Prayer and Singing with their own solemn Promise to use the Liturgy and no other Form I leave to their own Consciences to determine Nay it is further considerable that where they are agreed to practise alike 't is upon such very different Principles and so destructive of each other that from hence 't is notoriously evident how powerful a worldly Interest is to make contrary Principles sweetly conspire to its own support Let the several opposite Principles upon which the Hierarchy is built be our Instance the poor simple vulgar and many of a better sort that would be thought Champions for the Church take it for granted that all the Learned Men on their side do firmly believe our English Episcopacy to be Jure Divino and in this they think them most unanimous But alass they little imagine how very differently and inconsistently sometimes their great Doctors and those that wear Lawn Sleeves all at once shall argue in its defence Give me leave Sir to name two or three several Opinions on this very Head 1. SOME Church-men tell us that a Bishop and a Presbiter were all one in the Scripture-times and that the Bishops afterwards made the Distinct order of Presbiters or Priests as they are now call'd This I humbly conceive you will say was a great piece of Boldness and certainly it can be call'd no less for any Men to make a New subordinate Office in the Church without Authority from the Great Bishop of our Souls the Lord JESUS CHRIST 2. OTHERS of the same Church and those the most before Laud's time us'd to say that by Divine Institution there were no Bishops over Presbiters but Prebiters to avoid Divisions set up one among themselves above the rest and gave him the Title of Bishop by way of eminency But this sort of Episcopacy is a little too low and mean for our modern Prelates to content themselves with 3. MANY of this high Church think that Diocesan Episcopacy is jure divino and that an uninterrupted Succession of such Bishops is absolutely necessary to the being of a Church and to the Validity of every Ministers Ordination TO these I might add no small names among them who differ from their Brethren in this that they would have the Universal Church govern'd by a Colledge of Bishops by Letters Missive or in Council and the Pope as prime Patriarch to be the Principium Unitatis Are not these very hopeful Churchmen think you and don 't they put us in the ready way to Catholick Unity Roman Catholick I mean 4. THERE are yet OTHERS of this very Church who think that there is not any particular form of Church-government of divine Institution but that in the Communion or Subordination of Churches we can only follow the general Rules of Scripture and the common Principles that belong to the Conservation of Societies This Sort of all others contributes most effectually to the destruction of that common conceit that our Diocesan Episcopacy is of divine Right And of these some ascribe more to the power of Magistrates in this point and some more to the Agreement of Churches among themselves Yet all these must and do subscribe but God knows how to one and the same Position that it is evident to all that have diligently read the Scriptures and the Antient Fathers that Bishops Priests and Deacons have been three distinct Offices ever since the Apostles Times I would to God the whole Levitical Tribe of this divided Communion would seriously lay to heart this one thing But at present I spare our Prelate any further Trouble of this kind and the rather because I am confident by this time you are fully convinc'd and will with me readily conclude That this goodly Church of England which notwithstanding all its Boasts of Unity and Uniformity do's next to the Popish abound with the most Schisms and Separations of any in the world is the least qualify'd and has the poorest Title of any that ever pretended to be the Standard and Center of Union to all other Churches whatsoever And in this Faith I subscribe my self SIR Yours c. FINIS First Discourse against Atheism ☞ Preface p. 11. Preface p. 11 Vide Dr. Burnets Dialogues ☞ Second Discourse against Socinians ☞ Witness opposing the Bill of Exclusion E of Essex Ld. Russel Col. Sydney c. Third Discourse against Papists Vide p. 286 287. Fourth Discourse against Dissenters Doctrine Church Government Vide 4 5 7. Canons Vide 9 10 11 Canons Worship Vide Troubles of Francksort ☜ ☞ ☜ ☞ ☜ Dr. Hammond c. Mr. Dodwell c. Bps. Gunning Bramhal c. Dr. Stillingfleet c. ☜ ☞
Christ The only Separatist here then is He that is No Christian and any one with half an Eye may see to whose share the greatest part of Separatists of this sort will fall Secondly The Church of England may signifie the Christians of England as form'd into distinct Societies for the Worship of God and presential Communion with each other therein Now that the Dissenters are form'd into such worshipping Bodies and consequently not of this sort of Separatists is more visible then many would have it and therefore 't is undeniable they are a part of the Church of England in this Sense also The Separatist here then is he only that though he professeth Christianity doth not ordinarily worship God publickly or with an Assembly united to that End and of this sort of Separatists the Loose Devotees