can worship God as well at home in their Closets or Families 3. Those who plead Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own The second Part is designed to correct some great Miscarriages in Publick Worship which some who profess to live in Communion with the Church of England are too notoriously guilty of Such as these 1. The forsaking the Communion of their Parish Churches without just cause for it 2. Irreverence in Worship 3. The neglect of a due attendance on the publick Prayers of the Church 4. The neglect of the Publick Administration of Baptism 5. That they neglect or refuse to submit their Children and Servants to Publick Instructions 6. That either never receive the Lord's Supper or very rarely III. The very naming these things must needs convince all Men who have any sense of Religion how seasonable this Discourse is for there was never any Age wherein there was more need of it And since Religion has so great an influence upon the government of Mens Lives the neglect or miscarriage of Publick Worship does not only tend to corrupt Mens Manners but has a very ill aspect upon Publick Affairs I confess it is a very ill time for any Man who prefers his own Ease and Quiet before the Service of God and of Religion to put forth to Sea in such a Storm and Hurricane when the passions of men are in such a ferment that they are hardly capable of coole thoughts and impatient of the gentlest Reproof and Opposition the most charitable Designs are misconstrued and nicknamed and whoever endeavours to convince Men of their Mistakes how careful soever he be to avoid all just occasion of offence is either a Railer or a Persecutor But these things I thank God do not much affect me and shall never affright me from any part of my Duty I value a good Name as much as other Men but am contented to be reproached for the sake of my Lord and Master who was Himself reproached and vilified by Scribes and Pharisees But that which I suppose will be thought most unseasonable at this time is what concerns the Dissenters from our present Establishment for this is now upon all occasions urged and thought a sufficient Answer to all such Discourses But can it be thought unseasonable to perswade Men not to forsake Christian Assemblies when it is grown so general a practice that many have lost all sense of the evil of it Is it not a fit season for the applications of the Physician when the Patient is dangerously sick of a mortal distemper Thanks be to our good God we still enjoy the Opportunities of Publick Worship and therefore have opportunity also of perswading and exhorting Men to return to the Communion of the Church How effectual indeed such Exhortations may be at such a time we cannot tell success in these matters does not so much depend upon the fittest season as upon the Grace of God and the good temper of the Ground where the Seed falls as our Saviour tells us in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13. However in case of necessity a thing must be done when and as it may and I think there never was greater necessity for this Exhortation than in our days But that which I perceive makes some Men think it so unseasonable at this time to perswade Men to return to the Communion of the Church of England is because they are either in great hope to pull down the Church of England or at least to open the Door a little wider to let those in who are now excluded by some scruples of Conscience about some indifferent Rites and Ceremonies used in our Worship As for the first of these I wish with all my Soul that such seasonable Exhortations as these may prove very unseasonable for their Designs that it may bring Men to their Wits and make them consider what they are a doing when they go about to pull down the best Church in the World It may be very unseasonable indeed for them but it would be a very unseasonable and despicable piece of Folly and Modesty for all those who favour Sion to stand still and say nothing while they accomplish their Designs and bring their wicked Devices to pass As for the second sort who only desire to see the Church Doors a little wider to receive more honest and devout Men into our Communion I cannot imagine why they should conceive such Exhortations unseasonable at this time for are they afraid that such Discourses should so far satisfy all Men in our Communion that there should be no need of any alteration Truly I have no great hopes to see such blessed effects of the wisest and most convincing Discourses and if such a thing ever should be certainly no good men would be troubled at it since the great End they designed viz. To see all Men return to the Communion of the Church would be as effectually obtained and it is much more desirable to see Men rectify their own Mistakes than to alter wholsom Constitutions wherein there is always great danger and very seldom any great success witness the miserable Confusions of the last Age. Or do they think it impossible to vindicate the Church of England from unjust Imputations to wipe off that dirt which is cast upon her by her inveterate Enemies to discover the evil and danger of Schism and Separation without obstinately adhering to every Punctilio and opposing all reasonable Condescentions to the weakness or ignorance of others I am sure there is no consequence in this and it is a great Argument that they censure and revile Men before they know them We know how to distinguish between the lawfulness and necessity of things between some less material Circumstances of Worship and the Peace and Communion of the Christian Church Possibly the most zealous and most learned Defenders of the Church are most ready to any Reasonable Compliances when-ever Authority shall see fit We have a late Instance of it in an excellent Person than whom possibly no Man ever writ better for the Church nor ever hinted more reasonable and equal Proposals in the behalf of Dissenters The truth is it is as absolutely necessary to dispose Mens minds to Peace and Union by good Arguments and pious and earnest Exhortations as it is for Publick Authority to relax the Terms of Communion to give ease to some doubting and scrupulous Consciences for while Men have such superstitious Conceits that God is either pleased or displeased with doing or not doing some indifferent things in themselves considered with wearing or not wearing a Surplice or using or not using the Cross in Baptism when Men think that God will be angry with them for doing that which he hath no where forbid and that we must do nothing in the external Ministries of Religion but what he has expresly commanded and then I confess I do not see how we can perform any one Duty
But I would desire such Men to consider First That this Notion of a purer Church and purer Ordinances varies with every Man's fancy as having no Foundation in Scripture Reason or Antiquity when you distinguish a purer Church from a pure Church I would desire to know what greater degree of purity they find in a Presbyterian or Independent Conventicle than in our Parochial Churches If this Purity consists in Doctrine Government or Worship that Doctrine and Government which is most Ancient and most Apostolical is purer than some novel and upstart Opinions Church Forms and Models and that Worship which retains all the Institutions of Christ and administers them with the greatest order and decency and most to Christian Edification is as pure a Worship as that which is slovenly and unbecoming the gravity and solemnity of Divine Worship That Church wherein Christians may enjoy all the means and conveyances of Grace without any corrupt Mixtures to spoil their Vertue and Efficacy is a pure Church such a Church wherein a Christian may communicate without doing any injury to his Soul is a pure Church and has all the degrees of purity which is necessary to External Communion If by a purer Communion they mean only the Communion of better Men and of greater Saints they ought to consider that it is impossible to exclude Hypocrites out of any Church unless they pretend to a Gift of discerning Spirits nor is it fit they should be excluded while they are not openly scandalous for to shut such Men out of the Church deprives them of the Means of Grace and all hopes of proving better Men. And I hope Christian Communion is not confined to any single Congregation but every good Christian who lives in the Communion of the Church enjoys the Communion of Saints in all the World is a Member of the same Body which consists of all the true Disciples of Christ. Nay I would desire them to consider that the Glory of the Christian Communion is this That our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ with the glorious and triumphant Church in Heaven as well as with the Church Militant on Earth But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First Born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudg of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel This is the Church-Fellowship which those enjoy who live in Communion with the Universal Church and which Schismaticks have no right to and those who think to meet with better Company at a Conventicle let them take it But must not the Christian Church consist of all ranks and degrees of Christians as our natural Body does of several sorts of Members of different honour and worth and is it fitting for strong and well-grown Christians to separate from the weak and imperfect as if the eye should separate from the Body as despising the Communion of the Foot and yet if St. Paul says true that Schism is a work of the Flesh and the sign of carnal Men we have no reason to look for the best Christians in Schismatical Churches But secondly it was never till of late days thought lawful to separate from a lawful Communion tho as the state of the Church in this World is it were subject to some defects and therefore the Brownists who separated from the Church of England pretended that her Worship and Government was Unlawful Idolatrous and Antichristian and the old Nonconformists who though they could not conform as Ministers yet very religiously conformed as Lay-men both in Prayers and Sacraments condemned this Schism and proved that Communion with the Church of England was lawful and therefore Separation was sinful and I dare challenge any Man to shew me from the first beginnings of Christianity that ever it was thought lawful to separate from a Church where we might communicate without sin And thirdly let these Men consider that this Notion of separating from a lawful Communion for a purer Communion lays the foundation of eternal Schisms for there being no certain rule for the degrees of this Purity every Man according to his own fancy may refine for ever Fourthly If they do indeed think the Communion of the Church of England to be unlawful and sinful I would desire them to enquire how they came at first to think so for this is a very material Enquiry if Men desire to know their honesty and sincerity in this Matter for if Men are at first by their own fault ensnared in an Error and drawn into Schism how firmly soever afterwards they believe their Separation to be lawful and necessary it will not excuse them It is impossible to know all the several ways whereby Men come at first to be engaged in Schism but I shall take notice of some few which seem to be most common Such are these 1. Education 2. Lightness and giddiness of Mind 3. Some distast at Publick Affairs 4. Some quarrel with the Ministers of Religion 5. Interest or the Perswasion of Friends 1. Education when Men have been nursed up in Schism from their infancy and have been taught to despise the Common Prayer before they could read and to call the Church Antichrist and the Ministers of it Baal's Priests as soon as they could speak Now it must be acknowledged that this is the most pitiable case and the fairest Excuse and Apology that can be made for any Man for we all know what the power of Education is and how hard it is to deliver our minds from the first Impressions of Childhood and Youth but yet this will not excuse a Man when he has attained to Years of discretion and has opportunities of being better informed for if it would Pagans Mahometans and Papists who labour under the same prejudices of Education have the same excuse We must offer up to God a reasonable Service and that requires the exercise of our Reason in the choice of our Religion as well as in the discharge of Religious Duties Nay Papists Mahometans and Pagans have a better excuse upon this account than our Dissenters because their Prejudices may reasonably be thought more invincible as will appear if we briefly consider three or four things First That theirs is the Religion of their Country which they have been in quiet possession of for many Ages and thus that reverence they pay to the wisdom and memory of their Ancestors adds to the prejudices of their Education whereas every one knows that this present Schism and the pretences whereon it is founded are but late Innovations a Novelty which is not yet grey-headed And tho Antiquity in it self considered is no Argument for an ancient Error nor Novelty any
publick Magistrates is the Duty also of private Christians Possibly some may think that I have taken a great deal of needless pains in proving so plain a Thing and truly I should think so too were I not sensible by my own experience how many profest Christians there are who have very little apprehension of the necessity of publick Worship and therefore sometimes come to Church to comply with the fashion of the Place and sometime stay at Home to comply with their own careless Humours If any such read these Papers I would desire and beg of them seriously to consider this Matter and not to abuse themselves by some childish and sophistical Reasonings into a Neglect so dishonourable to God and so destructive to their Souls Suppose you did really as some I fear only pretend spend your time in private Prayer and Reading and Meditation yet can you reasonably expect that God should accept should hear and answer your private Prayers when they signify a Neglect if not a Contempt of publick Worship which is so much more pleasing to him as it is more honourable to be praised by a multitude of devout Souls in the Face of the Sun than in a secret Corner where no Body sees nor hears us Can you think your single Prayers will as much prevail with God as when the fervent and ardent Desires of a Christian Assembly are offered up to God by a publick Minister of Religion whom our Saviour has appointed to pray for us and to bless in his Name Can you any where expect such plentiful effusions of the Divine Grace and Spirit as in the Congregation of the Saints while we attend on Divine Institutions which are never without a Blessing annexed unto them when there are Subjects capable of receiving it There is time enough for our private Devotions without neglecting or affronting publick Worship And when we remember that Christ has promised to be present in Christian Assemblies Where-ever two or three are gathered together in his Name and that God prefers the Gates of Sion the place of publick Worship before all the Dwellings of Jacob it should make us long and thirst after the Courts of God and be glad when they say Let us go up into the House of the Lord. CHAP. III. Concerning those who plead Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own SECT I. Containing several Directions to such Men whereby to try their Honesty and Sincerity in this Matter THe third sort of Men who forsake our Religious Assemblies are those who pretend Conscience for their Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own who separate for fear of Sin and think themselves bound as they honour God and love their own Souls to avoid our Communion Now these Men deserve our most tender regard for if they be in good earnest it is very great pity that those who are so desirous to please God and to save their Souls should fall into such dangerous Mistakes But yet I do not intend to dispute the terms of our Communion with them at this time there are so many excellent Books writ in defence of the Church of England that there is no want of Instruction for those who are honest and inquisitive and therefore at present I shall take another Method which I hope may prove more effectual than disputing commonly does And I shall reduce what I have to say under these three Heads First To put them upon some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter Secondly To offer some general Considerations for their Satisfaction Thirdly To remove some popular Pleas and Objections First To put them upon some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter For those who plead Conscience for disobeying their Governors in Church or State offer such an insufferable affront to God if they be Hypocrites and carry on other Designs under a pretence of Conscience that woe be to that Man that whited painted Sepulchre how glorious a Profession soever he makes who is thus rotten at the Heart And in order to discover your honesty and sincerity I shall desire every Man as he fears God and loves his Soul and hopes for Mercy at the terrible appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come again to judg the Quick and the Dead to give a sincere Answer to these following Questions First Whether he do indeed separate from the Communion of our Parish Churches upon true Principles of Conscience To pretend to Conscience for any Thing is to pretend the Authority of God for God alone is the Supream Lord and Governour of our Consciences in all Cases where he interposes his Authority and to pretend the Authority of God for disobeying our Governors and dividing the Church when we have no such Authority is like counterfeiting the King 's Broad Seal to justifie Treasons and Rebellions Few Men make any difference between their private Judgments Opinions of Things and their Conscience that is between their own Authority and the Authority of God what-ever fancy comes into their Heads is called their Conscience and then they think they are bound to prefer their own private and groundless Conceits before all the visible Authority of Church and State And if this Principle be once admitted it is impossible there should be any lasting Peace and Unity in Church or State No Man must act against his Conscience that is he must not do any thing which he knows God has expresly forbid nor neglect doing any thing which he knows God has commanded A Divine Law is the Rule of Conscience and all the Powers of the World cannot deliver us from the Obligation of it in such Cases we must rather chuse to obey God than Men what-ever we suffer by it in this World but an erroneous doubting scrupulous Conscience is improperly called Conscience it being nothing else but our mistaken Opinion of Things and the wavering uncertainty of our Minds which cannot determine on which side the Truth lies But you will object That this seems to be a fruitless nicety which signifies nothing in practice for whether you will call it Conscience or private Opinion the case is the same for we must not do any thing which we believe or fear to be evil and contrary to a Divine Law as St. Paul tells us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat for what-ever is not of Faith is Sin But notwithstanding this this distinction between Mens Consciences and private Opinions between their Judgments directed and governed by the Laws of God or by other arbitrary and uncertain Measures is of very great use to direct our practice For first this should make us religiously careful not to pretend Conscience that is a Divine Authority where we can produce no Divine Law commanding or forbidding those things which we pretend to do or not to do under the Obligations of Conscience The pretence of Conscience is that we dare
