there be no particular Warrant in Gods Word for them may not we for all this be sure that your Church requireth Men to do things which God hath particularly forbidden And if we be sure of this upon the plain Grounds of Reason and Scripture should we be afraid to reject your Communion in these things because another sort of Men are so unreasonably wilful as to reject our Communion for the sake of things that are nothing like to these What if they conceiving that our Forms of Prayer are not so Edifying that our Rites and Ceremonies are not so expedient but rather Vnlawful as being Human Inventions what I say if they lay so great a stress upon these things as to set up a Communion which they Fancy to be more refined and unexceptionable May they not be to blame in all this and yet the Church of England not be liable to blame but worthy of commendation for departing from you in your Latin Service your half Communion your Praying to Dead Men and Women your giving Divine Honors to a Wafer and your other Gross Superstitions and Idolatries Although our Church had not ordered her publick Worship so discreetly and carefully but that in sundry things it might be reformed to good purpose it might yet by no means be necessary for any of her Members to forsake her Communion but it would on the other hand be their great fault so to do so long as she holds forth all the necessary means of Salvation and requires nothing to be professed or to be done that is contrary to Gods Word But yet it would be necessary to renounce the profession of your Impious Errors and to forsake you in all things wherein your selves have departed from the plain Truths of Reason and Christianity and contradicted the plain Word and Laws of God Though it may happen that a Man may do so Foolishly as to run himself upon great inconvenience in forsaking his Habitation because there is some petty Disease reigning thereabouts which is known to endanger no Mans Life yet it may be Wisely done by another Man to run his Country when the Plague is raging in every corner of it especially if he could know that it were impossible for him to escape if he should tarry there any longer And yet I suppose you will not deny but the one as well as the other may pretend that he left his dwelling for the sake of better health and more safely But I hope you will grant that the later pretends this like a Wise-Man though the other does it like a Fool. The case we are upon is much what the same From you it was necessary to depart for the sake of greater purity but so it is not necessary for you or others to depart from us and yet others may take the same Plea into their mouths against us and we may not be able to help it though we can well shew that they have no good reason for it And thus much for the Difference of the Case with respect to Separation for greater purity 2. I proceed next to consider the Difference with respect to that common Question Who shall be the Judge The Church of Rome arrogating to her self an Infallibility in determining all Questions of Faith doth in pursuance of this claim deny private persons the Liberty of examining her Definitions by the Holy Scriptures and requireth them to acquiesce therein without more ado as there is great reason they should if indeed they have reason to believe her Infallible The Church of England pretendeth not to Infallibility But we say that she is not deceived in those points which she propounds to be believed as necessary to Salvation nor in rejecting those other Articles which the Roman Church propounds under that notion And agreeably to this pretence she hath Translated the Holy Scriptures into plain English which are the best means whereby to Judge if what she says be not true she not only alloweth the People to Read them but exhorteth and requireth them so to do and causeth them to be Publickly Read to the People in all Religious Assemblies By this means she traineth up her Members to an Ability of Judging according to their several Capacities not only concerning All that she teaches them to believe but also concerning All that she teaches them to do as their Duty to God or Man so that she does not bring them up as the Church of Rome Educates her Children to an Implicit Faith and a Blind Obedience But yet the Superiors of our Church do challenge a Right to Judge in some things for the People commited to their charge and will not allow that in those things they should Judge for themselves and they are All things that relate to Publick Order and which may without Sin be determined one way or another but are capable of a better or worse Determination that is All Indifferent things We say that things of this nature being determined by a Competent Authority ought without farther inquiry into the Reasons of such Determination to be done by all that are under that Authority As for the Peoples Faith in God and their Obedience to him in doing what he hath Commanded and avoiding what he hath Forbidden our Church does not resolve that into her own Authority but into those very Reasons upon which they that are in Authority do build their own Faith and Obedience which Reasons are included in the Holy Scriptures But as to her Appointments and Orders in all things neither injoined by God himself nor by him forbidden she expecteth Submission to them upon the Account of her own Authority and alloweth not us to Judge of the Expediency or Inexpediency of them before we will Conform our Practice to them All which is so to be understood that still her Authority in these things is supposed to be of God and the Duty of Submitting thereunto required in the general precepts of Obedience to Superiors But if any Man ask Who is to be Judge of things Indifferent as to a Mans practice whether his own Conscience or his Superior I Answer that as to a Man 's own practice himself is to be Judge what things are Indifferent and which consequently come within the compass of Human Authority to Determin For it is plain enough that by the same Rule which sheweth us what is Duty and what is Sin we come to Judge of what is Indifferent And therefore when we grant to Private Persons a Judgment of Discretion concerning Sin and Duty we cannot deny them the right to Judge what is neither Duty nor Sin but Indifferent which is the Sum of what the Author of the Case in behalf of Dissenters hath said upon that matter But then how can Authority pretend to abridge private Persons of Judging as to their own practice concerning Indifferent things To this I Answer in the Words of the same Author where he acknowledges his Adversary to have said well to those
