Apostles which made it necessary to reveal the Gospel-mysteries by degrees and to persons well disposed and qualified to receive them but when a Doctrine has been fully published and confirmed by all necessary evidence and universally received as a Christian Doctrine the Governours and Pastors of the Church must continue to preach it whether Dissenters will hear or no for else we may lose all Christian Doctrines by degrees again and return to our Milk which he says is the Doctrine of Christs Humanity and leave off feeding on strong Meat which he says is the Doctrine of Christs Divinity because Jews and Socinians cannot bear it Whatever has been published by Christ and his Apostles as Christian Doctrine is the sacred Depositum which is committed to the Church and which all Bishops as well as Timothy are commanded to keep 5. His next Motive to condescension is from the consideration of that great Rule of Equity which calls upon us to do to others as we would be dealt with Now I confess this is a very good Topick to declaim on as our Reconciler doth for as it is usually managed it contains an Appeal to the Passions and Interests more than to the Reason of mankind It is a sufficient Answer to this to observe that this Rule obliges no man to do any thing but what is in it self just and equitable to be done for what is more than this how passionately soever men desire it is owing to their fondness and partiality to themselves not to a true reason and judgment of things and therefore unless it appear upon other accounts to be in it self reasonable to grant this Indulgence this Rule cannot make it so To discourse the true meaning of this Rule at large would be too great a digression from my present designe and therefore in answer to what our Reconciler says Would we be contented if we were inferiours to be punished imprisoned and banished for Opinions which we cannot help or shut out from the means of Grace for such Opinions Or should we not be glad that others would bear with us in some lesser matters in which we by our judgments are constrained to differ from them and would not pass upon us the sâ—verest censures because we are constrained thus to differ I say in answer to these and such-like Popular Appeals I shall ask him some other Questions as Whether ever any Offender or Criminal is contented to suffer for his fault or does not earnestly desire to be pardoned and to escape Whether it be unreasonable to punish any man because all men are unwilling to be punished Whether every mans love to himself in such cases or that natural pity which all men have for those who suffer be a Rule for the exercise of publick Discipline and Government in Church or State Whether any man in his wits can think it reasonable that mens private Fancies and Opinions should over-rule the Authority of Church and State Whether is the most pitiable sight to see a flourishing and truly Apostolick Church rent and torn in pieces by Factions and Schisms or to see such Schismaticks suffer in the suppression of their Schism Whether it be reasonable for the Civil Powers to punish Schismaticks when their Schism in the Church threatens the State and makes the Thrones of Princes shake and totter The truth is this Rule To do to others as we desire they should do to us may be a good Rule to direct our private Conversation but it does not extend to publick Government and my reason for it is this That this Rule has respect onely to every mans private happiness and supposes an equality between them For that which makes this a Rule of Equity is that equals as all men are considered as men ought to have equal usage and therefore that natural sense which every man has of happiness that natural aversion to suffer wrong and that natural desire to receive good from others should teach every man to deal by others who have the same sense of happiness and aversion to misery as they desire to be dealt with themselves But now publick Government has a greater respect to the Publick than to any mans private good and a mans private and particular good must give place to the publick Welfare and therefore what aversion soever there is in mankind to suffering it is very fit and just that private men when they deserve it should suffer for the publick Good and it is not every mans love to himself or what he is willing to suffer which is the Rule here but a regard to the publick Good And though all wise and good men ought to prefer the publick Good before their own private Interest yet whatever reason there is for this it is certain mens natural love to themselves to which this Rule appeals will never make them willing to suffer especially when the sufferings are great and capital upon any considerations and therefore to do as we would be done by is not our Rule in such cases for then no fault must ever be punished Nor is there an equality between Governours and Subjects either in Church or State Civil Magistrates are invested with the Authority of God who is the supreme Governour of the World and the Governours of the Church with the Authority of Christ who is the supreme Head of the Church and therefore they are not to consider the private passions and affections of men that because they themselves are not willing to suffer when they are in a fault therefore they must not punish others for they act not as private men but as publick Ministers of Justice and Discipline and where there is an inequality this Rule of Equity will not hold Governours and Subjects are equal considered as men but very unequal as Governours are invested with the Authority of God which sets them above other men This I take to be the true reason why the same men pass such different judgments on the same thing when they are Subjects and when they are Governours because when they are Subjects they have a principal regard to a private and particular good and consult the desires and weaknesses and passions of humane nature when they are Governours they have a greater regard to a publick good and consider what their Character and Office and Authority requires them to do Thus we know when some of our Dissenters had got the Power in their hands they were as severe in pressing Conformity to their new Models and Platforms as loud and fierce in their Declamations against Toleration as now they are against Conformity and for a Toleration When they had the Power in their hands they saw plainly what the necessities of Government required now the Power is out of their hands they consider what is necessary to their own preservation which makes them dislike those things when the Government is against them which they saw a necessity of before This is universally true of all
the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Now because God prefers true and real goodness before the externals of Religion does it hence follow that there must be no external Worship or that the Church must make no Laws for the decent or orderly performance of it or must repeal these Laws when any ignorant people refuse to submit to them Just as much as that God did not require them to offer Sacrifice because he preferred Mercy before it Our Reconciler obsâ—rves two Cases to which our Saviour applies this saying 1. To justifie his Disciples who pulled the ears of Corn as they walked through the fields and rubbed them in their hands and eat them on the Sabbath-day which the Pharisees expounded to be a breach of the Sabbatick rest as being a servile work and our Saviour does not dispute with them upon that point but justifies what they did by their present necessity and by this Rule I will have mercy and not sacrifice That God who prefers acts of Kindness and Mercy before Sacrifice when they come in competition with each other is not such a rigorous exacter of obedience to any positive Institutions as to allow no Indulgence to necessity it self and it becomes Church-Governours to imitate the goodness of God in this and our Church does so as I have already observed but how this proves that the Church must make no Laws about Ceremonies or repeal them if men won't obey them I do not understand The next instance is our Saviour's justifying himself against the accusations of the Pharisees for his eating and drinking with Publicans and Sinners which he tells them was onely in order to reform them as a Physician converses with the sick and certainly it was lawful to converse with them upon so charitable a designe since God preferred Mercy before Sacrifice and therefore certainly God will be better pleased with our conversing with Sinners in order to make them good men than with our abstaining from their company though a familiar conversation with them upon other accounts be scandalous And how this proves what our Reconciler would conclude from it I cannot see Well but this is a general Rule which may be applied to more cases than one or two Right But if we will argue from our Saviour's authority and application we must apply it onely to such cases as are parallel to those cases to which our Saviour applies it otherwise we must not pretend the authority of our Saviour but the reason of the thing and let him set aside our Saviour's authority and we shall deal well enough with his Reason All that can be made of this Rule is this That where there happens any such case that there is a temporary competition between two Duties which are both acknowledged to be our duty there the greatest and most necessary duty must take place and particularly that all Rituals must give place to Mercy So that to make this a parallel case our Reconciler must grant that it is the duty of Church-Governours to prescribe Rules for the external Decency and solemnity of Worship what is the other Duty then to which this must give way To the care of mens Souls says our Reconciler No say I there is no inconsistency between the care of mens Souls and the care of publick Worship which is the best way of taking care of mens Souls and therefore there can never be a competition between these two O but some men are ignorant and scrupulous and wilful and if you prescribe any Rules of Worship they will dissent from them and turn Schismaticks and be damned and thus accidentally it affords occasion to these great and fatal evils Let him prove then if he can from these words of our Saviour that the Governours of the Church must never do their duty for fear those men should be damned who will not do theirs Such cases as these if they be truly pitiable must be left to the mercy of God but the Church can take no cognizance of them especially when this cannot be done without destroying the publick Decency and Solemnities of Worship and renouncing her own just Authority the maintaining of which is more for the general good of Souls than her compliance with some scrupulous persons would be I shall onely farther observe his great civility to theChurch and Kingdom of which he is a Member For his third Observation from these words is That they were used by the Prophet upon the occasion of the strictness of the Israelites in the observance and the requiring these Rituals whilst charity and mercy to their Brother was vanished from their hearts there being no truth no mercy nor knowledge of God in the land but killing committing adultery stealing lying and swearing falsly c. Now certainly it was no fault in the Jews at that time to be zealous for the external Worship instituted by the Law of Moses though our Reconciler seems to insinuate that it was for he matters not how he reproaches the Institutions of God himself so he can but reflect some odium on the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church yet they betrayed their Hypocrisie by their Zeal for the Externals of Religion while they neglected the weightier matters of the Law And left any man should be so dull as not to understand the meaning of this Observation he thetorically introduces it with a God forbid Now God forbid that I should say that it is thus in England but he is pleased to put men in mind of it if they please to think so This is true Fanatick Cant and Charity There must be no Rules prescribed for the Worship of God the Church must not take care to reclaim or restrain Schismaticks because our Reconciler thinks the State does not take sufficient care to punish other Vices Certainly there never was any Age of the Church wherein the publick Ministers of Religion took more care to decry this Pharisaical Hypocrisie of an external Religion and to teach men that nothing will recommend them to God without the practice of an universal Righteousness than at this day who will not flatter the greatest men in their Vices nor think any man a Saint because he expresses a great Zeal for the Church when his life and actions proclaim him to be a Devil We leave this good Reconciler to your beloved tender-conscienced Dissenters who can strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel who cannot see a Surplice without horror but can dispence with Lying and Perjury with Slanders and Revilings and speaking
not certainly how God will deal with them in the other World God has nowhere told us any thing of it and therefore this is not so certain as to make it a President and Example for Governours 2. But suppose this were so as all of us have reason to hope it is yet this is no Example to Governours in Church or State For there is a vast difference between Gods judgements in the other World and acts of Government and Discipline in this The one respects mens personal deserts and determines their final doom the other onely respects the preservation of good order and government in Church or State And therefore the final judgment considers all circumstances which may deserve reward or punishment pity and compassion not onely what was done but who did it with what intention and designe whether knowingly or ignorantly or the like the other considers onely what is done what prejudice it is to the publick and how such an example deserves to be punished and therefore it is very fitting for earthly Governours to punish those sins which God will pardon because they cannot maintain good Government withour it If through ignorance and mistake though so innocent and involuntary that God may see reason to pardon it any men should disturb the Peace and Order of Church or State it would utterly overthrow all Government if these men must not be restrained nor punished Our Reconciler might have considered that God forgives us all our sins which we sincerely repent of though they were never so great and voluntary and methinks he might as well have undertaken the Cause of penitent Thieves and Rebels and Murderers as of impenitent Schismaticks He should do well when he sees the Tears and Sorrows and Agonies of such guilty Wretches and hears their solemn profession of repentance to mind the Judge and the Jury of the mercy and pitifulness of our good God who forgives the sins of all true Penitents and therefore they who are commanded to be followers of God like dear children to be merciful as our Father which is in Heaven is merciful to put on bowels of compassion as the Elect of God should not hang up those poor penitent Wretches but forgive that on Earth which God will forgive in Heaven Now I wonder how a Judge and Jury would gaze upon such a Reconciler as this whether they would think him fittest for Bedlam or Bridewel It is certain that this good and pitiful God whose Example our Reconciler proposes does himself make a difference between this World and the next in executing Judgments he sometimes punishes those sins in this World which he himself forgives in the next and therefore certainly Earthly Governours whether of Church or State may punish those sins in this World which God will pardon in the next Thus it was in the case of David whom the Prophet Nathan upon his repentance assured that God had pardoned him and yet at the same time denounced the Judgments of God against him the rebellion of his Son Absolom and the death of the child begotten in Adultery Thus we have reason to hope that so pious a man as Vzzah though he was struck dead upon the place yet was not eternally damned for touching the Ark. 3. And yet Gods final Judgment is no Rule and Pattern for humane Judicatures because Earthly Governours do not know the hearts and thoughts of men as Gods does He knows when mens ignorance is invincible and involuntary which no man can know and therefore God can make such allowances in his last and final Judgment which no man can or ought God judges the hearts of men but man can onely judge of their actions and therefore an Earthly Governour may and ought in justice to punish that which God may very equitably pardon 4. Especially considering that this last and final Judgment of God is designed to rectifie all the necessary defects as well as miscarriages of humane Judicatures A man who is guilty of some troublesome errour and mistake may and ought for the publick good to suffer for it in this World though it may be hard that he should suffer for it in the next And this very consideration as I have observed before answers all this difficulty Schismaticks how innocent soever their mistake is ought to be cast out of the Church on â—arth or all Ecclesiastical Authority is lost and the Church left without any Government to defend it self but if the case be favourable God will make allowances for it in the other World and he who is guilty of Schism without a schismatical mind we hope may find mercy And therefore this can be no reason for the Church not to pass her censures upon such men if they are visibly guilty of that which deserves a censure A temporal Judge does not intend to damn every man whom he hangs nor an Ecclesiastical Judge to damn those whom he censures they are onely concerned to see that the Judgment and Censure be deserved in this World but they leave the final Judgment to God himself This I think is enough to answer to this Argument though our Reconciler rhetoricates upon it He observes that the Scripture represents God as very pitiful and we believe God to be very pitiful as any earthly Parent can be but not indulgent to the humour or frowardness of children But it is this God of mercy who himself goes into the mountains to save and to bring home the strayed sheep And thus the Governours of the Church ought to do to bring home stray Sheep into their Fold not to indulge them in their wandrings But God provided an Asylum for him who ignorantly committed murder accidentally he means without intending any such thing which is not the errour of the mind but of the hand and therefore does not relate to this business But God remitted the sin of Abimeleck because he did it ignorantly but Abimeleck had been guilty of no sin for he had not touched Sarah Abraham's Wife But he had mercy of St. Paul for the same reason though he persecuted the Church of Christ but the mercy consisted in bringing him to repentance unless the Reconciler will say too that he had mercy on those who crucified Christ because they did it ignorantly and on all those Jews of whom St. Paul witnesses that they had a zeal for God but not according to knowledge And indeed it is worth coâ—sidering that this Argument of the Reconcilâ—r's pleads â—or a Toleration of all Religions especially if we can suppose that there are honest and ignorant men among them such persons will be received by God according to our Reconciler's Principles whatever Religion they be of Jews or Turks or Pagans though he does none the honour of a particular vindication but onely the Papists If Charity teaches us thus to hope saith the most learned Bishop Sanderson of our forefathers who lived and died in the idolatrous acts of Worship why then should we reject
as we may suppose from his own Character of himself by a dignified Clergy-man of our Church And that he also who pleads for separation from Communion with us on account of those few scrupled Ceremonies and disputable Expressions of our Liturgie is sinful and unreasonable as well as mischievous doth also speak the words of truth and soberness or that one should not impose these things as the conditions of Communion and the other should not when they are once imposed refuse Communion upon that account i. e. the Church sins in imposing and the Dissenter sins in disobeying such Impositions The Church is in the right as to the lawfulness of what she imposes but sins in the exercise of her Authority in commanding lawful things The Dissenter is in the right in affirming these Impositions to be the sin of the Imposers and yet sins in not obeying them that is the Dissenter judges aright of the duty of his Superiours but is mistaken in his own And if he can reconcile these things it will be one good step towards a Reconciliation Governours indeed may be over-rigorous and severe in the exercise of a just Authority but I dare not say that they always sin when they are so but that they do not act so wisely or so charitably as they might do For the Wisdom and Charity of Government is so nice a thing and subject to so many difficulties that the case of Governours would be very hard should every mistake in such matters be a sin and Government it self must necessarily lose its Sacredness and Authority if every Subject may censure the Wisdom and Charity of lawful Commands and Impositions and vote them to be mischievous and sinful if they do not agree with his Notions of Prudence and Charity All that Subjects are concerned to enquire about the Commands of their Superiours is concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of them if they go any farther they make themselves Governours not Subjects and therefore it is not very modest to condemn the Commands otherwise civilly called Impositions of Superiours as sinful and mischievous when it is lawful to obey them And he who thinks Dissenters do ill in refusing Obedience does not well himself in charging the Church with doing what is sinful and mischievous in imposing But then on the other hand if the Church do sin in imposing she either exceeds her Authority and Commission and so imposes without Authority or else she imposes something unlawful and in either of these cases no man can blame Dissenters for refusing Communion with the Church in such matters For no man is bound to communicate in unlawful things nor to obey where there is no Authority to command And therefore our Reconciler can never reconcile these two Propositions That the Church sins in imposing the Dissenter sins in rejecting such Impositions and in refusing Communion where it cannot be had without submitting to â—hem For though we are bound to submit to the Supreme Powers when they act illegally because we are bound never to resist yet we are not bound to yield an Active Obedience to any illegal Commands but the Church considered as a Church or Ecclesiastical Body having no external and compulsory Authority if she commands what she has no Authority to command no man is bound to obey her and if this occasion a Schism she her self is the Schismatick But to shew how ominously our Reconciler stumbles at the threshold let us state the case a little otherwise The great reason he assignes throughout his Book to prove that the Church sins in these Impositions is that there is a great number of men among us who either scruple the lawfulness or positively afsert the unlawfulness of them and this occasions a Schism in the Church To prevent which the Church is bound in charity to the Souls of men not to command such scrupled and unnecessary Ceremonies and sins if she does Now in this case also the sin and guilt can lie but on one side For if the Dissenters notwithstanding this may and ought to conform to such Impositions then there is no necessity upon that account for the Church to alter her Constitutions nor does she sin in imposing if they may not then the Dissenters do not sin in rejecting such Impositions If some particular Governours are acted by ill principles this contracts a personal guilt on themselves but it neither excuses Dissenters nor affects the Government while they command nothing but what the Church has Authority to command and what may be lawfully obeyed but if the meer scruples of Dissenters will make the Commands of the Church sinful when there is no other fault to be found in her Constitutions but that Disfenters will not obey them this overthrows all government in the Church So that our Reconciler who is resolved to prove both these Propositions that the Church sins in imposing and the Dissenter in breaking Communion for such Impositions will have much ado to reconcile his two Books together One part of his Task is certainly needless for if he can but convince the World of the truth of either part he effectually does the businâ—ss If he can convince the Disâ—enter that he ought to conform to these Impositions the Church may impose without sin or if he can perswade our Governours that it is sinful to impose there is no need to deal with Dissenters and therefore methinks it had savoured of more modesty and greater deference to Authority to have tried his skill upon Dissenters first But our Author by over-doing is like to spoil all For it is very probable he will convince Dissenters of what they believed before that the Church cannot impose such things from whence in spight of all his Logick they will conclude that they are not bound to obey and he will convince the Government that the Dissenter ought to conform and sins in not doing it which justifies their Impositions And thus he ends just where he began Nay could he convince the Church that she ought not to impose upon Dissenters while their scruples last and the Dissenters that they ought not to scruple these things nor disobey them when they are commanded we may expect it will take up some time to adjust the dispute after all this between the Church and the Dissenters which of them shall yield for both sides cannot yield unless we will say that the Church must leave off imposing and then the Dissenters must begin to obey that the Church must no longer command and then the Dissenter is bound to obey when no body commands So that could he effectually prove that the Church and the Dissenter are both guilty of sin the one in imposing the other in refusing Obedience yet I do not see what Reconciliation this is like to make For it is not enough to reconcile two contending Parties to prove that they are both in the fault unless you can propose some middle terms of accommodation or prove that though they are both
