other consideration whatsoever But seeing they cannot hold Communion with the Parish-Churches The next great quaerie is what they must do whether live without some Ordinances all the dayes of their Life or Assemble themselves together for Communion in all Ordinances in such a way as they are fully convinc'd is agreable to the Sacred Scriptures That they must not constantly neglect any Ordinance of God nor the publick attendance on his worship somewhere is so clearly reveal'd in the word of God that whoever is not so far in love with Quakerism as to neglect the Testimony of God's written Word cannot but acknowledge it That the Lord Jesus who has instituted a Ministry and made it the peculiar work of some men in special to preach the Word not only for conversion of sinners but for the edisication of the converted for the help and benefit of whom there is instituted not the Ordinance of Baptism alone but that of the Lord's Supper which is design'd for the strength and encrease of Grace in Christians I say this Lord Jesus who hath so graciously instituted a Ministry and Ordinances hath made it the duty of Christians to assemble themselves together to the end they may be made partakers of the Blessings of his Institutions and Ordinances And such is the Relation between Minister and People that is between a Gospel Minister and an orderly Christian Assembly that the one cannot be without the other neither can the one ordinarily perform some Relational Duties but in an Assembly with the other and therefore must assemble themselves together 't is their duty I cannot at present enlarge on this head and therefore as to this I can only add that the sense of all Protestants generally is that all Christians ought to assemble themselves together for publick worship Viz. for Prayer the Word and Sacraments and that 't is the duty of a Pastor to take heed to himself and the Flock over which he is made over-seer and that 't is the peoples duty to attend Ordinarily on the Ministry of their own Pastor The great difference between the Church of England and Dissenters is not so much about the peoples duty of assembling themselves together for publique worship as about the place where and the Minister with whom The Church of England sayes it must be in the Parish Church with the Minister of the Parish but the Dissenter asserts that every Christian is invested with a right to choose his own Pastor and that therefore he must go where he finds the worship to be in a way most agreable to God's Holy word but when he is once fix'd he is under those Obligations of Duty unto his Pastor that the Church of England do say a Parishioner is unto the Minister of the Parish But seeing on these things I cannot now enlarge I will conclude with an humble and affectionate request to all good Christians whether Episcopal or Dissenter I beseech you to consider that conscience is a tender thing its wounds unsupportable frequently accompanied with such horror as is very like unto the pains and torments of the damned No man therefore must act contrary to the plain convictions thereof What man soever does what he is convinc'd in Conscience is a sin does greatly dishonour and provoke Almighty God All care must be taken to obtain the knowledge of the truth and gain a freedom from error but there must not be an acting against the plain convictions of conscience though erroneous On this I insist as a sound part of the Protestant Doctrine strenuously defended against the many feeble assaults of the Papist by several worthies of the Church of England And really this is a Rule all good Christians must walk by in doing which seeing there are almost as many different perswasions of conscience about some lesser things as there are considering mindes there will be as many different practices where there are different Sentiments about matters of practice there the practice will be different for which reason the strong must take heed that they despise not the weak and the weak look to it that they judge not the strong For whether we conform or conform not if we do what we do conscientiously to the Lord we shall be accepted of him I verily believe that many do think themselves bound in conscience to conform the which they would not do to gain a world if they did think it a sin and 't is as true that many among the Dissenters are as conscientiously Non-conformists and would really have conform'd did they not think that so conforming they should sin against God Both these must be tenderly regarded by such as will walk by the Christian Rule A Non-conformists censuring a conformist as one that acts against his conscience is unchristian and a Conformist's censuring all Dissenters as Hypocrites looking on their conscience to be but fancy their Religion to be faction is no less unchristian than the former But to be more particular my humble desire is 1. That those who are of the Communion of the Church of England would continue it so long as they can with a safe conscience Let not every little dissatisfaction with some men drive you off from those wayes you have nothing beside the miscarriage of some men of that profession to object against 't is true your duty is to mind the glory of God in the edification of your own Soul and if your Parish Minister be one whose incapacity for the Ministerial work is such as not to answer the end of the Ministry you must look out for a better and be where you may have more than the shadow of a Minister even one who is competently qualified for the workes But do this in a way as little offensive to the Church of England as your conscience will permit Why will you separate from that Communion where you may be without sin especially seeing by doing so you do what you cannot justifie But if you cannot continue your Communion without complying with sin you must rather withdraw than sin 2. That such as are not actually of any Communion i. e. neither joyn'd with the Church of England nor with the Dissenter of which fort there are many especially among the younger people would remember that they have as Christians a right to choose their own Pastor in the exercise of which right 't is their duty to have a special regard to the Glory of God the good of their own Soul and the peace of the Church and therefore if you may have all these ends answer'd by joyning your selves to the Church of England and you can with a safe Conscience do it you do well in joyning with that Church but if you can't with a safe Conscience joyn with the Church of England but can with the Non-conformists you must apply your selves to those of the Non-conformists who do in your judgments keep most exactly to the rule of the Gospel You must regard God's Glory as your ultimate