help them but on the terms of the Covenant and so Church-Alterations came on and the Parliament thought it was better have no Bishops than such as did prevail against them This is fair warning and let the Church and Churchmen have a care how they oppose Rebellion any more 4. Every Miscarriage of the Bishops or Clergy or every thing that is thought a Miscarriage tho it be none is presently made an Occasion of Separation as if so be the Constitution of any Church were ever the worse because some of the Ministers of it neglect their Duty abuse their Power or do some things which do not please every Man's Humour As if the Miscarriages of some of the Ministers of Religion which will sometimes happen under the best Government in the World would justify Men in pulling down an Apostolical Church modelled according to the Pattern of Primitive Government and Practice And yet nothing is more common than to see Men forsake the Church and run to Conventicles if their Minister do not in every thing comply with their Desires if he be so ill-bred as to reprove them for their Sins or so stiff as not to make the Laws and Constitutions of the Church yield and bend to their Humours I suppose no Man will think that such Persons separate out of tenderness of Conscience who date their Separation from some little pet quarrel or peevish fit Nor fifthly are those very consciencious Men who separate from the Church out of Interest and the perswasions and importunities of some dissenting Friends who forsake the Church for the sake of a good Trade or a rich Wife or in hope of some great temporal Advantage unless it be a sign of a tender Conscience to make Gain Godliness not to serve Christ but our own Bellies I do but just mention these things which tho I am sure are great Truths and necessary for all Men to consider who would try their honesty and sincerity in this Matter of Separation yet I fear the very naming of them will be very offensive to guilty Persons who when they feel their Consciences smart are very apt to revenge themselves upon their kind and faithful Monitors Fifthly I would desire those Persons who plead Conscience for their Separation from the Church of England to consider whether ever they impartially and throughly examined the Reasons of their Separation We must be fully satisfied that it is unlawful to communicate in such a Church before Separation from it can be lawful for it is as great a sin to separate from a pure Church as it is to hold Communion with a corrupt Church and a truly honest Man is equally careful to avoid every sin and is as much afraid of the sin of Separation as the sin of a corrupt and idolatrous Worship Now when we consider how few there are that do this and how much fewer there are that are capable of doing it it is too plain an Argument that most Men separate from the Church without knowing any just cause and reason for it as to explain this Matter a little more at large First How few are those who do examine the Reasons of their Separation Not but that there are a great many who furnish themselves with some popular Talk against the Bishops and Forms of Prayer and Ceremonies c. but to examine the reasons of Things is very different from being able to make some slight Objections which have been answered an hundred Times For to examine things is impartially to weigh and consider both parts of the Question to avoid no difficulty to consider what is said for and against Separation and to hold the ballance so equal that Interest and Affection do not turn the Scales instead of Reason Now there are two great Faults which Men are commonly guilty of in this Matter First That they do not carefully examine both parts of the Question possibly they read such Books as are writ against the Church of England and so justify a Separation but do not with the same care read those Books which prove the sinfulness of Separation and justify the Communion of the Church of England They have the Arguments for the Church of England only at second hand from those who pretend to answer them but never look into the Books themselves And I do not wonder at this rate of examining that Men continue Separatists after all that can be said against it for it is rare to find any one Argument against Separation or for Communion with our Church fairly represented by those who pretend to answer it who commonly pick out such things as are least material or do not concern the main Controversy and make a great noise and flourish with seeming to say something which is nothing to the purpose but silently pass over what they know they cannot answer Now whoever separates from the Church without a thorough and impartial examination of the Reasons of it tho he should happen to be in the right is yet guilty of Schism that is tho his separation in it self considered be no Schism because there may be sufficient Reasons to justify such a Separation yet this being more than he can be presumed to know he contracts the guilt of Schism for he separates without cause who does not know the cause of his Separation and he cannot know whether there be a just cause for it who separates before he understands what is said on both sides as we all reckon that Man perjured who swears nothing but what is true but without knowing it to be true Secondly Another great Fault is That Men's Minds are commonly byassed by some Interest and Affection which weighs much more than any contrary Reasons can do by one means or other they fall in love with Schism and Separation and then set their wits on Work to defend it and those must be mighty evident and powerful demonstrations which can force Men to believe that which they have no mind to believe If it be objected That this is a Fault common to both sides There are few Men which side soever they are of but are greatly inclined to favour it and to help out a weak Argument which is too light with some grains of Allowance I Answer Possibly with most Men it may be so and in many cases it may be so far from being a Fault that it is both innocent and useful and an Argument of great Vertue and Goodness but the Fault and the Danger is when the Byass stands the wrong way As for Instance a good Man is as strongly inclined to believe that there is a God and to wish and hope that there is one as a bad Man is to believe that there is no God and to wish that there were none Here are Inclinations and Prejudices on both sides and yet it is a vertue in a good Man and a great sin in a bad Man because the one is a natural Byass and Inclination and a sign of Vertue the other
is against Nature and the effect of Vice Thus it is here the Laws of the Gospel which so strictly require Christian Love and Unity as a most necessary Duty and essential to the Christian Profession clap a Byass upon true Christians Minds which strongly inclines them to maintain and preserve the Peace and good Unity of the Christian Church where they can preserve it without an apparent injury to common Christianity and therefore this makes them put favourable and candid Constructions upon every thing and not make a breach without absolute necessity and if they should mistake here it is an Error on the right side but an inclination to Separation is a false Byass contrary to the Genius and Spirit of the Gospel which inclines Men to Peace and Union and is usually the effect of some vicious indisposition of Mind and if Men's Reason and Judgment be perverted by such an unchristian Inclination it will aggravate their Guilt and Crime and therefore it greatly concerns all Men who love their Souls and would avoid the Guilt of Schism not to be in love with Separation which will so blind their Minds that they shall never discover how sinful and causless it is nor ever be able to deliver themselves from it with all their reading and study and it is a mighty suspicion that Men are in love with Separation when they are so industrious to hunt for Doubts and Scruples and little cavilling Objections which all the lovers of Peace and Unity at the first Proposal see the folly and weakness of while such learned Rabbies are held fast in the Cobwebs of their own spinning Secondly As there are great numbers of Men who separate from the Church of England without an impartial Examination of the Reasons of their Separation so there are a great many who are not capable of such Inquiries and yet they separate also at all adventures as others do A great many such Men there are who live by their Labour and have not time for such Studies or it may be cannot read or however were never used to the Art of thinking and reasoning and therefore may be easily mistaken in such Matters while they rely upon their own Judgments of things that unless we think it enough to justify such Men that they have been taught to call the Bishops Antichristian and our Ministers Baal's Priests and our Common Prayer the Mass-Book and kneeling at the Sacrament Idolatry and the Surplice a Rag of the Whore of Babylon and such kind of Rhetorical Figures which signify nothing but to make a noise and scare ignorant People These Men must be acknowledged to be guilty of Schism in separating from a Church without knowing any just reason for their Separation I can think but of two or three things that can be answered to this First That tho they are ignorant themselves yet they are directed by wise and good Men who understand the reason of these things Secondly That this Objection does as well lie against those ignorant People who live in Communion with the Church of England as against those who separate for they both understand the Reasons of things alike And thirdly That according to this rate of arguing such Men are not capable of chusing any Religion but must take the Religion of their Country as they find it whether it be Paganism Popery or Mahometism As for the first That tho they are ignorant themselves they follow the direction of wise and good Men who know the Reasons of these things I would ask them this Question who made these wise and good Men their Guides and how do they know that they have any reason themselves for what they do especially since other as wise and good Men say that they have none and such Persons are as unable to know who is in the right as they are to discern the Controversy and yet they do in a manner determine the Controversy by chusing Separatists for their Guides and rejecting those whom the Providence of God and the Laws of the Land have appointed to be their Guides It is plain such Men as these want Guides to direct them and yet in such Controversies as these know no more whom to chuse for their Guides than which side to take and therefore it is much the safest for them because it will admit of the best excuse if they should err to follow the direction of those Guides whom the Providence of God has provided them for if they chuse Guides of their own and heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears and thereby miscarry they must blame themselves but will have no Defence and Apology to make at the Tribunal of God As for the second That this Objection equally lies against those ignorant People in our Communion as against those who separate for they both understand the reasons of things alike The Answer is very plain viz. there is not such a particular knowledg of things required to live in Communion with a Church wherein we were baptized and educated as there is to separate from it for Separation condemns the Communion of that Church from which we separate as unlawful and sinful it divides the Unity of the Church which when it is causeless is a very great sin and therefore before Men venture to separate they ought to be very well assured that the Communion of such a Church is sinful which they cannot do without a particular knowledg of those things which they condemn as sinful and the reasons why they do so To hold Communion with the Church wherein we live is always the surer side when there are not such notorious Corruption as the meanest Man who is honest and sincere may understand for Christian Communion is a great and necessary Duty and is not to be forsaken for every trifle and when the justification of Separation is spun out into such a thin and airy Controversy as requires a very Metaphysical Brain to understand it honest plain Men who are strangers to such Subtilties should leave learned Men to wrangle among themselves and keep close to the Communion of the Church till they could produce some such Reasons against it as all honest Men may understand as well as themselves but this will be better understood by the Answer to the Objection which is this Thirdly That according to this rate of arguing such Men are not capable of chusing any Religion but must take the Religion of their Country as they find it whether it be Paganism Popery or Mahometism but this is a great Mistake for the difference between Paganism and Christianity between Popery and Reformed Christianity is much more plain and discernible and more easily understood by the most illiterate People than the Dispute about Ceremonies Church-Government and Discipline and therefore those who are not capable of judging in these Matters may yet be able to chuse the Christian Religion and to reject both Paganism and Popery The truth of Christianity does not depend upon some nice
that all external Things must be measured by their End and Use. Those are innocent and laudable Customs which serve a good End either help the Devotion of the Worshipper or make the Worship more grave and solemn provided it be not in forbidden Instances 4. The practice of the Apostles and the first and best Churches are a great vindication of the Constitution and Worship of the Church of England Where we have not a plain and express Rule Examples which are great and good Ones have the authority and face of a Rule and he must be a very unreasonable Man who will desire any better Examples than of the best and purest Churches Some are offended at the Superiority of Bishops over Presbyters and the Inferior Clergy which they say is expresly forbidden by Christ The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors But ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve In which words it is plain our Saviour forbids such kind of Authority over one another as the Gentile Princes exercise over their Subjects but that it should forbid all kind of Superiority among the Ministers of the Gospel is contrary to the Example even of the Apostolick Age. The Apostles indeed were all equal had no superiority of Order or Power over one another and our Saviour in this Place speaks only to the Apostles not to exercise Superiority over each other for there was a strife among them which of them should be greatest But by our Saviour's own Institution the Office of an Apostle was superior to the Seventy Disciples whom he sent out to preach the Gospel And after the Resurrection of Christ the Apostles were supream Governors of the Church and if we believe the first Records we have of the Christian Church Bishops were the Apostles Successors in their Power in the Church and in their superiority over Presbyters and Deacons and so the Government of the Church continued in the hands of Bishops till the Reformation when the necessity of Affairs and the aversion some Men had against Popish Tyrannical Bishops perswaded some Reformers to lay aside the Order which has been made the most specious Argument against the Reformation and to say no more If Episcopacy be Antichristianism the whole Church was Antichristian for above fifteen hundred Years together from the very Times of the Apostles themselves But if it be an Apostolical Order I know not what Authority any Man had to alter it and for my own part think that Communion safest which is most agreeable to the Pattern of the Apostolick Churches Others except against Forms of Prayer Now not to take notice that Forms of Prayer were of old in use in the Jewish Church and that our Saviour himself gave a Form of Prayer to his Disciples we must grant that we have no certain Evidence what the practice of the Church in the Apostles Days was in this respect I am much of S. Chrysostoms