undertakings were made to them that if they would assist them against the King all the Laws made in their prejudice should be Repealed as the late King of blessed Memory tells the World in one of his publick Declarations after the Victory at Edghil Adding that tho some few of Eminent Abilities for Command and Conduct and of moderate and unfactious dispositions were employed in his Service yet we are confident that a far greater Number of that Religion is in the Army of the Rebels than in our own And the King it seems had good reason to say so For as de Salmonet a Secular Priest who wrote in French a History of our late Civil Wars informs us in that very Fight at Edghil besides two Companies of Walloons and other Roman-Catholicks that served there that says he which did most surprize every Body was that several Popish Priests were found amongst the Dead that were slain on the Parliament side So plain is it that they served in their Armies were present at their Councils and upon all occasions mixt with their Parties that they might widen the Breach beyond all recovery Thus it was then And about the time of the King 's coming in a Letter of Advice was written by Seignior Ballarini concerning the best way of Managing the Popish Interest in England upon his Majesties Restauration wherein it was advised especially to obstruct the Settlement of the fundamental constitutions of the Kingdom to set up the prosperous way of fears and jealousies of the King and Bishops to asperse the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of England and to represent its Doctrine and Worship as coming too near to the Church of Rome to second the Factious in promoting an Indulgence and to endeavour that the Trade and Treasure of the Nation might be engrossed between themselves and other discontented Parties And Mr. Coleman himself owned it at his Condemnation that perhaps he thought that Popery might come in if Liberty of Conscience had been granted And this is that which wise Arch-Bishop Whitgift long ago foresaw would come to pass when he told the Dissenters of those Days I am persuaded that Anti-Christ worketh effectually at this Day by your Stirs and Contentions whereby he hath and will more prevail against this Church of England then by any other means whatsoever And now upon the whole matter I desire our Dissenting Brethren to consider whether the orderly and truly Primitive Constitution of the Church of England or Innovation Schism and Separation be the likelier way to keep out Popery and do therefore Conjure them by all the Kindness which they pretend for the Protestant Religion heartily to join in Communion with us as which I believe humanely speaking to be if not the only at least the only safe and durable means of shutting Popery for ever out of Doors IX Ninthly We desire of them that if neither these nor any other Advices and Considerations can prevail with them they would at least cease to Reproach the Government for Reviving the Execution of the Laws about these matters I know it is very natural to Men to complain when any thing pinches them but then they ought to be so just as to consider whose fault it is that has brought it upon them The Laws in this case were framed with great Advice and upon dear bought Experience and every Nation in the World thinks it self obliged when no other ways will do it by Penalties to secure the Publick Peace Safety and Tranquility of the State though it may sometimes press hard in some particular Cases when Men through Fancy Humour Mistake or Design especially about little and as themselves confess indifferent matters shall endanger the Publick Welfare and by an ill Example expose the Reverence and Majesty of the Laws And yet notwithstanding all this and a great deal more that might be said we find them at every turn charging the Government for using them Cruelly and with the hardest Measure censuring their
Superiors and speaking Evil of Dignities and this not only the Cry of the mean and common Sort but of their chiefest Leaders even to this Hour It being no hard matter but that I love not to exasperate to instance in several things that are no very good Arguments of that Obedient Patience which some of them so much pretend to It is far from my temper to delight in Cruelty much more to plead for Severity to be used towards Dissenting Brethren and therefore should have said nothing in this Argument were it not necessary to Vindicate the Government which upon these occasions I have so often heard Blamed and Censured I would these Persons who complain so much would consider a while how their Predecessors were dealt with in the times of the good Queen Elizabeth which will appear either from the Laws then made or from the Proceedings then had against them The Laws then made