The primitive spirit of the Christian Church was a spirit of power and glory and the primitive order was most spiritual and powerful Let Christs holy Institutions let Apostolicall precept and practice be the pattern of our Reformation What sound Protestant will deny the holy Scriptures to be a perfect rule of all divine Institutions To them we appeal by them would we stand or fall and they mention no Ministers of the Gospel that were not Bishops ruling the flock But in pursuance of peace touching the matter of Episcopacy the moderate Presbyterians are willing to descend to the times lower by one degree and to come to the Ages next following the Scripture-times and to accept what they do present unto us to wit a President-Bishop ruling in consort with Presbyters and Officer not of an other Order then Presbyters but of an higher degree in the same Order We appeal to those times concerning this matter And they that admire and almost adore antiquity should not deny our just appeal And wherein stands the power and glory of the Church militant Doth it stand in the pompous shews of Ceremonious worship with the glistering furniture thereof in the secular dignities and jurisdictions of the higher rank of Ecclesiasticks in the implicite faith of the Laiks and in a formal uniformity in the outside of Religion Or in the powerful preaching of the Gospel by able Ministers of the New Testament in the lively and spiritual manner of prayer in the dispensation of Sacraments after a manner most effectual to the increase of knowledge saith and virtue in the exercise of discipline to correct all contumacious disobedience against the known laws of Christ our King and Law-giver and all performed in a comly order with a grave and sober decency Let all unprejudiced minds give judgment which of these two different stares of Religion doth most express the Gospel-ministration which is called the ministration of the Spirit and is incomparably more glorious and powerful then the Mosaical dispensation with all its outward and visible splendor Let them also judge which of these two is most conformable to the state of the primitive times wherein the Christian Church not by an arm of flesh and the wisdom of this world but by weapons mighty through God as the Evangelical doctrine and discipline the holiness of believers the constancy of Martyrs overturned the Kingdom of Satan and advanced the Kingdom of Christ where Satans throne was in opposition to the power of the Roman Empire the wisdom of the learned Heathens the counsels of Polititians the potency of ancient Customs the inveterate prejudice of all sorts of people and lastly in opposition to the Devil raigning and raging in them all Wherefore let us minde the true way of restoring the Christian Religion to its primitive power and glory It is a happy frame and order when things are setled for general satisfaction that none or very few of the serious people desire an alteration but all or most of them dread it as also when things are setled for stability that none who have a will to it can encompass an alteration It is a happy thing to light upon the way that leads to this satisfaction and to this stability In religion the general way of satisfaction is not to gratifie the humour and appetite of one or more parties but to secure the consciences of the judicious and sober-minded in general For such on all sides will sway most for continuance and if they be satisfied intemperate and unquiet spiriâ—s would quickly be out of breath in their rash attempts Likewise the way of stability that none may successfully project a change is to prevent mens running into extreams on either hand For when one extream prevaileth a change easily followeth In this case it fares with the Church as with civil States A principality heightned into Tyranny tumbles down into Anarchy and a Republick too much cherishing popular extravagancies lifts up a tyranny Now the way to prevent extreams is either to chuse moderate spirits or else a ballancing number of the opposite parties to the managing of publick affairs In which election a Prince doth not appear as a Neuter but as a moderator and true Governour that hath the command of all interests And now having pursued Peace to the utmost of my small ability in these pacifick Discourses I hope this diligent search after the knowledg of good and evil in this kind will not be judged an eating of the forbidden fruit an ambitious and bold inquiry into things not to be made known For it is not a curious or presumptuous intruding into the Counsels of Princes and secrets of Government but a modest and sober deliberation upon things open and manifest of publick inquisition and discourse Besides it is an extraordinary time wherein there are great thoughts yea great searchings of heart in men of all degrees and all perswasions It is true that this Nation is not erecting a new Kingdom nor laying new foundations of Government yet it is no less true that this restauration is as it were life from the dead and we are in some sort beginning the world anew It is a notable Epocha or period of time giving opportunity to cut off excesses to make up defects and to make crooked things straight before we be fixed and ingaged in particular wayes from which though never so inconvenient we may not be able to draw back or turn aside It is affirmed by one of piercing knowledge in affairs of this nature that it is a profitable order in a Commonwealth for any one to propose what is for the publick good Surely the Kingdom cannot suffer by the proposals of the meanest persons when they touch not upon the fundamental Constitution nor disturb publick peace and order This Discourse offers no disturbance to such Forms and Orders as have attained a quiet stated posture in these times The Laws have made some alteration in things of former use and practice as the Act for abolishing the High Commission The times have made more alterations in mens minds and wayes and his Majesty hath observed a necessity or at least expediency of some alterations whereby the minds of men may be composed and the peace of the Church established declaring That he hath not the least doubt but the present Bishops will think that the Concessions made by him to allay the present Distempers are very just and reasonable Lastly The scope of this Treatise doth justifie and defend it self whereof the bare narration is a full Vindication For the sum of the whole matter is to perswade a turning from the advancement of a partial Interest and a turning to the obvious and easie way of giving generall satisfaction to all those that acknowledge the Church of England to be a true Church and are willing to abide in her Communion FINIS An Advertisment to the Reader THere are lately Printed twenty two Sermons Preached upon severall occasions By Edward Reynolds D. in Divinity and Bishop of Norwich in quarto None of which are contained in his large Volume And are to be sold at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1661. ERRATA Page 78. line 5. read frowardness p. 80. l. 5. r. injudicious p. 18. l. 8. r. frowardness p. 89. l. 6. r. sale p. 90. l. 19. r. contest p. 119. l. 7. r. Clergy
