FRIENDLY ADVICE TO PROTESTANTS OR AN ESSAY TOWARDS Comprehending and Uniting OF ALL PROTESTANT DISSENTERS TO THE Church of England HUMBLY Offer'd to the Consideration of this present PARLIAMENT as the best Expedient of this time to secure the Safety Honour and Welfare of the KING and Kingdom By a Sober Protestant LONDON Printed for Samuel Heyrick and are to be Sold at his Shop at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1680. TO THE Courteous Reader Courteous Reader I Intreat you to peruse with a mild a moderate and a Christian Temper these few sheets which have been thought fit to be recommended to the publick view as well to give a full prospect of the Jesuitical Designs against us and our Religion as to persuade our Brethren to that Vnity and Vniformity which will secure us against all their Hellish Attempts This Invitation will appear so much the more seasonable because we are yet threatned with strong Combinations with mighty Conspiracies with the Conjunction of Foreign Powers that promise to themselves the overthrow of Christ's Gospel and Truth amongst us Methinks that the greatness of the Common Danger in which we are all concern'd should Alarm us into a compliance with one another and oblige us to joyn to maintain that Profession which our Enemies joyntly strike at Methinks their Policy should teach us how to preserve our selves and cause us to unite also in Affections in Gods Worship in our Cares and Endeavours for the Publick Safety for the prevention of their mischievous purposes too much encouraged by our groundless and unreasonable Divisions In this juncture of time the Nations welfare and preservation hath such a dependency upon this Conjunction that we can never expect it without this reconciliation It is the Vnity of the people that will render us invincible and draw down upon our heads the Blessing of Heaven The safest Defence of States and Kingdoms It will establish Religion upon an unmoveable Basis and maintain the envied Hierarchy of our Church in the midst of all Disorders It will prevent many wicked Designs of the Pope and his bloody Agents and silence the jealousies and tumultuous fears that disturb our quiet In a word Vnity in Religion and Gods Worship will preserve the Nations Peace from Foreign Invasion and Intestine discords If therefore our Brethren of the same Religion who differ from us only in shadows would hearken at last to this Reconciliation and joyn with us at least in outward appearance If they would consent to lay aside all prejudice and partiality and banish from among us all names of dissention innumerable advantages would from thence proceed and this happy Conjunction would infallibly prove the most Invincible Bulwark of our Church and Nation against the malice of Hell and the Popes fury In order thereunto several particulars are here recommended to the publick view to dispose mens minds for this blessed unity in Religion and prepare them for a Cure But as there are distempers which the Patients frowardness and other circumstances will not suffer to be healed by every common Physitian the grand disease of our Nation is such that only the Wisdom of our Superiours can compleat the cure and close up our bleeding wounds torn and inlarged through our Enemies subtil practices Several endeavours have been formerly made for the same purpose but success hath not answered the expectations of good men because their Judicious and Religious proceedings have been frustrate as some imagin through the unseasonableness and sharpness of the Remedies or the untractableness of interessed persons or rather through the secret Plots of our busy Enemies who lay in our bosoms and had a finger in our actings of this nature But now these obstacles are partly removed now the greatness of our danger hath alarm'd many into a compliance with our Church and begot in us an earnest desire of a Conjunction we only wait for an Invitation and the perfecting of that Vnion which will render us and our posterity happy for ever I shall desire from all True Protestants a favourable acceptance of and a charitable construction to these my endeavours which I hope will prevail upon men of calm spirits and unbiassed judgments my zeal and affection for the service of my Country and for the preservation of the true Religion for which I have been a sufferer hath encouraged me to this Attempt Who knows but that these considerations that I here offer may prevail upon many may satisfie their doubting Consciences and oblige them to study for the future Vnity and Peace Who knows but that a Person though in a mean Station may contribute something towards that Blessed Work of Vniting us and our Brethren together For it is the usual Method of Divine Providence to make use of the unlikeliest Agents to bring to pass the great Designs and the noble effects of his Power and Wisdome that the Glory might be ascribed to him alone and that none might partake with him in that which is all his due I beseech the God of all Wisdom Vnity and Peace to unite us all together to reconcile our differences te enlighten our understandings with his Truth sanctifie our wills and affections with his Spirit of Love I beseech His Divine Majesty to preserve in health and prosperity our gracious and religious King and bless the zealous endeavours of the wise and great Council of our Nation for his Glory and the Nations Welfare This shall always be the Prayer of M. D. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The Conspiracy and present Designs of the Popish Party in Europe against the Protestant Interest discovered with the methods observed by them to overthrow the Church of England Pag. 1. CHAP. II. The danger of Division in a Nation about matters of Religion and what pernicious consequences it hath had in foreign Countries and in this 12 CHAP. III. That there is no reasonable cause of dividing from our Church and that the most scrupulous Conscience may and ought to conform according to the Laws of God as well as man 20 CHAP. IV. The true causes why most part of our dissenting Brethren will not joyn with us in the Worship of our God enquired into In what particulars our differences chiefly consist and their grand Objection Answered 32 CHAP. V. Seasonable and Christian Advices for our Non-Conforming Brethren who are possessed with such strong prejudices against the Church of England that they cannot easily overcome them and a Reconciliation proposed 49 CHAP. VI. An Exhortation to all the Learned Pious and Christian Teachers amongst our Non-Conforming Brethren to prevent in time the Nations ruin by an Vnity with us and to lay aside all Prejudice and Partiality 56 A SEASONABLE ADVICE TO ALL True Protestants IN ENGLAND IN This present posture of Affairs CHAP. I. The Conspiracy and present Designs of the Popish Party in Europe against the Protestant Interest discovered with the methods observed by them to overthrow the Church of England THE true Christian Faith in all Ages hath
together the Turk abroad The differences between the French and the Spaniards were composed by the Marriage of the eldest Infanta of Spain with Lewis the Fourteenth the yongest being given to the Emperor the Chief of the House of Austria This Peace gave leasure to the French Court and an opportunity to the Pope and his Agents to Work and Solicit the Ruin of the Protestants by pulling down their Churches and denying them the priviledges allowed them before Several ways were then proposed in the Assembly of Cardinals answerable to the state of every Kingdom England was then groaning under the Tyranny of an Usurper dreadful to all Europe but a Religion was then here professed in opposition to Popery The Kings Majesty was in his Banishment It was therefore resolved to get here such an Interest in the Army and in the Land as that the Papists might be able to make a strong party when time should serve for that purpose several Jesuits were sent over to set up new Religions and divide the people amongst themselves and to joyn with the Army into which they were admitted in Offices of Trust under their usual disguises A proposal had been made to our Gracious Soveraign to draw him from the Truth with large hopes of an universal assistance of the foreign Papists in such a case to settle him again in his Throne but he was not to be drawn to be the Popes Slave in hopes of a Crown nor to be perswaded to embrace such absurdities against his Conscience and Reason God therefore performed for him what his Enemies had but proposed and restored to him his inheritance as a reward of his Fidelity to Truth contrary to the whole Worlds expectation When the Court of Rome saw so great a revolution in this Kingdom and the Protestant Religion succeeding to the former Anarchy in the Church when they saw no hopes of that Change they wished for they sent as many Emissaries as they could to sow the seeds of division amongst us and our brethren of the same perswasion for the carrying on of their damnable designs the ruin of our Kingdom and Church against which they planted all their Engins A Consultation was regularly had in London of the most experienced and wisest Jesuits who had intelligence with most parts of the Kingdom and knew by Letters the posture of all Affairs and the Peoples dispositions The result was sent over to their General at Rome and the Assembly appointed there for English Affairs From thence they received every month new Orders how to proceed which Orders they had a general Commission to correct according to the unexpected accidents that might happen During the late Civil War and Usurpation the Jesuit had got many Proselytes to his Religion by drawing them from the Truth or causing some to cast off all respect of any other Religion but that which their sordid Interest recommended The Wicked and Antichristian Principle of the former and the prophaness and licentiousness of the latter made them both ready to embrace Popery as soon as it should appear with any credit amongst us but all this while the Knave lurked under the shape of an Anabaptist of a Quaker of a Fift-Monarchy man and sometimes for his Interest he would appear amongst the Presbyterians and Independents The severity of the antient Laws and the Peoples general hatred of Popery and Jesuits suffered him not to lift up his Mask therefore all his proceedings were private and secret and under such outward garbs as hindred him from being visible to every eye But as soon as the Kings Majesty returned to his Crown and Kingdom the Jesuits and Papists were resolved to take other measures The services of some of their Party and the Authority of Crowned Heads emboldned them to appear amongst us with more Courage and less Fear of the Law which by the King 's merciful temper was mitigated towards them and they suffered to make profession of their Religion without fear of punishment All that they seemed then to desire and pretend to was but the freedom to exercise their Religion but give the Devil an Inch and he will take an Ell. Their secret aim and private contrivances have always tended to the overthrow of Church and State for the better carrying on of their purposes they have endeavoured to have all the Interest they could make amongst the great ones There was then three obstacles to their grand Design not to be overcome on a sudden The Kings reality in the Protestant Profession the Nations general aversion for Popery some out of Interest and for Fear of losing their Impropriations and Abbey-Lands others out of a principle of Religion and the third obstacle was the Parliaments Sincerity and Loyalty to God and their King To attempt openly to overcome these impediments was but a madness which could not turn but to their ruin They found out a way to batter these invincible Bulwarks and if not to render them assaultable at least to prevent the danger they apprehended from thence the Peoples aversion they took away by degrees by their officious and kind behaviour civil deportment and usual professions of fidelity to their Prince and care of the publick safety honour and happiness by spreading abroad both in the Countrey and the City Books of their Religion with moderate Disputations and Refutations of ours which they gave to all that would hearken to them or shew them any countenance or likelihood of embracing their ways and by settling of Popish School-Masters in every corner of the City who endeavoured if not to poison the Children with their principles at least to give them such a tincture of their Religion as might remove the natural aversion They dealt with every one according to his quality disposition and place To the Great and Noble they seemed to be true trusty and officious to the meaner sort they appeared with hopes and promises of advantage and to all they discovered the Popish Religion under the disguises of pleasure and profit as many as were not well principled they endeavoured to debauch and corrupt chiefly if they were in any place of trust that they might shew themselves favourable to Popery and Papists Some they would recommend and promote to places of profit to Offices and Employments in Noble Families and in the State to others they would give monies and with all persons they endeavoured to ingratiate themselves casting all the misery and troubles of our Civil War upon Presbyterians Reformation and Non-conformity to render them the more odious to King and People One thing gave them a jealousie and they were resolved to employ all their Skill and Art to prevent it That was a reconciliation between the Episcopal Party and the moderate Non-Conformists endeavoured by the Kings Majesty and desired by the whole Nation To hinder this conjunction which doubtless would have proved fatal to Popery in this Land and break the neck of all their designs they laboured to interpose between both
