but notwithstanding you must communicate with the Church you dwell in And a little after he says I advise you if there be Parish Churches orderly settled under the Magistrates Countenance whose teachers are sound tho' an abler Minister should gather a separate Congregation in the same place out of that and other neighbouring Parishes and should have stricter Communicants and Discipline be not too forward to join your self to that separated Church till you can prove that the hurt that will follow by discord offence division encouraging of Schisms and Pride c. is not likely to be greater than your benefit can compensate but if this separate Church be a factious Church set up contentiously against the Concordant Churches tho' on pretence of greater purity and if their Meetings be imploy'd in contemning and reviling other Churches whose People are not of their mind and in puffing up themselves with Pride as if they were the only true Churches of Christ avoid such separate Churches as the enemies of Love and Peace And again in the same Book p. 336. he bids us Not peevishly pick quarrels with the Prayers of the Church nor come to them with humorsome prejudice think not that you must stay away or go out of the Church for every passage that is disorderly unmeet yea or unsound or untrue for the words of Prayer are the work of Men and while all Men are fallible imperfect and sinful their Prayers and Preaching will be like themselves and he that is the highest pretender and the peevishest quarreller hath his own failings c. So that if our Dissenters will allow their own Mr. Baxter to be a competent judge or any of the other learned Divines beforesaid they must own that neither the weakness of the Ministry nor better Edification is a sufficient cause for Separation But there is another thing say they which makes it necessary for us to separate from the Church of England and that is the Oaths and Subscriptions which they require from us What says Mr. Baxter to this Why Mr. Baxter in his Poor Man's Family Book p. 331. says If a Church in other respects sound require of you any false Subscriptions Promises or Oaths or any unlawful thing you must not do it but hold Communion in other lawful things It seems then he does not allow of Separation upon this account neither The Scruples which Men make to the Oaths and Declarations are grounded upon mistakes for that they But for the farther satisfying of such well meaning Persons as are scrupulous 't were much to be wish'd that these Oaths Subscriptions c. and the other things required by the Act of Uniformity were altered and explained by Act of Parliament according to the Bill drawn up by the Dean of St. Pauls which the Dissenters especially the Presbyterians are willing to agree to and have made the very same Proposals themselves in their Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon at the latter end Vide. take the words in a strained and unnatural Sence Whereas if they would remember what the famous Bishop Sanderson tells us De Juran Praelect 6. sect 12. p. 177. And what all learned Men do agree in to wit That in every Oath all those Conditions or Exceptions ought to be understood which by right or common use are implied in it viz. as far as I can and 't is lawful for me things remaining in the same state c. With these Conditions there is nothing in these Oaths or Subscriptions that can reasonably be scrupled and without them 't is impossible to frame an Oath that a Man can safely venter to swear to Besides though these Subscriptions were sufficient cause for Separation how can the Lay People justifie their Separation upon this account No such Oaths or Subscriptions are required of them they are only required from the Ministers Why then do the People forsake the Church Is it in reverence to the Ministers least they should have none to Preach to This is what they never could answer with any colour of Reason and therefore many of the Non-Conformist Ministers do frequently in discourse fairly and honestly own that the Terms of lay-Lay-Communion with the Church of England are easy enough but the only thing they stick at is the terms of Ministerial Communion The only Answer that ever I heard made to this is in a Book call'd An Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet 's Sermon by some Non-Conformists pag. 6. They tell us That they must not justifie themselves in their Preaching and leave the People in Schism I must needs say this was kindly done of them for 't were very unfriendly in them to draw the poor silly People into Schism and when they have done to slip their own Necks out of the collar and leave the People in the lurch and therefore they quickly find an Answer to stop their Mouths whom they knew would never examine it Say they we are Ministers of Christ and have a Commission to Preach and therefore the People may lawfully forsake the Church to hear us for we must not Preach to the Stone Walls But pray will this Reason justifie the People in leaving their Parish Church and their own lawful Minister to run after a stranger for fear he should want a Congregation to Preach to If the King should give a Gentleman a Commission to raise a Regiment does this oblige Men that have formerly Listed themselves under other Officers to leave their Service and follow him No sure There are in the Two Universities many Hundred young Men that are qualified for the Ministry perhaps as well as most of the Non-Conformist Ministers and are not yet called to the Office nor provided with Churches suppose all these now were admitted into Orders and scatter'd all over the Kingdom are the People obliged to run away from their lawful Minister orderly set over them and divide the Parishes each perhaps into Three or Four to furnish all these new made Ministers with Congregations to Preach to An excellent contrivance this of our Reverend Non-Conformist Ministers to entail the Church Revenue upon them and their Successors for ever without being beholding to King Bishop or Patron and without any possibility of ever being cut off or forfeited all the Lawyers in England could not have devised so good a security for them as they have subtlely done here for themselves They may Preach what Doctrine they please for the Government or against it they have a Commission to Preach and the People are therefore bound they say to hear them For Preaching and Hearing they say are Relatives and the one does necessarily suppose the other 'T is true indeed actual Preaching supposes Hearing so do actual Governours necessarily suppose a People to be Govern'd But a Commission to Govern does not necessarily suppose a People actually to be Govern'd for there may be Governours appointed and made though there be then no People for them to Govern as was resolved by all the Judges of England
the Will of their lawful Prince though a Heathen And will not our Dissenters shew the same respect to a Christian Prince that the Apostles did to Heathen Magistrates But whether Christian Magistrates have power to silence some Ministers such as they think fit or not it is a thing questionless that has been practis'd by 'em in all Ages ever since the time of Constantine the Great which is near 1400 years Constantine by his Edict suppress'd all separate Meetings and among the rest the Novatians and silenc'd their Preachers though their Ordination was as good as any among our Nonconformists See Eusebius Vita Const lib. 3. cap. 63 64 65 66. And St. Augustine did very much commend the Emperour for so doing See Aug. Ep. 48. and see also his 4 th Book against Cresconius a Donatist ch 51. All the Reform'd Churches in the World do at this day silence such Ministers as refuse to submit to the Orders and Government of their Church and believe they have Power so to do At Geneva their Council of State has the sole Power of Electing and Deposing Ministers Nay farther by the Constitution of Geneva they have Power not only to silence but to excommunicate such Ministers as shall contemn the Authority of the Church or by their obstinacy disturb the Order of it In the French Church if any refuse to subscribe to the Orders of their Church he is to be declared a Schismatick And Calvin himself Ep. Olevian pag. 311 and 122. says Let him that will not submit to the Orders of a Society be cast out But what need we go so far from home for Instances of this kind Let us see what the Opinion of our own Dissenters heretofore was in this matter First then in the great Dispute between the Brownists and the Non-conformists about the Ministers preaching c. against the Will of the Prince the Non-conformists all agreed That the Apostles had Power immediately from God to set up his Kingdom but their Power was extraordinary and under Heathen Magistrates But our Ministers have no such extraordinary Power And our Magistrates being Christian are much more to be respected See Gifford a Non-conformist Minister his Answer to Barrow And see the Confutation of the Brownists by several Non-conformists who join'd together for that purpose publish'd by one Rathband by their command p. 51. And see Mr. Bradshaw his Answer to Johnson to the same purpose where he says That the Magistrate had no Power to silence the Apostles for that 't was manifest by the silencing of them was intended the utter extirpation of Christianity But the case is alter'd among us for the intent of a Christian Magistrate is not to silence all Christian Ministers but some particular men only so that the Question is not whether Minister or no but whether this or that Minister of Christ And doubtless every Christian Prince has Power to chuse what Men he thinks fittest for publick Offices in Church or State so long as they be equally qualified according to God's Law But to go on The Opinion and Practice of the Dissenters in the late unhappy Times are not yet forgotten they were all then of an opinion that Christ's Ministers may be silenc'd and accordingly put it in practice every Party as it serv'd their turn See their Solemn League and Covenant all who would not enter into it and solemnly swear to doe their utmost endeavour to abolish Episcopacy and set up Presbytery were immediately not only silenc'd but sequester'd though their Ministry was as much of Divine Right as any of theirs now Conscience then was no Plea for not taking this solemn Oath They would not suffer one of the old Clergy to teach a School Nay they would not allow their own Independent Brethren to preach though they had all taken Presbyterian Orders as they themselves See the Letter from the Presbyterian Ministers of London to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster Ann. 1645. Jan. 1. And the grand Debate c. And in New-England where the Independents have the Power they are all of the same Mind none is to preach publickly by their Laws where any two organick Churches Council of State or general Court shall declare their dissatisfaction thereat See their Body of Statutes which they have lately printed Nay they are not satisfied to silence such Ministers as will not conform but they banish them too as they did Mr. Willams and others And is it not very strange then that the silencing of such Ministers by the King and Governours of the Church who positively refuse to submit to the Orders of the Church or to give their Governours such a Test of their Obedience and Conformity to the Laws of the Church and State as they in their Discretion have thought fit to require of them that this should be a thing so unlawful and wicked now that has been practised in the purest Ages of the Church and by the Dissenters themselves when they were in Power and by all the Churches in the World at this day And indeed if the Tests which the Laws require of their Obedience and Loyalty be too severe and rigid they may blame themselves for it for Governours cannot be too cautious in securing the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom against a Faction that has once already overthrown this Monarchy and Church And give us all the Reason in the World to believe That they are ready to do the same again especially the latter as soon as ever it is in their Power The bitter Spirit they show in Scotland already and their Unchristian like behaviour to all those that differ from them in Opinion shews us plainly what we may expect here when ever they are able And thus much for the Pleas which the Dissenters use for Separation which relate to the Constitution of our Church The second sort are against the terms of Communion with it They say our terms of Communion are unlawful for that the Church of England injoins some things in God's Worship which are not expresly commanded in Scripture and so makes the Scriptures insufficient And these things are our Ceremonies and prescribed Forms of Prayer c. First as to our Ceremonies The Church of England uses no Ceremonies but such as were us'd in the purest Ages of the Church as Dr. Stillingfleet has prov'd in his Mischiefs of Separation And such as are now us'd by the greatest part of the Reform'd Churches beyond Seas The Lutheran Churches have the same and more Ceremonies than we have And yet these Churches have been thought fit to be united to the best Reform'd Churches by the best and wisest Protestants as appears by a Synod of the Reform'd Churches at Chareton in France Anno 1631. And indeed there is no Christian Church in the World but what do make Laws and Canons in Matters of Circumstance and compel both Ministers and People to obey the same They do not believe that every variation in Circumstance in God's Worship
his own Memory to retain all his wants and the wants and necessities of the People so in his Mind but that something or other will very oft be forgotten which may be avoided by using of a well compos'd Form But again Can we reasonably imagine that God Almighty can be pleas'd with vain repetitions and with bald and unproper and too often nonsensical expressions such as usually attend their extempore Prayers Doubtless he cannot for where he has given Judgment and Wit and Eloquence he expects it should be us'd in his Service as well as in our worldly business Our Saviour bids us When we pray not to use vain repetitions nor think to be heard for our much speaking Matth. 6. 7. And Solomon Eccles 5. 1 2. says Keep thy feet when thou goest to the house of the Lord and be not nash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou on Earth therefore let thy words be few How agreeable now this Doctrine is to the practice of the Dissenters in their rash approaching to God with a long inconsiderate Prayer let any Man judge When they made their Addresses to the late King James they drew it up with all the caution and premeditation imaginable and every Sentence was carefully considered on by several of the best Heads among them but they address the great King of Heaven with the rash and inconsiderate expressions of one Person and he perhaps a weak onetoo But some of them say Why should not Ministers be tied to a Form of Preaching as well as of Praying Why sure there is a great deal of difference between Preaching and Praying Preaching is directed to a Congregation which is made up of several People who have different Capacities and Apprehensions and therefore require different Phrases and Arguments to move them Some are drawn with one Argument some with another some apprehend a Man's meaning by one Expression some by another according as they are suited to their several Capacities so that 't is impossible to frame a Form in Preaching to answer all these ends But Prayers are directed to one God who is always the same and not to be pleased with variety of Phrases I shall conclude this Point with this observation That those who are most inveterate against Praying by Forms do daily use the same individual Form themselves word for word throughout the whole year as any one that frequent their publick or private Meetings may observe The Third sort of Pleas which the Dissenters use for Separation are such as relate to their Consciences For say they What tho' the Terms of Communion with the Church of England be lawful since we cannot satisfy our Consciences that they are so We must not act against our Consciences for that were sin in us For St. Paul says Let every one be fully perswaded in his own mind Rom. 14. But I answer first this Scripture is meant of indifferent things and no other as appears by the coherence of the words with the whole Chapter For the Apostle is there speaking of Meats Times Days c. and blames the Romans for condemning and quarrelling with one another about them But Secondly 'T is plain that * Note when we refuse any thing injoin'd by Authority we must be certain that the thing injoin'd is unlawful for a doubting Conscience will not excuse our disobedience A doubting Conscience is when the Conscience is in such a perfect aequilibrium or suspence as that there appears no more reason on the one side of the question than on the other in such case the command of Authority turns the Scales and makes it necessary for us to obey since for ought we know the thing may be as well lawful as not Scruples of Conscience will not excuse from sin in some Cases For 't is agreed by all that Conscience will not excuse from sin unless all proper helps and means are us'd to inform our Judgments and to come to the right knowledge of the thing scrupled This Mr. Baxter owns in his Dispute of Church Government p. 483. where he says That if a Man through ignorance or prejudice takes unlawful things to be lawful or lawful things to be unlawful this will not excuse him in his disobedience Suppose then for Instance that the Magistrate imposes a thing which he lawfully may impose as that all Men should begin the publick Worship at an hour and end at an hour The Quakers they say This is stinting of the Spirit and therefore sinful and that they cannot in Conscience Communicate with us till it be remov'd I will ask a Presbyterian or Independent whether this be a sinful Separation or not they will own it is notwithstanding their pretended Scruple of Conscience For the sin must needs lie some where either on those who impose the thing or on those who separate not on those who impos'd it because they allow the thing injoyn'd to be lawful therefore it must be on those who separate because they do not inform themselves truly of the lawfulness of the thing scrupled And indeed if a bare Scruple of Conscience will justify Separation the Anabaptists and all other Sects may as well justify their Separation from the Presbyterians and Independents as they can do theirs from the Church of England And by the same Rule we may subdivide till there be as many Religions as Men. I grant that the Obligations of Conscience are the greatest that can be and to act against the clear Dictates of a Man's Conscience is a very great sin but this must be meant of a Conscience when all due care and diligence has been us'd to rectify and inform it And then what is this to the case of our Dissenters Do they separate from the Church out of pure Conscience yes say they doubtless we do But have they us'd all proper means to inform their judgments and come to the knowledge of the truth Surely they will not say they have Are not the greatest part of the Dissenters a poor illiterate sort of People who know nothing of the Controversie between us nor ever trouble their heads about it but will go to the Meetings because their Fathers and Mothers did so before them and will rail at the Church tho' ask them what is amiss in it seriously and they cannot tell you And as for those few of the better sort among them who perhaps have had greater advantages of Education is it not remarkable that they Read and Converse altogether on one side and associate themselves into Clubs and Cabals of such who are of the same Opinion with themselves but avoid all occasions of creating the least intimacy with any who differ from them in Opinion And if any shall but offer to inform them tho' in never so peaceable and friendly a manner does it not prove the occasion of an eternal Quarrel or at least put a stop to any farther intimacy