the most unhappy kind of controversies for they come not neer the Foundation nevertheless they are very pernicious and destructive They consist not so much in speculation as practice and particularly their immediate influence is upon the Churches interest and inevitably makes a breach in Church-Unity For Ecclesiastical Offices and Church Priviledges and Communion of Worship both in former and latter times have been inclosed with such Forms and Rites and other needless rigors that the way thereunto was kept shut against many that had received with the heart that Common Faith which was once given to the Saints Hence proceeded despising and judging one another and deep censures alienations and separations which will undoe any Society of whatsoever Profession The Papists notwithstanding their great boast of Unity are much more divided within themselves than any Protestants from each other for the rent goes thorow the main Foundation of their Faith With them the Head Corner-stone or rather the adequate Foundation is their Churches infalibility but where to place this pretended infalibility they can by no means agree for upon the matter one half of them place it in the Pope and the other in a General Council If you ask How then doth that vast Building hang together How doth that Babylonish Kingdom stand Surely they have the skill to make that great point of difference a matter of speculation more then of practice and they hold fast two main practical things which do hold both in one namely the Hierarchy under the Headship of the Pope of Rome and the Communion of the Mass They are all one both in Worship and Church-Communion and also in the whole body of Ecclesiasticks compacted by several joynts and ligaments under one Papal Head Thus the children of this world are wise in their generation and let the children of Light borrow this point of Wisedom from them which is to take care that our different opinions do not brangle our Church-Communion and Ecclesiastical Politie And in as much as Protestants have not that Popish way of quick dispatch for all controversies which is to acquiesce in the Churches infalibility but according to their Principles they must seek their VVarrant from Scripture by the help of the Churches directive and their own discretive Judgment the only way for them to hold themselves in the bond of Peace is to avoid all imposition of things unnecessary in which it is exceeding difficult or morally impossible for all sound Protestants to be of the same perswasion Let us here take notice of another singular point of VVisedom followed by the Church of Rome in the Council of Trent which was to shun as a rock the determining of such Doctrines as were controverted among the Catholiques and according to this setled Rule the debates of that Council were governed Oft times indeed there arose hot contests among the Divines about Scholastical niceties the several Orders of Friars being therein passionately addicted to their several opinions but the Prelates who alone had the decisive Voice would always bring things to a temper and the Decrees were so framed that the Opinions of neither Party were condemned Let the Church of Christ mingle this Wisedom of the Serpent with its dove-like Innocency to wit not to urge with severity things disputed amongst sound and sober Protestants But it hath seemed good to some Protestants to walk by a contrary rule to heighten differences between themselves and those whom they called Puritanes and to judge them irreconcileable and to lessen differences between themselves and the Romanists in order to a Pacification We hope that this errour is or may be perceived by those that have been inchanted into it I am informed by a Writer of our Ecclesiastical History who is of the Episcopal perswasion That an Episcopal Doctor of great note and now a Bishop did within these few years use his utmost endeavours to gain upon the Sorbonists in Paris and thereupon that he complied with them as far as he could do â—n Christian prudence and with a safe â—onscience Now the Sorbonists are the most moderate Papists and the said Doctor is known to be far enough from the least smatch of Puritanism yet not any Accommodation could be heard of between them but rather the contrary even in the point of the Apocrypha Seeing these things are so one might wonder that any learned men zealous of the Protestant Religion should remain averse from the true way of Unity among disagreeing Protestants when the pacification between Protestants and Papists is become desperate One would conclude that Wise and Learned men could not be so overseen if there were not a deeper mystery in this business Whereupon I pass to a farther Inquiry Whether the fomenting of these discords do not proceed from a carnal design And shall argue even upon the case of a worldly Interest Whether the way of severe Imposing or of moderate Condescending be the more advisable If the settlement of the Churches Peace by giving needful satisfaction and security to the Presbyterians and the inlargement of the Churches Interest by taking in the multitudes of that denomination be neglected in this discerning Age we must needs believe that the root of this dissention goes deeper then passions prejudices and mis-apprehensions and that some carnal and partial Interest is that root of bitterness that bears this gall and wormwood Papists themselves have noted that the Court of Rome had rather abandon the hopes of regaining three Kingdoms to their pretended Catholique Church then declare it lawful for the English Papists to take the Oath of Allegiance When the Council of Trent was held most of the Princes that sent Embassadors to the Council were instant that some regard might be had of the Protestants and their recovery endeavoured by moderation and reformation the Pope knowing that their return upon such tearms could never be hoped for without the diminution of the Revenue and Authority of his Court judged it most necessary for the Interest of his pretended Apostolique See to make the division strong and the Parties irreconcilcable that those Countries and People which continued in obededience to him might be kept intirely Popish When men contend for the immutability of mutable Orders and stifly oppose the due regulation of things exorbitant and excessive and resolve to give no ground for the gaining of dissenting brethren it is not the love of Christ but perverse self-love and the love of the world that constrains them Such interested persons are never good Counsellors for the publique weal. Now in as much as some particular carnal Interest is justly suspected in the impetuous and obstinate pursuance of the things in controversie we are willing here to make it a question of Interest and upon that account to make an address to the Reason even of those that are carried forth with greatest vehemence in favour of the Episcopal and in opposition to the Presbyterian Party All enterprises that have their beginning in
