Considerations ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION Considerations ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION Humbly Submitted to The Convocation ON BEHALF Of the Conformable Clergy With some Reflections on the late Subscription made by our Dissenting Brethren LONDON Printed in the Year 1690. Considerations about Subscription humbly submitted to the Convocation on behalf of the conformable Clergy c. ALthough our Learned Divines have different Apprehensions about the most convenient time for setling a Firm and Lasting Union amongst Protestants and about what Condescensions are to be made by us in Order thereunto whether the Dissenters must in the First place be consulted or whether without knowing their thoughts we give them Terms c. Yet as to the Union it self there is a general readiness on our Parts and notwithstanding the Warm Reflections of the Author of Vox Cleri it must be yielded that there are good Reasons why the Convocation should know whether any thing less than the subverting the Foundations of our Constitution will satisfie the Dissenters and what that is The Convocation is to Act the Part of a Wise as well as Compassionate Physitian to heal if possible the wounds which have been made in the Church by the Division and it is the Dissenting that is the Sick Party which must be discoursed with before the Physitian can safely Prescribe It 's well known what may be done by the Church towards a Union but whether what we offer will effectually reduce Dissenters we are not sure Tho we abound with choice Medicines yet wanting an Ovietan we can never know whether this or the other is most Proper till the Nature of the Disease be throughly understood and to that end the first thing necessary is an enquiry after the Dissenters thoughts about what it is they Judge a Grievance and what it is that will relieve them But however these things Issue what doth more nearly touch the Church it self must in all Debates in both Houses of Convocation have the Preference We must neither Hurt nor Neglect our own Constitution nor must the Church in hopes of a Prodigals Return lay aside those Motherly Compassions she hath for her Obedient Sons Whatever Bishop of Worcesters Unreas Sep. Pref. pag. 89. is offensive to any of them deserves the first Consideration For a Faction in the Church doth more endanger it than External Opposition Seeing then there have been some Unhappy Wranglings amongst our selve such Odd contests that we have had the Ill-Luck of being Represented as a Church divided into at least two opposite Parties into a more Moderate and Violent one say some a Melancthonian and Calvinian as Doctor Heylin and as others Phrase it True Sons of the Church and Grindalizers 't will be the chief care of the Convocation to Heal this Distemper And whereas there have been different Opinions about the Sense in which we must subscribe for which the Dissenters have oft boldly Upbraided us to Solve what is matter of Difficulty it is the proper Work of the Convocation to make the first step The thing in Controversie amongst our selves is Whether our Subscription be expressive of our Assent unto and Belief of the Truth of every one of the Subscribed Articles or only an Assurance that for the sake of Peace we will not contradict nor oppose them The Learned Chilling worth declares his Sentiments thus For the Church of England I am perswaded that the constant Doctrine of it is so Pure and Orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it shall be undoubtedly Saved which is as much as to say He believes Salvation may be had in our Church and that there is no Error in it Preface to the Author of Charity maintained §. 40. which may necessitate or warrant any Man to Disturb the Peace or Renounce the Communion of it To which He adds this in my Opinion is all intended by Subscription A Subscription in this sense may be without an Assent to every Article as True yea with the Belief that some are False if not so false and Erroneous as to necessitate or warrant a Man to disturb the Peace of the Church and renounce it's Communion Nor doth the Excellent The part of a Letter of the Primates about Heylins History of the Sabbath Arch-Bishop Usher look on all the 39 Articles to be received as Articles of Faith He that would have every thing which is put into the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the Synod for the avoiding diversity of Opinions and for the maintainance of Peace and Uniformity in the Church to be held for an Article of the Faith should do well to tell us whether he has as yet admitted the Book of the Ordination of Bishops and the two Volumes of Homilies into his Creed for sure I am He shall find these received in the Articles of Religion agreed upon in the Synod held at London 1562. The Learned Primate doth in this place say enough to Establish that distinction Schism Guarded §. 