if thou didst act against the sollicitations of thy Conscience it will never be able to oblige him to allow of that which is evil in it self to justifie the guilty and condemn the innocent Take heed I beseech thee that what thou sayest is Conscience be not invincible prejudice and hatred or humor and groundless fancy or it may be something worse that strong spirit of delusion unto which God delivers such as will not be lovers of the Truth For the better discovery of the mistakes of thy Conscience in this particular I beseech you my Christian Brethren to examin what mischiefs such division about Religion have caused already in Foreign Nations and in this the Histories of former Ages are full of sad accidents murthers and wars destructions and calamities of Countries caused by the disputes about Religion The Kingdom of the Jews flourished and grew invincible under the Government of David and his Posterity so that all the Nations round about paid them Tribute They might have still continued in that happy condition and been able to set bounds to the spreading Empire of Babylon had not Jeroboam under a pretence of Religion divided the Kingdom and Nation of Israel and to save the People the trouble and expence of going up to Jerusalem set up the Golden Calves in Dan and Bethel But how many evils did this division in Religion and Government cause in that Land They were subject to the affronts of every petty King and contemptible Nation and at last were overthrown by their Neighbours and themselves carried away into Captivity with their Wives and Children After the Jews return from Babylon they grew numerous and strong in the Romans time and were able through their numbers and the resolation and courage which the principle of Religion put into them to command the East part of the World But what and how much woe and misery did their Factions and Sects draw upon them what sad Destructions not to be paralel'd in any other Nation It was openly confessed by Titus and their Roman Conquerors that as their divisions between their Princes gave Pompey footing in their Countrey their divisions had brought them to utter ruin and unheard of miseries for by this means they became instrumental in their own overthrow and did more mischief to themselves than all the Armies of their Enemies So that by Division in Religion this People of Israel who were assisted by Gods Power and Protection and favoured above all other Nations brought themselves to be the scum of the World and lost their Land being dispersed into all parts and Kingdoms The fall of the Roman Empire was brought to pass by division for that let in the Huns the Longobards the Goths Vandals and Visigoths and all the Northern People into its fruitful borders The Grecian Empire might have stood upon its legs to this very day had it not been for their senseless divisions in Church and State The Sects and Heresies of Arrius Eunomius Novatus Samosatenus and other busy-bodies let in the Turk and his Mahomet and in the days of the Emperor Heraclius when men were so divided and had so disputed all Religion and Truth out of doors that the simpler and more ignorant sort knew not which to chuse these wicked divisions gave an occasion to that Arabian Impostor to set up a Religion of his own which he recommended to them with the inviting and pleasing Charms of pleasure and profit Read but over the divisions and disputes about Religion in the Cities of Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and in many other places of the East Countries and examin how many thousands have been destroyed how many cruelties acted how many calamities brought upon the Inhabitants through their endless discords in Religion and you will have cause to wonder at their madness to strive for that which forbids them to strive and to fight for a Religion which disallows all variance You will have cause to wonder at their inhumanities and extravagancies they torment themselves for nothing and shed their own blood contrary to Reason and that Religion for which they did so unadvisedly contend What is become of the Grecian Empire now where are the flourishing Churches of Christ of Asia and Africa In what condition are the Christians of those parts of the World under how much misery and under what cruel Tyranny do they groan The contemptible remains of all those Antient Professors of our Religion are oppressed with the Turkish and Moorish Bondage They have lost all their honour and glory their wealth their priviledges their Countrey and all their present happiness in this life their Estates and their Children are at their Conquerors pleasure And though there are some yet professing Christianity in those parts of the World they differ in all respects so much from what their Forefathers were in former Ages that they are able to draw tears from the most insensible Souls when compared with them as the building of the second Temple did from the Jews returned from Babylon when they saw how differing it was from the Glory and Magnificence of the first Structure And all this hath proceeded from this Wicked and Venemous Root Division in Religion Look into the latter Ages of the World and see into what confusion these divisions about Religion have cast Kingdoms and Cities The Cities of Florence of Naples and Millain in Italy have often been watered with the Blood of their Noblest Inhabitants which the divisions about Religion caused to be shed The grand disputes about the Guelfs and Gibbelins troubled all Europe and murthered more men than the cruelest Wars In Germany what inhumanities have been committed In the Low-Countries how many Rivers of Christian Blood have been spilt under the pretence of Religion The Spanish Massacres the Duke D' Alva's Butcheries are sufficiently known to all the World In Africa amongst the Moors and Arabians the disputes about their Prophets Impieties and their False Religion hath caused one of their own Writers to say Hali Ben-Hamet a MS. That there is nothing exasperares more the minds of men one against another than the differing perswasions in Religion Another of their Authors complains in this manner O how furiously men are set against one another for such matters as concern not the Prophets honour nor the essential part of our Religion for in the late revolution of the Empire of Morocco Religion was pretended to deceive the People In France the Factions of the Albi and Nigri and the furious transports of the Papists against the Reformed Professors have often exhausted the Blood and Treasure of that Kingdom In Switzerland how many troubles arose from small divisions in Religion In the Vnited Provinces in our late days the refined Notions of Arminius and the extravagancies of the Anabaptists had almost cast them into a Civil War In France the hot disputes between Amyraldus and Du Moulin had cantoned those poor Churches in the midst of their Enemies if moderate and wise men
had not imposed a silence and obliged them to be quiet In Bohemia and Poland what stirs and disturbances have the Socinians raised In Germany and the Bishoprick of Munster what wickednesses have not the Anabaptists committed I should be endless if I reckon'd up all the Mischiefs Blood Tumults War and Calamities which small and inconsiderable disputes about Religion have brought upon men in the Primitive Church and in these latter days Look only into our own Nation and consider the late Tragedies acted by our own Countreymen upon the Person of their King and Nobles Look into the cause of their unreasonable fury and you shall find nothing but their mistakes about Religion to have thus transported and carried them to that excess of cruelty and rage In Queen Elizabeths days the Separatists began to quarrel with our Discipline and Government and laid a foundation for the Brownists the Familists and their Successors to build their confused Babel Their bold Pamphlets in the Queens Reign and in King James's time threatned the Nation with the following disturbances in the State The restless Puritans were always bawling in the Peoples ears against our Church and its Rulers and what troubles did they not breed but all former disputes were but sports and plays to the late disputes about Religion in our Royal Martyrs days for it is observable that when men have wearied themselves in disputing about trifles they try the cause and decide the difference a nearer way with the dint of their sharp swords This was the end of our unhappy divisions we remember yet the late Civil War the Calamity under which the Land groaned the Disorders and Miseries that we and our Families suffered This my Brethren proceeded from the same cause which yet you are unadvisedly fond of and embrace with an invincible tenacity They were at first discontented at our Church and Religious Worship they exclaimed continually against our formalities and practices and differed from us in the same punctilio's as some of you do See the Kings Portraiture They were at first as modest in all their behaviour towards us desiring nothing but liberty and freedom for themselves and their way of worship but when they had gathered into a head their pretensions were so high that they would oblige all men to conform and subscribe to all their irregularities and extravagancies I cannot call to mind the sad condition of our Church of England in those unhappy days without Tears when our Governours were deposed our Clergy banished with their Prince our Nobility and Gentry sequestred our Laws obliged to submit to the power of the Sword our Kingdom and Government in the hands of lawless Tyrants Sects and Divisions in Religion multiplying every day and rising out of the filthy spawn of the Jesuits the wicked principles which they spread amongst us to disturb us and puzle the weaker sort in the Notions of Religion All these Evils with innumerable others which we can better remember than speak of sprung from your Forefathers Non-Conformity And will not their Chidren be better advised will they wittingly draw again the same danger upon their heads will they not be persuaded to prevent such mischiefs for the time to come The burnt Child dreads the fire We have been already burnt and almost consumed in the hot fire of a Civil-War Shall we cast our selves again into it or entertain the same causes that brought forth that sad calamity Our Enemies took occasion to blow up the coals into a grievous flame who knows but they are busily employed about the same wicked purposes and will cast us headlong into the same misery why shall we be so foolish so mad and such Enemies of the publick and of our selves and posterity as to assist the Jesuits and Romanists in their grand design to ruin us and our Nation This proceeding of yours may seem very strange my Brethren and may cause a greater wonder when we have seriously considered and proved it to you CHAP. III. That there is no reasonable cause of dividing from our Church and that the most scrupulous Conscience may and ought to conform according to the Laws of God as well as man HAD you as good and allowable causes to alledge for your separation from us as we and our Forefathers had to depart out of the Idolatrous Church of Rome your zeal would deserve a commendation and none could charge you with the Crime of Schism or Faction For in such a case you would have in Conformity to the Examples and Command of Christ and his holy Apostles forsaken those who had first forsaken him and divided your selves from those abominations whereof the belief and practice can never consist with the Salvation of your immortal Souls But though we and our Church are falsely aspersed with Popery and Popish Superstition the Accusation is false and so ill grounded that it would not deserve a refutation were it not that this strange conceit is greedily