appointed a living Judge of Controversies to whom all Jews stood bound to repair in doubtful cases and according to whose word and information they were obliged to Act not declining from it to the right hand or to the left Deut. 17.9 12. And therefore by this Rule of our Dissenters God must have left us Christians such a living Judge or else his care and kindness towards the Christian Church will be less then was his care and kindness to the Jewish Church Answer 2 2ly It is falsly supposed by this Argument that Moses was so exact and full in all his institutions that nothing afterward was to be added to them or ordained by the Rulers of the Church for the better observation of them the Rulers of the Jewish Church did notwithstanding his exactness do many things Sacred and Civil for which they had no precept to direct them nor any other Warrant but the use of reason and prudential discourse and they made many constitutions which were of things very useful and necessary to be decided for the direction of the practice both of Priests and People The instances of this Nature are very numerous and may be seen in Dr. Leightfoots Temple Service from whence I shall Collect these few The Law of Moses appoints no Substitute to the High Priest in case of his uncleanness or any other matter which might render him unfit to do his Office at the great day of expiation or any other Solemnity Provision therefore was made for this and other occasions of like Nature by appointing with him a Sagan or a Substitute who might officiate for him in such cases Leight p. 34. p. 169. And of whose officiating for him in the great day of Expiation we find an instance in Josephus l. 17. cap. 8. p. 597. They had no Command for sounding their Trumpets every Morning at the opening of the Court Gates particularly at the opening of the Gate of Nicanor But tho this practice had no express and literal Command yet was it grounded upon this necessity and reason because that the Levites and Stationary Men might have notice to come to attend their Desks and Service and that the People of Jerusalem might hear Temple Serv. p. 57 58. and take notice and those that would come to the Temple so that this sounding was as the Bells to ring them in to the Service Agreeable to this was also the sounding striking or ringing of their great Bell Migrepha Ibid. p. 111. p. 59. The constant Psalms sung by the Levites every day of the Week with the reasons why they made choice of them The four and twenty courses of the Israelites of the station is no where mentioned or appointed in the Law of Moses and yet it was an excellent constitution p. 63. For there were some sacrifices that were sacrifices of all Israel and particularly the daily Sacrifice now it was impossible that all Israel should be present at the Sacrifices that were to be Offered up for all Israel and therefore it was needful that some Representatives should be chosen who instead and behalf of all the People should be present at every Sacrifice that should be Offered up for the whole Congregation Now because it would be too heavy for one Company of Men to attend continually on this Work as the daily Sacrifice required therefore they appointed twenty four Courses of these stationary Men as well as of the Priests and Levites that their attendance in these vicissitudes might be the more easie for which cause also was made the like division of the Priests and Levites p. 64. There was Sacrificing in the Temple Service twice a day and reading of the Law at least twice and Prayers four times and it became them and behoved them if it had been possible to have been all attending there but because this could not possibly be done they ordained these Courses of Stationary Men to be as the Deputies of all the People and a Representative Congregation in their behalf It had been an open contempt of those ordinances if being daily Administred none of the People had attended at them and it would have been a hazard that in time they might have been neglected by the People if they had been left to their own liberty to come or not come to them as they saw good therefore to prevent this visible contempt that might have accrued and to provide that there might be always a Congregation of the People These Stationary Courses were ordained that if Devotion brought no other of the People to the Service yet these their Representatives might be sure to be there That the High Priest should confess over the Scape Goat all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their Transgressions in all their Sins we read Lev. 16.21 But in the Law of Moses we find no form of Words which the High Priest was to use and therefore the Rulers of the Church appointed him to say Ah Lord thy People the House of Israel have sinned and done perversly p. 173. and transgressed before thee I beseech thee now Oh Lord expiate the sins perversities and transgressions which the House of Israel thy People have sinned done perversly and transgressed before thee c. in the same Chapter the High Priest is Commanded to Offer a Bullock for a sin Offering for himself v. 6 11. to make an Atonement for himself and for his House Atonement for sin could not be made without confession of it provided that the sin were known it was therefore necessary that he should make confession of his sin in order to this Atonement wherefore no Words of confession being prescribed by the Law of Moses p. 171. they ordered him to say Ah Lord I have sinned done perversly and transgressed before thee I and my House I beseech thee oh Lord expiate the sins perversities and transgressions whereby I have sinned done perversly and transgressed I and mine House c. Moreover by every sin and trespass Offering Atonement was to be made and so the sin of the offendor was to be confessed but there being no form of confession mention'd in the Law of Moses the Rulers ordered the offendor to confess in this wise I have sinned p. 69. and done perversly I have rebelled and done thus and thus but I return by repentance before thee and let this be my expiation The Law of Moses in many cases appointed a Meat Offering but neither determined of the quantity of Corn or Oyl to be brought for it and therefore the Rulers determined that no Meat Offering should consist of less than the tenth part of an Ephah of Corn p. 95. and a Log of Oyl Moreover a Man that lived at a great distance from Jerusalem was fallen under such an offence for which a Sacrifice was due by the Law p. 99. the enquiry hereupon was what must he do must he away presently thither to offer his Offering must he