with what our own Superiours impose upon us for the sake of Peace and Unity at home but if we were to go abroad we should observe the Customs of other Churches though perhaps very different from ours and this for the sake of maintaining one Communion of Christians every were But neither abroad nor at home can we purchase Unity of Communion at so dear a rate as to break Gods Commandments for it We know it is a good thing for all the parts of the Church to have but one Communion but we must not do evil that even this good may come And least of all that evil which Church Communion and Church Authority were in great part designed to prevent For as we believe that Christ formed his Disciples into a Spiritual Society so we have great reason to conclude that one main end hereof was that by the Communion of Christians under their Governours the holy Truths and Laws of God concerning his Worship and our Salvation might be more advantageously held forth to the World and more effectually guarded and maintained And therefore to keep this Communion one as much as in us lies we will do any thing required by our Superiors that God has left us free to do or not But to deny that Holy Truth or any part of it or to break any of those Divine Laws for the sake of which this Communion it self was Instituted neither of these things dare we do to prevent Divisions and Separations And we are as sure that Transubstantiation Adoration of the Host Worshiping of Images Praying to the Dead and Praying in an unknown Tongue are Repugnant to several express Texts of Scripture not to say to Common Sense and Reason We are I say as sure that they are the plain Laws and Truths of God to which these things are contrary and withal that to guard these Truths God Instituted a Church and a Communion of Saints as we are that there was any such thing as a Church Instituted or Church Communion required And truly if Separation when there is such cause for it as we pretend were not a necessary Duty it might becom the Duty of Christians to be United in Scandalous Impieties and Damnable Errors And I think no body will say that in such things one Communion is either to be desired or excused but rather to be broken and that every Man is concerned as much as his Salvation is worth to break away from it And we are certain it can never be necessary to any Mans Salvation to be a Schismatick Upon this account we say that they who in Queen Mary's days chose to lay down their lives rather than return to the Communion of the Roman Church were so far from being Schismaticks that they were Gods Martyrs in so doing And had it been or should it be our lot to have this choice so hard to Flesh and Blood offered to us we trust that through the mighty Grace of God we should follow the Faith and Patience of those holy Men and Women who Sealed this Cause with their Blood meekly suffering under the Displeasure of that Just Authority the Unjust Commands whereof they could not honestly obey This plain though General account we give of the Separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome And if we pretend no more in our own Defence against that Church than we can prove we have Reason to think our selves safe on that side 2. Let us now see upon what Principles and by what pleas the Dissenters Defend their Separation from the Church of England To us therefore charging them with Schism upon this account they Answer also That our Communion is Corrupt and that they cannot with a safe Conscience continue in it and that they are bound for greater Purity of Worship and Ordinances to divide from us But in making out this general Answer they do not all go the same way nor do some of them allow those to be good Reasons for a Separation which others think substantial enough That in which most of them do agree is in assigning some Ceremonies injoined in our Church concerning which some of them say that they are Unlawful to be used in Gods Worship others of them that there is great cause to doubt whether they be Lawful or not And these dare not join in our Communion with Scrupulous and Unsatisfied minds The things of this sort are the Sign of the Cross in the office of Baptism though this be made by the Minister only Kneeling in the Act of Receiving the Eucharist and the Ministers wearing a Surplice in Publick Worship The other Faults they find with the Liturgy however they are thought by the Generality of Dissenters to be a Reason sufficient to ground Separation upon are not I think produced by those that should best understand the Cause as amounting to make our Communion directly Unlawful But yet there are that say they ought not to prefer a worse mode of serving God before a better And the mode which themselves observe being better they are to prefer that before ours and therefore to separate from us for the most part Others go yet further from us and take Liturgies and prescribed Forms of Prayer to be Unlawful to be used or at least suspect them so to be And all these do Generally dislike the Form of Diocesan Episcopacy However they seem not to lay the stress of their Separation upon that since they acknowledge our Churches to be true Churches of Christ and if it were not for other things might be Lawfully Communicated with although they are governed by Bishops And because the Civil Authority concurs with the Ecclesiastical in requiring Conformity to our Church Laws they do not pretend those Laws to be enforced by an Authority to which they are not bound to submit And therefore as far as I can find they rather chuse to Justify their Separation upon the account of the Unlawfulness or suspected Unlawfulness of the things Imposed or upon the preference of a better Communion then ours is But out of these I must except the Independents who acknowledge no other Church to be agreeable to the Word of God but such a Company of Christian People United one to another by a particular Covenant under Officers of their own chusing as can at once Assemble in the same place for the Worship of God And these Men think the very Constitution of our Church to be reason enough for a Separation from it I will take notice of no other Dissenters at present but those that Separate upon some one or more of these grounds which may be reduced to three 1. That a National Church Authority is an Usurpation upon particular Congregations which are pretended to be the only Churches of Christs Institution and that every such Church has full Power in it self to order all things relating to Worship and Discipline and is not of right accountable to any other Authority for the order it shall take to govern