against her uncharitable Impositions And when he has published a Book against the Constitutions of our Church agreed on by the wisdom of the Convocation and establisht by Act of Parliament when he has already the most mature and deliberate judgment of Church and State it looks like a very hypocritical piece of modesty a downright Challenge to the whole Clergy to cry out as he does Teach me my Reverend Brethren and I will hold my peace cause me to understand wherein I have erred and I will thankfully yea I will publickly retract it Any body I think but a Protestant Reconciler would call this libelling the Church and hectoring and out-braving all his Mothers Children How the rest of my Brethren will digest this outragious Contempt of Church-Authority I cannot tell for my part I cannot bear it but am resolved to do my weak endeavours to vindicate my dear Mother from the rudeness and insolence of her undutiful Son And in order to this I shall consider what it is he contends for wherein we agree and where we part and fairly debate on which side the truth lies The Proposition which he undertakes to prove is contained in these words That things indifferent which may be changed and altered without sin or violation of Gods Laws ought not especially under our present circumstances to be imposed by Superiours as the Conditions of Communion or as Conditions without which none shall minister in sacred things though called to that work and none shall be partakers of the publick Ordinances which Christ hath left to be the ordinary means of Grace and of Salvation to mankind bâ—t shall upon refusal to submit unto them for ever be excluded from the Church and from the Priviledges belonging to the Members of it Where by indifferent things which may be changed and altered without sin or violation of Gods Laws it is plain he means whatever is not expresly commanded by God and so must include all the Externals of Worship Government and Discipline which are not enjoyned by a divine Law That these ought not to be imposed signifies that it is sinful and mischievous to impose them as he expresly asserted before and which all his Arguments are designed to prove viz. that Governours sin in it To impose signifies onely to command and to impose as Conditions of Communion signifies no more than to impose though it sounds bigger For the Church makes such indifferent things the Conditions of Communion in no other sence than as she commands those of her Communion to worship God in such a manner and rejects those which will not which is nothing more than to command as to command is opposed to leaving every one at liberty to worship God as he pleases So that if the Church have not Authority to make these indifferent things the terms of Communion in this sence so as to reject those who will not worship God according to such Prescriptions i. e. who will not obey the Governours of the Church wherein they live then she has no power at all to command And when he adds especially in our present circumstances he refers to those Divisions and Schisms which he says are occasioned by such Impositions Whenever such Ceremonies are doubted and scrupled and made an occasion of Schism then especially it is a sin to impose them but when he says especially he plainly insinuates that it is at all times sinful and unlawful to impose such uncommanded Rites and Modes of Worship though it is a greater sin to do it when there are any who scruple the lawfulness of such Impositions This is the Doctrine of our Protestant Reconciler which I should rather have expected from a profess'd Enemy than from a pretended Advocate of the Church of England He has at once very modestly rejected all Ecclesiastical Authority in indifferent things He has condemned all the Canons and Constitutions of the Church for the orderly performance of Religious Worship from the Apostle days until this time which concern the external Circumstances and Ceremonies of Worship He has plainly renounced one of thoâ—e Articles of Religion to which he has subscribed and declared his Assent if he be a Member of our Church For Art 20. asserts That the Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies And if the Church has power to do this I suppose she may do it without sin and without asking leave of her Inferiours But though our Reconciler has stated this matter so generally as to condemn all Ecclesiastical Authority in indifferent things and has said many things which look that way in several parts of his Book yet his open and avowed designe is onely to prove the sinfulness of such Impositions when they are scrupled and made the occasion of Schisms and Divisions in the Church as he says it is at this day among us And here I shall joyn issue with him and give a particular Answer to every thing which has the least appearance of an Argument which though it will make this Answer larger than I could wish yet is necessary to stop the mouths of such pragmatical Reconcilers who are as troublesome and dangerous to the Government as Dissenters themselves CHAP. 1. Concerning the external Order and Decency of Worship and the Authority of the Church in such matters THat I may give a fair Answer to our Protestant Reconciler I shall first examine some of his Mistakes which run through his whole Book and whereon the whole Argument of his Book is founded the removing of which to men of any competent understanding would supersede the necessity of any farther Answer And they either concern 1. The usefulness of some Rites and Ceremonies of Religious Worship and the Authority of the Church in such matters Or 2. The obligations of charity to the Souls of men with the due measures and extent of it Or 3. That regard which ought to be had to an erroneous or scrupulous Conscience From these Topicks he all-along argues to prove that Church-Governours ought to alter the external Ceremonies of Worship because they are of no value in themselves and therefore charity to the Souls of men requires them in such things to condescend to the errours or scruples or weakness of their Brethren I shall begin with the first which is the fundamental Mistake on which all the rest depend and therefore must stand or fall with it and that concerns the external Order and Decency of Worship or the Authority of the Church in prescribing Rites and Ceremonies for the more decent and orderly performance of Religious Worship Now concerning this matter our Reconciler thinks that the external Ceremonies of Religion are of no account at all for publick Worship may be performed as decently and reverently without the use of those Ceremonies which are in dispute as with them For thus he expresly and dogmatically asserts That the Ceremonies which are imposed by our Church as they have nothing sinful in their nature for which Inferiours
Postures or Gestures in the Worship of God much more to institute any significant and symbolical Rites and Ceremonies that such things have no real and positive goodness in them and therefore are not worth contending for I shall discourse this matter more particularly and shall 1. shew how necessary some decent Rites and Ceremonies are to the external Decency of Worship which will justifie the Governours of the Church in such Impositions 2. Wherein the Decency of religious Worship consists which will justifie the Ceremonies in use among us as having a positive Order Decency and Reverence 3. I shall consider how our Reconciler states this matter First How necessary some decent Rites and Ceremonies are to the external Decency of Worship For though any one particular Habit or Posture or Gesture in religious Worship is so far indifferent as it is no-where expresly commanded yet a decent Habit and Posture c. is not indifferent but as necessary as external Worship is and expresly commanded by this Apostolical Rule That all things be done decently and in order If men will acknowledge that God requires publick external and visible Worship as well as the Worship of the Mind and Spirit which I have largely discoursed elsewhere it is certain there can be no visible Worship but by external and visible signs of honour for the internal Devotion of the mind cannot be seen by men though it be seen by God and therefore is not external and visible Worship Can that man be said to pay any visible Honour or Worship to God whose words and actions postures and behaviour signifie nothing of Honour or Reverence We know of what mighty consequence the Ceremonies of State are and how punctual Princes are in exacting them and when we remember that no Prince can be so jealous of his Honour as God is of his Worship we cannot think that the publick Solemnities and external Decenâ—y of Worship are such inconsiderable things when the glory of God is so nearly concerned in them For the external and visible glory of God consists in external and visible Worship and external Worship is nothing else but external significations of Reverence and Devotion And therefore though the particular modes and circumstances of Worship are not particularly prescribed by God yet some particular Rites of Worship for external Decency and Order are necessary and ought to be prescribed by those who have the care of publick Worship For if the external Decency of Worship be necessary by an Apostolical Precept and yet this external Decency cannot be secured without some particular Rules of Decency and Order then some such particular Rules are as necessary as Decency and Order is and whatever external Rites do contribute to the Decency and Order of Worship have all that real goodness in them which therâ— is in Decency and Order and no man can truly say that any such Rites and Ceremonies have no real goodness in them wherefore they ought to be commanded without asserting at the same time that there is no real goodness in Decency and Order for if they are decent and orderly they must have all that real goodness which is in Decency and Order For it is a manifest Fallacy to argue that such or such Rites or Ceremonies are in their own nature indifferent and not commanded by any positive Law of God and therefore have no real or necessary goodness in them when the end for which they serve is not indifferent but necessary and expresly commanded by God For I cannot see but that these men if they pleased might as well prove that those Rites and Ceremonies which serve the ends of Decency and Order are not indifferent but necessary by vertue of that Law which enjoyns the external Decency of Worship as that they are not necessary but indifferent because they are not in particular commanded by God For the same Law which makes the external Decency of Worship necessary makes the use of decent Rites necessary because the end cannot be attained without the means but the natural indifferency of things does not make them indifferent in their use when they are to serve a necessary end But the fallacy of this consists in the equivocal use of these terms real goodness necessity indifferency which therefore I shall briefly explain and apply to the present Controversie Real goodness may respect the intrinsick nature or the use of things In the first sence we call all moral Vertues good which have an intrinsick and eternal reason such as Prudence Tâ—mperance Fortitude Justice and all those natural acts of Homage and Worship which we owe to God and in this sence no Habits Postures or Gestures have any real goodness in them for they are no acts nor parts of Worship This turns all these external observances into superstition which our Saviour charged the Pharisees with of old and which we very justly charge the Church of Rome with at this day when we place such Vertue and Sanctity in these things as to advance them into proper Acts and Ministries of Religion the very doing of which is as acceptable or more acceptable to God than the most real and natural acts of Homage and Worship But then there are other things which have no natural nor intrinsick goodness in them which yet may be properly enough called and are really good with respect to their use and the end they serve if the end be good and such are those external Rites and Ceremonies which conduce to the decent and orderly performance of religious Worship For if the external Decency of Worship be good then those Ceremonies wherein the external Decency of Worship consists must be so far good also and fit to be commanded The like may be said about the different kinds of necessity as far as it concerns this matter For some things are necessary in their own nature as all those things are which have an internal and immutable goodness and being founded on eternal reasons other things which are not necessary in their own nature yet may be necessary by a divine and positive Institution as the Levitical Sacrifices and Ceremonies were under the Mosaical Law and as the Christian Sacraments are under the Gospel other things are neither necessary in their own nature nor by a positive Law which yet may be necessary as means in order to a necessary end And here are two degrees of necessity 1. When the means is so absolutely necessary to the end that the end cannot be obtained without it as it is in all those cases where there is but one way of doing a thing which makes that one way as absolutely necessary as the thing it self is as if there were but one Road from London to York it would be as necessary to travel that Road as it is to go to York but there are very few such cases as these in matters of Morality But 2. There is another kind of necessity when there are various means equally fitted and
Reverence of God and of the Vigour and Chearfulness of our Minds But I shall onely instance here in kneeling at the Sacrament which with our Reconciler's leave I must needs think a very decent Ceremony both as it distinguishes it from a common Feast and is very agreeable to the nature of that holy Mystery In this holy Supper we feast indeed at the Table of our Lord but this is not a common and ordinary Feast and therefore an ordinary Table-posture does not become us for this is not to discern the Lords body that is not to distinguish it from a common Feast If the Decency of religious Worship consists in peculiar and appropriate Ceremonies certainly there ought to be some distinguishing marks on this mysterious Feast And what more proper than to receive our Pardon upon our knees which is here sealed and conveyed to us What more proper than in the highest act of Worship to our Saviour to express the greatest humility of Soul and Body and when we receive the greatest and most ample favours from him to acknowledge our own unworthiness and pay the lowest Adorations to him I could be tempted to say that if any particular Ceremony in Religion be necessarily determined by an innate Decency and Fitness kneeling at the Lords Table is III. The Decency of Worship consists in a respect to the quality conditions and relations of those who worship God This Rule I learn from that reason the Apostle gives why a man should pray uncovered and a woman covered to signifie the natural Authority of the man and Subjection of the woman For the same reason he would not suffer a woman to speak in the Church because they must be under obedience for to teach is an act of Authority and therefore does not become her state of Subjection And there are other cases to which this may be applied but all that I shall at present observe is the use of distinct Habits for separate and consecrated Persons in the Worship of God The Apostle it seems thought it a piece of Decency that their external Garb and Habit when they worshipped God should be proper and suitable to their state and condition should represent and signifie the Authority and Government of the man and the Subjection of the woman And then I would fain know a reason why this is not decent for the Ministers of Religion too that they should perform the publick Offices of Religion in such a distinct Habit as may both signifie the peculiarity of their Function and that holiness and purity of mind which becomes those who minister in holy things A white Linnen Garment has always been thought very proper for this purpose the twenty four Elders who sate about the Throne are represented as clothed in white Linnen Garments nay that great multitude which stood before the Throne and before the Lamb were clothed with white Robes Nay this is one priviledge which was granted to the Wife of the Lamb that she should be clothed with fine Linnen clean and white Which I alledge onely for this purpose to shew that a white Linnen Garment is very proper for the Ministries of Religion and very expressive both of the Honour and Purity of the Ministerial Function for otherwise it would not be represented as the habit of those Elders who sate round the Throne nor as the habit of the Lambs Wife for all these prophetical descriptions must borrow their figures and resemblances from earthly things And if a white Linnen Garment were not proper to signifie the Dignity and Honour and Holiness of such Persons it could not properly be used to represent and signifie that in Heaven which it does not signifie on Earth And if a white Linnen Garment do very aptly â—ignifie both the Honour and Purity of such a Function and it be a piece of Decency to use such Habits in religious Worship as are proper to the state condition or relation of the Worshippers we may certainly conclude that a Surplice or a white Linnen Garment is a very decent Habit for the Ministers of Religion when they perform the publick Offices of Religion I confess I cannot see what can reasonably be objected against this For why should not the Ministers of Religion worship God in a Habit expressive of the Dignity and Holiness of their Office as well as men and women in such Habits as signifie the natural Honour and Dignity or Subjection of these different Sexes Is not Religion as much concerned in the Honour and Purity of the Ministerial Office as in such oeconomical relations And is it not as fitting then to signifie one as the other by distinct and appropriate Habits If it be said that these external signs are nothing worth and that the Honour of the Ministry is more concerned in the Purity of their Lives than in the whiteness of their Garments this answer might have been given to St. Paul when he commanded the men to pray uncovered and the women covered That the Obedience and Subjection of Wives to their own Husbands is much more valuable than their praying covered in token of such Subjection But it seems S. Paul thought that the Decency and Solemnity of Worship did require the external signs and significations of this though every body knows that a signe is not so valuable as the thing signified This I hope is a sufficient Vindication of those Rites and Ceremonies of Religion which are also the necessary circumstances of action and it is a wonderful thing that this should ever be a Controversie whether the Governours of the Church have any Authority in these matters The Dissenters themselves at other times will acknowledge that the Church has Authority to prescribe the necessary circumstances of action and I take that to be necessary without which an action cannot be performed as I think it cannot be without time place habit and posture And since different times places habits postures may be lawful and some are necessary it must be left to the prudence of Governours to determine which shall be observed according to the Rules of Decency and Order And when the determination of these things is necessary it seems a more ridiculous thing to me to quarrel with Habits and Postures for their signification if they signifie well for there is no other Rule that I know of to determine the Decency of religious Circumstances but by their signification as I think sufficiently appears from what I have already discours'd That which signifies nothing is neither decent nor indecent that which signifies ill any thing unworthy of God or unsutable to the nature of religious Worship is indecent that which signifies well the Devotion and Reverence of our Minds our religious Awe for God or that peculiar Honour we have for him is a very decent Circumstance and yet this is all which men raise so much Clamour about under the formidable name of Symbolical Ceremonies But as I observed before there are
of the Cross on their foreheads at the same time that they were received into the Church by Baptism which does no more derogate from the perfection of Baptism than their forms of renouncing the Devil with their faces towards the West and spitting at him Those constant Persecutions which in those days attended Christianity made this a very useful and necessary Ceremony And it may be observed that no Christians in any Age of the Church ever scrupled to receive the signe of the Cross on their foreheads but those who think the Doctrine of the Cross now out of date and can as profanely scoff at a suffering Religion as the Heathens did at a crucified Christ None but those who profess Treasons and Rebellions for Christ and never think it their duty to suffer but when they want â—trength and power to fight for him which â—ives little encouragement to Christian Prinâ—es to part with this symbolical Signe and Ceâ—â—mony of a suffering Religion But there is one Objection which our Reconciler makes against the positive Order and Dcency of these Ceremonies which aâ—e used in the Church of England which is fit to be considered in this place and that is That Christ and his Apostles did not use them and therefore they either worshipt God indecently or the use of them is not necessary to the Decency of Worship Now this is sufficiently answered by what I have already discours'd That though the Decency of publick Worship be a necessary Duty and some decent Rites and Ceremonies be necessary to the external Decency of Worship yet where there is choice of such Ceremonies which are very decent we cannot say that such or such particular Ceremonies are absolutely necessary because the Decency of Worship may be preserved by the use of other decent Rites and therefore Christ and his Apostles might worship very decently without the use of these Ceremonies and the Church of England may worship very decently with them But yet to shew the folly of this Argument we may consider 1. That all the time Christ was upon Earth he never set up any publick Worship distinct from the Jewish Worship He lived in Communion with the Jewish Church anâ— worshipped God with them at the Temple oâ— in their Synagogues And it is as pleasant 〈◊〉 Argument to prove that there is no reason 〈◊〉 using such Ceremonies now because 〈◊〉 did not use them as it would be to proveth tht we must not use such Ceremonies as are proâ—er to the Christian Worship because they wre not used in the Temple or Jewish Synagogâ—es in our Saviours days for he never performed any act of publick Worship any-where else But you will say Christ instituted the Sacrament of his own Body and Bloud but he neither received kneeling himself nor commanded his Apostles to do so Now in answer to this it is not evident to me that Christ received at all himself much less does it appear in what posture he received It is said in St. Matthew and St. Mark that after the institution of this holy Supper when he had blessed the Bread and brake it and divided it among his Disciples and commanded them all to eat of it and had likewise took the Cup and having given thanks commanded them all to drink of it that he added But I say unto you I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new with you â—n my Fathers kingdom From whence some â—ay conclude that he did at that time drink 〈◊〉 the Cup though he tells them it was the 〈◊〉 time he would drink of it But St. Luke 〈◊〉 us that these words were spoke at eating 〈◊〉 Passover before the institution of his last Super and then they are a plain demonstratiâ—â— that he did not drink of the Sacramental Wâ—e and it is not likely that he should feaâ— on the symbols of his own Body and Bloâ— But suppose he had it had been as imprper for him to have received kneeling as it â—s decent in us to do so for this had been â—n act of Worship to himself And though we do not read in what posture the Apostle received yet I am pretty confident they did receive in their ordinary eating posture For it is very improbable that our Saviour would require them to kneel for he exacted no act of Worship from them while he was on Earth they never prayed to him as their great High-Priest and we may as well argue that we must not pray to him now he is in Heaven because he did not command his Apostles to pray to him while he was on Earth as that we must not worship him when we approach his Table nor receive that mysterious Bread and Wine with all humility of Soul and Body now he is in Heaven because at the first institution of this holy Supper while he was still visibly present witâ— them he did not command his Apostles tâ— receive kneeling Nor is it likely the Apostles would do 〈◊〉 of themselves any more than that they 〈◊〉 any other act of religious Worship to Chst on Earth for though they heard the wrds of institution yet at that time they understod nothing of the mystery of it as it is impoâ—ble they should who understood so little oâ— his Death and Passion much less of the merorious Vertue and Expiation of his Bloud 2. As for the Apostles who founed a Christian Church and set up Christian Worship after the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour what particular Rites and Ceremonies of Worship they used we are no certain though that they were careful of the Decency of Worship is evident from this Apostolical Precept That all things be done decotly and in ordâ—r And their Love-Feasts anâ— the holy Kiss are a plain proof that they were not without their religious Rites also And if we may judge of the Apostolical Churches by the succeeding Ages of the Church even while they were under Sufferings and Persecutions there was no Age of the Church till the Reformation so free from Rituals and Ceremonies as the Church of England is at this day Thirdly Let us now consider how our Reconciler states this matter and here I shall once for all examine whatever I can find in his Book pertinent to this Argument I. Now in the first place I observe that our Reconciler agrees with Bishop Taylor That it is for ever necessary that things should be done in the Church decently and in order and that the Rulers of the Church who have the same power as the Apostles had in this must be the perpetual Iudges of it And he adds It cannot therefore rationally be denied that the Rulers of the Church have power to command things which belong unto the positive Order and Decency of the Service of God This is so fair a Concession that methinks we might agree upon it but he immediately undoes all again and says That this Command affords no ground for the