of Tongues in Prayer and pray in words not understood by him that prayed § 2. To the Objection that forms of Prayer do stint the Spirit it is answered 1. That if this be meant of the Spirit of the Minister it may and in some cases must be stinted by Precept Apostolical 2. That Christ did stint the Spirit of his Disciples by prescribing them a form of Prayer 3. That the Directory doth the same by prescribing the matter of Prayer if the Objectors mean that a Form of Prayer doth stint the Holy Spirit 1. That it cannot be proved that the Spirit is injured by prescribing a Form 2. That the Directory and all premeditated Prayers do the same thing § 2. Secondly Because our Blessed Lord hath commanded and approved of a Form of Prayer § 3. Four Corollaries thence ibid. Thirdly Because Forms of Prayers have constantly been used in the Church of God from the third Century § 4. Fourthly Because all premeditated Prayer is in effect a form so that we must either pray without consideration or by form § 5. Six advantages of Praying by a prescribed Liturgy in the publick service of God § 6. THE Ceremonies required by the Church being own'd as lawful and her Festivals approved as such no Exceptions can be farther made against Communion with her besides those which do concern her Liturgy and those I shall consider in handling these two Propositions 1. That a prescribed Liturgy is lawful 2ly That there is nothing in the prescribed Liturgy of the Church of England to which her Lay Members may not yield obedience or which can render their Communion with her sinful or unlawful to them § 1 That a stinted Liturgy containing a prescribed Form of words is lawful Prop. 1 and that Dissenters therefore cannot reasonably scruple to join in Prayer with the Congregation where such a Liturgy is used This I prove Argum. 1 1. Because such a Liturgy is not forbidden in the Word of God now Sin being the transgression of the Law there can be no transgression in doing that which is forbidden by no Law Moreover where there is no command there is no duty and therefore no transgression by neglect of Duty but holy Scripture doth afford no Precept commanding us to Pray without a Form and therefore we cannot transgress by the neglect of Duty though we do not so Pray Now that a stinted Liturgy is not forbidden needs no other proof than this that no such prohibition can be shewed from Scripture but yet ex abundanti I thus argue that which is not sorbidden in general by virtue of the Precept which commands us not to add unto the word of God nor in particular by any Precept which in words direct or consequential forbid us when we Pray to use a form is not at all forbid But thus it is with reference to a stinted Liturgy Ergo. And 1. That the use of stinted Forms of Prayer not prescribed in Scripture is not forbidden by virtue of this Precept which commands us not to add unto the word of God is evident 1. From the exposition I have already given of those words 2ly Because no reason can be given why praying by a Form should be esteemed adding to the word of God rather than Praying without a Form God having in the Old Testament commanded Prayer by Form but never Prayer without it 3ly The Jews to whom this prohibition of adding to the Word was given did as I have observed from Dr. Leightfoot and as the Learned Mr. Selden hath informed us Not. in Eâ—tych p. 43. p. 41 42. use eighteen Prayers or Benedictions called in the Gemara composed or appointed Prayers that these were instituted by Ezra and his consistory to be used by every one daily by Law or received custome and that this remedy was applyed by the men of the great Synagogue Ezra and his hundred and twenty Collegues after the Babylonish Captivity that they might not recede either in the matter of their Prayers or their expressions from the Form of Piety commanded them by God They also prescribed a Form of Confession to be used by the People when they offered their Trespass-Offerings Leight Temple-Service p. 69. p. 173. and by the High-Priest when he confessed over the live Goat the Iniquities of the Children of Israel And lastly it was ordinary for their Teachers to compose Forms for their Disciples as is observed by Dr. Leightfoot In Mat. 6.9 by all which considerations it is evident that they conceived not such Forms forbidden by the prohibition to add unto the word of God And 4ly John taught his Disciples a Form of Prayer and Christ not only joined with the Forms which were appointed to be used in the Jewish Church but did himself prescribe a Form of Prayer for his Disciples by all which instances it is demonstratively evident that Forms of Prayer were not forbidden by virtue of the Precepts commanding the Jews not to add unto the Word of God 2ly That there is no especial Precept in the Old or the New Testament which doth in words direct or consequential forbid the Christian when he prays to use a Form will be apparent from an impartial consideration of what is offered from Scripture by way of objection against the use of Forms viz. that they are contrary to Scripture Precept Promise and Example 1. To Scripture Precept for that say they Jude 20. commands us to pray always in the Spirit Ephes 6.18 and in the Holy Ghost which in the Scripture Language is Praying by the Gift and the immediate assistance of the Holy Ghost and so is not consistent with Praying by prescribed Forms Answ 1 The same Persons who are here bid to pray in the Spirit are in the foregoing Chapter exhorted to be filled with the Spirit speaking to themselves in Psalms and Hymns Eph. 5.18 19. and spiritual Songs And yet Dissenters dare not hence conclude that they must sing ex tempore and not in stinted Metre why therefore do they plead from the like words in the forecited places that they are bound to Pray ex tempore and not in stinted words do they not sing the Psalms of David as they have been translated into English Metre and other Hymns composed by Pious Men do not these Psalms and Hymns contain Prayers and Petitions as well as thanksgivings yea is not thanksgiving it self in Scripture reckoned as one part of Prayer as is apparent from these words the Pharisee prayed thus God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Luk. 18.11 I will pray with the understanding else how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks 1 Cor. 14.15 16. Now I would gladly know why notwithstanding these Scriptures it should be lawful to use a Form of Prayer in Verse and not in Prose whether the Spirit be not as able to assist them in the first as in the latter or by what passage in these
THE Protestant Reconciler PART II. Earnestly perswading the DISSENTING LAITY To joyn in FULL COMMUNION WITH THE Church of England And Answering all the Objections of the Non-Conformists against the Lawfulness of their Submission unto the Rites and Constitutions of that CHURCH By a Well-wisher to the Churches Peace and a Lamenter of Her Sad Divisions Anglicanam Ego Ecclesiam exoticis pravis superflitiosis cultibus erroribusque aut impiis aut periculosis egregiè ex scripturarum coelestium norma purgatam tot támque illustribus Martyriis probatam pietate in Deum in homines Charitate laudatissimisque bonorum operum exemplis abundantem laetissimo doctissimorum ac sapientissimorâ—m virorum preventu jam à Reformationis principio ad hodierna usque tempora florentem equidem es quo debui loco habui hactenus ac dum vivam habebo ejus nomen honos laudes semper apud me manebunt Dallaeus de cultibus Religiosis Latinorum part 2. l. 2. cap. 1. p. 97 98. LONDON Printed for Awnsham Churchil at the Black-Swan near Amen-Corner 1683. THE PREFACE TO THE Dissenting Laity The Contents of the PREFACE Six Arguments from the Book called the Protestant Reconciler to perswade the Dissenting Laity to submit to the conditions of Communion required of them by the Church of England viz. 1. That they stand bound to do what lawfully they may in order to it and that nothing unlawful is required of them § 1.2 Because they are to do to their Superiors as in like case they would be dealt with § 2.3 From the liberty they take of changing a Ceremony of Christ's own institution § 3.4 Because the mischiefs which will follow on their refusal to submit are greater than those which will ensue on their Conformity § 4.5 From the example of St. Paul § 5.6 From the pernicious nature of Schism § 6. Other Arguments produced 1. From that of the Apostle If any man will be contentious we have no such custom 1 Cor. 11.16 § 7. 