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
greatest concernment Pag. 104 CHAP. II. COncerning Publick Worship Pag. 110 Publick Worship to be preferred before private tho it were not expresly commanded by God Pag. 111 Publick Worship a greater honour to God than private Devotions Pag. 116 External Worship must be publick Pag. 118 God is a publick Benefactor and therefore publick Worship is due to him Pag. 120 Publick Worship instituted by God under the Law Pag. 122 And by Christ under the Gospel the true Notion of a Church requires it Pag. 125 This proved from the nature of Christian Communion and Sacraments Pag. 126 The same proved from the Institution of the Gospel-Ministry and the power of the Keys Pag. 130 And from the publick profession of Christianity Pag. 133 And from the Duty of Princes to encourage and propagate Religion Pag. 134 CHAP. III. Section 1. COncerning those who plead Conscience for Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own Pag. 138 Some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter Pag. 139 1. Whether they separate upon true Principles of Conscience the difference between private Opinion and Conscience and the use of this Distinction ibid 2. Whether they consider the great Evil of Schism Pag. 151 3. Whether they believe our Communion to be unlawful Pag. 156 4. How they came to think our Communion unlawful Pag. 156 5. Whether they ever impartially examined the Reasons of their Separation Pag. 170 6. How they behave themselves towards their Governors Pag. 184 Section 2. Some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England Pag. 188 1. From the Nature of God Pag. 190 2. From the Nature of Christian Religion Pag. 193 3. From the Example of our Saviour Pag. 207 4. From the practice of the Apostles and the first and best Churches Pag. 208 Section 3. An answer to some popular Cavils Pag. 215 Concerning Will-Worship Pag. 216 Concerning Superstition Pag. 222 The Church of England charged with Idolatry Pag. 235 And with Popery Pag. 236 PART II. CHAP. I. COncerning Parochial Communion CHAP. II. Concerning irreverence in Worship 267 CHAP. III. Concerning the neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church 281 CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick administration of Baptism 289 CHAP. V. Concerning the publick instruction of Youth 296 CHAP. VI. Concerning the great neglect of the Lord's Supper ERRATA PAge 6. line 26 read Apollos P. 9. l. 13. r. and that none P. 18. l. 15. r. that they either P. 50. l. 14. f. we r. be P. 105. l. 18. r. you 'l P. 124. l. 26. r. who P. 164. l. 9. r. fell P. 185. l. 2. r. them P. 208. l. 6. r. so P. 212. l. 11. f. if r. that P. 219. l. 24. r. now though P. 224. l. 12 13. r. difficult P. 230. l. 5. r. had P. 331. l. 18. f. rule r. rite P. 346. l. 28. f. truth r. faith A Practical Discourse OF Religious Assemblies The INTRODUCTION 1. Containing a short Account of the nature of Christian Assemblies for Publick Worship 2. A Scheme of the Design of this following Treatise 3. The seasonableness of such a Discourse 1. RELIGION is the greatest Concernment of Mankind both with respect to this life and the next and the Worship of God is the most excellent part of Religion as having GOD the most excellent Being for its immediate Object This is the Work and constant Imployment of Angels and blessed Spirits in Heaven who see the Face of God dwell in his Presence admire his essential Glory and infinite Perfections and sing Eternal Hallelujah's to Him When we come to Heaven we shall have no unruly Passions and Appetites to govern and tho our Souls shall be transformed into a pure Flame of Divine Love yet there will be no place for the laborious exercise of Charity in pitying and relieving one another where all the Inhabitants shall be perfectly happy in the enjoyment of the most perfect Good Indeed in this World Temperance and Charity are no Christian Vertues but as they are acts of Worship that is as they flow from a great sense of God and veneration for him for God is the sole Object of Religion and to be sober and to be charitable upon some meaner Considerations without any respect to God as the last end of all is to serve our selves or our Friends or to follow the inclinations of our nature but is not properly the Service of God Whatsoever we do out of a just sense of God is in some respects an act of Worship for it is to honour the Deity which may as effectually be done by actions as by words verbal praises are of no value with God are meer lip-labour and formal complements when they are alone and produce no answerable effects in our lives This is what the Apostle calls a form of Godliness without the power of it Religion is nothing else but such a vital sense of God as excites in us devout affections and discovers it self in a divine and heavenly Conversation But yet that which we more strictly call Worship is the most visible and solemn expression of our Honour for God when we lift up our hearts and our eyes and hands to God in Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings and when it is sincere and hearty has a powerful influence upon the government of our Lives For what sincere Worshipper can be so void of all fear of God as to break his Laws and contemn his Authority and despise his Judgements and therefore that vain and hypocritical semblance of Religion wherewith some bad Men deceive themselves and flatter God is called the form of Godliness without the power it being only an external imitation of Religious Worship without that powerful sense of God which governs the Lives of truly devout and pious Men. And as the Worship of God is the most excellent part of Religion which has the most universal and most powerful influence upon our Lives So publick Worship is the most excellent Worship as you shall hear more hereafter Indeed the right and power of holding Publick Assemblies for Worship is the fundamental right of the Church whereon all Church-Authority depends as has been well observed and proved by a Learned Man of our Church The Power of the Keys signifies no more than Authority to take in and to shut out of the Church the first is done by Baptism the second by Church-Censures the highest of which is Excommunication which debarreth Men from all parts of Christian Communion And therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes forsaking Christian Assemblies either to be an Apostacy from Christianity as it was in those days or at least a fair step towards it he exhorts those to whom he writ to hold fast the profession of their Faith without wavering that is to continue firm and stedfast in the profession of Christianity and in order to this gives them this Caution Not
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-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
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
World And yet it is much worse than this too for such Men will not only miss of Heaven but sink into Hell a place of endless Torments where there is no ease and no hope So well might our Saviour ask that Question What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World and to lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul And can any thing in the World deserve more of our care and industry than to obtain eternal Happiness and to avoid eternal Misery And yet this cannot be done without a sincere and devout performance of all the Acts of Religious Worship Those Persons do not deserve to be God's Friends and Favorites who do not worship him and those are not capable of the Joys of Heaven who cannot relish the Pleasures of Religion and the Worship of God CHAP. II. Concerning those who forsake Christian-Assemblies for want of a due sense of the Nature and Necessity of Publick Worship Several proofs of the Necessity of Publick Worship from the Nature of Religious Worship from the Nature of the Mosaick Worship from the Institution of a Christian Church and the Nature of Christian Worship and Discipline OThers there are who either wholly or in a great measure forsake our Communion for want of a due sense of the Nature and Necessity of Publick Worship They acknowledg it is their Duty to Worship God but they think they can worship God as well at Home as at Church that it is not the Place which makes their Prayers more or less effectual but God hears us where-ever we pray and is always pleased even with the single and private Devotions of good Men and the World is now so well stored with good Books that they can spend their time in reading at Home to as good purpose as if they went to Church to hear a Sermon And I need not observe how many there are who Act according to these Principles i. e. who seldom or never come to Church though how they spend their Time at home I know not but have great reason to suspect that with too many a warm Bed in the morning and a bottle of Wine in the Afternoon serves instead even of their private Devotions Now before I proceed to shew what a great and dangerous mistake this is I shall briefly expostulate the Case with these Men supposing it to be as they say That we may serve God very acceptably at Home without attending the publick Assemblies of Christians Supposing the Case to be equal in it self considered yet I beseech you Why should you prefer your own Private before the Publick Devotions of the Church Cannot you serve God at least as well at Church as you do at Home And Publick Worship having bin the universal Practice of the World in all Ages and under all Religions does it become a modest Man to affront so general a Custom which if it be not expresly commanded by God yet at least has no hurt in it And since the generality of Mankind have not only consented in such a Practice but have believed it to be their Duty to pay their joyn'd and publick Acknowledgments to their Universal Lord and Father and are apt to suspect these Men of Atheism and Irreligion who deny or neglect it What Reason can be sufficient to perswade any Religious Man to oppose so universal a Belief and to incur the publick censures of Insidelity and Irreligion Especially since the publick Exercise of Religion is enjoyned by Humane Laws and to neglect it is an affront to the publick Wisdom and Authority of a Nation which though other things were equal makes publick Assemblies a Duty and private Devotion when we ought and may attend on publick Assemblies to be a Sin And indeed we cannot imagine that God should take it well of any Man how devout soever he be in private who will rather affront the Universal Practice founded upon as Universal a Consent of Mankind will rather be thought an Atheist or an Insidel will rather trample upon all Humame Authority than joyn with his Fellow-Creatures and Subjects and Neighbours in the publick Acts of his Worship Put the case any of you were the Father of a very numerous off-spring and that without any express Command from you most of your Children should agree by a common consent to visit you together once a week to ask your Blessing and pay their thankful Acknowledgments for your great care of them in their Education and in that liberal Provision you have made for them but one or two of your Children should chuse to come alone to you in private when no body sees them and obstinately refuse to come with the rest of their Brethren though they were censured by them with undutifulness and ingratitude for such a Neglect I am apt to think there is none of you would accept of such private Acknowledgments from those who refused the more publick and solemn Addresses and we have as little reason to expect acceptance from God when we refuse to worship him in the Congregation of his Saints how devout soever we are alone Nay though we should grant that private Devotions were as acceptable to God as Publick supposing they were performed with equal Zeal and Fervency of Mind yet upon this account Publick Worship has much the advantage good Company in all Cases is apt to give us greater briskness and vigour of Mind the very presence of devout Souls who breath forth their ardent Desires to God is enough to fire our cold and chill Spirits and good Men receive warmth and quickness from each other and grow into greater ardours and transports Hypocrites have no other sense of Devotion but what they receive from good Company but good Men themselves who have a true and constant sense of God many times experience a great difference in this respect between their private Retirements and the more publick and solemn Acts of Worship Thus you see that tho we could produce no express proof of the necessity of publick Worship yet there are sufficient reasons to prevail with every wise and good Man not to withdraw himself from the Communion of Religious Assemblies and therefore indeed we shall never find that a truly wise and good Man does Private Devotion may be a pretence to justify the neglect of publick Worship but I dare appeal to these Men's own Consciences that it is never the true Cause for Men who do heartily desire to worship God will chuse to worship him in the best and most solemn manner that is in the publick Assemblies of Christians But yet to take away this very pretence from them I come now to consider our Obligations to publick Worship 1. And first I shall argue from the Nature of Religious Worship and the fundamental Reasons of it Now Worship signifies all that part of Religion which immediately respects God as it is distinguished from Sobriety and Righteousness and is commonly known by the
