Laws so all the Obedience of Subjects is confined to their Determinations in those particulars which God has left wholy in the Power of our Superiors and who ever resists or refuses to Obey shall therefore receive Damnation because he destroys the very Essence and End of Government and in saying We will not have this man Raign over us acts directly contrary to the Will of God who says he shall and that we must Obey him in order to the Peace and Happiness of the World the due Administration of Justice the Encouragement of Virtue and Practice of Religion by leading quiet Lives under our Superiors in all Godliness and Honesty by which Method we can only hope to arrive at Eternal Happiness in Heaven BUT Secondly Because all Ecclesiastical Laws which concern the Order and Government of the Church are of a mixt Nature Political as well as Religious and so are all Humane and Civil Laws too and therefore there is the same reason for Obedience to the one as to the other and they do both equally bind the Conscience to Obedience The same Power makes the one as makes the other the same Reason is the Foundation of the one as of the other they are addressed to the same End viz. the Peace Happiness and Prosperity of the People and therefore there is the same obligation to Obedience for the one as the other and all Men are bound in Conscience as Members of a Society to promote the Peace and welfare of that Society which is not to be obtained any other Way but by obeying the Command of God in being subject to the Government of that Society of which we are Members Observe the Command of God to the Captive Jews at Babylon Jer. 29.7 Seek the Peace of the City whither I have caused you to be carried away Captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the Peace thereof ye shall have Peace So that if Peace and Happiness be the End of Society all Men are bound to Pray for it and promote it If the End be Commanded by God the Means to obtain that End must be Obeyed and God having intrusted the Governors of Church and State with the Means and Way of procuring this Happiness their Choice of some among all the variety of Expedients that may be offer'd must determine their Subjects and becomes the Rule of their Obedience as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil Affairs for if it were possible to separate these two then something might be said but the Peace of the State depending upon the Peace of the Church and vicê versa No man can truely be said to promote the one by destroying the other And therefore all men who are obliged to indeavour to advance one must do it by advancing both To make this clear I will give an Instance of the Power of the Civil Magistrate in the Church in matters of Order and Government David a man after Gods own Heart in the Worship of God which was left Undetermined he takes upon him to regulate the Church he Orders the Levites to appoint Singers on Instruments of Musick 1 Chron. 15.16 and Psalteries and Harps Cymbals and sounding by lifting up the Voice with joy They never stood to dispute with him because God had not commanded it that therefore it was Unlawful but because God had not any where Prohibited it and he was their King and might Command what was for decency and order in the Service of God therefore they ought to Obey and immediately they appoint Heman and Asaph and Ethan and several others for that Service David and after his Example others frame and compose Anthems Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving in set forms of Words to praise God Because he is gracious and his Mercy endureth for ever Do the Priests and Levites now quarrel because they are not permitted to shew their Parts Gifts and Abilities in making Extempore Hymns or Prayers No such matter but presently in Obedience to God and the King they make use of those prescribed which are contained in the Book of Psalms the Ancient Liturgy of the Jewish Church This order was after continued by Solomon and approved by God For it came to pass 2 Chron. 5.13 as the Trumpeters and Singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord and when they lift up their Voice with the Trumpets and Cymbals and Instruments of Musick and praised the Lord saying For he is good for his Mercy indureth for ever that the house was filled with a Cloud even the House of the Lord. So that the result of all is this That the Supreme Power of a Nation being of Gods appointment for the Ruling of the People in order to their Happiness and commanding nothing contrary to Faith or good Manners or any thing Prohibited by God himself ought to be obeyed by all their Subjects of what Degrees or Conditions soever in all their Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil in order to good Government Decency and Order both in Church and State and that since all these Commands of theirs are in Obedience to Gods Commands and in prosecution of the great Design of Happiness here and Eternally by promoting Peace Vnity and Concord therefore no Person can resist that Power by Disobedience but he resists the Ordinance of God and becomes a Transgressor to God as well as Man and runs the hazzard of Eternal Damnation due to all those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ LET Dissenters therefore either prove that the Supreme Powers are not Lawful that their Authority does not Extend to the Political part of Ecclesiastical Affairs that they have nothing to do to determine Differences that the things commanded are