2. From his command to give no offence to the Church of God § 8.3 Because God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace § 9.4 Because he requires the believing Wife not to desert her unbelieving Husband vice versâ because God hath called us to Peace § 10.5 Because were all things left indifferent the Minister must impose in some cases § 11.6 From the power committed to Church Governours and the necessity of submission to it § 12.7 From the sad result of their refusing this submission § 13. Two propositions conducing to this end 1. That no prejudices or scruples of Dissenters can excuse them from the guilt of Schism in separating from us till they have done all that lawfully they can for the removal of them § 14.2 That their imagination that the Magistrate exceeds or else unduly doth exert his power in commanding any thing will not warrant their refusal of Obedience to it § 15. Requests to them who cannot fully comply with us viz. 1. To comply so far as they declare either by words or actions that they lawfully may do it § 16.2 To refrain from censuring reproaching or speaking evil of their Governours in Church or State § 17.3 To abstain carefully from all Rebellious Principles and Practices and to confess ingenuously and heartily renounce what hath been done by men of their perswasions in that kind § 18. Brethren MY hearts desire and prayer to God in your behalf is this That you may fully be united to the Communion of the Church of England And in pursuance of this passionate desire I have composed the following Treatise containing a full Answer to all the scruples obstructing your Communion with us which I could meet with in the writings of our Dissenting Brethren And let me O my Friends entreat you by the love of God and your own souls of the Church of Christ which is his body and of her union peace edification by your concern for Christian Religion in the general and for the Protestant Religion in particular which I hope is very great by all the motives which Christianity affords to love peace unity by all the blessings it doth promise to the promoters and all the dreadful evils it doth threaten to the disturbers of them by the sad experience you have had already of the most fatal consequences of our Divisions and by your present fears of a more dreadful issue of them lastly by all that you are like to suffer in your souls and bodies by refractory persisting in your Separation let me I say beseech you on my bended knees by all these weighty motives to lay to heart what I have offered in this Book and in this Preface shall farther offer to engage you to conform and seriously to consider of it and act according to the convictions it may minister unto you as you will Answer your neglect to do so at the great and terrible day of the Lord. Now the considerations I would humbly offer to you are either 1. Such as are proper to induce you to the desired Conformity or 2. Such as may tend to keep you peaceable and conscientious though you do not Conform and may preserve you from doing any thing which may reflect on your Religion towards God or Loyalty towards your Soveraign § 1 1. Then to move you to the desired Conformity be pleased seriously to consider what hath been offered in a late Book stiled The Protestant Reconciler to that end In which Book as the Author pleads warmly for an indulgence or mitigation of some lesser things which do obstruct your full Communion with us which nothing but a due sense of the great danger and unsafe condition of your present state could have induced him to do and nothing but his fervent love to souls and his sincere desire of their Salvation can excuse so hath he many passages which seem most strongly to conclude for your desired submission to the injunctions of Superiors For First P. 34 35. He lays down this position That you stand bound in Conscience to do whatsoever lawfully you may for the prevention and removal of our Schisms and the occasions of them and for the healing our Divisions Which is a proposition evident in it self and there confirmed from plain Scripture testimony and the concern we ought to have for Christian Faith the Protestant Religion the welfare of the Nation and for the peace the order the edification of the Church Secondly He adds That nothing can be unlawful which is not by God forbidden 1 John 3.4 sin being the transgression of a Law and the Apostle having told us Rom. 4.15 P. 198. that where there is no Law there is no transgression whence he infers That Dissenters cannot satisfie their Consciences in their refusal to obey the commands of their Superiors unless they can shew some plain precept which renders that unlawful to be done by them which is commanded by Superiors And seeing God in Scripture hath enjoined
I shall first lay down plainly the Assertion or Doctrine of the Church of England in reference to the Perfection of the Holy Scriptures and from it give a direct Answer to this Objection 2ly I shall lay down the contrary Tenet of some Non-Conformists which is here asserted in this Argugument 3ly I shall endeavor to shew the Dangerousness of this Opinion and the Swarms of evil consequences which do naturally follow from it And 4ly That they who hold it did do many things repugnant to it And 5ly That it doth necessarily make the Holy Scripture an imperfect Rule 1. Then when we assert that Scripture is a perfect Rule we mean it thus that it doth perfectly contain all that is necessary to be believed or done in Order to our acceptance with God here or to our happiness with him hereafter not that it doth particularly prescribe what ever Circumstance of Order Decency or Convenience may be observed in the Service of God And this doth seem to me to be the true Distinction in this matter betwixt the Protestant of the Church of England and the Rigid Puritan that the Protestant of the Church of England asserts the Holy Scripture to be a full and perfect Rule of all the Articles of Christian Faith and Christian Piety but notwithstanding he maintains that Holy Scripture hath left it in the Power of the Church Governors Sacred and Civil to appoint such Rites and Ceremonies to be used in the Service of God as they shall judge convenient and conducing to the ends of Unity and Order Peace and Love Decency Uniformity and the Edification of the Church And that by virtue of these General Rules Follow after the things Rom. 14.19 Phil. 3.16 1 Cor. 14.40 which make for Peace and whereby we may edify one another Let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same thing Let all things be done decently and in order Let all be done to Edification and to the Glory of God Give no offence to Jew or Gentile or to the Church of God c. They in the General are authorised to appoint such Rites and Ceremonies as they judge most conducing to these ends and that all Christian people who live under their Care and Jurisdiction are bound to yield obedience to them in matters of this Nature by vertue of those Seriptures which command them to obey those that Rule over them and to submit to them Hebr. 13.17 â— Pet. 5.5 Rom. 13.1 1 Pet. 2.13 To be subject to their Elders and to the higher Powers and to every Ordinance of man for the Lords Sake I say their Tenet is that