are consistent with Gods true Worship Communion in that Worship is to be declined But then the next question will be How we shall know what Worship is true and what is false And so what Worship it is that Communion in it is to be declined and what not Now that 's false Worship which is given to a wrong Object or to that which is not God And that again is false Worship tho given to God the right Object when that which is not true matter of Worship is given to him as matter of Worship But how shall we know when Worship is false in respect of the matter Worship is then false in respect of the matter when that is performed to God as required by him which is not so For so we are taught Mat. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men That 's a vain or false Worship when humane Ordinances are imposed and observed as the Commands of God and this is the adding to his Word also which is forbidden Deut. 4.2 But then there is a great difference between these and the use of things in or about Gods Worship which are not of the Essence of it nor used under the Notion of being commanded by God but professedly used as things indifferent in their own nature and only as matters of Humane Prudence and for this reason cannot justly be charged to be false Worship There is a great difference likewise between the Essence of Worship and the Accidents of it between the matter and substance of it and the circumstances of external administration There is not the liberty of varying in the one as there is in the other As for instance we are not left at like liberty in the choice of the Object and matter of Prayer and Thanksgiving as we are in the external manner of address nor limited by expressness of Rule in the one as we are in the other We are expresly commanded to pray to God in the name of Christ and have express direction for all the substantial parts or matter of Prayer as Confession Supplication Petition Thanksgiving and Intercession but whether in a set Form or without whether with the use of a Book or without whether in one or more Prayers at a time or whether kneeling or standing is not determined but in these we are left at liberty to use or chuse as Circumstances shall direct or require And the like may be said concerning other parts of Gods Worship Baptism and the Lords Supper The Ordinances themselves are particularly commanded but so are not several Circumstances relating to the external administration of them but are left to the Prudence of Church Guides and Governours under general Rules And altho one way of external administration of Worship may be better than another and that may be chosen as best by such as have power of chusing which yet is not best in it self yet so long as it does not alter the nature of the Worship it self nor defeat the ends and uses to which an external administration serves it can by no means be duly esteemed to be false Worship The worst that can be said of such an administration of Worship which is not simply unlawful in it self but only inferiour in goodness unto the best is only this That it is inexpedient when a better might have been had if they had thought so by whom the choice was made Now suppose then that when the happy Work of National Reformation from Popery was laid and begun by the great Instruments of it whose memory is blessed and name precious to good men Suppose I say they may possibly have been mistaken in the betterness of some things in the external manner and form of administration of Publick Worship yet so long as such things do not amount unto any false Worship but are only Imperfections in the true the question will be Whether it be prudent and becoming good men in this case to seek amendment of those supposed defects in any other way than in the same National course of proceeding by which the Reformation was first wrought And the reason is 1. Because God hath owned this way of Reformation by declaring Nations upon account of it to be his Kingdoms which we cannot say he hath done upon account of any Reformation wrought in them any other way without this 2. Because when such a Reformation is attempted in a Nation already reformed in opposition to the Reformation established by Law it cannot reasonably be expected but that more hurt will be done thereby than good obtained as we have found by sad experience in this Nation For by this means a Nation comes to be divided against it self Party against Party to the engendering disaffection envying and strife and where these are there is as St. James hath told us confusion and every evil work And by this means there is a very sensible decay and loss of that wherein the very life and spirit of Religion in men lies But the Reformation in the external part of Worship which is sought after in this extraordinary way is in things but of such a nature as wherein the life and spirit of Religion in men is little concerned one way or other either as to loss or gain And therefore to chuse to seek this sort of Reformation in such a way as by which the loss was likely to be far greater than the gain and has since proved to be so is a thing doubtless which cannot become the wisdom of good men Now that the Reformation in the external part of Worship which is pursued in the extraordinary and undue way we speak of is in things but of such a nature as wherein the spirit and life of Religion in men is little concerned one way or other as to loss or gain appears by this viz. Because there have been and are very many who have lived under the use of that external Mode of Worship without any such Reformation of it as is contended for in whom the spirit and life of Religion has been found as much as may well be presumed as in any other who have used any other Mode of Worship different from it Not that I am against mens seeking that which they apprehend to be best in these matters provided it be in the National way and in such a manner as that more hurt be not done by the way and manner of seeking it than good can be acquired in their way of obtaining it by separation 3. It is becoming rhe wisdom of good men to seek the amendment they desire by complying as far as they can with what is already established because by so doing and by seasonable and humble application to the Legislative Powers of the Nation they may in all reason sooner obtain what is reasonable and meet to be granted than by separating from it and setting up another way in opposition to it And the reason is because the one is apt to beget a