Opinion That there were in that Age of Miracles extraordinary miraculous Gifts of Prayer as there was of Healing and Prophesying and working Miracles Not that every Christian had these Gifts any more than the Gift of Miracles but there were some Persons who had the Gift of inspired Prayer for the publick benefit of the Church which made it needless in that Age to have Forms of Prayer for Publick Worship and when I see that Age of Miracles return again I will gladly renounce Liturgy to join in inspired Prayers But as Miracles ceased so did the miraculous Gift of Prayer and then as the same Father observes the Church worshipped God in allowed Forms to be sure so it was in his days and a great while before him and if we cannot trace it to its first Original for want of early Records in those Matters yet I think he must be a very scrupulous Man who would refuse to communicate with the Church in Constantine's Days who composed Forms of Prayer for his Souldiers which it is not probable he would have done had not the Church at that time used Forms of Prayers And so it continued till the Reformation and the Reformation made no alteration in it for the Lutheran and Bohemian Churches the Church of Geneva France and Holland have their Lyturgies and Forms of Prayer and so has the Church of England since the first Reformation of it and if not only allowed but advised by Mr. Calvin himself till some Jesuites in Masquerade first set up that way of conceived and extemporary Prayers on purpose to break good Order in our Church as we well are assured by very credible Testimony Others scruple significant Ceremonies and yet in the very Apostles Days we find such in use which are now disused as the Holy Kiss and the Love-Feast which was an addition to the Lord's Supper much more obnoxious to censure than the Cross in Baptism and yet was retained for several Ages in the Church In Tertullian's and St. Cyprian's Times we find a great many symbolical and significant Ceremonies in use among them They frequently crossed themselves to shew that they were Christians upon all Occasions the baptized Person was cloathed in white and thence Whitsunday received its Name because that was a solemn Time for Baptism when those who were baptized were cloathed with white Garments It were easy to give you abundance of such Instances which are so obvious to any one who is acquainted with Ecclesiastical Writers that it is superfluous to mention them In St. Austin's Time Ceremonies were grown so numerous that he very much complains not of the significancy and symbolicalness but of the burden of them but never disturbed the Peace of the Church himself but adviseth others to conform to the Rites and Usages of any Church where they came though different from the Customs of their own As far as I have observed there never was any Schism occasioned in the Christian Church about significant Ceremonies till of late among us and it would a little startle a modest Man to separate from the Church of England for such Reasons as must have made him a Schismatick from all ancient and modern Churches in all Ages to this day These things carefully and impartially considered must needs tend to compose Mens Minds and reduce those who are gone astray into the Communion and Unity of the Church For my part I should rather venture erring with all the Churches of Christ from the Apostles to this present Age than break the Hedges of the Church and Christian Communion to follow some upstart new Lights tho it were possible they might lead me right SECT III. Containing an answer to some popular Cavils or a Vindication of the Church of England from the Charge of Will-Worship Superstition Idolatry Popery LEt us now consider some popular Cavils and Exceptions which too often
prevail with some honest but less thinking Men to forsake our Communion And I shall only mention those which concern the Rites and Ceremonies of our Church and all that I shall at present do here shall be to answer some hard Words and ill Names which are given to our Worship and shew how ignorantly and injuriously they are applied to the Church of England Such are these Will-Worship Superstition Idolatry Popery These are hard Words which very few People understand and therein the great force of the Objection lies as will appear from a particular examination of them First Will-Worship Now when Men charge the Church of England with Will-Worship they generally understand such a Worship as is not commanded by God but is originally owing to the Will and Invention of Men. Now this I absolutely deny that there is any such thing as Will-Worship in the Church of England The Worship of the Church of England consists in publick Prayers and Praises in reading the Scriptures and expounding them to the People and instructing them in the great Articles of Faith and Rules of Life in singing Psalms and administring the Supper of our Lord and such like Exercises of Devotion All which are expresly commanded in Scripture and therefore cannot be Will-Worship in this Sence for they are not the Inventions of Men but the Institutions of Christ. It is true there are some Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religious Worship used and enjoyned in the Church of England which are not commanded by God but these are no parts of Worship and therefore not Will-Worship We do not think wearing a Surplice to be an act of Worship nor expect to please God by any external Dress or Habit but we think it a decent Garb for those to use who minister in holy things We do not think kneeling at the Sacrament to be an Act but a Posture of Worship as it is of Prayer and therefore not kneel to the Bread and Wine but receive them kneeling as expressing that Reverence and Devotion of Mind which becomes such a mysterious Worship and as a Posture suitable to those Prayers which in the Act of receiving we put up to Heaven The Cross in Baptism is not designed as any act of Worship to God but as a visible Profession of our Faith in a crucified Saviour it is not a dedicating and covenanting Sign which respects God but at most an engaging Sign which respects the Church and therefore is not an Act of Worship much less Will-Worship To institute any new Kind or Species of Worship is certainly unlawful as to make any new object of Worship whether it be a visible representation such as a Picture and Image or invisible Beings as Angels and deisied Men a numerous company of whom are worshipped in the Church of Rome or any new Acts of Worship such as frequent Washings Purgations Sacrifices Pilgrimages c. But the Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religious Actions which are no where determined by God may and must be determined either by our own Prudence or by the Prudence of our Governours without the least suspicion of Will-Worship because they neither are nor are designed for Acts of Worship But we must observe further that this Word Will-Worship is found but once in all the Scripture and some very wise and learned Men question whether in that place Will-Worship be condemned by the Apostle as an ill thing the Words are these Which things have indeed a shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship and Humility and neglecting the Body not in any honour of satisfying the Flesh For they observe that Will-Worship is joyned with two other very good things Humility and neglecting the Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies external Severities and Mortifications to keep down the Body and bring it into Subjection not to pamper it with high Nourishment nor to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof which seems to be the meaning of what follows not in honour in satisfying the Flesh for Honour as St. Hierom observes signifies taking Care of and making Provision for it So that we may as well say that Humility and bodily Severities Strictness and Austerity of Life in suppressing all the Motions of Lust and the least inclinations to sensual Pleasures are forbidden or censured by the Apostle as that Will-Worship is for there is as much appearance of his condemning one as t'other And besides this the Apostle says that these things have a shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now we expound this to signify only a false appearance of Wisdom yet that supposes that Will-Worship and Humility and bodily Severities are in themselves good things and parts of Religious Wisdom when other things which are not good gain a Reputation of Wisdom by being like them for that which makes these things to have a shew of Wisdom is that they are mistaken for Will-Worship Humility and neglecting the Body And therefore according to this way of expounding the Words by Will-Worship we must understand voluntary Worship which answers to Free-Will-Offerings under the Law which were not commanded by God but yet were very acceptable to him when Men do something more than God has expresly commanded and deny themselves those Liberties and Enjoyments which God allows in order to some Spiritual End to refine and purge their Souls that they may arrive at more perfect attainments in Goodness And there is so much to countenance this Interpretation that all the Superstitions in the World do deceive and abuse Men and pass for excellent attainments in Religion under the shew and appearance of voluntary Worship and Free-Will-Offerings of doing something more than God has enjoyned them whereby they think they so highly merit of God as to obtain the pardon of their Sins and become his peculiar Favourites Thus the Pharisees thought to do by observing the Traditions of their Fathers by their frequent Washings Purifications Fastings and Tything even Mint and Cummin Thus the Papists do by their Fasts Pilgrimages and Penances but the mistake is that this is but a false appearance of Wisdom because tho at first it looks like the noble generous Worship of Free-Will-Offerings yet it is not so For tho under the Law Free-Will Offerings were not commanded which had destroyed the Nature of a Free-Will Offering yet there are directions given what such Persons shall offer to God in case they do offer at all and in particular that there shall be no blemish in it which signifies that this voluntary Worship must be confined to such Instances as we know are acceptable to God and therefore when Men spend their Zeal in some voluntary Superstitions which cannot please God such things have only a shew a false appearance of Wisdom in voluntary Worship because tho their Worship be voluntary and so far commendable yet they do not make a wise choice of the Acts of Worship do not worship God in an acceptable manner And this is
Remains of its antient Piety and Devotion which was buried in the midst of Rubbish and Idolatrous Superstitions Consider then what the proper work of a Reformer must be to pull up Root and Branch to pull up the Wheat with the Tares This would be not to reform a corrupt Church but to make a new one This would be to cut off the sound with the rotten Members and is like pulling down a well constituted Government to correct Abuses I pray God preserve us from such Reformers as these In a Word if these Men who accuse the Church of England of Popery can shew any thing practised among us which is peculiar to Popery which cannot be justified by the Precepts and Examples of Scripture and the first and purest Churches I will heartily joyn with them in calling for a Reformation In the mean time I would desire them to consider that they do Popery too much Reputation by giving up the Church of England to it and make the name of Popery a less formidable thing when it is thus indifferently applied to a corrupt and to a reformed Church I wish with all my Soul they were half so free from Popish Principles and Practices in matters of Civil Government as the Church of England is from a Popish Worship PART II. Concerning those Disorders and Miscarriages which some men are guilty of in church-Church-Communion CHAP. I. Concerning those who ordinarily forsake the Communion of their Parish Churches HAving discours'd thus largely of those who wholly separate themselves from Christian Communion who either communicate with no Church or forsake the Communion of the Church of England I now proceed to correct those Miscarriages which some who profess themselves of our Communion are too notoriously guilty of And I shall first begin with those who ordinarily forsake the Communion of their Parish Churches This has been an old and inveterate evil of long use and practice especially in this great and populous City and it may be thought a daring and fruitless attempt to oppose it however I have this satisfaction that no man can reasonably suspect that I serve any other interest by this but the interest of Peace and Order and the better edification of the Christian Church which must reasonably engage all men the more impartially to consider what I shall now offer which shall be comprized under these two General Heads First Our Obligations to Parochial Communion 2. An Answer to some Objections against it First Our Obligations to Parochial Communion which will appear in these particulars 1. That Parochial Communion is in it self an excellent Institution for the more regular Instruction and Government of the Christian Church We do not indeed pretend that the division of an Episcopal Church into several Parishes with their distinct Pastors set over them is in a strict sense of Divine Institution for Christ and his Apostles did not by an express Law determine the Bounds and Extent of Bishopricks much less of Parochial Communions nor indeed was it possible to do it in those dayes when the greatest number of people were either Iews or Heathens Nor was there any need of this it being at last an acknowledged Principle among Dissenters themselves and those of the greatest note That the directive Light of Nature is sufficient to guide us in such things as these the times and seasons of Church Assemblies the order and decency wherein all things are to be transacted in them the bounding of them as to the number of their members and places of habitation so as to answer the ends of their institution And therefore if this Parochial Communion be of great use to the edification of Christians it not only justifies the Wisdom of the Church in the first Institution of it but severely condemns those who break and violate so useful an Institution The whole Christian Church is but one Body and Society of Christians united to Christ who is the Head of this Body and therefore were it possible should all worship their common Father and Saviour together but since the number of Christians and their great distance from each other will not admit this they are divided into less Societies for the more convenient Administration of holy Offices and the exercise of Christian Discipline and Government How can any thing in a Christian Nation be more useful for all the ends of Church Society than the distribution of Christians into Parochial Communions To enjoy the liberty of publick Assemblies near our own dwellings without being forced to seek for it at a distance would have been thought a great priviledge in former Ages like the Heavenly Manna falling round about the Tents of the true Israelites To have a fixed Pastor who is particularly entrusted with the care of your Souls to whom you may at all times freely resort and disclose your spiritual wants whose neighbourhood and conversation may contract a particular friendship and familiarity and beget a mutual confidence and endearment is quite a different thing from some publick and general exhortations and the reason why men do not more value the benefit and advantage of a Parochial Guide is because generally they make so little use of him This is the truest emblem of Catholick Unity when we hold personal Communion with those Christians who are our neighbours and so in the nearest disposition for it for our obligation to Christian Communion extends it self to all Christian Societies which live in the Communion of the Church and to pick up a Church for constant and Ordinary Communion here and there from stragling members who live in remote and distant places is to make a Schismatical difference between Christians as if all Christians were not of the same body nor fit for personal Communion and though forsaking our Parish Churches for other Churches in the same Communion be not so formal a Schism yet it has some tendency that way it being a forsaking the Communion of our neighbour Christians and Parochial Guide There is no other Rule that I know of for personal Communion but cohabitation or dwelling together in the same neighbourhood for then we communicate with the Catholick Church when we communicate with that part of it wherein we live but when without just cause we ordinarily forsake the Communion of Parochial Assemblies we disturb the most convenient Order of Church-Communion and make a Rent and Schism in the Church as total Separation makes a Schism from the Church Neighbour Christians have the most frequent occasions of conversing with each other and therefore many great ends of Christian Communion are best attained among them they may exhort and reprove one another and provoke unto love and good works they may watch over one anothers souls and when they observe each others miscarriages which they cannot avoid observing when they live so near and converse so often together they may apply such timely remedies as may help up those who fall or prevent the fall of those who trip and stumble and
