and curious Speculations but on the authority of Miracles which is so sensible an Argument that the meanest People understand it as well as the greatest Philosophers those Miracles which were wrought by Christ and his Apostles the knowledg of which is conveyed down to us in the Writings of the New Testament and which have been owned in all succeeding Ages of the Church till our days do as certainly prove the truth of that Religion which Christ and his Apostles taught as if we had heard God speak in an audible Voice from Heaven to us and this is a sufficient reason to believe whatever he has revealed though we cannot perfectly understand all the difficulties of it And when we have once embraced Christianity we have the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles to be the Rule of our Faith and Practice and therefore whatever is expresly forbid in those Writings every Man without any great skill in Controversy knows to be unlawful as being contrary to the revealed Will of God and by this means the plainest Country-man may understand the difference between Popery and Reformed Christianity the peculiar Doctrine of the Roman Church being expresly contrary to the Doctrine and Institutions of our Saviour for what can be more expresly contrary to the Gospel than worshipping Images praying to Saints and Angels praying in an unknown Tongue the half Communion where the Priest drinks the Wine by himself and gives nothing but a Wafer to the People these things require indeed great subtilty in the Church of Rome to defend them but may be understood and confuted by the plainest Man who is no Master of Subtilties But the Case is quite different in the Dispute between the Church of England and Dissenters we desire no more from them but to shew us where any one Doctrine or Practice of the Church of England is expresly condemned in Scripture or by such a natural and easy Consequence as every honest Man tho no Schoolman nor Philosopher may understand it Where do they find that the Office of a Bishop is Antichristian which has been continued in the Church ever since the Times of the Apostles and whose Successors they were if we will believe the Ancient Fathers Where do they read that a form of Prayer is unlawful when Christ himself gave a Form of Prayer to his Disciples and the Book of Psalms consists of an hundred and fifty Forms of Prayer and Praises which were used in their Publick Worship Where do they find that the Ceremonies of our Church are Idolatrous and Superstitious when they can produce no Text of Scripture where they are forbid unless they think that because God has forbid worshipping Images in the second Commandment therefore he has forbid all external Circumstances of Worship instituted for decency and Order which is so subtil a Consequence as will make a very Metaphysical Head ake to discover it Now when there is no direct and positive proof but Men argue wholly from some uncertain and far-fetcht Consequences How shall the common People who understood none of the artificial Laws of Reasoning judg of such Arguments It is possible indeed to make some terrible impressions upon their Fancies by great confidence and an uncouth sound of words which they understand not As that our Ceremonies are Symbolical that they are new Sacraments not meer Circumstances but parts of Worship Now how few are there of our Separatists who understand any thing of this talk How long time will they take to teach a Countryman who is not Book-learn'd what a Symbolical Ceremony is or to understand how our Ceremonies are transformed into Sacraments And yet whoever separates upon such Accounts as these without being able to understand the true meaning of those terrible Objections is most certainly a Schismatick And yet there is a great deal more than this to be known before Men can justify their Separations for suppose they should discover some Faults in our Constitution they must further inquire Whether these be only some tolerable Defects and Imperfections or whether they be Sins Whether they Pollute the Communicants and make Communion unlawful Whether they be only active or passive in it Whether supposing the wearing of a Surplice were superstitious all that are present at the Publick Prayers who disown such Superstition are yet guilty of it and must separate to preserve their Innocence and to declare their abomination of such Superstitions whether the Child who is signed with the sign of the Cross at Baptism be ever the worse for it or whether the Parents who dislike such a Ceremony sin in submitting their Children to it in Obedience to their Superiors or whether the Fault be theirs who enjoyn it These are Matters beyond the reach of every ordinary capacity to determine and therefore tho Separation were in it self lawful very few Men can separate lawfully 6. I shall add but one thing more with reference to the trial of these Mens honesty Whether they separate upon true Principles of Conscience and that is by considering how they behave themselves towards their Governors The Conscience of any honest Man especially when it dissents from Publick Constitutions is a very modest and peaceable Principle such Men think it very well if they have leave to dissent and quietly withdraw tho they have not leave to vilify the established Religion nor undermine publick