can worship God as well at home in their Closets or Families 3. Those who plead Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own The second Part is designed to correct some great Miscarriages in Publick Worship which some who profess to live in Communion with the Church of England are too notoriously guilty of Such as these 1. The forsaking the Communion of their Parish Churches without just cause for it 2. Irreverence in Worship 3. The neglect of a due attendance on the publick Prayers of the Church 4. The neglect of the Publick Administration of Baptism 5. That they neglect or refuse to submit their Children and Servants to Publick Instructions 6. That either never receive the Lord's Supper or very rarely III. The very naming these things must needs convince all Men who have any sense of Religion how seasonable this Discourse is for there was never any Age wherein there was more need of it And since Religion has so great an influence upon the government of Mens Lives the neglect or miscarriage of Publick Worship does not only tend to corrupt Mens Manners but has a very ill aspect upon Publick Affairs I confess it is a very ill time for any Man who prefers his own Ease and Quiet before the Service of God and of Religion to put forth to Sea in such a Storm and Hurricane when the passions of men are in such a ferment that they are hardly capable of coole thoughts and impatient of the gentlest Reproof and Opposition the most charitable Designs are misconstrued and nicknamed and whoever endeavours to convince Men of their Mistakes how careful soever he be to avoid all just occasion of offence is either a Railer or a Persecutor But these things I thank God do not much affect me and shall never affright me from any part of my Duty I value a good Name as much as other Men but am contented to be reproached for the sake of my Lord and Master who was Himself reproached and vilified by Scribes and Pharisees But that which I suppose will be thought most unseasonable at this time is what concerns the Dissenters from our present Establishment for this is now upon all occasions urged and thought a sufficient Answer to all such Discourses But can it be thought unseasonable to perswade Men not to forsake Christian Assemblies when it is grown so general a practice that many have lost all sense of the evil of it Is it not a fit season for the applications of the Physician when the Patient is dangerously sick of a mortal distemper Thanks be to our good God we still enjoy the Opportunities of Publick Worship and therefore have opportunity also of perswading and exhorting Men to return to the Communion of the Church How effectual indeed such Exhortations may be at such a time we cannot tell success in these matters does not so much depend upon the fittest season as upon the Grace of God and the good temper of the Ground where the Seed falls as our Saviour tells us in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13. However in case of necessity a thing must be done when and as it may and I think there never was greater necessity for this Exhortation than in our days But that which I perceive makes some Men think it so unseasonable at this time to perswade Men to return to the Communion of the Church of England is because they are either in great hope to pull down the Church of England or at least to open the Door a little wider to let those in who are now excluded by some scruples of Conscience about some indifferent Rites and Ceremonies used in our Worship As for the first of these I wish with all my Soul that such seasonable Exhortations as these may prove very unseasonable for their Designs that it may bring Men to their Wits and make them consider what they are a doing when they go about to pull down the best Church in the World It may be very unseasonable indeed for them but it would be a very unseasonable and despicable piece of Folly and Modesty for all those who favour Sion to stand still and say nothing while they accomplish their Designs and bring their wicked Devices to pass As for the second sort who only desire to see the Church Doors a little wider to receive more honest and devout Men into our Communion I cannot imagine why they should conceive such Exhortations unseasonable at this time for are they afraid that such Discourses should so far satisfy all Men in our Communion that there should be no need of any alteration Truly I have no great hopes to see such blessed effects of the wisest and most convincing Discourses and if such a thing ever should be certainly no good men would be troubled at it since the great End they designed viz. To see all Men return to the Communion of the Church would be as effectually obtained and it is much more desirable to see Men rectify their own Mistakes than to alter wholsom Constitutions wherein there is always great danger and very seldom any great success witness the miserable Confusions of the last Age. Or do they think it impossible to vindicate the Church of England from unjust Imputations to wipe off that dirt which is cast upon her by her inveterate Enemies to discover the evil and danger of Schism and Separation without obstinately adhering to every Punctilio and opposing all reasonable Condescentions to the weakness or ignorance of others I am sure there is no consequence in this and it is a great Argument that they censure and revile Men before they know them We know how to distinguish between the lawfulness and necessity of things between some less material Circumstances of Worship and the Peace and Communion of the Christian Church Possibly the most zealous and most learned Defenders of the Church are most ready to any Reasonable Compliances when-ever Authority shall see fit We have a late Instance of it in an excellent Person than whom possibly no Man ever writ better for the Church nor ever hinted more reasonable and equal Proposals in the behalf of Dissenters The truth is it is as absolutely necessary to dispose Mens minds to Peace and Union by good Arguments and pious and earnest Exhortations as it is for Publick Authority to relax the Terms of Communion to give ease to some doubting and scrupulous Consciences for while Men have such superstitious Conceits that God is either pleased or displeased with doing or not doing some indifferent things in themselves considered with wearing or not wearing a Surplice or using or not using the Cross in Baptism when Men think that God will be angry with them for doing that which he hath no where forbid and that we must do nothing in the external Ministries of Religion but what he has expresly commanded and then I confess I do not see how we can perform any one Duty
help them but on the terms of the Covenant and so Church-Alterations came on and the Parliament thought it was better have no Bishops than such as did prevail against them This is fair warning and let the Church and Churchmen have a care how they oppose Rebellion any more 4. Every Miscarriage of the Bishops or Clergy or every thing that is thought a Miscarriage tho it be none is presently made an Occasion of Separation as if so be the Constitution of any Church were ever the worse because some of the Ministers of it neglect their Duty abuse their Power or do some things which do not please every Man's Humour As if the Miscarriages of some of the Ministers of Religion which will sometimes happen under the best Government in the World would justify Men in pulling down an Apostolical Church modelled according to the Pattern of Primitive Government and Practice And yet nothing is more common than to see Men forsake the Church and run to Conventicles if their Minister do not in every thing comply with their Desires if he be so ill-bred as to reprove them for their Sins or so stiff as not to make the Laws and Constitutions of the Church yield and bend to their Humours I suppose no Man will think that such Persons separate out of tenderness of Conscience who date their Separation from some little pet quarrel or peevish fit Nor fifthly are those very consciencious Men who separate from the Church out of Interest and the perswasions and importunities of some dissenting Friends who forsake the Church for the sake of a good Trade or a rich Wife or in hope of some great temporal Advantage unless it be a sign of a tender Conscience to make Gain Godliness not to serve Christ but our own Bellies I do but just mention these things which tho I am sure are great Truths and necessary for all Men to consider who would try their honesty and sincerity in this Matter of Separation yet I fear the very naming of them will be very offensive to guilty Persons who when they feel their Consciences smart are very apt to revenge themselves upon their kind and faithful Monitors Fifthly I would desire those Persons who plead Conscience for their Separation from the Church of England to consider whether ever they impartially and throughly examined the Reasons of their Separation We must be fully satisfied that it is unlawful to communicate in such a Church before Separation from it can be lawful for it is as great a sin to separate from a pure Church as it is to hold Communion with a corrupt Church and a truly honest Man is equally careful to avoid every sin and is as much afraid of the sin of Separation as the sin of a corrupt and idolatrous Worship Now when we consider how few there are that do this and how much fewer there are that are capable of doing it it is too plain an Argument that most Men separate from the Church without knowing any just cause and reason for it as to explain this Matter a little more at large First How few are those who do examine the Reasons of their Separation Not but that there are a great many who furnish themselves with some popular Talk against the Bishops and Forms of Prayer and Ceremonies c. but to examine the reasons of Things is very different from being able to make some slight Objections which have been answered an hundred Times For to examine things is impartially to weigh and consider both parts of the Question to avoid no difficulty to consider what is said for and against Separation and to hold the ballance so equal that Interest and Affection do not turn the Scales instead of Reason Now there are two great Faults which Men are commonly guilty of in this Matter First That they do not carefully examine both parts of the Question possibly they read such Books as are writ against the Church of England and so justify a Separation but do not with the same care read those Books which prove the sinfulness of Separation and justify the Communion of the Church of England They have the Arguments for the Church of England only at second hand from those who pretend to answer them but never look into the Books themselves And I do not wonder at this rate of examining that Men continue Separatists after all that can be said against it for it is rare to find any one Argument against Separation or for Communion with our Church fairly represented by those who pretend to answer it who commonly pick out such things as are least material or do not concern the main Controversy and make a great noise and flourish with seeming to say something which is nothing to the purpose but silently pass over what they know they cannot answer Now whoever separates from the Church without a thorough and impartial examination of the Reasons of it tho he should happen to be in the right is yet guilty of Schism that is tho his separation in it self considered be no Schism because there may be sufficient Reasons to justify such a Separation yet this being more than he can be presumed to know he contracts the guilt of Schism for he separates without cause who does not know the cause of his Separation and he cannot know whether there be a just cause for it who separates before he understands what is said on both sides as we all reckon that Man perjured who swears nothing but what is true but without knowing it to be true Secondly Another great Fault is That Men's Minds are commonly byassed by some Interest and Affection which weighs much more than any contrary Reasons can do by one means or other they fall in love with Schism and Separation and then set their wits on Work to defend it and those must be mighty evident and powerful demonstrations which can force Men to believe that which they have no mind to believe If it be objected That this is a Fault common to both sides There are few Men which side soever they are of but are greatly inclined to favour it and to help out a weak Argument which is too light with some grains of Allowance I Answer Possibly with most Men it may be so and in many cases it may be so far from being a Fault that it is both innocent and useful and an Argument of great Vertue and Goodness but the Fault and the Danger is when the Byass stands the wrong way As for Instance a good Man is as strongly inclined to believe that there is a God and to wish and hope that there is one as a bad Man is to believe that there is no God and to wish that there were none Here are Inclinations and Prejudices on both sides and yet it is a vertue in a good Man and a great sin in a bad Man because the one is a natural Byass and Inclination and a sign of Vertue the other