name has confined his more peculiar presence and favour to such Assemblies and one great reason of this is that he is pleased with the unity and uniformity of Worship for he hath expresly promised that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them This is the fundamental Charter of Christian Assemblies and the reason of it certainly is stronger the more universal the consent and agreement is for if Christ will be present with two or three who assemble in Christian love and charity and agree to put up the same Petitions to God much more when so many Christian Churches are confederated in the same Worship and offer up the same Prayers and Thanksgivings to God in the same words How powerful will the united Prayers of a whole National Church be to procure those blessings for us which we want For if unity and consent in Worship be so pleasing to God the greater this consent is the more pleasing it must be Especially considering that in this case we have not only the consent and agreement of private Christians in such acts of Worship but are confederated by the publick authority of the Church and therefore such publick Worship has the beauty and advantages of publick Order and Government If the Prayers of a particular Minister of Religion be so prevalent how much more those Prayers which have the stamp of Church Authority which are the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church even when they are offered up by a single Minister which cannot so well be said of any Prayer of his own and if we believe that God is the God of Peace and Order in the Church we cannot but think it very acceptable to him to observe good order in our Religious Worship Did men seriously consider these things they would be soon sensible of the great advantage of such publick Forms of Prayer and prefer the Prayers of the Church before any Prayers of a private composition or any suddain extempore effusions For publick Prayers prescribed by publick Authority and offered up by a publick Minister are alwayes in the Communion of the Church and virtually contain the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick Administration of Baptism ANother great miscarriage of those who live in the Communion of our Church concerns the administration of Baptism Publick Baptism is now very much grown out of fashion most people look upon it as a very needless and troublesome Ceremony to carry their Children to the publick Congregation there to be solemnly admitted by Baptism into the fellowship of Christs Church They think it may be as well done in a private Chamber as soon as the Child is born with little company and with little noise As prevailing as this custom now is it is of a very late date even in this Church It seems to owe its original to the disputes about Ceremonies for when some men scrupled God-Fathers and God-Mothers and the use of the Sign of the Cross to avoid this they baptized their Children privately at home without either when they could meet with such a conscientious Conformist as could dispense with his Rule And when the Church of England was pulled down and the use of the Liturgy and Ceremonies forbid those who still retained their reverence and obedience to the Constitutions of the Church and would not partake in a prevailing Schism were forced to retire into private too and to baptize their Children at home and it is a hard thing to break a custome upon what occasion soever it was at first begun That which necessity occasioned is continued by some as a piece of State by others to save charge and trouble which might be much better saved by publick Baptism by others out of softness and tenderness a kind and indulgent Mother dares not expose a young Infant to the cold Air unless it be to send it to nurse I could never hear any thing pleaded for this practice that deserved an answer that which makes this custom prevail is that men do not consider the great decency and fitness and the many advantages of publick Baptism which I shall therefore now briefly represent By publick Baptism I mean that which is administred in the publick Congregation and in the publick place of Worship and the fitness and advantage of this will appear if we consider some few things 1. That Baptism is our solemn admission into the Christian Church and therefore ought to be administred in the publick Congregation Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ and unites us to the society of Christians and therefore is of a publick nature and therefore ought to be administred publickly For there is no other rule I know of whereby to determine the manner and circumstances of any action but to consider the nature of it there are some actions which are more proper to be done in private others which require some publick solemnities and it is as undecent to do a publick action i. e. an action of a publick nature privately as it is to do a private action in publick Now that is certainly of a publick nature which concerns a who'e society and such is the admission of Church-members and therefore ought to be done in the presence as well as by the authority of the Church The efficacy indeed of Baptism depends upon the Institution of Christ and therefore when it is rightly administred does not lose its vertue for want of some due circumstances but it is a great fault in those who wilfully and obstinately refuse to give all Christian offices their due solemnity 2. We may consider that Baptism contains a publick profession of our faith in Christ it is a publick owning of his Religion no adult person was ever admitted to Baptism without a profession of his faith in Christ in allusion to which as Learned Men think St. Peter calls Baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God The person to be baptized being examined about his faith in Christ and resolutions of obeying him Now the profession of our faith the more publick it is the more agreeable is it to the nature of Baptism and the constitution of the Christian Church which is a visible Society professing the faith of Christ and though indeed Infants who are baptized are not capable of making such a publick profession of their faith yet their Sponsors and Sureties are who undertake for their education in the Christian faith and certainly the publick Church is the most proper place for such a publick profession To baptize our Children privately looks as if we were ashamed of the Christian profession and there is not a more effectual way to root out Christianity than to destroy
greatest concernment Pag. 104 CHAP. II. COncerning Publick Worship Pag. 110 Publick Worship to be preferred before private tho it were not expresly commanded by God Pag. 111 Publick Worship a greater honour to God than private Devotions Pag. 116 External Worship must be publick Pag. 118 God is a publick Benefactor and therefore publick Worship is due to him Pag. 120 Publick Worship instituted by God under the Law Pag. 122 And by Christ under the Gospel the true Notion of a Church requires it Pag. 125 This proved from the nature of Christian Communion and Sacraments Pag. 126 The same proved from the Institution of the Gospel-Ministry and the power of the Keys Pag. 130 And from the publick profession of Christianity Pag. 133 And from the Duty of Princes to encourage and propagate Religion Pag. 134 CHAP. III. Section 1. COncerning those who plead Conscience for Separation and set up distinct Communions of their own Pag. 138 Some Inquiries with reference to their honesty and sincerity in this Matter Pag. 139 1. Whether they separate upon true Principles of Conscience the difference between private Opinion and Conscience and the use of this Distinction ibid 2. Whether they consider the great Evil of Schism Pag. 151 3. Whether they believe our Communion to be unlawful Pag. 156 4. How they came to think our Communion unlawful Pag. 156 5. Whether they ever impartially examined the Reasons of their Separation Pag. 170 6. How they behave themselves towards their Governors Pag. 184 Section 2. Some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England Pag. 188 1. From the Nature of God Pag. 190 2. From the Nature of Christian Religion Pag. 193 3. From the Example of our Saviour Pag. 207 4. From the practice of the Apostles and the first and best Churches Pag. 208 Section 3. An answer to some popular Cavils Pag. 215 Concerning Will-Worship Pag. 216 Concerning Superstition Pag. 222 The Church of England charged with Idolatry Pag. 235 And with Popery Pag. 236 PART II. CHAP. I. COncerning Parochial Communion CHAP. II. Concerning irreverence in Worship 267 CHAP. III. Concerning the neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church 281 CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick administration of Baptism 289 CHAP. V. Concerning the publick instruction of Youth 296 CHAP. VI. Concerning the great neglect of the Lord's Supper ERRATA PAge 6. line 26 read Apollos P. 9. l. 13. r. and that none P. 18. l. 15. r. that they either P. 50. l. 14. f. we r. be P. 105. l. 18. r. you 'l P. 124. l. 26. r. who P. 164. l. 9. r. fell P. 185. l. 2. r. them P. 208. l. 6. r. so P. 212. l. 11. f. if r. that P. 219. l. 24. r. now though P. 224. l. 12 13. r. difficult P. 230. l. 5. r. had P. 331. l. 18. f. rule r. rite P. 346. l. 28. f. truth r. faith A Practical Discourse OF Religious Assemblies The INTRODUCTION 1. Containing a short Account of the nature of Christian Assemblies for Publick Worship 2. A Scheme of the Design of this following Treatise 3. The seasonableness of such a Discourse 1. RELIGION is the greatest Concernment of Mankind both with respect to this life and the next and the Worship of God is the most excellent part of Religion as having GOD the most excellent Being for its immediate Object This is the Work and constant Imployment of Angels and blessed Spirits in Heaven who see the Face of God dwell in his Presence admire his essential Glory and infinite Perfections and sing Eternal Hallelujah's to Him When we come to Heaven we shall have no unruly Passions and Appetites to govern and tho our Souls shall be transformed into a pure Flame of Divine Love yet there will be no place for the laborious exercise of Charity in pitying and relieving one another where all the Inhabitants shall be perfectly happy in the enjoyment of the most perfect Good Indeed in this World Temperance and Charity are no Christian Vertues but as they are acts of Worship that is as they flow from a great sense of God and veneration for him for God is the sole Object of Religion and to be sober and to be charitable upon some meaner Considerations without any respect to God as the last end of all is to serve our selves or our Friends or to follow the inclinations of our nature but is not properly the Service of God Whatsoever we do out of a just sense of God is in some respects an act of Worship for it is to honour the Deity which may as effectually be done by actions as by words verbal praises are of no value with God are meer lip-labour and formal complements when they are alone and produce no answerable effects in our lives This is what the Apostle calls a form of Godliness without the power of it Religion is nothing else but such a vital sense of God as excites in us devout affections and discovers it self in a divine and heavenly Conversation But yet that which we more strictly call Worship is the most visible and solemn expression of our Honour for God when we lift up our hearts and our eyes and hands to God in Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings and when it is sincere and hearty has a powerful influence upon the government of our Lives For what sincere Worshipper can be so void of all fear of God as to break his Laws and contemn his Authority and despise his Judgements and therefore that vain and hypocritical semblance of Religion wherewith some bad Men deceive themselves and flatter God is called the form of Godliness without the power it being only an external imitation of Religious Worship without that powerful sense of God which governs the Lives of truly devout and pious Men. And as the Worship of God is the most excellent part of Religion which has the most universal and most powerful influence upon our Lives So publick Worship is the most excellent Worship as you shall hear more hereafter Indeed the right and power of holding Publick Assemblies for Worship is the fundamental right of the Church whereon all Church-Authority depends as has been well observed and proved by a Learned Man of our Church The Power of the Keys signifies no more than Authority to take in and to shut out of the Church the first is done by Baptism the second by Church-Censures the highest of which is Excommunication which debarreth Men from all parts of Christian Communion And therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes forsaking Christian Assemblies either to be an Apostacy from Christianity as it was in those days or at least a fair step towards it he exhorts those to whom he writ to hold fast the profession of their Faith without wavering that is to continue firm and stedfast in the profession of Christianity and in order to this gives them this Caution Not
afraid to speak evil of Dignities that is who did wilfully and obstinately oppose the Apostles of Christ who were invested with his Authority answerable to the Sin of those in the Jewish Church who set themselves up against Moses and Aaron and reproached the Rulers of the People and it is expresly called doing presumptuously not to hearken to the Priest that standeth to minister before the Lord. And therefore these Men are said to have forsaken the right way and are gone astray And whoever compares this Chapter with St. Iude's Epistle will find that St. Peter and S. Iude speak of the same Men for their Characters do exactly agree and of them S. Iude tells us these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit And thus in the first Ages of Christianity no Men ever separated from the Communion of the Church but such gross Hereticks the several Sects of Gnosticks of whom Irenaeus and Epiphanius give us a large and particular account and for this reason the name Heresy which properly signifies a Sect or Separation came to be applied to corrupt and Heretical Doctrines which in those days were the only cause of Separations And we may find some remains of this ancient and original use of these words in after-ages for though Schism commonly was used in Church-Writers to signify Separation from Church-Communion and Heresy to signify false Doctrine yet separation from the Christian Church though it were only ocasioned upon a Dispute about Discipline without any other error in matters of Faith was called Heresy Thus St. Cyprian I remember calls the Schism of Novatianus Haereticam Pravitatem Heretical Impiety and in answer to that question of Antonianus Quam Haeresin Novatianus introduxisset What Heresy Novatianus was the Author of he alledges nothing but the breach of the Peace and Unity of the Church and says That we ought not curiously to enquire what he teaches who is out of the Church for whatever he be he is no Christian who is not in the Church of Christ. And thus Felicissimus and his adherents are called Haeretica Factio an Heretical Faction though the Schism was occasioned only by a Dispute of Discipline concerning the restoring the Lapsed to the Peace and Communion of the Church So that in St. Cyprian's time Separation from the Church without any other Error in the Fundamentals of Faith was called Heresy And though Heresy did most frequently signify corrupt Doctrine yet a meer error in Doctrine was not thought a compleat formal Heresy without such Wilfulness and Obstinacy as ended in Separation And therefore St. Austin describes Hereticks to be those who hold some false and corrupt Doctrines and when they are reproved in order to reduce them to truth and sobricty of Iudgment do obstinately resist and refuse to correct their poisonous and damnable Opinions but persist in defending them Thus they become Hereticks and going out of the Church become its enemies c. And this I take to be the meaning of this Father in that famed Saying Errare possum Hereticus esse nolo though he might err yet he would not be an Heretick that is that he would not so obstinately persist in the defence of any private Opinion in opposition to the received Doctrine of the Christian Church as to break the Communion of the Church upon that account Now if this were the Case that besides those Divisions among Christians in the same Communion which are called Schisms by St. Paul there were formal Separations from the Church of a much more heinous nature which none in those days were guilty of but those who renounced the purity of the Christian Doctrine if such Separations were always condemned in the Primitive Church as Heresy and Apostacy from Christianity though such Separatists were not guilty of any fundamental Error in Doctrines of Faith I see not what Dr. Owen gains by proving that Separation is no Schism when it appears to be a much greater evil And indeed if the Doctor will allow Schism to be a great evil when it signifies no more than Contentions and Quarrels in a Church any one would reasonably think that Separation from a Church should be a much greater Evil for Contentions and Quarrels are then come to their heighth and perfection when they make Friends Brethren and Confederates part company and it seems strange that less Quarrels should be a greater Evil than greater Quarrels unless he thinks it is with Schism as under the Law it was in the case of Leprosy that when the whole Body was over-spread with it the Leper was pronounced clean But the most material Inquiry here is What is a Publick Assembly for Religious Worship for our Dissenters meet as publickly now as the Church of England and therefore cannot be charged with forsaking Christian Assemblies and in times of Persecution the Primitive Christians met very privately in small numbers or in the night or very early in the morning to avoid the discovery of their Persecutors and yet such private and clandestine Meetings were not really Conventicles but publick Church-Assemblies Which is a plain Proof that it is not numbers nor meeting openly and publickly which makes a Church-Assembly but holding such Assemblies by the Publick Authority of the Church and in union with it As in the State when a great many People meet together without Publick Authority it is a Riot not a Legal Assembly Publick Places of Worship allowed by the Publick Authority of the Church is one thing which makes the Assemblies of Christians publick For the Primitive Christians allowed no separate Assemblies no Congregations but what met in the publick Church and therefore we find an express Canon in the Council of Gangra That if any shall take upon him out of the Church privately to preach at home and making light of the Church shall do those things which belong only to the Church without the presence of the Priest and the leave and allowance of the Bishops let him be Accursed So that Publick Worship is that Worship which is performed in Publick Churches or in case of necessity in other places by the allowance and appointment of the Publick Authority of Church and State and Separate Meetings which have no such allowance and authority must be Schismatical Conventicles unless they can prove the lawfulness and necessity of such a Separation for indeed nothing can make a Separation lawful but what makes it necessary II. This following Treatise consists of two Parts the first concerns those who wholly or for the most part absent themselves from the Publick Assemblies of Christians and these are of three sorts 1. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies out of prophaneness for want of a due sense of any Religion or in contempt of it 2. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies for want of a due sense of the necessity and advantage of Publick Worship who do not go to Church because they think they
