considerable and excellent a part of Holy Writ Aliqui sunt saith Aquinas qui non intelligunt quid cantatur 22 d. Q. 91. But suppose them read and not sung yet when they are read alternately one Verse by the Minister the other by the People the latter Verse will be no better than an inarticulate sound and confused noise to those who are unlearned and cannot read or to them who have not their Books at hand to go along with the Congregation as may be easily experimented in our London Congregations where this Form of Reading is commonly if not universally observed Another Custom or Manner of performing Divine Service which must not be omitted at least in Cathedrals is reading the second Service at the Altar A thing which to some seems out of the Churches Power to injoin which can only use it in commanding things proper to Edification For whilst the People sit in the lower part of the Quire they may hear the noise of the Minister's Voice who is reading the Service at the Altar but no distinction of sound as hath been often experimented And I 'd fain know whether the Practice of the Roman Church by performing their Service in an unknown Tongue or secret Whispers of a Priest can less tend to Edification or Instruction then to render it unintelligible by removing beyond the Ken or Compass of the Ear or by causing it to be uttered by the confused noise of a mixed Multitude Which I leave to those who are of highest esteem in the Church to judge of As also to take into their Consideration how far a Reformation of our Publick Service may be adviseable and necessary in regard to the Form of it in this and some other respects 2dly The next thing I have to offer is as to the Length and Burthen of it a Task which neither we nor our Forefathers were ever able to bear Were this grievance redrest that occasion of Scandal cast upon the Rulers and Dignitaries of the Church might be removed the Complaints of the weary and heavy laden Ministers of the Church silenced who may in the mean time be tempted perhaps to speak unadvisedly with their Lips and say Must we still like Issachar couch down under this heavy Burthen whilst such as impose it will scarce touch it with a tip of their own Fingers to ease others or to perform it for themselves Dicit enim Greg. habetur in decretis distinc 92. Can. insecta Romana Ecclesia constituo ut in sede hâc scil Romanâ Ecclesia sacri altaris ministri cantare non debeant Aquinus tells us that Gregory would have none who were ordained to Preach the Gospel to be imployed in the Office of Singing being as that Angelical Doctor observes a Work beneath them When we see the Masters of our Assemblies engage the meanest among 〈◊〉 Priests in the Celebration of the Divine Service of the Church by Reading or Singing of it we may conclude they think it either too mean or too hard for themselves As to the first there 's none of us have reason to think any Work of the Lord beneath them We can labour as in the Fire work in the Furnaces and Brick-kilns with great delight if we may thereby prepare for building the Lord's Temple (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supra modum supra vires gravati sumus 2. Cor. 1.8 But our Task-masters have doubled the Tale of our Brick to that degree that though we work hard yet unless our Strength were the Strength of Stones we never can accomplish our Task and whoever shall fall short the Law hath provided it shall be made up with Stripes which will make deep furrows upon the Backs of those that shall happen to fall under the dintor Lash of it This Grievance in some Cities and Corporations by the Wealth and Kindness of the People hath been much provided against clubbing their Purses and providing Readers to discharge their Ministers of the Burthen of the Desk As knowing that they on whom necessity is laid and Woes denounced against them if they Preach not the Gospel will find work enough in the Pulpit But this were an unreasonable expectancy in Country Villages where the number of the People is small and their substance less Where in many places two or three Cures will scarce do more than afford Necessaries for an ordinary Subsistance or Livelihood nor provide larger Supplies than could answer the reasonable Desires of that contented Man viz. Sit mihi mensa tripes concha puri salis toga quae defenderit frigus licet crassa queat Yet so vast and opulent are the Revenues of the Church that as there needs no other Arguments to prove the incomparable Charity and Bounty of our Ancestors So also a Sufficiency yea a Redundancy for the Support of the Office and Work of the Ministry But so disproportionate hath the distribution of them been that whilst some have lived delicately and fared deliciously every day others can scarce find a Competency to furnish their Tables with daily Bread And is it not a Grievance that the most difficult and constant Labour should meet with the least Encouragement 