of the Titular Church of England are all that we know Thirdly The Church of England may signifie the Christian Congregations of England as united under the same Civil Government and submitting to it and the Separatists from the Church of England in this sense are chiefly the Jacobites the generality of whom are so far from belonging to the Dissenters that they arrogate to themselves the sole Honour of being the True Sons of the Church of England Yet here indeed it must be confess'd that though the Dissenters have approv'd themselves the fastest Friends to the Civil Government they are really separated from some very Considerable Advantages which it hath thought fit to bestow upon the prelatical Party for whereas the Dissenting Ministers and People enjoy no more than the bare Protection of the Civil Magistrate in their Religious Worship from the Rage of malignant Persecutors the Prelatists have a very considerable part of the profit of the Land assign'd them by Law for the Maintenance of their Ministry vastly exceeding in proportion what is left to the poor Layity The Clergy having a Tenth of the profits of the Land though 't is probable they are not one Man to a thousand All the Separation then that can be found under this Head among the Dissenting Clergy is a Separation from Tithes and Maintenance from Archbishopricks and Bishopricks from Deaneries and Archdeaconeries from Prebends and Parsonages from Masterships and Fellowships and from other such fat Benefices Our Layity too are chargeable with a Separation of this very kind they being separated from all Civil and Military Offices whether those of Justices or Mayors Sheriffs or Recorders Generals or Admirals Colonels or Captains or whatever other honourable or profitable Posts can be thought upon The Sacramental Test having secured all such places to the Members of a distinct Communion This Separation we doubt not but the Conformists though they are never like to be guilty of it themselves will have the Charity to pardon to us because it redounds so very much to their own Advantage Fourthly The Church of England may signifie the Christian Congregations of England thus united under one civil Government as agreeing or disagreeing with each other in Doctrine Church Goverment or Worship for there can be no Separation but that which is local and unavoidable to all farther than they differ in some one of these And here Sir you must own 1. As to Doctrine that the dissenting Ministers by their Subscriptions plainly shew there is no Separation on their part and indeed those that are acquainted with the preaching and writing on both sides will easily judge who keep closest to the doctrinal Articles The Separatists from the Church of England then in this sense are on the one hand the Socinians and Arminians by what Names or Titles soever dignifi'd or distinguisht and on the other hand the poor deluded Quakers and such like Enthusiasts 2. In the Business of Church Government the Dissenters are not asham'd to own a Separation rather do they think they should have great Cause to be asham'd of themselves and their Churches if herein they separated not from the prelatical Party The Dissenters say there 's a great deal of Reason why the power of Governing a Church should be vested in the same person that hath and exerciseth the power of Teaching and administring the Sacraments therein and who can this be but its proper Pastor who best knowing the Diseases of the People is therefore most fit to apply the Remedy The power of the Keys is certainly essential to the Office of a Gospel Minister and whoever ordains him to that Office must of necessity invest him therewith and though he should express a contrary Intention either that Act or the whole Ordination must be a Nullity Every Minister of Jesus Christ hath Authority from him to govern no less than to teach but through the Influence of the Ceremonious Party the Laws of the Land have debarr'd the Pastors of single Congregations in their own Communion from the Exercise of this Power and have made them miserable Vassals to the Hierarchy Here then our Separation is from the Prelates as Creatures impos'd upon the Church and ingrossing to themselves that power which belongs to the Pastor of every Congregation and which 't is naturally impossible duly to apply while it lodges in so few Hands And together with the Prelates the Dissenters acknowledge a Separation from Lay-Chancellors Officials Surrogates Proctors and the whole Gang of Spiritual Court-men whom they look upon as having no Authority from Jesus Christ but as the Spawn of a monstrous Prelacy and the most intolerable Grievance that the Nation this day groans under And as the Dissenters separate from the subjects of this Church-Government the Prelates Lay-Chancellors c. so also do they own a Separation from the Exercise of it as it proceeds from them and is manag'd by them Themselves in the Preface to the Commination acknowledge their want of a Godly Discipline and since they have the Front to own this Defect and never had the Grace to reform it in all the time that is run out since Edward the sixth's Reformation to septimo Gulielmi tertij it would be no less then High Treason against Jesus Christ the head of the Church not