all other matters referring to that Sacrament and all the other five Sacraments also in every thing referring to Faith and Doctrine and Rites agree in heart and confession of mouth with all things received in the Roman Church and all the decrees of that Council made or to be made exhibiting all duty to the Pope as the universal Bishop of the Church c. Such gainful and advantageous bargains will they be sure to make for themselves and the keeping up their usurpations before they will allow any concession or mitigate any extreme rigour in their most unwarrantable practises or they will not fail to annex such conditions as shall render their concessions ineffectual § 2. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation which the Church of Rome receives as an Article of Faith absolutely and simply necessary to Salvation and propounds it to be received by all under a terrible Anathema y Conc. Trid. Sess 13. Can. 2. is by our Church plainly denied as contrary both to Holy Scriptures and all testimonies of venerable antiquity and as a doctrine liable to grievous consequences z V. Hist. Transubst à Jo. Dunelmensi which judgment of our Church may appear to them that peruse our Articles 28 29. Order of Communion Rubricks Homilies several Statutes of the Land particularly the late Statute wherein is provided that all that are in office do declare that they do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever yet such is the accurate Moderation of the Church of England in avoiding one error it runs not into other extremes for in the Office of the Holy Communion in the Church Catechism in the Apology for the Church of England is asserted the real presence a Archbishop Vsher's Serm. 18 Febr. 1620. of Christ in the Sacrament according to Scripture and the judgment b Patres dehortantur à quaestione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hâc piâ Moderatione si Rex Eccl. Angl. utuntur quae invidia R. Jac. ad C. Per. of the Church of God but the particular mode and manner thereof any otherwise than that it is spiritual mystical and sacramental the Church of England according to the same Rule and practice of the Catholick Church doth not too curiously pry into or search See Ch. 5. § 6. § 3. As the Church of England doth earnestly and passionately invite and expostulates with those of her Communion to frequent the Holy Sacrament as in the exhortations before the Holy Communion in the Conclusion of the Homily of the place and time of Prayer and in Q. Eliz. Articles for Doctrine and Preaching all Ministers are required to excite the people to often and devout receiving the Holy Communion c V. Librum quorundam Canonum 1571. Jam vero singulis mensibus coenam celebrari maximè nobis placeret Calvin Ep. p. 452. and in Colleges and Collegiate Churches the Holy Communion is required to be administred every Sunday unless there be reasonable cause to the contrary d V. Rubr. 4. after H. C. Canon 23. V. Rubr. 8. after H. C. Canon 21. 1003. Rubr. 8. after H. C. and on the first or second Sunday of every month So also the Church of England doth lay its general Command according to great Moderation in requiring every one thrice at least every year to Communicate e Qui in nataii D. Paschate Pentecosle non Communicant Catholici non credantur Conc. Agath Can. 18. well tempering her Injunction in accommodation to the necessity of the Age between the earnest practice of devotion which was in the Primitive Church f Quando Domini nostri adhuc calebat cruor fervebat recens in credentibus fides S. Hieron ad Demetr Ep. 8. when they commonly Communicated at least every Lords Day and Festival and between the remissness of the Church of Rome g Dolemus tantam Christianorum incuriam ut semel tantùm in anno sumant c. Concil Rhem. 1583. which expresly requires all of her Communion to celebrate but once every Year h In Pentecoste rarior est Communio ideo fortasse Concilium Tridentinum hoc tempore nuptias solennes fieri permisit C. Bellarm. de Matrim Sacram. l. 1. c. 31. and the followers of the Directory who for many years together lamentably neglected the administration and participation of the Eucharist i V. Coena q. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. S. Eccl. Angl. Vindic. c. 3. as beside our own memory Mr Prin often testifies and the History of the Times soon after the Reformation tell us of some who from adoring the Elements fell to contemn them wherefore there issued out a Proclamation k Fuller's Eccl. His P. 387. concerning the irreverent talking of the Sacrament § 4. As our Church offers the Holy Eucharist only to those who have given due testimony of their knowledge and Christian belief in having been confirmed by the Bishop l V. Rubr. after Confirm Injunctions of King Edw. 6. Canon 29. So it requires that none be admitted Godfathers or Godmothers at Christening or Confirmation but such as have received the Holy Communion Yet because S. Paul remits every particular Christian to a Self-examination without any order either to Minister or Lay-Elder to exclude any from the Holy Communion upon their Examination therefore the Moderation of our Church is such it doth not depress adult Christians below the order of persons first to be Catechiz'd requiring them to such rigid Examinations as have been sometime used like the auricular Confessions of the Romanists among which Examiners of the adult Professors the being of a party hath been too often the note of preparation for their Church Communion Neither doth our most moderate Church judge any uncapable of the Sacraments whom she judgeth not unworthy of her Communion m Homily of the Sacrament We must take heed saith the Homily lest of the Memory it be made a Sacrifice lest of a Communion it be made a private eating Wherefore as the redemption of our Lord is offered to all that do not wilfully reject so great grace so is the Holy Communion in our Church to all that are not unfit to receive it And such as are the Church is not wanting to admonish and forewarn n V. Exhorta and Admon before the H. C. and takes all due care to provide against their intrusion as the general corruption of mankind now doth admit according to the Rubrick and Canon o Canon 26. concerning Notorious Offenders On which Bishop Andrews his note was Our Law will not suffer the Minister to judge any man a notorious offender but him who is so convinced by some legal sentence § 5. Our Church of England doth not admit any private Masses p Conc. Trid. Sess 22. Can. 8. 39 Artic. 31. Hom. of Sacr. which in
kind of Protestation and proof also of the Moderation of our Church That if our Dissenting Brethren will but please to come near and view such fair and open testimonies as I have enumerated some sympathy with so just a temper may help to cool some of those Calentures to asswage and allay some of those unreasonable disorders which have discomposed the minds of many at present adverse to our Peace That while so remarkable a part of our Churches beauty appears from such a lifting up of her Veil so gentle and chearful an aspect may we hope win over some of those into better esteem of our Communion whom any Symmetry can affect whom any Moderation can overcome if they are not already irreconcilable that so the mildness and gentleness of our Church may no longer aggravate their separation with so much the more injustice unthankfulness and disingenuity even as the Moderation of our Church and Government renders the attempts of such Romanists as are concerned in them not only more scandalous and pernicious but most impious horrid and execrable As for others among us who sometime have appeared weary of their contests however unsetled hovering as it were in some motions for Union and frequently are toiling themselves in tedious contemplations of new Plots and Schemes of Government framing to themselves Idea's not very Platonical for peace and settlement I conceive a seasonable conviction among such of the real Moderation of our Church might save some of them their grievous labours for the future for how deficient they generally have been they themselves have shewed and if our Church is very moderate already I need not say they have been very superfluous There are indeed those who are still requiring that the Protestant Profession among us be setled in a due Latitude whereas we sincerely think the very thing desired is already the true temperament of our Church and such also as in no sort encourageth any indifferency or neutrality in Religion nor offers any such Principles to her Sons as allows them Proteus or Vertumnus like to be susceptible of divers shapes and forms in Religion as our Adversaries who do not understand our Church do suspect whereas the more any are fixed according to the right Principles of our Church the truer and firmer Protestants such are we shall manifestly prove and the more any are such the more truly moderate they are and their designs for peace must needs be the most discreet of any and the more to purpose So great a blessing I confess is less to be hoped for so long as the Masters of Factions have got such a mighty Dominion over the minds of their followers and have so far entangled them in their own passions and prejudices neither is it any wonder that noise and passion and hardy confidence iced over with some sanctimonious pretences can engage the affections of the vulgar more than ingenuity and real Moderation and when once this humour obtains of disaffecting what is setled with a lust after Novelties if what some love to call the pattern in the Mount should slide down from Heaven in the midst of them it would not continue long in favour and therefore no wonder if the Church of England is antiquated among such who are for new Modes in Ecclesiastical matters to gratify their sickly phansies and most divided interests While this affection is thus cherisht and thus kept up the mischief on 't is as when we preach such Doctrines as the duty of Communion with the Church and the like they generally are most absent whom the same concerns most so all testimonies which are brought in the cause of Gods Church are seldom taken notice of by such whom they are most proper to convince among the Romanists and the Separatists the Keepers of the peoples understandings not suffering them to peruse what may awaken or enlighten them and the more proper any thing is for that purpose the more industrious are they slily to stifle the reputation of such endeavours However I think it but just to vindicate unto publick authority the same fair interpretations which all private persons would gladly have for what they say or do and where the Church hath given mild interpretations on purpose for the general satisfaction of all it is but reasonable to make recognition of the same and when they are perversly wrested fairly to set them forth and certainly it is our duty to consider publick appointments which oblige us with all respect to their true ends and measures equally represented and it may be thought but a debt of gratitude for us to acknowledge such Liberties and Indulgences as we enjoy and to defend from malignant detractions the just wisdom of the Church in its excellent poise between undue extremes And so long as I have uprightly designed so just a duty the easy foresight of many ignorant or malicious exceptions hath not dasht me out of countenance but excited me and the more because I hope I have not only endeavoured to set forth the Moderation of the Church but to imitate the same In so much that where any thing is spoken to our Adversaries in our own defence I hope it hath not taken example from their own intemperate heats and since the Son of Syrach hath bid us Eccl. 37. 11. Not consult with a coward in matters of war nor with an envious man of unthankfulness nor with an unmerciful man touching kindness we despair to communicate advice of the Churches mildness with those who are of unmerciful tempers themselves therefore the more need we have all as well as we can to confirm one another in the recognition of those Virtues which justify the wisdom of our Church and afford our selves greater satisfaction in our Conformity although some are continually of such disturbed Spirits uneasy to themselves and morose they can seldom allow any time to reflect chearfully and thankfully upon the blessings they enjoy however they may give us leave to delight our selves in the serious contemplation of such proportions and measures as in the frame of our Church are most observable Which cannot but afford a rare and serious pleasure as well as use as it must be very delightful to behold any imitation of the Divine Wisdom which hath made all things in number weight and measure which governs the World and all his Creatures according to unsearchable measures of Righteousness and Equity who dispenseth all things sweetly and easily The more any Civil or Ecclesiastical Governments partake of such proportions it cannot but afford a fine and delicate reflection to find them out and admire them Such is the lovely prospect which we cannot but with delight take on the goodly frame and constitution of our Church of England Suitable to the rare temper of our excellent Monarchy we live under and the most benign disposition of our Laws which give very much to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. 27. subjects industry liberty and happiness and yet reserve
enough to the Majesty and Prerogative of any King Suitable also to the moderate Elevation of our Clime * Nulli violabilis astro Servat temperiem regio non uritur aestu Non reditura timet glaciali Sidera brumae foelicior omni Terra solo non altera credam Arva Beatorum H. Gro. ad Reg. Brit. Silv. l. 2. upon which account many have reckoned England amongst the most fortunate Islands a true Garden of delight Our lot is fallen in a fair ground yea we have a goodly heritage The Zone here for Ecclesiastical affairs being very temperate as Sir William Boswell's expression was to the Learned Mede We saith Bishop Bramhall live in the most temperate part of the temperate Zone and enjoy a Government as temperate as the Climate it self we cannot complain of too much or too little Sun where the beams of Soveraignty are neither too perpendicular to scorch us nor yet too oblique but that they may warm us * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Evagrio l. 3. c. 14. de Alexandriâ The Moderation of this Church is fitted also to promote that Good nature which is noted to have such a peculiar sense in the English which other Languages do as incompletely express as many of their models do her frame And which is above all this temper is most suitable to our Christianity which is not only the best but the Dean of Canterbury Nov. 5. 78. best natured institution in the World which the Moderation of our Church doth properly cherish and appears to be a most noble effect of the mild Oeconomy of the Gospel in the quiet and peace of whose general reformation of the World Blessed be God the particular reformation of the Church among us was very much alike when a singular spirit of Moderation descended upon our Church like the gentle dew upon the Fleece of Gideon or as the bountiful gifts came down from Heaven accompanied with the sensible appearances of cloven tongues in an innocent and lambent flame on the heads of the Apostles and did them no harm with such harmless Peace and Moderation was the Reformation and Restauration of our Church brought about But alas since the very mildness and gentleness of our Lord Christ by which S. Paul so affectionately entreats the Corinthians 2 Cor. 10. 1. too ineffectually prevails on the Christian World Notwithstanding no kind of temper hath such proper charms for the very nature of mankind no wonder if that Moderation which is the proper glory of the Church of England cannot perswade either the Romanists or Enthusiasts to be sensible of that wisdom and law of kindness which attempers all the Commands and Constitutions of our Church wherefore I know no method which can more usefully and compendiously demonstrate the true merit of our Churches praise than by her Moderation in which all vertues as it were by one act of comprehension are already contained And if none hitherto have on set purpose undertaken to display the same at large the true reason might be there are so many Vertues in our Churches Constitution no wonder if none have applied their labours unto every one of them in particular It is this Moderation of our Church which renders her so like the Primitive and Apostolical pattern and makes her have so much sympathy with the true Catholick Church of Christ Unto the judgment of which Church Universal as our Church of England submits her self and would at any time as King James used to declare refer her self to a free and general Council if it could be had Which is a worthy instance of her real Moderation So and for the same reason do I here most readily and heartily submit whatsoever I have said or writ to the Judgment of the Church of England and if in the variety of matter before me any thing contrary to or diverse from the truth she asserts hath escaped me I solemnly retract the same T. P. VErùm apud Sapientes atque in famosâ nobilique Ecclesiâ cujus specialitèr filius sum Quae dixi absque praejudicio sanè dicta sunt saniùs sapientis Hujus praesertim Ecclesiae authoritari atque examini totum hoc sicut caetera quae ejusmodi sunt universa reservo Ipsius si quid alitèr sapio paratus judicio emendare S. Bernard Ep. 174. Ad Canon Lugdun Imprimatur Ex Aedib Lambeth Apr. 28. 1679. Geo. Thorp Rmo in Christo Patri D no D no Gulielmo Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis THE CONTENTS Chap. I. OF Moderation in general § 1. The loud demands of late among us for Moderation taken notice of § 2. The specious pretences of several Factions thereunto exposed § 3. The general meaning of Moderation noted § 4. The use of the Greek word for Moderation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is borrowed from the Law explained § 5. The forensick notion of Moderation applied to Moderation in Religion § 6. What is justly expected of those who causlesly blame our Church with want of Moderation § 7. Moderation considered not only as a vertue of publick but of private persons both toward their Governours first and also toward one another § 8. Some general rules or measures according to natural Justice and Christianity whereby we may judge of the Moderation of the Church with the design of this Treatise declared p. 1 Chap. II. Of the false notions of Moderation which many have taken up § 1. How it comes to pass that the name of Moderation is so seldom apply'd to what it ought to be § 2. The sense of that Text inquired into Phil. 4. 5. Let your Moderation be known unto all § 3. Those words of the Apostle purposely are directed to the suffering sort of Christians § 4. Some false notions and evil meaning of the word Moderation briefly animadverted on and overthrown p. 22 Chap. III. Of Moderation with respect to the Church of England § 1. What is to be understood by the Church of England § 2. The Moderation of our Church frequently confessed by her Adversaries sometime truly sometime upon design but most often our Church is reproached and opposed for her Moderation by each sort of Adversaries § 3. From the joint opposition made against our Church by her Adversaries on either hand is taken the chief inartificial proof of her Moderation p. 33 Chap. IV. Of the Moderation of our Church in respect to her Rule of Faith § 1. In holding to her true and just measure as is proved from her Articles and Canons and other Monuments of the Church § 2. In her avoiding the extremes of those who take away from the due perfection of Holy Scripture and of others who seem officiously to add thereunto § 3. In her judgment of the letter and sense of Scripture and in the use of such consequences as are duly drawn from thence § 4. In reference to the Versions and Translations of Holy Scripture several instances of Moderation in our Church §