'T is scarce credible to relate to what Sums the Acruments and Perquisites of the Bishopricks in England did amount to upon their Restoration with Charles II. Had not immense Treasures descended into their Coffers the many extravagant Works of State and Magnificence Vain-glory some think Acts of Piety and Charity could never have exhausted such unaccountable Sums as are by Dr. C. computed out of them He tells us that Dr. Juxon Arch-bishop of Canterbury gave or expended in Building Repairing Redemption of Captives c. 48000 l. Sterling besides 16000 l. abated to the Tenants Gilbert Sheldon Bishop of London afterwards Arch-bishop of Canterbury gave and bestowed in such like expences besides his common Disbursements and what he left to his Heirs and Executors 40000 l. Brian Duppa late Bishop of Winchester in such like Charges together with the Abatements of Fines to his Tenants 46000 l. Dr. Fruen Arch-bishop of York 15000 l. Dr. Cousins Bishop of Durham 44000 l. Dr. Warner Bishop of Rochester 30000 l. Besides the Building of a Colledge for poor Clergy-mens Widows which cost 7200 l. which was besides endowed by him with ample Provisions besides 50 l. per Annum Rent-charge for maintaining of a Chaplain Nor were the Deans and Chapters less liberal in proportion Insomuch that the several Sums when put together amount to no less than 443000 l. besides the Monies they spent in their Splendid way of living together with their Equipage and Retinue not to mention their personal and real Estates they left behind them to agrandize their Posterities and to make their Names great But whilst the Prelates wallowed in their overgrown Wealth how many laborious Ministers lay swelkt and macerated with the Heat and Burthen imposed upon them in the Worship of God Their Task being over
Flesh and Incarnation of our Saviour viz. That Christ is one not by Conversion of the Codhead into Flesh but by taking the Manhood into God one altogether not by confusion of Substance It ought to be considered concerning Athanasius's Creed how many People understand it not Lib. of Proph. p. 54. I confess saith that Author I cannot see the moderate Sentence and gentleness of Charity in this Preface and Conclusion as then was in the Nicene Creed nothing there but damnation and perishing everlastingly unless the Article of the Trinity be believed as it is there with Curiosity and minute Particulars explained Ibid. pag. 54. but by unity of Person And that this c. is the Catholick Faith which except a Man believe he cannot be saved Which Propositions should they be repeated to many a simple and yet sincere Christian they would seem little less to them than Sampson's Ridle and shall we deny Salvation to those who have not an explicite Faith of those things they understand not If Water ascends higher than the Fountain from whence it springs the Motion must be ascribed to force If Faith should ascend beyond Knowledge if such may be called Faith 't is no better than force or fancy to compel that to be confessed with the Mouth which is not believed with the Heart because it never entred into the Head Doth it not therefore concern the Fathers of the Church to consider now that they have a Price put into their Hands whether this be not to make the Gate of Heaven narrower than God hath made it which is already so streight that alas there be too few that find it Of Regeneration by the Spirit ANother thing which might justly deserve the Notice of our Reverend Brethren and Fathers of the Church is the Doctrine of Regeneration by the Spirit which I take to be an act of Grace upon the Heart (a) Unto whom now I send thee to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God c. Acts 26.17 renewing that Image which was drawn in Righteousness and true Holiness But alas How have we effac'd it and sought out many Inventions in the Croud of which we lost our Integrity God had at first imbarkt our Innocency in a Vessel sufficiently built to have secured the Cargo and finally to have brought the Soul safe to its desirable Port I mean Heaven he having put on board with it that which might with due watchfulness and care have secured it viz. A posse non peccandi But hapning where two Seas met I mean Satan's Policy and Man's Frailty or facile Disposition being too gentle and easie to be intreated by his Temptations he suffered Shipwrack of a good Conscience losing that which the whole World was not competent to redeem For alas What can be given in exchange for the Soul But God would not suffer the Sea to swallow such a Prize and therefore when he saw Man labouring for Life in the midst of those mighty Waves those Waters of Iniquity he cast out a Plank Post naufragium tabulam by which he came safe to Land he set up this Bankrupt again with a fresh Stock putting him into a Capacity and State of Salvation by a redeemer but upon such Terms and Conditions as he thought fit to appoint and