terms of admission are very different from the Rules of Government That a man has served an Apprentiship to a Trade and is made free by his Master is sufficient to make him a Member of such a Corporation but though he understand his Trade very well and behaves himself honestly in it yet if he prove a disobedient and refractory Member to the government of the Society he may be cast out again and I wonder what the Master and Wardens of such a Company would say to the Reconciler should he come and plead in the behalf of such a disobedient Member that they ought not to make any thing necessary to his continuance in and communion with the Society but what was necessary to his first admission The Charter whereon the Society is founded is very different from the particular Laws of the Society whereby it is governed as it must be where there is any power of making Laws committed to the Governours of it and therefore if Christ has committed such a power of making Laws to his Church as our Reconciler himself acknowledges it is a ridiculous thing to say that they must not excommunicate or cast any man out of the Church who believes the Christian Religion and lives a vertuous life which is the sum of the Baptismal Covenant how disobedient soever he be to the Laws and Government of the Church Which is a sufficient Answer to Quest. 6. His sixth Query Whether anathematizing men for doubtful actions or for such faults as consist with true Christianity and continued subjection to Iesus Christ be not a sinful Church-dividing means Onely I shall observe farther that as he has stated this Query it does not concern the Church of England She anathematizes no man for doubtful actions for she commands nothing that is doubtful though some men are pleased to pretend some doubts and scruples about it But I have already shewn that there is a great difference between a doubtful action and an action which some men doubt of the first ought not to be commanded the second may And then our Church excommunicates no man who lives in a continued subjection to Iesus Christ which no Schismatick does whatever pretences he makes to holiness of life for subjection to Christ requires subjection to that Authority which Christ has set in his Church as well as obedience to his other Laws Quest. 7. As for his next Question about imposing heavy burdens and intolerable yokes when Christ came to take them away it has been at large answered already Quest. 8. Whether Christ hath not made Laws sufficient to be the Bond of Vnity to his Church and whether any man should be cut off from it who breaketh no Law of God necessary to church-Church-unity and communion Ans. Christ has made Laws sufficient to be the Bond of Unity to his Church for he has commanded all Christians to submit to the Authority which he has placed in his Church which is the onely Bond of Union in a particular Church and therefore those who are cut off from the Church for their disobedience to Ecclesiastical Authority while nothing is enjoyned which contradicts the other Laws of our Saviour cannot be said to break no Law of God necessary to church-Church-unity or communion for they break that Law which is the very Bond of Union and deserve to be cut off though they should be supposed to break no other Law of Christ. Quest. 9. Whether if many of the children of the Church were injudiciously scrupulous when fear of sin and Hell was the cause a tender Pastor would not abate them a Ceremony in such a case when his abating it hath no such danger Ans. A tender Pastor in such cases ought to instruct such children but not to suffer such childish fancies to impose upon Church-authority For to disturb the Peace and Order of the Church and to countenance mens injudicious scruples by such indulgence is a much greater mischief and more unpardonable in a Governour than the severest censures on private persons If a private connivance for a time in some hard cases would do any good it might be thought reasonable and charitable but to alter publick Laws and Constitutions for the sake of such injudicious people is for ever to sacrifice the Peace and Order and good Government of the Church to the humours of children which would not be thought either prudent or charitable in any other Government Quest. 10. If diversity in Religion be such an evil whether should men cause it by their unnecessary Laws and Canons and making Engines to tear the Church in pieces which by the ancient simplicity and commanded mutual forbearance would live in such a measure of Love and Peace as may be here expected Ans. Whoever cause a diversity of Religions by their Laws and Canons or make Engines to tear the Church in pieces are certainly very great Schismaticks but Laws for Unity and Uniformity can never make a diversity of Religions nor occasion it neither unless every thing produces its contrary heat produce cold peace war and love hatred Men may quarrel indeed about Laws of Unity and Uniformity but it is the diversity of Religions or Opinions which men have already espoused not the Laws of Unity which makes the quarrel The plain case then is this Whether when men are divided in their opinions and judgments of things and if they be left to themselves will worship God in different ways according to their own humours and perswasions it be unlawful for Church-Governours to make Laws for Unity and Uniformity because whatever they be some men will quarrel at them Or whether the Church may justly be charged with making a diversity of Religions by making Laws to cure and restrain that diversity of Religions which men have already made to themselves It is certain were men all of a mind the Laws of Unity could not make a difference and therefore these Laws and Canons are not the Engines which tear the Church in pieces but that diversity of opinions which men have wantonly taken up and for the sake of which they tear and divide the Church into a thousand Conventicles But had it not been for these Canons by the ancient simplicity and mutual forbearance they would live in such a measure of love and peace as may be here expected But what ancient simplicity does he mean The Church of England is the best Pattern this day in the World of the Primitive and Apostolick simplicity for a Phanatick simplicity was never known till of late days there never was a Church from the Apostles days without all Rites and Ceremonies of Worship till of late when men pretended to reform Religion by destroying all external Order and Decency of Worship and therefore he is fain to take in a commanded mutual forbearance to patch up church-Church-unity that is if men be permitted to worship God as they please and are commanded not to quarrel with one another and are not permitted to cut
no more than a Prince is to be blamed for making good Laws because some men will break them and be hanged for it 3. He perswades the Governours of the Church out of Charity to the Souls of men not to tempt them to Schism by their Impositions whereas there is no way to prevent Schism but by maintaining and asserting their own Authority When there is no Authority in the Church there will be as many Schisms in it as there will be Factions in the State without some â—upreme Power to whom all must obey And therefore out of Charity to the Souls of men and to prevent their Schism Church-Governours are bound to exercise their Authority and not to give way to ignorant and groundless scruples There is nothing occasions more Schisms than the different Rites and Modes of Worship and therefore if they would prevent Schism they ought to exercise their utmost Authority in maintaining the Decency and Uniformity of Worship which will prevent more Schisms than it can make It will preserve unity among those who have any reverence for the Authority of the Church or any sense of the danger of Schism and those who have not will be Schismaticks notwithstanding The onely way I know of to prevent Schism is by wise Instructions and by a strict Discipline the one to cure their ignorance and their scruples the other to curb their wantonness and petulancy but for Governours to suffer their Authority to be disputed and to give way to the frowardness fullenness or ignorance of men to alter the Laws and Constitutions as often as any man can find any thing to say against them would breed eternal confusion both in Church and State Government is the onely Cement and Bond of Unity and when Governours give the Reins out of their hands every young Phaëton will think himself fit to drive the Chariot of the Sun and no man will be governed when there is none to govern and what Order Unity there can be in the Church without Government or what Government where those who are to be governed must give Laws to their Governours I would desire our Reconciler at his leisure to tell me What follows in this Chapter has already been considered in my first Chapter and thither I refer my Reader CHAP. IV. An Answer to the Reconciler's Arguments from the Words the Doctrine the Deportment of Christ whilst he was here on Earth contained in his third Chapter THere are two main Principles on which all our Reconciler's Arguments are founded 1. That these disputed Ceremonies are wholly useless and unnecessary things 2. That the imposition of them is the cause of our Divisions and Schisms which would be cured by the removal of them which therefore is so great a charity to the Souls of men that Church-Governours ought to consent to and promote such an alteration Now all this being false as I have already proved his other Arguments must fall with it but yet to avoid all Cavils I shall particularly consider the force of what he urges And First He begins with the Doctrine and Deportment of our Saviour which I confess is a very good Topick if he could prove any thing from it and he has no less than eight Arguments to confound all the stiff Imposers of unnecessary things I. That our Lord doth frequently produce that saying of the Prophet Hosea I will have mercy and not sacrifice to justifie himself and his Disciples when for the good of their own bodies or the souls of others they did what was forbidden by the Law of Moses or by the Canons and Traditions of the Scribes â—nd Pharisees who sate in Moses Chair This is what every body will grant and therefore he needed not have troubled himself to prove it And his inference from hence is this That Precepts which contain onely Rituals are to give place to those which do concern the welfare of mens bodies and much more to those which do respect the welfare of our Brother's soul so that when both cannot together be observed we must neglect or violate the former to observe the latter From whence he concludes that therefore we must part with those Ceremonies which being made Conditions of Communion do accidentally afford occasion to such great and fatal evils to the Souls of men Now does not every body see that there is more in the conclusion than there is in the premises For 1. Does our Saviour here speak of abrogating the Laws of Sacrifice for the sake of Mercy How does he then hence conclude any thing about repealing the Laws of Ceremonies and Rituals which neither the Prophet nor our Saviour ever thought on when they said these words Though God prefers Mercy before Sacrifice yet he gave Laws about Sacrifices and Ceremonies and continued those Laws after these words were spoken and so may the Church do also for any thing that is here said to the contrary For 2. Our Saviour neither speaks here of making nor replealing Laws about Sacrifices or Rituals but onely prefers Mercy before Sacrifice when there happens a competition between them he supposes that both may be done and that both ought to be done but if both cannot be done at the same time Mercy must take place of Sacrifice And this Mercy our Church allows as much as any man can desire She is not so severe to exact kneeling at the Sacrament or at Prayers or standing at the Creed if men have any such infirmity on them that they cannot do it without great inconvenience she does not exact Godfathers or Godmothers or the signe of the Cross nor bringing the Child to Church when it is sick and in danger of death she does not impose fasting on weak and crasie persons nor think her Laws so sacred that no punctillo must be neglected when it is done without offence and scandal she will not blame any for staying from Church or going out in the midst of Prayers to quench a fire or to help a sick person And this answers to our Saviour's cases wherein he prefers Mercy before Sacrifice But how does this prove that the Governours of the Church must not exact obedience to wholsom Constitutions because some men scruple them Our Saviour never applies this saying to any such case and I am sure our Reconciler has neither reason nor authority to do it When our Reconciler proves from these words I will have mercy and not sacrifice that the Church must part with her Ceremonies for the sake of those who will separate from her if she do not he must either argue from the Saying it self or from those cases to which it is applied by our Saviour Now this Saying as it was meant by the Prophet Hosea signifies no more than this That God preferred all acts of real and substantial goodness before an external Religion even before Sacrifice it self as the Prophet Micah expresses it more at large but to the very same sence Wherewith shall I come before