imposing the Ceremonies now used in the Church of England because it hath been proved already that they have nothing of this nature in them that is nothing of positive Order or Decency But what he says has been proved already I have made appear is not proved by him yet and I hope I have proved the contrary But if the Ceremonies of our Church which are nothing else but the decent circumstances of action or contribute to the Gravity and Solemnity of religious actions have no positive Decency and therefore cannot be prescribed by the Church I desire to know what that positive Decency is which the Church has authority to command for if it does not extend to the determination of the necessary circumstances of action I cannot see that the Church has any authority in matters of Decency And if as the Bishop says the Rulers of the Church are the perpetual Iudges and Dictators in such matters which he seems to assent to how does it become the great modesty of our Reconciler to assert That there is no positive Decency and Order in those Ceremonies which the Church has appointed for the sake of Decency and Order If the Rulers of the Church be the proper Judges of this how does our Reconciler come by this authority to judge his Judges II. Our Reconciler adds a limitation of this Rule That all things be done decently and in order in the words of the same Reverend Bishop That it is not to be extended to such Decencies as are onely ornament but is to be limited to such as onely rescue from confusion The reason is because the Prelates and spiritual Guides cannot do their duty unless things be so orderly that there is no confusion But if it can go beyond this limit then it can have no natural limit but may extend to Sumptuousness to Ornaments of Churches to rich Vtensits to Splendour and Majesty for all that is decent enough and in some circumstances very fit But because this is too subject to abuse and gives a secular power into the hands of Bishops and an authority over mens estates and fortunes and is not necessary for Souls nor any part of spiritual Government it is more than Christ gave to his Ministers How much our Reconciler has injured this learned Prelate by his numerous citations of his words to a quite different sence from what he intended shall be made appear before I leave this Argument though he has dealt no worse by him than he has by Christ and his Apostles whose words â—e has as grosly abused That this excellent Bishop had no designe in this or any thing else which our Reconciler transcribes from him to reflect on the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England I have more than one reason to believe as will appear presently and therefore though I could not give an account of every particular expression yet none but such a Protestant Reconciler would expound any of his words in contradiction to his declared sence of things I am sure what he here says if it be applied to the Ceremonies of the Church of England has no reason in it and that is a sufficient Argument to me that he never meant it so For 1. Supposing this to be true That this Rule is not to be extended to such Decencies as are onely ornament this does not concern the Church of England which has no such Ceremonies as are meerly for ornament And therefore the Church has authority enough to prescribe the decent Rites and Modes of Worship though she have not authority to make her Worship gay and theatrical which indeed is not decent and therefore not contained within this Rule The Bishop never thought of the Church of England when he gave this Rule but had his eye upon the fantastick Ceremonies and Amusements of the Romish Worship 2. But yet when he says That this Rule is not to be extended to such Decencies as are onely ornament it is evident that he does not exclude all Ornaments neither if they serve any ends of Religion beside For if they be really such Decencies and Ornaments as become Religion and Christian Worship I cannot imagine any reason why they should not be included in the Rule of Decency and Order Such Decency and Order as is opposed to confusion and disorder is always necessary and may always be had what state soever the Church is in while there is any publick face of a Church Ornamental Decencies cannot always be had and therefore do not always oblige as in the case of Persecutions But why any man should say that the Authority of the Church does not extend to Ornaments when it is in her power to adorn the Worship of God I cannot guess Must there be no difference between the afflicted and prosperous state of the Church When God has made in all other things a distinction between Necessaries Conveniences and Ornaments does he allow nothing but what is barely neâ—essary to his own Worship It is possible indeed that men may mistake in what they call the Ornaments of Religion as the Church of Rome evidently does but if they do not mistake and have it in their power to give an external beauty and lustre to Religion do they exceed their Commission in this too The Bishop acknowledges that Sumptuousness Ornaments of Churches rich Vtensils Splendour and Majesty is decent enough and in some circumstances very fit and I should much have wondered had he denied it Now when these things are decent and fit does it exceed the Authority of the Church to appoint them Can any thing be decent and fit to be done in any circumstances which the Church has no Authority to do And therefore when he says that meer Ornaments are not comprehended within the Rule of Decency and Order he means no more by it than that the Governours of the Church are not so strictly obliged to take care of the external Ornaments of Religion which cannot be had at all times as they are of the Decency and Order of Worship Ornaments are very fitting when they can be had but the Bishop has not authority to oblige the People to the charges and expences of such Ornaments unless they freely and willingly consent And that this is his meaning appears from the Reasons he gives of it That this is too subject to abuse and that it gives a secular power into the hands of Bishops and an authority over mens Estates and Fortunes Which are good Arguments onely upon this supposition that the Bishop had such authority as to oblige his People to such expences as he should think fit for the Ornaments of Religion but suppose devout people liberally contribute to such pious uses if his Authority and Commission does not extend to Ornaments he must not receive their money nor adorn the Church with it if he may then his Authority extends to Ornaments though he has no Authority over mens Estates for he must not do any thing in
great Sacrifice of the Cross. A great many such things our Reconciler himself has collected in his eighth Chapter which may properly be called the Rituals or Ceremonies or Religion most of which are now out of use in most Churches which formerly used them and none of them are in uâ—e among us But what we call the Ceremonies of the Church of England are not in this sence Rituals or Ceremonies but the decent circumstances of Worship as the Bishop acknowledges excepting the Cross in Baptism which yet is not a meer significant but a professing Signe as I have already discours'd and for such Ceremonies as these which serve for Order and Decency the Bishop tells us There is an Apostolical Precept and a natural Reason and an evident Necessity or a great Convenience In a word when the Bishop speaks of Rituals and Ceremonies he understands by them exterior actions or things something which is like the ceremonial observances of the Jewish Law which were not meer circumstances of action but religious Rites Such were their Sacrifices Washings and Purifications their Phylacteries their Fasts and Festivals new Moons and Sabbaths not considered meerly as circumstances of time but as having such a Sacredness and Religion stamped on them that the very observing them was an act of Religion that the religious Duties observed on them were appointed for the sake of the day not the day meerly for the sake of the Religion Such were the numerous Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees about making broad their Phylacteries washing their Cups and Platters and their hands before dinner and an infinite number of other superstitious observances Now though some external actions and things wisely chosen and prudently used may be for the service of Religion at least are not unlawful to be used unless we will condemn the whole Christian Church for several Ages which used a great many external Rites yet every one sees what a vast difference there is between such Rites as these and the decent Circumstances of religious Worship And therefore those men mistake the case of the Church of England who lay the Controversie upon Rituals and Ceremonies for there is no such thing in the Church of England according to the true and proper signification of these words Our Fasts and Festivals look most like such Rituals and Ceremonies but are not so for with us they are not religious days but days appointed for the solemn Exercises of Religion which differ as much as a circumstance of time does from an act of Religion as making a day religious which none but God can do differs from appointing a day for the publick Solemnities of Religion which the Governours of the Church and State may do as the Religion of observing a day differs from those acts of Religion which are performed on such a day Now this very observation of the difference between Rituals and Ceremonies and the decent circumstances of Worship will answer most of his Citations which he has impertinently alleadged out of the Bishops Writings and a multitude of Objections which for want of observing this have been very injudiciously made against those which we call the Ceremonies of the Church of England Thus he observes from the Bishop That Ecclesiastical Laws which are meerly such cannot be universal and perpetual But then he should have told us what the Bishop meant by Ecclesiastical Laws meerly such That is saith he those which do not involve a divine Law within their matter And therefore this cannot relate to the decent circumstances of Worship for they all involve a divine Law in the matter of them they are onely the specification of the Law of Decency and include those very acts of Worship to which they belong To kneel at the Lords Supper is a command to receive the Lords Supper kneeling and when the Minister is enjoyn'd to wear theSurplice it signifies that he must perform divine Offices in a Surplice These are but the decent circumstances of necessary Duties and they founded on the Apostolical Rule of Decency Well but the Bishop adds When Christ had made us free from the Law of Ceremonies which God appointed to the Iewish Nation and to which all other Nations were bound if they came into that Communion it would be intolerable that the Churches who rejoyced in their freedom from that Yoke which God had imposed should submit themselves to a Yoke of Ordinances which men should make For though before they could not yet now they may exercise Communion and use the same Religion without communicating in Rites and Ordinances Now does not this make it plain that the Bishop does not speak of the decent circumstances of Worship such as our English Ceremonies are but of such Rituals and Ceremonies as answer to the Jewish Rites and Ordinances which he calls exterior things and actions which are of a different consideration and must be governed by different Rules and Measures And yet our Reconciler is so unfortunate that if the Bishop had meant this of the Ceremonies of our Church it had been nothing to his purpose for he adds in the very next words This does no way concern the Subjects of any Government what Liberty they are to retain and use I shall discourse in the following numbers but it concerns distinct Churches under distinct Governments and it means as it appears plainly by the Context and the whole Analogie of the thing that the Christian Churches must suffer no man to put a Law upon them who is not their Governour For when he says that Ecclesiastical Laws that are meerly such must not be universal he means that they must not be intended to oblige all Christendom except they will be obliged that is do consent That no Church or company of Christians have such authority as to oblige the whole Christian World and all the Churches in it to conform to their Rituals and Ceremonies which he says is contrary to Christian liberty and such an Usurpation as must not be endured which is directly levelled against the Usurpations of the Church of Rome But though one Church cannot impose upon another yet every Church has power over her own Members and they are bound to obey that Authority which is over them And by the way this answers all his Testimonies from Bishop Davenant and Bishop Hall in their Letters to Duraeus about his Pacificatory designe of uniting all the Reformed Churches into one Communion and several others cited in his Preface to the same purpose They discourse upon what terms distinct Churches which have no authority over each other ought to maintain Christian Communion and this he applies to particular Churches with reference to their own Members as if because particular Churches must not usurp authority and dominion over each other nor deny Communion upon every difference of Opinion or different Customs and Usages of Modes of Worship therefore no Church must govern her own Communion nor give Laws to her own Members as if because
the King of England must not impose the Laws of England on Italy or Spain therefore he must not make Laws for England neither This our Reconciler was aware of and therefore in his Preface to strengthen these Authorities he asks this Question Why that agreement in Fundamentals which is sufficient to preserve Communion betwixt Churches disagreeing in Rites and Ceremonies and Doctrines of inferior moment may not be sufficient also to preserve Communion among those Members of the same Church though disagreeing in like matters For if the reason why Christian Churches which do thus differ should be received and owned as Christians and Brethren of the same Communion with us is because these differences do not hinder their being real Members of Christs Body and therefore Fellow-members of the same Church and Body with us since the same reason proves the Members of any Church whatsoever who differ onely in non-fundamentals capable of being real Christians and so of the same Church and Body with us why should it not oblige us to receive them as Christian Brethren i. e. persons of the same Communion with us if we can do it without sin Now the Answer to this is so obvious that I wonder our Reconciler should miss it For 1. The reason of Communion between distinct Churches can be nothing else but the common Principles of Christianity one Lord one Faith one Hope one Baptism c. that is whatever is essential to Christian Faith and Worship for what is more than this as the particular Rules and Orders of Discipline and Government and Modes of Worship are the Object of Ecclesiastical Authority and since no Church has authority over another they ought not to impose their own Rules of Discipline or Worship upon each other But now no private Christian can live in the Communion of any particular Church without submitting to its Government and Discipline and conforming to its Rules of Worship Though one Church must not usurp Authority over another yet every Church must govern her own Members and direct her own Worship and there can be no Order nor Decency of Worship where there are no Rules of Worship no Uniformity but every man is left to do as he pleases And yet 2. Though the Communion of distinct Churches with each other does not require that they should all observe the same Usages and Rites of Worship in their own Churches yet it requires that the Members of these distinct Churches should communicate with each other and conform to each others Customs where they happen to be present It is a ridiculous thing to talk of two Churches being in Communion with each other who will not as occasion serves communicate together upon the terms of each others Communion For Calvinists to call the Lutherans or Lutherans the Calvinists Brethren but to refuse to joyn in Communion when they happen to be in each others Churches this is not to live in Communion with each other or for a Calvinist to communicate in the Lutheran Church or a Lutheran in the Calvinists but according to the Rites of their own Churches not of the Church in which they communicate this is not to communicate with but publickly to affront each other The onely Principle of Catholick Communion between distinct Churches in such matters as these is so far to allow of each others Rules and Modes of Worship as to conform when occasion serves to such indifferent Customs and Usages though very different from their own rather than divide the Communion of the Church and if this be necessary to the Communion of distinct Churches with each other then certainly it is necessary for the Members of every particular Church to submit to its Authority and conform to its Rules and Orders of Worship For 3. It is ridiculous to imagine that nothing more is necessary to a Christian in Church-Communion than what is absolutely necessary to the State of a Christian out of the visible Communion of any Church as if nothing more were necessary to make a man a Member of the Commonwealth than what is necessary to make him a man The belief of the fundamental Doctrines of Christianity and Obedience to those Laws of Righteousness which have an eternal and immutable goodness in them will make a man a good Christian in a private and single capacity but obedience to Government and conformity to the Rules of Discipline and Worship are as necessary to make a man a good Christian in Church-society as they are essential to the being and constitution of a Church and it is impossible to form a Church-Society onely of the Essentials of Christianity considered as a Systeme of Doctrines and Laws which every private Christian ought to observe for there are the Essentials of Christian-Communion as well as of Christian Religion Christ did not onely publish the Gospel but instituted a Church and the Government and Discipline of the Church is of a distinct consideration from the belief of the Gospel No man can be a Member of the Church without believing the Gospel but Church-Society lays some new obligations upon us beyond what is necessary in a single state out of Church-Society But to return Though this learned Bishop did not urge the abrogation of the Mosaical Law against the imposition of the Ceremonies of the Church of England nor against any other Rituals or Ceremonies neither but only against such usurpt Authority as challenge a power to make Laws for the whole Christian World yet this Argument is frequently alleadged by others and more than once repeated by our Reconciler to this purpose but how trifling it is appears from this distinction between Rituals and Ceremonies and the decent Circumstances of Worship They tell us that Christ removed those burdens which were on the Church and therefore would not impose new ones But does the Church of England lay any new burdens upon men Does she require any thing more than what is necessary Christ requires that we should celebrate his last Supper in remembrance of him that the Minister should perform all the publick Offices of Religion and that this should be done in a decent and reverent manner and does the Church of England require any more Does she institute any Ceremonies excepting the Cross in Baptism which is a professing Signe and relates to no act of Worship though it be thought decent to be done at the time of Baptism but what are decent circumstances of action And is Decency then a new burden which Christ hath not imposed on his Disciples Is Decency an unnecessary or unreasonable thing Did Christ leave it at liberty then whether his Disciples should worship God decently or not Christ hath taken away the Yoke of Jewish Ceremonies and has the Church of England put another Jewish Yoke on the Disciples necks Are there any such Rituals and Ceremonies in the Church of England as have the least affinity with the Jewish Yoke Did Christ when he abrogated the Jewish Law abrogate all Decency
