Prayer and Singing with their own solemn Promise to use the Liturgy and no other Form I leave to their own Consciences to determine Nay it is further considerable that where they are agreed to practise alike 't is upon such very different Principles and so destructive of each other that from hence 't is notoriously evident how powerful a worldly Interest is to make contrary Principles sweetly conspire to its own support Let the several opposite Principles upon which the Hierarchy is built be our Instance the poor simple vulgar and many of a better sort that would be thought Champions for the Church take it for granted that all the Learned Men on their side do firmly believe our English Episcopacy to be Jure Divino and in this they think them most unanimous But alass they little imagine how very differently and inconsistently sometimes their great Doctors and those that wear Lawn Sleeves all at once shall argue in its defence Give me leave Sir to name two or three several Opinions on this very Head 1. SOME Church-men tell us that a Bishop and a Presbiter were all one in the Scripture-times and that the Bishops afterwards made the Distinct order of Presbiters or Priests as they are now call'd This I humbly conceive you will say was a great piece of Boldness and certainly it can be call'd no less for any Men to make a New subordinate Office in the Church without Authority from the Great Bishop of our Souls the Lord JESUS CHRIST 2. OTHERS of the same Church and those the most before Laud's time us'd to say that by Divine Institution there were no Bishops over Presbiters but Prebiters to avoid Divisions set up one among themselves above the rest and gave him the Title of Bishop by way of eminency But this sort of Episcopacy is a little too low and mean for our modern Prelates to content themselves with 3. MANY of this high Church think that Diocesan Episcopacy is jure divino and that an uninterrupted Succession of such Bishops is absolutely necessary to the being of a Church and to the Validity of every Ministers Ordination TO these I might add no small names among them who differ from their Brethren in this that they would have the Universal Church govern'd by a Colledge of Bishops by Letters Missive or in Council and the Pope as prime Patriarch to be the Principium Unitatis Are not these very hopeful Churchmen think you and don 't they put us in the ready way to Catholick Unity Roman Catholick I mean 4. THERE are yet OTHERS of this very Church who think that there is not any particular form of Church-government of divine Institution but that in the Communion or Subordination of Churches we can only follow the general Rules of Scripture and the common Principles that belong to the Conservation of Societies This Sort of all others contributes most effectually to the destruction of that common conceit that our Diocesan Episcopacy is of divine Right And of these some ascribe more to the power of Magistrates in this point and some more to the Agreement of Churches among themselves Yet all these must and do subscribe but God knows how to one and the same Position that it is evident to all that have diligently read the Scriptures and the Antient Fathers that Bishops Priests and Deacons have been three distinct Offices ever since the Apostles Times I would to God the whole Levitical Tribe of this divided Communion would seriously lay to heart this one thing But at present I spare our Prelate any further Trouble of this kind and the rather because I am confident by this time you are fully convinc'd and will with me readily conclude That this goodly Church of England which notwithstanding all its Boasts of Unity and Uniformity do's next to the Popish abound with the most Schisms and Separations of any in the world is the least qualify'd and has the poorest Title of any that ever pretended to be the Standard and Center of Union to all other Churches whatsoever And in this Faith I subscribe my self SIR Yours c. FINIS First Discourse against Atheism ☞ Preface p. 11. Preface p. 11 Vide Dr. Burnets Dialogues ☞ Second Discourse against Socinians ☞ Witness opposing the Bill of Exclusion E of Essex Ld. Russel Col. Sydney c. Third Discourse against Papists Vide p. 286 287. Fourth Discourse against Dissenters Doctrine Church Government Vide 4 5 7. Canons Vide 9 10 11 Canons Worship Vide Troubles of Francksort ☜ ☞ ☜ ☞ ☜ Dr. Hammond c. Mr. Dodwell c. Bps. Gunning Bramhal c. Dr. Stillingfleet c. ☜ ☞