or their doing more to accomplish it than the Law or Government under which they are allows them For otherwise it is not seditious I conceive for men to endeavour to get any thing amiss in the Government to be altered in a regular way that is in such a way as the Government or publick Constitution allows I need not say how much the two bonds the one of Peace the other of Charity is broken by this sort of Division which is accompanied either with Faction or Sedition nor how great the Schism is that is made thereby But this is certain that a Division of this kind cannot be without much envying and strife and where these are there is confusion and every evil work as St. James hath told us Chap. 3.16 4. Another sort of division in the Church is that which is made by an unjust Separation of one part of the Catholick Church from another in the business of their Communion in their solemn Worship And this is a division of a very high nature indeed especially when it is accompanied with the third sort of Division before insisted on For if such a Division be unjustly made it is point blank contrary to the Unity of the Spirit that is contrary to the Unity of Communion among Christians which was taught and practised by men inspired by the Spirit in reference both to solemn Worship and Christian Fellowship as has been formerly explained By such a Division the Churches peace is broken with a high hand great offence being thereby taken at others and cause of offence given to them and a wide gap opened for debate strife contention and confusion to enter in to a dreadful destruction of Charity the spirit and life of Christianity without which Faith it self is dead and all other religious performances little available It concerns us greatly therefore and some men more especially very diligently to inquire how far the Divisions and Separations that do abound in our days and in this Nation are unjustly or justly made To do which I do not know a more compendious way than to enquire into the nature of our National Constitution about Gods publick Worship and the power of giving being to it and how far we are obliged to observe it That such National Constitutions as have been made in several Nations for reformation from Popery and for the establishing of the Reformed Religion and Worship in the room of it since the beginning of the Reformation has been so far approved of by God as that he does reckon and esteem those Nations his Kingdoms upon that account I have found as I conceive in our twelfth Inquiry Which with what else is there produced and argued for the usefulness of such National Constitutions I take to be ground sufficient to authorize a National authority in such an undertaking Now when ever the forming of such National Constitution is undertaken by them to whom it does belong they must needs find that tho the Essentials and substance of all divine Worship is expresly and particularly set down in Scripture yet there are several Circumstances and Accidents of Worship which pertain to the external administration of the substance which are not otherwise determined in Scripture than by general Rules as that Edification Order and Decency be always observed in the choice of such things as are not particularly determined and set down in Scripture Such are those I instanced in in another of our Inquiries concerning Prayer tho all the substantial parts of it are determined in Scripture yet we are no where limited to pray with a set Form nor without one to use or not to use book-Book-prayer to kneel or to stand in Praying nor directed whether in the Publick Worship there shall be several distinct and short Prayers used for several things or whether all Prayer matter fit for a publick Assembly shall be comprised in one or more longer Prayers And the like may be said touching several external Circumstances that are to be used in all other parts of Publick Worship This being the case it will necessarily fall under the consideration of those who are imployed in the forming a publick Constitution for Worship which of these will tend most to the Peace Unity and Edisication of the Church and to Decency and Order whether to leave all aside termined Circumstances of Worship to every ones choice who are to administer the holy things or in these things to chuse for them and to determine by an Ecclesiastical Constitution what shall be observed Suppose we then that upon serious consideration and consultation they come to be fully persuaded in their own minds that to leave all both Ministers and People to their own choice in such undetermined Circumstances in Gods Publick Worship would tend to great Division Disorder and Confusion as it did in the late times of general Liberty and that then we should have one opposing another in their different ways and making of Parties one against another to endless branglements and to the eating out the heart and life of true Religion And suppose also that upon such considerations as these they come to a resolution to determine all undetermined Circumstances of Publick Worship by the use of a Liturgy except only what is to be performed in the Pulpit as that which tends most in their Judgment to Peace Unity Edification Order and Decency And when they have gone thus far in general they will necessarily be led to proceed in the next place to the choice of particular Circumstances of administration of the several parts of Publick Worship In which it is to be presumed they govern themselves according to the best of their understanding by those general Rules which direct all things to be done for Edification Order and Decency And when they have done so and brought things to the best issue they could yet considering that all men and the best of men are fallible it is not unlikely but that they may be mistaken in some things and that such and such a Circumstance or Mode of administration of Worship would have better and more fully agreed with the general Rules than those they have made choice of But yet if their failings and and mistakes therein do not extend to the corrupting of Gods Worship in the Essence or substance of it but only to the ordering of some less useful Circumstances to be observed in the external manner of performance of that Worship there will be no just cause of separating from Communion in it upon that account For those who separate from Communion in the Worship which is every Lords day performed in our Parochial Assemblies according to our Liturgy are obliged to prove one of these two things against it if they would justifie their separation from it Either first that the Worship is corrupt in the Essence or substance of it or secondly that the faults or defects in the External manner of performance of it are such as do fall short of and