between them Is not this truly the case among them I appeal to their own Consciences whether this be truth which I say How can these Men pretend then that they have us'd all proper means to satisfie their Consciences They who really scruple things out of tenderness of Conscience would be sincerely willing to be better inform'd and would look upon them as their best Friends who endeavour to inform them but instead of this they fly out into rage and violent Passions against those who offer to remove their Scruples and for their kindness return most reproachful bitter Language both on the Persons tho' never so Eminent and the thing tho' never so Sacred which is visible in all their Books of Controversie And even in common Discourse How difficult is it to obtain from the Zeal of many of our Dissenters so much truce as to hear what one can say to them with patience and civility They tell us in plain terms we may spare our breath and not pretend to teach them they understand their Duty better than we do They are satisfied in their own minds that they are in the right and will not be wheedled out of their Opinion by all that we can say This is truth Mr. Baxter himself has own'd as much in his Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet p. 81. where he affirms in his own name and the name of his People That he who thinks that his own or others reasonings will ever change all the truly honest Christians in the Land knows so little of Matters or of Men or of Conscience as that he is not fit to be a Bishop or a Priest What will they say now to this will their Scruples of Conscience excuse their Separation and Disobedience when 't is evident they will not use the proper means to satisfie their Consciences Nay farther When they declare 't is needless to go about to remove their Scruples for they are resolv'd beforehand they will not be convinc'd Let no Man say so for shame 't is against common Reason and the Opinion of all learned Men and even of Mr. Baxter himself But we will suppose for once that every particular Dissenter has done his utmost indeavour to satisfie his Conscience and that after all they cannot conquer their Scruples What then Must they therefore proceed to Separation No this was never allowed by Christ nor his Apostles nor by any Christian Church since their time not even by our Dissenters themselves heretofore Our Saviour himself did not separate from the Jewish Church though there were many things amiss in it nor advise others to do so says Vines a Non-Conformist in his Book on the Sacrament pag. 39. In the Apostles days we find there were some who scrupled some things that were enjoin'd but notwithstanding the difference of Men's Judgments and their pretended Scruples of Conscience the Apostles did prescribe Rules of Uniformity and allow'd none to Separate from the Church and frequent Meetings of their own setting up because they could not conquer their Scruples And this very Argument did the Assembly of Divines at Westminster Anno Dom. 1648. use against their Dissenting Brethren the Independents who pleaded for Separation upon the account of Conscience as the Dissenters do now See Papers for Accommodation pag. 111. And when the Independents told them they could not satisfie their Consciences so as to Conform to their Church Government and therefore begg'd That they may be allow'd separate Congregations the Assembly positively refused it and urged them to Conform to their way of Worship c. and charged them with Schism if they did not For say they To desire separate Congregations as to those parts of Worship where they own they can join with us is very unreasonable for tenderness of Conscience may justifie non-Communion in the thing scrupled but it cannot justifie a Separation See the Papers for Accommodation pag. 20 21 22 51 c. For if it should say they it then would make way for infinite Divisions and sub-Divisions and give countenance to perpetual Schism in the Church ib. p. 68 73 c. And then the Assembly justifie themselves in so doing by the practice of the Saints in the Apostles days For they tell them they desire no more of them hereby than what they were confident was practised by the Saints at Philippi namely To hold practical Communion in things wherein they Doctrinally agreed ib. p. 115. So that if the judgment of their own Brethren in a full Assembly may be taken upon the most weighty Debate and serious Deliberation their setting up separate Meetings and forsaking the Church upon the account of some Scruples which they pretend they cannot conquer is Sinful and Schismatical And when the Assembly of Divines was pressed farther by their Dissenting Brethren they desired them to answer in this one thing Whether some must be denyed the liberty of their Conscience in matters of practice or none If none then say they we must Renounce our Covenant and let in Prelacy again and all other ways If a denial of Liberty to some may be just then Vniformity may be settled notwithstanding Men's different Judgments or pretence of Conscience Papers for Accommodation pag. 116. Agreeable hereto is the practice of the Independents themselves where they have the power as in New-England no Separation is there allow'd upon the account of Scruples of Conscience as appears by their Book of Statutes which they have lately Printed and by their telling Mr. Williams a famous Minister among them that if nothing will serve him but Separation because he could not conquer his Scruples The World was wide enough and so away they banish'd them in the midst of Winter From what has been said it appears That though there were some things amiss in the Church of England which our Dissenters could not satisfie their Consciences about yet this would not justifie Separation from the Church though perhaps it might after due pains taken to inform themselves aright concerning them justifie their non-non-Communion in the things scrupled Now I will shew that there is really no cause to forsake the Church of England upon the account of Conscience And that all those who do forsake the Church and frequent separate Meetings are condemn'd for Schismaticks by the most Eminent Divines of all the Reformed Churches beyond Seas and by Mr. Baxter Dr. Owen Mr. Gifford Corbet and many other of the Non-Conformists themselves heretofore For First they all agree That no Man is obliged in Conscience to separate from any Church that is sound in Doctrine and has the Sacraments rightly and duly administer'd The Scripture allows Separation only in these three cases First In case of Idolatrous Worship Secondly In case of False Doctrine imposed instead of True And Thirdly In case things indifferent be made necessary to Salvation But where these Three are wanting nothing will justifie Separation See Canon Nicen. 6 15 16. Constant c. 6. Chalced. 17 20 26. Antioch c. 2 5. Cod.
Eccles Afr. c. 53 55. Conc. Gangrae c. 6. Conc. Carth. c. 10 11. Cod. Can. Eccles Vniv Can. 65. All these Canons and many more do condemn Separation from a Church that is sound in Doctrine and has the Sacraments rightly and duly Administred So does Calvin in his Inst lib. 4. c. 1. numb 9. where he says That great allowances ought to be made to such Churches by the Example of the Apostolical Churches And ibid. Sect. 10. he says That the Lord esteem'd him a runnagade and forsaker of Religion whosoever he be that separated frowardly from any Christian Society which imbraceth but the true Ministry of the Word and Sacraments And ibid. Sect. 12. he says That though something that is faulty may creep in either in the Administration of the Word or of the Sacraments yet we ought not to separate us from the Communion of that Church For says he there are principles of Religion without which we cannot be saved and there are other points in which Men may differ and yet the Vnity of the Faith be kept And ibid. Sect. 13. he says It is not for every private Man to separate from the Communion of a Church tho' faulty in some things c. Beza in his Epist 24. p. 148. agrees herein so does Monsieur Daille and several other of the Foreign Divines See Dr. Still Misch of Separ 23. and 97. so does the Assembly of Divines as I have just now shewn and Papers for Accommodation p. 52. they declare farther That they look upon Separation from a true Church tho' somethings may be amiss in it not as a sin of mere humane Infirmity but as a wilful and dangerous sin And Mr. Baxter in his Poor Man's Family Book p. 347. tells us Many Churches were blam'd in Scripture but none are requir'd to Separate from them See the Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet 's Sermon by several Non-conformists where they all acknowlédge our Worship in the nature of it to be intrinsecally good and a total Separation from it sinful ibid. p. 31. So then it seems so long as a Church retains the Marks and Signs of a true Church tho' there be many things amiss in such a Church Separation from it is sinful But what if open sinners be admitted to the Communion before they have made publick Confession of their Faults as is too frequent in the Church of England must I be obliged to communicate with such May I not Separate in such case The Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 11 12 13. bids us If any that is call'd a brother be a Fornicator an Idolater or Covetous c. with such see that ye eat not I answer That this very reason did the Donatists in St. Augustine 's days give among others for their Separation and quoted the same Texts of Scripture but they were condemn'd for Schismaticks as I shewed before And St. Augustine and all the Catholick Bishops did then agree that these Texts were meant only of Separation in heart not in body And therefore they say When such a multitude offends as that the casting of them out would be in danger to cause a Schism there they ought to be tolerated least while ye go about to pull up the taxes ye pull up the wheat also therefore let them both grow together say they till the harvest But when only a few are guilty of scandalous sins there they say Let not the severity of Discipline cease but it must not be so severe as to root up but to amend See Aug. lib. 3. against Permenian a Donatist Bishop ch 3. lib. 2. c. 18. And herewith agrees Calv. lib. 4. Instit c. 1. sect 13. where he says That tho' sinners be admitted to Communion we ought to keep our selves from their fellowship but not to Separate from the Church Mr. Baxter says the same in his Poor Man's Family Book p. 347. and Vines on the Sacrament p. 39. But suppose the Parson of the Parish be weak or a Man of a loose Conversation and I can hear a better Preacher elsewhere and a Man of a more exemplary Holy Life and Conversation May not I go to that Church or Meeting where I find most Edification No For this still makes way for Schisms and Divisions in the Church and therefore was never allow'd in any regular Church provided the Parson of the Parish be tolerable The Followers of Estathius Sebastenus who separated upon this account in Paphlagonia were condemned of Schism by the Council at Gangrae and see Calvin's Instit lib. 4. c. 1. sect 13. to the same purpose And indeed it is not reasonable that so ignorant and proud unpeaceable sort of People as Mr. Baxter himself in his Sacraleg Disert p. 102. c. confesses the ordinary sort of zealous Professors of Religion to be shou'd be at liberty to rend and tear a Church to pieces out of a conceit of a purer way of Worship as if they knew what was better for their Edification than the Wisdom of the whole Nation in Parliament and the Governors of the Church do The pretence of greater Edification was never allow'd by the Dissenters themselves heretofore as a sufficient cause for Separation as appears by the Papers for Accommodation and the Grand Debate both Printed when the Assembly of Divines sat at Westminster Nor did Mr. Baxter ever allow of this to be a sufficient cause for Separation as appears by his Cure of Divisions p. 393. where he sets forth the pernicious Consequences of complying with the ungovernable and factious Humours of the ordinary sort of People who are ever apt to revile the best and gravest Ministers and follow the more conceited and such as are of most fierce and bitter Spirits And in his Poor Man's Family Book p. 280. he says For want of understanding the right Terms of Church Communion how woful are our Divisions you must have Vnion and Communion in Faith and Love with all Christians Let your usual Meeting be with the purest Churches if you lawfully may and still respect the publick good But sometimes occasionally Communicate with defective faulty Churches so be it they are true Churches and put you not upon sin Think not that your presence makes all the faults of Ministry Worship or People to be yours for then I would join with no Church in the World Division is wounding and tends to Death abhor it as you love the Churches welfare or your own c. And again ib. p. 330. If your Minister says he be intolerable through Ignorance Heresy or Malignity forsake him utterly but if he be tolerable though weak and cold and if you cannot remove your dwelling then publick Order and your Soul s Edification must be joined as well as you can In London or other Cities you may go ordinarily to another Parish Church but in the Country and where 't would be a great offence you may one part of the day hear in one Parish and another in the next if there be a Man much fitter
withdrawing themselves from under the Government of the Church 'T is real Schism We do not enter into a comparison of your order with that under which we live all are subject to inconveniencies ours have hers as well as yours It is enough for us to know that the same Divine Providence which by an indispensible necessity and by conjuncture of Affairs did at the beginning of the Reformation put our Churches under that of the Presbytery has put yours under that of the Episcopacy and as we are assured that you do not despise our simplicity so neither ought we to oppose our selves against your Preheminence See both these Letters and a third from Monsieur L' Angle to the same purpose at large in the latter end of Dr. Stillingfleet 's Misch of Separ Thus much for the foreign Divines Now we will come nearer home and see what our Dissenters themselves have thought of the Church of England from which they separate First then Several of the Dissenters to avoid the imputation of Brownism do sincerely profess before God and all the World That they hold the Church of England to be a true Church of Christ with which they did and would hold Communion notwithstanding any defilement or unwarranted Power of Church Government exercised therein See the Apologetical Narrative p. 5 6. Again They own that our Parochial Churches are true Churches and that they can find no fault with the Doctrine of our Church and that 't is lawful and * If occasional Communion be lawful constant is a Duty See Papers for Accomm p. 47 51 56. sometimes a Duty to communicate with us Baxter 's Defence of his Cure p. 38. and 64. Corbet of Schism p. 41. Peace-offering in the name of the Congreg party Anno Dom. 1667. p. 10. True way of Conc. part 3. c. 1. sect 40. and Mr. Baxter in his last Answer to Bagshaw p. 30 31. has these words You little know what pernicious design the Devil has upon you in perswading you to desire and indeavour to pull down the interest of Christ and Religion which is upheld in the Parish Churches of this Land and to think that 't is best to bring them as low in reality and reputation as you can and contract the Religious Interest all into private Meetings And see also Mr. Baxter 's Plea for Peace p. 240. to the same purpose And lastly Dr. Owen in his Book of Evangelical Love p. 54. acknowledges That they look upon the Church of England measuring it by the Doctrine received since the Reformation to be as sound and healthful a part of the Catholick Church as any in the World I have now prov'd that Separation from a true Church is sinful and schismatical I have proved the Church of England to be a true Church and all this I have proved from their own Writings How will they now justify their Separation or clear themselves from the imputation of Schism What will they say to this Is Schism not a sin Or is their Separation from us not Schism If they say it is not Schism Why then our Non-conformist Ministers know better what is Schism than all the Learned Divines of the Church of England and the most Eminent Men of all the Reformed Churches beyond Seas do For I have shewed from their own words That they do acknowledge the Church of England to be as true and sound a part of the Reform'd Church as any in the whole World and condemn all those that separate from her as guilty of Schism