to disown and separate so far at least from this imperfect Church as to supply this want by a godly Discipline among our selves There is this further Disorder among them which will very much account for our Separation that whereas they distrust and dishonour the Ordinance of Excommunication by putting all their Confidence in the carnal Sword the Dissenters think the Discipline of Christ sufficient to its own End without such a Supplement as quite enervates the Virtue and obscures the Lustre of it This constrains them to separate from many of the prelatical Canons particularly from those wherein they Excommunicate Persons for saying That there is any thing in the Government of the Hierarchy or in their Articles or in the Book of the Common Prayer that is repugnant to the Word of God And above all the Dissenters hold themselves bound in
NOTES Upon the Lord Bishop of Salisbury's Four late DISCOURSES To the CLERGY of his Diocess PARTICULARLY Upon the Last relating to the DISSENTERS In a LETTER to a Friend Right Prelating is busie Labouring and not Lording Bishop Latimer's Sermon of the Plough Wherefore lift up your Heads Brethren and look about with your Eyes spye what things are to be Reformd in the Church of England Is it so hard is it so great a matter for you to see many Abuses in the Clergy many in the Layety His Sermon before the Convocation LONDON Printed in Usum Sarum MDCXCV ERRATA Page 1. line 2. blot out the p. 7. l. 17. for acted upon read acted by p. 31 l. 7. in some of the sheets the words in metre should be put in after psalms NOTES c. SIR I Thank you for Obliging me with the sight of my Lord Sarum's four late Discourses to the the Clergy of his Diocess the last of which your self must needs own the worst tim'd and the worst linkt of any thing in the World For what reason his Lordship was pleas'd to reflect upon the Dissenters as Separatists at this time of day when by Act of Parliament they enjoy tho' not Equal Advantages an Equal Establishment with his own Constitution I will not pretend to determine Nor perhaps can he himself give any better Account of his tacking a Discourse against them to the rest than that the same Spirit of Contention which his Lordship hath before now discover'd had in that Moment an Unconquerable Ascendancy over him His Lordship it must be confess'd writes with one singular Advantage which the poor Noncons must never expect he hath the Civil Government for his Security and free Liberty to vent whatever he pleases tho' 't is true He must have a care how he Misrepresents the Foundations of our Government his frequent remembring a Vote of Parliament and Mr. Johnson's most ingenious Notes on a Pastoral Letter with what the Common Hangman was once employ'd about in his Lordships Service will be of admirable Use to him in this Case But in Spiritual Matters he may e'en talk all that is in his Heart and whatever else he finds agreeable to his Interest for being himself a Spiritual Lord one of the six and twenty Lights of the Nation and a chief among the Guides of the Church he may hold himself safe from any Contradiction especially Now he knows the Press is entirely at the devotion of his own Party and they must very much expose themselves who would get in but one Word against a whole Volume of his Lordships Tho' methinks an Ecclesiastical Peer of all others should be of too generous a Temper either to call the more Names because he wears a Protection or to take any Advantage against his Brother of lower degree that mildly jogging him by his Lawn Sleeves may happen to tell him An 't please you my Good Lord in this thing I humbly conceive you were not a little overseen A great Champion it must be confess'd the Prelatical Church hath in this Salisbury Bishop and no doubt both He and the Cause he pleads will flourish Eternally if the Greatness of their Circumstances can but deter all others as it doth their own Underlings from questioning their Pastoral Oracles What success Our Prelate will have against his other Antagonists I will not Divine but the Dissenters I make no question will hold themselves oblig'd to him for the Episcopal Confirmation which his weak Management of his own hath given to their Cause to the Goodness of which this must be imputed unless this Right Reverend Author hath incurr'd the same Unhappy Fate from which the great Livy himself was not wholly exempt that the Last part of his Works should be a sufficient Disgrace to all the rest These four Discourses coming out together in a body afford us a Notable Specimen of his Lordships Abilities but the Learned World hath been long acquainted with his many Productions and hath already given them an Universal Applause yet I am apt to believe they have not at any time seen a more pregnant Instance of his Cunning and Dexterity than appears in his uniting these last Compositions into one Volume where most Invidiously and with a strange kind of Impartiality the Atheist leads the Van and the Dissenter brings up the Rear It will be no just Cause of Offence I hope to this Noble Prelate or his Party if in our own Vindication we take the Liberty to requite his Lordships Kindness with a few just and serious Reflections on each Subject of his several Discourses and I shall choose