of themselves fall to the ground and men of different judgments will be less fond of their own opinions when they observe that the State doth not judge its happiness to rest upon any of them and that the welfare of the Church and Kingdom consists without them This Kingdom after the removing of foundations is by a marvellous turn re-established upon its ancient basis And verily that which hath wrought the change will settle it that which hath brought such things to pass will keep them where they are if we do not overlook and sleight it And what was it but the consent of the universality the Vote of all England This did produce an universal motion exceeding vehement but not violent For it was not against but according to nature All things having been out of place and held in a state preternatural when the force was taken off moved to their center and place of rest to wit the ancient fundamental constitution And for this cause the change was not terrible but calm kindly and unbloody Now as that natural inclination which carries things to their resting place will keep them there until by violence they are forced thence so this consent of the universality which produced a kindly motion of all things to settle in their own place and order upon the right foundation will keep them there until such external force shall come as can break and dissipate the universality Wherefore seeing this great revolution hath not happened by the prevailing force of one Party but by the unstrained motion of all England what reason is there that one Party should thrust the other out of its due place of rest upon the common Foundation When common consent hath laid this excellent Foundation of peace and quietness let not the Superstructure of particular unnecessary forms cast off some as a divided and rejected Party but let that which hath made peace keep peace which by Gods help it will surely do if timely observed and followed We cannot gainsay but the composure of these differences hath much difficulty and requires much prudence care and patience in those that are at the helm of Government Nevertheless it may be effected if the judicious on both sides will give consent and they will give consent if they have a single aim to procure the peace of Gods Church and the increase thereof and particularly the increase and stability of Protestant Religion Suppose the Roman Grecian Armenian Ethiopick together with all the Protestant Churches yea and the whole Christian world might be drawn into one Church-Communion and Order upon as easie tearms as English Prelatists and Presbyterians may if they have a heart to it were it not prodigious uncharitableness and fury of opposition to withstand it As all the Lovers of Christianism would pursue the Union of all Christian Churches upon such tearms so should all the Lovers of Protestantism pursue the Union of all Protestant Churches seeing the Doctrines wherein they harmoniously agree will enable them to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace if the heart be not opposite to the power of those professed Doctrines To heal the wounds of the Protestant Cause how glorious is it But to refuse and withstand this healing how doth it cause the Popish faction to glory against us Let not our adversaries rejoyce nor the uncircumcised glory in our shame We have the examples of Christian Princes even those of the Roman Faith who would gladly have made up breaches in Religion among their people by yielding in things of greater moment in the Church of Rome then any of the points in question are among disagreeing Protestants In the Council of Trent Ferdinand the Emperour and Maximilian his son King of the Romans and the French King and the Duke of Bavaria made it their business by their Embassadors for quieting of their Dominions that the Communion of the Sacrament in both kinds the Marriage of Priests and Divine Service in the vulgar tongue might be allowed These things are of greater importance among the Papists then the things now in question are among the Protestants of either perswasion if we judge by their declared Opinions and not by some hidden design And those forenamed Princes would surely have taken that way for uniting their people had their power been independent in matter of Religion but having dependance upon the See of Rome they could do nothing without the Authority either of the Pope or the Council from either of which they perceived after much instance that such Reformation could not be hoped for Moreover those Princes being of the Roman Faith had a fairer pretence according to Popish Principles to crush the dissenting Part of their Subjects by laying Heresie to their charge and so in time to root them out then any Protestant State can have to extirpate the Presbyterians Likewise the Emperour Charles the V. after his great Atchievements designing to establish an intire Dominion in Germany conceived that his way was to unite the German Nation in point of Religion by a kind of reformation or Accommodation for which he laboured so much in procuring and upholding the Trent-Council until at length dispairing of his Sons succession in the Empire he laid aside all thoughts of restoring the ancient Religion in Germany and by consequence all care of the Council though he continued many years after in the Imperial Authority Now though all these Princes were deceived in expecting such a Union by means of that Council which by reason of divers and important Interests of Princes and Prelates could not possibly have such an end as was by some of them desired yet herein they took not their aim amiss that the re-uniting of their broken people by using a Temper and Accommodation was the best way to keep their Estates intire I am the more importunate in pressing home the motion of brotherly Agreement considering the time which may be the only time For the present condition of these Affairs seem like to the state of a sick body which Physitians call a Crisis when nature and the disease are in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the conflict to carry it for life or death Peace and Concord in Religion seems now to approach to its Crisis whether it shall prevail and live or dye and fail for ever It may justly be feared that the time is now or never For if after so long and sad divisions and the calamitous effects thereof an implacable spirit shall be seen to bear sway in this time of restauration and expected union it may beget a despair of all future reconciliation If after such and so long calamities all the concurring circumstances of the late Revolution will not incline mens hearts to Peace what will do it This is a day of gracious Visitation Happy England if in this its day it knows the things that belong to its Peace Having pressed the Vnion by these Arguments I proceed to remove certain impediments One great impediment