Remains of its antient Piety and Devotion which was buried in the midst of Rubbish and Idolatrous Superstitions Consider then what the proper work of a Reformer must be to pull up Root and Branch to pull up the Wheat with the Tares This would be not to reform a corrupt Church but to make a new one This would be to cut off the sound with the rotten Members and is like pulling down a well constituted Government to correct Abuses I pray God preserve us from such Reformers as these In a Word if these Men who accuse the Church of England of Popery can shew any thing practised among us which is peculiar to Popery which cannot be justified by the Precepts and Examples of Scripture and the first and purest Churches I will heartily joyn with them in calling for a Reformation In the mean time I would desire them to consider that they do Popery too much Reputation by giving up the Church of England to it and make the name of Popery a less formidable thing when it is thus indifferently applied to a corrupt and to a reformed Church I wish with all my Soul they were half so free from Popish Principles and Practices in matters of Civil Government as the Church of England is from a Popish Worship PART II. Concerning those Disorders and Miscarriages which some men are guilty of in Church-Communion CHAP. I. Concerning those who ordinarily forsake the Communion of their Parish Churches HAving discours'd thus largely of those who wholly separate themselves from Christian Communion who either communicate with no Church or forsake the Communion of the Church of England I now proceed to correct those Miscarriages which some who profess themselves of our Communion are too notoriously guilty of And I shall first begin with those who ordinarily forsake the Communion of their Parish Churches This has been an old and inveterate evil of long use and practice especially in this great and populous City and it may be thought a daring and fruitless attempt to oppose it however I have this satisfaction that no man can reasonably suspect that I serve any other interest by this but the interest of Peace and Order and the better edification of the Christian Church which must reasonably engage all men the more impartially to consider what I shall now offer which shall be comprized under these two General Heads First Our Obligations to Parochial Communion 2. An Answer to some Objections against it First Our Obligations to Parochial Communion which will appear in these particulars 1. That Parochial Communion is in it self an excellent Institution for the more regular Instruction and Government of the Christian Church We do not indeed pretend that the division of an Episcopal Church into several Parishes with their distinct Pastors set over them is in a strict sense of Divine Institution for Christ and his Apostles did not by an express Law determine the Bounds and Extent of Bishopricks much less of Parochial Communions nor indeed was it possible to do it in those dayes when the greatest number of people were either Iews or Heathens Nor was there any need of this it being at last an acknowledged Principle among Dissenters themselves and those of the greatest note That the directive Light of Nature is sufficient to guide us in such things as these the times and seasons of Church Assemblies the order and decency wherein all things are to be transacted in them the bounding of them as to the number of their members and places of habitation so as to answer the ends of their institution And therefore if this Parochial Communion be of great use to the edification of Christians it not only justifies the Wisdom of the Church in the first Institution of it but severely condemns those who break and violate so useful an Institution The whole Christian Church is but one Body and Society of Christians united to Christ who is the Head of this Body and therefore were it possible should all worship their common Father and Saviour together but since the number of Christians and their great distance from each other will not admit this they are divided into less Societies for the more convenient Administration of holy Offices and the exercise of Christian Discipline and Government How can any thing in a Christian Nation be more useful for all the ends of Church Society than the distribution of Christians into Parochial Communions To enjoy the liberty of publick Assemblies near our own dwellings without being forced to seek for it at a distance would have been thought a great priviledge in former Ages like the Heavenly Manna falling round about the Tents of the true Israelites To have a fixed Pastor who is particularly entrusted with the care of your Souls to whom you may at all times freely resort and disclose your spiritual wants whose neighbourhood and conversation may contract a particular friendship and familiarity and beget a mutual confidence and endearment is quite a different thing from some publick and general exhortations and the reason why men do not more value the benefit and advantage of a Parochial Guide is because generally they make so little use of him This is the truest emblem of Catholick Unity when we hold personal Communion with those Christians who are our neighbours and so in the nearest disposition for it for our obligation to Christian Communion extends it self to all Christian Societies which live in the Communion of the Church and to pick up a Church for constant and Ordinary Communion here and there from stragling members who live in remote and distant places is to make a Schismatical difference between Christians as if all Christians were not of the same body nor fit for personal Communion and though forsaking our Parish Churches for other Churches in the same Communion be not so formal a Schism yet it has some tendency that way it being a forsaking the Communion of our neighbour Christians and Parochial Guide There is no other Rule that I know of for personal Communion but cohabitation or dwelling together in the same neighbourhood for then we communicate with the Catholick Church when we communicate with that part of it wherein we live but when without just cause we ordinarily forsake the Communion of Parochial Assemblies we disturb the most convenient Order of Church-Communion and make a Rent and Schism in the Church as total Separation makes a Schism from the Church Neighbour Christians have the most frequent occasions of conversing with each other and therefore many great ends of Christian Communion are best attained among them they may exhort and reprove one another and provoke unto love and good works they may watch over one anothers souls and when they observe each others miscarriages which they cannot avoid observing when they live so near and converse so often together they may apply such timely remedies as may help up those who fall or prevent the fall of those who trip and stumble and
Communion very nauseous and unpleasant to honest minds or very dangerous As to name some of the hardest 1. The case of a vicious and scandalous Minister who like Eli's Sons makes the Sacrifices of God to be abhorred I am in great hope that the number of these men is not great though one were too much and yet it is not to be expected that in so great a body of men there should be none Let the enemies of God and of Religion triumph in this and encrease their numbers while we silently lament it But when this is the case I think every good man should apply himself to his Superiours and endeavour to remove him if this cannot be done or is too long delayed he must learn to distinguish between the man and his Office a bad man but yet a legal Minister and though he be unworthy of so holy a Profession yet the efficacy of his Ministry does not depend upon his personal qualifications but on the Institution of Christ. The lewdness of Eli's Sons though it gave great offence and scandal to the Israelites yet it did not make them forsake the Altar of God The Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviours dayes were a vile sort of people but yet he does not command his Disciples to withdraw from their Communion but not to follow their examples The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do but do not after their works for they say and do not And upon these principles St. Austin disputes against the Donatists and will not allow the personal miscarriages of Ministers to be a just cause of Separation and yet if in such cases a serious Christian with prudence and modesty and with as little noise and scandal as may be preserving the Communion of the Church should joyn in Communion with a neighbouring Minister I should not see much reason to blame him for it is no Schism while he continues in the Communion of the Church and only forsakes the Communion of his Parish Minister upon too just an offence 2. The case of an ignorant Minister and I hope this case is not very frequent neither at least not such gross ignorance as shall make a man utterly uncapable of such a function and yet it cannot be expected that all the Parishes in England should be supplyed with Learned Preachers when there are so many Livings that will hardly find bread for a Family But we must consider that our Church has made excellent provision in this case has taken care that the instruction of her Children shall not wholly depend upon the personal abilities of the Minister Our Liturgy is the same whatever the Ministers abilities be which contains a very excellent form of Worship and Administration of Sacraments the Catechism which he is bound to teach the Children contains the substance of Christian Religion in few and plain words and the Homilies which are appointed to be read are very useful and pious Sermons upon most of the material heads of Religion that though the Minister be no great Scholar if he be but honest and diligent in observing the Rules and Directions of the Church his people cannot want sufficient Instructions And this one instance shews the great necessity and advantage of publick Liturgies and Homilies which secures the decent performance of Religious Worship and the instruction of the people in sound and wholsome doctrine notwithstanding the personal defects and inabilities of the Minister what case such poor Parishes were in when these provisions were cryed down as Popish and Antichristian I cannot guess 3. The case of an erroneous and heretical Minister who mixes poison with his doctrine and corrupts the plainness and simplicity of the Christian Religion and can any Christian who is bound to take care of his soul think it his duty to expose himself to the perpetual danger and temptation of erroneous doctrines In answer to which consider 1. That people are very ill Judges of errors and heresie the most antient and most useful doctrines of Christianity have sometimes been thought so and when we have so many men intent and zealous to seduce our people it is an easie matter to whisper the danger of being infected by a corrupt and heretical doctrine Some think every thing heresie but Antinomianism to perswade men to a good life to tell them that there are certain conditions annexed to the Gospel Covenant without the performance of which we shall not be saved that not an idle and notional but an active and working faith justifies that we are saved by Christ not as a Proxy who has done all for us but as a Priest and Sacrifice and Mediator who has expiated our sins by his death and sealed the Covenant of Grace in his blood and now powerfully intercedes for us with his Father and sends his Spirit into the World to be a principle of a new life in us these and such like doctrines are by some men reproached with the name of heresie and upon their authority believed to be so by others and yet if men must withdraw their Communion for the sake of such heresies as these they must forsake the most useful Preachers and most Orthodox Churches and therefore 2. The charge of heresie must be very plain and notorious before it can justifie our breach of Communion If men deny any plain Article of the Christian Faith it is dangerous to intrust the care of our souls with them for they are at best but Wolves in Sheeps cloathing but to suspect men of heresie when there is no evidence of it is it self a very great fault and difference of judgement and opinion about some less matters in Religion which we are alwayes like to differ about while we see in part and know only in part may exercise mutual forbearance but will not excuse men from the guilt of such causless Separations 3. Where the presumptions are very strong we must appeal to Church Governours to detect his errors and heresies if he have any and to secure the flock from such apparent danger Private Reformations usually prove more fatal than the mischiefs which they are designed to remedy and what I said in the case of an ignorant Minister is very applicable to this the publick Prayers and administration of Sacraments and Catechism cannot be corrupted by the greatest Heretick if he observe his Rule and this secures the purity of Worship and wholsome instructions and as for his Sermons it only concerns men to be wary what doctrines they receive from him to take nothing upon trust but to search the Scriptures whether such things be so Such a course as this will maintain good order in the Church without any danger to our faith 4. When the bounds of Parishes and the number of people is too large for Parochial Communion This has often been made a pretence to justifie separate Meetings because the number of people is much greater in many Parishes