Constitutions and tho they cannot obtain thus much favour but are persecuted for a good Conscience yet they suffer patiently after the Example of their great Master who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously But a Schismatick whose Conscience serves an Interest must miss of his end if he suffers patiently such are indeed as little in love with Sufferings as other Men but yet they love to have some pretence or other to make a great noise and clamour about their Sufferings as it is observed of the Schismatical Donatists that there were several Laws made against that by Theodosius the Emperor and tho none of those Laws were scarce ever executed yet they set up a mighty cry aggravated every little matter to cast an odium upon the Government complained that they were injuriously handled that their Cause was never fairly heard and determined by its intrinsick Merits but oppressed with Force and Power And how parallel this Story is to the case of some in these days I need not tell you I am sure there are a sort of Men who separate from our Church and for that reason are reckon'd among the Godly Party who take as little care to govern their Tongues or Pens tho St. Iames makes this the Character of a perfect Man as any Schsmaticks in the World ever did who neither express any regard to Princes nor to Truth and Honesty if they can but serve their Cause by casting dirt upon the Government or blasting the Reputation of vertuous and peaceable Men who will not
God or not when they think to please God by the bare external performance of them for whatever is external in Religion cannot be acceptable to God for it self In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature and Faith which worketh by Love and Obedience to the Commandments of God And to hope to please God with any thing else is to hope to flatter him and to compound with him for the breach of his Laws and the want of an inward vital Principle of Religion by external Hypocrisies and Superstitions But on the other hand we may be sure 1. That no Man can be guilty of Superstition who hopes to please God and obtain his Favour only by an Universal Righteousness and Holiness of Heart and Life Such a Man is truly Religious who endeavours to conform his Mind to the Divine Nature and Image and to frame his Conversation by the eternal Laws of Goodness he neither fears nor flatters the Deity as the Superstitious Man does but is the Son and the Friend of God and the external Expressions and Exercises of his Religion are fitted to the great ends of an Universal Holiness 2. That cannot be the matter of Superstition which is not made or judged an acceptable part of Divine Worship for Superstition can be only in such things wherein we hope to please God and this effectually justifies the Church of England from the charge of Superstition with respect to the External Rites of Worship which she declares to be no parts nor acts of Worship but such Circumstances and Ceremonies as make the external performance of the Acts of Worship decent and solemn and are useful to Edification to help Men to worship God better not to please God by such external Rites The third Accusation of the Worship of the Church of England is Idolatry a terrible and yet a ridiculous Charge But Idolatry is an odious Name and that is enough if there be those who are bold enough to say it they will be sure to find some of their Proselytes ignorant enough to believe it It is but calling the Common-Prayer Book and Ceremonies Idols and then they are plainly forbid in the Second Commandment But is there indeed no difference between worshipping God in a sober and pious form of words and worshipping a Graven Image No difference between wearing a Surplice and falling down to a Stock or Stone No difference between signing Children with the sign of the Cross and dedicating them to an Idol or false God Whither does a blind Zeal transport these Men I am sure this is much more like Blasphemy than any thing in our Worship is like Idolatry but such an Argument as this does not deserve to be answered nor such Men deserve to be reasoned with those who can abuse themselves and others with such formidable Nothings stand more in need of Physick than a sober Confutation 4. Another Accusation of the Worship of the Church of England is That it is Popery And so indeed it is as much Popery as it is Superstition and Idolatry And thus our Religious Princes and Godly Bishops are well rewarded for reforming Religion with infinite pains and labour and to their utmost peril It cost many Martyrs their Lives and would have made the Crown to shake had it not been secure by an Omnipotent Hand and All-seeing Providence and all this it seems for nothing for we are not got out of Babylon yet That Command still lies against the Church of England as our Ancestors believed it did against the Church of Rome Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you It is somewhat strange that God should suffer our Reformers who were so sincere and honest who spared no pains and feared no danger to purge the House of God to retain so much of the old Leaven as makes it unsafe for all good Christians to partake in such Worship And it is strange that the Papists should be such mortal Enemies to the Church of England which is so near a Kin to Rome and look so kindly upon