that I need not insist on the proof of it Their several sorts of Sacrifices were to be offered at the Tabernacle or Temple by the Priests who were publick Persons even those particular Sacrifices which were offered for particular Men either Expiatory or Eucharistical to make atonement for their Sins or to be an oblation of Praise for particular Mercies were yet offered at the Temple and besides this they had Sacrifices for the whole Congregation as on the great day of Expiation which was not for any particular Man but for the whole Body of the People and therefore considered them all as united in the same Religion and Worship God appointed also a publick Place of Worship viz. the Tabernacle or Temple at Ierusalem and a publick place for Worship can be of no use if there were no obligation to publick Worship God also instituted publick Times of Worship the Seventh day Sabbath their New Moons and Annual Festivals when all their Males were to appear three times a Year before the Lord And such Times as these are described by calling Assemblies and solemn Meetings because then they met together for publick Worship for indeed it seems to be a contradiction to appoint publick and solemn Times for private Worship If Men are bound only to worship God in private there is no need of publick Days of Rest dedicated to God's Worship for every Man may take his own Time for it as he finds most convenient and useful but fixed and stated Times of Worship do necessarily suppose publick Worship and evidently prove that Solemn and Publick Days for Worship are not sanctified meerly by private Acts of Worship And therefore we may consider further that God entred into Covenant with the Children of Israel not as particular Persons but as the Seed of Abraham as a People and Nation whom he had chose for himself to be his peculiar Inheritance and therefore every part of his Covenant and the institution of Religious Worship is none of the least parts of it concerns them as a Nation So that this was a National Covenant and a National Religion and Worship and I need add no more to prove that according to God's Institution it was a publick Worship for God was the King of Israel and therefore required as publick Homage from them as other Princes expect from their Subjects as publick I say tho he can Challenge more divine Regards than earthly Princes because he was their God as well as their King And therefore the Children of Israel themselves are frequently called the Congregation of Israel and the whole Congregation as consisting of such Persons as used to meet together for publick Worship how had a right to Worship at the Tabernacle of the Congregation Let us then thirdly consider the Religion of our Saviour and what Obligations that lays on us to all the Acts of Publick Worship Now I need not tell you that Christ has instituted a Church which is so often in the Writings of the Apostles called a Church and the Church of Christ. Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Meeting and Assembly which is called together and so acquaints us what the Nature of a Christian Church is that it is a Society of Men united and combined together in the Faith and Worship of Christ For the Church of Christ is purely a Religious Society Our Saviour had no Temporal Kingdom as the Jews expected his Kingdom was not of this World and therefore his Church is nothing else but a Society of Men for the Worship of God through Christ which is a plain demonstration that every Member of the Christian Church is bound to join in all the Offices of publick Worship for there can be no Christian Church if there be no publick Worship because the Christian Church is a Religious Society that is a Society instituted for Religious Worship nor can he be a Member of the Christian Church who wholly neglects or despises publick Worship for he can at best be only a nominal Member of an Assembly who neglects to assemble with them especially when it is essential to our Membership to frequent such Assemblies Now we may safely conclude that Christ would never have instituted a Church or Religious Assembly for publick Worship had not publick Worship been much more acceptable to God than our private Devotions had it been so indifferent as some Men presume whether we worship God singly or in a Body and Society whether at Home in our Closet or in the publick Congregation And we may observe farther That this Church is called the Body of Christ and the Apostle tells us that there is but one body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling Now to be one Body as all good Christians are if Christ have but one Body signifies a very near and intimate union between all the Members of the Body this is agreed by all but then the Question is wherein this Unity consists Some place the Unity of Christians in one Faith in believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith or in having a mutual Kindness and Charity and it must be acknowledged that these are absolutely necessary to unite Christians to make them the one Body of Christ. But yet this is not all for there may be great Dissensions and Schisms where there is but one Faith as it was of old in those fearful Schisms of the Novatians and Donatists who differed not in Matters of Faith but Discipline and as our own sad Experience convinces us at this Day and Men may exercise a Christian Charity and Forbearance to each other without being Members of the same Body and therefore we must consider that this one Body is one Church and the Unity of a Church or Religious Assembly must of necessity consist in one Communion and therefore he who separates himself from Christian Communion who forsakes the Publick Assemblies for Religious Worship destroys the Unity of the Church which is a sufficient Argument that publick Worship when we can enjoy the Opportunities of it is essential to the Notion and Being of a Christian Church And therefore we find that this was the constant practice of Christians from the very first Foundations of a Christian Church Thus we read of those new Converts That they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and in breaking Bread from House to House did eat their Meat with gladness and singleness of Heart Here you see the Example of the first Christians they continued in the fellowship of the Apostles in the communion of Doctrine Sacraments and Prayers which is the true description of the Unity of the Christian Church and therefore the Christian Church is called a Communion or Fellowship That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and lay them aside again when they please but this seems to be a plain and easy way to satisfy our Consciences that since the Law of God is their Rule we must never scruple the lawfulness of any thing which is not either expresly forbid by God or by such evident and necessary consequence as every honest Man may discern without using any great skill and subtilty While Men do not judg of things by the Law of God but by arbitrary Rules of their own inventing or by Fancy and Humour Prejudice or Interest they may like or dislike just what they please and call it Conscience when they have done but the observing this one Rule would soon cure all Fanaticism and restore the Church to Peace and Unity To make the Scripture a perfect Rule not only of Faith and Manners and all the essential parts of Worship which we readily grant and prove against the Church of Rome but also of all external Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies when we find no such thing said in Scripture nor any such entire and perfect Form of Discipline and Worship prescribed in it is the true cause of all our Divisions and fills peoples heads with endless and infinite Scruples but to make the Commands and Prohibitions of Scripture the Rule of our Consciences and the certain measure and standard of what is lawful and unlawful so as neither to condemn nor scruple what is not forbid in Scripture would infallibly heal our Breaches and restore us to Peace with our selves and with one another Fourthly I observe further That neither a mistaken nor a scrupulous Conscience can justify our Disobedience to the Commands of our Superiors We may indeed oppose the Authority of God against any humane Power a Conscience informed and governed by the Divine Laws will not cannot ought not to stoop to the greatest Prince who commands any thing contrary to God's Law because the Power and Authority of God is most sacred and venerable absolute and supream but an erroneous mistaken doubting scrupulous Conscience in a word a Conscience which is not governed by the Laws of God is not armed with his Authority neither and therefore cannot justify our Disobedience to Princes for it is only the Opinion of a private Man and therefore cannot justify Disobedience to publick Authority Which shews us how necessary it is to inform our Consciences aright and to keep close to our Rule not to neglect any thing which God has commanded nor to do any thing which he has forbid and where God has not determined us by his Authority in those things which he has neither commanded nor forbid to submit our selves to our lawful Superiors for nothing but the Authority of God will justify our Disobedience to Humane Authority and where we cannot pretend God's Authority as we cannot in those things which are left undetermined it is a sin to disobey our Rulers though they be but Men. I shall not determine that Question now Whether a Man who is under some Doubts and Scruples ought not to obey his Governors notwithstanding those Scruples because he that doubts is only supposed not to be satisfied about the evil of the thing commanded but in the mean time he is certain that it is his Duty to obey his Superiors and therefore not being sure that he shall sin in obeying because he is not sure that what they command is sinful and being sure that he shall sin in disobeying them if their Commands be lawful and being withal under a necessity of doing one or t'other whether he ought not in prudence to take the sure side that is to wave his Scruples and obey his Prince I shall at present only observe this one thing without drawing any peremptory conclusion from it That Obedience to our Superiors is a plain and express Law and so the proper Rule of Conscience and therefore if what our Prince commands us be not forbid by as plain and express a Law as that is which commands our Obedience we seem to oppose our private and uncertain Opinions against the express Authority of God and chuse rather to follow our Consciences where they are not evidently directed by a Divine Law than where they are No Humane Authority must be set up against the Authority of God but a Divine Authority that is a Divine Law is a more certain Rule than private Opinions The sum of all is this That no Man acts out of true Principles of Conscience but he who keeps his Eye fixed upon his Rule who directs and governs his Conscience by the Law of God other Men live by their private Humors and Fancies are turned aside by every Novel and groundless Conceit And tho they may be pleased to call this Conscience yet it will not excuse them from the guilt of Schism if they divide the Church and rend themselves from the Body of Christ Conscience will never justify us but when we obey and observe our Rule Secondly Another Question I would propose to these Men is Whether they ever seriously consider the hainous nature of Schism Now there is great reason to ask this Question if we observe with what little consideration most Men engage themselves in it how wantonly they forsake the Communion of the Church as if it were perfectly indifferent whether they come to Church or go to a Conventicle as if it were no more than to leave their own Parish Church and go to another where there is a Preacher whom they like better It is plain that such Men as these never understood what Christian Unity is nor ever considered what the danger of Schism is that is that they have not acted honestly and sincerely in a Matter of such vast importance The Christian Church is represented in Scripture as one Body united to Christ who is the Head of his Church and the Saviour of the Body This St. Paul makes a powerful Argument to Unity endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace there is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all What does this Bond of Peace signify but the external Communion of the Christian Church when Christians live together as Members of the same Body and united to each other as the Members of the natural Body are by Nerves and Sinews For Christians are called one Body with respect to their external Communion which is represented in the Lord's Supper by their eating of one Bread as St. Paul argues The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread So that we become one Body by external visible Communion by being united into one Religious Society for the Worship of God and our mutual edification But speaking the
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