entertained by many of our Non-Conforming Brethren The accusation is commonly delivered in gross because there is none can justifie this charge by any particular instance It is the common Practice and Art of Impostors and of abusive Tongues when they cannot make good the objected crime to bring their accusation in this manner that their malice might be less discoverable and their charge more weighty But why should we be declared to be Popishly affected against our wills we disown this charge as a grievous calumny that hath no other foundation but the pride and unreconcileable hatred of our Enemies Did ever any Church write more smartly against the Pope and Papists than the Learned Divines of the Church of England read over the thirty nine Articles and Bishop Jewel and the Archbishop Laud against Fisher and in these our days read but the writings of these Learned Divines of the present Bishop of Lincoln of Dr. Stilling fleet and Dr. Pierce and you shall find that none professes to be greater enemies of Popery than we do But methinks that this late Popish Plot and all the Papists endeavours against the Church of England should justifie us in the eyes of all the World better than any Arguments can that we are not Papists nor Popishly affected can we think the Papists and Jesuits who are not so easily mistaken in their judgments of us would have laid a Train to blow us up had we been on their side can we think them so blind that they cannot see their friends from their foes would they offer to burn destroy and kill us and our Children were we so inclinable to Popery as our mistaken Brethren falsely conceive what mad men are you Priests and Jesuits Popes and Cardinals of Rome thus to conspire and spend so much Treasure to destroy your own Brethren Did you not understand all this while that we were all agreed and that we are so near related that we may shake hands Why will you needs murder us and our Families for our Religion
displeased at the reading of our Prayers but if you will shut your Eyes they may seem to you as good as if they had been pronounced memoriter Grieve not to hear the same requests offered up and loath not the same Prayers which you hear so often because you are pinched with the same necessities every day and stand in need of the same God and the same Blessings and therefore may we offer up the same Prayer In the matter of our Prayers if any of you will shew us any thing contrary to Gods Will or Word we will correct and dash it out Be not offended at the Cross in Baptism this was practised in Christs Church before ever Popery was known in the World and is a significant sign used by the Primitive Christians to embolden and encourage us betimes to wear and receive the marks in our bodies of Christs Holy Religion Be not offended at our outward Reverence which we express at the mentioning of the Name of Jesus as we will not condemn you that omit this respect judge not us that observe it nor any other outward Action of the Assistants will not be laid to your charge in the Publick Service of God if you intend only Gods Honour I know that meer Formality too visible in many of our Conformists and their apparent Contempt of the outward Devotions discovered in their Actions and Behaviour is a discredit to our Worshipping of God and a discouragement of our dissenting Brethren As therefore they should take heed how they lay such stumbling-blocks in their way the others should remember not to interpret every thing at the worst sence and not to be distasted at the excellent Prayers of our Church because of the prophaness of some persons that assist at or ought to be patterns of our Devotion and Piety Likewise in the renounding of the Covenant why wilt thou be so scrupulous or rather headstrong to maintain obstinately the lawfulness of that which the Kings Majesty and the Wise Council of our Nation have pronounced to have been an unlawful Oath imposed upon the Subjects against the known Laws of the Land Have not we sufficiently seen the wicked sequels of this Engagement or Combination The Fruits that this Tree hath born declare sufficiently the Nature of it We need not the Verdict of our Religious Governors to understand it to have been an unjust Action contrary to our Laws and Liberties for we have seen our selves deprived thereby of both by those very persons who required it from us Why must we yet continue in our mistakes Neither are the words of the renunciation so strict but that any good Christian who intends but to demean himself quietly in the Government may abjure the Covenant in the manner appointed for we do but say that there lies no obligation upon us or any other to cause any stirs rebellion or tumult in Church or State Did you therefore understand what is desired from you I cannot think but that every one of you that is a good Christian would readily comply with so moderate a reconciliation But this Abjuration concerns only those persons of you that enter into Offices and Employments in the Kingdom And it is all the reason in the world that such as are intrusted with any publick Charge should promise not to cause any disturbance in that Government in which they are employed and by which they are secured and their Estates from Invasion Why must we be so fond of a Scotch contrivance put into their heads by Richelieu and the Jesuits whom he sent over purposely to overthrow the Glory of the Protestant Religion in Europe the Episcopacy of the Church of England and to cast us into a confusion in revenge of our assisting them of Rochel against their Prince It may be the whiteness of the Surplice offends thy weak Stomach or Conscience and keeps thee at a distance from our way of Worship But consider my Brother or Sister that Religion consists not in colours and wearing of Apparel It concerns not thy Soul if thou wearest in Gods Service White Black Green Yellow or Red. If thou hadst not a prejudice against this Garment it would please thee as well as Black Gowns and Cloaks with Capes But is it not a sad sign that such a trivial matter shall cause thee to cast off all respect to thy God and the Authority of thy Governours and because of a decent colour and habit which thou dost but fancy to be unbeseeming thou shalt refuse all Communion and Correspondency with thy Brethren on Earth and I am afraid in Heaven too Rev. ix 14. Chap. iii. 4 5. Chap. vi 11. For they shall be all cloathed in white Garments as Priests and Prophets to offer up continually the Sacrifices of their Praises to God In short for I am ashamed to mention and mind you my Non-Conforming Brethren of the usual Objections against us and our Conformity and the Childish causes alledged by some of you for your standing at a distance from us and refusing all Religious correspondency with us I beseech you weigh them all in equal Scales without partiality or prejudice and you will find no reason to refuse Conformity with us I desire you to consider that if your Children and Servants in your Families did breed a disturbance amongst themselves upon such weak grounds and for such slight causes did entertain quarrels and disputes to the disquieting of your Houses would not you seek a remedy with a Rod to make them more peaceable and would not you dismiss such unruly Servants and take in others of a quieter disposition Would you not endeavor to silence their bawling and when they canton in your Families and divide it into parties in Contempt of your Authority and Commands would you not seek to bring them together and oblige them by some way to reunite in One This is the case of Christs Church among us in England I look upon the Presbyterian and Independents chiefly with some other of the more moderate Non-Conformists to be our Brethren belonging to the same Family Christ our Lord. for our Faith and Religion is the same in effect most part of our differences are but trivial childish and unreasonable about such things which concern not the honor of the Lord of the Family nor the publick interest good and preservation of it when considered in themselves And if there be any difference in our Religion between them and us it is in such matters as may be easily reconciled when well sifted out and are not of an absolute necessity to the Salvation of mens Souls Our happiness depends not upon postures gestures garments colours forms crosses surplices and other such like things which are indifferent in themselves and were they not enjoyned might as well be omitted as observed It is therefore a shame for you to quarrel and break the Peace of Christ's Family I mean his Church about such Trifles No doubt but our wise Saviour will take some
to refuse Conformity to its late establishment because they had been fierce and unadvised disputers and contemners of it during the late Usurpation And now they would not comply not so much for fear of reproach as the former but for fear of endangering the Faith of their disciples or for fear of prejudicing their esteem of Religion by shewing so great a readiness to comply with the times for they imagin that their peoplewill be apt to suspect the truth of Christianity when they who are the chief Teachers of it discover any unconstancy in the most visible part of it which is Gods Publick Worship The apprehension therefore of doing that which might bring an open scandal to Religion prevailed upon some of the more conscientious Teachers of the Presbyterian and Independent parties to refuse Conformity to the reestablishment of the Church of England These seem to be more excusable than any of the rest because their care of Religion obliged them to refuse a compliance together with the mistakes of their Congregations for though they found nothing in the Government of the Church by Bishops and in the things enjoyned but what they could readily embrace as agreeing with Piety and good manners and the exactest Rules of Gods Holy Word yet because those whose Souls and Consciences they were to have a regard to in all their actions were prepossessed by the wickedness of former times with such invincible mistakes against this Church that they could not be persuaded out of them upon a sudden if all their Teachers had forsaken them at the alteration of the Government they might have indangered the interest of Religion in their Souls and given them strange prejudices against the Holiness and Purity of Christianity especially in these prophane days in which men are too apt to imagin it only a Politick Contrivance and the rather they would have entertained this wicked conceit of Gods Religion and Truth if their Teachers whom they looked upon as their Examples of Piety and men of great Learning for the most part should have entertained without any demur those very things which they or others but a few years before exclaimed against as impious and idolatrous and were generally believed to be so The People who commonly take things upon trust without giving themselves the time to examin their mistakes would have wondered to see men so unconstant in their behaviour so changeable for the present advantages of life to embrace such seeming impieties repugnant to their blinded Consciences Therefore they thought they could do no less than comply with their Peoples weakness rather than with the Authority of the Nation and chiefly because their People expressed a willingness to supply their necessities by their liberal contributions The Holy Apostles of our Saviour Christ seemed to have been in the same case after the preaching of the Gospel the Converted Jews were willing to embrace Christ and his Doctrine but the Laws of Moses they were not willing to forsake because they and their whole Nation had so great a Devotion for those Ceremonies which they looked upon to be perpetual and obligatory to their Nation in regard of Gods Covenant that they could not be induced to neglect them though Christ and his Apostles had shewed them the intent of them all which was but to keep them in expectation of their Saviours coming and the Revelation of the Gospel Mysteries But when the Apostles saw no possibility of drawing the Jews from their Mosaical Observances they connived at them who embraced Christianity and took that course which might further their acceptance of Christs Religion So far were they from dissuading them from it that they themselves yielded to all such observances that they might not seandalize the rest though they were fully acquainted with their insignificancy By this compliance with the Nations mistakes and the Peoples weakness which they were resolved to continue till Christianity had gained a sufficient credit amongst them they minded two things First The avoiding of all Controversies and dissensions which might have risen to disturb the Publick Welfare from the Pharisees extraordinary Devotion for their Law Secondly The taking