be placed upon the border of their Vestments The Form of it and the Orders of God for it is written in the 4 last ver of the foregoing chap. the words are these And the Lord Spake unto Moses saying Speak unto the Children of Israel and bid them that they make them Fringes in the Borders of their Garments throughout their Generations and that they put upon the Fringe of the Borders a Ribband of blue And it shall be unto â—ou for a Fringe that ye may look upon it and remâ—mber all the Commandments of the Lord and do them And that ye seek not after your own Heart and your own Eyes after which you use to go a Whoring That ye may remember and do all my Commandments and be Holy unto your God I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the Land of Egypt to be your God I am the Lord your God Which Command was no sooner delivered by Moses but presently Corah and his Confederates stood up and told him to his Face That he took too much upon him to order them what to do These things have at last brought me through a Wilderness of troubled thoughts home to my Text which contains four parts 1. A Message from God to Israel by Moses and Aaron ver 23. 24. 2. The Message it self which was both short and smart and we may observe that as these Mens Remonstrance was short and bitter so Gods Answer to it in this Message is shorter and smarter Get you up from about the Tabernacle of Corah Dathan and Abiram 3. Moses the Messenger's Expedition to deliver it And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram He that had an Ear always ready to hear had an Heart always ready to obey Iâ— God bid Moses rise he is ready to go if God bids him go he runs so the Psalmist I made hast and prolonged not the time to keep thy Commandments Psal 119. 60. And again I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou hast set my Heart at Liberty ver 32. 4. Moses's Love to and care for the rest whom he thought not past recovery delivering his Message to them in such a frame of Spirit as he thought most likely to prevail with them if any thing would in begging and intreating them Depart I pray you from the Tents of these wicked Men and touch nothing of theirs least ye be Consumed in all their Sins Now from these parts of the Text and from what hath been spoken as previous to it I shall deliver these six Propositions or Points of Doctrine 1. That it is dangerous and unsafe for Christians to Congregate themselves with such a People tho' never so full of Knowledge and seeming Holyness that do deny Conformity to such Laws and Ordinances as God hath delivered to them by the Hands of faithfull Governors 2. That God will reject and disown the Knowledge and Holiness of such a People 3. That the Sin of such Nonconformity doth exceedingly provoke the Lord to Anger and stir up the Fire of his Jealousie 4. That a People under such Delusions may think themselves Holy and Righteous and at the same time be most sinful and wicked 5. That it is no new thing for a Spirit of damnable Delusions to shelter it self under the Cloak and Masque of extraordinary Holiness 6. That it is the Part and Duty of all the Servants of God in their several and respective Places and Callings to use all Lawfull means and endeavours to stop the further breaking forth of such horrible Delusions and Destructive Principles Having delivered these six Propositions I shall return to prosecute the first Which whilst I am doing I humbly pray you to hear me without Prejudice for the Lord who knoweth the Secrets of all Hearts knows that I have none against the Persons of any of the Sons of Men for I Believe that Christ dy'd as well for them as for my self and therefore I cannot hate them And the Method I shall Observe will be this 1. I offer to your Consideration the Reasons why I Judge it dangerous and unsafe to Congregate with such a People 2. I shall give you a Prospect of the preposterous and unlucky Dispositions of these Mens Spirits under this new discovery of theirs Scisme I may call it 3. Give you a Taste of the harsh bitter and lamentable Effects which this new Doctrin of theirs brought forth in the Common-Wealth of Israel which when we have weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary we shall easily be perswaded to believe Solomon That there is no new Thing under the Sun 4. Shew you how the Just Holy and Righteous God took this Disturbance of the Church's Peace at their Hands and what a kind of Savour the Smoak of these Mens Incense did send up to Heaven 6. And Lastly Consider what the more then probable drift and design of these Men might be which they intended to carry on under this false â—eligious Cloak and I beseech you Christians that you will mark me warily whilest â—lav down my Reasons for Proof of my first Assertion that so ye may neither misaprehend me here nor misreport me abroad to my Prejudice aud Scandal of others The first Reason why it is dangerous so to Congregate is Reason 1. Because every particular Christian hath not the special Gift of the Holy-Ghost to discern Spirits Every Man and Woman in any true measure Professing Christ may have so much Knowledge and be so far enlightened as to be sencible of their Misery by reason of Sin committed in the State of Nature to know what Christ hath done for them in satisfying Gods Justice and remouing the Curse of the Law and Punishment due to such Sin To believe in him for Pardon of Sin to love and delight to do his Commandments And yet not have the special Gift of the Holy-Ghost to diseern Spirits The Apostle St. Paul in the 1. Cor. 12. 