English Liturgy was drawn up for the Ministers help in prayer a Book of Homilies was prepar'd to be read instead of preaching unto both which at first all such as had not a License were equally oblig'd But though a stinted form of preaching be in it self lawfull doth it therefore follow that 't is always expedient The like may be said of a form of prayer 3. That about things lawfull that is about such things as are in their own nature indifferent enquiry must be made after their expediency or inexpediency pro hic nunc For many things which are in Thesi lawfull are yet in Hypothesi because of their inexpediency sinfull To eat flesh is in it self lawfull but to eat flesh offer'd unto Idols when another acquaints thee with it is inexpedient and therefore sinfull There are many things that are lawfull which because they edifie not but offend and grieve such for whom Christ dyed are inexpedient yea as so circumstantiated are unlawfull and cannot without sins be complyed with The Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians doth somewhat amply treat of this point where he sayes that though all things are lawfull yet all things are not expedient that is as the Apostle himself explains it all things edifie not All things i. e. all indifferent things are lawfull but not at all times in every circumstance for God's glory and therefore not expedient In the exercise of our liberty about things indifferent if we will follow the Apostle Paul we must take heed that we do nothing that affords grief or proves a stumbling block to those for whom Christ dyed but must endeavour that all things be to the Glory of God and the edification of Souls This is evident from Rom. 14. and 1 Cor. 10. If then the Ordinary Lord's dayes Service be in it self lawfull and indifferent yet if it's use be a grief and a stumbling block to those for whom Christ dyed no way conducive to God's glory nor the peoples edification its use is so very inexpedient as to become unlawfull yea sinfull unto such as know so much the which inexpediency remains notwithstanding any Humane Law to the contrary For when the case is as here stated the word of God shews it to be inexpedient and therefore cannot be altered by any law of man That the Lord's dayes Service though in it self lawfull is in its use inexpedient Some may argue thus namely It becomes all good Christians to mind the Peace and Edification of those Churches where they live and unto this we ought to have a special regard in the exercise of our liberty about things indifferent There is a manifest division among Protestants in this Kingdom the which hath prov'd very pernicious unto the Protestant Religion and if encreased cannot but be much more mischievous and therefore all men must take heed that in the use of their liberty they do not what necessarily tends to the multiplying divisions If we cannot Unite the Conformist and Non-conformist we must do all that lawfully we can to fix an Union between Conformist and Conformist yea and between Non-conformist and Non-conformist This every judicious and sober Christian will I presume grant from which concession 't is thus argued even from the supposition of the lawfulness of the Lord's day Service against the expediency of its use pro hic nunc If a Non conformist's using this service dothnot contribute any thing towards an Vnion with the Conformist but tends to the dividing the Non-conformist though the service be in it self lawfull yet its use is not expedient But a Non-conformists using this Service doth not contribute any thing towards an Union with the Conformist As Mr. Read's experience does evince for sayes he in his case Though we yield as far as we can in things lawfull there is no Vnion no Peace nor Agreement to be had with such men but tends to the dividing of the Non-conformists as is most manifest to any that will but deliberately consider the general practice of the Dissenting Brethren Therefore the use of the Lord's dayes Service pro hic nunc highly inexpedient and not to be done The multiplying divisions among good Protestants cannot be for God's glory nor for the edification of the people but has been and still is a stumbling block unto some and great grief unto others for whom Christ dyed and therefore a man should rather suffer than use it 'T is quaeryed by some whether or no the generality of Non-conformists do esteem the use of the ordinary Lord's dayes Service expedient In answer unto which I may safely assert that the generality of the Non-Conformists do at least consider the Conforming unto the Lord's dayes Service so very inexpedient that they cannot Conscientiously comply with it This is manifest from their avowed Principles and Practises 1. Their Principle is that in matters of Religion whatever is in it self lawfull and pro hic nunc expedient is their Duty The expediency of a lawfull thing makes it Duty It has therefore been the Conscientious endeavour of Non-conformists to find out the expediency of those things which are lawfull i. e. whether the use thereof is for God's glory and the edification of the people and they judge themselves bound in Conscience to do whatever lawfully they may to the end God may be glorified and the edification of immortal souls advanced 2. The Practice of the Non-conformists hath been by this Rule as they dare not do what is to God's dishonour so they are afraid to omit what will be for God's glory and for edification Their being turn'd out of their places to the impoverishing the families of some the great prejudice of all does evince they cannot venture on the doing what is to God's dishonour Their greivous sufferings on the account of their publique meetings do as manifestly demonstrate that they are afraid to omit what is for God's glory and the edification of the people To thefe considerations add that if these Conscientious Non-conformists had been convinced that the use of the ordinary Lord's dayes Service had been both lawfull and expedient that is had been for Gods glory and the people's good would they have lived so many a year in the neglect and omission of so excellent a duty What do they make conscience of one duty but no conscience of another Surely I cannot believe it For this reason I think my self oblig'd to conclude that the true reason why the generality of the Non-conforming Ministers who do not use this Service is because they think it inexpedient they believe it is not for Gods glory nor for edification they fear that should they use it they should dishonour God and be a scandal and grief to many for whom Christ dyed But II. There are others who consider the particular forms of worship appointed in the Liturgy for the ordinary Lords dayes service to be unlawfull of this opinion are some Presbyterians the Congregational generally and
