BEAVFRONS OR A New-DISCOVERY of TREASON UNDER The FAIR-FACE and MASK OF RELIGION AND OF LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE In an ANSWER to the Protestant Reconciler In which is PROVED That the Protestant-Reconciler Encouraged the New Discovered Plot by his giving out unto the People That the King and Governours were and are the Betrayers of their Liberties And therefore Deserve Death By One of HIS MAJESTIE' 's Chaplains LONDON Printed for Charles Morden Bookseller in Cambridge MDCLXXXIII REVERENDO Admodum in Christo Patri Doctissimóque Antistiti ac DOMINO D. SETHO EPISCOPO SARISBVRIENSI Nec-non NOBILISSIMI ORDINIS à Periscelide Dicti Cancellario Tractatum Hunc In Summae Observantiae Symbolum Humillimè Dicat Dedicátque Ecclesiae verè Anglicanae Filius Observantissimus TO THE READER COURTEOUS SIR IT is humbly conceived that this TREATISE small in its Bulk but great in its Weight will be Acceptable unto all who Love their King and Church Because it so Seasonably Discovers the Plots and Designs of the Enemies to Both. And although the Authour was fully Satisfied That the Dissenters Principles were Treasonable and inconsistent with the Safety of our English Monarchy and of our Churches Welfare Yet he little thought They would so soon have given the World a Proof thereof as they have done in their NEW PLOT against the King's Most Sacred Person and against His Royal Highness the Duke of York which by Divine Providence is so happily discovered and we hope Totally Prevented Stephen Colledge's and their Treason detected fully Answers the Reconciler and proves sufficiently That no Condescention can safely be Granted unto the Dissenting Brethren untill they have openly Renounced their Traiterous Principles and have given some Better Signs of their Loyalty For as this TREATISE Foretold so now their New Treason Discovered has proved it to be a Truth that they are and will be as Dangerous if not more than the Papists And this Plot together with the Popish Plot does clearly evidence farther this Truth also That our King and Governours have no true Friends to trust unto but onely the True Episcopal-Church-Men of England For the Principles of all other Parties lead them into Faction and Rebellion from which Good Lord Deliver Vs July 2d 1683. THE Contents CHAP. I. THE True Notion of a Protestant p. 1. CHAP. II. The Presbyterians no Protestants p. 8. CHAP. III. The Independents no Protestants p. 17. CHAP. IV. The Ànabaptists no Protestants p. 29. CHAP. V. The Quakers no Protestants p. 36. CHAP. VI. The Reconciler's Design as pretended proved to be Impossible p. 40. CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be as Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State p. 60. SECT I. The Reconciler gives out to the People That our King and Governours are the Authours of our Present Schisms and Factions p. 61. SECT II. According to the Reconciler Our King and Governours are Proud Men and The Plagues of the Earth For Imposing things Indifferent p. 67. SECT III. According to the Reconciler Our King and Governours Deserve Death For Imposing on the People things Indifferent p. 68. SECT IV. The King and Governours according to the Reconciler are Traytours to the Common-wealth and Betrayers of the Peoples Liberties for Imposing upon them things Indifferent And that therefore the People ought not to yield to their Impositions But ought to Rebell and vindicate their Christian Liberty p. 70. SECT V. The Reconciler scandalously affirms That the King and Governours want Piety and Prudence And that therefore it is they Impose upon the People Things Indifferent p. 74. SECT VI. According to the Reconciler The King and Governours are the Destroyers of the Work of God and are the Murtherers of Myriads of Souls for Imposing things Indifferent p. 77. SECT VII According to the Reconciler The King Commands Men to Sin when he Commands their Obedience as to things Indifferent p. 79. SECT VIII The Reconciler's Rule for the King and Governours to observe in case any Evil Consequents should happen through the Dissenters Disobedience after a Condescention granted to them to wit To leave the Event to God p. 81. CHAP. VIII The Reconciler's Proposition to wit That considering the Circumstances our Church and State at present are in Things Indifferent ought not to be Imposed by the Legislators as Conditions of Church-Communion This Proposition if taken absolutely and simply in it self is proved to be false p. 84. Secondly It is proved to be false and unseasonably Propounded if taken Relatively in Reference to the Circumstances our Church and State are in at present p. 96. CHAP. I. The true Notion of a PROTESTANT NEver was the Christian World more abus'd with any Word under the Pretence of Religion than with this of Protestant And especially in this Our Factious and Disloyal Age and Country In which this Word has been and still is made odious and a very Covert for all Religious-Male-Contents in Church and State For All Parties and Sects that would not be deemed Papists have Christened and Styled themselves Protestants Although they have been and still are the most erroneous vitious