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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56807	The conformists plea for the nonconformists, or, A just and compassionate representation of the present state and condition of the non-conformists as to I. The greatness of their sufferings, II. Hardness of their case, III. Reasonableness and equity of their desires and proposals, IV. Qualifications, and worth of their persons, V. Peaceableness of their behaviour, VI. The churches prejudice by their exclusion, &c. humbly submitted to authority / by a beneficed minister, and a regular son of the Church of England.	Pearse, Edward, 1631-1694.	1681 (1681)	Wing P976; ESTC R1092	66,864	80

are called to One even to the One Hope of their Calling The one writes You are guilty of Schism and the other says Who made it My Bowels my Bowels O thou the Prince of Peace make Peace in thine own House Family and Kingdom make of these twain one Body and let there be no Schism in it as they are made One Body in One the same Breastplate of Faith in the same Girdle of Truth so let them be shod with the Shoos of the Gospel of Preparation of Peace and let not one hinder another to run but cause both to walk in the same path to put on Charity and to have the same mind that was in thee Methinks it were but fit for us who weekly petition our good Lord to deliver us from all Vncharitableness from all false Doctrine Heresie and Schism out of a Spirit of Love if the Peace of God rule in our Hearts upon our knees to petition our Governours for our Brethrens enlargement and reunion with us that they may not lie under the Censures and Reproaches of open Sinners nor lie under the Imputation of Schism and other suspicions and be the subject of Scorn to every Papistical Scribler and many other Mischiefs and Slanders But there being no hope of that let every Man do his part for healing of the Breaches And therefore I cannot but ask my Superiours Pardon to handle a tender point indeed even to recommend the Case of my Reverend Brethren the Nonconformists to the good Opinion and charitable thoughts of them that can help with one Act to decide what a thousand Volumns cannot I would not if possible be misunderstood I am for Unity and Conformity but not such an Uniformity as hinders Unity by turning the Church into a Party I am not a partial Hyper-aspistes they can best manage their Cause as best knowing their own mind neither have they been wanting to it Nor shall I give my Mother the Church an unbeseeming word but yet between the Judicious Holy and Peaceable part of Fathers and Brethren of it and the Factionmaking Aspiring-party I cannot but distinguish Indeed these call themselves the Church but by monopolizing the Church and ingrossing the Goods of the Church if they could they have no greater share of the Spirit of the true Catholick Church than their despised Brethren commonly called Schismaticks by them These are supra or Trans-Conformists that keep the Rule of Conformity much as they do their Residence These Men are Nonconformists too as I could shew in some considerable particulars and are a Rubrick to themselves But my business is not to accuse them but seeing the most are Non-conformists either above or under the Rule a Rule if strictly kept at all times in all Offices where were a man's Prudence and if a Man hath no Pruderce to use or may not use it he is very unfit to be a Minister in the Church of God I am for the calling of more Non-conformists into the Company and for making Non-conformists Conformists Our blessed Saviour in the Parable compares himself to an Housholder going a far Journey that gave authority to his Servants and to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch and when he went he left Peace as a Legacy My Peace I leave with you But alas how few have sought to get and keep that Legacy or to do their Work We may with Sorrow look into it and find it in his Absence a most broken and divided House In it we shall find two sorts of Children all by the same Father but not as if all of a Mother The elder and the greater combine make a mighty Party and they even rule the Mother These have the best of every thing and snatch what the others had or should have and part all as they please among themselves and use their poor Brethren no better than if they were Bastards These complain and entreat and beg but if they beg they are not regarded if they complain they are peevish and discontented deserve nothing or no better than to be turned out of doors if a Man pities them and pleads for them he is one of them The greater say These peevish whining Children are disobedient to our Mother vex her Bowels out hinder all Government and Uniformity if it were not for them how happy would it be with us But who can tell but the great Ones may fall out among themselves The Ejected have written pleaded their Cause drawn up their Case and petitioned but to what purpose To as much as a Man that hath a good Right to a part of an Inheritance but possessed by an