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A66383
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The case of lay-communion with the Church of England considered and the lawfulness of it shew'd from the testimony of above an hundred eminent non-conformists of several perswasions.
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Williams, John, 1636?-1709.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing W2691; ESTC R1501
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57,793
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83
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As for those of New-England Mr. Baxter doth say that 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 the Parishional Churches to be true Churches was never received into any heart amongst them and otherwhere saith we dare not deny to bless the womb that bare us and the paps that gave us suck The five Dissenting Brethren do declare 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 Congregation thereof were the true Churches and Body of Christ. To come nearer Dr. T. Goodwin 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 myself 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 Churches in the world acknowledge our Church for their sister and give unto us the right hand of fellowship c Dr. Goodwin saith If we should not acknowledge these Churches so stated i. e. parish-Parish-Churches to be the true Churches of Christ and their Ministers true Ministers and their order such and bold Communion with them too in the sence spoken of we must acknowledge no Church in all the Reformed Churches c for they are all as full of mixture as ours And Mr. J. Goodwin saith 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 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 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 found 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 toward the proving Communion with that Church lawful and to justifie those that do join in it which brings to the second general which is to consider 2. What opinion the sober and eminent Non-Conformists 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 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 warrant us to separate from a Church as no Church which yet is the case in total separation but the want of something essential to a Church But if the Church have all things essential to it it is a true Church and not to be separated from When the Church of Rome is called a true Church it s understood in a metaphysical or natural sence as a thief is a true man and the Devil himself though the Father of lies is a true spirit But withal she is a false Church as M r Brinsly saith from Bishop Hall an Heretical Apostatical Antichristian Synagogue And so to separate from her is a duty But when the Church of England is said to be a true Church or the Parochial Churches true Churches it s in a moral sense as they are found Churches which may safely be communicated with Thus doth D r Bryan make the opposition The Church of Rome is a part of the universal visible Church of Christians so far as they profess Christianity and acknowledge Christ their head but it is the visible society of Traiterous Usurpers so far as they profess the Pope to be their Head c. From this Church therefore which is Spiritual Babylon God's people are bound to separate c. but not from Churches which have made separation from Rome as the reformed Protestant Churches in France and these of Great Britain have done in whose Congregations is found truth of Doctrine a lawfull Ministry and a people professing the true Religion submitting to and joyning together in the true Worship of God Such a separation would as has been said unchurch it This would be deny Christ holds Communion with it or to deny Communion with a Church with which Christ holds Communion contrary to a principle that is I think universally maintained The errour of these men saith Mr. Brightman is full of evil who do in such a manner make a departure from this Church by total separation as if Christ were quite banished from hence and that there could be no hope of salvation to those that abide there Let these men consider that Christ is here feasting with his members will they be ashamed to sit at meat there where Christ is not ashamed to sit Further this would be a notorious Schism so the old Non-Conformists Conformists conclude because we have a true Church consisting of a lawful Ministry and a faithful people therefore they cannot separate themselves from us but they must needs incur the most shameful and odious reproach of manifest Schism for what is that saith another but a total separation from a true Church This lastly would not diminish but much increase the fault of the separation as another saith For it is a greater sin to depart from a Church which I profess to be true and whose ministry I acknowledge to be saving than from a Church which I conceive to be false and whose ministers I take to have no calling from God nor any blessing from his hand This therefore is their avow'd principle that