our new Thorough-Reformers But I would desire these Men to tell me what Point of Popery is still retained in the Doctrine Government or Discipline of our Church O say they that is quickly done The very Office of Bishops is a Relique of Popery And if this be so then the whole Christian Church from the very first institution of it has been popishly affected for if we will allow the Apostles to have had an Episcopal Power and Authority we find no Christian Church without Bishops till the Reformation that is for 1500 Years and I confess I never thought Popery could have pleaded such Antiquity and early prescription That Supream and Soveraign Power which the Bishop of Rome challenges over all other Bishops and Secular Princes nay that uncontroulable Authority he challenges over the Laws of God and Institutions of our Saviour to change and alter them by his infallible Decrees when he pleases his absolute Power to forgive Sins and to dispose of Heaven and Hell is no doubt the Perfection of that Apostacy which was foretold should happen in the latter days and if our Bishops challenge any such Power to themselves I will own them to be Antichristian and Popish But we may see what admirable Reformers those are like to make who know not how to distinguish between an Apostolical Office and Antichristian Usurpations But the Common-Prayer Book is Popish I beseech you wherein as it is a Form of Prayer Then our Saviour taught Men Popery for he taught his Disciples to pray by a Form and the whole Book of Psalms must be ranck Popery which consists only of Forms of Prayer and Thanksgiving composed for the use of the Temple But is there any Remains of Popish Worship in our Liturgy are there any Prayers to Saints or Angels or the Virgin Mary Are our Prayers concealed from us in an unknown Tongue Do we not understand what we say what Petitions we put up to God Do you find the Sacrifice of the Mass or any Reliques of it in our Liturgy Thanks be to God for our Reforming Bishops and Martyrs who purged our Worship from all these Abominations But the Common-Prayer Book is taken out of the mass-Mass-Book and therefore it is but Popery still This I will in part grant but deny the Consequence for every thing in the mass-Mass-Book was not Popery unless you will say that the Creed Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer are parts of Popery The plain case is this You must consider the Church of Rome as a true Church corrupted and degenerated from its Primitive Institutions for we must acknowledg that the Church of Rome was not inferior in all Gifts and Graces to the most eminent Churches in the World in the Apostles days and several Ages after And therefore no wonder if in its greatest degeneracy it retained some small
witnesses of the decency and reverence of our Worship and this is the most plain and obvious sense of St. Paul's words For this cause ought the woman to have power over her head because of the Angels he was a discoursing the decency of mens praying uncovered and women covered because the woman ought to be in subjection to her husband and therefore it was undecent to appear with her head uncovered and much more so in religious Assemblies wherein we are to have a greater regard to decency because of the Angels that is those Angels who attend our Worship and carefully observe our behaviour though we do not see them and as St. Chrysostom sayes If we reverence men much more the Angels of God From whence we learn these two things that the Angels attend our Worship and that for that reason we ought to be very careful of all decency and gravity in our Worship And certainly did men heartily believe and seriously consider that God and his holy Angels look on and take special notice of every action and are greatly offended with a light and trifling carriage with any gestures or actions which unbecome so great a presence it would compose them to greater seriousness and devotion and either make them afraid to come to Church or more reverent when they do CHAP. III. Concerning the neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church A Nother great miscarriage which some are guilty of who do not forsake our Communion is a great neglect of the publick Prayers of the Church A great many come to Church when the Service is half read others when it is near a conclusion and think there is no great hurt in it neither if they do not lose the Sermon At other times when there is only the Divine Service read without a Sermon few persons think it worth their attendance but the Worship of God is exposed to contempt and the Minister laugh't at for reading to bare Walls and empty Seats These things I grant may happen sometimes where there is no designed neglect the mistake of time may occasion some persons coming late who want certain notice and on the Week-dayes necessary business may hinder others who are glad to take all the opportunities they can get of publick Worship but where there are not such reasonable excuses the fault is very great though few people are convinc't of it and therefore my business at present shall be to endeavour to convince you of the evil of this neglect 1. If you will acknowledge it your duty to worship God together in the Assemblies of Christians I need not multiply words to prove such a neglect of publick Prayers to be a great fault