elder Brother who thinks he can prescribe for all and plead Possession and Law besides that his Friends being Judges in the Court have given it him This poor younger Brother has but a weak Purse and few Friends and what doth he but remonstrate open his Case to many and to his elder Brother with humble Entreaties But because he doth not go to Plow or go a begging or to some Corners of the Land or go to some Forreign Plantation he is rated as a troublesom Fellow factious and querulous and knows not what he would have Possessors are deaf to Petitioners He that would recover his Right must go to Law for it or lose all except a little Alms and that as pure Kindness without pretence of Right or Desert There were a Company of Justices that sate long upon the Bench and these first made an Order for Ministers to come in Bond to certain Duties or else they discharge the Parishes of them and turn them out of doors Many hundreds refused to give in their Bonds upon which they were turned out of their Houses and Parishes and by an after-Order they were not to come within five Miles of any Corporation that sent Burgesses to Parliament or of their own last Abodes forbidding them thereby any Employment in Corporations to get their Livings or the Charity of their former good Neighbours if they had any These and their Families are up and down the Nation indeed no better esteemed which is a shame to tell than Vagrants by too many yea unfit to live Now forasmuch as they may be very useful it would be an Act worthy your place to move the Honourable Bench of Justices that never liked that rigorous Order in Mercy and Justice to take the Case of these ejected Ministers to consideration and by another Order to capacitate them to dwell and labour in any City Town Corporate Village and Parish whatsoever any thing in any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding I make bold to present these following Particulars to you with Truth and Charity 1. Their Sufferings 2. The Hardness of their Case 3. The Reasonableness and Equity of many of their Desires and Proposals 4. Qualifications and worth of their Persons 5. Their Behaviour 6. The Conclusion I. Their Sufferings And they admit of various Aggravations according to their various

present Age. But Addabatorum more pugnant clamores quantos excitant It was a bloody Civil War visibly about Civil Matters it was called Bellum Episopale not by some Parliament-Men only but one Bishop or more to make the rising Clergy part with their Mony to maintain it but it was Bellum Papale pro Rege contra Regem as well as against Parliament and Protestants 3. Our persecuting Fire-brands are against Protestant Peace and Union They approve of persecuting Laws if they might have a Parliament to make them and it shall not be persecution against Dissenting Protestants but Justice because it is but the Execution of Laws and Dissenters must be undone to preserve the Law and Government How freely do they exclaim against it closly gird at our last Parliament fly upon our Blessed Reformation from Popery blemish it with Aspersions of Sedition and Rebellion an Affront to Religion not to be endured If they read no more than Dr. Du Moulin Pr. of Canterbury's Answer to Philanax Anglieus they will be more just to the Reformation These Men are so well prepared for a Popish Successor that they can trust God with their Religion tho in Popish Hands And cannot they trust themselves too but cannot trust a Non-conforming Protestant with preaching a Sermon or Praying not in an open Pulpit These blow up Controversies into unquenchable dissentions into large Differences into wide Chasms and unpassable Gulfs They condemn the Magistrate for Coldness if he let a Dissenter preach or leave him a Bed to lie upon The Ejected are like Suburbs without the Walls of Uniformity burn the Suburbs to save the Church within whereas one would think it were the safer way to build a Wall about the Suburbs and bring them within the Line They hate House-preaching and running into Corners and would bring out the Non-conformists into the Sun-shine but only in the Dog-days Caniculum Persecutio tui video Tertull. Parce Civibus Miles is Heathen Latin but Occide manduca is in the Original It was a severe word of King James If this be all quoth he which they have to say meaning our famous Dr. Jo. Rainolds and the other Divines called Non-conformists I shall make them Conform themselves or I will hurry them out of this Land or else do worse Conference at Hampton-Court p. 85. It is as likely that they know not what Spirit they are of that are for hurrying good Men as it was from a Spirit of Flattery that a Lord said He was persuaded the King spoke in that Conference by the Holy Ghost How well soever he spake in some parts of it yet that saying might have been spared 4. Idle and insufficient Ministers that live at ease and as the manner of speaking is enjoy themselves that are more Abroad than at Home and as seldom in their Studies as they are in their Pulpits are indisposed to a Closure