thing and somewhat favoured by Scripture and by Experience has been found to be of such Convenience Advantage and Security to Religion that Mr. Baxter hath more than once said †††Mr. Baxter's Plea for Peace Epist Serm. on Gal. 6. 10. p. 24. Defence p. 21. par 1. p. 36. I doubt not but he that will preserve Religion here in its due Advantages must endeavour to preserve the Soundness Concord and Honour of the Parish-Churches And Mr. Corbet saith | | | Mr. Corbet's Account of the Principles c. of several Non-Conformists p. 26. That the nullifying and treading down the Parish-Churches is a Popish Design But whatever Opinion others may have of that Form yet all of one sort and another agree that the Churches so called are or may be true Churches This was the general Opinion of the old Non-Conformists Thus saith a late * * * Troughton's Apol. p. 103. Writer who though he is unwilling to grant that they did own the National Church to be a true Church yet doth admit as he needs must at least that they did own the several Parishes or Congregations in England to be true Churches both in respect of their Constitution and also in respect of their Doctrine and Worship and that there were in them no such intolerable Corruptions as that all Christians should fly from them And even those that were in other respects opposite enough to the Church did so declare It was saith Mr. Baxter the Parish Churches that had the Liturgy Defence of his Cure part 2. p. 178. V. Letter of Ministers of Old England to New p. 49. which Mr. H. Jacob the Father of the Congregational Party wrote for Communion with against Fr. Johnson and in respect to which he called them Separatists against whom he wrote The same I may say of Mr. Bradshaw Dr. Ames and other Non-conformists whom the Congregational Brethren think were favourable to their way And if you will hearken to the abovesaid Apologist he saith again and again That the general Sence Apol. c. 4. p. â—17 of the present Non-conformists both Ministers and People is that the Parishes of England generally are true Churches both as to the Matter of them the People being Christians and as to the form their Ministers being true Ministers such as for their Doctrine and Manners deserve not to be degraded But lest he should be thought to incline to one side I shall produce the Testimony of such as are of the Congregational Way As for those of New-England Mr. Baxter doth say That Defence of his Cure part 2 p. 177. their own Expressions signify that they take the English Parishes that have godly Ministers for true Churches though faulty Mr. Cotton professeth that Robinson's denial of Way cleared p. 8. the Parishional Churches to be true Churches was never received into any Hearts amongst them and otherwhere saith We dare not deny to bless the Womb that bare us His Letter p. 3. printed 1641. and the Papes that gave us suck The five Dissâ—nting Brethren do declare * * * Apologet. Narr V. Hooker's Survey Pref. and part 1. p. 47. We have this sincere Profession to make before God and the World that all the Conscience of the Defilements in the Church of England c. did never work in us any other Thought much less Opinion but that Multitudes of the Assemblies and Parochial Congregations thereof were the true Churches and Body of Christ To come nearer Dr. T. Goodwin On the Ephes p. 477 488 489. doth condemn it as an Error in those who hold particular Churches those you call Parish-Churches to be no true Churches of Christ and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and upon that Ground forbear all Church-Communion with them in hearing or in any other Ordinance c. and saith I acquitted my self before from this and my Brethren in the Ministry But the Church of England is not only thus acknowledged a true Church but hath been also looked upon as the most valuable in the World whether we consider the Church it self or those that minister in it The Church it self of which the Authors of the grave and modest Confutation thus write All the known Pag. 6. Churches in the World acknowledg our Church for their Sister and give unto us the Right-hand of Fellowship c. Dr. Goodwin saith If we should not acknowledg these Ibid. Churches so stated i. e. Parish-Churches to be the true Churches of Christ and their Ministers true Ministers and their Order such and hold Communion with them too in the Sence spoken of we must acknowledg no Church in all the Reformed Churches c. for they are all as full of Mixtures as ours And Mr. J. Goodwin saith Sion College visited that there was more of the Truth and Power of Religion in England under the late Prelatical Government than in all the Reformed Churches in the World besides If we would have a Character of the Ministry of the Church of England as it was then Mr. Bradshaw Unreasonableness of the Separat p. 97. gives it Our Churches are not inferiour for number of able Men yea and painful Ministers to any of the Reformed Churches of Christ in foreign Parts c. And certainly