against them were chiefly these In the First of the Queen An Act for the Vniformity of Common-Prayer c. wherein among other Clauses and Penalties it is provided That if any Person shall in any Plays Songs Rhimes or by other open Words declare or speak any thing in the derogation depraving or despising the Book of Common-Prayer or any thing therein contained being thereof lawfully convicted he shall forfeit for the first Offence an Hundred for the second Four Hundred Marks for the Third all his goods and chattels and shall suffer Imprisonment during Life A Clause which had it been kept up in its due Life and Power our Liturgy and Divine Offices had been Treated with much more Respect and Reverence then I am sure they have met with especially of late In Her Fifth Year an Act was passed for the due Execution of the Writ de excommunicato capiendo amongst others particularly Levelled against such as refuse to receive the Holy Communion or to come to Divine Service as now commonly used in the Church of England with Severe Penalties upon those that shall not yield up themselves to the same Writ Anno 13. passed an Act of general Pardon but it was with an Exception of all those that had committed any Offence against the Act for the Vniformity of Common-Prayer or were Publishers of Seditious Books or Disturbers of Divine Service Anno 23. By an Act to retain the Queen's Majesty's Subjects in their due Obedience it is provided That every Person above the Age of Sixteen years which shall not repair to some Church or usual place of Common-Prayer but forbear the same by the space of a Month shall for every such Month forfeit Twenty Pounde Which Act was again Confirmed and Ratified by another in the 29th Year of Her Reign with many Clauses and Provisions for the better Execution of it And by the Act of the 35th of Her Reign If any Person so forbearing shall willingly join in or be present at any Assemblies Conventicles and Meetings under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws of the Realm such Person being lawfully Convicted shall be Imprisoned without Bail or Mainprize until he Conform and if he do not that within Three Months he shall be obliged to Abjure the Realm and if refusing to Abjure or returning without Licence he shall be Adjudged a Fellon and Suffer as in case of Fellony without benefit of Clergy Such were Her Laws and such also were Her Proceedings against those who faultered in their Conformity or began to Innovate in the Discipline of the Church and these Proceedings as quick and smart as any can be said to be against the Dissenters of this time Do they complain of their Ministers being Silenced now so they were then being deprived of their Benifices and Church-Preferments for their Inconformity Thus Sampson was turned out of his Deanry of Christ-Church for refusing to Conform to the Orders and Ceremonies of the Church Cartwright the very Head of them Expelled the College and deprived of the Lady Margarets Lecture Travers turned out from Preaching at the Temple with many more Suspended from the Ministry by the Queens Authority and the approbation of the Bishops for not Subscribing to some new Rites and Ceremonies imposed upon them as appears from Beza's Letter to Bishop Grindal Anno 1566. Are any in Prison so they were then Benson Button Hallingham Cartwright Knewstubbs and many others some in the Marshalsey others in the White-Lion some in the Gatehouse others in the Counter or in the Clinke or in Bridewel or in Newgate Poor Men miserably handled with Revilings Deprivations Imprisonments Banishments if we may believe what themselves tell us both in the First and Second Admonition And what is yet far beyond any thing which God be thanked our Dissenters can pretend to complain of several of them lost their Lives Barrow and Greenwood were Executed for their Scandalous and Seditious Writings Penry and Vdall Indicted and Arraigned for Defaming the Queens Government in a Scandalous Book Written against the supposed Governours as they called them of the Church of England for which they were both Cast and Condemned to be Executed as Fellons but Arch-Bishop Whitgift interposing they were Reprieved and Vdall suffered to Die as he did soon after in his Bed The truth is the wise and wary Queen beheld Schism growing on apace and needed not to be told what ill Influence it was like to have both upon Church and State and therefore Resolved to carry a Streight Hand as well over Puritanism on the one side as Popery on the other and in order hereunto She charged Arch-Bishop Whitgift to be Vigilant and Careful to Reduce Ministers by their Subscription and Conformity to the setled Orders and Government Adding That she would have the Discipline of the Church of England formerly Established of all Men duly to