by vertue of these Scriptures they are bound to yield obedience to them in all lawful things that is in all those things which God hath not forbidden in his Word for where there is no Law of God forbidding there can be no transgression and therefore to refuse obedience to our Superiors Civil or Sacred in those matters is to refuse obedience in things lawful and therefore to offend against the Precepts which call upon us to be subject and obedient to them So that we do assert in Answer unto this Objection 1. That the Scripture is a perfect Rule of all Ceremonies that are good Works antecedently to the Command of man so that in Scripture some express for them may be found but that it is not such a Rule of indifferent Ceremonies 2ly That 't is as perfect a Rule as it needs to be in reference to Ceremonies uncommanded in particular 1 By giving us the general Rules which should direct Superiours in the imposing of these things indifrent but not in a particular Prescription of them as this Objection doth suppose it being a plain contradiction that any thing should be to us indifferent and yet prescribed to us in the Word of God Dissenters therefore must deny that there is any circumstance of Worship be it Time Place Gesture or the Words in which it is to be performed left indifferent or that being so that circumstance must not be used in Gods Worship or else they must confess the weakness of the Argument produced And 2ly Because it doth command us to obey Superiors Civil and Sacred in all lawful matters and so instructs us to submit to what is not forbidden by Gods Word when by Superiors it is commanded This is our Tenet and this is a direct and a sufficient answer to this Argument But on the other hand the Tenet of some Nonconformists owned by this Argument is this That no Church Governors ought to ordain or introduce into the Service of God any other Rites or Observations than such as God hath in his Word commanded or Christ and his Apostles by their Examples which they esteem as Precepts hath approved and that if they enjoyn such things we must not yield obedience to them but must reject them as humane inventions superstition and will worship This is that Doctrine in which the Mystery of Puritanism doth consist and the pernicious consequences of it are so many that any person who doth weigh them seriously will if he be indeed a Lover of Christianity abhor and heartily renounce that Doctrine whence they so naturally flow And 1. This Doctrine casts a reproach upon Religion it gives just cause to Magistrates to scruple the admission of the Christian Faith and to the Atheist and the Polititian to represent it as the great instrument of sedition and disobedience For this opinion obliges men to thwart the Magistrate in all indifferent matters which he commands with a respect unto Gods Worship If he commands them to come to Church on the Lords-day at such a time in such a place they must stand bound in conscience by this Rule to refuse to do so because in Scripture God hath not determined how oft what hour or where they should assemble if he commands them to be uncovered in the House of God to stand or kneel whilst they are praying to sit whilst hearing or the like they must not do it because God hath not told them in his Word that they should be uncovered in his presence that they should kneel or stand whilst they do pray or sit when they do hear Now what a Scandal what a base impeachment is it to our peaceable Religion to say that it obligeth us to disobey Authority in matters God hath left us all to do or not to do at pleasure only because he doth command us so to do them as we might have performed them had he not commanded us and that nothing doth so much engage us to be refractory to the higher Powers as that perfect Law of Liberty which Christ hath left us 2ly Upon the same account it must be sinful to obey those Civil Laws which do concern those Laws of Justice Charity and Mercy towards our Christian Brother which cannot clearly be collected from the written Word For it is plain from Scripture that these are the more weighty matters of
his commands in lawful matters as our weak Brethren can be to see us yield obedience to him in such things 2ly Others will be as prone to censure our refusal of Obedience as Turbulent Sehismatical as disobedience to the Higher Powers and disorderly walking as the weak Brother is to censure our Conformity as Popish Superstitious and the like And 3ly Why may not others be as well tempted by their refusal to conform to separate and to do as they do with a doubting Conscience as the weak Brother may by our conformity be tempted likewise to conform with a doubting Conscience Moreover whosoever doth consider the temper of the Nonconformists will find occasion to believe that there is little fear of drawing them by our examples to conform but rather that they will be apt to censure us for our Conformity and could we do so we should only tempt them to perform their Duty tho against their Conscience Prop. 6 The Scandal caused by the Dissenter on supposition that he refuses where he may lawfully obey which is the case in question is Scandalum datum i.e. Scandal arising from the omission of his Duty the Scandal ministred by the Conformist can be only Scandalum acceptum sed non datum or Scandal arising not from the action of him that doth conform but from the ignorance and weakness of him who is offended at his doing so for certainly by doing of my Duty in things lawful I give to my weak Brother no just occasion to be grieved at what I do or to pass censure on me as an Evil doer or to Separate from Communion with me or to do with a doubting Conscience what he sees me do but by omission of my Duty to Superiors I shall give just occasion both to them and all who peaceably conform to grieve at my action to pass their censures on me as a disobedient Person And if I do by my example occasion the omission of my Brothers Duty and his separation I shall be justly charged with his guilt as Ministring temptation to him by that example to neglect what lawfully he mought and by God is Commanded to perform and so I must offend him more in the Apostles sense by tempting him to sin or to continue in sin The sum is this by refusing to conform in such a lawful case lest we should offend our weak Brother we seem directly to sin our selves to avoid an occasion of sin in him we do as far as I can judge offend God the King the Law the Church and Conscience too by not doing our Duty lest we should offend our Brother by doing it Now sure it must concern us more to avoid a Scandal given with these circumstances then to avoid a Scandal which is only taken Now from these Propositions it is easie to return an Answer to all that is Objected by Amesins Scholast disp p. 42 43. and transcribed by Mr. Jeans to prove the unreasonableness of this Assertion That Authority is to be obeyed in things Lawful even tho Scandal should ensue against this Doctrine which he ascribeth to our Prelates he disputes thus Obj. 1 A Scandal in the nature of it is Spiritual murther § 2 now suppose a Superior should command a thing in it self indifferent whereupon Murther were like to follow as to run a Horse or a Cart in a certain way at a certain time when it may be unwitting to the Commander little Children were playing in the way would any Mans Conscience ferve him to do it Answ Yes if he saw there were more or like danger of as great