A VINDICATION OF The Rights OF Ecclesiastical Authority BEING AN ANSWER To the First Part OF THE Protestant Reconciler By WILL. SHERLOCK D. D. Master of the TEMPLE LONDON Printed for Abel Swalle at the Vnicorn at the West-end of St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. who exclude so many Labourers for things indifferent p. 212 His fourth Argument from our Saviour's command not to scandalize little ones p. 213 What is meant by little ones p. 214 What it is to scandalize them p. 215 His fifth Argument from the Woe denounced against those who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven p. 216 How the Pharisees shut the Kingdom of Heaven ibid. What is meant by heavy burdens p. 218 And what it is our Saviour condemns under that notion p. 219 His sixth Argument that Christ would not suffer his Disciples to forbid that man who wrought miracles in his Name but did not follow him and therefore dissenting Preachers who renounce the Communion of the Church must not be forbid to preach p. 220 His seventh Argument from Christ's laying down his life for his Sheep to prove that the Church must part with her Ceremonies for them p. 223 His last Argument from Christ's Prayer for the Vnity of the Church ibid. CHAP. V. The Answer to our Reconciler's Argument drawn from the 14 of Rom. p. 225 There may be some cases wherein forbearance is reasonable others wherein it is neither prudent nor reasonable ibid. And therefore we cannot argue from the case of the Iews to the case of the Dissenters unless they appear to be the same ibid. St. Paul in the 14 Rom. onely exhorts the Iewish and Gentile Converts to mutual forbearance in such cases which had already been determined by the highest authority in the Church 226 And therefore it is impertinently alleadged to prove that the Governours of the Church must not impose any indifferent Ceremonies which are scrupled by Dissenters 227 The Decree of the Council at Jerusalem the foundation of this Apostolical forbearance ibid. Private charity may be exercised in such cases where publick authority can make no determination in favour of the scrupulous 231 The Dispute between the Church and Dissenters of a different nature from that between the Iews and Gentiles the one concerns indifferent things the other the observation of the Law of Moses 235 No Dispute about the use of indifferent things in Scripture nor any exhortation to forbearance in such matters 236 An Answer to the Reconciler's Argument which he alleadges to make it probable that St. Paul in this Chapter does not refer to the observation of the Law of Moses ibid. So that this Chapter does not concern the Dispute about indifferent things 243 The Apostle did not plead for indulgence to the Iews in the observation of the Law of Moses under the notion of an indifferent thing ibid. The reason of his different treatment of the Churches of Rome and Galatia 244 Whether though the case of the Iews and Dissenters be different yet by a parity of Reason the same indulgence ought to be granted to both 247 The nature of such Arguments from a parity of Reason ibid. That there is no parity of Reason between these two cases 249 The Arguments the Apostle uses in this 14 Chap. very proper to the case of the Iews but not applicable to the case of our Dissenters proved at large ibid. c. What the Apostle means by receiving one another and Dr. Falkner vindicated from the Reconciler's Objections The Apostles first Arg. That God has received them the meaning of it that it is peculiar to that case of Iews and Gentiles and not applicable to Dissenters 257 c. 2 Arg. that they must not judge another mans servant 262 That this Arg. relates onely to such matters as God has determined by his own immediate authority 264 3 Arg. that they acted out of conscience towards God 265 Whether every man must be permitted to act according to his own Conscience 266 God will judge the Consciences of men and therefore grants no such liberty as this 267 Civil Magistrates ought not to regard mens Consciences in making or executing Laws for the publick good 268 Nor is there any obligation on the Governours of the Church to do this 269 What St. Paul means by regarding a day to the Lord 270 To do any thing to the Lord does not meerly signifie a private perswasion that God has commanded or forbid it 272 The Apostles Exhortation not to offend a weak Brother 274 What the scandal was of which the Apostle speaks 275 Who this weak Brother is and whether this be applicable to Dissenters 276 The offence which was given was a supposed violation of an express Law of God 277 The nature of a criminal scandal 279 The danger of offending these weak Iewish Brethren which the Apostle warns them against was lest they should renounce the Christian Faith and fall back into Iudaism 282 The weak in Faith who are to be indulged signifies those who are not well confirmed in the truth of Christianity 284 The same indulgence not to be granted to Schismaticks though ignorant and weak in understanding ibid. The Reasons whereby the Apostle disswades them from giving scandal 287 A Paraphrase on the 14 15 c. verses of the 14 Rom. ibid. These Arguments to avoid scandal concern onely the exercise of every mans private liberty 292 That this compliance must be in such matters wherein Religion and religious Worship is not concerned 293 Meat and Drink does not signifie the Externals of Religious Worship 294 Nor does Righteousness and Peace c. signifie all the Essentials of Religion 296 The mistake of Reconcilers that the Externals of Religion are nothing worth and of small account with God 297 This Apostolical Exhortation to avoid scandal concerns onely such cases wherein we are not bound to make a publick profession of our Faith 298 The meaning of Hast thou Faith have it to thy self 299 What is meant by Him that doubteth 302 How far the Apostle allows that every man must be left to the conduct of his own Conscience This extends onely to such cases where every mans Conscience is his onely Rule not where Conscience it self has a Rule 303 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind is a safe and a sure Rule when there is no other Law to govern us 306 This proved to be the meaning of the Apostle ibid. The Case of liberty of Conscience briefly stated 304 A short Recapitulation of this Discourse by comparing the case of the Iews with the case of Dissenters 311 The forbearance St. Paul pleads for had no influence upon Christian Worship it neither destroyed the Vniformity of Worship nor divided the Communion of the Church what the Reconciler pleads for must do one or both 321 Dr. Stillingfleet vindicated 322 The forbearance St. Paul pleads for was in order to prevent Schisms which our Reconciler's forbearance cannot do 333 This indulgence to the Iews was
of the Cross as a solemn Profession of a crucified Saviour and a suffering Religion as Constantine make the Cross his Banner and Royal Standard and yet would any Christian refuse to fight under a General who bore the Cross in his Banner If you say that this is onely a civil Signe and Ceremony I deny it and affirm that it was as much a religious Ceremony as the signe of the Cross in Baptism unless any man think that there can be no Religion in the Field but onely in the Church That which makes it a religious Ceremony either upon a mans forehead or in the Emperours Standard is that it is done upon a religious account as a publick and visible profession of our Faith in a crucified Saviour and I think the Cross in the Emperours Standard displayed in the open Field in the sight of Pagans is a more publick and visible Profession of the Cross than what is privately transacted in the Church and leaves no visible signe behind it And I cannot imagine why any man should not as much scruple to fight under such a visible Banner of the Cross as to receive an invisible signe of it upon his forehead since the Profession the Ceremony and the Religion of it is the same It is true such Ceremonies as these ought not to be numerous nor too familiarly used nor upon slight occasions for this burdens Religion and makes them degenerate into Superstition or Formality But our Church has retained but one such Ceremony and that used but once in a mans life upon the most solemn occasion in the world at our admission to Baptism and it argues very little understanding in our Reconciler to reproach the Church for this and scornfully to ask Why she rejects crossing of the breast and retains crossing in the forehead why she rejects crossing at the consecration of the Eucharist and the Baptismal Water and retains it at the baptizing of the Infant why she rejects Exorcism Chrysom Vnction Dipping trine Immersion and retains the Cross in Baptism It does not become me to censure the Practice of the ancient Church in any of these Ceremonies but I think if the ancient Church cannot be condemned for these things our Church cannot One Ceremony is more easily justified than twenty and the using of it once upon a very solemn occasion than a too familiar use especially where it cannot so properly be called a professing Signe which is all I undertake for The onely Objection I can think of against the signe of the Cross in Baptism as a professing Signe is this That there is no need of such a Profession as this because we make the very same Profession at our Baptism which represents and signifies our conformity to the Death and Resurrection of Christ and therefore this is a vain and superfluous addition to the Sacrament of Baptism and does tacitly charge that divine Institution with defect I answer The same Objection for the very same reason might have been made against the Love-Feast which was celebrated at the very same time with the Lords Supper to signifie that Brotherly love and charity which was and ought to be among the Disciples of Christ and yet that heavenly Feast of the Lords Supper does not onely signifie our Union to Christ our Head but our Union to each other as Members of the same Body and therefore required the actual exercise of Brotherly love in receiving And yet this is acknowledged on all hands to be an Apostolical Institution observed by the Apostles themselves and all the Apostolical Churches of those days The same Answer then will serve for both That Christian Love and Unity is included in the Supper of our Lord and a patient suffering for the Name of Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism but neither of these Sacraments were instituted to signifie these Duties nor do they signifie them otherwise than collaterally and consequentially The proper use of these Sacraments is not to signifie and represent a Duty but to convey divine Blessings and Vertues to us The Pardon of our sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit in Baptism which incorporates us into the Body of Christ and the continual supplies of Grace and renewals of Pardon in the Lords Supper where we feast on the Sacrifice of Christ and partake in the Merits of it But then as we all feast on the same Sacrifice of Christ eat of the same Bread and drink of the same Cup this consequentially signifies that we are Members of the same Body and that we ought to love one another with the most tender and natural affections But the mutual love and charity of Christians being so great a Duty of the Christian Religion and so proper to be exercised at this time for which reason they used also to kiss each other before receiving and yet not directly and primarily represented in this holy Feast the Apostles did not think it any derogation from the Lords Supper to appoint a common Table for all Christians to eat at as a Testimony and Exercise of mutual love and charity with each other When we feast with any person it is a direct signification that we are in a state of Friendship and Reconciliation with him at whose Table we eat but it does not so immediately signifie that all the Guests who eat at the same Table are Friends to each other It is reasonable indeed that it should be so and God expects and requires that it should be so and none are welcome at Gods Table who do not come in perfect love and charity But I say the Lords Supper considered as a symbolical Rite does not primarily and directly signifie it and therefore the Apostles thought fit to signifie and profess this by a common Table where Christians first eat and drank together as Friends and having thus testified their mutual kindness to each other they were the better prepared to eat together at the Table of their common Lord and Saviour and receive the Tokens and Pledges of his love to them all So that this Love-Feast did not at all intrench upon the Lords Supper it being instituted for a different end though in subserviency to it And thus it is in Baptism It is the Sacrament of our Initiation whereby we are made Members of the Body of Christ and intituled to all the Blessings of the New Covenant but the external Ceremony of Baptism whereby we are said to be implanted into the likeness of Christs death does not primarily signifie our laying down our lives for Christ though that be a necessary Condition of our Discipleship but it signifies our new Birth our spiritual conformity to the death of Christ by dying to sin and walking in newness of life as St. Paul discourses in the 6 Rom. And therefore taking up the Cross being by Christ himself made such an express Condition of our Discipleship the Primitive Christians thought it very fitting to make a visible Profession of this by receiving the signe
the Laws or to allow of such different postures when mens scruples are removed 2. As the Governours of the Church would neglect their Duty so they would manifestly injure their Authority by such a compliance with the ignorance humour and scruples of men and therefore how charitable soever our Reconciler may think this it is not such a Charity as becomes Governours For private Christians to abridge themselves in the use of their Christian liberty for the sake of others is in many cases highly commendable and a generous act of charity but for Governours to renounce their Authority to gratifie Dissenters is so far from being an act of charity that it is betraying their Trust. Either Christ has committed this power to them to govern religious Assemblies and to prescribe the decent Rules of Worship or he has not if he have as our Reconciler has more than once owned in this very Book then this power is a Trust committed to them and such a Trust as they must give an account of and therefore no pretence of charity can justifie them in renouncing the exercise of it The Reconciler indeed tells us That which is here pleaded for is neither a denial nor a dissembling of their imposing power in Superiours but onely an abatement of the exercise thereof toward some weak Dissenters Which may be done with the asserting of the power and a profession that they do suspend the exercise thereof not through conviction that it may not be lawfully used but out of pure commiseration and howels of compassion towards their weak Brethren But all the Protestations in the World will not salve this matter for the great Dispute about Ceremonies turns upon this hinge whether the Church have authority to command any thing relating to the Worship of God which is not expresly instituted and enjoyned by Christ. Hence all such Rules of Order and Decency are by our modest and peaceable Dissenters opprobriously call'd Will-worship and Humane Inventions and teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men and though they had nothing to say against the lawfulness of the things themselves and indeed all that they have to say is next to nothing yet their not being commanded by God and their being commanded by men though by such men as are invested with Christ's authority to govern his Church is thought a sufficient reason not to submit to them Now when the Authority of the Church is the principal matter in dispute and Ceremonies onely a collateral dispute as depending upon an usurped and illegal Authority I would fain know of our Reconciler how upon these terms they can give up these Ceremonies to the clamours of the Dissenters without giving up their own Authority with them which is the principal thing in question and for the sake of which the Ceremonies are disputed Now let any man judge whether this be an act of charity to part with that Authority which Christ has placed in his Church Is this Authority for the good of the Church or is it not If it be not then it seems Christ has placed such an Authority in his Church as is not for the publick good and this charges our Saviour himself with want of prudence or charity to his own Church in setting such an uncharitable power over it If Church-Authority be for the publick good then it is no act of charity to part with it As to give