These Conform perhaps above Conformity sometimes whose Surplices are as Cloaks for their Faults and their pretended Loyalty makes them impregnable against deserved Censures Many of these consort with Companions of a Feather inflame one another into a degree of madness These drive away their People and when they are gone throw after them and revile those that entertain them better These with all their Might cry the Church the Church declaim against much preaching and is not that a good way to save their pains by calling it needless We are not now to convert Heathens they would rather confirm than convert them much preaching hath spoiled the World I hate these Presbyterians nothing will serve them but Preaching cry out against Calvin the Parliament the Fanaticks and run over their Railery as Papists do their Beads These are afraid of admission of more good Preachers that their Manners will be inspected and their Churches quite deserted that they must take more and better pains or else be exposed 5. Ecclesiastical Merchants Ecclesiae Possessivae Filii are against admission of more to the exercise of the Sacred Function The Trade hath been in some great Mens Hands and the engrossing of the Commodities of the Church hath enriched many that never would have touched the Burden with one of their Fingers but for double Wages But if more Ministers are capacitated by Law the Endowments of the Church will be distributed into more hands These turn Prophets that the Church will fall when due Encouragements are taken away from Learned Men in which Rank they place themselves q. d. Take away Pluralities you discourage Learning whereas it is too well known to both our Universities that they are a discouragement to Learning that many are not rewarded with a Plurality for their double Portion of Learning and that the Learning of the Curat is as much the Ornament and Support of the Church as theirs many of whose Absence is as profitable to their Parishes except to the Poor who have no Alms at their Doors nor relief from the Parsonage as their Presence These are potent in their Patrons Friends and Relations and may obstruct the Work when things come to the Vote and Flesh and Blood pleads Reason against the true Interest of Religion and the crying Necessity of Souls But let them not fear for there is no danger of putting them out to bring others in Nor do the Non-conformists desire their Liberty with the deprivation of any now in possession 6. Some honest and good Men are afraid of an Alteration from a mistated Case Many ran into Conformity to be out of Confusion and are now tenacious of this Conformity for fear of a Toleration of Popery and Antichristian Sects But there are Mediums between Extreams The Non-conformists offered to Conform to Arch-Bishop Usher's Model They argue in their haste from the Necessity of a Church-Government against an abatement of Rigor as if the sodering of Parties would be a throwing of all into the Fire and the running of the whole into a shapeless and formless Lump Many are boldly imposed upon into an ill Opinion of our Parliament and composing Minds as if they designed a Dissolution of Government and indeed do by their causless Fears discover the ill temper of our Cement that if you do but touch our present Church Frame it will be in danger of falling 7. Some are warped from a Closure by the influence of Self-love They have Conformed and are afraid of an after-condemnation for Conformity and that the Non-conformists will come in as Victors and be puffed up into an ostentation of their Refusal and Sufferings upon better Grounds and Principles But Brotherly-love and Self-denial which are so essential to Christianity must be our Exercise carrying on the common Salvation with one Heart and Shoulder But these two last named will not be grieved at our Union when it appears to be good Lastly Our many Breaches with God is the great Gulf between On the one hand if Church-men would lay to Heart and mourn for our Divisions and clearly see whence

Hist of the Sabbath Just Weights Measures Case of the Sabbath nor which I wonder at to the judicious Bp. Sanderson as much as the Seventh was from the Creation What if an inquiring Child that is catechised should ask his Parent What day do we keep as Sabbath the First hee 'l say But saith the Child Why do we keep the First what Commandment for that or what Promise for we are taught in the Catechism God blessed the Seventh day Is not this a temptation to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath Had the Presbyterians pleaded for that Translation they might have heard of their ignorance in the Hebrew and demanding things not fit to be allowed they would not grant them lest they as the Puritans have been misrepresented should Judaize in keeping the Holy Sabbath The Doxologie or conclusion of the Lord's Prayer for thine is the Kingdom c. to be used always Query Whether they have not thereby taught us this Opinion that tho Forms of Prayers are lawful yet a variety is as lawful as a set