mischief by running of this Horse or driving of this Cart in any other way which as I have already shewed is the present case with reference to our refusal of Obedience to the Commands of our Superiors concerning things indifferent and Lawful in themselves Obj. 2 Avoiding of Scandal is a main Duty of Charity may Superiors at their pleasure appoint how far I shall shew my Charity towards my Brother then surely an Inferior Earthly Court may cross the determination of the High Court of Heaven Answ This argument I thus retort Obedience to Superiors Civil and Sacred is a main Duty of Christianity and to avoid all Schisms and Divisions of the Church which is Christs Body all disturbance of her Peace all needless Seperations from her Communion are all important Duties of Christianity may then the ignorance and consequential weakness of my Brother appoint how far I shall be obedient to Gods Vice-Gerent or Christs Messengers how far I shall avoid dividing and disturbing of the Churches Peace then surely may my Brothers ignorance and error cross the determinations of the High Court of Heaven what if they be offended at my paying Tribute in that Quotum which the Law of our Superiors prescribes will Charity oblige me to refuse to pay it Or is it not as much my Duty to obey Gods Vice-Gerents in all other Lawful matters as in the ease of Tribute Is not the precept as express for the one as for the other 2ly This strongly proveth it our Duty in the present circumstances to conform since by refusal so to do we only exercise our Charity towards our weak Brother but by conforming we exercise like Charity and care to avoid Scandal towards more and more deserving Persons and also do avoid dividing and disturbing of the Churches Peace By our refusal to conform to lawful institutions of Superiors that so we may avoid the Scandal of weak Brethren we disobey them whom God Commands us to obey we harden our weak Brother in his Disobedience and Schism we rob our selves of the benefit of the Publick Ordinances bring Penalties and Excommunications on our selves we rob the Church of her Unity Peace and Love and if we be Ministers we deprive our selves of opportunity to exercise our calling to the good of Souls now to avoid the Scandal of a weak Brother by incurring all this guilt is so far from being a main Duty of Charity that it doth flatly contradict the ground and measure of all Charity Self-Love and seemeth to be only doing many Evils that one good may come Obj. 3 Superiors have no power given them for destruction but for Edification if therefore they Command Scandals they go beyond their Commission neither are we tied therein to do as they bid but as they should bid Answ 1. If they Command us to do that which of its own Nature giveth Scandal by being a direct and an immediate cause of sin 't is true we must not do as they bid but as they should bid or rather as their great Superior bids but not if they Command what only through the sin or ignorance of others proves to them a Scandal especially when our refusal to obey them will Minister an equal Scandal which is apparently the present case 2ly I Answer That it belongs not to private persons to enquire whether their Superiors do go beyond their Commission in Commanding of these
to be found among the People of Israel So Christ our Paschal Lamb being now Offered no Leaven of Malice and Wickedness and consequently no such wicked Persons ought to be left in the Church of the true Israelites but wholly purged out of it That the exercise of this Discipline doth highly tend to the Glory of God Prop. 2. and to the credit of Christianity And surely this cannot be doubted by them who know that this alone is that by which the Church can be preserved pure and like unto that God who will have no Communion with the works of Darkness with whom no Person can have fellowship who walks not in the light as he is in the light 1 Joh. 1.7 That this alone can make the light of Christians to shine forth so as to Glorifie their Father which is in Heaven Matt. 5.16 and cause them to shew forth the virtues of him that hath called them from darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 and that this only can render us able to commend Christianity to others from the prevailing topick of the Strict and Holy lives of the allowed professors of it by which it chiefly was promoted in the first and purest Ages of the Church In nobis Christus patitur opprobrium l 4. p. 140. v. p. 139. 141. That the Name and Doctrine of our Lord is Blasphemed among Heathens Atheists Scepticks and profane Persons by the ungodly lives of its Professors as Salvian sadly doth complain and by finding many who are owned as Christians and permitted to partake of the highest Ordinances and Priviledges of Christians who lead lives worse than Heathens and who were constantly rejected from the Communion of Christians in the best Ages of the Church When if at any time it was Objected by the Heathens that such persons bore the Name of Christians her Answer was they went out from us but they are not of us nor owned or †Just M. p. 70.253.306.308 vid. Tertull ad Scap. cap. 4. allowed of by us but are excluded by the Churches censures or by their voluntary separations which may deserve to be considered The exercise of this Discipline is necessary to perserve the Members of Christs Body from the danger of pollution Prop. 3. This cannot easily be questioned 1. By him who well considers that enquiry of St. Paul Know you not that a little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump 1 Cor. 5.7 purge therefore the Old Leaven from you that you may be a new lump 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the neglected evil may defile the whole Body of the Church say Oecumenius and Theophylact. 2. By him who knows how properly is the shame and punishment inflicted upon others for confess'd or palpable enormities to restrain us from the like practices and how exceeding apt Men are to run into those vices without fear which by experience they find connived at by Superiors As then the Man who was defiled by Leprosie or by an Issue Numb 5.2 3. or dead Body was by Gods command to be removed out of the Camp of Israel that they defiled not the Camp in the midst of which God dwelt so on the same account should the Spiritual Leper when the marks evidently do appear upon him be excluded from the Christian Camp that he desile not that Church in which God dwelleth now as in his Temple It seemeth probable that the exercise of this Discipline is that which will alone preserve the Church Gods Temple Prop. 4. and consequently will continue his presence with her Assemblies by the influences of his Holy Spirit on them in greater efficacy and measure And that on these considerations 1. That every Christian Church or Assembly is in the Scripture represented as Gods Temple the place in which he dwelleth as he of Old dwelt in Jerusalem for by inspection of the places where this Phrase Gods Temple is used in the New Testament it seemeth evident that it is not so much each private Christian as the Assemblies and Churches of them which are stiled Gods Temple So the Apostle speaks to the Corinthians in the general Know you not that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God doth dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among you 1 Cor. 3.16 and v. 17. The Temple of God is Holy which Temple you are So also 2 Cor. 6.16 What Communion