reasonable exception against Truth if there are any new Discoveries to be made in this last Age of the World yet we all know when we speak only of the Power of Prejudice that it is a harder thing to perswade Men to part with such Doctrines Customs Usages Religions which they have received from their Ancestors for many Generations than to part with some novel Invention whose very Novelty will not admit of any strong and lasting Prejudice Thus we know the Antiquity of the Pagan Religion which pleaded the Prescription of unknown Ages made it extreamly difficult to perswade Men to renounce their Country Gods and to embrace Christianity and that Objection of Novelty tho it were false was yet a great hinderance to the reception of the Gospel which I alleadg to shew that a long and immemorial Prescription is a more powerful Prejudice than some few Years Education and therefore if the Prejudices of Education be thought sufficient to justify our Dissenters it is a much better Justification of Pagans and Papists in forreign Countries For 2ly it may cause a reasonable suspicion in honest Dissenters sufficient to put them upon a new search and enquiry when they remember that the King and the Church of England fall together that those who altered the Government of the Church pulled down Monarchy and transformed themselves into as many different shapes and forms in the State as they set up new Models of Discipline and Government in the Church which is an Argument that they were not the most infallible Men nor acted by the best Principles that ever were The Church of England as established by Law has had possession in this Nation ever since the Reformation and a few Years interruption in a time of Rebellion and great Confusion is not sufficient to dispossess it and therefore all Men ought to have laid aside their Prejudices and to have returned to the Communion of the Church as well as to their Loyalty to their Prince unless they could shew some better Reasons against it than the Prejudices of Education which can be no just excuse at this day for he is a very unreasonable Man who shall desire any more than twenty Years to wear off the Prejudices of twenty Years Education Especially when we consider thirdly That no other Religion or form of Church Government ever had a legal possession of this Nation during this Anarchy and Interregnum of Church and State Neither Presbytery Independency nor Anabaptism were setled by Law but they shuffled as well as they could and used their utmost skill to establish themselves by the numbers and power of their several Parties and sometimes one praviled and sometimes another and instead of one National Church we had twenty National Schisms but no Church Which 4thly plainly shews That the Prejudices of Education can be no good Plea in this Case for it is impossible the Prejudices of Education should be strong and invincible where there is no one fixed Church nor one face of Religion in a Nation but several Churches quarrelling and contending with each other Those who are brought up in a Country where the People never heard but of one Religion as it is in Spain or at least never heard of any other but under such dismal frightful Characters as may raise their indignation and their hatred of such Monsters it is no wonder I say if such Men's Prejudices be very strong and almost invincible but when Men see Religion in so many shapes and converse with Men of different Perswasions and see that they are not Monsters but Men like themselves this rather inclines them to uncertainty and Scepticism in Religion to be sure it is not apt to possess them with any fixt and unalterable Prejudices for or against any Religion And therefore we find in this state of things how Men make their advances from one Church to another till at last they come to Quakerism the end and centre of all Confusion as being at the greatest distance from all good Order Now when Men are in such a wandring state like Travellers who have no certain Abode but pass out of one Country into another visit all and stay no where which is the deplorable Case of many thousand poor injudicious People it is ridiculous to plead Prejudice in their Justification 2. Others engage themselves in Schism out of lightness and giddiness of Mind They have no fixt and stable Principles and can never like one thing long together or they run into Conventicles out of a wanton curiosity and are taken with any thing or with nothing as it happens and thus by degrees contract Prejudices against that Church whose Communion they forsook without any reason and then believe it to be unlawful without any The Zeal of their Preachers and those hard words they give the Church and Churchmen makes them believe there is some cause for it tho they know not what and they learn by roat some popular Objections and Cavils and when they are once engaged lay aside all thoughts of further consideration or a timely retreat When Men first begin to separate and then learn some Doubts and Scruples and in time improve those Doubts into lasting Principles of Schism it is no Argument of any great honesty for an honest Man must first have very undeniable proof that Communion is unlawful before he can entertain the least thought of a Separation and did Men take this course the Schism would soon be at an end 3. Others take distaste at the publick Administrations of Civil Government and hence take occasion to quarrel with the Church This seems strange that whatever is done amiss in the State should be made an Argument against the Church when the Church in a Christian Kingdom is subordinate to the State and has no power to correct the Miscarriages of Civil Government as Civil Governors have to correct and reform the Abuses and Exorbitances of Ecclesiastical Power But some Persons observing that close Union which is between Church and State think it a vain thing to attempt the Crown till they have first pulled down a Legal Church But tho these Men may talk very much against Church-Impositions and seem as much concerned for Liberty of Conscience as they are for the Liberty of the Subject it is plain Religion is the least thing in their thoughts they love Schism only for the sake of Rebellion and look upon Schismatical Conventicles as admirable Nurseries for the Camp tho I am willing to hope they may be mistaken in it That this was the plain state of the Case in our late Troubles we have been lately told in print by one who is no great Friend to the Church of England tho I wonder so grave and wise a Man should thus openly betray the Secrets of his Party tells us That when the War was begun by Church-men who had no design at first to pull down the Church the Auxiliaries of the Parliament the Scots would not
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
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
Mount But the Christian Church is arrived to a full Age and set at liberty by Christ from the Yoke of Bondage and therefore is not under servile restraints but has the Government of its own Actions according to the general Rules and Prescriptions of the Gospel Not that every particular Christian is at liberty to worship God as he pleases which could bring nothing but confusion and disorder into the Church but is to be under the Government and Direction of his Spiritual Guides and Pastors while they keep within the General Rules of the Gospel But the Christian Church enjoys that Liberty which the Jewish Church had not that they can institute and appoint change and alter the external Circumstances of Worship as the Necessities of the Church and the Edification of Christians require So muâ—â— are those Men mistaken who argue from Moses to Christ that Christ is as faithful at least as Moses was and therefore since Moses gave them an exact platform of Worship from which they must not vary in the least punctilio therefore they conclude that Christ hath done so too tho they cannot shew where he has done it that he has prescribed such an exact Form of Government Discipline and Worship in the Church as perpetually obliges all Christians whereas we must observe that there was no Christian Church formed in our Saviour's Days but he communicated with his Disciples in the Jewish Church while he lived and gave them Authority and Power to form Churches after his Resurrection But we must observe the difference the Apostle makes between Moses and Christ that one was faithful as a Servant the other as a Son Now a Servant must exactly follow his Rules and Orders but a Son Governs his own House with greater freedom and Moses being a Servant signifies also the servile State of that People whom he governed that they were in Bondage under the Rudiments of this World and had their task exactly set them but Christ who is the Son and Heir and Lord of all has made us Sons and Freemen too and therefore does not give such particular Laws about every little Circumstance but expects from us a more manly and generous Obedience And indeed there was great reason why the Jewish Worship should be exactly prescribed by God because it was typical of Christ and the state of the Gospel it was a visible Prophesy of things to come and therefore could be drawn by no other hand but that which was guided by an Omniscient Eye whence the Apostle observes that Moses was faithful as a Servant for a Testimony of those things which were to be spoken after But in other Matters the Jews themselves were not under such confinement their Synagogue-Worship where they performed the Duties of Natural Religion was ordered by their own prudence and directions They ordered the baptizing of Proselytes without any command or direction in their Law for it which our Saviour made the Sacrament of our Admission into his Church and that Bread and Wine which by the same Authority was added to the Paschal Supper was consecrated by our Saviour as a Festival Commemoration of his broken Body and his Blood shed for us and therefore we have little reason to doubt whether the Christian Church has the same liberty which the Jewish Synagogue had to appoint such Circumstances and Ceremonies as are most suitable to the several parts of Religious Worship 3. The Apostles who were authorized by our Saviour to make Disciples and to gather them into Church-Communion give general Rules for Order and Decency and enjoyn Obedience to our Spiritual Guides Let all things be done decently and in order and let all things be done to edifying which is even the Rule of the Apostolical Power which God hath given us for edification and not for destruction Now general Rules leave Men at liberty as to particular Instances because a general Rule may be complied with different ways which are supposed to be in his choice who receives such a Rule Thus we are commanded to obey our Spiritual Guides Obey them who have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief Which when there is no fixt and setled Rule of Government supposes that many things are left to the prudence and discretion of the Governours the natural Inference from which is that tho there be no express command for a Form of Prayers or significant Ceremonies yet when they are ordered and established by the united Wisdom and Authority of Church and State it is the Duty of every Christian willingly and chearfully to comply with them while they agree with the general Rules of Gospel-Worship 3. Let us now consider the Example of our Saviour while he conversed on the Earth which is a most admirable Pattern for all Christians to follow Now I observe that though our Saviour lived in a very degenerate Age of the Jewish Church when their Priests Scribes and Pharisees by those Characters which he himself gives of them appear to be very vile Persons yet he lived in the Communion of the Jewish Church tho he were the great Reformer of Religion yet the time of the Jewish Church not being yet expired he formed no new Churches but observed their Publick Assemblies of Worship preached in their Temple and in their Synagogues and observed all their Religious Festivals as punctually as any of themselves which Consideration ought to give some check to those Men who forsake the Communion of the Church under pretence that there are bad Men in it Thus our Saviour conformed to all those laudable and innocent Customs of the Jewish Church which were of humane Institution and were not founded on the Authority of a Divine Law He celebrated the Feast of Dedication which was appointed by Iudas Macchabeus and his Brethren and the Children of Israel to be observed annually for eight days in remembrance of the cleansing of the Temple from the prophanation of Antiochus and the regaining their liberty of publick Worship This Feast though it were of Humane Institution our Saviour no where reproves but graces and countenances the Solemnity with his own Presence Thus he conformed to the Synagogue-Worship which was all of humane Order and Appointment as you heard before Thus he who so severely reproved the superstitious abuse even of Divine Institutions who despised their Sacrifices and Oblations and all their external and solemn Hypocrisies their broad Phylacteries and their frequent and religious Purifications when they placed their Religion in the bare doing those things without attending to the end for which they were commanded does both practise and allow those humane Institutions which served a good end in Religion which is a plain Argument that our Saviour did not think it such a prophanation of Religion to appoint any Circumstances of Religious Worship not commanded by God as
prevail with some honest but less thinking Men to forsake our Communion And I shall only mention those which concern the Rites and Ceremonies of our Church and all that I shall at present do here shall be to answer some hard Words and ill Names which are given to our Worship and shew how ignorantly and injuriously they are applied to the Church of England Such are these Will-Worship Superstition Idolatry Popery These are hard Words which very few People understand and therein the great force of the Objection lies as will appear from a particular examination of them First Will-Worship Now when Men charge the Church of England with Will-Worship they generally understand such a Worship as is not commanded by God but is originally owing to the Will and Invention of Men. Now this I absolutely deny that there is any such thing as Will-Worship in the Church of England The Worship of the Church of England consists in publick Prayers and Praises in reading the Scriptures and expounding them to the People and instructing them in the great Articles of Faith and Rules of Life in singing Psalms and administring the Supper of our Lord and such like Exercises of Devotion All which are expresly commanded in Scripture and therefore cannot be Will-Worship in this Sence for they are not the Inventions of Men but the Institutions of Christ. It is true there are some Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religious Worship used and enjoyned in the Church of England which are not commanded by God but these are no parts of Worship and therefore not Will-Worship We do not think wearing a Surplice to be an act of Worship nor expect to please God by any external Dress or Habit but we think it a decent Garb for those to use who minister in holy things We do not think kneeling at the Sacrament to be an Act but a Posture of Worship as it is of Prayer and therefore not kneel to the Bread and Wine but receive them kneeling as expressing that Reverence and Devotion of Mind which becomes such a mysterious Worship and as a Posture suitable to those Prayers which in the Act of receiving we put up to Heaven The Cross in Baptism is not designed as any act of Worship to God but as a visible Profession of our Faith in a crucified Saviour it is