Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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A79568
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The church defended, against Mr. Skingle's assize-sermon at Hertford In a letter to a friend. By a true lover of the orthodox clergie.
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True lover of the orthodox clergie.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing C3994eA; ESTC R223892
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9,939
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19
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We should forsake our Church and join with Them We 'll for once suppose it true That some Dissenters disagree only in the Circumstantials of Religion That the Matters in Dispute are not so great as Salvation Heaven Life Eternal or the Way to these That our Contests are about Things of very small moment that may either be done or omitted without Sin Which Side now in Reason and Duty ought to comply Must the Mother quit all her just Authority over her stubborn prodigal and rebellious Children and give them leave to be undutiful submit to and approve their Disorders How miserable must be the State of such an unnatural Family And shall our Mother the Church this Apostolical Uniform Well-establish'd Church careful to preserve her Children in Truth and good Order must She be rul'd by the Dissenters break all Order and Discipline to gratifie them that delight in Confusion and agree in nothing else who had they Power to govern in Church-Matters would not grant us Liberty to use our own Prayers nor those Innocent Ceremonies of Decency and Order which they once destroy'd Ought not they rather to recede from their private Humour and Fancies and gladly join in our Communion Let any sober modest impartial Considerer judge fairly between the Mother and her Children a most compassionate Mother willing to forgive and forget Offences and with both Hands to embrace all that are sensible of their Errors and return to their due Obedience Shall those Men that allow our Church to be in the Right as to all essential and necessary Points of Religion and Happiness venture the Ruine of the whole Family rather than comply in some Things which many of 'em confess are not worth the disputing Or if by Union he means a kind charitable Agreement in yielding to each other in a few Indifferent Things I would know what one Step the Presbyterians have made towards this Union No Offer on our Part will suffice to this purpose less than the Abolition of our whole Service Canons and Discipline These Men are by many undeniable Arguments in Conferences and Writings convinc'd That our Doctrine Worship and Ceremonies are good and lawful They have declar'd so by their Occasional Communicating in our Churches and getting their Sons admitted into our Society as Deacons and Priests which if sinful I hope they would not do I may add That before the Toleration was obtain'd few were the Dissenters in most Parishes that came not frequently to Church and united in our Publick Worship But now in stead of uniting they strive to divide us multiply their Schism-Houses and set up as many Schools of Division as they have Gifted-Men fitted to delude and squeeze the unthinking People However I shall next examine his Five Arguments for Union 1. The First whereof is Because Infallibility is not lodg'd with any Men. Which Argument would do mighty well in the Hands of the most abominable Heretick Suppose for the present a Socinian May not he by this way of Reasoning plead thus for himself to the Orthodox You say that Christ is truly God and for this Doctrine you pretend the Authority of Scripture but there is no Passage that you quote which we do not expound to a different Sense from you and think our selves in the right And you know you are but Men and therefore may err as well as we Let us therefore have no more Words about the Matter but leave it to the Last Day to clear all Doubts But what if there be no Infallibility Will he infer from thence that there is no Certainty I suppose he is sure that he understands some plain Texts of Scripture and yet I hope he will not pretend to be Infallible There is nothing that I know of which can hinder a Man from believing some Accounts of what was done in former Times tho' he do not esteem the most Authentick Historian to be endued with an Infallible Spirit And I think Matters of Religion are capable of as good Evidence as Matters of Fact So that notwithstanding it be true That no Man is Infallible yet still in a Controverted Point one Side may be sure that their Adversaries are in the wrong But where Reason will not serve Authority must help And therefore we have the Opinion of Dr. Wake in the Case whom he hath quoted fairly but I think to little purpose unless his Judgment were more weighty and valuable than really it is And if I might be permitted to deliver my Thoughts I should say That our Author hath done the Doctor much more Honour by quoting him than the Doctor has done him by his Concurrence But against his I shall oppose the Opinion of the London-Divines who in their Learned Tracts concerning the Points in Controversie have said enough to convince all People except the Dissenters and Dr. Wake Pag. 12. 2. The Second Argument for Union is Mutual Forbearance All the Dissenters now declare for it as the best Expedient To this I answer We may and ought to have Charity for each other even to our most implacable Enemies But this alone cannot possibly unite such a Medley of differing and contrary Religions into one Church For if we offer never so good and convincing Reasons every Man is left to his own Choice to admit or refuse them as he thinks fit So that if there wants Power and Discipline for the Encouragement of those who do unite and to discourage those who refuse their Communion they cannot long hold together I heartily commend a tender and moderate Use of Church-Censures and of those Laws that are necessary for the well-governing of us all But no Man can frame such a Scheme of Religion in which so many opposite Parties can concur if there is not something more than Mutual Forbearance to keep the Body in Strength and Motion Charity should soften but not destroy Government 3. The Third Argument When the Dissenters have nothing else to say for their unreasonable Divisions then they call themselves Weak Brethren and would be treated as such But I marvel under what Pretence they can challenge any Privilege belonging to Them under that Notion They take upon them to be Teachers of others wiser and better than their Neighbours the only Sober and Godly Party and are apt to despise all other Christians as Ignorant and Profane With what Colour of Reason then can it be pleaded for them to have any Favour or Compliance shew'd to their Weakness Tho' they love to argue against us from the Example of St. Paul's Condescension to the uninstructed Jews or Gentiles yet it is apparent that they do not in other Cases willingly liken themselves to those Weak Believers or Babes in Christ They have really better Thoughts of themselves would be Leaders and Masters in Israel prescribe to their Governours give Laws to all others and do prefer their own private Opinion which they call their Conscience before the Judgment of the wisest Men or the Determination of their