is an erroneous judgment touching the times foregoing the late wars For as much as great and manifold distempers have happened and continued in this Land since the beginning of these troubles the defects of former times are quite forgotten as it commonly comes to pass that latter miseries if drawn out to any length do drown the rememberance of by-past evils but he who discerns only things at hand and not affar off is purblind I abhor to take upon me the defence of our late distracted times the distempers thereof I would not in any wise palliate Nevertheless let this be noted distempers have their times of breeding as well as of breaking forth Certainly that dismal Tempest which succeeded the long Calm in this Nation had its time of gathering in the Clouds To heal the symptomes of a disease its rooted cause being neglected is but a palliative cure To take away the irregularities of these latter times and not to inquire into the former causes is to hide but not to heal the maladies of this Kingdom Another errour which turns away mens eyes from beholding the true state of their own affairs is a contempt of the dissenting Party and of their Opinions as silly and irrational with which is joyned a vain conceit that the whole Party with their Opinions would soon fall to the ground if a few turbulent and factious spirits as they pretend were taken out of the way This makes men to bear down their opposites more with scorn and contumely then with any temperate and solid reasoning This makes men wilful precipitate unmerciful and puts them forward by rigid injunctions and severe inquisitions to suppress those with whom they might walk in one way if they themselves did walk in love But there is as little of Reason as Religion in this self-admiring humour It is the part of weak and selfish minds to contract Religion to certain modes and forms which stand not by Divine Right but by the wills of men and which are of little efficacy and very disputable and if supposed lawful ought to be governed by the rule of Charity To think that none is a good Christian a sound Protestant a fit minister that cannot subscribe to such modes and forms proceeds from a narrow and ignoble judgment It is also as much pride as weakness to contemn the setled way of a knowing and serious people steddy in their Principles and practices as if they were worthy of no regard because they dissent in some points which in themselves are of little moment This is for men to think that they only are the people and that wisdom shall dye with them Noble and high capacities and judgments of a large and deep reach do know they cannot square the world by the narrow compass of those conceived Principles that have possessed and seasoned their own minds But they look also without themselves rightly judging that as they have their own peculiar Notions so another sort have theirs and that divers men are carried divers ways as they are led by natural temper custom education or studious inquiries They know likewise that there is no constraining of all minds to one perswasion without imbasing their judgments to perfect slavery which we see put in practice in the Antichristian Kingdom of the Papacy Whereupon men of vastest parts and learning and of true nobleness of judgment have been ever favourable to those which dissented only in such opinions as amongst wise and sober men are not with one consent determined unless their peculiar Interest were bound up in those Opinions For this nobleness of judgment which naturally inclines to allow ones self and others this righteous liberty is sometimes driven back and streightned by politique Interests Verily a judgment truly noble is truly Catholique and true Catholicism is most contrary to that which is so called by pretended Catholiques For it is to maintain Christian Concord with all Christians as far as they hold Christ the Head It is incident to ruling men to cherish the passion of indignation against the dissenting Party Hence ariseth a great perturbation of judgment For by reason of the dominion of this passion when dissenters modestly assert their Principles and do not instantly comply as much as is expected it is taken for petulancy and peevishness When some degree of forwardness breaks forth it is encountred with that severity which hazards the undoing of the weak Part that should and might be healed And their dis-satisfaction is judged the effect of incurable pride and malice This perturbation of judgment begets a great distemper in publique Councils Wherefore let persons bearing Rule watch over this dangerous passion and dread its tyranny First let not perversness be always imputed to the non-compliances of the inferiour Party God hath put it into the Kings heart to extend compassion to multitudes of His Loyal Subjects in taking off the rigour of sundry impositions in matters Ecclesiastical and they think it good to make use of those His Majesties Concessions without the prejudice of any part of Religion or of order and decency in the Church Others that should have helped forwards His Majesties design of Peace are offended saying The Presbyterians yield in nothing the late indulgence hath made them more resolved against all points of Conformity But why should their eye be evil because His Majesties eye is good Have the Presbyterians abated nothing when for peace sake they have declared a readiness to part with the Presbyterian platform of Church-Government which is used in other Reformed Churches and to submit to a regulated Episcopacy as also to wave the Directory for Worship and to accept a Reformed Liturgy Indifferent men would judge that this is a good advance towards peace and that a closure is hereby really intended But what have the Prelatists done in testimony of their moderation Have they desisted from the use of any one of the former Ceremonies even such as be not injoyned by any Law or Canon Suppose some of the Presbyterians be they few or many do as yet forbear the us sing of some forms which they apprehend not simply unlawful perhapsome reason of scandal may cause this forbearance otherwise to the judicious they might seem to contradict their own Principles out of servile fear or for worldly ends and the malicious might take occasion though none were given to reproach them for temporizing Now it concerns Christs Ministers to prevent what in them lies not only a just but even an unjust and causeless contempt of their Ministry Besides they are not willing that some persons of good affections but weaker judgments should take offence at their early and easie compliance and so fall into down-right separation The Presbyterians attend a good Reformation and all necessary inlargement that may encompass and gather together in one all that are of sound belief and good life who have been so long scattered abroad Nothing therefore appears but that they have hitherto conscienciously and judiciously made
