Commotions and Insurrections against their Princes As was Thomas Muntzer one of the first Anabaptists in Europe who gathered a great number of Common people together upon the account of Religion and Tender Conscience and Headed them in a Bloudy Rebellion against the Princes of Germany Though it pleased God that this Religious Traytour was overcome in Battel and deservedly executed for his Treason It would be endless to enumerate all their Treasonable Principles for with them as with all others the Proverb is true Mores sequuntur Humores Mens Practices are the Natural Results and effects of their Principles And therefore forasmuch as the Anabaptists Principles are Treasonable and Anti-Protestant Declaring against The King's Supremacy in Church And His Monarchy in State We may and ought to Conclude them as we did the Presbyterians and Independents To be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. V. The Quakers No Protestants THis is a Sect of Men who also pretend to Religion and like bad Weeds have in a very short time grown high and numerous within this our pleasant Garden of England And truely they are outwardly whatever they be inwardly more modest than the three former Dissenters in that these men knowing their own Principles and Practices to be directly opposite to the Protestant Religion have not presumed as did the three other to Name themselves Protestants But have been Content to pass under the Denomination of The PEOPLE of GOD Commonly Called QVAKERS And as for their Tenets and Principles no man is able to give a perfect Account of them They being a Maniple of Confusion Nor are they among themselves agreed what are their own Doctrines and Principles Witness their own Writers who Contradict one another Onely in these particulars they all agree 1. To deny The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Episcopacy 3. The Lawfulness of taking an Oath and of Swearing before a Civil Magistrate And in one thing they are out of a Principle of pretended Sanctity more Rude and Inhumane than any of their Dissenting Brethren In that they obstinately refuse to pay to the King or to any Person whatever the Common Civility of outward Respect and Reverence and do deny the King and all Magistrates the Civil Honour and Complement of the very Hat And this is to be noted That although the Quakers will not Swear in their own Persons Because it is a sin to Swear yet they will desire and sometimes hire others to take an Oath and Swear for them and to sin in their stead as frequently they doe in the case of Burying in Woollen onely nay sometimes they will procure Knights of the Post to Swear for them Persons who never saw their Dead either laid forth wound up or Buryed and yet have Sworn and made Affidavit before the Justice of the Peace onely upon the Credit of their Word As the Writer of these Lines once discovered and advised the said Quakers to take up their Dead out of the Grave and to get a true Oath to be made according to Law the which advice they within the time did follow and saved their forfeiture In truth this Action of the Quakers in getting others to Swear for them seems to us very like David's killing the poor Man's Lamb to save his own But forasmuch as the Quakers abhor a Reconciliation with the Episcopal-Protestant Church of England We therefore think it had been more proper for the Reconciler to have urged Arguments rather for their Conviction than for their Reconciliation For untill He has convinced them and the other Dissenters of their Errours and Disloyalties it is Impertinency not to say Teason for him or any other to persuade the King and Government unto a Condescention towards them or such as them who are all by their Principles obliged for ever to be Enemies to The King's Supremacy And as Impertinent and Ridiculous is it for the Reconciler to persuade his Mother as he calls the Church of England to be reconciled to such as these This being to persuade a Reconciliation Between LIGHT and DARKNESS Between YEA and NAY Wherefore seeing these things are impossible we do from the Premisses Conclude The Quakers As we did their former Brethren In DISSENTION Not to say In INIQVITY To be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. VI. The RECONCILER'S Design proved to be as Pretended IMPOSSIBLE HAving hitherto given the Reader a short account of all the most considerable Sects in England and proved them to be No Protestants We now presume That the Reconciler cannot but by this time perceive his own Mistake and Confess That the TITLE of his Book is False And that he has gratified by Printing it no Party of Protestants but the Beaufronts alias Whigs and Trimmers who are of no Religion Because they are of every Religion according to their company and interest And we hope he will acknowledge his Pretended Design if true to be impossible Because Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers and All Dissenters if true and constant to their own Principles will ever remain such i. e. Dissenters for no Soap can wash the Blackamoor white And therefore it is utterly impossible for the Church of England to be