the Anabaptist Here I 'll give the sense of the moderater sort of those who look on the present Liturgy as what cannot by them be used without sin The which I 'll do without an engaging my self so far in their defence as to espouse their quarrel As for my part I think moderation becomes all Christians especially English Protestants in a day wherein they are in danger of being destroyed by the common enemy the Papist This is not a time to fall out with one another and quarrel about lesser things for now the great and weighty matters of our Religion are in hazard there must be an exercise of Christian charity towards each other Let every man give that liberty to the conscience of another which he expects should be given his own for while the World endures there will be as different apprehensions about lesser matters as there are different complections among men and therefore there must be mutual forbearance or there will be no peace among us Methinks it lookes ill when men assume to themselves an unaccountable infallibility the which is attended with a proportionable severity in imposing their own sentiments on others This is not only common among the Papists but also to be observed too much among all sorts of Protestants whether Episcopal Presbyterian Independent or Anabaptist and is I verily believe one great reason of those violent Dissentions that are among us every one thinks that such as dissent from them do so without any solid reasons and therefore not to be tolerated Thus some of the Conforming Clergy esteem the Non-conformists dissent from them to be both unreasonable and intolerable and some Dissenters it may be are even with the Episcopal in those censures they pass on them and among the Non-conformists some who only desire that the subscriptions and abjurings of Covenants be remov'd are willing enough that the Liturgy be established with but a few amendments the which may be done by a Comprehensive Bill that hath nothing of Indulgence in it But really how weak soever the greatest part of the Non-conformists are 't is too manifest that they think that there are other Blocks which lye in their way to Conformity than subscriptions and abjurings whose Consciences should be regarded and who stand as much in need of an Indulgence as others do of a Comprehension If the Bill of comprehension should be comprehensive enough to take me in I think my self oblig'd to do my utmost that such Conscientious persons who through weakness cannot do as much as my self be at least indulg'd Conscience is a tender thing and is really the immediate directer of our actions against the plain convictions of which we must not go No Authority is sufficient to oblige any man to act against the plain convictions of conscience For which reason seeing the Dissenters are fully convinc'd in Conscience that they cannot lawfully conform to the present Terms of Lay-Communion there must be either some alteration of the Termes or some must suffer for Conscience sake whence then to shew the necessity of altering some things even for a comprehension and the indulging in other things for the ease of tender Consciences I 'll give the Reader an Historical Account of some of their reasonings against the Termes of Lay-Communion the which I will produce only to this end namely to shew that the reasons are such as may lay convictions on the Consciences of good and honest if not learned men Though men of great learning may be able to answer them yet if they be such as are unanswerable in the judgmenr of the Dissenters 't is sufficient for the purpose for which I produce them Those arguments may be strong in the judgment of some which are not so in the opinion of others My province then is only to propose not to defend the arguments that are cogent in moving some Dissenters to conclude that as Lay-men they cannot conform unto the imposed Termes of the Church of England For to the compleat Communion of Lay-men there is required a conformity not only to the ordinary Lord's dayes Service but moreover unto their Modes of Administring the Sacraments But that unto this they cannot conform I will essay particularly to evince by shewing more generally why they can't conform to the Terms impos'd on the people and then more particularly why they can't submit unto the Rubrick about baptizing their children nor Communicate with them in the Lord's Supper and in fine give several reasons why others can't with a safe Conscience attend on the Reading of the ordinary Lord's dayes Service 1. Why some cannot Conscientiously comply with the Termes of Communion imposed by the Church on the people 1. More generally Because there are so many things which the Church of England acknowledges to be in their own nature indifferent that are made so necessary apart of Religion as to be Termes of Communion with them They take the Word of God contained in the writings of the Old and New Testament to be the only Rule of the whole and of every part of their Religion whence what is enjoyned them as so necessary a part of Religion as to be made a Term of Communion they cannot conform thereunto unless it be agreeable to the Word of God A Term of Christian Communion is a very necessary part of Christ's Religion the non-embracing which deprives a person of the benefit and advantage of the Sacraments and therefore they must be no other than what our Lord Christ has in his Word made so If any man or society of men assume unto themselves a power concerning matters of Religion which Christ never gave them they think they cannot be faithfull unto Christ if they subject themselves unto them in their exercise of such an irregularly assumed power Christ Jesus is the Sole Lord of his Church and Law-giver in it and therefore the alone Author of the whole of Christian Religion for which reason they cannot receive any such additions as are made meerly by men as parts much less as necessary parts of Christian Religion they know that there are some who say the Imposition may be sinfull when a compliance therewith is a duty But this in matters of Religion especially in the present case they do not understand because when lawfull Authority commands any thing sinfully the great reason why 't is sinfull is because 't is in other manner than according to the Word of God but if the command be not according to God's Word how can their obedience be so All obedience is to a command and such is the connexion between the command and the obedience that we must consider the obedience to be as is the command If the command be out of the Lord and sinfull the obedience thereunto cannot be in the Lord and a duty If the command be not for the Lord but against him the obedience cannot be for the Lord. But that our obedience must be in and for the Lord is acknowledged by the
