are the more knowing and judicious and of best repute among them either for Piety or Learning and it will be found that they have more Books of Church of England Divines and other forraign Divines who own Communion with her than of any others And yet for all this shall I be so uncharitably judged and my Friends who go along with me as a sort of Apostates and as having bad Ends and Designs and as some of them I hear suggest against me that I do it for a Living I pray God forgive their uncharitable Judgment I neither was nor yet am so hard put to it for a worldly Living as some imagine and as others wish and desire I mean of my Adversaries among the Quakers who have Prophecied of my outward as well as inward Ruine and longed to have their false Prophecies accomplished against me but God hath hitherto disappointed them and preserved me and mine from Ruine both inwardly and outwardly for which I bless his Name and I hope he will preserve me to the End Why should the Expectation of a Living incline me more to the Church of England than to the Dissenters Had I joyned with them I might have got a Living among them perhaps more plentiful by the Peoples Gratuities than by a Set maintenance in the Church of England Which last way of living I think is the more Honourable and less obnoxious to many great Temptations and every way as suitable to the Gospel I find that the Church of God in Scripture is compared to an Army whose Captain is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ called the Captain of our Salvation Now suppose there were two Armies in the Field the one very great and numerous the other far less in Number as suppose the one Thirty thousand the other Ten pray tell me whether it is not more safe for us all who are concerned in one common Cause against the common Enemy to keep within the Body of the Army then in several Parties to straggle and keep asunder from it or Entrench by themselves The like is our present Case both the Church of England and all called Protestant Dessenters profess to be concerned in one common Cause against Papists Turks and Jews Deists and Atheists and others guilty of vile Heresies in a Spiritual Warfare Is it not therefore more prudent and safe to unite together in one Body of Christian Society and Communion against the common Enemy that we may be the stronger especially seeing the differences betwixt the Church of England and the more judicious and moderate of the Dissenters are not in any Materials either of Doctrine or Worship but the very same as they have Confessed Have not these Divisions and Separations had bad Effects weakned the Protestant Interest strengthned the Papists yea and Deists and Atheists and loose and scandalous Persons who take occasion to say there is no true Religion on either side by observing the great Heats and Annimosities and bitter Prejudices of the differing Parties I will now come to answer what I think they will object mainly against my Reason above given They will tell us that if the parity or equality on both Sides were the same my Reason would be good but they will alledge there is a great disparity and inequality the Dissenters having the Advantage in several Particulars as 1st in Doctrines 2dly in manner of Worship 3dly Administration of the Sacraments 4thly Church Governments which say the Dissenters is more agreeable to Scripture among them than in the Church of England To every one of which I think to say something as briefly as I can And First as to the Doctrine as touching the Articles of Faith the Quakers excepted they profess to be one with the Church of England and have signed or profess themselves willing to sign to her Articles Secondly as to the manner of Worship which the Dissenters contend for should be wholly by an extempore Gift of the Spirit whereas the Church of England though she alloweth that Ministers before and after Sermon may Pray without a Set Form either read or repeated from the bare Memory by using their sanctified Parts and Gifts of Understanding to Conceive Prayer by the Help of the Spirit yet She is not only for the Lawfulness of Set Forms of Prayer composed by Pious Men of Spiritual Abilities both ancient and late but for the great Conveniency and Profitableness of them yea and Necessity of them in many respects in the Publick Worship of God leaving every one to their Christian Freedom whether to use or not use Set Forms in their Closet and Private Devotions But to this I say The most Pious as well as Judicious whom the Dissenters esteem so and repute as their Fathers and others that repute them not so yet will allow that they were very holy and spiritual Men have owned the Lawfulness of Set Forms of Prayer yea not only the Lawfulness but the great Conveniency and Necessity of them in the Publick Worship of God Calvin one of the most famous of the Protestant Reformers was for them as I proved to you some time ago Quod ad formulam precum c. As to the Form of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites Note that I greatly approve that it be certain from which it may not be lawful for Pastors to depart in their Function both to guard against