Christ The only Separatist here then is He that is No Christian and any one with half an Eye may see to whose share the greatest part of Separatists of this sort will fall Secondly The Church of England may signifie the Christians of England as form'd into distinct Societies for the Worship of God and presential Communion with each other therein Now that the Dissenters are form'd into such worshipping Bodies and consequently not of this sort of Separatists is more visible then many would have it and therefore 't is undeniable they are a part of the Church of England in this Sense also The Separatist here then is he only that though he professeth Christianity doth not ordinarily worship God publickly or with an Assembly united to that End and of this sort of Separatists the Loose Devotees of the Titular Church of England are all that we know Thirdly The Church of England may signifie the Christian Congregations of England as united under the same Civil Government and submitting to it and the Separatists from the Church of England in this sense are chiefly the Jacobites the generality of whom are so far from belonging to the Dissenters that they arrogate to themselves the sole Honour of being the True Sons of the Church of England Yet here indeed it must be confess'd that though the Dissenters have approv'd themselves the fastest Friends to the Civil Government they are really separated from some very Considerable Advantages which it hath thought fit to bestow upon the prelatical Party for whereas the Dissenting Ministers and People enjoy no more than the bare Protection of the Civil Magistrate in their Religious Worship from the Rage of malignant Persecutors the Prelatists have a very considerable part of the profit of the Land assign'd them by Law for the Maintenance of their Ministry vastly exceeding in proportion what is left to the poor Layity The Clergy having a Tenth of the profits of the Land though 't is probable they are not one Man to a thousand All the Separation then that can be found under this Head among the Dissenting Clergy is a Separation from Tithes and Maintenance from Archbishopricks and Bishopricks from Deaneries and Archdeaconeries from Prebends and Parsonages from Masterships and Fellowships and from other such fat Benefices Our Layity too are chargeable with a Separation of this very kind they being separated from all Civil and Military Offices whether those of Justices or Mayors Sheriffs or Recorders Generals or Admirals Colonels or Captains or whatever other honourable or profitable Posts can be thought upon The Sacramental Test having secured all such places to the Members of a distinct Communion This Separation we doubt not but the Conformists though they are never like to be guilty of it themselves will have the Charity to pardon to us because it redounds so very much to their own Advantage Fourthly The Church of England may signifie the Christian Congregations of England thus united under one civil Government as agreeing or disagreeing with each other in Doctrine Church Goverment or Worship for there can be no Separation but that which is local and unavoidable to all farther than they differ in some one of these And here Sir you must own 1. As to Doctrine that the dissenting Ministers by their Subscriptions plainly shew there is no Separation on their part and indeed those that are acquainted with the preaching and writing on both sides will easily judge who keep closest to the doctrinal Articles The Separatists from the Church of England then in this sense are on the one hand the Socinians and Arminians by what Names or Titles soever dignifi'd or distinguisht and on the other hand the poor deluded Quakers and such like Enthusiasts 2. In the Business of Church Government the Dissenters are not asham'd to own a Separation rather do they think they should have great Cause to be asham'd of themselves and their Churches if herein they separated not from the prelatical Party The Dissenters say there 's a great deal of Reason why the power of Governing a Church should be vested in the same person that hath and exerciseth the power of Teaching and administring the Sacraments therein and who can this be but its proper Pastor who best knowing the Diseases of the People is therefore most fit to apply the Remedy The power of the Keys is certainly essential to the Office of a Gospel Minister and whoever ordains him to that Office must of necessity invest him therewith and though he should express a contrary Intention either that Act or the whole Ordination must be a Nullity Every Minister of Jesus Christ hath Authority from him to govern no less than to teach but through the Influence of the Ceremonious Party the Laws of the Land have debarr'd the Pastors of single Congregations in their own Communion from the Exercise of this Power and have made them miserable Vassals to the Hierarchy Here then our Separation is from the Prelates as Creatures impos'd upon the Church and ingrossing to themselves that power which belongs to the Pastor of every Congregation and which 't is naturally impossible duly to apply while it lodges in so few Hands And together with the Prelates the Dissenters acknowledge a Separation from Lay-Chancellors Officials Surrogates Proctors and the whole Gang of Spiritual Court-men whom they look upon as having no Authority from Jesus Christ but as the Spawn of a monstrous Prelacy and the most intolerable Grievance that the Nation this day groans under And