and dissolute Persons in the World both as to Principles and Practices And for as much as a Late Authour Entitles himself and his Book THE PROTESTANT RECONCILER But has not told his Reader Who are the Persons he understands by Protestants We therefore entreat the said Reconciler to inform the World What he means by A Protestant For if by Protestants the Reconciler understands All those men who disown and Protest against the Name of Papist Then in truth the Turks and Jews may as deservedly be called Protestants But if he says that by Protestants he means All Christians who Renounce Popery Then he would doe well 1. To define what is Popery 2. To let us know who are the Persons that renounce Popery so defined For by Popery the Church of Rome means the Pope's Supremacy and whoever denies that is no Papist at Rome Let his other Opinions be never so Canonical And by Protestantism the Church of England understands the Pious Doctrine of the King's Supremacy in Opposition unto that of the Pope's And whoever denyes the King's Supremacy is no Protestant in England Let his other Tenets be never so Orthodox Wherefore Once again We request the Reconciler not to amuse the World with any Bug-Bear Words But in plain English to Unridle Who and What are the Persons he discriminates from all others by the Specious Title of Protestants For if the Reconciler be a genuine Son of the Church of England as now established which we very much doubt He cannot but know That our Church and State own and acknowledge None to be Protestants in England but onely such who in their Consciences and Principles allow of and Protest for The King's Supremacy And by the King's Supremacy we mean Full. Ch. Hist l. 9. p. 53. A Power in the King given to him by Almighty God to Restore Religion when
Commotions and Insurrections against their Princes As was Thomas Muntzer one of the first Anabaptists in Europe who gathered a great number of Common people together upon the account of Religion and Tender Conscience and Headed them in a Bloudy Rebellion against the Princes of Germany Though it pleased God that this Religious Traytour was overcome in Battel and deservedly executed for his Treason It would be endless to enumerate all their Treasonable Principles for with them as with all others the Proverb is true Mores sequuntur Humores Mens Practices are the Natural Results and effects of their Principles And therefore forasmuch as the Anabaptists Principles are Treasonable and Anti-Protestant Declaring against The King's Supremacy in Church And His Monarchy in State We may and ought to Conclude them as we did the Presbyterians and Independents To be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. V. The Quakers No Protestants THis is a Sect of Men who also pretend to Religion and like bad Weeds have in a very short time grown high and numerous within this our pleasant Garden of England And truely they are outwardly whatever they be inwardly more modest than the three former Dissenters in that these men knowing their own Principles and Practices to be directly opposite to the Protestant Religion have not presumed as did the three other to Name themselves Protestants But have been Content to pass under the Denomination of The PEOPLE of GOD Commonly Called QVAKERS And as for their Tenets and Principles no man is able to give a perfect Account of them They being a Maniple of Confusion Nor are they among themselves agreed what are their own Doctrines and Principles Witness their own Writers who Contradict one another Onely in these particulars they all agree 1. To deny The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Episcopacy 3. The Lawfulness of taking an Oath and of Swearing before a Civil Magistrate And in one thing they are out of a Principle of pretended Sanctity more Rude and Inhumane than any of their Dissenting Brethren In that they obstinately refuse to pay to the King or to any Person whatever the Common Civility of outward Respect and Reverence and do deny the King and all Magistrates the Civil Honour and Complement of the very Hat And this is to be noted That although the Quakers will not Swear in their own Persons Because it is a sin to Swear yet they will desire and sometimes hire others to take an Oath and Swear for them and to sin in their stead as frequently they doe in the case of Burying in Woollen onely nay sometimes they will procure Knights of the Post to Swear for them Persons who never saw their Dead either laid forth wound up or Buryed and yet have Sworn and made Affidavit before the Justice of the Peace onely upon the Credit of their Word As the Writer of these Lines once discovered and advised the said Quakers to take up their Dead out of the Grave and to get a true Oath to be made according to Law the which advice they within the time did follow and saved their forfeiture In truth this Action of the Quakers in getting others to Swear for them seems to us very like David's killing the poor Man's Lamb to save his own But forasmuch as the Quakers abhor a Reconciliation with the Episcopal-Protestant Church of England We therefore think it had been more proper for the Reconciler to