duty and when they cannot be done without a publick acknowledgment of some great errour or sin before admitted n See the Proclamation of K. Edw. 6. for the authorizing an Uniformity of Common-Prayer Wherefore such Concessions are not properly admitted without great reasons moving thereunto because of the publick honour of Laws in them concerned Lest also the frequent change of publick Laws encourage the mutable vulgar in their common unreasonable levity and desire of Innovation Lest well-setled Order and the common Peace be disturbed and lest good men be discouraged in their regular obedience therefore Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moderation doth not in such like Cases encourage alterations especially when there is no end of gratifying such sick phancies and where it is not agreed between the parties complaining what they would have relieved This would be to expose the dignity of the Church and of Constitutions setled by such long prescription to the scorn of every bold dissenter which can have no other effect but to encourage them in their Schism and heap contempt upon our selves when we prostitute Law and authority to such affronts Vnless our dissenters had the humility and the honesty to confess they had been mistaken and were now resolved to go as far towards the repairing of breaches as their Consciences could allow and did propose a clear Scheme of what they would submit to and on what terms they would again enter into the Communion of the Church then I am confident such candid dealing would find an entertainment beyond what they can justly hope for o Modest Survey of Naked Truth CHAP. III. Of Moderation with respect to the Church of England § 1. What is to be understood by the Church of England § 2. The Moderation of our Church frequently confessed by her Adversaries sometime truly sometime upon design but most often our Church is reproached and opposed for her Moderation by each sort of Adversaries § 3. From the joint opposition made against our Church by her Adversaries on either hand is taken the chief inartificial proof of her Moderation § 1. TReating of the Moderation of the Church of England some will not be ashamed to ask what is meant by the Church of England a V. Reasons for the necess of Reform p. 3. 'T is pretty odd that in a setled Church as ours is such a question should be so confidently made as it is by some who while they ask it may be members of it if they please But because this Treatise is so immediately concerned in this question I shall make the answer more clear from all exceptions if I come thereunto by some steps The Church in general is a select Society that is of such as are called out of the World to the worship of God b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coetus evocatorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex Strom. l. 7. This Society is either that invisible Company of all the faithful throughout the World who are inwardly and really holy known unto God Or is the Society of those who confess Christ before men and by this visible profession of the true Faith have right to the Sacraments and other priviledges of their spiritual Community especially those which are a necessary and publick sign before God and Man that such do confess Christ Jesus For God who is the alone searcher of hearts hath left only this presumption for the rule of mortal men that the visible profession of the Faith should give right to the outward priviledges of the Church without granting which even the true members of the invisible Church could never communicate in any outward Society which all that call themselves Christians are oblig'd to do and therefore the nineteenth Article of our Religion begins thus The visible Church is a Congregation of faithful people c. In every moderate Constitution as I show ours is the Rule obtains Every one is presumed to be good till the contrary appears in a lawful manner Wherefore that visible Company of faithful people who here under the Dominion of our Sovereign Lord the King call themselves Christians and profess the Faith of Christ which he defends They are the Church of England c Hooker 's Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. For as the main body of the Sea being one yet within divers Precincts hath divers names so the Catholick Church is in like sort divided into a number of distinct Societies every one of which is termed a Church within it self so the name of Church is given betokening severally as the Church of Corinth Ephesus England and the like d Multas quidem Ecclesias tamen unam modò unaquaeque intra seipsam cum universali adeoque cum omnibus ejus partibus servat Catholicam unitatem Forbesi Iren. l. 2. c. 20. But to come to the head of the exception which commonly is this If the Church be a Congregation of faithful people as the Article defines the visible Church How comes the determination of the Convocation the Orders of the Bishops to be lookt upon as the appointments of the Church which are also governed by the will of the King What of all this is the Church of England In answer hereunto let such take notice that the people among us do bear as great a part as they ought in what is constituted in our Church whether they will own it or no For where the consent of the people is not actually required it is either included in the Laws of the Land by which they are governed or in the will of the King to whom beside his own power over the Church in his own Kingdoms which is very great in many Cases they have made over their right e Refertur ad universos quod publicè fit per majorem partem ff de reg ju ad sect refertur whatever it is themselves and frequently by their Ecclesiastical Governours they also consent to what is constituted in the Church For we must remember what our Article expresseth That the Church is a Congregation of faithful people as it there follows according to Gods Ordinance We must also remember that the Church in its beginning did not form it self neither did it ordain or appoint its own Rulers For Christ gave some Apostles Pastors Teachers Eph. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 28. Yea they had their power given them somewhat before the Church was formed Mat. 28. 18 19. to shew that they were not to depend upon the people for their power Whatever voluntary condescensions were made by the heads of Ecclesiastical Communion in the tender beginnings of the Church to oblige them more firmly in their Christian Fellowships yet all rights of Administration of the spiritual power of the Church did always properly belong to the Rulers of the Church within their own limits So S. Ignatius Cyprian f Cum Ecclesia quae Catholica una est connexa cobaerentium sibi invicem sacerdotum glutine
copulata S. Cypr l. 4. Ep. 9. Hierom and others of the Fathers fitly call the Church a Company united to their Pastor For the Administration of the power of the Church cannot belong to the body of this Society considered complexly but to those Officers in it whose care and charge is to have a peculiar over-sight and inspection over the Church and to redress the disorders in it Wherefore the Church is not improperly exprest by the Clergy which may be justly counted the Church representative that as S. Cyprian saith Every act of the Church may be governed by its Rulers g Vt omnis actus Ecclesie per praepositos suos gubernâ—tur S. Cypr. Ep. 27. For when we speak of the Church making Laws we must mean the governing part of the Church * Duâ— dub l. 3. ch 4. p. 589. In the form of Church Policy presented to the Parliament in Scotland 1578. by Andrew Melvill h V. Spots Hist l. 6. p. 289. it was agreed That sometime the Church was taken for them that exercise the spiritual Function in particular Congregations More certain it is that the Form of Christs Church is that outward disposition and order of superiour and inferiour communicating mutually to the conservation of the whole body and the edification and encrease of every member thereof Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19. And in those things which concern the outward form and manner of Government in a National Church where the King is supreme in all Causes and over all Persons many matters necessarily and properly belong to the disposition of the supreme Power the people exhibiting their consent by the King upon these and the like good Foundations The third Canon declares the Church of England a true and Apostolical Church and the ninth Canon declares the same the Communion of Saints as it is approved by the Apostles Rules in the Church of England upon which account the Authors of Schisms in the same Canon are censured and the 139th Canon of the Church concerning the Authority of National Synods doth thus declare Whosoever shall affirm that the sacred Synod of this Nation in the name of Christ and by the Kings Authority assembled is not the true Church of England by Representation Let him be Excommunicated and not restored till he repent and publickly revoke that wicked Error § 2. Having now explained what is meant by Moderation and what by the Church of England we may more intelligibly proceed in justifying the Moderation of the Church of England of which some inartificial proofs may be premised The first of which may be the Confession and acknowledgments of our Adversaries on both sides Yea if the scattered Concessions which have been made by our Adversaries at sundry times and upon divers occasions should be gathered together in a bundle there is scarce any judgment or practice or constitution of our Church but hath been acknowledged sometime by some or others of them as reasonable and moderate Yea there is scarce any extravagance among themselves but hath been also confest and decryed by several of their own Communion so great is the force of truth upon the minds of men at some times when they are in a free humour to disclose themselves and it might make a very pleasant and useful Collection to have these well gathered and set together particularly they have in their lucid intervals acknowledged the Moderation of our Church sometime as really convinced thereof Notwithstanding saith one who left our Communion De Cressy 's Exomolog c. 9. the English Church hath been more moderate and wary than publickly to pretend to such a private spirit and by consequence hath left a latitude and liberty for them in her Communion to renounce it as many of the most Learned among them have done Another of them speaks thus of the Church of England k Conference between a Prot. and a Papist 1673. p. 6 7 8. I believe her Moderation hath preserved what may one day yet much help to close the breach betwixt us We observe that she and peradventure she alone has preserved the face of a continued mission and uninterrupted Ordination Then in Doctrines her Moderation is great In those of greatest concern hath exprest her self very warily In Discipline she preserves the Government by Bishops but above all we prize her aversion from Fanaticism and that wild error of the private spirit with which it is impossible to deal from this obsurdity the Church of England desires to keep her self free She holds indeed that Scripture is the Rule of controversy but she holds withal That it is not of private interpretation for she is for Vincentius his method But I see that moderate counsels have been discountenanced on both sides Others of the same denomination have appeared to acknowledge the Moderation of our Church but it is manifest they have done it upon design using that acknowledgment only as an Art either to Proselyte some uncertain ones of our Communion or else to divide us thinking by their publick owning our Moderation thereby to render us more odious to those of another immoderate extreme Yet the generality of both extreme adversaries join together in reproaching us for this Moderation and by their immoderateness in so doing do also justify the Moderation of our Church Thus do the great Bigots of the Church of Rome and the rigid Disciplinarians and other Novellists in their zeal count all merciful Moderation lukewarmness l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Med. 12. Wherefore these apply to us what the Spirit said to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea m Vid. Mr. Henderson 's 1. 2d. Paper Collegium Laodicensium est senatus Moderatorum hominum Brightman in Apocal. c. 3. p. 105. Antitypum est nostra nimirum Anglicana ibid. p. 101. Rev. 3. 16. Because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my mouth reproaching commonly our Moderation by the name of neutrality and want of zeal n Cesset igitur Anglia Medietatem suam quae mera neutralitas est sub titulo prudentiae moderationis palliare potiâ—â— serve resipiâ—ce Parker de Eccl. Pol. l. 1. c. 25. and when some temperate interpretations have been offered the Romanists o Scio enim ejusmodi Modificationes ubi aliquid temperatum offerebatur nihil aliud esse quà m Satanae dolos c. Ep. c. Bellarm ad Archipresb Anglic. they have received them with invidious reflexions lest any of their Company should be won over to us by the Moderation of our Church In the mean while none persue the Church of England upon this account so much as the rigid and severe of either extreme the hot heads among the Romanists with their Anathema's and the other Zelots with their Curse ye Meroz Whereas the learned men of other reformed Churches have not only observed frequently and admired the Moderation of our Constitution as Dr Durel in his View of the Reformed