the Simplicity and Unskilfulness of some and also that the Consent of all the Churches among themselves may be more certainly known And lastly to Put a Check to the insolent Liberty of some who affect certain Innovations So then it behoveth there be a Set or fixed Catechism a Set Admininistration of Sacraments also a Set Form of Prayers out of his express words in his Letter to the Protector of England Epist 87. The Protestant Churches abroad in Germany Holland Poland Sweden Denmark and France from the beginning of the Reformation to this very day have used Set Forms of Prayer and Thanksgiving in their Publick Worship And yet I think the Dissenters here will not conclude that their Worship was wholly carnal dead and without Life or Spirit as many of them do now argue against the publick Prayers of the Church of England The Life and Spirituality of Prayer doth not consist in the Mode or Form of the words whether Set or Extempore say all sound and judicious Christians but in the Purity and Fervour of the Affections And therefore an Extempore Prayer may be very Formal dead and dry and a Prayer in a Set Form may be very lively powerful and effectual as the experience of Thousands daily confirm And suppose the Dissenters would be so uncharitable to judge that Calvin's Prayers at Geneva in Set Forms and Luther's in Wittenberg and all the other Protestants Prayers in Set Forms were barely Formal Carnal Dead and Dry and the blessed Protestants Prayers who died Martyrs in Queen Mary's Reign that used Set Forms yea many of these now in use which would
be great uncharitableness Will they dare to judge so of the publick Prayers of the Church of Christ that were in Set Forms in the purest Times of Primitive Christianity from the days of the Apostles in the Three First Centuries as is evident from Church History before Popery was heard of in the World Or will they be so uncharitable to Censure the publick Prayers of the Jewish Church in her best and purest Times who had Set Forms of Worship both for Prayer and Thanksgiving And that it was the constant manner of the Jewish Church to have a Part of the Publick Worship with the Priests joining with them in Vocal Prayer with their Mouths and Lips Both in Prayer and Thanksgiving is clear from many places of Scripture in the Old Testament where no doubt their Assemblies both in the Temple and Synagogues consisted of a great mixture of good and bad Sincere and Hypocritical see Psal 50. 15 16. This was spoken not to Priests only but to the People and Isai 29. 13. where the Lord blam'd not the People simply for drawing near to God with their Mouth and honouring him with their Lips but that while they did give him that outward Part of Worship they had removed their Heart far from him and gave him not the internal as well as the external Part of Worship the internal being as the Soul and the external as the Body of it This clearly shews what the manner of their Publick Worship then was and that the People that assembled did really Pray Vocally with the Priests and that they did Offer unto God the Calves of their Lips according to Hos 14. 2. And in like manner the Christians in their Assemblies are commanded to Offer up unto God the Fruit of their Lips Heb. 13. 15. and though the Sacrifice of Praise is there only mentioned yet no doubt Prayer is also understood and is as real a Duty for the People to practise as that of Praise and if People may Sing with the Spirit and yet use Set Forms as they do in Singing David's Psalms in Publick Congregations all of them some Anabaptists excepted why may they not Pray with the Spirit in Set Forms If the Set Form quench not the Spirit in Singing why should it be supposed to do it in Praying It is indeed one of the chiefest Reasons that perswade me that in the Publick Worship of God Set Forms are necessary because the People ought to have a Part of the external Worship as well as the internal by Confessing Praying and giving thanks in Common with their Mouths and Lips as in believing in one Common Faith with their Hearts being a holy Priesthood unto God 1 Pet. 2. 5. And whereas they say the Ministers Mouth when he Prays is the Peoples Mouth unto God in Publick Prayer As this is allowed that sometimes so it is but to say it is always and must be always so is without ground yea is hurtful and prejudicial for so as God is denied that external Service from the People that is due to him of Adoration the People is deprived of that which is their Priviledge and a great Benefit unto them to speak unto God by themselves and not by a Proxy always when they Pray And if Prayer with the Mouth be a Duty in Private for all Christian People it is no less a Duty or rather much more in Publick We are Commanded to Confess with the Mouth as well as Believe with our Heart to hold fast the Profession of our Faith the Greek word in both places signifies a joint Confession simul dicere to say together How should we know one anothers Faith that we hold it fast but by holding fast the Profession of it in joining together in the Christian Assemblies Vocally and with word of Mouth to Confess what we Believe as we are Commanded and as with one Mind so with one Mouth to Glorifie God Rom. 15. 