4. saith That there are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit that gives them And then at ver 8. reckons them up in order thus For to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit To another Faith by the same Spirit to another the Gift of Healing by the same Spirit To another the Working of Miracles by the same Spirit to another Prophecy by the same Spirit to another the Discerning of Spirits to another divers kind of Tongues To another thâ— Interpretation of Tongues And then Concludes thus But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every one severally as he will Knowing then that there are many lying Spirits and many false Christs many false Prophets and deceitfull Teachers gone forth into the World who ever have and ever will by their sly Insinuations endeavour to draw away Disciples aâ—ter them and seduce the Servants of Christ to leave and forsake the plain High-way of Salvation to go into the by-paths of
is a wife Man and endued with Knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good Conversation his Works with Meekness of Wisdom But if ye have bitter Envying and Strife in your Hearts glory not and lie not against the truth This Wisdom descendeth not from above but is Earthly sensual Devilish For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every evil work But the Wisdom that is from above is first Pure then Peaceable then gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality or wrangling and the Fruit of Righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace Do ye not know that the Church of God is built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets whereof Christ Jesus the anointed Saviour was the corner stone And do ye not know that all of them have from time to time declaimed against all sorts of false Doctrin Heresie and Scism and declared for Unity Peace and Concord amongst all that proâ—ess the Christian Religion If ye have forgotten these things be not angry with me if I bring to your Remembrance the Testimonies of some of the Prophets who have given their suffrage to this Assertion The first is that of the Prophent Isaiah Chap. 35. 8. And an High-way shall be there and it shall be called the way of Holiness Now thus much I am bold to say in Vindication of the Publick Service of our Churâ—h that it is not only Formally an High-Way but really a Way of true Holiness and Righteousnuss if we can but frame our Lives and Conversations thereunto and obediently answer God in the things we pray for without which no one can walk in the Light of God's Countenance upon Earth nor ever see his Face in the Kingdom of Heaven The next is the Prophet Jeremiah chap. 31. 9. I will cause them to walk by the Rivers of water in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble And then at ver 21. he explains his meaning in this ver saying Set thee up Marks make the high heaps set thine Heart toward the High-Way even the way which thou wentest turn again O Virgin of Israel It seems by these Words of this Prophet that the People did formerly walk in the common High-way of Salvation but now they had forsaken it and drawn away many after them and caused them to stumble into their ways from the antient Paths to walk in Paths in a way not cast up i. e. to make a Profession of such a Religion which had neither Fence nor Bounds nor Form nor Method and so at last to make their Land desolate chap. 18. ver 15 16. I could instance the Testimonies of several other Prophets but two such Witnesses as these two Prophets were and such great Sufferers as they were for witnessing against the Scism that was raised against the Church of God in the time of their Prophecying may be sufficient to convince any unbiast Person that the increase and continuance of Scism in a Kingdom are sure Harbingers to the Ruin and Deâ—truction of it They that will not believe this will not believe Moses and the Prophets and they that will not believe them neither will they believe tho' one should arise from the Dead with the Flames of Hell-Fire about him But haply some one or other may ask this Question what is the Foundation of Scism or whence doth it arise Why truly the question is worth asking and the Answer if I rightly apprehend it may do