the Number of such is much advanced since his time But I cannot say more of this Subject than I find in a Page or two of an Author I must frequently Mr. Baxter's Cure of Church Divisions Dir. 56. p. 263. use to which I refer the Reader Before I proceed I shall only make this Inference from what hath been said That if the Church of England be a true Church the Churches true Churches the Ministry a true Ministry the Doctrine sound and Orthodox the Worship in the main good and allowable and the Defects such as render not the Ordinances unacceptable to God and ineffectual to us I think there is much said towards the proving Communion with that Church lawful and to justify those that do joyn in it Which brings to the second General which is to consider II. What Opinion the sober and eminent Non-conformists Sect. II. have of Communion with the Church of England And they generally hold 1. That they are not totally to separate from it this follows from the former and must be own'd by all them that hold she is a true Church for to own it to be such and yet to separate totally from it would be to own and disown it at the same time So say the Members of the Assembly of Divines Thus to Papers for Accommodation p. 47. depart from true Churches is not to hold Communion with them as such but rather by departing to declare them not to be such And saith Mr. Baxter Nothing will Reasons for the Christian Relig. p. 464. warrant us to separate from a Church as no Church which yet is the case in total Separation but the want of
they are necessitated to depart from ours and set up Churches to themselves according to the best Models that every one is able to draw This is certainly a very dangerous adventure and can never be justified by such Arguments as are produced which might be all easily answered upon the general Principle I have already mentioned That none of the things against which the exceptions are made are Unlawful and therefore they cannot make our Communion Unlawful and if that be not Unlawful it must be Unlawful to divide from it This might be Reply enough to the most if not all the Objections that are or can be brought But because it may be thought more satisfactory by some I shall give a particular though very short Answer to those I have now proposed The First and Great thing that is objected against our Church is prescribing a Liturgy or Set Form of Prayers to be constantly used in Publick Worship This is that which has raised a great many Clamours Peoples minds have been extreamly incensed and exasperated against it it has been cryed out upon as Idolatrous Popish Superstitious and I know not how many hard Names it has been called But I am glad to find the temper of our Dissenting Brethren altered so much for the better We do not now so often hear those bitter exclamations of Rome and Babylon Baal and Dagon The Common Prayer is not esteemed such an abominable thing as some ignorant and heady Zealots were wont to count it Among those that have but too openly favoured the Separation the more considerable part both for Number and Sobriety do not only allow that a Form is Lawful but will freely acknowledge that ours is so and therefore they will admit of Occasional and if so I cannot see what can withhold them from a full and constant Communion with us Certainly that which is Lawful once or twice must be Lawful always However we may take some delight to see the old Heats in any measure abated and that the least advances are made towards Peace God grant that this Concession may prove a step to a happy and perfect Reconcilement And so I hope it may for our Brethren cannot be any longer offended with those Forms in which they do sometimes join themselves Nay those that have not yet proceeded so far but are still afraid of being Defiled in our way of Worship cannot have any colour to Condemn it for being a Form The Jews had Forms in their Publick Assemblies which this notwithstanding were duly frequented by our blessed Saviour He delivered a Form himself in his Sermon on the Matth. 6. 9 c. Mount and taught the same again to his Disciples afterwards Luke 11. 2. and Commanded them to use it Some Forms were received very early among the Ancient Christians who have been followed in this by all the Protestant Churches but the Lawfulness of them was never called in question heretofore For how could it since they are no were Forbidden Or if a Command be thought requisite to make them Lawful the other way is no more Commanded than this and therefore upon that Principle they must be both equally Lawful or Unlawful So that if any Prayer be Lawful a Form must be confessed to be so The Arguments in this case are so Convincing that there are few now but that will readily agree that a Form may be Lawful in it self but then they think it ought not to be Imposed because of some Inconveniences which they conceive do attend it And they are principally these Two the One that there may be some particular Emergencies which cannot be