as the Dissenters separate from the subjects of this Church-Government the Prelates Lay-Chancellors c. so also do they own a Separation from the Exercise of it as it proceeds from them and is manag'd by them Themselves in the Preface to the Commination acknowledge their want of a Godly Discipline and since they have the Front to own this Defect and never had the Grace to reform it in all the time that is run out since Edward the sixth's Reformation to septimo Gulielmi tertij it would be no less then High Treason against Jesus Christ the head of the Church not to disown and separate so far at least from this imperfect Church as to supply this want by a godly Discipline among our selves There is this further Disorder among them which will very much account for our Separation that whereas they distrust and dishonour the Ordinance of Excommunication by putting all their Confidence in the carnal Sword the Dissenters think the Discipline of Christ sufficient to its own End without such a Supplement as quite enervates the Virtue and obscures the Lustre of it This constrains them to separate from many of the prelatical Canons particularly from those wherein they Excommunicate Persons for saying That there is any thing in the Government of the Hierarchy or in their Articles or in the Book of the Common Prayer that is repugnant to the Word of God And above all the Dissenters hold themselves bound in
Consort of Musick others only for Organs some dislike both and others can get neither And here Sir by the way 't is worth your while to observe that among the Dissenters the poor and rich Congregations the larger and the lesser worship God in the same innocent unceremonious manner whereas in the prelatical Church the rich Congregations worship with abundance of Pomp while the Poverty of others obliges them to a like simplicity with the Dissenters So that a Church of England Courtier is one sort of a Worshipper a C. of E. Cathedralist of another kind a C. of E. Citizen yet less theatrical and a C. of E. Peasant of a sort by himself In a word this Diversity of Worship is so very considerable and makes these pretended Uniformity Men look so little like Members of one and the same Church that I am very confident a perfect stranger to them all at one time visiting the Royal Chappel at high Devotion and by and by looking into Westminster-Abbey and anon tracing to St. Lawrence's in the City and shortly after travelling to some homely Countrey Church and strictly observing all their various ways of Worshipping would be ready to swear that these men never had an Act of Uniformity read among 'em but were each of them a much more distinct sort of Worshippers and less of a piece than the Dissenters are with the last mention'd and honestest sort among themselves From all this we may naturally infer that either the several Formalities instanc'd in which are so much magnifi'd by one Party and neglected by another of the same Communion do appertain to the prelatical Church or they do not if they do those separate from it that use them not if they do not belong to it those are Separatists that use them this however is certain as they differ more or less in these things so far they separate each from other If the Church Guides have only recommended these things without enjoining them and have left them to be observ'd or omitted as best agrees with the Judgments and Consciences of others Why might not the same Course be taken with all the other Ceremonies Why is not the Gesture at the Supper why is not the Cross in Baptism why are not the Surplice and other Vestments and many things of the like nature left in their own Indifferency to be embrac'd or rejected as every one is determin'd in his own Mind If so considerable a Diversity may consist with Uniformity and is actually found in the prelatical Church why might not this be allow'd in Order to so great a Benefit to the Church as the Union of the two great parties would be But besides what hath been already said of their Discord I dare be so bold to affirm that abundance who ordinarily join in local Communion with the Prelatists do mentally and really separate more from them than many others of a distinct Communion So do all those both Ministers and People that pervert the doctrinal Articles and hold Opinions inconsistent with the most natural and genuine meaning of them They are in the same Predicament who lead a Vicious Course of Life for as the former have separated from the Truth which the Church doth profess so have these from that Purity which it declares necessary to Salvation A Dissenter that is sound in all the Articles of Faith and orders his Conversation accordingly is incomparably more of the Church of England than the most exquisite Formalist that hath learnt all his Gates and his Postures but is neither sound in his Head nor in his Heart The one separates only from some little particularities that are against his Conscience and the other from that