have urged Arguments rather for their Conviction than for their Reconciliation For untill He has convinced them and the other Dissenters of their Errours and Disloyalties it is Impertinency not to say Teason for him or any other to persuade the King and Government unto a Condescention towards them or such as them who are all by their Principles obliged for ever to be Enemies to The King's Supremacy And as Impertinent and Ridiculous is it for the Reconciler to persuade his Mother as he calls the Church of England to be reconciled to such as these This being to persuade a Reconciliation Between LIGHT and DARKNESS Between YEA and NAY Wherefore seeing these things are impossible we do from the Premisses Conclude The Quakers As we did their former Brethren In DISSENTION Not to say In INIQVITY To be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. VI. The RECONCILER'S Design proved to be as Pretended IMPOSSIBLE HAving hitherto given the Reader a short account of all the most considerable Sects in England and proved them to be No Protestants We now presume That the Reconciler cannot but by this time perceive his own Mistake and Confess That the TITLE of his Book is False And that he has gratified by Printing it no Party of Protestants but the Beaufronts alias Whigs and Trimmers who are of no Religion Because they are of every Religion according to their company and interest And we hope he will acknowledge his Pretended Design if true to be impossible Because Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers and All Dissenters if true and constant to their own Principles will ever remain such i. e. Dissenters for no Soap can wash the Blackamoor white And therefore it is utterly impossible for the Church of England to be Reconciled to them Unless the Reconciler would have the Church of England to Vn-church her self and become the Mother and Patroness of all Sects and Religions at one and the same time Now if this should ever happen to be as the Reconciler desires may be pray What an uggly Monster what a deformable Beast must the Church of England be even worse than the Scarlet-coloured Beast in the Revelations Rev. 17.3 which was full of Names of Blasphemy full of Abominations and Filthiness But we cannot imagine the Reconciler's Brains to be so shallow as ever to think Impossibilities feasible as he must if ever he thinks it feasible to reconcile the Episcopal Church of England and the Dissenters whilst they continue such In our apprehension the Reconciler may as well plead for the Church of Englands Condescention to and Reconciliation with the Papists as with the Dissenters For the Dissenters are as dangerous to the King and his Monarchy and to the Church of England and her Episcopacy as the Papists And therefore if the Dissenters may be brought into the Body of our Church and be indulged because of their tender Consciences notwithstanding their erroneous and treasonable Principles Then pray Mr. Reconciler Why may not the Papists also for the same reason be indulged For Thousands of the Papists have proved themselves to be men of great Conscience by their constant Loyalty to the King in Temporals notwithstanding their Obligations to the Pope in Spirituals as also by strict and frequent Fasts according to their Churches Orders and by their daily devotions and great Charity even to their very Enemies as well as to their Friends and by their sober inoffensive Lives by these and other instances you may see that the Papists do not onely prosess but also live Christianity in many degrees above the generality of Dissenters or
decayed to Reform the Church when corrupted and to Protect the same when Reformed This is the Supremacy which the German Princes being the first Reformers Assumed to themselves exercising their own Authority in Ordering and Setling Church-Matters within their own Dominions And because they all Protested against the Pope's Supremacy and Defended that of their own Therefore were they called Protestants In like manner King Henry the Eighth was the first Protestant Prince in England for no other Reason But because he was the first King of England since the Reformation who strenuously vindicated his Own Regal Supremacy And Protested against the Pope's Usurpation and Tyranny over Kings and their Subjects For which the Pope of Rome Excommunicated King Henry the Eighth and Branded him with the Name of Heretick and Protestant And notwithstanding King Henry's being a perfect and Rigid Papist in all points of Doctrine according to the Church of Rome yet because he Assumed his Own Supremacy and Abjured that of the Pope's he is Therefore styled and that very truely A Protestant And our Statute-Laws call all them who deny the King's Supremacy Recusants whether they be Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists or Quakers The Law Names all Recusants and indeed such They are and Not Protestants For as in the Church of Rome no man is counted a Papist but onely he who declares for the Pope's Supremacy So in the Church of England no man is nor ought to be reckoned a Protestant but onely he who in Thought Word and Deed is for the King's Supremacy as above