some good to the Church of God for the time to come however under Correction I will give my Judgment upon it and if it can plainly appear that I am mistaken in my Judgment I shall ingeniously confess that I am a Man and not God and therefore may err The Question is whence Scism ariseth I Answer Scism ariseth from hence when a Man of Knowledge and deep Understanding in the Mystery of Godliness which he had attained unto by his constant attendance on the the publickâ— Ministry of the Word and Service of the Church at length begins to grow weary of serving God in the Highway of Salvation and to think in himself that he knows as much or more than his own Minister can teach him and that he can make better and longer Prayers than the common Prayers of the Church are he is not at rest till he hath found out a creeping hole of â—islike at something or other tho' it be but some harmâ—ess Ceremony and so having once disgusted it he resolves to dissert the Communion of the Church and then is at a Stand in himself what to do or what Society of Men to associate with just like a Man that hath variety of Business with divers Men in several Places and not yet resolv'd whither to go first takes his Staff in his Hand and at the door sets it as upright as possibly he can and that way that his Staff falls that way he steers his Course So likewise do those knowing Men that for little or no cause forsake the publiqué Assemblies of our Church set up the Staff of Conscience and towards what Society of Men it falls thither they trudge Such a Similitude as this doth that smart Prophet Hosea Uâ—e when he reprov'd the humersom and Headstrong Tribe of Ephraim and the unstable Tribe of Juda for their easie Compliance with new-fáshion'd Altars and making a new Covenant and for taking new Measures of Divine Worship and justling out that which was before established bâ— the Law of God Now this similitude of the Prophet is written in the 4th Chapter of his Prophesie Ver. 12 13. My People ask council of their stocks i. e. their stock of knowledge and their staff declareth unto them for the spirit of whoredoms that is of Spiritual Whoredoms hath caused them to err and they have gone a whoring from under their God They sacrifice upon the tops of the Mountains and burn Incense upon the Hills under Oaks and Poplars and Elms. Thus Scism sprung up like Hemlock amongst the Backsliding Israelites and thus it sprang up amongst the English Deus dabit his quoque finem The Lord in Mercy put an end to our Divisions for they are very many great and very destructive for A Kingdom divided cannot stand well A Parliament divided cannot make Laws well A Church divided cannot pray well A Clergy divided cannot all preach well A University divided cannot study well An Army divided cannot fight well A Fleet of Ships divided cannot sail well A Chamber of Aldermen divided cannot Rule well A House divided cannot thrive well A Man divided in himself doth seldom think well and A Vestry divided will never do well either to Church or Poor So that by all these Experiments it is too evident that where Strise and Divisions are there will be certainly Confusion and every evil work will follow But where Unity Peace and Concord are there are the choicest of God's Blessings attending yea there God
using Set and Prescribed Forms there is no doubt but that wholsome words being known and fitted to Men's Vnderstandâ—ngs are soonest received into their Hearts and aptest to excite and carry along with them judicious and fervent Affections Nor do I see any reason why Christians should be weary of a well-composed Liturgy as I hold this to be more then of all other things wherein the Constancy abates nothing of the Excellency and Usefulness I could never see any reason why any Christian should abhor or be forbidden to use the same Forms of Prayer since he prays to the same God believes in the same Saviour professeth the same Truths reads the same Scriptures hath the same Duties upon him and feels the same daily wants for the most part both inward and outward which are common to the whole Church Sure we may as well before-hand know what we pray as to whom we pray and in what words as to what sense when we desire the same things what hinders we may not use the same words Our Appetite and Digestion too may be good when we use as when we pray for our daily Bread Some Men I hear are so impatient not to use in all their dâ—votions their own Invention and Gifts that they not only disuse as too many but wholly cast away and contemn the Lord's Prayer whose great guilt is that it is the warrant and original pattern of all set Liturgies in the Christian Church I ever thought that the proud Ostentation of Men's Abilities for Invention and the vain affectations of variety for Expressions or in Publick Prayer or in any sacred Administrations merits a greater brand of Sin than that which they call Coldness and