but one instance of this which our Reconciler is often at He tells us That the Scripture-Exhortations to Peace and Unity are so far from requiring such an Vnity and Vniformity as we plead for that they perfectly confute all those who think it fit to lay the Vnion of the Church upon an uniformity in lesser matters and do impose them as the Conditions of Communion for either we must all submit to some infallible Guide and Iudge of Controversies in order to our Vnion as R. H. thinks it necessary in order to our compliance with these Precepts or else confess 't is morally impossible to comply with them it being visibly impossible to bring all men unto an unity of judgment and of practice in these things and so we must reflect upon the wisdom of our Lord and of his Precepts And grant that Protestants have no sufficient means of Vnity which is the very thing that Papists do so continually upbraid us with or must acknowledge that the way to this desired Vnity is not that of imposing and requiring uniformity in little matters concerning which the minds of men are full of doubts and scruples but that of mutual condescension and forbearance and charity in lesser differences God help that Church which meets with such Reconcilers as these But that which I shall observe here is his own concession and his Dilemma upon it He argues strongly That while men are left to judge for themselves in the Externals of Worship it is impossible to bring them unto an unity of judgment and practice in these things for this he says must be granted unless we own the necessity of an infallible Judge Here indeed the Reconciler and I differ a little about the infallibility of this Judge but we agree upon the main point that without a Judge to determine these matters there can be no Unity and Agreement among Christians which certainly is a demonstration in the Age in which we live how strange soever it might have been thought in the Primitive times of Unity And his Dilemma is a very sore one For either this reflects upon the Wisdom of Christ himself and grants that Protestants have no sufficient means of Unity or that the way to this desired Unity is not requiring uniformity in little matters Now to begin with the last first it is demonstrably true that there is no Church-Unity without Unity in Worship wherein the principal exercise of Christian Communion consists and that there can be no Decency and Order in this which is an Apostolical Precept without Uniformity and no Uniformity without such Impositions What follows then but that we must reflect on the wisdom of Christ in not leaving Authority in his Church sufficient to determine such matters and grant that Protestants have no means of Union These are hard terms but I cannot see how they can be avoided without granting that Christ has given though not an infallible Judge of all Controversies of Faith yet a supreme Authority to his Church to determine all matters of Decency and Order which all Christians are bound to obey in all cases where their Rules and Orders do not contradict some plain and express Law of Christ. And this Principle will quickly make us all of a mind in such matters Now then from hence I thus argue If the wisdom of Christ himself in instituting a Church-Society and commanding all Christians to live in Peace and Unity and Love if the Unity of Christians among themselves and the Decency and Uniformity of Worship are so nearly concerned in the sacredness of
Church-Authority that without it the wisdom of Christ is obscured and exposed to censure the Peace and Unity of Christians rendered impracticable Protestants left destitute of any means of Union and occasion given to Papists to cry up the necessity of an infallible Judge that which draws so many fatal consequents after it does not seem to me to be any great act of charity and yet thus it would be should the Governours of the Church in compliance with the frowardness and scruples of Schismaticks give up their authority in the Externals of Worship and leave every man to do as he pleased While the Church maintains her Authority a little Discipline and Government and a few good Arguments may in time cure the Schism and if it will not let Schismaticks answer for it at the last day but if Schismaticks once gain this point and wheedle the Church for peace sake out of her Authority then we must bid an eternal farewel to Peace and Order and Uniformity in Religion for men will never agree in these matters without the determination of Authority There is no other means left in the Church to decide these differences when the Church has parted with her Authority and thus the Wisdom of Christ will be reproached and censured and the Protestant Name and Religion exposed to contempt and this is our Reconciler's Protestant Charity Well but suppose this compliance with Dissenters did not infer a renuntiation of their Power and Authority but onely a suspension of the exercise of it the case is much the same for this forbearance must be for ever unless we could suppose that these men will return to the obedience of the Church when the Church leaves off to command Now it is the same thing for the Church to renounce her Power and to renounce the exercise of it I suppose Christ gave this Power to the Church that she should exercise it and if the Power be necessary to the welfare and unity and edification of the Church to be sure the exercise of it is For Authority is a meer empty name and good for nothing when it doth nothing This I think is sufficient to prove that the charity of Governours does not require them to renounce their Government neither in the authority nor exercise of it And therefore II. The Charity of Governours must consist in the acts and exercise of Government that is as far as it concerns our present Dispute in making and repealing Laws And I dare joyn issue here with our Reconciler and challenge him and all his dissenting Clients to fix the least imputation of uncharitableness upon the Church of England on this account as to discourse this matter a little more particularly to confound all such unjust Defamers of Authority and Government 1. I shall begin with repealing Laws and altering such Rituals and Ceremonies as were either sinful superstitious or inconvenient because here our Reformation began And what Rules our Church ' observed in this we learn from the Preface to the Common-Prayer where the reasons are assigned why some Ceremonies were abolish'd As 1. Becauâ—e some of them which were at first well intended did in time degenerate into vanity and superstition 2. Others were from the beginning the effects of an indiscreet Devotion and such a Zeal as was without knowledge and dayly grew to more and more abuses and they were rejected because they were unprofitable blinded the people hindred them from a right understanding of the true nature of Christian Religion and obscured the glory of God 3. Some were put away because their very numbers were an intolerable burden and made the estate of Christian people in worse case concerning this matter than were the Jews as St. Austin complained in his days when the number of Ceremonies was much less than it was in this Church at the time of Reformation which was a great injury to the Gospel of Christ which is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but a Religion to serve God not in the bondage of the figure or shadow but in the freedom of the Spirit And lastly the most weighty cause of the abolishment of certain Ceremonies was that they were so far abused partly by the superstitious blindness of the ignorant and unlearned and partly by the unsatiable avarice of such as sought more their own lucre than the glory of God that the abuses could not well be taken away the thing remaining still With what grave and mature consideration our Church proceeded in this affair is evident from this account which contains all the wise reasons that can be thought of for the alteration of any publick Constitutions Here is charity to the Souls of men in delivering them from ignorance and superstition to which they were betrayed by the Rituals and Ceremonies of Religion a tender regard to the case and liberty of Christians which was oppressed by such a multitude as were hard to know and to remember and very troublesom to observe and almost impossible to understand which made them wholly useless and unprofitable Here is a great regard to the glory of God which was obscured by these Ceremonies to the purity of the Christian Religion which was transformed by a multitude of Ceremonies into a meer external and figurative Worship And here are the true reasons why any Ceremonies which have been long used in a Church and confirmed by Ecclesiastical Canons or Civil Laws ought notwithstanding that to be removed when either their numbers are excessive or the abuses of them such as cannot be taken away without abolishing the Ceremony it self Several instances of this may be given as to name onely Images in Churches which could not be safely retained at that time without the danger of idolatrous Worship For the generality of people in those days were so superstitiously addicted to the worship of Images that had they been left in Churches though the worship of them had been expresly forbid yet infinite numbers of people would have worshipped them notwithstanding This very reason our Church gives in her Homily against the peril of Idolatry part 3. of the necessity of removing Images out of Churches That as well by the origine and nature of Idols and Images themselves as by the proneness and inclination of mans corrupt nature to Idolatry it is evident that neither Images if they be publickly set up can be separated nor men if they see Images in Temples and Churches can be stayed and kept from Idolatry Wherefore they which thus reason though it be not expedient yet it is lawful to have Images publickly and do prove that lawfulness by a few picked and chosen men if they object that indifferently to all men which a very few can have without hurt and offence they seem to take the multitude for vile Souls of whose loss and safeguard no reputation is to be had for whom Christ yet paid as dearly as for the mightiest Prince or the wisest and best learned of the Earth
to one case and not to the other and argues great ignorance as well as impudence in our Reconciler to censure it which I shall largely prove when I come to answer his fourth Chapter And because our Reconciler so often mentions not onely the abatement of the Ceremonies but the alteration of some scrupled expressions in the Liturgy without mentioning what those are I can give no other answer to it but to represent that account which is given us of those late alterations which were made in our Liturgy as we find it in the Preface to the Common-Prayer-Book Our general aim therefore in this undertaking was not to gratisie this or that Party in any of their unreasonable demands but to do that which to our best understanding we conceived might most tend to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church the procuring of Reverence and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the publick Worship of God and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of cavil or quarrel against the Liturgie of our Church Most of the alterations were made for the more proper expressing of some words or phrases of ancient usage in terms more suitable to the Language of the present times and the clearer explanation of some other words or phrases which were either of doubtful signification or otherwise liable to misconstruction And what other Rule our Reconciler would have the Church observe in altering scrupled phrases I cannot tell for if she muâ—t alter while some people cease to scruple she must alter it all or rather take it quite away 3. But you will say It is at least a breach of Charity to impose such Rites and Ceremonies as are scrupled by great numbers of Christians and the imposition of which occasions a formidable Schism in the Church As for the Schisms and Divisions which are said to be occasioned by the imposition of these Ceremonies I shall consider that in the next Chapter My designe at present leads me to consider the Mistakes and Scruples of Christians and how far Governours ought to have any regard to them and for the explication of this there are several things to be observed 1. I readily grant that the Church ought not to command any thing which is of a doubtful or suspicious nature for where the thing is doubtful her Authority to command is doubtful too Or rather it is certain that the Church has no Authority in doubtful matters for her Authority can be no larger than her Commission and it is no part of her Commission to teach or command things which are doubtful Thus it may well be doubted whether it be lawful to set up Images in Churches to pray before a Crucifix to excite and quicken our Devotions though we have no intention to pay any religious homage to them For the same reason the Church cannot by her Authority adopt doubtful Propositions into Articles of Faith and require all Christians to believe them as the necessary terms of Communion To this purpose our Reconciler at his usual impertinent rate of Citations alleadges several passages out of Mr. Chillingworth to prove that no doubtful Propositions ought to be made Articles of Faith or necessary terms of Communion in which I perfectly agree with Mr. Chillingworth but can by no means see how it follows from hence that because the Church must not make new Articles of Faith therefore she must not prescribe the necessary Rules of Worship that because she must not impose things which are of a doubtful nature therefore she must not command any thing which some people raise doubts and scruples about But our Reconciler thinks that it is a sufficient evidence that a thing is doubtful and that the peace and unity of the Church ought not to be suspended upon the determination of it when there are a great number of men doubt of it and the thing is disputed and controverted and Arguments produced on both sides and if this be so there is not any Article of our Faith but what is doubtful it is very doubtful whether there be a God and whether Christ were the true Messias or an Importer for we know there are a great many Atheists Jews Turks and Infidels in the world And if it be an Argument against the Ceremonies of the Church of England that Dissenters dispute against them if this prove That the peace and unity of the Church ought not to be suspended upon submission to them and that the decision of the Controversie concerning them was not intended as a necessary means for the peace and unity of the Church of God in these Kingdoms farewell to all certainty in Religion But he proves this by an Argument transcribed from Dr. Stillingfleet's Irenicum a book which certainly did such great service at the time when it was written to draw men on to a calm consideration of things and whose Reverend Author has done such excellent service since to the Church of England by his incomparable Writings both against Papists and Fanaticks that whatever fault there may be in it both the Book and the Author have merited something more than a pardon especially since that Book stands now upon its own legs and can derive no authority from that great Name he having sufficiently declared his dislike and I think sufficiently answered some principal parts of it himself And though I cannot assent to every Proposition in the Irenicum as I am pretty sure the Author himself does not yet I can by no means think that it deserves all that clamour which some men have raised against it I am sure it never can make any man a Dissenter and I think it much more desirable and more for the interest of the Church that men should conform upon the Principles of the Irenicum than that they should continue Dissenters I could not forbear saying this once for all out of that sincere honour I have for that excellent person who has met with very ill usage from some men who either envy his deserved praises or hope to make themselves considerable by being his Rivals But let us hear what the Argument is Where probable Arguments are brought for the maintaining one part of an Opinion as well as another though the Arguments brought be not convincing for the necessary entertaining either part to an unbyassed understanding yet the difference of their Opinions is Argument sufficient that the thing contended for is not so clear as both Parties would make it to be on their own sides and if it be not a thing of necessity to salvation it gives men ground to think that the final decision of the matter in controversie was never intended as a necessary means for the peace and unity of the Church of God Now I confess I see no reason why I may not assent to all this for if the Arguments be onely probable on both sides and such as are not convincing either way to an unbyassed judgment it is a signe the