which is vital and essential both to a Christian and a Church and which his own Conscience and the Scripture and the Consent of all Christians urge upon him as indispensably necessary Nay so Obnoxious is the Prelatical Church on the account of Separation that great Numbers of those who join with them have as mean an Opinion of their Ceremonies and in their Judgments and Affections separate as much from them as the Dissenters having nothing that engages 'em to an Observation of them but a bare Establishment by the Civil Magistrate whose Authority in this Case has been rejected by many very great Men But a legal Establishment is a formal Word that enchants abundance and it 's enough for these that somewhere or other they have met with some word that gives 'em a little Liberty in their own Minds to communicate with the Church And whilst with very hard shifts this sort of Church-men have made themselves judge it barely lawful to abide in that Communion they are loth to leave the Sun-side of the Bank little thinking in the mean time that to join with a Church less pure and edifying when a better may be had tho' with Reproach is to prefer carnal policy before christian Wisdom Pollution to Purity and Peace with men to Peace with God and our Souls salvation But lest it should be objected that these are but Trimmers or half Churchemen at best let me observe to you Sir that on the other hand there are very many who have the Honour to be of the high Church as they themselves phrase it who do yet very substantially separate from the main body Among these we will first rank the Jacobites who have private Assemblies and Ministers if not Prelates of their own and who perhaps can be content to wave the Consecration of places as the Dissenters have done before them Matters are now come to that pass even among high Church-men themselves that the voice is lo here is the Church in one mans mouth and lo there in anothers in the Judgment of these Churchmen the far greater number of the prelatical Church have deserted its Principles and have lost the great Characteristick of a true Church of England Man viz. Passive Obedience Loyalty to a jure divino Succession upon which verry account it is that the abdicated Prelate of Bath and Wells hath scatter'd his Pastoral Letters against holding Communion with that part of the Church which have taken the Oaths to the present Government 'T would do well if his Brother of Sarum and he cou'd concert this affair at least we desire that our Prelate befor he addresses any more discourses against the Dissenters would free himself and his party from that Guilt of a sinful separation which the Jacobite Sons of the Church are daily reflecting upon them But besides these high Church Separatists there are not wanting a considerable Number of another sort who would willingly exclude some of those Offices which themselves and their Congregations statedly perform How glad would many of this strain be to have conceiv'd Prayer before Sermon and singing of Psalms totally suppress'd but they know well enough should not these be parts of their Service great Numbers would soon desert 'em Tho' how they can reconcile this kind of
Conscience to abominate that Canon which excommunicates all those that shall say such Assemblies as theirs are true Churches 3. As for what relates to Worship let it be consider'd that the whole body of the Dissenters Worship is either found among the Church party or is generally own'd by them as lawful Free Prayer Reading the Scriptures and Expounding them Praising God by singing of Psalms Celebrating the Sacraments according to Christs Institution with the Gesture which his own Example hath warranted in all which ways the Generality of the Dissenters worship the God of their Fathers are clearly unexceptionable As for the Ceremonies and the new Gestures and the prescrib'd Forms as they are still used by the prelatical Party which are the things in this Worship from which we separate they are at best questionable and certainly very far from being essential to Gospel Worship The summe of what hath been said on this head is this In Doctrine there is no Separation at all on the Dissenters part rather are they the truest sticklers for the doctrinal Articles In Church Government they are so far from Separating from the true Scriptural Episcopacy that in defence of it they disclaim that Diocesian Prelacy which is inconsistent with it and hath only made use of its Name to destroy the thing 'T is in a word no more but a noxions antescriptural prelacy from which the Dissenters separate together with the pernicious Rabble of its ecclesiastical Dependants and if we 'll take their own Words for it there is nothing among them that deserves the Name or bears the Face of true Christian Discipline In Worship our Separation is not from the Object or Medium or Matter or End which are professedly the same in both Parties We worship the same God through the same Mediator in the same