of external Worship with a safe Conscience how we can pray either with or without a Form since neither of them is commanded in Scripture as the external circumstances of no one Duty are that I know of I say while Men have such wild unpracticable Notions in their Heads which when they are pursued to their last Issue overthrow all manner of external Order and Government in the Church and end in all the Confusions of Quakerism it is a vain thing to talk of Comprehensions and Concessions And while Men have no sense at all of the evil of Schism and Separation but think it as innocent a thing to set up Church against Church as to go from one Parish-Church to another it is evident that they will never desire to return to the Union of the Church who have no sense what a necessary duty Christian Communion is and what a damning Sin Schism is and therefore whoever does sincerely and cordially desire to see all sober Christians united in the same Communion must earnestly exhort perswade and convince as well as yield and comply The common Danger we are all in from the growing Power and secret Conspiracies of the Popish Faction makes all Men acknowledge the necessity and call aloud for Union Our Dissenters who never did nor are ever likely to unite in any thing but their Cries against Popery and their Designs of pulling down the Church of England think this a convenient opportunity to accomplish their Ends and have been very busy to libel Church and Church-men to say nothing now of the State this hath put many worthy Sons of the Church who are impatient to hear their Mother reviled and slandered upon the defensive part to vindicate the Reformation of our Church from their rude Calumnies and yet to express their readiness to comply and unite upon such Terms when ever Publick Authority shall see fit as would not utterly destroy our Constitution The first they have done beyond the possibility of a sober Reply and how fruitless their Charity is in attempting the second the Dissenters themselves will convince all men who cannot patiently hear of any other terms of Concord but the extirpation of the corrupt and Antichristian Church of England I am not ambitious to thrust my self into this Scuffle and therefore do not appear as a Disputant but make a close and serious Application to the Consciences of Men which I hope when the heat of Disputation is a little over may prove a more powerful conviction to all well-meaning Men than the best and most unanswerable Reasons have hitherto done PART I. Concerning those who wholly forsake Religious Assemblies CHAP. I. Containing an Address and Exhortation to those who have no sense at all of Religion or that Obligation which lies on them to worship God and take care of their Souls SECT I. Some Proposals made to the Speculative Atheist 1. That they would once more consider what strong and almost invincible Inclinations there are in Humane Nature to the Worship of God 2. That they would not publickly affront Religion 3. That they would not wholly forsake Religious Assemblies 4. That they would not intermeddle in the Disputes and Controversies of Religion FIrst I shall begin with those who withdraw themselves from Christian Assemblies out of profaneness for want of any due sense of Religion or that Obligation which lies on them to worship God and to take care of their own Souls And there are two sorts of these Men first the Speculative secondly the Practical Atheist First The Speculative Atheist who denies the being of God and therefore must of necessity despise his Worship for that which is not cannot be the Object of our Love or Fear or Religious Adorations Those indeed who do not believe that there is a God may in prudence conceal their Atheism and comply with the custom of their Country in performing all the External Acts of Worship but yet few Atheists have so much Wit or good breeding as not to affront the universal Belief and Practice of Mankind Now I shall not at present dispute the Case with these Men nor attempt to convince them of their great Folly and Madness in not worshipping God by proving that there is a God who ought to be worshipped This requires a larger Discourse than my present Design will allow and has been already done more than once with all the advantages of Reason and Learning by much better Pens and therefore I shall only make three or four very fair and reasonable Proposals to them First That they would once more seriously consider what strong and almost invincible Inclinations there are in Humane Nature to the Worship of God I do not argue now from Natural Notions and Anticipations or those common Maxims and Principles of Reason which are found in all Man-kind because the Atheist tells us That these are only the Principles of our Education and we should never have had such Conceits and Fancies in our Heads if we had not been taught them though it is a hard thing to give an account how these Principles should first come to be entertained in the World who taught them the first Man and how he came so readily to believe them and so carefully to propagate them to Posterity and it seems strange how Man-kind should so universally assent to such Principles as the Being of God and a Providence c. if at least they are not extreamly agreeable to the Make and Frame of our Minds though we should suppose them not to be Natural Notions But I say to let pass this now I shall only desire these Men to consult a little with the Inclinations of Nature which are not the Effects of Reason and Discourse but Natural Impressions the necessary Efforts Impetus and Tendencies of Nature as a Stone naturally falls downward and the Fire as naturally ascends Now it is impossible that any Education should put new Inclinations or new Passions into our Minds Education may direct our Natural Inclinations and Passions to Unnatural Objects but it can no more make new Inclinations and Passions than it can make a new Soul Now among all the Inclinations of Humane Nature there is none more strong and invincible than the Inclination to Religion to worship something or other as a God Though the Heathens were greatly mistaken in their Notion of a God and some worshipped the Sun Moon and Stars the Earth and Seas and Rivers and the meanest and most contemptible Creatures for Gods yet they all agreed in this universal Inclination to Religious Worship which is a plain Argument that this Universal Consent in Religion was more owing to the impulses and tendencies of a Reasonable Nature than to the clear and distinct Principles of Natural Reason for Reason always joins the Act and the Object together but Natural Inclinations are a blind and confused Principle of Action which thrusts forward to such an Act without a clear perception of its Object just as the Appetite
reasonable exception against Truth if there are any new Discoveries to be made in this last Age of the World yet we all know when we speak only of the Power of Prejudice that it is a harder thing to perswade Men to part with such Doctrines Customs Usages Religions which they have received from their Ancestors for many Generations than to part with some novel Invention whose very Novelty will not admit of any strong and lasting Prejudice Thus we know the Antiquity of the Pagan Religion which pleaded the Prescription of unknown Ages made it extreamly difficult to perswade Men to renounce their Country Gods and to embrace Christianity and that Objection of Novelty tho it were false was yet a great hinderance to the reception of the Gospel which I alleadg to shew that a long and immemorial Prescription is a more powerful Prejudice than some few Years Education and therefore if the Prejudices of Education be thought sufficient to justify our Dissenters it is a much better Justification of Pagans and Papists in forreign Countries For 2ly it may cause a reasonable suspicion in honest Dissenters sufficient to put them upon a new search and enquiry when they remember that the King and the Church of England fall together that those who altered the Government of the Church pulled down Monarchy and transformed themselves into as many different shapes and forms in the State as they set up new Models of Discipline and Government in the Church which is an Argument that they were not the most infallible Men nor acted by the best Principles that ever were The Church of England as established by Law has had possession in this Nation ever since the Reformation and a few Years interruption in a time of Rebellion and great Confusion is not sufficient to dispossess it and therefore all Men ought to have laid aside their Prejudices and to have returned to the Communion of the Church as well as to their Loyalty to their Prince unless they could shew some better Reasons against it than the Prejudices of Education which can be no just excuse at this day for he is a very unreasonable Man who shall desire any more than twenty Years to wear off the Prejudices of twenty Years Education Especially when we consider thirdly That no other Religion or form of Church Government ever had a legal possession of this Nation during this Anarchy and Interregnum of Church and State Neither Presbytery Independency nor Anabaptism were setled by Law but they shuffled as well as they could and used their utmost skill to establish themselves by the numbers and power of their several Parties and sometimes one praviled and sometimes another and instead of one National Church we had twenty National Schisms but no Church Which 4thly plainly shews That the Prejudices of Education can be no good Plea in this Case for it is impossible the Prejudices of Education should be strong and invincible where there is no one fixed Church nor one face of Religion in a Nation but several Churches quarrelling and contending with each other Those who are brought up in a Country where the People never heard but of one Religion as it is in Spain or at least never heard of any other but under such dismal frightful Characters as may raise their indignation and their hatred of such Monsters it is no wonder I say if such Men's Prejudices be very strong and almost invincible but when Men see Religion in so many shapes and converse with Men of different Perswasions and see that they are not Monsters but Men like themselves this rather inclines them to uncertainty and Scepticism in Religion to be sure it is not apt to possess them with any fixt and unalterable Prejudices for or against any Religion And therefore we find in this state of things how Men make their advances from one Church to another till at last they come to Quakerism the end and centre of all Confusion as being at the greatest distance from all good Order Now when Men are in such a wandring state like Travellers who have no certain Abode but pass out of one Country into another visit all and stay no where which is the deplorable Case of many thousand poor injudicious People it is ridiculous to plead Prejudice in their Justification 2. Others engage themselves in Schism out of lightness and giddiness of Mind They have no fixt and stable Principles and can never like one thing long together or they run into Conventicles out of a wanton curiosity and are taken with any thing or with nothing as it happens and thus by degrees contract Prejudices against that Church whose Communion they forsook without any reason and then believe it to be unlawful without any The Zeal of their Preachers and those hard words they give the Church and Churchmen makes them believe there is some cause for it tho they know not what and they learn by roat some popular Objections and Cavils and when they are once engaged lay aside all thoughts of further consideration or a timely retreat When Men first begin to separate and then learn some Doubts and Scruples and in time improve those Doubts into lasting Principles of Schism it is no Argument of any great honesty for an honest Man must first have very undeniable proof that Communion is unlawful before he can entertain the least thought of a Separation and did Men take this course the Schism would soon be at an end 3. Others take distaste at the publick Administrations of Civil Government and hence take occasion to quarrel with the Church This seems strange that whatever is done amiss in the State should be made an Argument against the Church when the Church in a Christian Kingdom is subordinate to the State and has no power to correct the Miscarriages of Civil Government as Civil Governors have to correct and reform the Abuses and Exorbitances of Ecclesiastical Power But some Persons observing that close Union which is between Church and State think it a vain thing to attempt the Crown till they have first pulled down a Legal Church But tho these Men may talk very much against Church-Impositions and seem as much concerned for Liberty of Conscience as they are for the Liberty of the Subject it is plain Religion is the least thing in their thoughts they love Schism only for the sake of Rebellion and look upon Schismatical Conventicles as admirable Nurseries for the Camp tho I am willing to hope they may be mistaken in it That this was the plain state of the Case in our late Troubles we have been lately told in print by one who is no great Friend to the Church of England tho I wonder so grave and wise a Man should thus openly betray the Secrets of his Party tells us That when the War was begun by Church-men who had no design at first to pull down the Church the Auxiliaries of the Parliament the Scots would not
and curious Speculations but on the authority of Miracles which is so sensible an Argument that the meanest People understand it as well as the greatest Philosophers those Miracles which were wrought by Christ and his Apostles the knowledg of which is conveyed down to us in the Writings of the New Testament and which have been owned in all succeeding Ages of the Church till our days do as certainly prove the truth of that Religion which Christ and his Apostles taught as if we had heard God speak in an audible Voice from Heaven to us and this is a sufficient reason to believe whatever he has revealed though we cannot perfectly understand all the difficulties of it And when we have once embraced Christianity we have the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles to be the Rule of our Faith and Practice and therefore whatever is expresly forbid in those Writings every Man without any great skill in Controversy knows to be unlawful as being contrary to the revealed Will of God and by this means the plainest Country-man may understand the difference between Popery and Reformed Christianity the peculiar Doctrine of the Roman Church being expresly contrary to the Doctrine and Institutions of our Saviour for what can be more expresly contrary to the Gospel than worshipping Images praying to Saints and Angels praying in an unknown Tongue the half Communion where the Priest drinks the Wine by himself and gives nothing but a Wafer to the People these things require indeed great subtilty in the Church of Rome to defend them but may be understood and confuted by the plainest Man who is no Master of Subtilties But the Case is quite different in the Dispute between the Church of England and Dissenters we desire no more from them but to shew us where any one Doctrine or Practice of the Church of England is expresly condemned in Scripture or by such a natural and easy Consequence as every honest Man tho no Schoolman nor Philosopher may understand it Where do they find that the Office of a Bishop is Antichristian which has been continued in the Church ever since the Times of the Apostles and whose Successors they were if we will believe the Ancient Fathers Where do they read that a form of Prayer is unlawful when Christ himself gave a Form of Prayer to his Disciples and the Book of Psalms consists of an hundred and fifty Forms of Prayer and Praises which were used in their Publick Worship Where do they find that the Ceremonies of our Church are Idolatrous and Superstitious when they can produce no Text of Scripture where they are forbid unless they think that because God has forbid worshipping Images in the second Commandment therefore he has forbid all external Circumstances of Worship instituted for decency and Order which is so subtil a Consequence as will make a very Metaphysical Head ake to discover it Now when there is no direct and