thing is doubtful though some men may be very confident both ways and nothing that is doubtful can be necessary to salvation nor can the final decision of it be necessary to the peace of the Church But if the Arguments on one hand to an unbyassed and disinteressed judgment be plain and certain and the Objections on the other hand nothing but empty and trifling Cavils which is the true case between the Church of England and Dissenters in the dispute of Ceremonies if the dissent of these men shall be thought sufficient to render this matter uncertain we shall be condemned to eternal and unavoidable Scepticism But our Reconciler says Let any man peruse the Arguments of the Dissenters against Conformity to symbolical Ceremonies and he will find them strengthned by the suffrages of many grave and learned Divines both of our own and other Churches As for the grave Divines of other Churches let them mind their own business for their Authority is nothing to us and as for the Divines of our own Church who strengthen the Dissenters Arguments against Ceremonies who they are or how many or how grave and learned they are I cannot tell He has indeed transcribed several Sayings out of some of our Divines to plead for the relaxation of such Impositions but none that I know of to strengthen the Dissenters Arguments which no Divine in our Church can do who honestly conforms himself Well but how does this Passage in the Irenicum countenance this reconciling designe Suppose there be probable reasons on both sides where yet it is necessary to act one way what must be done in this case must every man be left to do as he pleases So says the Reconciler that this is the onely way to peace but the Irenicum says the quite contrary That the way to peace cannot be by leaving an absolutely to follow their own ways for that were to build a Babel instead of Salem Confusion instead of Peace It must be then by convincing men that neither of those ways to peace and order which they contend about is necessary by way of divine command though some be as a means to an end but which particular way or form it must be is wholly left to the prudence of those in whose power and trust it is to see the peace of the Church be secured on lasting foundations Which is a peremptory determination against our Reconciler who very rarely quotes any Author without wresting his words to another sence than what was intended If every thing were doubtful of which some men doubt and nothing must be determined which is thus doubtful it were impossible that there should be any external form and constitution of a Church or any external Worship If it be a good Argument that a thing is doubtful because some men doubt of it methinks it is as good an Argument that that is not doubtful which no body doubts of and thus symbolical Ceremonies as our Reconciler calls them are past all doubt for no Christian ever had any doubt about them for above fifteen hundred years which is time enough in this way to prove the certainty of any thing And though some Christians begin to doubt and to invent Arguments to countenance their doubts after fifteen hundred years yet this is no reason for the Church to doubt also Well but if mens doubting be not an Argument that the thing whereof they doubt is doubtful how shall we know what is doubtful and what not I answer Where there is no positive evidence and the probabilities or difficulties are great on both sides there is sufficient reason for doubting and in such cases I think the Church has not authority to determine either way when the doubt is about the lawfulness or unlawfulness the truth or falshood of things for the authority of the Church cannot alter the nature nor the evidence of things and therefore ought not to determine that to be lawful which it is equally probable may be unlawful nor that to be true which has equal proofs of its being false But this cannot concern the controversie about the lawful use of some Ceremonies in religious Worship for which we have as plain and positive evidence as we can desire for a thing of this nature as I have already shewn and therefore any mens doubting of this makes it no more doubtful than their doubts about any plain and necessary Article of Faith renders that also doubtful and suspicious 2. Though the Church must not command any thing which is of a doubtful nature yet the doubts and scruples or mistakes of Christians ought to have no influence upon acts of Government There cannot be a more unreasonable and senseless Imposition upon Governours than this which makes all Government the most arbitrary and precarious and useless thing in the world If this Rule were allowed what work would it make in Kingdoms and Families when Princes Parents and Masters must command nothing which their Subjects Children or Servants scruple to do That which makes Government necessary is that the generality of mankind do not know how to govern themselves but this Principle makes all men their own Governours and makes it unlawful for any Authority to impose any thing upon their Subjects which they have not a mind to for it is an easie matter to scruple or to pretend to scruple whatever we have no mind to do and yet if we will believe our Reconciler here is no distinction to be made between men who are really weak and scrupulous and those who pretend to it for it is an uncharitable thing it seems whatever evidence we have for it to charge those men with obstinacy malice or perverseness who pretend to Scruples and tender Consciences But to what purpose has God committed any Authority to some certain persons in Church or State if they must not govern according to the best judgment they have of things but must be governed by the mistakes or scruples of those whom they ought to govern If they must not command what is innocent useful and convenient when those whom they ought to command do not think it so This all men will acknowledge to be intolerable in the State and I challenge our Reconciler to shew me any wise reason wâ—â— the Secular Powers must have no regard to mens scruples in making useful Laws and the Governours of the Church must Whoever considers how wild unreasonable and fantastical some mens mistakes and scruples are must needs think it a very ridiculous Constitution of Government which has any regard to them It is in the Government of the Church as it is in the State and as it must of necessity be in all Governments Those who have authority to govern must take care to do it wisely and charitably and those who are subject must obey in all things lawful without cavilling at their Superiours commands where they are not manifestly contrary to some divine Law and if there happens any
hard case as such cases will happen under all Governments God who is our supreme Governour will take care to rectifie it when the Governours of Church or State cannot do it without loosening the Sinews of Government As for instance The Governours of the Church must take care to prescribe Rules for the decent performance of religious Worship and in such an Age of mistakes and scruples as this it is possible some very honest but weak Christians may take offence at the best and most prudent Constitutions and separate from the Church and involve themselves in the guilt of Schism what must the Church do in this case Must she alter her Laws as often as any Christians pretend to scruple them or must she make no Laws about such matters but suffer every Christian to worship God as he pleases This is to renounce their Government because some Christians will not obey or to make Government contemptible and ridiculous when it must yield to mens private fancies and scruples And yet it is very hard that the Government of the Church which is instituted for the care of mens Souls should prove a snare and temptation to them and occasion their eternal ruine and misery But I hope that there is no necessity for either of these Governours must do their duty must take care to make such Laws as are for the advantage of Religion and the edification of the Church and are least liable to any just offence and if after all their care some very honest men may take offence and fall into Schism we must leave them to the mercy of God who will make allowances for all favourable cases The Church can give no relief in such cases without destroying her Authority and Government and giving advantage to Knaves and designing Hypocrites to disturb the best constitutions of things but God can distinguish between honest men and Hypocrites and if men be sincerely honest and do fall into Schism through an innocent mistake God will be merciful to them which secures the final happiness of good men and yet maintains the sacredness and reverence of Authority For when men know that nothing can justifie a Schism and nothing can plead their pardon with God but great honesty and some invincible mistake it will make all honest men careful how they separate from the Church and diligent in the use of all means for their satisfaction without which no man can pass with Almighty God for an honest Separatist and I doubt not but were men convinced of this it would sooner cure our Schisms than the removal of all scrupled Ceremonies But in is so far from being the duty of Church-Governours to take any notice of mens scruples when there is no just occasion for them that they ought not to allow any man to scruple their authority in such matters which weakens Government and opens a gap for eternal Schisms to enter It is very true as our Reconciler has proved at large in a whole Chapter to that purpose that the Church in several Ages has made great alterations in the Externals and Rituals of Religion but how this serves his Cause I cannot tell No body questions but the Church has done this and that she had authority to do it and that she has so still when she sees just occasion to do it but the Question is Whether she must do this as often as every little Reconciler or every scrupulous Christian demands such an alteration The Question is Whether unreasonable scruples and prejudices be a necessary reason for the Church to make such alterations And if he can give any one example in all Antiquity that the Church altered her Constitutions for no other reason but to comply with the scruples of private Christians he will say something to the purpose No in those days private Christians did not use to scruple any Ceremonies which the Governours of the Church thought fit to appoint but Bishops made or repealed Laws about such matters as they thought most expedient for the good government of the Church The Question is Whether they repealed all Laws for the Order and Decency of Worship or renounced their Authority to make such Laws in compliance with those who denied any such Authority to the Church Again the Question is Whether in the same Church they allowed all private Christians to worship God after what manner they pleased according to their own private perswasions and apprehensions of these things that those who are for a May-pole may have a May-pole as our Reconciler very reverently expresses it If he can say any thing to these points I confess it will be to his purpose and therefore I would desire him to consider of it now he knows what he is to prove But though his History of those alterations which the Church in several Ages has made in the Rituals and Ceremonies of Religion would not serve his main designe yet it highly gratified his pride and insolence to trample upon a great man whom he thought he had taken at some advantage The Reverend Dean of St. Pauls assigns some reasons why the Church of England still retains the use of some Ceremonies His first reason is out of a due reverence to Antiquity They would hereby convince the Papists they did put a difference between the gross and intolerable Superstitions of Popery and the innocent Rites and Practices which were observed in the Church before This says our Reconciler is very like Hypocrisie to pretend to retain three Ceremonies of humane institution out of respect to their supposed antiquity whilst we reject as many which were unquestionably of a divine original and therefore sure of an antiquity which more deserveth to be reverenced Truly if our Church has parted with any thing of a divine original I think she has reformed too far but will our Reconciler say that every thing that was an Apostolical Practice is of divine original Bishop Taylor to whom he so often appeals would have taught him otherwise as I have already observed who says that the Apostles in ordering religious Assemblies and in prescribing such Rules of Worship as they did not immediately receive from Christ acted but as ordinary Ministers of the Church and what they prescribed obliged no longer than the reason and expediency of the things and the Governours of the Church in after-Ages had as full and ample Authority as the Apostles themselves in such matters But does the Dean say that these Ceremonies were retained onely for their antiquity then indeed the Reconciler's Objection had been strong that other Ceremonies which are as ancient as they should have been retained also But is it not a just reverence to Antiquity that when our Church had for other reasons determined what number of Ceremonies to retain and for what ends and purposes she chuses to use such Ceremonies as were anciently used in the Christian Church rather than to invent any new ones for it had been an affront to the ancient
the Church ought in charity to the people to shew them the blindness of their Guides and therefore not to comply with them in their superstitious scruples III. But the men who were offended at it were onely Hypocrites whose hearts were hardened against the truth What were they all Hypocrites was there not one honest man among them Some Hypocrites there were then and so there are still Hypocrites in another sence than these men were Hypocrites For the Jews did generally believe the unlawfulness of any kind of work on the Sabbath-day and therefore were really scandalized and offended but we have a company of Hypocrites among us who do not really scruple what they pretend to do but onely make a pretence of scruples an occasion to abuse the People to stir up Schisms in the Church and Factions in the State men who can conform when they please and be offended and scandalized when they please But our Lord did all that could be reasonable to prevent their scandal No he did not abstain from working Miracles on the Sabbath-day which he might have done if he had pleased but he was so far from avoiding giving offence to them that he did it on purpose because they were offended at it and to deliver men from such Superstitions as made them take offence But he first satisfies them from their own practice on a less occasion and from the nature of the action and that with so much evidence and conviction that they were ashamed and could not answer him one word And has our Church been wanting in this to give satisfaction to Dissenters How many unanswerable Books have been written in justification of the Constitutions and Worship of our Church And that our Dissenters are not ashamed but will talk on when they have not one wise word to say is onely an Argument that they have less wit and more impudence than the Pharisees had Our Church indeed cannot work Miracles as Christ did to convince them though where plain and convincing Reasons will not do I doubt Miracles will not do neither for though the Pharisees were silenced by Christ yet they were neither convinc'd by his Reasons nor his Miracles Thus I have considered what obligation Charity to the Souls of men lays upon the Governours of the Church to abate those Ceremonies which some men scruple and take offence at But I must here briefly consider one Principle more of our Reconcilers which he no-where pretends to prove but takes for granted That the Charity of Governours requires the abatement of every thing which is not absolutely necessary in Religion if it prove an occasion of scruple and offence For why must the Church be tyed up to what is necessary Her Power and Authority extends to things which are useful and expedient though not absolutely necessary and therefore she may exercise this Power according to the measures of Prudence and Charity notwithstanding the unreasonable superstitious scruples of men which ought to lay no restraint upon the prudent Exercise of Government as I think I have already sufficiently proved and yet our Reconciler thinks it a sufficient reason why the Church should alter any scrupled Ceremonies how decent or expedient soever they are if we cannot prove them to be absolutely necessary Thus I have considered the main Principles of his Book and shall not think my self any further concerned to take notice of them as often as I meet with them If these Principles which I have now laid down hold good his Book is answered and the Governours of the Church may exercise their just Authority and he that is offended let him be offended And yet for the more ample satisfaction of all men what a trifler our Reconciler is I shall particularly examine his Arguments from Scripture and shew how impertinent they are to our present Dispute CHAP. III. Concerning a more particular Answer to our Reconciler's Objections against the imposition of indifferent things when they are an occasion of Discords Divisians and Schisms THough what I have already discours'd bâ— sufficient to satisfie every impartial Reader that all our Reconciler's Arguments are meer Fallacies as proceeding upon false and mistaken Principles yet for the more abundant satisfaction of all who are willing to be informed I shall proceed to a more particular examination of his Reasons why Church-Governours ought to alter or abate such scrupled Ceremonies I. And first he declaims very copiously about the great evil and mischief of Divisions and truly I believe Discord and Division especially among Christian Brethren to be as bad a thing as he can possibly describe it to be But what then what then the consequence is very plain For if Conformists do not conceive it better at least that we should run the hazard of all these dreadful evils than that we should consent to lay aside the imposition of a few indifferent Ceremonies or to the altering of a few scrupled expressions in our Liturgie then must they yield up these few Ceremonies and alter these expressions to prevent all the aforesaid evils 1. I answer Does our Reconciler then think that every thing that is the occasion of Discords and Divisions must be removed Is the cause of Divisions in the nature of things or in the minds of men And is it not most proper to apply the remedy to the disease to instruct people that they ought not to quarrel about such matters that they ought to pay such deference to their Superiours as chearfully to obey them in all things which God has not expresly forbid Till this be done the Church may aâ—ter her Constitutions every year and be as far off from Peace as now for while men are ignorant scrupulous and quarrelsome it is impossible for the Governours of Church and State by the most wise and prudent Constitutions to prevent Divisions 2. Is not the contempt of Ecclesiastical Authority and the rude and unmannerly performance of religious Worship as great a mischief as Divisions and yet it is impossible to indulge every scrupulous person without destroying the Authority of the Church and the Decency of Worship as I have already proved Now I must confess bonâ fide to our Reconciler that I think all our Divisions about Ceremonies a less scandal to the Christian Religion than this would be for it is better to have a well constituted Church with Division than to have none without it 3. Will our parting with some few Ceremonies cure these Divisions which he so much complains of This our Reconciler cannot undertake for and it is demonstrable it will not Is this the onely Controversie that Presbyterians Independents Quakers and other Sectaries have with the Church of England Has our Reconciler never read Mr. Baxter's Pleas for Peace and those other venomous Pamphlets of late date When the Church of England was pull'd down and these Ceremonies and Episcopacy it self removed out of the way did it cure Divisions or increase them When the Reverend Dean
late Pleas for Peace that so I confess I cannot think him so very inconsistent with himself as some men do But did they plead onely for the alteration of some disputable passages in the Liturgy when Mr. Baxter himself drew up a new Liturgy It seems they would first have reformed a Liturgy for us and then have had liberty to have used a better themselves and to have been at their liberty too whether they would have used it or not What if Mr. Baxter and his Brethren imposed upon their Prince with a pretended zeal for Peace and Unity which they pretend still as much as any men as the greatest Incendiaries in Church and State commonly do and with an equivocal use of the name Episcopacy when we all know what Bishops they mean not Diocesan but a new Baxterian invention of Parochial Bishops Though these pretences at first were plausible yet the King and the Parliament soon discovered what they would be at and it is modestly done of our Reconciler to alleadge the Kings Declaration when the King has since that more authentickly declared his will and his judgment of these matters by Act of Parliament But he further adds Moreover we are informed by Dr. Burnet and Mr. Baxter in the Life of the Lord Chief Iustice Hales That Dr. Bates Dr. Manton and Mr. Baxter conferring with the Bishop of Chester and Dr. Burton at the invitation of the Lord Keeper Bridgman came to an agreement drawn up in the form of an Act by my Lord Chief Iustice to every word of which they consented whereupon Mr. Baxter queries Whether after such agreement it be ingenuity to say We know not what they would have I would give all the Money in my Pocket to see this Act to every word of which all these persons could consent But till we know what it is we may with ingenuity enough say That we know not what they would have and I am still apt to believe that they themselves don 't know neither But what if these three men did consent to such an Act were they constituted the Representatives of the whole Body of Nonconformists Could they undertake that the rest of their Brethren should consent too Or must the Church be bound to alter her Constitutions at the instigation of some few busie undertaking Dissenters But since this story is so often alleadged I will freely tell what I know of it from Dr. Burton's own mouth a little before his death Having met with this story in some of Mr. Baxter's Writings for he hath told it more than once and going to visit Dr. Burton at his house at Barâ—es and finding him alone among other discourse I told him how often Mr. Baxter used his name in such a story and I thought it concerned him to give some account of it that it might not be represented to his disadvantage I ask'd him whether he could remember what the terms of accommodation were or whether he had any Papers about it He told me he did not remember particularly what the terms were but he believed he had his Papers still though he could not at present tell where to find them but would look for them and shew 'em me if he could find them I desired him in the mean time to tell me what he remembred about the management of that Affair and he gave me this relation of it That when he was Chaplain to my Lord Keeper Bridgman my Lord was very zealous to bring the Presbyterian Dissenters into the Church and thought it a thing very seasible and in order to that did procure a meeting between the Bishop of Chester and Mr. Baxter and some others and commanded him to attend them which as being his Chaplain he could not refuse But besides this my Lord drew up some Proposals of a limited Indulgence for the Independants who as he easily foresaw could not be comprehended in any National Establishment and sent for Dr. Owen and some others of that Party to discourse them about it They thanked his Lordship for his kindness to them and desired some time to confer with the rest of their Brethren and to consider of the Proposals And after some few days they returned to my Lord again and renewed their thanks to his Lordship and gladly accepted of the terms and did solemnly declare That if these terms might be granted them they would acquiesce in it and never give the least disturbance to the Government All this while the Conference with Mr. Baxter and his Brethren went on and in short they could come to no agreement insomuch that he said my Lord told him in the greatest passion that ever he saw him in These men meaning the Independants from whom I expected the least compliance thank-fully accept the terms proposed but the others Presbyterians Mr. Baxter and his Brethren whom I believed most ready to promote such a peaceable designe will never agree in any thing and I will never have more to do with them And thus that Conference wherein Dr. Burton was concerned ended without any effect Whether any thing was done towards an Accommodation at other times or by other hands he knew not but at that time when he was concerned which Mr. Baxter makes the time of forming this Act there was nothing agreed on I press'd him earnestly to search for his Papers and to make this Story publick for the vindication of the Memory of the deceased Bishop and his own Reputation but I never saw him again till I found him upon his Death-bed which was about a fortnight after I had this discourse with him And now let our Reconciler make the best he can of this story 2. Another thing whereby it appears how ineffectual this Condescension he pleads for would be to cure our Divisions is this That should we grant these things for the promotion of our Peace and Vnity Dissenters would onely be encouraged by these Concessions to ask more and we should never know where their demands would end till they had robbed us of the whole Church-government And does not the experience of the late Times manifestly confirm this beyond all dispute And is it reasonable to yield any thing which is fit to be retained in the Worship of God to those men who we know before-hand will be satisfied with nothing but the utter ruine of the Church of England But yet our Reconciler thinks he can perswade men out of their senses For 1. Says he Is not the power in your own hands to grant or refuse as you shall see expedient to the great ends of your whole Ministry the glory of God the peace of the Church and the salvation of Souls Yes thanks be to God yet it is and the Church has granted what she thinks expedient which should satisfie our Reconciler did he not think himself wiser than the Church For if he will own the power to be in the Church and that she must stop somewhere whatever Divisions it occasions she must
