afraid to speak evil of Dignities that is who did wilfully and obstinately oppose the Apostles of Christ who were invested with his Authority answerable to the Sin of those in the Jewish Church who set themselves up against Moses and Aaron and reproached the Rulers of the People and it is expresly called doing presumptuously not to hearken to the Priest that standeth to minister before the Lord. And therefore these Men are said to have forsaken the right way and are gone astray And whoever compares this Chapter with St. Iude's Epistle will find that St. Peter and S. Iude speak of the same Men for their Characters do exactly agree and of them S. Iude tells us these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit And thus in the first Ages of Christianity no Men ever separated from the Communion of the Church but such gross Hereticks the several Sects of Gnosticks of whom Irenaeus and Epiphanius give us a large and particular account and for this reason the name Heresy which properly signifies a Sect or Separation came to be applied to corrupt and Heretical Doctrines which in those days were the only cause of Separations And we may find some remains of this ancient and original use of these words in after-ages for though Schism commonly was used in Church-Writers to signify Separation from Church-Communion and Heresy to signify false Doctrine yet separation from the Christian Church though it were only ocasioned upon a Dispute about Discipline without any other error in matters of Faith was called Heresy Thus St. Cyprian I remember calls the Schism of Novatianus Haereticam Pravitatem Heretical Impiety and in answer to that question of Antonianus Quam Haeresin Novatianus introduxisset What Heresy Novatianus was the Author of he alledges nothing but the breach of the Peace and Unity of the Church and says That we ought not curiously to enquire what he teaches who is out of the Church for whatever he be he is no Christian who is not in the Church of Christ. And thus Felicissimus and his adherents are called Haeretica Factio an Heretical Faction though the Schism was occasioned only by a Dispute of Discipline concerning the restoring the Lapsed to the Peace and Communion of the Church So that in St. Cyprian's time Separation from the Church without any other Error in the Fundamentals of Faith was called Heresy And though Heresy did most frequently signify corrupt Doctrine yet a meer error in Doctrine was not thought a compleat formal Heresy without such Wilfulness and Obstinacy as ended in Separation And therefore St. Austin describes Hereticks to be those who hold some false and corrupt Doctrines and when they are reproved in order to reduce them to truth and sobricty of Iudgment do obstinately resist and refuse to correct their poisonous and damnable Opinions but persist in defending them Thus they become Hereticks and going out of the Church become its enemies c. And this I take to be the meaning of this Father in that famed Saying Errare possum Hereticus esse nolo though he might err yet he would not be an Heretick that is that he would not so obstinately persist in the defence of any private Opinion in opposition to the received Doctrine of the Christian Church as to break the Communion of the Church upon that account Now if this were the Case that besides those Divisions among Christians in the same Communion which are called Schisms by St. Paul there were formal Separations from the Church of a much more heinous nature which none in those days were guilty of but those who renounced the purity of the Christian Doctrine if such Separations were always condemned in the Primitive Church as Heresy and Apostacy from Christianity though such Separatists were not guilty of any fundamental Error in Doctrines of Faith I see not what Dr. Owen gains by proving that Separation is no Schism when it appears to be a much greater evil And indeed if the Doctor will allow Schism to be a great evil when it signifies no more than Contentions and Quarrels in a Church any one would reasonably think that Separation from a Church should be a much greater Evil for Contentions and Quarrels are then come to their heighth and perfection when they make Friends Brethren and Confederates part company and it seems strange that less Quarrels should be a greater Evil than greater Quarrels unless he thinks it is with Schism as under the Law it was in the case of Leprosy that when the whole Body was over-spread with it the Leper was pronounced clean But the most material Inquiry here is What is a Publick Assembly for Religious Worship for our Dissenters meet as publickly now as the Church of England and therefore cannot be charged with forsaking Christian Assemblies and in times of Persecution the Primitive Christians met very privately in small numbers or in the night or very early in the morning to avoid the discovery of their Persecutors and yet such private and clandestine Meetings were not really Conventicles but publick Church-Assemblies Which is a plain Proof that it is not numbers nor meeting openly and publickly which makes a Church-Assembly but holding such Assemblies by the Publick Authority of the Church and in union with it As in the State when a great many People meet together without Publick Authority it is a Riot not a Legal Assembly Publick Places of Worship allowed by the Publick Authority of the Church is one thing which makes the Assemblies of Christians publick For the Primitive Christians allowed no separate Assemblies no Congregations but what met in the publick Church and therefore we find an express Canon in the Council of Gangra That if any shall take upon him out of the Church privately to preach at home and making light of the Church shall do those things which belong only to the Church without the presence of the Priest and the leave and allowance of the Bishops let him be Accursed So that Publick Worship is that Worship which is performed in Publick Churches or in case of necessity in other places by the allowance and appointment of the Publick Authority of Church and State and Separate Meetings which have no such allowance and authority must be Schismatical Conventicles unless they can prove the lawfulness and necessity of such a Separation for indeed nothing can make a Separation lawful but what makes it necessary II. This following Treatise consists of two Parts the first concerns those who wholly or for the most part absent themselves from the Publick Assemblies of Christians and these are of three sorts 1. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies out of prophaneness for want of a due sense of any Religion or in contempt of it 2. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies for want of a due sense of the necessity and advantage of Publick Worship who do not go to Church because they think they
