Considerations ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION Considerations ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION Humbly Submitted to The Convocation ON BEHALF Of the Conformable Clergy With some Reflections on the late Subscription made by our Dissenting Brethren LONDON Printed in the Year 1690. Considerations about Subscription humbly submitted to the Convocation on behalf of the conformable Clergy c. ALthough our Learned Divines have different Apprehensions about the most convenient time for setling a Firm and Lasting Union amongst Protestants and about what Condescensions are to be made by us in Order thereunto whether the Dissenters must in the First place be consulted or whether without knowing their thoughts we give them Terms c. Yet as to the Union it self there is a general readiness on our Parts and notwithstanding the Warm Reflections of the Author of Vox Cleri it must be yielded that there are good Reasons why the Convocation should know whether any thing less than the subverting the Foundations of our Constitution will satisfie the Dissenters and what that is The Convocation is to Act the Part of a Wise as well as Compassionate Physitian to heal if possible the wounds which have been made in the Church by the Division and it is the Dissenting that is the Sick Party which must be discoursed with before the Physitian can safely Prescribe It 's well known what may be done by the Church towards a Union but whether what we offer will effectually reduce Dissenters we are not sure Tho we abound with choice Medicines yet wanting an Ovietan we can never know whether this or the other is most Proper till the Nature of the Disease be throughly understood and to that end the first thing necessary is an enquiry after the Dissenters thoughts about what it is they Judge a Grievance and what it is that will relieve them But however these things Issue what doth more nearly touch the Church it self must in all Debates in both Houses of Convocation have the Preference We must neither Hurt nor Neglect our own Constitution nor must the Church in hopes of a Prodigals Return lay aside those Motherly Compassions she hath for her Obedient Sons Whatever Bishop of Worcesters Unreas Sep. Pref. pag. 89. is offensive to any of them deserves the first Consideration For a Faction in the Church doth more endanger it than External Opposition Seeing then there have been some Unhappy Wranglings amongst our selve such Odd contests that we have had the Ill-Luck of being Represented as a Church divided into at least two opposite Parties into a more Moderate and Violent one say some a Melancthonian and Calvinian as Doctor Heylin and as others Phrase it True Sons of the Church and Grindalizers 't will be the chief care of the Convocation to Heal this Distemper And whereas there have been different Opinions about the Sense in which we must subscribe for which the Dissenters have oft boldly Upbraided us to Solve what is matter of Difficulty it is the proper Work of the Convocation to make the first step The thing in Controversie amongst our selves is Whether our Subscription be expressive of our Assent unto and Belief of the Truth of every one of the Subscribed Articles or only an Assurance that for the sake of Peace we will not contradict nor oppose them The Learned Chilling worth declares his Sentiments thus For the Church of England I am perswaded that the constant Doctrine of it is so Pure and Orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it shall be undoubtedly Saved which is as much as to say He believes Salvation may be had in our Church and that there is no Error in it Preface to the Author of Charity maintained §. 40. which may necessitate or warrant any Man to Disturb the Peace or Renounce the Communion of it To which He adds this in my Opinion is all intended by Subscription A Subscription in this sense may be without an Assent to every Article as True yea with the Belief that some are False if not so false and Erroneous as to necessitate or warrant a Man to disturb the Peace of the Church and renounce it's Communion Nor doth the Excellent The part of a Letter of the Primates about Heylins History of the Sabbath Arch-Bishop Usher look on all the 39 Articles to be received as Articles of Faith He that would have every thing which is put into the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the Synod for the avoiding diversity of Opinions and for the maintainance of Peace and Uniformity in the Church to be held for an Article of the Faith should do well to tell us whether he has as yet admitted the Book of the Ordination of Bishops and the two Volumes of Homilies into his Creed for sure I am He shall find these received in the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the Synod held at London 1562. The Learned Primate doth in this place say enough to Establish that distinction Schism Guarded §. 1. c. 11. of subscribing to the Articles as Articles of Peace and not as Articles of Faith which by his most Learned Successor Arch-Bishop Bramhall is more fully explained We do not saith he suffer any Man to reject the 39 Articles of the Church of England at his pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as Essentials of Saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and of his Apostles But in a mean as Pious Opinions fitted for the Preservation of Unity NEITHER DO WE OBLIGE ANY MAN TO BELIEVE THEM BUT ONLY NOT TO CONTRADICT THEM If the Injunction of Subscription be only thus 't will afford great ease to the minds of many worthy Divines of our Church 't will remove the Bone of Contention that hath been amongst our selves and for ever prevent the Dissenters reproaching us for subscribing in a sence we do not believe to be good But that this is the sence of the Church doth not yet appear by any thing she hath declared and as there are many Learned Men for this sence