no more than a Prince is to be blamed for making good Laws because some men will break them and be hanged for it 3. He perswades the Governours of the Church out of Charity to the Souls of men not to tempt them to Schism by their Impositions whereas there is no way to prevent Schism but by maintaining and asserting their own Authority When there is no Authority in the Church there will be as many Schisms in it as there will be Factions in the State without some â—upreme Power to whom all must obey And therefore out of Charity to the Souls of men and to prevent their Schism Church-Governours are bound to exercise their Authority and not to give way to ignorant and groundless scruples There is nothing occasions more Schisms than the different Rites and Modes of Worship and therefore if they would prevent Schism they ought to exercise their utmost Authority in maintaining the Decency and Uniformity of Worship which will prevent more Schisms than it can make It will preserve unity among those who have any reverence for the Authority of the Church or any sense of the danger of Schism and those who have not will be Schismaticks notwithstanding The onely way I know of to prevent Schism is by wise Instructions and by a strict Discipline the one to cure their ignorance and their scruples the other to curb their wantonness and petulancy but for Governours to suffer their Authority to be disputed and to give way to the frowardness fullenness or ignorance of men to alter the Laws and Constitutions as often as any man can find any thing to say against them would breed eternal confusion both in Church and State Government is the onely Cement and Bond of Unity and when Governours give the Reins out of their hands every young Phaëton will think himself fit to drive the Chariot of the Sun and no man will be governed when there is none to govern and what Order Unity there can be in the Church without Government or what Government where those who are to be governed must give Laws to their Governours I would desire our Reconciler at his leisure to tell me What follows in this Chapter has already been considered in my first Chapter and thither I refer my Reader CHAP. IV. An Answer to the Reconciler's Arguments from the Words the Doctrine the Deportment of Christ whilst he was here on Earth contained in his third Chapter THere are two main Principles on which all our Reconciler's Arguments are founded 1. That these disputed Ceremonies are wholly useless and unnecessary things 2. That the imposition of them is the cause of our Divisions and Schisms which would be cured by the removal of them which therefore is so great a charity to the Souls of men that Church-Governours ought to consent to and promote such an alteration Now all this being false as I have already proved his other Arguments must fall with it but yet to avoid all Cavils I shall particularly consider the force of what he urges And First He begins with the Doctrine and Deportment of our Saviour which I confess is a very good Topick if he could prove any thing from it and he has no less than eight Arguments to confound all the stiff Imposers of unnecessary things I. That our Lord doth frequently produce that saying of the Prophet Hosea I will have mercy and not sacrifice to justifie himself and his Disciples when for the good of their own bodies or the souls of others they did what was forbidden by the Law of Moses or by the Canons and Traditions of the Scribes â—nd Pharisees who sate in Moses Chair This is what every body will grant and therefore he needed not have troubled himself to prove it And his inference from hence is this That Precepts which contain onely Rituals are to give place to those which do concern the welfare of mens bodies and much more to those which do respect the welfare of our Brother's soul so that when both cannot together be observed we must neglect or violate the former to observe the latter From whence he concludes that therefore we must part with those Ceremonies which being made Conditions of Communion do accidentally afford occasion to such great and fatal evils to the Souls of men Now does not every body see that there is more in the conclusion than there is in the premises For 1. Does our Saviour here speak of abrogating the Laws of Sacrifice for the sake of Mercy How does he then hence conclude any thing about repealing the Laws of Ceremonies and Rituals which neither the Prophet nor our Saviour ever thought on when they said these words Though God prefers Mercy before Sacrifice yet he gave Laws about Sacrifices and Ceremonies and continued those Laws after these words were spoken and so may the Church do also for any thing that is here said to the contrary For 2. Our Saviour neither speaks here of making nor replealing Laws about Sacrifices or Rituals but onely prefers Mercy before Sacrifice when there happens a competition between them he supposes that both may be done and that both ought to be done but if both cannot be done at the same time Mercy must take place of Sacrifice And this Mercy our Church allows as much as any man can desire She is not so severe to exact kneeling at the Sacrament or at Prayers or standing at the Creed if men have any such infirmity on them that they cannot do it without great inconvenience she does not exact Godfathers or Godmothers or the signe of the Cross nor bringing the Child to Church when it is sick and in danger of death she does not impose fasting on weak and crasie persons nor think her Laws so sacred that no punctillo must be neglected when it is done without offence and scandal she will not blame any for staying from Church or going out in the midst of Prayers to quench a fire or to help a sick person And this answers to our Saviour's cases wherein he prefers Mercy before Sacrifice But how does this prove that the Governours of the Church must not exact obedience to wholsom Constitutions because some men scruple them Our Saviour never applies this saying to any such case and I am sure our Reconciler has neither reason nor authority to do it When our Reconciler proves from these words I will have mercy and not sacrifice that the Church must part with her Ceremonies for the sake of those who will separate from her if she do not he must either argue from the Saying it self or from those cases to which it is applied by our Saviour Now this Saying as it was meant by the Prophet Hosea signifies no more than this That God preferred all acts of real and substantial goodness before an external Religion even before Sacrifice it self as the Prophet Micah expresses it more at large but to the very same sence Wherewith shall I come before
be said to do what they do to the Lord but onely in such cases where there is a divine positive Law or a divine Indulgence permission or liberty on both sides which was the case between the Jews and Gentiles but has no parallel that I know of Our Dissenters indeed pretend the authority of Scripture to justifie their non-observance of Ecclesiastical Rites and Ceremonies and so did the Jews for putting our Saviour to death so do all Hereticks and Schismaticks and even Rebels themselves and if the Government must take notice of every foolish Reasoner who pretends Scripture it is in as ill a case as if every unscriptural Dream and Fancy must pass for an Oracle This will make no difference before God whether men pervert the Scripture to their own destruction or follow the wild Enthusiasms of their own brains and I see no reason that Governours have to make a difference neither By these Arguments St. Paul perswades the believing Jews and Gentiles at Rome notwithstanding their Disputes about the observation of the Law of Moses to maintain Christian communion with each other and they are very proper to this purpose but can by no parity of Reason be applied to the case of our Dissenters as I hope abundantly appears from what I have already discours'd Secondly The Apostle by these Arguments having perswaded them to receive one another to Christian communion proceeds to perswade the Gentile Converts or those strong Jewish Christians who understood their Christian liberty not to give any needless offence and scandal to the weak by an uncharitable use of their liberty from v. 13. to the end of the Chapter These two to receive into communion and not to give offence and scandal are of a very different consideration though our Reconciler makes no distinction between them and therefore I shall briefly state this matter also and shew how remote it is from the case to which our Reconciler applies it The scandal which he supposes the Church gives to the Dissenters is this That by enjoyning the use of some indifferent Ceremonies in Religion which are scrupled by them or condemned as unlawful she tempts them to separate from her Communion and rather to involve themselves in the guilt of Schism than to submit to such unscriptural Impositions Let us then consider what that Scandal is of which St. Paul speaks and by what Arguments he disswades them from it and how â—ar it is applicable to our case 1. Then I shall consider what this Scandal was 2. By what Arguments he disswades them from giving Offence and Scandal First What this Scandal was Now the persons who were scandalized were the weak that which gave this scandal to them was as they apprehended an open contempt and violation of the Law of God in eating such meats as were on all hands agreed to be forbidden by the Law the danger of this scandal was lest it should tempt them to renounce Christianity Let us then compare this with the case of our Dissenters 1. The weak Jew was scandalized and offended So far you 'll say the Parallel holds good for whatever the Dissenters think of themselves I suppose the Church looks upon them as a sort of weak Christians and it is not what they think but what they are which is to be considered in this case for these Jews did not think themselves weak no more than our Dissenters do and yet the Apostle declares them to be weak and requires the strong to treat them as weak Brethren So far I agree but then we must consider what this weakness was for all weakness is not alike nor equally the object of our charity Some men are weak because they are ignorant and because they will not be instructed others are weak out of prejudice and some vicious inclinations some weakness is to be chastised and corrected not indulged and therefore because St. Paul requires them not to offend the weak Jew it does not follow that the Church must use the same Indulgence to the weak Dissenters unless their weakness be alike pityable Now the weakness of the Jew consisted in this that though they had embraced the Faith of Christ yet they were not convinced that the Law of Moses was out of date and therefore durst not do any thing which was forbidden by that Law nor omit doing what the Law commanded nor could they endure to see others do so so that their weakness consisted in a profound reverence for an express positive Law which all men agâ—eed was given by God but which was not yet repealed in so visible a manner as to satiâ—fie the believing Jews that it was repealed Now this was a very favourable case so favourable that God himself still indulged the Jews in the observation of their Law and therefore there was great reason why the strong Christian should avoid giving offence to the weak by the use of his Christian liberty But now this is such a case as never was before and never can be again Our Dissenters may be weak but not weak as the believing Jews were out of reverence to an express positive Law because there is no such Law which ever did forbid the use of those Ceremonies which they condemn and certainly there cannot be the same pretence to indulge those who foolishly reason themselves into mistakes and scruples as there was to indulge those who could produce a plain positive Law to justifie their dissent The case is so vastly different that I doubt not but St. Paul who pleaded for such Charity and Indulgence to the Jews would himself have censured our Dissenters For both the Governours of the Church and private Christians are in an ill state if they are bound to humour those mistakes and scruples which are owing to mens ignorance folly interest prejudice or unteachable and refractory dispositions 2. These weak Jews took offence at the open violation of an express Law of God For the Gentile Christians did not observe the Law of Moses but acted in direct opposition to it Now this was a just matter of offence to the Jew while he retained such a great veneration for the Law of Moses which at least he had some fair appearance of reason to do It is true the strong Christian in eating those things which were forbidden by the Law of Moses did nothing but what was lawful for him to do but it does not hence follow as our Reconciler infers that the scandal the weak Christian took at the freedom of the strong who used his Christian liberty in eating these things was scandalum acceptum non datum scandal received but not given the action being such as the weak Christian could not justly be offended at For the weak Christian had as much reason to be offended at this as he had to believe that the Law of Moses was still in force and this was the true reason of his offence No man can be justly charged with giving offence or scandal who does
not break some divine Law This was the offence the Jews took that the Gentiles did not observe the Law of Moses and is the chief if not the onely case wherein men may be culpably charged with giving offence without sinning against any Law The Gentiles did break the Law of Moses indeed but that Law was now out of date and they knew that it was so and therefore were very innocent in what they did but the Jews did not believe that the Law was repealed and therefore they were offended at the contempt of that Law their offence was so reasonable that it made it a great fault and breach of charity to offer this offence to them but what is this to our Dissenters What Law condemns the Ceremonies of the Church of England Our Reconciler I suppose will not pretend that there is any such Law or that there ever was any such Law and therefore we offer no offence and scandal to them for we break no Law of God which either is now or ever was in force against our Ceremonies This one Observation that there is no scandal given where there is no divine Law broken would clear up that perplext Doctrine of Scandal as it is stated by most men and make it intelligible to every ordinary understanding and yet this criminal giving of offence is never applied in Scripture to any thing but the breach of a divine Law I meet with but two notions of giving offence in Scripture the first is to offend by contempt and ill usage or persecution in which sence our Saviour warns us against offending any of those little ones which believe in him which he calls also despising of them that is treating them ignominiously and reproachfully which is apt to discourage men in their Christian course but this does not relate to our present Dispute unless the Reconciler will call the exercise of Church-Discipline and Censures against Dissenters despising thâ—m and giving them offence The second is when we offend men by our Example by doing something which proves a Snare and Stumbling-block and scandal to them Now this is never applied to any action which is not contrary to some divine Law which either is in force or is reasonably presumed to be in force by those who take offence at it Thus the Jews took offence at the Gentile Christians for not observing the Law of Moses which they knew was given by God but were not satisfied that it was repealed which is the case the Apostle refers to in this 14 Rom. Another case like this was concerning eating things offered to Idols which was against an express Law which forbid all Idolatry or communicating with Devils as those did who eat of their Sacrifices and was expresly forbid the Gentile Converts by the Apostolical Synod at Ierusalem To abstain from meats offered to Idols This Law some expounded not onely to forbid them to eat in the Idols Temple and to feast upon the Sacrifice which was there offered to the Idol which was indeed an act of Idolatrous Worship but to forbid the eating of any meat which had once been offered to an Idol though it were carried from the Temple and sold in the Shambles and eat in private houses at a friendly entertainment without any relation to the Idol St. Paul indeed determines this Controversie that this Law to abstain from meats offered to Idols did onely forbid them to eat in an Idols Temple and to feast on their Idolatrous Sacrifices but if they went to buy meat in the Shambles or to eat at any private house they were not concerned to enquire whether that meat had been offered to an Idol or not but yet they ought in charity to have regard to the scruples of others who supposed this prohibition to extend to eating any meat that had been offered to an Idol where-ever they eat it as well as eating at an Idols Temple and there being an express Law and a reasonable Scruple in the case they were obliged in charity to their weak Brethren to abstain from all such suspicious meats Now indeed it is an act of charity not to offend nor scandalize our Brethren by giving them the least reasonable suspicion of our violation of any plain and express Law of God when the Law is not imaginary but visible for these cases have some equity in them are but few and can rarely happen and therefore are no great and burdensome restraint on our natural or Christian liberty much less have any ill influence on publick Government but if we extend this Doctrine of Scandal to all other kind of scruples it becomes both ridiculous and intolerable For then every humoursome and ignorant and conceited Christian who can make Laws by consequences and can extract such Laws out of Scripture as the Christian Church for many Ages never heard of shall prescribe to me what I shall eat and drink what Clothes I shall wear what Company I shall keep what Laws of Church or State I shall observe nay shall give Laws to the Church and repeal Laws and impose their own Dreams and Fancies upon their Superiours which is the very designe our Reconciler pursues throughout his Book to perswade the Governours of the Church that it is unlawful for them to prescribe any Laws or Rules of Worship which are scrupled by our Dissenters though without any reason or without any Law and truly could he perswade them to this I should as much admire their prudence as I do his charity 3. Let us now consider what danger the Apostle designed to prevent in this what hurt their weak Brother was like to suffer by it Now this he expresses by laying a stumbling-block or occasion to fall in our brothers way by destroying him with our meat for whom Christ died by his stumbling and being offended and made weak Which signifies that these believing Jews were in danger of taking such offence at this liberty which the believing Gentiles so uncharitably used as to renounce the Faith of Christ and fall back again into Judaism and there was manifest reason for this fear for since they retained such a mighty veneration for the Law of Moses which they knew was given by God it was a great temptation to them to suspect that Christ was not the true Messias but an Impostor when they saw his Disciples so notoriously break this Law and themselves derided and scorned for observing of it And therefore the Synod at Ierusalem did not determine against the observation of the Mosaical Law by believing Jews but excused the Gentiles from it who were never under the obligation of that Law for it had been an invincible prejudice to the Jews had the Apostles in express terms declared the abrogation of the Law which the Jews believed to be eternal but it was a more plausible pretence that the Law which was originally given onely to the Jews should not oblige the believing Gentiles But yet had the believing Gentiles not
of every mans private liberty The Gentile Christians who knew that they were not under the obligation of the Mosaical Law which made a distinction between clean and unclean meats were perfectly at liberty whether they would eat or not eat such meats as were forbid by that Law and this was an instance of their own private liberty wherein no body was directly concerned but themselves neither any other particular man excepting the case of scandal nor the publick state of the Church For what is it to any man what is it to the Church whether I eat such meat or not when I may lawfully do either And therefore this is a proper Sphere for the exercise of a private Charity for Charity of what nature soever it be can be exercised onely in such matters as are perfectly in our power and therefore no private Christian can lawfully extend his charity any farther than his own private liberty extends whatever others are concerned in as well as himself especially whatever the Church of God and the publick state of Religion is concerned in is the object neither of private liberty nor of private charity And yet the Apostle here exhorts them to nothing but what was in the power of every private Christian. And whether we say that this Exhortation concerns onely particular Christians or Church-Governours also yet it is evident it concerns onely the exercise of their own private liberty Now if any such case should happen again which I think cannot possibly be that in the use of our private liberty in our Diet or Clothes or way of living we should give such offence to weak Christians as should make them suspect the truth of Christianity and endanger their final Apostacy this 14th Chap. to the Romans would be an admirable Text to preach on to correct such uncharitable abuses of our liberty but what is this to the use of decent but indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in the Worship of God for the decent Rites of Worship concern the publick exercise of Religion not every Christians private liberty every instance of our private liberty may indeed in some sence be called an indifferent thing as that signifies what we may do or may not do as we please but it is not indifferent as the decent Rites of Worship are indifferent for the Decency of Worship is the matter of an express positive Law and the particular Rites of Worship the Object of Ecclesiastical Prudence and Authority And what a vast difference this makes in the case of Scandal will appear from my second Observation on St. Paul's discourse which is this 2. That this compliance and condescension to a weak Brother must be in such matters wherein Religion and Religious Worship is not concerned For by this Argument St. Paul perswades them to this forbearance because Christian Religion is not at all concerned in it The Kingdom of God is not meat nor drink Their eating or not eating in it self considered was no act nor so much as a circumstance in Religion and it did not become the charity and goodness of the Christian temper to give such great scandal to a weak Brother for things in which Religion is not at all concerned Those who expound meat and drink in this place to signifie all the Externals of Religious Worship especially all such Rites and Circumstances as have not a divine institution and command as our Reconciler plainly does do mightily mistake the Apostles meaning and affix such Doctrines to him as are very absurd and unaccountable When the Apostle says The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink it plainly signifies that the Christian Religion does not consist in eating or not eating such or such meats that no man is the better Christian for eating Swines flesh or other prohibited meats nor the worse Christian meerly for not eating them No man questions whether the Kingdom of God signifies the Christian Religion or the state of the Christian Church and therefore when he says that meat and drink is not the Kingdom of God he must mean not that it is not the whole of Religion which no man ever dreamt of but that it is no part of it no act of Religious Worship as I think I need not prove to the Reconciler himself that though the Gospel gives us leave to eat Swines flesh yet it is no act of Religion to do it And therefore the Externals of Religion the decent Rites and Ceremonies of Worship how mean and indifferent soever they may be thought cannot be comprehended under those general terms of meats and drinks because this meat and drink was no act nor part nor circumstance of Religious Worship nor any thing relating to it but the decent circumstances of Religious Worship are necessary to publick Worship Now when the Apostle exhorts them to exercise forbearance and condescension to a weak Brother in such matters by this very Argument because Religion is not concerned in it our Reconciler will be a very wonderful man if he can prove that we must exercise the same indulgence in such matters as do concern Religious Worship if he can prove that the Governours of the Church must indulge private Christians in the different Rites and Modes of Religious Worship because private Christians must indulge each other in such different practices as do not at all relate to Religion I am resolved never to dispute more with him for I doubt not but he is at the same rate able to make good the greatest Paradoxes in Religion or Philosophy There is very great reason for Christians not to quarrel with each other nor to divide the Unity or disturb the Peace of the Church for such Disputes as do not properly belong to Religion for where it is purely matter of our own liberty there is room for the exercise of Charity and mutual Forbearance And this is the Apostles Argument that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink But where Religion and the Worship of God is concerned it is of another nature for it is not in our power to do what we please in such matters nor to allow others the liberâ—y of doing what they please and therefore this is not the Object of Indulgence and Forbearance nor is there any one word in all the Scripture to countenance any such liberty which would effectually undermine all Order Decency and Uniformity of publick Worship And therefore when the Apostle adds that the Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost this does not signifie neither that this is the whole of Religion or the onely thing that we are to be concerned about as the Reconciler understands it for the external and visible Worship of God is as essential a part of Religion as these but these are plain and acknowledged Duties of Religion and we ought not to violate a plain and necessary Duty for the sake of that which is no Duty at all Which is the sum of the Apostle's Argument as