hath the Temple of God with Idols For you are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell and walk among them and they shall be to me a People and I will be their God Which words are manifestly taken from Lev. 26.11.12 and therefore they must speak of Gods presence with his Christian Churches the Israel of God in such a manner as he was present with the Jewish Church by placing of his Tabernacle among them and giving demonstrations of his gracious presence with them Accordingly we find this promise made with respect unto the Gospel times I will set my Sanctuary in the midst of them for ever my Tabernacle also shall be with them yea I will be their God and they shall be my People Ezek. 37.26 27. Thus also the Apostle speaks to the Church of Ephesus saying You are fellow Citizens of the the Saints and of the Household of God and are built upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the chief Corner Stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord in whom also you are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes 2.19 20 21 22. Hence Lastly the Members of Christs Body or the Community of Christians seems to be stiled Christs house Heb. 3.6 his Spiritual house 1 Pet. 2.5 2ly That the condition of Gods continuing to dwell in or to abide with this his Temple as it was this of Old that the Lords People should be Holy that is be free from Ceremonial pollution and from such sins as were committed wilfully and with an High hand against the Law of Moses and so deserved cutting off that they should be to him an Holy Nation Exod. 19.6 a Holy People Deut. 7.6 an Elect peculiar People Deut. 14.2.26.18 So it seems plainly now under the New Testament to be the same For Christians under the New Testament are in like manner called the Elect of God 1 Pet. 1.2 Col. 3.22 a chosen Generation 1 Pet. 2.9 a Holy Nation and Peculiar People ibid. And they are in like manner called to come out from the Sons of Belial the Children of Darkness and Unrighteousness with whom they can have no Communion and to be separate that the Lord God may dwell among them 2 Cor. 6.16 17 18. and consequently the continuance of Gods Spirit with his Church and his assistance in the Dispensation of its Ordinances seems likewise to depend on their continuance to be such a People and therefore on the execution of the censures of the
which must therefore be unlawful according to this Argument because prescribed by no Apostle in the Holy Scriptures This is a business which if it were necessary would be equally necessary to all Ages Ob. 2. Ibid. and parts of the Catholick Church and therefore it cannot be necessary but it must be the matter of an universal law now God hath made no such law in Scripture and so Scripture sufficiency as the Catholick Rule of faith and universal obedience is utterly overthrown Answer The Answers given to the first objection do also manifestly shew the vanity of this for may it not as well be said of the Festivities of the Apostles and first Martyrs of the Church as of the feast of Christmas the Ascension of our Lord c. That If they are necessary to be observed they must be necessary to all Ages that God in Scripture hath made no law concerning them c. May it not as well be said that if Publick Assemblies are necessary to be set apart now that if any unprescribed forms of Prayer are necessary to be used now or any words in Scripture not prescribed in consecration or celebration of the Sacraments that if standing on the Lords day in time of Prayer if Stationary days if the Penitential Discipline observed in the Primitive Church were necessary in any Age or part of the Church they must be necessary in all Ages and parts of the Catholick Church and that God hath in Scripture made no laws concerning them and so Scripture sufficiency is and was by the observation of them overthrown 2ly Tho we do judge the observation of these Festivals expedient yet we by no means hold it necessary not by necessity of precept for we pretend not to any precept of this kind not as a necessary means for we acknowledge God may be duly praised and Worshipped and magnified for the mercies we then celebrate on other days and therefore we confess that * Non putandum Ecclesiam Christianam aliquancessitate astringi ad obser vationem immotam festorum dierum sed statuendum dies hosee humanâ authoritateconstitutos eddem posse tolli mutari c. Dav. in Coloss 2. v. 16. if the Church thinks fit she may leave all men to their liberty in the observing or not observing of these days only we add that sure the General Rule of doing all things for edification will warrant her appointment of them for the forementioned ends as well as the appointment of a Lecture-day or of a Sermon before the Assizes God himself hath appointed a day for the same purposes as these are pretended for Ob. 3. Ibid. for the Lords day is to commemorate the Resurrection as the great triumphant act of the Redeemer implying all the Rest of his works so that tho it be principally for the resurrection above any single work of Christ yet also for all the work of Redemption and the whole is on that day to be commemorated with Holy joy and praise now when God himself hath set apart one day in every week to commemorate the whole work of Redemption it seems an accusing of his Institutions of insufficiency to come after him to mend them and say we must have an Anniversary day for this or that part of the work Answer 1. That God did institute the Lords day for the particular Commemoration of the whole work of the Redemption is Gratis dictum what Scripture or what declaration of Any Father of the Church saith so 2ly This Argument makes it unlawful to set up a lecture upon any day but the Lords day for that day being appointed for publick reading and hearing of Gods Holy word for men to set up another day for that end is to accuse his institutions of insufficiency 3ly This Argument condemns the universal Church of Christ from the Apostles days for they did then observe the feast of Easter and so tho God had set apart a weekly Commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord they did come after him and observe an Anniversary day for the same thing and so according to this way of Arguing did more apparently accuse his institutions of insufficiency 4ly This objection seems to accuse the wisdom of Gods own institutions for tho the Jewish Sabbath was instituted with a peculiar respect to their deliverance out of Aegypt Deut. 5.15 yet for that mercy which was far inferior to those which Christians do enjoy by our Lords Birth his Death his Resurrection and Ascension he required other solemnities to be observed yearly viz. The great feast of the Passover why therefore may not the wisdom of the Church in imitation of this pattern besides the Lords day weekly set apart for celebrating the work of our Redemption require other solemnities to be observed yearly for a peculiar Commemoration of the most Signal parts of that Redemption Obj. 4 The fourth Commandment being one of the Decalogue seems to be of so High a nature that man must not presume to make the like Ibid. but it seems a doing the same or of like nature to what God hath done in the fourth Commandment if any man will make a necessary stated Holy day to the universal Church Answer 1. Who goes about to make a Necessary stated Holy day to the Universal Church sure none besides the Church of Rome pretendeth to