afraid to speak evil of Dignities that is who did wilfully and obstinately oppose the Apostles of Christ who were invested with his Authority answerable to the Sin of those in the Jewish Church who set themselves up against Moses and Aaron and reproached the Rulers of the People and it is expresly called doing presumptuously not to hearken to the Priest that standeth to minister before the Lord. And therefore these Men are said to have forsaken the right way and are gone astray And whoever compares this Chapter with St. Iude's Epistle will find that St. Peter and S. Iude speak of the same Men for their Characters do exactly agree and of them S. Iude tells us these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit And thus in the first Ages of Christianity no Men ever separated from the Communion of the Church but such gross Hereticks the several Sects of Gnosticks of whom Irenaeus and Epiphanius give us a large and particular account and for this reason the name Heresy which properly signifies a Sect or Separation came to be applied to corrupt and Heretical Doctrines which in those days were the only cause of Separations And we may find some remains of this ancient and original use of these words in after-ages for though Schism commonly was used in Church-Writers to signify Separation from Church-Communion and Heresy to signify false Doctrine yet separation from the Christian Church though it were only ocasioned upon a Dispute about Discipline without any other error in matters of Faith was called Heresy Thus St. Cyprian I remember calls the Schism of Novatianus Haereticam Pravitatem Heretical Impiety and in answer to that question of Antonianus Quam Haeresin Novatianus introduxisset What Heresy Novatianus was the Author of he alledges nothing but the breach of the Peace and Unity of the Church and says That we ought not curiously to enquire what he teaches who is out of the Church for whatever he be he is no Christian who is not in the Church of Christ. And thus Felicissimus and his adherents are called Haeretica Factio an Heretical Faction though the Schism was occasioned only by a Dispute of Discipline concerning the restoring the Lapsed to the Peace and Communion of the Church So that in St. Cyprian's time Separation from the Church without any other Error in the Fundamentals of Faith was called Heresy And though Heresy did most frequently signify corrupt Doctrine yet a meer error in Doctrine was not thought a compleat formal Heresy without such Wilfulness and Obstinacy as ended in Separation And therefore St. Austin describes Hereticks to be those who hold some false and corrupt Doctrines and when they are reproved in order to reduce them to truth and sobricty of Iudgment do obstinately resist and refuse to correct their poisonous and damnable Opinions but persist in defending them Thus they become Hereticks and going out of the Church become its enemies c. And this I take to be the meaning of this Father in that famed Saying Errare possum Hereticus esse nolo though he might err yet he would not be an Heretick that is that he would not so obstinately persist in the defence of any private Opinion in opposition to the received Doctrine of the Christian Church as to break the Communion of the Church upon that account Now if this were the Case that besides those Divisions among Christians in the same Communion which are called Schisms by St. Paul there were formal Separations from the Church of a much more heinous nature which none in those days were guilty of but those who renounced the purity of the Christian Doctrine if such Separations were always condemned in the Primitive Church as Heresy and Apostacy from Christianity though such Separatists were not guilty of any fundamental Error in Doctrines of Faith I see not what Dr. Owen gains by proving that Separation is no Schism when it appears to be a much greater evil And indeed if the Doctor will allow Schism to be a great evil when it signifies no more than Contentions and Quarrels in a Church any one would reasonably think that Separation from a Church should be a much greater Evil for Contentions and Quarrels are then come to their heighth and perfection when they make Friends Brethren and Confederates part company and it seems strange that less Quarrels should be a greater Evil than greater Quarrels unless he thinks it is with Schism as under the Law it was in the case of Leprosy that when the whole Body was over-spread with it the Leper was pronounced clean But the most material Inquiry here is What is a Publick Assembly for Religious Worship for our Dissenters meet as publickly now as the Church of England and therefore cannot be charged with forsaking Christian Assemblies and in times of Persecution the Primitive Christians met very privately in small numbers or in the night or very early in the morning to avoid the discovery of their Persecutors and yet such private and clandestine Meetings were not really Conventicles but publick Church-Assemblies Which is a plain Proof that it is not numbers nor meeting openly and publickly which makes a Church-Assembly but holding such Assemblies by the Publick Authority of the Church and in union with it As in the State when a great many People meet together without Publick Authority it is a Riot not a Legal Assembly Publick Places of Worship allowed by the Publick Authority of the Church is one thing which makes the Assemblies of Christians publick For the Primitive Christians allowed no separate Assemblies no Congregations but what met in the publick Church and therefore we find an express Canon in the Council of Gangra That if any shall take upon him out of the Church privately to preach at home and making light of the Church shall do those things which belong only to the Church without the presence of the Priest and the leave and allowance of the Bishops let him be Accursed So that Publick Worship is that Worship which is performed in Publick Churches or in case of necessity in other places by the allowance and appointment of the Publick Authority of Church and State and Separate Meetings which have no such allowance and authority must be Schismatical Conventicles unless they can prove the lawfulness and necessity of such a Separation for indeed nothing can make a Separation lawful but what makes it necessary II. This following Treatise consists of two Parts the first concerns those who wholly or for the most part absent themselves from the Publick Assemblies of Christians and these are of three sorts 1. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies out of prophaneness for want of a due sense of any Religion or in contempt of it 2. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies for want of a due sense of the necessity and advantage of Publick Worship who do not go to Church because they think they
is against Nature and the effect of Vice Thus it is here the Laws of the Gospel which so strictly require Christian Love and Unity as a most necessary Duty and essential to the Christian Profession clap a Byass upon true Christians Minds which strongly inclines them to maintain and preserve the Peace and good Unity of the Christian Church where they can preserve it without an apparent injury to common Christianity and therefore this makes them put favourable and candid Constructions upon every thing and not make a breach without absolute necessity and if they should mistake here it is an Error on the right side but an inclination to Separation is a false Byass contrary to the Genius and Spirit of the Gospel which inclines Men to Peace and Union and is usually the effect of some vicious indisposition of Mind and if Men's Reason and Judgment be perverted by such an unchristian Inclination it will aggravate their Guilt and Crime and therefore it greatly concerns all Men who love their Souls and would avoid the Guilt of Schism not to be in love with Separation which will so blind their Minds that they shall never discover how sinful and causless it is nor ever be able to deliver themselves from it with all their reading and study and it is a mighty suspicion that Men are in love with Separation when they are so industrious to hunt for Doubts and Scruples and little cavilling Objections which all the lovers of Peace and Unity at the first Proposal see the folly and weakness of while such learned Rabbies are held fast in the Cobwebs of their own spinning Secondly As there are great numbers of Men who separate from the Church of England without an impartial Examination of the Reasons of their Separation so there are a great many who are not capable of such Inquiries and yet they separate also at all adventures as others do A great many such Men there are who live by their Labour and have not time for such Studies or it may be cannot read or however were never used to the Art of thinking and reasoning and therefore may be easily mistaken in such Matters while they rely upon their own Judgments of things that unless we think it enough to justify such Men that they have been taught to call the Bishops Antichristian and our Ministers Baal's Priests and our Common Prayer the Mass-Book and kneeling at the Sacrament Idolatry and the Surplice a Rag of the Whore of Babylon and such kind of Rhetorical Figures which signify nothing but to make a noise and scare ignorant People These Men must be acknowledged to be guilty of Schism in separating from a Church without knowing any just reason for their Separation I can think but of two or three things that can be answered to this First That tho they are ignorant themselves yet they are directed by wise and good Men who understand the reason of these things Secondly That this Objection does as well lie against those ignorant People who live in Communion with the Church of England as against those who separate for they both understand the Reasons of things alike And thirdly That according to this rate of arguing such Men are not capable of chusing any Religion but must take the Religion of their Country as they find it whether it be Paganism Popery or Mahometism As for the first That tho they are ignorant themselves they follow the direction of wise and good Men who know the Reasons of these things I would ask them this Question who made these wise and good Men their Guides and how do they know that they have any reason themselves for what they do especially since other as wise and good Men say that they have none and such Persons are as unable to know who is in the right as they are to discern the Controversy and yet they do in a manner determine the Controversy by chusing Separatists for their Guides and rejecting those whom the Providence of God and the Laws of the Land have appointed to be their Guides It is plain such Men as these want Guides to direct them and yet in such Controversies as these know no more whom to chuse for their Guides than which side to take and therefore it is much the safest for them because it will admit of the best excuse if they should err to follow the direction of those Guides whom the Providence of God has provided them for if they chuse Guides of their own and heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears and thereby miscarry they must blame themselves but will have no Defence and Apology to make at the Tribunal of God As for the second That this Objection equally lies against those ignorant People in our Communion as against those who separate for they both understand the reasons of things alike The Answer is very plain viz. there is not such a particular knowledg of things required to live in Communion with a Church wherein we were baptized and educated as there is to separate from it for Separation condemns the Communion of that Church from which we separate as unlawful and sinful it divides the Unity of the Church which when it is causeless is a very great sin and therefore before Men venture to separate they ought to be very well assured that the Communion of such a Church is sinful which they cannot do without a particular knowledg of those things which they condemn as sinful and the reasons why they do so To hold Communion with the Church wherein we live is always the surer side when there are not such notorious Corruption as the meanest Man who is honest and sincere may understand for Christian Communion is a great and necessary Duty and is not to be forsaken for every trifle and when the justification of Separation is spun out into such a thin and airy Controversy as requires a very Metaphysical Brain to understand it honest plain Men who are strangers to such Subtilties should leave learned Men to wrangle among themselves and keep close to the Communion of the Church till they could produce some such Reasons against it as all honest Men may understand as well as themselves but this will be better understood by the Answer to the Objection which is this Thirdly That according to this rate of arguing such Men are not capable of chusing any Religion but must take the Religion of their Country as they find it whether it be Paganism Popery or Mahometism but this is a great Mistake for the difference between Paganism and Christianity between Popery and Reformed Christianity is much more plain and discernible and more easily understood by the most illiterate People than the Dispute about Ceremonies Church-Government and Discipline and therefore those who are not capable of judging in these Matters may yet be able to chuse the Christian Religion and to reject both Paganism and Popery The truth of Christianity does not depend upon some nice