Doubtless these Men are as competent judges of Matters of Religion as any of our Dissenting Ministers And I am sure we have not the least reason to believe they would flatter us for they are strangers who have no dependance upon us and Men of more Piety and Honesty than to indulge us in any thing that is sinful But it may be they will say that all these Learned Divines beyond Seas who have acknowledged the Church of England to be a true Church are ignorant of the Errors and Corruptions in her But let me tell them They might have a little more civility than to suppose that so many godly upright Men would rashly give their judgment of Matters of so great moment as those are which relate to Religion before they were truly acquainted with the nature and circumstances of the thing And besides They ought not to judge of other Men by themselves Because the most of their own Divines are utter stangers to the practice and Constitution of other Churches as appears sufficiently by their Principles of Separation must they believe others to be so too No throughly accomplish'd Divine can be supposed to be ignorant of the true state and condition of any Reformed National Church much less of so great and considerable an one as the Church of England But to put this out of dispute it appears before that several of the most Eminent Men before-mentioned were in England for some years and frequented both the Churches and Meetings on purpose to acquaint themselves with both in order to giving their judgment of them Since therefore the Doctrine of the Church of England is sound and the Worship true and Government and Constitution of it as agreeable to that of the best and purest Ages of the Church as any now in the World let us in the name of God lay aside all those fears and jealousies that have possess'd the minds of too many of us concerning it and let us remember that not only the Peace and Prosperity of this Church and Nation and of every particular Member of it depends upon our Union but of the Protestant Religion all over the World Tho' there may be some things amiss in the Church of England it is not the business of private Men to Reform the Church or dispute the fitness or unfitness of every little imposition Their Duty is to Conform at least in the outward action and submit the fitness of such things to the Wisdom of those to whom God Almighty has intrusted the Government of the Church and Nation they may reasonably be thought more competent judges of what is convenient and fit to be done or not to be done than private Men can be And if any thing be amiss in the Government of the Church or the manner of God's Worship they are to answer for it not the People God will call them to an account for imposing upon his People things not agreeable to his Will But will never condemn us for doing our Duty in submitting to such Governors as he has placed over us 'T is true there are some things in Religion which are essential to it without which Men cannot be saved Now in case our Governours command us to act contrary to these we ought not to obey for we must obey God rather than Men But 't is agreed on all sides That the Church of England enjoins no such things and that they who live godly sober lives according
THE CASE STATED between the CHURCH of ENGLAND AND THE DISSENTERS Wherein the first is prov'd to be the Onely True CHURCH and the latter plainly demonstrated from their own Writings and those of all the Reformed Churches to be downright Schismaticks Collected from the best Authors on either side and made Publick for the Conviction of those who have reviv'd matter of Controversy and are finding fault at this time of day with the London Cases when they dropt the Dispute while their Authors were living By E. S. D. D. Victrix causa Deis placuit sed victa Catoni Lucan London Printed and Sold by John Nut neâ—â— Stationers-Hall MDCC TO THE READER THE Dissenters having again taken the Field and reviv'd a Dispute which had been some time laid aside I could neither think it useless or impertinent to rise up in Defence of that Holy Religion against which they are declar'd Enemies and vindicate the Best of Churches in its Excellency of Government and Purity of Doctrine And tho' many Learned Persons have already oblig'd the Publick with unanswerable Discourses in Her Favour and left us sufficient Arguments of the Goodness of Her Worship and Discipline yet since Her Adversaries have rally'd again and taking the Advantage of the Death of some of Her Champions as Dr. Scot Dr. Calamy c. are employ'd in picking Holes in the London Cases I could not but think it very proper to remind 'em of the Strength of what they are attacking and give 'em the true Knowledge of Her Beauties whilst they are making Enquiries after Her Faults In order to this I have collected the Arguments which have been made use of on both sides and given the Reader the true State of a Controversy which none but Men of invincible Obstinacy would maintain after such clear Convictions that the Church which I have the Honour to be a Member of by making use of Her Ceremonies Worships God in the Beauty of Holiness and by breathing forth Her desires in Set Forms of Prayer shews a Reverence which is due to Him that made Her I need say very little in relation to the Names of those Authors I have had recourse to on either side They are Gentlemen of known Authority by their Writings and are Eminent in the several Congregations they belong to But the Reader will be satisfied after a due perusal that the Dissenters have Eyes and see not have Ears and will not hear and like the Adder are deaf to the voice of the Charmer charm he never so wisely else they would fling themselves into the Arms of a Church whose Constitution is Unity and whose Purity so Persuasive as might make even her Enemies to be at Peace with Her THE CASE STATED c. WHEN God Almighty first gave a Being to Man and did him the Honour of permitting him to wear his Makers Image He appointed him no other Guide to be directed by than the Law of Nature or Reason under the Government of which he liv'd the first two thousand Years after his Creation But as the Law of Reason was not sufficient of it self to keep Man in that unalterable Obedience which was due to his Creator it was but necessary to give him more positive Rules to Walk by Wherefore the Lord commanded Moses to write a Law for his People which bears the Name of the Mosaical and sometimes of the Moral Law and is contain'd in the Old Testament This Law was reveal'd to Men by the Mediation of an Angel but it consisting chiefly of Types and Ceremonies and consequently not having that plainess which was necessary for Humane Capacities as that of the New Testament God did then often appear to his people Himself and instruct 'em more immediately in the ways he would have 'em go by and the paths it was His will they should shun And Men liv'd under this Law of the Old Testament superadded to the Law of Nature which is the same in reasonable Creatures till God vouchsafed to convey the Knowledge of His pleasure to us after a more full and excellent Manner by the Mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost in the New Testament And this Law of the New Testament is that which we are directed by to this very day being absolv'd by it from our Obedience to a great part of the Old Vid. Galat. 4. And as this Law of the New Covenant was reveal'd to us after a more excellent manner than that of the Old so the Precepts which are contain'd in it are most extraordinary having nothing in 'em which is either superfluous or wanting towards the leading Men to Heaven on very reasonable Conditions It is so adapted and fitted to all Conditions of Men that the very meanest Capacities may easily understand every thing contain'd in it which is necessary to their Salvation And this Evangelical Law Christ and his Apostles have left as a Rule for all succeeding Ages to walk by But notwithstanding that our Saviour and his Apostles had left the World such Plain and Positive Rules to walk by that none that were not wilfully so cou'd be mistaken in them yet such has been the unhappiness of the Christian Church that it never wanted some within it of such restless and peevish Spirits as to disturb its Peace and Quiet by making Divisions and Schisms in it which St. Paul foresaw when he told the Elders Acts 20. 30. Also of your selves shall Men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them But though there have been always some Divisions in the Church ever since the first Planting of it yet for the first Three or Four Hundred Years they were much fewer than what have been since and those that were were much more discountenanc'd and oppos'd by the generality of Christians than they were afterwards In the Church of Africa a little before St. Augustine's Days there arose the Schism of the Donatists who separated upon the account that the Bishopricks were too Large and the Power of the Bishops too Great And because the Ministers were not so Able and Holy Men as they should be and because they dislik'd the Liturgies and Publick Prayers of the Church and for such-like Reasons And a little before in the Third Century began the Novatian Schism at Rome for that Novatus thinking the Bishopricks too Large would needs be chosen Bishop in the same City where Cornelius was chosen before But both these Schisms were condemned This by the Council of Carth. and the Council of Constantinople and by St. Cyprian Ep. 52. N. 4 c. And That of the Donatists by all the Catholick Bishops at the Conference at Carth. See Conference of the Third Day Chap. 4. And by St. Augustine in his Books against Permenian Petilian and the other Donatist Bishops But not long after about the Fifth and Sixth Century the Errors and Corruptions in the Church began to Increase more abundantly and appear more bare-fac'd and openly than formerly they had done for that
as the Roman Empire began to decline there follow'd a general decay of Learning and gross Ignorance had over spread the Earth insomuch that many of the Priests themselves cou'd not read Latin and then it was no difficult Matter to bring in what Heresies and Schisms Men wou'd And this was the time that most of the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome were introduced as Dr. Comber observes in his Advice to the Roman Catholicks of England Under this Cloud of Ignorance and Darkness did the Church lie hid for many Hundreds of Years till about the Year 1510. when it pleased God to open the Eyes of some of his People and to let them see those great Abuses with which the World had been so long abus'd and under the Burden of which the Church had groan'd for so many Hundred Years And though here in England there has been for many Years before the Reformation a strong Disposition that way as may appear by the several Acts of Parliament made since the Conquest to lessen and take away the Pope's Power and Authority as well in Ecclesiastical as Civil Matters within these Kingdoms See Coke's 5 th Rep. De jure Regis Ecclesiastico Yet the Pope had always so great an Interest at Court and the Clergy in the Nation having got most of the Lands into their own Hands that this glorious Design cou'd never be accomplish'd till it pleased God to make an open breach between King H. 8. and the Pope upon which he totally rejected the Pope's Supremacy and assum'd to himself the stile of Supream Head of the Church in these Nations and Defender of the Faith And thus the Pope being quite forsaken 't was likely Popery wou'd not live long having lost its Infallible Head And so indeed it prov'd For in King Edw. 6. days Popery was quite turn'd out of Doors by the general consent of the whole Nation whose Example many of the Churches beyond Seas follow'd And thus the general Reformation was happily begun and the Christian Church being stript of all its antick Disguises began to appear again and shine forth in its natural Form and Brightness But because 't was impossible to bring the People clearly off from what they and their Ancestors had been bred up in and accustom'd to for so many Ages or to make them capable of distinguishing on a sudden between things hurtful in Religion and things Indifferent therefore 't was thought convenient that no Alterations shou'd be made in things Indifferent nor any Scruples rais'd about them which wou'd at that time have hinder'd much the Reformation since many were with difficulty enough brought to things necessary So that for this Reason as also to let our Enemies see that we did not break Communion with them for Indifferent things many things were retain'd at the beginning of the Reformation that were afterwards Reform'd In the days of Edw. VI. the Liturgy and Publick Service of the Church was Corrected and Amended And this was done with all the Care and Deliberation imaginable and the King and Parliament took the best Advice in the doing of it that cou'd be had either at home or abroad Which makes me indeed admire to hear every illiterate Dissenter find so many Faults in the Liturgies and Worship of the Church of England that was so well approv'd of then by all those Holy Bishops and Martyrs that were our first Reformers and by Calvin Bucer and all the Eminent Divines beyond Seas 'T is very strange to think that such Excellent Men and Men of such indefatigable Pains and great Integrity as Cranmer Ridly Latimer and Bradford c. were after all their diligent Enquiry and fervent Prayers to God that he would direct them in the Performance and Management of so great a Work cou'd not after all spy so much as a mote of Unlawfulness in those things that now every Dissenting Preacher though never so raw or illiterate yea and the very meanest of the People can see such Beams in 'T is certain that our terms of Communion are the same or rather easier now than they were then as most of the Dissenters will allow and as Dr. Stillingfleet has prov'd at large in his Mischiefs of Separation During all the Reign of King Edward VI. there were no Divisions in this Church about these Matters There might have been some in those Days that might have wish'd for a farther Reformation as no Church ever yet wanted such But there was no such thing as Separation from the Church and going to separate Meetings upon that account No 't was so far from that that when actual Separation was first begâ—n in Queen Elizabeth's Days those who practis'd it were severely Condemned by most of those who were very desirous of a farther Reformation The time when Separation first began in the Church of England was about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign For after Queen Mary's Death the Ministers and others who were Banished and Fled in her time began to flock back again into England but the Impressions which were made on some of our Divines during their Banishment especially those who continued at Geneva a place always inveterate against Ceremonies did not wear off at their return home but after a little while they began to insinuate into the People who are ever fond of Novelties a hatred to the Livery of Antichrist as they call'd the Vestments and Ceremonies upon which some of the People began to Separate and this was the first occasion of pressing Uniformity with Laws and Penalties The Queen and Parliament now began to see it Necessary for the Quiet of the Church and Nation and for the avoiding farther Divisions upon this account that all the Clergy shou'd give some assurance of their Conformity and Obedience to the Laws of this Land and the Religion Establish'd by Law and to the Orders and Discipline of the Church agreeable to Law And accordingly certain Articles and Subscriptions were agreed on and such of the Clergy as would not Subscribe thereto were Suspended They who were Suspended writ to their Oracle at Geneva Beza who was a Man of greatest Authority with them to know what they shou'd do Beza advises them That if they cannot otherwise be continued in their Offices but by wronging their Consciences that they should submit and live quietly but by no means to exercise their Function against the Will of their Queen and Bishops for says he We tremble at the thoughts of that * See Dr. Stillâ—â—â—fleet's Mischief of Separation Pag. 20 21 c. But he tells them farther That though he does not approve of the Ceremonies yet being 〈◊〉 Evil in themselves he does not think them 〈◊〉 that moment as that the Ministers shou'd leave their Functions for them or the People forsake the Ordinances rather than hear those who did Conform And it seems indeed that the more Serious and Learned of those Divines who in their Banishment had suck'd in a Dislike to the