contrary to Faith and a holy Life are not conducive to Peace Vnity and the happiness of the Nation or that they are any where in direct Words or evident Consequence prohibited by God in Scripture or otherways they will never be able to prove that they are bound in Conscience to disobey Authority Let them not think to shelter themselves under the vain refuge that God is to be obeyed rather than Men. This is that which proves them Disobedient for they do not disobey Men but God in disobeying Lawful Authority when commanding nothing contrary to the Commands of God And whoever does so is managed not by the Principles of Religion but the Power of Interest Prejudice or Ambition IN short Is any Form of Government Lawful or Necessary in the Church that it is they affirm in desiring to Establish their own is Obedience necessary to Salvation they will tell you it is Let them therefore be their own Judges For if Obedience to their Laws and Government be necessary to Salvation it must be because their Authority is Lawful for that is the Rule of Conscience and if the present Authority be Lawful and theirs Vsurped then is their Disobedience Damnable and their Obstinacy
have instructed his Scholar to put down and not Exalt this Antichrist in the Church of God 1 Jo. 2.18 This Ignatius who was afterwards in the Eleventh year of Trajan Crowned with Martyrdom at Rome being torn in pieces by Wild Beasts as Eusebius gives us an account Euseb Eccl. His l. 3. c. 19. 35. he speaks as plain of the Difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter as Pen can write or Heart can wish In his Epistle to the Magnesians Ig. Ep. ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop saith he is seated in the first place as in the place of God and the Presbyters as the Senate of the Apostles And in another place of the same Epistle They says he who Act without a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such Christ will say Why do ye call me Lord Lord and do not the works which I Command you Such Persons seem to me not to be of a good Conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to be Hypocrites and Dissemblers And in his Epistle to the Trallians he Commands them in the Language of the Author to the Hebrews Ignat. Epist ad Trall To be subject unto this Bishop as unto the Lord for he Watches for your souls And in another place he tells them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is absolutely necessary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That you should do nothing without the Bishop Thus we see the Sons of the Church in the first Century of the Apostles of Christ being yet living thought of Bishops as we do And therefore it is both Undeniable and Undubitable that Episcopal Government was of Divine Institution and that a Bishop and a Presbyter are two different things in the Primitive Church both as to Power and as to Name I might bring a whole Cloud of Witnesses of less Antiquity but if these will not convince if the Testimony of Scripture and so Primitive a man and a Bishop as Ignatius be of no value I can have little hopes of convincing Gainsayers by multitude who have abandoned Reason THUS stood the Affairs of the Church for above 300 Years no man making the least Question or Dispute but that the Government by Episcopacy was of Gods appointment one Bishop still succeeding another as in the Ecclesiastical Historians my be seen in most of the Principal Cities of the World Epiphan l. 3. Tom. 1. Haeres 25. till Aerius being Educated with Eustathius and being his equal in Learning and Age took it as a great disparagement that Eustathius was preferred before him to a Bishoprick for which they were Competitors upon this discontent he not only fell foul upon Eustathius objecting as our Aerians do against him Pride and Covetousness but his Resentments for the Mortal displeasure broak out against the whole Function contemning the prescribed Fasts of the Church and teaching by the same Arguments with ours that a Bishop and a Priest were all one by the Scriptures of equal Power Authority and Jurisdiction which saith Epiphanius is an Assertion stultitiae plena full of Folly But this being but one discontented Priests Opinion was neither much regarded nor long lived the current belief of the Scripture and the constant Usage of the Church which knew no other Government run so strong that he was drowned in it nor did the Heresie ever float again till this last Age of which St. Clement who was contemporary to St. Paul and his fellow Labourer Phil. 4.3 as he calls him seems to prophecy in that Epistle of his to the Corinthians which I think was never suspected to be spurious where he tells us there would come a time when there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Ep. ad Cor. a contention about the very name of a Bishop BY virtue of this Power it was that the Rulers of the Church ordered and appointed all things which were done which were of an indifferent Nature in Government as about the Observation of Holy Fasts and Festivals the manner of Celebrating the Service and Worship of God the Prayers and Alms of the Church the Postures Gestures and Habits which were to be made use of and all other Rites and Ceremonies following herein the Scripture as the Rule of Faith and Manners and the General Precepts therein contained as Rules of Government which were principally these FIRST That nothing imposed should be repugnant or contrary to any Article or Branch of Faith or a Holy Life or