not a dedicating and covenanting Sign which respects God but at most an engaging Sign which respects the Church and therefore is not an Act of Worship much less Will-Worship To institute any new Kind or Species of Worship is certainly unlawful as to make any new object of Worship whether it be a visible representation such as a Picture and Image or invisible Beings as Angels and deisied Men a numerous company of whom are worshipped in the Church of Rome or any new Acts of Worship such as frequent Washings Purgations Sacrifices Pilgrimages c. But the Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religious Actions which are no where determined by God may and must be determined either by our own Prudence or by the Prudence of our Governours without the least suspicion of Will-Worship because they neither are nor are designed for Acts of Worship But we must observe further that this Word Will-Worship is found but once in all the Scripture and some very wise and learned Men question whether in that place Will-Worship be condemned by the Apostle as an ill thing the Words are these Which things have indeed a shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship and Humility and neglecting the Body not in any honour of satisfying the Flesh For they observe that Will-Worship is joyned with two other very good things Humility and neglecting the Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies external Severities and Mortifications to keep down the Body and bring it into Subjection not to pamper it with high Nourishment nor to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof which seems to be the meaning of what follows not in honour in satisfying the Flesh for Honour as St. Hierom observes signifies taking Care of and making Provision for it So that we may as well say that Humility and bodily Severities Strictness and Austerity of Life in suppressing all the Motions of Lust and the least inclinations to sensual Pleasures are forbidden or censured by the Apostle as that Will-Worship is for there is as much appearance of his condemning one as t'other And besides this the Apostle says that these things have a shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now we expound this to signify only a false appearance of Wisdom yet that supposes that Will-Worship and Humility and bodily Severities are in themselves good things and parts of Religious Wisdom when other things which are not good gain a Reputation of Wisdom by being like them for that which makes these things to have a shew of Wisdom is that they are mistaken for Will-Worship Humility and neglecting the Body And therefore according to this way of expounding the Words by Will-Worship we must understand voluntary Worship which answers to Free-Will-Offerings under the Law which were not commanded by God but yet were very acceptable to him when Men do something more than God has expresly commanded and deny themselves those Liberties and Enjoyments which God allows in order to some Spiritual End to refine and purge their Souls that they may arrive at more perfect attainments in Goodness And there is so much to countenance this Interpretation that all the Superstitions in the World do deceive and abuse Men and pass for excellent attainments in Religion under the shew and appearance of voluntary Worship and Free-Will-Offerings of doing something more than God has enjoyned them whereby they think they so highly merit of God as to obtain the pardon of their Sins and become his peculiar Favourites Thus the Pharisees thought to do by observing the Traditions of their Fathers by their frequent Washings Purifications Fastings and Tything even Mint and Cummin Thus the Papists do by their Fasts Pilgrimages and Penances but the mistake is that this is but a false appearance of Wisdom because tho at first it looks like the noble generous Worship of Free-Will-Offerings yet it is not so For tho under the Law Free-Will Offerings were not commanded which had destroyed the Nature of a Free-Will Offering yet there are directions given what such Persons shall offer to God in case they do offer at all and in particular that there shall be no blemish in it which signifies that this voluntary Worship must be confined to such Instances as we know are acceptable to God and therefore when Men spend their Zeal in some voluntary Superstitions which cannot please God such things have only a shew a false appearance of Wisdom in voluntary Worship because tho their Worship be voluntary and so far commendable yet they do not make a wise choice of the Acts of Worship do not worship God in an acceptable manner And this is
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-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-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
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-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-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
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
visible Worship because it is separated from all external and visible signs of honour And therefore we may observe that good men in all Ages have not contented themselves meerly to worship God with devout thoughts and passions but with such external acts of Religion as either a Divine Institution or the Custom of their Countrey and the practice of the Church had made external signs of honour Such as uncovering the head or putting off their shooes or bowing the body or kneeling or prostration or lifting up eyes and hands to Heaven where God dwells For this we have the ancient Patriarchs the Jewish Church Christ and his Apostles and the whole Christian Church for many Ages for our example and it will be hard to find any sort of people in the World that pretended to any Religion but took great care of the exâ—eâ—nal solemnities and decent circumstances of Worship I know of no Age of the Christian Church till very lately wherein those men would have been allowed to be of any Religion or admitted to Christian Communion who should have betrayed such slight thoughts of God in a rude and slovenly Worship as too many among our selves are now guilty of and indeed this has insensibly crept upon us ever since those hot disputes about Ceremonies and the externals of Religion have troubled the Church for when men began to dispute down all good order and decent administration of Religious Offices they soon disputed away all external Worship and many who still pretend no great dislike to publick Constitutions are so far infected with this disease that they are not sufficiently careful of the gravity and seriousness of their devotion and some are so afraid of Fanaticism that they dare not look solemnly nor lift up their eyes and hands to Heaven for fear of being thought Fanaticks or hypocrites Thus while some men out of a groundless fear of Superstition strip Religion of all useful and decent Ceremonies and others out of as wild a suspicion of Fanaticism are afraid to appear grave and serious in their Religion the publick solemnities of Worship are either left to every mans fancy or performed in so careless and trifling a manner that the Name of God is dishonoured and his Worship profaned and scorned But my business at present is with those of our own Communion and possibly it may do them some good to tell them that they who appear so zealous against Fanaticism and are yet so trifling in their Worship are much the worst Fanaticks of the two For many of our Dissenters though they reject the use of our Ceremonies and neglect that external decency of Worship which has been in use in all Ages of the Church yet however they make a shew of great seriousness in their worship and seem to be very sensibly affected with it and therefore this looks like Worship though it want some external solemnities which may be thought needful but when men stare and gaze about them laugh or whisper at their prayers and betray great vanity and lightness of mind to say no worse instead of an awful sense and reverence of God this is so far from making any shew of Worship how exact soever they may be in their postures or responses that it is downright profaneness They are thus far fanatical in their principles that they must believe if they consider any thing that God does not much regard the Worship of the outward man for did they believe he did they would be more careful to pay it him for the bare doing any thing in Religious Worship such as kneeling at Prayers or standing up at the Hymns and Creed and the like does not make it so much as an external sign of Worship unless it be performed with that gravity and seriousness which is essential to all Religious Worship and if they believe that though God does expect the Worship of the body he matters not the Worship of the mind nor how carelesly external Worship is performed so it be done This is so wild a principle that it out-does all the Fanaticks that ever were in the World Those who were arrant hypocrites and yet very punctual in the externals of Religion such as the Scribes and Pharisees were in our Saviours dayes were withal very solemn and demure in those external superstitions and those who reject external Ceremonies of Religion yet pretend to great devotion of mind and rapturous ardours and transports of spirit but these men are for an external bodily Worship without so much as the least visible appearance of external devotion and if there be no other remedy I wish with all my heart that these men would make a Sect by themselves too and not reproach the Church of England by continuing in her Communion which has brought a greater scandal upon our Worship than all the arguments and cavils of Dissenters though the better way would be and that which I heartily beg of God and do earnestly beg all men to correct this fault and to wipe off that reproach of a cold formal Worship by expressing that grave and serious and ardent devotion which so much becomes all the true Worshippers of God is so essential to Religious Worship and so interwoven with all the publick Offices of our Religion which are admirably fitted to serve all the ends of a grave and serious Piety 2. Let us consider now the peculiar presence of God and holy Angels in Religious Assemblies Did we see God in a visible glory as he used to appear to Moses at the door of the Tabernacle every time we meet to worship him I am apt to think we should all express greater signs of Reverence and devotion and yet there is none of you but will pretend to believe that God is present in your Assemblies and that he takes a more particular notice of your carriage and behaviour when ye meet to worship him than he does at other times that is that he expects now that ye should take a more particular notice of his presence and behave your selves with a suitable reverence as those who believe that God is present in a peculiar manner though ye do not see him Under the Law God dwelt in the Tabernacle and Temple which was his house and therefore when the Tabernacle was finished God filled it with his presence and glory there was the Mercy-Seat covered with Cherubims which was a figure of Gods presence and the attendance of Angels and it was a constant opinion among the Heathens that their Gods dwelt in their Temples and Images consecrated to their Worship and though they were ridiculously foolish in thinking to charm their Gods by some Magical Rites and Mysteries and confine them to certain places yet the original of this was only a traditional belief that God was alwayes peculiarly present in all places of his Worship It is sufficiently evident that the Primitive Christians did believe that Angels who are Gods Retinue and Ministers do attend Christian Assemblies and are
witnesses of the decency and reverence of our Worship and this is the most plain and obvious sense of St. Paul's words For this cause ought the woman to have power over her head because of the Angels he was a discoursing the decency of mens praying uncovered and women covered because the woman ought to be in subjection to her husband and therefore it was undecent to appear with her head uncovered and much more so in religious Assemblies wherein we are to have a greater regard to decency because of the Angels that is those Angels who attend our Worship and carefully observe our behaviour though we do not see them and as St. Chrysostom sayes If we reverence men much more the Angels of God From whence we learn these two things that the Angels attend our Worship and that for that reason we ought to be very careful of all decency and gravity in our Worship And certainly did men heartily believe and seriously consider that God and his holy Angels look on and take special notice of every action and are greatly offended with a light and trifling carriage with any gestures or actions which unbecome so great a presence it would compose them to greater seriousness and devotion and either make them afraid to come to Church or more reverent when they do CHAP. III. Concerning the neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church A Nother great miscarriage which some are guilty of who do not forsake our Communion is a great neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church A great many come to Church when the Service is half read others when it is near a conclusion and think there is no great hurt in it neither if they do not lose the Sermon At other times when there is only the Divine Service read without a Sermon few persons think it worth their attendance but the Worship of God is exposed to contempt and the Minister laugh't at for reading to bare Walls and empty Seats These things I grant may happen sometimes where there is no designed neglect the mistake of time may occasion some persons coming late who want certain notice and on the Week-dayes necessary business may hinder others who are glad to take all the opportunities they can get of publick Worship but where there are not such reasonable excuses the fault is very great though few people are convinc't of it and therefore my business at present shall be to endeavour to convince