us is on our part And if he were not a Disciple his very working Miracles in Christ's Name was a very likely way to make him and others also the Disciples of Christ and therefore might be permitted by our Lord for that very reason Forbid him not for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me But was not our Reconciler asleep when he tells us that this man did not hold Communion with the Disciples What Communion then was he of Was he not a Jew and a Member of the Jewish Church And was he not then in Communion with Christ and his Apostles For did not Christ all the time he was on Earth live in Communion with the Jewish Church Did he set up any distinct Church and Communion of his own But I perceive our Reconciler is of Mr. Baxter's mind that Church-Communion is a presential Communion And because he did not always follow Christ and give his personal attendance on him therefore he could not hold Communion with him And now let our Reconciler try again how from this Example he can prove that Schismaticks must be suffered to preach for the promotion of Christ's Kingdom VII And yet it is wonderful to observe how he turns the Tables in his next Argument and proves from Christ's being the good Shepherd who lays down his life for his Sheep that the Governours of the Church should part with their indifferent things to preserve the Sheep from such Thieves that is Schismatical Preachers those who if his last Argument be good ought not to be forbid to preach though they do not profess Communion with us But I must tell him That for the Church to destroy her Constitution to pull down all her Hedges and Fences is the way to let in these Thieves as he calls them not to keep them out VIII His last Argument is of the same nature That because Christ prays for the unity of the Church therefore to procure this unity and concord we must part with all unnecessary things which do not in the least advance his Kingdom And truly I think so too but if the external Decency of Worship is not so unnecessary a thing nor easily to be parted with if parting with these Ceremonies will not heal our Schisms and Divisions of which I have discours'd largely already there needs no other Answer to be returned to this Argument He concludes this Chapter with retorting some of these Arguments upon the Dissenters I have answered for the Church let the Dissenters now try how they can answer for themselves for he very truly observes that they fall with more weight upon them To prefer some arbitrary Platforms of Worship and Discipline which God has nowhere instituted or commanded before the substantial Duties of Peace and Unity and Obedience to Government looks more like an offence against that Law I will have mercy and not sacrifice than what he charges upon the Church and to forbid the observation of the decent Rites and Ceremonies of Worship as unlawful and superstitious is a much more intolerable yoke and burden than the imposition of them But I shall leave the Dissenters and our Reconcileâ— to adjust this matter among themselves CHAP. V. Containing an Answer to our Reconciler's Arguments drawn from the 14th and 15th Chapters to the Romans THough our Reconciler makes a great flourish with a multitude of Arguments as usually those men do who cannot find one good one yet he seems to put the greatest confidence in those Arguments which are drawn from that condescension and mutual forbearance which St. Paul requires the Jewish and Gentile Converts who differed about the observation of the Mosaical Law to exercise towards each other And this I confess were a very good Argument if it were a parallel Case But I suppose our Reconciler will grant that there are some cases wherein it is very reasonable to exercise such forbearance and yet there may be other cases wherein it is not prudent and reasonable to allow the same Indulgence and therefore it does not follow that because St. Paul required the Jewish and Gentile Christians to forbear each other in their Disputes about the Mosaical Law therefore the Governours of the Church must forbear Dissenters and not prescribe the decent Rites and Ceremonies of Worship nor exact Conformity to them unless it appear that these two cases are the same or so like to each other that we may fairly argue from one to the other That these cases are not alike and that the Apostle's Arguments for mutual forbearance are not applicable to the case of our Dissenters I doubt not but I shall make so plain as to satisfie all impartial Readers And this I hope may pass for an Answer to his fourth Chapter I. Then I observe that St. Paul in the 14th Chapter to the Romans onely exhorts the Jewish and Gentile Christians to mutual forbearance in such cases which had been already decreed and determined by the highest Authority in the Church There is a great Dispute between our Reconciler and Dr. Womack now the Reverend Bishop of St. Davids to whom this Epistle was directed Whether onely to the private Christians at Rome or to Church-Governours also and consequently whether it be the duty onely of private Christians or of Church-Governours also to exercise this forbearance towards Dissenters The Bishop supposes that there was no Presbytery setled at Rome at this time and offers several Arguments to prove it Our Reconciler attempts to answer these Arguments and to prove the contrary that the Church of Rome whose Faith was spoken of throughout the World could not be without a setled Ministry at that time I am not willing to interpose in this Dispute for though it would be of great moment to answer all our Reconciler's Arguments from this Chapter were it certain that St. Paul did not designe these directions for Church-Governours but onely for private Christians as an Expedient to preserve Peace and Unity till these Disputes should be determined by a just Authority yet whatever fair probabilities there may be of this I doubt there is not evidence enough for it to convince a Reconciler or an obstinate Dissenter And indeed upon the principle which I have now laid down there is no need of this for whether these Exhortations to forbear one another and to receive one another and not to judge condemn or despise one another concern private Christians or Church-Governours or equally both yet since this forbearance extends onely to such cases as were determined by Ecclesiastical Authority to be the proper matter for the exercise of this Christian charity and forbearance every one sees how impertinently it is alleadged by our Reconciler to prove that the Governours of the Church must not impose any indifferent Customs and Usages which are scrupled by our Dissenters For what consequence is there in this that because private Christians or Church-Governours must allow the free exercise of
onely refused to obey the Law themselves but scorned and despised the Jews for doing it and used their Christian liberty in an open contempt and defiance of them and their Law this would have been very apt to have alienated their minds from the Christian religion which the Apostle therefore calls laying a stumbling-block or occasion to fall in our brothers way and destroying him with our meat by tempting him to infidelity and Apostacy for whom Christ died Thus St. Chrysostom expresly tells us that St. Paul was afraid lest this contemptuous usage of the believing Jews should tempt them to renounce the Faith of Christ. But what is this to the case of our Dissenters are they tempted to renounce the Christian Religion by the Ceremonies of the Church of England It is so far from this that they learn to despise their Teachers and to think themselves a more perfect and excellent sort of Christians But you 'll say it makes them Schismaticks and Schism is as dangerous to mens Souls as Infidelity and therefore the same charity which obliges us to prevent the one obliges us also with equal care to prevent the other Now though I think every good Christian will and ought to do what he reasonably can to prevent a Schism yet the difference between the case of Schism and Infidelity in point of scandal is very great While men are weak and unsetled in the Faith and apt to take offence and apostatize from Christ they ought to be treated with all manner of tenderness and condescension because they are not yet capable of being governed they must be humoured for a while as Children are who must be managed by Art not by Rules of Discipline but when men are well rooted and confirmed in the Christian Faith they are no longer to be humoured but governed they must be taught to submit to that Authority which Christ has placed in his Church and to obey not to dispute the commands of their Superiours when there is no plain positive Law of God against them This is the onely way to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Christian Church and if men will take offence at the exercise of a just Authority and turn Schismaticks it is at their own peril And this indeed I take to be the true notion of the weak in the Faith whom the Apostle in this Chapter commands the strong Christians to treat with so much tenderness without giving them the least offence those who are not well confirmed in the truth of the Christian Religion and therefore are apt to take offence at every thing and to renounce the Faith And so his stumbling and being offended and made weak signifies his being shaken and unsetled in the Faith Every one who is an ignorant and uninstructed is not therefore a weak Christian his Understanding may be weak but his Faith may be strong that is he may very firmly and stedfastly believe the truth of the Christian Religion though he do not so well understand the particular Doctrines of it But these two sorts of weak persons are to be used very differently you must have a care of offending those who are weak in Faith but you must instruct and govern those who are weak in Understanding or else you prostitute the Authority of the Church and the truth of Christianity and the just liberties of Christians to every ignorant and yet it may be conceited obstinate and censorious Professor which is a plain demonstration that those directions the Apostle gives in this Chapter not to offend those who are weak in the Faith cannot concern our Dissenters who though they are weak enough as that signifies ignorant yet are not weak in the Faith as that signifies those who are not thoroughly perswaded of Christianity or not well confirmed in that belief and therefore are not to be humoured like Children but trained up to greater attainments by wise Instructions and a prudent Discipline Secondly Having seen what this Scandal and Offence was let us now consider by what Arguments the Apostle perswades those who were strong not to offend the weak Now our Reconciler has turned almost every word into an Argument One Argument is That it is our duty not to judge or lay a stumbling-block before our Brother That it is contrary to charity and evil in it self That it caused Christianity to be blasphâ—med That it is contrary to the concerns of Peace and the edification of the Church c. Now I have no dispute with our Reconciler about this that it is a very ill thing and very contrary to the duty of a Christian to give any just offence or scandal to a weak Brother if we were as well agreed what it is to give offence as that giving this offence is a very evil thing the Dispute were at an end And yet by this artifice he imposes upon his Readers is very copious and rhetorical in his Harangue on this Argument and transcribes several passages out of St. Chrysostom and some other ancient Writers to shew the great evil and manifold aggravations of scandal which every one would grant him to be very good when rightly applied but we deny that the Church of England is guilty of giving offende to the Dissenters in that sence in which St. Paul and other ancient Writers meant it and if our Reconciler had pleased he might have found enough in St. Paul's Arguments to have convinced him that the Apostle spoke of a case very different from ours which because he has been pleased to overlook I shall be so charitable as to mind him of it Now I take the sum of the Apostles Argument to be this That the reason why they were not to offend the Jews by an uncharitable use of their Christian liberty in eating such meats as were forbidden by the Law is because their eating or not eating such meats in it self considered is of no concernment in the Christian Religion and therefore is the proper Sphere for the exercise of charity For when we discourse of offence and scandal the first and most natural inquiry is of what moment and consequence the thing is in which we are required to exercise our charity for there are many things which we must not do nor leave undone out of charity to any man whatever offence be taken at it but if it be of that nature as to admit of a charitable condescension and compliance then all the other Arguments against scandal and giving offence are very seasonably and properly urged And this is the case here as will appear from considering the series of the Apostles Arguments In the 13th verse he perswades them not to put a stumbling-block and occasion to fall in their Brothers way And to inforce this Exhortation he adds in the 14th verse I know and am perswaded by the Lord Iesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean to him it is unclean That is all distinction of