use of His Majesties Favour and with great thankfulness have they expressed their sence thereof in their acknowledgments to God and men His Royal and Paternal Charity is precious to them But suppose that some of this way were guilty of some provoking forwardness should grave Patriots and wise Counsellors thereupon destroy the weak Part or rather heal it A prudent Father is not so provoked by the stubbornness of a Child as to cast him out and make him desperate whilest there is yet hope concerning him It is meet indeed for Princes to express their just indignation when Subjects presuming on their clemency do not contain themselves within their duty and the seasonable expression of such disdain wisely managed is of great force in Government nevertheless if it get the mastery it is exceeding perillous It was the Counsel of indignation that proceeded from Rehoboams young Counsellors But there is yet a greater mischief when the cloud of this passion darkens the Understanding that it cannot distinguish between present dis-satisfaction and incurable pride and malice When a peoples present dis-satisfaction about remediable grievances shall be deemed implacable enmity commonly pernicious counsels take place Then it will be suggested to a Prince that the Acts of Grace bestowed upon such a people make them but the more insolent For none may hope to overcome pride by condescention or inveterate malice by good turns which is indeed a true saying but perverted by mis-application In this case to judge rightly of things that differ let a Prince consider diligently whether the present aversness proceeds from rooted Principles and a fixed Interest inconsistâ—nâ— with the security of his Estate or from the pressures of the grieved Party in things which are not the necessary props of his Power and without which his greatness may well consist and let him never question the gaining of such a people whose Principles and designs are not against the true and proper Interest of his Estate whatsoever their present distempers be for the grievances being redressed time will wear out those distempers And in that case a people will not less value their Prince because he yieldeth to them with respect to his own concernments for they will not judge it a forced yielding because that proceeds from force which is yielded for present necessity and against the main Interest but they will cleave to him the more by discerning that his and their good do agree in one for it makes them hope that he will seek their good as his own When Governours resent the non-compliances of a party their best remedy is to remove the occasions when it may be done without crossing the Interests of State or maximes of Government then will the honest-minded be mollified and moulded and towards the residue of obstinate persons if there be any such severity will be used more succesfully It is the wisedom of rulers by all means to lessen offences and to contract the number of offenders For where there are many sufferers upon a Religious account whether in truth or pretence there will be a kind of glory in suffering and sooner or later it may turn to the Rulers detriment Another great impediment of publick concord is an erroneous confidence in the more numerous Party that they need not seek nor mind the way of peace for they reckon themselves sure to carry it by the major Vote in all Councils and Conventions they see wind and tide serving them But they who consider but few things do make a sudden judgment which commonly falls short Great prosperity oft-times blinds the wise as well as fools and great advantages divert the mind from heeding many important circumstances of a business that the judgment made concerning it is most imperfect Wherefore in the present case it should be minded that the dissenting party is not small that it is not made up of the rabble multitude nor yet of Phanatique spirits but of honest and sober people who act from principles of knowledge and can render a reason of their practice in things pertaining to conscience with as much discretion as any sort of men in the Nation that the instances which they make do not concern by matters and mutable occasions but matters of conscience that will never cease nor vary that they are not a Party far distant but very near I mean not only in respect of place for so the Papists that live among us cannot be far from us but of agreement in Principles of Religion that they cannot be well severed nor kept in a divided State nor yet be rooted out but they will grow up under the influence of the Doctrine professed in the Church of England that in many deliberations they may be able to put things to a stand and in debates of great consequence to lead the indifferent sort of men and also many temperate spirits of the other perswasion by the apparent equity of their proposals All these things and more of the like nature do challenge a due regard from those that would see through a business and make a perfect judgement Besides the judicious should consider not onely the bulk and corps of a party but what spirit doth quicken them with what vivacity and constancy their motions do proceed and their interest is pursu'd It comes also within the compass of this inquiry to know the intrinsick strength of the Hierarchy and what they can do when they stand by themselves alone for their adventitious strength may fail them We need not tell them that on their side at present the advantage is very great yet haply it may appear in shew greater then it is indeed Though the English Nation appear to affect a stated Order in the Church nevertheless they may not serve the designs of the Hiearchy nor yet be conscious thereof Upon the late great revolution the multitude do easily run from one extream to an other thinking they can not run too far from those troubles and discomposures which last oppressed them But as the prudent ponder their paths at present so the passionate multitude may at length know where they are and discern alike the evil of both extreams Many that are lifted up may give offence and fall under great displeasure they that are cast down may be better advised by their sufferings and remove the occasions of stumbling and so become if not indeared yet inoffensive to the Nation Such vicissitudes of love and hatred do happen in every age and there is no new thing under the Sun An other Obstacle in the way of this conjunction is an opinion of many that the sure and only means of preventing schism and maintaining unity in the Church is by multiplying Ceremonial injunctions and Canons by requiring full conformity to controverted forms which might well be spared by exacting not onely submission of practice but assent of judgement declared by subscription to all particulars of Doctrine Worship and Discipline in ever jot and tittle thereof But in