prescribe viz. That unless we believe we should not be saved except we be regenerate and born again we should not enter into the Kingdom of God But as the Wind blows where it listeth so the Spirit works these Graces when and where it pleaseth observing the Rule and Method he hath pleased to prescribe to himself viz. As he hath chosen us in Christ Jesus And therefore we cannot affirm that wherever the Means is used that the End ex opere operato is certainly attained especially in such subjects as are altogether incapable of it as I take Infants to be of Regeneration upon the Administration of Baptism 3 Q. 71.2 Unless it be said of Regeneration as Aquinas saith concerning the Infant 's being Catechiz'd before it be Baptiz'd Accommodat eis Ecclesia aliorum cor ut credant aliorum aures ut audiant intellectum ut per alios instruantur But he that is regenerated by a Proxy will be saved so too But suppose they be renew'd yet this Operation or Work of the Spirit is much in the dark there are no visible Footsteps or Impressions left behind it by which we can trace the Goings of the Almighty no more than that of a Serpent upon a Rock a Bird in the Air or Ship in the Sea if there be any Work of God upon the Soul of the Infant 't is very cryptical 't is hid from our Eyes We may say as the Lord said to Job He hath made a Cloud the garment of it 38 Job 9. and thick darkness a swadling Band for it If any shall say that though the Child in such tender Age be not a capable subject of the Act yet it may be of the Habit Thus it is accounted a Rational Creature though it cannot for the present exert and shew forth the Faculties which are potentially in it But no sooner doth the Child grow up towards Years of Maturity but those Seminal and Radical Powers of their own accord pullulate and spring up into Act the Rose which seminally or potentially laid dormant in the Root of the Plant of its own accord buds and blossoms upon the approaching Heat and Influence of the Sun If the Habit of Regeneration were sown in Baptism would it not in the Spring of Youth begin to bud and blossom and bring forth Almonds I mean Acts sutable to the Nature of it Whereas we experimentally find no more averseness or reprobacy to that which is good in an unbaptized Person who never was baptismally regenerated nor received for God's own Child by Adoption than in one baptized according to the Ordinance of God and Appointment of the Church But supposing the Subject capable of this Divine Impression yet we do not see that God doth let his Seal or that they are sealed up to the Day of Redemption ex opere operato or actual Administration of Baptism For wherever the Work of Regeneration is wrought the Soul is renewed in all its Faculties such were some of you But ye are washed but ye are sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God But all that are Baptismally washed are not sanctified and regenerate for we find in adult Persons that those who were filthy before continue to be so still Nay as to those very Persons who in the Judgment of Charity do not ponere obicem yet we cannot see any immediate Cause to return Thanks for its actual Regeneration by the Holy Spirit till we find some Demonstration or Evidence more than the bare opus operatum or Administration of the Baptismal Rite that the Person is entred into the Womb
which he hath no great reason to thank him for nor we to admit when the Court of Parliament have declared That the Three Kingdoms and all the Dominions thereunto belonging that the Royal State Crown and Dignity of the said Realms with all Honours Stiles Titles Regalities Prerogatives c. to the same belonging are most fully rightfully and intirely invested incorporated united and annexed in and to his Princely Person So that according to our Laws he is rightful King of England as well as de facto and by Virtue of his Possession and providential Promotion to the Crown nay they See the Act of Recognition viz. The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament did recognize and acknowledge that their Majesties were are and of right ought to be by the Laws of this Realm our Sovereign liege Lord and Lady King and Queen of England c. Now W. S. p. 54. Case of Allegiance makes this demand viz Is it not saith he most reasonable to think that to be the Sense of the Law which learned Judges and Lawyers have agreed to be the Sense of it Is it not reasonable to take that to be the Sense of the Law which hath been the Sense of Westminsâ—â—â—-Hall Let him give me also leave to aâ—k one Quâ—stion and that is Whether that be not the Sense of the Law which the Judges and Lawyers learned in the Law have declared in Parliament nay which in that High Court of Parliament have been declared to be * The Law of Man that is not contrary to the Law of Reason nor the Law of God but that is super-added unto them for better ordering the Commonwealth shall rule the Conscience