stated These things being Premised We are of Opinion That the Reconciler has Mistaken his own Title for in equity and honesty he should have Entitled Himself and his Book The Recusant and not the Protestant Reconciler For we know no Protestants in England that need any Reconciliation unless it be the Beaufronts alias Fair-faced Protestants Who have God and the King in their Mouths but the Devil in their Hearts Who Speak their Prince fair to his face but will Wound his Reputation and cut his Throat behind his Back Who will take and swallow all Oaths particularly those of Supremacy and Allegiance And yet will enter into a Scotch-Covenant or into a Shaftsburian-ASSOCIATION and Plot Treason and Rebellion against their King and his Government Who will cry-up the Church of England and yet cry-down the Bishops Who will on a Sunday-Morning go to Divine-Service in the Parish-Church and receive the Sacrament Kneeling and yet in the Afternoon Contrary to their Oath of Allegiance will go to a Seditious Conventicle These are the Tares among the Wheat the very Pests of the Nation And indeed They want a Reconciliation that is Of their ungodly Principles and Practices to Piety Of their Knavery to Honesty Of their Perjury and Hypocrisie to Truth Of their Faction to Loyalty Except these dissembling Beaufronts we know no Protestants that need any Reconciliation for in England there are no Protestants except the Beaufronts but onely the true-hearted and Loyal Episcopal men who in Heart and Conscience Own and Protest for according to our Churches Articles 34 36 37. 1. The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Authority in Ordering Rites and Ceremonies 3. The Episcopal Government as now established Asserting the Distinct Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons 4. Who give due Obedience to the Churches Orders and Constitutions These are the onely Protestants in England As for all others the Laws of the Realm Notifie them by the Name of Recusants So then it is a most Certain Truth though a Paradox to the Vulgar That although there be Myriads of Men in England who pass for Protestants and call themselves Protestants yet in truth and reality they are Recusants They all Combining and Siding with the Papists against the King's Supremacy do by so doing declare themselves to be No Protestants And the onely way to Reconcile these Recusants unto our Church is in the first place to persuade them to become Protestants that is to say to persuade them to Own and Protest for the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastick Matters and to become Obedient to his Laws Civil and Ecclesiastick for till this be done as was said before They are No Protestants And of this Nature and Character are all the Dissenters in England to wit Recusants and not Protestants For they all deny the King's Supremacy which is the Essence and Foundation of Protestantism in Opposition to Popery And whoever pleads for them to be Reconciled to the Church of England without an open Recantation of their Popish Principles as does the Reconciler is guilty of a Praemunire and smells more of a Papist than of a Protestant This then being the proper Notion of a Protestant We once more petition the Reconciler That he would be pleased to inform us who are the Protestants for whom he so earnestly pleads and unto whom he so passionately craves a Condescension may be granted by the King and the Governours If he says They be the Dissenting-Brethren as he has it in his Title Page then he grosly mistakes himself For the Dissenters are No Protestants Because they all deny The King's Supremacy Which is the onely Badge and Characteristical Note of a Protestant Now that All the Dissenters do so is easily proved by their own Avowed and Declared Principles and Practices The Dissenters in England although they be very numerous yet they may be reduced unto four Ranks and Sects which will comprehend them all at least all those which are of any Bulk and Note among us Such as the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers All which Sects we shall in order prove to be No Protestants CHAP. II. The Presbyterians No Protestants THe Presbyterians are no Protestants in as much as They Deny The King's Supremacy And in Opposition thereunto They Set up their own Ecclesiastick Consistory above the King and his Power For by their Consistorian Power They pretend they may and actually they have censured and deposed their own Natural Prince raised War by Oath and Covenant against Him when he would not yield himself a slave to their Demands and Consistorian Tyranny This is too well known in Scotland and England and needs no farther proof And although they do declare with the French Presbyterians French Disci Eccles c. 5. of the Consistory That a Magistrate may be called and employed in the charge of an Elder in the Consistory yet it is with such a Restraint and Limitation as that the Execution of one of the Functions must not hinder the other and bring no prejudice to the Church that is to their Consistorian Power which is to over-rule and controll the Magistrate in matters Ecclesiastick It is to be Noted That the first Presbyterian Consistory erected in Opposition to Monarchy and Episcopacy that ever we heard of was first in Geneva Setled by Calvin and Beza And the First Presbyterian Confistory Setled in Scotland was by John Knox who came from Geneva and brought from thence the Platform