for they are the principal part of the Divine Worship there we confess our sins to God and beg his Pardon and receive a Ministerial Absolution from the mouth of his Minister there we praise him in divine Hymns and Anthems and put up our joint Petitions and Thanksgivings to him and this is properly divine Worship because it is our address to God in Supplications Prayers and Praises To hear the Word of God read or preached is so far an act of Worship too as it signifies an acknowledgement of his authority over us and our desire to be instructed by him but this is but a secondary act of Worship which consists in hearing God speak to us either immediately in his inspired Word or mediately by those men whom he has authorized and qualified for the instruction of his Church but the Worship of God properly consists in our offering something to God the Sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgivings which are highly pleasing to him when they are offered up by a devout soul in the name and merits of our great High Priest and Mediator Jesus Christ. So that those who neglect the Prayers of the Church neglect publick Worship and those who slight the opportunities of publick Prayers when there is no Sermon to invite their presence plainly discover that they prefer pleasing their curiosity with hearing some new discourse before the more solemn acts of Worship which is a great sign that they hear to very little purpose when the end of hearing is practice and the most excellent part of practical Religion is the immediate Worship of God 2. Because some men think they worship God sufficiently if they come time enough to Church to joyn in the Pulpit Prayer I would desire them to consider that Church Communion principally consists in joyning in the publick Prayers of the Church These men would not be thought nor do they intend to renounce the Communion of our Church and yet in effect do so while they neglect its publick Worship for Church Communion consists in meeting together for publick acts of Worship and then we joyn in the publick Worship of the Church when we worship God according to that Rule and Form prescribed by the publick Authority of the Church wherein we live The Prayer of the Minister before Sermon is not so expresly provided for by our Rubrick though it be favoured by a Canon made for that purpose and is now usefully introduced by long custome with the connivance if not the express allowance of our Governours but the Liturgy is the form of publick Worship and administration of Sacraments there the Church offers up more especially her publick Prayers and Praises this is the great bond of Church Communion and to neglect or withdraw our selves from this Worship is in effect to forsake the Communion of the Church as to the principal part and exercise of it When you joyn in the Pulpit Prayer though it be never so well composed grave and serious pious and ardent yet it looks more like the Worship of a particular Congregation than of the Church for you joyn only with those who are present at such a prayer but when we offer up our souls to God in that publick Form of Prayers prescribed by publick Authority we joyn with all the Congregations of England who at the same time offer up the same Prayers and Praises in the same words as if they were but one Congregation and had but one heart and mouth and those men do not understand the reason and nature of publick Worship who make light of this Why is the Worship of a Religious Assembly more acceptable to God than the private Devotions of good men when they might as well stay at home and about the same hour which in ancient times was observed for private as well as publick Devotion offer up their private Prayers to God for themselves and one another for God can hear them all where ever they are and their prayers may ascend up to Heaven together and this one would think should be as acceptable and prevalent as to pray to God in a great company and yet we see that our Saviour has instituted publick Assemblies for Worship has appointed his Ministers to offer up the publick prayers of the Congregation to God in his
name has confined his more peculiar presence and favour to such Assemblies and one great reason of this is that he is pleased with the unity and uniformity of Worship for he hath expresly promised that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them This is the fundamental Charter of Christian Assemblies and the reason of it certainly is stronger the more universal the consent and agreement is for if Christ will be present with two or three who assemble in Christian love and charity and agree to put up the same Petitions to God much more when so many Christian Churches are confederated in the same Worship and offer up the same Prayers and Thanksgivings to God in the same words How powerful will the united Prayers of a whole National Church be to procure those blessings for us which we want For if unity and consent in Worship be so pleasing to God the greater this consent is the more pleasing it must be Especially considering that in this case we have not only the consent and agreement of private Christians in such acts of Worship but are confederated by the publick authority of the Church and therefore such publick Worship has the beauty and advantages of publick Order and