duty but the power of imposing indifferent things as he calls it or the power of prescribing the Rules and Orders and Circumstances of Worship if there be any such power as he grants there is is the power and authority of an Office is a Trust and a Duty the prudent and faithful discharge of which they must give an account of and therefore must not when they please either part with the power or the exercise of it St. Paul was contented to part with the temporal rewards of his Ministry that he might the more successfully discharge the Ministry it self therefore Church-Governours must not exercise their Authority in the discharge of their Ministry to humour Dissenters St. Paul did more than his strict duty required that he might have something to glory in therefore the Governours of the Church must neglect their duty and lose their reward Indeed our Reconciler talks as if the Churches Authority in indifferent things were onely a personal right a Complement to Church-Governours an ornamental power which they may use or may let alone as they please and if this were so I should presently be of our Reconciler's mind but I believe they have no such kind of useless Authority as this Christ has not complemented his Ministers with any power which is not for the use and service of the Church and therefore if they have power in indifferent things this is a useful power and that which they ought to use when there is reason for it whoever be offended at it Another reason why St. Paul preached the Gospsl freely at Corinth he gives us in the 2 Cor. 11. 12 13. What I do that I will do that I may cut off occasion from them that desire occasion that wherein they glory they may be found even as we for such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. The meaning of which is this There were several false Teachers who crept in among them and used all manner of arts to recommend themselves to the Corinthians and among others this seems to be one that they preached the Gospel freely to them onely as they pretended out of love of their Souls which was a very popular art especially to that People and therefore St. Paul resolved to persist in preaching the Gospel freely to them to cut off occasion from them that desire occasion that is to disappoint those arts of deceit whereby these false Teachers endeavoured to recommend themselves that wherein they glory they may be found even as we that whereas they glory in preaching the Gospel freely this may give them no advantage since it is no more than what I my self have all along done and still continue to do Our Reconciler paraphraseth these words thus To cut off occasion from them that desire occasion that is lest his enemies should take occasion from the exercise of this his liberty to charge or to traduce him as one who more consulted his own profit than the glory of God and the propagation of the Gospel But what occasion had there been for this though he had taken Wages of them as he says he did of other Churches to supply his necessities it was sufficiently evident notwithstanding that he did exact nothing from them to serve the ends of covetousness and ambition for certainly a man may desire the supply of his wants without being charged with covetousness but the Apostle would not suffer these false Prophets by a pretended and hypocritical Zeal to outdo him in any thing Now the Apostle's care to give no advantage to false Teachers is a good Example to the Governours of our Church not to do so neither and I am sure they cannot give them greater advantage than to sacrifice all Order and Decency to their pretended Scruples Well but says our Reconciler the Rulers of the Church by the exercise of this power in indifferent things do give occasion to them that desire occasion to traduce them as men who more regard a Ceremony than an immortal Soul the exercise of their commanding Power than the preserving of poor Souls from damning Schisms and the Church from sad Divisions c. These are very spightful but very foolish Insinuations As for Schisms and Divisions we have already considered where that charge must rest and then how do Ceremonies come in competition with the Souls of men Does the appointment of some Ceremonies for the decent and orderly performance of Religious Worship hinder the salvation of mens Souls Cannot men be saved who observe the Ceremonies of our Church Then indeed our Reconciler might well complain that those who impose such damning Ceremonies have more regard to a Ceremony than to an immortal Soul otherwise there is no competition between Ceremonies and the Souls of men and those who will be Schismaticks for a Ceremony will be Schismaticks without it and will be damned for their Schism whether there be any Ceremonies or not All that remains in this Chapter are his Answers to Meisner's Arguments which I have already considered as much as is necessary to my purpose CHAP. VII Containing an Answer to the Motives to Mutual Condescension urged in the sixth Chapter of the Protestant Reconciler I Find nothing in this Chapter besides some Harangues and Popular Declamations but what has been sufficiently answered already The whole proceeds upon those general Topicks of the smalness of these things the danger mens Souls are in by these Impositions the obligations to Love and Charity which have been particularly discoursed above in the first and second Chapters where the reasons of these things are particularly examined But however I will briefly try whether I cannot give an Answer to all this which may be as popular as his Objections are I. His first Argument or Motive is from considering how small the things are which cause our Discords and Divisions when they are set in competition with the more weighty duties and concerns of Love Peace and the Churches Vnion and Edification and the avoiding the offence and scandal of Iew Gentile and the Church of God which he very pompously proves to be great Gospel-duties Now suppose the things in dispute be never so small if they are of any use in Religion and the Object of Ecclesiastical Authority as our Reconciler owns they are what will he conclude from hence that the observation of such little things must not be enjoyned What not when Christ has given authority to enjoyn them Does Christ then give any authority to his Church which she must not use Must nothing be enjoyned which is little in comparison of Love and Peace and Unity or must they be enjoyned and left indifferent at the same time Must the Church appoint them to be observed but command no body to observe them but those who please In all well-governed Societiâ—s there must be Laws about little as well as about great things and if there be no Authority to determine the least matters both in
Church and State it will necessarily occasion very great inconveniences Well but we must not set these little things in competition with the more weighty duties and concerns of Love and Peace No God forbid we should But does our Reconciler know what a competition between two Laws means I know but of two ways that this can happen either when they contradict each each other or are so contrary in their natures that they can never be both observed or when there is a competition of time that it so happens that we cannot observe both at the same time as when we cannot at the same time go to Church to serve God and stay at home to attend a sick Father or Friend in which cases our Saviour has laid down a general Rule That God prefers Mercy bâ—foâ—e Sacrifice But now upon neither of these accounts can there be any competition pretended between the Rites and Ceremonies of Religion and the great duties of Love and Peace and Unity and Edification For cannot men observe the Orders and Constitutions of the Church as to the external Rites of Worship and love one another and preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church at the same time Indeed can there be a better means to preserve Love and Peace and Unity among Christians and to promote mutual Edification than an Uniformity in Religious Worship since it is evident that nothing breeds greater Dissentions and Emulations and Envyings among Christians than different and contrary Modes of Worship And if this be so then there is no competition between the Ceremonies of Religion and the Love and Peace of Christians and consequently no reason why the Governours of the Church may not command both though the particular Ceremonies of Religion be acknowledged to be small things in comparison with the great duties of Love and Peace Yes you 'll say the imposition of these Ceremonies does come in competition with these great duties of Love and Peace and Unity because there are a great many who quarrel at them and divide the Church upon that account and if these controverted Ceremonies were removed Love and Unity would be restored among us Now supposing this to be true which I have already proved not to be true what is this to the Governours of the Church If they impose nothing which is inconsistent with Love and Peace and Unity then the imposition of these things in it self considered cannot be inconsistent with these great Gospel-duties for if what we command be consistent with Love and Unity then the Command otherwise called the Imposition must be so too It is not the command or imposition of these things which is inconsistent with Love and Unity but refusal of obedience to such lawful Commands which is not the fault of the Governours but of the Subjects not of those who command but of those who will not obey and therefore these are Arguments proper to be urged against Dissenters but not against the Governours of the Church As to give you a familiar instance of this A Master commands his Servant to put on a clean Band to wait at Table the Servant refuses to do it upon this the whole Family is divided some take part with the Master others with the Servant in steps a Reconciler and tells the Master he did very ill to cause such Divisions in his Family that Love and Peace and Unity were more considerable duties than a Servants wearing a clean Band which therefore ought not to come in competition with them Pray Sir says the Master preach this Doctrine to my Servants and not to me I have commanded nothing but what was fit to be done and I will have it done or he and all his Partners shall turn out oâ— my Family Now let one who is a Master judge whether the Master or the Reconciler be in the right The breach of Love and Peace and Unity is not the effect though it be the consequent which our Reconciler I perceive cannot distinguish of the Command or Imposition but of the disobedience and therefore when the Command is fit and reasonable cannot be charged upon him who commands but upon him who disobeys But besides this I observe that Christian Love and Unity and Peace in the Writings of the New Testament signifie the Communion of the Church and how kind soever they may be to each other upon other accounts men do not love like Christians who do not worship God together in the Communion of the same Church wherein they live and there can be no Edification out of the Church Now if there be no way of uniting men in one Communion but by an uniformity of Worship then to prescribe the Rules and Orders and Ceremonies of Worship is as necessary as Christian Love and Peace and Unity is Men who worship God after a different manner must and will worship in different places too and in distinct Communions and those who will not submit to the Injunctions of a just Authority will never consent in any form of Worship and therefore this may multiply Schisms but cannot cure them This is all perfect demonstration from the experience of our late Confusions when the pulling down the Church of England did not lessen our Divisions but increase them But our Reconciler confirms this Argument that the Governours of the Church ought not to insist on such little things when they come in competition with Love and Peace and Unity c. from the example of God himself who was not so much concerned for the ceremonial part of his Worship but that he would permit the violation of what he had prescribed about it upon accounts of lesser moment than these are He instances in the Law of Circumcision which was not observed in the Wilderness because this would hinder the motion of the Camp In the Law of the Passover which was to be observed on the first month and the 14th day of the month but God expresly provided that if any man were unclean or in a journey far off at that time they should observe it on the 14th of the second month in the Sabbatick rest which admitted of works of necessity and mercy which were never forbidden by God in that Law nor intended to be Now are not these admirable proofs That God is not so much concerned for the ceremonial part of his Law but that upon some accounts he would permit the violation of what he had prescribed when it does not appear that he ever did so As for the neglect of Circumcision in the Wilderness I doubt not but God had given express order about it otherwise Moses who was faithful in all his house and a punctual observer of all the divine Laws and Statutes would never have neglected it and this I may say with as much reason as our Reconciler can produce for Gods permission of it without an express Order and somewhat more As for the Passover let our Reconciler consider again whether the observation of
