and to joyn with those of their Ministers that think it their Duty so to do and are therein of the opinion of the old Non-Conformists that did not act as if there was no middle between separation from the Church and true Worship thereof and subscription unto or practice or approbation of all the corruptions of the same For though they would not subscribe to the Ceremonies yet they were against separation from Gods Publick Worship as one of them in the name of the rest doth declare So that as great a difference as there is betwixt presence and Consent betwixt bare Communion and approbation betwixt the Office of the Minister and the attendance of a private person so much is there betwixt the Case of Ministerial and Lay-Communion And therefore when we consider the Case of Lay-Communion we are only to respect what is required of the people what part they are to have and exercise in Communion with the Church Now what they are concerned in are either The Forms that are imposed the Gestures they are to use and the Times they are to observe for the Celebration of Divine Worship or The Ministration which they may be remotely suppos'd also to be concerned in The lawfulness of all which and of all things required in Lay-Communion amongst us I shall not undertake to prove and maintain by Arguments taken from those that already are in full Communion with the Church of England and so are obliged to justifie it but from those that in some things do dissent from it who may therefore be supposed to be impartial and whose Reasons may be the more heeded as coming from themselves and from such that are as forward in other respects to owne the miscarriages of the Church as those that wholly separate from it For the better understanding of the Case and of their Judgment in it I shall consider 1. What opinion the most eminent and sober Non-Conformists have had of the Church of England 2. What opinion they have had of Communion with that Church 3. What opinion they he had of such practices and usages in that Church as Lay-men are concerned in 1. What opinion the most eminent and sober Non-Conformists have had of the Church of England And that will appear in these two things First That they owne her to be a true Church Secondly To be a Church in the main very valuable First They owne her to be a true Church Thus an Eminent Person saith of the old Non-Conformists They did always plead against the Corruptions of the Church of England but never against the truth of her Being or the comfort of her Communion And as much is affirmed of the present by a grave and sober Person amongst them The Presbyterians generally hold the Church of England to be a true Church though defective in its Order and Discipline And thus it 's acknowledged in the name of the rest by one that undertakes their Defence and would defend them in their Separation We acknowledge the Church of England to be a true Church and that we are Members of the same visible Church with them And this they do not only barely assert but do undertake to prove This is done by the old Non-Conformists in their Confutation of the Brownists who thus begin That the Church of England is a true Church of Christ and such an one as from which whosoever wittingly and willingly separateth himself cutteth himself off from Christ we doubt not but the indifferent Reader may be perswaded by these Reasons following 1. We enjoy and joyn together in the use of those outward means which God hath ordained in his Word for the gathering of a visible Church and have been effectual to the unfeigned conversion of many as may appear both by the other fruits of Faith and by the Martyrdom which sundry have endured that were Members of our Church c. 2. Our whole Church maketh profession of the true Faith The Confession of our Church together with the Apology thereof and those Articles of Religion which were agreed upon in the Convocation-House An. 1562. whereunto every Minister of the Land is bound to subscribe so far forth as they contain the Confession of Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments do prove this evidently c. So Mr. Ball Wheresoever we see the Word of God truly taught and professed in Points fundamental and the Sacraments for substance rightly administred there is the true Church of Christ though the health and soundness of it may be crazed by many errours in Doctrine corruptions in the Worship of God and evils in the life and manners of men As much as this is also affirmed in the Letters passed betwixt the Ministers of Old England and New England It is simply necessary to the being of a Church that it be laid upon Christ the foundation which being done the remaining of what is forbidden or the want of what is commanded cannot put the Society from the Title or Right of a true Church And if we enquire into the judgment of the present Non-Conformists we shall find them likewise arguing for it Thus the Author of Jerubbaal The Essentials constitutive of a true Church a re 1. The Head 2. The Body 3. The Union that is between them Which three concurring in the Church of England Christ being the professed Head She being Christ's professed Body and the Catholick Faith being the Union-band whereby they are coupled together She cannot in justice be denied a true though God knows far from a pure Church If we should proceed in this Argument and consider the Particulars I might fill a Volume with Testimonies of this kind The Doctrine of the Church is universally held to be true and sound even the Brownists own'd it of old in their calm mood who declare We testifie to all men by these Presents That we have not forsaken any one Point of the true ancient Apostolick Faith professed in our Land but hold the same grounds of Christian Religion with them See more in Bayly's Disswasive c. 2. p. 20.33 and Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation part 1. § 9. p. 31. The Presbyterians if I may so call them for distinction sake do owne it So M r Corbet The Doctrin of Faith and Sacraments by Law established is heartily received by the Non-Conformists So M r Baxter As for the Doctrin of the Church of England the Bishops and their Followers from the first Reformation begun by Edward the VI were found in Doctrine adhering to the Augustan method express'd now in the Articles and Homilies they differed not in any considerable Point from those whom they called Puritans The like is affirmed by the Independents The Confession of the Church of England declared in the Articles of Religion and herein what is purely Doctrinal we fully embrace As to the Worship they owne it for the matter and substance to be good and for Edification So