Church of England way of Worship did not think fit to Separate from it upon that account or to endeavour too hastily the Reforming of it for Dr. Burnet in his Book of Travels tells us That in Switzerland he met with several Letters from some of our English Clergy to Bullinger who had procur'd a kind Reception to be given to several of them in Switzerland during the Persecution of Queen Mary By which Letters it appears that several of the Clergy who had been beyond Seas upon their return Home did endeavour to Perswade Queen Elizabeth to let the Matters of the Habits for the Clergy c. fall Particularly Sands afterwards Archbishop of York Horn afterwards Bishop of Winchester Jewel and Grindal But Grindal in one of his Letters to Bullinger says They were all resolved to submit to the Laws and to wait for a fit opportunity to reverse them And he laments the ill Effects of the Opposition that some had made to them He also thanks Bullinger for the Letter he wrote to justifie the lawful Use of the Habits c. And in fine they all allow'd the lawfulness but not the fitness of them and that they ought to submit to the Law till it shou'd please God to reverse it lawfully See Burnet's Travels p. 51 52. But though the wiser sort among them did not think fit to proceed to actual Separation from the Church upon the account of those indifferent things yet some there were of a more fierce and turbulent Spirit who had not Patience to wait God's leisure but either a Reformation must be made presently according to their wild Notions and the Queen and Parliament must tack about immediately to their Pleasures or else to your Tents O Israel They will set up Churches of their own and forsake us utterly as a Superstitious and Idolatrous Church not fit to be communicated with And thus began our unhappy Divisions in the Church of England I shall not trouble my self to trace this Matter through the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James the First and King Charles the First nor to show how they daily increas'd and grew wider Nor the many Sub-Divisions and Scandalous Breaches that were daily made among themselves ever since the beginning of Separation As between Brown and Barrow Brown and Harrison Barrow and Johnson Johnson and Ainsworth who all left England to gather Separate Churches to themselves in the Low-Countries But scarce had been well there till they fell out all among themselves one Man and his Company being accurs'd and avoided by the other and his Followers and the one Church receiving the Persons excommunicated by the other till they became ridiculous to Spectators and at last some of them were glad to return into England This Matter has been so fully related by Dr. Stillingfleet in his Mischiefs of Separation p. 51 52 c. that 't were needless here to repeat it I shall only take notice that ever since King James the Second's Accession to the Crown the Church of England had laid aside all thoughts of Controversie with the Dissenters in hopes that they wou'd have joyn'd for their common Safety with them in stopping the Inundation of Popery that was ready to break in upon these Nations and swallow them both up But while most of our Eminent Divines of the Church of England as Dr. Tillotson Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Burnet Dr. Comber Dr. Sherlock and the rest were imploy'd in writing against the Incendiaries of Rome the Dissenters our Brethren instead of assisting us were making themselves ready for War with us as appear'd soon after For when God Almighty had happily plac'd King William in the Throne a Convocation was immediately call'd in hopes that some Terms of Accommodation might have been Agreed upon between us And which in all probability wou'd have taken Effect if the Dissenting Ministers had been as forward as we for how much inclin'd our Clergy were to a Reconciliation notwithstanding the Aspersion laid on them by the Dissenters of their having no such Design does sufficiently appear by several of their Writings See Dr. Tillotson's Sermon Preached at the Yorkshire Feast Anno 1679. Pag. 28. And Dr. Sherlock's Sermon before the Lord Mayor Nov. 1688. See likewise the Petition of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops for which they were committed to the Tower And see the Articles recommended by the Archbishop of Canterbury to all the Bishops within his Province And Dr. Stillingfleet's Preface to his Mischiefs of Separation By all which it sufficiently appears how desirous they were for a Reconoiliation But instead of listning to any such thing does our Dissenters break forth into open Acts of Hostility and at that very time when we were actually Treating of Accommodation with them do they Publish several of their Books one upon the back of another in which they endeavour nothing less than the total Overthrow of our Church by pretending to prove That the Constitution of our Church is New and Unlawful and that our Worship is Idolatrous and Sinful Had this been at a Time when their way of Worship was not tolerated or ours impos'd on them with Penalties they had been the more excusable Or had we began to expose their Extempore way of Praying as we might easily have done but at such a time as that was to become the Aggressors was ungrateful as well as unseasonable But now since the Dissenters have thought fit to revive the Controversie between us I hope they cannot take it unkindly of us if we endeavour to Vindicate our Church and to remove those Aspersions that they have groundlesly cast upon her But this has been done so learnedly and fully by so many of our Learned Divines already that I will not prâ—â—end to do it better or to say much more than what they have said before me I shall only here lay down briefly the Substance of what I have Collected out of the best Authors on both sides that have writ larely on this Subject For there may be some who wou'd be willing to be satisfied in this Matter and yet can neither bestow the Time nor Pains to read all the Books of Controversie over which have been writ on this Subject First then We will examine the Pleas which the Dissenters use for Separation and show the insufficiency of them and that they do not justifie Separation according to their own Principles All the Pleas at this time made use of for Separation may be reduced to these Three Heads First Such as relate to the Constitution of our Church Second To the terms of Communion with it Third To the Consciences of Dissenters As to the First to wit such as relate to the Constitution of our Churches They say First That our Parochial Churches are not according to Christ's Institution as being different from those of the Congregational way Secondly That our Diocesan Bishops are Unlawful Thirdly That our National Church has no Foundation and wants Discipline all being
the Church by Diocesan Bishops is agreeable to the practice of the best and purest Ages of the Church and to the Judgment of the wisest and holiest Fathers of it And that their Power and Jurisdiction was as absolute and extended as far or farther than any Bishops this day in England I shall shew hereafter that Episcopal Government as now settled in England has been and is at this day commended and approved of by all the most Eminent Divines beyond Seas Perhaps some may say if the Government of the Church by Diocesan Bishops be so agreeable to that of the Primitive Church and approved of by other reform'd Churches as we pretend it is how comes it that they all did not follow the pattern of England and become all Diocesan Churches I answer They may as well ask us Why all the Nations of the World that were subject to the Roman Emperors did not upon the decay of the Roman Empire when they resum'd their just Rights of Government to themselves become all Monarchies according to the Pattern of England Some Nations besides England Ireland and Scotland did assume Episcopal Government as Denmark Sweden c. but perhaps it was not consistent with the present Circumstances or Politick Constitution of all places at the time of the Reformation to set up Episcopal Government as indeed it was not And therefore since neither Episcopal nor any other particular kind of Government is so essential to a Church as that a true Church may not be without it in case of indispensible Necessity they put themselves some under one Form of Government some under another as was most agreeable to their present constitution but with this Caution every where That all Protestants of every whole Church be the Government what it will should be oblig'd to Conform to the Establish'd Church in which they liv'd For though every National or whole Church had a Power to chuse what kind of Government they pleased for themselves yet 't was never allow'd that particular scrupulous People among themselves had Power to do so too This Power of subdividing was never pretended to nor practis'd in any other Nation since the Reformation but in England So that though they do all allow the Antiquity and Usefulness of Episcopal Government yet since 't is not Essential to a true Church no more than that of the Presbyterian or Independent nor convenient at this time for all places some may refuse it and yet it does not follow that we in England should do so since 't is convenient for us and more agreeable to the Laws and Constitution of these Kingdoms and comes by much nearer the Practice of the Primitive Churches than any other whatsoever But they say we make Episcopal Government Essential to a true Church for that we will suffer none to execute the Office of a Minister here in England unless they be ordain'd by a Bishop To this I answer 'T is plain we do not make Episcopal Government Essential to a true Church For we allow all the Reform'd Churches to be true Churches and Communicate with them and yet some of them have no Diocesan Bishops 'T is true by the Laws of this Church and Nation none are to be admitted to execute the Office of a Minister in any Cathedral or Parish Church or Chapel nor to hold any Ecclesiastical Benefice within these Kingdoms but such as are willing to submit to the Orders and Government of this Church and the Laws of the Land And therefore since both the Laws of this Church and Nation do require that all Ministers who desire to serve in this Church shall declare publickly that they assent to and approve of our Form of Worship c. and are willing to use the same as the Church appoints and that they shall receive their Ordination and Licence to execute their Office from the Bishops 'T is but reasonable that such as want these Qualifications shou'd be refus'd the Liberty of executing their Office in these Kingdoms * The Church of England does not say absolutely that all those Ministers who want Episcopal Ordination are no true Ministers but only that none shall be accounted a lawful Bishop Priest or Deacon so as to execute their Function in the Church of England unless they be once Ordain'd by a Bishop as appears by the Preface to the Ordination But the reason we refuse them is not so much because that Presbyterian Ordination does not make them true Ministers according to God's Law as though no instance can be given of Ordination without a Bishop in Scripture or Antiquity but all to the contrary because they stubbornly refuse to submit to our Laws and Constitutions and contemn the lawful Authority under which God has plac'd them and commanded them that they should obey And this is evident from the Statute of 14 Car. 2. In which there is a particular Proviso That all Ministers of Foreign reform'd Churches who come into this Kingdom by the King's Permission are to be excepted out of and excus'd from the Penalties of that Act. And this Custom of requiring Conformity and Subscriptions from all who desire to be admitted to the Office of the Ministry is agreeable to the Practice of every settled Church that has been ever since Christ's days as will appear hereafter The 3d. Objection against the Constitution of our Church is That our * By National Churches are meant the whole Churches of such Nations as upon the decay of the Roman Empire resum'd their just Right of Government to themselves both in Church and State National Church which we call The Church of England has no Foundation and wants Discipline All being incroach'd and swallow'd up in the Bishops and the Pastors of every Parish who ought to have full Power to execute every part of it are depriv'd thereof But this is false for the Presbyters in our Church have as great Power in Ecclesiastical Matters as ever they had in the Primitive Church What Power are they depriv'd of by the Bishops that they had then By the Laws of our Church no Rules of Discipline no Articles of Doctrine no Form of Worship can be introduc'd by the Bishops or impos'd upon any without the consent of the whole Presbytery of the Nation in Convocation who appear either in Person or by Proxy The only Authority that the Bishops of the Church of England have above the Presbytes is Government Ordination and Censures which were all appropriated to the Apostles and Bishops in the Primitive Church St. Cyprian assures us it was so in the African Church in his Third Book Ep. 10. 12. 28. 27. And so it was in St. Augustine's Time See Cod. Eccl. Afr. c. 6 7 9 c. But say they the Power of Ordination is taken away from the Presbyters and lodg'd solely in the Bishops and 't is plain say they in the Apostles days the Presbyters did Ordain for Timothy was ordain'd by laying on the hands of the
Presbytery 1 Tim. 4. 14. But Dr. Hammond in his Paraphrase on this Text says That these Presbyters here spoken of who ordain'd Timothy were Apostles That Timothy was ordain'd by St. Paul is most evident for St. Paul in his Second Epistle to Timothy ch 1. v. 6. says I put thee in mind that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hands And the Apostles might then have been likely enough call'd Presbyters for that during the Apostles time Bishops and Presbyters were the same and sometimes us'd the one for the other as appears plainly by comparing 1 Tim. 4. 14. with 2 Tim. 1. 6. In the former Verse St. Paul bids Timothy Neglect not the gift that is in him by laying on the hands of the Presbyters And in the latter he bids him Stir up the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands For while the Apostles liv'd they manag'd the Affairs of Government in the Church themselves and therefore there were few or no Bishops in their days but as they withdrew they committed the Care and Government of Churches to such Persons as they appointed thereto of which we have an uncontroulable Evidence in Timothy and Titus So that although the Apostles left no Successors in Eodem gradu as to those things that were extraordinary in them as the Infallibility of their Doctrine and the writing New Gospels the Extent of their Power c. yet to other parts of their Apostolick Office they had Successors as in Teaching and Governing and such like things that were not extraordinary Which Power of Governing Ordaining c. being given to such particular Presbyters as the Apostles thought fit for it was properly the Episcopal Power And thus these who were but Presbyters in the Apostles days by the accession of this governing and ordaining Power became Bishops after their Decease or Departure And thus will all those seeming Differences between the words Presbyter and Bishop spoken of in Antiquity be reconcil'd And herewith agrees the Opinion of Archbishop Whitgift and Bishop Bilson and Dr. Stillingfleet in his Mischiefs of Separation p. 270. and many others See King Charles I. his Debates about Episcopacy more fully concerning this Matter But 't is plain that since the Apostles days Presbyters were not Bishops but a distinct Order from them And this is agreed by most Ancient and Modern Writers See among others Ignatius his Epistle ad Trall where he says That without Bishops Priests and Deacons it cannot be call'd a Church And Aerius who declar'd that there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter was represented by Epiphanius as a Prodigy and his opinion Madness See Epiph. Haer. 74. n. 1. 3. So Ischyrus pretended to be a Presbyter because Coluthus had ordain'd him but Athanasius represents it as a Monster that one shou'd esteem himself a Presbyter who was ordain'd by one who died himself a Presbyter See Dr. Maur. Defence of Diocesan Episcopacy p. 451. And in the Primitive Church if a Bishop himself did Ordain any one against the Canons and Establish'd Discipline of the Church they did not stick at declaring such Ordination void and in some Cases to re-ordain See Can. Nicen. 9 10. 16. 19. and Can. Antioch 73. 10 c. What Sentence shall we think then they wou'd have pronounc'd against our Presbyterian Ordination as practis'd here in England contrary both to the Canons of the Church and the Laws of the Land too But besides all this the Plea which our Dissenters make for Separation upon this account that the Presbyters are totally depriv'd of their Power of Ordaining is false For by the Canons of the Church of England Four Presbyters are to assist the Bishop in giving Orders and after Examination to joyn in laying on of hands on the Person ordain'd See Can. 31. and 35. But another Objection which they make to the Church of England for want of Discipline is for that the Power of Excommunicating Notorious Offenders is taken away from the Parochial Minister and lodg'd only in the Bishop But sure they who make this Objection never read the 26th Canon which is one of them acknowledg'd to be the Authentick Church Canons For that Canon says expresly That no Minister shall admit any of his Flock to the Lâ—â—d's Supper who is known to be guilty 〈…〉 Scandalous Sin until he hath openl◠〈◊〉 that he has truly repented And 〈◊〉 â—ase the Offender continue obstinate he must give an account to the Ordnary within 14 Days who is then to proceed to greater Excommunication for the other is call'd a Penitential Excommunication So then it seems the Pastors are not totally depriv'd of the Power of censuring for Scandalous offences nay they have a greater and more absolute Power than is allow'd them in many other Reform'd Churches for indeed the exercise of Discipline is a Work of so much Prudence and Difficulty that the greatest Zealots for it have not thought fit to trust it in the Hands of every Parochial Minister and his particular Congregation Calvin himself says to do so is contrary to the Apostolick Practice See Calv. Ep. 136. And Beza speaking of the Discipline of Geneva in his Ep. 20. says The Parochial Ministers proceed no farther than Admonition but in case of Contumacy they certifie the Presbytery of the City who sit at certain times to hear all Censures relating to Discipline But allowing a Church wants true Discipline does it therefore lose its Being or justifie Separatio◠〈…〉 sure if so there were few 〈◊〉 Churches to be found in the 〈◊〉 many of them having no Discipâ—â—â—â— aâ— all among them for many years nor so much as the Lord's Supper administred in some parts of this Kingdom for ten or a dozen years together But now we come to the 4th Objection against the Constitution of our Church which is That the People are depriv'd of their right of choosing their own Ministers Pray let me ask them how this Original and inherent Right as Mr. Baxter calls it of choosing their own Ministers came to be lodg'd in the People Was there not a Church to be form'd in the beginning Did not Christ appoint Apostles and give them Authority for that end Where was the Church Power then lodg'd Was it not in the Apostles Did not they in all places as they planted Churches appoint Officers to teach and govern them And were not then the Pastors invested with a Power superior to that of the People How came they then to lose it â—or how came the People to pretend an original Right thereto Besides How cou'd the People make choice of Men for their fitness and abilities when at that time their abilities depen◠〈…〉 on the Apostles laying on of 〈◊〉 â—ands for then the Holy Ghost 〈…〉 them It seems then that this 〈◊〉 and inherent Right was not in the People in the Apostles days nor in the first Ages of the Church for if it had St.
