written And I know that what you say they thought to be sins have by Whitgift Bancroft Hooker Moreton Burgess and Sprint been proved to be the Non-conformists duties And as to the new Conformity it hath by these Doctors Faukner Durel Fulwood proved to be lawful and also by the Lay-Conformity of all the old Non-conformists as well as by Mr. Baxter to be lawful Mr. Baxter And is this your dry Denial a rational Confutation Answ A Confutation of what No rational Man would undertake a Confutation of what others only thought and Idem est non esse non apparere had the Long Parliament acted rationally when they armed themselves if they had no other Enemy to fight against but those false Reports of German Troops and Armies under ground and Designs to blow up the Thames which were sometime talked off This were like Don Quixot to fight with Windmils and Fancies of their own inventions bring down your Objections from the Clouds fix them somewhere that we may behold them and try if they be formidable Gorgons as can at sight transform the Conformists into such heinous Sinners a dry Denial is enough to confute the Man in the Moon I will not say as you did concerning the Church of England that I would give all the Money in my Purse to know what it is but as Caesar said of the ancient Britains who dwelt in Woods and Fastnesses That it is less difficult to overcome them than to find them out and when they shall appear I have so much confidence in the good Nature of Mr. Baxter that I may borrow Weapons enough out of his Magazine to turn them all into Dust though he thinks that it is no small number of sins so heinous that are imposed by Conformity that he dares not so much as name them lest he should displease and render the Conformists such heinous sinners And p. 31. of Sacr. Desertion That Conformity is a composition of such heinous Crimes as I forbear to name for fear of seeming to be an Accuser of others and to be unpeaceaable This is as if he had told his Superiours to their Faces That they were a company of ungodly Persons and cruel Persecutors that their Sins were great for number and heinous in their nature But I will not name any particular for fear of Displeasing or being thought your Accuser and Unpeaceable In such a case I think it not unreasonable if the Superiours had told Mr. Baxter that he ought to do it But Mr. Baxter will excuse himself thus Mr. Baxter That Men ought not to be blamed for not doing Impossibilities Answ If the thing were impossible to be done it is very blameable to pretend or attempt the doing of it But wherein lyeth the impossibility 1. You say The Law forbids it 2. You are ipso facto Excommunicate 3. Your Governours are against it 4. It would drive you to Jails and Ruine 5. We have begg'd leave of Parliament Men to publish the Case and Reasons of your dissent But good Sir is not your preaching in Conventicles forbidden by the same Law under the like Penalties and yet those tearing Engines as you call them do not make you forbear printing or preaching nor do you want the liberty of the Press for divulging Seditious Pamphlets and railing against Bishops and Conformity The impossibility therefore doth not lye in these External Circumstances but in the nature of the thing There is no sinfulness in what is required in Conformity and therefore it is impossible for you to shew it You tell us indeed that you have by your writing discovered the sinfulness of the old Conformity and refer us to your publick Reply and Petition against it and that some Pamphlets such as Cawdrys Hickmans c. have crept out but you confess nothing that is full and satisfactory no not in any of Mr. Baxter's Writings though he talks in general That in our Liturgy there are some things that seem to be corrupt and carry a repugnancy to the Rule of the Gospel p. 11. of his Savoy Papers where he spends 148 Pages in Exceptions against the Liturgy which the Bishops answer in these few words p. 45. The Church hath been careful to put nothing into the Liturgy but what is evidently the Word of God or hath been generally received in the Catholick Church and if the contrary can be proved we wish it out of the Liturgy And this may answer that Enquiry of Mr. Baxter Which way got you so strong a faith as to be past doubt that did we discover any sinfulness it would by Authority be taken away Make this true and you shall have the honour of being the greatest healer of our breaches that ever rose in the days of my remembrance But if this be not true Answ The strength of my Faith is built on the ground of my Charity which teacheth me to hope and believe all good things of my Superiours especially until I am assured of the contrary and when they have made such good Laws in Church and State as many thousands of good Christians of tender Consciences do submit to and they themselves devoutly practice I cannot think they would establish any known iniquity by Law after their Profession which you have seen under their own hands that if there