1. c. 11. of subscribing to the Articles as Articles of Peace and not as Articles of Faith which by his most Learned Successor Arch-Bishop Bramhall is more fully explained We do not saith he suffer any Man to reject the 39 Articles of the Church of England at his pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as Essentials of Saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and of his Apostles But in a mean as Pious Opinions fitted for the Preservation of Unity NEITHER DO WE OBLIGE ANY MAN TO BELIEVE THEM BUT ONLY NOT TO CONTRADICT THEM If the Injunction of Subscription be only thus 't will afford great ease to the minds of many worthy Divines of our Church 't will remove the Bone of Contention that hath been amongst our selves and for ever prevent the Dissenters reproaching us for subscribing in a sence we do not believe to be good But that this is the sence of the Church doth not yet appear by any thing she hath declared and as there are many Learned Men for this sence so there are many as Learned of the contrary Opinion The Learned Doctor Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Proposals for Union supposeth the Subscription to be Absolute and offereth as an Expedient to accommodate the Difference a Mitigation as to the manner Preface to the Unreason of Separ p. 91. of Subscription which he supposeth may be done by an Absolute Subscription to all those Articles which concern the Doctrine of the true Christian Faith and the Use of the Sacraments and a solemn Promise under their Hand or Subscription of Peaceable Submission as to the rest so as not to oppose or contradict them either in Preaching or Writing The Mitigation as to the manner of Subscription is by making the Subscription in the same sence Arch-Bishop Bramhall doth take our Subscription at this time to be but this great Person by offering it as an Expedient for the Dissenters relief must look on our Subscription as Absolute to all the Articles
Credo rightly considered multiplieth it self to no less than a double number of the Articles and will be found at least twenty four times in the CREED What this Reverend Prelate to the great satisfaction of our Church saith of the Apostles Creed may for the same reason be spoken of the Athanasian and until the Church declares otherwise we must take the Minatory Clauses for Parts of the Creed especially it is in the very Body of the Creed it self He therefore that will be saved must think THUS of the Trinity For this Clause as every other Part in the Body of the Creed is every way guarded with a Minatory Sentence The begining of the Creed is thus Whosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith which Faith except every one do keep Whole and Undefiled without doubt he shall Perish everlastingly Then follows the Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation and in the close of the Creed it is This is the Catholick Faith which except a Man believe Faithfully he cannot be saved Between these two clauses in the Body of the Creed comes in this viz. Whoever will be saved must think THUS of the Trinity Who then can consider how often this Minatory Sentence is inserted in the Creed even in the beginning the Body and close of it and not think it a Part Especially considering that in the Rubrick the Title of Athanasius's Creed is given to the whole Qui conque vult thereby making these clauses and branches a Part of it to which we subscribe by our Subscription to this Article and it cannot be denyed that these clauses exclude from Salvation not only those who reject the whole but all that do reject any one clause that is about the Trinity whoever thinks not of it as there expressed cannot be saved and we by Subscription to this Article approve of this Damning clause which consideration should methinks move Vox Clexi to desire ease in this matter for Pag. 32. He openly declares that he thinks it not necessary to Salvation that every Man should believe that Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost which yet is in this Creed and by another Article near it Whoever will be saved must believe the Procession and every other particular of this Creed concerning the Trinity whereby I am afraid our severity will light not only on the Greek Church but on Thousands of our own Communion who though they are not Antitrinitarians for they believe in God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost do not understand the controversie about the Procession nor some other passages in Athanasius his explications Whatever is the Latitude of some the perplexities occasioned by this Article unto others of our Church who have merited greatly of Her cannot but move a compassionate Convocation to offer somewhat for their Relief Article 18. Of Obtaining Salvation only by the Name of Christ They also are to be had ACCURSED that presume to say that every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the NAME of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved As to this Article it is most certain that amongst the English Gentry who have had their Education in our Church and are Men of great Learning good sense and Sobriety there are many worthy Persons who cannot entertain too restrained thoughts of Gods Merciful Nature but are of Opinion that such as Live without the Law shall be Judged without the Law that every one Fearing God and working Righteousness in what Nation soever