who cannot comply with some things required in the Liturgy and can say no more then that they think them not Decent not Expedient not Orderly for says he no Private Person is a Judge of these things Which is an excellent saying but so directly contrary to the main principles of his Book that I wonder how it fell from him We are then to Judge whether the things required by Authority be Indifferent that is Lawful and then to Judge no farther as to our own Practice But for the Decency and Expediency and Orderliness of those things to leave our Superiors to Answer to God for that Our doing them is Warranted by our Rule which is to obey Authority in all Lawful things Now it is things of this sort only and with respect to Order and Decency and Prudent Determination of what is most likely to Edify that our Superiors pretend to Judge for us what is and what is not to be done so as to allow us no right to Judge for our selves about them They claim Obedience to their Constitutions in these things upon the Account of their Authority which when the matter is Lawful should without more ado conclude our Practice Indeed they Judge also what Faith we are to profess what Worship we are to offer up to God and what Life we are to lead in order to our receiving the benefit of Church Communion and by consequence they do take upon them to Judge in our behalf what are the Articles of the Christian Faith what is the true Christian Worship and what it is to lead a Christian Life For otherwise it were impossible that the Ministers of Christ should discreetly and honestly use that Authority which he hath left them to take into the Church those that are duly qualified for it and to turn out those that are no longer fit to be continued in it But still there is a great difference between their Judging for us in those things and in the matters aforementioned For they suppose that the Articles of the Christian Faith and the Commandments of God are the same that ever they were from the beginning of the Church and that it is not in the Power of Man to make any alterations in these standing Rules of Christianity and that Obedience is not due to any Authority of Man going about to make such alterations From whence it follows that Private Persons should be able to Judge wherein true Christianity consinsts as well as their Superiors that they also may offer up unto God a Reasonable Service To which end the Bible is put into all Mens hands the meaning of the Scriptures is opened in our Religious Assemblies the People are trained up to understand the particulars of Christian Faith and Obedience with the Reasons and Motives thereof that as we said before they may be able to resolve their Faith into the same grounds of Divine Authority upon which the Bishops and Pastors of the Church do themselves believe And we do Unanimously acknowledge that if this Church makes the profession of false Doctrine or the braking of any of Gods Commandments a condition of her Communion they that upon this account Separate from her Communion are before God clear of the Guilt of Schism in so doing And here she makes all Private Persons Judges for themselves whether she doth this or not and that by training them up the best way she can to be able to inform themselves in these matters But the case is otherwise with respect to Indifferent things relating to Gods Worship For though our Superiors profess that they are not to meddle in adding to or taking from the Faith and the Commandments of God and though they appeal to Private Persons that they do not in Fact usurp an Authority to this purpose which they profess to disclaim yet in these Indifferent things they claim a Power to add or diminish or to make such expedient alterations as they shall think fit to be made and this without being any way accountable to the People for their discretion in so doing before their Orders be obeyed And we say that whoever they are that will not be concluded by Authority in these things but upon any pretence whatsoever taken from them do break away from the Communion of the Church they are Guilty of Schism in so doing And this must be truly said if what that Author himself hath said be true that no Private Person is Judge of those things And now I think any one may see a vast difference between the claim of the Church of Rome to be the only Judge of what she imposes upon her Members and the claim of the Church of England to the same with reference to hers that in the former case it is unjust and unreasonable but in the later very equal and necessary and which no Man that is not over-ruled by a fit of passion and prejudice but must allow to a Competent Authority Whereas therefore we have considered the points in Question between the Dissenters and our selves with respect to Prudence Expedience and Better Edification We say withal that this is more than we were bound to do in order to the Conviction of Dissenters that it is their Duty to conform to the Liturgy and the Laws of the Church And that because the Authority by which they are Establisht obligeth us to Submission if there be nothing in them to make our Communion with the Church Sinful though we should be so arrogant as to think we could have ordered these matters with more discretion if our Advice had been taken But if setting aside the consideration of Authority we have moreover shewn that upon all accounts of Decency and Expediency Forms of Prayer are to be preferred before Extemporary Prayers and that the particulars now excepted against are so far from betraying any want of Judgment in those that prescribed them