it on the second month by those who were unclean or in a journey on the first month was a violation of what God had prescribed when God himself had expresly prescribed it And let him consider once more whether works of necessity and mercy were a violation of the Sabbatick rest when our Saviour himself poves that they were not that God never intended that the rest of the Sabbath should exclude such works I am sure our Reconciler cannot produce any one instance wherein God permitted and allowed the violation of any ceremonial Law according to the true intent and meaning of the Law without express order for it but on the other hand God was very strict and rigorous in exacting the observation of them and did give as signal examples of his Justice and Severity upon such accounts as upon any other whatever Witness the man who gathered Sticks on the Sabbath-day and was stoned to death for it The fate of Corah Dathan and Abiram who quarrelled with Moses and Aaron which is more like the case of our Dissenters and offered Incense the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and a Fire consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered Incense To which we may adde the case of Vzzah who was struck dead upon the place for touching the Ark of God which was not lawful for him to do though he did it with a very pious intention to preserve it from falling Thus Saul's offering Sacrifice in Samuel's absence though he had a very plausible excuse for it and his sparing Agag the King of the Amalakites and the best of the Sheep and Oxen c. cost him his Kingdom This is no Argument that God was so little concerned about the observation of his ceremonial Laws or thought any thing little which he commanded when he so severely revenged the breach of them God indeed did prefer true and real Righteousness before any ceremonial Observances but he did not therefore countenance the breach of his meanest Laws What our Saviour tells the Pharisees Who payed thythe of mint and anise and cummin and neglected the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith is a standing Rule in all these cases These things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone they should observe them both the great and the less matters of the Law and not neglect or despise either So that Gods example in theâ—e matters is so far from helping our Reconciler's Cause that it makes against him God did not equal the Ceremonies of the Law with the more weighty duties of Judgment Mercy and Faith no more than the Church equals a Ceremony with the dearer interesâ—s of Love and Peace and Unity but yet God instituted these Ceremonies and commanded the observation of them and punish'd the breach of them even when the whole Congregation mutinied and rebelled upon it as they did in the case of Corah that is when they came as much in competition with Love and Peace and Unity as the Reconciler pretends our Ceremonies at this day do 2. But if this will not do our Reconciler has another way of arguing from the example of God to oblige the Governours of the Church not to impose these Ceremonies when there are so many Dissenters amongst us who will not submit to them As 1. The example of Gods love in sending his Son into the World that we might live through him why then should they who are commanded to be followers of God as dear children and walk in love refuse to part with their unnecessary Ceremonies and to refrain the exercise of their imposing power in things indifferent Now if our Reconciler will give me a reason why they should not I will tell him why they should God has in infinite goodness sent his Son into the World to save sinners but still they must be saved in that method which Christ has appointed To this end Christ has given us his Laws instituted a Church-Society appointed Stewards of his Family and Rulers of his Houshold and given them authority to govern Religious Assemblies to prescribe the Rules of Worship and the Methods of Discipline and all this for the salvation of mens Souls and therefore the Governours of the Church must not renounce this Authority and the exercise of it because in its rank and order it is subservient to the great end for which God sent Christ into the World viz. the salvation of mens Souls and is instituted by Christ for that purpose But you 'll object that the exercise of this Authority in indifferent things is so far from contributing to the salvation of mens Souls especially in such an Age as this that it destroys them What destroys them the use of indifferent things No men may observe these Ceremonies without prejudicing their salvation What then is it the imposition of these things Nor that neither for to command that which will not destroy mens Souls cannot destroy them What is it then an obstinate refusal to obey such Impositions Right for this makes men Schismaticks and will damn them and thus disobedience to any other of Christs Laws will damn men though Christ died for them And thus according to this way of arguing God who did so infinitely love sinners as to send Christ to save them ought to have given them no Laws nor made any Conditions of salvation for fear men should break them and be damned for it For is it not a greater thing to give his Son for sinners than to indulge them in some little Follies and Extravagances Will God who loved sinners so as to give his own Son for them damn them for stealing a shilling or two for playing the Good-fellow sometimes or for some kind and amorous Embraces Sure he is so good that he will repeal all these Soul-destroying Laws and when we see this done it will be time for the Governours of the Church to renounce their Authority too in imitation of the love of God II. His next Argument is That God is so merciful to weak and erring persons as not to judge condemn or exclude them from his favour for any errours of their judgments which are consistent with true love to him and which they did not wilfully embrace nor do persist in against conviction of their Consciences but will upon a general repentance for their unknown sins receive them to his favour though they live and die under such errours and mistakes Why then should we who are commanded to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful reject them from Communion whom God will receive why should we not forbear to condemn and censure them whom God will absolve This is so fulsomly ridiculous that I should be ashamed to answer it were it not very fit to expose such popular Cant. For 1. Though the infinite goodness of God does incline us to hope well of those who lived and died in invincible errours yet we know
very foolish Argument against either The true Argument against the Dissenters is this That they are bound to obey their Superiours in those things which God has not forbidden for where God has not interposed his Authority they are subject to the Authority of their Governours The Argument is not That they are in all cases bound to do what God has not forbid them to do which is ridiculously absurd for what is not unlawful not forbidden by God may either be done or may be let alone without sin unless some other consideration besides its being not forbidden alter the case But the Argument is this That what God has not forbidden Governours may command and Subjects are bound in Conscience to obey Let us see then how he applies this to our Imposers as he modestly calls our Governours in Church and State It is not unlawful as not forbidden by God to leave these Ceremonies indiffâ—rent so far indeed it agrees with the case of the Dissenters that the Ceremonies are not unlawful as not being forbidden by God but now where is the superior Authority over Governours to make it unlawful for them to impose that which it is not unlawful not to impose then the case of Imposers would be exactly parallel with the Dissenters who are under the Authority of their Governours which makes that their duty which God had left indifferent and that unlawful which God had by no express prohibition made unlawful but here the Parallel fails and therefore the Argument is not the same For the supreme Authority of Church and State can have no superiour Authority on Earth to make that unlawful to them which God has not made unlawful All that our Reconciler offers to this purpose is onely this That the avoiding scandal and offence and the preservation of Charity Peace and Vnity in the Church lays as necessary an obligation on Governours to forbear what they may lawfully forbear for the promoting these ends as the Authority of Governours obliges Subjects to obey them in all things wherein they lawfully may that is that Governours are bound not to command any thing which they may lawfully not command when hereby they serve the ends of Charity and Peace Now if this were the case yet so the Argument would not be the same for then we must state the case of Governours thus That they must not do that which is unlawful to be done not that they must not do that which is not unlawful not to be done The Authority of Governours does not alter the intrinsick nature of things and therefore we may very properly say that Subjects must obey their Governours in all things which are not unlawful and that the things commanded are not in their own natures unlawful is a good Argument to oblige them to obey but the end and circumstances of action alters its moral nature and that which in some circumstances is not unlawful in other circumstances becomes absolutely unlawful And if this be the case here that the imposition of these Ceremonies is unlawful when it gives scandal and offence and disturbs the Peace and Unity of the Church then the Argument to disswade Governours from such Impositions is not that it is not unlawful to forbear imposing which is parallel to the Argument used against Dissenters that it is not unlawful to obey but that it is unlawful to impose in such circumstances which differ as much as to perswade men not to do what they lawfully may not do differs from disswading them from doing what is not lawful to be done This I think is abundantly enough to shew that our Reconciler is very much out in his Logick when he makes this Argument against Dissenters and Imposers to be the same as for the Argument it self that it is unlawful for Governours to impose these Ceremonies when it gives offence and scandal to weak Brethren c. I have sufficiently answered that already 3. His next Argument which he says equally holds against the Dissenters and Imposers is taken from the littleness and small importance of the things upon which we are divided and it is in short this That Dissenters ought not to disturb the Peace of the Church by refusing obedience in such little things nor the Governours of the Church by imposing such little things Now I need not concern my self about this Argument which is not likely to have any effect either upon Dissenters or Imposers who if they understand themselves and act honestly it is plain do not think these things so little and inconsiderable that they are not worth contending about That the decent Ceremonies of Religion are not such very contemptible things I have already proved at large in the first Chapter that they are not so little that Governours ought not to impose them I have proved at the beginning of this Chapter and that sufficiently proves that this is no Argument against Governours and if as our Reconciler says it be an unanswerable Argument against Dissenters I am contented to leave it so However our Reconciler is mightily out when he thinks the littleness of a thing to be as good an Argument against the imposition of Governours as against the disobedience of Dissenters for Governours are bound to take care of little as well as of great things because things which are little in themselves may have very great effects either good or bad but there is no excuse for the disobedience of Subjects in such cases for the less the command is the less reason have they to refuse obedience I believe all Parents and Governours in the world think so excepting our Reconcilers In the next place our Reconciler argues from many general Topicks received and owned by all Casuists As 1. Qui non vetat peccare cùm possit jubet Which he translates thus He that being a Superiour a Father a Master of a Family c. doth not what lawfully he may for the prevention of the sin of those who are subject to his government becomes partakers of their sin Now suppose all this what care can be taken to prevent sin which it becomes Governours to take which is neglected by the Church of England Yes says the Reconciler they may abate those Impositions which occasion the Schism But this has been so often answered already that I shall now onely direct my Readers in the Margin where to find the Answer 2. He says Divines concerning the right interpretation of the Ten Commandments and of the Laws of Christ do generally lay down these Rules viz. That when any thing is forbidden by these Laws all those things are forbidden also which follow from that forbidden action and for whose sake it was forbidden Now I think this is a very good Rule and if he can prove that the imposition of these Ceremonies is a forbidden action I will grant that the Schism which is consequent upon it is imputable to the Church but if it be not forbidden if the Church has this
Authority and ought to take care of the decent circumstances of Worship then the Schism can be charged onely upon the disobeying Schismatick But this I have largely discoursed in the place before cited And now I come to those shrewd Questions which our Reconciler says he has met with in the Books of the Dissenters to which he finds no answer in the Replys of any of their Adversaries and which he entreats the Champions for the Church of England as they respect the credit of our Church-Governours the reputation of the Church and of her Discipline not to pass by without the least notice taken of them as hitherto they have done Now though I do not pretend to the honour and character of a Champion yet I have such a hearty love and reverence for my dear Mother the Church of England that I cannot deny so easie a Request as this the most troublesome task being to transcribe all these Questions Quest. 1. The first Question is Whether they do well that unnecessarily bring Subjects into such a straight by needless Laws for additions in Religion that the Consciences of men fearing God must unavoidably be perplexed between a fear of treason and disobedience against Christ and disobedience to their Prince and Pastors Ans. I answer Such men do certainly very ill in it but then this is not the case of the Church of England for she has made no needless Laws for Laws to direct and determine the external circumstances of Worship according to the Rules of Order and Decency are not needless but necessary as I have already proved Our Reconciler grants that the Church has this Authority and if the exercise of it be needless the Authority is so too and then Christ has given his Church a needless Authority for I suppose he will not own that the Church has any Authority but what she has from Christ. Nor does the Church make any additions in Religion for the decent circumstances of Worship are no additions to external Worship but as necessary to it as Decency is unless our Reconciler thinks that it is an addition to the Law of God which commands us to reverence our Prince and Parents and Superiours to command Children Servants or Subjects to stand bare before them Nor need the Consciences of men fearing God be unavoidably perplexed between a fear of treason and disobedience against Christ and of disobedience to their Prince and Pastors for a great many men who fear God are not thus perplexed and therefore it is not unavoidable I will instance onely in the Reconciler himself if he will give me leave to reckon him among those men who either fear God or reverence their Prince and Pastors And there is another good reason why this is not unavoidable because there is no competition in this case between obedience to Christ and obedience to our Prince and Pastors and therefore no man need to be perplexed about it and if there were a plain competition there were no need of being thus perplexed neither because all men who fear God do or ought to understand that where Christ commands one thing and our Prince another inconsistent with the command of Christ we must obey God rather than men Quest. 