to any Customs of the Church recorded in Holy Writ SECONDLY That all their Commands might have a respect to Decency Order Reverence and Edification THIRDLY That All might have a tendency to Vnity Peace and Concord and that diversity of Customs and Opinions might not breed Schisms and Contentions and I shewed before how when in some of these things there was a difference in several Churches yet still they held Communion one with another maintaining inviolably the same Faith and Government in all THIS was the Condition of the Church both as to Faith and Polity till such time as the great Powers of the Earth the Roman Emperours and other Kings became Christians and took up the Cross of Christ as the Glory of their Crowns The first of which was Constantine the Great These Temporal Powers then took the Church into their Protection made Temporal Laws for the better Management of it and to preserve it from the Injuries of Heathen Idolaters without and Hereticks within and having the Sword in their hand undertook as it was their Duty to punish Evil doers who darst transgress the Laws of the Church with Temporal Punishments as well as those who broak the Laws of the Civil Magistrate and to incourage the Peaceable and Religious From the Bounty of these Princes and that of others of plentiful Fortunes and and by their Example the Church came to be Endowed with Temporalties and an Honourable Constant and Encouraging Maintainance was provided and settled upon those who were to serve at the Altar that so they might be inabled and furnished with all sorts of Learning well knowing that proportionate Rewards are the spurs to Learning and Virtue as the Wisdom of God for our Encouragement to Pursue and Obtain her tells us Prov. 8.18.3.4 Riches and Honour are with me yea durable Riches and Righteousness and that length of days are in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour And that according to the Apostolical Command 1 Cor 9.11 14. They which sow Spiritual things should also reap Carnal for so hath the Lord commanded that they which Preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel BY this it appears That now there was a double Obligation laid upon all Christians to be Obedient to the Commands of the Church both because they derive their Power from God and because the Temporal Power did now concur to strengthen the Duty by the Obligations of Humane Laws nor can any thing or any pretence of Conscience authorize their Disobedience to both those Powers unless the things commanded be manifestly proved to contradict the Faith or be repugnant to good Life which till Dissenters can do they will be obstinate Schismaticks before God and Rebels against their Prince and in a fair way to be Traytors too whilst they break his Laws both
inexcusable by their own Judgment And if we do not prove the present Government Lawful and of Gods appintment both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Phillida solus habeto And till they have proved themselves Lawful Powers and the present Government Unlawful let them be obedient to its Decrees and Determinations as those Laws respect the good of the Civil Society if they will not as they respect the Religious CHAP. X. HAVING proceeded thus far in shewing the Design of the Outward Government of the Church to have a Political Respect as well as Temporal Laws to the happiness and well-being of Humane Society as well as a Religious Respect to future Felicity and that therefore upon this double account our Obedience is due to the Ecclesiastîcal Laws as well as the Temporal to which yet no Dissenters will own Disobedience to be Lawful because without Laws no Living and for the same reason therefore Obedience to both is a necessary part of Religion in the next place let us see how necessary therefore this Vnity in point of Government in the Church is upon this Political account in order to the happiness of the Society which is the End of all Laws and all Religion in this present state of Life AND this I conceive cannot better be done than by shewing the dangerous influence which Disunion in point of Government in the Church has upon the Civil Affairs of any Nation As true Religion makes men the best Subjects steddy in their Loyalty and Allegiance Faithful in their Trusts and Services industrious to promote the Common Good obedient to their Superiors kind to their Equals and humble to their Inferiors and always Religious observers of the Laws of God and Man So False Opinions when entertain'd for true Religion ever render Men the Worst And if there were nothing more in it yet would it be the great Interest of Princes to endeavour to propagate Christian Religion in its greatest Purity and to discountenance Errors Heresies Sects and Schisms as the best Expedient to secure themselves and Establish their Thrones upon the immoveable Basis and sure Foundation of the good Conscience of their Subjects For this surpasses all the Obligations of Laws all the Powers of Arms and all the Arts of Policy Laws without Conscience are like Sampsons green Wit hs which armed Interest and successful Ambition attended on with Fiery Zeal Jud. 16.9 will break to pieces as a thred of Tow when it touches the Flame The most Powerful Arms have no intail of Victory and though the Sword be a very good Guard for the Sceptre yet if the Sceptre turns into a Sword a thousand Instances will shew that it lays a slippery Foundation for a Crown which always stands most firm when set upon the Head of Princes