and not ye nor any else are the Couragious Gallant Spirited Men who in Our Zeal for God and his Glory Killed not to say Murthered the late King We were the Justiciaries who paid unto Him the proper Wages of his sin which was death And now Surely any pious heart would have thought That all the Sect of Independents with one consent would have sharply exclaimed against this Traytour and his Treason But pudet dictu instead of that The Independents Cryed up and Applauded this their Champion And sent forth into the Field two others to be his Seconds For Soon after Johannes Melaina Bdella alias John Blackbdell appears * Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John Milton the Blind Independent Historian and †Jo. Goodwin's Defence of the SENTENCE passed on the KING John Goodwin the Independent Pastour of Colemanstreet London Both Wrote in Justification of King Charles his Tryal and Execution And we heartily wish Dr. Owen yet Surviving would Recant his Treasonable Words spoken to the Commons of the Rump Parliament the very day after the King's Murther on Jan. 31. 1648. when he said He that is trusted with the Sword and dares not doe Justice on every one that dares doe Injustice is afraid of the Creature But makes very bold with the Creatour From these and an hundred other Instances which might be brought it is evident That the Independents were the Professed Enemies of the late King and of this his present Majesty And although the Presbyterians began the War and the Rebellion against King Charles the First yet it was the Independents who carryed it on unto the Death For Who but the Independents debarred the Secluded Presbyterian-Members that began to Repent of their Rebellion from entring the House of Commons Who but the Independents Brake up the Presbyterian-Assembly of Divines What was Oliver and his New-Reform'd Army But Independents and Anabaptists Who continued the War and Rebellion after the King's Murther But the Independents And when the Whole Nation Groaned under the Oliverian-Tyranny and Oppression And Long'd for the Present King's-Restauration Who opposed it but the Independents Was it not Mr. Caryll the Great Independent that was Sent * Church-Hist of Gr. Brit. p. 367. in the Name of all the Independent Churches unto General Monk in Scotland with Arguments to divert and hinder him from Marching on into England urging this for one Reason to wit That if he did persist Then †Mr. Caryll's Speech in the Name of the Independent Churches Charles Stuart King of the Scots and his Party would reap Great Advantages and as it was feared would soon be Restored and the Perizzites and Canaanites in the Land would Triumph And the People of God for so he called his own Party would be brought into great danger And when General Monk was Marched into England against Lambert Who was it But the Independents that in their Juncto Voted on Jan. 2. 1659. That No man whatever should be a Councillour of State But onely he who took an Oath of Abjuration of the King his Family and Government And I pray Who was it But Doctor Owen Head of the present Independents that since the Act of Oblivion and of Vniformity Dr. Owen's Vindica cult Evang. Satyrically called All the Church of England and therefore among them the King Limbs of Antichrist and said Dissenters Sayings That the Ministery of the Church of England is False Superstitious and Idolatrous And that Persons performing the Publick-Worship in the Church of England are No Officers appointed by Christ But are an Anti-Christian Ministery and Idolaters Now What is all this But the very same Railery and Doctrine continued which was formerly Preached and Vented by the same Man Dr. Owen's Thanksgiving Sermon 1651. on Octob. 24. 1651. when he Queried in the Pulpit What is this Prelacy A mere Anti-Christian Encroachment upon the Inheritance of Christ And it is to be noted That this Independent Doctor Preached and Printed this his Anti-Prelatical Sermon soon after Worcester-Fight when the Oppressed Nation was in great Hopes That Monarchy and Episcopacy would have been restored And truely in all probability they both had been Restored had not the Independent Army prevailed and prevented So that all the Calamities and Troubles which our King and our Nation met with after Worcester-Fight they were all occasioned by the Independents And all the Bloud Shed then and since in the Defence of the Present King and his Government as also the Bloud of King Charles the Martyr it all chiefly lies at the Independents Door And more particularly at That Man's Door who has in Print Justified the said Murther and Rebellion So that we may truely say to him what Nathan said to David Thou Art The Man We will add onely two instances more as First That of the Independent Authour His BOOK Entitled One Blow more at BABYLON Printed 1650. It is well known saith he that the late King was not