Reconciled to them Unless the Reconciler would have the Church of England to Vn-church her self and become the Mother and Patroness of all Sects and Religions at one and the same time Now if this should ever happen to be as the Reconciler desires may be pray What an uggly Monster what a deformable Beast must the Church of England be even worse than the Scarlet-coloured Beast in the Revelations Rev. 17.3 which was full of Names of Blasphemy full of Abominations and Filthiness But we cannot imagine the Reconciler's Brains to be so shallow as ever to think Impossibilities feasible as he must if ever he thinks it feasible to reconcile the Episcopal Church of England and the Dissenters whilst they continue such In our apprehension the Reconciler may as well plead for the Church of Englands Condescention to and Reconciliation with the Papists as with the Dissenters For the Dissenters are as dangerous to the King and his Monarchy and to the Church of England and her Episcopacy as the Papists And therefore if the Dissenters may be brought into the Body of our Church and be indulged because of their tender Consciences notwithstanding their erroneous and treasonable Principles Then pray Mr. Reconciler Why may not the Papists also for the same reason be indulged For Thousands of the Papists have proved themselves to be men of great Conscience by their constant Loyalty to the King in Temporals notwithstanding their Obligations to the Pope in Spirituals as also by strict and frequent Fasts according to their Churches Orders and by their daily devotions and great Charity even to their very Enemies as well as to their Friends and by their sober inoffensive Lives by these and other instances you may see that the Papists do not onely prosess but also live Christianity in many degrees above the generality of Dissenters or
the Governours for Commanding Obedience in things Indifferent are the Disturbers of the Churches Peace SECT III. According tot he Reconciler The King and Governours Deserve Death for imposing things Indifferent The Reconciler's own Words are YOu Superiours Sect. Recon c. 10. p. 329. King and Governours disturb the Church much more Sinfully than the Dissenters by laying such Snares as shall unavoidably procure it i. e. a disturbance and then taking occasion by it to make a greater disturbance by your Cruel Execution ☞ If the Fly offend and deserve death by incautelously falling into the Spider's Web What doth the Spider that is the King and Governours deserve that out of her own Bowels Spread this Net in the way and kills the Fly that is taken in it Your own Actions most concern your selves try therefore whether you doe well in Commanding and Punishing as well as whether others offend in disobeying Thus far the Reconciler for which he again quotes Mr. Baxter Now What Sense can there be made of this Similitude between the Fly and the Spider but this to wit That the Venemous Spider is the King and the Governours who lay Snares for the People by Imposing on them Strict Laws for the Observation of Ceremonies and things Indifferent And that the Harmless innocent Fly are the Dissenters who are caught in the Snares of the Laws made by the King and Governours and for their Rebellion and Disobedience are either put to Death or Cruelly Punished And therefore according to the Reconciler as the Spider Deserved Death for making Webs by which the Fly was Caught So does the King and Governours deserve Death for making Laws by which the People are Caught and Restrained their Liberty and their Tender Consciences Imposed upon as to things Indifferent Never let this Authour any more Write against the Jesuits for their Treason untill he quits himself of the same SECT IV. The King and Governours according to the Reconciler are Traytors to the Common-Wealth and Betrayers of the Peoples Liberties for Imposing upon them Things Indifferent And that therefore the People ought not to yield to their Impositions But ought To Rebell and Vindicate their Christian Liberty The Reconciler's own Words are BOth these things that is Prot. Recon c. 5. p. 160 161. the Superiours King and Governours Imposing things Indifferent and requiring Subscription to them Both these things do put a necessary abstention and restraint upon us as to the use of these things if therefore says the Reconciler by so doing i. e. the Superiours our King and Governours if they in effect Betray our Liberties Dissenters ought not to yeild to them in the least nor should good Christians by a Vow restrain themselves from the free use of things Indifferent And as bad or rather worse Treason does the Reconciler utter p. 338. Where he plainly Suggests Two things by which Suggestions he extremely prejudices and incends the-Giddy-Vulgar against the King and his Government He Suggests 1. That the King and Governours are going about to Betray the City and Common-Wealth unto the Enemy 2. That therefore The Subjects May and Ought to Rebell and Vindicate their own Privileges For the Subjects may says the Reconciler neglect and transgress the Orders and Commands of their King and Superiours In hopes of a Greater Good