very deed this is the sure way of endlesse dissention among a people that are not bottomed on this principle of believing as the Church believes This kind of imposing hath discomposed all Christendom and rends the severall Churches from each other and makes the rent incurable It is the way of the Church of Rome w th upon this account is guilty of the foulest schism that was ever made in the Christian world It is a notable saying of Chillingworth Not Protestants for rejecting but the Church of Rome for imposing on the faith of Christians Doctrines unwritten and unnecessary and for disturbing the Churches peace and dividing unity in such matters is in a high degree presumptuous and schismatical God is jealous for his worship and consciences well informed and duly tender are likewise jealous concerning it lest they should provoke God to jealousie Minds truly religious doe set an high price on matters of conscience and will expose all to sail rather then cross their principles Wherefore if in matters of perpetual controversie between godly wise persons the Church shall make peremptory decrees and severe injunctions it must needs dissolve the band of unity But the best and surest means of preventing and suppressing Schisms is to prevent corrupt administrations and real scandals in matters Ecclesiasticall and seasonably to reform abuses and not to interpose in lesser differences Furthermore a great prejudice is taken up against Bishops ruling in consociation with Presbyters and against Classicall or Presbyterian meetings as inclining to Faction and likely to produce alterations which evils are supposed to follow the distributing of the power among many Whereupon the Government of a single Person or a Bishop having sole jurisdiction is apprehended to be the surest means of keeping Church affairs in a fixed state This prejudice having a great shew of truth we must stoop to pry into it more narrowly And first we have this political maxime to direct us in this inquiry that the condition of the people to be governed is the best rule of discerning the aptest form of Government And according to this principle we resolve that absolute Prelacy is the onely Government to hold a people that content themselves with a customary service and the Religion of their Country and of their fore-fathers whatsoever it be All Discourses Debates Disputations and all occasions of aontest touching Religion and particularly that exeâ—cise which is called prophesying must be avoided But this Government is not so agreeable to a people that are given to search the Scriptures and try Doctrines In England where the inferior Clergy or parochial Ministery is not rude and ignorant but in a great part learned conscientious where the common people in a great part try all things that they may hold fast that which is good the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction can not conveniently reside in a Prelate alone governing by severe Canons and denouncing excommunication against all those that express any dissent from any particulars of the received Forms of Worship and Discipline For among such a people this is a likelier way to beget some great distemper then to keep all in quietness and deep silence But a form of Government more free by distributing the power among many and regular meetings for free debates within certain limits will be much more peaceable and succesful It is here acknowledged that in such an order of things dissentions may arise and cause some interruptions Nevertheless no great inconvenience but sometimes much advantage may follow The stirrings of warm contests may be unadvisedly condemned For as Thunder purgeth the Air so these stirrings may purge the Church from Corruptions ingendering in it Let the frame and order of things be so established that both parties may be made hopeless concerning factious attempts of promoting this or that extream that the contests may not be on the one side for Dominion nor on the other side for inordinate liberty but on both sides for Truths due freedom and then they will end in peace If great mistakes should arise in such meetings and seem for a while to pass currently there may be found some persons of that wisedome integrity and reputation as to be able to shew the fallacy and to convince those of both sides that intend uprightly In which case if they perceive an evil spirit on work and an evil design hatching among some they will turn away with indignation from the contrivers of such mischief Wherfore let the frame of Ecclesiastical polity lean neither towards Tyranny nor Anarchy but be set upright for just liberty Let good orders be kept and priviledges not violated and the greater number of those who mean honestly will not be led into the snare of faction And selfish ambitious pragmatick spirits that trouble them will easily be detected and abandoned Unto this reasoning let the authority of an eminent pacifick Bishop be superadded concerning the way of order and stability in the conjunction of Episcopacy and Presbytery Bishop Hall in his Discourse Intituled A modest offer of some meet considerations to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster commends the method of the Church of Scotland for prevention of Error and Heresie by a gradual proceeding from the parochial meering to the Presbytery from thence to the provincial Synod and from thence to the general Assembly for determining any controversie saying This bears the face of a very fair and laudable course and such as deserves the approbation of all the well-willers to that Discipline But let me add That either we have or may have in this very state of things with some small variation in effect the very same Government with us Instead of Presbyteries consisting of several Pastors we have our combinations of Ministers in our several Deanries over whom the rural Dean is chosen every year by the Ministers of that Division as their Moderator This Deanry or Presbytery may be enjoyned to meet every moneth or oftner in some City or Town next to them and there they may have their exercise of Prophecying as I have known it practised in some parts of this Kingdom as it is earnestly wished and recommended by that Excellently Learned Lord Verulam in his prudent Considerations where if any Question fail of determination it may be referred gradually from the lesser to the greater Assemblies till it be brought to a National Synod In the same discourse the said Bishop commends one constant prudent vigilant Overseer superadded to a Grave Judicious Presbytery without concurrence of which Presbytery the Bishop or Overseer should not take upon him to inflict Excommunication or any other important Censure Having discovered certain general Impediments I proceed to Argue upon the particular Concernments of the King of the Nobility and Gentry and of the Episcopal Clergy His Majesties Concernment in this grand Affair transcends the particular concernments of all others whether Parties or Persons and that beyond all comparison Others may advance themselves and Families by the present occasions