which men's minds have been corrupted I find in whatsoever they differ one from another yet in this they agree That it 's unlawful to hear in publick which I am perswaded is one constant design of Satan in the variety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits amongst us Let us therefore be the more aware of whatsoever tends that way Of this Opinion also is M r Tombs though he continued an Anabaptist who has writ a whole Book to defend the Hearing of the present Ministers of England and toward the Close of the Work hath given forty additional Reasons for it and in opposition to those he writes against doth affirm Sure if the Church be called Mount Sion from the preaching of the Gospel the Assemblies of England may be called Sion Christ's Candlesticks and Garden as well as any Christians in the World I shall conclude this with what M r Robinson saith in this Case viz. For my self thus I believe with my heart before God and profess with my tongue and have before the World that I have one and the same Faith Spirit Baptism and Lord which I had in the Church of England and none other that I esteem so many in that Church of what state or Order soever as are truly Partakers of that Faith as I account thousands to be for my Christian Brethren and my self a Fellow-member with them of that one Mystical Body of Christ scattered far and wide throughout the World that I have always in spirit and affection all Christian Fellowship and Communion with them and am most ready in all outward Actions and Exercises of Religion lawful and lawfully done to express the same And withal that I am perswaded the hearing of the Word of God there preached in the manner and upon the grounds formerly mentioned both lawful and upon occasion necessary for me and all true Christians withdrawing from that Hierarchical Order of Church-Government and Ministry and the uniting in the Order and Ordinances instituted by Christ. Thus far He. From what hath been said upon this Head we may observe that though these Reverend Persons do go upon different Reasons according to the Principles they espouse though they agree not in the Constitution of Churches c. yet they all agree that the Parochial Churches are or may be as I have observed before true Churches of Christ that Communion with such Churches is lawful and that we are to go as far as we can toward Communion with them Though they differ about the Notion of Hearing as whether it be an Act of Communion and about the Call of those they hear yet they all agree in the lawfulness of it And therefore to separate wholly in this Ordinance and from the Parochial Churches as no Churches are equally condemned by all 3. They hold that they are not to separate from a Church for unlawful things if the things accounted unlawful are not of so heinous a nature as to unchurch a Church and affect the Vitals of Religion or are not imposed as necessary terms of Communion 1. If the Corruptions are such as do not unchurch a Church or affect the vital parts of Religion So saith M r Tombs Not every not many Corruptions of some kind do un-church there being many in Faith Worship and Conversation in the Churches of Corinth and some of the Seven Churches of Asia who yet were Golden Candlesticks amidst whom Christ did walk But such general avowed unrepented of errours in Faith as overthrow the foundation of Christian Faith to wit Christ the only Mediator betwixt God and man and salvation by him Corruptions of Worship by Idolatry in Life by evil manners as are utterly inconsistent with Christianity till which in whole or in part they are not unchurched For till then the Corruptions are tolerable and so afford no just reason to dissolve the Church or to depart from it So M r Brinsley Suppose some just grievances may be found among us yet are they tolerable If so then is Separation on this ground intolerable unwarrantable in as much as it ought not to be but upon a very great and weighty cause and that when there is no remedy So M r Noyes Private Brethren may not separate from Churches or Church-Ordinances which are not fundamentally defective neither in Doctrine or Manners Heresy or Prophaness To all which add the Testimony of D r Owen and M r Cotton The former asserts That many errours in Doctrine disorders in sacred Administrations irregular walking in Conversation with neglect and abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches and yet not evacuate their Church-state or give sufficient warrant to leave their Communion and separate from them The latter saith Vnless you find in the Church Blasphemy or Idolatry or Persecution that is such as is intolerable there is no just ground of separation This is universally own'd But if any one should yet continue unconvinced let him but peruse the Catalogue of the faults of nine Churches in Scripture collected by M r Baxter and I perswade my self he will think the Conclusion inferr'd from it to be just and reasonable Observe saith he that no one member is in all these Scriptures or any other commanded to come out and separate from any of all these Churches as if their Communion in Worship were unlawful And therefore before you separate from any as judging Communion with them unlawful be sure that you bring greater reasons for it than any of these recited were 2. They are not to separate if the Corruptions are not so made the Conditions of Communion that they must necessarily and unavoidably communicate in them M r Vines speaks plainly to both of these The Church may be corrupted many ways in Doctrine Ordinances Worship c. And there are degrees of this Corruption the Doctrine in some remote Points the Worship in some Rituals of mans invention or custom How many Churches do we find thus corrupted and yet no Separation of Christ from the Jewish Church nor any Commandment to the Godly of Corinth c. to separate I must in such a Case avoid the Corruption hold the Communion But if Corruptions invade the Fundamentals the foundation of Doctrine is destroyed the Worship is become idolatrous and what is above all if the Church impose such Laws of her Communion as there is a necessity of doing or approving things unlawful in that Case Come out of Babylon The Churches of Protestants so separated from Rome But if the things be not of so heinous a nature nor thus strictly required then Communion with a Church under defects is lawful and may be a Duty So saith M r Corbet in the name of the present Non-Conformists We hold not our selves obliged to forsake a true Church as no Church for the corruptions and disorders found therein or to separate from its Worship for the tolerable faults thereof while our personal profession
