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A66383 The case of lay-communion with the Church of England considered and the lawfulness of it shew'd from the testimony of above an hundred eminent non-conformists of several perswasions. Williams, John, 1636?-1709. 1683 (1683) Wing W2691; ESTC R1501 57,793 83

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and to joyn with those of their Ministers that think it their Duty so to do and are therein of the opinion of the old Non-Conformists that did not act as if there was no middle between separation from the Church and true Worship thereof and subscription unto or practice or approbation of all the corruptions of the same For though they would not subscribe to the Ceremonies yet they were against separation from Gods Publick Worship as one of them in the name of the rest doth declare So that as great a difference as there is betwixt presence and Consent betwixt bare Communion and approbation betwixt the Office of the Minister and the attendance of a private person so much is there betwixt the Case of Ministerial and Lay-Communion And therefore when we consider the Case of Lay-Communion we are only to respect what is required of the people what part they are to have and exercise in Communion with the Church Now what they are concerned in are either The Forms that are imposed the Gestures they are to use and the Times they are to observe for the Celebration of Divine Worship or The Ministration which they may be remotely suppos'd also to be concerned in The lawfulness of all which and of all things required in Lay-Communion amongst us I shall not undertake to prove and maintain by Arguments taken from those that already are in full Communion with the Church of England and so are obliged to justifie it but from those that in some things do dissent from it who may therefore be supposed to be impartial and whose Reasons may be the more heeded as coming from themselves and from such that are as forward in other respects to owne the miscarriages of the Church as those that wholly separate from it For the better understanding of the Case and of their Judgment in it I shall consider 1. What opinion the most eminent and sober Non-Conformists have had of the Church of England 2. What opinion they have had of Communion with that Church 3. What opinion they he had of such practices and usages in that Church as Lay-men are concerned in 1. What opinion the most eminent and sober Non-Conformists have had of the Church of England And that will appear in these two things First That they owne her to be a true Church Secondly To be a Church in the main very valuable First They owne her to be a true Church Thus an Eminent Person saith of the old Non-Conformists They did always plead against the Corruptions of the Church of England but never against the truth of her Being or the comfort of her Communion And as much is affirmed of the present by a grave and sober Person amongst them The Presbyterians generally hold the Church of England to be a true Church though defective in its Order and Discipline And thus it 's acknowledged in the name of the rest by one that undertakes their Defence and would defend them in their Separation We acknowledge the Church of England to be a true Church and that we are Members of the same visible Church with them And this they do not only barely assert but do undertake to prove This is done by the old Non-Conformists in their Confutation of the Brownists who thus begin That the Church of England is a true Church of Christ and such an one as from which whosoever wittingly and willingly separateth himself cutteth himself off from Christ we doubt not but the indifferent Reader may be perswaded by these Reasons following 1. We enjoy and joyn together in the use of those outward means which God hath ordained in his Word for the gathering of a visible Church and have been effectual to the unfeigned conversion of many as may appear both by the other fruits of Faith and by the Martyrdom which sundry have endured that were Members of our Church c. 2. Our whole Church maketh profession of the true Faith The Confession of our Church together with the Apology thereof and those Articles of Religion which were agreed upon in the Convocation-House An. 1562. whereunto every Minister of the Land is bound to subscribe so far forth as they contain the Confession of Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments do prove this evidently c. So Mr. Ball Wheresoever we see the Word of God truly taught and professed in Points fundamental and the Sacraments for substance rightly administred there is the true Church of Christ though the health and soundness of it may be crazed by many errours in Doctrine corruptions in the Worship of God and evils in the life and manners of men As much as this is also affirmed in the Letters passed betwixt the Ministers of Old England and New England It is simply necessary to the being of a Church that it be laid upon Christ the foundation which being done the remaining of what is forbidden or the want of what is commanded cannot put the Society from the Title or Right of a true Church And if we enquire into the judgment of the present Non-Conformists we shall find them likewise arguing for it Thus the Author of Jerubbaal The Essentials constitutive of a true Church a re 1. The Head 2. The Body 3. The Union that is between them Which three concurring in the Church of England Christ being the professed Head She being Christ's professed Body and the Catholick Faith being the Union-band whereby they are coupled together She cannot in justice be denied a true though God knows far from a pure Church If we should proceed in this Argument and consider the Particulars I might fill a Volume with Testimonies of this kind The Doctrine of the Church is universally held to be true and sound even the Brownists own'd it of old in their calm mood who declare We testifie to all men by these Presents That we have not forsaken any one Point of the true ancient Apostolick Faith professed in our Land but hold the same grounds of Christian Religion with them See more in Bayly's Disswasive c. 2. p. 20.33 and Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation part 1. § 9. p. 31. The Presbyterians if I may so call them for distinction sake do owne it So M r Corbet The Doctrin of Faith and Sacraments by Law established is heartily received by the Non-Conformists So M r Baxter As for the Doctrin of the Church of England the Bishops and their Followers from the first Reformation begun by Edward the VI were found in Doctrine adhering to the Augustan method express'd now in the Articles and Homilies they differed not in any considerable Point from those whom they called Puritans The like is affirmed by the Independents The Confession of the Church of England declared in the Articles of Religion and herein what is purely Doctrinal we fully embrace As to the Worship they owne it for the matter and substance to be good and for Edification So