shall be accepted of God that the Efficacious Vertue of Christs Death is of larger extent than the knowledge of his Name and that more are saved by him than explicitly believe in him Besides there are some great Divines in the Reformed Churches abroad as well as of our own Communion whose Charity cannot be comprehended within the narrow Limits of Calvinistic Rigor These think charitably of some Heathens of a Socrates an Antonine a Cicero c. whose Morals infinitely exceed those of some Censorious and Debauched Christians whom at their Funerals we pronounce Blessed But by a strict subscription we must not only curse the Heathen but all our Gentry and Forreign as well as our own Divines who hope well of the Heathen There hath been an Intimation of this given by a very worthy Person Pag. 13 14. a Minister in the Country in his Letter to a Member of the Convocation and it is done with much Wariness and Caution and it 's hoped 't will meet with a fairer entertainment than Vox Cleri hath given it but lest through the Distempers of some Men it should fail of the desired success it 's thought necessary to send this Humble Supplicant after it I know it 's a very tender Point and we living in a very Querulous Age the Reason for a more Gentle Handling it is the stronger However seeing our greatest danger in this particular was likely to arise from the Clamours of our Dissenting Brethren who now are as deeply Plunged into Perplexities of this Nature as the most scrupulous subscriber of our own Communion the chief if not only Reason against our appearing for Relief in this matter is over Our Dissenting Brethren have been very severe upon us charging us as though our subscriptions had been unconscionably Rash because they were to Articles which we could not take into our Creed and subscribed unto them only as unto Articles of Peace and Concord To this distinction their most Learned Defender hath given many an angry Answer and very lately in his English Non-conformity thus writes of it Some Brains will p. 47. be cheated with a meer Noise of Words as Birds with a Whistle We deny not but Peace is one of the ends of the Impositions But the Question is what are the means or whether they will take it for Conformity to Promise I will live Peaceably or I Assent I should live in Peace Are you not bound in Order to Peace to Assent and Consent to all things in the Books Say I Assent that some things are True and Good and some things False and Bad which yet for Peace I will use and Try how it will be taken To whom I Answer 1. That according to your own Doctrine if the Church that continues the Imposition allows of our Distinction it is good and though the whole strength of your great Book turn on this Hinge it immediately dwindles into nothing And seeing the Church hath not been unacquainted with the Opinion of Chillingworth Usher and Bramhall and that their Opinion is closed with by many great Divines amongst our Clergy may we not Presume that the Churches Silence in the matter is an Allowance I am perswaded that there are many Honest and Worthy Persons some of your
own Friends especially who scruple the Ceremonies more than any other thing who take thus much for granted If you say they are mistaken though I won't be positive I am afraid so too and therefore press for some Redress However when you pass Censure on them you must remember that it 's not for an Equivocal Subscription but their mistaking the Churches Sence But 2. you and your Party Dear Brother of all Men in the World since your own Subscription should not complain of ours Your Case and ours is now the same Though we have run farther than you by our Subscription yet you have followed us in the same Path and have fallen on some of the same Rocks and have got a great way within the same Labyrinth and need as much the help of the Convocation and Parliament to extricate your selves as any of our Communion do I will endeavour to clear thus much by making some Reflections R. B's Sense of the Subscribed Articles of Religion p. 3. on two or three of your Subscribed Articles Art 3. HE WENT DOWN INTO HELL that is into Hades the State of separated Souls Of which See Arch-Bishop Ushers Answer to the Jesuits This Article you cannot Subscribe without an Exposition and your Exposition such as makes your sense more doubtful For though by Hell you understand Hades by which you mean the State of separated Souls yet it is as delivered by Arch-Bishop Usher who gives such different accounts of the signification of Hades that we cannot tell but by Hell you may intend Heaven for Hades as it imports the State of separate Souls is by some in Usher used to signifie Heaven In the Ecclesiastical Use of the Word Hell saith Usher Answer to the Jesuits Challenge of Limbus Patrum p. 316. is extended to express the Greek Hades and the Latin Inferi and whatsoever is contained under them and so signifies the place of all the Dead in common and not of the Wicked only Now as the common condition of the Dead is considerable three manner of ways either in respect of the Body separated from the Soul or of the Soul separated from the Body or of the WHOLE MAN indefinitely