positive proof but Men argue wholly from some uncertain and far-fetcht Consequences How shall the common People who understood none of the artificial Laws of Reasoning judg of such Arguments It is possible indeed to make some terrible impressions upon their Fancies by great confidence and an uncouth sound of words which they understand not As that our Ceremonies are Symbolical that they are new Sacraments not meer Circumstances but parts of Worship Now how few are there of our Separatists who understand any thing of this talk How long time will they take to teach a Countryman who is not Book-learn'd what a Symbolical Ceremony is or to understand how our Ceremonies are transformed into Sacraments And yet whoever separates upon such Accounts as these without being able to understand the true meaning of those terrible Objections is most certainly a Schismatick And yet there is a great deal more than this to be known before Men can justify their Separations for suppose they should discover some Faults in our Constitution they must further inquire Whether these be only some tolerable Defects and Imperfections or whether they be Sins Whether they Pollute the Communicants and make Communion unlawful Whether they be only active or passive in it Whether supposing the wearing of a Surplice were superstitious all that are present at the Publick Prayers who disown such Superstition are yet guilty of it and must separate to preserve their Innocence and to declare their abomination of such Superstitions whether the Child who is signed with the sign of the Cross at Baptism be ever the worse for it or whether the Parents who dislike such a Ceremony sin in submitting their Children to it in Obedience to their Superiors or whether the Fault be theirs who enjoyn it These are Matters beyond the reach of every ordinary capacity to determine and therefore tho Separation were in it self lawful very few Men can separate lawfully 6. I shall add but one thing more with reference to the trial of these Mens honesty Whether they separate upon true Principles of Conscience and that is by considering how they behave themselves towards their Governors The Conscience of any honest Man especially when it dissents from Publick Constitutions is a very modest and peaceable Principle such Men think it very well if they have leave to dissent and quietly withdraw tho they have not leave to vilify the established Religion nor undermine publick Constitutions and tho they cannot obtain thus much favour but are persecuted for a good Conscience yet they suffer patiently after the Example of their great Master who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously But a Schismatick whose Conscience serves an Interest must miss of his end if he suffers patiently such are indeed as little in love with Sufferings as other Men but yet they love to have some pretence or other to make a great noise and clamour about their Sufferings as it is observed of the Schismatical Donatists that there were several Laws made against that by Theodosius the Emperor and tho none of those Laws were scarce ever executed yet they set up a mighty cry aggravated every little matter to cast an odium upon the Government complained that they were injuriously handled that their Cause was never fairly heard and determined by its intrinsick Merits but oppressed with Force and Power And how parallel this Story is to the case of some in these days I need not tell you I am sure there are a sort of Men who separate from our Church and for that reason are reckon'd among the Godly Party who take as little care to govern their Tongues or Pens tho St. Iames makes this the Character of a perfect Man as any Schsmaticks in the World ever did who neither express any regard to Princes nor to Truth and Honesty if they can but serve their Cause by casting dirt upon the Government or blasting the Reputation of vertuous and peaceable Men who will not
run headlong into the same Excesses with themselves I will not enlarge upon this Argument lest telling plain Matter of Fact should be called Bitterness and Railing for some Men out of a pretence of Conscience are guilty of such vile and lewd Practices as they are not willing to hear of again and think themselves slandered if they do All that I shall say of it is only this That a tender Conscience never teaches Men to revile and reproach their Governors but this has been the Practice and Character of the most infamous Hereticks and Schismaticks ever since the beginnings of Christianity St. Iude gives a great many hard words to some Men in his days which I am not willing to apply to any in ours who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee But these speak evil of those things which they know not Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward and perished in the gain-saying of Core these are spots in your Feasts of Charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear Clouds are they without Water carried about of Winds Trees whose Fruit withereth without Fruit twice dead plucked up by the Roots raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever I shall conclude with that admirable Rule of St. Austin in answer to Parmenianus the Donatist Whoever corrects what he can by Reason and Discourse and shuts out or lays aside what is not capable of amendment as far as this may consist with the preservation of Christian Peace and Unity and modestly disallows and yet upholds what cannot be parted with without breaking the Peace of the Church this is the true Peace-maker SECT II. Containing some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England I Shall now lay down some general Principles which may contribute towards the satisfaction of Men's Minds to remove their Prejudices against the Worship of our Church The things commonly objected to drive away our People from the Communion of our Parish Churches are the Government of the Church by Bishops the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer the Surplice the Cross in Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament and such like which concern the use of some indifferent and uncommanded things in Religious Worship For we have always challenged our Adversaries to produce any one express Law of Christ which is contradicted and broken by the Constitution of our Church or the Administration of our Religious Offices they could never produce any yet and I am sure never can And if Men will abuse and scare themselves with some fancyful Applications of Scripture and remote and illogical Consequences there is no help that I know of since it is an endless work to answer all such cavils For Men who can make Objections without any just Reason may at the same rate return answers too without end Therefore the best and shortest way I can think of is to lay down some such general Considerations as may satisfy all honest and teachable Minds that tho it is possible to raise Objections against any thing yet those Objections must prove fallacious which contradict other great and apparent Truths And I shall reduce what I have to say to these four general Heads First The Consideration of the Nature of God Secondly The Nature and Design of the Christian Religion Thirdly The Example of Christ. Fourthly The Example of the Apostolick and Primitive Churches in the first ages of Christianity First Let us consider the Nature of God for God is the Object of our Worship And that is the best Worship which is most suitable to his Nature Thus our Saviour teaches us to argue God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth And thus the wise Man argues God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few Now to apply this briefly to our present Case can any Man who considers what God is imagine that he will be displeased with his Creatures for offering up their Prayers and Thanks-givings to him in a pious and sober Form of Words Can God be pleased with the volubility of the Tongue or quickness of Fancy or variety of Invention more than with devout Affections than with a Soul enflamed with Divine Love and possest with a Reverence of the Divine Majesty and offering up it self to him in few grave and considerate Words Will a Father reject the Petitions of his Child if as often as his Wants require he uses the same Words when he asks the same thing Does a Prince like a long extemporary Harangue when his Subjects come to beg a Boone of him or a short and well composed Petition The wise Man I am sure tells us that few and becoming Words are more agreeable to the Majesty of God and more expressive of that distance which is between him and us and therefore are more agreeable to the nature of publick Worship which is only an external signification of the Reverence and Devotion of the Mind Prayer is a necessary part of natural Religion and was a Duty incumbent on Mankind before God made any other revelation of his Will than by Natural Reason and therefore the Reason of Mankind is a very proper Judg in what manner we must pray to God unless there were an express positive Law made about it Revelation may suggest new matter for our Prayers and direct us to pray to God in the powerful and prevailing Name of the Holy Jesus But Words and Postures and other external Circumstances of Prayer which are not expresly determined by Revelation may be determined by humane Prudence for there could be no other rule for these Matters before God revealed his Will and if God have not altered this Rule by a plain positive Law it must be our Rule still for we have no better And therefore we cannot imagine that God who is our Supream Law-giver and discovers his Will to us partly by the Light of Reason and partly by Revelation should be angry with his Creatures for following the best Reason they have nay for governing themselves by the publick Reason and Authority of Church and State Whoever only considers the Nature of God and the reason of things must certainly judg it fitter to meditate before hand and to take Words with us when we approach the Presence of so great a Majesty than to venture saying any thing which comes next and neither the Nature of God nor the Reason of Man condemns any external Ceremonies for Decency and Order and an useful Signification but have taught all Mankind to use them in all
the very case the Apostle mentions for the things which he says have a shew of Wisdom are either the worshipping Angels ver 18. which has a shew of Humility that such mean and guilty Creatures dare not immediately approach to God without the Intercession of Angels who are the great Ministers Friends and Favourites of God or those Ordinances and Rudiments of the World touch not taste not handle not 20 21. which he calls the Doctrines and Commandments of Men ver 22. by which he means either the Jewish Laws of abstaining from certain Meats forbid by the Law of Moses or the Pythagorean abstinence from the use of Women or from eating any living Creature or as it is most probable both of them These are those things which have a shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship and neglecting the Body but indeed are not true Wisdom nor an acceptable Worship of God a great many such things we may find in the Church of Rome such as their praying to Saints and Angels and the Virgin Mary their Fastings Penances and Pilgrimages c. which are made substantial parts of Religion but Circumstances and Ceremonies of Worship were never reckoned among them till now by any antient or modern Expositors Now tho Will-Worship were in this place condemned by the Apostle and these things condemn'd as parts of Will-Worship yet the Church of England is not concerned in it as having nothing in her Worship like these things and we must not apply the Name of Will-Worship any farther than the Apostle has applyed it or to such things as are analogous to what he condems for Will-Worship but yet it does not appear that this voluntary Worship is condemned by the Apostle or has the least ill Character affixed to it 2. The second Accusation is Superstition a Name which is at all adventures given to every thing which Men dislike in Religion and being a Name of Reproach serves instead of all other Arguments especially when they have no other at hand Thus to pray by a Form to wear a Surplice to kneel at the Lord's Supper are all superstitious Ceremonies and so they may for any thing They know who most frequently use this Word without understanding what it means and no Man need be at any greater trouble to vindicate the Church of England from the charge of Superstition than to explain the Nature of it which will soon convince them of their mistake in applying it Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by Tully is rendred Superstitio is by St. Austin called demonum cultus the Worship of Demons that is of Angels or dead Men and in this Sence St. Paul at Athens when he observed the Inscription of their Altar to an unknown God says that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is more Superstitious than others i. e. that they worshipped more Gods or Demons than other Heathen Nations and possibly with more Devotion and Religious Observances But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a great dread and fear of their Demons and Gods and therefore is made equivalent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dread or fear of God And as a Learned Man observes this was originally owing to the belief of a divine Providence and consequently of Rewards and Punishments in this World and the next for which reason Epicurus tho he did not deny the Being of a God yet he removed him out of the World and would not allow him to be Maker of the World nor to intermeddle in humane Affairs and those who believed a divine Providence he rejected under the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superstitious fearers of the Deity Hence he represents the design of his Philosophy to be to deliver Men from Superstition that they might live without fear of any invisible Powers or infernal Judges of whom their Poets especially told such frightful and tragical Stories and therefore in other places Superstition is made by him equivalent to the fear of Death or the fear of punishment after Death And in this Sence Superstition is nothing else but a Nick-Name for Religion or such a fear of God as is the beginning of Wisdom but this was so troublesome and irksome to the Atheistical Philosopher that he endeavoured to deliver himself and Mankind from the belief of a Divine Providence or future Account as in our Age for the fame reason too many deny the Being of God and endeavour to laugh and droll themselves into Atheism that they may live secure from the fear of Punishment But tho every bad Man desires to do this yet few can attain to it the belief of a God sticks close to their Minds and t is equally different for them to deny his Being as to despise his Power and therefore they live in a perpetual dread of God as an observer of their Actions and a severe Judg and can form no other Notion of him but as of a powerful domineering imperious Tyrant And therefore Maximus Tyrius makes this the difference between a Religious and Superstitious Man that a Religious Man goes to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any servile Fear and Horror which we now commonly oppose to a Filial fear which is mixt with Love and Reverence as a Son Loves and Honours his Father which is the true Spirit of Religion but a Superstitious Man is horribly afraid of God as a powerful Tyrant Hence Plutarch observes that an Atheist does not believe that there is a God and a Superstitious Man wishes there were none And hence it comes to pass that as Superstition makes Men fear God so it teaches them to flatter him for it is the natural temper of Fear to fawn and crouch and by the basest and most servile Submissions to court the Favour of an imperious Lord and it is as natural for those who are Proud Severe and Imperious to love to be flattered and therefore those Men who look on God only as Almighty Power which is soon provoked and cannot be resisted hope to appease so angry a Being by some servile and flattering Submissions Whence it is Maximus Tyrius represents a truly pious Man as God's Friend and a Superstitious Man as his Flatterer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the true Reason of this Difference between the Religious and the Superstitious Man is this that a truly Religious Man is one who conforms himself to the Divine Nature and admires the Wisdom of God's Laws and the Beauty and Perfection of Vertue and therefore instead of this servile fear of God he loves him as the most excellent Being and securely hopes in him as the most kind Father and bountiful Benefactor and delights to pay him such Homage and Worship as is suitable to his Nature and Perfections But a Superstitious Man is one who is in love with some Vice or other which he fears God will punish him for but cannot and will not part with it and therefore fears God and flatters him and invents such Arts to appease