that they are Indications of the great Wisdom and Caution wherewith they proceeded we have not I say performed this believing it necessary to prove the Separation to be Vnjustifiable but intending to shew thereby that it is more Inexcusable And although it was no part of our Design to render those of the Separation more Inexcusable by this performance yet I beseech them to take care that it happens not so in the Event If after all it be asked what an Inferior is to do that Judgeth those things to be Vnlawful which his Superiors in full Perswasion that they are Indifferent at least require him to do I Answer as all Men that have a Sense of Honesty will Answer That whilest he is perswaded that they are Unlawful he ought to forbear them But then as no Man of Understanding will deny he is yet a Sinner before God for refusing that Obedience to a Lawful Authority which he ought to perform since in order to the performance of it he might and ought to understand his Duty better than he does For as the forementioned Author says Things
Indifferent and Things Commanded and Forbidden are not Things which we Fancy but which indeed are so If the Light of Nature and the Holy Scriptures are a Rule of what is Duty and what is Sin they are a Rule also of what is Indifferent And the same Light that shews what is necessary to be done and what is necessary not to be done does withal shew what is Lawful to be done or to be forborn And as an Erroneous perswasion that something is Lawful which God hath forbidden will not acquit any Man that hath the means of better Information from Sin in doing according to his Perswasion of the Lawfulness of what he does So neither will any Mans Erroneous Perswasion that his Superiors require him to do what is Vnlawful when the thing it self is Lawful acquit him of the Guilt of Disobedience in following that Perswasion In what degrees this or that Mans Ignorance in these things is culpable God only knoweth for the most part and therefore he only can Judge the World in Righteousness But more or less culpable it is in All that have means of Knowledge And it concerns every one of us as we love our own Souls to consider Impartially what God hath Commanded and what he hath forbidden in his Word and consequently what he has left to our Liberty and that because his Word is a Rule sufficiently plain as to these things For if those to whom God hath given Authority being corrupted in their Judgments by Passion or any Worldly Interest take those things to be Lawful which God hath forbidden and impose them upon All that are subject to their Rule their Perswasion shall not hinder their being grievous Sinners against God nor Exempt them from being answerable to him for abusing their Authority and for all the pernicious consequences thereof in drawing some Men into Wicked Practices and in punishing others for well doing And by like Reason if Subjects not rightly attending to the Rule of their Duty are grown to a Perswasion that those things are Vnlawful which their Superiors injoin them to do whereas indeed they are Indifferent and thereupon refuse to do them This Perswasion shall not acquit them before God nor hinder them from being answerable for Abusing their Liberty and for all the pernicious Consequences of their Disobedience in Setting a bad Example in Breaking the Peace of the Church in Disturbing Publick Order and which very often happens in Giving occasion to the worst of Men to profane the Name of God and to speak Evil and Blasphemous things of his Holy Religion I say Ignorance will help no more in this later case than in the former because it is as easie for the Subject to know what is Indifferent as for the Ruler to know what is Vnlawful These considerations I confess do more properly belong to the last Plea of Conscience but it was very convenient to touch upon them here where we have been inquiring what things they are in which Authority is to over-rule private Judgment and to determine the Practice of Inferiors and withal how great a difference there is between the Church of Rome and the Church of England in Answering this Common Question Who shall be the Judge 3. I come now to the last Difference consequent upon the two first respecting Authority and Terms of Communion and that is the Difference of the Principles upon which each side Separates as to their tendency either to maintain or to overthrow one Communion amongst Christians This will fall under a double Consideration 1. That of maintaining one Communion amongst Christians in this Kingdom 2. That of maintaining one Communion with Forreign Churches I shall begin with the First 1. As to Vnity at home The Romanist pretends that upon the grounds of our Reformation Divisions and Separations will be endless amongst us We also pretend that the principles of the Separation from the Church of England tend to the same But with what difference of Reason on each side it is easy to Judge by what has been said already We have Reason to think there would be no end of Divisions if a Competent Authority injoining nothing but what is Lawful to be done in the Communion of Christians is not to be obeyed And certainly this may be very true although it be false that to Submit to the Authority of the Roman Church and that too in things Unlawful to be done by any Christian or by any Man is necessary to prevent Divisions We say farther that there can be no need of an Ecclesiastical Tyranny on the one hand and a blind Obedience on the other to keep those Christians together in one Communion that live within one Jurisdiction if a due use of Authority in Lawful Superiors on the one hand and a Dutiful Subjection of Inferiors thereunto on the other would do the business as most certainly it would But if some Men will be Stubborn we cannot help that any more than we can hinder other Men from being Tyrants But we are sure it concerns both the one and the other as much as their Salvation concerns them not to be so And if this consideration will not keep them within bounds and make them Wise and Honest they must Answer it to God one day And in the mean time Subjects that Suffer Vnjustly for refusing to Obey the Wicked Commands of their Superiors must bear it as patiently as they can and by their Prayers to God and their Meek