The Reconciler's own Words are Secondly I Answer with the Learned Camero Prot. Recon c. 10. p. 338. That even Order may be not onely laid aside but even neglected and transgressed for a Greater Good As when a Citizen doth volantarily rise up against a Magistrate who is endeavouring to Betray the City to the Enemy or a common Souldier against a Rebellious Officer Never did Hugh Peters Preach and Print greater Treason For upon the pretended force of this very Treasonable Argument of the Reconciler's did Oliver and the Rump with their Rebellious Army cut off King Charles the First His Head Pretending to the People That the said King was going about to bring in Popery and to Betray the City of London and the whole Nation to their Enemies and deprive them of their Liberties And because as they alleged that He Imposed such Ceremonies and Orders upon Tender Consciences as would Damn the Souls of Myriads Therefore it was that the late Rebels made War against the said King and Murthered Him And loe Here is a Second Hugh Peters one that styles himself not onely a Protestant but a Priest nay a Cathedral-Man and therefore Doubly obliged to the King and the Church yet loe Here is Such an One That dares publish in Print That it is not onely lawfull but necessary to Neglect and Transgress the Magistrate's Orders and to Rebell if so be The Subjects apprehend a Greater Good will accrew to them thereby That is to say If the Subjects do fear that Myriads of Souls will be Damned by the King 's and Magistrates Impositions But may and will be Saved by their Rebellion and Transgressing such Orders and Impositions Then according to the Reconciler the Subjects May and Ought to Rebell The Reconciler's own words farther are Now says he Charity is greater than Faith Ibid. c. 10. p. 338. and therefore is a greater Good than Order in Extrinsecalls and the Salvation of Souls is the end of Order That therefore must be better than the Means and consequently Order may be transgressed when it is Necessary for that end to be so That is in plain English The King 's and Governours Orders and Laws may Lawfully be Transgressed Treason and Rebellion may Lawfully be Committed whenever the People shall think for their Greater Good and Ease it should be So. Thus the Reconciler takes the Liberty and Confidence to speak out that Treason which the Shamefaced Dissenter dares onely conceive in heart and mind And which of the Two is the most Malitious and dangerous to the King and his Government we will leave to others to determine SECT V. The Reconciler Scandalously affirms That the King and Governours want Piety and Prudence And therefore it is that they impose upon the People Things Indifferent FOr Proof of this the Reconciler quotes Doctour Tillotson though very Falsely The Reconciler's own words are If then this be not done to wit Prot. Recon Preface p. 19. an Abolition of things Indifferent it must be in his Judgment that is in Dr. Tillotson's Judgment through defect of Piety and Prudence in some men that is if he writes sense Tillots Serm. on St. John 13 34.34 p. 28. through defect of Piety and Prudence in the King and Governours especially of the Church for of such Dr. Tillotson treats in his said Sermon or through Consent with what is reasonable in others c. Now that the Reconciler means the King and Governours by what he says is evident Because he knows and confesses that it is in the power of none but onely of the King and Governours to alter the Imposition of things Indifferent And therefore according
decayed to Reform the Church when corrupted and to Protect the same when Reformed This is the Supremacy which the German Princes being the first Reformers Assumed to themselves exercising their own Authority in Ordering and Setling Church-Matters within their own Dominions And because they all Protested against the Pope's Supremacy and Defended that of their own Therefore were they called Protestants In like manner King Henry the Eighth was the first Protestant Prince in England for no other Reason But because he was the first King of England since the Reformation who strenuously vindicated his Own Regal Supremacy And Protested against the Pope's Usurpation and Tyranny over Kings and their Subjects For which the Pope of Rome Excommunicated King Henry the Eighth and Branded him with the Name of Heretick and Protestant And notwithstanding King Henry's being a perfect and Rigid Papist in all points of Doctrine according to the Church of Rome yet because he Assumed his Own Supremacy and Abjured that of the Pope's he is Therefore styled and that very truely A Protestant And our Statute-Laws call all them who deny the King's Supremacy Recusants whether they be Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists or Quakers The Law Names all Recusants and indeed such They are and Not Protestants For as in the Church of Rome no man is counted a Papist but onely he who declares for the Pope's Supremacy So in the Church of England no man is nor ought to be reckoned a Protestant but onely he who in Thought Word and Deed is for the King's Supremacy as above stated These things being