you of the evil of this neglect 1. If you will acknowledge it your duty to worship God together in the Assemblies of Christians I need not multiply words to prove such a neglect of publick Prayers to be a great fault for they are the principal part of the Divine Worship there we confess our sins to God and beg his Pardon and receive a Ministerial Absolution from the mouth of his Minister there we praise him in divine Hymns and Anthems and put up our joint Petitions and Thanksgivings to him and this is properly divine Worship because it is our address to God in Supplications Prayers and Praises To hear the Word of God read or preached is so far an act of Worship too as it signifies an acknowledgement of his authority over us and our desire to be instructed by him but this is but a secondary act of Worship which consists in hearing God speak to us either immediately in his inspired Word or mediately by those men whom he has authorized and qualified for the instruction of his Church but the Worship of God properly consists in our offering something to God the Sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgivings which are highly pleasing to him when they are offered up by a devout soul in the name and merits of our great High Priest and Mediator Jesus Christ. So that those who neglect the Prayers of the Church neglect publick Worship and those who slight the opportunities of publick Prayers when there is no Sermon to invite their presence plainly discover that they prefer pleasing their curiosity with hearing some new discourse before the more solemn acts of Worship which is a great sign that they hear to very little purpose when the end of hearing is practice and the most excellent part of practical Religion is the immediate Worship of God 2. Because some men think they worship God sufficiently if they come time enough to Church to joyn in the Pulpit Prayer I would desire them to consider that Church Communion principally consists in joyning in the publick Prayers of the Church These men would not be thought nor do they intend to renounce the Communion of our Church and yet in effect do so while they neglect its publick Worship for Church Communion consists in meeting together for publick acts of Worship and then we joyn in the publick Worship of the Church when we worship God according to that Rule and Form prescribed by the publick Authority of the Church wherein we live The Prayer of the Minister before Sermon is not so expresly provided for by our Rubrick though it be favoured by a Canon made for that purpose and is now usefully introduced by long custome with the connivance if not the express allowance of our Governours but the Liturgy is the form of publick Worship and administration of Sacraments there the Church offers up more especially her publick Prayers and Praises this is the great bond of Church Communion and to neglect or withdraw our selves from this Worship is in effect to forsake the Communion of the Church as to the principal part and exercise of it When you joyn in the Pulpit Prayer though it be never so well composed grave and serious pious and ardent yet it looks more like the Worship of a particular Congregation than of the Church for you joyn only with those who are present at such a prayer but when we offer up our souls to God in that publick Form of Prayers prescribed by publick Authority we joyn with all the Congregations of England who at the same time offer up the same Prayers and Praises in the same words as if they were but one Congregation and had but one heart and mouth and those men do not understand the reason and nature of publick Worship who make light of this Why is the Worship of a Religious Assembly more acceptable to God than the private Devotions of good men when they might as well stay at home and about the same hour which in ancient times was observed for private as well as publick Devotion offer up their private Prayers to God for themselves and one another for God can hear them all where ever they are and their prayers may ascend up to Heaven together and this one would think should be as acceptable and prevalent as to pray to God in a great company and yet we see that our Saviour has instituted publick Assemblies for Worship has appointed his Ministers to offer up the publick prayers of the Congregation to God in his
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
Sinners reasonably expect from God and much less challenge it as a right that he should redeem them from that state of Misery into which they had brought themselves by such an amazing stupendious and incomprehensible expression of his Love as the Incarnation and Death and Sufferings of his own Eternal only begotten and well-beloved Son Here is such a height and depth and length and breadth of the Love of God as passeth all Understanding this is Grace free Grace the Riches of Grace the abundant Riches of Grace And therefore this brings us under such Obligations of Love and Gratitude as infinitely excel all the Obligations of Natural Justice Now we are not our own but are bought with a price and therefore must glorify God both with our Bodies and Spirits which are God's We are now redeemed not with corruptible Things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as a Lamb without blemish and without spot who gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity and to purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works As the whole Oeconomy of Man's Salvation by Christ is the effect of meer Grace and Love so Gratitude is the only true Principle of Gospel-Obedience to serve God out of a prevailing sense of his Goodness to feel that constraining Love and Power of Christ's Love engaging us to live to him who died for us For those Men greatly mistake the Nature and Obligations of Gratitude who think that Gratitude leaves them at liberty to do or not to do it as they please whereas the Obligations of Gratitude especially in our present Case are infinitely more strong and forcible than those of Justice and the punishment of Ingratitude proportionably great For how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation if we refuse to hear him who spake from Heaven to us if we have troden under-foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith we were sanctified an unholy Thing and have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Since then we are now under such powerful Obligations as the Love and Grace of God declared to us in the Gospel of his Son to love serve and worship him we should consider how unkind and ungrateful it is especially in those who call themselves Christians to slight or neglect the Worship of their God and Saviour certainly such Men cannot expect to be saved by Christ after all he has done and suffered for them when they will not thank him for it when they will not go to God in his Name As nothing is more infamous among Men so nothing does more provoke God than such rude Affronts of his Goodness to sin against the Grace of the Gospel and those surprising Discoveries and Manifestations of the Divine Goodness argue so brutish so diabolical a temper of mind such a perfect contrariety and contradiction to the Nature of God that such Men must naturally sink into the lowest Hell for those who have no sense of the Gospel-Grace who cannot be conquered nor affected with all the Charms of so powerful a Love are as incurable as Apostate Spirits Fourthly Another Aggravation of the Guilt of this Sin is That those who are baptized and professed Christians and I suppose I write to none else are under the Obligation of their Baptismal Vow to worship God and therefore to neglect his Worship is Perjury and breach of Covenant it is an Apostacy from Christianity though they still retain the Name of Christians And dost thou know what this is thou profane Wretch who thinkest it lost time to serve God who canst not spare so much time from worldly Cares or from thy Sports and Pleasure as to attend the Worship of God in the Assemblies of Christians Wast thou ever Baptized and dost thou know what the signification of Baptism is That thou art taken into Covenant with God and hast obliged thy self to serve and worship him that thou art incorporated into the Christian Church and therefore obliged to live in the Communion of the Church that is to frequent Christian Assemblies and to join in all the Parts and Offices of Religious Worship and art not thou afraid to deal falsely and treacherously with thy God For Vengeance is mine saith God I will repay it It is a dreadful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God To have our Portion with Hypocrites and Unbelievers signifies in the New Testament the greatest miseries of the next World Now as Unbelievers signifies such Infidels as obstinately refuse to believe the Gospel when it is fairly proposed to them So Hypocrites does not only signify as some Men mistake the word those who counterfeit Religion who make a fine external shew and appearance of Piety and Devotion when they are rotten at the Heart but it signifies those also who live contrary to their Profession who are suppose nominal and titular Christians who have been baptized in the Name of Christ and own his Religion as the Religion of their Country but live lewd and profligate lives make no Conscience of worshipping God nor ever think of saving their Souls These are the Men who are proposed as the Patterns and Examples of the severity of God's Judgments to deter any Man from imitating their wickedness lest they be punished with Hypocrites and Unbelievers Those who are baptized into the Christian Church into the Faith and Worship of Christ do not only forfeit all the Blessings of the Covenant by renouncing or contradicting their Baptismal Vow in an habitual course of a wicked and licentious Life but become obnoxious to all the Threatnings of the Gospel in their utmost severity which is a much worse state than the poor Heathens are in who never heard of Christ for they shall not be judged by the Gospel which was never preached to them and therefore shall not be condemned by the Gospel neither as St. Paul tells us That as many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law and as many as sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law And by the same Reason we may add As many as have sinned in the Gospel shall be judged by the Gospel Now to perish without the Law signifies a much easier punishment than to be judged by the Law and to be judged by the Gospel signifies a great deal more than that for as God hath increased his Grace to Man-kind so he has always annexed severer Punishments to the abuse of it Thus our Saviour tells us It shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorah in the day of Iudgment than for Capernaum Sodom and Gomorah were as vile infamous Places as were in the World and God destroyed them by very memorable Judgments by raining Fire and Brimstone on them from Heaven but yet they never enjoyed those means of Grace which Capernaum did where our Saviour himself preached in Person and confirmed the Truth of his Doctrine by many mighty Works and therefore they should
publick Magistrates is the Duty also of private Christians Possibly some may think that I have taken a great deal of needless pains in proving so plain a Thing and truly I should think so too were I not sensible by my own experience how many profest Christians there are who have very little apprehension of the necessity of publick Worship and therefore sometimes come to Church to comply with the fashion of the Place and sometime stay at Home to comply with their own careless Humours If any such read these Papers I would desire and beg of them seriously to consider this Matter and not to abuse themselves by some childish and sophistical Reasonings into a Neglect so dishonourable to God and so destructive to their Souls Suppose you did really as some I fear only pretend spend your time in private Prayer and Reading and Meditation yet can you reasonably expect that God should accept should hear and answer your private Prayers when they signify a Neglect if not a Contempt of publick Worship which is so much more pleasing to him as it is more honourable to be praised by a multitude of devout Souls in the Face of the Sun than in a secret Corner where no Body sees nor hears us Can you think your single Prayers will as much prevail with God as when the fervent and ardent Desires of a Christian Assembly are offered up to God by a publick Minister of Religion whom our Saviour has appointed to pray for us and to bless in his Name Can you any where expect such plentiful effusions of the Divine Grace and Spirit as in the Congregation of the Saints while we attend on Divine Institutions which are never without a Blessing annexed unto them when there are Subjects capable of receiving it There is time enough for our private Devotions without neglecting or affronting publick Worship And when we remember that Christ has promised to be present in Christian Assemblies Where-ever two or three are gathered together in his Name and that God prefers the Gates of Sion the place of publick Worship before all the Dwellings of Jacob it should make us long and thirst after the Courts of God and be glad when they say Let us go up into the House of the Lord. CHAP. III. Concerning those who plead Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own SECT I. Containing several Directions to such Men whereby to try their Honesty and Sincerity in this Matter THe third sort of Men who forsake our Religious Assemblies are those who pretend Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own who separate for fear of Sin and think themselves bound as they honour God and love their own Souls to avoid our Communion Now these Men deserve our most tender regard for if they be in good earnest it is very great pity that those who are so desirous to please God and to save their Souls should fall into such dangerous Mistakes But yet I do not intend to dispute the terms of our Communion with them at this time there are so many excellent Books writ in