Obedience to their Rulers in all Lawful things endeavour to recover themselves into their good Opinion And Superiors that are vexed with Froward and Disorderly Subjects who break Christian Communion when no just Cause is given them must do what they can to lay the Truth before them and if this be to no purpose they must use their Authority as Prudently as they can to prevent the Evil Example from going farther We are sensible what advantages the Papists make to themselves against our Reformation by the examples of Dissenters and the Dissenters by the Papists When the Papists have Men and Women of weak understandings to deal with they tell them that the Reformation is run out into several Sects and Parties and no Man can tell where Separation will end If therefore you Love Vnity return to the Church of Rome where we are all of one Faith and Communion The Separatists on the other side set off their claims to an unrestrainable Liberty of choosing in what Communion to Worship God by shewing to their Proselytes the Tyranny of the Roman Church Now we of the Church of England are as much against the Tyrannical Vsurpations of that Church as the Dissenters and as much for Vnity against causless Separation and for Obedience to Lawful Authority against Stubbornness as the Romanists And both these upon principles that consist well with one another We say on the one side that a Foreigner should not affect an Authority over us and that those who have the Authority ought
to require nothing in the Communion of Christians but what is agreeable to Gods Word and Lawful to be done And on the other side that in such things we ought to do what is Commanded and by no means to run into a Separate Communion Upon these principles we departed from Rome and stick where we are and I trust that through the Grace of God we shall neither go back to Rome nor run after the Separation there being no need either of the former to preserve Vnity or of the later to avoid Tyranny To draw to a conclusion of this matter The main Reason of our Separation from Rome was this that we could not continue in her Communion without doing things that God hath plainly forbidden The Reformation of our Church was at first effected by and hath all along stood upon Good and Just Authority She does not only hold forth all necessary means of Salvation but she requires nothing to be done in her Communion that is contrary to Gods Word And therefore we hold our selves bound under the pain of Schism to continue in her Communion Now I do not understand how upon these principles Men must run into Endless Separations unless it be impossible for us whatever we pretend to know who are our Lawful Governours and to know what God hath Commanded and what he hath Forbidden us to do And I must confess if these things be Impossible to be known 't is a Foolish thing for any Man to trouble his Conscience with Cases of Communion and Separation As for the Dissenters to omit the Independents whose Churches are in their very Constitution inconsistent with Submitting to a Common Authority in matters of Worship they have forsaken us for nothing but because the Forms of our Worship or our two or three Ceremonies in it are not Commanded in Gods Word and because in things left otherwise to our Liberty we are determined by the Authority of our Superiors Or because these things might be better ordered and because the Communion which they have taken upon them to set up in Opposition to the Church of England is purer than ours though ours be a Lawful Communion Now these principles do indeed tend to Endless Separations unless these Men could tell us either how we could be United in one Communion though all of us believed it Vnlawful to Obey a Competent Authority that should presume to determin any Indifferent things relating to Gods Worship or what particular Communion that is from which it would be Vnlawful to Separate even upon this principle That there is no Obligation to Communion where there is any thing possible to be mended in the outward mode of Gods Worship In a Word they that Separate upon Just and Necessary cause as the Church of England hath done from the Church of Rome and stop there are not to be charged with the consequence of their practice who Separate without such Causes as the Dissenters do from our Church And if they have proceeded farther than they are able to justify themselves by the principles of our Reformation they must Answer for it themselves 2. The principles of our Reformation do not obstruct our Communion with any true Church of Christ abroad where there are no Unlawful Terms of Communion But so do the principles of the Dissenters Separation By the same reason that our Governours determin one Common order of Worship and Discipline for the Churches over which they have Authority The Governours of other Churches also may determin in these things according to their Prudence for the People subject to their Authority And we who blame the Church of Rome for interposing her Authority amongst us with whom she has no more Right to meddle than any other Forreign Church has must in all things that come within the Liberty of Christians leave other Churches that are as Independent upon Vs as we are upon Rome to their Authority and Liberty And this is what our Church has expresly declared In these our doings we condemn not other Nations nor prescribe any thing but to our own People only for we think it convenient that every Country should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of Gods Honor and Glory and to the reducing of the People to a most Perfect and Godly living without Error or Superstition and that they should put away other things which from time to time they perceive to be most abused as in Mens Ordinances it often chanceth diversly in divers Countries In pursuance of which excellent and truly Catholick Declaration I would not only Communicate with Foreign Churches who differ from us in nothing but matters of From and Ceremony but if I were amongst them I should observe their Establish'd Modes and Forms of Worship and though I thought our own way at home worthy upon all the accounts of Order and Decency and Tendency to Edification to be preferred before theirs yet I should not only conform to their way but Religiously