give laws unto her But what the Universal Church hath thought fit to observe I hope our Church may prudently comply with and call upon her Children so to do 2ly Is not this done as much by the stated Festivals which you allow of as by those you do condemn was it not done as much by appointing the feast of Purim to be observed yearly and by ordaining that these days should be remembred and kept throughout every Generation Esth 9.27 28. every Family every Province and every City and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews nor the memorial of them perish from their seed was it not done as much by the whole Congregation of Israel when they ordained that the days of the Dedication of the Altar should be observed from year to year by the space of eight days And yet neither our Lord 1 Macc. 4.59 nor any of the Prophets charged them with violation of the 4th Commandment on that account or with presuming to do the like to that which God had done in the institution of it Object 5 Where there is no law sure we are there is no transgression but there is no law of God Commanding Christmas or other Holy-days therefore there is no trangression in not keeping them But then it is not sure that there is no transgression in keeping them therefore the surer side is to be taken Answer 1. That this Argument plainly destroys his former grant of the expedience of observing and enjoyning other Holy-days for which no law of God commanding them can be produced 2ly That this Argument may be retorted thus
Where there is no law forbidding sure we are there is no transgression but there is no law forbidding the observation of Christmas and other Festivals of our Church and therefore there is no transgression in observing them and if our assurance that there is no transgression in not observing of these days depends on this that no law doth command their observation why are we not as sure that we transgress not in observing them being as sure that no law doth forbid their observation wherefore we being sure of this that there is a law commanding us to yield obedience to the guidance and appointment of our Superiors in all lawful things and sure from what hath been discoursed that the Religious observation of these days for the forementioned ends is not only lawful but expedient let any Reasonable person judge which is the surer side the observation of these days as by Authority we are required or the Refusal so to do Object 6 Others object against the observation of these days § 15 that St. Paul condemneth his Galatians for observing Months and Times and Years Gal. 4.9 10. And saith to his Colossians let no man judge you on the account of a Feast or a New Moon or a Sabbath-day Coloss 2.16 Answer It is exceeding manifest that both these places only do concern the observation of those Jewish Festivals which were commanded by the Law of Moses by Gentile Converts to Christianity For 1. the Apostle in the beginning of the fourth Chapter to the Galatians saith Gal. 4.3 5. that Christ came to redeem those from the Law who were in bondage to its beggarly Elements that they might receive the adoption of sons and then puts the Question to his Galatians thus how therefore turn you again unto those weak and beggarly Elements to which you desire again to be in bondage v. 9. v. 10. And as an instance of their relapsing to that bondage he adds You observe Days and Months and Times and Years viz. Those Months and Days and Yearly Festivals which were prescribed by the Law of Moses and therefore saith I am afraid of you lest I may have laboured among you in vain v. 11. And farther saith tell me you that desire to be under the Law v. 12. do you not hear the law Plainly demonstrating that he reprehends them for their desire to joyn the observation of the Law of Moses to Christianity In the 2d Chapter to the Colossians he speaks expresly of New Moons and Sabbaths which were proper to the Jewish Pedagogy v. 16 17. and of such Festivals as were Shadows of things to come and such were properly the Jewish Festivals and they only 2ly That he speaks only of the observation of them by the Gentile Convert to Christianity is evident from the severity of his reprehension of them as being a reducing them to bondage and that which made his labour vain among them whereas he being an Hebrew of the Hebrews did himself observe the feast of Pentecost and did permit the observation of them for a season to the weaker Jew Rom. 14.5 6. Hence also 3ly Act. 18.21.20.16 It is evident that he speaks only against the observation of these days from the opinion of their necessity to the justification of the Gentile Christian or from an opinion of their obligation to observe the Law of Moses as his whole disputation in his Epistle to the Galatians doth plainly shew wherefore our Festivals being not Jewish nor such as were commanded by the Ceremonial Law nor Shadows of things future nor observed by us out of opinion of any such necessity as hath been mentioned they cannot be concerned in those words of the Apostle nor can they with any colour be esteemed Yokes of bondage or weak and beggarly Elements as were these Jewish Feasts any more then weekly Lectures or stated fasts for publick judgments or stated Festivals for the remembrance of publick mercies can be so accounted But tho this Exposition of these places be so evident that he who runs may read it yet do dissenters thus object against it Object If the Apostle speak only of Judaical days either he condemneth the observation of the same feasts materialiter that is the observing of the same days the Jews observed or formaliter that is he condemns the observing of them with such a meaning after such a manner and to such an end as the Jews did if the former then say they their own feasts of Easter and Whitsunday will be condemned because they were observed by the Jews if they assert the latter this cannot be true for the Apostle condemns that observation of these days which was done by those Galatians who believed that Christ was already come and therefore could not keep them as figures of his coming as the Jews did but rather as memorials saith Cartwright Disp p. 48. 49. that he was already come so Gillespy Answer The Apostle plainly condemns the observation of these days by Gentile Converts whether Colossians or Galatians upon account of any obligation lying on them from the Law of Moses so to do now I hope Mr. Gillespy will grant that the Galatian Christians might think themselves obliged to observe the Law of Moses by being circumcised and keeping of the Festivals prescribed by it 2ly He also condemns the observation of them by Gentiles to the same end the Passover in memory of their deliverance from Aegypt the feast of Pentecost in memory of Gods kindness in giving his Law to them at that time the feast of Tabernacles in memory of their Divine protection in the wilderness their weekly Sabbaths in memory of their deliverance from Aegyptian Thraldom and to these ends the Judaizing Gentile Converts might observe them 3ly The Judaizing Christians believed that the Messiah was already come and yet conceived themselves obliged to observe these Festivals not as Shadows of things to come but as Festivals commanded by the Law of Moses and so might also those Gentile Converts whom they had perverted CHAP. X. The Contents The Proposition that a prescribed Form of Liturgy may lawfully be used in publick Worship 1. Because such a Form is not forbidden either directly or indirectly in the word of God Not 1. by the command to pray always in the Spirit Eph. 5.18 and in the Holy Ghost Jude 20.2 Not by our Lords command to his Disciples when they were brought before Kings and Rulers for his sake not to meditate what they should say Matt. 10.19 Nor 3. by the promise of the Spirit to help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 27. Nor 4. by the commands not to neglect our Gifts 1 Tim. 4.14 but as we have received the Gift so to minister 1 Pet. 4.10 Rom. 12.6 Nor 5. from Gods Promise to pour out upon his People the Spirit of Supplication § 1. To pray in the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 is 1. to pray by the immediate Assistance and Operations of the Holy Spirit 2 To use the gift