Clement St. Cyprian St. Chrysostom c. could not have been ignorant of it St. Clement says in his Ep. 54 55 56 57. the Apostles thought fit to reserve this Power of appointing Officers in the Church to themselves to prevent the Contentions that might happen about it And that all the People had to do was to give testimony of the Person chosen And to that end 't is true the People were to be present at the nomination of a new Bishop for since they were to be Men blameless and of good report 't was but fit that the People that best knew his Life and Conversation should be present to testify the same And herewith agrees St. Cyprian Ep. 68. whom Mr. Baxter vouches for the contrary says he The Bishop shou'd be chosen in the presence of the People that by their presence their Faults may be publish'd or their good Actions commended but says not a word of the Peoples Power of Electing him All our Ordinations must be done in the publick view of the People who are demanded of the Bishop whether any of them can or will except against the Persons to be admitted See the Form of Ordination in the Book of Common Prayer As to the Elections of Deacons 't is to be noted that 't was properly no Church Power which they had but they were Stewards of the Common Stock and therefore 't was but reasonable the Community should be satisfied in the choice of them St. Chrysostom in his Book de Sacerdotio complains much of the unfitness of the People to judge in such matters So does St. Augustine Ep. 110. And indeed were there no other Reasons against the Peoples choosing their own Ministers but the mischiefs that would necessarily attend it 't were sufficient for when ever the People assum'd this Power of choosing it caus'd so great Disturbances in the Church that at Antioch the Divisions of the People about the choice of a Bishop in the time of Constantine had kindled such a Flame as had almost destroy'd both Church and City The like at Rome upon the choice of Damascus And if the People have the Power of choosing their own Ministers what shou'd hinder but there may be a Presbyterian Independant Anabaptist Quaker and Papist teacher all in one Parish and so this would set open a door to infinite Divisions And therefore to avoid the great Evils and inconveniences of popular Elections the Power of choosing their own Ministers was taken away from the People by several Councils as 12. and 13. Can. Conc. Laodicea Conc. Antioch c. 18. c. Conc. 2 d. of Nice c. 3. The Reason that first gave Lay-men a title to the nomination of Ministers was when Christian Princes and others had given large Endowments to the Church 't was thought but just that they should have the nomination of the Ministers for those Churches that they had built and indow'd And this was a Prerogative in the Kings of England ever since the first foundation of a Christian Church here and long before any freedom of Elections was pretended to See Stat. 25. Edw. 3. and the Case of the King 's Ecclesiastical Power in Lord Cook 's 8 th Rep. and the Case of Praemunire in Sir John Davenant's Reports Case ult And this title of Patronage has been confirmed to Lay-men by several Councils as 1 st Coun. of Orange Anno Dom. 441. 2 d. Counc of Arles Anno 452. 9 th Counc of Toledo c. And this Right of presentation is not only us'd in England but in other reform'd Churches In Denmark the Archbishops and Bishops are appointed by the King so they are in Swedeland So in other Lutheran Churches the Superintendants are appointed by the several Princes and the Patrons present before Ordination The Synod of Dort hath a Salvo for the right of Patronage In France the Ministers are chosen by Ministers at Geneva by the Council of State who have Power likewise to depose them And Beza in his Ep. 83. declares against the Peoples choosing their Ministers as a thing without any ground in Scripture Grotius Ep. ad Boatslaer Ep. 62. p. 21. agrees herein How comes then our English Dissenters to make this a ground of Separation to wit The depriving the People of their Right of choosing their own Ministers when 't is evident they never had any such Right but when they got it by Usurpation And 't is contrary to the general practice of the Church in all Ages and even to the practice of other reform'd Churches at this day But besides the unwarrantableness of the Peoples choosing their Ministers and the great mischiefs that attend it by making the People run into Divisions and Factions 't is a thing very unreasonable in it self that such an ignorant proud unpeaceable sort of People as Mr. Baxter himself confesses in his Sacrilegiae Dissert p. 102. c. the ordinary sort of Christians to be should be made judges of their Ministers abilities and soundness of Doctrines who are most apt to revile the best and gravest Ministers as the same Mr. Baxter says himself in his Cure of Divis p. 393. Sure 't is more likely that the King and Parliament and the Governours of the Church shou'd provide able and fit Ministers for us than such sort of People as these unless any will be so ridiculous as to suppose that the Magistrates and Clergy are all bad men and the ignorant common People the only incouragers of Vertue They may say 't is as unreasonable on the other hand that all the People of a Parish shou'd be oblig'd to take a Minister put into the Cure by some young raw extravagant Heir that had the good Fortune to be born to an Estate to which the Advowson did belong but perhaps is as ignorant and unfit to judge of the abilities of a Minister as the meanest in the Parish To this I answer That though such ignorant Persons may sometimes have the right of Presentation yet they have not the Power of putting into the Cure any Minister they please for the Patron has only the right of presenting his Clerk who must be admitted and instituted by the Bishop before the Cure is said to be full and if the Bishop with the rest of his Clergy after examination had c. do think him any way unqualified for the Cure of Souls he may reject him and put the Patron to present another qualify'd for the Office which if he neglect to do within six Months from the time the Church became void he shall lose his presentation for that turn and the Bishop shall present So that the Patron it seems cannot put whom he will on the People for their Pastor but is bound to find Personam idoneam a fit Person And now before we pass from this matter let us see whether the Civil Magistrate has Power to silence Ministers or not Doubtless he has otherwise 't is impossible that any Kingdom should be safe for since the
generality of the People are so apt to be led by their Spiritual Guides and take their Notions of Loyalty and Obedience from them 't is strange to imagine that Ministers shall be allow'd to Preach up Sedition Heresy or what Doctrine they please and it shall not be in the Power of the Magistrate to silence them But say our Dissenters we are call'd to the Office of the Ministry by God Almighty and have received our Commission to Preach the Gospel from him and therefore must not neglect to discharge our Duty in Obedience to any Power upon Earth for we must obey God rather than man But first I hope they will grant that when God Almighty gave them this Commission he did not limit it to any certain place but 't was general to Preach the Word to all Nations so that in obedience to God's Command doubtless they ought to go and Preach in those Countries where their Preaching is most wanted and will do God most service There are many Countries in the World that know nothing of Christianity and many that do have not able Ministers enough to serve their turn sure these Men that think themselves bound in Conscience to Preach wou'd much better discharge their Consciences by going into those Countries and Preaching to those poor People that are in so great want of it Christ sent his Disciples to Preach to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel The Apostles who doubtless had as universal a Commission to Preach they never went to abide in those Cities or Places where sound Teachers were settled before but they chose to go into those parts where Christianity was least known and their Preaching would do most good Why will not our Non-conformist Ministers follow their example Several of our foreign Plantations want able Ministers among them they want Universities and famous Schools to breed them in and therefore must needs be but poorly supplied If they would leave this Nation and go and Preach there 't would convince the World that they design'd nothing but God's Glory and the discharge of their own Consciences in desiring to Preach but since they do not 't is evident whatever their pretences may be that 't is self-interest and their own conveniency that makes them desire the liberty of Preaching in these Nations What have they to say to this Indeed the best of them give but a very unsatisfactory Answer hereto Mr. Baxter in his Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet says The Reason why they do not go to Preach among the Indians is because they cannot speak their Language and because many of them have Wives and Families which they cannot leave But for his own part he says if he were but young enough he would not trouble this censorious persecuting part of the World any longer Mr. Baxter has not been always old he was young enough when first he began to write against the Church of England Why did he not go when first he was prohibited to Preach here if he had perhaps our Divisions about Matters of Religion had been much narrower than now they are and a reconciliation much more easy between us As for their not speaking the Language there are many of the New Plantations in America c. that understand English and Latin and want able diligent Pastors among them And as to all their other Reasons for not going the leaving their Families c. they may carry them with them but surely no Reasons of this kind can come in competition with the great Advantage of propagating the Gospel of Christ and the Peace and Quiet of three Kingdoms But again They say God has commanded them to preach the Gospel and they must obey God rather than Man So God has also commanded them to obey their Governours and Magistrates and to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church and Nation in which they live Now since they must of necessity break one of these Commands by staying at home and preaching in separate Meetings and may perform both by going to preach beyond Seas certainly the best and safest way must be to doe the latter And if God Almighty has given them commission to preach as they say I am sure he has given them commission no where to disturb the Peace and Settlement of a Christian Church and State especially a true Church He bid them go and preach the Word and teach all Nations but we all know that the greatest Part of the World was then unconverted and had no Christian Teachers and Ministers orderly settled among them so that those whom Christ then sent could have come no where amiss every one of them was to make as many Converts as he could there being no limits put how far their particular Charge should extend and no farther but soon after even in the Apostles days when particular distinct Churches were gather'd and committed to the Care of particular Persons I suppose none of our Dissenters will say That any Ministers by virtue of their general Commission to teach all Nations might have come into another Pastor's Congregation or Parish and preach in a separate Meeting without Licence and draw as many People from their lawful Pastour to whose Care they were particularly committed as they could No they who did so were often condemn'd by St. Paul as appears in many of his Epistles And this is the very Case of the Church of England with relation to our present Dissenters Allowing their Commission to preach be as full as they pretend to yet it gives them no Authority to invade other mens Rights or to draw away the People from their lawful Ministers And especially since if they please they may exercise their Office in other places and do no Man wrong The Apostles had as full a Commission to preach as any of our Dissenters can pretend to and something more extraordinary and yet we don't find that they thought themselves oblig'd to preach directly in opposition to the civil Magistrate though a Heathen 'T is true for the first 300 years Christianity had not generally the Laws to countenance and defend it as now it has So that the Apostles and Fathers of the Church could not have the Command or Authority of the civil Magistrate for what they did yet they had his connivance and never preached directly in opposition to his positive command St. Paul says Acts 14. 12. They neither found me in the Temple disputing with any man neither raising up the people neither in the Synagogues nor in the City And again Acts 15. 8. Neither against the Law of the Jews neither against the Temple nor yet against Caesar have I offended any thing at all So it seems the practice of the Apostles was to preach the Gospel where they came so long as they were tolerated or conniv'd at by the Government But as soon as they were prohibited by the Magistrate they left that City or Place and went to the next but thought it no ways their Duty to oppose
is setting up new parts of Worship as our Dissenters seem to do when they charge us with setting up new parts of Worship and making the Scriptures insufficient Adoration we all agree is a substantial and proper act of Divine Worship but whether this Adoration is perform'd by prostration or by bowing or by kneeling is a Circumstance in it self indifferent And therefore they who differ in these Circumstances do not differ in the act of Worship but in the manner See the Harmony of Confessions where you will find what the Opinions of other Reformed Churches are concerning the Lawfulness and Usefulness of Ceremonies The latter Helvetian Confession saith That there are different Rites and Ceremonies found in the Churches let no Man judge hereby that the Churches dissent And the Confession of Bohemia hath Wherefore those Rites and those good Ceremonies ought only to be kept which among the People of Christ do Edifie therefore whether they be extent or brought in by the Bishops or by the Councils Ecclesiastical or by other Authors whatsoever the simpler sort are not to trouble themselves about that but must use them to that which is good And a little after Although our Men do not equally observe all Ceremonies with other Churches which is not a thing necessary to be done yet are they not so minded as to move any Dissentions for the cause of Ceremonies although they be not judged to be altogether necessary so that they be not found contrary to God's Word And the Augustine Confession has Some Men then may ask whether we would have this life of Man to be without Order without Ceremonies In no wise But we teach That the true Pastors in their Churches may Ordain Publick Rites or Ceremonies And Beza in his 24th Epist agrees herein as has been said before And Calvin in his Book of the True way of Reformation Ch. 16. says He would not contend about Ceremonies not only those which are for decency but those which are Symbolical Let all thing s be done decently and in order says the Scripture And St. Paul tell us 1 Cor. 14. 33. God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all the Churches of the Saints But to come home to our Dissenters Mr. Baxter in his Poor Man's Family Book p. 337. speaking of our publick Worship in our Parish Churches says In all the lawful Orders Gestures and Manners of behaviour in God's Worship affect not to differ from the rest but conform your self to the use of the Church for in the Church singularity is a Discord c. See Vines on the Sacrament to the same purpose p. 39. and many more Instances of this kind might be given but what has been said is sufficient to shew that such Ceremonies as serve for Order or Edification and are not directly contrary to God's Law are to be used according to the Opinion of all the Reformed Churches and most Eminent Men both at home and abroad Now How shall we know what Ceremonies are lawful and what not It is to be noted That the nature of Ceremonies is to be taken from the Doctrine which goes along with it and may be lawful and not lawful as that is If a Ceremony be made a substantial part of God's Worship and unalterable or be suppos'd so necessary as that the doing of it would be a thing meritorious or pleasing to God and the not doing of it sinful tho' there were no human Law which requir'd the doing of it Then it becomes sinful because it makes the Scriptures insufficient And this it was that made the Jewish Ceremony of washing before Meat sinful And so it is in many of the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome But when Ceremonies are injoin'd for the sake of Order and Uniformity in God's Worship according to the general Rules of the Scripture and to prevent the great Mischiefs which we should inevitably fall into if every Pastor and People were suffered to follow their several different judgments in the manner of God's Worship then they are lawful and good But say they If these Ceremonies do not bind the Consciences of Men Why does the Discipline and Censures of the Church force Men to use them I answer The Church does not oblige Men to the observance of these Ceremonies as things that bind the Conscience or which are necessary to be done or not done in themselves but the Reason why Men are forced to observe them and punish'd if they refuse is because they are appointed by the Church and disobedience to the Laws of Church or State made not contrary to the Law of God is sinful Rom. 13. 5. and 2. And for this they are punish'd and also for disturbing the publick Peace And thus we justify our bowing at the name of Jesus at seasonable times and all our Ceremonies since the Church has appointed them we ought to obey unless we can prove them to be sinful which no Man can do so long as the Worship is directed to a true Object to wit the Person of Christ As for the Ceremony of Bowing towards the Altar Note the Canon that appointed it did not oblige any to the observance of it but left them to their liberty As to the posture appointed by the Church of England for receiving the Lord's Supper to wit Kneeling 'T is a Circumstance which may be varied according to the Discretion of the Church In the Primitive Church it was always taken in the posture of Adoration which posture varied according to the Customs of Countries Now Kneeling being the posture of Adoration in these Kingdoms the Church of England has therefore appointed that it be taken kneeling And indeed 't is but very reasonable that so Sacred an Ordinance and so great a Benefit should be received in the most thankful and humble posture that may be and that surely is on our Knees which is also the fittest posture for those high strains of Devotion with which so Sacred a Work ought to be attended at the very instant of taking it The only Objection that I know is made against this posture of Kneeling at the Sacrament is because it is Idolatrous and contrary to Christ's own Practice 'T is strange that they will make us and the greatest part of the Reform'd Churches all Idolaters whether we will or no Does not our Book of Common Prayer at the end of the Communion Service tell them as plain as words can express it That we pay no Adoration to any thing in the Sacrament but Christ himself which is in Heaven and yet will they make us Idolaters for all this Has any of them ever writ so strong against Idolizing the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as our Divines of the Church of England have done And yet will they perswade us we are Idolaters They may as well believe that we Worship the Stones in the Church-Walls when we kneel down to Pray in them And truly I