considered in this State of separation So do we find the word Hades to be applied by the Antient Greek interpreters of the Old Testament to the common state and place of the Body severed from the Soul By the Heathen Greeks to the common state and place of the Soul severed from the Body and by both of them to the common state of the Dead But you in your Exposition terminating your sense to the state of separate Souls as explicated by p. 360. the Arch-Bishop we will see what it is that he saith of it and it is thus With Forreign Authors the word Hades signifies ordinarily the Common Lodge of Souls separated from their Bodies whether the particular Place assigned unto each of them be conceived to be an Habitation of BLISS or of MISERY To heap up many Testimonies out of p. 364. of Heathen Authors to prove that in their understanding All Souls went to Hades received there either PUNISHMENT or REWARD according to the Life they lived in this World would be but a needless work If any Man desire to inform himself herein he may repair to Plutarchs Consolatory Discourse written to Apollonius where he shall find the Testimonies of Pindarus and many others alledged touching the State of the Godly in HADES Thus the word Hell imports as much as Hades and Hades is the place of separate Souls whether in Bliss or Misery but whether you mean by Hell the place of Misery or Bliss is not clear It 's probable that as some Papists by Paradise which is the third Heaven understand Hell so by Hell as Doctor Bishop falsely chargeth the generality of Protestants you really intend Heaven Master Broughton as the Arch-Bishop intimates has been too forward in owning this Opinion which yet he might Defend as what the words will bear for Heaven it self may be comprized within the Notion of Hades and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is rendred Descend though Ten times used in the Acts of the Apostles yet in none of all these places signifieth any Descending from a Higher place unto a Lower but removing simply from one place to another I omit the Phrases of Descending in Praelium in Forum in Campum in Amicitiam in Causam c. So far the Arch-Bishop But though the Greek in the Apostles Creed will bear this sense yet the Article being in English unless by Descending we may understand Ascending and by Hell we may understand Heaven 't will not be easie for you to fasten this sense on the words or to come more close to your own way of speaking we may return your own Argument upon you If by went down you mean not went down and if by Hell you mean not Hell we must better know what you mean before we subscribe in your sense else you may make it lawful to subscribe to any thing in the World and say you mean better than you speak That I take you right appears thus When you speak by way of Explication that by Hell you mean the State of separate Souls all know that those Souls thus separated must be Lodged somewhere they must be either in Heaven or in Hell or in Limbo or in Purgatory and seeing 't would be the greatest abuse to Insinuate that you hold any other Place after this Life than Heaven and Hell you must believe that as soon as Christ's Soul was separated from His Body it went somewhere it must be to one of these places If you had been of Opinion that it went to Hell there had been no need of any Exposition your Naked subscription as unto an Article of Faith wou'd import so much The words are plain going down into Hell Descended into Hell all know what going down meaneth and all take Hell to signifie the place of the Damned Thus it signified in Edward the Sixth his Days as appears by the additional Clause For his Body lay in the Grave till the Resurrection but his Soul being separate from his Body remained with the Spirits which were detained in Prison that is to say in Hell and there Preached unto them as witnesseth that Place of PETER so that the Words of our Article in Edward the Sixth's time were expressive of the Descent of Christs Soul into Hell which being retained by us still must be supposed to be in the * In the Synod in the days of Q. Elizabeth the Articles which continue still in Force deliver the Same Descent but without any the least Explication or Reference to any particular Place of Scripture Bishop Peirsons Expos of the Creed Ed. 4. p. 226. Same sense The leaving out this Clause only sheweth that we are not bound to believe that Christ went into Hell to Preach But as †Of the Church lib. 5. cap. 19. Doctor Field