and cry we will have all or none yet the greater number yea the main body of either side may be found of calmer judgements and affections who together with a multitude of wise and well minded persons that are indifferent between both perswasions would cause the violent ones to keep within bounds And as many of those passionate men as have any judgment will discern that they are without hope of prevailing and disadvantage themselves by opposing the common interest and quiet of the Nation His Majesty is a great King he is King indeed and reigns in great power over a willing people He hath in his hands the joynt stock or common interest of the whole Nation Neither of these grand parties can subsist without him and this gives him assurance that they are and must be both his It is manifest that his interest hath gotten the preheminence over all partial interests as indeed it ought For if the Prince be not in this regard transscendent he is ready to be laid low Wise men inform us that a Prince by adhering to one Faction may in time lift it up above his own Imperial interest which will be forced to give way to it as the lesser to the greater And the prime leaders of the potent Faction will sway more then the Prince himself They will become arrogant unthankful and boundless in their ambitious designs It is observed by Henry the Third of France that he would be taken into the League with the Princes of his own Kingdom to root out the protestants and after awhile the same League was turned against him A Prince may be so intangled that he shall not know how to winde out of those wayes wherein he hath so far ingaged himself neither shall he be able to turn himself to the necessity of his own affairs as new accidents arise Then is a Prince truely potent when he hath all particular Factions lying at his feet and can compell them to live in peace with one another This is the potency of our soveraign Lord this day For he is alone and there is none besides him on whom the Nation can have any stable dependence Wherefore let His Majesties high concernments be the primum mobile to carry about all the inferiour Orbs in our political world His Majesty hath gained his peoples hearts and is glorious in their eyes and by his continued clemency he will not fail to hold them fast to himself He desires to govern well and they desire to be well governed and seek no greater liberty In some tender points of Conscience they waâ—â— upon his indulgence and are willing to close with uniformity not in rigour but in some convenient latitude and relaxation There is an yeelding that is no way abject but generous and advantageous a princely condescention whereby a King becomes more absolute and may have what he will from his loving subjects And they will no less fear him then love him as knowing both his goodness and his greatness For he is great indeed to whom the hearts of three Nations are linked and it is morally impossible that so vast a people should at once be lost to a King who continues to deserve well of them and to make them his favourites And then what person or party shaldare to sleight his Government whose interest and influence is of so large extent There is a saying which by many hath been taken up for a proverb No Bishop no King I do not well understand the rise of this saying and therefore dare not speak in derogation of their judgements who were the Authors it But upon the matter it self I crave to make this modest Animadversion And first it is some degrading to the transcendent interest of Soveraignty to affix unto it a necessity of any one partial interest for its support for independency and self-subsistence without leaning upon any Party is a Prince his strength and glory Also it makes that Party over confident and its opposite too despondent Such sayings as import a Princes necessary dependence on any particular Party may in the mouthes of subjects be too presumptuous and in the mouth a Prince too unwary But of this particular I dare not so speak in as much as I know not its rise and reason Onely this I humbly conceive that the coalition of Episcopacy and Presbytery sets forth a Bishop in conjunction with Presbyters of no less dependence on the soveraign and of more influence on the people then a Bishop having sole jurisdiction can have in the present age As concerning the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom who for the greater part are said to favour Prelacy They cannot in reason be offended at such a regulated Episcopacy when they shall behold its order and harmony and tendency to ageneral peace It seems agreeable to their Nobleness to affect a comely and venerable Order in the Church for the honour of Religion And let them judge whether the Worship of God be more holy and reverend for those many Gesticulations and various postures enterchangeably used in parts of divine Service that are of the same kind and require equall Reverence Whether a grave habit of civil decency for a Minister is less decent in sacred Administrations then certain other Vestments which some scruple as conceiving that holiness is placed in them Whether a Church settled by limited Episcopacy cannot attain to its due veneration without the Hierarchical dominion and splendor The reduction of absolute Prelacy to Episcopall presidency here desired may concern the Nobility and Gentry as well as others For as others may be oppressed so these may be overtopped Excessive power is commonly exercised beyond their intentions that are eager to set it up And they that thought onely of crushing a party offensive to them may at length finde themselves obnoxious or at least neglected and undervalued On the other side they have little cause to fear that which is commonly so much dreaded namely the excessive rigour of discipline from a president Bishop and grave Presbyters joyntly governing For it is supposed that no act of Discipline shall be exercised against or besides the Laws of the Land which cannot be made without consent of the Nobles and Commons in Parliament Let the Episcopal Clergy admit an address to themselves touching their own concernments Peradventure they either suspect or disdain the counsel of one that may seem an adversary but whatever they apprehend it is the counsel of one who with his whole heart desires that they may not miscarry who accounts them too precious to belost to their brethren if they will permit themselves upon any reasonable tearms to be gained who would gladly walk with them by the same Rule in things received in common which are sufficient for Christian concord and should be so acknowledged by all that mind the things of Christ more then their own things Were I a true hater of that Party or a right Phanatick I should wish for their violent