scandal Now these two do so widely differ that the one is true and proper scandal and the other is not To offend a weak Brother by an uncharitable use of our liberty by doing such things as prove a stumbling-block and occasion of falling to him is scandal in the Apostle's notion of the word and the onely scandal of which he treats in this 14th Chapter to the Romans but thus it seems we do not scandalize the Dissenters who are not concerned not offended in the Apostle's sence at what we do so they might enjoy their own liberty and therefore neither the Church nor Dissenters are concerned in what the Apostle discourses about Scandal in this Chapter And as for that offence and scandal they take at the exercise of Discipline and Government which restrains their wild and fanatick pretences to liberty it is no other offence than what all Criminals take at Laws and publick Government which is so far from being such a scandal as the Governours of the Church ought to avoid that there is not a greater scandal to Religion than the neglect of it But I shall think nothing impossible if our Reconciler can prove out of this Chapter that the Governours of the Church should prescribe no Rules of Worship nor lay any Restraint upon the giddy and enthusiastick fancies of men for fear of giving offence to them 4. The last Argument the Apostle uses to represent the reasonableness of this forbearance is this that though the Gentile Christians without sin or without any injury to their own liberty might comply with their weak Jewish Brethren yet these Jewish Christians who believed it unlawful to eat any meats forbidden by the Law of Moses could not comply with the believing Gentiles without sinning against their own Consciences which brings judgment and condemnation upon them And he that doubteth which does not signifie what we commonly call a scrupulous Conscience for that was not the case of the Jews who did not doubt but certainly believe that it was unlawful for them to eat such meats but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I observed before signifies him who makes a distinction between meats and so believes it unlawful to eat any meats which were forbidden by the Law of Moses he who thus doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatever is not of faith is sin Now here our Reconciler thinks he has us fast for if this were a good Argument in the case of the Jewish Christians it must be also in the case of the Dissenters If the Gentile believers were not by any means to compel the believing Jews to eat those meats which they believed unlawful because how lawful soever it was in it self yet it was unlawful for them to do it while they believed it unlawful to be done by the same reason the Governours of the Church must not compel Dissenters to Conformity which they believe unlawful or at least greatly doubt of the lawfulness of it For he that doubteth is damned if he conforms as well as if he eats This looks most like a parallel case of any thing yet and if this fails him I doubt his Cause is desperate and yet I am pretty confident that this will do him no service 1. For first this is not a good Argument in all cases to grant such an indulgence and forbearance that men act according to their Consciences as I have already proved at large for this would subvert all Order and Government in Church and State and supersede the Authority and Obligation of all other Laws but every mans private judgment and opinion of things 2. Let us then consider in what cases this Argument is good for certainly it is good in the case to which the Apostle applies it Now I know of but one general case to which this Argument can be reasonably applied and that is where every man 's own Conscience is his onely Rule not where Conscience it self has a Rule The Laws of God and the Laws of our Superiours when they do not contradict the Laws of God are the Rule of Conscience that Rule whereby all men ought to act and it is a senseless thing to say that when men are under the government of Laws they must have liberty to act according to their own Consciences that is according to their own judgment and opinions of things which is to say that though men are under Laws yet they must be governed by none that Magistrates may make Laws but they must not execute them but must suffer every man when his Conscience serves him to break both the Laws of God and of the Church or Kingdom wherein he lives But where we are under no obligation of divine or humane Laws in such cases every mans own Conscience is his onely Rule and in these cases it is fit to leave every man to the direction and government of his own mind because they concern onely every mans private liberty and have no influence at all upon the Publick And if in such cases any man should fancy himself to be under the obligation of a divine Law when indeed he is not it would be barbarously uncharitable by Censures and Reproaches and such kind of rude and ungentile Arts to force him to a compliance contrary to the sense and judgment of his own mind for when there is no other Rule of our Actions every mans Conscience is his onely Rule and if he does that which he believes to be forbidden by the Law of God though indeed it is not yet he sins in it and if we force him to such a compliance we are very uncharitable in it and are guilty of offending a weak Brother This was the very case of which the Apostle speaks The Law which made a distinction between clean and unclean meats was now out of date and did no longer oblige them and therefore it was lawful both for Jews and Gentiles to eat what meat they pleased but the Jews still thought that Law to be in force and therefore though the Law did not oblige them to abstain from such meats yet their own Consciences which is always a Law when there is no other did still oblige them to abstain and therefore it was very uncharitable in the Gentile Christians to judge and censure and reproach them for this for though they who understood their liberty might use it yet a believing Jew could not do this without sin And there may be a great many cases in â—ome degree parallel to this As suppose a man scruples the use of Lots and consequently all Games which depend upon Lots or thinks it unlawful to drink a Health or to see a Play or apprehends himself obliged to a stricter observation of the Lords day than the Christian Church has in former Ages thought necessary though we should suppose that there were no Law of God about these matters yet this mans Conscience is a Law to him and whiles he thinks any
case if they follow the direction of their own minds they do no injury to any body but themselves in an unnecessary restraint of their own liberty but neither offend God by it nor hurt men but if they act contrary to what they believe to be their Duty in compliance with others they sin in it for every mans private Conscience is his onely Rule where there is no other Law to govern him The Case of the Dissenters THe Dispute between Dissenters and the Church of England is concerning the use of indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in Religious Worship The scruples of Dissenters are not grounded on any express Law acknowledged by all Parties to be a divine Law but are occasioned by their ignorance and perverting of the holy Scriptures and obstinacy against better instruction The Dissenters cannot produce any plain positive Law which is oâ— ever was in force against the Ceremonies of our Church and so have no reasonable pretence to be offended The weakness of Dissenters is not a weakness in the Faith for they firmly believe the Christian Religion but at best a weakness of understanding which is not to be indulged but to be rectified by wise Instructions and prudent Restraints unless we think that every ignorant Christian must give Laws to the Church and impose his own ignorant and childish prejudices Whatever offence the Dissenters take at our Ceremonies it is not pretended that the imposition of them tempts them to renounce Christianity but onely is an occasion of their Schism and makes them forsake the Church for a Conventicle But this is no reason at all in it self for any indulgence and forbearance to be sure is vastly different from the case of the Jews for by the same reaâ—on there must be no Authority and Government in the Church or no exercise of it lest those who will not obey should turn Schismaticks But now besides that it is absolutely impossible for those to receive one another to Communion without mutual offence and scandal who observe such different Rites and Modes of Worship of which more anon God has never by any such visible signs declared that Dissenters should be received to Communion notwithstanding their disobedience to the Authority and non-conformity to the Worship of the Church For as for our Reconciler's invisible communion with God which he grants to his beloved Dissenters who refuse the Communion of the Church St. Paul never thought of it and no body can tell how our Reconciler should know it especially if Schism as he asserts be a damning sin for no man in a state of damnation which it seems is the case of Schismaticks can be in Communion with God But when the Church judges and censures and excommunicates those who refuse to conform to her Worship she does nothing but what she has authority to do for all private Christians are subject to the Authority of the Church in such matters as God has not determined by his own Authority But though our Dissenters pretend Conscience as the reason of their non-conformity yet these pretences are vain and not to be allowed of because there is no plain positive Law of God against it and neither Governours nor private Christians are concerned to take notice of or to make any allowance for every mans private Fancies and Opinions especially in matters of publick Worship which would bring eternal confusions and diâ—orders into the Church There is a great difference between mens doing any thing to the Lord and following their own Consciences or private Opinions the first requires a plain and express Law for our Rule which will justifie or excuse what we do both to God and men but mens private Consciences if they misguide them may deserve our pity but cannot challenge our indulgence Our Reconciler exhorts the Governours of the Church not to exercise their Authority in prescribing the Rules of Order and Decency for publick Worship for fear of offending Dissenters But the Dispute between the Church and Dissenters is of a different consideration it does not concern the exercise of a private liberty wherein all Christians ought to be very prudent and charitable but the exercise of publick Government and the publick administration of Religious Offices which must be governed by other measures than a private charity It is not in the power of private Christians to dispense in such matters as these nor absolutely in the power of Church-Governours who are obliged to take care of the Order and Decency of publick Worship whoever takes offence at it And therefore this cannot relate to indulgence and forbearance in the external Rites and Ceremonies of Religion wherein Religion is nearly concerned for though they be not Acts yet they are the Circumstances of Worship wherein the external Decency of Worship consists which is as necessary as external Worship is And therefore cannot refer to the publick Ceremonies of Religion which if they be practised at all must be practised publickly because they concern the publick acts of Worship There is no avoiding offence in this case by dissembling our Faith or by a private exercise of our liberty but Governours must part with their authority and private Christians with their liberty in such matters which the Apostle nowhere requires any man to do no not to avoid offence Now though our Dissenters pretend that it is against their Consciences to conform to the Ceremonies of the Church and our Reconciler pleads this in their behalf as a sufficient reason why they ought to be indulged yet this is not a good Argument in the case of Dissenters though it was in the case of the Jews because their mistakes do not meerly concern the exercise of their private liberty but publick Worship which is not left to the conduct of every mans private Conscience but to the direction and government of the Laws of God and men And though it be reasonable to leave men to the government of their own Consciences where there is no other Law yet there is no reason for it where there is for if they sin in acting contrary to their Consciences which no man can force them to do so they sin also in following an erroneous Conscience which Governours ought to hinder if they can This I take to be a sufficient Answer to all our Reconciler's Arguments from that condescension and forbearance which St. Paul exhorts the believing Jews and Gentiles to exercise towards each other because the case is vastly different from the case of our Dissenters The Dispute between the Jew and Gentile was not concerning the use of indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in the Worship of God but about the observation of the Law of Moses and those Arguments which the Apostle uses and which were very proper Arguments in that case can by no parity of reason be applied to the Dispute about indifferent things But there are several other considerations which I have already hinted at which plainly shew how vastly different the case of the Jews
Church and State it will necessarily occasion very great inconveniences Well but we must not set these little things in competition with the more weighty duties and concerns of Love and Peace No God forbid we should But does our Reconciler know what a competition between two Laws means I know but of two ways that this can happen either when they contradict each each other or are so contrary in their natures that they can never be both observed or when there is a competition of time that it so happens that we cannot observe both at the same time as when we cannot at the same time go to Church to serve God and stay at home to attend a sick Father or Friend in which cases our Saviour has laid down a general Rule That God prefers Mercy bâ—foâ—e Sacrifice But now upon neither of these accounts can there be any competition pretended between the Rites and Ceremonies of Religion and the great duties of Love and Peace and Unity and Edification For cannot men observe the Orders and Constitutions of the Church as to the external Rites of Worship and love one another and preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church at the same time Indeed can there be a better means to preserve Love and Peace and Unity among Christians and to promote mutual Edification than an Uniformity in Religious Worship since it is evident that nothing breeds greater Dissentions and Emulations and Envyings among Christians than different and contrary Modes of Worship And if this be so then there is no competition between the Ceremonies of Religion and the Love and Peace of Christians and consequently no reason why the Governours of the Church may not command both though the particular Ceremonies of Religion be acknowledged to be small things in comparison with the great duties of Love and Peace Yes you 'll say the imposition of these Ceremonies does come in competition with these great duties of Love and Peace and Unity because there are a great many who quarrel at them and divide the Church upon that account and if these controverted Ceremonies were removed Love and Unity would be restored among us Now supposing this to be true which I have already proved not to be true what is this to the Governours of the Church If they impose nothing which is inconsistent with Love and Peace and Unity then the imposition of these things in it self considered cannot be inconsistent with these great Gospel-duties for if what we command be consistent with Love and Unity then the Command otherwise called the Imposition must be so too It is not the command or imposition of these things which is inconsistent with Love and Unity but refusal of obedience to such lawful Commands which is not the fault of the Governours but of the Subjects not of those who command but of those who will not obey and therefore these are Arguments proper to be urged against Dissenters but not against the Governours of the Church As to give you a familiar instance of this A Master commands his Servant to put on a clean Band to wait at Table the Servant refuses to do it upon this the whole Family is divided some take part with the Master others with the Servant in steps a Reconciler and tells the Master he did very ill to cause such Divisions in his Family that Love and Peace and Unity were more considerable duties than a Servants wearing a clean Band which therefore ought not to come in competition with them Pray Sir says the Master preach this Doctrine to my Servants and not to me I have commanded nothing but what was fit to be done and I will have it done or he and all his Partners shall turn out oâ— my Family Now let one who is a Master judge whether the Master or the Reconciler be in the right The breach of Love and Peace and Unity is not the effect though it be the consequent which our Reconciler I perceive cannot distinguish of the Command or Imposition but of the disobedience and therefore when the Command is fit and reasonable cannot be charged upon him who commands but upon him who disobeys But besides this I observe that Christian Love and Unity and Peace in the Writings of the New Testament signifie the Communion of the Church and how kind soever they may be to each other upon other accounts men do not love like Christians who do not worship God together in the Communion of the same Church wherein they live and there can be no Edification out of the Church Now if there be no way of uniting men in one Communion but by an uniformity of Worship then to prescribe the Rules and Orders and Ceremonies of Worship is as necessary as Christian Love and Peace and Unity is Men who worship God after a different manner must and will worship in different places too and in distinct Communions and those who will not submit to the Injunctions of a just Authority will never consent in any form of Worship and therefore this may multiply Schisms but cannot cure them This is all perfect demonstration from the experience of our late Confusions when the pulling down the Church of England did not lessen our Divisions but increase them But our Reconciler confirms this Argument that the Governours of the Church ought not to insist on such little things when they come in competition with Love and Peace and Unity c. from the example of God himself who was not so much concerned for the ceremonial part of his Worship but that he would permit the violation of what he had prescribed about it upon accounts of lesser moment than these are He instances in the Law of Circumcision which was not observed in the Wilderness because this would hinder the motion of the Camp In the Law of the Passover which was to be observed on the first month and the 14th day of the month but God expresly provided that if any man were unclean or in a journey far off at that time they should observe it on the 14th of the second month in the Sabbatick rest which admitted of works of necessity and mercy which were never forbidden by God in that Law nor intended to be Now are not these admirable proofs That God is not so much concerned for the ceremonial part of his Law but that upon some accounts he would permit the violation of what he had prescribed when it does not appear that he ever did so As for the neglect of Circumcision in the Wilderness I doubt not but God had given express order about it otherwise Moses who was faithful in all his house and a punctual observer of all the divine Laws and Statutes would never have neglected it and this I may say with as much reason as our Reconciler can produce for Gods permission of it without an express Order and somewhat more As for the Passover let our Reconciler consider again whether the observation of