6. This one Mind is the Consent and Harmony of many Minds and therefore the one Mouth is not one simple Mouth of the Minister no more than it is one single Mind of the Minister but the Consent and Harmony of many Mouths even of the whole Congregation There is a greater Advantage and Benefit in Vocal Prayer by the Organs of Speech when duly performed both in Private and Publick than many do well understand and especially in Publick both for their own good and the good of others Although our Prayers neither Vocal nor Mental move God properly speaking yet they move our selves and others and if the Spirit of God assist in our Vocal Prayers as we have cause to believe he doth so assist all good Christians though not in that manner as he did the Prophets that Motion kindles a Celestial Fire both in our selves and others that hear us and if one Mouth so divinely moved kindles a little many Mouths so moved will kindle a great deal St. James tells us the Tongues of wicked Men are set on the Fire of Hell and that one Tongue is like a little Spark of Fire that kindles a great matter James 3. 5. And why may not we as well conclude that the Tongues of Godly Men are enkindled with Fire from Heaven Yea it stands with good reason that Holy Angels who are present in the Assemblies of the Faithful are moved with the Vocal Prayers and Praises of the Faithful in the Church whereby they know our inward States and Thoughts as Men know our Thoughts by our Words when we sincerely express them for Angels know not our Thoughts immediately but mediately either by audible words or by some soft and gentle motion of our bodily Organs of Speech Also it stands with good reason from Scripture Authority that our blessed Mediatour Jesus Christ not as he is God but as he is Man in our Nature now in Heaven glorified is really moved and affected with the Prayers both Mental and Vocal of the Faithful Heb. 4. 15. We find in the Revelations that after the four Living Creatures i. e. the Body of the Church had sung together their Antheme the Twenty Four Elders i. e. the Governours answered with their Antiphone and the Angels answered both with theirs Rev. 4. 8 9 10. compared with Rev. 5. from ver 8. to 12. Now if the People in the Publick Worship should have a Part joining in Vocal Prayer and Thanksgiving with the Minister and answering him sometimes by saying Amen sometimes by other fit and suitable words this must needs be in Set Forms that both are agreed in and know beforehand otherwise either the People must be tied to his Form which however Extempore to him and free yet to them is a Limitation and Restriction as much and much less safe than to be tied to a Form they had formerly known and been acquainted with or else we must suppose a Miracle to be wrought every time they Pray Vocally together If every of them or any two of them Pray extempore in the
same Form of words without receiving it the one from the other To plead for using a new Form or Method of words in Prayer every time that Men Pray is as improper and impertinent as to plead that every time we Eat we must have a new Dish or Platter to Eat out of and every time we drink we must have a new Cup to drink out of and if every day yea as oft every day as we Pray we must use a new extempore Form we may as well plead every day we must several times each day put on New Shoes and New Apparel which as it would be great waste so would it be very uneasie The method of words in Prayer whether extempore or in a Set Form is as remote an Accident to the substance of Prayer either for Matter or Life as a Dish or a Platter is to the Meat put into it or a Cup to the Drink that is in it the same Meat may be as good as when put into another Dish and the Drink as good as in another Cup and as several Habits of Garments may suit the same Person so several Forms of Prayer with respect to the external Form may suit the same Prayer both as to Matter and Life As Grace doth sometimes cause a variety in our words of Prayer when the Matter is the same so meer humane Art can and doth most frequently cause a variety for by meer humane Art six words can be varied some hundreds of times and yet the matter remain the same It is therefore a great mistake in many who think they who pray in greatest variety of words and modes of expression they Pray most by the Spirit or with Grace for as it can be done by meer Art without Grace so it frequently is so done and thereby many are greatly deceived especially when it is Varnished with great seeming shews of Fervour by gestures and tones that move and stir the natural and animal Passions and Affections But I remember I have heard two or three things objected by some against the matter of Common Prayer 1. Where the People say There is no Health in us But that is no more offensive then what the Scripture saith That it is not in Man̄ to direct his Steps i. e. It is not in Man as of himself but of the Lord so there is no health in us nor in any Man but what is of God and Christ It is not in us originally but by derivation and participation from God and