Sir to begin with that against the Atheists First then let us Enquire What is it hath given the greatest Occasion to the Rise and Progress of Atheism in the English Nation Is it not that Men have made Religion and the Sacred Function of the Ministry truckle to the Gratification of their Lusts especially their Avarice Pride and Sensuality But a few will be Convinced that there is any solid Foundation for that Belief which they see made use of to such vile and sinister Ends Many are mistaken if the extravagant Grandeur of Prelates and other Church Dignitaries hath not exceedingly contributed to diffuse this horrible Contagion It would make a Man sick to hear our Prelate declaim against the Poverty of the Inferior Clergy as a Crying Grievance and a Scorn put upon the Gospel when those that enjoy some Thousands a Year among whom I do not say his Lordship is one shall yet behold their Poor Brethren who Minister in Spiritual things so slenderly supply'd in Temporals that nothing but extream Necessity can induce them to serve in such Cures who are put to wrestle still with the same Necessity especially if they have Families that grow upon them Nor is it less ridiculous and Criminal in our Prelate to tantalize them with Hopes of Relief by New Methods whilst the true Cause and Remedy are so obvious and yet so much slighted and in effect renounced Our Law-makers I am of Opinion will be so kind to try how far a more equal partition of the Ecclesiastical Revenue will go towards the supply of the poor Clergy before they lay any more Burdens upon the People on that account There will be no want of Atheists so long as Church-men are thus desperately enamour'd of Great Benefices and so Careless of their Cures while they heap one Steeple upon another 'till their Heads grow giddy and they can scarce look low enough to Converse with their Inferior Brethren They may Preach up Humility and Mortification long enough in their cold formal florid Discourses before they perswade one Atheist that themselves are convinc'd of its Necessity while they Vye in Fullness and Gaiety not with the Gentry only but with the Nobility too How should Atheism but thrive in a Land where Men can Declare and Swear and Preach ay and print Dialogues too for such a kind of
Loyalty as when they are try'd they perfectly leave in the lurch to be redeemed by those that can find in their Hearts to submit to a suffering State which they might avoid at the same Easie but Unconscionable rate as these Men do It cannot but be a mighty strengthening to the Atheistical Party that some Men who Preach up Piety will not endure the strict exemplary Practise of it no not in others whether of their own or a different Communion much less in themselves but make it the subject of scorn and ridicule when they are out of the Pulpit Nor doth it want a share in this malignant influence that there are so many prints and footsteps yet visible of those more than Heathenish Barbarities which have been all along acted upon one sort of Christians upon their Protestant Dissenting Brethren From all this it is undenyably evident that the Faith Humility and Self-denyal of the Nonconformists in parting with their Livings and casting themselves entirely upon Providence their stedfastness in refusing the Oaths and Subscriptions by them judg'd unlawful their Sobriety and endeavouring to practice what they have preacht to others hath been a standing not to say the only Witness to this Generation That there is a GOD and that the Convictions of his Being and Government lye at the bottom of some Mens Actions Secondly Concerning his Discourse against the Socinians give us leave to observe what have been the fruits of the Church-mens over-valuing the Rational way of Preaching as if all Points were capable of being comprehended and explained by it to a demonstration It had been better in this respect if our Rational Divines had contented themselves in many Cases with the direct affirmations of the Scriptures and paid some more deference to the simple act of believing them for whilst every thing must be brought down to our Reason and levell'd to our Capacities they have conjur'd up the Evil Spirit of Socinianism which will exercise all their Skill to get down again It hath been the constant way of this Church to let in the worst of Evils upon the Nation as in the late Reigns Popery and Socinianism now in this and when they have made themselves and others abundance of Labour and grievously expos'd the Nation then if they have helped never so little to extinguish the Fire which but for themselves had never flam'd out nor consum'd so many worthy Patriots to set up their Crests and loudly to proclaim their own Atchievments and that too when their Victories are not so compleat nor the Enemy's Defeat so absolute as they themselves do represent And here Sir by the way I hope you will not forget to enquire in what Communion Atheists and Socinians do most abound And further I wish all to be caution'd against Arminianism by the prevalency of Socinian Errors for those who magnifie the Power of Man's Will and those that exalt his Understanding beyond the measures of Truth and Sobriety are not very far distant from each other Thirdly As for Popery we are sorry to