fear many of them do so which makes them use that posture so seldom in their publick Meetings For you shall seldom see in any of their Meetings scarce one of the whole Congregation on their Knees not even at repeating the Lord's Prayer if it happen to be said which is not often Their usual postures of Praying in their publick Congregations are either standing or lolling on their Elbows And at the Reading of the Holy Scriptures nay even of the Psalms themselves tho' they are the very highest strains of Devotion you shall see them all sitting on their Breeches and many of them with their Hats on But pray How comes the posture of sitting to be the only fit posture for receiving the Lord's Supper Was that the posture Christ us'd No if we will believe most learned Men they will tell us Christ gave it leaning which perhaps he might have done on purpose to let us see that he did not require any one set posture for leaning is a mean as it were between kneeling and standing and seems to incline equally to both Why do they not take it leaning as Christ did and after Supper and in an upper Room Why do they not observe all these Circumstances If one may be dispens'd with without sin Why not another If they will not be so civil as to Conform to the Church of England Why will they not follow the Example of other Reformed Churches the Churches of France and most of the Reformed Churches take it either standing or kneeling as being postures of Adoration But because they do our English Dissenters will take it in no other posture but that which is most irreverent and farthest from Adoration in the World to wit sitting on their Breeches 'T is a Feast say they and therefore sitting being a posture of ease is most suitable to it We own 't is a Feast but not a common but Spiritual Feast and therefore we ought to take it not in the posture we use at our common Tables but in a more decent and reverent Posture To conclude this Point I shall give you the words of one of the most Eminent of the Non-conformist Preachers in this Matter Vines in his Book on the Sacrament p. 39. says 'T is no corruption to vary in occasional Circumstances in administring the Lord's Supper such as time and place and posture c. Mr. Baxter has several times declar'd the same and so has most of the Non-conformist Ministers And herewith agrees Hooker in his Eccles Polity lib. 5. p. 366. As to the Sign of the Cross in Baptism 'T is us'd only as a Solemn Rite or Ceremony of admission into the Church of England as 't is usual in admissions into Societies to use some particular Ceremonies Therefore as Baptism besides its Sacramental Efficacy is a Rite of admission into Christ's Catholick Church so the Sign of the Cross is into our Church of England We do not use it as 't is used in the Church of Rome for they use it as a dedicative Sign to God we only as a Token or declarative Sign to Men they use it before Baptism and make it part of it we after and make it no part of Baptism but allow the Baptism to be good without it and it to be omitted in Private Baptism if it be scrupled If it be said that since these Ceremonies are allowed to be things indifferent in themselves by the Church of England and are scrupled by the Dissenters why will the Church of England impose them I answer First 't is not fit nor convenient that such things as are thought necessary by the Governours of a Church to preserve the Order and Unity of it should be cast aside to humour some over scrupulous and restless Minds and who 't is like would not be satisfied were that granted Secondly It is more safe for the Church of England to follow the Example of the greatest part of the Reformed Churches which do allow and practise them than such a handful of People as the Dissenters of England c. And Thirdly There were as insignificant Ceremonies injoyn'd by the Apostles themselves as any of ours are now notwithstanding some Men's scruples concerning them as the Love Feasts and Holy Kiss c. till abolish'd by general consent And the Assembly of their own Divines at Westminster tell us The Apostles say they notwithstanding the difference of Men's Judgments did prescribe Rules of Vniformity See Papers for Accomodation p. 111. The next great Objection which the Dissenters make to the terms of our Communion is For that we tie up our Ministers to prescribed Forms of Prayer which is a stinting of the Spirit and hinders them from exercising their Gifts and is contrary to Scripture and the practice of the Primitive Church The Arguments which they commonly use against written Forms of Prayer are First They say that nothing but the Canonical Scripture and the lively Voice of God's Graces which they call Preaching and Extempore Prayer are to be brought into the Publick Worship of God and nothing that is Humane because subject to Infirmities and Errors But if so then must we exclude not only all written Prayers but the whole Bible too unless in the Original Tongue for all Translations of it are Humane and subject to Errors And also the Prayers and Preaching of the Pastors must be excluded for the Errors in the Sermons and Prayers of the Pastors cannot be said to be the lively Voices of God's own Graces And the Psalms in Metre must be also excluded Another Argument is That we must not make use of any outward helps in the action of Prayer for the Spirit they say helpeth our Infirmities and therefore written Forms and all other outward helps are sinful But let me ask them whether the Voice of another that Prayeth or Fasting or the lifting up of the Hands and Eyes 1 Tim. 2. 8. or Kneeling be Prayer it self or only outward helps to Prayer to make it more fervent Sure they are outward helps only and yet they are used in the very action of Prayer Again they say Reading a Prayer cannot be Praying for Prayer is the pouring forth Supplications to God the other a receiving in of such things as we Read But when one hears a Prayer pronounced by another his hearing does receive it into his Soul but yet at the same instant he doth power it forth as a Prayer to God Why then may not this be done as well when 't is read as when 't is pronounced by another But then they tell us That all Forms of Prayer are a stinting of the Spirit If so Why will they hear the Extempore Prayer of another Man is not this as much a Form of Prayer to all the Hearers as any written Form can be Doubtless it is How comes it then that the Spirit of the Hearers is not as much stinted when they joyn in this Form as if they had joyn'd in a written Form But since our
the People answer'd We lift them up unto the Lord. See Cypr. de Orat. Dom. § 22. See more for this interchangable way of praying between Priest and People B. Bils of Christian Subjection part 4. p. 435. In the same Century Origen says They who served God through Jesus in the Christian way use frequently night and day the injoined Prayers See Orig. in Cels l. 6. p. 302. And St. Basil in his Book de Spirit Sanct. c. 29. p. 221. tells us That Gregory Thaumaturgus who was his Predecessor in the Bishoprick of Neocaesarea and cotemporary with St. Cyprian composed a Liturgy and appointed Ceremonies for that Church And that too in an age when miraculous Gifts lasted In the beginning of the fourth Century Ann. Dom. 312. the first Christian Emperor Constantine as Eusebius tells us in his Life of Constantine lib. 4. c. 17. p. 395. order'd his Palace after the manner of a Church and would take the Books himself into his hands either for explaining the Holy Scripture or repeating the prescrib'd Prayers in his Royal Family In the same Century Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria shews us that the Priests and People pray'd by way of Responses in that Church for in his Epist to Solitar p. 239. he says The People mourned and groaned to God in the Church all of them crying to the Lord and saying Spare thy People good Lord spare them c. By which it seems the Church did not think it enough then for the People to say Amen but appointed them distinct and intelligent answers In the same Century the Council of Laodicea Can. 15. Bev. Tom. 1. p. 459. appointed Canonical Singers who sang out of Books and none but they were allow'd to begin the Hymns And the same Council Can. 18. Bev. Tom. 1. p. 461. Ordained that the very same Liturgy of Prayers should be used always both at three in the Afternoon and in the Evening And now because this Council is so plain evidence against the Dissenters that they have no way to answer it they fly again to their last refuge which is to deny the Authority of this Council for they say this Council of Laodicea was but a Provincial Synod or Council But tho' we grant 't was no more but a Provincial Synod yet I hope a Provincial Council of Orthodox Bishops were Good Authority But besides this very Canon concerning Liturgies was taken into the Code of the universal Church and confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon which was a general Council And that they us'd Forms of Prayer and Responses and Alternate way of Singing in the African Church appears by St. Cyprian before And by Optatus Melevianus l. 2. p. 47. for there he blames the Donatists for shutting the mouth of all the People and forcing them to be silent See also St. Augustine de Eccles Dog c. 30. Tom. 3. p. 46. Many more Instances and Authorities may be given to the same purpose as St. Basil Ep. 63. p. 843. and Ep. 68. p. 856. where he says That a Prayer wherein there are not conjoin'd voices is not half so strong as otherwise it would be Conc. Carthag Can. 106. Bev. Tom. 1. p. 640. But I will referr the Reader to Dr. Comber of Liturgies and Dr. Falkner his Defence of Liturgles Our Dissenters object against our alternate way of praying as in our Litany where the Priest says half the Sentence and the People the rest for that neither Priest nor People speak a complete Sentence and therefore our Prayer is imperfect and we do but mock God But by what has been said it appears that this praying by way of Responses was us'd in the purest Ages of the Church and by the Holiest Men. But pray Why may not the words make as perfect a Prayer when they are pronounced by two Mouths as when only by one Prayer is not the pronouncing of words but the joining the desire and consent thereto and this they may do as well when they are pronounced by several Mouths as by one They may as well say That when a Tune is play'd by a Consort of Musick and the Trebles rest and let the Tenors and Bases go on as sometimes they do that the Tune is not a compleat and perfect Tune for if you take either part singly it is not but altogether it is too great Advantage The Advantage of this way of Praying by Responses is That we can give our hearty Consent to each Petition after a more lively manner than by barely saying Amen And also by our frequent answering of whole Sentences our Fancies are the more stirr'd up and enliven'd by shaking off that dulness and drowsiness that otherwise would be apt to seize upon our Spirits in barely listening to one long continued Prayer And in the Primitive Church they had certain Prayers for certain Times and Occasions as Easter-Eve c. See Leo in Vit. Chrysost Tom. 8. p. 288. c. Thus much for the practice of the Primitive Church Now let us come a little nearer our own time and see what the Opinion of other Reformed Churches is concerning prescrib'd Forms of Prayers and Liturgies and this we do the rather because the Dissenters are perpetually calling upon us to reform our selves to the example of other Reform'd Churches Tho' I think under favour we of England have no more reason to follow the pattern of other Nations as to the Reforming and Governing of our Church than we have to do so in Matters of State since we have as absolute and independent Power of Reforming our selves as any of them and God be thank'd as able and godly Ministers both in Church and State to direct us therein They may as well quarrel with us because we do not depose our King and reduce our Government from that of a limited and mixt Monarchy to a Common-wealth like that of Geneva But since they insist so must upon this I will make it appear that the Church of England comes nearer to the judgment and practice of all the Reformed Churches in using prescribed Forms of Prayer than the Dissenters do in rejecting them I will begin with the Lutheran Churches which I shew'd before are acknowledged to be true Churches and which far exceed in number the Churches that follow Calvin's method Luther himself compos'd a Form of Common-Prayer for the Church of Wittemburg taken out of the Mass Book See Luther's Epist Tom. 2. p. 384. And all the Churches of his Communion at this day do use a Liturgy containing Collects Epistles Gospels for every Sunday Prayers and Litanies together with all other parts of Ecclesiastical Ministration as our Common-Prayer Book does and which agrees with ours almost verbatim especially in the Litany And these are impos'd on the Churches as particularly the Churches of Denmark and the Churches in Upper Hungary which are all Lutheran And the Lutheran Churches do chant their publick Prayers as we do in our Cathedrals And they observe Holy Days See all this proved at large