by Love and Affection and not by the trembling hand of Fear The deepest Politicians are sometimes Men shallow and fordable subject to be deceived and their Counsels like Achitophels may be defeated and turned into Folly But Religion were it Universally practised Princes might disband those Auxiliary Succours of the Crown together with their Fears that raise them and might send their Jealousies those Envious Tormentors both of Crowns and Cottagers into perpetual Banishment For that teaches to smother Treason in the thought Eccles 10.20 and prevents the Necessity of Axes and Scaffolds Curse not the King not in thy thought is God's Command which they will not Transgress to gain the Empire of the World and lose their Souls Innocence is their Profession Peace their Study Integrity the joy of their Lives the delight of their Minds and the pleasure of their Deaths Not all the storms of Afflictions not all the shining Glories of the Vniverse can tempt them to throw off the White Mantle of unstained Innocence that Ermine of Religion Not all the tempting withcrafts of Dominion Riches Honour or Advantage can prevail with them to do the least Injury wilfully to their poorest Neighbour much less then to those Sacred Persons who are Gods on Earth and the true Christian if it were put to his choice had rather sit with Job cloathed with Ashes Miseries and Integrity upon the Dunghil of Poverty than be lifted from thence by the hand of Injustice or Violence to sit among Princes and wear the Dreaded Imperial Purple THIS is the happy Temper of Religion which teaches the Prince that Excellent Moderation to be so far from treading upon the Necks of his Subjects that he will not tread upon the Heels of their Properties or their Priviledges and in all his Laws to study their Interest as his own This teaches Subjects to study to be Quiet 1 Thess 4.11 and in stead of making Seditions Mutinies or Rebellions to make Devout and continual Supplications Prayers Intercessions 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. and giving of Thanks for Kings and all that are in Authority that so they may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty For this they are taught is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Nor will they venture to cut off the least Skirt of Prerogative the lawful Inheritance of their Prince to inlarge their own or take one Jewel out of his Crown to Adorn or Inrich themselves withall They will not Deplume the Royal Eagle of his to Feather their own Nests The thirst of Ambition which cannot be quenched with any thing but the Illustrious Blood of Soveraigns is an absolute Stranger to their very thoughts and they will rather sacrifice their own Lives and Fortunes than see his in Danger All their Desires are confined to a little here and their Ambition aspires lawfully after no other Crown but that of a Glorious Immortality Now to the obtaining of any tollerable Degrees of this Happy State as there is one God one Faith one Baptism so it is absolutely Necessary that in one Nation there be one Form of Government in the Church as well as State And that if it be not possible that all People should be of one Mind as to matters of Opinion yet that they should be of one Mind as to Obedience to Government in Church and State which is matter of Faith And it is but highly Reasonable that private Opinion should confine it self to private Breasts its proper Sphere and not be permitted to walk abroad to affront Authority and the publique Peace Interest and Happiness of a whole Nation no more than particular Gain is suffered to undo the Publick Stock DIFFERENCE in Opinion may well be Tollerated and indeed cannot be avoided but yet were men managed by Modesty though not Religion there need be no Mischief from it But to publish Private Opinion for Publique and necessary Truth and to endeavour to impose it upon others and upon Authority it self is a practice of the most pernicious Usurpation and Consequence in any Government For this Opposition of Opinions naturally produces a Disunion of Mind absolutely Destructive of Government which is to Unite all the Members
Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus The Project of Peace c. June 12. 1678. Guill Sill R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. à Sac. Dom. THE Project of Peace OR UNITY of FAITH AND GOVERNMENT The only Expedient to Procure PEACE BOTH Foreign and Domestique AND To PRESERVE these NATIONS From the DANGER OF Popery and Arbitrary Tyranny By the Author of the Countermine Is there no Balm in Gilead No Physician there Si penés singulos Jus Arbitrium erit Judicandi nihil certi constitui poterit quin potius vacillabit tota Religio Cal. Inst London Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Sign of the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1678. TO THE DISSENTERS FROM THE Church of ENGLAND OF WHAT NAMES or DISTINCTIONS SOEVER AS it is very Possible that nothing will be less Welcome to you than these Papers so contrary both to your Inclinations and what you believe your Interest So it may be nothing is less customary than Dedications of this Nature But since I neither propose to my self the Hopes of any Patrons Beneficence nor can submit to such unmanly Complyances as are usually the Effects of such Hopes and Expectations I have rather chosen to Address my self to you where even the Hope of a Charitable Reception is scarcely to be hoped for as the Reward of my Charity And where the Flattery of