be Observed without alteration of the least Ceremony But nothing more fully discovers her Judgment and Resolution in this matter then what She gave in Command to the Lord-Keeper-Puckering to tell the Parliament part of his Speech Transcribed and Published some Years since from the Original Copy under his own Hand Writeing by an Eminent Divine of this Church was as followeth And especially you are Commanded by Her Majesty to take heed that no Ear be given or Time afforded to the wearisome Sollicitations of those that commonly be called Puritanes wherewithal the late Parliaments have been exceedingly Importuned Which sort of Men whilst in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturb the good repose of the Church and Common-wealth which is as well grounded for the Body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that professeth the Truth And the same thing is already made good to the World by many of the Writings of Learned and Godly Men neither Answered nor Answerable by any of these new fangled Refiners And as the present case standeth it
persons then those of his own Family nor Administer Baptism or the Lords Supper or Marry any persons or use the Book of Common-Prayer or the Forms of Prayer therein contained upon pain that every Person so Offending in any of the premisses shall be proceeded against as by the said Order is provided and directed There needs no Comment upon these Proceedings they do not only Whisper but speak aloud to the present Generation of Dissenters to tell them how little reason they have to complain X. Lastly We beg of them that before they pull down any further Trouble or Suffering upon themselves they would Consider Whether the Cause they engage in be such as will bear them out with Comfort before God another Day 'T is not Suffering for refusing to comply with the External Circumstances of our Religion that can be said to be a Persecution for Righteousness sake it not being the Suffering but the Cause that makes the Martyr Then I Suffer as a Christian when the Honour of Christ or something that offers Violence to my Religion and Christianity is concerned in it when I Suffer for that which I cannot avoid without disowning my self to be a Christian and making Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience But where the Case is not evidently this a Man may draw Miseries upon himself and yet not Suffer as a Christian because it may proceed from Humour or Interest or the Conduct of a misinformed Judgment mistaking things for what they are not Men very often place Religion in doing or not doing what is no part of it and then think they may safely Suffer upon that account when there is more it may be of Passion or Prejudice of Fancy or Opinion of Humour or Mistake then of the real Concerns of Piety or Religion I am very sure neither the Ancient Christians would have passed through the Fiery-Tryal every Day nor the Holy Martyrs in Queen Mary's Days have thought themselves obliged to Forfeit their Estates much less their Lives had no more been required of them then there is of us to come to Church or to Kneel at the Sacrament but would rather have Blessed God and thankfully owned the Favour of the Governours under which they lived might they have enjoyed both upon the same Terms as we do In Cases that only concern indifferent things and meer Circumstances of Worship stiffly and obstinately to stand out is rather for a Man to be a Martyr to his own Humour and Opinion then to the Cause of Christ Whether this be not the Case of our Dissenting-Bretren they themselves might quickly see would they but lay aside the unreasonableness of their Prejudices and lay no more stress upon things then they ought to bear Let us hear what Mr. Baxter in a late Book says to this matter I am One that have been first in all the Storms that have befallen the Ministry these Twenty Years past to look no farther back and yet my Conscience commandeth me to say as I have oft done that many through mistake I am persuaded now Suffer as Evil-doers for a Cause that is not Good and Justifiable I shall leave with them the Wise and Excellent Counsel which was given by one in the time of the Elder Puritanes Follow true Antiquity and the general Practice of the Church of God in all Ages where they have not Erred from the evident Truth of God If thou Sufferest let it be for known Truth and against known Wickedness for which thou hast Example in Gods Word or of the Holy Martyrs in Church-Story But beware of far-fetched Consequences or for Suffering for new Devices and for things formerly unto all Ages unknown seem they never so Holy and Just unto Man All that now remains is to call upon our Dissenting-Brethren by all the Considerations of Love and Kindness to themselves of Tenderness for the Honour