see the Church of England so much symbolizing with it and so hard put to it to defend its self upon its own bottom our concern on this account will appear very just by making use of the Instance before us Here is a renown'd Prelatical Bishop discoursing vehemently against Infallibility and at the same time pleading with Might and Main for the power of the Church in imposing symbolical Ceremonies but can any thing be more absurd than that Men who confess themselves fallible and prove it too both by Word and Deed to the satisfaction of all the World should obtrude their Sentiments and Composures Forsooth as if they were as Infallible as his Holiness at Rome pretends to be or our blessed Saviour and his Apostles really were And is not this done to the height of Arrogance whilst all that will be benefic'd among them are forced indispensably To Declare Assent and Consent to all and every thing contain'd and prescrib'd in and by the Book of Common Prayer And all that have refus'd to comply with their Modes how much soever against their Consciences have been Prosecuted with the utmost Severity How laudable and consistent when compar'd with our Prelatical Platform is the Popish way of first asserting the Infallibility of the Church and then erecting a Court of Inquisition to defend it How will this or any other Prelate be able to overthrow our Popish Adversary's Arguments for Salt Oyl and Spittle when their Ceremonies stand upon the very same Foundation and will they nill they our Church-men shall be constrain'd to admit them whensoever their Good Lords and Masters shall think sit to follow the Romish Prelates in the Imposition of them The Truth on 't is when the Protestant Prelates have to do with the Papists they are forced to the Dissenters Arguments against themselves by magnifying the sufficiency of the Scripture Rule but when the same Men encounter the Dissenters because the Scripture-sufficiency is but an unpromising Topick and sure enough to fail them they shift Hands and wield the same Weapon against us which they will by no means allow the Papist viz The Power of the Church this is no very good sign of a good and defensible Cause but who can blame the Patrons of it that attends to the Straits and Necessitys to which they are sometime reduced not excepting the Bishop of Sarum himself And thus by degrees have we trac'd our Prelate down to his fourth Discourse wherein he is pleas'd to charge the Dissenters with the Guilt of a needless Separation we hope presently to make it appear that his Lordship is Guilty of a much more needless Clamour but that we may the better discover the unreasonableness of that whole Party which raises such a dust about Separation and how unjustly they appropriate to themselves the Title of the Church of England we shall in few words attempt an impartial stating of this Case The Church of England is a thred-bare term that may signifie many things of a very different Nature which therefore ought not to be huddl'd up under one Name without some little Explication and since our Author hath not thought it at all advantageous to his Cause to give us any for your clearer insight into the present Controversie you may please Sir to take the following just distinctions First The Church of England may very properly signifie that part of the Catholick Church of Christ which is resident in England In this Sense the Church of England is neither one Sect of Christians nor another among us but every Man that hath given up himself to God in Christ by Baptism or hath been warrantably devoted by others in his Infancy and leads a Christian Life is truly a Member of it From the Church of England in this sense we neither do nor can separate but upon such Grounds as would Separate us from the Body of
Consort of Musick others only for Organs some dislike both and others can get neither And here Sir by the way 't is worth your while to observe that among the Dissenters the poor and rich Congregations the larger and the lesser worship God in the same innocent unceremonious manner whereas in the prelatical Church the rich Congregations worship with abundance of Pomp while the Poverty of others obliges them to a like simplicity with the Dissenters So that a Church of England Courtier is one sort of a Worshipper a C. of E. Cathedralist of another kind a C. of E. Citizen yet less theatrical and a C. of E. Peasant of a sort by himself In a word this Diversity of Worship is so very considerable and makes these pretended Uniformity Men look so little like Members of one and the same Church that I am very confident a perfect stranger to them all at one time visiting the Royal Chappel at high Devotion and by and by looking into Westminster-Abbey and anon tracing to St. Lawrence's in the City and shortly after travelling to some homely Countrey Church and strictly observing all their various ways of Worshipping would be ready to swear that these men never had an Act of Uniformity read among 'em but were each of them a much more distinct sort of Worshippers and less of a piece than the Dissenters are with the last mention'd and honestest sort among themselves From all this we may naturally infer that either the several Formalities instanc'd in which are so much magnifi'd