Murthered by the Parliament Page 57. but fell by the stroke of Justice and that so Legally and Righteously administred for his bloudy Crimes he became guilty of in the Face of Heaven that we doubt not but God was well pleased with it and will clear the inflicters of it if they keep their integrity against all their Accusers and Condemners whatsoever Secondly The Character which Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton gave of the Independents in which they say That the Independents are Revilers Covenant-Breakers with God and Man Hereticks Causers of Divisions and Offences and such as all Christians ought to take heed of and not to bid them God Speed And yet these are the Godly the Conscientious Men Our Reconciler would have the King and Government to admit into the Bosome and Communion of our Church of England and that without any Publick Penance or Abrenunciation of their Treasonable and Anti Protestant Positions But For as much as these Men have and still do peremptorily deny The King's Supremacy We therefore Conclude them as we did the Presbyterians to be No Protestants CHAP. IV. The Anabaptists No Protestants THis Sect has as many Names as Hydra had Heads Full. Hist l. 5. p. 229. and therefore it may well be called The Monster of Religion or rather of Impiety This Monster Swiming over from Amsterdam as did the Presbyterian from Geneva made its first unlucky Arrival in England about 29 Hen. 8.1538 Their Opinions are innumerable And therefore we will onely take notice of such of them as speak them Enemies 1. To the King's Supremacy in the Church 2. To his Monarchy in the State 1. The King by his Supremacy is to order all matters in the Church so as in his Royal wisedom he shall think most consistent with the revealed will of God in his written word and most conducing to the advancement of God's Glory Religions Honour and of the Churches wellfare Whereas the Anabaptists deny this power to be granted by God unto Kings or to
these Holy-Days of the Macchabees appointment But he also confirmed the lawfull use and Imposition of them by his working of Miracles on those very Holy-Days And farther That Christ might set a perfect Example of Obedience unto all Subjects as to things Indifferent when by Lawfull Authority imposed Christ himself did therefore observe all the Minuter Rites and Ceremonies of the Law and of the Passover which none ever did or was able to doe before him And lest Christ should give any offence to the Superiours then in power he observed the Impositions and Ceremonies of the very Pharisees which they by their own Laws had injoyned upon the People as Terms and Conditions of their Church-Communion And particularly Christ observed the Pharisees Religious Orders of Washing the Feet at Feasts and at the Passover which was onely an Ordinance of Humane Invention St. Luk. 7.44 And Christ did publickly blame the Pharisee for not giving him Water to Wash withall according to the Pharisees Orders and Impositions St. Peter positively determines against the Reconciler's Proposition not onely Categorically but also Vniversally commanding Submission and Obedience unto every Ordinance of the King and Governours which is not against the written word of Cod 1 St. Pet. 2.13.18 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him Eras Grot. in Loc. that is sent by God and the King such as are Magistrates in the State and Bishops in the Church all sent and set over the People by God and the King And in v. 18. of that Chapter St. Peter adds as the Whole Duty of Man this Injunction Fear God Honour the King Thereby plainly intimating unto us this excellent Truth scil That if we will not peaceably submit to every Ordinance of the King as to Things Indifferent but will become Mutinous and Rebellious and make a Schism and Faction in the Church and State by our Disobedience then notwithstanding our high Profession of Religion we neither Fear God nor Honour the King Secondly The Practice of the Primitive times of Christianity sufficiently Declares the Reconciler's Proposition as taken absolutely and simply in it self to be false In the First place if we consider the Authour of our Christian Religion Jesus Christ and his Practice we shall find That although Christ Instituted the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and commanded Bread and Wine to be used in the Celebration thereof Yet He even Christ left it to the prudence of the Governours of the Church to determine the things Indifferent in that Holy Sacrament As for instance He left it wholly to the Governours of the Church to determine what kind of Bread whether Barley Oaten or Wheaten whether fine or course whether as among the Jews at the Passover onely unleavened or leavened Bread As also what kind of Wine Red or White whether Wine onely or Wine mixed with Water as is the use of many Churches in Remembrance of Water and Bloud that issued out of Jesus his side on the Cross In like manner Christ determined nothing as to the Priests and Ministers Garments nor as to the Peoples Posture and Gesture whether Sitting Kneeling or Standing or Lying along at the Receiving of the Sacrament But he left