the Parts of the Sacrifice should be laid upon the Wood. And besides all this there were Laws directing how the Priests should be Accoutred in their Ministration as of what and after what manner and fashion their Garments should be made and when put on and when put off And I might instance in many like things in other cases But now in the New Testament it is far otherwise There we are directed indeed in the Substance and Spiritual Nature of Divine Worship and what is essential to it But as for the External circumstances of Administration thereof we have very little of particular direction therein but the Church in those things is left for the most part to guide and determin her self and her own actions by general Rules such as Edification Peace and Order and such External signs of Reverence and Devotion as Natural Religion will direct men in And indeed there is so little of particular direction in these things as that there is no sort of Christians however distinguished but do more and are under a necessity of doing more in the External manner of Worship than there is particular direction for in Scripture There is a command for Baptising Disciples in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost but no particular direction what Prayer shall be made or what Instruction shall be given at the Administration of Baptism nor after what manner or form the Party Baptised shall by himself or Parents enter into Covenant with God The like may be said touching the Lords Supper there is no particular direction what Prayers shall be made or Instruction given or Exhortation made at the Administration of it nor after what manner the Elements are to be Consecrated otherwise than by reciting the words of Institution nor how in particular the Cup is to be Blessed nor what Gesture shall be used nor when and how often it shall be Received In these things Churches in several Nations may and do vary more or less and yet all is well done so long as they keep to general Rule which may be observed and kept to in these and other Ordinances of Worship under several different Circumstances and this none can deny And so far publick Prayer tho' we have particular Rules for the matter of it and to whom and in whose Name to be made and likewise for the Internal manner yet as to the External manner and circumstances save that of being made in a known Tongue as whether it shall be made in a set Form or without except the direction given for the use of the Lords Prayer or whether with the use of a Book or without it or whether kneeling or standing or how many shall be made at one Church Assembly these things are not particularly determined one way or other but are left to the prudence of men to use one or another according as the exigence of Circumstances shall require or their Governors order And if our Blessed Saviour had not intended to have allowed such a liberty in the choice of External Circumstances of Worship we cannot in reason but think he would have been as particular in determining them as he has been in the matter and substance of Worship it self which yet we see he has not been For he could not but know it impossible for all Church Guides not immediately inspired tho' otherwise never so wise and good to pitch upon the self-same Circumstances of Administration where they have only general Rules to Guide them in their Choice And accordingly experience shews that among good men some have thought such and such Circumstances of Worship best to agree with general Rules when others as good as they have thought others to do so And tho' in such cases both cannot be best under the same Circumstances of things yet that which is not best in it self may be best to be used as Circumstances may fall out as when that which is not best cannot be refused without a greater inconvenience than the use of that rather than a better does amount to Our Blessed Saviour then having left his People at so much liberty in the choice of External Circumstances of Worship as we see he has it argues sufficiently that the use of different Circumstantial modes of Worship is not at all displeasing unto him so long as they agree with the general Rule especially when the avoiding of a Breach and the preservation of Peace Vnity and good Will in the Church does influence the choice If there be then such a liberty left by Christ unto his Church of using different Circumstantial modes of Worship so long as they answer to the general Rule as none can with any colour of reason deny but there is then it cannot but be a great abuse of this liberty for Christians so to contend for one of these Circumstantial modes of Worship in opposition to the other as to separate and break Communion about it and thereby to involve the Church in unpeaceable strife and contention disaffection and feuds When it is but matter of liberty to use one or another and not matter of indispensable Duty to use one only and not the other it cannot but be an abuse of such a liberty to make use of it to a publick hurt to the Church The making use of that which is but only matter of liberty when to do so causeth a Brother to offend is severely condemned by St. Paul how much more then is the making use of such liberty to be blamed when it tends to a great and publick mischief in the Church St. Paul saith brethren ye have been called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another Gal. 5.13 That the using of this liberty we speak of has been an occasion for the flesh to show it self and play its part is sadly visible in that variance strife emulation and envying which has been caused thereby which are works of the flesh and such too that as St. Paul saith they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20 21. I know it will be said that if it be an abuse of liberty to contend so much for the use of one External way and manner of Worship when another is Lawful as well as that and when to do so tends to strife and division and the destruction of Charity then it must be alike abuse of liberty to impose the use of another when such an imposition is attended with the same or like evil or inconvenience as we see the imposition of that prescribed by the Liturgy is To this I shall say but these two things 1. If we should suppose this to be so as they object yet the abuse of a liberty one way by the Authors of such an imposition does not at all priviledge the abuse of a liberty by others in the contrary extream 2. The imposition they speak of is no necessary Cause of division and separation