were any such thing could be proved as they had reason and judgment to discern it so it was in their power to procure the amendment and they wished it out So that whatever your Faith be to believe there are such heinous sins in Conformity I hope my Charity is agreeable to the Christian Faith that if any such thing had appeared it would have been taken away Mr. Baxter But I shall alledge your Authority when we are blamed for discovering the sinfulness of Conformity Answ You have a greater Authority than mine the Law of God Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Brother and not suffer sin to be upon him And of St. Paul Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Therefore I say again you ought to have done it and to be plain I see no reason why you have not done it but because it is impossible to be done you find all the Cavils which you have yet used to be insufficient and would seem to reserve more cogent ones to keep up the Courage of your Party and amuze their Consciences with Noise and Clamour Fears and Jealousies and so perpetuate the Schism I cannot pass by one odious Reflection on our Governours viz. Mr. Baxter That near Two thousand Ministers have been near sixteen Years ejected and silenced and many years imprisoned and killed and the People of the Land divided and distracted by the tearing Engines Answ Such Language ill becomes Mr. Baxter who notwithstanding many Provocations hath tasted so much of the Clemency of our Governours Had you lived in the Marian days under Bonner you durst not have said so much But who
Tract It ought to be saith he of One that is impartial a lover of Peace and not ingaged by Faction or Interest to one side against the other a calm and considerate Man not a passionate hasty Judge a Man of manifest Honesty Conscience and Fear of God not a Worldly Wicked Bloody Vnconscionable Man Now let the Reader consider whether this Character agree with our Author And then let the Reader take that other Antidote in the Preface The Sectaries saith Mr. Baxter who rashly separate from some Churches because of some Forms Opinions or Ceremonies which almost all Christians on Earth have used in the former purer Ages and still use should be more cautelous in examining their grounds and should hardly venture to separate from any Church for that which for the same reason would move them to separate from almost all Christians in the whole World if not unchurch the Church of Christ And let the Reader satisfie himself whether Mr. Baxter's Model be not such a Form And may it not be said of Mr. Baxter as he says of Dr. Heylin He is so palpably partial and of so malicious and bloody a strain representing excellent persons as odious intolerable Rogues that he is not to be believed Judge by this one passage p. 120. If our Neighbours that commonly these Thirty Years last use the word God dam me had put but thee instead of me I should have suspected that the Councils and Bishops had made their Religion To which add p. 464. Have not the Ministers themselves been the principal instruments of taking down the Bishops c And what have they got by it I doubt not but the Reader will find the whole Collection to be a History of the Confusion and Bloodshed occasioned by discontented and ambitious Presbyters and their party against the Orthodox who suffered under Heathen Arian and other heretical Emperours by Popes Hereticks and Schismaticks misapplied all to the Bishops and Councils and often speaks more favourably of Hereticks viz. of Arius the Novatians and Donatists who though they were usurping Presbyters he calls them Bishops and through their sides strikes at the Sacred Office p. 276. of his Plea for Peace It was by Bishops striving who should be Chief that the Donatists set up Whereas the Donatists were discontented Presbyters And in the Schisms of those times the Bishops were almost ever the chief Cause The Almost will not save it from a Lye But evident it is whatever quarrel there was in all Church-History wherein a Bishop was concerned how Innocent how Orthodox soever Mr. Baxter makes him the cause of the Quarrel and is his Adversary Hereof I could give many instances had not Mr. Baxter prevented me having said and done enough to overthrow the credit of his History However I will shew the Reader a Specimen of Mr. Baxter's Candour and Truth in relating Church-History Doth not Mr. Baxter know however he dissembles it that Arius and Aërius Novatus and Novatian Majorinus Chaplain to Lucilla a Noble Woman with Botruus and Silesius who first opposed Cecilian Bishop of Carthage and set up for Bishops by the help of Donatus who succeeded them and gave name to the Schism were all Presbyters Till they dub'd one another Bishops and then with whole Armies opposed their lawful Bishops who with great patience and constancy withstood their malice Read the History of the Donatists lately set forth and see how they used St. Augustin himself Mr. Baxter may as well ascribe all the Rebellion