2. Whether Rulers may command any indifferent and unnecessary thing which will notably do more harm than good or make an unnecessary necessary thing a means or occasion of excluding the necessary Worship of God or preaching of the Gospel Ans. If by indifferent and unnecessary things he means things wholly useless and by their notably doing more harm than good that they are in their own nature hurtful as well as useless it is certain Governours ought not to command such things but what is this to the Church of England The Ceremonies of our Church though upon some accounts they may be called indifferent yet are very useful as contributing to the Decency of Worship which is as necessary as publick Worship is and are not apt to do any hurt at all and therefore are the proper Object of Ecclesiastical Authority And with what face can our Reconciler pretend that they exclude the necessary Worship of God or preaching of the Gospel when God is still worshipped and the Gospel preached in all the Parish-churches of England unless he thinks that God is not worshipped nor the Gospel preached any where but at a Conventicle Quest. 3. Whether is it more to common good and the interest of Honesty and Conscience that all the Parsons in a Nation be imprisoned banished or silenced that dare not swear say and practise all that is imposed on them than that unnecessary impositions be altered or forborn Now I think I may have the liberty to ask our Reconciler a Question now and then I ask therefore Whether is most for the common good that there should be any setled Order and Government in the Church or that there should be none Whether it is possible to maintain any Order or Government without rejecting and censuring those who will not conform to it Whether is most for the publick good to maintain and encourage a loyal and conformable Clergy when there is no scarcity of such men or to nourish Shism and Schismaticks to say no worse Quest. 4. Had Images been lawfully used in places or exercise of Gods Worship yet whether was it not inhumane and unchristian in those Bishops and Councils who anathematized all that were of a contrary mind and ejected and silenced the Dissenters Ans. The bare lawfulness of any thing does not make it a fit matter for a Law but whatever is both lawful and useful if it be enjoyned by a just Authority ought to be obeyed by the Members of that Church where it is enjoyned and Dissenters ought to be censured according to the nature of the offence for without this there can be no government in the Church But why he particularly instances in Images I cannot tell unless it be to insinuate that the Ceremonies of our Church are of the same nature with them but our Church which retains Ceremonies removed Images as just matters of scandal and offence Quest. 5. Whether Christ who made the Baptismal Covenant the test and standing terms of entrance did set up Pastors over his Church to make new and stricter terms and Laws or to preserve Concord on the terms that he had founded it and to see that men lived in Vnity and Piety according to those terms and when they as Christs Ministers have received men on Christs terms whether they may excommunicate and turn them out of the Church again for want of more or onely for violating these Ans. The Baptismal Covenant is sufficient for our admission into the Church but Church-communion requires our submission to Church-authority as I have already shewn and to say that nothing more is required of us in a Society than what is necessary to our admission into it is contrary to the nature of all Societies in the World wherein the
the coming of his Kingdom is to pray for the enlargement of his Church which was never enlarged yet by the preaching of Schismaticks which divides and lessens the Church but will never enlarge it and therefore those who pray heartily Thy Kingdom come must take care to suppress all Schisms and Schismatical Preachers who are the great Obstacle to the enlargement of Christ's Kingdom Q. 3. Can you or any mortal man prove that others may not be allowed to differ from you in such things wherein you differ from the Apostolick Primitive Church Ans. I dare put the final decision of this Controversie upon this issue whether the Church of England or Dissenters come nearest to the Pattern of the Apostolick Primitive Church But though it should be granted that we do not use all those Ceremonies which were in use in the Apostles times and that we use some which were not then used yet this will not justifie Dissenters for the Church in all Ages has authority to appoint her own Rites and Ceremonies of Worship while they comply with that general Rule of Decency and Order but private Christians have no authority to dissent from the Church while she enjoyns nothing which is contrary to the divine Laws Q. 4. What if the old Liturgie and that new one compiled and presented to the Bishops at the Savoy 1661. had both passed and been allowed for Ministers to use as they judged most convenient might not several Ministers and Congregations in this case have used several Modes of Worship without breach of the Churches Peace or counting each other Schismaticks What if our King and Parliament should make a Law enjoyning Conformists and Nonconformists that agree in the same Faith and Worship for substance to attend peaceably upon their Ministry and serve God and his Church the best they can whether they use the Ceremonies and scrupled expressions of the Liturgie or no without uncharitable reflections or bitter censures upon one another in word or writing where would be the sinfulness of such a Law Ans. This is much like Mr. Humphrey's Project of uniting all Dissenters into one National Church by an Act of Parliament under the King as the accidental Head of the Church which is largely and particularly answered in the Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation The onely fault in short is this That it destroys the Unity of the Church by dividing Christians into distinct and separate Communions and lays a foundation of eternal Schisms and Emulations which no Laws can prevent As for Mr. Baxter's Liturgy I confess I do not see why men may not as well be allowed to pray ex tempore as to use a form of Prayer which was written ex tempore It argued very little modesty in those men to present such crude and indigested stuff to the Commissioners and it argues as little understanding and honesty in our Reconciler to plead for it Q. 5. Dissenters ought for the Peace and Vnity of the Church to yield as far as they can without sinning against God and their own Souls and should not Imposers do the like Were this one Rule agreed on what Peace and Vnity would soon follow And if the obligation to preserve the Churches Peace extend so far as to the Rulers and Governours of the Church there may be as much Schism in their setting up unnecessary Rules which others cannot submit to as in mens varying from such Rules Ans. I wonder what these men mean by the Dissenters yielding as if they stood upon equal terms with the Church and that the Church and Dissenters like two Equals to compose a difference and quarrel should yield and condescend to each other The Dissenters ought not to yield to but to obey the Chuâ—ch the Church ought not to yield to Dissenters but to govern prudently and charitably The Church has done her part as I have already proved and the onely quarrel is that Dissenters will not do theirs But what an admirable Rule is this to make Peace when they do not they cannot tell us how far the Dissenters will yield and what the Church must yield to make Peace but for ought I perceive this is a great secret and like to continue so I suppose the Dissenters aâ—ter all think they can yield nothing and the Church sees no reason to alter any thing and here is an end of this Project Indeed it appears that the designe is to perswade the Church to yield every thing all her unnecessary Rules which others cannot otherwise called will not submit to that is at least all the decent Ceremonies of Worship if not her own Authority too And the onely Argument he uses to prove that the Church ought to yield is because Dissenters ought to yield that is it is the duty of Governours to submit to their Subjects because it is the duty of Subjects to submit to their Governours I do not much care to be an Undertaker and yet I will venture for once to propose this Expedient for Peace Let the Dissenter as in duty bound yield as far as he can without sinning against God and his own Soul and the Church shall yield every thing else that is necessary to this desired Union This is but a reasonable Proposition not onely because Subjects ought first to yield but because the Church knows not what is necessary to be yielded till she sees how far the Dissenter can yield Indeed would the Dissenter yield as far as he can without sinning against God and his own Soul there would be no need for the Churches yielding any thing for the Church enjoyns nothing which is a sin against God or injurious to the Souls of men and there is great reason to believe that the Dissenters themselves do not think she does Both dissenting Preachers and Hearers when it serves a secular interest can hear the Common-Prayer receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper kneeling though the Minister officiate in a Surplice and I am so charitable as to hope that when they do so they do not believe that they sin in it and therefore all this they can yield without sinning against God or their own Souls and therefore this they ought to yield and then there will be little left for the Church to yield His two next Questions Whether the Worship of God cannot be performed decently and in order without these Ceremonies and whether if men must be without the Word and without Sacraments rather than without these Ceremonies which yet there is no necessity of nor is it the intention of the Church that it should be so as you have already heard this do not make them of equal necessity with divine Institutions have been already answered at large in the first Chapter Q. 8. Whether the constitution of the Church should not be set as much as may be for the incompassing of all true Christians and whether the taking of a narrower compass be not a fundamental errour
in its policy and will not always hinder its stability and increase Ans. The plain meaning of which Question is this Whether it be not the best way to sâ—cure the Church against her Popish Adversaries to unite all Protestants of what denomination soever into one body and whether it be not more probable that a little Church which has not many Members nor any worldly strength and interest to support it should be sooner destroyed than a numerous flourishing and potent Church In answer to which we may consider 1. It were very desirable that the Church could be so modelled as to receive all Protestants and Papists also into our Communion that the Christian Church might have no Enemies who call themselves Christians but this is impossible to be done while both of them recede so far from the Principles of Catholick Communion 2. The Unity and Peace of the Church within it self how small soever it be is a better security to it than Schisms and Discords in its own bowels and make the foundation of the Church as large as you please if the building be not closely united in all its parts it will fall with its own weight While men are possess'd with Schismatical Principles it is not enough to make a lasting Union to remove those particular things about which they differ at present for when men are given to quarrel they will never want occasions for it Take away every thing which our Dissenters quarrel at and you leave no remains of a Church of England and thus indeed you may enlarge the Church by pulling it down by plucking up all its Hedges and Fences that it shall be no longer an Inclosure but a Common A Church which makes no new Articles of Faith nor rejects any old one which sets up no idolatrous and superstitious Worship which observes all the Institutions of our Saviour and secures the decency of publick Worship and exercises her Authority for the government of Religious Societies and the acts of Discipline prudently and charitably has laid her foundations as wide as she can and as she lawfully may and those who will not embrace her Communion upon these terms must stay out 3. For at best this is nothing more than carnal Policy to think to secure the Church by our strength and numbers The preservation of the Church is not owing to an arm of flesh but to the protection of Christ. His Flock is but a little Flock but all the united strength and power of the World cannot destroy it the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it 4. When we speak of enlarging the Constitutions of the Church so as to incompass all true Christians we ought to have a principal regard to the Communion of the Catholick Church and those who take any other compass than what is consistent with Catholick Communion though they should inclose a whole Nation of Dissenters they would mightily straiten the foundations of the Church Those who reject all external Rites of Decency and Order as unlawful in Christian Worship and reform and enlarge the Church upon these Principles reject the Communion of all Christian Churches that ever were in the World for 1500 years and of most Churches at this day and if this should enlarge the Church in England the Catholick Church would gain little by it when it unchurches most other Churches in the World The Church of England is modelled by such Principles that she can hold Communion with all sound and Catholick Churches that are now or ever were in the World and all Catholick Churches may have Communion with her which is as large a compass as she ought to take for that Church is a little too large which takes in Schismaticks to her Communion and too narrow which excludes any true Catholick Churches Thus I have answered those Questions which our Reconciler borrowed from Mr. Baxter and Mr. Barret and to these he has added some of his own which I must consider also Q. 9. Whether Baptism being requisite for the new birth of Infants and their regeneration by the Holy Spirit it be not hardship to lay such an unnecessary Condition on the Parents who have power to offer or withold the Child from Baptism which shall cause them to deprive their Infants of so great a benefit may not such Children complain in the language of St. Cyprian Nos parvuli quid fecimus Ans. Now though this may be easily answered by observing that in danger of death Children are allowed to be baptized privately without the signe of the Cross and therefore no Child in ordinary cases can die without Baptism but by the great neglect and carelesness of Parents how scrupulous soever they are of the signe of the Cross yet since it is so much in fashion to ask Questions I know not why I may not ask a few Questions too which I would desire our Reconciler to resolve and they shall be but very short ones As 1. How do Children come to have any right to Baptism is it an original right of their own or in the right of their Parents 2. If Children have a right to Baptism onely in the right of their Parents how do the Children of Schismaticks who though they are baptized themselves yet have renounced the Communion of the Church come to have any right to be received into the Communion of the Church by Baptism 3. How is the Church obliged to receive those children into Communion by Baptism whom she certainly knows if their Parents live will be nurst up in a Schism 4. How is the Church more concerned to alter her Constitutions for the children of Schismaticks than for their Schismatical Parents When he has answered these Questions I will answer his in the mean time I will proceed Q. 10. If men conceive themselves obliged to do all they can for the securing and restoring of the civil Peace when it is once disturbed and would not stick to lay aside a civil if unnecessary Ceremony for the prevention of civil Broils and the effusion of Christian bloud how frivolous soever were the exceptions of the seditious against it must they not be as much obliged to do the like for the prevention of Ecclesiastical Confusions and the effusion of the bloud of precious and immortal Souls Ans. No doubt but they are But as a wise Prince ought not to part with that Power and Authority which is necessary to preserve Peace and to prevent civil Wars and Confusions for the future onely that he may allay and prevent some present Heats and Commotions no more ought the Church to heal a present Schism by laying a foundation for eternal Schisms The example of our late martyred Soveraign will teach all Princes to beware of the one and those infinite Schisms which followed the dissolution of the Church of England will convince any man how impossible it is to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church without the exercise of Ecclesiastical Authority Q. 11. Would not our