not displease God and therefore chuse rather to displease Men but to pretend a Divine Command and Authority when we have none is like prophesying falsly in the Name of God and entitling the Divine Majesty to all our Dreams and Fancies it is to make new Laws which God never made and to set up a new Church and new Religion in his Name And if we consider what dreadful Woes and Curses are denounced against those who prophesy falsely in the Name of God it should make us all tremble to pretend a Divine Command without Divine Authority This we may see in the Prophet Ieremiah Then the Lord said unto me The Prophets prophesy lies in my Name and I sent them not neither have I commanded them neither spake unto them they prophesy to you a false Vision and Divination and a thing of nought and the deceit of their Heart I have heard what the Prophets said that prophesy lies in my Name saying I have dreamed I have dreamed How long shall this be in the Heart of the Prophets that prophesy Lies Yea they are Prophets of the deceit of their own Hearts Therefore behold I am against the Prophets saith the Lord that steal my words every one from his Neighbour Behold I am against the Prophets saith the Lord that use their Tongues and say He saith Behold I am against them that prophesy false Dreams saith the Lord and do tell them and cause my People to err by their Lies and by their lightness yet I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this People at all saith the Lord. Now tho we understand prophesying here of foretelling future Events in God's Name without any Revelation or Authority from him yet to pretend that God has commanded or forbidden any thing which he has not is not a less Crime than to prophesy Dreams and the deceit of our Hearts for the mischiefs which these false Prophesies did consisted in that ill influence they had upon Mens Lives that they hindred their Repentance and encouraged them in their licentious or idolatrous practices and therefore to preach up new Laws in God's Name is as great an Evil as it is to prophesy falsely in his Name and therefore no Man must pretend Conscience any further than the express Commands and Prohibitions of the Scripture To say that any thing is unlawful to be done which God has not forbid or that it is unlawful to do any things in Matters of Worship which God has not commanded is to prophesy falsely in God's Name when they can shew no such Law extant in the whole Bible You pretend Conscience it may be against hearing a form of Prayer or receiving the Sacrament kneeling or being present when the Minister uses a Surplice in Divine Administrations Consider now whether you do not falsely pretend a Divine Authority when you have none shew me where God has forbid the use of a form of Prayer or a Surplice or kneeling at the Lord's Supper or the Cross in Baptism If you think it sufficient that these are not commanded shew me but that Law That nothing must be done in the Worship of God but what he has commanded and if you can do neither as I am sure you can't then consider what an impious thing it is to say Thus saith the Lord when he hath not said it to make new Laws and bind them upon your own Consciences and impose them upon other Men by your own private Authority which is a much heavier imposition than the observation of some few innocent and indifferent Rites and Ceremonies Those who understand their Christian Liberty in the use of indifferent Things and therefore comply with all wholsome Constitutions of the Church in obedience to their Civil and Ecclesiastical Governors do not usurpe upon God's Authority but obey Divine Laws as Divine and Humane Laws as Humane but to pretend Conscience for disobeying our Governors in indifferent things is to teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men to make that a Divine Law which God never made so viz. That we must do nothing in Religion which God hath not commanded tho it be commanded by our lawful Superiors Secondly I observe further That the meer pretence of Conscience is not a sufficient justification of any Action unless we can produce a Divine Law as the Rule of our Consciences It is not Conscience when we mean no more by it than our private Judgment and Opinions of Things but the Law of God which is the Rule of our Actions There never have been worse Actions done than have been done out of a pretence of Conscience and he must be a very uncharitable Man who believes that there never was a consciencious Pagan Papist or Mahometan and if to act according to our Consciences that is our Belief and Perswasion be sufficient to acquit us at God's Tribunal this must necessarily make all Religions indifferent for then an honest Pagan Papist or Turk who lives according to his own Perswasion is as acceptable to God as the most hearty and sincere Protestant then the Jews were very godly and devout Men when in Zeal for their Law they crucified Christ and persecuted his Apostles as believing that they did God good Service and therefore we must not content our selves if we act according to our Belief but we must be careful to believe a right for if we follow the guidance of a blind and ignorant Conscience we shall wander and go astray to the infinite danger of our Souls as our Saviour tells us That if the Blind lead the Blind they shall both fall into the Ditch These blind Men are such as have blind Consciences that is are ignorant of their Duty but yet may very sincerely follow their own Consciences and very safely too if Conscience right or wrong were a secure Guide Thirdly I observe further That we ought not to doubt and scruple any thing which is not forbid by a Divine Law The Law of God is the Rule of our Consciences and therefore to the Law and to the Testimony and if our Consciences do not speak according to them it is because there is no Light in them Some Men look upon it as a sign of great tenderness of Conscience to be doubtful and scrupulous and value themselves more by their Scruples than other Men do by the most clear and distinct Knowledg and therefore are afraid of being delivered from their Scruples and use great Art and Industry to ensnare and entangle themselves but I confess I shall never envy any Man this Attainment no more than I do a purblind Eye which sees very imperfectly and therefore gropes for its way with great caution and fear Now all Men agree that when we have any unnecessary Doubts and Scruples tho we must not act with such a scrupulous Conscience yet we ought to lay our Scruples aside But then the great Question is How we should do it unless Men can have Scruples