do it It was made also a consecrator of Water Bread and Wine and all other Holy things in time of Popery for the which corruption we ought to abhorr it Again we Sign this child in token that he shall continue Christ's faithfull Souldier to his Lives end These words shall continue to his lives end compared with the like in the Epistle of the 22 Sunday after Trinity God shall continue the work in you to the end shew unto us that we use the cross for a pledge to give assurance to the child to continue in grace to the end which if it be so then it serveth to work faith and is used effectually saith Parker Hooker saith that there cannot be a more forceable means to avoid that which may deservedly procure shame If it be in some sort a means to secure from confusion Everlasting then it is in some sort effective of Grace In a word suppose there were no sinfull use of it for the present the horrible abuse of it in times by-past and the danger and peril of these same abuses are sufficient to remove it out of this Holy Sacrament where it is set up in such honourable State beside the Lord 's own Altar 2. Of the Lord's Supper I 'll not mention all is said of this I 'll only apply my self to what is said of Kneeling which gesture though not according to Christs example nor the nature of the Ordinance is imposed as a necessary condition of our Right in the Lord's Supper whatever right Faith and Repentance may give unto this Ordinance no jus in re no right in it is acknowledged to any among us but such as Kneel whereby Kneeling is made by the Church of England a necessary Term and yet look'd on but as indifferent as if a man had been invested with a power of making a thing in it self indifferent to become a necessary part of Christs Religion But to give you what I find in the Altar of Damascus Where 't is said That without any farther he and they viz. Minister and People Communicate Kneeling after the Popish manner that is with a gesture of Adoration when they are beholding the signs taking eating drinking and inwardly in their minds should be meditating on the signification and the fruit and benefit which they reap by Christ Crucified and consequently cannot without distraction of mind from this employment of the Soul and Meditation pray a set and continued prayer to God or cannot meditate and be employed in the present action without distraction of mind from the prayer and therefore either they pray irreverently which they will not grant or do Communicate this Gesture of Adoration to the other imployments of the Soul and of the outward senses and members of the body about the objects presented which they must grant and so nill they will they they must be forced to confess that they commit idolatry Kneeling is no decent gesture for a Table for commodity they say maketh decency but this gesture is confessed not to be commodious as sitting is It is then enjoyned for another reason to wit for Reverence but to kneel for Reverence and Religious respects is ever Adoration in the highest degree To kneel for reverence that is to adore is not enjoyned here for prayer neither may prayer lawfully be enjoyned in time of another action and part of God's worship to be performed by the same person And suppose it were enjoyned for the short prayer uttered by their priest yet are not the outward senses and inward faculties employed principally on that prayer but upon another action principally and directly intended in the institution whereas the other is only super-added by man Let them frame their Canons and Acts as they please and suppose that they kneel for reverence of the Sacrament common sense may teach us that it is done for that respect either totally or principally but let it be in the least part yet that least part is idolatry Beside the idolatry of this gesture it cannot stand with the right manner of celebration and rites of the institution For when they kneel for adoration they cannot carry the cup from hand to hand nor divide the elements among themselves as Christ hath commanded In many places the people are raised from their kneeling to come about the Table there to receive kneeling and then are directed to their places again saith the Author of the Survey The priest giveth the Bread and the Wine to every one severally out of his own hands When the cup is to be carryed from one to another the communicant is too prophane in their opinion to reach it the Priests Holy hand must take it from one and give it to the other but Christ willed his Disciples to divide it among themselves and it was carryed from hand to hand indeed after the manner of the last paschal cup. When Christ therefore gave the Bread and the Wine he said in the plural number take ye eat ye c. The English priest speaketh in the singular number when he giveth the elements he annexeth not Christs words containing a comfortable promise and uttered in an Enunciative form but other words invented by man and in form of a prayer converting one part of God's worship into another or else confounding them By this 't is manifest that many Ministers may conscientioufly refuse to conform to the Termes imposed on the people They can no more satisfie their consciences in complying with the Termes of Lay-Communion than others can with those of the Ministers Conformity Moreover II. As they cannot hold Communion with the Church in the Holy Sacraments and consequently not comply with what is required of the people in order thereunto so neither can they with a safe Conscience joyn in the ordinary Lord's dayes Service They cannot conscientiously approve of many things in that service unto which they must give their approbation if they conform thereunto Whoever conforms doth thereby shew his approbation of what he conforms unto To what a man conforms to that he manifests his good liking why is it that some cannot conform unto the By-Offices but because they do not approve of them and why do any conform to the ordinary Lord's dayes Service but because they approve of it which is as much as if it had been said Conformity is an Overt Act of Approbation 't is in practice an Approving the thing But some scrupulous Dissenters cannot conform unto the ordinary Lord's dayes Service without conforming to several things to which they refuse the giving their approbation By the ordinary Lord's dayes Service they understand all that Office that is according to the Liturgy and Canon of the Church appoynted to be read Ordinarily on the Lord's day or to speak in the Common Prayer Dialect that Service that is appointed to be read ordinarily on Sundayes against the use of which they do more generally argue thus I. If they must conform to the ordinary Lord's dayes Service it must