them from Communion whom God will receive So that the poor Church of England must receive Papists into her Communion as well as the Phanaticks where we must observe the Charity is Bishop Sanderson's the Inference and Application the Reconciler's III. His next Argument is from one great purpose of Christ's Advent and the effusion of his precious bloud to make both Iew and Gentile one by breaking down the middle wall of partition that was between them and abolishing the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances Now the conceit of it is this He supposes the Ceremonies of the Church of England to be such a Partition-wall between Conformists and Nonconformists as the Mosaical Law was between Jews and Gentiles and therefore as Christ has broken down one Partition-wall and made Jew and Gentile one Church so our Governours ought to break down the other Partition-wall to make Conformists and Nonconformists one Body and Church which is such a dull conceit and argues such stupid ignorance in the Mysteries of Christianity that I do not wonder he is so zealous an Advocate for Ignorance and Errour The Partition-wall is an Allusion to that Partition in the Temple which divided the Court where the Jews worshipped from the Court of the Gentiles and that which made this Partition was Gods Covenant with Abraham when he chose his carnal Seed and Posterity for his peculiar People and separated them from the rest of the World and the more effectually to separate them from other Nations gave them a peculiar Law which was to last as long as this distinction did For God did not intend for ever to confine his Church to one Nation but when the promised Messias came to enlarge the borders of his Church to all mankind And therefore this Law was so contrived as to typifie the Messias and to receive its full completion in the perfect Sacrifice and Expiation of his Death which put an end to the former Dispensation and sealed a Covenant of Grace and Mercy with all mankind Thus Christ by his death broke down the Partition-wall because he put an end to the Mosaical Covenant which was made onely with the Jews and to that external and â—ypical Religion which was peculiar to the Mosaical Dispensation and made a distinction and separation between Jew and Gentile that is as Christ made a Covenant now with all mankind so he put an end to all marks of distinction between Jew and Gentile and to that typical and ceremonial Worship which was peculiar to the Jews as a distinct and separate People Now indeed any such Partition-wall as this which confines the Covenant and Promises of God to any particular People or Nation and excludes all others is directly contrary to the end and designe of Christs death and ought immediately to be pulled down but must there therefore be no Partion to distinguish between the Church of Christ and Infidels and Hereticks and Schismaticks Must there be no Walls and Fences about the Church this Vineyard and Fold of Christ Must there be no Laws made for the government of Religious Assemblies and the Decency and Order of Christian Worship for fear of keeping those out of the Church who will not be orderly in it How come the Ceremonies of our Church to be a Wall of partition the Church never made them so for she onely designed them for Rules and decent Circumstances of Worship which it is her duty to take care of Let those then who set up this Wall of partition pull it down again that is let those who separate from the Church and make these Ceremonies a Wall of partition return to the Communion of the Church which no body keeps them from but themselves As for his modest insinuations that our Ceremonies are carnal Ordinances weak and beggarly Elements and therefore ought to be removed for their weakness and unprofitableness as the Mosaick Ceremonies were I have already largely shewn the difference between a Ritual and Ceremonial Religion and those Ceremonies which are for the Decency of Religious Worship which are as necessary and must continue as long as External Worship which requires external Signs of Decency and Honour does IV. His next Motive to Condescension is from the Example of Christ and his Apostles in preaching the Gospel which in short is this That when Christ was on Earth he did not instruct his Disciples in such Doctrines as they were not capable of understanding till after his Resurrection and therefore left the revelation of such matters to the Ministry of his Holy Spirit whom after his Ascension into Heaven he sent to them And the Apostles when they converted Jews and Gentiles to the Faith of Christ did not immediately tell them all that was to be known and believed but instructed them in the plainest matters first and allowed some time to wear off their Jewish and Pagan prejudices therefore the Governours of the Church should forbear imposing of some practices at which our Flocks by reason of their prejudice and weakness will be apt to stumble and take offence But how this follows I confess I cannot understand if it proves any thing it proves that the Governours of the Church must not instruct their People in any thing which they are not willing to learn that our Reconciler should never have published his second part to convince Dissenters that they may lawfully and therefore in duty ought to conform to the Ceremonies of the Church when they are imposed for if notwithstanding the Example of our Saviour and his Apostles we may instruct our People in such things we may require their obedience too otherwise we had as good never instruct them But did Christ and his Apostles then intend that Christians should be always children Did not St. Paul testifie that he had declared the whole Will of God to them And when the Gospel has been fully published to the World for above sixteen hundred years must the Church return again to her state of infancy and childhood to humour Dissâ—nters But indeed is the duty of obedience to Governours in all things which Christ has not forbid such a sublime and mysterious Doctrine that it ought to be concealed as too difficult to be understood Is it not a pretty way of reasoning that Euclid's Elements is too difficult a book for a young child to learn therefore his Master must not teach him to obâ—y his Parents neither I am sure this was one of the first Lessons which the Apostles taught their Disciples whatever else they concealed from them for there can be no Church founded without Government and there can be no Government where Subjects must not be taught Obedience But however there is a great difference between the first publication of any Doctrine and the preaching of it after it is published The first requires great prudence in the choice of a fit time to do it in and of fit persons to communicate it to which was the case of Christ and his
very foolish Argument against either The true Argument against the Dissenters is this That they are bound to obey their Superiours in those things which God has not forbidden for where God has not interposed his Authority they are subject to the Authority of their Governours The Argument is not That they are in all cases bound to do what God has not forbid them to do which is ridiculously absurd for what is not unlawful not forbidden by God may either be done or may be let alone without sin unless some other consideration besides its being not forbidden alter the case But the Argument is this That what God has not forbidden Governours may command and Subjects are bound in Conscience to obey Let us see then how he applies this to our Imposers as he modestly calls our Governours in Church and State It is not unlawful as not forbidden by God to leave these Ceremonies indiffâ—rent so far indeed it agrees with the case of the Dissenters that the Ceremonies are not unlawful as not being forbidden by God but now where is the superior Authority over Governours to make it unlawful for them to impose that which it is not unlawful not to impose then the case of Imposers would be exactly parallel with the Dissenters who are under the Authority of their Governours which makes that their duty which God had left indifferent and that unlawful which God had by no express prohibition made unlawful but here the Parallel fails and therefore the Argument is not the same For the supreme Authority of Church and State can have no superiour Authority on Earth to make that unlawful to them which God has not made unlawful All that our Reconciler offers to this purpose is onely this That the avoiding scandal and offence and the preservation of Charity Peace and Vnity in the Church lays as necessary an obligation on Governours to forbear what they may lawfully forbear for the promoting these ends as the Authority of Governours obliges Subjects to obey them in all things wherein they lawfully may that is that Governours are bound not to command any thing which they may lawfully not command when hereby they serve the ends of Charity and Peace Now if this were the case yet so the Argument would not be the same for then we must state the case of Governours thus That they must not do that which is unlawful to be done not that they must not do that which is not unlawful not to be done The Authority of Governours does not alter the intrinsick nature of things and therefore we may very properly say that Subjects must obey their Governours in all things which are not unlawful and that the things commanded are not in their own natures unlawful is a good Argument to oblige them to obey but the end and circumstances of action alters its moral nature and that which in some circumstances is not unlawful in other circumstances becomes absolutely unlawful And if this be the case here that the imposition of these Ceremonies is unlawful when it gives scandal and offence and disturbs the Peace and Unity of the Church then the Argument to disswade Governours from such Impositions is not that it is not unlawful to forbear imposing which is parallel to the Argument used against Dissenters that it is not unlawful to obey but that it is unlawful to impose in such circumstances which differ as much as to perswade men not to do what they lawfully may not do differs from disswading them from doing what is not lawful to be done This I think is abundantly enough to shew that our Reconciler is very much out in his Logick when he makes this Argument against Dissenters and Imposers to be the same as for the Argument it self that it is unlawful for Governours to impose these Ceremonies when it gives offence and scandal to weak Brethren c. I have sufficiently answered that already 3. His next Argument which he says equally holds against the Dissenters and Imposers is taken from the littleness and small importance of the things upon which we are divided and it is in short this That Dissenters ought not to disturb the Peace of the Church by refusing obedience in such little things nor the Governours of the Church by imposing such little things Now I need not concern my self about this Argument which is not likely to have any effect either upon Dissenters or Imposers who if they understand themselves and act honestly it is plain do not think these things so little and inconsiderable that they are not worth contending about That the decent Ceremonies of Religion are not such very contemptible things I have already proved at large in the first Chapter that they are not so little that Governours ought not to impose them I have proved at the beginning of this Chapter and that sufficiently proves that this is no Argument against Governours and if as our Reconciler says it be an unanswerable Argument against Dissenters I am contented to leave it so However our Reconciler is mightily out when he thinks the littleness of a thing to be as good an Argument against the imposition of Governours as against the disobedience of Dissenters for Governours are bound to take care of little as well as of great things because things which are little in themselves may have very great effects either good or bad but there is no excuse for the disobedience of Subjects in such cases for the less the command is the less reason have they to refuse obedience I believe all Parents and Governours in the world think so excepting our Reconcilers In the next place our Reconciler argues from many general Topicks received and owned by all Casuists As 1. Qui non vetat peccare cùm possit jubet Which he translates thus He that being a Superiour a Father a Master of a Family c. doth not what lawfully he may for the prevention of the sin of those who are subject to his government becomes partakers of their sin Now suppose all this what care can be taken to prevent sin which it becomes Governours to take which is neglected by the Church of England Yes says the Reconciler they may abate those Impositions which occasion the Schism But this has been so often answered already that I shall now onely direct my Readers in the Margin where to find the Answer 2. He says Divines concerning the right interpretation of the Ten Commandments and of the Laws of Christ do generally lay down these Rules viz. That when any thing is forbidden by these Laws all those things are forbidden also which follow from that forbidden action and for whose sake it was forbidden Now I think this is a very good Rule and if he can prove that the imposition of these Ceremonies is a forbidden action I will grant that the Schism which is consequent upon it is imputable to the Church but if it be not forbidden if the Church has this
one anothers throats this is such a measure of Love and Peace as may be here expected that is among Schismaticks and Dissenters But this is not such a Love and Peace as makes the Church one for that consists in one Communion which can never be had where men differ in the Rites and Modes of Worship and every man is permitted to worship God as he pleases Quest. 11. If a Patient would not take a Medicine from one mans hand whether would not a good Physician consent that another should give it him whether would the merciful Father let the Infant famish that would take food from none but his Mother And if the People culpably will hear no others but Dissenters is it better to let them hear none at all than that they should preach to them Ans. Now I would ask our Reconciler one Question Why all this will not hold as well in Civil as Ecclesiastical Government If the People culpably will be governed not by a King and Parliament but by some select and trusty Members of a House of Commons or by another Oliver is it better these poor People should be without any Government than that they should be governed by Rebels or a new modelled Commonwealth Now here is an excellent Argument to perswade the King out of great charity to his People to resigne up the Government and let them chuse their own Governours though I am afraid then they would be cantoned into as many little Independent Kingdoms as there are now Independent Pastors But let us consider his comparisons He says If a Patient would not receive a Medicine from one mans hands whether would not a good Physician consent that another man should give it him Yes why not so long as the Physician prescribed the Physick But would such a Physician suffer such a humorsome Patient could he hinder it to go to a Quack or a Mountebank or to take Physick very hurtful and pernicious to him I believe the Colledge of Physicians are of another mind who have been as industrious to suppress such Quacks as the Church has been to silence Dissenters But whether would the merciful Father let the Infant famish that would take food from none but his Mother But suppose he is as fond of a Strumpet as he is of his Mother what would the Father do in that case It is a pretty inâ—inuation this that dissenting Preachers are the true Mother and therefore it is very pardonable in the People to long after them But is not our Reconciler a great Politician who thinks it reasonable that publick Government should humour Subjects as a Physician does a sick Patient or an indulgent Father a froward child that the Hospital or the Nursery should be the best Platform of Government in Church or State But now our Reconciler speaks out and in down-right terms pleads for the toleration of dissenting Preachers that the People may have somebody to hear and it is better to let them hear them than that they should hear none at all But there is no necessity of either that I know of for thanks be to God there are other excellent Preachers to hear though the Dissenters were never to preach more and there is no danger that those People who have such itching ears should ever grow so sullen as to hear none at all when they cannot hear whom they would they will hear whom they can and by hearing wise and honest instructions may in time grow wise themselves which I suspect some men are afraid of whatever our Reconciler be These Queries our Author has borrowed from Mr. Baxter and made them his own by his approbation of them and now he tells us That Mr. Barret hath offered many Questions of the like nature which he being slow of understanding which I believe the Reader by this time will take his word for cannot answer to his own satisfaction and therefore in a great fright crys out passionately for help Men of Israel help And I will endeavour to help him out here too Q. 1. Might not Conformists with a good Conscience have forborn those needless Impositions which they very well knew would be so needless and burdensome to many Was ever Schism made so light a matter of and the Peace and Vnity of Christians valued at so low a rate that for the prevention of the one and the preservation of the other the imposing of things indifferent and not necessary in their own judgment but things doubtful and unlawful in the judgment of others might not be forborn Ans. This I have sufficiently answered already in the vindication of the Savoy-Commissioners and therefore shall onely adde here that it does become the Governours of the Church to secure the external Order and Decency of Worship and the good government of the Church though they know a great many men will be offended at it and turn Schismaticks and when men quarrel with those Ceremonies which have been anciently received and practised in the Church upon such Schismatical Principles as equally overthrow all decent and orderly Constitutions there ought to be no regard had to them nor any alteration made upon their account When these Ceremonies were appointed to be retained in Religious Worship as they were purged from all superstitious uses in the reformation of King Edward the sixth they were scrupled by no body nor could the Governours of the Church foresee that they would be scrupled and as for the happy resettlement of the Church under our present gracious Soveraign whom God long preserve to which I suppose Mr. Barret and our Reconciler refer it was very unreasonable to justifie the late horrid Schism and Rebellion by yielding to the unjust clamours of those men who had by a pretence of Conscience once already overturned both Church and State such Consciences ought to be governed and chastised not indulged Q. 2. Whether they pray as they ought Thy Kingdom come or whether indeed they act not against their own Prayers who endeavour to hinder the preaching of the Gospel by making these unnecessary things the conditions of so doing Let us bring the case before our supreme and final Iudge and bethink your self whether of these two things he will most likely have regard unto the saving of Souls which he bought with his bloud or the preserving inviolate certain humane Institutions and Rules confessed by the devisers of them not to be necessary Ans. As for their being confessed not to be necessary that has been often enough answered already and as for his Appeals to the final Judgment we are very well contented with that as being satisfied that no popular Cant will pass currant there That the imposition of these Ceremonies does not hinder the preaching the Gospel is evident to sense for the Gospel is still preached and I hope to better purpose than in the late days of Rebellion And as for the Kingdom of God in this World it signifies the Christian Church and to pray for
Reverend Bishops once have condescended to these terms of Vnion would they not have rejoyced to have seen the Church restored and themselves readmitted to the execution of their sacred Function upon such terms as the abatement of such trivial things Ans. I judge it very likely they might as a banished Prince would be glad to be restored to his Crown again though he parted with some Jewels out of it But when the providence of God restores them to the exercise of their Function without any such restraints and limitation of their power it is their duty to use their whole power as prudently and charitably as they can The restoring of Episcopacy restored the face of a Church again which was nothing but a Schism without it and no doubt but all good men would be very glad of this though upon hard and disadvantageous terms but surely to restore the Church to its ancient beauty and lustre in a regular and decent administration of all holy Offices is more desirable than nothing but the meer being of a Church still deformed with the marks and ruines of an old Schism and therefore when this can be had it ought to be had and it is a ridiculous thing to imagine that Bishops must use no other authority in the government of the Church when they are in a full possession of their power than barely so much as they would have been contented to have bargained for with Schismaticks when they were thrust out of all power Though whether St. Cyprian would have made any such bargain with Schismaticks as inferred a diminution of the Episcopal Authority I much question Had the Wisdom of the Nation at the happy return of his Majesty to his Throne thought fit to have made any tryal and experiment what some condescensions and abatements would have done the Reverend Bishops no doubt would have acquiesced in it not out of any opinion they had of such methods but to satisfie those who do not see the events of things at a distance by making the experiment But that factious and restless Spirit of Phanaticism which began immediately to work convinced our Prince and Parliament how dangerous such an experiment would be and prevented the tryal of it and now we have such fresh and repeated experiments how dangerous these Factions are both to Church and State our Reconciler would perswade our Governours out of their senses to cherish those men who if they be not suppressed will most infallibly involve this unhappy Church and Kingdom in Bloud and Confusion As for what our Reconciler adds concerning the Rubrick about kneeling at the Sacrament and the Canon about bowing of the body in token of our reverence of God when we come into the place of publick Worship have been sufficiently answered already CHAP. VIII Containing some brief Animadversions on the Authorities produced by our Reconciler in his Preface and the Conclusion of the whole with an Address to the Dissenters THus I have with all plainness and sincerity examined the whole reason of this book for as for the remaining Chapters whatever is of any moment in them I have answered before in the first and second Chapters of this Vindication whether the Answer I have given be satisfactory or not I must leave to others to judge but I can honestly say I have used no tricks and evasions nor have I used any Argument but what is satisfactory to my self All that remains now is a brief examination of those Authorities our Reconciler has produced in his Preface to prove that our own Kings and many famous Doctors of our own Church besides many foreign Divines have pleaded for that condescension for which he pleads in this Book Now I thought it the best way in the first place to examine his Reasons for this condescension for if there be no reason to do this it is no great matter who pleads for it without reason and yet I should be very unwilling to leave such a reproach upon so many great men that they declare their opinions and judgment for a Cause which has no reason to support it And therefore to give a fair account of this also I reviewed his Preface and found there were two ways of answering it either by examining his particular Testimonies we having no reason to believe any thing upon his credit or by taking the Testimonies for granted and shewing that this does not prove that they were of his mind The first of these I had no great stomach to as being a tedious and troublesome work which would swell this Vindication to a great bulk which is grown too big already and the onely end it could serve is to prove that the Protestant Reconciler does not quote his Authors faithfully but I have already given such evidence of this in my Vindication of Bishop Taylor as will spoil his credit with all wary men And therefore I resolved upon the other way of answering him to shew that the Testimonies produced by him as he produces them do not prove what he intended them for But I called to mind that I had a Book written upon this very subject entituled Remarks upon the Preface to the Protestant Reconciler in a Letter to a Friend which I read over and to my great comfort found my work done to my hand for that Author has with great judgment said whatever I can think proper to be said in this Cause and therefore I shall onely give some little hints of what I intended more largely to discourse and refer my Readers to those Remarks for further satisfaction The intention of this Preface our Reconciler tells us p. 3. was to strengthen the designe of his Book by the concurrent suffrages of many worthy Persons both of our own and other Churches who have declared themselves to be of the same judgment and have pursued the same designe which he has done in his Book Now the designe of his Book as I have shewn from his own words in my Introduction p. 13 14. is to prove that it is utterly unlawful for the Governours of the Church to impose the observation of indifferent Rites and Ceremonies in Religion especially when these Ceremonies are scrupled and many professed Christians rather chuse to separate from the Church than submit to them Now to prove this he first alleadges the Authority of three Kings King Iames King Charles the first the Royal Martyr and best of Kings and men as he is pleased to stile him and our present Soveraign and I know not where he could have named three other Kings more averse to his Reconciling designe What King Iames his Judgment was is evident from the Conference at Hampton-court where he so severely determined against Dissenters and kept his word all his reign without granting any liberty to these pretended scruples which is very strange had he been of our Reconciler's mind that it is unlawful to impose these Ceremonies upon a scrupulous Conscience How much King Charles the first suffered