Government If the Prayers of a particular Minister of Religion be so prevalent how much more those Prayers which have the stamp of Church Authority which are the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church even when they are offered up by a single Minister which cannot so well be said of any Prayer of his own and if we believe that God is the God of Peace and Order in the Church we cannot but think it very acceptable to him to observe good order in our Religious Worship Did men seriously consider these things they would be soon sensible of the great advantage of such publick Forms of Prayer and prefer the Prayers of the Church before any Prayers of a private composition or any suddain extempore effusions For publick Prayers prescribed by publick Authority and offered up by a publick Minister are alwayes in the Communion of the Church and virtually contain the Desires and Petitions of the whole Church CHAP. IV. Concerning the publick Administration of Baptism ANother great miscarriage of those who live in the Communion of our Church concerns the administration of Baptism Publick Baptism is now very much grown out of fashion most people look upon it as a very needless and troublesome Ceremony to carry their Children to the publick Congregation there to be solemnly admitted by Baptism into the fellowship of Christs Church They think it may be as well done in a private Chamber as soon as the Child is born with little company and with little noise As prevailing as this custom now is it is of a very late date even in this Church It seems to owe its original to the disputes about Ceremonies for when some men scrupled God-Fathers and God-Mothers and the use of the Sign of the Cross to avoid this they baptized their Children privately at home without either when they could meet with such a conscientious Conformist as could dispense with his Rule And when the Church of England was pulled down and the use of the Liturgy and Ceremonies forbid those who still retained their reverence and obedience to the Constitutions of the Church and would not partake in a prevailing Schism were forced to retire into private too and to baptize their Children at home and it is a hard thing to break a custome upon what occasion soever it was at first begun That which necessity occasioned is continued by some as a piece of State by others to save charge and trouble which might be much better saved by publick Baptism by others out of softness and tenderness a kind and indulgent Mother dares not expose a young Infant to the cold Air unless it be to send it to nurse I could never hear any thing pleaded for this practice that deserved an answer that which makes this custom prevail is that men do not consider the great decency and fitness and the many advantages of publick Baptism which I shall therefore now briefly represent By publick Baptism I mean that which is administred in the publick Congregation and in the publick place of Worship and the fitness and advantage of this will appear if we consider some few things 1. That Baptism is our solemn admission into the Christian Church and therefore ought to be administred in the publick Congregation Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ and unites us to the society of Christians and therefore is of a publick nature and therefore ought to be administred publickly For there is no other rule I know of whereby to determine the manner and circumstances of any action but to consider the nature of it there are some actions which are more proper to be done in private others which require some publick solemnities and it is as undecent to do a publick action i. e. an action of a publick nature privately as it is to do a private action in publick Now that is certainly of a publick nature which concerns a who'e society and such is the admission of Church-members and therefore ought to be done in the presence as well as by the authority of the Church The efficacy indeed of Baptism depends upon the Institution of Christ and therefore when it is rightly administred does not lose its vertue for want of some due circumstances but it is a great fault in those who wilfully and obstinately refuse to give all Christian offices their due solemnity 2. We may consider that Baptism contains a publick profession of our faith in Christ it is a publick owning of his Religion no adult person was ever admitted to Baptism without a profession of his faith in Christ in allusion to which as Learned Men think St. Peter calls Baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God The person to be baptized being examined about his faith in Christ and resolutions of obeying him Now the profession of our faith the more publick it is the more agreeable is it to the nature of Baptism and the constitution of the Christian Church which is a visible Society professing the faith of Christ and though indeed Infants who are baptized are not capable of making such a publick profession of their faith yet their Sponsors and Sureties are who undertake for their education in the Christian faith and certainly the publick Church is the most proper place for such a publick profession To baptize our Children privately looks as if we were ashamed of the Christian profession and there is not a more effectual way to root out Christianity than to destroy