from their own writers by Dr. Comber his Defence of Liturgies 2 d. Part p. 305 c. Next for the Churches of Poland and Lithuania in 2 Synods held there Ann. Dom. 1633. and 1634. one certain Liturgy is injoin'd to be us'd in all those Dominions Certain prescrib'd Liturgies are also us'd in Transilvania Hungary Bohemia c. See at large Dr. Comb. ubi Supra and Monsieur Durell his View of the Government and publick Worship of God in the Reformed Churches beyond Seas Printed London 1662. Now for the Churches Reform'd by Calvin and others as Geneva France Helvetia Holland c. Calvin compos'd a Form of Divine Service which is us'd in the Church of Geneva and those of France at this day and their Ministers are bound to use them And see Calvin's Letter to the Protector of England during the Minority of King Ed. 6. the Protector at that time when the Common-Prayer Book was to be settled by Act of Parliament thought fit first to Advice with so Eminent a Man as Calvin was about it He writes to Calvin to know his Opinion therein Calvin returns him this answer For so much as concerns the Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites I much approve that they be determined so that it may not be lawful for the Ministers to vary from it that it may be a help to the weakness of some That it may be a Testimony of the Churches consent And that it may put a stop to the levity of such as are for new things See Calv. Ep. p. 165. Ep. 87. to the Protector And see his Letter to Cox a Church of England Divine upon his Arrival at Franckford among his Epistles 164 165. See Beza his Approbation of Forms of Prayer Tom. 2. p. 229. In the French Church Mornay Lord Du-Plessis in his Book of the Mass allows of the Use and Antiquity of prescribed Forms See at large Dr. Comber of Liturgies 2d Part p. 313. And see there the famous Monsieur Daille agreeing herewith In the Church of Helvetia Bullinger tells us they used prescribed Forms keep Fasts and Holy-Days c. Bulling Decod 2. Serm. 1. p. 38. The Churches of Holland use Forms of Prayer for Baptism the Lord's Supper and all occasional Offices and also Liturgies c. which are all put into a Book of Common-Prayer And even in Scotland they have had a Common-Prayer Book for there are some of them now extant which were Printed Ann. 1594. supposed to be writ by Mr. Knox for the use of the Kirk of Scotland See the latter end of Dr. Comber his Defence of Liturgies 2d Part. And the Leyden Professors say That Forms of Prayer are not only lawful but very advantageous because every Christian cannot fitly conceive new Prayers and the attention of Auditors are not a little help'd in great assemblies by usual Forms See Dr. Falkner his Libertas Ecclesiastica p. 121. Thus much for Forms of Prayer in general But some perhaps may object against our Common-Prayer in particular To clear that I think 't were sufficient to tell them that it has been approv'd of by all the learned and godly Divines of the Church of England ever since the Reformation and confirm'd by several Parliaments And it cannot reasonably be suppos'd that God Almighty shou'd conceal his will from the greatest number of the most learned pious and judicious People of a Nation notwithstanding their frequent Prayers to God that he would direct them and their great Care and Study which they take to come to the knowledge of the truth and reveal it only to a few and those of the rawer injudicious sort who have had least time and study and means to come to greater Knowledge such as our Dissenters generally are This alone were sufficient to recommend our particular Common-Prayer But since our Dissenters will not allow so many several Parliaments and so many Successions of Learned Divines to be competent judges in this matter we are willing to stand to the judgment of our Neighbour Churches of the Reformed Religion concerning our Common-Prayer and the other Matters in controversy between us In King Edward 6th his days Archbishop Cranmer did request the famous Bucer to peruse the whole Book of Common-Prayer in order to his censuring what he thought was to be amended Bucer accordingly did so and declares his judgment of it thus In the prescript Form for the Communion and the daily Prayers I see nothing written in this Book which is not taken out of the Word of God if not in express words as the Psalms and Lessons yet in sence as the Collects And also the order of these Lessons and Prayers and the time when they are to be used are very agreeable to the Word of God and the Practice of the ancient Church See Bucer's Censure upon the Book of Common-Prayer c. 1. p. 457. And note this was before the Common-Prayer was amended as now it is Some things 't is true Bucer did wish to be amended which has been since done and most of them according to his Advice there Next the Archbishop of Spalato in his Book against Suarez p. 340. says That the English Liturgy contains nothing in it which is not Holy which is not Pious and truly Christian as well as Catholick Causabon in his Epistle to King James the first affirms the same And says farther That none at this day comes nearer the Form of the Ancient Church following a middle way between those who have offended both in excess and defect The next Authority for us is the learned Grotius who 't is certain had no Obligation to the Church of England but rather the contrary He says I am sure the English Liturgy the Rite of laying on of Hands on Children in memory of Baptism the Authority of Bishops of Synods consiting of none but the Clergy c. do sufficiently agree to the Orders of the Ancient Church from which we cannot deny but we have departed both in France and Holland See Grotius ad Boatslaer Ep. 62. p. 21. The next is the famous Lud. Capellus who was a famous French Divine of the Reformed Church and Divinity Professor in a famous Protestant University This Man lived to hear of our Independent Sect in England and writ most Learnedly against ' em Says he When miraculous Gifts ceased there was a necessity for Liturgies which were used in the First IV. Ages uncorrupted but afterwards Corruptions were introduced by the following Popes But upon the Reformation the Liturgy was purged from all its Corruptions and has been happily used in the several Reform'd Churches and with good success until very lately says he there arose a sort of morose scrupulous not to say downright superstitious Men who for many trifling Reasons of no moment not only dislike the Liturgy hitherto used in that Church but would have both it and the whole Order of Bishops to be utterly abolished in place whereof they would substitute that which they call their Directory c. and
in the Case of Sutton's Hospital Co. Rep. 10. fol. 32. a. So their Commission to Preach does not necessarily draw with it People to be preached to but only warrants their Preaching where 't is really wanted and when they can have People to Preach to without injuring others or disturbing the Peace of a settled true Christian Church But to say no more in a matter so clear I have already shew'd that there lies no Obligation upon any Non-Conformist Minister to Preach in England and consequently there can be no necessity for the People to hear them The Oaths and Subscriptions are required only of the Clergy and is no more than what other Reformed Churches require of all theirs By the Constitution of the French Church every Minister that will not subscribe to the Orders among them is to be declared a Schismatick And by the Constitution of Geneva any Minister that contemns the Authority of their Church or by his obstinacy disturbs the Order of it shall be first summon'd before the Magistrate and if that will not do he shall be Excommunicated but no Separation allow'd And Calvin says Ep. Olevian pag. 311 122 Let him that will not submit to the Orders of a Society be cast out Our Dissenters themselves did oblige all to Swear Solemnly to their Covenant under pain of Sequestration But say the Dissenters What if the Church of England Excommunicates us may we not then lawfully Separate and set up Meetings of our own I Answer 't is true the Laws of the Church do say that in some cases Men are Excommunicated ipso facto yet this does not oblige any to separate from Communion till Sentence be duly and judicially pronounced in a Church For by the Civil Law notwithstanding Excommunication ipso facto a Declaratory Sentence of the Judge is necessary before a Man shall be deny'd the benefit of Communion And the saying a Man is Excommunicated ipso facto signifies no more than that the Judge may give Sentence without any new judicial Process But though our Dissenters were actually Excommunicated for their Disobedience this would not excuse them from Schism as Dr. Stillingfleet has proved at large Misch of Separ p. 370. Thus I have shew'd that none of those Pleas which are commonly used by the Dissenters for their Separation from us are sufficient to justifie Separation from a True Church Now if I can prove That the Church of England is a True Reform'd Church they must either Renounce their Principles of Separation or their Reason The only Argument I shall here make use of to prove that the Church of England is a True Reform'd Church is That it is so acknowledged by all the Reform'd Churches in the World who do all own her as a Sister and also by the most Eminent of our own Dissenters themselves All the Reform'd Churches beyond Seas do own the Church of England as a True Reform'd Church and yet they know what her Faults be in her Assemblies in her Worship in her Ministry and Government And this appears by the Harmony of Confessions of the Churches Collected and set forth by the Churches of France and of the Low-Countries They do receive and approve of the Confession of the Church of England and call it one of the True Reform'd Churches Calvin has acknowledged the same in his writings against the Brownists and condemns them for Schismaticks for separating from it See his Instit lib. 4. c. 1. And the famous Causabon in his Epistle to King James I. declares plainly That none at this day comes nearer the form of the Ancient Church than the Church of England does Grotius ad Boatslaer Ep. 62. acknowledges the same To which I shall add the Opinion of Two of the most Eminent Reform'd Divines at this day beyond Seas The one is Monsieur L' Moyn Professor of Divinity at Leyden in his Letter to the Bishop of London Anno Dom. 1680. who wrote to him to know his Judgment concerning our present Divisions in England L' Moyn writes him a long Letter which you may see at large at the latter end of Dr. Stillingfleet 's Mischief of Separation I shall only repeat some of it Where was it ever seen says he after he had been highly condemning our Dissenters for Separation that the Salvation of Men was concern'd for Articles of Discipline and things which regard but the out-side and Order of the Church Truly these are never accounted in the number of essential Truths And as there is nothing but these that can save so there is nothing but these that can exclude from Salvation For the Episcopal Government what is there in it that is dangerous and may reasonably alarm Men's Consciences And if this be capable of depriving Men of Eternal Glory and shutting the Gates of Heaven who was there that entred there for the space of 1500. Years since that for all that time all the Churches of the World had no other kind of Government If it were contrary to the Truth is it credible that God had so highly approved it and permitted his Church to be tyrannized over by it for so many Hundred Years c. Therefore since all the Reformed Churches do look upon the Church of England not only as a Sister but as an elder Sister how comes it to pass that some English-men themselves have so ill an Opinion of her at present as to separate rashly from her For to speak the Truth I do not see their separate Meetings are of any great use or that one may be more Comforted there than in the Episcopal Churches When I was at London almost Five Years ago I went to several of their Meetings to see what way they took for the Instruction of their Hearers but I profess I was not at all Edified by it I heard one of the most famous Non-Conformists he Preached in a place where there were about Fourscore Women and a few Men He had chosen a Text about the Building up the Ruines of Jerusalem and for Explication of it he cited Pliny and Vitruvius I believe an Hundred times And did not forget to mention a Proverb in Italian Duro con duro non fa muro All this seem'd to me nothing to the purpose and very improper for his Auditory To Cantonize themselves and make a Schism to have the liberty to vent such Vanities seems very ill Conduct And the People seem very weak to quit their mutual Assemblies for things that so little deserve their esteem and preference I do not think that any one is obliged to suffer such Irregularity c. The other Authority I promised to cite is Monsieur Claud to whom the Bishop of London wrote about the same time desiring his Opinion as aforesaid Monsieur Claud returns him this answer All Reform'd Churches do acknowledge the Church of England as a true Church and I shall not be afraid to give that name to the holding of Assemblies apart and separating from the publick Assemblies and
to the Doctrine of this Church are in a safe and ready way to Heaven But 't is a difficult Matter for Men to forsake what they have been all their lives accustomed to they cannot believe that Separation is so great a sin as we seem to make it And that so many honest good People and godly Ministers did live and die in sin If they are resolv'd they will not believe Separation from a true Church to be sinful who can help that The great number that have liv'd and dy'd in that Opinion does not make the thing less sinful The Donatists in the African Church were more numerous that our English Dissenters are and had 't is likely as many sober and learned Divines among ' em For at the Conference at Carthage they had 400 Bishops yet these were condemn'd for Schismaticks by St. Austin and all the Catholick Bishops And the things that these Donatists separated from the Church for were for the most part the very same that our present Dissenters make the cause of their separation from the Church of England They thought the Bishopricks too large and the Power of the Bishops too great They refus'd to join in Communion with the Catholicks because sinners were admitted there They forsook the Ministers because they were not so agreeable to their humour as they would have them * Optatus Malevianus lib. 2. p. 47. They would not suffer any to speak in the Churches but the Ministers and stopt the mouths of all the People They held that the Civil Magistrate had no Power to Reform the Church They made a shew of greater Zeal for the Purity of Religion than other People and by their stiff rigorous severity which they shew'd and the vehement out-crys which they made that Discipline was not duly executed Many of the People not well grounded in the truth were terrified and turned unto them believing them to be the most zealous holy Men and the only true Church in the World Finally they condemn'd all other Churches as not true Churches See all this in Gifford a Non-conformist Minister his Book against the Brownists 2. part These are the very pretences that our present Dissenters make for their separating from this Church Our Bishopricks are too large our Churches not according to Christ's Institution our Ministers unable and ungodly our way of Worship false our Magistrates assume an unwarranted Power in Church Matters Yea and in their over pretending to Purity and Godliness they are exact Donatists and by that very means do draw the more ignorant and zealous sort of People to them as the Brownists did No People pretend so much to Purity and Religion as they do In all places where they have their publick Meetings they are sure to begin before the Parish Churches and end after be they as long as they will But yet go in to one of their Meetings and you shall see as little signs of Devotion and as many of the People asleep as in any Parish Church in the Kingdom for the number So in their common Discourse many of them will scarce allow themselves so much liberty as to make them good company for fear they should happen to tell a lye but yet in their Dealings they will over reach a Customer in a Bargain and use as many equivocations to deceive him as any other People shall But least you think I do them wrong let us hear what the learned Mr. Baxter says of them you won't believe that he would wrong them In his Poor Man's Family Book p. 221. speaking of such who run into Parties by Divisions says he Those injudicious sort of Christians having an over high esteem of their own Vnder standings and Godliness and desiring to be made conspicuous for their Godliness in the World separate from ordinary Christians as below them and unworthy of their Communion these Sects have ever been the Nests of Errors And again ib. p. 331. he bids us beware of joining our selves to Separate Meetings who pretend to stricter Discipline and greater Purity who set themselves up Factiously and Contentiously against the Concordant Churches on pretence of greater Purity whose Meetings are imployed in Reviling others and Condemning other Churches and puffing themselves up with Pride as if they were the only Churches of Christ But our Dissenters will say This is a scandalous abuse to say that they condemn all other Reformed Churches in the World But I doubt they agree with the Donatists even in this For I suppose they will condemn all those that account them Schismaticks And this do all the Reformed Churches for they all hold that Separation from a true Church is Schism and own the Church of England for a true Church and consequently make them Schismaticks and so have expresly declared them as appears before Again I suppose they will condemn all Churches that communicate with an Idolatrous Anti-Christian Church knowing her faults some of them declare the Church of England to be such a Church and then they must condemn all the Reformed Churches which communicate with her Well say the Dissenters You of the Church of England have a great deal to say for your selves and if all be true that you have told us our Separation from you is sinful and unreasonable But what reason have we to believe you we have a great many able and godly Ministers of our own who tell us the quite contrary 't is certain they can't both be in the right why may we not then believe your Ministers may be deceived as well as ours I answer 'T is not so likely that all the Divines of the Church of England that have been since the Reformation should be deceived in a thing of this nature as that those of the Non-conformists should First Because they are much more numerous and 't is not so likely that a great many good Men should be deceived as a few 'T is a Rule in Logick Quod plures sapentiores testantur credibile est esse verum And Secondly Because they have much better means to come to the knowledge of the Truth than those of the Non-conformists can pretend to as will plainly appear by considering the Method taken on both sides for the breeding up of Divines Those who are design'd for the Study of Divinity in the Church of England are kept at the best Schools that can conveniently be had till they understand Latin and Greek very well then they are admitted into one of the Universities where they are put under the Care of a particular Tutor who is always one of the Fellows of the College and consequently a Man well approved of by the whole College for his Learning and Sobriety for by the Statutes of every College none but such are qualified for Fellowships This Tutor has seldom above 20. Students under his Care at a time and many of them not half that number every Student comes twice a day to his Tutor's Chamber to be instructed by him And besides