irruption upon the Prebyterians even as vehemently as now I pursue the design of peace and I verily think my reasoning however it takes with them will convince them of my good intention If they decline moderate counsels and resolve to run high they may attain to a lofty standing howbeit they will always stand on a pinacle In a little time they have greatly inlarged their borders and lengthened their cords it were good that now they should strengthen their stakes and make good their ground By moderation only can they be established Some may say in their hearts The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones the Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Indeed their advantage is well known nevertheless let them consider their constant strength and accordingly limit their hopes for this is an high point of wisedom Let them that have gotten a victory use it wisely and take care that they lose it not in hope of a greater The issue of things oft times have proved unfortunate to those that have waxed insolent and unreasonable upon unexpected successes There is not a greater errour then to refuse tearms of Agreement that are profered by a Party which cannot be rooted out but will be alwaies considerable either as friends or enemies especially when those tearms do comprise some part of their victory that should accept them Let the Episcopal Clergy observe the spirit of the Nation and the condition of the Times that they may rightly comprehend the measure of their own hopes The English are a generous Nation and as they delight in the Majesty and Glory of their King so also in the splendid condition of subordinate Governours that their manner of living be in some sort conformable to the dignity and opulency of the Nation Accordingly they seem to take pleasure that the Ecclesiastical State be upheld by a fair Revenue and competent Dignity yet with moderation For if the Clergy do rise to Princely or Lordly wealth and power they may become the envy of the Nobility and Gentry Let them remember they stand by Grace not by their own strength but by their Prince His Favour The Nation in general may be taken with a grave and masculine decency in all Sacred things sutable to their spiritual Majesty but I make a Question whether in this noon-tide of the Gospel they will fall in love with excessive gaudiness pompous shews and various affected gestures in Sacred Administrations and not rather esteem them vanities too much detracting from the dignity and purity of Gospel Worship In this noon-tide of the Gospel the Bishops cannot magnifie their Office but by other courses then what were taken in former and darker times Meer formalities will no longer dazle our eyes We shall think they have work of an higher nature then to look only to the observation of outward Forms and Rites and Ceremonies they must make a nearer approach to the Presbyterian practice in the constant Preaching of the Word in the strict observation of the Lords Day in keeping a true watch over the Flock and in correcting the real scandals that break forth in mens conversations And if they walk in these paths the Prelatists and Presbyterians will not be far asunder Perhaps the friends of Prelacy may imagine that in this coalition Presbytery may at length undermine Episcopacy but reason shews that Episcopacy will stand more firm in conjunction with Presbytery then by it self alone In the body natural there is some predominant humour as sanguine cholerick melancholy or phlegmatick yet none of these do subsist alone without the mixture of the rest in a due temperament In like manner the Body Ecclesiastical may be of several complexions or constitutions as Episcopal or Presbyterial according to the predominant quality Now if the Presbyterian Churches would become more firm and stable by the superintendency of one grave President and the truth is in all Presbyteries there appeareth some Episcopacy either formal or vertual so an Episcopal Church may be judged more firm and stable by a Bishops superintendency in consociation with assistant Presbyters And to remove the fear of the incroachments of Presbytery it is easie to discern that Episcopacy if it contains its self within moderate bounds will be always in this National Church the predominant quality In the Conclusion of this Discourse let me offer these few Essayes concerning the pathes of peace The glorifying and pleasing of the highest Potentate and universall Monarch and the eternall happiness of immortal precious souls are the most noble and blessed ends of Government Let his Majesties Raign be happy and glorious in attaining these ends A Christian King esteems it the excellency of his regal Power to hold and manage it as the servant of Jesus Christ to be a Protector of the true Church the Body of Christ the Lambs wife for whose redemption Christ dyed and for whose gathering and perfecting the world is continued It is the Character of this true Church to make the holy Scriptures the perfect rule of their faith and life to worship God in spirit and in truth according to the power and spiritual worship of the Gospel to walk by the rule of the new Creature in spiritual mortification and crucifixion to the world to study holinesse in sincerity to strive to advance it in themselves and others and to have influence upon others unto sound knowledge faith humility godlinesse justice temperance charity The true Church lies in the middle between two extreams Formalists and Fanaticks They are of circumspect and regular walking no way forward in attempting or desiring alterations in a civill State A Prince doth hold them in obedience under a double bond For they know they must needs be subject not onely for wrath but for conscience sake Indeed we will not conceal that in lawful wayes they assert that liberty which is setled by the known Lawes and fundamentall Constitutions the maintaining whereof is the Prince's as much as the Peoples safety That being the happiest Politie that is founded in true Religion and most fully suited to mens everlasting concernments it greatly behoveth Governors to mark and avoid those things which bring Religion into contempt and tend to the increase of Atheism and infidelity The many various Sects and absurd opinions and fancies and pretended Revelations of these latter times have much lessened the reverence of Religion in England This is a great evill and much observed and decryed by the present times There is an other evill no less injurious to the honour and estimation of Christian piety to wit Ceremonial strictnesse with real prophaness or at the most but lukewarmness in the real part of Religion And this is the true state of the Papacy by occasion whereof Atheists have so abounded in Italy Machiavel observes in his time that Christianity was no where less honoured then in Rome which is the pretended Head thereof Let this evil be seen prevented and remedied that the