Churches hath plentifully instanced but so far forth as they judge the same Moderation found among themselves they seem to mention it with a great joy p Retinemus ex singulis regiminibus exquisitam temperaturam J. A. Comenius de Ord. Eccl. apud Bohem. and count the same worthy of imitation q Atque hîc Commemorare libet ad Exemplum quantâ sapientiâ quantoque temperamento compositae fuerint precationum formulae quibus Gall. Genev. utuntur Amyrald de secess ab Eccl. Rom. p. 225. § 3. Wherefore the most general and inartificial but most plain proof of the Moderation of our Church such a proof as is sufficient to evince the whole enquiry is the consideration of the condition of our Church among her Adversaries that is as the 7. Canon 1640. hath it between the groundless suspicions of the weak and the aspersions of the malicious r Pref. to the Liturgy conc Cerem between those addicted to their old Customs and the new-fangled who would innovate all things the Church of England hath been a patient sufferer And as the true Religion hath always been tryed by real persecution of its extreme Adversaries and thereby hath become more approved and more glorious so by the wonderful Providence of God this temper and Constitution of the Church of England hath had its Essayes in two very refining Tryals 1. Immediately after the Reformation in its persecution from those of the Romish Communion and lately in its second Tryal from other Domestick Adversaries from both which sufficient proofs the Moderation of our Church may be known unto all 'T is a hard condition The Church of England professeth the ancient Catholick Faith and yet the Romanist condemns her of Novelty in her Doctrine She practiseth Church Government as it hath been in use in all Ages and places where the Church of Christ hath taken any rooting both in and ever since the Apostles times and yet the Separatist condemns her for Anti-Christianism in her Discipline The plain truth is she is betwixt these two Factions as between two Milstones And it is very remarkable that while both these press hard upon the Church of England both of them cry out upon Persecution t Arch-Bishop Laud against Fisher Pref. among whom she is placed as an humble representation of her Blessed Saviour for as he was Crucified amidst Criminals so the Church of England hath most constantly suffered betwixt such Factions and Sects of Men as have run into the utmost extremes from the judgment and practices of the Universal Church of Christ such are the Romanists and other Sectaries and Schismaticks amongst us Thus Manasseh vexed Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh and both against Judah Is 9. 21. Thus Herod and Pontius Pilate otherwise at variance became Friends to be but the worse Enemies to our Saviour thus both the Jews and Gentiles opposed the Christian Religion and afterward the later Jews and the Circumcellions joined against the Catholick Christians and since Judaism and Gentilism have been overcome by the light of the Gospel the corruption of the Christian Religion hath arisen from its own Professors which is the corruption of Christianity into Popery and other Sects amongst us for what is best in it self is worst when corrupted and as the Christian Religion is the perfection of other Philosophies so these corruptions of Christianity have in them much of the very dregs of Judaism and the worst imitation of Gentilism And now how earnestly do the several Factions from Rome and the whole gang of Sects among us oppose our Church whose wise Moderation and excellent Constitution do place her amidst such extremes Between the Ignes fatui pretenders to new lights on one hand and the Boutfeaus the male-contented Incendiaries on the other hand Between both these we must be served as the Guests of Procrustes t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch in Theseo were in his famous Bed the Romanists think us too short and deficient in most of our measures and therefore they would needs have us stretcht if not upon the rack the Sectaries count us redundant in many superfluities and would fain have us cut precisely according to their Models so their mutual testimony rightly applyed may thus far be accepted that indeed we are guilty of neither extreme but really do bear the Test to be in the golden Mean To this purpose the Excellent Hammond begins his Preface to his View of the Directory There is no surer evidence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which to discern the great excellency of Moderation in that Book of the Liturgy of the Church of England and so the apportionateness of it to the end to which it was designed than the experience of these so contrary fates which it hath constantly undergone betwixt the Persecutors on both extreme parts the Assertors of the Papacy on the one side and the Consistory on the other The one accusing it of Schism the other of compliance The one of departure from the Church of Rome the other of remaining with it Like the poor Greek Church our Fellow Martyr devoured by the Turk for too much Christian Profession and damn'd by the Pope for too little It being the dictate of natural reason in Aristotle That the middle vertue is most infallibly known by this that it is accused by either extreme as guilty of the other For as S. Greg. Nazianzen in his third Oration of Peace u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Whatsoever is peaceable and moderate doth suffer much of both the extremes and either is despised or resisted of which sort while we are now who blame what is amiss we therefore are placed as in a seat of strife and envy and no wonder if we are bruised in pieces between both Neither is there any more certain Argument of the equal and just Constitution of the Church of England than that the Factions among us are so ready to join with the Romanists in the very same accusations It follows now that we give more particular instances of the real Moderation of the Church CHAP. IV. Of the Moderation of our Church in respect to her Rule of Faith § 1. In holding to her true and just measure as is proved from her Articles and Canons and other Monuments of the Church § 2. In her avoiding the extremes of those who take away from the due perfection of Holy Scripture and of others who seem officiously to add thereunto § 3. In her judgment of the letter and sense of Scripture and in the use of such consequences as are duly drawn from thence § 4. In reference to the Versions and Translations of Holy Scripture several instances of Moderation in our Church § 5. In her Orders also for dispensing the Holy Scripture to all within her Communion § 6. In governing the reading of the Scripture and communing on the same § 7. In her judgment of the Canonical and Apocryphal Books § 8. The Divine Authority
never were so appointed And on the other from the wild inordinacy of them who make their own private principle whatsoever it be the rule of Scripture interpretation Among all wisely making use of and asserting and recommending such means as are given for the conveyance or interpretation or both for the conveying and interpreting of Divine Writ Something further of which will more distinctly appear in the next Chapter CHAP. V. Of the Moderation of the Church in applying the Rule of Faith to it self § 1. Avoiding extremes on either hand in relation to the authority of the Vniversal Church § 2. The Decrees of Councils § 3. The Testimony of the Fathers § 4. Other Traditions § 5. Our Churches own Testimony § 6. The use of Reason § 7. The Testimony of the Spirit § 8. Of the testimony and operation of the Holy Spirit the judgment of our Church according to great Moderation more largely declared § 1. THE Moderation of the Church of England appears very great in her due applying this Rule of Faith to her self wisely and fitly making use of all those Instruments which are most proper and useful in conveying to us that Rule or which are most subservient to the right understanding our Rule avoiding either extreme of those who attribute too much or too little to those instruments of conveyance and interpretation Such as the Authority of the Universal Church The Decrees of Councils The Testimony of the Fathers Other Traditions The Witness of our own particular Church Right Reason alone The Testimony of the Spirit To all and every of these enumerated instruments either of certain conveyance or interpretation of Scripture our Church gives their due place and esteem according to their influence and use and no more which must needs demonstrate a great deal of Wisdom and Moderation in the judgment of the Church 1. The Universal Church it self is no where by the Church of England made the Rule of her Faith but a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ Art 20. Yet the judgment of the Catholick Church of Christ was always by the Church of England held in greatest veneration next unto the testimony of the Spirit of God himself because of those famous Promises made by Christ himself to the Church which we read of in the New Testament Yea in the Old Testament The Prophecies concerning the Messias and concerning the Church and the Ministers of the Church always are join'd together as I have sometime heard a great Prelate of our Church teach us And because whatever Arguments we have for the truth of Holy Scriptures as thanks be to God we have many beside yet also from the witness and keeping of the Church a Ecclesia non discernit sed niâ—a traditioni legitimae testatur quae sint Canonicae Scripturae Spalatens l. 7. ch 1. we receive the Holy Scriptures themselves and in the sixth Article In the name of Holy Scriptures the Church doth understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority there was never any doubt in the Church So that as the Archbishop of Spalato hath it we have recourse to the Church not as to an Authoritative Judge but as to a Treasure and Repository b Haec sunt quae Patres intra Canonem concluserunt Haec nobis à Patribus tradita S. Hieron Ruffinus in which the Canonical Books and all things necessary to Salvation are preserved by faithful Tradition Wherefore the Catholick Church it self is called not a Judge nor a Rule c Credo Ecclisiam credo Ecclesiae per Eâ—clesiam Non diâ—imus credo in Ecclesiam â—â—t credo in Ecclesiâ— Ep-Esâ—enâ— but more truly a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and for interpretation of Scripture and for our help in judging of Doctrines according to our Rule the Church of England values above all others the Judgment of the Catholick Church so far forth as we can attain the testimony of the Catholick Church by such instruments as are approved and undoubted For though d Second Diâ—â—native against Popery l. 1. â— 1. If by Catholick you mean all particular Churches in the World then though truth doth infallibly dwell amongst them yet you can never go to School to them all to learn it in such questions as are curious and unnecessary and by which the Salvation of Souls is not promoted Yet we know that in the Primitive Time the Christian Church was in a less compass and more undivided Wherefore if such matters which are most essential to the being and well-being of the Church are both delivered from that time and with their conveyance have been approved by the Church in common ever since If the Church may be a sure instrument of conveyance of the Books of Holy Scripture why not also of such matters wherein all so well agree from the first and do in no sort thwart the Tradition of the Holy Scripture it self Wherefore in the Canon set forth in our Church with the Articles of Religion 1571. it is caution'd That nothing be at any time taught either to be held or believed upon the account of Religion but what is agreeable to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament which the Catholick Fathers and antient Bishops have gathered from thence Which Golden Rule of our Church I find twice extoll'd by the Illustrious Grotius once e De imp sum potesta c. 6. §. 9. p. 181. in these words I cannot but commend that famous Canon of the Church of England That c. And again in one of his Epistles f Apologiâ— Eccl. Anglicanae Accessimus verò ad illam Ecclesiam in quâ omnia castè reverenter quantum nos assequâ— potâ—imus proximè ad priscorum temporum rationem §. 118. Inde enim putavimus restaurationem petendâ—m esse unde prima Religionis initia ducta essent §. 150. He takes occasion from this Canon of the Church to say He wonders any should deny In England they attribute more to the ancient Church than they do in France The form also of profession in the admission of Professors in Divinity in the University because it doth very fully express the sense of the Church of England I repeat the tenour thereof I from my heart do embrace and receive all the Holy Canonical Scripture in the Old and New Testament comprehended and all those things which the true Church of Christ Holy and Apostolick subject to the word of God and governed by the same doth reject I reject whatsoever it holds I hold Concerning the Church of England in this matter hear we what the Learned Casaubon hath declared in an Epistle to Heinsius g Ep. Ecclesiasticae p. 345. This saith he is my judgment Whereas there will and can be but one true Church we are not hastily to recede from those Doctrines of Faith which the consent of all the ancient Catholick Church hath approved and whereas I own no other Foundation of true Religion than the Holy and Divine inspired Scriptures with Melancthon and the Church of England I wish all Doctrines of Faith were brought to us derived from the Fountain of Scripture by the Channels of Antiquity otherwise what end will there be of innovation And thus our King James of Happy Memory did declare in the words of St Austin That what could be proved the Church held
and observed from its first beginning to those Times That to reject He did not doubt to pronounce to be an insolent piece of madness So that the counsel and judgment of the Church of England seems to be moderated according to the Sentence of St Hierom in his Epistle to Minerva My purpose is to read the Ancients to prove all to hold fast what is good and never to depart from the Faith of the Catholick Church and conformably King Charles I. h His Majesties fifth Paper to Mr. Henders My Conclusion is That albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the unanimous consent of the Fathers and the universal practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most authentical Interpreters of Gods word For who can be presumed to understand the Doctrine and practice of the Christian Religion better than those who lived in the first and purest times Wherefore i Of Heresy §. 14. Dr Hammond reckons it among the piè Credibilia that a truly general Council cannot erre § 3. And because the Catholick Church is and hath been so much divided and the Monuments of the ancient Church Universally accepted do contain but a few determinations Therefore the Church of England moderately remits her Sons to the first four general Councils as in the 28th year of K. Henry 8. k Fullers Eccl. Hist ad An. 1536. it was Decreed That all ought and must utterly refuse and condemn all those opinions contrary to the said Articles contained in the three Creeds contained in the four Holy Councils that is to say in the Council of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and all other since that time in any point consonant to the same So in the Institution of a Christian Man set forth 1537. and approved by the Convocation 1543. 't is there said A true Christian man ought and must condemn all those opinions contrary to the twelve Articles of the Creed which were of a long time past condemned in the four Holy Councils that is to say c. Isaac Casaubon also in the name of King James to Cardinal Perron saith l Primo R. Eliz. c. 1 The King and the Church of England do admit the four first Oecumenical Councils and following the judgment of the Church the Law of the Kingdom doth declare m Dicimus Ecclesiam Britannicam adeò venerari Concilia generalia ut speciali statuto caverit nè quisquam spirituali jurisdictione praeditus praesumat censuras suas Ecclesiasticas aliter distringere vel administrare aut quicquam Haereticum pronunciare quod non à scripturis Canonicis quatuor Conciliis generalibus aut alio quocunque Concilio pro tali judicatum fuerit J. B. de antiq libertate Eccl. Brit. Thes 4. That none however Commission'd shall in any wise have authority or power to order or determine or adjudge any matter or cause to be Heresy but only such as heretofore have been determin'd ordered or adjudged to be Heresy by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four general Councils or any of them or by any other general Council wherein the same was declared Heresy by the express and plain words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such as hereafter shall be ordered judged or determined to be Heresy by the Court of Parliament of this Realm with the Clergy in their Convocation Thus the authority of the four first general Councils are placed by our Church in the superiour order of Tradition forasmuch as Spalatensis according to St Austin n A plenariis Conciliis tradita Quarum est in Ecclesiâ salubrâ—â—ima authoritas S. Aug. Ep. 118. speaks of such Councils they have obtained a wholsom authority because from the Apostolick Declarations faithfully received they have explained the Holy Scriptures and beside because they have been approved by the Universal Church which with great reason contradicts what Curcellaeus p Curcell Rel. Christianae Instit l. 1. c. 15. hath delivered to depreciate the honour even of the first four Oecumenical Councils So that Mr Cressy in Answer to Dr Pierce might very well cite the Protestant acknowledgments of the Authority of Councils as that of Ridley Acts and Mon. p. 1288. Councils indeed represent the Vniversal Church and being so gathered together in the name of Christ they have the promise of the gift and guiding of the Spirit into all truth To the same purpose are named Bishop Bilson Hooker Potter c. Instead of all these he might have owned if he had pleased the judgment of our Church it self giving all due honour to general and Provincial Councils whose wholsome Decrees she hath accepted and imitated Yea our Church maintains the right of Provincial Synods taken away by the See of Rome q Tertullianus veneratur Provinciale Concilium quasi esset Oecumenicam assentiente sc universali vel iis decernentibus secundùm universale quomodo fit repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani virtualiter tota Ecclesia Neither is this honour diminisht by the further Moderation which our Church hath shown in not taking those for Councils or general Councils which are not such as neither the Council of Florence nor Lateran nor of Trent and we know that our Articles though they are very moderately framed are many of them directly oppos'd to those of Trent being in those points of Doctrine wherein the Church of Rome hath departed from the Catholick Church and made her Doctrines of design more than truth the unjust conditions of Communion A truly free and general Council we look upon as the best expedient on Earth for composing the differences of the Christian World if it might be had but we cannot endure to be abused by meer names of Titular Patriarchs but real Servants and Pensioners of the Popes with Combinations of interested parties instead of general Councils r Dr. Stillingfleet's first Part of an Answer c. 284. When Pope Paul III. call'd a Council then to be held at Mantua and King Henry VIII refusing thither to send He defended his Protestation in a Letter to the Emperour and other Christian Princes 1538. In which the King declares t Acts and Monuments p. 11â—2 Truly as our Forefathers invented nothing more holy than general Councils used as they ought to be so there is almost nothing that may do more hurt to the Christian Faith and Religion than general Councils if they be abused to lucre to gains to the establishment of errors And verily we suppose that it ought not to be called a General