Evangelical Duties in order to the same great End the Glory of God and our own Salvation we separate only from certain dubious or sinful Forms and Ceremonies of humane devising and imposing So that here they cannot with the least Truth or Modesty accuse us of any Separation seeing our worship is the very same with theirs unless they are disposed to speak improperly and will mean by their Worship the Ceremonies that clogg it which upon Occasion they themselves have discarded from being any parts of their Worship This mighty Separation the Noise of which hath for so many years fill'd the Pulpits and which the Prelate of Salsbury is so fond of buzzing afresh into his Clergies Ears being thus dwindl'd into a Separation from nothing in the World but from humane Forms from certain devis'd Rites and Modes of no value from usurpation and Church-Tyranny give me leave Sir to enquire how the cause of the Separation as our Prelate phrases it does reflect upon the Prelatists themselves And First They are the Authors of that Separation be it more or less which they condemn in us it is most notorious that themselves both began and continue it and theirs it must be more than ours because it is not in our power to change our Sentiments about the things impos'd but it is evidently in their Power to forbear the imposing of them which they may well afford to do as being according to their own Confession no matters of Necessity or good Importance We do not desire to ravish their Ceremonies c. from them not we truly e'en let those that are fond of 'em keep 'em all to themselves with all our Hearts we only wish to enjoy our own Christian Liberty either in joynt local Communion with them or in distinct Assemblies according to our present Posture without being persecuted as the vilest of Men or if such a Favour could be granted without being scandalized with the odious and unjust Titles of Schismaticks or Separatists by any English or Scotch Prelatists whenever the Testy fit takes ' em Secondly They are Guilty of a Separation peculiar to themselves of a very high Nature and of a Mischievous Tendency Some are so steel'd with Hellish Impudence as to deny Our Ministry and Sacraments and others there are who refuse to join with us Occasionally when it might be done without slighting their own Church Order If any be so wise and charitable to desire the Liberty of Testifying their Agreement with the Dissenters in all that is of absolute Necessity to Salvation by joining with them Occasionally in their publick Worship 't is great Odds but he loseth their Favour as much as if he quite relinquisht their Party such irreconcileable Enemies are some Men to Union while they would be thought the great Promoters of it Certainly the Union of which These are ambitious is plainly that all Men yea even the Ark of God its self should bow to the Dagons of their own setting up Thirdly The Prelatists are full of Schisms and Separations among themselves Let them never boast either of their Unity or Uniformity unless instead of all their Jarring Discords there were a more Harmonious Consent in their own Worship And here Sir I shall take the Liberty of diverting you with two or three Instances of their Good Agreement which are the more remarkable as being peculiar to the prelatical Constitution and which therefore cannot be recriminated upon the Dissenters in Defence of whose minuter Differences it may be said that they are the less to be Condemn'd for that they were never impos'd as absolutely necessary nor have the Dissenters ever had the Impudence to pretend to that Unity and Uniformity which these men make so much their Boast with what Reason or Justice let the following Instances of their own particular Dissentions determine Some bow at the Name of Jesus while others of the same Communion pay no more Reverence to that than to the Name of Christ Some bow to the East or Altar which you will while others that would be thought as good Church-men condemn that Practice as superstitious Some use the Lords Prayer kneeling others pay no more respect to that than to any other Prayers Some are very clamorous in their Responds others there are more modest and a less noisy sort still content themselves with an Amen only at the End Some only say over their Prayers while a more merry sort sing them out nay there are not wanting some Jovial Sparks that Cant out their very Creed Some preach in the Surplice while most pull it over their own Ears before they go into the Pulpit Some make Prayers in the Pulpit after the Liturgy's over others are only pray wee's that bid Prayer Some read the Service in the Desk while others go with a part of it to the Communion-Table The Communion Table in some Churches is rail'd about in many 't is e'en left as open as any other part of the Church In some Topping Churches you shall see huge unlighted Candles for what use no Body alive can tell but the meaner Churches are forc'd to shift without them Some are for a