would make an accord between the Augustine Confession and the Council of Trent and also of a certain Romish Ecclesiastick who would make the like accord between the said Council and the Articles of the Church of England than which nothing could be more absurd and vain for it could be nothing else but a violent wresting of those Decrees and Articles to a forced sence against the propriety of language and the scope of the whole matter and the apparent judgement of both Parties and so it could never heal the breach For if both Parties were drawn to subscribe the same forms of Confession but with meanings so far distant from each other as are the Doctrines of the Protestant and Roman Churches they would not really advance one step the nearer to peace and concord Section VIII Such designs as these sometimes proceed from lukewarmness or indifferency in Religion and an undervaluing of main Truths together with a contempt of godly Zeal as a thing superfluous and impertinent And sometimes they proceed from vastness of minde whereby some through too great a sense of their vast abilities assume to themselves a Dictatorship in Religion to approve or condemn admit or reject according to their own estimation of things which is a dangerous kind of ambition and as a learned man speaks is to take up the Office of an Umpire between God and men But many times such a design is set on foot with much craftiness for the undoing of one of the Parties as it hath been undertaken by some Romish spirits for the undermining of the Protestant Churches A Divine of chief rank observes the arts and stratagems of some Popish Preachers even of those Orders that have been held most implacable whereby far otherwise than the accustomed manner they extenuate the controversies and acknowledge that too much rigor hath been used in some points and in others too little sincerity yea some Jesuits went about making fair promises yet in the mean time abating no point of the chief foundations of Papal Authority which standing firm they knew that the other Concessions granted for a time might easily be drawn back and the opposite rigors imposed on those that had been taken in the snare by a pretended yielding to some reformation Philip Melancthon as the same Author observes being a most Pious and Learned man and zealous of the Churches peace at first whilst he conceived that some Reformation might be hoped for from a General Council was free and forward in some points of yielding to the Papists but when he found that such a benefit was neither hopefull nor possible he testified by his writings how far distant he was from the aim of the Conciliators Section IX But the Pacification here propounded is not by aggregating things inconsistent nor by devising mongrel ways and opinions made up out of both extreams which can satisfie the consciences of neither Party but by taking out of the way such extreams on both sides as both may well spare and part with being such as are acknowledged no part of the Foundation nor yet of divine Institution but mutable according to times and occasions and therefore cannot be of that importance as to break unity amongst brethren that agree in the Doctrine of Faith and the substance of Divine Worship This desired Union is grounded upon the Apostles Commandement and the pursuing thereof is no other then the urging of St. Pauls Doctrine throughout the whole fourteenth Chapter to the Romans That none judge or despise another about things indifferent or Ceremonious Observances wherein as several men will abound in their own sense so it is meet that every one be perswaded in his own minde concerning his particular practice that nothing be done with a doubting conscience His MAJESTIES Wisdom hath rightly comprehended this Matter in His Declaration touching Ecclesiastical Affairs wherein He saith We are the rather induced to take this upon Us that is to give some determination to the matters in difference by finding upon a full Conference that We have had with the Learned men of severall perswasions that the mischiefs under which both Church and State do at present suffer do not result from any formed Doctrine or Conclusion which either Party maintains or avows but from the passion and appetite and Interest of particular persons which contract greater prejudice to each other by those affections then would naturally arise from their Opinions In old time there was a partition wall of legal Ceremonies and Ordinances raised up between Jews and Gentiles but when the fulness of time was come wherein God would make both Jews and Gentiles one in Christ he was pleased to take down that partition wall which himself had reared up In these latter times there hath been a partition wal of mans building namely controverted mutable Rites and forms of Religion which have kept asunder Christians of the same Nation and of the same Reformed Protestant Profession Both reason and charity pleads for the removing of these offences that brethren may dwell together in Unity And to transgress this rule of Charity is not only to lay a yoke upon the necks of Christians but also to lay snares for their Consciences Section X. Nor will any defect in the State Ecclesiastical insue upon the removal of these matters in controversie for the points of Doctrine Worship and Discipline acknowledged by both Parties are a sufficient and ample Foundation for the edification and peace of the Church to rest upon for which we cannot have a fuller Testimony than what is given by His MAJESTY in His aforesaid Declaration We must for the Honour of all those of either Perswasion with whom we have conferred Declare That the Professions and desires of all for the advancement of Piety and true Godliness are the same their Professions of Zeal for the Peace of the Church the same of affection and duty to Us the same they all approve Episcopacy they all approve a set Form of Liturgy and they all disapprove and dislike the sin of Sacriledge the alienation of the revenue of the Church And if upon these excellent Foundations in submission to which there is such an Harmony of Affections any Superstructure should be raised to the shaking of these Foundations and to the contracting and lessening of the blessed gift of Charity which is a vital part of Christian Religion We shall think Our Self very unfortunate and even suspect that We are defective in that administration of Government with which God hath entrusted Vs These His Majesties Words I receive with much veneration for they are a Divine Sentence in the Mouth of the King and they fathom the depth of this grand business It is therefore manifest as from Reason so from His Majesties Testimony that those unhappy discords do not result from any formed Doctrine or Conclusion that either toucheth or borders upon the Foundation and that excellent Foundations are contained in those points in submission to which there is found