away of that which would have proved the greatest obstacle amongst the Jews to the progress of Christs Religion if its first reception had commanded them to forsake Moses and his Ordinances by which the Priestly Order was maintained in its splendor But for the better encouragement of Christians they suffered Moses to usher in Christ and the People to profess Judaism and Christianity together before they would venture to call them away from those carnal Ceremonies which ended at Christs Death and Passion In process of time St. Paul to the Hebrews shews them their emptiness and insignificancy and advises them at last to leave the shadows seeing they enjoyed the Substance and the Body I could heartily wish that as many of the Learned and Conscientious Teachers as amongst our Non-Conforming Brethren have imitated the Apostles in their compliance with the peoples weakness for the avoiding of Scandal and Religions sake would now at last imitate them in their second endeavors to undeceive their people now that they are all so well acquainted with us and our worship by several Disputations that none but those whose Eyes are wilfully shut can conceive any such uncharitable opinion of us That we are Popish and Superstitious in the Service of God Now that they all see that the Pope creeps not in amongst them under our white Surplices and is not hidden under our supposed Altars nor that our Religious Prayers usher not in the Antichristian Mass Now that the Holiness of our Religion the significancy of our Ceremonies the Integrity of our Laws In a word the Excellency of our Church Order and Worship are visible to all the Nation It would become the Wisdom and Christianity of those Learned and Wise Teachers of the Presbyterian and Independent parties to perfect what is already begun and to encourage an union with us The same care of Religion which obliged them first to comply with their Peoples mistakes calls them now to persuade them out of them lest these mistakes should gangrene in their Souls through their encouragement and turn to the subversion of our Church and the Protestant Religion in this Nation I am certain that now Christianity and the Souls of these men are in greater danger through your compliance with them my reverend Brethren than they would be if you did gently deal with them to shew them the lawfulness of our practices and worship and persuade them by word and deed to joyn with the approved forms and established Service of God in this Nation For now their obstinacy is no longer weakness but wilfulness no longer Conscience but Resolution and Aversion You know sufficiently how dangerous it is to nourish them up in an abhorrency of Truth and to encourage them in a displeasure against the Professors of it You know how contrary to the blessed disposition of
suspect I am certain that if you will govern your selves by them your Non-Conformity will be less dangerous to your Souls more excusable before God and less hurtful to the Nation I. Abstain from all disrespectful words slanderous reports base aspersions and railing accusations and unworthy imputations of our Government Worship and Orders of the Church Suffer not your suspicions of sin to break out into an open injustice and filthy language If your judgments be infected defile not your tongues with the same pollution Let a Christian moderation bridle in that liberty which men commonly give themselves of speaking any thing against that which they cannot phancy and let not your mistakes appear farther than your own Souls This restraint is most just reasonable and agreeing with the passages of Gods Blessed Word for it is but just that you should abstain from abusing that Church and Government which secures your Lives and Estates from which your Forefathers and many of you have received the advantage of being Christians It was a great ingratitude in one of the Sons of Noah to reveal and sport himself with the sight of his Fathers Nakedness It is as great an ingratitude in the English Subjects and deserves as severe a Curse to blaze abroad and delight to publish in every Company the suspected nakedness of their Mother the Church of Eagland from whose Breasts they have sucked many benefits It is very remarkable that when the Children of Israel were going into the Land of Canaan to live amongst the Heathens God gave them this Commandment for the preservation of the publick Peace of his People which would have been broken if they had by their unhandsom Language stirred up the Heathens jealousie for the Honour of their Gods Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor curse the Rulers of they People Exod. xxii 28. They differed in essential matters of Religion yet God would not suffer his People to rail against those false Divinities lest that might disquiet and disturb the publick tranquillity And for that very cause when the Jews were in Captivity in Babylon Jeremiah sent them a Letter by Gods Command To seek the peace of the City whither they were carried away Captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace Jerem. xxix 7. The Jews were Gods People the Babylonians were Idolaters yet God would not suffer them to defame or speak any thing which might hinder the peace of that Kingdom Likewise it was observed by the Town-Clerk of Ephesus in his harangue to the People in their uproar That the Christians were neither Robbers of Churches nor yet Blasphemers of the Goddess Diana Acts xix 37. And the Heathens could commend the Christians for their moderation and discretion in this respect Justin Martyr And is it just that you my Brethren should be continually reviling and blaspheming that Worship and Religion whereof the establishment renders ye quiet in the possession of your Estates That Religion and Worship against which you have nothing but Suspicions and not such Allegations as the Jews had against the Babylonish and as the Christians had against the Heathenish Religion Our Peace I confess is not disturbed in that manner as theirs had been had they treated the Heathens as many of you do us for you have to deal with those Christians that look upon you as Brethren and can suffer affronts and disgraces with patience but our moderation excuses not the violent and uncharitable expressions and blasphemies too much in use amongst the indiscreetest of our dissenting Brethren Whatever therefore be your thoughts and suspicions of us let your words be modest and let them favour of that Christian Charity which we should entertain for one another II. Seek not to propagate your displeasures against our Church and Worship nor to gain Proselytes to your Sects You have but suspicions of sin to lay to our Charge no real Accusations no open Idolatry nor plain Superstition to fasten upon our Church and Worship though this suspicion as you pretend is sufficient to excuse your Non-Conformity it may not have the same effect upon others that which is but a suspicion in you shall assuredly be an Article of Faith in a Disciple for Error like the Snow-balls increaseth the farther it goes Education and Custom will cause your Children to abominate what you look upon to be tolerable if you bring them up in an aversion for it It is observed concerning hereticks and mistakes in Religion that their Disciples were far more the Children of Hell than their Masters and more violent and more extravagant in their deviations from the Truth Matt. xxxiii 15. It is therefore very dangerous to draw into the same groundless suspicions unexperienced Souls who are apt to improve mistakes to the disturbance of the publick and their own damnation If therefore you will not be in love with your prejudices take heed how you bring up your Children in such persuasions as may hasten their ruin and the Nations calamities And if you cannot prevail upon your selves to forsake your opinions be not so fond of your distemper to communicate it to others but encourage them in the performance of their duties III. Give not credit too unadvisedly to the ill reports that concern the Church and its Government for there is nothing that increaseth so much the displeasure against it as that wicked policy of our Adversaries They misrepresent us to the people and deal with us as the Jesuits in Spain do with the Protestants condemned to the fire they cloath them with Paper Coats and Caps all covered over with shapes of Devils and strange chimera's to render them more frightful to the vulgar sort thus do our subtil enemies cover us over with the figures of Devils Idolatry Superstition and Crimes which when well examined will appear to be only the effects of their malice rather than expressions of our deservings IV. Search with diligence into the differences between us take the assistance of Gods Holy Word inquire into our Practices and Belief and by Prayer endeavour to understand the Truth that you may learn to practise it We dare appeal to the Judgments of the most moderate of you we are no such Idolaters as some would have There is nothing of Superstition enjoyned in our Church we will be tried by Gods Word and the sound interpretation of the Holy Fathers Read over Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Policy commended by our Royal Martyr Read his Opinion of our Church Worship and Government in his incomparable Book His judgment is worthy to be looked upon I have ever esteemed saith he the Church of England the best Profession of Religion because it comes nearest to Gods Word for Doctrine and to the Primitive Examples for Government In a Letter to the Prince of Wales Read Bishop Bancroft Downham Hall Bilson and Dr. Taylor against Presbytery in Vindication of the Church of England Read our later Disputations about the matters in
Works have gained an esteem amongst all the Reformed Churches your Lives are said to be answerable to your Doctrines Mr. Baxter's Works Many are enlightned instructed and persuaded from sin by your Teaching as therefore a Roman said of a good man on the contrary side Vtinam I could repeat the word a thousand times Vtinam noster esses would to God that you and we were but one would to God that you would joyn with us and be persuaded to unite in one Religion and Worship The multitudes that throng at your Assemblies look upon you also to be men that make Conscience of your ways By your Preaching they see that you are not ignorant of the Holy Scriptures and of the Revealed Will of God What can they conclude from hence and your abhorrency of us but that you must be more quick-sighted than they are to spy an Error in our Worship and Prayers something of Idolatry and unlawful to practise which causes you to separate from us for fear of a defilement I know several persons that this consideration alone hath prejudiced so far against us that they have told me and cannot be persuaded to the contrary that there must needs be something of Superstition in our Church for otherwise so many Learned men would never stand at such a distance from us others have cast all the fault upon your Consciences as if your Consciences my Reverend Brethren were to be blinded and mistaken in so plain and clear a business What is free for me to practise some have said to me it may be other mens Consciences cannot allow Your pious behaviour and good lives in the eyes of the world strengthens them in this charitable opinion of you and sinister opinion of us and of our Church so that they look upon us as formalists temporisers men-pleasers worldlings and our Rulers as Persecutors to Enact those just Laws which tend to the preservation of the Nations Peace and Honour For Gods sake begin now to undeceive them suffer not your people to continue for ever in their dangerous mistakes which nourishes envy hatred malice displeasure and keeps them in that hainous and crying Sin before God Schism which caused once the Earth to open her infernal jaws to devour the first Authors of it alive Numbers xvi Your Danger I conceive is greater than theirs for all the sins that they are guilty of by their separation and the vices nourished in them by this division will be charged upon you by our great Judge at the last Tribunal And why will you load your selves with other mens Crimes Have you not miscarriages enough of your own to Answer for Were it not for you and your Religious Carriage all your people would be easily persuaded to listen to Reason and their Duty to the Church But as you have hitherto kept up the Faction for Reasons that we may chance to be ignorant of Now let me tell you that you indanger both the Bodies and the Souls the present and the future interest of your Congregations If you will yet stifly refuse a Compliance and an Union with us your Brethren You see the condition of this Nation the malice and designs of our Enemies the danger that hangs over our heads you see what advantage our