by one Party and neglected by another of the same Communion do appertain to the prelatical Church or they do not if they do those separate from it that use them not if they do not belong to it those are Separatists that use them this however is certain as they differ more or less in these things so far they separate each from other If the Church Guides have only recommended these things without enjoining them and have left them to be observ'd or omitted as best agrees with the Judgments and Consciences of others Why might not the same Course be taken with all the other Ceremonies Why is not the Gesture at the Supper why is not the Cross in Baptism why are not the Surplice and other Vestments and many things of the like nature left in their own Indifferency to be embrac'd or rejected as every one is determin'd in his own Mind If so considerable a Diversity may consist with Uniformity and is actually found in the prelatical Church why might not this be allow'd in Order to so great a Benefit to the Church as the Union of the two great parties would be But besides what hath been already said of their Discord I dare be so bold to affirm that abundance who ordinarily join in local Communion with the Prelatists do mentally and really separate more from them than many others of a distinct Communion So do all those both Ministers and People that pervert the doctrinal Articles and hold Opinions inconsistent with the most natural and genuine meaning of them They are in the same Predicament who lead a Vicious Course of Life for as the former have separated from the Truth which the Church doth profess so have these from that Purity which it declares necessary to Salvation A Dissenter that is sound in all the Articles of Faith and orders his Conversation accordingly is incomparably more of the Church of England than the most exquisite Formalist that hath learnt all his Gates and his Postures but is neither sound in his Head nor in his Heart The one separates only from some little particularities that are against his Conscience and the other from that which is vital and essential both to a Christian and a Church and which his own Conscience and the Scripture and the Consent of all Christians urge upon him as indispensably necessary Nay so Obnoxious is the Prelatical Church on the account of Separation that great Numbers of those who join with them have as mean an Opinion of their Ceremonies and in their Judgments and Affections separate as much from them as the Dissenters having nothing that engages 'em to an Observation of them but a bare Establishment by the Civil Magistrate whose Authority in this Case has been rejected by many very great Men But a legal Establishment is a formal Word that enchants abundance and it 's enough for these that somewhere or other they have met with some word that gives 'em a little Liberty in their own Minds to communicate with the Church And whilst with very hard shifts this sort of Church-men have made themselves judge it barely lawful to abide in that Communion they are loth to leave the Sun-side of the Bank little thinking in the mean time that to join with a Church less pure and edifying when a better may be had tho' with Reproach is to prefer carnal policy before christian Wisdom Pollution to Purity and Peace with men to Peace with God and our Souls salvation But lest it should be objected that these are but Trimmers or half Churchemen at best let me observe to you Sir that on the other hand there are very many who have the Honour to be of the high Church as they themselves phrase it who do yet very substantially separate from the main body Among these we will first rank the Jacobites who have private Assemblies and Ministers if not Prelates of their own and who perhaps can be content to wave the Consecration of places as the Dissenters have done before them Matters are now come to that pass even among high Church-men themselves that the voice is lo here is the Church in one mans mouth and lo there in anothers in the Judgment of these Churchmen the far greater number of the prelatical Church have deserted its Principles and have lost the great Characteristick of a true Church of England Man viz. Passive Obedience Loyalty to a jure divino Succession upon which verry account it is that the abdicated Prelate of Bath and Wells hath scatter'd his Pastoral Letters against holding Communion with that part of the Church which have taken the Oaths to the present Government 'T would do well if his Brother of Sarum and he cou'd concert this affair at least we desire that our Prelate befor he addresses any more discourses against the Dissenters would free himself and his party from that Guilt of a sinful separation which the Jacobite Sons of the Church are daily reflecting upon them But besides these high Church Separatists there are not wanting a considerable Number of another sort who would willingly exclude some of those Offices which themselves and their Congregations statedly perform How glad would many of this strain be to have conceiv'd Prayer before Sermon and singing of Psalms totally suppress'd but they know well enough should not these be parts of their Service great Numbers would soon desert 'em Tho' how they can reconcile this kind of