form of words We prove the lawfulness by our Saviour's Prescription When ye pray say c. And may we not prove a liberty or a variety of expressions keeping still to the same matter when we read a difference in the same Prayer as delivered by two Evangelists inspired by the same Spirit and when we see the practice of the Church is sometimes to use and sometimes to omit the Doxologie and Conclusion And why shall the Church so severely enjoin the exact use of all her Forms and they who omit when their Prudence and Conscience as to some Prayers tells them they should sometimes concerning some Petitions and Persons are liable to censure when a part of the Lord's Prayer as delivered by St. Matthew is constantly omitted For ought I see a liberty and variety of Prayers strictly keeping to divine matter with abbreviations and enlargements is as lawful as a stinted invariable Form of words and is a matter of Christian Liberty to be used as shall best serve to the edification of the Church of Christ and divers expressions are as much from the same Spirit provided always they agree with the language of the Holy Ghost as diversities of Gifts and consistant with the Unity of the Spirit And they who plead for a necessity of Forms must also yeeld to a variety upon the same subject which we have for the King in the Service and a few others A Reformation was thought absolutely necessary to Union Hear what Mr. Herbert Thorndike one of the Commissioners for the Church in the Savoy wrote But now that Unity is not to be had without setling agreement in matters of Difference A due way of composing Differences printed with his Weights and Measures pag. 236. Edit 1662. to propose what may seem best for the Community of God's Church in the Cure of our Breaches is not to give offence but to take it away Nor do I know any Man professing the Reformation sincerely that could not wish with all his heart that the whole Order and Form to be setled with the Circumstance of the same might be according to the Primitive Simplicity and naked plainness of the Ancient Church p. 245. The form of Service now in force by Law may be acknowledged capable of Amendment without disparagement either to the Wisdom of the Church that prescribed it or of the Nation that enacted it Some promised much but granted little others begg'd more pleaded hard but obtained not And may not this justify the Nonconformists waiting for and earnestly desiring a redress of material things since they could obtain but very little then and cannot in conscience subscribe and declare now If they had been gratified then and had now been discontented without more there had been more reason for the prejudice that is propagated against them If it be objected Why could not they have Conformed as some of their Fellow-Commissioners did I Answer 1. Some very worthy Persons did Conform Dr. Wallis Dr. Horton Dr. Lightfoot and after about seven Years silence to the great loss of Exeter College Oxford and the Church of God Dr. Conant conformed and these were all 2. The Reasons why these did not is because as the same Spectacles will not serve all Mens sight so because they could not as they oft declared both to the shaking off some and the displeasure of others within the Pale My last Observation shall be upon the Persons that managed that Debate The Commissioners that pleaded for the Union as it was without a Reformation were the strongest and stiffest of any in the Church of England Men of great Learning long experience in the Ecclesiastical Government and that had suffered much and were much exasperated as being several of them next the Bishops most obnoxious to the Parliament as most guilty of Innovations in Doctrine and Discipline by the Informations and Complaint of as Learned and as great Men as any of them in the Church of England as may easily be produced out of the best account of those Times all except Dr. Morley Dr. Earle Dr. Sanderson against whom I remember no Complaints and a few beside Their Constancy and Sufferings did recommend them to the King's Favour and the great Agreement in their Persuasions held them to one another and having the disposing of Preferments as they pleased or at least the Recommendation of Candidates Expectants complied with them and were forward to walk according to their Measures The moderating Bishop Hall was gone to Heaven Prideaux Brownrig and others of another temper and so it was easier for them to carry all their own way and two things as conducing to their designs was necessary 1. To frame a Convocation to their minds and to that end great care and pains were used to keep out and to get in by very undue Proceedings Protestations were entred against all Incumbents not ordained by Bishops though it was not through their faults and to exclude others that they feared had any inclination to Moderation indeed under the name of Presbytery And such an Election being made as there was no great fear of calling any thing to free Debates few leading Men being of another mind so there were no Debates to speak of the greatest that I could hear of was between the Cambridg Professor Dr. Gunning and the Oxford Professor Dr. Creed about a hard Point indeed the Age of Children to be Confirm'd 2. For all his Majesty's most gracious and excellent Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs they laboured by all their Interest and Endeavours to have a Parliament that would pass what they would contrive and prepare for them And so they instead of sending more Labourers into the Vineyard hired as some say Labourers to turn out or keep out Labourers from entring in And the Labourers in Pension were not imployed only in State but also in Church-Work Their Interest was so great in that Parliament as to enact what was