maimed in Discipline So D r T. Goodwin Whereas now in some of the Parishes of this Kingdom there are many Godly Men that do constantly give themselves up to the Worship of God in publick c. These notwithstanding their mixture and want of Discipline I never thought for my part but that they were true Churches of Christ and Sister Churches and so ought to be acknowledged So that if Discipline be not essential to a true Church and a true Church is not to be separated from as has been proved above then the want of Discipline is no sufficient reason for Separation Secondly This they further prove by an induction of particulars This way Mr. Blake proceeds in Discipline was neglected in the Church of Israel yet none of the Prophets or men of God ever made attempt of getting up purer select Churches or made separation from that which was in this sort faulty All was not right in the exercise of Discipline in the Churches planted by the Apostles some are censured as foully faulty c. yet nothing heard by way of advice for any to make Separation nor any one instance of a Separatist given To come lower we are told by a learned person that the Helvetian or Switzerland Churches claim to be Churches and have the Notes Word and Sacraments though the order of Discipline be not settled among them and I am not he that shall blot out their name To come nearer home it was so in the late times when this was wanting as was acknowledged and of which Mr. Vines saith we know rather the name than the thing And if we shall look into the several Church-Assemblies amongst the Dissenters we shall find that there are many Preachers without full pastoral charge as it is acknowleded and that have little authority over their flocks in this kind that have not so much as the name of Discipline amongst them And so they have little reason to justifie themselves in a Separation by such an argument that will as well wound themselves as those they bend it against and they that do so are guilty of Sin So Mr. Baxter Many that observe the pollution of the Church by the great neglect of holy Discipline avoid this error by turning to a sinful Separation I shall conclude this with that grave advice of Dr. Owen When any Church whereof a man is by his own consent antecedently a Member doth fall in part or in whole from any of those Truths which it hath professed or when it is overtaken with a neglect of Discipline or Irregularities in its Administration such a one is to consider that he is placed in his present state by Divine Providence that he may orderly therein endeavour to put a stop unto such defections and to exercise his Charity Love and Forbearance towards the persons of them whose miscarriages at present he cannot remedy In such cases there is a large and spatious Field for Wisdom Patience Love and prudent Zeal to exercise themselves And it is a most erverse imagination that Separation is the only cure for Church disorders If this advice be good in one case it is so in another and if it were well understood and faithfully followed this argument would be of little or no force 2. I shall shew how little this plea of the Defective Discipline reaches the case It s granted that there is such a Power and Authority of Ecclesiastical Discipline resident in the Church of England that if open and scandalous persons are not cast out the fault is in the Governours for the Law takes order they shall be as D r Bryan saith And the power of suspension put thereby into the Ministers hands is so evident that after D r Collins had proved it from the Rubricks Canons c. he concludes its plain that the judgment and practice of the Church of England in all times ever since it was a Church hath been to suspend some from the Table of the Lord. So that if there be defects through some past and present obstructions in the exercise of Discipline yet cannot the Church properly stand charged with them as is acknowledged or whatever may be charged upon the Church there can be no sufficient cause from a defect remisness or corruption therein for a Separation from it This was the constant judgment of the old Non-Conformists which I shall transcribe from a grave Author Those saith he that for many Years together during the Reign of the three last Princes denied to come up to a full Conformity to this Church had a low opinion of the Discipline then exercised of which they have left behind them large evidences yet how tender were they of the Churches honour to keep Christians in Communion how zealous were they against Separation as may appear in the labours of M r Parker M r Paget M r Ball. M r Brightman laid us low enough when he did not only parallel us with luke-warm Laodicea but made that Church the Type and we the Antitype by reason of our Discipline yet how zealous is he against Separation from these Assemblers and breaks out in these words Therefore their error is wicked and blasphemous who so forsake the Church as if Christ were altogether banished thence Having thus far considered what opinion the graver sort of the Non-Conformists have of Communion with a Church and what rules they do lay down about it and shew'd that according to those rules Separation from the Church is unlawful I shall close all with the last advice given by a Reverend Person to his Parishioners in a Farewel Sermon in these words Take heed of extreams It is the ordinary Temptation in a time of differences to think we cannot run too far from them we differ from and so whilst we decline one Rock we split upon another Remember the old Non-Conformists were equal Enemies to Superstition and Separation Maintain I beseech you sober Principles such as these are that every defective Ministry is not a false Ministry that sinful super-additions do not nullifie Divine institutions that sinful defects in Ordinances do not hinder the saving effects of them That there is a difference betwixt directing a Worship prescribing things simply evil and manifestly idolatrous and directing about Worship things doubtfully good being injoyned but the unquestionable substance of Worship being maintained This latter doth not justifie Separation And that the supposed corruptions in the Church of England are of that nature as do not affect the substance of it nor are such but what may be safely communicated in I shall now proceed to shew from them 3. I shall consider what opinion the eminent Non-Conformists have had of the several practices in the Church of England that are injoyned upon those that hold Lay-Communion with it which respect Forms Gestures Time c. In general they acknowledge that they are things