divisions in Religion are likely to give them how they endeavour to keep us asunder and laugh at our follies and needless dissensions why will you befriend the Pope and his Papists why will you yield them your assistance and employ your Gifts and Talents to advance Popery amongst us and ruin your People and their Posterity Don't you think that these quarrels between Protestants have increased the number of Atheists and Papists It hath been the usual reason employed by their Jesuits to delude poor Souls into their Damnable Religion to tell them that we amongst our selves were not well agreed what Religion to chuse and that those of the Reformed Religion were always jangling about Fundamentals And how many prophane and loose persons have been glad to catch at this occasion to excuse themselves from observing the Laws of God Besides consider what danger those poor Souls are in that are your auditors whom though their conversation is plausible before men the Devil holds fast by those stroug bands of iniquity prejudice pride singularity hatred envy schism c. and drags to Eternal damnation without Repentance and the Merits of a good Saviour Open your Eyes therefore my Beloved Brethren look to your own your Congregations the Nations and the publick danger and the Lord of his Mercy open your Hearts to have some compassion of them and your selves that you may bring a speedy remedy to these distempers in the Church which will never be cured withou you I commend the Jesuits in China for their wisdom and discretion in complying and joyning with the Protestant Merchants in all Duties of Religion and they with the Jesuits in the parts of Gods Worship which are lawful however they abstain from all Disputes and Quarrels about Christian Religion before the Brahmans and the Heathens lest that the differences in Religion might not appear to them and hinder their embracing Christianity Cannot we observe the same policy we have much more reason than they our differences are not considerable Cease therefore to canton your selves and keep up your Factions Why will you for worldly interest or any carnal end bring Christs Church in England to utter ruin If you cannot be sensible of the Nations danger by that which I have already represented Consider that in the late hurly burly in the West upon a false Alarm of the French being landed upon the Coast of Dorset-shire some of the fiercest Presbyterians and Independents or such at least as pretended that Religion to excuse themselves from an attendance upon the Publick Ordinance had combined together to plunder the Houses of Rich Ministers Gentlemen and Wealthy Farmers if there had been any Truth in the Invasion My Reverend Brethren I beseech you for the Lords sake consider seriously this particular that will discover to you the present dispositions of our dissenting Brethren and the future dangers of their Dividing from our Church Animosity is increased to that height in their Souls that the Blessed Rules of the Gospel are not regarded that the Laws Human and Divine will be trampled under foot that Plunder Robberies and Massacres will be the end of your teaching many of them not to joyn with us I cannot think that any of you will approve of such wickednesses as these yet these you may see to be the fruits of our Divisions in frivolous matters of Religion I know your zealous Teaching hath had better effects upon more Conscientious Souls but under the Skirts of your Sects you know many Hypocrits and Villains shroud themselves to act their evil purposes under a more plausible Covert Harbor not such Enemies as these encourage them not in their dissenting from us but lead them by your Examples and Teaching at least to an Obedience to our Laws and Government in the Church and State and to an outward Conformity to the Worship of our God amongst us according to St. Pauls Exhortation to you in the Second of his Epistle to the Philippians If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies Fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind THE END
been endangered by the cruelties and furious persecutions of the Devil and his Hellish Agents Since the Murther of the Divine Author of this Excellent Religion there is no Age nor Kingdom but hath seen multitudes of his sincere Followers sent after their Good Master How furiously did the Pharisees rage against the Apostles how barbarously did they handle the first Christians how many Consultations and Attempts to stifle this Religion in its Infancy in the Rivers and Torrents of the Blood of its Professors And when by S. Paul's Preaching the Truth was generally known and embraced all over the Roman Empire how many Massacres and Tragedies have been acted upon Christians As it is not possible to describe the inhumanities of Nero Domitian Dioclesian and other Caesars it is impossible to declare the number of Christ's Disciples murdered in all parts of their Dominions in every Town and Hamlet and in every Province fire and sword misery and torments were the portions of all that were so bold as to own this sacred Name Afterwards when by the goodness of God the Roman Emperors began to open their Eyes and perceive the Divinity of this Faith when they began to draw the whole World by their Religious Examples to worship a Crucified Saviour the Devil whose Empire was thereby overthrown took other measures and an other course to destroy Christianity and hinder its progress amongst men Instead of opposing the whole Body of it which had gained an invincible credit in the World he resolved to pick quarrels with some of its Doctrines and to poyson the Hypocritical Professors with such pernicious persuasions as might spread to the forming of a Party for himself No sooner did the Primitive Christians come out of the Heathenish Persecutions but this grand Enemy of all Truth and Piety advanced amongst them the Heresies of Arius Apollinarius Nestorius Novatus Pelagius and others of his Champions who either by subtilty or cruelty assaulted again Christ's Church afresh and raised persecutions against her in her very bowels But Satan's Malice was never so remarkable nor the Sufferings of the Church never so many nor the Plots and Combinations against her never so frequent under the Governments of the Jews and Romans as they have been since the Apostacy of the Roman Church from Christs true Faith and its reception of the antient Heresies The Devils Throne established in the Old Capitol seems to be now transferred to the infamous Vatican of Rome the antient abode of the Whores and the now Seat of the Great Whore of Babylon Corn. Tacit. lib. 2. in fine Vitel. Imperij for from this place it is impossible to number the Decrees and Commissions that have been sent to murder destroy burn and overthrow Christ's true Church on Earth How many Wars have been kindled how many Massacres acted how many Plots set on foot how many Cruelties and Tragedies have proceeded from the Resolutions and Orders of the Vatican In all Ages and Kingdoms of our Northern-World the Roman Party was never wanting in any bloudy Scene to destroy Christ's Disciples It is observable that for above seven hundred years there hath scarce been a War in Europe but the Pope of Rome hath been the first Contriver and greatest Promoter of it chiefly when Christ's Church and People were concerned For it hath always been the Policy of the Roman Court when the Princes of Europe were grown so Rich or Great as to give them a Jealousie to stir them up by their Nuncios to some chargeable and dangerous War or to raise against them their discontented Neighbours And since the Reformation hath separated from them a part of Europe all the Protestant Blood that hath been spilt may be charged upon the Pope and his Agents How many millions in France Germany Spain and other parts of Europe have been slain by the Papists How many private Massacres and publick Wars have been begun and encouraged by them I dare assert and offer my self to prove from a certain knowledge of the Histories of former Ages that in this Northern World since the first Reformation the Pope and his Papists have been so great Enemies of the Peace of Christendom that there hath been no War kindled nor scarce any Bloody Scene acted by any Authority nor any noted Wickedness performed but the Pope had there a hand and was concerned as one of the chief Actors This unreconcileable hatred which he bears to Christ's Church and his Gospel inrages him and all his restless Agents against this flourishing and happy Kingdom Since the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign how many hundred Plots and Conspiracies have been set on foot by the Papists against the Lives of our Kings and Princes and the Peace of this Nation This Land seems to have been the chiefest Theater of their Cruelty and private Conspiracies As soon as by the Goodness of God one Plot is disappointed another is immediately begun and advanced to trouble this Kingdom I shall not mention here the former Discoveries that have been made of the Popes designs against us of our danger in Eighty Eight of the Gunpowder-Plot of our late Civil Wars of our Royal Martyrs Murder of the Noble Blood that hath been privately spilt and of our unreconcileable differences in Religion known to be fomented by the Pope and Papists and many other of their contrivances within these few years tending to disquiet and disturb Christ's Church amongst us I shall in this short Tract give an Account only of the present designs of the Papists against the Protestant Religion in Europe from certain and well grounded Intelligence that I have had with worthy men of the Popish Religion and the Acquaintance that I have desired to get in the Affairs of Europe within these twenty years I shall here give a prospect of a private Consultation and a crafty Contrivance which hath caused already much Christian Blood to be spilt in all parts of Europe and God knows how much more the carrying on of these designs will cost God knows what miseries and afflictions it will bring upon us For the prevention of the mischiefs intended against us in this Land and our Protestant Religion I here offer this Discovery to the Publick or as much as is necessary to be known I pray God that our Brethren of the same Religion would seriously consider it so as to reunite again with us in the sincere profession of the Truth and Worship of our God that our Enemies may not advantage themselves by our divisions for this purpose I shall shew what this Popish Design is by whom commenced and who are chiefly concerned Alexander the Seventh of the Family of Chigi was looked upon as one of the greatest Politicians of his days As soon as he was setled in his Papacy he sent his Nuncios into France Germany and Spain to reconcile the Popish Princes and to conclude between them such a League as that they might be able to suppress the Calvinists at home and oppose