Swelling Hyperboles would prove as false and unsuccessful to me as to Millions who have made large promises to themselves of Recompences and Gratifications for that Gentiler way of Begging And of all the World it would be most Pernicious to You who have been too long accustomed to your own and the dangerous Flatteries of your Party There is nothing that is at all times more Welcome to the World than Peace Pacem te poscimus Omnes But most Men would be Conquerors and oblige the World by giving it upon their own Terms And there are but few who will be content to receive it as Christians upon God's Terms and Conditions Here I have endeavoured to Manifest the true Foundations of a solid and a lasting Peace Which are Faith Vnity Government and Obedience to the Laws of God and Men. A Peace capable of rendring the Vniverse Happy and any particular Society of Men prosperous here and Glorious hereafter in the Peaceful Regions of Joy and Immortality I am not ignorant of your Plea of Zeal and Sufferings But must the Church of England be allowed nothing for hers Has not She by your means been forced to drink the very dregs of your Animosity whilest like the Children of Edom in the day of her Calamity You cryed Down with her Psal 137.8 Down with her even to the ground Did you ever suffer such Persecution from Her as She has suffered from you Whose Zeal therefore or Afflictions must intitle them to the Character of the truer Church Would you Establish the Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth So would She only with this Difference that what you would effect by the Rude Method of Force and Violence the Power of the Sword She labours to do by the Power of Perswasion and the Spirit of Meekness as her Treatment of you now She is in Power so far from Retaliation or Revenge does abundantly testifie to the Shame of your former Cruelty and present Obstinacy and endeavours to compass and effect her Ruine Is She therefore Criminal for endeavouring that Lawfully which you would and do and as you perswade the World are bound in Conscience to do Per fas Nefas either Lawfully or Unlawfully it matters not is not the same Obligation of Conscience and far greater and a truer Conscience upon her And if one must be satisfied whose rather Hers which is True and properly Conscience or yours which is only your Private and uncertain Opinion clothed with that Venerable Name Your Way of Establishing this Worship has been notoriously guilty of Rebellion Disorders Confusion and many Evil Works The Civil State of Affairs has been ruin'd and overturn'd Houses have been made Desolate and left without Inhabitant Churches have been robbed defaced abused demolished Holy things set apart and dedicated to the Service of God and so made Holy have been prophaned The Church of England is innocent of any such Crimes The infamous Brand of Rebellion Sedition Tumults Sacriledg or Rapine were never burnt upon her hand She indeavours to prevent this for the Present and the Future by teaching all men their just Duty towards God and towards Man and obliges them to the Performance of it You call this Persecution and Hate her for it This may be Zeal in you but it is not according to the knowledg of God She imposes some Methods and certain Directions in their own Nature confessedly indifferent only in order and with no other Design than for Decency avoiding Confusion and to bring all Christians to maintain the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace You refuse these Means and therefore the Great End of Christian Religion and Religion it self You prefer your own Way and Means before Hers and by Obstructing Peace pretend that her Impositions are inconducive to those Excellent Ends when as in Truth it is not their want of Efficacious aptness but your want of Will and your traversing them by an obstinate Disobedience that frustrates their desired Effects You quarrel her Commands and call them Traditions of Men and Will-Worship when in reality yours is so And it is perfectly because you are not permitted to have your own Wills in the Worship of God that makes you Accuse Her of what you are most horribly guilty of your selves She appoints nothing but what is agreeable to the Will and Word of God and the Primitive Usage of the Church You term those Determinations Antichristian Popish Superstitious As if God Almighty whose Word and Rules She follows where he does not please your Humour or suit your Interest or Designs were Popishly inclined As if the Scriptures in declaring for Episcopacy were Antichristian As if the best and purest Ages of the Church and the whole Succession of Saints and Martyrs were Superstitious Because many of them Bishops and all of them Worshipping God at least as to the Main according to Her Way and Method Whereas it is you that are Popish while you endeavour to Obtrude upon us your own Infallibility It is you who are Antichristian who ruine the Foundation of all Christianity Faith Government a Catholique Church Obedience Charity and Unity It is you who are Superstitious if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a needless Fear of any thing in Religion be Superstition whilest you start at an Innocent Rite as if it were a Goblin And for fear of a Ceremony run from the Church as if it were hanted with Evil Spirits And though you strain as if you were afraid of being Choak't at these Gnats yet you can swallow the Camel of plain and barefac't Disobedience That goes smoothly over your Palate being gilded over