THE Church Defended AGAINST Mr. SKINGLE's Assize-Sermon AT HERTFORD IN A LETTER to a FRIEND By a True Lover of the Orthodox Clergie LONDON Printed in the YEAR MDCXCIX SIR YOU expect my Sentiments of this Sermon and the Author I have fairly consider'd the Subject Style Arguments and Design have amended all the Printer's Errata that the Discourse might appear with the best Advantage But found many more and worse of his own that require Correction To deal in reality with my Friend and all Mankind I must say it has very little or nothing of any Value except its Brevity And this one would think but a slender Reason to recommend it to the long-winded and long-ear'd Presbyterians the only Persons I'm told that give any tolerable Allowance of it The Judges and other Learned Men saw no more Cause to thank him than I do And the Dissenters who came to listen at the Doors and Windows tho' extremely pleas'd with this Jingling Piece of Vulgar Oratory are herein represented as Men of the smallest Reason and Judgment in the World by making and continuing a Separation from the Church upon no material or substantial Ground only for some fanciful extraordinary scrupulous NOTHING I have no Acquaintance with the Author and therefore do not pretend to give a Character of him But if we may believe some serious Persons he deserves no very honourable Esteem tho' 't is to be hoped that he doth not live so loosely as he writes But perhaps the Saints may think his Sermon a sufficient Proof that he hath a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and towards Man since he inveighs so zealously against the Vices of the Age Yet for my part I who differ from them in much more weighty Matters cannot agree with them in this For altho' heretofore an Exemplary Conversation and a close way of Arguing were look'd on as necessary Qualifications in a Reformer yet now-a-days no body is so forward to take that Office upon him as he that wants Both. And that our Author is guilty at the least of the latter of these I think will be obvious to every one that peruseth his Sermon with but a little more Care than it deserves And that this may not seem any great Wonderment to the impartial Reader I shall desire him to take notice of 1. The Impropriety of the Subject 2. His Illogical Proceeding And 3. The Impertinence and Insufficiency of his Arguments The Text Psal 126.3 The Lord hath done great Things for us The Title is REFORMATION and UNION Another Preacher would have chosen a more suitable Text for an Assize-Sermon or at least would have made the Body of the Discourse to agree with the Sense of his present Subject I don't deny Reformation and Union to be very great and necessary Blessings none more desirous of them none do more heartily endeavour after 'em than true Church-men But he was a cunning Man to spy Reformation and Union in this Text. I expected to have read God's Mercy and the Churches Duty judiciously recommended and then not directly but by Inference or Application our Gratitude to our most admirable Benefactor our Respect and Obedience to the Laws of God and his Church might more fitly be enforc'd from the Words of the Psalmist than Reformation and Union He begins with a Grecian Deliverance tells not How nor What but applies it to the Presbyterian Liberty A Wonderment indeed That this magnified Liberty without Restriction or Limitation a Liberty that opens a Door to all Error Heresie and Schism to all Irreligion Immorality and Profaneness to all the Mischiefs and Disorders in Church and State should be look'd upon as so vast a Blessing in any Christian Government or as a proper Means to preserve Religion in the Life and Power of it Vid. Epist Dedic This unbounded Liberty after all that can be said in its Defence is not a more justifiable Project to this purpose than 't would be to talk of securing a Vineyard by pulling down the Fence laying it wide open to the Mercy of Boars and Foxes presuming that this Liberty would civilize and soften their wild and savage Natures render 'em so just and inoffensive as not to root up or tear down the Vines merely because these brutish Creatures were left to their own Liberty Our Author was not aware of this Absurdity or conceal'd all Apprehensions of Danger from our present Circumstances But in a Page or two designing to make sweet Musick in the Dissenters Ears boldly touches again upon the same String and joins himself in Consort with them pag. 1 3. Their Sufferings were remembred but not the Cause for which they suffer'd nor that of his own Suspension After the Grecians he bethinks himself of the Jews to whom by his Text he ow'd a peculiar Reference gives this Account of them as of the former That they were like Men in a Dream Doubtless the Preacher was so when he deliver'd this Sermon and not well awake when he printed it Pag. 2. In the same Page we have his wise Observation viz. That God is pleas'd to work in a very eminent manner for the Welfare of his People And when he doth so it 's their Duty to take notice of it I would not here be mistaken as if I blam'd him for asserting so evident Truths That which I esteem him culpable for is the making of that to be but One Observation which is so plainly Two But perhaps this must pass for a very excusable Mistake being easily betray'd into it by his Love of Union At Pag. 3. he tells us That all the Desires and Attempts by just and due Methods to make us happy were frustrated and the Strugglings of Honest Men were but like those of Slaves which ended in a more cruel Bondage This I must own to be a sad Truth But as I take it the Persons that chiefly if not solely stood in the Gap were Church-men Fanaticks were favour'd with Smiles and Commissions when the Members of the University were thrown out of their lawful Possessions And at the same time that the Bishops were committed to the Tower many Sectaries were receiv'd in the Closet and into the Bosom So that what immediately follows I shall assent to tho' possibly with a different Aim and Meaning from him viz. That tho' we had then to do with those who went under the Name of Protestants yet were our Lives and Liberties in the Hands of Violence and Oppression I disown not our late Dangers of Popery and Slavery nor would I undervalue the Mercy of a Deliverance Yet if the Nation must be ruin'd or enslav'd why not by Popery as well as Presbytery If we are to suffer in Life or Estate it matters not what Religion our Executioners profess If a Ship be in danger of Sinking this Scylla or that Charybdis are equally Fatal and equally to be avoided by steering in the Middle and Safe Way of the Church of England At Pag. 4. he presents