as thorough a Protestant as any Dissenter in England tells us The end of Christs going down into the Hell of the Damned was only to fasten Condemnation to the Devils and his Angels to * Another Opinion hath obtained especially in our Church that the end for which Christ Descended into Hell was to Triumph over Satan and all the Powers below within their own Dominions Bishop Peirson ubi sup p. 247. See B. Bils p. 294. Triumph over the Principalities of Darkness to secure us from being surprized by them and to prevent our going thither not to fetch back any that were there already But that Christ Descended into the Hell of the Damned was generally received by Protestants is asserted by this Doctor And that others of our Church are of another Opinion I grant but then it doth the more strongly infer the necessity our Church lieth under of Declaring her sense of it and that until thus much be done the safest way of Subscription is as Chillingworth Usher and Bramhall affirm it to be However let the Subscription be after what manner soever it is manifest that this Reverend Nonconforming Brother can never Subscribe this one Article in his expounded sense more honestly than we subscribe all the rest And that notwithstanding his severity against us for subscribing the 4 Controverted Articles the Liturgy c. it 's not over difficult to run him and his Brethren to the same straits for subscribing 36 which he thinks he hath driven us unto by reason of our larger subscription We find as many Perplexities in those Articles they subscribe as they can shew us in any they refuse and even in this one Article I doubt not but the more Learned and thoughtful amongst that Party will see enough to Perplex them The Learned Arch-Bishop was of Opinion that it Usher ubi sup p. 417. was too Perplexing To speak the Truth saith he it is a matter above the reach of the common People to enter into the Discussion of the full meaning of this Point of the Descension into Hell He therefore leaves it to be considered by the Learned whether any such Controverted matter may fitly be brought in to expound the Rule of Faith by which being common both to the Great and Small Ones in the Church must contain such verities only as are generally agreed upon by the common consent of all True Christians Artic. 4. Christ took again his Body with Flesh and Bones and all things appertaining to the Perfection of Man's Nature wherewith He Ascended into Heaven and there sitteth c. The words of this Article are Plain and easie enough to be understood for what can Flesh Bones and all things Appertaining to the Perfection of Man's Nature import less than what to use the School term we call formally Flesh and Bones and it 's as clear that herewith Christ Ascended into Heaven and there he sitteth so that there is no need of an Exposition of this Article where the Sense is so evident we may immediately declare our Assent or Dissent And this Reverend Brother instead of Explicating it writes a confutation of it In your Preface you tell us that you Subscribe them and that you may not be Unconscionably Rash in subscribing you here tell all whom it may concern how you understand the words which you Subscribe And under this Article which speaks of formal Flesh and Bones you assure us that the Body of Christ now in Heaven is not the same thing which we call formally Flesh and Bones your subscription therefore must be in this sense by Flesh you mean not Flesh by Bones you mean not Bones and so Subscribe to this Part of the Article that Flesh and Bones are in Heaven Whether any of our Church ever did or can Subscribe in a larger sense let the World Judge Artic. 6. In the name of the Holy Scriptures we understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority was NEVER any doubt in the Church These words are as Exclusive as the wit of Man can Invent What Books soever-therefore of whose Authority there hath been any doubt in the Church are by this Article shut out from the Number of Canonical Scriptures and yet to this Article this Reverend Brother doth thus subscribe Expos Not excluding the Epistle to the Hebrews James 2 Peter Jude 2 and 3 John Revelation which divers Churches long doubted of This Article excludes from the Canon all those Books of whose Authority there have been any doubt in the Church and you subscribe in a sense which excludes not every such Book so that by Never you mean not Never and in this sense subscribe If it be said that all our Clergy do the same I answer we do not by subscription Assent to every Article we only Promise not to contradict them waiting for the time in which the Church will Establish our sense or some other way give ease to the subscriber But this worthy Person doth expose our distinction and subscribes himself very strictly by putting this loose and contradictious sense on the Article I could give many other instances of this Nature but these are enough and yet I cannot forbear adding one more because this great Man hath said so much against it and yet unawares subscribed unto it without an Exposition The sixth Point of our Non-conformity saith he is a New The English Non-conformity c. 9. Article of Faith in these words in the Rubrick which we must profess Assent and Consent unto it is certain by the Word of God that Children which are Baptized and Dying before they Commit actual Sin are undoubtedly Saved This is a New Article never made for us before 1662. But wherein doth the New Article differ from this Assertion That Infants being Baptized and Dying in their Infancy are by Christs Sacrifice washed from their Sins brought to Gods Favour and made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven Both these Articles speak of Infants Baptized and that Indefinitely and of their Dying in their Infancy or which is the same before actual Sin is