principal motives why we rejected the Papacy was the constant Tradition of the Vniversal Church § 5. Concerning our Churches own Testimony Her Modesty and Moderation hath been always exemplary so far from assuming the Title of Catholick to her self only as St Austin tells us the Arians did and since them the Romanists c S. Aug. Ep. 48. ad Vincen. That she hath counted it a sufficient honour to be an humble and nevertheless for that eminent Member of the Universal Church and with her a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and though she vindicates to her self an authority to interpret the Holy Scripture within the bounds of her own Discipline for the edification of her own Family in Truth and Love and also asserts to her self an Authority in Controversies of Faith Article 20. namely for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing consent touching true Religion yet I cannot well omit to observe the wise modesty of our Church in her asserting her own authority in Controversies of Faith which expression I may have leave to illustrate from such another instance of Wisdom and Moderation in the recognition required to be made of the Kings Supremacy in our subscription according to the 36. Canon and in our Prayers wherein we acknowledge Him Supreme Governour of this Realm in all Causes and over all Persons It is not said over all Causes as over all persons forasmuch as in some Causes Christian Kings do not deny some spiritual power of Gods Church distinct from its temporal Authority which yet refers to the King as their Supreme Keeper Moderator and Governour Even so the Church declares her Authority in Controversies of Faith not that the Church of England or any other Church no not the Universal Church hath power to make any thing which is in controversy matter of Faith which God hath not so made The Church owns that she hath no power against the truth but for the truth Neither may it expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Article 20. But she hath power to declare her own sense in the Controversy and that I may express my own meaning in better words than my own d Pref. of Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Eccl. Records c. To determine which part shall be received and profest for truth by her own Members and that too under Ecclesiastical penalty and censure which they accordingly are bound to submit to not as an infallible verity but as a probable truth and rest in her determination till it be made plain by as great authority that this her determination is an error or if they shall think it so by the weight of such reasons as are privately suggested to them yet are they still obliged to silence and peace where the decision of a particular Church is not against the Doctrine of the Vniversal Not to profess in this case against the Churches determination because the professing of such a controverted truth is not necessary but the preservation of the peace and unity of the Church is is not to assert infallibility in the Church but authority Wherefore Mr Chilingworth e Chilingw Pres §. 28. had very just reason to declare Whatsoever hath been held necessary to salvation either by the Catholick Church of all Ages or by the consent of Fathers measured by Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule or is held necessary either by the Catholick Church of this Age or by the consent of Protestants or even by the Church of England That against the Socinians and all others whatsoever I do verily believe and embrace Whereas the Pope and Church of Rome do challenge to themselves an authority supreme over all Causes and Persons by their Infallibility by which they exclude all others from their peace and themselves from emendation Neither are their followers much in the way thereunto by what Card. Bellarmine doth assert of this supreme Authority If the Pope saith he f C. Bellarm de Pontif. Ro. l. 4. c. 5. should err in commanding any Vices or forbidding any Vertues The Church is bound to believe those Vices are good and those Vertues are evil unless it would sin against Conscience g In bono sensu dedit Christus Petro potestatem saciendi de peccato non peccatum de non peccato peccatum c. Bell. c. 31. in Barklaium However in his Recognitions h Locuti sumus de actibus dubiis viâ—tâ—tum aut vitiorum Recogn operum c. B. p. 19. he minceth the matter in a distinction of doubtful and manifest Vices and Vertues O Blessed Guides of Souls How did the Illustrious Cardinal miss being Canoniz'd for that glorious Sentence and to help him for a Miracle to qualify him for an Apotheosis why did not some cry out of it So many words so many Miracles Thus many of the Romanists make the Pope such a Monarch in the Church as Mr Hobbs doth his Prince in the State i Hobbesius de Cive c. 7. art 26. c. 12. art 1. The interpretation of Holy Scripture the right of determining all Controversies to fix the rules of good and evil just and unjust honest and dishonest doth depend on his authority in the power of whom is the chief Government But this Doctrine is as bad Philosophy as that of the Cardinals is Divinity Among these excesses let us not forget the Moderation of our Church which holds she may revise what hath slipt from her wherefore in her 19. Article she declares As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred a charge agreeable to the Moderation of our Church considering what might have been further said which by the same proportions of reason she supposeth true of her self and of all others viz. That they are fallible and may erre § 6. Of the use of Reason with Reference to divine matters there may be elsewhere occasions in this Treatise to discourse * Ch. 6. §. 9 10. Yet here it is to be observed our Church doth not make its own reason a rule of Faith nor the sole Interpreter of Scripture much less the reason of private men yet because mankind hath no reasonable expectation of Miracles especially when ordinary means are sufficient and abounding and because the Holy Spirit of God in the testimony of his Church hath all along certainly conveyed to us the sense of many places beside That what is most needful to be heeded is very plain our Church doth allow and suppose rational mens perceiveing the sense of Scripture by the due use of their understanding which practice must also necessarily engage such to a high regard of what was anciently received in the Catholick Church For as nothing is held among us more agreeable to reason than our Religion so in expounding our Religion and in interpreting Scripture our Church makes use of the best and the truest reasons as is manifest in what she declares and enjoins and
not required of any Lay-person whatsoever meerly in order to his Communion with our Church Although the Church of Geneva l A quibus discedere neque Ministris nequeâ—ivibus liceret Beâ—a in vita Calvini urgeth subscription not of the Ministers only but the people m Extet forma quaedam Doctrinae ad quam omnes Episcopi Parochi jure-jurando astringantur ut nemo ad munus Ecclesiasticum admittatur nisi spondeat Calvin ad Angl. Protect There is perfectly another reason why subscription is required of all who receive the priviledge of degrees in our Universities and in Case of factious Appellants n Canon 98. who are inhibited unless they first subscribe and especially of the Ministers of the Church o Discrimen latum est inter verbi Ministros plebeios homines quos Ministri informant Testis enim est historia Ecclesiastica non per plebeios sed potiâ—s per Clericos introductas esse haereses Schismata Forbesius in Irenico l. 2. c. 12. namely because she may be as secure as she can of them to whom she commits so great a trust in the instruction of the people Wherefore of them who are entrusted with the Ministry of the Church it is required that they disavow all obligations and opinions to break the Peace of the Church and that they assent to the use of those things which are for the unity of Christians in this Kingdom among themselves which is no more than the Law of Nature hath granted every Society which the Church hath in all Ages practised and which our Adversaries themselves did use For the p Vi. Disc of Toler Sect. 13. Presbyterians required a subscription to their solemn League and the Independants had their Church Government Therefore in that our Church takes all the security she can by Sponsors at Baptism and by subscription of Ministers is a proof of her wisdom and great care of her own especially among us where the Ministers of the Church have blessed be God another Tenure than in Holland during the precarious pleasure of their Pay-Masters Beneficed men among us having a Freehold and not to be turned out but in a legal way upon great cause deserving Neither is subscription required by our Church of its Ministers unless they can do it willingly and ex animo nor unless they can with freedom of mind assent and consent to the uniform practice of the Church This if they cannot do with a quiet mind they are left free by the Church to enjoy a laical indulgence which is very large and exceeding bountiful As for dissatisfaction or weakness what said King James q Conference at Hampton Court How long will such Brethren be weak Are not 45 years sufficient r Qui decennali disciplinâ nondum usqueâ—o prosecerunt ut tam faciles in Theologiá quaestiones intelligant non possunt apti esse ad sustinendum onus pastorale in Eâ—clesiâ Dei Forbes Iren l. 2. c. 12. to grow strong in Some of them are strong enough if not Head-strong But I wonder there should be such earnest Recusants to subscription of the followers of Calvin among us whenas he to the English Protector writes thus 'T is fit to look after the desultory humour of them who would have too much lawful to themselves The door is to be shut to curious doctrines and one expedite means for that purpose is if there were a summary of doctrine received of all which all may follow in Preaching to the observing of which all Bishops and Parish Priests may be bound by an Oath that no one may be admitted to any Ecclesiastical Office unless he first engage that he will keep inviolate that consent of Doctrine And so for Catechism And as to a Form of Prayer and Ecclesiastical Rites I very much approve that there be a constant Form extant from which it may not be lawful for the Pastors in their Functions to depart in regard of the simplicity and unskillfullness of some and that the consent of the Churches among themselves may more certainly be manifest Lastly to prevent the desultory levity of those who affect Novelties And in his Epistle to Farellus Å¿ Calv. Ep. 87. Calvin writes It always prevail'd in the Church which was decreed in ancient Synods That those who would not be subject to the Laws of Common Discipline should be dismissed from their Function § 4. The very frame of the Articles shews the great Moderation and Wisdom of the Church they being propounded on purpose so as to avoid unnecessary controversy propounded not with a Laodicean indifference or lukewarmness in what we ought to contend for t Parkers Eccles Pol. l. 1. c. 25. as some charge our Church with It is not meant here or elsewhere by Moderation such a Latitude which Bishop Taylor saith u Ductor Dub. l. 3. â— 4. §. 23. hath something of craft but very little of ingenuity which can only serve the ends of peace and external Charity or a fantastick Concord but not the ends of truth and holiness and Christian simplicity It is not meant here as if our Articles were framed like the dubious Oracles of Delphos that the Subscribers might understand them which way they please like a shoe for every foot as if they were to deceive by ambiguous terms x Conference at Hamp C. p. 15. The Judicious Bishop Sanderson y Pax Ecclesiae p. 52. in his directions for the Peace of the Church lays down this as the first That particular Churches would be as tender as may be in giving their definitions and determinations especially where there may be admitted a Latitude of dissenting without prejudice done either to the substance of the Catholick Faith or to the tranquillity of the Church or to the Salvation of the dissenter In which respect the Moderation of the Church of England is much to be commended and to be preferred not only before the Roman Church which with unsufferable tyranny bindeth all her Children upon pain of Damnation to all her determinations even in those points which are no way necessary to Salvation but also before sundry other Reformed Churches who have proceeded further than this Church hath done It is a sufficient proof of the sincerity of our Church if what it hath declared and intended to declare hath a true clear and certain meaning and her Articles do surely conduce to peace if it appear all agree in the true usual literal meaning But in respect of what is not intended to be declared by them z King Charles I. Declaration 1630. published with the Articles If even in these curious points in which the present differences lye most men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England for them then may be infer'd what the Right Reverend Bishop of Chester hath said a No necessity of Reformation of the Doctrine of the Church of England 1660. This rather gives a Testimony of
are innumerable arguments which convince us of the certainty of the Divine Testimony in the matters we have received yet such is the Moderation of our Church she doth not require every one in her Communion necessarily to know and receive all the reasons of certainty which are and may be given nor yet to rely on one to the neglect of another but leaves us to be satisfied according to the means and opportunities which we have abundantly offered unto us justly supposing there are so many reasons perswading the truth of what we believe that some are convinced by some others by others as the Providence of God disposeth things 3. Our Church no where makes infallible certainty of assent a necessary condition of Faith it being sufficient to make our Faith certain if our Rule be infallible and that applyed with moral evidence that is such an evidence as we can have of things and actions past as is sufficient to guide and govern our manners and behaviour Some of late have contended with very ill success that an infallible certainty of assent is necessarily wrought by demonstration and what they love to call scientific Evidence in every Believer which doctrine of J. S. is condemned by his Adversaries even of Rome p Animadv P. Talboti Arch. Dubl in Prop. 2. p. 54. as the pith of Manicheism because it lays this burden on the Church or an Oecumenical Council evidently to demonstrate its own infallibility If destroying the first foundation of the Roman infallibility were all we might dispense with that inconvenience as it renders their motives of credibility insufficient which before the doctrine of infallibility is received used to be the only way they had to recommend the Church of Rome to the approbation of Proselytes but to affirm that all certainty of Christian Faith is generally wrought by such demonstration in case that doctrine proves false the consequence is If Christian Faith have no other certainty Christianity it self is left uncertain in its very foundations Others there are who deliver that an infallible certainty of assent wrought only by the immediate extraordinary operation of the Spirit of God is necessarily in every true Believer Now though our Church doth as much as any can do own the necessity of Gods Grace and holy Spirit to prevent assist and follow us especially in what concerns divine matters yet our Church is not so bold with the Holy Spirit of God to affirm that such an inward testimony of the Divine Spirit working together in our Spirits an infallible assent is so necessary to assure us of the certainty of Faith and of the authority of Holy Scriptures and of the truth of other Doctrines in question as without which we could have no such belief as is required to Salvation Which precarious presumption tends to render useless all those sufficient evidences we have of Divine truth by the gracious means which God hath appointed ordinary in his Church and whereas the assertors of this extraordinary spirit exclude all other means of real certainty as insufficient such a Doctrine being false must needs tend also to overthrow all Christian Religion Such is the sad consequence of the Doctrines both of Dr I. O. and Mr I. S. in making though on differing grounds an infallible assent necessary to a true belief They agree together also in the injury they do Christian Religion by traducing our Faith as a probable fallible humane natural Faith which are the very words they q V. Dr I. O. Reason of Faith p. 72. Mr I. S. Faith Vindicated both unite in to expose our belief to contempt which is grounded on such evidences as God hath abundantly afforded us to assure us of the truth of his Divine Testimony Which evidences especially in matters of Faith necessary to Salvation since they are so plain and certain Our Church hath always held needless such an infallible guide as the Romanists would impose upon us And for the same reasons that we do not expect any new Revelations nor any ostentation of new miracles necessary to a true Church or true Faith they being superseded by the ordinary means of Faith which are sufficient for the same reasons we cannot presume to expect much less to make necessary to every true belief such extraordinary illapses of the Divine Spirit which makes those who only think they have it think themselves only infallible And thus we may discern how many are led to Popery by the way of Enthusiasm For it is usual for those into whose head Enthusiasm is flown to reel from one extream to another 4. To preserve us from these uncertainties among the very many reasons which we have from rational and moral evidence whereby the truth of the Divine Testimony is confirmed to us abundantly Our Church owns no one greater since the miraculous gifts than the testimony of Gods Church now and in all Ages since Christ and his Apostles time because of the sundry Evidences also which confirm to us the truth of the Churches testimony All which amount to more than high probability for as r â— Lomini Hiâ—l Consul haeres Blacklo P. 2. c. 4. §. 