aside the Translation that is most exactly agreeable to the Original and use one that is not only imperfect absurd and senseless but in some things so contrary to the Original But some Dissenters think that their Conformity in this respect cannot but prove pernicious to the Christian Religion as it casts a reproach not only on the last and best translation but even on the Original it self They know how jealous God is about his word unto which no additions diminutions or alterations can be made but to the provoking the most high and the wounding their Consciences and therefore are afraid to conform Argument III. III. The third Argument doth more immediately concern the very Service it self unto which the Dissenters refuse to Conform because of that similitude likeness and agreement there is between it and the formes of Prayer which the Papists use That the Reader may be the more fully acquainted with the true State of this controversie about the agreeableness there is between the English and Roman Service Books and what 't is the Dissenters aim at by their insisting so very much on it I must shew 1. What they say concerning the agreableness that is supposed to be between these Service Books 2. How this came to pass What occasion'd our adhering so closely to the Popish Service Book even when we forsook their Communion 3. The Reasonings of some Dissenters from that agreeableness is suppos'd to be between these two books against the English Service First What they say concerning the agreableness that is suppos'd to be between these two Service books The Dissenters do out of King Edward's Letter unto the Devonshire and Cornish Rebels give this following account of it namely As for the Service in the English Tongue thus manifest reasons for it and yet perchance it seemeth to you a new Service and indeed is none other but the old the self same words in English which were in Latine The difference is that you our Subjects should understand in English that which before was spoke in Latine If the Service of the Church was good in Latine it remaineth good in English for nothing is alter'd but to speak with knowledge that which was spoke with ignorance Furthermore these Dissenters add as I find in their Anatomy of the Service Book That every piece and parcel of the Liturgy word for word is out of these Popish peices namely the Breviary out of which the Common Prayers are taken the Ritual or book of Rites out of which the Administration of the Sacraments Burial Matrimony visitation of the sick are taken The Mass-book out of which the consecration of the Lord's Supper Collects Epistles and Gospels are taken As for the book of ordination of Arch-bishops Bishops and Ministers that is out of the Roman Pontifical These things being so whoever pleads for the English Service book doth so far defend the Romish Mass-book not that 't is a defence of the whole Romish Service for in the Anatomy of the Service Book 't is acknowledged that every thing in the Mass-book is not in our Liturgy though all that is in our Liturgy is word for word in the Mass-book But so far as our Liturgy is defended so far that part of the Romish Service is defended for which reason the greatest Champions who among our Church men have most zealously written in defence of the Liturgy and have been consider'd by the Church of Rome as men who have done great Service to the Roman Religion Thus Whitgift and Hooker have had their applauses from the Romanists 'T is not unworthy observation to find Arch-Bishop Whitgift reproaching Cartwright and the Dissenters as a people eminently serviceable to the Papist and Dean Stilling fleet to give the utmost countenance he could thereunto whereas the truth is that that on which Whitgift grounds his censure will not bear it and though none of Dean Stilling fleet 's adversaries have taken any notice of it that I can find yet Whitgift himself is the man who has had from the Jesuites great thankes for what he has written against Dissenters in defence of the English Service and Discipline That Whitgifts Censure concerning the Dissentes subserviency to Popish designes is groundless being rather the product of his indiscreet passions than of sound arguings is evident in that the great reason given to shew that the Dissenters are the Papists promoters is because they assert that the Papists ought not to be compel'd to receive the Supper of the Lord so long as they continue in their Popery that is they ought not to act contrary to their Conscience nor dissemble with Almighty God by professing themselves to be Protestants even when they are really and in heart Papists whether this be to gratifie the Papist let the impartial Reader judge But that Whitgift has gratify'd the Papist in his writings against Dissenters I 'll evince by producing what the learned Parker in his Ecclesiastical policy lib. 1. chap. 33. insists on in answer to this objection of Whitgift Bancroft and others where he shews how William Reignolds the Jesuit asserts that John Whitgift in his discourse against Cartwright has defended the Catholick Cause and accordingly the said Reignolds in the preface against Whitaker makes great use of Whitgift and in the book it self he sends Mr. Whitaker unto Dr. Whitgift for a supply of reasons for the confirming their notion about putting of our caps and making curtesie at the hearing the Name of Jesus Scultinyns and Stapleton give the same Character both of the writings of Whitgift and Bancroft against the Puritanes even as Gretzer the Jesuit triumphs in Saravias and Sutcliff's defence of the Episcopal Authority in Civils And as Whitgift even so Hooker for the service done the Church of Rome by what they have writ in defence of the worship and discipline of the Church of England hath had the praises of the Romanists This Mr. Walton in the life of Hooker has observ'd which is no more than what Dr. King Bishop of Chichester was acquainted with as he himself expresses in a letter to honest Isaac I am glad you mention sayes the Bishop how much value Robert Stapleton Pope Clement the 8th and other eminent men of the Romish perswasion have put upon this book having been told the same in my youth by persons of worth that have travelled Italy And what doth this discover less than that such is the agreement between the Service and Discipline of the Church of England and that of Rome that whoever pleads for the one defends the other Furthermore in the Anatomy of the Service Book we are furnished with an Historical Account of the Papists approving our Liturgy There be sayes the Author thereof abundance of instances for the Papists approving our Liturgy witness Mortons Appeal Pope Pius the 4th and Gregory the 13th offered to Queen Elizabeth to confirm the English Liturgy Witness Dr. Abbot then Prelate of Canterbury and Mr. Cambden in the life of Queen Elizabeth who