provided for by a Set Form The other that it is an hinderance to the Spirit of Prayer The first of these has very little difficulty in it The ordinary wants and necessities of Christians are always the same and we may Petition to have them supplied in the same Words and for other things it may generally be foreseen that they may happen sometimes and sutable Forms may be composed to be used upon such Occasions Where these cannot be fitly applied peculiar Offices may be set forth as has been usual in such cases Where the exigency is great and will not admit of so much delay as is necessary for that the Minister is at Liberty to use his own Conceptions But this cannot be urged for the Exclusion of a Liturgy It were very unreasonable to deprive the Church of known and approved Forms and leave her to the mercy of extemporary Effusions only for the sake of a few Contingencies which may happen but very rarely if at all in a whole Age. The other thing that is alledged would be more considerable if it were really true That Forms did indeed hinder the Spirit of Prayer But this they do not For it is a gross and carnal Mistake to imagine that the Spirit of Prayer can consist in a readiness of Expression and a natural or acquired volubility of Tongue Arts and Accomplishments whereof many Wicked men have been great Masters and wherein as many Good ones may be very deficient The Spirit of Prayer must be acknowledged to be nothing else but an inward good and pious Disposition of the Soul wrought in us by the Grace of God an unfeigned Humility and Abhorrence of our selves when we confess our Sins and beg for Pardon an affectionate Sense of our Wants when we ask for all things necessary both for this and the other Life an holy exultation of Mind when we offer up our Praises and Thanks for the Blessings we have received a full Resignation of our Concerns to God's disposal and a Dependance upon his Promises for the granting our Requests when we have made our Addresses unto him These are the great Indications of the true Spirit of Prayer and these are so far from being Hindered that they may be very much Helped and Advantaged by a Form A man questionless may be more seriously Affected in all these respects and say Amen more heartily to a Form of sound Words which he hath known and considered before than he can to some uncertain Expressions which he never heard nor thought on and possibly may not so well understand nor be satisfied in when he hears them The perplexity and doubtfulness of Thoughts which must often arise when we would join in Prayers we are unacquainted with is directly Opposite to that Faith and Assurance with which we should Pray and can scarce be prevented but by a well digested and studied Form that may be Weighed and soberly Assented to by those that are required to join in it But some think that it may be manifest from Experience that Forms are a hinderance to the very inward Spirit of Devotion They have found their Affections very cold and flat at our usual stated Forms of Prayer but when they hear a man Pray without a Form they are mightily ravished and almost transported and this difference of Temper they observe in themselves has
Surplice as if they had been scared by the Apparition of a Ghost I proceed to the second thing I propounded to observe to you some few general things concerning this scrupulous Conscience as 1. That this is a very sickly crazy temper of Mind a great Indisposition a state of Weakness and Infirmity It ariseth from Ignorance and want of right Understanding our Religion from undue timerousness or unsetledness of Mind from Melancholy or unreasonable Prejudices and Mistakes about the Nature of things Such scrupulous Persons are like fearful Women that wander in the Dark who seeing nothing to affright them yet fancy many things which make them tremble every step they take or like those who see only by an uncertain glimmering twilight their Imagination once abus'd and prepossess'd transforms every Object into a Monster or Gyant Thus this Scrupulous is the same with what in other Words some call a tender Conscience so tender that every thing hurts and wounds it like a tender Eye which the least Dust or Smoke greviously offends or a tender Constitution of Body which the least Air or Wind mightily disorders and discomposes Now this is far from being any Vertue or Commendation in us this is no desirable Qualification nor a matter of Ambition to be thought Men of such tender Consciences no more than it is for a Man's Reputation to be sickly and often indispos'd A good Conscience is firm and steady well setled and resolved and such needless Scruples about things lawful are at the best a sign of an ungovern'd Fancy and a weak Judgment As the niceness and squeamishness of a mans Stomach that distasts wholsom Food is a symptom of an unsound and unhealthy Body This doth not argue any extraordinary holiness or purity above others as the Pharisee conceited of himself Stand off come not nigh me touch