5. Lominus tells J. S. Probability on one side doth not exclude probability also on the opposite side but the reason of moral evidence and certainty doth exclude any probability on the contrary part and that so manifestly that only grievous ignorance and pertinacy can incline a man thereunto § 9. As the Moderation of our Church allows us to be reasonably satisfied of the certainty of our Faith much more are other doctrines so propounded to those of our Communion as not to render useless their own reasons and judgments Notwithstanding our Church doth sufficiently vindicate her own just power and the authority of what she testifies and determines Article 20. 34. c. and by her Canons requires a just submission All care being also taken by the Church to prevent error and dissentions and wresting the Scriptures Canon 34. 49. 139. Yet all is performed among us with a most excellent and golden mean And in that nothing in our Church is determin'd contrary to truth nor the judgment of the Catholick Church nor right reason the Church of England can the better allow her Sons their right to search examine and discern what they must approve Which Bishop Davenant and Bishop Bramhall and some others understand by their judgment of discretion though the word sounds not so pleasing to some Religious Ears because it seems by the use of the phrase in English to incline private persons to a power of refusing what the Church rightly determines which is not to be allowed For as the suffrage of our Church hath been constantly unanimous with that of the Apostle We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth much more ought private persons to be bounded thereby if the Apostles and the Church are The Moderation of the Church will appear the more remarkable if we
compare it with other extreams The Church of Rome calls her self the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches Å¿ Credo agnosco Ro. Eccl. omnium Ecclesiarum Matrem Magistram Bulla Pii IV. Vid. Concil Trid. Sess 7. Can. 3. Conâ—il Rom. sub Greg. 7. Concil Lugd. Concil Flor. Concil Lat. sub Lion X. Sâ—ss 2. holds her self and her Bishop the Universal Monarch Supreme over the whole Catholick Church diffusive and over all particular Churches and Bishops Infallible also in determining all Controversies in interpreting all Scriptures in whatsoever Articles he or they please to add to our Faith Hereupon he requires an absolute obedience from all without allowing any judgment of discerning instead thereof commanding an implicite Faith and which is more insolent not from private Christians only within its own district but over all other Christian Churches in the World Which our Church in the 5th Homily against wilful Rebellion calls an intolerable usurpation I shall not stay the Reader to compare t Ita in Talmude quando due Rabbini in contrarias sententias diversi abeunt neminem obâ—â—qui debere utruâ—â— enim Doctrinam suam accepisse per Traditionem oralâ—â— Ã monte Sinai Amborum verba etsi contradictoria verba sunt Dei viventis Buxtorf Synag Jud. c. 1. the Church of Rome with the model of Mr Hobs his City but to set out the show we may cast an eye upon the other extreme of those who because some under the name of the Church Catholick assume so unmeasurably to themselves therefore affrighted thereat have seem'd to run out of their wits into another excess and in the place of the Church and its true authority have set up their own private Images diversly by them called whereby they have only chang'd the Idol u Idolum fori in Idolum specus Verulamius like some that pull'd down the Crosses and then set up other inventions of their own every jot as unreasonable The Romanists saith Bishop Sanderson x De oblig Consc Prael 4. §. 25. while they use all endeavour that nothing be lost of the authority of their Church they allow little to reason On the other hand the Socinians rejecting all authority of the Church they measure Faith only by reason there is one error to both though it deceives under various shapes either Rock will be avoided if authority with reason and reason with authority be discreetly join'd Among the intemperate Assertors of humane reason some have supposed There are no mysteries in Religion but such as their humane reason adaequately comprehends and have declared That submitting our judgment to authority or any thing else whatsoever gives universality and perpetuity to every error in a late Tract of Humane Reason p. 4. That they are most guilty of Schism who will not allow difference of opinions p. 37. These Diseases of the Soul errors are not so deadly as the Physicians of the Soul make them for the exalting of their own reputation That under various errors all may retain the same entire Conscience and Obedience toward God p. 19. p. 39. That all opinions may be lawfully held and maintained How well in our Church all these Rocks and Gulss on either hand are avoided by that accurate Moderation by which she governs us in this Chapter and divers other places of this Treatise will appear As for the Romanists that we may with one Shovel cast away that heap of Controversy let me here only repeat what from the Church of England they have often heard Let the Romanists bring their Books and shew us one lawful proof where there is appointed any such Infallible Judge or Interpreter and that from some stronger Authority than that of Pasce Oves y Mirabile est quot officia quot dignitates quot potestates unicâ— illo Pasce contineantur Spalatensis l. 7. otherwise we shall presume that our Blessed Saviour knew better than they how to procure the Peace of his Church and the Salvation of Mankind Wherefore the Church of England owns no such living Oracles upon Earth as the Church of Rome pretends to our Church hath no publick Conscience nor publick Faith nor publick Merits of her own which she makes shew of to invite to her Communion much lefs to set to sale for Worldly lucre sake She saith with the Apostle z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6. 4 5. Qui nollâ—t cúm debet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doâ—ec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invâ—â—tâ—â— it id à Dâ—o justè impetret ut eum tradat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. In sâ—nâ—â—m mâ—â—temque quae nec probet Deum neque approbetur à Dâ—o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Rom. 1. 28. Let every one prove his own work and then he shall have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another for every man shall bear his own burden According to this Apostolical Equity and Moderation our Church doth no where go about to take from those of her Communion that fundamental right of Christianity as well as of humane nature to discern and examine what they must know and what they must assent to in a matter of such great and intimate concern as is our Religion especially since the sober use of our reasons and judgments is most agreeable to the nature of Mankind and the very frame of our Religion doth admit and invite such a search which the more it is made the more reasons are discovered to convince our minds of its truth a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen l. 1. Yea the very Laws of our Religion do require such a voluntary and reasonable service as is the effect of right judgment as well as of conformable wills and affections And the more we improve our powers by their use and exercise and our inward senses to discern and compare the Truths of God one with another and the clear consequences which may be drawn from them the more we may advance our Faith and Knowledge and spiritual Comfort b Oportet in eâ— re maximè in quâ vitae ratio verâ—atur sibi quemque considere suoque judicio propriis sensibus uti ad investiganâ—um veritatem quà m credentem aliis erroribus decipi tanquam rationis expertem Quare cùm sapere id est veritatem quaerere omnibus sit iâ—natum sapientiam sibi adimunt qui sine ullo judicio inventa probant majorum pecudum more ducuntur Lactantius l. 4. c. 8. For indeed nothing hath more obstructed a great and laudable progress of all sorts of knowledge in the Christian World than some mean and servile abdications which some men of great understandings have made of their own judgments For as in the Church there are grievous inconveniencies by renouncing the due government of the Church so on the other extream no where have errors grown more thick and tough than where men have suffered themselves in all things to understand by Proxy such are in ready
different Judgments and Interests of the divided World are now a Reconciliation is thought impossible and generally impracticable but because the very speculation of Peace is delightful we make in the Idea this Supposition § 8. Admit which is a case possible some few Families of well-bred and better disposed Persons but of as different Persuasions in the Extreams as any are among us were to settle together in some remote Island and had a singular inclination to compass a Communion with each other in what they might in Spiritual Matters The means to bring this about one would think must be the same which all wise Persons would take to convince another of a different Persuasion namely by moving upon such Principles as both agree in which being improv'd to the utmost they are capable of must be between them the common foundation of a possibility of agreement Suppose then upon this score a Romanist and an extream Dissenter should yet agree in the most Fundamental Articles of Faith contained in the received Creeds and in acknowledging the Holy Scriptures in their Original or admitting the Vulgar Version or the like and if they admit the four first General Councils so much the better Upon this Stock an accommodation must be negotiated amongst them 1. Neither pretending to be Dictators one to the other for that will spoil all but to acquiesce as these Principles and their best Reasons shall govern them to a fair entercourse in common For Union in Practice 2. No unjust condition of Communion must be enjoyned on either hand Nor any thing but what is very necessary and clear as well as they can agreed on according to those first Rules 3. Both must sincerely bear with one another in what they appear to differ and to forbear all occasions of giving mutual distast that may be 4. Sufficient security must be mutually given against such Principles the professing and pursuing of which necessarily destroys all Civil and Spiritual Communion As for Instance That Faith is not to be kept with those whom one part calls Hereticks Or that right of Dominion one over the other is founded in Saint-ship c. 5. For accommodation in Peace-sake if these and the like Principles and Doctrines be publickly and sufficiently renounced then they must mutually take care that the evil Consequence of either shall not be imputed to those particular Persons who do detest them and acknowledg them most impious This being the proper Foundation for Communion together in Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline the consequent business is to convince such as will admit of the Debate That those Doctrines and Practices which are received above and beside what are mutually agreed in do really contradict the clear Contents of the Scripture or the Judgment of the Universal Church and are not of safe influence on the Christian Religion It may do well to be shewn by Instances of Fact and the light of concurrent Tradition when the particular Innovations entred in by what occasions and degrees and the evil Consequences of them all Which will more effectually be performed if it can be demonstrated That most of this is acknowledged by the many of the sincere amongst themselves at quiet Intervals And if they can distinguish between what might be of Original good intent or had at least a plausible pretence and what is of manifest corruption So much of all this as was proper and belonging to the Church of England to perform that She may acquit her self from the Imputations of those who deny her Communion let the whole Church of God judg how carefully and how peaceably She hath done her part But those of the Church of Rome who have appeared desirous of Reconciliation have done it either for civility of Conversation or out of Design or without leave of their Superiors For admit Protestants could open a Door to the Peace of Christendom the Romanists * Num verò spem aliquam ostendunt Pontificii Moderationis leâ—ationis emendationis nihil profecto minùs quin execrandum Anathema dicunt c. Chemn ex Cone Trid. Sess 7. Can. 13. set a Bolt on their side by their Doctrine of Infallibility however they place it whereby they seem to think it unlawful to correct themselves of such Errors as most grievously divide the Church Therefore as the case stands the Learned Thorndike †Forbearance of Penalties Ch. 8. p. 38. professeth himself freely to be without any manner of hope that ever the See of Rome will abate any thing of their Rigour tho the Reformation should content themselves with these terms for I find by the proceeding of former Times that it is their Maxim To stand to that which they have once done And to mark those Popes to posterity that have abated any thing from the rigour of their Predecessors For being arrived at this greatness by this rigour and obstinacy in all pretences right or wrong they will always think themselves obliged in reason of State not to yeeld so much as the Cup in the Eucharist Not considering all this while that this rigour is the cause of Division The Remedy therefore must begin from those Parties which have given cause of the breach if they shall remit of their undue height and rigour and be content with those moderate bounds which God hath set them both for Doctrine and Government and yield themselves but capable of Error there may be a possibility of Vnion and Peace but while they persist to challeng an Infallibility of Judgment and uncontroulableness of Practice they do wilfully block up the way to all Reconciliation and Concord and stand guilty of all that grievous Schism under which the Church of God thus long and miserably suffers * Bp. Halls Remains p. 410. †Casaubon of Reformation p. 147. But This is the grand Mystery of Jesuitism and Politic Popery at this day to look upon all moderate Counsels as pernicious and destructive § 9. The design of Peace is generally applauded by all and indeed it is so excellent an undertaking it seems a great pity that any endeavours for it should at any time be blasted with suspicion misconstruction and ill success And whereas some have Objected against us that we are ready to chuse Pacisication with the Romish rather than with the Protestant Dissenter We Answer 1. in general with respect to both That true Christianity requires us to be Enemies to no one If any will be to us and to Truth the blame must lie at their Door who give the just cause If any require plainly sinful conditions indispensable to hold Communion with them in such a case the Command holds good Come out from among them and be ye separate The reason why in Disputation Reconciliation with the Romanists hath upon such terms mentioned bin spoken of is because They are they who have laid the Obstruction to all Union by their enormous Corruptions and it lies upon them to remove the Obstruction and no