abstain from creating any prejudice against it in the minds of Christian People in those places and rather do all that Honestly I could to bring those to a favourable Opinion of it who were prejudiced against it This is that Rule which St. Austin thought should take place not only in respect of those Orders which were Establish'd by Synods of Bishops but in respect also of those Customs which had crept into particular Churches though it was hard to tell why or how they came in In things of this Nature saith he there is one most wholesom Rule to be observed That wherever we see any of them obtain which are neither contrary to Faith nor good Manners and have some tendency to Edification we should not only abstain from finding fault with them but Commend and Practise them our selves And yet he complains in this very Epistle of the multitude of Ceremonious Observations in which particular Churches differed from one another and wishes that a Reformation were made by Authority Thus in the foregoing Epistle speaking of the different observations of divers places for Instance that some fast upon the Saturday and some do not c. and of all other things of this kind which are to be accounted Indifferent Nothing says he does more become the Gravity and Prudence of a Christian then to do after the manner of that Church into which he shall happen to come Then he relates St. Ambrose his celebrated Answer to Monica about things of this sort When I am at Rome I Fast on the Saturday when I am here at Milan I do not Fast And so when thou comest into any Church observe its Customs if thou wouldest neither give just Cause of Offence nor take Offence without Cause This advice St. Austin magnified highly and the more he thought of it the better he liked it For says he I have often with great sorrow considered how the minds of Weak Christians have been disturbed by the
Quarrelsom humour and Superstitious Niceness of some of the Brethren who upon very slight grounds of Reasoning or being addicted to their own Customs at home or fond of what they have observed abroad raise such Wrangling Disputes about things that cannot be clearly Determined either by the Authority of Holy Scripture or the Vniversal Tradition of the Church Catholick or by the Consideration of what is best for Reformation of Life that they seem to reckon nothing well done but what they do themselves I shall add no more but that plain Rule he gives elsewhere to this purpose As to things in which the Scripture defines nothing certain one way or the other the Custom of the Church and the Decrees of our Ancestors are to be held for Law Now by this and much more that might be produced we may see what the true Notion of that Liberty was which the Ancient Church allowed in matters of Indifference Not that there was no Rule in the particular Churches for the Ordering and Regulating of things of this sort For we find the Bishops did use their Authority in these things over their charges as St. Ambrose's Words to St. Austin's Mother about the forementioned case do plainly imply Resist not thy Bishop in this matter but what he does that do thou without any Scruple or Dispute And besides those particular Customs the Variety and Multitude of which St. Austin complains of there were the Determinations of Episcopal Synods concerning things not Determined in Scripture which he does not complain of But their Liberty consisted in this that the Rules of this sort establisht in the Communion of any Church were not imposed upon Foreign Churches and Catholick Communion was not broken upon the account of different Rites and Customs For though St. Austin was sorry to see the minds of some Weak Christians troubled about Questions of this kind yet I do not find that he had any occasion given him to complain that Communion was broken upon these accounts as before his time it had been by Pope Victors rashness in presuming to Excommunicate the Asiatick Bishops for observing Easter upon the fourteenth of March had not Irenaeus and other Wise and Moderate persons seasonably interposed To apply all this to the matter in hand Since the Church of Rome has made such things conditions of Communion with her as are in St. Austin's phrase contrary to Faith and Good Manners our Separation from her upon this account does not at all hinder us from Communicating with any true Church in the World that does not bar us out by Unlawful Terms of Communion For in things that God hath left at Liberty this Church persumes not to interpose her Authority abroad nor refuses the Communion of those Churches whose Customs and Observations are different from ours meerly because they are different Nay let the Church of Rome her self make an end of Imposing False Doctrines and Wicked Practices and there will be an end of our Separation from her Let her give over Commanding things that God hath Forbidden and makeing Articles of Faith of things that are not revealed but are indeed contrary to Sense and Reason and she may for us use her Authority at home in things Indifferent and though she be guilty of great Abuses even in this kind which need a Reformation yet I for my part should not break Communion with her for these things if she would throughly Purge her self from the other In the mean time we are of one Communion with all Foreign Churches that presume not to change the Faith nor to contradict the Laws of God and this we should demonstrate by actual Communion with them if we had occasion to go abroad amongst them But this makes our case very Different from that of the Dissenters who Separate from the Church For so long as they withdraw from our Communion for the sake of Ecclesiastical Order that are not contrary to Gods Word and Separate from us upon this principle that every thing is Unlawful in Gods Worship which is not Commanded in Scripture but enjoined by our Superiors only they must not upon those principles have Communicated with any Church in the Primitive times when there were far more Vncommanded Rites and Vsages Establish'd for the regulating of Worship than now there are in our Church And upon these principles they must not Communicate with any Reformed Churches abroad since how different so ever the External Mode of their Worship may be from ours yet some they