for denying this liberty and indulgence is known to all men and it is hard to think then that he was a Reconciler for never any Reconciler was a Martyr for the Church And methinks the Act of Uniformity and the prosecution of Dissenters upon that and former Acts might convince any reasonable man that our present Soveraign is none of his Protestant Reconcilers But if notwithstanding all this he can prove against plain matter of fact and the evidence of sense and the experience and complaints of Dissenters all these to be Reconciling Kings I am resolved I will be a Protestant Reconciler too and I hope I may pass for as good a Reconciler as any of these renowned Kings without recanting this Book Let us hear then how he proves these great Princes to be Reconcilers As for King Iames he proves him to be a Reconciler from Casaubon's Epistle to Cardinal Perroon Now how faithfully Casaubon represented the Kings Judgment is more than our Reconciler can tell onely I am certain he did misrepresent him if he made a Reconciler of him But there is no reason to take Sanctuary in this for whoever considers the occasion of those words may put a very sober construction on them without giving any countenance to our Reconciler for the Dispute did not concern the Rules of Order and Decency in Religious Worship but the unscriptural Innovations of Popery which they imposed upon all Churches as terms of Catholick Communion Now in this Controversie any man may safely say what Casaubon says for the King without being a Protestant Reconciler For there is no nearer way of concord than to separate things necessary from unnecessary to call nothing simply necessary but what the Word of God commandeth to be believed or done or which the ancient Church did gather from the Word of God by necessary consequence that other humane Constitutions whatever antiquity or authority is pretended for them might be changed mollified antiquated and that this may in the general be said of most Ecclesiastical observations introduced without the Word of God Now this does not refer to the decent Circumstances and Ceremonies of Religion but to such Ecclesiastical observations as are in dispute between us and the Church of Rome as the Celibacy of the Clergy Prayers for the Dead Pilgrimages Monastick Vows the Worship of Saints and Angels and Images and the like for which the Church of Rome pretends the Authority of ancient Councils or the ancient practice and usage of the Church Now in these cases I am perfectly of the Kings mind and yet do not take my self to be a Protestant Reconciler in our Authors way Our Royal Martyr when he saw what danger Church and State and his own Royal Person was in from the outrageous zeal of dissenting Protestants who did not now humbly beg for Indulgence and Toleration but contended for Rule and Empire was willing if it were possible to allay these Heats and divert the Storm by yiâ—lding somewhat to their boisterous and threatning importunities and if he had yielded a great deal more at that time than he did I think it had been no argument of his own setled judgment of things The Reconciler might hence prove that the King thought it much better to yield a little at that time than to ruine Church and State by too much stiffness not that he thought it unlawful to impose any thing on his Subjects in matters of Religion which they were pleased to scruple And yet what is it that the King yielded under these necessities For that our Reconciler produces these words As for differences among our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion we shall in tenderness to any number of our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the advice of our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such cases which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Does the King in these words promise to alter the Constitutions of the Church to abolish all Ceremonies c By no means he onely says that he will comply with the advice of his Parliament to exempt such tender Consciences from punishment And how can our Reconciler hence conclude that the King believed it unlawful to impose these Ceremonies because at such a critical time he was contented there should be some provision made to secure Dissenters from the execution of the penal Laws And yet that ill usage which so excellent a Prince met with from these dissenting Protestants after such a condescension as this gives no great encouragement to Princes to try this Experiment again Thus he proves our present Soveraign to be of his mind by his Declaration from Breda which he prints at large I suppose for fear People should forget that there had been such a Declaration or what were the contents of it How the present circumstances of affairs at that time might incline his Majesty to such a condescension is not my business to inquire it is sufficient for us to know that the House of Commons presented their Reasons to the King against that Declaration which so far satisfied him that he gave his assent to the Act of Uniformity and therefore I suppose is not of our Reconciler's mind now and indeed never was notwithstanding that Declaration for he never asserted it unlawful to impose scrupled Ceremonies upon Dissenters but thought it expedient at that time to indulge their weakness And while matters were under debate for the re-establishment of the Church of England no wonder that the King and his great Ministers should make Proposals of Accommodation and offer their Reasons and Arguments for it but I always thought that what is said by any person on one side or other while the matter is under debate is not so good an Argument what his judgment and opinion is as what he agrees and consents to when the Reasons on both sides have been heard and scann'd Thus our Kings are our own again and of all men in the world have the least reason to countenance such a designe as this which serves onely to encourage a busie and restless Party among us who first strike at the Church but will never be quiet till they have usurp'd the Throne What the sence of our Church is in this matter is evident from her Articles Canons and Constitutions and this signifies a great deal more to me than the opinion of any private Doctors of what note and eminency soever It is unreasonable to oppose the authority of any particular Doctors to the Judgment of the Church and it would be an endless work to number the Votes and Suffrages of private Doctors on both sides indeed their authority is no greater than their reason is and if any of them be of our Reconciler's mind I am sure they speak without book unless they have something more
to say than our Reconciler has and when we know what it is we will consider it And yet those private Doctors of the Church of England to whose judgment our Reconciler appeals say nothing to his purpose not a man of them affirm that it is unlawful for the Church to impose indifferent things no not when they are scrupled as any one may observe who carefully reads their Testimonies Some of them indeed do think it advisable if it would heal our present Schisms to part with some things of less moment for so good an end And there seems to be two sorts of these men 1. Those who think this might be done were there good evidence and assurance that such abatements would cure the Schism and lay a foundation of a firm and lasting Peace in this Church 2. Those who think this way ought to be tryed whether it will effect the cure or no. 1. As for the first if this were the case that the exchange of a Ceremony or two while the external Order and Decency of publick Worship might be otherwise secured would certainly heal our Schisms God forbid that I should ever be the man who should oppose so good a work But if I may speak my thoughts freely that which I take to be the fault of these great men is this that they trouble themselves and the world in declaring their judgments unasked about an imaginary case which it is demonstrably impossible should over be a real case This is evident not onely from the present temper and complexion of the Schism which even among the most moderote Dissenters is improved far beyond the dispute of a Ceremony but from this very consideration that their Principles whereon they demand such an alteration are schismatical and it is impossible that the Peace of the Church should be built upon Schismatical Principles Though it were possible that the removal of our Ceremonies might for the present quiet our Disputes yet this Peace would last no longer than the men are in a good humour because those very Principles which disturb the Peace of the Church now will also disturb the best Order and Constitution of the Church that can possibly be devised and while the Principles remain the seeds of Discord remain also and there will never want men or Devils to improve them into open Contentions Whoever believes that nothing must be done in the Worship of God but what we have an express divine Law for that things lawful or indifferent in their own natures are sinful when they are commanded though by a lawful Authority that neither the Governours in Church nor State have any authority in indifferent things which are the great Principles on which men oppose the Ceremonies of our Church will as inevitably be Schismaticks under any constitution of things as those who believe that the Soveraign Powers are accountable to the People will be Rebels whenever they are not pleased and have power to resist Take away these Principles and we may keep our Ceremonies and while these Principles last it is to no purpose to part with the least Ceremony 2. As for those who think the Church ought to try this Experiment whether such Abatements and Condescensions will reconcile Dissenting Protestants to the Church it is in my opinion a very dangerous as well as a very unreasonable Experiment All changes and innovations unless they be made on great and urgent necessities and with wonderful wisdom and caution are of very dangerous consequence and the greatest Polititians cannot always foresee what the event will be but to change lightly and wantonly without a certain prospect of a good effect is a reproach to the wisdom and gravity of Government it is onely like the uneasiness of a sick man who seeks for some present relief by changing sides though when he has done he finds himself as uneasie as he was before If such Abatements do not take effect we part with the external Decencies of Worship to no purpose we expose our selves to the scorn and derision of Sectaries make them more bold and clamorous and weaken the Authority and Sinews of Government which loses it due reverence when it is not steady and true to it self Of all persons in the world Governours ought to make the fewest Experiments and to confess the fewest faults and mistakes if there were any much less to seem to confess a fault when there is none for Government ought to maintain its own Reverence and Authority and nothing can maintain the Authority of Government but a great Opinion both of its Power and Wisdom that it can defend it self and direct others whereas all such changes and alterations though they may be called a charitable condescension to the weakness and importunities of others are always expounded as an Argument of the weakness or mistakes of Government that it cannot defend it self against popular Clamours and Oppositions or that they mistake their Rule The first makes their Authority precarious and teaches people not to fear their Governours when they see their Governours are afraid of them the other destroys the Reverence of their Laws and teaches people not to obey but to dispute And of all mistakes the mistakes in Religion are most unpardonable and the greatest blemish to the Wisdom of Government because here is a standing Rule which is plain and certain and does not alter with accidental and mutable events So that if things be well setled at first there is no reason ever to change as may be in all other Laws which must be fitted to times and places and other changeable circumstances but even the external circumstances of Religion must not vary with the unreasonable humours and fancies of men in every Age or if it does Religion it self as well as Ecclesiastical Authority suffers by it Now whatever private Doctors are of another mind it is all one to me for those who assert any thing without Reason assert it without Authority too His next Testimonies are borrowed from some foreign Divines such as Beza Zanchy Iunius and it were easie to oppose other foreign Divines against them if not to answer them out of their own Writings but I do not think this worth the while for it is certain these men are not infallible I will never value those mens judgments about Ceremonies who can be contented to change the Apostolical Order of Bishops for a Presbyterian Parity In the next place he insists at large on those terms of Concord which have been proposed both by our own and by foreign Divines between distinct Churches and hence very wisely concludes that the same liberty is to be granted to the Members of the same Church But this I have considered already and refer my Readers for further satisfaction to the Remarks upon the Preface to the Protestant Reconciler Thus I have done with our Reconciler and shall conclude this Work with a short Address to our Dissenters lest they should not rightly understand how much they are
pleaded for a weak and ignorant and scrupulous Conscience And I wonder what service our Reconciler could think to do by pleading for the Dissenters under such a character as they will neither own themselves nor their Governours believe of them He takes it for granted that they are guilty of Schism and that their Schism is owing to a weak and ignorant tender and scrupulous Conscience Now Dissenters disown all this they do not think themselves Schismaticks or at least are too wise to own it much less do they think themselves ignorant but the most knowing and understanding Christians the very Gnosticks of the Age nor are they scrupulous but fully assured that they are in the right and their Governours in the wrong and therefore if they be wise they will give him no thanks for his pains And our Governours know indeed that they are Schismaticks and that they are ignorant or worse but do not take them for weak tender-conscienced scrupulous Schismaticks but know the quite contrary that they are proud conceited troublesome factious that they despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities that they are restless Underminers of the setled Constitutions of Church State wherein they live that they despise instruction and think themselves too wise to learn or receive better information and this they are as certain of as forty years experience can make them So that were our Reconciler's Arguments never so good to perswade Governours to indulge weak and scrupulous and tender Consciences yet they fail in their application to Dissenters and are not so much as an Argument ad hominem because our Governours do not and have no reason to believe our Dissenters to be such persons and I cannot imagine what makes our Dissenters so fond of this Reconciler unless it be that they find so much of their own temper and spirit in him to unsettle the present Constitutions of the Church and to censure and reproach the Wisdom and Charity of his Governours And therefore I would advise Dissenters to act like men and if they are resolved to continue Dissenters to keep their Post and stand upon their defence and not to take Sanctuary in such lame Apologies as no considering man can make for himself without blushing If they are in the right they may justifie themselves against all Imposers without the help of a Reconciler and if they are in the wrong no Reconciler can help them And therefore they are bound in their own defence to answer the Second Part of the Protestant Reconciler as I have done the First in the defence of my dear Mother the Church of England which God Almighty long preserve and defend against all whether Popish or Protestant Dissenters and Reconcilers Amen THE END Reconcil p. 3. Preface p. 2 3 Reconcil p. 4. P. 2. Prot. Recon p. 39. Pref. p. 2. Reconcil p. 39. Reconc p 39 40. See Pract. disc of religious Assembl 6.2 See Defen of Dr. Still Unr. of Separ p. 30. Calvin in 1 Cor. 14.40 1 Mal. 6. v. 14. 1 Cor. 11.4 5 6 7. ch 14.34 35. 1 Tim. 2.11 12. 4 Rev. 4. 7 Rev. 9. 19 Rev. 8. See Defen of Dr. Still Unr. of Separ p. 41 42. 13 Joh. 4 5. 1 Tim. 5.10 P. 297. Prot. Rec. p 38 26 Mat. 29 14 Mark 25. 22 Luke 15 16 17. Prot. Rec. c. 8. p. 313. Ibid. P. 3 4. Duct dubit l. 3. c. 4. R. 20. S. 8. Prot. Recone p. 220 c. Reâ— c. 7. p. 212. Duct Dubit 3 b. 4 c. R. 20. S. 6. Recon p. 214. P. 227 c. Preface p. 53. P. 215. See the Vind. of the Defen of Dr. Stilling p. 427 c. Recon p. 332 333. Of Ceremonies why some abolish'd and some retain'd Pref. to the Com. Pray P. 338. P. 159. P. 323. Rec. p. 31 32. Recon p. 208. P. 247 c. P. 239 240. Irenicum p. 3. Recon p. 109 c. Chap. 8. p. 259. Hist. of Separation p. 16. Recon p. 297. Pref. to the Com. Prayer-book about Ceremonies 1 Cor. 11.3 4 c. Rec. p. 339. 15. Acts. P. 309. Libertas Eccl. p. 429. Recon p. 317. Libertas Eccl. p. 415. P. 318. 5 Joh. 10. 6 Luke 9. 12 Mat. 12. Prot. Rec. c. 1. P. 22. Recon ch 10. p. 326. P. 327. P. 330. See Dr. Still Hist. of Separation p. 4. P. 25. P. 331. Recon ch 2. p. 23. Recon p. 45. P. 46. 6 Hos. 6. 6 Mic. 6 7 8. 12 Mat. 7. 9 Mat. 13. P. 47. 9 Mat. 14 c. P. 49. P. 48. P. 50. P. 51. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 15 16 17 18. â—3 Mat. 13. v. 4. P. 54. v. 2 3. P. 56. 9 Mark 38. 15 Acts. Chap. 2. P. 73. P. 71. P. 79. Ibid. p. 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Loc. 21 Acts 24. 21 Acts 21. 5 Gal. 1. 2 Col. 5.8 c. 14 Rom. 14. P. 77. 14 Rom. 1. v. 2. v. 3. P. 83. Libertas Ecclesiastica P. 437. Acts 10. 2 Gal. 11 12. 15 Acts 1. P. 84. P. 79. 14 Rom. 3. 15 Acts 7. P. 85. P. 86. 14 Rom. 4. 4 Jam. 11 12. 14 Rom. 5 6. P. 87 88. 14 Rom. 13. P. 77. 18 Mat. 6 10. 1 Cor. 8.10 ch 15 Acts 29. 14 Rom. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys. in Locum Reconciler p. 88 c. v. 17. v. 18. Prot. Recone p. 59. Prot. Reconc p. 99. 14 Rom. 5. 14 Rom. 1. Unreason of Separation p. 215 216. Recâ—nc p. 81. Ibid. P. 82. 1 Cor. 10.32 Recon p. 154. Vid. Supra ch 2. p. 124. 14 Rom. 14 Rom. 1. 3 Philip. 16. 2 Gal. 11 12 c. Vide Supra ch 2. p. 118. 1 Cor. 11.34 1 Tit. 5. 1 Cor. 11.2 2 Cor. 7.15 1 Thess. 5.12 13. 13 Heb. 17. 2 Thess. 3.14 3 Phil. 15. Argum. 1. P. 122. Argum. 2. Recon p. 123. Vide Supra ch 4. p. 209. Recon p. 127. 1 Cor. 8.2 v. 10. v. 4. v. 7. v. 10 11. v. 8. v. 8 10. v. 1. Prot. Reconc p. 127. 1 Cor. 10. 1 Cor. 10.25 26 27. v. 28. 1 Cor. 8.8 Ibid. v. 13. 1 Cor. 9.20 21 22. Prot. Recon p. 138. 1 Cor. 9. v. 14 v. 12. 2 Cor. 9.1 c. 1 Cor. 9.15 16 18. Prot. Recon p. 138. Prot. Recon p. 166. See chap. 3. See Defence of Dr. Still Separat about Church-unity Recon p. 170. 16 Numb 2 Sam. 6.6 7. 1 Sam. 13.9 10 c. 15 ch 7 8 c. 23 Mat. 23. Recon p. 178. Ibid. 2 Sam. 12. P. 179. 20 Gen. 6. P. 180. 2 Phil. 14 c. Recon p. 182. P. 183. 1 Tim. 6.20 P. 185. Prot. Recon p. 197. P. 198. Prot. Reconc p. 200. See chap. 2. p. 131 c. Recon p. â—02 Vide Supra p. 104. Chap. 2. p. 144 c. Supra p. 105 c. Recon p. 20â— Chap. 1. p. 24 c. See chap. 2. Chap. 1. p. 79 c. p. 109 c. Recon p. 207. Chap. 2. p. 140 141. Preface p. 4. Chap. 1. p. 100 c.
duty but the power of imposing indifferent things as he calls it or the power of prescribing the Rules and Orders and Circumstances of Worship if there be any such power as he grants there is is the power and authority of an Office is a Trust and a Duty the prudent and faithful discharge of which they must give an account of and therefore must not when they please either part with the power or the exercise of it St. Paul was contented to part with the temporal rewards of his Ministry that he might the more successfully discharge the Ministry it self therefore Church-Governours must not exercise their Authority in the discharge of their Ministry to humour Dissenters St. Paul did more than his strict duty required that he might have something to glory in therefore the Governours of the Church must neglect their duty and lose their reward Indeed our Reconciler talks as if the Churches Authority in indifferent things were onely a personal right a Complement to Church-Governours an ornamental power which they may use or may let alone as they please and if this were so I should presently be of our Reconciler's mind but I believe they have no such kind of useless Authority as this Christ has not complemented his Ministers with any power which is not for the use and service of the Church and therefore if they have power in indifferent things this is a useful power and that which they ought to use when there is reason for it whoever be offended at it Another reason why St. Paul preached the Gospsl freely at Corinth he gives us in the 2 Cor. 11. 12 13. What I do that I will do that I may cut off occasion from them that desire occasion that wherein they glory they may be found even as we for such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ. The meaning of which is this There were several false Teachers who crept in among them and used all manner of arts to recommend themselves to the Corinthians and among others this seems to be one that they preached the Gospel freely to them onely as they pretended out of love of their Souls which was a very popular art especially to that People and therefore St. Paul resolved to persist in preaching the Gospel freely to them to cut off occasion from them that desire occasion that is to disappoint those arts of deceit whereby these false Teachers endeavoured to recommend themselves that wherein they glory they may be found even as we that whereas they glory in preaching the Gospel freely this may give them no advantage since it is no more than what I my self have all along done and still continue to do Our Reconciler paraphraseth these words thus To cut off occasion from them that desire occasion that is lest his enemies should take occasion from the exercise of this his liberty to charge or to traduce him as one who more consulted his own profit than the glory of God and the propagation of the Gospel But what occasion had there been for this though he had taken Wages of them as he says he did of other Churches to supply his necessities it was sufficiently evident notwithstanding that he did exact nothing from them to serve the ends of covetousness and ambition for certainly a man may desire the supply of his wants without being charged with covetousness but the Apostle would not suffer these false Prophets by a pretended and hypocritical Zeal to outdo him in any thing Now the Apostle's care to give no advantage to false Teachers is a good Example to the Governours of our Church not to do so neither and I am sure they cannot give them greater advantage than to sacrifice all Order and Decency to their pretended Scruples Well but says our Reconciler the Rulers of the Church by the exercise of this power in indifferent things do give occasion to them that desire occasion to traduce them as men who more regard a Ceremony than an immortal Soul the exercise of their commanding Power than the preserving of poor Souls from damning Schisms and the Church from sad Divisions c. These are very spightful but very foolish Insinuations As for Schisms and Divisions we have already considered where that charge must rest and then how do Ceremonies come in competition with the Souls of men Does the appointment of some Ceremonies for the decent and orderly performance of Religious Worship hinder the salvation of mens Souls Cannot men be saved who observe the Ceremonies of our Church Then indeed our Reconciler might well complain that those who impose such damning Ceremonies have more regard to a Ceremony than to an immortal Soul otherwise there is no competition between Ceremonies and the Souls of men and those who will be Schismaticks for a Ceremony will be Schismaticks without it and will be damned for their Schism whether there be any Ceremonies or not All that remains in this Chapter are his Answers to Meisner's Arguments which I have already considered as much as is necessary to my purpose CHAP. VII Containing an Answer to the Motives to Mutual Condescension urged in the sixth Chapter of the Protestant Reconciler I Find nothing in this Chapter besides some Harangues and Popular Declamations but what has been sufficiently answered already The whole proceeds upon those general Topicks of the smalness of these things the danger mens Souls are in by these Impositions the obligations to Love and Charity which have been particularly discoursed above in the first and second Chapters where the reasons of these things are particularly examined But however I will briefly try whether I cannot give an Answer to all this which may be as popular as his Objections are I. His first Argument or Motive is from considering how small the things are which cause our Discords and Divisions when they are set in competition with the more weighty duties and concerns of Love Peace and the Churches Vnion and Edification and the avoiding the offence and scandal of Iew Gentile and the Church of God which he very pompously proves to be great Gospel-duties Now suppose the things in dispute be never so small if they are of any use in Religion and the Object of Ecclesiastical Authority as our Reconciler owns they are what will he conclude from hence that the observation of such little things must not be enjoyned What not when Christ has given authority to enjoyn them Does Christ then give any authority to his Church which she must not use Must nothing be enjoyned which is little in comparison of Love and Peace and Unity or must they be enjoyned and left indifferent at the same time Must the Church appoint them to be observed but command no body to observe them but those who please In all well-governed Societiâ—s there must be Laws about little as well as about great things and if there be no Authority to determine the least matters both in