wonder if they be called on so to do And who will not consent to that however hopeless desire if they will lay aside their Corruptions we may be all one Sheepfold under one Shephard Christ Jesus Concerning such Projects of Reconciliation with the Church of Rome which have been made long since by some of the most moderate of their own Communion and some other Learned Men amongst Protestants Of which Cassander's Consultation * Ergo istipii pacifici viri sunt omnes ficti simulati C. Bellarm. Tom. 2. l. 3. c. 19. with Grotius's Annotations also thereon are most common and famous Of these this may safely be said whether and to what degrees their Designs be approved or condemned however they have given abundant Proofs wherein the Church of Rome at present appears the more irreconcileable the more she is opposite to all such terms of Reconciliation which they have discoursed If some other Discourses have bin at any time made by any of our Communion referring to such Reconciliation with some Romanists they may be lookt upon only as such Suppositions as have bin among Learned Men generally discoursed thereby the more clearly to show the unreasonableness of the Romish Rigours But what-ever may be proposed as a meer Speculation the vanity of concluding upon any such Union as likely may appear from the Principles of the Church of Rome which are such if we take away her Corruptions we take away Popery it self Yet it must be acknowledged the Art of the Romanist even in such seeming Concessions is very notorious to gain such Points for themselves as may serve their present turns and may make afterwarward for the confirmation of their own Rigours But whatsoever some few among them promise what should be consented to by them is like an Agreement made by a Minor which is void as the Tutor and Governour shall please for we know not only what the nature of their Gifts are but also how they receive and return Concessions and Indulgences Wherefore such Proposals from any of our Communion are the more needless because the Principles of our Reformation are already so prudent and moderate As to some who have suspected an inclination in those of our Communion to pacification rather with the Romanists than with them We Answer 1. This is the nature of Aemulous Parties to be always thus jealous of any sorts of Communication with their Adversaries but so long as the Romanists and Sectaries have had the same kind of jealousy of the same sorts of Persons it is but a good proof of the real Moderation of our Church and of those of her Communion in opposition to all undue extreams Neither ought it to be interpreted Indifference Neutrality and Lukewarmness but impartial constancy to such Truth as is espoused for her own sake Sometime that jealousy hath bin raised of design to make the indiscreet sort of Men among us the more out of charity with our Church Notwithstanding it will be made out Ch. 17. § 7. that those who conform to the Church of England do not agree with the Papists so really as our Dissenters do Our dissenting Brethren often forget what hath bin performed by our Church in opposition to the Romish Corruptions and Errors and also for the sake of themselves They forget how often their Jealousies have proved groundless and untrue And it would do well for the time to come if the sincere among them would set down in some place by it self such jealousies of theirs and in the next Column over against would remark their own frequent mistakes Such forget also or seem never to have known how our Reformation hath bin approved of by the best Protestants And whereas they seem to pity the first Reformers as Men but half so much enlightned as themselves who look upon the Moderation of our Church but proportionable to the first crepuscular and duskish Light of those Times in this Matter they speak like those who have received some Traditions at second-hand from Cartwright but never compar'd his Writings with Arch-Bishop Whitgift and as they do not seem to consider the full knowledg and consideration which our Reformers had of the Principles and Abuses of Popery and the diligent eye they had also to such other Reformations as before ours had their perfection so they do not consider that our present Establishment was constituted with respect to our Protestants of the greatest aversation from Rome It is much to be feared that those that clamour most of us for pacification with the Romanists so little understand what they would have that because the Romanists hold as Mr. Perkins sheweth Reformed Catholic the same necessary Heads of Religion with us they seem willing and contented we should renounce sundry Articles of our Creed that we may be sure not to agree with them And this is spoken upon good grounds for many of our Protestant Dissenters as they are called do as it is too well known not by Consequence only but in direct terms deny many I may say of these few first Fundamental Verities of Common Christianity as 't is a sad thing to say it may be shewn at large and yet nevertheless what kindness what friendship what Correspondence is practised and encouraged by them daily with these Friends who are less suspected or reviled than the true and firm Protestants of the Church of England And whereas they commonly say That the Church of England and the chief of Her Communion are unwilling to allow any Pacification with or Concessions to Protestant Dissenters as may be reasonable for public Concord We Answer 1. They are utterly mistaken in saying so for beside that the conditions of Communion with our Church are very equal and just We may presume to say also from what our Church hath done and hath declared She is willing to do and from the disposition of Her Communion there is no doubt but our Church would gladly in such things as she might remit of what she judgeth otherwise expedient for the ends of Peace and Universal Concord if she could be assured any reasonable Concessions should have that effect as might suit with the true Honour of God and the real good of the Church Uniformity in Religious and Ecclesiastical Matters sure is so excellent and desirable a gain that certainly an establishment somewhat less perfect with being of the same mind so far as we have attained and with a regular and effectual observation of good Laws is more expetible than an appointment in some Circumstances more perfect without the same uniform order and peace therewith But how unequal is it that they should be the only Arbiters and Judges of Union who not only are great Authors of our Dissention but are at such great disagreements among themselves V. Ch. 18. § 2. Rule 10. and are so imperious and tyrannical in their disobedience as some of them are CHAP. XV. Of the Moderation of the Church toward other Churches and Professions
of England with great Moderation doth profess other reformed Churches generally return to us Which the 30 Canon refers to where it saith This Resolution and Practice of our Church namely not to forsake and reject other Churches only as they depart from the Apostolical Churches particularly with relation to the use of the Cross in Baptism hath bin allowed and approved by the Censure on the Common-Prayer-Book in King Edw. 6. days and by the Harmony of Confessions of later years And it was King James his advice to his Divines to hold a good correspendence with the Neighbour Reformed Churches but saith the King * V. in Apol. Ep. Lectori Non est mihi ingenium in alienâ Rep. curiosum I am resolved to leave other Churches to their liberty And so also K. Charles I. †His Majesty's third Paper to Mr. Henderson As I am no Judg over the Reformed Churches so neither do I censure them § 4. As a special note of our Churche's Moderation we must not forbear to instance her excellent Behaviour and Charity toward the afflicted Greek Church to whom as she hath opportunity she hath testified a great commiseration a most pious affection and a great esteem See the Homily against the peril of Idolatry wherein our Church doth frequently deplore the thraldom of the noble Empire of Greece to the Turk I must needs profess said Arch-Bishop Laud * § 9. p. 26. Vt videant hi qui facilè de haeresi pronuntiant quà m facilè etiam ipsi errent intelligant non esse tam leviter de haeresi pronuntiandum Alph. à Castro Contr. Haer. l. 3. f. 93. that I wish heartily as well as others that those distressed Men had bin more moderately dealt with tho they think diversly from us than they have bin by the Church of Rome C. Bellarmine having delivered that three of their Councils have declared her guilty of Heresy Let the Church of Rome answer for her self if she can for her trampling upon the poor Greek Church as she lies in the Dust and branding her with Heresy for her Doctrine of Procession as cruelly as her Turkish Masters burn their half Moons on the Bodies of those whom they enslave But our Church is not so uncharitable as to define it a Heresy for any to maintain That the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father by the Son tho we maintain as great a Truth that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son but this makes no breach of Communion among us the difference only arising from inadequation of Languages which notwithstanding we agree in the main of this Article * Animadversions on Naked Truth p. 7. Such lastly is the moderation of our Church toward the Greek Church that some of the Greek Bishops and Priests are allowed among us the celebrating Holy Mysteries according to their own Rites * In unâ fide nihil officit Sanctae Ecclesiae Consuetudo diversa Greg. 1. Ep. 41. § 5. Other Churches have not bin by the Church of England despised if in sundry Instances they have not arrived unto her perfection in purity of Doctrine and order of Discipline With other Churches she doth not contend for Title or understanding of Mysteries nor boasts of the Spirit nor calls her self in distinction from other true Churches the Catholic Church as of old the Arians did Lastly The Guides of our Church never challenged to themselves Infallibility Altho our Church of England hath had the peculiar happiness of a Monarchical Reformation and retains the blessing of Episcopal Government yet such is the Moderation of our Church she imputes the want of the same in other Reformed Churches not so much to any fault of those Churches themselves but rather attributes it to the Injury of the Times * Non culpâ vestrâ abesse Episcopatum sed injuria temporum Ep. Winton Ep. 3. Molinaeo Eos coegerit dura necessitas Saravia Our Church also thankfully commemorates those Acknowledgments which the Reformed Churches have frequently made of our Moderation and happy Constitution And altho we remember when it was commonly objected to us That the Pastors of the Reformed Churches abroad took our Conformity to be a Sin Sure the useful labour of D. Jo. Durell hath for ever silenced that vain reproach Who to the whole World in plain and open Testimonies hath now long since * 1662. illustrated the Conformity of the Reformed Churches abroad to our Church of England In matters of Ceremony subordination of Pastors use of set Forms and Liturgie Holy-Days set Times of Fasting magnificent Churches Organs Surplice Church-Ornaments Cross in Baptism receiving the Communion kneeling c. Who hath also proved by Testimonies the practice of those of the Reformed Churches joining with us in our Publick Worship by the advice of their Pastors either when they come over into England or in such of our Congregations as are in their Countries If it happens that any Member of the Reformed Churches speak against the Reformed Church of England he is censured for it by their Synod The Ministers of the Reformed Churches abroad blame those that refuse to Conform to the Church of England when occasion is offered and hold them for Schismatics and are scandalized at them Those few Reformed Churches which want Subordination of Ministers approve the Episcopacy of the Church of England * Certuâ— est mihi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anglicanam item morem imponendi adolescentibus in memoriam Baptismi aâ—toritatem Episcoporum Presbyteria ex soles Pastoribus compâ—siâ—a mulâ—à que alia ejusmodi satis congruere institutis veâ—ustâ—oris Ecclesiae à quibus in Gallià Belgio recessum negare non possumus Grotius Eâ— ad Boâ—t and wish they had the same and would esteem it a singular felicity All which sheweth the amity and good correspondence and concord that is between our Church of England and other Protestant Churches and also justifies exceedingly the excellent Moderation of our Church Indeed our Church of England deserves better the name of Catholic both for her Catholic Charity and especially for that she maintains her Communion upon the Foundations and Principles of Christian Religion both with the Western and Eastern Churches whom the Church of Rome excommunicates from the society of the Mystical Body of Christ limiting the Church to Rome and such places as depend upon it As the Donatists did of old to Afric separating her self also from the Communion of the Churches of Graecia Russia Armenia and all the Protestant Churches Much greater is her Schism for refusing to be a fellow-Member with other Churches in the Vniversal Church of Christ and challenging to be the Head the Root the Fountain of all other Churches * Bishop Bramhals Works p. 990. ¶ Necessity of Reformation p. 145 Yet because they still keep to the main Fundamentals we do not exclude them from the Catholic Church tho by their hard and rigid Censures and Excommunication of us
as is evident from the Preface to the Liturgy concerning Ceremonies Wherein our Church gives account why some Ceremonies were put away namely because so far abused by the Superstition of some and Avarice of others others were retained which our Church judged were not like in time to come to be abused as the others have bin †Preface concerning Ceremonies And as our 30 Canon hath it The abuse of a thing doth not take away the lawful use of it Wherefore the design of our Church in its excellent Reformation was sincerely to remove what did in its own nature tend to corruption and to retain what might be useful when corrected and reformed from the abuse Thus Zanchy did lay down The true way of reforming was not to root out every thing that was found in the Church of Rome but to reject what was fit to be rejected and to preserve what was fit to be preserved 7. The same Justice governing our Moderation sheweth it self to the Church of Rome also not denying what is true of Her that she professeth a true Faith in the form of Baptism and the three Creeds which she receiveth and professeth to own the Holy Scriptures and to hold to the four first general Councils and the ancient Fathers Many things in Order and Government she hath very excellent and likewise in some of their Devotions But how much she hath in her superfluous Additionals built upon good Foundations Gold Silver Hay Stubble and the like is no where better distinguished than in what our Church of England hath rejected and in what she hath retained and how far the peculiar Doctrines and Practices of the Roman Church do contradict the other part of what they retain in common with us and tend to destroy the same hath bin frequently also shewed in such Writings as are approved by our Church A signal instance of this Moderation of our Church of England is * V. Canon 30. 1603. it never denied that a true Church might be found in the Romish Communion however corrupted and unsound which Moderation the learned Mede †Mede Ep. 77. hath noted peculiar to the Church of England namely To maintain that the Roman Church much more the Greek Church erreth not in the Articles we account Fundamental because explicitely they profess them however in their Assumenta they implicitely and by consequent subvert them for which as Bishop Bramhal saith ¶ Answer to Bishop of Chalc. p. 364. our Charity frees us from Schism But a Church that holds the Foundation may grosly and dangerously erre in their Exposition which is the condition of the Church of Rome * Arch-B Laud against Fisher p. 320. Yet we do not declare that we have any new Faith or new Religion but the same only necessarily and well reformed from those superfluous Additions and Luxuriances which might have endangered our Religion if they had not bin corrected which was performed wisely in our Reformation without destroying all root and branch namely by reserving such things as are good and only lopping off such excrescencies as might and ought to be spared and in our censures of them our Church doth wisely distinguish between what was appointed of sincere intention at first and what hath bin since of manifest corruption neither are we altogether ignorant when most of those innovations and corruptions were introduced and generally by what degrees and occasions they encreased tho we may very well judg of errors and corruptions albeit we could not fix the time of their creeping into the Church which to speak more particularly of requires a very mature consideration Yet notwithstanding Casaubon had good reason to say The denying the Church of Rome Necessity of Reformation p. 145. the being of a Church which some Protestants rashly and ignorantly rigidly and uncharitably have done hath been a great hinderance of Reformation and I verily believe the opinion most Papists are kept in that the Religion of Protestants is a new Religion is not of little force to make them averse from it to this day CHAP. XVII Of the Moderation of our Church in avoiding all undue Compliances with Popery and other sorts of Phanaticism among us § 1. Notwithstanding our Reformation is the most of any opposite to Popery how it hath bin the craft of the Roman Agents to raise of it such a suspicion of Popery as hath bin artificially made a very unhappy Instrument of the Divisions which are from our Church § 2. How the great Labours of our Bishops and our Clergie remaining the most impregnable defence of the Reformation hath stir'd up the more earnest opposition of the Church of Rome to our Church § 3. The vain and ungrateful jealousies of our Separatists and Enthusiasts are the more unjust because they have appeared really acted by that Interest not in intention but in event § 4. Therefore it is a most seasonable work at this time to cast open those Masquerades § 5. Some Moderate Cautions here inserted to prevent any unkind Mistakes § 6. Some Objection to such an undertaking here answered § 7. That our Separatists and Enthusiasts generally more or less do conspire in fact albeit not in intent with the Romanists instanced as a Specimen in twenty Particulars § 8. Particularly how the Quakers are one with the Papists how ignorantly soever in sundry Instances § 9. By what steps and degrees these Progresses commonly are made toward Popery by such as separate from Communion with our Church § 10. What hath bin said confirmed by other rational Proofs § 11. Some further Reasons why the Clergie and faithful Sons of our Church cannot be thought thus concerned in so much as an Eventual Conspiracy § 12. An easy Divination of the Consequences of these things if a due sense of these Matters be rejected when so fairly and often recommended to the common notice of all with a sincere and affectionate close to such as this Address most doth concern § 1. NOtwithstanding our Church of England hath bin by the most wise and Learned Men Foreign and Domestic acknowledged the very excellent part of the Reformation yet how often hath she bin reproached with most unjust Censures of undue compliance with Popery It being one of the known Policies of the Romish Factors to cause their Agents among our selves whom they use for the overthrow of our Church to cry out Popery at the same time they most of all serve the Papal Interest themselves Wherefore that the Romanists may use the Separatists with the more unperceivable disguise and success to undermine our Constitution these also have bin inspired to blast with the Name of Popery what is rightly established in our Church Hence is it that the Writings and private Insinuations of Dissenters are full of this Charge in a joint design to disgrace our Communion and to exasperate other Protestants against us Some of those Exceptors running to such an excess of Rigour as to count Churches Bells God-fathers Churching