Premised We are of Opinion That the Reconciler has Mistaken his own Title for in equity and honesty he should have Entitled Himself and his Book The Recusant and not the Protestant Reconciler For we know no Protestants in England that need any Reconciliation unless it be the Beaufronts alias Fair-faced Protestants Who have God and the King in their Mouths but the Devil in their Hearts Who Speak their Prince fair to his face but will Wound his Reputation and cut his Throat behind his Back Who will take and swallow all Oaths particularly those of Supremacy and Allegiance And yet will enter into a Scotch-Covenant or into a Shaftsburian-ASSOCIATION and Plot Treason and Rebellion against their King and his Government Who will cry-up the Church of England and yet cry-down the Bishops Who will on a Sunday-Morning go to Divine-Service in the Parish-Church and receive the Sacrament Kneeling and yet in the Afternoon Contrary to their Oath of Allegiance will go to a Seditious Conventicle These are the Tares among the Wheat the very Pests of the Nation And indeed They want a Reconciliation that is Of their ungodly Principles and Practices to Piety Of their Knavery to Honesty Of their Perjury and Hypocrisie to Truth Of their Faction to Loyalty Except these dissembling Beaufronts we know no Protestants that need any Reconciliation for in England there are no Protestants except the Beaufronts but onely the true-hearted and Loyal Episcopal men who in Heart and Conscience Own and Protest for according to our Churches Articles 34 36 37. 1. The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Authority in Ordering Rites and Ceremonies 3. The Episcopal Government as now established Asserting the Distinct Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons 4. Who give due Obedience to the Churches Orders and Constitutions These are the onely Protestants in England As for all others the Laws of the Realm Notifie them by the Name of Recusants So then it is a most Certain Truth though a Paradox to the Vulgar That although there be Myriads of Men in England who pass for Protestants and call themselves Protestants yet in truth and reality they are Recusants They all Combining and Siding with the Papists against the King's Supremacy do by so doing declare themselves to be No Protestants And the onely way to Reconcile these Recusants unto our Church is in the first place to persuade them to become Protestants that is to say to persuade them to Own and Protest for the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastick Matters and to become Obedient to his Laws Civil and Ecclesiastick for till this be done as was said before They are No Protestants And of this Nature and Character are all the Dissenters in England to wit Recusants and not Protestants For they all deny the King's Supremacy which is the Essence and Foundation of Protestantism in Opposition to Popery And whoever pleads for them to be Reconciled to the Church of England without an open Recantation of their Popish Principles as does the Reconciler is guilty of a Praemunire and smells more of a Papist than of a Protestant This then being the proper Notion of a Protestant We once more petition the Reconciler That he would be pleased to inform us who are the Protestants for whom he so earnestly pleads and unto whom he so passionately craves a Condescension may be granted by the King and the Governours If he says They be the Dissenting-Brethren as he has it in his Title Page then he grosly mistakes himself For the Dissenters are No Protestants Because they all deny The King's Supremacy Which is the onely Badge and Characteristical Note of a Protestant Now that All the Dissenters do so is easily proved by their own Avowed and Declared Principles and Practices The Dissenters in England although they be very numerous yet they may be reduced unto four Ranks and Sects which will comprehend them all at least all those which are of any Bulk and Note among us Such as the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers All which Sects we shall in order prove to be No Protestants CHAP. II. The Presbyterians No Protestants THe Presbyterians are no Protestants in as much as They Deny The King's Supremacy And in Opposition thereunto They Set up their own Ecclesiastick Consistory above the King and his Power For by their Consistorian Power They pretend they may and actually they have censured and deposed their own Natural Prince raised War by Oath and Covenant against Him when he would not yield himself a slave to their Demands and Consistorian Tyranny This is too well known in Scotland and England and needs no farther proof And although they do declare with the French Presbyterians French Disci Eccles c. 5. of the Consistory That a Magistrate may be called and employed in the charge of an Elder in the Consistory yet it is with such a Restraint and Limitation as that the Execution of one of the Functions must not hinder the other and bring no prejudice to the Church that is to their Consistorian Power which is to over-rule and controll the Magistrate in matters Ecclesiastick It is to be Noted That the first Presbyterian Consistory erected in Opposition to Monarchy and Episcopacy that ever we heard of was first in Geneva Setled by Calvin and Beza And the First Presbyterian Confistory Setled in Scotland was by John Knox who came from Geneva and brought from thence the Platform