THE CASE OF Lay-Communion WITH THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CONSIDERED And the Lawfulness of it shew'd from the Testimony of above an hundred eminent Non-Conformists of several Perswasions Published for the satisfaction of the scrupulous and to prevent the sufferings which such needlesly expose themselves to LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultry 1683. TO THE DISSENTERS FROM THE Church of England Dear Brethren YOU being at this time called upon by Authority to joyn in Communion with the Church and the Laws ordered to be put in Execution against such as refuse it it s both your Duty and Interest to enquire into the grounds upon which you deny Obedience to the Laws Communion with a Church of God and thereby expose our Religion to danger and your selves to suffering In which unless the cause be good the call clear and the end right it cannot bring Peace to your selves or be acceptable to God Not bring Peace to your selves For we cannot suffer joyfully the spoiling of our Goods the confinement of our Persons the ruine of our Families unless Conscience be able truly to say I would have done any thing but sin against God that I might have avoided these sufferings from men Not be acceptable to God to whom all are accountable for what portion he hath instrusted them with of the things of this life and are not to throw away without sufficient reason and who has made it our duty to do what we can without Sin in Obedience to that Authority which he hath set over us as you are told by some in the same condition with your selves To assist persons in this enquiry I have observed that of late several of the Church of England have undertaken the most material points that you do question and have handled them with that Candor and Calmness which becomes their profession and the gravity of the Arguments and which may the better invite those that are willing to be satisfied to peruse and consider them But because Truth and Reason do too often suffer by the prejudices we have against particular persons to remove as much as may be that obstruction I have in this Treatise shewed that these Authors are not alone but have the concurrent Testimony of the most eminent Non-Conformists for them who do generally grant that there is nothing required in the Parochial Communion of the Church of England that can be a sufficient reason for Separation from it The sence of many of these I have here collected and for one hundred I could easily have produced two if the Cause were to go by the Pole so that if Reason or Authority will prevail I hope that yet your satisfaction and recovery to the Communion of the Church is not to be despaired of Which God of his infinite mercy grant for your own and the Churches sake Amen THE CONTENTS THE difference betwixt Ministerial and Lay-Communion pag. 1 The Dissenters grant the Church of England to be a true Church p. 4 That they are not totally to separate from it p. 12 That they are to comply with it as far as lawfully they can p. 16 That defects in Worship if not essential are no just reason for Separation p. 23 That the expectation of better edification is no sufficient reason to with-hold Communion p. 39 The badness of Ministers will not justifie Separation p. 48 The neglect or want of Discipline no sufficient reason to separate p. 59 The opinion which the Nonconformists have of the several practices of those of the Church of England which its Lay-Members are concerned in p. 64 That Forms of Prayer are lawful and do not stint the Spirit ibid. That publick prescribed Forms may lawfully be joyned with p. 66 That the Liturgy or Common-Prayer is for its matter sound and good and for its Form tolerable if not useful p. 69 That kneeling at the Sacrament is not idolatrous nor unlawful and no sufficient reason to separate from that Ordinance p. 71 72 That standing up at the Creed and Gospel is lawful p. 73 The Conclusion ibid. THE NON-CONFORMISTS PLEA FOR Lay-Communion With the CHURCH of ENGLAND THE Christian World is divided into two Ranks Ecclesiastical and Civil usually known by the names of Clergy and Laity Ministers and People The Clergy besides the things essentially belonging to their Office are by the Laws of all well-ordered Churches in the World strictly obliged by Declarations or Subscriptions or both to owne and maintain the Doctrine Discipline and Constitution of the Church into which they are admitted Thus in the Church of England They do subscribe to the truth of the Doctrine more especially contained in the Thirty Nine Articles and declare that they will use the Forms and Rites contained in the Liturgy and promise to submit to the Government in its Orders The design of all which is to preserve the Peace of the Church and the Unity of Christians which doth much depend upon that of its Officers and Teachers But the Laity are under no such Obligations there being no Declarations or Subscriptions required of them nor any thing more than to attend upon and joyn with the Worship practised and allowed in the Church Thus it is in the Church of England as it is acknowledged by a worthy Person to whom when it was objected that many Errours in Doctrine and Life were imposed as Conditions of Communion he replies What is imposed on you as a Condition to your Communion in the Doctrine and Prayers of the Parish-Churches but your actual Communion it self In discoursing therefore about the lawfulness of Communion with a Church the difference betwixt these two must be carefully observed lest the things required only of one Order of Men should be thought to belong to all It 's observed by one That the original of all our mischiefs sprung from mens confounding the terms of Ministerial Conformity with those of Lay-Communion with the Parochial Assemblies there being much more required of Ministers than of the People private persons having much less to say for themselves in absenting from the Publick Worship of God though performed by the Liturgy than the Pastor hath for not taking Oaths c. Certainly if this difference was but observed and the Case of Lay-Communion truly stated and understood the people would not be far more averse to Communion with the Parish-Churches than the Non-Conforming Ministers are as one complains and whatsoever they might think of the Conformity of Ministers because of the previous terms required of them they would judge what is required of the people to be lawful as some of them do And as the Ministers by bringing their Case to the Peoples may see Communion then to be lawful and find themselves obliged to maintain it in a private capacity so the People by perceiving their Case not to be that of the Ministers but widely different from it would be induced to hold Communion with the Church