these indifferent things wholly to the Determination of the Governours of every National Church And as Christ determined nothing in these particulars So neither did the Apostles nor does any part of the Canonical Scriptures Determine what Form and Liturgy what kind of Garments what Posture and Gesture the Priests and People shall use and observe in Divine Worship and in Receiving the Lord's Supper But leaves all such circumstances and things of Indifferency unto the Prudence of the Supreme Governours And therefore Counterm c. 4. p. 41. it is judiciously noted by the Countermine That although the Sacred Scriptures are a perfect Rule for Faith and Doctrine yet they do not lay down particular Rules for particular Discipline and Modes of Worship Nor do they determine that in such a particular Garment Posture or Way and in no other All Nations shall in the Sacrament or in Divine Worship serve God For God in his infinite Wisedom has left the Particular Rules of Discipline and Modes of Worship unto the Care Wisedom and Prudence of the Supreme Magistrate to determine Onely the Scriptures lay down certain General Rules which the Supreme Magistrate and all Imposers of Laws whether Civil or Ecclesiastick are bound in Conscience to observe such as 1. To enact and doe all things to the Glory of God 2. To doe all things with Decency and Order 3. To be Moderate towards all Men that is not to be bitter and wrathfull but meek and mild towards all men as far as Law and Reason will permit * Vid. Mr. Evans Excellent Discourse on the True Notion of Moderation Preached before the Lord Mayor of London with all Resolution and Firmness of Mind to hold fast the Form of sound words of Good Order and Discipline it being inconsistent with the Honour Trust and Dignity of the Superiours and Governours to be tost to and fro with every wind of Doctrine or Popular Persuasion This is the Moderation and these are the General Rules which the Scriptures injoyn the Legislatours to observe in their Impositions of things indifferent As for the Ancient Councils and Fathers they declare by their practice the Lawfulness and sometimes the Necessity of Imposing things Indifferent as Conditions of Church-Communion Take for instance The First Christian Council that ever was to wit that at Jerusalem where St. James Bishop of Jerusalem presided In which Abstention from the use of things Indifferent in themselves was Imposed Such as the Abstaining from Pollutions of Idols i.e. from Meats and Drinks offered to Idols and from things strangled and from bloud These things in themselves were good for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer 1 Tim. 4.4 And yet the Apostolical Council Imposed the Abstaining from the use of these things Good in themselves as necessary conditions of Church-Communion Act. 15.20 28 29. It is confessed That the Reconciler makes mention of this Apostolical Council at Jerusalem But in his Notes upon it he gives himself a shrewd Box on the Ear Prot. Recon c. 8. p. 302. p. 302. for his words are The things imposed by the Apostles were in their nature things Vnnecessary But yet for preservation of the Churches Peace and Union and for prevention of Scandal to the Believing Jews they were necessary to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion c. Now from the Reconciler's words we thus argue scil That if the Apostles did Impose things Vnnecessary and Indifferent when they saw it necessary for the Good i. e. for the Peace and Union of
the Church and for the prevention of Schism and Scandal Then may the King and Governours Now Impose things Indifferent and Unnecessary when they see it is Necessary for prevention of Scandal and Offence unto the Episcopal-Protestants who are the Onely Supporters of the Established Government in Church and State And Thousands of these Canonical Pious Conformists do think in their Consciences the present Ceremonies in the Church ought to be Continued for the Fame Peace and Vniformity of the Glorious Church of England which ever used them And for their own great Antiquity Decency and Vtility Hook Eccles Pol. 1.5 as Judicious Hooker Argues Farther as the First Christian Council at Jerusalem so the Four First General Councils did Impose things Indifferent upon both Clergy and Laity as Conditions of Church Communion as any one may know who will but consult their Acts and Deeds The observation of Easter-Day whether on the Jews Passover Day or on the First Day of the week was a thing Indifferent and some observed it at one time as did the Jews others observed it at another time as did the Romanists But for Vniformity sake the First General Council at Nice the Emperour Constantine being present determined Euseb in vit Const 1. 