committed and being washed from their Sins by Christ's Blood brought to Gods Favour made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven signifie so much as that they shall be undoubtedly saved these several expressions are a full Description of Salvation I can see then no difference de re between these two Articles and how New soever the former may be the latter is as Old as the Homilies of our Church which our Clergy have subscribed above an Hundred Years And if we consider in what Homily this Article is and for what reason it is there inserted I am inclined to think that on an enquiry this Reverend Person and the Dissenting Ministers will be found to have really subscribed it It is in the Homily of Justification and it is there inserted as a special ground of the Comfortableness of that wholsom Doctrine we will therefore
consult the 11th Article which refers to this Homily and see how far those who subscribe to this Article do thereby Assent unto the matter of this Homily Artic. 11. We are accounted Righteous before God only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own works or deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most WHOLESOM Doctrine and VERY FULL OF COMFORT as more LARGELY is EXPRESSED in the Homily of Justification This Doctrine is a most wholesom Doctrine and VERY FULL OF COMFORT But in what respects so comfortable what are the grounds thereof That we may know in what respects on what grounds we are by the Article directed to the Homily where it is thus more largely expressed For the more full understanding the same it is our part to remember how that all the World being wrapped in sin by breakin of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ into this World to FULFILL THE LAW FOR US and by shedding of his most Precious Blood to make a Sacrifice and satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same Insomuch that Infants being Baptized and Dying in their Infancy are by this Sacrifice washed from their Sins brought to Gods Favour and made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven Here then is the Article and a part of the Homily the Article holds that the Doctrine of Justification is very full of comfort as expressed more largely in the Homily The Homily tells us that for the more full understanding hereof we must remember how Christ has fulfilled the Law for us made himself a Sacrifice insomuch that Baptized Infants Dying in their Infancy shall by Christs Blood be washed from their Sins and saved Now this is a very great ground of joy and hereby the Doctrine of Justification is become the more abundantly comfortable and by subscribing to this Article thus worded we also subscribe unto this Homily that is to say as the Article is an Epitome of the Homily and the Homily an Explanation of the Homily and the Homily an Explanation of the Article in subscribing to the former we subscribe to the Doctrine contained in the latter In subscribing to the Article we subscribe to every Doctrine in this Homily that sets forth the comfortableness of Justification through Jesus Christs Merits by Faith alone and herein doth the Homily shew the comfortableness of this Doctrine by assuring us that all our Children that have been Baptized Dying in their Infancy are saved So that this Reverend N. Conforming Brother subscribing to this part of the 11th Article closes with the very Doctrine for which he so much condemns our Clergy I have insisted thus long on the subscriptions of our Dissenting Brethren that whilst we present our humble supplications to the Convocation for Redress they may see that there is no reason for their Reproaching us with our subscriptions That our Clergy notwithstanding their Unanimous subscribing the same Articles have different thoughts about them is not denied by any of us That this may be without falling under the Odious Guilt of Equivocation and Mental Reserves is cleared by the distinction there is between Articles of Peace and Articles of Faith By subscribing we think we are not obliged tobelieve them but only not to contradict or oppose them That this our sense is not allowed by the Church is more than we dare be positive in There are three great Worthies of our Communion who doubt it not and we have oft in Publick-Prints declared our sense without Rebuke or Controul and if notwithstanding the Church is against our Sense we cannot be Censured for Equivocation the utmost can be said against us is that we have mistaken the Churches sence which is not so great a Crime as the declaring Assent to an Article when really we do not believe it to be true However that there are difficulties attending our Way is yielded and the Arguments against it so strong that on a Review from a fear that our Subscription signifies our Assent to every subscribed Article many Perplexities arise in our Minds For which Reason we do most Humbly beseech both Houses of Convocation to take this Case into their Consideration that what in their Great Wisdom they think meet for the Peace and Quiet of the Minds of many Godly and Learned Divines True and Obedient Sons of the Church may in this matter be done FINIS