defence of the Church of England that there is no want of Instruction for those who are honest and inquisitive and therefore at present I shall take another Method which I hope may prove more effectual than disputing commonly does And I shall reduce what I have to say under these three Heads First To put them upon some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter Secondly To offer some general Considerations for their Satisfaction Thirdly To remove some popular Pleas and Objections First To put them upon some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter For those who plead Conscience for disobeying their Governors in Church or State offer such an insufferable affront to God if they be Hypocrites and carry on other Designs under a pretence of Conscience that woe be to that Man that whited painted Sepulchre how glorious a Profession soever he makes who is thus rotten at the Heart And in order to discover your honesty and sincerity I shall desire every Man as he fears God and loves his Soul and hopes for Mercy at the terrible appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come again to judg the Quick and the Dead to give a sincere Answer to these following Questions First Whether he do indeed separate from the Communion of our Parish Churches upon true Principles of Conscience To pretend to Conscience for any Thing is to pretend the Authority of God for God alone is the Supream Lord and Governour of our Consciences in all Cases where he interposes his Authority and to pretend the Authority of God for disobeying our Governors and dividing the Church when we have no such Authority is like counterfeiting the King 's Broad Seal to justifie Treasons and Rebellions Few Men make any difference between their private Judgments Opinions of Things and their Conscience that is between their own Authority and the Authority of God what-ever fancy comes into their Heads is called their Conscience and then they think they are bound to prefer their own private and groundless Conceits before all the visible Authority of Church and State And if this Principle be once admitted it is impossible there should be any lasting Peace and Unity in Church or State No Man must act against his Conscience that is he must not do any thing which he knows God has expresly forbid nor neglect doing any thing which he knows God has commanded A Divine Law is the Rule of Conscience and all the Powers of the World cannot deliver us from the Obligation of it in such Cases we must rather chuse to obey God than Men what-ever we suffer by it in this World but an erroneous doubting scrupulous Conscience is improperly called Conscience it being nothing else but our mistaken Opinion of Things and the wavering uncertainty of our Minds which cannot determine on which side the Truth lies But you will object That this seems to be a fruitless nicety which signifies nothing in practice for whether you will call it Conscience or private Opinion the case is the same for we must not do any thing which we believe or fear to be evil and contrary to a Divine Law as St. Paul tells us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat for what-ever is not of Faith is Sin But notwithstanding this this distinction between Mens Consciences and private Opinions between their Judgments directed and governed by the Laws of God or by other arbitrary and uncertain Measures is of very great use to direct our practice For first this should make us religiously careful not to pretend Conscience that is a Divine Authority where we can produce no Divine Law commanding or forbidding those things which we pretend to do or not to do under the Obligations of Conscience The pretence of Conscience is that we dare
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
run headlong into the same Excesses with themselves I will not enlarge upon this Argument lest telling plain Matter of Fact should be called Bitterness and Railing for some Men out of a pretence of Conscience are guilty of such vile and lewd Practices as they are not willing to hear of again and think themselves slandered if they do All that I shall say of it is only this That a tender Conscience never teaches Men to revile and reproach their Governors but this has been the Practice and Character of the most infamous Hereticks and Schismaticks ever since the beginnings of Christianity St. Iude gives a great many hard words to some Men in his days which I am not willing to apply to any in ours who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee But these speak evil of those things which they know not Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward and perished in the gain-saying of Core these are spots in your Feasts of Charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear Clouds are they without Water carried about of Winds Trees whose Fruit withereth without Fruit twice dead plucked up by the Roots raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever I shall conclude with that admirable Rule of St. Austin in answer to Parmenianus the Donatist Whoever corrects what he can by Reason and Discourse and shuts out or lays aside what is not capable of amendment as far as this may consist with the preservation of Christian Peace and Unity and modestly disallows and yet upholds what cannot be parted with without breaking the Peace of the Church this is the true Peace-maker SECT II. Containing some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England I Shall now lay down some general Principles which may contribute towards the satisfaction of Men's Minds to remove their Prejudices against the Worship of our Church The things commonly objected to drive away our People from the Communion of our Parish Churches are the Government of the Church by Bishops the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer the Surplice the Cross in Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament and such like which concern the use of some indifferent and uncommanded things in Religious Worship For we have always challenged our Adversaries to produce any one express Law of Christ which is contradicted and broken by the Constitution of our Church or the Administration of our Religious Offices they could never produce any yet and I am sure never can And if Men will abuse and scare themselves with some fancyful Applications of Scripture and remote and illogical Consequences there is no help that I know of since it is an endless work to answer all such cavils For Men who can make Objections without any just Reason may at the same rate return answers too without end Therefore the best and shortest way I can think of is to lay down some such general Considerations as may satisfy all honest and teachable Minds that tho it is possible to raise Objections against any thing yet those Objections must prove fallacious which contradict other great and apparent Truths And I shall reduce what I have to say to these four general Heads First The Consideration of the Nature of God Secondly The Nature and Design of the Christian Religion Thirdly The Example of Christ. Fourthly The Example of the Apostolick and Primitive Churches in the first ages of Christianity First Let us consider the Nature of God for God is the Object of our Worship And that is the best Worship which is most suitable to his Nature Thus our Saviour teaches us to argue God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth And thus the wise Man argues God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few Now to apply this briefly to our present Case can any Man who considers what God is imagine that he will be displeased with his Creatures for offering up their Prayers and Thanks-givings to him in a pious and sober Form of Words Can God be pleased with the volubility of the Tongue or quickness of Fancy or variety of Invention more than with devout Affections than with a Soul enflamed with Divine Love and possest with a Reverence of the Divine Majesty and offering up it self to him in few grave and considerate Words Will a Father reject the Petitions of his Child if as often as his Wants require he uses the same Words when he asks the same thing Does a Prince like a long extemporary Harangue when his Subjects come to beg a Boone of him or a short and well composed Petition The wise Man I am sure tells us that few and becoming Words are more agreeable to the Majesty of God and more expressive of that distance which is between him and us and therefore are more agreeable to the nature of publick Worship which is only an external signification of the Reverence and Devotion of the Mind Prayer is a necessary part of natural Religion and was a Duty incumbent on Mankind before God made any other revelation of his Will than by Natural Reason and therefore the Reason of Mankind is a very proper Judg in what manner we must pray to God unless there were an express positive Law made about it Revelation may suggest new matter for our Prayers and direct us to pray to God in the powerful and prevailing Name of the Holy Jesus But Words and Postures and other external Circumstances of Prayer which are not expresly determined by Revelation may be determined by humane Prudence for there could be no other rule for these Matters before God revealed his Will and if God have not altered this Rule by a plain positive Law it must be our Rule still for we have no better And therefore we cannot imagine that God who is our Supream Law-giver and discovers his Will to us partly by the Light of Reason and partly by Revelation should be angry with his Creatures for following the best Reason they have nay for governing themselves by the publick Reason and Authority of Church and State Whoever only considers the Nature of God and the reason of things must certainly judg it fitter to meditate before hand and to take Words with us when we approach the Presence of so great a Majesty than to venture saying any thing which comes next and neither the Nature of God nor the Reason of Man condemns any external Ceremonies for Decency and Order and an useful Signification but have taught all Mankind to use them in all
that all external Things must be measured by their End and Use. Those are innocent and laudable Customs which serve a good End either help the Devotion of the Worshipper or make the Worship more grave and solemn provided it be not in forbidden Instances 4. The practice of the Apostles and the first and best Churches are a great vindication of the Constitution and Worship of the Church of England Where we have not a plain and express Rule Examples which are great and good Ones have the authority and face of a Rule and he must be a very unreasonable Man who will desire any better Examples than of the best and purest Churches Some are offended at the Superiority of Bishops over Presbyters and the Inferior Clergy which they say is expresly forbidden by Christ The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors But ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve In which words it is plain our Saviour forbids such kind of Authority over one another as the Gentile Princes exercise over their Subjects but that it should forbid all kind of Superiority among the Ministers of the Gospel is contrary to the Example even of the Apostolick Age. The Apostles indeed were all equal had no superiority of Order or Power over one another and our Saviour in this Place speaks only to the Apostles not to exercise Superiority over each other for there was a strife among them which of them should be greatest But by our Saviour's own Institution the Office of an Apostle was superior to the Seventy Disciples whom he sent out to preach the Gospel And after the Resurrection of Christ the Apostles were supream Governors of the Church and if we believe the first Records we have of the Christian Church Bishops were the Apostles Successors in their Power in the Church and in their superiority over Presbyters and Deacons and so the Government of the Church continued in the hands of Bishops till the Reformation when the necessity of Affairs and the aversion some Men had against Popish Tyrannical Bishops perswaded some Reformers to lay aside the Order which has been made the most specious Argument against the Reformation and to say no more If Episcopacy be Antichristianism the whole Church was Antichristian for above fifteen hundred Years together from the very Times of the Apostles themselves But if it be an Apostolical Order I know not what Authority any Man had to alter it and for my own part think that Communion safest which is most agreeable to the Pattern of the Apostolick Churches Others except against Forms of Prayer Now not to take notice that Forms of Prayer were of old in use in the Jewish Church and that our Saviour himself gave a Form of Prayer to his Disciples we must grant that we have no certain Evidence what the practice of the Church in the Apostles Days was in this respect I am much of S. Chrysostoms Opinion That there were in that Age of Miracles extraordinary miraculous Gifts of Prayer as there was of Healing and Prophesying and working Miracles Not that every Christian had these Gifts any more than the Gift of Miracles but there were some Persons who had the Gift of inspired Prayer for the publick benefit of the Church which made it needless in that Age to have Forms of Prayer for Publick Worship and when I see that Age of Miracles return again I will gladly renounce Liturgy to join in inspired Prayers But as Miracles ceased so did the miraculous Gift of Prayer and then as the same Father observes the Church worshipped God in allowed Forms to be sure so it was in his days and a great while before him and if we cannot trace it to its first Original for want of early Records in those Matters yet I think he must be a very scrupulous Man who would refuse to communicate with the Church in Constantine's Days who composed Forms of Prayer for his Souldiers which it is not probable he would have done had not the Church at that time used Forms of Prayers And so it continued till the Reformation and the Reformation made