Christ in whom all fullness dwells and of whose fullness we all receive and Grace for Grace 2. That they still are praying from Seven to Seventy Lord be merciful to us miserable Offenders but this I think is only made by the Quakers all others confess that they are Sinners and consequently as in themselves miserable and continually needing God's mercy for as St. James said in many things we offend all and as St. John saith if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves but if we confess our Sins c. The Church of God in all Ages have confessed their Sins and the holiest Men have done so as Daniel Esdras c. The great remission of Sins in the most solemn and publick manner is reserved to the day of Judgment that great day of Assise what remission the best now have is but like the Criminal's Pardon from the King that he has by himself in secret that is not so Authentick till it be proclaimed in open Court at the Assise 3. Some object against that expression in the Common Prayer We are tied and bound with the chain of our Sins But I think none of the Dissenters the Quakers excepted can well so object many of whom commonly in their Prayers say They must carry about with them a Body of Sin and Death to the Grave which I think is more then what is here objected against I think it were more safe and warrantable according to Scripture to say that some remainders of Sin remain in the Faithful especially with respect to the Original Defilement by Adam's Fall as also with respect to some remaining part of those Habits of Sin we had contracted by our actual Transgressions than that the Body of Sin remains in them if they understand it of the whole Body or Complex of vitious Habits contracted by actual Sins which the Saints are said to have put off by Regeneration as when the Body or Bulk of a great Tree is cut down with its Boughs Branches Twigs and Bearers yet the Stump and Root or some part of it remains in the Ground which if due care be not taken continually to mortify suppress and subdue would spring up again to which that in Hebr. 12. 15. seems plainly to refer and with respect to such a remaining Part root or seed of Sin in the Faithful it is said by St. John 1 John 1. 8. If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us This remainder of Sin God hath seen meet to suffer to remain in the Faithful though he pardoneth the Guilt of it and hath promised to give them sufficiency of his Grace whereby still they may be able to mortify and subdue it for the tryal of their Faith and the Exercise of both their Faith and all other their Graces and Virtues in the way of Spiritual Conflict and Warfare against three grand Enemies the Devil the World and the Flesh that so through the Victory that the Faithful obtain by the Victorious Power of God's Grace their Reward may be the greater which yet is still the Free Gift of God according to 2 Tim. 2. 5. And if a Man also strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully Not that Sin either in less or more is any proper Cause of the increase of our Virtues yet as in natural Effects one natural Agent commonly works the more powerfully in the presence of a contrary Agent if that contrary Agent be not too powerful its Agency serving but to excite the other the more effectually against it as Heat is increased by Cold and a little Water cast into Fire increaseth the Flame Now that this remaining part root or seed of Sin with what other is contracted by the daily indeliberate and for the most part involuntary infirmities that the Faithful are obnoxious to may be said to be a Chain whereby they are tied and bound in part though as to the main they are loosed and set free from the reign and prevalency of Sin by the virtue and prevalency of God's Grace as when a Man that has been bound Hands and Feet and in his whole Body by strong Fetters of Iron is loosed from the greatest and heaviest of them in his whole Body and Members yet some less Chain or Chains remain that though they neither do nor can hinder his acting and walking yet do in part incommode and retard him This is fitly represented by what is reported
A SERMON Preach'd at TURNERS-HALL The 5 th of MAY 1700. By GEORGE KEITH In which he gave an Account of his joyning in Communion with the Church of England With some Additions and Enlargements made by Himself LONDON Printed by W. Bowyer for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil and Char. Brome at the Gun at the West-End of St. Paul's Church-yard 1700. Mr. KEITH's LAST SERMON AT TURNERS-HALL MAY the 5 th 1700. 