of Religion the Edification of their Brethren and the Peace Security and Welfare of the Church and State wherein they Live that they would duely and impartially Weigh and Consider things put a stop to the Separation wherein they are engaged return to and hold Communion with us and keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Let them bethink themselves what a mighty Evil Schism is and will be so found before God at the last Day and whether any thing can be meet to be put in the Ballance with the Peace and Unity of the Church and those Vastly-important Consequences that depend upon it Let us Consider a little what a deep Sence the Best and most Pious Christians that ever were had of it It 's better to Suffer any thing then that the Church of God should be Rent asunder it is every whit as Glorious and in my Opinion a far greater Martyrdom to Die for not Dividing the Church then for refusing to Sacrifice to Idols says Dionysius the good Bishop of Alexandria in his Letter to Novation And St. Cyprian speaks very severe things to this purpose That a Person going from the Church to Schismaticks though in that Capacity he should Die for Christ yet can he not receive the Crown of Martyrdom And how oft elsewhere doth he tell us That such a One has no part in the Law of God or the Faith of Christ or in Life and Salvation that without this Unity and Charity a Man cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and that although he should deliver up himself to the Flames or cast his Body to Wild Beasts yet this would not be the Crown of his Faith but the Punishment of his Falshood not the Glorious Exit of a Religious Courage but the Issue of Despair such a One may be Kill'd but he cannot be Crown'd He Rents the Unity of the Church Destroys the Faith Disturbs the Peace Dissolves Charity and Profanes the Holy Sacrament And were it necessary I could shew that the Ancient Fathers generally say the same thing And can we now be such Degenerate Christians if we can be said to be Christians at all as to make nothing at all of Schism and Separation Are not the Glory of God the Peace of the Church and the Good of Souls things as considerable as necessary and indispensable now as they were of old I beseech you Brethren return from whence you are fallen and let us all with one Shoulder set our selves to Support that Church with whose Ruin we are all likely to sink and fall Let us lay aside Envying and Strife Confusion and every Evil Work and let us follow after the things which make for Peace and things wherewith one may Edifie another FINIS ERRATA Page 30. l. 14. for Books r. Boots p. 39. l. 22. r. Obedience Amyrald de Secess ab Eccles Râ—m pag. 233. A Vindication of the Presbyterial Government c. 1649. p. 130. Institut lib. 4. Sect. 10 11 12. fol. 349. Vid. Aug. Epist 17â— ad Crisp Edward's further Discovery p. 185. Idem Presbyter qui Episcopus antequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent c. Hier. in Epist ad Tit. c. 1. Cont. Aer haeres 75. De vit Constant lib. 4. c. 17. In Sanctum Basilium Orat. 20. Bas Epist 63. Can. 18. conf Conc. Milev can 12. Conc. Carth. 3. c. 23. Serm. compend de Expos fid p. 466. adv Aer Haeres 75. Cypr. adv Demetr p. 203. de Vnit Eccl. p. 185. vid. de Laps p. 169. Bas. de Spir. S. c. 27. Tert. de Coron mil. c. 3. See Durels view of the Government and publick worship of God 1662. * p. 123 124 ctc. Epist Dedicat to Gangraen print 1646. Catal. and discov of Errors p. 15. c. vid. 2d Part. p. 5. 22. 24 27 105 110. fresh discov p. 115. 162. alibi passim View of the late troubles in Eng. cap. 43. p. 567 c. See also Edwards Gang. 3d. Part a little before p. 17. July 19. 1644. Further discov p. 187. 3d. Part p. 185 c. Fast Sermon Jan. 27. 1646. p. 29. Cat. and discov p. 73. 74 76. Vbi Supra p. 73. A Letter from a Noble Venetian to Card. Barbarino translated and Printed 1648. p. 19. Cat. and Discov Part 3d. p. 52. 53. 57. 70. Further Discov p. 195. 203. Foxes and Firebrands Print 1680. p. 7. c. Polit. l. 2. c. 18. Sect. 6. Octob. 23. 1642. vid. Collect. of the Kings works Part. 2. fol. 213. L'Historie des troubles c. p. 165. see the short view of the late troubles in England c. 43. p. 564. See Dr. Stillingfleets Preface to the imreasonableness of Separation p. 20. c. Coleman Tryal p. 101. Def. of his Answ to the Admonit p. 349. Bez. Epist 8. Sir G. Paul Life of A. B. Whitgift Numb 53. p. 29. Dr. Peirce New Discov against Mr. Baxt. 1659. Ch. 5. Sect. 12. p. 109. See a Book called The Protestation of the Kings Supremacy 1605. Numb 8 9 11. An Ordinance for putting in Execution the Directory August 11. 1645. 24 November 1655. Obed. Patience p. 79. R. Bernards Christian Advert Councels of Peace 1608. Ap. Euseb lib. 6. cap. 45. Epist 52. ad Antonian de Vnit Eccles fol. 181 184 c.