THE MODERATION OF THE Church of England Considered As useful for allaying the present distempers which the indisposition of the Time hath contracted BY TIMOTHY PULLER D. D. Pref. to the Book of Com. Pr. It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first compiling her publick Liturgy to keep the Mean between the two Extremes In which review we have endeavoured to observe the like Moderation LONDON Printed by J. M. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXIX NISI DOMINUS ADFUISSET NOBIS 24 Psl 1. Prâ—â— Ieus Simpl MODE BATION Printed for Rich Chiswell in St Pauls Church yard ANIMO ET FIDE The Right honble Francis North Baron of Guilford 1703 TO THE MOST REVEREND Father in GOD WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop OF CANTERBURY Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please your Grace THis Essay for the Vindication of Our Church addresseth in just Gratitude to Your Archiepiscopal See with this assurance that the Moderation of the Church of England oweth it self as much to the wisdom and admirable temper of Your Graces Predecessors as to any one thing whatsoever next to the most Divine and supreme influences which so signally govern'd them and the rest of our first Reformers to follow incomparably the sage advice which Gregory the Great anciently sent to Your Predecessor Austin of Canterbury That of the divers usages of several Churches he should chuse what was most religious and right for the use of the English for said that Bishop of Rome things are not to be loved for the sake of a place but places for the sake of good things according to which determination of that Learned and Pious Father it may be easy now to decide What Church whose Primates which Constitution deserves our love and honour most unless any will prefer that which is extravagantly corrupt before what is most moderately and excellently reformed Your Grace best knows how that Brotherly * Novit Fraternitas tua c. B. Greg. Ep. ex Registro l. 12. Indic 7. c. 3. sort of Communication was generally preserved in the Church by other Patriarchs even with the Bishops of Rome so long as these were Examples of the same Moderation with S. Gregory who with a Primitive Roman Courage protested against the insolency of their stiling themselves Universal which well enough agrees with the Solecism of those who call only themselves Catholicks Before which novel kind of Phantastries 't is well known such as Boniface the Martyr the Apostle of the Germans as Baronius mentions * Ad an 726. n. 58. Tom. 9. mutually desired advice not only from Rome but of the Primates of England And whereas even since the first Reformation there have been Archbishops of Canterbury who have not only with wondrous success govern'd and defended Our Church from both sorts of Adversaries but have testified to the Equity of Her Rubricks with their own Blood when we consider what kind of adverse parties were the Authors of Their Martyrdom even the same who have given the Reformed Church of England Her two most extreme refining Tryals We must acknowledge them in the direct succession with Your Grace to be not only the Glorious Instruments but also the most famous Witnesses and Proofs of the Moderation of our Church who bear the first Names in Her Dipticks and deserve here first with Reverence to be mentioned to Your Grace who also for your inviolable adherence to the Church in spite of sufferings must hereafter be celebrated among Her Confessors There may be some account why in this Argument such an undertaking as this were it more worthy should especially desire Your Patronage not only in humble deference to the Authority Your Grace doth sustain in our Church to the universal joy and serious triumph of all whose affections have not been depraved with Schism and ill nature but in a more immediate reference because to Your special Archiepiscopal Prerogative belongeth the peculiar right and faculty of those dispensations which are a part of the Equity of our Church and her liberal benignity in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath been always honoured as a most venerable part of Her Laws Since therefore unto Your Clemency is so suitably committed in this publick Constitution the Custody of our Churches Indulgence and Benignity The Moderation of the Church with more than usual confidence returns to Your Grace for what her Casuists calls Inculpata Tutela and fears not now to be denied since Clemency is not only the Dignity of Your Title but Your Nature Neither is Your Primacy in our Church more eminent than Your Moderation is exemplary and known unto all Which I presume only to mention to borrow from thence a most Reverend Lustre and Life to the Noble Truth I have defended And so far as I have not improperly now asserted the Cause of the Church in which You preside I am sure not to sink in my trust of being supported by Your Graces good acceptance of the sincere undertaking of May it please Your Grace Your most obliged humble and dutiful Servant TIMO PULLER TO THE READER IF ever the practice of Moderation as well as any discourse thereon were seasonable it may be supposed now when for ought we know the lasting happiness of the Kingdom and the Church may depend immediately upon this rare and desirable temper acknowledged of all most excellent Yet it is a most unaccountable mystery of our present condition that notwithstanding the late surprizing discoveries have had nothing more notorious than that the chief design of the Jesuit Faction among the Romanists hath been the utter subversion of the present established Church of England nevertheless they who call themselves our Protestant Dissenters cannot be induced to come into entire union with our excellent reformed Church but rather chuse to unite with those Romanists in many of their unreasonable Cavils One of the methods which they who are Principals or Accessories in our Divisions for our extirpation have used hath been to engage the outcry in popular appeals concerning Persecution or Moderation This word and thing it self hath indeed much in it which is very Divine and therefore the more likely to be made use of with design by those who have used the most holy things to the most unhallowed purposes But I suppose the Experience which the late Age hath taught us will not so presently be out of print in our minds as to make us remit all our caution against the rigours of both extremes however they bear the same goodly pretences and unite in the same reproach of our Church Wherefore in sincere desire to assist the truth and equity of our Churches cause as well as to awaken if I may be so happy some into a more intimate sense of our common real interest I thought it an act of Justice as well as duty to enter some
employed in defending and illustrating the Holy Scriptures in the admirable Edition of their Originals and their most famous and approved Versions Although our Sacred Polyglot Bible hath no more escaped its Prohibition at Rome q Indice librorum probibitorum Alexandri 7. Pontif. Max. jussu edito Biblia Briani Waltoni Angli cui Titulus c. than it did the feeble assaults of some others here at home 2. Whereas the Church of Rome will not allow Translations ordinarily to be made into the vulgar tongue r Prohibentur Biblia linguà vulgari c. Monition general Reg. 5. cum Indicâ— libr. prohib Alex. 7. P. V. Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 9. unless in a particular policy to serve some extraordinary occasion as when the Doway Translation was admitted as they tell us because of the importunity of Hereticks And when such Translations are unwillingly made they are not suffer'd without particular Licence Å¿ Non sine jacâ—ltate in scriptis habita Reg. In l. Concil Tâ—id obtained under the hand of the Bishop or Inquisitor by the advice of the Confessor which some call a Prudential dispensing of Scripture t V. Pref. to the Doway Bible Yea such Faculties of licensing sometimes in shew of Moderation are granted to the Bishops as was done by Pope Pius IV. but soon after they are recalled again very strictly which was performed by P. Clement VIII and also by P. Paul V. in a very smart Breve dated 1612. u The Translators of the Engl. Bibl. to the Reader So much are they afraid of the light of the Scripture that they will not trust the people with it no not as it is set forth by their own sworn men no not with the licence of their own Bishops and Inquisitors The Church of England from time to time hath taken a just care to have the holy Originals rendred into the common Language that all Gods people may be enriched more and more in the knowledg of God as Epiphanius tells us the ancient Church had its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Interpreters of the Divine Books and therefore the Translation of the Holy Bible in English hath by the Command of Authority had its several reviews and its Translation also into the Welch or British Language hath been ordered in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth 3. Whereas in the Translation of the Holy Bible many have attemper'd their Versions to their own private and particular sentiments as is notoriously done in the English Translations at Doway and Rhemes and as Grotius x Inter multa quae fidei nocent hoc non est minimum quod versionem quisque attemperat ad suas sententias sua cuique Deus fit dira cupido hoc vero non est Idola sacere imò semet collocare in templo Dei Gro. Animadv ad Artic. 32. hath charged Beza and Piscator and others for inclining their Translations somewhat to their particular suppositions and opinions and as King James at the Conference at Hampton-Court noted the same of the Geneva Version The Moderation of the Church of England hath been such even beyond the care of all kind of Elective Philosophers that she appears sincerely to have espoused the Truth it self without any Dowry y Veritas sine Dote Herbert de Verit. of interest and affection to opinions The more gross was the calumny of Gregory Martin to our Translators of the Bible It is evident you regard neither Hebrew nor Greek but only your Heresy Whereas our Church hath followed no particular Versions but wisely consulted the others then extant which could come to the Translators hands as they themselves testify and enumerate in the Preface to the Bishops Bible the better to enable them to attain the true sense of the Original Not making a second hand Translation such as the Rhemish which was but a Translation of the vulgar yet avoiding also as the Translators of our Bible themselves profess On one side the scrupulosity of the Puritans who leave the old Ecclesiastical words and be take themselves to other as when they put washing for baptism and Congregation instead of Church as also on the other side we have shunned the obscurity of the Papists in their azymes tunike holocausts prepuce and a number of such like yet such is the further modesty and Moderation of our Church it doth not assume to her self to have perfected or made absolute her labour herein but owns it such as may be made more consummate upon further light and experience § 5. Between the extremes of those who on one hand keep the Holy Scriptures from the vulgar as doth the Church of Rome and on the other hand those who account the Scriptures fit only for the vulgar as many of our Sectaries who think themselves already so perfect as to be above consulting the word of God as they call it without them The Church of England according to an excellent Moderation commends unto all of her Communion even to the vulgar a diligent hearing and reading the Holy Scriptures z K. Edw. 6. Inj. 1547. Q. Eliz. Inj. 1559. as appears in sundry places of the Homilies more particularly in the first Homily which is a fruitful exhortation to the reading and knowing of Holy Scripture That man saith the Homily a Homily 1. is ashamed to be called a Lawyer Astronomer Physician Philosopher that is ignorant in the Books of Law Astronomy Physick Philosophy and how can any man then say that he professeth Christ and his Religion if he will not apply himself to read hear and know the Books of Christian Doctrine b The Collect for the second Sunday in Advent Inter Libros prohibitos non habet Ecclesia Anglicana Libros sacros à Deo profectos Rex Jacobus c Severi Homines centum circiter Bibliorum editiones prohibent proscribunt Bened. Turretinus 1619. And though the people by daily hearing of Holy Scripture read in the Church should continually more and more encrease in Christian Knowledge yet it is intended and required that especially the Clergy and Gods Ministers in the Congregation should by often reading and meditating on Gods word be stirred up to Godliness themselves and be more able to exhort others and confute the Adversaries of the Truth as we observe from the Preface concerning the service of the Church and at the beginning of the second part of the Homilies there is a particular Admonition to all Ministers Ecclesiastical That they above all others do aptly plainly and distinctly read the Holy Scriptures § 6. For the governing our reading of Holy Scriptures whereas before the Reformation the Godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers was broken d Pres of the service of the Church and neglected by planting in uncertain stories and legends so that many Books of the Bible were but begun and never read through Now the order e Preface concerning the Service of the Church for Prayer and