so there are many as Learned of the contrary Opinion The Learned Doctor Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Proposals for Union supposeth the Subscription to be Absolute and offereth as an Expedient to accommodate the Difference a Mitigation as to the manner Preface to the Unreason of Separ p. 91. of Subscription which he supposeth may be done by an Absolute Subscription to all those Articles which concern the Doctrine of the true Christian Faith and the Use of the Sacraments and a solemn Promise under their Hand or Subscription of Peaceable Submission as to the rest so as not to oppose or contradict them either in Preaching or Writing The Mitigation as to the manner of Subscription is by making the Subscription in the same sence Arch-Bishop Bramhall doth take our Subscription at this time to be but this great Person by offering it as an Expedient for the Dissenters relief must look on our Subscription as Absolute to all the Articles
Credo rightly considered multiplieth it self to no less than a double number of the Articles and will be found at least twenty four times in the CREED What this Reverend Prelate to the great satisfaction of our Church saith of the Apostles Creed may for the same reason be spoken of the Athanasian and until the Church declares otherwise we must take the Minatory Clauses for Parts of the Creed especially it is in the very Body of the Creed it self He therefore that will be saved must think THUS of the Trinity For this Clause as every other Part in the Body of the Creed is every way guarded with a Minatory Sentence The begining of the Creed is thus Whosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith which Faith except every one do keep Whole and Undefiled without doubt he shall Perish everlastingly Then follows the Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation and in the close of the Creed it is This is the Catholick Faith which except a Man believe Faithfully he cannot be saved Between these two clauses in the Body of the Creed comes in this viz. Whoever will be saved must think THUS of the Trinity Who then can consider how often this Minatory Sentence is inserted in the Creed even in the beginning the Body and close of it and not think it a Part Especially considering that in the Rubrick the Title of Athanasius's Creed is given to the whole Qui conque vult thereby making these clauses and branches a Part of it to which we subscribe by our Subscription to this Article and it cannot be denyed that these clauses exclude from Salvation not only those who reject the whole but all that do reject any one clause that is about the Trinity whoever thinks not of it as there expressed cannot be saved and we by Subscription to this Article approve of this Damning clause which consideration should methinks move Vox Clexi to desire ease in this matter for Pag. 32. He openly declares that he thinks it not necessary to Salvation that every Man should believe that Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost which yet is in this Creed and by another Article near it Whoever will be saved must believe the Procession and every other particular of this Creed concerning the Trinity whereby I am afraid our severity will light not only on the Greek Church but on Thousands of our own Communion who though they are not Antitrinitarians for they believe in God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost do not understand the controversie about the Procession nor some other passages in Athanasius his explications Whatever is the Latitude of some the perplexities occasioned by this Article unto others of our Church who have merited greatly of Her cannot but move a compassionate Convocation to offer somewhat for their Relief Article 18. Of Obtaining Salvation only by the Name of Christ They also are to be had ACCURSED that presume to say that every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the NAME of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved As to this Article it is most certain that amongst the English Gentry who have had their Education in our Church and are Men of great Learning good sense and Sobriety there are many worthy Persons who cannot entertain too restrained thoughts of Gods Merciful Nature but are of Opinion that such as Live without the Law shall be Judged without the Law that every one Fearing God and working Righteousness in what Nation soever shall be accepted of God that the Efficacious Vertue of Christs Death is of larger extent than the knowledge of his Name and that more are saved by him than explicitly believe in him Besides there are some great Divines in the Reformed Churches abroad as well as of our own Communion whose Charity cannot be comprehended within the narrow Limits of Calvinistic Rigor These think charitably of some Heathens of a Socrates an Antonine a Cicero c. whose Morals infinitely exceed those of some Censorious and Debauched Christians whom at their Funerals we pronounce Blessed But by a strict subscription we must not only curse the Heathen but all our Gentry and Forreign as well as our own Divines who hope well of the Heathen There hath been an Intimation of this given by a very worthy Person Pag. 13 14. a Minister in the Country in his Letter to a Member of the Convocation and it is done with much Wariness and Caution and it 's hoped 't will meet with a fairer entertainment than Vox Cleri hath given it but lest through the Distempers of some Men it should fail of the desired success it 's thought necessary to send this Humble Supplicant after it I know it 's a very tender Point and we living in a very Querulous Age the Reason for a more Gentle Handling it is the stronger However seeing our greatest danger in this particular was likely to arise from the Clamours of our Dissenting Brethren who now are as deeply Plunged into Perplexities of this Nature as the most scrupulous subscriber