Dangerous if possible as a Reconciliation with the Dissenters For it is evident That unless the Papists will Renounce the Pope's Supremacy and so cease to be Papists And unless the Dissenters will acknowledge the King's Supremacy and so cease to be Dissenters Unless these two things be granted It is impossible for the Church of England as now established to be Reconciled unto either of these Schismaticks whether Papists or Dissenters Nor is it safe for the Government to admit of Schismaticks into our Church-Fellowship S. Cyprian de Vnit Eccl. §. 8.298 for Schismatici duos Episcopos duos Greges in una Ecclesia constituunt and they will bring in Confusion which is the destruction of all Order and Government Et dum Conventicula sibi diversa constituunt Ibid. 299. veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt c. which words of St. Cyprian we will leave to the Conventiclers of both Parties to translate and seriously to consider We being well assured that the Principles of both Papists and Dissenters are inconsistent with Truth and with the Well-being of our Established Government in Church and State For as has been already proved Papists and Dissenters Deny the King's Supremacy And therefore notwithstanding their taking the Oath of Allegiance which many of them have taken the King has no firm Security for the Preservation of his Life and Crown from either Papists or Dissenters For if the Pope should command the Papists as he did Ravillac or if the Consistory bid the Presbyterians as it did in the Deposition and Expulsion of Mary Queen of Scotland or if the Congregational-Church bid the Independent as in the Murthering of the late King or if the Spirit move and bid the Anabaptist and Quaker as it did Venner to raise War against the King because he is an Heretick and an ungodly Man and to Depose and Kill him not being fit for Government Then they all both Papists and Diffenters must according to their several Principles obey their several Orders and must Fight against Depose and Murther the King and destroy all that side with him Wherefore that neither the King's Life and Crown nor our own Privileges and Immunities may be exposed to their Cruelty and Usurpation We humbly conceive it necessary That the Laws of the Realm should stand in force equally against both Papists and Dissenters Because there is no party of men in this Kingdom that ever were or can be according to their Principles true and faithfull in all respects to the King and the Government in Church and State as now Established but onely the Episcopal Protestants And for a farther confirmation of this great Truth we have the Attest of our present Dread Sovereign in his Royal and Noble Speech unto the * Dr. Gower Vice-Chancellour Vniversity of Cambridge upon their humble and Loyal Address made to him at New Market Sept. 18. 1681. In which His Majesty was graciously pleased to Oblige them and indeed the whole Nation with the following words and Assurances to wit That He would constantly own and defend the Church of England King Charles the Second his Speech to the Vniversity of Cambridge Printed in the London-Gazette by Authority as Established by Law of this He bid them be Assured for He would be as good as his word Notwithstanding whatever Representation either had or should be made of him to the contrary Being farther pleased to add That there was no other Church in the World that Taught and Practised Loyalty so Conscientiously as that did In truth This short but pithy Speech of His Sacred Majesty is a full Answer to the Reconciler's whole Book especially to that part of it which so unworthily Misrepresents His Majestie 's former Declarations to the eye and ear of the World CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be As Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State OUr Church and State of England at present God be Praised are by the Divine Providence and by the King 's wise Conduct of Affairs in a very prosperous well-ordered and Setled State and Condition And therefore for any Man to wish and endeavour as does the Reconciler their disturbance by an unnecessary Alteration of their Established Laws is truely to wish them a worse state and condition than at present they are in And so to wish and endeavour is according to the Stoicks Philosophy the height of Envy and Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. Zeno l. 7. p. 506. c. Now that the Reconciler's Design is as he has managed it thus Malitious and Treasonable Towards the King in Scandalizing and Blaspheming Him And towards the Church as now Established in representing her Bishops and Governours as Anti christian Cruel and Tyrannizing over Godly Mens Consciences And in prostituting her pious Orders and Constitutions to Publick Scorn and Derision That it is so Will be the Task of the following Lines and Sections