1 PETER iii. 16. Having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good Conversation in Christ THE last Lord's Day I made the former Verse of this Chapter the Subject of what I then said in this Place which I shall not repeat only let me put you in mind that I told you who were then present That it was the Duty of every one who professeth himself to be a Christian to be ready to give to every Man that asketh him a Reason of the Hope that is in him Under which Term Hope by a Synecdoche of a part for the whole is comprehended and understood our whole Faith and Religion and all our religious Actions and Performances for all which as we ought to be able to give a Reason or Ground why we so believe hope act and why we so profess to our own Hearts and Consciences so we ought also to be able and ready to give the like Reason or Ground of the same to others that ask it of us which yet suffers some Limitation that I shall not now repeat to the end that by the same they may be convinced to embrace the same way with us as God is pleased to make us instrumental by the Operation of his Holy Spirit to produce that effect or at least to put to silence their unjust Clamours against us But the chief thing is with good Reason to be persuaded in our own Consciences that what we so believe hope or act is true and right is approved in the sight of God and in that we shall have Peace In the opening of the Words of this 16th Verse I purpose to answer these three Questions I. What Conscience is II. What a good Conscience is and how a good Conscience is distinguished from an evil Conscience III. What the Rule of a good Conscience is according to which it ought to be directed and guided To the first I answer Conscience is that Power or Faculty of our reasonable Soul or Mind that can and doth reflect on our Thoughts Words and Deeds both present and past so as to judge and determine concerning them whether they be really or apparently right or wrong good or evil justifiable or reproveable Hence Rom. 2. 15. the Conscience of the Heathen or Gentiles is said to bear witness and their thoughts the mean while to accuse or excuse one another To the second I answer There are several things altogether necessary to denominate a Man's Conscience to be good 1. It must be an enlightned Conscience with a good measure of true Knowledge whereby to know what is right and good or wrong and evil An ignorant Conscience cannot be good 2. The Obedience of the Heart and Will of Man to what he is convinc'd of his Duty either to be believ'd or practis'd is necessary to denominate the Conscience to be a good Conscience for though true Conviction and Knowledge are necessary yet that alone without Obedience is not sufficient to denominate the Conscience to be good even though the Knowledge and Conviction come from the Spirit of God there must be a Consent and Harmony betwixt the Understanding and the Will to constitute and denominate the Conscience to be good 3. The Conscience that is purged and justified by the Blood of Christ even the Blood of his Cross that was outwardly shed through Faith in that Blood Rom. 3. 25. and where the Heart and Conscience and whole Soul and Body is sanctified by the Spirit of God and the inward work of Regeneration is known by the Spirit of God the Conscience only of such a Man is a good Conscience I say that the Conscience must be purged by the Blood of Christ that it may be good See Heb. 9. 13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God And the Faith which is in the Blood of Christ Rom. 3. 25. is wrought in us and generally in all who have it by means of the written Word that is to say by the Doctrine of Christ crucified and the spiritual Blessings we have by him as it is preached to us for as the Scripture saith Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word and that Word is the outward Word as it is in the mouth of the Preachers as it followeth in Rom. 10. 14. And how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach unless they be sent Hence the Word even the doctrinal Word is called the incorruptible Seâ—â— of which true Believers are regenerated and born again according to 1 Pet. 1. 23. And Christ in the Parable compar'd his Preaching to the People to the Husbandman that soweth his seed in the several sorts of ground Matth. 13. 3. There are a great * Among the Quakers many who think they have a good Conscience but they have no need of this Blood of Christ nor of Faith in it they will have the Object of their Faith only within them they find no need of having the Conscience sprinkled by the Blood of Christ without them nay they argue against it as an impossible Notion not considering that this Sprinkling is spiritually by Faith and not by any material Application Also they have a wrong Notion of Faith they think they have no need of the written Word or any outward Means or Helps to have this Faith wrought in them The Spirit or Light within alone doth all the Light within them is sufficient to Salvation without any thing else the Light within them is whole Christ God and Man Flesh and Spirit and Bone They need no Christ without them nor no written Word without them they can Preach Pray Believe without Book without all outward Helps they need no Crutches as some argue against Forms of Prayer and call them Crutches to lame Persons which whole and sound Men need not So others make no more of the written Word the whole Doctrine of the Gospel as outwardly delivered us in the Holy Scriptures but as Crutches which they have no need of at all They will not allow of any written Word at all or any outward Word they ask where we find a written Word in Scripture I tell them I find it in John 15. 25. where Christ calleth a short