and to incourage the one in his stifness by buzing in the ears of the simpler sort the danger of unity the corruption in the Church the glory of Constancy in Religion and their ingagements for the Covenant and by upbraiding the more knowing party with the Peoples discourses of the Ministers bad Lives unfaithfulness unconstancy and the danger their Souls were in if by their too hasty compliance to that which their former Interest obliged them to exclaim against they gave them a slender Opinion and an Atheistical impression of Religion it self To these they represented Conformity as the most intolerable burthen and the heaviest yoke could be imposed upon them by Authority and our Religion of the Church of England the nearest in affinity to Popery full of Superstition if not of Idolatry They accused all our zealous endeavours to bring the People to Unity to be Persecutions of the good Servants of God and every step that we made was slandered and discredited by these men who had a design to advantage themselves by our Divisions To the Governours in the Church and State they would exclaim against the wickedness and danger of Conventicles and Non-Conformity They represented all the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas as incouragers of our dissensions by their Examples and Government without Bishops Calvin and all his Calvinists were Traitors Schismaticks Hereticks Enemies of the Publick Peace promoters of Rebellion insufferable in a Common-Wealth dangerous Conspirators against the Kings Person and Government and what not With these and such like Notions they infected the minds of many of our Clergy with an unjust prejudice against all the Religious Churches of God beyond the Seas and had not a very worthy Divine Dr. Durel cleared their innocency by representing to the publick their disallowance of our frivolous discords and their acknowledgment of us for their Brethren and our Liturgy and Government to be altogether agreeable with Gods Word and Will we should have proceeded to a publick Excommunication However these impressions given to the Rulers in Church and State cast oyl into the fire angred the minds of our zealous Governours and drew from them those severe resolutions which have increased our discords and caused many to imagin more in Non-Conformity than really there is for as some sort of Wounds putrifie and increase the more they are handled so the Divisions of our Church about quid dities Indifferencies Trifles and Vanities would have vanished by degrees the less we had minded them But as we had our Enemies on both sides acquainted with our temper and interests they would not suffer the one to conform nor the others to admit them upon more moderate terms than a strict compliance with all the inconsiderable punctilio's which the Publick Peace and Gods Glory might easily dispense with as well as Religion Government and Conformity it self In all the publick Disputations too much Gall proceeded from the Jesuits hatred of us both and their apprehension of our sensibleness of our own Interest and of an union between those that differed for the most part but in shadows However they laboured to raise such a mist between us and our Brethren that we could not see to joyn together in one body and worship All this while they advanced some of their own disguised fellows into Offices and Places of Trust and when they saw any person able to serve their turn they would befriend him with their assistance in his promotion and discourage all other persons When I lived near London a Jesuit an ingenious and a good Linguist knowing my Skill in that and other sorts of Learning and how much I had been neglected in the Church though I had done good Service both at home and abroad was sent purposely to search into the Principles of my Religion whether I would favour Popery could I have dissembled with him I might have had a considerable preferment by the Jesuits means but I chose rather to abide in a mean condition and to be confined to the remotest wilderness of the Land to a small Vicarage of about sixty pounds per annum there to bury my Talents than to employ them in the Service of the Devil and the Pope But all these indeavours at home tended to the promotion encouragement and increase of the Popish Religion but amongst a few and such as dared not to discover what they were And though it had got so much credit that many ingenious and good Protestants could not endure to hear the Pope or Papists spoken against or blamed for superstition or any of their practices This could not bring to pass the grand Design without a more powerful endeavour and stronger assistances for that purpose as soon as the Court of Rome was perfectly reconciled with the French King and that he had consented to gratifie them to have the Monument of their Disgrace taken away and all remembrances of his Ambassadors affront and their weaknesses pulled down in Rome they resolved to make use of his Assistance and to govern all Europe if not all the World by a Triumvirat I shall not trouble my Reader with any part of this Plot relating to Foreign Affairs only as it looks upon us and concerns us here in England It is sufficiently known that the Court of Rome pretends to an Universal Monarchy and to hold by the Power of the Keys what the same City governed heretofore by the Sword The Jesuits likewise have the same aim but with a pretended subordination to the Pope and his Authority a meer pretence covered over with the Oath of blind Obedience for this crafty and devilish Society if it once get a Head will as easily forget their Allegiance to the Pope as they do now that to their most lawful Princes under God But neither the Jesuits nor the Pope of Rome now that all their Cheats have been discovered to the World in these latter Ages through the Preaching of the Gospel can carry on or compass so great a Design without other assistance therefore they resolved together to employ the old Policy of the antient Romans in Conquering Kingdoms which was to subdue them with their Weapons and by the Courage of their own Inhabitants Of all the Monarchs subject to the Roman See in the end of Alexander's Papacy none seemed so powerful in men and money as the French A young Prince Lord of a flourishing Kingdom and of a great Continent but of an Aspiring mind that would readily entertain the first proposals of larger Dominions and other Empires Therefore the Jesuits and the Pope agreed to tempt him with the Glories of the World and to make him the Universal Monarch if he would encourage the Popish Religion and declare himself an Enemy to the Protestant Profession in and out of his Kingdom This same Proposal had been made to Philip the Second of Spain when that Kingdom was in its Grandeur and in order to its accomplishment he gratified the Pope with the Expulsion and Banishment of the
sake when we are as much or within a small matter as much Papists as you I am afraid I shall never be able to persuade neither the Pope nor his Jesuits that we of the Church of England are such Friends of Popery as you my Non-Conforming Brethren would have us to be I shall be rather able to make them take us for Turks and Jews than Roman Catholicks Wherefore then will you needs accuse us so falsely against all equity and probability What do you find of Popery in us and our Church Is it the Government by Bishops and their Suffragans It is possible that this Order established in our Church may give occasion to the weaker sort to look upon us near a kin in this respect because they are mistaken in the Notion of Popery and in the chief and essential properties of that Religion God forbid that all Monarchical Government in Gods Church on Earth should be Popish and Antichristian Then we must include the Primitive Churches setled by the Apostles in Asia and the East under the Government of Bishops to be Popish also Then the Grecian Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople The Egyptian under the Arch-Bishop of Alexandria and the Antiochian and Jerusalem Churches and generally all the Churches of Christ in Constantine's days and since were Popish Nay all the Fathers St. Cyprian St. Austin St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom were Papists as well as we and our Bishops by that reason Hier. ad Macceb Aug. in Psalm 45. For all their Churches were governed by Bishops and a Monarchical Authority The Calvinists also whom you say are your nearest Brethren are also Papists if this reason were good for they wish that they might have Bishops to govern them in their reformed Churches and that it could consist with their safety in the midst of their Enemies to have the same form of Government as we have here in this Land Examin but their Letters mentioned by Dr. Durel and a Letter of Peter Martyr to Beza Peter Martyr pag. 801. at the end of his Common-places at his return from the Assembly of Poissy concerning the Bishop of Troye in France who embraced the Protestant Religion and was universally received and acknowledged by all the Calvinists in his Diocess Ministers and others as their Lord and Bishop And you will have no cause to think them to be Enemies of Episcopacy as the Papists and you would persuade us for divers ends But there is a vast difference in the point of Church-Government between the Papists and us They render Homage to the Pope as the Supream Lord of the Church on Earth we acknowledge none but Christ and under him our Lawful Sovereign They differ from us much in their Episcopal Laws which savour of Tyranny and are not so conducing to the Reformation of mens manners and the good of Christianity as ours The Name Prerogatives and Honours of the Popish Bishops are for the most part yet continued to our Protestant Prelates by the liberality of our Religious Kings And is this the cause that you accuse them of Popery Do their Honors and Riches grieve you Are you displeased to see the Rulers of our Church appear with decency splendor and the respect of their Country I am perswaded that if the Kings Majesty would take from them their Lordships their Estates and Dignities and send our Bishops amongst you to beg their bread as the Mendicant Fryers of Rome though then they would be much more like the Papists than they are at present you would scarce take the pains to accuse them for being Popishly affected But I have this Charitable opinion of you my Non-Conforming Brethren that you would never have thought to accuse our Bishops and their Church Government of Popery had not the Jesuitical Party that insinuate amongst you minded you of it for their own ends and out of a displeasure to see the excellent Order Decency and Splendor of our Church free from the abominations of Idolatry and their Monkish absurdities But that you may not be so soon mistaken my Brethren in a matter of so great a moment as Popery and Superstition is I beseech you to understand what Popery is and what not that you may not be so easily cosened and imposed upon by your Enemies and ours in this Nation Popery comprehends all those Heresies and grievous Errors which the Pope and the Court of Rome have delivered as Articles of Faith by which the Popes Authority or rather Tyranny is established in the World contrary to Gods Word and Glory and the Salvation of mens Souls According to this definition if our first Reformers had retained the abuses of Popery the Transubstantiaton Purgatory Images the Merits of Saints Indulgences Pardons and such like follies not warranted but contrary to Christ's Doctrines and Christianity you might then accuse us with reason of being guilty of Popery But shall we for our Conformity to Christs Commands and the Primitive Church in Discipline and Government be accused by you of Popery and Antichristianism What is there in our Government or Church that tends to promote the Popes Interest or to draw men away from Christ and our dependency upon him and his merits If something of the Civil Power be intrusted in the hands of our Bishops I hope none of you will presume to appoint our Wise Princes and Parliaments whom they are to settle in Authority under them That proceeds from our Princes Will who is Gods Vicegerent amongst us For our Articles our Catechism our Rubrick and way of Worship is as free from Popery as our Government and Ecclesiastical Laws For how can that be Popish which opposeth all the Errors and Mistakes of the Papists which Teacheth to implore Gods assistance and direction against the Heresies and Designs of the Pope which was used in the Christian Church before ever the Pope claimed an universal superintendency How can that be Popish which agrees with Gods Word and the Doctrines and Practices of all the Reformed Churches Enemies of Popery and which their most Judicious Divines embrace as most consonant with Faith and Piety Search into every thing Authorized in the Church of England and let the most refined Soul and quickest Eye tell us under what Ceremony or in what Article of our Faith or in what corner of our Rubrick or in what part of our Devotions they perceive any Colour of Popish Superstition I dare affirm and willl engage to prove that most of our Non-Conformists are far more Superstitious and Popish in their Belief and Practice than any in the Church of England In those particulars in which your Conformity is required What is there of Popery of Superstition or contrary to Reason or good manners For if there be nothing to be excepted against Why will you not joyn with us your Brethren You cannot be angry with Set Forms in general because Christ our Saviour recommended one to us as an Excellent Pattern to draw ours by You may be