offensive and groaning more and more under that yoke of bondage as they coneeived they waited for deliverance and were in the main of one soul and spirit with the Non-Conformists And even then the way called Puritanism did not give but get ground But now the Tenents of this way are rooted more then ever and those things formerly imposed are now by many if not by the most of this way accounted not only burthensom but unlawfull And after a long time of search and practice the mindes of men are fixed in this opinion and are not like to be reduced to the practice of former times and therefore in al reason the imposing of such matters of controversie as by so many are held unlawfull and by those that have a zeal for them judged indifferent not necessary cannot procure the peace of Church and Kingdom Section IX That this numerous party will not vary from its self or vanish upon changes in Government or new Accidents doth hence appear in that it doth not rest upon any private temporary variable occasion but upon a cause perpetual and everlasting Those forementioned Principles of science and practice which give it its proper Being are of that firm and fixed nature that new contingencies will not alter them nor length of time wear them out They are the great things of God which have a great power over the spirit of man And they are imbraced by such as highly prize them not for temporal advantages whereof they have no appearance but for an internal excellency discerned in them as being necessary to the glory of God and the salvation of men And consequently to these men it is not satisfactory at all adventures to be of the State-Religion or to believe as the Church believes Neither will they be dissolved or much weakned by the declining haply of some principall Ones who being bought off by preferment may turn prevaricators For notwithstanding such a falling off the inward spirit that actuates the whole body of them and knits them to each other will remain in full strength and vigour And though many others through weakness or mildness should stagger and give ground in the points of lesser moment and more controverted yet the root of the matter may remain in them and as to the main they may be still where they were But what are those great things for which this sort of men contend Surely they are no other then the lively opening of the pure Doctrine of the Gospel the upholding of all Divine Institutions particularly the strict observation of the Lords day a laborious and efficacious Ministry taking hold of the Conscience and reaching to the heart a godly Discipline correcting true and real scandals and disobedience in a word all the necessary and effectual means of unfained faith and holy life that the Kingdom of God may come in power And for these things sake they are alienated from the height of Prelacy and the pomp of Ceremonious Worship This was well known and provided against by the swaying part of the later Prelatists For in as much as they could not quell the Puritans by the rigid injunction of Conformity that they might give a blow at the root Lectures were suppressed afternoon Sermons on the Lords day prohibited under pretence of Catechizing which was only a bare rehearsal of the Form of Catechism for Children without explication or application of those principles a Book for sports and pastimes on Sundays enjoyned to be read by Ministers in their Parish Churches under penalty of deprivation sundry superstitious Innovations introduced a new Book of Canons composed and a new oath for upholding the Hierarchy inforced Far be it from me to impute these things to all that were in Judgment Episcopal for I am perswaded a great if not the greater part of them disallowed these Innovations Nevertheless those others that were most vehement active watchful vigorous did not by all the aforesaid means advance but rather weaken their Cause and lessen themselves in the esteem of observing men and the oppressed party increased in number and vigour It is therefore evident that this Interest for which we plead is not like a Meteor which after a while vanisheth away but is of a solid and firme consistence like a fixed Constellation And the injuries done unto it are not of that nature as to be acted once and for all and then to pass into the grave of oblivion but they are lasting pressures to a perpetual regret and grievance And should not these be done away especially when the occasions thereof wil be found not necessary but superfluous Section X. There remaineth yet some greater thing which strikes deep into this Enquiry which at the first glance perhaps may seem a fancy but by impartial judgement will be found a manifest and weighry truth namely that as this Interest will never vary from its self so it will never be extinguished while the State of England continues Protestant I do not now argue from Maximes of Faith and Religion as that the life and power of Christianity shall never fail that after the greatest havock of the true Church there will be a remnant a seed that shall spring up to a great increase after a little season but I have here entred upon a way of reason and let men of Reason judge Suppose that the Persons now in being of this strict profession were generally ruined and rooted out yet let but the Protestant Doctrine as it is by Law established in the Church of England be upheld and preached and it will raise up a genuine off-spring of this people whose way is no other then the life and power of that Doctrine as it is not onely received by tradition education example or any humane authority but also imprinted upon the spirit by a lively energy and operation And this I further say and testifie let but the free use of the Holy Bible be permitted to the common people and this generation of men will spring up afresh by the immortall seed of the Word For that pure spiritual and heavenly Doctrine pressing internal renovation or the new Birth and the way of holy singularity and circumspection and being written with such Authority and Majesty must needs beget though not in the most yet in may a disposition and practise in some sort thereunto conformable This is evident in reason if it be granted that the sacred Scriptures are apt to make deep and strong Impressions upon the minds of men And whosoever denies this as he is in point of Religion Atheistical so of Understanding bruitish For even those impious Politicians who in heart make no account of Religion yet will make shew of giving reverence to it because it is alwaies seen to have a mighty influence upon men of all ranks and degrees Wherefore upon the grounds aforesaid I hold it a matter of unquestionable Verity that the way in scorn called Puritanism will never utterly sink unto Protestantism it self shal fail