run headlong into the same Excesses with themselves I will not enlarge upon this Argument lest telling plain Matter of Fact should be called Bitterness and Railing for some Men out of a pretence of Conscience are guilty of such vile and lewd Practices as they are not willing to hear of again and think themselves slandered if they do All that I shall say of it is only this That a tender Conscience never teaches Men to revile and reproach their Governors but this has been the Practice and Character of the most infamous Hereticks and Schismaticks ever since the beginnings of Christianity St. Iude gives a great many hard words to some Men in his days which I am not willing to apply to any in ours who despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee But these speak evil of those things which they know not Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward and perished in the gain-saying of Core these are spots in your Feasts of Charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear Clouds are they without Water carried about of Winds Trees whose Fruit withereth without Fruit twice dead plucked up by the Roots raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever I shall conclude with that admirable Rule of St. Austin in answer to Parmenianus the Donatist Whoever corrects what he can by Reason and Discourse and shuts out or lays aside what is not capable of amendment as far as this may consist with the preservation of Christian Peace and Unity and modestly disallows and yet upholds what cannot be parted with without breaking the Peace of the Church this is the true Peace-maker SECT II. Containing some general Considerations in order to remove those Prejudices which some have entertained against the Worship of the Church of England I Shall now lay down some general Principles which may contribute towards the satisfaction of Men's Minds to remove their Prejudices against the Worship of our Church The things commonly objected to drive away our People from the Communion of our Parish Churches are the Government of the Church by Bishops the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer the Surplice the Cross in Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament and such like which concern the use of some indifferent and uncommanded things in Religious Worship For we have always challenged our Adversaries to produce any one express Law of Christ which is contradicted and broken by the Constitution of our Church or the Administration of our Religious Offices they could never produce any yet and I am sure never can And if Men will abuse and scare themselves with some fancyful Applications of Scripture and remote and illogical Consequences there is no help that I know of since it is an endless work to answer all such cavils For Men who can make Objections without any just Reason may at the same rate return answers too without end Therefore the best and shortest way I can think of is to lay down some such general Considerations as may satisfy all honest and teachable Minds that tho it is possible to raise Objections against any thing yet those Objections must prove fallacious which contradict other great and apparent Truths And I shall reduce what I have to say to these four general Heads First The Consideration of the Nature of God Secondly The Nature and Design of the Christian Religion Thirdly The Example of Christ. Fourthly The Example of the Apostolick and Primitive Churches in the first ages of Christianity First Let us consider the Nature of God for God is the Object of our Worship And that is the best Worship which is most suitable to his Nature Thus our Saviour teaches us to argue God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth And thus the wise Man argues God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few Now to apply this briefly to our present Case can any Man who considers what God is imagine that he will be displeased with his Creatures for offering up their Prayers and Thanks-givings to him in a pious and sober Form of Words Can God be pleased with the volubility of the Tongue or quickness of Fancy or variety of Invention more than with devout Affections than with a Soul enflamed with Divine Love and possest with a Reverence of the Divine Majesty and offering up it self to him in few grave and considerate Words Will a Father reject the Petitions of his Child if as often as his Wants require he uses the same Words when he asks the same thing Does a Prince like a long extemporary Harangue when his Subjects come to beg a Boone of him or a short and well composed Petition The wise Man I am sure tells us that few and becoming Words are more agreeable to the Majesty of God and more expressive of that distance which is between him and us and therefore are more agreeable to the nature of publick Worship which is only an external signification of the Reverence and Devotion of the Mind Prayer is a necessary part of natural Religion and was a Duty incumbent on Mankind before God made any other revelation of his Will than by Natural Reason and therefore the Reason of Mankind is a very proper Judg in what manner we must pray to God unless there were an express positive Law made about it Revelation may suggest new matter for our Prayers and direct us to pray to God in the powerful and prevailing Name of the Holy Jesus But Words and Postures and other external Circumstances of Prayer which are not expresly determined by Revelation may be determined by humane Prudence for there could be no other rule for these Matters before God revealed his Will and if God have not altered this Rule by a plain positive Law it must be our Rule still for we have no better And therefore we cannot imagine that God who is our Supream Law-giver and discovers his Will to us partly by the Light of Reason and partly by Revelation should be angry with his Creatures for following the best Reason they have nay for governing themselves by the publick Reason and Authority of Church and State Whoever only considers the Nature of God and the reason of things must certainly judg it fitter to meditate before hand and to take Words with us when we approach the Presence of so great a Majesty than to venture saying any thing which comes next and neither the Nature of God nor the Reason of Man condemns any external Ceremonies for Decency and Order and an useful Signification but have taught all Mankind to use them in all