God or not when they think to please God by the bare external performance of them for whatever is external in Religion cannot be acceptable to God for it self In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature and Faith which worketh by Love and Obedience to the Commandments of God And to hope to please God with any thing else is to hope to flatter him and to compound with him for the breach of his Laws and the want of an inward vital Principle of Religion by external Hypocrisies and Superstitions But on the other hand we may be sure 1. That no Man can be guilty of Superstition who hopes to please God and obtain his Favour only by an Universal Righteousness and Holiness of Heart and Life Such a Man is truly Religious who endeavours to conform his Mind to the Divine Nature and Image and to frame his Conversation by the eternal Laws of Goodness he neither fears nor flatters the Deity as the Superstitious Man does but is the Son and the Friend of God and the external Expressions and Exercises of his Religion are fitted to the great ends of an Universal Holiness 2. That cannot be the matter of Superstition which is not made or judged an acceptable part of Divine Worship for Superstition can be only in such things wherein we hope to please God and this effectually justifies the Church of England from the charge of Superstition with respect to the External Rites of Worship which she declares to be no parts nor acts of Worship but such Circumstances and Ceremonies as make the external performance of the Acts of Worship decent and solemn and are useful to Edification to help Men to worship God better not to please God by such external Rites The third Accusation of the Worship of the Church of England is Idolatry a terrible and yet a ridiculous Charge But Idolatry is an odious Name and that is enough if there be those who are bold enough to say it they will be sure to find some of their Proselytes ignorant enough to believe it It is but calling the Common-Prayer Book and Ceremonies Idols and then they are plainly forbid in the Second Commandment But is there indeed no difference between worshipping God in a sober and pious form of words and worshipping a Graven Image No difference between wearing a Surplice and falling down to a Stock or Stone No difference between signing Children with the sign of the Cross and dedicating them to an Idol or false God Whither does a blind Zeal transport these Men I am sure this is much more like Blasphemy than any thing in our Worship is like Idolatry but such an Argument as this does not deserve to be answered nor such Men deserve to be reasoned with those who can abuse themselves and others with such formidable Nothings stand more in need of Physick than a sober Confutation 4. Another Accusation of the Worship of the Church of England is That it is Popery And so indeed it is as much Popery as it is Superstition and Idolatry And thus our Religious Princes and Godly Bishops are well rewarded for reforming Religion with infinite pains and labour and to their utmost peril It cost many Martyrs their Lives and would have made the Crown to shake had it not been secure by an Omnipotent Hand and All-seeing Providence and all this it seems for nothing for we are not got out of Babylon yet That Command still lies against the Church of England as our Ancestors believed it did against the Church of Rome Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you It is somewhat strange that God should suffer our Reformers who were so sincere and honest who spared no pains and feared no danger to purge the House of God to retain so much of the old Leaven as makes it unsafe for all good Christians to partake in such Worship And it is strange that the Papists should be such mortal Enemies to the Church of England which is so near a Kin to Rome and look so kindly upon our new Thorough-Reformers But I would desire these Men to tell me what Point of Popery is still retained in the Doctrine Government or Discipline of our Church O say they that is quickly done The very Office of Bishops is a Relique of Popery And if this be so then the whole Christian Church from the very first institution of it has been popishly affected for if we will allow the Apostles to have had an Episcopal Power and Authority we find no Christian Church without Bishops till the Reformation that is for 1500 Years and I confess I never thought Popery could have pleaded such Antiquity and early prescription That Supream and Soveraign Power which the Bishop of Rome challenges over all other Bishops and Secular Princes nay that uncontroulable Authority he challenges over the Laws of God and Institutions of our Saviour to change and alter them by his infallible Decrees when he pleases his absolute Power to forgive Sins and to dispose of Heaven and Hell is no doubt the Perfection of that Apostacy which was foretold should happen in the latter days and if our Bishops challenge any such Power to themselves I will own them to be Antichristian and Popish But we may see what admirable Reformers those are like to make who know not how to distinguish between an Apostolical Office and Antichristian Usurpations But the Common-Prayer Book is Popish I beseech you wherein as it is a Form of Prayer Then our Saviour taught Men Popery for he taught his Disciples to pray by a Form and the whole Book of Psalms must be ranck Popery which consists only of Forms of Prayer and Thanksgiving composed for the use of the Temple But is there any Remains of Popish Worship in our Liturgy are there any Prayers to Saints or Angels or the Virgin Mary Are our Prayers concealed from us in an unknown Tongue Do we not understand what we say what Petitions we put up to God Do you find the Sacrifice of the Mass or any Reliques of it in our Liturgy Thanks be to God for our Reforming Bishops and Martyrs who purged our Worship from all these Abominations But the Common-Prayer Book is taken out of the Mass-Book and therefore it is but Popery still This I will in part grant but deny the Consequence for every thing in the Mass-Book was not Popery unless you will say that the Creed Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer are parts of Popery The plain case is this You must consider the Church of Rome as a true Church corrupted and degenerated from its Primitive Institutions for we must acknowledg that the Church of Rome was not inferior in all Gifts and Graces to the most eminent Churches in the World in the Apostles days and several Ages after And therefore no wonder if in its greatest degeneracy it retained some small
visible Worship because it is separated from all external and visible signs of honour And therefore we may observe that good men in all Ages have not contented themselves meerly to worship God with devout thoughts and passions but with such external acts of Religion as either a Divine Institution or the Custom of their Countrey and the practice of the Church had made external signs of honour Such as uncovering the head or putting off their shooes or bowing the body or kneeling or prostration or lifting up eyes and hands to Heaven where God dwells For this we have the ancient Patriarchs the Jewish Church Christ and his Apostles and the whole Christian Church for many Ages for our example and it will be hard to find any sort of people in the World that pretended to any Religion but took great care of the exâ—eâ—nal solemnities and decent circumstances of Worship I know of no Age of the Christian Church till very lately wherein those men would have been allowed to be of any Religion or admitted to Christian Communion who should have betrayed such slight thoughts of God in a rude and slovenly Worship as too many among our selves are now guilty of and indeed this has insensibly crept upon us ever since those hot disputes about Ceremonies and the externals of Religion have troubled the Church for when men began to dispute down all good order and decent administration of Religious Offices they soon disputed away all external Worship and many who still pretend no great dislike to publick Constitutions are so far infected with this disease that they are not sufficiently careful of the gravity and seriousness of their devotion and some are so afraid of Fanaticism that they dare not look solemnly nor lift up their eyes and hands to Heaven for fear of being thought Fanaticks or hypocrites Thus while some men out of a groundless fear of Superstition strip Religion of all useful and decent Ceremonies and others out of as wild a suspicion of Fanaticism are afraid to appear grave and serious in their Religion the publick solemnities of Worship are either left to every mans fancy or performed in so careless and trifling a manner that the Name of God is dishonoured and his Worship profaned and scorned But my business at present is with those of our own Communion and possibly it may do them some good to tell them that they who appear so zealous against Fanaticism and are yet so trifling in their Worship are much the worst Fanaticks of the two For many of our Dissenters though they reject the use of our Ceremonies and neglect that external decency of Worship which has been in use in all Ages of the Church yet however they make a shew of great seriousness in their worship and seem to be very sensibly affected with it and therefore this looks like Worship though it want some external solemnities which may be thought needful but when men stare and gaze about them laugh or whisper at their prayers and betray great vanity and lightness of mind to say no worse instead of an awful sense and reverence of God this is so far from making any shew of Worship how exact soever they may be in their postures or responses that it is downright profaneness They are thus far fanatical in their principles that they must believe if they consider any thing that God does not much regard the Worship of the outward man for did they believe he did they would be more careful to pay it him for the bare doing any thing in Religious Worship such as kneeling at Prayers or standing up at the Hymns and Creed and the like does not make it so much as an external sign of Worship unless it be performed with that gravity and seriousness which is essential to all Religious Worship and if they believe that though God does expect the Worship of the body he matters not the Worship of the mind nor how carelesly external Worship is performed so it be done This is so wild a principle that it out-does all the Fanaticks that ever were in the World Those who were arrant hypocrites and yet very punctual in the externals of Religion such as the Scribes and Pharisees were in our Saviours dayes were withal very solemn and demure in those external superstitions and those who reject external Ceremonies of Religion yet pretend to great devotion of mind and rapturous ardours and transports of spirit but these men are for an external bodily Worship without so much as the least visible appearance of external devotion and if there be no other remedy I wish with all my heart that these men would make a Sect by themselves too and not reproach the Church of England by continuing in her Communion which has brought a greater scandal upon our Worship than all the arguments and cavils of Dissenters though the better way would be and that which I heartily beg of God and do earnestly beg all men to correct this fault and to wipe off that reproach of a cold formal Worship by expressing that grave and serious and ardent devotion which so much becomes all the true Worshippers of God is so essential to Religious Worship and so interwoven with all the publick Offices of our Religion which are admirably fitted to serve all the ends of a grave and serious Piety 2. Let us consider now the peculiar presence of God and holy Angels in Religious Assemblies Did we see God in a visible glory as he used to appear to Moses at the door of the Tabernacle every time we meet to worship him I am apt to think we should all express greater signs of Reverence and devotion and yet there is none of you but will pretend to believe that God is present in your Assemblies and that he takes a more particular notice of your carriage and behaviour when ye meet to worship him than he does at other times that is that he expects now that ye should take a more particular notice of his presence and behave your selves with a suitable reverence as those who believe that God is present in a peculiar manner though ye do not see him Under the Law God dwelt in the Tabernacle and Temple which was his house and therefore when the Tabernacle was finished God filled it with his presence and glory there was the Mercy-Seat covered with Cherubims which was a figure of Gods presence and the attendance of Angels and it was a constant opinion among the Heathens that their Gods dwelt in their Temples and Images consecrated to their Worship and though they were ridiculously foolish in thinking to charm their Gods by some Magical Rites and Mysteries and confine them to certain places yet the original of this was only a traditional belief that God was alwayes peculiarly present in all places of his Worship It is sufficiently evident that the Primitive Christians did believe that Angels who are Gods Retinue and Ministers do attend Christian Assemblies and are
witnesses of the decency and reverence of our Worship and this is the most plain and obvious sense of St. Paul's words For this cause ought the woman to have power over her head because of the Angels he was a discoursing the decency of mens praying uncovered and women covered because the woman ought to be in subjection to her husband and therefore it was undecent to appear with her head uncovered and much more so in religious Assemblies wherein we are to have a greater regard to decency because of the Angels that is those Angels who attend our Worship and carefully observe our behaviour though we do not see them and as St. Chrysostom sayes If we reverence men much more the Angels of God From whence we learn these two things that the Angels attend our Worship and that for that reason we ought to be very careful of all decency and gravity in our Worship And certainly did men heartily believe and seriously consider that God and his holy Angels look on and take special notice of every action and are greatly offended with a light and trifling carriage with any gestures or actions which unbecome so great a presence it would compose them to greater seriousness and devotion and either make them afraid to come to Church or more reverent when they do CHAP. III. Concerning the neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church A Nother great miscarriage which some are guilty of who do not forsake our Communion is a great neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church A great many come to Church when the Service is half read others when it is near a conclusion and think there is no great hurt in it neither if they do not lose the Sermon At other times when there is only the Divine Service read without a Sermon few persons think it worth their attendance but the Worship of God is exposed to contempt and the Minister laugh't at for reading to bare Walls and empty Seats These things I grant may happen sometimes where there is no designed neglect the mistake of time may occasion some persons coming late who want certain notice and on the Week-dayes necessary business may hinder others who are glad to take all the opportunities they can get of publick Worship but where there are not such reasonable excuses the fault is very great though few people are convinc't of it and therefore my business at present shall be to endeavour to convince you of the evil of this neglect 1. If you will acknowledge it your duty to worship God together in the Assemblies of Christians I need not multiply words to prove such a neglect of publick Prayers to be a great fault for they are the principal part of the Divine Worship there we confess our sins to God and beg his Pardon and receive a Ministerial Absolution from the mouth of his Minister there we praise him in divine Hymns and Anthems and put up our joint Petitions and Thanksgivings to him and this is properly divine Worship because it is our address to God in Supplications Prayers and Praises To hear the Word of God read or preached is so far an act of Worship too as it signifies an acknowledgement of his authority over us and our desire to be instructed by him but this is but a secondary act of Worship which consists in hearing God speak to us either immediately in his inspired Word or mediately by those men whom he has authorized and qualified for the instruction of his Church but the Worship of God properly consists in our offering something to God the Sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgivings which are highly pleasing to him when they are offered up by a devout soul in the name and merits of our great High Priest and Mediator Jesus Christ. So that those who neglect the Prayers of the Church neglect publick Worship and those who slight the opportunities of publick Prayers when there is no Sermon to invite their presence plainly discover that they prefer pleasing their curiosity with hearing some new discourse before the more solemn acts of Worship which is a great sign that they hear to very little purpose when the end of hearing is practice and the most excellent part of practical Religion is the immediate Worship of God 2. Because some men think they worship God sufficiently if they come time enough to Church to joyn in the Pulpit Prayer I would desire them to consider that Church Communion principally consists in joyning in the publick Prayers of the Church These men would not be thought nor do they intend to renounce the Communion of our Church and yet in effect do so while they neglect its publick Worship for Church Communion consists in meeting together for publick acts of Worship and then we joyn in the publick Worship of the Church when we worship God according to that Rule and Form prescribed by the publick Authority of the Church wherein we live The Prayer of the Minister before Sermon is not so expresly provided for by our Rubrick though it be favoured by a Canon made for that purpose and is now usefully introduced by long custome with the connivance if not the express allowance of our Governours but the Liturgy is the form of publick Worship and administration of Sacraments there the Church offers up more especially her publick Prayers and Praises this is the great bond of Church Communion and to neglect or withdraw our selves from this Worship is in effect to forsake the Communion of the Church as to the principal part and exercise of it When you joyn in the Pulpit Prayer though it be never so well composed grave and serious pious and ardent yet it looks more like the Worship of a particular Congregation than of the Church for you joyn only with those who are present at such a prayer but when we offer up our souls to God in that publick Form of Prayers prescribed by publick Authority we joyn with all the Congregations of England who at the same time offer up the same Prayers and Praises in the same words as if they were but one Congregation and had but one heart and mouth and those men do not understand the reason and nature of publick Worship who make light of this Why is the Worship of a Religious Assembly more acceptable to God than the private Devotions of good men when they might as well stay at home and about the same hour which in ancient times was observed for private as well as publick Devotion offer up their private Prayers to God for themselves and one another for God can hear them all where ever they are and their prayers may ascend up to Heaven together and this one would think should be as acceptable and prevalent as to pray to God in a great company and yet we see that our Saviour has instituted publick Assemblies for Worship has appointed his Ministers to offer up the publick prayers of the Congregation to God in his