and Outrages all the Blasphemies and Faction that have been made within Forty Years past to the Bishops of this Land whereto it's well known the Presbyterians opened the way and led the dance as to impute what he doth to the ancient Bishops and indeed he is not ashamed to assert both these notorious falshoods Mr. Baxter asks the Question p. 429. of his Cure of Divisions Who brought in the errours of the Arians Eunomians c. And he Answers They were Bishops or Presbyters He would be sure to speak one true word I shall not trouble the Reader with all that Mr. Baxter writes of the Arians Nestorians c. in that voluminous Book but refer him to what he says more briefly in his other late Works for he repeats it in many of them P. 27. of his Plea He would not have the Arian Emperours made worse than they were because they were for Toleration of both Parties nor were the Arians themselves like the Socinians saith he because they acknowledged all save the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. save the Divinity of Christ which was all then in Controversie How dangerously saith he as if he were pleading for the Arians did Justine and most of the Ancient Doctors before the Nicene Council speak hereabout and how certainly Eusebius and other great Bishops were Arians and how the Council at Ariminum laid by the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 endeavouring reconcilation I need not send you to Philostorgus or Sondeus Arian Authors for proof If the Conformist should have said half so much he and the whole Church should have smarted for it In the Dispute between St. Cyril and Nestorius whether the Virgin Mary might be called the Mother of God you may see how partially he describes both the Persons and Opinions p. 271. of his Plea Nestorius saith he was a Man of Study and Retirement a poor garb and a strict life i.e. a Presbyterian abhorring publick Contentions and loving Quietness till he got to be uppermost and then he shewed a peevish Zeal against Dissenters called Hereticks Then for St. Cyril of Alexandria whose Works praise him in all the Churches Mr. Baxter hath scarce a good word for him because he was the first Bishop that used the Sword and persecuted the Dissenters He was a Man saith he of great Parts Spirit and Power but the Head of a Turbulent People As to their Opinions the Errour of the Nestorians lay in his want of skill in speaking saith Mr. Baxter and the Controversie was about words rather than matter Most of the People were for Nestorius and most of the Courtiers and Clergy against him and so was the Emperour who deposed Nestorius and restored Cyril but Nestorius returned to his Monastery and there lived four Years in Peace and great Reputation but afterwards was Banished into Foreign Countries and died I wonder why after Four Years he should be Banished if he had lived peaceably and quietly Did not Mr. Baxter ever read how the Emperour Theodotius confirming the Decrees of the Third General Council at Ephesus commanding That none should dare to keep read or transcribe the wicked Books of the profane and sacrilegious Nestorius but search them out cause them to be burnt publickly and that none permit them to have any House or Field to hold private or publick Assemblies and whoever adhered to Nestorius should suffer the loss of his Goods By which Edict saith the Perfect our pious Emperour knowing the Orthodox Religion to be
not mentioned any Instance that might colour it But thus you dealt with Dr. Pierce who having truly quoted and applied a Passage of Bishop Bancroft's in his Appendix to you p. 254. you told him That he could not have uttered more falshood if the Devil had dictated to him That my Book is an Invective against silenced Ministers is already answered That I am guilty of depraving Ecclesiastical or Sacred History needs no answer because there is no Charge How notoriously you are guilty of this Crime I shall shew in an instance or two besides that wherein you abuse the Primitive Bishops of which hereafter Shew me saith Mr. Baxter in Scripture or History that either there was ever de facto or ought to be de jure such a thing in the World as the Papists call the Church and I profess I will immediately turn Papist Answ This was some ground for them that then said you were one to think so of you For what is more plain in Church History than that there was de facto such a Church as the Papists call the Church of Rome one thousand years together and which hath been acknowledged by Learned Men of your Perswasion and if we may not believe this how shall we believe there was any Church at all at Rome in St. Paul's days But Mr. Baxter cannot be perswaded that there is any such thing as the Church of England p. 35. of his Sacr. Desertion I would give him all the Money in my Purse to make me understand what the Church of England is and yet our Ecclesiastical Histories will shew that we have had the face and form of a Church among us before the days of the Conquerour