you at this present which is That you would seriously think of some course to beget a better Union and Composure in the minds of my Protestant Subjects in Matters of Religion whereby they may be induced not only to submit quietly to the Government but also chearfully give their assistance to the support of it And in his Speech to both Houses Nov. 9. 1678. He saith I meet you here with the most earnest desire that Man can have to unite the Minds of all my Subjects both to Me and to one another and I resolve it shall be your Fault if the Success be not sutable to my Desires Besides that end of Union which I aim at and which I wish could be extended to Protestants Abroad as well as at Home I purpose by this last step I have made to discern whether the Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom be as truly aimed at by others as they are really intended by Me. Some Bishops formerly and of late have most pathetically pleaded the Case of the Non-conformists whose Apostolical Zeal and Charity are worthy the Consideration and Imitation of the present Bishops and Fathers of our Church at this Time especially A former Bishop of St. Davids in the Convocation-House May 23. 1604. speaking of those who were scrupulous only upon some Ceremonies c. Being otherwise Learned studious grave and honest Men whose Labours have been painful in the Church and profitable to their several Congregations he says tho I do not justify their Doings yet surely their Service would be missed at such a Time as need shall require them and us to give the right hand of Fellowship one to another and to go Arm in Arm against the common Adversary that so there might be Vis unita fortior If these our Brethren aforesaid should be deprived of their Places for the Matters premised I think we should find cause to bend our Wits to the uttermost extent of our skill to provide some Cure of Souls for them where they may exercise their Talents Furthermore if these Men being divers hundreds as it is bruited abroad should forsake their Charges as some do presuppose they will who I pray you should succeed them Besides this for so much as in the Life-time of the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury these things were not so extreamly urged but that many Learned Preachers enjoyed their Liberty herein conditionally that they did not by Word or Deed openly disgrace or disturb the State established I would know a Reason why it should not be so generally and exceeding strictly called upon especially considering these Men are now the more necessary by so much as we see greater encrease of Papists to be now of late than were before To conclude I wish that if by Petition made to the King's Majesty there cannot be obtained a quite remove of the Premises which seem so grievous to divers nor yet a Toleration for them which be of the more staid and temperate carriage yet at the least there might be procured a mitigation of the Penalty if they cannot be drawn by other Reasons to a Conformity with us Thus far this Bishop in those days when the Terms of Conformity were not so hard The present Lord Bishop of Hereford in his Naked Truth with hearty Compassion and Zeal pleads the Case of our present Non-conformists both with the then two Houses of Parliament and the Bishops in particular First In his Address to the Lords and Commons in general he thus expresses himself My Lords and Noble Gentlemen you have fully expressed your Zeal to God and his Church in making Laws for Unity c. I call God the searcher of all Hearts the God of Life and Death to witness That I would most readily yea most joyfully sacrifice all I have in this World my Life and all that all Nonconformists were reduced to our Church but it falls out most sadly that your Laws have not the desired effect our Church is more and more divided c. And concludes with earnest Prayers That God would direct them to that which may make for the Vnity of our Church by yeelding to weak Ones c. And in pag. 10. Edition in Folio he thus earnestly and seriously Addresses him to the Bishops My Reverend Fathers and Judges of the Church I with St. Paul Col. 3. beseech you put on fatherly bowels of Mercies Kindness humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering towards your poor weak Children and so long