than can be contained in one Church The complaint is too true and worthy of the care of publick Authority to redress it but this is no just reason for Separation though it be a reason for such persons who are shut out of their own Parish Churches to go to others where they can be received for where publick Authority has not made sufficient provision for Parochial Communion men who love their souls must provide for themselves in the Communion of the Church CHAP. II. Concerning Irreverence in Worship ANother great miscarriage which many professed Christians are guilty of is an irreverent performance of Religious Worship if that may be called Religious Worship which is not attended with all the solemn expressions of reverence and devotion There are so many instances of this that the very naming of them will be thought sharp and satyrical There are but few Christians who put on that true gravity and seriousness of looks and behaviours as becomes the presence of God and the solemnity of Religious Worship You shall see some gazing about them with a roving and wandring eye as if they came only to see and to be seen to observe every new face or new dress and garb and therefore too often set themselves out with that fantastick gaiety which more becomes a Play-house than a Church You shall see others talk or whisper or laugh to the great offence and scandal of all serious and devout minds Others instead of worshipping God sleep away the Prayers or Sermon or both as if they were not concerned in either It is possible indeed for very devout men sometimes to be surprized with sleep but it is a great indecency when ever it is so and requires great care to prevent it in our selves and others and is a great contempt of God and of his Worship when it grows into a custom and men as naturally dispose themselves to a sleeping posture as if it were the design of their coming to Church You shall see others sit all the time of Divine Service which would be thought a very great rudeness when we put up a Petition to an earthly Prince this was unknown in the ancient Church wherein for some Ages they did not so much as sit either while the Scriptures were read or expounded and Eusebius relates a famous Story of Constantine the first Christian Emperour that when he made a Speech to him in his own Palace concerning the Sepulchre of our Saviour he heard it standing though it were very long and would not be perswaded to sit down saying That it was not fit to consult our ease while we hear any discourses concerning God and that it was more agreeable to piety to hear Religious discourses standing And what would that Religious Emperour have thought to have seen Christians in publick Assemblies pray sitting And indeed I have often thought what should be the reason of that universal practice of sitting when we sing Psalms for Psalms of praise and thanksgiving are as much the worship of God as Prayer and therefore equally require a posture of Devotion Thus uncovering the head has at least among Christians been alwayes accounted an act of Reverence as pulling off the Shooes was among the Eastern Nations and therefore becomes the presence of so great a Majesty But I shall not take notice of every particular instance of such miscarriages but endeavour to convince you of the great evil and undecency of such irreverence in Worship and that from these two considerations 1. The nature of Religious Worship especially considered as publick 2. From the peculiar presence of God and holy Angels in Christian Assemblies 1. From the nature of Religious Worship especially considered as publick Now Religious Worship consists in a great awe and reverence for the Divine Majesty when we are possest with a great sense of that infinite distance which is between God and us and our constant dependence on him which makes us approach his presence with great humility of mind with a profound admiration of his infinite perfections with thankful acknowledgments of his many and great blessings bestowed on us and with souls devoted to his service and obedience hence Religion is so often called the fear of God because Religion is founded in a great awe and reverence for God So that where there is no true reverence of God there is no true Worship of him and where ever the mind is thoroughly affected with this religious fear it will discover it self in our words and looks and actions Our souls have the government of our outward man and our passions discover themselves in our looks and behaviour It requires very great art either to conceal those passions which we have or to counterfeit those which we have not for there is such a sympathy between our souls and bodies that they powerfully affect each other and our wise Maker so contrived our frame that though the secret motions of our minds cannot be seen yet they discover themselves by those external and visible impressions they make on our bodies without which mankind could never know one another nor have any pleasure or security in mutual conversation For no wise man cares to converse with those who can so artificially diguise themselves that you can never know what their inward resentments are Which shews that according to the frame of our natures an inward reverence for God will shew it self in external actions and therefore that it ought to do so for as God has united the soul and body into one man so he has united their motions and actions too without which there can be no one perfect act of Religion or Vertue to worship God with the body without the soul is hypocrisie to worship God with the soul without the body is either impossible because our inward passions will discover themselves by some external signs when we have no design nor interest to conceal them or is very lame and imperfect and unbecoming this state of life We must glorifie God both with our bodies and with our spirits which are Gods he made them both and united them for his service and for the same reason redeemed them both with the blood of his Son But we shall better see the necessity of this by considering the nature of publick Worship for publick Worship consists in publick signs of honour no man has a Window into our souls to discover the secret devotion of our hearts and therefore visible Worship must be expressed in visible actions in the external reverence of our words and gestures and behaviour that is in such actions as express the great humility of our minds that great sense we have of the infinite Majesty of God and our own meanness and worthlessness and all those passions and affections which become Divine Worship and therefore rude and unmannerly approaches to God such as would not become the Majesty of an earthly Prince whatever inward devotion we may pretend to is not external and
forsaking the assembling of themselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching Which at least supposes that to forsake the Assemblies of Christians does greatly dispose Men to a final Apostacy as appears from the following verses wherein he urges the great danger of Apostacy which had been nothing to his purpose had not separation at least been the beginning of it But if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Vengeance and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversary He that despised Moses ' s Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that trampleth under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace The truth is whoever carefully examines the state of the Apostolical-Churches according to that account we find of them in the Writings of the Apostles and I may add of the succeeding Ages from the report of the most Primitive and Apostolical Fathers will find that none but Apostates from Christianity by Apostates not meaning those who wholly renounced the Name and Profession but those who renounced the Truth of Christian Doctrine actually separated from the Communion of the Church There were Schisms and Divisions in the Church of Corinth which S. Paul reproves them for but we do not find that they actually separated into distinct Communions but contended amongst themselves about the preference of several Apostles which of them was greatest Every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas or Peter and I of Christ. And this seems to be the Case in the second Schism of Corinth in the time of Clemens Romanus who writ a Letter to them in the name of the Church of Rome perswading them to Peace Unity and Order But besides these Schisms in the Church which S. Paul makes a great sign of carnality For are ye not carnal for whereas there is among you Envying and Strife and Divisions are ye not carnal and walk as Men For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos are ye not carnal There were also Schisms from the Church as we learn from St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy For of this sort are they who creep into Houses who kept Secret and Clandestine Meetings and lead captive silly Women laden with Sins led away with divers Lusts ever learning but never able to come to the knowledg of the Truth Now as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the Truth that is they opposed themselves against the Apostles of Christ who were the only Teachers of the true Religion and were that to the Christian Church which Moses was to the Iews Which plainly signifies that they set themselves up against the Apostles and gathered Churches in opposition to them Of such Separatists St. Iohn speaks whom he calls Antichrists they went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us Where the Apostle expresly affirms that they went out from them that is forsook the Christian Assemblies by which he proves that they were not of them i. e. that they did not belong to the same Body and Society but had entertained such Doctrines as were destructive to the Christian Faith for otherwise they would not have separated from the Christian Church Now this necessarily supposes that Christian Communion is so indispensible a Duty that no Man can causlesly separate from the Christian Church without at least bringing his Christianity into question that nothing can reasonably tempt Men to a Separation but their renouncing some great Article of the Christian Faith nor can any thing justify a Separation but such Corruptions as destroy the Faith once delivered to the Saints for otherwise there had bin no force in the Apostle's Argument to prove that they were corrupt in the Faith from their Separation They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us So that tho we should grant that Schism as Dr. Owen earnestly contends signifies no more than Divisions and Contentions among the Members of the same Church without the breach of Church-Communion and therefore Separatists are not properly Schismaticks I know not what he gains by this when Separation in the Apostles days was looked upon as a much greater evil than Schism and yet none but Hereticks or Apostates from the Truth of Christian Doctrine were in those days guilty of it and if the Apostle's Argument holds good a sinfull and causless Separation can never be own'd without some degree of Apostacy It is to no great purpose to dispute the signification of words when the difference between things is plain and notorious But yet there seems to be a manifest difference in Scripture between Schism and Heresie the first being commonly applied to signifie those Divisions which were among Christians in the same Communion the second if not always yet chiefly applied to signify Separation from the Church for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Sect or Party and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sectarian Thus Christianity it self when the Christians united into a distinct Church-Society was called Heresy or a new Sect and the Sect of the Nazarens Thus we read of the Sect of the Sadduces and the Sect of the Pharisees where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Heresy is always used Now tho these different Sects among the Iews did not separate into distinct Assemblies for Worship but all worshipped at the Temple as even the Christian Iews did while the Temple stood as appears from what happened to St. Paul at Ierusalem the last time he went thither yet they were distinguished by different Opinions Rites and Usages and Schools and which is usually the effect of such Distinctions by different Interests and Affections And in allusion to those Jewish Sects these Differences amongst Christians which did not break forth into open Separation but occasioned great sidings and Parties and Heats and Animosities were indifferently called Schisms or Heresies Thus St. Paul joyns Hatred Variance Wrath Seditions Heresie But then there were another sort of Heresies which always ended in Separation for such Men were always either cast out of the Church or separated themselves Such are those which St. Peter calls Damnable Heresies whom he compares with the fallen Angels and the old World which was destroyed with a Deluge of Water and Sodom and Gomorrah whom he calls presumptuous self-willed and that are not