no alteration in it for the Lutheran and Bohemian Churches the Church of Geneva France and Holland have their Lyturgies and Forms of Prayer and so has the Church of England since the first Reformation of it and if not only allowed but advised by Mr. Calvin himself till some Jesuites in Masquerade first set up that way of conceived and extemporary Prayers on purpose to break good Order in our Church as we well are assured by very credible Testimony Others scruple significant Ceremonies and yet in the very Apostles Days we find such in use which are now disused as the Holy Kiss and the Love-Feast which was an addition to the Lord's Supper much more obnoxious to censure than the Cross in Baptism and yet was retained for several Ages in the Church In Tertullian's and St. Cyprian's Times we find a great many symbolical and significant Ceremonies in use among them They frequently crossed themselves to shew that they were Christians upon all Occasions the baptized Person was cloathed in white and thence Whitsunday received its Name because that was a solemn Time for Baptism when those who were baptized were cloathed with white Garments It were easy to give you abundance of such Instances which are so obvious to any one who is acquainted with Ecclesiastical Writers that it is superfluous to mention them In St. Austin's Time Ceremonies were grown so numerous that he very much complains not of the significancy and symbolicalness but of the burden of them but never disturbed the Peace of the Church himself but adviseth others to conform to the Rites and Usages of any Church where they came though different from the Customs of their own As far as I have observed there never was any Schism occasioned in the Christian Church about significant Ceremonies till of late among us and it would a little startle a modest Man to separate from the Church of England for such Reasons as must have made him a Schismatick from all ancient and modern Churches in all Ages to this day These things carefully and impartially considered must needs tend to compose Mens Minds and reduce those who are gone astray into the Communion and Unity of the Church For my part I should rather venture erring with all the Churches of Christ from the Apostles to this present Age than break the Hedges of the Church and Christian Communion to follow some upstart new Lights tho it were possible they might lead me right SECT III. Containing an answer to some popular Cavils or a Vindication of the Church of England from the Charge of Will-Worship Superstition Idolatry Popery LEt us now consider some popular Cavils and Exceptions which too often
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
name has confined his more peculiar presence and favour to such Assemblies and one great reason of this is that he is pleased with the unity and uniformity of Worship for he hath expresly promised that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them This is the fundamental Charter of Christian Assemblies and the reason of it certainly is stronger the more universal the consent and agreement is for if Christ will be present with two or three who assemble in Christian love and charity and agree to put up the same Petitions to God much more when so many Christian Churches are confederated in the same Worship and offer up the same Prayers and Thanksgivings to God in the same words How powerful will the united Prayers of a whole National Church be to procure those blessings for us which we want For if unity and consent in Worship be so pleasing to God the greater this consent is the more pleasing it must be Especially considering that in this case we have not only the consent and agreement of private Christians in such acts of Worship but are confederated by the publick authority of the Church and therefore such publick Worship has the beauty and advantages of publick Order and Government If the Prayers of a particular Minister of Religion be so prevalent how much more those Prayers which have the stamp of Church Authority which are the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church even when they are offered up by a single Minister which cannot so well be said of any Prayer of his own and if we believe that God is the God of Peace and Order in the Church we cannot but think it very acceptable to him to observe good order in our Religious Worship Did men seriously consider these things they would be soon sensible of the great advantage of such publick Forms of Prayer and prefer the Prayers of the Church before any Prayers of a private composition or any suddain extempore effusions For publick Prayers prescribed by publick Authority and offered up by a publick Minister are alwayes in the Communion of the Church and virtually contain the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick Administration of Baptism ANother great miscarriage of those who live in the Communion of our Church concerns the administration of Baptism Publick Baptism is now very much grown out of fashion most people look upon it as a very needless and troublesome Ceremony to carry their Children to the publick Congregation there to be solemnly admitted by Baptism into the fellowship of Christs Church They think it may be as well done in a private Chamber as soon as the Child is born with little company and with little noise As prevailing as this custom now is it is of a very late date even in this Church It seems to owe its original to the disputes about Ceremonies for when some men scrupled God-Fathers and God-Mothers and the use of the Sign of the Cross to avoid this they baptized their Children privately at home without either when they could meet with such a conscientious Conformist as could dispense with his Rule And when the Church of England was pulled down and the use of the Liturgy and Ceremonies forbid those who still retained their reverence and obedience to the Constitutions of the Church and would not partake in a prevailing Schism were forced to retire into private too and to baptize their Children at home and it is a hard thing to break a custome upon what occasion soever it was at first begun That which necessity occasioned is continued by some as a piece of State by others to save charge and trouble which might be much better saved by publick Baptism by others out of softness and tenderness a kind and indulgent Mother dares not expose a young Infant to the cold Air unless it be to send it to nurse I could never hear any thing pleaded for this practice that deserved an answer that which makes this custom prevail is that men do not consider the great decency and fitness and the many advantages of publick Baptism which I shall therefore now briefly represent By publick Baptism I mean that which is administred in the publick Congregation and in the publick place of Worship and the fitness and advantage of this will appear if we consider some few things 1. That Baptism is our solemn admission into the Christian Church and therefore ought to be administred in the publick Congregation Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ and unites us to the society of Christians and therefore is of a publick nature and therefore ought to be administred publickly For there is no other rule I know of whereby to determine the manner and circumstances of any action but to consider the nature of it there are some actions which are more proper to be done in private others which require some publick solemnities and it is as undecent to do a publick action i. e. an action of a publick nature privately as it is to do a private action in publick Now that is certainly of a publick nature which concerns a who'e society and such is the admission of Church-members and therefore ought to be done in the presence as well as by the authority of the Church The efficacy indeed of Baptism depends upon the Institution of Christ and therefore when it is rightly administred does not lose its vertue for want of some due circumstances but it is a great fault in those who wilfully and obstinately refuse to give all Christian offices their due solemnity 2. We may consider that Baptism contains a publick profession of our faith in Christ it is a publick owning of his Religion no adult person was ever admitted to Baptism without a profession of his faith in Christ in allusion to which as Learned Men think St. Peter calls Baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God The person to be baptized being examined about his faith in Christ and resolutions of obeying him Now the profession of our faith the more publick it is the more agreeable is it to the nature of Baptism and the constitution of the Christian Church which is a visible Society professing the faith of Christ and though indeed Infants who are baptized are not capable of making such a publick profession of their faith yet their Sponsors and Sureties are who undertake for their education in the Christian faith and certainly the publick Church is the most proper place for such a publick profession To baptize our Children privately looks as if we were ashamed of the Christian profession and there is not a more effectual way to root out Christianity than to destroy
into them by degrees as they are able to bear it There is milk for babes and meat for strong men to understand the first principles of Christian knowledge is necessary to teach them to understand a Sermon which commonly supposes some competent knowledge in the principles of Christianity and the true reason why so few men understand Sermons or get any good by them is because they never well understood their Catechism The want of this careful instruction of Youth makes them so unstable and uncertain in their Religion when they come to be men This makes so many different Opinions and Sects of Religion that they are turned aside with every wind of doctrine that they are taken with every new phrase that they fall into such monstrous errors so destructive to the fundamentals of Christian faith for it is impossible a house should stand which has no foundation So that all men must acknowledge that it is very necessary that Children and Youth should be carefully instructed in the fundamental principles of Religion 2. I cannot suppose neither that any considering men should think there is no need of the assistance of the Ministers of Religion for the instruction of Youth this indeed is a duty which every Parent and Master of a Family is concerned in to instruct those who are under their care in the knowledge and fear of God but if they think their Minister able to instruct themselvs they cannot but think it reasonable to desire his assistance to instruct their Children They call in the assistance of men expert and skilful in several Arts to teach them those Arts which they profess though they have some skill themselves in them and there is nothing of such moment to them and nothing it may be more difficult than to be thoroughly instructed in Religion It requires great skill and such as every Learned Rabbi is not Master of to fit the principles of Christian knowledge to the capacity of Children and Youth The Articles of the Christian Faith contain the highest and most Seraphical Speculations that ever were taught by any Philosophy such as the Incarnation of the Eternal Son of God who was conceived in the womb of a pure Virgin and came into the world in our nature and wrought miracles and dyed as a Sacrifice for sin and rose again from the dead and is now ascended up into Heaven in our nature and invested with great power and glory having all power given to him both in heaven and in earth a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father That when these earthly bodies shall dye and rot in the grave they shall be raised again at the last day incorruptible and glorious These are great sublime stupendious Mysteries and it requires no small skill to know how to teach such great and mysterious Doctrines to Children and Youth that they may so by degrees discover these Mysteries as neither to blind nor dazle their eyes with their brightness and lustre nor yet to remain wholly ignorant of them The thorough knowledge of Christianity is not so easily attained as some men imagine nor is every one who knows something himself fit to be a Teacher of others And therefore though I would earnestly exhort you all to use the best skill you have to instruct your Children and Servants yet this is no reason to withdraw them from publick instructions nor can any man who understands his Religion think he discharges his duty to God and the Church meerly by his private instruction of his family when he neglects or refuses to bring them to publick instructions 3. For he must consider that his Children and Servants who are baptized are members of the Christian Church and therefore ought to be subject to the instructions and discipline of it as far as their age and capacity will permit They do not only belong to his private care but to the publick care of the Church who is to provide for the instruction of her Children and to deny the Church liberty to instruct her Children or not to interpose their own authority to make them submit to it is to withdraw their Children from the Communion of the Church after a solemn dedication of them to God No good man can with patience think of being guilty of so great a sin which is a kind of Sacriledge as it respects God a degree of Schism from the Church and very injurious to his Childrens souls Especially considering that there is a more peculiar blessing attends the publick instructions of the Church for the same reason that God prefers publick before private Worship and is more peculiarly present in Christian Assemblies than in the families of private Christians and blesses the publick administrations of his Word before private counsels 4. Which may further convince us that the publick Catechizing of Children and Youth is not needless whatever good instructions they may have at home for besides what I have already observed that God does more peculiarly bless publick Institutions there are several advantages in it which I shall briefly represent 1. This will make them more careful to improve in knowledge when they know they must give an account of such improvements to the publick Congregations there will be an emulation between Youth who shall give the most manly and reasonable account of their faith and as they grow in years they will be ashamed to continue Children in understanding we see the effects of this shame and emulation in other matters and when it may be improved to such admirable advantage in this case if there were nothing more to recommend it it were a sufficient reason to all good men who desire the improvement and increase of Christian knowledge in the World to encourage and promote it 2. By this means the Church may take notice of the improvement of Youth in Christian knowledge which is necessary to their regular admission to higher acts of Communion Those who are baptized when they are Children ought not regularly to be admitted to the Lords Supper till they have been confirmed and to qualifie them for Confirmation it is necessary they should in some competent measure understand their Religion and be able to give a reasonable account of their faith and though indeed the Minister and Bishop may be satisfied in this by private examinations yet this is no satisfaction to the Congregation with whom they are to communicate any otherwise than as they relye upon the authority of their Minister but such young men will be received with a more universal applause and sincere joy to the Table of our Lord who have given such publick testimony of their improvements in Christian knowledge 3. Another advantage is that this trains up Children and Youth in a just respect