as they hold fast the Body of Christ be not so rigorous with them for Shadows if they submit to you in Substance have patience tho they do not submit in Ceremonies and give me leave to tell you my poor Opinion This violent pressing of Ceremonies hath I humbly conceive been a great hinderance from embracing them Men fearing your Intentions to be far worse than really they are and therefore abhor them And pag. 11. This force-urging Uniformity in Worship hath caused great division in Faith as well as Charity for had you by abolishing some Ceremonies taken the weak Brethren into your Church they had not wandred about after seducing Teachers nor fallen into so many gross Opinions of their own Now I beseech you in the fear of God set before your Eyes the dreadful Day of Judgment when Christ in his Tribunal of Justice shall require an account of every Word and Deed and shall thus question you Here are several Souls who taking offence at your Ceremonies have forsaken my Church have forsaken the Faith have run into Hell the Souls for which I shed my precious Blood Why have you suffered this Nay why have you occasioned this Will you Answer It was to preserve our Ceremonies Will not Christ return unto you Are your Ceremonies more dear unto you than the Souls for which I died Who hath required these things at your hands Will you for Ceremonies which you your selves confess to be indifferent no way necessary unto Salvation suffer your weak Brethren to perish for whom I died Have not I shewed you how David and his Souldiers were guiltless in eating the Shew-bread which was not lawful but only for the Priests to eat If David dispensed with a Ceremony commanded by God to satisfy the hunger of his People Will not you dispence with your own Ceremonies to satisfy the Souls of my People who are called by my Name and profess my Name tho in weakness Or will you tell Christ they ought to suffer for their own wilfulness and perverseness who will not submit to the Laws of the Church as they ought Will not Christ return Shall they perish for transgressing your humane Laws which they ignorantly conclude Erroneous And shall not you perish for transgressing my Divine Laws which you know to be Good and Holy Had I mercy on you and should not you have mercy on you fellow Servants With the same measure you meeted it shall be measured unto you again I tremble to go farther but most humbly beseech you for Christ's sake endeavour to regain these strayed Sheep for which he shed his precious Blood and think it as great an advantage as great an honour to you as it was to St. Paul to become all things to all Men that you may gain some as doubtless you will many tho not all and the few standers off will be the more convinced and at long running wearied out and gained also I close this Bishop's earnest Requests with one of the Prayers made by the Bishops for the late Fast on Decemb. 22. 1680. appointed by the King's Proclamation among other ends to Unite the Hearts of all Loyal Protestants and I hope my Lords the Bishops will join their sincere endeavours with this devout Prayer Viz. For Union among our Selves BLessed Jesu our Saviour and our Peace who didst shed thy precious Blood upon the Cross that thou might st abolish and destroy all Enmity among Men and reconcile them in one Body unto God Look down in much pity and compassion upon this distressed Church and Nation who 's bleeding Wounds occasion'd by the lamentable Divisions that are among us cry aloud for thy speedy Help and saving Relief Stir up we beseech thee every Soul of us carefully as becomes sincere Christians to root out of our Hearts all Pride and Vain-glory all Wrath and Bitterness all unjust Prejudice and causless Jealousy all Hatred and Malice and desire of Revenge and whatsoever it is that may any way exasperate our Minds or hinder us from discerning the things that belong unto our Peace And by the Power of thy Holy Spirit of Peace dispose all our Hearts to such meekness of Wisdom and lowliness of Mind such calm and deliberate Long-suffering and Forbearance of one another in Love with such due esteem of those whom thou hast set over us to watch for our Souls as may turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the Hearts of the Children to the Fathers that so we may become a ready People prepar'd to live in Peace and the God of Peace may be with us To this End give us all Grace O Lord seriously to lay to heart not only the great Dangers we are in at present by these unhappy Divisions but also the great Obligations to this godly Vnion and Concord which lie upon us That as there is but one Body and one Spirit and one Hope of our Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all so we may henceforth be all of one Heart and of one Soul closely united in one holy bond of Truth and Peace of Faith and Charity and may with one Mind and one Mouth glorify thee O Lord the Prince of Peace who with thy blessed Father in the Vnity of the Holy Spirit livest and reignest ever one God World without end Amen FINIS