O Lord and the people make their Answer Because there is no other that fighteth for us but only thou O God as if Almighty God alone had not been able to defend them in the time of War whence they Pray unto God for the sending Peace But cannot that God who sendeth Peace by putting an end unto Wars preserve and protect in the day of Trouble If he can to what purpose is this Argument urg'd Again an alteration is made in the State of this Affair The Minister gives instruction or rather as a beginner of the Prayer mentions the Matter or Thing to be prayed for and the people must proceed to the making it a formal Prayer whence 't is that whereas the Minister in the publick Assembly should be the Mouth of the people unto God The Minister being silent the people altogether with a loud voice a distracting Murmur are their own Mouth Thus From Fornication and all other deadly Sin as if some sins were not Mortal but Venial and from all the Deceits of the World the Flesh and the Devil so far the Minister proceeds and then make a stop from whom the people take it adding Good Lord deliver us Again O Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World says the Minister with the greatest seeming fervour and affection but yet in the midst of the sentence his warm affection is ended and the people proceed to say Grant us thy peace O Lord. Again they must be as they were in Statu Quo and the Minister prayes O Lord let thy Mercy be shewed on us to which Petition the people either add their sence or Limitation or Reason of the Prayer as we put our Trust in thee Beside at some one meeting of the Assembly the Pater-Noster or Lords Prayer is to be repeated Six or Eight several times and the Gloria Patri Twelve beside the many Kyrie Eleesons and Christe Eleesons Lord have mercy on us Christ have mercy upon us the Responces the Versicles c. Alas how ridiculous would this be interpreted by the generality of those who are now Sons of the Church should the Dissenters have us'd such a practice This Argument receives strength from what I find insisted on by by some of His Majesties Commissioners in the Account of all the proceedings of the Commissioners of both perswasions where 't is thus Argued Vid. As we find that the Minister is the Mouth of the people to God in publick which Scripture and the necessity of Order do require So we are loath to Countenance the people's Invading of that Sacred Office so far as they seem to us to do By reading half the Psalms and Hymnes 2. By saying half the Prayers as the Minister doth the other half 4. By being the only Petitioners in the far greatest part of all the Letany by their Good Lord deliver us and We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. While the Minister only reciteth the Matter of the Prayer and maketh none of the request at all we fear least by purity of reason the people will claim the work of preaching and other parts of the Ministerial Office 3. And we mentioned that which all our Ears are witnesses of that until half the Psalms and Hymns c. are said by such of the people as can say them the Murmur of their Voices in most Congregations is so unintellgible and Confused as must hinder the Edification of all the rest for who is edified by that which he cannot understand This you 'l find page 29 but in page 60 we have account of the Rule and Order of Prayer with a full Demonstration That the Common Prayer is not agreeable unto any just Rule or Order There are say they Two Rules of Prayer One is the Nature of the things Compared in Matter and Order with Nature and Necessity The Other is the Revealed Will of God in his word in General the Holy Scripture more Especially the Lords Prayer The Liturgy for the greatest part of the Prayers for dayly Vse is Confused by whichsoever you measure it You seem much to honour the Lords Prayer by your frequent Use of it or part of it we beseech you dishonour it not practically by denying it by Matter and Order to be the only Ordinary and Perfect Rule We know about particular Administrations where it is but certain select Requests that we are to put up suited to the partcular Subject and Occasion we cannot follow the whole Method of the Lords Prayer which containeth the heads of all the parts where we are not to take in all the parts we cannot take them in that Order But that none of all your Prayers should be form'd to that perfect Rule that your Letany which is your Comprehensive Prayer and that the Body of your dayly Prayers broken into several Collects should not as set together have any considerable respect unto that Order nor yet to the Order which reason and the Nature of the thing requireth which is observed in all things else and yet that you should so Admire this and be so tenacious of that which is conceived Prayer you would call by worse names than Confusion this sheweth us the power of prejudice By this the Reader may perceive how much the Non-Conformists are for a decent Order and Comely Method in Prayers but the Conformist against it and how much the Non-Conformist are for the right use of the Lords Prayer even when the Conformist are not at least practically for it Whence we may see how unreasonable it is to make such a Noise and Clamour as if the Dissenters rejected the Lords Prayer or were against its use whereas in truth the Dissenters are much more for the Right use of the Lords Prayer than the Conformists are Whoever will understand the true State of this Controversie must consider what the great design of the Disciples in Asking and of Christ in granting their Request about Prayer was the which he can no sooner with just deliberation and impartially do but will be satisfied that the thing the Disciples desired was to be Taught how to Fray Lord Teach us as John taught his Disciples How to Pray and they desire to be taught not that they prescribe unto Jesus Christ a Method in which he should teach 'em for that became not Disciples even Scholars who are to Learn but not to teach This being the desire of the Disciples to be taught to pray not to have a form of VVords to be Verbally and Syllabically rehearsed or repeated but Rules or Presidents for the directing 'em how to pray The answering of their Request was the Design of Christ in giving 'em the Lords Prayer which was principally intended for the Direction of the Disciples who were as Matthew expresseth it Oblig'd by that Command when ye Pray say Our Father so say after that manner when you pray or whenever you pray The Command is perpetual Obliging at all times of prayer so far as the particular Occasions