Christian sort and by a disuse of any other to incapacitate our own and our admirers devotions for the other and make both our selves and them uncharitably censorious of all Forms of Prayer and those who use them that is of the whole Catholick Church except a new and inconsiderable party CHAP. XI The Contents The Proposition That there is nothing in the Liturgy prescribed by the Church of England to which her Lay Communicants may not yield obedience The general Objections against it Answered are 1. That the phrase throughout the several Offices is such as presumes all persons in the Communion of the Church to be regenerate and in an actual state of Grace § 1. The falseness of which suggestion is shewed in ten instances and the phrase of the Liturgy is justified from like expressions of the Holy Scripture ibid. 2. Obj. That the people do not only say Amen but bear a part in the Prayers Answ This is justified from the practice of the Jews and Primitive Christians and the benefit of so doing § 2. 3. That the same Prayers are oft repeated which seems to be the vain Repetition forbidden by Christ Matth. 6.7 8. Answ These Repetitions are justified from Scripture-Examples and the practice of Christ § 3. Objections against several parts or expressions of the Liturgy Answered As 1. That in several parts of the Liturgy all profess to put their trust in God whereas it is to be feared that many in our Congregations do not so § 4. 2. That we all profess to Repent and be heartily sorry for our sins We all say on Sexagesima Sunday that God seeth that we put no trust in any thing that we do after the Communion we all give thanks to God that he hath assured us of his favour and goodness to us And in the Third Collect after Trinity we all profess that God hath given us an hearty desire to pray which professions cannot be thus generally made in truth § 5.3 That we pray that God would give to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord that he would save among the remnant of true Israelites all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks that he would have mercy upon all men which petitions cannot be put up in Faith there being no promise of so large extent in Scripture § 6.4 That we pray to God to succour help and comfort all that are in danger necessity and tribulation to preserve all that travail by land or by water all Women labouring of child all Prisoners and Captives and so we pray for Robbers Pyrats Whores c. § 7. Some passages in the Liturgy which seem obscure or Metaphorical explained As 1. There is no health in us 2. Give peace in our time O Lord Because there is no other that fighteth for us but only thou O God 3. Lighten our darkness 4. From Fornication and all other deadly sins 5. From sudden Death Good Lord deliver us 6. By the Mystery of thy Holy Incarnation by thy Holy Nativity and Circumcision and by the coming of the Holy Ghost Good Lord deliver us 7. That our bodies may be made clean by his Body and our souls washed by his most precious blood 8. That God by the Baptism of his Well-beloved Son did sanctifie water to the mystical washing away of Sin 9. The Prayer after the Fourth Commandment Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law 10. With this Ring I the Wed with my body I thee worship and with all my worldly Goods I thee endow § 8. The Conclusion THAT there is nothing in the stinted Liturgy prescribed by the Church of England to which her Lay Communicants may not yield obedience or which can render their Communion with her sinful or unlawful to them As will be evident by answering the scruples Dissenters do suggest against the whole or any portion of that Service in which they are obliged to join with us And to begin with the Objections which respect the whole body of the Liturgy § 1 1. It is Objected That in the whole Common Prayer there is not any Petition or Confession which imports any doubt Dr. Chambers paper of unaffected scruples or fear that any of those who join in that Service are in a state of unregeneration or enmity to God whereas there are many in our Congregations of whom the Lord hath cause to complain as of the Jews that they hold fast deceit and refuse to return Jer. 3.5.11.15 To this effect runs the Objection of the Commissioners at the Savoy viz. P. 7. That throughout the several Offices the phrase is such as presumes all persons within the Communion of the Church to be regenerated converted and in an actual state of Grace which had Ecclesiastical discipline been truly and vigorously executed in the exclusion of scandalous and obstinate sinners might be better supposed but there having been and still being a confessed want of that as in the Liturgy is acknowledged it cannot rationally be admitted in the outmost latitude of Charity Answer This plainly seems to be a great mistake or false suggestion against the frame and constitution of our Liturgy For 1. The Sentences of Scripture appointed to be read at the beginning of Morning and Evening Prayer are fitted to the state of unregenerate and wicked persons and call upon them to turn from their wickedness that they have committed Ezek. 18.27 and do that which is lawful and right that they may save their souls alive To rent their hearts Joel 2.13 Dan. 9.9 10. and turn unto the Lord their God To acknowledge that they have rebelled against the Lord their God And have not obeyed the voice of the Lord to walk in his ways which he set before them Luke 15 18 19. And that they have sinned against their heavenly Father so as to be no more worthy to be called his servants 2. The Exhortation calls upon them to confess their manifold sins and wickednesses and not to dissemble or cloak them but confess them with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart to the end that they may obtain forgiveness of the same through Gods infinite goodness and mercy and so it manifestly doth suppose that many of them who are thus exhorted have not yet obtained forgiveness of their sins 3. The General Confession doth acknowledge that we are miserable offenders and that there is no health in us and prays that God would restore them that are penitent according to his promises declared to mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord and so suggests that they have need of Repentance to interest them in those promises 4. The Absolution begins with a declaration that God desires not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live adding that God will pardon and absolve all those that truly repent and therefore calls upon us to beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit and doth suppose that many present want