this the College appoints other Tutors or publick Lecturers who are to teach and instruct them in the publick Halls some for Philosophy some for Disputations and other Exercises These publick Tutors are changed every year which is a great Advantage to the Students by acquainting them with the several Methods and Opinions of such variety of Learned Men. Thus they spend the first four Years and then after very strict Examination by all the Fellows of the College to which they belong in the publick Hall for six days together if they be found qualified they commence Batchelors of Arts if not they are laid aside till the next Year After they have taken their Batchelors Degree they begin to apply themselves more particularly to the Study of Divinity but are still obliged to publick Lectures for Hebrew Greek and other parts of Learning necessary for that Study and to publick Disputations And thus they spend three Years more and then after a strict and publick Examination as before if they be found qualified they commence Masters of Arts or Doctors of Philosophy And here observe That no Man can hope to take his Degrees in any of the Universities unless he be throughly qualified for it No such thing as Favour in the case because the Examinations are publick before all the Fellows and the President of the College And besides that every Man that is to take any Degree in any of the Colleges is obliged by the Laws of the College to ask the Consent of every Man particularly who has ever taken the Degree of Master of Arts in that College if they be at that time any where in or about the Town and any one of these if he can shew Reason for it as that he is a Man of a scandalous Life and Conversation or of not sufficient Learning or such like may stop him of his Degree After they have taken their Master of Arts Degree then is the time they usually enter into Holy Orders Some few there are who are admitted into Deacons Orders after they have commenced Batchelors of Arts but these are few and are look'd upon but as young raw Fellows so that generally those who are admitted to the Office of the Ministry in the Church of England are Men who have spent at least seven Years in the Study of University Learning in one of the two most Famous Universities in the World with all the Helps and Advantages that are necessary for the perfecting of them in their Studies For besides those aforesaid they have the constant Conversation of so many Learned Ingenious Men the use of Great and Noble Libraries Famous all over the World besides the particular Libraries belonging to each College In which are to be found many Pieces of Antiquity and Ancient Manuscripts c. not to be met with any where else and which give great Light into Antiquity And in each University they have Divinity Professors who are chosen out of the most Eminent Divines they have whose business it is to hear Divinity Lectures read and Points of Divinity disputed on in the publick Divinity-Schools to which all those who design for that Study are after some few Years obliged to attend Neither do these Learned Men trust only to their own Knowledge but they have carefully settled a Correspondence with all the most Eminent Men beyond Seas These and many more are the Advantages of Education which the Divines of the Church of England have above those of the Non-conformists who are generally bred after this manner A Non-conformist Minister perhaps or some such Person who lives obscurely in some remote part of the Country gets 30 or 40 Boys together and there he teaches them common School-Learning till they come to be towards 20 years of age and then instead of entring them into the University he enters 'em in another Chamber perhaps 5 or 6 at a time and there he teaches them University Learning as they call it for 2 or 3 years it may be without the help of any Libraries but the good Man's Closet or any Conversation more than with one another and with the Master if he will honour them so far and his assistant if he chance to have one And so after 2 or 3 years Study at this rate they are qualified for the Office of a Minister among them and are thought fit to be intrusted with the Care of Souls and Government of a Church I own there are some few among them who have had better Education than this is but these are the general Methods taken for breeding up of Divines on both sides which is so well known that none will have the Confidence to deny it And now let any Man of reason judge whether in Matters that depend so much upon Antiquity and the Practice and Judgment of the Primitive Church as the Controversies between us and the Dissenters do whether I say are more likely to be mistaken all the Divines of the Church of England or those of the Dissenters It is not so likely says Mr. Baxter in his Poor Man's Family Book p. 222. that God should reveal his Mind to a few good Men and those of the rawer injudicious sort and such as are most infected with proud overvaluing their own Wisdom and Godliness and such as have had least Time and Study and means to come to great Vnderstanding and such who shew themselves the proudest Censurers of others and least tender of the Church's Peace and such as are apt to break all to pieces among themselves I say 'T is not so likely that these are in the right as the main Body of agreeing humble godly peaceable studious Ministers who have had longer time and better means to know the Truth And the Body of Christians even the Church hath more promises from Christ than particular dividing Persons have See all this and more to the same purpose in this Book aforesaid writ by Mr. Baxter himself So that had we no other Authority on our side than that of the Church of England 't were much safer to rely upon their judgments in this Matter than on the judgment of the Non-conformists but it appears before that we have the Opinion of all the Reformed Churches in the World on our side and if that won't turn the Scales God Almighty must work a Miracle for their Conversion as he did for St. Paul's 'T is so evident that the Ministers of the Church of England have much the Advantage of those among the Dissenters as to Learning and Knowledge that they have no way left to obviate this but by down right disclaiming at the University Learning and calling them Sophistical Divines who are bred up in vain and curious Arts. * His Book of the life and manners of Christians note all the Brownists say the same So did the Donatists in St. Augustine's time condemn human Learning but St. Augustine condemns their folly herein in his 1st Book against Cresconius ch 14. See Brown in his
Preface to his Book And Mr. Baxter in his Defence of his Cure p. 124. tells us of a Church in New England that separated from a Church on the account of their Preachers having human Learning But perhaps some of our Dissenters will own that our Divines of the Church of England are generally more learned than those among them one of the most competent judges among them Mr. Baxter has own'd it fairly in his Answer to a certain Letter p. 18. where he says he has seldom heard any but very good and well studied Sermons in our Churches and on the other side complains publickly of the weakness and injudiciousness and self-conceitedness of too many of the Non-conformist Preachers in his Sacral Desert p. 86. yet they will tell us they deceive the People and keep them all in ignorance for their own Interests least they should lose their Church Preferments This is a very severe Censure to say that so many Thousand godly Ministers as have been of the Church of England since the Reformation and who have many of them died Martyrs for the sake of it should be such Villains as to deceive the People and damn their own Souls for the sake of their Church Preferments But how can self-interest oblige the Clergy to defend the Church of England as now establish'd if they thought it not agreeable to the Word of God It must be either Pride or Covetousness that must move them to it If it were Pride doubtless the Presbyterian or Independant way would answer that end much better for whereas now the Parsons Vicars and Curates of all the Parishes in England are subject to their respective Bishops c. and can do nothing as to matters of Discipline or Government c. not even in their own Parishes without the consent of the Diocesan Bishop Were the Constitution of the Church changed to that of the Presbyterian or Independant way every Pastor would become an absolute Bishop and accountable to none for what he did If it were Covetousness that moved them to it I suppose that were all the Parsons of every Parish in England made the Pastor of that Church or Parish according to the Presbyterian or Independant Notion of a Pastor and all the Diocesan and Metropolitan Bishopricks and their Deans and Chapters dissolved and their Revenue super-added to the present in-come of every Parish Minister or Pastor their Church Livings would be no less but more valuable than now they are Why do they not then set about this change of Church Government as fast as they can if they think in their Consciences 'twere more agreeable to God's will so to do 't is plain 't would better answer their Covetousness and Ambition to pull down Episcopacy than to live in this poor subjection that now they do Here they will tell us the reason is plain because the Bishops who are the Governours of the Church will not let them they know the sweet of a fat Bishoprick too well to part with it I warrant them But the Thousandth part of the Clergy of England are not Bishops nor perhaps never think to be so Every one of these have a Vote in the Convocation and doubtless may carry it against so small a number of Bishops as 27. were they not perswaded in their Consciences that the Church of England as now establish'd is as agreeable to the Will of God as any other whatsoever Therefore since the Divines of the Church of England are more Numerous and generally more Learned and can have no design upon the account of Self-interest to deceive the People 't is safer sure in a doubtful case to take their words and trust to their judgments than to those among the Dissenters whose Interest it is to deceive the People and make the breach between us as wide as they can many of them being Men of no Fortune and such as have no other way to get a Living and Men who must needs be losers by an Union between us be the Conformity of which side it will whether they Conform to us or we to them for be the Government of the Church of England either Episcopal or Presbyterian or Independant 't is but reasonable that the Ministers who are lawfully put into the Cures should continue therein still as Pastors of their own Churches so that the greatest part of the Non-conformist Preachers must be laid aside for 't were not reasonable that others who are as deserving as they and lawfully settled in their Cures should be turn'd out to make room for them nor that Parishes should be divided all over the Kingdom to furnish them with Churches 'T is likely that some of the Non-conformist Ministers who are better qualified than ordinary might be provided for should it please God that there were an Union between us But many of them I doubt could not so that 't is evident their Interest obliges the most of them to deceive the People and keep open the breach as wide as they can And that they really do so is plain by their making the Differences between us seem greater than really they are and than they themselves have own'd them to be in their Writings as I have all along shewed And also by their pretending to quote Authority for what they say and either not mentioning the Chapter or Page where the Words are to be found or else altering the very Words and Sence of the Author to serve their turn If any one think I do them wrong let them look into Dr. Maurice his Defence of Diocesan Episc p. 237. 335. 353. 377. 396. 442. 444. how Mr. Clarkson to prove Episcopacy in the Primitive Church to be agreeable to the congregational or Independant way has misrepresented the very Words and Sence of his Authors You may find more Instances of this kind in the Preface to Dr. Comber's Defence of Liturgies 1st part And see how falsly Mr. Baxter has translated Theodoret's Epistle to serve his Hypothesis Dr. Stillingfleet his Mischiefs of Separation p. 261. And how he has misrepresented the Doctor 's own words ib. 131. 132 and 126. Many more Instances of this kind may be given were it necessary but what has been said is sufficient to show that in Matters of Religion where the case seems doubtful and all the Divines of the Church of England agree on one side and the Non-conformists only on the other 't is much safer to take the Opinion of those of the Church of England than of the others because they are more numerous and generally more learned and seem to have less reason to deceive us To all that has been said I shall only add this That I have taken all the pains that possibly I could to inform my self truly of the Matters in Controversy between the Church of England and the Dissenters and did really believe the things Scrupled to be of much greater moment than I now find them to be And tho' I for my own part am satisfied in
my Conscience that there is nothing at all injoin'd by the Church of England but what is agreeable to God's Word and the Opinion of the wisest Men of the Church in all Ages and what the most tender Consciences may satisfie themselves in if they would but make use of the proper means yet I could heartily wish that many things were laid aside if that would purchase an Union between us If things which are allow'd to be in themselves indifferent as Postures and Ceremonies and such like were neither impos'd nor abolish'd but left to the Discretion of every Christian to use or not to use as he thinks best and as the Ceremony of Bowing towards the Altar is and some other alterations made such as you may see in the Proposals offer'd to the Parliament for the Uniting of Protestant Dissenters by Dr. S. Dean of St. Pauls there could then be no reasonable Pretence left for Separation But if nothing else must purchase our Peace but the overthrowing the whole Constitution of this Church 't is too dear a purchase till we have found another to exchange for more agreeable to God's Word and more consistent with the Peace and Tranquility of this Nation but that we have not found yet I am sure as is sufficiently evident by a plain experimental Proof which these Nations lately had 't is very well known that in the late unhappy times when the Church of England Liturgy c. was taken away the Presbyterians Independants and other Parties pray'd one against the other and against establishing that way of Government which others of them pray'd for divers Persons made their own Passions singular Opinions and Errors great part of their Prayers others rejected all Confessions of sins as no part of their Devotions in many places of England the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was laid aside for 12 or 15 Years together so was Infant Baptism some would Pray for the King one way some another others not at all And in that time that the Church of England way of Worship was laid aside there were more Errors Sects Heresies and Blasphemies broach'd and vented than ever before or since This is acknowledged by the Dissenters themselves see a Book call'd Gangrena part 1 st p. 175. writ about the Year 1646. where many of them do acknowledge That we say they in these four last Years for so long had Presbytery been uppermost have overpassed the Deeds of the Prelates in whose time never so great nor so many Errors were heard of much less such Blasphemies and Confusions we have worse things among us more corrupt Doctrines and Practices than in 80. Years before c. So that if nothing must purchase Peace between us but the parting with our Religion and overthrowing our whole Constitution to set up another which Experience has taught us is neither so consistent with God's Glory nor the Peace of these Nations they must excuse us Besides let me tell them Their late Carriage in Scotland has given us great reason to fear that the Religion they so much boast of and with so much Zeal endeavour to set up in this Nation in the place of that which by God's good Providence is now Establish'd is not the true Religion of Christ for that never taught any to Affront and Revile his lawful Ministers and to burn the Holy Scriptures as they have done now more than once I pray God open their Eyes and soften their Hearts and give them Grace to Repent FINIS