of Prayer will admit every Prayer we make must be according to this Command of Christ But will any say That the meaning is when ever you pray repeat the very words and Syllables of the Lords Prayer Let not one Prayer be made without the Repetition of this Prayer If so then whereas now the Lords Prayer is repeated in the Church six or eight times some Mornings it should be so Twenty or Thirty even at the end of every Collect or other short Prayer This none will assert which is enough to shew that none do understand the words of Luke when you pray say to be in this sense namely when ever you pray repeat these words and Syllables for none do it none of the Church of England nor among the Papists The true sense then of those words in Luke is more fully given us in Mathew when you pray say after this manner that is The Lords Prayer is given as a Form a Rule a Directory of our Prayers A Rule to be prayed by which Rule is transgressed by such who when they pray will cut their Prayers into many shreds and pieces The Lord Christs Prayer was but One continued Prayer all its parts most admirably connected he did not say Our Father and teach his Disciples to add Which art in Heaven This is enough to evince that the Common Prayer Book is not according to the Rule of Christ and that although according to the Rubrick a part of the Lords Prayer is so frequently rehears'd in one Morning as if the rehearsing several Pater nosters was ex opere Operato sufficient to procure the pardon of Sin yet the Dissenters who do pray unto him unto whom they are directed by the Lords Prayer for such things as are more generally contain'd in it keeping as near as they can to the same Method do not only keep more close to the command of Christ in Luke but moreover set an higher value on the Lords Prayer than these Conformists who by keeping to the Rubrick at most do make it but the end of some of their Prayers But to return from this necessary Digression to what is farther insisted on by the aforesaid Commissioners p. 62. 'T is said But if we may according to the Common Prayer Book begin and end and seem to withdraw again and make a Prayer of every Petition or two and begin every such Petition with God's name and Christ's merits as making up half the Form or near Nothing is an affected empty tossing of God's name in Prayer if this be not we are perswaded if you should hear a man in a known ex tempore Prayer do thus it would seem strange and harsh even to your selves This being so there are some among the Dissenters who considering how jealous God is in matters of his worship how pure and how holy are afraid to draw near to God in this disorderly and confused manner when they have the opportunity of addressing themselves to the Throne of Grace in a way more agreeable to his Holy and most Blessed Will When they have a Male in their Flock they are afraid to offer a corrupt thing least they thereby expose themselves to that curse in Mal. 1. 14. If they should make their approaches in this disorderly manner unto God will he not say offer it now unto thy Governours will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Argument V. In the Abridgment an Argument against the Ceremonies to which those who joyn with the Church of England must shew their approbation is fetch'd from the mystical significancy of 'em thus All humane Ceremonies say they being appropriated to God's Service if they be ordain'd to teach any Spiritual Duty by their mystical signification are unlawfull That this Argument may appear in its fuller strength 't will be requisite to consider the nature of Religious Worship as well as a Religious Ceremony and to make some enquiry after the power man has given him to appropriate Humane Ceremonies to God's worship 1. whoever will consult the Learned of most perswasions will find 'em to agree in the general about the nature of external worship and a Ceremony of Religion Dr. Covel a great asserter of the English Ceremonies in his modest and reasonable examination c. Chap. 6. has very handsomely given the sense of the Church of England in Bellarmine's words as neer as an English Translation can well be to a Latine Original Whoever will but compare Bellarmine's 29th Chapter de effectu Sacramentorum with what Dr. Covel has in his 6 chap. will find the agreement to be almost verbatim Ceremonia sayes Bellarmine est actus externus Religionis qui non aliunde habet laudem nisi quia fit ad Dei honorem that is as Covel without making any mention of his Master Bellarmine Translates it ceremonies are all such things as are the external Act of Religion which have their commendation and allowance from no other cause but only that in God's worship they are virtuous furtherances of his honour Thus Covel who borroweth his explications as well as arguments from Bellarmine in order to the making the stronger defence of English Ceremonies is so bold as to take the whole substance thereof from him without any considerable variation whereby we may find that the Church of England agrees so far with the Church of Rome in this matter as to make a Ceremony of Religion to be 1. An external Act expressive of inward worship Actus externus interno respondens qui est quaelibet externa actio quae non aliunde est bona nisi quia fit ad Deum colendum That is as Covel Translates it the External Act answering the internal which is no otherwise good or commendable than that it vertuously serveth to the inward worship of God 't is an outward sign representing the inward frame of the Spirit as 't is after God 2. 'T is also a virtuous furtherance of inward Religion which is to the honour of God It is apt to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified Ceremonies of Religion are means whereby the dull mind is stirred up to the remembrance of duty and whereby the Soul is edified i. e. strengthned and confirm'd in grace Then is a man edified when his graces are suscitated stirred up strengthen'd encreas'd or confirm'd This description of a Religious Ceremony is not only what Bellarmine and Covel out of him give us but also the same to which a late Author in his verdict apon the Dissenters Plea gives his approbation Page 57. That such mystical Ceremonies or Symbolical representations are not sinfull sayes he I am fully convinc'd because they are good for the use of edifying For whatsoever is apt to inform me and put me in mind of my duty and to excite me to perform it That is certainly for my edification because to inform to admonish and excite