fidem sanctis vocibus pascimus spem erigimus fiduciam figimus c. Tertull Apol. All manner of persons within this Church of England that from henceforth they celebrate and keep the Lords Day commonly called Sunday and other Holy-days according to Gods holy will and pleasure and the Orders of the Church of England prescribed in that behalf that is in hearing of the Word of God read and taught in private and publick Prayers in acknowledging their offences to God and amendment of the same in reconciling themselves charitably to their neighbours where displeasure hath been in oftentimes receiving the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Christ in visiting of the poor and sick and using all good and sober Conversation Much to the same purpose is largely insisted on in the Homily of place and time of Prayer All persons saith the late Statute q Car. 2. 29. shall on every Lords Day apply themselves to the observation of the same by exercising themselves in the duties of Piety and true Religion publickly and privately and no Tradesman shall do or exercise any worldly labour c. Works of necessity and Charity only excepted r Cunctarum artium officia venerabili die solis quiescant l. 3. Cod. Tit. de Feriis Which Statute of the Kingdom seems to have taken its Rule of Moderation from our excellent Homilies Which do reprove those who ride Journeys buy and sell and make all days alike who profane such holy times by pride and other excesses Albeit the same Homily declares the Commandment of God doth not bind Christian people so straitly to observe the utter Ceremonies of the Sabbath Day as it was given to the Jews Å¿ Audimus apud Bohemos exoriri novum Judaeorum genus Sabbatarios appellant qui tantâ superstitione servant sabbatum ut si quid eo die inciderit in câ—â—lum nolint eximere Erasm de amab Concord as touching forbearing of work and labour in time of necessity and so the Injunctions of King Edw. 6. and Queen Eliz. § 20. conclude Notwithstanding all Parsons Vicars and Curates shall teach and declare unto their Parishioners that they may with a safe and quiet Conscience after Common-Prayer in time of Harvest labour upon the Holy and Festival Days and save that thing which God hath sent So by King Edw. 6. it was ordered that the Lords of the Council should upon every Sunday attend the publick affairs of the Realm The Church also and the Laws of the Kingdom have taken the same wise care to set such Holy-Dayes in every term t Taceat apparitio advocatio delitescat nihil â—odem die sibi vendicat scena theatralis l. 3. Cod. Tit. de feriis V. Act for abrogation of Holy-dayes 1536. R. Hen 8. V. R. H. 8. Injunctions Hist of Reform Collection of Records l. 3. p. 161. Legum conditores festos instituerunt dies ut ad hilaritatem homines publicè cogerentur tanquam necessarium laboribus temperamentum Sen. de Tranquill. c. 15. that beside the ordinary Vacations there may be some days of respite from secular businesses and contests of Law for the exercises of Peace Charity and Devotion So careful have our Laws in Church and Kingdom been to avoid profaneness on one hand and on the other hand all sorts of superstition that is either Heathenish or Jewish usages as such For as the Homily of Prayer earnestly blames them who abuse holy times and places with intolerable superstitions as hath been in use in the Church of Rome so on the other hand it doth not countenance those opinions which tend to establish among us such observances as were peculiar to the Jews After the recital of the fourth Commandment in the Decalogue our Church prays That our hearts be inclin'd to keep that Law therein rightly acknowledging a moral equity that Christians should observe such a proportion of time as hath been the practice of the Church in which time all impediments to sacred and religious duties publick or private are to be avoided according to the equity of the Divine Law and the Precept of Gods Church The Moderation of our Church in its judgment of the Lords Day Bishop Bramhall hath observed from the Homily of the Church as concurrent with his own judgment u Discourse of the Sabbath or Lords Day p. 932. 1. That the Homily denieth not the Lords Day the name of Sabbath That it finds no Law of the Sabbath Gen. 23. That the Homily finds no seventh Day Sabbath before Moses his time The Homily gives no power to the fourth Commandement as it was given to the Jews to oblige Christians but only as it was and so far as it was a Law of nature The Homily makes the first day of the week to signify the Lords Day The Homily makes the end of changing the Weekly Festival of the Church to have been in honour of Christs Resurrection The Homily derives the Lords Day down from the Ascension of Christ immediately But the Homily doth express that p. 916. the fourth Commandment doth not bind Christians over-streightly Not to the external Ceremonies of the Sabbath not to the rigorous part of it to forbear all work As to the question By what authority this change was made I find no cause to doubt saith the Bishop but that it was made by the authority of Christ that is by divine authority 'T is true we find no express precept recorded in Holy Scripture for the setting a-part the first day of the Week for the service of God Neither is it necessary that there should be an express Precept for it founded in Holy Scripture to prove it to be a divine right The perpetual and universal practice of the Catholick Church including all the Apostles themselves is a sufficient proof of the divine right of it that at least it was an Apostolical Institution and Ordinance not temporary but perpetual § 12. With the Festivals it may not be improper to join the notice of the Moderation of our Church in reference to her Musick and Psalmody wherein the Constitution of our Church sheweth us the true temper of Religion which as it is the most serious so it is the most pleasant of all performances and is most suited to the nature temper and condition of man in which joy and sorrow have a very interchangeable interest therefore S. James saith Is any afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing Psalms Jam. 3. 13. Accordingly in our Church Prayer and praise fill up the measures of Divine Worship and can there be any performance more pleasant than to join with and imitate the Heavenly Host in the high praises of God Neither doth our Church judge it enough for us to make melody in our hearts to the Lord but doth require us to serve God also with our x Omnes affectus spiritûs nostri pro sua diversitate habent proprios modos in voce cantu quorum occultâ
Man's Conscience * V. Proceedings against the Traytors And yet Suarius ¶ Suarius de poen disp 33. §. 1. determins That in no case for no end though it was to save a whole Commonwealth from a great Evil Temporal or Spiritual may it be lawful to violate Confession Ja. Binet †I S. Casaub ad Frontod p. 140. went higher It was better all Kings should perish than even once the Seal of Confession should be violated The Catholic Apologist goes higher yet Pag. 426. The Sacrament of Confession is of such Reverence among us that we cannot lawfully disclose a secret known by it tho it were to save Christianity it self Nay the Apologie for Garnet * Eud. Jo. Apol. pro Garnetto p. 327. hath a notable fetch to bring in all the Gun-powder Conspirators as Martyrs for saith he It is the common opinion of Catholicks That all who receive the Matter from the Confessor by the consent of the Penitent are bound by Religion of Secrecy But what abuse of Confession is this to hold those Martyrs who confessed a Wickedness they were resolved to commit And their Priests absolved them from a Treason they were then sworn to undertake § 4. The Discipline of our Church doth by no means exclude the use of External Penance And in its judgment is more right than the Church of Rome To inforce both inward and outward Penance our Church hath a special Office of Commination upon solemn occasion to be used And for some scandalous Sins when Notorious solemn Penance is by a special Canon required for the Humiliation and Compunction of the Sinner for the Example of others and for the Edification of the Church * V. Artic proclero The Commutation of which for very good Reasons requiring the Church hath taken care sometime to moderate But the Commutations allowed by our Commutationem a. injunctae poenitentiae nec Cancellarius faciet nec Archidiac nec Officialis nec Commissarius Ea potestas multis gravibus de causis Episcopo soli reservabitur V. Libr. qu. Canonum 1571. Church are sincerely designed for the ends of Charity and Religion and the consideration of Piety but are not taxed in a penitentiary Table as it were to invite Men to sin The De Polit. Eccl. Angl. c. 6. p. 328. godly Discipline of the Primitive Church of open Penance for the Conviction of V. Office of Commination Notorious Offenders the Church of England wisheth may be restored again But The satisfaction that God requires of us saith the Homily of Repentance is that we cease from evil and do good and if we have done any Man wrong to endeavour our selves to make him true amends to the uttermost of our power following in this the example of Zacheus c. Nevertheless the Penances in the Church of Rome which there are called Satisfactions and are counted Deletory of Sin and Meritorious of Pardon our Church doth account no otherwise than Superstitious § 5. The Absolution of the Priest hath its due honour and use in our Church altho it be made no part of any Sacrament of Penance And that the Moderation of our Church may be more perceived observe 1. That our Church ascribeth not the power of Remission of Sin to any but to God only 2. It constantly holds That Faith and true Repentance are the necessary conditions of receiving the benefit of Remission of Sin 3. It asserts what is most true that the Ministers of the Church have a special Power and Commission which other Believers have not authoritatively to declare this Absolution and Remission of Sin for the benefit and consolation of true Penitency which if duly dispensed cannot but have a real effect from the very promise of Christ S. Jo. 20. 23. Vid. S. Chrys Hom. 5. in Esaiam 4. This Penitence our Church makes not a new Sacrament as doth the Church of Rome but a means of returning to the Grace of God bestowed in Baptism They which in act or deed sin after Baptism saith our Homily when they turn to God unfeignedly they are likewise washed by this Sacrifice from their Sins Poenitentia nihil aliud est quam reditus ad promissionem gratiae Baptismi Chemn exam de paenit p. 199. The rare temper and proportion which the Church of England useth in Commensurating the Forms of Absolution to the degrees of Preparation and Necessity is to be observed That at the beginning of Morning and Evening Prayer after a general Confession the Form of Absolution is in general Declarative and by way of Proposition In the Office of Communion it is by way of Intercession In the Visitation of the Sick when it is supposed and enjoyned that the Penitent shall disburthen himself of the clamorous loads on his Conscience the Church prescribes a Medicinal Form by way of delegate Authority Therefore saith the Bishop of Down It is the excellent Temper of the Church so to prescribe her Forms of Absolution as to shew them to be the results of the whole Priestly Office All which Forms V. Bishop Sparrow's Rationale p. 23. in Sence and Vertue are the same 5. For Visitation of the Sick such is the care of our Church that by its Canon When any Person is dangerously Sick Can. 67. 1603. in any Parish the Minister or Curate having knowledg thereof shall resort unto him or her if the Disease be not known or probably suspected to be Infectious to instruct and comfort them in their Distress according to the Order of the Common-Prayer-Book if he be no Preacher or if he be a Preacher then as he shall think most needful and convenient And so in the Rubric it is said The Minister may use that or the like Exhortation From both which passages altho we are not greedy of Liberty yet for good Reasons and the occasional Necessity of accommodating our addresses in that kind to the particular cases of Persons we observe the Moderation of our Church in complying accurately with all the Necessities of her People And further we note from that Canon That altho in Prudence and Kindness and Christian Duty the Minister may and ought in many cases to go of his own accord to visit his Charge especially yet we cannot say that the Church doth bind always her Minister thereunto till he be certified According to the words of St. James Chap. 5 ver 14. Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church c. Yet because in a matter of such concern the Church would not have its Ministers use such a Capricio as to stand upon their Niceties in so serious and momentous a Matter nor the People so forgetful of their own Interest as to neglect their part therein therefore so punctual is our Church and moderate according to Reason the Canon only saith The Minister having knowledg thereof shall resort c. Excellent was the Injunction of King Edward the 6th 1547. and
in Matters Ecclesiastical either claiming a power of Jurisdiction over him or pleading a privilege of Exemption from under him The Papists do it both ways in their several Doctrines of the Pope's Supremacy and of the exemption of the Clergy The Presbyterians claiming to Ibid. p. 42 43. their Consistories as full and absolute Spiritual Jurisdiction over Princes with power even to Excommunicate them if they shall see cause for it as the Papists challenge to belong to the Pope And the Independents exempting their Congregations from all Ecclesiastical subjection to them in as ample a manner as the Papists do their Clergy whereas the English Protestant Bishops and Regular Clergy as becometh good Christians and good Subjects do neither pretend to any Jurisdiction over the Kings of England nor withdraw their subjection from them but acknowledg them to have Soveraign power over Can. 1. 1640. them as well as over their other Subjects and in all matters Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal Which considerations verifie what hath been often formerly declared Namely That whereas now we are governed by Canon and Civil Laws dispensed here by 26 Ordinaries easily responsible for any deviation from the Rule of Laws conceive should we be exposed to the meer Arbitrary Government of a numerous Presbytery who together with their Ruling Elders will arise to near forty thousand Church-Governors among us they with their adherents must needs bear so great a sway that they will not easily be reducible and not consistent with Monarchy And for the Title of Divine Right those of the Episcopacy rather purposely decline the mentioning of it as a term subject to mis-construction Or else so interpret it as not of necessity to import any more than an Apostolical Institution and is pleaded by them with more calmness and moderation and with less derogation from Regal Dignity than by any other of the three § 6. As the most excellent form of Government in our Kingdom most graciously and bountifully protects the Church so the Church doth all she can to acknowledg the favour by asserting our Monarchy which is but truly performed in Canon 1. 1640. if we throughly consider the same Since then there hath been spread abroad an Insinuation that the said Canon did immoderately extol the Divine Right of Kings as if no other Form but Monarchy could in other States be lawful or of God's Ordinance because the Canon saith The most High and sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right I may have leave to vindicate the same with all submission where it is due Where I conceive the words the most High and sacred Order of Kings may be justly and reasonably interpreted First and especially of Monarchies and also of All those Supreme Powers under what Form or Name soever they are called in such places as they are lawfully Constituted Which doubtless are as the Canon proceeds The Ordinance of God founded in the Primitive Laws of Nature which Supreme Rulers are often exprest by the general Name of Kings And because of the Pre-eminence and Excellence of Monarchy above all other Forms the Denomination of the Order of Supreme Powers may not improperly follow the more noble and excellent part Especially in a Kingdom where that is our only lawful Form it is properly and truly so affirmed that the High and sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right as being ordained of God Himself which just interpretation of the Canon is according to our Homily * V. Homily of Obedience Take away Kings Princes Rulers and Magistrates Judges and such Estates of God's Order and no Man shall ride or go by the way unrobbed Blessed be God that we in this Realm of England feel not the horrible Calamities which they undoubtedly suffer that lack this godly Order c. Which the same Homily expresseth by the Name of Kings or other Supreme Officers that is the Higher Powers as ordained of God And that the Canon means no other by the Denominations of Kings may be fairly gathered out of the following words of the Canon wherein ¶ V. 39 Articles 37. with excellent Moderation in opposition to the Usurpations of the Church of Rome and other Sectaries what is there set down is most true of all Rightful Supreme Powers secular § 7. The Moderation of our Church doth not favour any Doctrines or Practices which are prejudicial to the safety of Humane Society in general or this or any other Rightful State or Kingdom in particular It doth no where pretend to remit the Divine Laws or dispense with Oaths or transfer the Right of Kingdoms but leaves them without any imminution or change as it finds them * Apol. Eccl. Anglic. §. 67. But ¶ Homily of wilful Rebellion 5 part p. 374. after that ambition and desire of Dominion entred once into Ecclesiastical Ministers and that the Bishop of Rome being by the Order of God's Word none other than the Bishop of that one See and Diocess and never yet well able to govern the same did by intollerable ambition challenge not only to be the Head of all the Church dispersed through the World but also to be Lord of all the Kingdoms of the World he became at once the Spoiler and Destroyer both of the Church and of the Christian Empire and all Christian Kingdoms as an Vniversal Tyrant over all In so much that * Pag. 380. There is no Country in Christendom which hath not been over-sprinkled with the blood of Subjects by rebellion against their natural Soveraigns stirred up by the same Bishops of Rome ¶ Pag. 383. Would to God we might only reade and hear out of the Histories of old and not also see and feel these new and present Oppressions of Christians rebellion of Subjects c. being procured in these our Days as in times past by the Bishop of Rome and its Ministers †Pag. 382. by the ministery of his disguised Chaplains creeping into Houses c. * Pag. 361. What a Religion is this that such Men by such means would restore may easily be judged Contrariwise our Church of England requires all of its Communion to give the King such security of their Allegiance and Fealty as may be a sufficient security to his Government Which security V. Homily of Obed. part 2. is with great Moderation exacted in our Realm Nevertheless Pope Vrban 8 in the Year 1626 by his Bull bearing date May 30. forbad all Roman Catholics to take the Oath of Allegiance And since the happy Restauration of his Majesty when several of his Subjects of the Papal profession offered by Oaths wherein the Supremacy is wholly wav'd to assure their Duty and Obedience the Pope and his Agents look'd upon this Overture as an Apostacy from him that is from the Christian Faith and persecuted all those who were concerned in the Proposal * Diff. between the Church and Court of Rome p. 30. of which see the Controversial Letters and