to prove SECT I. The Reconciler Scandalously makes The King and Governours the Authours of all our present Schisms and Factions And that for Two Reasons 1. BEcause they impose things indifferent upon the People 2. Because the King and Governours require of the Clergy subscriptions to the things Imposed As to the First the Reconciler's own words are Why do Superiours still continue the Imposition of those Indifferent things Reconciler c. 1. p. 30 31. which do occasion the Schism c And in Page 339. he Argues and Queries thus Page 339. Whether those Rules of the Church which concern things indifferent should not be altered or relaxed when it so happeneth that an Horrid Schism with all its dreadfull consequences is by Imposition of them caused throughout the Body of the Nation But a little to stop the Carreir of this fierce WRITER and to Vindicate the Honour and Justice of our King and Governours as to this particular we entreat it may be noted That the Reconciler is not onely Disloyal towards his Prince and Superiours in so Aspersing them But also Disingenuous towards his Ignorant Reader in so miserably imposing upon him For the truth of the matter is briefly this To wit Not the Imposers of things indifferent But the Separatists and Disobedient are the Sole Causes of the Schism For it is Confessed by the Reconciler and by the Separatists that the things Imposed are things Indifferent in themselves and have no sinfulness in them And therefore the not observing them when by Lawfull Authority Commanded is a Sin of Rebellion and Disobedience And this sin of not Observing things Indifferent when Lawfully imposed is the sole and Prime Cause of the Schism Nay Mr. Baxter presses farther scil That although it be a sin in the Magistrate to Command yet it is a Duty in the People to Obey His Command in things not sinfull in themselves Mr. Baxter's own words are Many a Ruler sinneth in his Commands Baxter's Cure of Church-Divisions Direct 34. p.
these Holy-Days of the Macchabees appointment But he also confirmed the lawfull use and Imposition of them by his working of Miracles on those very Holy-Days And farther That Christ might set a perfect Example of Obedience unto all Subjects as to things Indifferent when by Lawfull Authority imposed Christ himself did therefore observe all the Minuter Rites and Ceremonies of the Law and of the Passover which none ever did or was able to doe before him And lest Christ should give any offence to the Superiours then in power he observed the Impositions and Ceremonies of the very Pharisees which they by their own Laws had injoyned upon the People as Terms and Conditions of their Church-Communion And particularly Christ observed the Pharisees Religious Orders of Washing the Feet at Feasts and at the Passover which was onely an Ordinance of Humane Invention St. Luk. 7.44 And Christ did publickly blame the Pharisee for not giving him Water to Wash withall according to the Pharisees Orders and Impositions St. Peter positively determines against the Reconciler's Proposition not onely Categorically but also Vniversally commanding Submission and Obedience unto every Ordinance of the King and Governours which is not against the written word of Cod 1 St. Pet. 2.13.18 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him Eras Grot. in Loc. that is sent by God and the King such as are Magistrates in the State and Bishops in the Church all sent and set over the People by God and the King And in v. 18. of that Chapter St. Peter adds as the Whole Duty of Man this Injunction Fear God Honour the King Thereby plainly intimating unto us this excellent Truth scil That if we will not peaceably submit to every Ordinance of the King as to Things Indifferent but will become Mutinous and Rebellious and make a Schism and Faction in the Church and State by our Disobedience then notwithstanding our high Profession of Religion we neither Fear God nor Honour the King Secondly The Practice of the Primitive times of Christianity sufficiently Declares the Reconciler's Proposition as taken absolutely and simply in it self to be false In the First place if we consider the Authour of our Christian Religion Jesus Christ and his Practice we shall find That although Christ Instituted the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and commanded Bread and Wine to be used in the Celebration thereof Yet He even Christ left it to the prudence of the Governours of the Church to determine the things Indifferent in that Holy Sacrament As for instance He left it wholly to the Governours of the Church to determine what kind of Bread whether Barley Oaten or Wheaten whether fine or course whether as among the Jews at the Passover onely unleavened or leavened Bread As also what kind of Wine Red or White whether Wine onely or Wine mixed with Water as is the use of many Churches in Remembrance of Water and Bloud that issued out of Jesus his side on the Cross In like manner Christ determined nothing as to the Priests and Ministers Garments nor as to the Peoples Posture and Gesture whether Sitting Kneeling or Standing or Lying along at the Receiving of the