not unite us in one body and to countenance such Scruples as these by the least Indulgence would lay an eternal foundation of Schisms and therefore the Argument does not hold from the case of the Jews to the case of the Dissenters because forbearance in one case would cure the Schism in t'other it will increase it 5. This indulgence to the Jews in the oâ—servation of the Law of Moses was very consistent with the Apostolical authority in governing the Church and prescribing the Rules and Orders of Christian Worship but an Indulgence of Dissenters in the use of indifferent things in Religious Worship is not so Our Reconciler proves from St. Paul's condescension to the Jews that the Governours of the Church must not impose the use of any indifferent things in the Worship of God or that in charity to Dissenters they must alter such Rules and Canons when as often as there are any who scruple the lawfulness of them that is they must part with their Authority or for ever suspend the exercise of it which is much at one to govern Religious Assemblies and to prescribe the decent Rites of Worship when there are any persons so ignorant or so humoursome as to dispute their Authority or the lawfulness of what they command The absurdity of this Principle I have already shewn at large but yet if the Apostle had set an Example of such condescension as this I would readily submit as not daring to dispute against an Apostolical practice But if this forbearance which the Apostle perswades the believing Jews and Gentiles to exercise towards each other do not entrench upon the Apostolical Authority in governing Religious Assemblies then it is no President to the Governours of the Church to give up their Authority to Dissenters Now this is the plain case here The Dispute between Jews and Gentiles as you have already seen did not concern Christian Worship nor the government of Christian Assemblies but the exercise of mens private liberty and therefore St. Paul might grant and might exhort to this forbearance without injuring the Apostolical Authority which onely concerns the government of Christian Assemblies and prescribing the Orders and Rules of publick Worship And indeed it is very evident that St. Paul would never have indulged the scruples of Christians to the diminution of the Apostolical Power and Authority which he asserted as high as any of the Apostles He gave several directions for the government of Religious Assemblies for the regular exercise of their Spiritual Gifts in the Church of Corinth for speaking with Tongues and prophesying for their demeanour and deportment of themselves that men should pray and prophesie uncovered and women covered that women should not speak in the Church for their celebrating the Lords Supper and Love-feasts for their holy kiss besides his general directions that all things should be done decently and in order and after these particular directions reserves the final ordering of things to himself The rest will I set in order when I come This same Power he committed to Titus in Crete For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting Now if our Reconciler could shew that in such matters as these which concerned the exercise of Church-Authority the Apostles allowed private Christians to dispute their commands and gave indulgence to every one to do as they pleased who did not like to do what was commanded it would be somewhat to the purpose and might justly be thought a standing Rule for Church-Governours but the Apostles understood their Authority and the Primitive Christians their Duty better than so none disputed their commands in Rules of Prudence and Decency nor would they suffer their commands to be disputed without censure St. Paul commends the Corinthians upon this account I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you He commends them for their obedience to Titus and gives the Thessalonians this general Rule To know them which labour among you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them highly for their works sake And what that means we learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls And he commands the Thessalonians If any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed Which shews a true Apostolical Spirit and Power which we have no reason to doubt but he exercised in other cases as well as that which is there mentioned Now if this forbearance towards the believing Jews which St. Paul pleads for did not entrench upon Ecclesiastical Authority if it appears from other places that he did assert his Authority and require obedience and submission to it one would wonder how the Reconciler should hence prove that the Governours of the Church should give up their Authority to the Dissenters or which is all one not impose any thing which through ignorance or scrupulosity or from some worse cause they refuse to obey which St. Paul never did where he had authority to impose for as for his becoming all things to all men of which more in the next Chapter it referred onely to the exercise of a private liberty not of an Ecclesiastical Authority 6. I shall adde but one thing more that this forbearance which St. Paul pleads for was onely temporary It was a prudent Expedient for that time which was such a critical period as never happened before nor could ever haâ—pen again nor could continue long and therefore there was no such inconvenience in it but what might be dispensed with out of love and charity to weak Brethren The Jews who at that time believed in Christ could not presently be convinced that the Law of Moses was abrogated or out of date but St. Paul saw a time a coming which would effectually convince them of this when God should suffer the Romans to destroy their City and Temple and put a final end to the Jewish Worship which he seems to refer to when he tells them Let us therefore as many as be perfect thoroughly informed in the Christian Doctrine be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Now when we see a fair prospect of the end of such Disputes and have an Expedient in the mean time to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church certainly Christian charity obligeth all men to mutual forbearance But now the case of the Dissenters is quite different from this They raise Scruples and Disputes after above fifteen hundred years prescription against them and separate from the Church of England upon such Principles as condemn the best and the purest Churches of former Ages and if their Scruples be indulged it is impossible there should ever be any Peace
and Unity in the Christian Church for they may entertain and multiply such Disputes for ever with the same reason that they do now And therefore there is always reason to suppress those Scruples which câ—nnot be cured or outworn by time when Indulgence will not cure the Disease nor time remove it it must be stifled and suppressed by Ecclesiastical Authority Whether our Reconciler will think this a sufficient Answer to his fourth Chapter I cannot tell I am sure I do CHAP. VI. Containing an Answer to the fifth Chapter of the Protestant Reconciler or his Arguments taken from St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians HAving in the former Chapter so particularly answered our Reconciler's Arguments taken as he pretends from that condescension and forbearance which St. Paul exhorts the believing Jews and Gentiles to exercise towards each other in that great Dispute about the observation of the Law of Moses there seems little occasion to answer the rest of his Arguments from Scripture which every ordinary Reader may do from the Principles already laid down But that our Reconciler may not complain that he is not answered I am willing to undergo the trouble of a needless Answer if my Readers will be pleased to pardon it His first Argument is from St. Paul's discourse 1 Cor. 6. Where he condemneth the Corinthians because they went to law before the heathens which was a blemish to the Christian Faith and ministred scandal to the heathens and made them apt to think that Christians were covetous contentious and prone to injure one another c. Since therefore our Contentions about these lesser matters do minister far greater Scandal to the Atheist the Sceptick c. our Governours should rather suffer themselves to be restrained a little and even injured in the exercise of their just Power about things unnecessary than by their stiffness to assert and to exert it to continue to give occasion to so great a Scandal to the Christian Faith This is an admirable Argument if it be well considered The Christians must not go to law before Heathen Judges therefore the Governours of the Church must not prescribe the decent Rites and Ceremonies of Worship Yes you will say the Argument is good because the reason is the same to avoid Scandal Let us then suppose this was the reason if we will make these two cases parallel it must be thus To go to law with our Christian Brethren is scandalous and therefore must be avoided to prescribe the decent Rites and Ceremonies of Religion is scandalous and therefore Church-Governours must not exercise this Authority Will our Reconciler now stand to this Proposition No that he durst not affirm that the exercise of a just Authority in these matters is scandalous but the contentions about such Rites and Ceremonies are scandalous and therefore Governours must not insist on their Authority to prescribe them But now this way of stating it does not make the case parallel and therefore he cannot argue by any parity of Reason from one to the other St. Paul exhorts the Christians not to go to law before Heathen Judges because it was scandalous to the Christian Profession to do so and therefore if our Reconciler will make a parallel case he must instance onely in something which is scandalous and then by a parity of reason he may prove that to be forbidden also But neither the Authority to prescribe the decent Rites of Worship nor the prudent exercise of it is scandalous and therefore he cannot prove this to be forbid by any parity of Reason But contentions indeed in the Christian Church whatever be the cause of them are very scandalous and therefore all scandalous contentions are forbid as all scandalous going to law is For we must observe that though the Apostle in the seventh verse tells them There is utterly a fault among you because ye go to law one with another yet he does not absolutely forbid going to law as that signifies using some fair and lawful means of righting our selves when we suffer wrong even from our Christian Brethren but onely as it signifies going to law before the Vnbelievers or Heathen Magistrates for he requires and exhorts them to have their Causes heard and tryed before the Saints that is either the Governours of the Church or any other Christians whom by joynt consent they shall make Judges and Arbitrators among them But to go to law in those days did properly signifie to implead one another before the Heathen Tribunals because there were no other Magistrates at that time who had any legal authority and this going to law was scandalous Thus by a parity of Reason it is onely that contention which is scandalous that can be forbid and therefore for the Governours of the Church to assert their own Authority in ordering the Externals of Religion and for private Christians to defend the Authority of the Church though with some vehemence and earnestness is not scandalous for it is what they ought to do but to contend against the Authority of the Church is a very scandalous contention because it is against the Duty which private Christians owe to their Superiours and therefore whatever Scandal is given by such contentions is wholly owing to the scandalous Contenders that is to the Dissenters who scandalously oppose the Authority and Constitutions of the Church And therefore our Reconciler ought to have reproved the Dissenters and exhorted them to leave off their scandalous contentions not to lay a necessity on the Governors of the Church not to exercise their Authority which these men so scandalously oppose as we find the Apostle in this very place turns the edge of his reproof against those who did the wrong and gave occasion to these scandalous contentions Ye do wrong and defraud and that your brethren Contentions either about the Doctrine Discipline or Worship of the Christian Church are very scandalous but is this a good reason not to contend for the Faith not to oppose Heresies and Schisms because these Disputes represent Christianity as a very uncertain thing and give scandal and offence to Atheists and Infidels then the Orthodox Christians did very ill to meet in such frequent Councils to condemn Arianism and other pestilent Heresies Where there is a Scandal onely on one side and Contention is the onely Scandal this is a good reason against such contentious Disputes but when it is more scandalous to suffer Heresies in the Church to see Ecclesiastical Authority despised to permit any indecencies and disorders different customs and practices in Christian Worship than it is to contend for the Truth and for the Order and Uniformity of publick Worship we must not be afraid to contend for these things the onely scandalous contention being to contend against them His second Argument which he draws out to a great length is taken from 1 Cor. 7. where he tells us that the Apostle grants it is good for a man not to touch a wife