Barrenness nor are Men in those novelties less subject to formal and superficial tempers as to their hearts than in the constant Forms where not the words but Men's Hearts are to blame I make no doubt but a Man may be very formal in the most extemporary variety and very fervently devout in the most wonted Expressions Nor is God more a God of Variety than of Constancy Nor are constant Forms of Prayers more likely to flat and hinder the Spirit of Prayer and Devotion than un-premeditated and confused variety to distract and lose it Wherein Men must be strangely impudent and flatterers of themselves not to have an infinite shame of what they so do and say in things of so sacred a nature before God and the Church after so ridiculous and indeed profane a manner Nor can it be expected but that in duties of frequent performance as Sacramental Administrations and the like which are still the same Ministers must either come to use their own Forms constantly which are not like to be so sound or comprehensive of the nature of the duty as Forms of Publick Composure or else they must every time affect new Expressions when the Subject is the same which can hardly be presumed in any Man's greatest Suffitiencies not to want many times much of that compleatness oâ—der and gravity becoming those duties which by this means are exposed at every Celebration to every Minister's private Infirmities Indispositions Errors Disorders and Defects both for Judgment and Expression A serious sense of which inconvenience in the Church unavoidably following every Man 's several manner of officiating no doubt first occasioned the Wisdom and Piety of the antient Churches to remedy thâ—se mischiefs by the use of constant Liturgies of Publick Composure The want of which I believe this Church will sufficiently feel when the unhappy Fruits of many Men's ungoverned Ignorance and confident defects shall be discovered in more Errors Schism Disorders and uncharitable Distractions in Religion which are already but too many the more is the pity However if violence must needs bring in and abett those Innovations that Men may not seem to have nothing to do which Law Reason and Religion forbids at least to be so obtruded as wholly to justle out the Publick Liturgy Yet nothing can excuse that most unjust and partial severity of those Men who either lately had subscribed to used and maintained the Service-Book or refused to â—se it cryed out of the rigour of Laws and Bishops which suffered them not to use the Liberty of their Conscience in not using it That these Men I say should so suddenly change the Liturgy into a Directory as if the Spirit needed help for invention tho' not for Expressions or as if matter prescribed did not as much stint and obstruct the Spirit as if it were cloathed in and confined to fit words So slight and easie is that Legerdemain which will serve to delude the Vulgar That further they should use such severity as not to suffer without Penalty any to use the Common-Prayer-Book publickly altho` their Consciences bind them to it as a duty of Piety to God and Obedience to the Laws Thus I see no Men are prone to be greater Tyrants and more rigorous exacters upon others to conform to their illegal novelties than such whose pride was formerly least disposed to the obedience of lawful Constitutions and whose licentious humours most pretended Conscientious Liberties which freedom with much regret they now allow to Me and My Chaplains when they may have leave to serve Me whose Abilities even in their extemporary way comes not short of the others but their modesty and learning far exceeds the most of them But this matter is of so popular a nature as some Men knew it would not bear learned and sober Debates lest being convinced by the evidence of Reason as well as by Laws they should have been driven either to sin more against their knowledge by taking away the Lìturgy or to displease some Faction of the People by continuing the use of it Though I believe they have offended more considerable Men not only for their numbers and Estates but for their weighty and judicious piety than those are whose weakness or giddiness they sought to gratifie by taking it away One of the greatest faults some Men found with the Common-Prayer-Book I believe was this That it taught them to pray so oft for Me to which Petitions they had not Loyalty enough to say Amen nor yet Charity enough to forbear Reproaches and even Cursings of Me in their own Forms instead of praying for Me. I wish their Repentance may be their only punishment that seeing the mischiefs which the difuse of Publick Liturgies hath already produced they may restore that Credit Use and Reverence to them which by the antient Châ—rches were given to Set Forms of sound and wholsom words The Memory of the Just is Blessed Who when a King on Earth no King beside That liv'd more just That more unjustly dy'd FINIS