Sacrament But he left these indifferent things wholly to the Determination of the Governours of every National Church And as Christ determined nothing in these particulars So neither did the Apostles nor does any part of the Canonical Scriptures Determine what Form and Liturgy what kind of Garments what Posture and Gesture the Priests and People shall use and observe in Divine Worship and in Receiving the Lord's Supper But leaves all such circumstances and things of Indifferency unto the Prudence of the Supreme Governours And therefore Counterm c. 4. p. 41. it is judiciously noted by the Countermine That although the Sacred Scriptures are a perfect Rule for Faith and Doctrine yet they do not lay down particular Rules for particular Discipline and Modes of Worship Nor do they determine that in such a particular Garment Posture or Way and in no other All Nations shall in the Sacrament or in Divine Worship serve God For God in his infinite Wisedom has left the Particular Rules of Discipline and Modes of Worship unto the Care Wisedom and Prudence of the Supreme Magistrate to determine Onely the Scriptures lay down certain General Rules which the Supreme Magistrate and all Imposers of Laws whether Civil or Ecclesiastick are bound in Conscience to observe such as 1. To enact and doe all things to the Glory of God 2. To doe all things with Decency and Order 3. To be Moderate towards all Men that is not to be bitter and wrathfull but meek and mild towards all men as far as Law and Reason will permit * Vid. Mr. Evans Excellent Discourse on the True Notion of Moderation Preached before the Lord Mayor of London with all Resolution and Firmness of Mind to hold fast the Form of sound words of Good Order and Discipline it being inconsistent with the Honour Trust and Dignity of the Superiours and Governours to be tost to and fro with every wind of Doctrine or Popular Persuasion This is the Moderation and these are the General Rules which the Scriptures injoyn the Legislatours to observe in their Impositions of things indifferent As for the Ancient Councils and Fathers they declare by their practice the Lawfulness and sometimes the Necessity of Imposing things Indifferent as Conditions of Church-Communion Take for instance The First Christian Council that ever was to wit that at Jerusalem where St. James Bishop of Jerusalem presided In which Abstention from the use of things Indifferent in themselves was Imposed Such as the Abstaining from Pollutions of Idols i.e. from Meats and Drinks offered to Idols and from things strangled and from bloud These things in themselves were good for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer 1 Tim. 4.4 And yet the Apostolical Council Imposed the Abstaining from the use of these things Good in themselves as necessary conditions of Church-Communion Act. 15.20 28 29. It is confessed That the Reconciler makes mention of this Apostolical Council at Jerusalem But in his Notes upon it he gives himself a shrewd Box on the Ear Prot. Recon c. 8. p. 302. p. 302. for his words are The things imposed by the Apostles were in their nature things Vnnecessary But yet for preservation of the Churches Peace and Union and for prevention of Scandal to the Believing Jews they were necessary to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion c. Now from the Reconciler's words we thus argue scil That if the Apostles did Impose things Vnnecessary and Indifferent when they saw it necessary for the Good i. e. for the Peace and Union of
to serve God after their own Desire And pray What Kingdom is there in the Christian World where by Law Greater Moderation and Clemency is shown than this These are some of the Good circumstances our Church and State are in at present And therefore for any man to desire that our present Laws especially those of Vniformity may be altered it is really to desire That our present Good State and Condition may be Altered especially in the Church whose Good and Welfare does and ought to go hand in hand with that of the State And although an Alteration of the Established Laws may possibly be for the better yet it is an hundred to one but such an Alteration may be infinitely for the worse if we duely consider the great Divisions Heats Animosities and Bloudy-Plots on foot among us and all under the Pretence of Reformation and of setting up a more holy and purer way of Worship than what is Established by Law And therefore these things considered it seems to be the wisest and safest way to keep our present Station and to be what we are that is Well and Prosperous Lest by Changing we prove to be otherwise that is Convulsive Sick and Vnsetled in both Church and State Secondly If we consider our present circumstances as to the Time we live in then in truth they are bad enough For our Church and State as now established have Enemies abroad and which is worse at home The times we live in are full of Deceit and Hypocrisie of Divisions and Distractions full of Plots and Treasons And these Clandestine Treasons are Hatched not onely by Papists but also by Dissenters So that our King and Governours have no real Friends no