Medina himself doth assert that a man must rather obey an erroneous Conscience than the command of any Prelate that is contradictory thereunto Supposing these Dissenters do err yet they must not act contrary unto an erroneous Conscience the whole that can be justly desir'd is that they use all regular means to depose and shake off the error of Conscience which must be done by a sincere seeking God for more light that they may come to the knowledge of the truth and by a diligent and impartial enquiry into the true State of the controversie Moreover there must be if possible a consulting the writings of the Learned on both sides or a conversing with 'em with a readyness to weigh all things with deliberation and a resolution to embrace the truth where ever 't is found But if after all their old convictions are rather strengthned than otherwise they must beware they act not contrary to their Conscience They must not resign up their reason their Conscience nor their Religion unto the pleasure of the greatest Potentate on Earth This I take to be the Doctrine of all sound Protestants of the Church of England yea I can when there shall be an occasion prove it to be so by a Collection of the several Arguments of the Learned Drs. of the Church which they have urg'd for the confirmation of this truth in the opposition they make to the blind obedience of the Papist Whence I inferr That these Dissenters in refusing to joyn with the Church of England in the Liturgy do but discharge their duty unto God Their not joyning with the Church is not the sin of Schism Schism is asserted by Protestants to be a causless separation whence if there be a good cause why they separate 't is not causeless and can there be a better cause than the avoiding sin They separate because they should sin if they did not separate But though this be enough to clear the Dissenter who is fully convinc'd of the unlawfulness of those Termes of Communion that are imposed on the people yet 't is not enough to justifie the separation of those who do not only think it lawfull but expedient to joyn with the Church of England in their Prayers and Ceremonies c. who if they will separate from the Church of England and justifie their separation they must argue from other Topicks for certainly the peace of the Church and the authority of the Magistrate cannot but engage a people to do what is both lawfull and expedient These therefore I think deny that they separate from the Communion of the Church Although they worship God in Meetings locally distant from the Parish Church yet their Meetings are but as Chappels of Ease and the Preachers but as Curates to the Parish Churches That the Episcopal Party may effectually demonstrate a Religious Assembly locally distant from the Parish Church to be Schismatical they must prove 1. That the people of this Assembly were once actually Members of the Parish Churches 2. That these people do ordinarily separate themselves from the external Communion of their Parish Churches 3. That their separation is causless First They must prove that the people of this Assembly that is locally distant from the Parish Church were once Members of the Parish Church that they were under an obligation of holding external Communion with their Parishes 1. All External Communion must be in Parish Assemblys or single Congregational Churches For a Diocesan Provincial or National Assembly of all the Members of those Societies for External Communion is on the account of the multitude of the people impossible 't is impossible they should meet in one and the same Assembly and hold Communion with each other in Prayers in the Word and in the Sacrament Their External Communion in Prayers c. must be in lesser Assemblies or not at all 2. Those who are under any Obligations of holding external Communion with this or the other Parish must be Members of this or the other Parish Church Such as are not Members of this or the other Parish Church cannot be said to separate from it tho' they meet in places locally distant because they not being Members of the Parish Church are not under any Obligation of holding external Communion with that Parish A Man saies Dr. Stilling fleet is not said to separate from every Church where he forbears or ceases to have Communion but only from that Church with which he is obliged to hold Communion and yet withdraws from it This sufficiently evinces That unless the Conformists can prove that the Dissenters were oblig'd to hold Communion as Members of the Parish Churches they cannot prove a Separation To separate from a Church doth suppose that person to have been once of that Church But the Quaerie is how the Conformists will prove all the Dissenters to be Members of some particular Parish Church Will they say that they were all made Members of some particular Parish Church by their Baptisme That cannot be because by Baptism we are only made Members of the Catholick Church Doth our being born English Men and our Inhabiting in such a Parish make us Members of the Parish Church No for there are no Grounds in Scripture for this Our Lord Jesus Christ nor his Apostles did not leave any Intimations concerning such a Rule neither can any precept but what is fetch from God's word fasten any such Obligation on the Conscience that whoever lives within such a precinct must be a Member of such a Church How then must it be The Answer of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians for the first 300 years and of most Protestants is full for this which is That it must be by the peoples consent For as the people are invested with a Right to chose their own Pastor and the Church with which they would hold Communion Even so they cannot be Members nor under any Obligation of holding Ordinary Communion with this or the other particular Church without their own consent Consent is as absolutely necessary to the constituting a particular Parish Church as a National which consent may be discovered not only Expresly but also implicitly which is when a people do ordinarily joyn with some particular Church in all Ordinances as many Parishioners who by their Ordinary holding Communion with the Parish Church in all Ordinances do practically and interpretatively though not expresly discover their consent to be of that Church whereby I think they are under an Obligation to constant Communion with that Parish Church so long as they find it lawful Tho' these may Occasionally hold Communion elsewhere yet their ordinary and constant Communion must be with their Parish Church For which reason if they do ordinarily forbear or cease to have Communion with their Parish-Church it may be justly said that they do separate from it But there are many an Inhabitant in most Parishes who as they were not made Members of the Parish