and he that despiseth this Law of Man despiseth the Law of God See Dr. and Stud. Cap. 4. Cap. 19. Cap. 26. To fill up a vacant Throne is not contrary to the Law of God or Reason that our Throne was vacated is declared to be Law by our highest Court that we have in England That a King may abdicate the Realm Grotius saith is not to be doubted and Barclay saith cited by Grotius that if a King shall aliene his Kingdom and subject it to a Foreigner or leave it or act as an Enemy to the Destruction of the Community he looseth his Kingdom di jure Bell. Lib. 1. Cap. 4. Law And that I am sure it was as we have already heard viz. That King William is King de jure and according to the Laws of this Realm whose Declaration and Decree will bind the Subject in fâ—ro Conscientiae where it is not contrary to any moral Precept though they should be mistaken in their Judgment which is not to be supposed till a Court of equal Authority for there 's none Superior repeal their Act or reverse their Decree Obj. But perhaps it may be said that the Title of the Prince is a Matter above and no way cognizable in any â—â—mane Court it being said of Kings that they judge all things but are judged of none especially as to Matters criminal for which they are only accountable to him who is the Judge of all the Earth for when Courts do sit and act by the King's Commission and Authority it can be scarce thought that any Prince should be so Trayterous to himself as to grant a Power to censure his Person or his Actions So that whatever the Parliament may have delared or enacted with respect to the late King's Actions however they may affect the Ministers of State who were the Advisers or Transactors of them yet all must be void with regard to the Person or Title of K. J. because they have interposed in that which is no way within the compass or purview of their Jurisdiction Res The House of Lords I take to be the Supreme Court of Judicature in England which though it be convened by the King 's Writ yet needs no special Commission to empower them to act that being a Right inherent in them and by the original Compact or Custom immemorial inseparable from them But suppose there be no King in our Israel the Master of the Ship fled the Waves run high must the Vessel sink all that are on board perish lest they should intrench upon the Prerogative of their Master Must they not consult their own safety for fear they should meddle with or consider the Actions of their Governour as being above their Cognizance Must the Community perish and Nation sink in Compliment to him that hath fled from them and left none to exercise his Authority over them Is not the universal Safety the Supreme Law But my last Reply to this Objection is that the Parliament of England hath not adjudged the Royal Succession or Title of the Crown a Matter above their Authority nor is it beyond the Sphere of their activity Let us hear what my Lord Cooke saith in the 4th Part of his Institutes Cap. 1. Of the Powers and Jurisdiction of Parliament for making Laws in proceeding by Bill it is so transcendant and absolute as it cannot be confined either for Causes or Persons within any bounds Of this Court it is truly said Si antiquitatem spectes est vetusatissima si dignitatem est honoratissima si jurisdictionem est capacissima Huic ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono Virg. of which we have divers eminent Instances to induce In the 8th of Hen. 4. as my Lord Cooke hath it Instit Part. 4. Cap. 1. But I find it rather in the 7th of Hen. 4. Cap. 2. the Succession of the Crown was intailed to Hen. 4. Was not the Crown settled upon Hen. 7. by Act of Parliament and upon his Heirs before his Marriage with Elizabeth eldest Daughter and Heir of Edw. 4. of the House of York notwithstanding the Judgment formerly given in Parliament as we are about to take notice of for establishing the Title of the Crown in that Family Cook 's Institutes Part 4. Cap. 1. Many more Examples may be given to prove that the Title and Succession of the Crown is not a thing beyond the Notice and Authority of Parliament to intermeddle with But he who desires a more particular Information let him consult these Statutes 25 Hen. 8.22 28 Hen. 8.7 35 Hen. 8.1 1 Eliz. 3. 1 Jac. 1. Yet give me leave to mention one Case which happened in the Reign of Hen. 6. whose Crown whilst it was upon his Head was challenged by Richard Duke of York whose Claim was received and Plea heard in Parliament The Council alledged many and great Arguments in defence of the King's Title too many here to be inserted but that high Court upon a full Hearing on both sides gave Judgment for the Duke of York against the King though in actual Possession of the Government in these Words That Hen. 6. should reign during his Life the remainder to rest in Richard Duke of York and the lawful Heirs of his Body in general Tail King Henry 's Heirs to be excluded