all have and that consisting of Rules not Determined by Gods Word but by the Law or Custom of Man To New England they must not go hoping to find a Communion there Lawful to be embraced upon these principles The Nonconformists to our Liturgy and Discipline that are there will stand to their own censures concerning Worship and Discipline and will make out by their Church Authority such as it is what they cannot shew Chapter and Verse for Our Separatists if they go thither shall find no other use of their Liberty allowed there but Conformity and Compliance with that way of Worship and Government which there obtains It is a plain case that they who Separate from our Church upon the account of Unommanded Rites and Practices in Gods Worship are something more obliged by this principle to avoid Communion with all Foreign Churches if Rules for Customs concerning things Indifferent are to be found amongst them all as most certainly such Rules more or fewer all of them have For in the former case our Separatists are disobedient to their proper Governours and Pastors whose Authority over them is some thing more clear and indisputable than that of the Governours of other Churches where they might happen to go And therefore if they will not in things of this Nature be Determined by an Authority at home there is less reason to believe their Consciences will suffer them to be Determined therein by one abroad I conclude therefore that though our Reformation leaves usfree to Communicate with all Churches abroad that do not require Sinful Terms of Communion as the Church of Rome does yet the Separation of the Dissenters from us proceeds upon grounds destructive of Communion with any Church in the World Indeed I believe most of our Dissenters would Communicate with several Reformed Churches abroad but in so doing they must depart from the principles upon which they Separate at home unless they can find a Reformed Church which exerciseth no Authority in Forms of Prayer nor in any Indifferent things for the external Regulation of Publick Worship But where such a Church is to be found I am yet to be informed And thus much concerning those Differences of the Case that are Consequent upon the Difference in point of Authority and of Terms of Communion 3. I come now to consider the last Plea I propounded which I confessed was not only Common to both sides but which also may be as truly alledged on
whom they follow at present All that we beg of them is that they would not take every thing upon Trust that others tell them in these matters but hear what we also have to offer to them and not only hear but consider and weigh it with the best Judgment they have And let me say this to all those whom I now speak of whether Papists or Dissenters that if you set your selves with a sincere desire of being rightly Informed to compare our Reasons with them whom hitherto you have trusted some Advantage you will gain by it whatever the Success be For if the Truth be not on our side you will in all likelihood get this benefit by it to be Confirmed in your own way upon better grounds than you had before But if it be it is then to be hoped that through the Grace of God you will discorn it and entertain it for which blessing you and we shall have great reason to yield our hearty Thanks and Praises to the Father of Lights who giveth Wisdom to them that ask him But if you should be so unhappily Prejudiced on the wrong side as to miss this benefit yet let me tell you it will turn to some good account for you at last that you took Pains to be better informed and that you were not altogether wanting to your selves to come to a right Understanding of your Duty in these Particulars by disposing your selves to Impartiality and by Reading and Meditating and Praying in all this for the Illumination of Gods Holy Spirit And now I trust there is little need to tell you that if your Leaders discourage you from taking this pains it may justly make you suspect that your Cause will not bear the Trial. If they would keep up your Confidence by their own and all the while divert you from comparing one thing with another and from trying what is said on both sides you have sufficient Cause to Question either their Honesty or their Understanding And the more unwilling they are that you should examin what we and they say the more Reason do they give you to resolve that you will do so I have shewn how greatly different the Case of the True English Protestant is from that of the Papist on the one hand and that of the Separatist on the other And though the difference be so very notorious as it is yet we know the Popish Priests have represented our Reformation under such Colours as to make it look like Fanaticism and the Dissenters are made to believe on the other hand that our Reformation is but a better sort of Popery And some little popular things are said on both sides to make these pretences look like Truth But now I have brought these Colours into the Light and if you will but take upon your selves to use your own Eyes you may I think easily discern that you have been all this while abused At least I have given you Reason enough to make farther Inquiries and to Consider more particular Questions But if upon Reading this general Discourse you should resolve to keep where you are and to trouble your selves no farther I am Confident the true Reason thereof must be this that you are afraid to proceed lest you should be convinced and this is nothing less than Wilfully to bar up your minds against the Knowledge of the Truth For though I have no conceit of this performance as if I had done any great matter in it yet I am Conscious to my self that I intended honestly all along and I am sure I have Written plainly and have laid some things together that may give just occasion to any well meaning Papist or Sectary to Question the safety of the way he is in at present especially if he has never troubled himself to Consider these things before And now I do heartily desire you all for I cannot desire this too often or too earnestly that you would take the Word of God for your Rule and propound the Rewards of another Life for your end and set the Fear of God before your Eyes whilest you Consider and Examin these things It is our concern for