the Church and People where we live Now that Non-Conformity hath been the sad occasion of much disturbance in this Nation of Tumults and War and that it continues to dissociate our minds and interests one from another to the general unquietness of this poor Church is that which none can well deny II. That all unnecessary and avoidable actions and proceedings whereby strife debates envy hatred malice and variance are entertained amongst men are contrary to Gods Laws and the Blessed Rules of the Gospel That teacheth to be like minded one towards another chiefly in matters of Religion Rom. xv 5. To consult in all our Actions Love Mercy and Charity one towards another John xiii 34. Which teaches us to suppress all distasts and to study to advance the universal unity of the Christians amongst whom we live 1 John iii. 1. and to abstain from all actions whereby differences are maintained 1 Cor. xiii 4 5 6. III. That we are to comply with all Rules Rites and Ceremonies established in the Church if they be not directly against Gods Glory or the Salvation of Mens Souls or if they be not expresly forbidden in Gods Holy Word or contrary to it This is confirmed to us by Christs own Example who conformed to the harmless and indifferent Injunctions of Men to avoid all singularity for in the Celebrating of the Paschal Lamb he eat it not standing as Moses commanded but lying down upon a Couch Matth. xxvi 20. Mark xiv 18. He caused a Hymn to be sung which was a Jewish Ordinance Christ also conformed himself to the Synagogue-Worship established amongst the Jews by an Human Authority which our Blessed and peaceable Saviour was so far from disapproving that he expresly tells his Disciples that they who had made that Ordinance sit in Moses Seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Matth. xxiii 2 3. And in many other particulars of as high an importance as those which cause you my Non-Conforming Brethren to separate from us this Divine Saviour teacheth you by his good Example to avoid singularity to observe the Rules and Orders appointed in the place where you live and not for such matters as endanger not in themselves your Salvation to cause that disturbance that will infallibly indanger the Churches Peace and Unity and beget in your Souls those passions vices and distempers which are not agreeable with our Christian Religion and present interest or our future hopes of Salvation IV. That all disobedience to the Magistrate in things not contrary to Gods Word and Will is unlawful and forbidden by S. Paul Rom. xiii 1 2. Let every Soul be subject unto the higher powers For there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation A passive obedience is not sufficient where an active is required and may and ought to be yielded And though you do not actually resist at present the Civil Magistrate all Non-Conformity is a kind of resistance take heed therefore that by this opposition you render not your selves liable to the Curse and so deserving the Damnation that is so severely threatned In the third Chapter to Titus verse the first he desires him to put his people in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates and to be ready to every good work And to the Hebrews St. Paul speaketh more pertinently to our purpose Obey them that have rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you And St. Peter 1 Epist Chap. ii vers 13. calls upon you to submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man without the exception or distinction of Civil or Ecclesiastical matters and that for the Lords sake whether to the King as Supream or unto Governors for so is the Will of God Are these Commands of any force or Authority with you my Brethren Are you not thereby required to Conform to the Laws Rules and Constitutions of Gods Church amongst us enjoyned by Authority are not these Ordinances of Men which you ought to submit to Therefore none of you can refuse an obedience to them without violating Gods Laws and breaking the Sacred Rules of the Gospel I could instance many other Examples Precepts Commands and Entreaties out of Gods Holy-Word directed to you to wish require and desire you to be at Unity and Conformity with us your Brethren especially in the Publick Worship of God and to set aside all prejudice and partiality whereby you are hindered from seeing and embracing the Truth What is it therefore that keeps us at such a distance Is it your Consciences How can your Consciences oppose Gods Word and Will Is it Conscience that obliges you to be irregular in your practices and reject us as Prophane and Idolatrous who labor in all respects to be conformable to the Holy Precepts of the Gospel Is that Conscience in a word that teacheth you to be disobedient to the Laws of God and Man And to breed a disturbance in a Church and Kingdom for such frivolous and idle matters to the encouraging of our Enemies against us to conspire the ruin of our King and Countrey For Gods sake as well as for your own sakes and for Religions sake and the happiness of your Posterity deceive not your selves and think not to deceive God and man with this childish and empty excuse Let me tell you what I conceive to be the true causes of your obstinate Non-Conformity to the Church of England for the reasons commonly alledged of Conscience of Popery Superstition and the unjustifiableness of our Government and Liturgy by Gods Word are but meer pretences and empty excuses to cozen the weaker sort and to colour these following causes of our unreasonable Non-Conformity in the Eyes of the World CHAP. IV. The true causes why most part of our dissenting Brethren will not joyn with us in the Worship of our God enquired into In what particulars our differences chiefly consist and their grand Objection Answered IT is the usual custom of all malecontents to pretend one thing and to intend another and to veil over the foulest Actions with the most glorious covering in imitation of the grand Impostor who appears to us commonly in the garb of an Angel of Light Thus Korah and his rebellious Confederates who separated themselves from Moses and his Congregation pretended the Peoples Holiness and Priviledge and the Rulers Tyranny for their dividing from them Thus Absalom's Ambition was veiled over with a desire of doing justice more carefully to Gods People and freeing them from a tedious Attendance at David's Court. Thus Jeroboam the wicked Son of Nebat pretended the ease of the People for his Idolatrous Worship Thus the Quakers Fifth-Monarchy Anabaptists and many of the worser sort of Separatists
whose Souls and Understandings God hath given over to a strong spirit of delusion to believe Lies and to work Abominations have their excuses for their own follies and errors and to justifie their leaving of us But these I judge for the most part to be in so desperate a case that without a Miracle of Grace it is not possible to snatch them out of the claws of that commanding Spirit that governs them This advice is designed for the perusal of a more moderate sort and of more reasonable Souls more tractable and sociable who embrace the same Faith with us and expect the same Salvation by the same means the Merits of Christ and good Works These also have their pleas and excuses to hide that which is not justifiable by Gods Word and right Reason Their not Conforming with us in the service of God and Duties of Religion But whatever be their pretence these are the true causes of their obstinacy and our unhappiness The first and chiefest are Prejudice and Partiality proceeding from Education a long custom in and an acquaintance with that irregular way which they are so fond of These are wont strangely to prepossess mens minds and blind their judgments against the most apparent discoveries of Truth The late Usurpation and Anarchy in the Church let in another Government and other Orders unto which many that are accustomed cannot so readily prevail upon themselves to embrace what they fancy to be contrary chiefly in so delicate a business as Religion in which their sincerity makes them constant and faithful to the meanest circumstance But I would entreat you my Brethren to rectifie your mistakes by a diligent enquiry for we desire you not to forsake your Religion but to profess the same according to that most excellent manner that the Wisest and most Religious Governours of our Kingdom have thought fitting to prescribe to us Search into our Belief and Practices and see that we agree as well as you with the Holy Records of Gods Word we have the same Faith the same Sacraments the same God and Saviour the same initiation and we are designed for the same End and Glory what a pitty it is that we should be divided in the way Besides all the occasions of your prejudices proceed from mistakes and misapprehensions of us Therefore for the prevention of this evil take not things too much upon trust but give your selves the satisfaction to examin our way and the reasons we give for that which you object against us converse with us in our Devotions and think not that you shall be defiled to pray with us to the same God If your tender Consciences will suffer you to hearken to reason and to associate your selves with us in our Public Worship I am persuaded that all prejudice and partiality will soon vanish at the clear Sun-shine of the Gospel preached and sincerely taught amongst us You ought therefore to be jealous of that which seems to be your Conscience which is for the most part nothing but Humor strengthned by a long continuance And if your Conscience hath been wrought upon to act against truth good manners the glory of God and interest of Christian Religion you must labor by Prayer and the assistance of others of your more enlightned Brethren to find out the mistakes of your deceived Conscience For I cannot conceive but that many of the well meaning people amongst you are governed by their Consciences and frighted with secret remorses from the justest actions agreeable to Gods will and word For when an inveterate prejudice hath possessed the Souls of men it blinds their judgments it hardens their hearts it strengthens their resolutions and causeth Conscience it self to sooth them up in their Error So that they are not easily reconciled to the most apparent Truths An Example we have in the Pharisees of old whose obstinacy in opposing Christ and his Gospel is most remarkable as therefore this plea is not allowed by Gods word in such cases I would advise every good Christian to have some other reason ready for his Actions than bare and naked Conscience which is so apt to deceive our selves and others in this corrupt Age. II. Others of the simpler and more hypocritical sort are kept in their Non-Conformity by an inclination to singularity and a desire to gain the reputation of being more precise and more religious than their other Neighbours as if that were the only way to seem religious to men to cast off all respects to the Religion of the Countrey as if they had no other means to purchase this esteem but by their contempt of the ordinary Acts of Devotion and of the Society in Gods worship of the common people This folly is entertained by too many of those who have more regard to the outward garb than to the inward reality and are more afraid of defiling themselves with other mens sins than their own These pretend the wickedness of the times the viciousness of such as assist at Prayers and publick Acts of Piety and it may be the Ministers weakness in manners and abilities as just causes of their separation from us however they think thereby to answer their end to oblige others to look upon them as more Holy and Angelical than those whom they despise whiles their hearts are full of hatred malice envy pride vanity and many times you may perceive in them the Devil of Hypocrisie that hath a worldly interest to manage by this fond conceit of preciseness with which the poor Soul endeavors to deceive it self and others for that intent as the boasting Pharisee of the Gospel To cure this kind of Lunaticism in Religion I would advise the distempered to seek but into their own Souls and understand themselves better and it may be they would find there more cause to lament at their own corruption than to exclaim against the viciousness of others I would advise them to take heed of being more severe against their sinful Brethren than God and to consider that by partaking with the vilest of men in Holy Duties thou art not partakers of their negligence prophaness and other Crimes unless thou followest their vicious Examples That thy Piety and Humility will be so much the more acceptable to thy God and pleasing to men in a publick Congregation the more it excels the rest of the Assistants That other mens unworthiness should be so far from scaring thee from performing thine obligations to God and his Church that it should animate thee the more with an inclination to promote Gods glory and keep up his worship in the eyes of the world with that due respect and reverence which other men neglect in their constant attendance upon this Holy Ordinance And that it is a most ridiculous persuasion to fancy thy self able to obtain the esteem of Holyness by the omission of the duties of Religion and by a scornful neglect of the incouragements of Holyness and Piety III. Another cause of many of our