of external Worship with a safe Conscience how we can pray either with or without a Form since neither of them is commanded in Scripture as the external circumstances of no one Duty are that I know of I say while Men have such wild unpracticable Notions in their Heads which when they are pursued to their last Issue overthrow all manner of external Order and Government in the Church and end in all the Confusions of Quakerism it is a vain thing to talk of Comprehensions and Concessions And while Men have no sense at all of the evil of Schism and Separation but think it as innocent a thing to set up Church against Church as to go from one Parish-Church to another it is evident that they will never desire to return to the Union of the Church who have no sense what a necessary duty Christian Communion is and what a damning Sin Schism is and therefore whoever does sincerely and cordially desire to see all sober Christians united in the same Communion must earnestly exhort perswade and convince as well as yield and comply The common Danger we are all in from the growing Power and secret Conspiracies of the Popish Faction makes all Men acknowledge the necessity and call aloud for Union Our Dissenters who never did nor are ever likely to unite in any thing but their Cries against Popery and their Designs of pulling down the Church of England think this a convenient opportunity to accomplish their Ends and have been very busy to libel Church and Church-men to say nothing now of the State this hath put many worthy Sons of the Church who are impatient to hear their Mother reviled and slandered upon the defensive part to vindicate the Reformation of our Church from their rude Calumnies and yet to express their readiness to comply and unite upon such Terms when ever Publick Authority shall see fit as would not utterly destroy our Constitution The first they have done beyond the possibility of a sober Reply and how fruitless their Charity is in attempting the second the Dissenters themselves will convince all men who cannot patiently hear of any other terms of Concord but the extirpation of the corrupt and Antichristian Church of England I am not ambitious to thrust my self into this Scuffle and therefore do not appear as a Disputant but make a close and serious Application to the Consciences of Men which I hope when the heat of Disputation is a little over may prove a more powerful conviction to all well-meaning Men than the best and most unanswerable Reasons have hitherto done PART I. Concerning those who wholly forsake Religious Assemblies CHAP. I. Containing an Address and Exhortation to those who have no sense at all of Religion or that Obligation which lies on them to worship God and take care of their Souls SECT I. Some Proposals made to the Speculative Atheist 1. That they would once more consider what strong and almost invincible Inclinations there are in Humane Nature to the Worship of God 2. That they would not publickly affront Religion 3. That they would not wholly forsake Religious Assemblies 4. That they would not intermeddle in the Disputes and Controversies of Religion FIrst I shall begin with those who withdraw themselves from Christian Assemblies out of profaneness for want of any due sense of Religion or that Obligation which lies on them to worship God and to take care of their own Souls And there are two sorts of these Men first the Speculative secondly the Practical Atheist First The Speculative Atheist who denies the being of God and therefore must of necessity despise his Worship for that which is not cannot be the Object of our Love or Fear or Religious Adorations Those indeed who do not believe that there is a God may in prudence conceal their Atheism and comply with the custom of their Country in performing all the External Acts of Worship but yet few Atheists have so much Wit or good breeding as not to affront the universal Belief and Practice of Mankind Now I shall not at present dispute the Case with these Men nor attempt to convince them of their great Folly and Madness in not worshipping God by proving that there is a God who ought to be worshipped This requires a larger Discourse than my present Design will allow and has been already done more than once with all the advantages of Reason and Learning by much better Pens and therefore I shall only make three or four very fair and reasonable Proposals to them First That they would once more seriously consider what strong and almost invincible Inclinations there are in Humane Nature to the Worship of God I do not argue now from Natural Notions and Anticipations or those common Maxims and Principles of Reason which are found in all Man-kind because the Atheist tells us That these are only the Principles of our Education and we should never have had such Conceits and Fancies in our Heads if we had not been taught them though it is a hard thing to give an account how these Principles should first come to be entertained in the World who taught them the first Man and how he came so readily to believe them and so carefully to propagate them to Posterity and it seems strange how Man-kind should so universally assent to such Principles as the Being of God and a Providence c. if at least they are not extreamly agreeable to the Make and Frame of our Minds though we should suppose them not to be Natural Notions But I say to let pass this now I shall only desire these Men to consult a little with the Inclinations of Nature which are not the Effects of Reason and Discourse but Natural Impressions the necessary Efforts Impetus and Tendencies of Nature as a Stone naturally falls downward and the Fire as naturally ascends Now it is impossible that any Education should put new Inclinations or new Passions into our Minds Education may direct our Natural Inclinations and Passions to Unnatural Objects but it can no more make new Inclinations and Passions than it can make a new Soul Now among all the Inclinations of Humane Nature there is none more strong and invincible than the Inclination to Religion to worship something or other as a God Though the Heathens were greatly mistaken in their Notion of a God and some worshipped the Sun Moon and Stars the Earth and Seas and Rivers and the meanest and most contemptible Creatures for Gods yet they all agreed in this universal Inclination to Religious Worship which is a plain Argument that this Universal Consent in Religion was more owing to the impulses and tendencies of a Reasonable Nature than to the clear and distinct Principles of Natural Reason for Reason always joins the Act and the Object together but Natural Inclinations are a blind and confused Principle of Action which thrusts forward to such an Act without a clear perception of its Object just as the Appetite
Truth in love may grow up to him in all things which is the Head even Christ From whom the whole Body fitly joined together by that which every Ioint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the Body to the edifying of it self in love The Christian Church is a House and Building and Temple of God but this House and Building is not raised with loose and incoherent Stones but all the Building fitly framed together groweth into a Holy Temple in the Lord. All those Expressions whereby the Scripture describes the Unity of the Christian Church signify one Communion as our Saviour prays for his Disciples that they all may be One and for all those who in after Ages should believe on him That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me From whence it appears that our Saviour speaks of an external and visible Union which may be seen and taken notice of in the World How frequent are the Exhortations to Christian Love and Unity Fulfil ye my Ioy that ye be like-minded having the same Love being of one accord and of one mind This was that new Commandment which Christ gave to his Disciples as the badg of their Discipleship A new Commandment I give unto you that you love one another even as I have loved you hereby shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another And wherein this mutual Love expressed it self we learn from the first Pattern of the Christian Church And they continued stedfast in the Apostle's Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and of Prayers that is in all the Parts and Offices of Christian Communion this is essential to Christian Love to continue in the Communion and Fellowship of the same Body that there may be no Schism in the Body but all firmly united by the common Bonds of Love and Peace and therefore in St. Iohn's Time those Hereticks who separated themselves into distinct Conventicles are said to go out from among them They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us that is in our Fellowship and Communion but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Now if this Argument be good it necessarily infers that indispensable Obligation which lies upon all Christians who will be owned for Members of that one Body of Christ to live in Communion with each other The Unity of Mind and Spirit of Love and Affection and the Unity of the same Faith is necessary to Christian Union but this Union is made external and visible by Christian Communion and our daily experience tells us how impossible it is for Men to love like Brethren like Members of the same Body who are not of the same Body but divide themselves into distinct separate Churches under different Laws Government and Discipline Now if Christian Love and Union be so necessary a Duty of Christianity consider what the Evil of Schism is which rends the seamless Coat of Christ and divides his Church into so many little Parties and Factions Christ has but one Body and those who separate from the Body of Christ are no longer of his Body and the Ancient Christians did believe Schism to separate Men from Christ and to put them out of a state of Salvation It was an acknowledged Principle among them That there was no Salvation out of the Church and that Schismaticks were out of the Church I dare not judg any Man's final State as not knowing what merciful allowances a merciful and compassionate Lord may make for the Errors and Mistakes Frowardness and Peevishness of his Disciples but yet I wish that all Persons concerned would seriously consider that St. Paul makes all other Attainments whatsoever of no value without Charity that this is that Divine Principle which unites us to God and to one another that he makes Schism a Work of the Flesh and when he reproves the Corinthians for that Schism which was among them though it was not broke out into actual separation yet he calls them Carnal For are ye not carnal for whereas there is among you envyings and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as Men So far is Separation from being an Argument of more perfect and excellent Christians that it is a Work of the Flesh and the Symptom of a Carnal Mind But I do not intend to discourse this fully but it is a certain Argument that that Man does understand nothing of Christian Religion who makes light of Schism without so much as considering what guilt he involves himself in nothing could be a more effectual Cure of Schism than a serious consideration of the evil and danger of it That pain we feel in tearing one Member from another and that mischief the whole Body suffers by it which becomes maimed and imperfect by the want of the least and most inconsiderable Member makes us careful to preserve our natural Bodies from any Rent or Schism and were we living Members of the Mystical Body of Christ had we that natural love sympathy and fellow-feeling for each other as the Members of the natural Body have we should find Schism and Separation as painful to us as it is to part with one of our Members and be as sensible of the want of Christian Communion and the discharge of these mutual Offices of Charity in exhorting admonishing reproving comforting praying for and with each other which cannot be performed in a state of Separation as we are of the want of the service of any Member which we have lost It is a certain sign that Member does not belong to the Body which feels not the pain of such Convulsions and Schisms Thirdly Another Question I would ask these Men is Whether they do in their Consciences believe that Communion with our Parish Churches is unlawful And there is some reason to ask this for it is easily observed that there are a great many who are Christians at large and as occasion serves can either go to Church or to a Conventicle Now if they make Conscience of any thing we may conclude that when they come to Church they do not think it a sin so to do or that there is any thing so unlawful in our Worship as is sufficient to justify a Separation for if they may lawfully communicate with us once they may do so always by the same Reason from whence it follows that there can be no necessity of Separation and then Separation must be a sin Some indeed say That it is a sufficient reason to separate even from a True Church and a lawful Communion to join in fellowship with a purer Church and to enjoy purer Ordinances