the safety of your Souls as well as for the Welfare of this Poor Church so distressed with Adversaries on both sides that putteth us forward upon all occasions to lay these things before you Do not therefore Read these Books which are indeed publisht for your sakes as if they were Written against you There is not one of us I am Confident but is troubled to see you expose your selves to the penalties of the Laws of the Land that are against you But we are more sorry to consider that at the same time you do also incur the high displeasure of God We would sain have you to avoid both the one and the other And if you would hearken to us the worst you would get by it is to live with less Disturbance in this World but whether that should prove true or not you would walk in a more Safe and Plain way to Heaven than that which any of you are in at present And I hope you would not grudge that good which this Church should receive by your return to us when you would do your selves so much more by it If therefore you think our Importunity troublesom pray remember what it is that makes us Importunate and let no misconstruction of the Design of your Friends render their honest endeavours Ineffectual to your conviction We would have you understand the Truth and do your Duty And as this end is Charitable so you must needs grant those means to be Charitable also by which we are contributing towards it It is indeed our Concern that these means should take place but it is yours something more if you are under great and dangerous mistakes as I am perswaded you are But if you should be so prejudiced against us as to think that we Write these Controversies more in Concern for the Temporal Interests of this Church than for your Spiritual Good Pray will you make this profitable use of that hard thought as to excel us in this matter by being more careful not to mix any Carnal and Worldly affection with your Judgment in Reading these things then you imagine us to be in Writing of them Be as strict as you will in Examining what we say in behalf of our Church only be willing that Truth should Overcome and Consider that if that prevails against your Errors you indeed are the Conquerours and that the greatest Gain will be yours both in this World and in the World to come I have no mind to prejudge which Party it is that we may hope to win more of to the Truth than of the other being very willing to believe that there is no Cause of despairing to do good on either side As for the Dissenters methinks it should not be hard to disswade the most of them from breaking the Communion of that Church any longer
with which they agree in the Substance of Faith and Worship and from differing with Authority for the future about things Indifferent The Cause of the Separation as it is managed by themselves is so very Slight that one would hope they should be of themselves something afraid to venture their being Schismaticks upon it and consequently that they should be ready to consider what has been said to shew that there is indeed no Just Cause given them to Separate from our Church and that there is no Reason to call any thing Popery which they dislike in our Communion as some of them have done to the great disadvantage of the Protestant Religion since as much as in them lay they have made the World believe that the Cause of Popery is better than it is and that it doth not consist only of Opinions and Practices that cannot be defended but of some also that may And it is not the least kindness that the indiscreet Zeal of some Protestants hath done to the Church of Rome that they have inveighed against some things which may be easily justified as if they also were Popish Corruptions And the Learned Men of that Church have not been behind hand in making use of this advantage and that by straining their utmost Wit to represent the Protestant Religion under such Colours as if it stood in Opposition to Episcopacy and Liturgy and to all Ecclesiastical Canons and Constitutions And I am perswaded the Dissenters cannot do the Protestant Religion a greater kindness than by forbearing to give them this occasion for the Future For let a Cause be never so good in it self it is never likely to thrive in their hands who instead of pressing their Adversaries with what they can never maintain are still forward to deny what they are well able to prove As for the Papists amongst us their mistakes in Faith and Worship are so Gross and Foul that if they would give themselves a little time to Consider what has and what may farther be said to convince them I do not doubt but all of them that are endued with a Competent Understanding and an Honest Sense of things would soon feel those palpable Errors into the belief and practise of which they have been hitherto deluded by an unreasonable deference to the Authority of the Church of Rome and no longer stand off from the Communion of the Church of England The bigger any fault is one would think it should be more easily spied Now these Men Separate from us meerly because we have abandoned those wicked Doctrines and Practices which are of themselves a most necessary Cause of Separation from any Church in the World that should Impose them And therefore they of all Men are the most Notorious Schismaticks that can be imagined And I beseech God to open their Eyes to see it and to recover into the way of Truth all such as have Erred and are Deceived that those who have hitherto been obstinate may prove all things and that those who can be perswaded to Consider these things may hold fast that which is good Rom. 15. 5 6. And the God of Patience and Consolation grant us to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That We may with one Mind and one Mouth Glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Amen FINIS ERATA Page 18. line 18. for Term read Form p. 15. l. 31. for cppear r. appear p. 25. l. 27. r. l Cor. 14. Ad Antonianum Ep. 52. Ad Cornclium Ep. 55. Case on behalf of Diss P. 5. P. 17. P. 16. 17. P. 9. P. 20. c. Case on behalf of Diss P. 2. P. 3. P. 3. Case P. 29 30. Case in behalf of Dissenters P. 2. P. 3. P. 36. P. 3. Preface to the Liturgy Ad Januarium Ep. 119. Ep. 118. Ad Casulanum Ep. 86. Ep. 86. Ep. 119. Lactant. lib 2. De Origine Erroris Sect. 7. 1 Thess 5. 21.