me not for I am holier than thou because he washed himself so often No we are yet in a childish state and whilst we are frighted with such Bug-bears and Phantasms we have not yet arrived to the Understanding or Resolution of a Man 2. This Scrupulosity about little matters may be and is often a sign of Hypocrisie I take not upon my self to judge any Persons Let every man look to himself but thus certainly it was with the Scribes and Pharisees of old They strained at every Gnat stumbled at every Straw would starve sooner than eat their Meat with defiled hands would not for the World wrong a Man of a Cummin-seed or a spear of Mint and by this wonderful exactness and strictness in some instances they easily gained the Reputation of the greatest Saints so that it is said to have been an ordinary Proverb among the Jews That if but two Persons in the World went to Heaven one of them would be a Scribe the other a Pharisee Yet for all this if we will believe our Saviour's account of them they made nothing of swallowing Camels living in the greatest and most known Wickedness Alas their Consciences would not give them leave to enter into the Governours Hall to go amongst the Heathens for fear of being polluted by them yet at the same time they stuck not at suborning false Witnesses against the best and most innocent Person that ever lived They blamed the Disciples for plucking the ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day as if they poor tender-hearted men were offended and grieved to the Soul at such Prophaneness and yet they thought it nothing to deny relief and succour to their own Parents when in Want or Distress they made no Bones of Rapine and Extortion oppressing the Poor or devouring Widows Houses By their curiosity about some external Observances they hoped to make amends for their gross Transgressions in other Cases of far greater weight and moment Since they denied themselves many things which God had allow'd them they hop'd he would readily forgive them tho in some other things they took a greater Liberty than he had permitted them Had any of us been present when Mary St. John 12. 3. took the Ointment of Spikenard very costly and anointed the Feet of Jesus and had heard Judas's Rebuke Why was not this Ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the Poor He scrupled such a profuse expence tho about our Saviour himself He thought it might have been better employ'd to more useful purposes Should we not from this have strait concluded him the most charitable and conscientious of all Christ's Disciples and yet this over-great care for the Poor was only a pretence and covering for his theevish Intention They therefore who are so scrupulous about little indifferent matters ought to approve their Honesty and Sincerity by the most accurate Diligence in the Practise of all other Duties of Religion which are plainly and undoubtedly such They who pretend to such a tender Conscience above other Men must know that the World will watch them as to the fairness and justice of their Dealings the calmness of their Tempers their behaviour in their several Relations their Modesty Humility Charity Peaceableness and the like If in all these things they keep the same Tenor use the same caution and circumspection and be uniformly conscientious then it must be acknowledged that it is only Weakness or Ignorance that raiseth their Scruples not any vicious Principle and the condition of those who are under the Power of such Scruples is much to be commiserated But when I see a Man scrupling praying by a Book or Form and yet living without any sense of God or fear of him afraid of a Ceremony in God's Worship and not afraid of a plain damnable Sin of Covetousness rash censuring his Brethren of Hatred and Strife Faction and Schism and Disobedience to Superiours when I see one that out of Conscience refuseth to kneel at the Sacrament and yet dares totally neglect the Communion who takes great care not to give offence to his weak Brother but can freely speak evil of Dignities and despiseth his lawful Governours it is not then uncharitable to say That it is not dread of displeasing God but some other bye end or Interest that acts and moves such a Person and in pleading the Tenderness of his Conscience he is no other than a downright Hypocrite On the other side Let a Man be never so punctual and critical in his Conformity to all the appointed Ceremonies and Usages in our Church let him constantly attend God's solemn Worship and behave himself most reverently and decently at the Publick Prayers yet if this Man be profane and intemperate a Derider of true Piety and Godliness if he lives loosly and at Random all his regular Devotions all his bowing and kneeling to the Honour of our Saviour all his niceness about his Worship to perform it in the most orderly manner all his Zeal for the Church shall avail him nothing He is no better than the Pharisee washing the out-side whilst he is within full of all Wickedness and