of our own Communion the chief if not only Reason against our appearing for Relief in this matter is over Our Dissenting Brethren have been very severe upon us charging us as though our subscriptions had been unconscionably Rash because they were to Articles which we could not take into our Creed and subscribed unto them only as unto Articles of Peace and Concord To this distinction their most Learned Defender hath given many an angry Answer and very lately in his English Non-conformity thus writes of it Some Brains will p. 47. be cheated with a meer Noise of Words as Birds with a Whistle We deny not but Peace is one of the ends of the Impositions But the Question is what are the means or whether they will take it for Conformity to Promise I will live Peaceably or I Assent I should live in Peace Are you not bound in Order to Peace to Assent and Consent to all things in the Books Say I Assent that some things are True and Good and some things False and Bad which yet for Peace I will use and Try how it will be taken To whom I Answer 1. That according to your own Doctrine if the Church that continues the Imposition allows of our Distinction it is good and though the whole strength of your great Book turn on this Hinge it immediately dwindles into nothing And seeing the Church hath not been unacquainted with the Opinion of Chillingworth Usher and Bramhall and that their Opinion is closed with by many great Divines amongst our Clergy may we not Presume that the Churches Silence in the matter is an Allowance I am perswaded that there are many Honest and Worthy Persons some of your
consult the 11th Article which refers to this Homily and see how far those who subscribe to this Article do thereby Assent unto the matter of this Homily Artic. 11. We are accounted Righteous before God only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own works or deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most WHOLESOM Doctrine and VERY FULL OF COMFORT as more LARGELY is EXPRESSED in the Homily of Justification This Doctrine is a most wholesom Doctrine and VERY FULL OF COMFORT But in what respects so comfortable what are the grounds thereof That we may know in what respects on what grounds we are by the Article directed to the Homily where it is thus more largely expressed For the more full understanding the same it is our part to remember how that all the World being wrapped in sin by breakin of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ into this World to FULFILL THE LAW FOR US and by shedding of his most Precious Blood to make a Sacrifice and satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same Insomuch that Infants being Baptized and Dying in their Infancy are by this Sacrifice washed from their Sins brought to Gods Favour and made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven Here then is the Article and a part of the Homily the Article holds that the Doctrine of Justification is very full of comfort as expressed more largely in the Homily The Homily tells us that for the more full understanding hereof we must remember how Christ has fulfilled the Law for us made himself a Sacrifice insomuch that Baptized Infants Dying in their Infancy shall by Christs Blood be washed from their Sins and saved Now this is a very great ground of joy and hereby the Doctrine of Justification is become the more abundantly comfortable and by subscribing to this Article thus worded we also subscribe unto this Homily that is to say as the Article is an Epitome of the Homily and the Homily an Explanation of the Homily and the Homily an Explanation of the Article in subscribing to the former we subscribe to the Doctrine contained in the latter In subscribing to the Article we subscribe to every Doctrine in this Homily that sets forth the comfortableness of Justification through Jesus Christs Merits by Faith alone and herein doth the Homily shew the comfortableness of this Doctrine by assuring us that all our Children that have been Baptized Dying in their Infancy are saved So that this Reverend N. Conforming Brother subscribing to this part of the 11th Article closes with the very Doctrine for which he so much condemns our Clergy I have insisted thus long on the subscriptions of our Dissenting Brethren that whilst we present our humble supplications to the Convocation for Redress they may see that there is no reason for their Reproaching us with our subscriptions That our Clergy notwithstanding their Unanimous subscribing the same Articles have different thoughts about them is not denied by any of us That this may be without falling under the Odious Guilt of Equivocation and Mental Reserves is cleared by the distinction there is between Articles of Peace and Articles of Faith By subscribing we think we are not obliged tobelieve them but only not to contradict or oppose them That this our sense is not allowed by the Church is more than we dare be positive in There are three great Worthies of our Communion who doubt it not and we have oft in Publick-Prints declared our sense without Rebuke or Controul and if notwithstanding the Church is against our Sense we cannot be Censured for Equivocation the utmost can be said against us is that we have mistaken the Churches sence which is not so great a Crime as the declaring Assent to an Article when really we do not believe it to be true However that there are difficulties attending our Way is yielded and the Arguments against it so strong that on a Review from a fear that our Subscription signifies our Assent to every subscribed Article many Perplexities arise in our Minds For which Reason we do most Humbly beseech both Houses of Convocation to take this Case into their Consideration that what in their Great Wisdom they think meet for the Peace and Quiet of the Minds of many Godly and Learned Divines True and Obedient Sons of the Church may in this matter be done FINIS