Christs Disciples their temper is who are not to be reconciled with us and their own duty by all the Reasons and Commands of God and Man You know and may easily discover in your usual hearers if you please to give your selves the trouble several wicked vices as pride selfconceitedness hypocrisie hatred malice envy c. which their Non-Conformity alone hath bred and nourished in their Souls You know that the blessed rules of the Gospel and the sweet temper of Christs Religion requires from you another disposition and other carriage than many of you and most of your followers exprest to us your Brethren and your Christian Governors If you have a sincere regard to Religion and a desire to advance Gods Glory on Earth you will at last endeavour a reconciliation for fear of the mischiefs which our separation from one another is like to bring upon us all Remember that a compliance with your Peoples Non-Conformity is no longer seasonable in regard of the obstinacy of those that continue in it against all Law and Reason You have sufficiently complied with their humors do you now comply with your obligations to God and Man you have had a care of the salvation of their Souls now look to the preservation of your own and run not your selves into the remediless sin of a wilful denial and opposition of God truth to the last The Apostles in their yielding to the Jewish mistakes laboured always to make them sensible of their Error by minding them still that Moses Ceremonies were not needful to be observed and at last told them plainly That they were a denyal of Christs coming in the Flesh Galat. It would become your Learning and Integrity my reverend Brethren to deal thus plainly with your Congregations if you would be true followers of the Holy Apostles Tell them that Conformity to the Church of England is no such a Crime as they have imagined that they are bound to obey Mans Laws when they are not contrary to the Commands of the Gospel That they should be reconciled with our Worship and Church and strive to Conform as near as they can to what is required from them Tell them that Schism and Separation from the approved way is a grievous sin That their Souls are in danger of Damnation by resisting and disobeying the lawful Commands of their Superiors under God That they should take heed of not persisting obstinately in their errors and not to refuse obedience to the least Command of the Gospel when discovered to them Tell them to be more in love with Truth than with Faction more desirous of meeting with the rest of their Brethren in Gods Worship than fond of their private and unlawful meetings where the Gospel may be Preached it is true because it is in opposition to their other Brethren and to the Authority of the Nation they are not warrantable by Gods Word Tell them in short that the Blessed Gospel of our Saviour as well as his Interest and our Glory requires us all to joyn and unite together in all Acts of Piety on Earth that we may avoid the Devils temptations and be more fit to unite together in Heaven to sing oraises to our great God and Redeemer Our Blessed Saviour who is dead for you as well as for us and is gone to prepare a place for us in the glorious Mansions of Eternity intends not to receive you by your selves and appoint your aboads distinct from the rest of Christians why are you so serupulous or so superstitious as for trivial matters now to divide from us in that Worship which is to prepare us for Gods presence O my Brethren did we but consider how ridiculous our Nation appear to our Neighbours and to the Blessed Angels above and how pleasing our Divisions are to our Enemies of Rome we should doubtless blush for shame to have hitherto encouraged a separation so childish and ill grounded for no other cause but the humor and mistakes of the vulgar sort seeing that it renders us liable to the reproach of Men and Angels and causeth us all to be in danger of the ruin of our worldly interest and what mischiefs it causeth to the Souls of men do you judge If the respect to Religion be pretended examin whether this pretence can avail against an apparent Duty or excuse you from a submission to the Laws of God and Man examin whether at present you draw not more evil upon the heads of your Followers and Religion it self by an opposition to Conformity than you would by yielding to Reason and Law and to your Christian obligations I know that some prophane and vicious persons refuse to be conformable for other reasons because they have cast off all respects for their God and Religion I know the Jesuits and the disguised Papists amongst you will not Conform to our Church but exclaim against our Religious Worship because they have a wicked design to manage the ruin of the Nation But I intend not these lines for their benefit and perusal but only for such of our Non-Conforming Brethren whose hearts God may at last move with a sence of their duty to joyn with us in Gods Service They that hereafter shall refuse and continue in an obstinate refusal and in their usual clamors against us may justly be suspected for Papists or some hired to promote the Jesuitical design the overthrow of Church and State Were the differences in Religion between us in the Fundamentals a Separation would be well grounded But we all agree in the chief Articles of our Faith we embrace together the same Religion and Belief we worship the same one God Creator of Heaven and Earth and expect Salvation through the Merits of a Crucified Christ we subscribe to the same Covenant of Grace and acknowledge but two Sacraments as Seals we look upon the Holy Scriptures as the only infallible Rule of our Faith and Practice In a word we agree in all the essential parts of the Christian Religion many of the circumstances in which we disagree are so inconsiderable that if we had not an earnest desire to contend they would not be able to cause any dispute much less to disturb the publick peace The chief differences are about Church Government and Gods Publick Worship for the latter they are so frivolous idle and impertinent that I shall say no more in vindication of our practices than hath been already said but for the Government we agree in the chief Principles and Maxims though we differ in the conclusion For we all say that in all Church Governments amongst Christians that there is a regard to be had to the Models allowed of and appointed by the Holy Apostles and Primitive Fathers That the Rules of the Gospel ought not to be opposed but obeyed in the prescribing of Laws for the preservation of Christian Societies That in all Church Government there is a special regard to be had to the end of all Government which
is the safety of the whole to keep it from the attempts of all Enemies and dangers That this may cause a variety in Kingdoms and Nations agreeable to the Government in the State to the nature and inclinations of the people and several other circumstances which are to be weighed in this Case That a Government established in a Nation by the publick Authority if not contrary to Gods Word and Will ought not to be resisted by Christian Subjects That every individual Believer must not presume to censure and murmur against the appointed Order in Church or State or meddle with the Princes Office and Power That the Government in the Church belongs to the Sovereign Prince under God as well as in the State and that it is a dangerous presumption for every private person to venture to contradict the Laws which such Lawful Princes think convenient in their wisdom to settle in a Church in these and such like truths I suppose most of our Non-Conforming Brethren will agree with us But nevertheless the Presbyterian will be governed by his Presbytery and Lay-Elders in a subordination to Assemblies and Synods The Independent will acknowledge no Orders in the Church but what are appointed in his Congregation and both refuse Obedience to Episcopal Authority though suitable to the former Rules and Maxims Episcopacy recommends to us in Gods Church a Monarchical Authority Presbytery would have an Aristocratical mixed with Democracy the Independent pleads for a Democratical To what purpose is this adoe about Government it concerns not our Salvation in case we behave our selves justly righteously and soberly in this present world in case we can but lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty As this is the chief duty of every individual Christian it should be our endeavour and purpose in all our actions The Presbyterian forsook Episcopacy and thought to mend his condition under that Government he gave an Example to the Independent to forsake Presbytery with hopes of living with more ease in a new Government never heard of in the Primitive Church unless it be amongst Hereticks and Enemies of Gods Truth for the establishing of this strange Order in this Church they lay down most dangerous Doctrines contrary to Gods Word and all Reason for instance That every Christian upon the account of being so a real Christian a good man and a Believer may be no member of Christs visible Church and is not bound to joyn in external Communion with it where it may be had Separation no Schism in opposition to an excellent Sermon of that Worthy Divine Mr. Sharp That a suspicion or a bare persuasion of sin in the publick practices commanded by Authority is sufficient to free both Minister and People from their Obedience and License them to Act contrary to the same That Christians are not subject to Ecclesiastical Laws unless they be contained in the Holy Scripture That men may be Christians without any subjection to Authority or dependency upon Christs Church And such like Doctrines directly contrary to Christs great design in mans Redemption which S. Paul tells us was Union Ephesians ii 16. That he might reconcile all unto God in one Body by the Cross I would have these my Brethren know that as man was created in respect to a Society he is also redeemed with the same relation for we cannot think that this good Saviour hath freed him from sin and the Devils power to live by himself for ever as a wild Anchoret in the Desart and Mountains he hath enlightned his followers with that spirit and given them those principles that tend to Union and Communion Therefore St. Paul saith in 1 Cor. xiv 33. That God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints What means the Apostle by Peace is it that every individual Christian should be scattered upon the face of the Earth and upon the least suspicion or ill grounded prejudice abominate all correspondency in the Publick Worship of God that he should look upon his brethren redeemed by the same bloud governed by the same spirit and animated with the same hopes with a supercilious countenance and fly from them as from a Wolf or a Devil Yet these are the consequences of some of the Independent principles But I suppose it no difficult matter to reclaim most of them from such pernicious opinions which have proved as destructive to their private Congregations as they have to the Church of England for they tend to encourage disorder and to license men to cast off all respects to all Governours and Government of what sort soever But methinks if we had that honour for our Nation as becomes us and as other people have for theirs we should not be more fond of the new modes in Government and Gods Worship recommended to us by our Neighbours and imposed upon us by a Scotch Frolick than of the antient and wise method and Government established amongst us by our Forefathers Why must the new fangles and fashions of strangers affect us more than the discreet constructions of our own Christian Rulers Though the people of our Nation alter often their habits methinks in so serious a business as Religion Government and Gods Worship we should not be so changeable as we are in our apparel I know the rigid Independents are accused for denying the appointed maintenance to Ministers Tythes the encouragement of Learning and Gods Service they are accused for not allowing any set forms of Prayer not so much as the Lords Prayer for not admitting any to the Ordinances but such as are of their own fraternity for denying the Magistrates Power over the Godly for allowing the killing of all opposers See Mr. Baily's Dissuasive from the Errors of the times But these wicked Doctrines I suppose are not maintained by the most moderate Independents who differ from us chiefly in the Government of the Church in all other things it is likely that they may be brought to comply with us though at present they give themselves the liberty to abuse and carp at many other innocent circumstances of the Religion and Worship of the Church of England I find my self engaged in this place to give a Reply to a grand Objection against this Advice and call to Conformity which seems to be allowed by St. Paul in his Fourteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans and which is commonly pleaded as an excuse by our Non Conforming Brethren That they extreamly suspect our practices and worship to be sinful and therefore they are not bound to act against a doubting Conscience by joyning with us in that which they conceive to be unlawful Agreeable to S. Paul's words in another occasion and case He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin This passage is but a weak Plea for Non-Conformity in England for the Romans case and ours