eat and especially the Paschal Lamb which was a Type of Christ and that eating did in a Legal sense unite the Sacrificer and the Sacrifice and convey its vertue and efficacy to him I say hence Christ instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood i. e. Bread and Wine to be eat and drank as the symbols and signs of his Body and Blood and a Sacramental conveyance of all the merit and purchase of his death to his sincere Disciples who feed on him and therefore the Bread and Wine are called his Body and Blood because feeding on the Bread and Wine is ordained by him instead of his Body and Blood and that eating Bread and drinking Wine in obedience to his Institution and in remembrance of his Death and Passion does to all intents and purposes as much entitle us to the Merits Atonement Reconciliation and all the blessings of the New Covenant purchased by his death as eating the Flesh of the Sacrifice did the Iews to the vertue of that Sacrifice whereof they eat And since Faith in Christ is made necessary by the terms of the Gospel to an interest in his Sacrifice the symbols of Bread and Wine serve as well or better for this holy Feast than his natural flesh and blood would do for here is room for the exercise of faith we do not see the body of Christ broken and his blood shed nothing appears to our bodily senses but Bread and Wine but by an eye of faith we see him hang upon the Cross and bleeding for our sins and thus we feed on his Sacrifice eat his flesh and drink his blood Bodily eating cannot make us partakers of Christ but as the Institution of our Saviour has united the vertues of his Sacrifice with the elements of Bread and Wine in this holy Supper which makes it as much his body to all the real purposes of a feast upon a Sacrifice as if it were his natural body and blood in as proper a sense as ever the Iews did eat the Paschal Lamb which is all the Church of England means by the real presence So then we by faith eat the body of Christ and drink his blood when together with our bodily feeding on the Sacramental Bread and Wine by faith we feed on the merits of his Sacrifice And this must needs convince us how necessary it is to communicate at the Lords Table as well as to believe in Christ if we would partake of the merits of his Sacrifice for this sacramental Bread and Wine is his body and blood that is has the merits of his Sacrifice annexed to it by his own Institution and as under the Law it was not enough to offer a Peace-offering unless they eat of it so neither will the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross be of any value to us unless we feed on it in this holy Supper not only by Faith but also by a bodily eating of those Sacramental elements to which he himself has annexed the merits of his Sacrifice To feed on the Sacramental elements without faith is no more than to eat so much ordinary Bread and to drink common Wine and to believe on Christ without feasting on his Sacrifice cannot without uncovenanted Grace apply his merits to us for it is evident that Truth in its own nature cannot give us an interest in the merits of Christ for how does my believing that Christ died for sinners convey the merit of his death to me nay though I believe that Christ in particular died for me this does not actually make his merits mine but only in the performance of such conditions and in the use of such means as he hath appointed for the application of his merits to particular persons and I see no reason why men may not as well hope to be saved without holiness by Christ as without eating his flesh and drinking his blood in the Sacrament for holiness will not save us without the merits of Christ and I know not how we should come by the merits of Christ but only in such ways of dispensing conveying and applying them as he himself has appointed and he has appointed no other ordinary way but this mysterious Supper Hence the Apostle tells the Corinthians The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ what does he mean by the communion of the blood and of the body of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning is very plain that hereby we partake in the body and blood of Christ that is in the efficacy of his death and passion and if we could do this any other way or without it it would be a useless Sacrament as most Christians seem now to think it is and therefore I doubt not but our Saviour in that mysterious discourse in Iohn 6. had respect to this holy Feast though not then instituted when he tells them Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him The only objection I know against expounding this of eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood in the Lords Supper is because the Feast was not then instituted and therefore neither the Iews nor his own Disciples could possibly understand what he meant now there are several very plain and easie answers to this as 1. our Saviour said a great many things to the Iews in his Sermons which neither they nor his own Disciples could understand when they were spoke though his Disciples understood them after he was risen when the Holy Ghost brought those things again to their remembrance and the event had expounded them such we may reckon whatever concerned his death and resurrection and spiritual kingdom 2. They might as well understand this discourse of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood as they could what he immediately before told them I am the living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world For they understood as little what it was to give his flesh for the life of the world and how this made his flesh to be that living bread as what it was to eat his flesh and to drink his blood for they both signifie the same thing and these words last quoted do plainly prove that he respects the Eucharistical Feast when he speaks of his eating his flesh and drinking his blod for we must eat his flesh only as considered as the
sober Christian can withstand their conviction I shall now briefly consider the second thing proposed What are the most common occasions of or excuses for such a neglect and though it were easie to think of a great many I shall but mention two very briefly as being I think the most universal and the foundation of all the rest 1. The first is of that nature that it is great pity it should have so ill an effect and that is a mighty reverence and esteem for this holy Feast Either they can never think themselves worthy to approach the Table of our Lord or that they can never be sufficiently prepared for it As for the first it looks like pride and folly to think that we must be worthy of the divine favors they must all be acknowledged to be above our deserts How came mankind to be worthy that the Son of God should dye for them and had God advised with such modest sinners they might have complemented away the death of Christ as now they do the benefits and advantages of it in his holy Supper How great a Saint soever thou art thou canst never merit such favours and priviledges as these for then there had been no need of Christ to merit for thee and how great a sinner soever thou art by complying with the Grace of God thou maist quickly make thy self a worthy Communicant Repent of thy sins and heartily resolve by Gods Grace to reform thy life and come to this holy Table with assurance to receive those supplies of Grace which may enable thee to do it And as for that great preparation which is necessary to fit our selves for so solemn an act of Religion I must say it is in this as in other acts of Religious Worship the greater the better but if we consider what I said before that the Institution of our Saviour plainly proves that he designed it for an ordinary part of Christian Worship we cannot suppose that it requires much greater preparation of mind than other acts of Religion This holy Supper is a sacred mysterious Rite of Prayer and Thanksgiving which gives vertue and efficacy to our prayers and makes them acceptable and prevalent with God Are you then when you come to Church fit to pray to God and to praise him if not you must neglect your prayers as well as the Sacrament if you are then you are fit to approach the Lords Table to give vertue and prevalency to your prayers This holy Supper conveys to us the vertue and efficacy of Christs Sacrifice upon the Cross the pardon of our sins and the assistances of the divine Grace and Spirit Now if you be truly penitent you are qualified to receive the pardon of your sins and therefore to approach this holy Table where it is dispensed if you earnestly desire the divine Grace you are prepared for the reception of it Come but with a sense of your wants and with such desires as a hungry man has of meat and here you shall be filled and satisfied and without such preparations as these we can neither pray to God to forgive our sins nor to bestow his Grace on us Yet I confess I cannot see how any man who is fit to pray to God should be unfit to approach his Table 2. Others think that there is much greater danger in approaching the Table of the Lord unworthily than in an unworthy performance of other parts of Religious Worship but for what reason they think so I could never learn The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord and his sacrifice is no more It is as unpardonable an affront to God to pray for the pardon of our sins in Christs name without true sorrow and contrition and serious resolutions of amendment as it is for an impenitent sinner to receive the Sacrament to praise God without a due sense of his Mercy and Goodness differs not at all from feasting at the Table of our Lord without any sense of his dying love I would not be thought to give encouragement by this discourse to wicked men to approach this holy Table such men ought to be carefully turned away from such sacred Mysteries when they are discovered but the whole design is to shew that those men who have such clear innocent consciences that they dare pray to God need not be afraid of receiving the Sacrament and those who have not I would desire them to consider what a case they are in they defile every holy duty they meddle with and are in perpetual danger of Gods wrath and displeasure they cannot ask his pardon but they provoke him the more for the interpretation of such mens prayers is only to beg a longer liberty and indulgence in sin and therefore this is no more an encouragement to neglect the Lords Supper than it is to continue in a state of sin and damnation But you will say does not the Apostle tell us that a man must examine himself and so eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body Very right but not to dispute the particular meaning of that place is not this true also of him that hears or prayes unworthily Does the Apostle say that there is any greater degree of worthiness required to receive the Lords Supper than there is to pray to God He who is fit to pray to God is fit to eat and drink at the Lords Table and he who is not fit for either I am sure is not fit to dye Our right to immortality is conveyed to us in this heavenly Feast as you have already seen and it is equally strange to me that men should content themselves in such a condition as makes them unfit to receive the pardon of their sins the assistances of Gods Grace or immortal life or if they be not in this deplorable condition that they should neglect that holy Feast which is the only ordinary instituted means of conveying all these blessings to them FINIS Books lately Printed by Richard Chiswel LOrd Bacon's Remains octavo Dr. Puller's Discourse of the Moderation of the Church of England octavo Dr. Edw. Bagshaw's Discourses upon Select Texts against the Papist and Socinian octavo Mr. Rushworth's Historical Collections The Second Volume folio His large and exact Account of the Trial of the Earl of Strafford folio Remarques relating to the state of the Church of the 3 first Centuries wherein are interspersed Animadversions on a Book called A View of Antiquity By I. H. Written by A. S. Speculum Baxterianum or Baxter against Baxter quarto The Countrey-Mans Physician octavo Dr. Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion folio An Apology for a Treatise of Humane Reason Written by Ma. Clifford Esq twelves The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits c. explained by divers Judgements and Resolutions of the Judges with other Observations thereupon by William Cawley Esq folio Dr. Burnet's
History of the Reformation of the Church of England In two Vol. folio Bishop Sanderson's Sermons with his Life folio Fowlis his History of Romish Conspiracies Treasons and Usurpations folio Markham's Perfect Horseman octavo The History of the Powder-Treason with a Vindication thereof against the Author of the Catholick Apology and others to which is added a Parallel betwixt that and the present Plot quarto Dr. Parker's demonstration of the divine authority of the Law of Nature and Christian Religion quarto A Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation octavo Dr. Outram's Sermons on several occasions octavo now in the Press FINIS * Mr. Thorndyke's right of Christian Assemblies Heb. 10. v. 23. Vers. 26 27 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 2 Tim. 3. 6 7 8. 1 John 2. 18 19. Acts 24. 14. 28. 22. 24. 5. 5. 17. 15. 5. Acts 21. 20 21 22 23 24. 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. Gal. 5. 20. 2 Pet. 2. 1. v. 4 5 6. v. 10. Exod. 22. 28. Acts 23. 4 5. Deut. 17. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 15. Jude v. 19. Scias nos primo in loco nec curiosos esse debere quid ille doceat cùm foris doceat quisquis ille est qualiscunque est Christianus non est qui in Christi Ecclesia non est Cypr. ad Anton. Epist. 52. Cyp. Ep. 39. Qui ergo in Ecclesia Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque sapiunt si correpti ut sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter suaque pestifera mortifera dogmata emendare nolunt sed defensare persistunt Haeretici fiunt foras exeuntes habentur in exercentibus inimicis c. Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 18. cap. 51. See the Inquiry into the original of Evangelical Churches chap. 11. pag. 231. Dr. Cave's Primit Christianity par 1 ch 7. p. 171. Concil Gang. Can. 6. Dr. Stillingfl Unreasonableness of Separation Mr. Hobbs Psal. 95. 6. Psal. 100. 3 4. Mal. 1. 6. Psal. 50. 15. 86. 5 6 7. Psal. 91. 15. Psal 145. 18 19 20. Psal. 65. 2. Prov. 10. 22. Jam. 4. 2. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Tit. 2. 11 12. Job 28. 28. Psal. 111. 10. Prov. 9. 10. Tit. 2. 12. Psal 22. 22. Psal. 107. 32. Psal. 111. 1. Psal. 149. 1 2. Isa. 1. 13. Ephes. 4. 4. Acts 2. 42. Vers. 46. 1 Joh. 1. 3. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 1 Cor. 10. 26. 27. Mat. 10. 32 33. Rom. 14. 10 13 Mat. 5. 14 15. Rom. 14. 23. Jer. 14. 14. Jer. 23. 25 26. Vers. 30 31. Ephes. 4. 3 4. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 17. Ephes. 4. 15 16 Ephes. 2. 21. Joh. 17. 20 21. Phil. 2. 2. Joh. 13. 34 35. Acts 2. 42. 1 Joh. 2. 13. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 1 John 1. 3. Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Baxter's search for the English Schismat p. 12. Caeterum etsi vix ulla harum legum executio esset Donatistae tamen invidiosê odioseque clamabant sese injustè vexati causam tuam non jure agi sed vi opprimi delibatio Hist. Afric apud Optatum Quisquis vel quod potest arguendo corrigit vel quod corrigere non potest salvo pacis vinculo excludit vel quod salvo pacis vinculo excludere non potest aequitate improbat firmitate supportat hic est pacificus St. Aug contra Epist. Parmen l. 2. Joh. 4. 24. Eccles. 5. 2. Acts 21. 21 22 Col. 2. 21. Rom. 14. 17. Gal. 4. 1 2. Gal. 5. 1. Heb. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 14. 40 26. 2 Cor. 10. 8. Heb. 13. 17. John 10. 22. 1 Macab 4. 59. Luke 22. 25. Foxes and Firebrands Ep. ad Ianuar. Col. 2. 23. Lev. 22. 17. Acts 17. 22. Dr. Ham. of Superst Isa. 1. 11. Dr. Owen's Enquiry into the Original of Churches p. 14. John 13. 35. 1 Cor. 3. 9 6 7. Matth. 23. 2 3 De Vita Const. l. 4. c. 33. 1 Cor. 11. 10 Matth. 18. 19 20. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Matth. 26. 26 27 28. Mark 14. 22 23 24. Luke 22. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. Acts 2. 46. Apost Can. 9. Concil Antioch Can. 2. John 3. 16. Acts 9. 39. Ezra 9. 5. Psal. 141. 2. Heb. 9. 12. Acts 2. 46. Rev. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 15. Heb. 10. 28 29. 1 Cor. 10. 18. V. 21. Gen. 31. 46. V. 54. Heb. 9. 18 19 21. Psalm 50. 5. 1 Cor. 10. 17. Joh. 6. 53 54 56 57. V. 51. Hebr. 13. 10 11 12 13. Heb. 13. 15. Joh. 6. 56. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 8. Eph. 5. 30. Joh. 6. 54 57 58. Rom. 8. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 13. Rom. 6. 3 4 5. 1 Cor. 10. 16 17.