True Trojanes to Trust unto but onely the Episcopal Protestants of the Church of England whose Honour and Glory it is that they were never sound Guilty of any Treasons or Plots against their King and his Government And in truth it is impossible They should ever be Disloyal unless they shall renounce their own professed Principles and act contrary thereunto and then they would cease to be Episcopal Protestants Whereas on the other side it is impossible for the other Parties whether Papists or Dissenters ever to be constantly Loyal and Faithfull to the King and his Government if they shall continue to act according to their own professed Doctrines as has already been proved For Sinon will ever be a Sinon And if King Priamus shall hearken to his Advice Sinon will persuade him to break down Troy's Wall and let in the Trojan-Horse Nirgil Aen. l. 2. and then in the Night-time of Security Sinon contrary to his Vows and Promises his Plighted Faith and Troth Sinon will Betray the over-credulous King and the Coeci furore Citizens into the hands of the Grecians and set City and all into a Combustion And as my Lord Verulam observes the Wolf will ever be a Wolf though in Sheeps Clothing And the Fox will ever remain a Fox No Art nor Argument can ever prevail with the one to lay aside his Ravening and Cruelty Nor with the other to lay aside his Deceipt and Cunning. And therefore it can be no part of Prudence nor of Fidelity in the Shepherd to let either the Wolf or the Fox into the Fold among the Flock lest the Sheep and the Lambs become a prey to them both Wherefore Queen Elizabeth for the preservation of Peace and Good Order in Church and State and for the prevention of Errour Heresie and Schism did wisely make a strict Law for Vniformity and She Severely punished the Rebellious and Obstinate Offenders Notwithstanding their great and earnest Plea of tenderness of Conscience for their Non-Conformity And She hang'd some of the first Independents that ever were known to be in England Full. Hist l. 9. p. 169. such as Mr. Barrow Elias Thacker and John Coping for their Seditious and Treasonable Practices But to shew that she could be Mercifull as well as Severe she graciously pardoned Mr. Brown the Independent But our present Gratious King has in Acts of Mercy infinitely out-done Queen Elizabeth for he has saved from Death many of the Presbyterian and Independent-Regicides and has pardoned the whole Body of them for that and other their Treasons But because he found that they and the rest of their Dissenting-Brethren were restless and by their daily Separations made a Dangerous Schism in the Church and as Pernicious a Faction in the State setting up Church against Church Government against Government and thus rendring the Kingdom Divided Therefore was the King and Governours forced to make Laws to Restrain them and to bring all things into their Pristine Order and Vniformity And forasmuch as the Causes and Occasions of the said Laws of Vniformity are still in Being Therefore the said Laws themselves ought in Reason and Prudence to be continued and to stand still in their full force and power And if our King should execute the Laws of Vniformity with Rigour and Severity yet His Majesty would doe no more than what the Independents in New England have done for the Suppression of Dissenters among themselves For they Excommunicate and Banish all Anabaptists into Long-Island All Quakers into Road-Island or other parts and all Episcopal-Men they Expell their Territories And it is not to be forgot how Severely they dealt with Mr. Dunster the first Master of Harvey College in Cambridge in New-England whom the Independents first Excommunicated out of their Congregational-Church at Cambridge then deprived him of his Mastership and Expelled him the said College and after all they Banished him and his Wife out of their Dominions upon Suspicion of his being an Anabaptist or rather as some believe for his being an Arminian and for uttering some words in favour of the Church of England's Episcopacy Nor may we pass by their Severity towards two or three Quakers whom they Hang'd for returning after Banishment and for disturbing their Congregations in New-England Thus the Reader may see what Strict Laws the Dissenters where they have power do make for maintaining their own Ecclesiastick Orders and Impositions and how severely they execute them upon the Offenders And therefore neither the Dissenters nor the Reconciler have any Reason to complain of our King for want of an Indulgence and Condescention toward them when by executing His Laws for Conformity He does but give them their own Measure and does onely par pari referre Doe to them as they doe to others This being Granted We may now from the Premisses Rationally Conclude against the RECONCILER and his Proposition That Considering the Circumstances of Treason and Rebellion of Schisms and Factions our Church and State our King and Governours at present are Molested withall Therefore Things Indifferent ought the rather by Strict Laws of Uniformity and Conformity to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion FINIS