But I would desire such Men to consider First That this Notion of a purer Church and purer Ordinances varies with every Man's fancy as having no Foundation in Scripture Reason or Antiquity when you distinguish a purer Church from a pure Church I would desire to know what greater degree of purity they find in a Presbyterian or Independent Conventicle than in our Parochial Churches If this Purity consists in Doctrine Government or Worship that Doctrine and Government which is most Ancient and most Apostolical is purer than some novel and upstart Opinions Church Forms and Models and that Worship which retains all the Institutions of Christ and administers them with the greatest order and decency and most to Christian Edification is as pure a Worship as that which is slovenly and unbecoming the gravity and solemnity of Divine Worship That Church wherein Christians may enjoy all the means and conveyances of Grace without any corrupt Mixtures to spoil their Vertue and Efficacy is a pure Church such a Church wherein a Christian may communicate without doing any injury to his Soul is a pure Church and has all the degrees of purity which is necessary to External Communion If by a purer Communion they mean only the Communion of better Men and of greater Saints they ought to consider that it is impossible to exclude Hypocrites out of any Church unless they pretend to a Gift of discerning Spirits nor is it fit they should be excluded while they are not openly scandalous for to shut such Men out of the Church deprives them of the Means of Grace and all hopes of proving better Men. And I hope Christian Communion is not confined to any single Congregation but every good Christian who lives in the Communion of the Church enjoys the Communion of Saints in all the World is a Member of the same Body which consists of all the true Disciples of Christ. Nay I would desire them to consider that the Glory of the Christian Communion is this That our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ with the glorious and triumphant Church in Heaven as well as with the Church Militant on Earth But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudg of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel This is the Church-Fellowship which those enjoy who live in Communion with the Universal Church and which Schismaticks have no right to and those who think to meet with better Company at a Conventicle let them take it But must not the Christian Church consist of all ranks and degrees of Christians as our natural Body does of several sorts of Members of different honour and worth and is it fitting for strong and well-grown Christians to separate from the weak and imperfect as if the eye should separate from the Body as despising the Communion of the Foot and yet if St. Paul says true that Schism is a work of the Flesh and the sign of carnal Men we have no reason to look for the best Christians in Schismatical Churches But secondly it was never till of late days thought lawful to separate from a lawful Communion tho as the state of the Church in this World is it were subject to some defects and therefore the Brownists who separated from the Church of England pretended that her Worship and Government was Unlawful Idolatrous and Antichristian and the old Nonconformists who though they could not conform as Ministers yet very religiously conformed as Lay-men both in Prayers and Sacraments condemned this Schism and proved that Communion with the Church of England was lawful and therefore Separation was sinful and I dare challenge any Man to shew me from the first beginnings of Christianity that ever it was thought lawful to separate from a Church where we might communicate without sin And thirdly let these Men consider that this Notion of separating from a lawful Communion for a purer Communion lays the foundation of eternal Schisms for there being no certain rule for the degrees of this Purity every Man according to his own fancy may refine for ever Fourthly If they do indeed think the Communion of the Church of England to be unlawful and sinful I would desire them to enquire how they came at first to think so for this is a very material Enquiry if Men desire to know their honesty and sincerity in this Matter for if Men are at first by their own fault ensnared in an Error and drawn into Schism how firmly soever afterwards they believe their Separation to be lawful and necessary it will not excuse them It is impossible to know all the several ways whereby Men come at first to be engaged in Schism but I shall take notice of some few which seem to be most common Such are these 1. Education 2. Lightness and giddiness of Mind 3. Some distast at Publick Affairs 4. Some quarrel with the Ministers of Religion 5. Interest or the Perswasion of Friends 1. Education when Men have been nursed up in Schism from their infancy and have been taught to despise the Common Prayer before they could read and to call the Church Antichrist and the Ministers of it Baal's Priests as soon as they could speak Now it must be acknowledged that this is the most pitiable case and the fairest Excuse and Apology that can be made for any Man for we all know what the power of Education is and how hard it is to deliver our minds from the first Impressions of Childhood and Youth but yet this will not excuse a Man when he has attained to Years of discretion and has opportunities of being better informed for if it would Pagans Mahometans and Papists who labour under the same prejudices of Education have the same excuse We must offer up to God a reasonable Service and that requires the exercise of our Reason in the choice of our Religion as well as in the discharge of Religious Duties Nay Papists Mahometans and Pagans have a better excuse upon this account than our Dissenters because their Prejudices may reasonably be thought more invincible as will appear if we briefly consider three or four things First That theirs is the Religion of their Country which they have been in quiet possession of for many Ages and thus that reverence they pay to the wisdom and memory of their Ancestors adds to the prejudices of their Education whereas every one knows that this present Schism and the pretences whereon it is founded are but late Innovations a Novelty which is not yet grey-headed And tho Antiquity in it self considered is no Argument for an ancient Error nor Novelty any
and curious Speculations but on the authority of Miracles which is so sensible an Argument that the meanest People understand it as well as the greatest Philosophers those Miracles which were wrought by Christ and his Apostles the knowledg of which is conveyed down to us in the Writings of the New Testament and which have been owned in all succeeding Ages of the Church till our days do as certainly prove the truth of that Religion which Christ and his Apostles taught as if we had heard God speak in an audible Voice from Heaven to us and this is a sufficient reason to believe whatever he has revealed though we cannot perfectly understand all the difficulties of it And when we have once embraced Christianity we have the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles to be the Rule of our Faith and Practice and therefore whatever is expresly forbid in those Writings every Man without any great skill in Controversy knows to be unlawful as being contrary to the revealed Will of God and by this means the plainest Country-man may understand the difference between Popery and Reformed Christianity the peculiar Doctrine of the Roman Church being expresly contrary to the Doctrine and Institutions of our Saviour for what can be more expresly contrary to the Gospel than worshipping Images praying to Saints and Angels praying in an unknown Tongue the half Communion where the Priest drinks the Wine by himself and gives nothing but a Wafer to the People these things require indeed great subtilty in the Church of Rome to defend them but may be understood and confuted by the plainest Man who is no Master of Subtilties But the Case is quite different in the Dispute between the Church of England and Dissenters we desire no more from them but to shew us where any one Doctrine or Practice of the Church of England is expresly condemned in Scripture or by such a natural and easy Consequence as every honest Man tho no Schoolman nor Philosopher may understand it Where do they find that the Office of a Bishop is Antichristian which has been continued in the Church ever since the Times of the Apostles and whose Successors they were if we will believe the Ancient Fathers Where do they read that a form of Prayer is unlawful when Christ himself gave a Form of Prayer to his Disciples and the Book of Psalms consists of an hundred and fifty Forms of Prayer and Praises which were used in their Publick Worship Where do they find that the Ceremonies of our Church are Idolatrous and Superstitious when they can produce no Text of Scripture where they are forbid unless they think that because God has forbid worshipping Images in the second Commandment therefore he has forbid all external Circumstances of Worship instituted for decency and Order which is so subtil a Consequence as will make a very Metaphysical Head ake to discover it Now when there is no direct and positive proof but Men argue wholly from some uncertain and far-fetcht Consequences How shall the common People who understood none of the artificial Laws of Reasoning judg of such Arguments It is possible indeed to make some terrible impressions upon their Fancies by great confidence and an uncouth sound of words which they understand not As that our Ceremonies are Symbolical that they are new Sacraments not meer Circumstances but parts of Worship Now how few are there of our Separatists who understand any thing of this talk How long time will they take to teach a Countryman who is not Book-learn'd what a Symbolical Ceremony is or to understand how our Ceremonies are transformed into Sacraments And yet whoever separates upon such Accounts as these without being able to understand the true meaning of those terrible Objections is most certainly a Schismatick And yet there is a great deal more than this to be known before Men can justify their Separations for suppose they should discover some Faults in our Constitution they must further inquire Whether these be only some tolerable Defects and Imperfections or whether they be Sins Whether they Pollute the Communicants and make Communion unlawful Whether they be only active or passive in it Whether supposing the wearing of a Surplice were superstitious all that are present at the Publick Prayers who disown such Superstition are yet guilty of it and must separate to preserve their Innocence and to declare their abomination of such Superstitions whether the Child who is signed with the sign of the Cross at Baptism be ever the worse for it or whether the Parents who dislike such a Ceremony sin in submitting their Children to it in Obedience to their Superiors or whether the Fault be theirs who enjoyn it These are Matters beyond the reach of every ordinary capacity to determine and therefore tho Separation were in it self lawful very few Men can separate lawfully 6. I shall add but one thing more with reference to the trial of these Mens honesty Whether they separate upon true Principles of Conscience and that is by considering how they behave themselves towards their Governors The Conscience of any honest Man especially when it dissents from Publick Constitutions is a very modest and peaceable Principle such Men think it very well if they have leave to dissent and quietly withdraw tho they have not leave to vilify the established Religion nor undermine publick Constitutions and tho they cannot obtain thus much favour but are persecuted for a good Conscience yet they suffer patiently after the Example of their great Master who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously But a Schismatick whose Conscience serves an Interest must miss of his end if he suffers patiently such are indeed as little in love with Sufferings as other Men but yet they love to have some pretence or other to make a great noise and clamour about their Sufferings as it is observed of the Schismatical Donatists that there were several Laws made against that by Theodosius the Emperor and tho none of those Laws were scarce ever executed yet they set up a mighty cry aggravated every little matter to cast an odium upon the Government complained that they were injuriously handled that their Cause was never fairly heard and determined by its intrinsick Merits but oppressed with Force and Power And how parallel this Story is to the case of some in these days I need not tell you I am sure there are a sort of Men who separate from our Church and for that reason are reckon'd among the Godly Party who take as little care to govern their Tongues or Pens tho St. Iames makes this the Character of a perfect Man as any Schsmaticks in the World ever did who neither express any regard to Princes nor to Truth and Honesty if they can but serve their Cause by casting dirt upon the Government or blasting the Reputation of vertuous and peaceable Men who will not