3. ◠18. That all Christians throughout the World should celebrate Easter on one and the same Lord's Day in the year To Pray unto Almighty God on Sundays whether Kneeling or Standing was in it self a thing Indifferent But yet the General Council at Nice Canon 20. for Vniformity sake Imposed upon the People the Posture of Kneeling in Prayer-Time on the Week-Days but Standing in time of Prayer on the Lord's Days commonly called Sundays And Tertullian informes us that in his time Die Dominico jejunium Nefas ducimus vel de Geniculis adorare c. It was counted a Sin on the Lord's-Day Tertull. Corona Mil. c. 3◠either to Fast or to Pray and Adore God Kneeling To Dip or Sprinkle the Party Baptized was a thing Necessary in Holy Baptism to be observed But to Dip or Sprinkle the Party Baptized more than Once was a thing Indifferent But yet by the Ancients it was Imposed upon the Clergy and People that the Party Baptized should be thrice Dipped or Sprinkled in Reference to the Three Sacred Persons in the Holy Trinity Hence that of Tertullian Tertul. Ibid. Apostolical Can. 49. Dehinc ter Mergitamur c. And the same Order was commanded upon the pain of Deposition And Zonaras on that Canon saith as our Reconciler himself well notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is an ungodly thing to dip in Holy Baptism but Once Tertullian mentions many things Imposed upon the People as terms of Church-Communion and he says the Ground and Warrant for those Impositions was not the Scripture Tertull. Coro Mil. c. 4. but Ancient Custome and Tradition Harum aliarum ejusmodi Disciplinarum si Legem expostules Scripturarum nullam invenies Traditio tibi proetendetur Auctrix Consuetudo Confirmatrix Fides Observatrix Thirdly As Reason speaks a necessity of making Civil Laws for prevention of disorder and confusion in the State so Reason speaks it as necessary to make Laws Ecclesiastical for preventing the same Mischiefs and Inconveniences in the Church And when such Laws are made and nothing can be found in them which is absolutely sinfull then Reason as well as Religion commands Obedience to them As Moral Wisedom preserves Common Life by ordering what is Convenient so Civil and Ecclesiastick Wisedom preserves Life in the State and Church by ordering what is Necessary and Expedient And as the Learned Hooker notes Whatever the Church Hook Eccles Pol. l. 5. p. 136 138. by her Ecclesiastick Authority shall in matters of Order and Comeliness probably think and define to be True or Good must in Congruity of Reason Over-rule all other inferiour judgments whatsoever and must be thought Convenient And all things in the Church which are void of Superstition and are of long Continuance in the Church are things which edifie and are not lightly to be altered Nothing is unfit or inconvenient which the King and Governours shall think fit and convenient Unless the said thing imposed be against 1. The Sacred Scriptures 2. Right Reason 3. The practice of Piety Whatever is otherwise thought to be inconvenient by the Subject it is the Result either 1. Of Pride or 2. Of an unsetled Mind a Melancholick phanoy and imagination or 3. Of Capriciousness And now let the Reconciler chuse and tell us which of them is in the Dissenters and is the Cause of their Non-Compliance with the King 's Lawfull Commands as to things Indifferent Thus far Scripture Councils and Reason conclude the Reconciler's Proposition as considered absolutely and simply in it self to be false for by these Testimonies it is a very great Truth scil That things Indifferent may and sometimes necessarily ought to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion Contrary to what the Reconciler has Suggested to the Vulgar Secondly If we consider the Reconciler's Proposition Relatively as it Refers to the Circumstances our Church and State are in then it will appear also to be very False and Vnseasonably Propounded The present Circumstances of our Church and State Are either Good or Bad. Consider we them as Good And then they are 1. The enjoyment of present Peace and Quietness in stead of the late Intestine Wars and Rebellion 2. The enjoyment of good Order and Settlement in stead of the late Confusion and Anarchy God be Praised Now our King sits on his Throne of Inheritance Our Bishops and Clergv are repossessed of their Dues quoad Officium Beneficium both as to Office and Benefice And the People Nobles Gentry and Commons are now restored to their Rights and Privileges 3. We enjoy Justice and Equity in stead of the late Oppressions Extortions and Tyranny Our King demands and takes no more than what by Law is his Due And the People receive and enjoy all that by Law and Inheritance is their Right and Property 4. As to our Impositions in reference to Religious Worship they are all the very same which the Primitive Christians observed who died Confessours and Martyrs for the Truth And they are not more than were at the first Reformation in King Edward the Sixth's and Queen Elizabeth's Reign when there was less Talk but greater Exercise of Conscience and of Godliness than is now a-days Nay in this our Day there is an enjoyment of greater Liberty of Conscience than ever was granted by any Prince or by any Law or Act of Parliament whatever since the Reformation in England For now by Act of Parliament Men of all Persuasions may in their own Families use what Liberty they please as to their private Modes of Worship which Freedom none could enjoy under Popery Whereas now there is by Law a Toleration for all Sects and Religious Persons to Meet not exceeding the number of Five and