parts of the work of our redemption without using those visible signs I would fain know to what purpose they were instituted by our Saviour if Christian worship be compleat and perfect without it it is and ever was as needless an addition as most Christians now think it to be which I think derogates very much from the wisdom of our Saviour in its Institution We ought not to look upon the Supper of our Lord only as a particular act of worship but as an external and sensible rite of worship which is fitted to all parts of Christian worship and by the institution of our Saviour necessary to give vertue and efficacy to them as the oblation of Sacrifices under the Law did to those Prayers which were offered with them Now suppose that any men should have argued thus under the Law that if men prayed devoutly to God though they offered no Sacrifice they should be accepted by him I doubt this would have been called despising Moses's law and such men must have died without mercy though they had prayed never so devoutly and yet the Apostle tells us that we ought to have greater regard to the Laws and Institutions of Christ than the Jews had to the Law of Moses The great danger then of neglecting the Lords Supper is that such a neglect may render all our Worship unacceptable to God a right to Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross is by the Institution of our Saviour conveyed in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and therefore though we pray in Christ's Name if we neglect his Institution whereby the vertue of his Sacrifice is conveyed to our prayers we must pray without any interest in his Sacrifice and we may easily guess of what worth such prayers are just as much as our own good works without an Expiatory Sacrifice to recommend them to God The serious consideration of this thoroughly convinces me how highly useful not to say necessary it is to restore the Apostolical and Primitive practice to celebrate the Lords Supper as often as we meet for publick Worship if we would have our Worship true Christian Worship according to our Saviours own institution as understood and practised by the Apostles themselves 3. Another obligation to a frequent receiving the Lords Supper is that this is the principal act of Communion with Christ. There is nothing more frequently talked of than our Union to Christ and our Communion with him which is the great mysterie of our Religion and the great foundation of our hope Now Union to and Communion with Christ may either be considered as a constant state and relation and so it signifies being members of the body of Christ by being incorporated into his Church by a visible profession of our faith in him ratified and confirmed by Baptism and by the communication of his Grace and Spirit which dwells in the sincere Disciples of Christ as the bond of a spiritual Union and an abiding principle of sanctification and holiness or it may be considered as an Act and so it is most properly applyed to the Lords Supper which is the most visible external symbol of our Communion with Christ and instituted as a Sacrament of Union for the conveyance of all divine and spiritual blessings to us And for the explication of this I shall observe two things In this holy Feast 1. That it is our eating at the Table of our Lord and 2. That it is our feeding on the body of Christ. 1. In the Lords Supper we eat at the Table of our Lord for this is a Feast of Christ's own appointment instituted by him on purpose to commemorate his death and sacrifice upon the Cross and so answers to the institution of God under the Law to feast upon Sacrifices which was constantly observed in Peace-offerings of which part was burnt upon Gods Altar part belonged to the Priest and part was eaten by the Sacrificers or those Persons who offered the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings who are therefore said to partake of the Altar behold Israel after the Flesh are not they which eat of the Sacrifices partakers of the Altar To partake of the Altar signifies to partake with God whose Altar it is that is to have part with him for part of the Sacrifice was burnt upon the Altar or given to the Priests and that was Gods part or share and the other part was eaten by themselves Thus it was among the Heathens also who used to feast on the Sacrifices which they offered to their Gods and sometimes invited their Christian neighbours to these Feasts who not sufficiently understanding the nature of such Religious Feasts many times went as to common friendly entertainments and therefore are corrected by the Apostle for it as utterly inconsistent with their Christian profession for to eat of a Feast upon a Sacrifice is to have communion with that Being whatever he is to whom the Sacrifice is offered Now the Gentiles sacrificed to Devils and therefore to eat of such Sacrifices is to partake with Devils to be in confederacy and communion with them But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God and I would not that ye should have fellowship with Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you should be Communicants with them Ye cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils that is it is as irreconcileable to eat at the Table of Christ and of the Gentile Sacrifice as it is impossible to unite Christ and false Heathen Gods From whence we learn that to eat of the Lords Table that is of the Christian Feast of the Lords Supper is to partake with Christ or to have Communion with him as to eat of the Sacrifices under the Law was to partake of the Altar or to eat of Pagan Sacrifices was to partake with Devils Now in general there were two things signified by these Religious Feasts 1. A Covenant relation that such persons who feasted at Gods Table were in Covenant with him for all solemn Covenants even between men in the Eastern Countrey were made and ratified by Sacrifice thus it was in the Covenant between Iacob and Laban and Iacob said unto his brethren gather stones and they took stones and made an heap and they did eat there upon the heap And what this eating was we may conclude from the nature of the action which was confirming a Covenant and therefore this eating is eating a Sacrifice as we are more expresly told then Iacob offered Sacrifice upon the Mount and called his Brethren to eat bread and they did eat bread and tarried all night upon the Mount And thus it is especially between God and men thus we know the Mosaical Covenant was confirmed by the blood of the Sacrifice as the first Testament is said to be dedicated by blood and the book and all the people the Tabernacle
and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me This is that bread which came down from heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever Where our Saviour gives the reason why those who eat him shall live for ever because he himself shall live for ever though he must die he was to rise again into an immortal life and an eternal Kingdom as the reward of his death and sufferings and therefore this holy Feast is a certain earnest of immortality to those who feed on him and we need not indeed doubt this since it conveys the holy Spirit to us as St. Paul tells the Romans But if the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But possibly some may object that all this which is attributed to the Holy Supper we receive at our Baptism the pardon of our sins the gift of the Spirit and the promise and earnest of immortality for so we are Baptized for the remission of sins and we are baptized as well as made to drink into one Spirit and those who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ and we are buried with Christ by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection Now all this I grant to be true and therefore Baptism not the Lords Supper is our regeneration or new birth we are raised into a new life are renewed and sanctified at our Baptism and have the Holy Spirit bestowed on us as the author and principle of a new life but the continuance of this grace and the daily assistances of the Holy Spirit especially when we have grieved him and made him withdraw from us by our sins depends upon our diligent attendance at the Table of our Lord. It is not enough that a man is born into the world unless he have constant food to preserve his life and thus it is with the new creature and therefore the Supper of our Lord is Bread and Wine the stay and support of life to signifie to us that these supplies of grace which we receive at this Feast are as necessary to our Spiritual life as our daily food is to the support of a bodily life and therefore our Saviour calls himself the bread of life which came down from Heaven of which the Manna was a type and figure now we know Manna was their constant food the only Bread they had which signified that this heavenly Manna is the daily support of our spiritual life and therefore we know the ancient Fathers by our daily bread in the Lords Prayer did generally understand the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which they called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Bread of God All which may convince us from the very nature and reason of the institution that frequent communione are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holiness to repair the decays of our graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food 4. The Lords Supper is the principal part of Christian communion and therefore as necessary as the communion of the Church is to debar any persons from the Lords Table is to shut them out of the communion of the faithful and they are never restored to full communion till they are restored to the communion of this holy Feast while discipline was preserved in its glory and vigour in the ancient Church no Christian durst turn his back upon the Table of our Lord as nine parts in ten now often do indeed they could not well communicate as faithful Christian people without receiving the Lords Supper The Catechumens and Penitents were admitted to publick instructions and to such prayers as were proper for them but they were dismissed when that was done and not admitted to be present at the worship of the faithful who were in full peace and communion with the Church the principal part of which was the Holy Supper Indeed St. Paul attributes the union of Christians in one body to Christ to this holy Feast He calls the Cup the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread the communion of the body of Christ and assigns this as one reason of it for we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread From whence it is plain that we are united to each other by partaking of the same bread for we are one bread as well as one body which places Christian unity in a joynt participation of this Holy Feast This also unites us to Christ makes us his body because we all feed on his body the Church is his body as being fed and nourished with his body which both shows us how necessary the peace and unity of the Church is to give us an interest in the Sacrifice of Christ for the vertue of his Sacrifice is contained in the holy Supper and this must be celebrated in the communion of the Church and withal how essential this holy Supper is to Christian communion as uniting us all to Christ in one body For shame then let not those men cry out against Schism and Schismaticks who separate themselves from the body of Christ in that part of Christian communion which is most essential to Christianity it is a much less evil not to hear a Sermon together nay sometimes not to pray together than to joyn in all other parts of worship but to break company at the Lords Table where if ever they ought to appear as one body and one bread to set up Altar against Altar is somewhat worse is a greater and more incurable Schism than to absent our selves from the Lords Table but for my part I cannot excuse those men from being Schismaticks who live in an habitual neglect of so necessary a part of Christian communion and could the ancient discipline of the Church be revived such men should know that Christian communion in any religious offices is a priviledge which they do not deserve and which they should not have Having thus explained our obligations to frequent Communion in the holy Supper of our Lord which I judge so plain and evident that no honest impartial Inquirer can resist the evidence of them and of such great weight and moment that no