Law of Moses For we may observe that the Apostles themselves in compliance with the weakness of the believing Jews did use a great many Mosaical Rites only stripping them of their Typical Nature St. Paul was a zealous opposer of Circumcision and yet did not scruple to circumcise Timothy not in token of God's Covenant with Abraham but to prevent Scandal And those Christians who lived at Ierusalem worshipped in the Temple kept their Religious Festivals and observed their Law but no Christian could do this according to the Original Institution of those Laws for that had been to renounce Christianity but they observed them in complyance with the custom of their Nation and to avoid giving offence to believing Jews And if the Apostles might lawfully observe those Jewish Customs when they were freed from their Typical signification it cannot be a Fault to use some such innocent Ceremonies and Circumstances in Worship as are no way prejudicial to the Nature of Christianity If the belief of Christianity made the Observation of those Jewish Ceremonies Innocent which in their own Nature and Original Institution are inconsistent with Christianity as signifying that Christ was not yet come How much more innocent is it to worship God in a white Garment to kneel at the Sacrament and bend our Knee to our Lord at whose Table we eat and to sign our Children with the Sign of the Cross in honour of our crucified Lord and as a visible Profession of a suffering Religion 3. Our Saviour rejects all Superstitious Observances which were not any part of Religious Worship and yet were thought to have an extraordinary Sacredness and Religion in them such as he calls the Traditions of their Elders and charges them with teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men such as washing Cups Platters and Hands before Dinner thus touch not taste not handle not are by St. Paul called the Doctrines and Commandments of Men which refer to their abstaining from certain sorts of Meats and the like So that these Doctrines and Commandments of Men which Christ flings out of his Religion were not any Ceremonies or Circumstances of Worship but some Customs they take up with a great Opinion of their Religion and Merit As the Papists have great numbers of them such as Pilgrimages and Penances c. And St. Paul tells us with respect to such Customs as these That the Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost that is that Christian Religion does not consist in such sorry things as eating or not eating such and such Meats but Christ expects from us true and sincere Piety as the only thing that can recommend us to God Such Superstitious Customs as these are very different from the Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religious Worship unless we think it the same thing to hope to merit Heaven by going a Pilgrimage by professing Poverty Celibacy and blind Obedience by abstaining from Flesh in Lent and such kind of vain Superstitions as it is to wear a Surplice in the time of Divine Worship or to receive the Lord's Supper upon our Knees as an external Expression of Devotion not as meritorious Superstitions The Ceremonies of our Church have been often declaimed against under the Notion of the Doctrines and Traditions of Men but it is plain that neither our Saviour nor St. Paul meant any thing like them for they do not speak of any Circumstances or Appendages of Religious Worship but of such arbitrary Superstitions as they turned into formal Acts of Religion The fourth does not much concern our present Argument the difference Christ put between the Substantial and the Instrumental parts of Worship any otherwise than to mind us that we must not look upon any Ceremonies as parts of Worship but a decent manner of performing it That our acceptance with God depends upon nothing that is meerly external but on the Devotion of the Heart and Soul expressed in such becoming Words and Behaviour as may make it visible and exemplary to others and this is exactly the Doctrine of our Church and if any Men think that such external Expressions of Honour will please God without the Worship of the Mind and Spirit they must answer for themselves for she owns no such Principles but takes care to instruct her Children better And methinks this should be no small satisfaction to Mens Minds that the established Worship of our Church has nothing contrary to the nature and design of Christianity from whence it follows that Men may be very good Christians while they live in Communion with our Church and then I doubt they cannot be very good Christians when they forsake it for nothing but an apparent and manifest danger of sin can justify such a Separation 2. But let us now further consider how the Worship of our Church is justified by the Principles of Christianity We do not pretend that there is an express command to pray always by a Form or to institute and appoint significant Ceremonies in the Worship of God but there is enough in the Gospel of our Saviour to justify such Practices as briefly to point to some few things 1. Our Saviour himself taught his Disciples to pray by a Form Our Father which art in Heaven c. And if you will allow that it was lawful for them to pray in these words though you should suppose that they were not always bound to use it it plainly proves that the Christian Religion does not forbid praying by a Form for if it be lawful to pray by a Form even of Divine Institution then a Form as a Form cannot be unlawful 2. Our Saviour has no where prescribed the particular Circumstances of Religious Worship and yet no Religious Action can be performed without some Circumstances or other he has commanded us to pray to God in his Name to commemorate his Death and Passion in his last Supper and has commanded his Apostles to baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost But how oft we must pray and celebrate this Heavenly Feast in what Place in what Posture in what Time he has not told us He has prescribed the Form of words in Baptism but not any one Circumstance and yet it is certain there must be some Circumstances for every Action for the more decent performance and greater solemnity of such mysterious Rites and therefore we may well conclude that our Saviour left all such to the order and direction of his Apostles and their Successors in all Ages as may tend most to the preservation of good Order and the edification of the Church For we must consider the difference between the Law and the Gospel Under the Law the Church was in an Infant State like an Heir under Age which is under Tutors and Governors and therefore every part of that Typical Temple-Worship was exactly framed according to the Pattern in the
when the case is beyond their private redress may call in the help of their Pastor who by his wise Counsels and seasonable Exhortations and Reproofs and pious and ardent Prayers may convince those who have sinned and restore them by Repentance and obtain their Pardon or strengthen and confirm those who were assaulted by Temptations and procure fresh supplies of Grace for them We see indeed very little of this now and the reason of it is very plain because few men consider what are the Duties of Christian Communion but are too much unconcerned what becomes of their Brothers soul they think every man must look to himself but do not feel that sympathy compassion and care which one member has for another that whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it but were men sensible of the necessity of this mutual care of each others souls it could never be better discharged than among neighbours who live under each others eye And were men faithful in this it would be a more effectual way to preserve the Church from the infection of putrid and corrupt members than particular Church-associations and all the Tests they could use or invent of real Saintship in admitting Church-members The great Exception against Parochial Communion which has formerly been and is still managed by the Independents is that there are a great many bad men in our Communion that Discipline is not duly exercised among us to remove those from Christian Communion who have forfeited their right to it by their vitious lives But though this is no just reason for Separation and there is a greater noise made about it than there is any occasion for since such notorious sinners usually excommunicate themselves and if they do now and then hear a Sermon which I suppose they would not deny to Turks Heathens and Infidels as being the most likely Means for their Conversion yet never approach the Lord's Table or are rejected when known yet I say would every Christian faithfully do his part and without this it is impossible Discipline should be duly administred in any Church-State Parochial Communion is the most effectual Means to preserve the Church pure it being almost impossible any man should be guilty of any gross and scandalous vices but some of his neighbours must know it which is more than can be said of any Congregation whose members live at a distance from each other and rarely converse together and when they do can easily put on greater reservedness and caution and appear quite other men than their common conversation speaks them to be Love and Unity is a necessary duty of Christian Religion it is the badge of our discipleship By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another Now though we must love all Christians as members of the same body yet neighbours have the greatest reason by all possible arts and endearments to secure their love to each other because they have the most frequent occasions of quarrels and contentions if they do not it is a much harder thing to maintain love and peace among men who live together and have different interests which are many times cross to each other than among those who live at a distance and seldome see one another and there cannot be a more firm and lasting cement of Peace and Union than Christian Communion is when they worship God in the same place and put up their united Prayers and Thanksgivings to him and eat at the same Table as members of the same body and children of the same Father and heirs of the same promises This is a powerful argument to the love of all Christians but it does more sensibly endear us to those who are as it were of the same houshold and family and since there is greater need of this endearment among neighbours than strangers Parochial Communion which is made up of Christian neighbours who daily converse with each other does better answer the end of Christian Communion than gathered Churches I add further that in Parochial Communion every particular Christian in a Nation may be provided for which cannot ordinarily be done in gathered Churches for every particular man belongs to one Parish or another and is by Law bound to communicate in it and if he do not may be discovered and corrected either by private admonitions or publick censures but when men forsake their Parochial Communion it is impossible to give any account of them they may be of this Church or of that or of none at all It is impossible for the Governours of the Church who are to take care of every particular wandring Sheep to give such an account of their charge in any other Church-state as in Parochial Communions and that is a sufficient argument to prove that it is a very