The Presbyterians did acknowledge the Church of Rome to be a true Church Divine Right p. 265. Will not you allow so much to the Church of England The old Non-conformists generally granted it And Ruthband says all the Reformed Churches acknowledge the Church of England to be their Sister And you say p. 263 264. That almost all the Christian World is worse than it And if we deny Communion with such a Church there hath been no Church to Communicate with these Thousand years We are more beholding to Mr. John Goodwin who says p. 26. of his Sion Colledge visited That there was more of the Truth and Power of Godliness in the Church of England under the Prelatical Government than in all the Reformed Churches beside And if Mr. Hickman say true you have had Communion with the Church of England in all its Ordinances It is then a Church and a true Church The second Instance is concerning Kneeling for though you cannot be ignorant that our Saviour did kneel at his Prayers and do confess that kneeling at Prayers was in use in the Apostles time p. 110. of Grand Debate and that it hath been practised in the Universal Church ever since that Kings were its Nursing Fathers yet from an occasional and temporary Constitution of the Church restrained to the Lord's days throughout the Year and to Week days only between Easter and Whitsontide and applied only to the duty of Prayer not receiving of the Lord's Supper which you make different Actions and say we are not to be in the Act of Praying when we are in the Act of Receiving from this temporary limited Order which they thought fit to continue only till the People were confirmed in the belief of the Resurrection you tell your Kidderminsters That it is against the Canons of the General Councils and many hundred years Practice of the Church to kneel in the Act of Receiving on the Lord's day Whereas you might with more probability have applied it against kneeling at Prayers if there be now any obligation in that Constitution and it holds much more against sitting which was never practised in the Primitive Church though you plead mostly for it And you add All knew that my judgment ever was for the lawfulness of kneeling at the Sacrament Defence of Brinc p. 34. And so you told the Episcopal Party That you would rather kneel than disturb the Peace of the Church or be deprived of its Communion Whereby as the Bishop of Worcester inferred you confess that kneeling at the Sacrament is not sinful and that not to kneel when required is to disturb the Peace of the Church and that the imposing it upon penalty of being deprived of the Communion is an effectual means to make those that otherwise would not kneel to conform to it and consequently the imposing it is not unlawful But Mr. Baxter says in his Christian Directory Part 2. p. 111. Q. 3. Sect. 40. says For kneeling I never heard any thing yet to prove it unlawful if there be any thing it must be either some word of God or the nature of the Ordinance which is supposed to be contradicted But 1. there is no word of God for any gesture nor against any Christ's Example can never be proved to oblige us more in this than in many other Circumstances that are confest not obligatory as that he delivered but to Ministers and but to a Family to Twelve and after Supper on a Thursday night and in an upper Room c. And his gesture was not such a sitting as ours And 2ly for the nature of the Ordinance it is mixt And if it be lawful to take a Pardon from the King upon our knees I know not what can make it unlawful to take a sealed Pardon from Christ by his Ambassador upon our knees Now if you knew not what might make it unlawful to receive the Sacrament kneeling when you wrote your Christian Directory which was long after your Disputation with the Bishops at the Savoy you did not very advisedly urge with so much heat That the requiring Communicants to receive it kneeling under such Penalties was a sinful imposition What to receive a pardon from Christ upon our knees this could not be sinful in the Receiver nor could it be sinful in the Imposer For there being nothing said by our Saviour concerning the Gesture he hath left that to the determination of the Church And if the Church may determine of the place and time of Publick Worship because they are not determined by Christ why may it not determine of particular Gestures not determined by him And I am glad that on second thoughts you cannot find what may make it unlawful For as you say it would be intolerable in a Child or Servant who when his Parent or Master bids him do a thing lawful or indifferent or else he would beat him should reply Sir I could have done the thing if you had not commanded it but your Command renders it unlawful to me I have said so much of this which you account one of the most tremendous sins in our Conformity as by your singling it out for the Subject of your Dispute which you managed at the Savoy with so much heat and importunity it doth appear This concerning Kneeling c.