useful and necessary Constitution and the more useful and necessary it is the greater fault is it in those who without great reason disturb good order and though they know how to use this liberty wisely and innocently themselves yet give an ill example to those who will make a bad use of it I shall add but one thing more and that is with reference to the good Government of your families you cannot ordinarily have such inspection over your Children and Servants when you go to other Churches as when you can appoint them their Seats or Stations in your own where you may have your eye upon them and observe their carriage and behaviour and your example in forsaking your own Church will be apt to teach them to do so too and I have reason to fear that this has too often occasioned the debauchery of many otherwise hopeful young men The Sum is this that though the division of Churches into Parish-bounds under the conduct of a Parochial Minister be not founded on any express Law of God yet it is so highly useful to all the great ends of Church-Communion that it must needs be a very great fault lightly or wantonly to violate so wholsome an Institution 2. Because the great Plea which is made by those who communicate with our Church for forsaking their Parish Churches is the different abilities of Preachers and every one is desirous to hear those Preachers whom he likes best and thinks there is no hurt in it I shall as plainly as I can and with as little offence as may be consider this matter 1. And first I observe that this is a great pretence of others for Separation from our Church that they can profit more by Non-conforming than by Conforming Preachers and therefore forsake our Churches and joyn themselves to separate Congregations and methinks wife and good men should not like a principle which so easily leads men into Separation and ends in Schism I confess there is a great deal of difference between taking the best care we can of our souls in the Communion of
the Church and involving our selves in the guilt of Schism upon this pretence but yet that is a suspicious argument which tends towards Schism which in its greatest innocency breaks good orders and wholesome Constitutions and when it is fully pursued may lead giddy and unstable minds into Separation 2. There is so much unaccountable fancy and humour to be seen in those different judgements men make of Preachers that it were a very hard case if the Peace Order and Government of the Church were to lye at the mercy of mens different fancies Some are taken with a grave and solid others with a florid and polite Preacher some are pleased with a tone others with earnestness and vehemence of action and voice How often do many men vary in their opinions of Preachers and change their Churches as their fancy changes Those Preachers who are disliked by their own Parishioners are very often admired by strangers Now what work would this make in all Civil Governments were Fancy suffered to over-rule publick Establishments and we have as little reason to expect that God will allow of such inroads of Fancy upon the Order and Government of the Church The design of Church-Communion and of Preaching the Gospel is not to please and tickle a wanton Fancy but to instruct us in the plain Duties of the Gospel and to furnish us with the Arguments and Motives to a holy life and thanks be to God such discourses we may meet with in most Churches in this Nation especially in this great City though it may be not alwayes dressed to every mans palate It is a sign men are full fed when they cannot be contented with plain and wholsome food but complain if they have not some delicious Sauces to create and tempt an appetite this I am sure is certain that men who govern themselves by such Fancies do not alwayes make the wisest choice nor the best improvements 3. Suppose your Parochial Ministers do not appear to be the best Preachers the profoundest Divines nor the most moving Orators consider whether this may not in great measure be owing to your selves whether your withdrawing your selves from their instructions may not make them more slight and careless in their preparations Preachers are men subject to humane infirmities and in all cases it is apt to dispirit men to see all their pains and labour despised and slighted especially in this case which makes them uncapable of doing that service to the souls of men which their Office requires and which they so passionately desire Men who are above the vanity of a great Auditory are yet desirous to preach to those whom they are concerned to instruct and are grieved to see them turn their backs upon them You might many times have better Sermons did you not discourage your Preachers by such neglects 4. Consider farther that you are particularly accountable for the improvement of those means of Grace which you did or might have enjoyed in the Communion of your Parish Churches God is not the Author of Confusion but of Order and Peace and therefore requires us to keep our station and when the Providence of God and the Laws of Church and State have placed us under such a Ministry we are accountable for no more than what we can enjoy with the preservation of the Peace and Order and Government of the Church and if our improvements be proportionable to this we shall not lose our reward But now suppose by pursuing your wandring fancies ye fall into any mistakes or are ignorant of any part of your duty when ye might have been better instructed had ye diligently and constantly attended the Parochial Ministry what excuse can such men make for themselves they are misled but it was occasioned by forsaking that Guide whom the Divine Providence had provided for them they sin ignorantly but they might have known better had they not withdrawn themselves from such instructions certainly those men act more safely with reference to a future account who make the best use they can of such instructions as the Providence of God provides for them than those who leave their rank and order to chuse better for themselves 5. We may also reasonably expect the greater assistances of the Divine Spirit in preserving good order which will tend more to our spiritual increase and growth than the best external means of edification the success does not depend upon the gifts and abilities of the Preacher but upon the influences of Gods Grace Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase so then neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Some little imperfect hints may more enlighten our minds when the Divine Spirit is pleased to teach us than the most exact and elaborate discourse and plain truths without any art or varnish may be conveyed with more warmth and vigour to our souls and consciences and may affect us more than all the charms of humane eloquence If men design only pleasing their fancies that they may do better by gratifying their curiosity but he who has no other design in hearing but to save his soul ought principally to take care that he may enjoy the influences of the holy Spirit which alone can make the external Ministry of the Word effectual and the best way to do that is to observe good order for he is a Spirit of Love and Peace and Unity and Order and therefore is more concerned to supply the defects and imperfections of external Ministries which we conscientiously submit to and diligently attend to preserve good order in the Church 6. The constant attendance on a meaner Ministry is much more for our edification than an occasional hearing much better Sermons It is too much the humour of many men who forsake their own Church to be constant to none and by this means they may hear a great many excellent Sermons and yet not be thoroughly instructed in all parts of their duty whereas every Minister who makes conscience of instructing his people committed to him will take care at one time or other to teach them all the great Articles of Faith and Rules of Life which though it may not be so taking and popular is yet more useful than some general Discourses and pressing and vehement Exhortations without a particular explication of their duty Which shews the advantage of attending a constant Ministry especially if men would acquaint themselves with their Minister whereby he might the better understand how to apply himself to their particular cases to fit his Instructions to their capacities and his Counsels Exhortations and Reproofs to their spiritual wants This may suffice to shew our obligations to Parochial Communion 2. The second thing proposed was to answer some Objections against this and they are only some hard cases which make Parochial
History of the Reformation of the Church of England In two Vol. folio Bishop Sanderson's Sermons with his Life folio Fowlis his History of Romish Conspiracies Treasons and Usurpations folio Markham's Perfect Horseman octavo The History of the Powder-Treason with a Vindication thereof against the Author of the Catholick Apology and others to which is added a Parallel betwixt that and the present Plot quarto Dr. Parker's demonstration of the divine authority of the Law of Nature and Christian Religion quarto A Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation octavo Dr. Outram's Sermons on several occasions octavo now in the Press FINIS * Mr. Thorndyke's right of Christian Assemblies Heb. 10. v. 23. Vers. 26 27 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 2 Tim. 3. 6 7 8. 1 John 2. 18 19. Acts 24. 14. 28. 22. 24. 5. 5. 17. 15. 5. Acts 21. 20 21 22 23 24. 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. Gal. 5. 20. 2 Pet. 2. 1. v. 4 5 6. v. 10. Exod. 22. 28. Acts 23. 4 5. Deut. 17. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 15. Jude v. 19. Scias nos primo in loco nec curiosos esse debere quid ille doceat cùm foris doceat quisquis ille est qualiscunque est Christianus non est qui in Christi Ecclesia non est Cypr. ad Anton. Epist. 52. Cyp. Ep. 39. Qui ergo in Ecclesia Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque sapiunt si correpti ut sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter suaque pestifera mortifera dogmata emendare nolunt sed defensare persistunt Haeretici fiunt foras exeuntes habentur in exercentibus inimicis c. Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 18. cap. 51. See the Inquiry into the original of Evangelical Churches chap. 11. pag. 231. Dr. Cave's Primit Christianity par 1 ch 7. p. 171. Concil Gang. Can. 6. Dr. Stillingfl Unreasonableness of Separation Mr. Hobbs Psal. 95. 6. Psal. 100. 3 4. Mal. 1. 6. Psal. 50. 15. 86. 5 6 7. Psal. 91. 15. Psal 145. 18 19 20. Psal. 65. 2. Prov. 10. 22. Jam. 4. 2. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Tit. 2. 11 12. Job 28. 28. Psal. 111. 10. Prov. 9. 10. Tit. 2. 12. Psal 22. 22. Psal. 107. 32. Psal. 111. 1. Psal. 149. 1 2. Isa. 1. 13. Ephes. 4. 4. Acts 2. 42. Vers. 46. 1 Joh. 1. 3. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 1 Cor. 10. 26. 27. Mat. 10. 32 33. Rom. 14. 10 13 Mat. 5. 14 15. Rom. 14. 23. Jer. 14. 14. Jer. 23. 25 26. Vers. 30 31. Ephes. 4. 3 4. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 17. Ephes. 4. 15 16 Ephes. 2. 21. Joh. 17. 20 21. Phil. 2. 2. Joh. 13. 34 35. Acts 2. 42. 1 Joh. 2. 13. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 1 John 1. 3. Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Baxter's search for the English Schismat p. 12. Caeterum etsi vix ulla harum legum executio esset Donatistae tamen invidiosê odioseque clamabant sese injustè vexati causam tuam non jure agi sed vi opprimi delibatio Hist. Afric apud Optatum Quisquis vel quod potest arguendo corrigit vel quod corrigere non potest salvo pacis vinculo excludit vel quod salvo pacis vinculo excludere non potest aequitate improbat firmitate supportat hic est pacificus St. Aug contra Epist. Parmen l. 2. Joh. 4. 24. Eccles. 5. 2. Acts 21. 21 22 Col. 2. 21. Rom. 14. 17. Gal. 4. 1 2. Gal. 5. 1. Heb. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 14. 40 26. 2 Cor. 10. 8. Heb. 13. 17. John 10. 22. 1 Macab 4. 59. Luke 22. 25. Foxes and Firebrands Ep. ad Ianuar. Col. 2. 23. Lev. 22. 17. Acts 17. 22. Dr. Ham. of Superst Isa. 1. 11. Dr. Owen's Enquiry into the Original of Churches p. 14. John 13. 35. 1 Cor. 3. 9 6 7. Matth. 23. 2 3 De Vita Const. l. 4. c. 33. 1 Cor. 11. 10 Matth. 18. 19 20. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Matth. 26. 26 27 28. Mark 14. 22 23 24. Luke 22. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. Acts 2. 46. Apost Can. 9. Concil Antioch Can. 2. John 3. 16. Acts 9. 39. Ezra 9. 5. Psal. 141. 2. Heb. 9. 12. Acts 2. 46. Rev. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 15. Heb. 10. 28 29. 1 Cor. 10. 18. V. 21. Gen. 31. 46. V. 54. Heb. 9. 18 19 21. Psalm 50. 5. 1 Cor. 10. 17. Joh. 6. 53 54 56 57. V. 51. Hebr. 13. 10 11 12 13. Heb. 13. 15. Joh. 6. 56. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 8. Eph. 5. 30. Joh. 6. 54 57 58. Rom. 8. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 13. Rom. 6. 3 4 5. 1 Cor. 10. 16 17.