in reference to all sorts of persons and things under his Jurisdiction He may politically compel the outward man of all persons Church-Officers or others under his Dominions unto external performance of their respective Duties and Offices in matters of Religion punishing them if either they neglect to do their Duty at all or do it corruptly Thus they yield unto the Supream Magistrate a supream political power in all spiritual matters but they do not yield that he is the Fountain of spiritual power there being a spiritual power belonging to the Church if there were no Christian Magistrate in the world They assert only a spiritual power over the Conscience as intrinsecally belonging to the Church and acknowledge that no Decree or Canon of the Church can be a binding Law to the Subjects of any Kingdom under temporal penalties till it be ratified by the Legislative power of that Kingdome And they do not claim for the Convocation or any other Ecclesiastical Convention an Independency on Parliaments if they did surely the Parliament of England would resent such a Claim Section XIII There goes a voice that the Presbyterians are Antimonarchical But are their Principles inconsistent with Monarchy or any impeachment to the same These are contained in the character above-written let any of them be called into question and let Sentence be past upon them if they be found guilty but if no particular be herewith charged the reproach must pass for calumniation not accusation Peradventure the exact Presbytery that is the parity of degree and authority in all Ministers is that against which this charge is directed although this parity is not insisted upon or urged to the breach of peace neither is it essential to Presbytery yet what reason can be rendred why this may not comport with Kingly Government Or would this sort of men have no King to reign over them Doth a Re-publique better please them Did the English or Scottish Presbyters ever go about to dissolve Monarchy and to erect some other kind of Government In no wise for in the Solemn League and Covenant they bound themselves to endeavour the preservation of the Kings person and Authority and declared they had no intent to diminish his Majesties just power and greatness After the violent change of Government they came slowest and entred latest into those new Engagements imposed by the usurp'd Powers and some utterly refused even to the forfeiture of their preferments and the hazard of their livelihoods when the Nation in general submitted to the yoke and many of those who thus object against them did in temporizing run with the foremost The truth is the generality of Conscientious Presbyterians never ran with the current of those times Some more eminent among them Ministers and others hazarded their lives and others lost their lives in combining to bring our Soveraign that now is to the rightful possession of this His Kingdom And those in Scotland adventured no more then all to uphold him and when He lost the day they lost their Liberty and when He fell it was said by the Adversary Presbytery was fallen I have known when keeping company with the chief Presbyterian Ministers hath been objected by the Republican Council of State for a crime causing Imprisonment Lastly the Presbyterians by their influence first divided and then dissipated the Sectarian party and so made way for his Majesties Return in peace And it is acknowledged by some eminent on the Episcopal side that the sence of the Covenant hath lately quickned many mens Consciences in their Allegiance to the King so as to bring him with David home in infinite joy and triumph All which do shew plainly that they are not averse from Regal Government or the Royal Family but they desire to dwell under the shadow of our dread Soveraign hoping to renive as the Corn and to grow as the Vine under his gracious influence Peradventure it is said they would enervate Monarchy and render it too impotent Surely I cannot finde the rise of this Objection unless from hence that they were not willing to come under any yoke but that of the Laws of the Realm or to pay arbitrary Taxes levied without consent of Parliament I confess there are none that more reverence their Liberties and value the native happiness of the free born Subjects of England And verily their true knowledge and sense of the nature of Christian Religion makes a due freedom exceeding precious For this Religion is not variable according to the will of man but grounded upon an unchangeable and eternall truth and doth indispensibly binde every Soul high and low to one divine law and rule perpetual and unalterable And therefore it doth strongly plead the expedience of a due civil liberty on the behalf of its Professors yet such a liberty as will not infeeble Monarchy nor the legal power of the Kings of England And without controversie a King ruling a free people hath a power much more noble and more free then he that ruleth over perfect Vassals that hath no Propriety The power is more noble because it hath a more noble subject of Government it is more honourable to rule men then beasts and Free men then Slaves Likewise the power is more free For whatsoever Prince hath not his power limited by his peoples legal freedom he will be bound up some other way either by the potency of subordinate Princes and great Lords within the Realm or by a veterane Army as the Turkish Emperour by his Janizaries and the Roman Caesars by the Pretorian Bands and the Legions Upon which account to be a powerful Monarch over a free people is the freedom and glory of our Soveraign Lord above all the Potentates on earth Section XIV But Rebellion and Disobedience is the loud out-cry of some against this party And this were a crying sin indeed But let not sober minds be hurried into prejudice by such exclamations and out-cries It were to be wished for common peace and amity that the late public discords were eternally forgotten But seeing some in these times of expected Reconciliation will not cease to implead and condemn the honest minded and render them odious to the higher Powers a necessity is laid upon us to speak something Apologetical at least to mitigate the business and remove prejudice The Presbyterian party in England never engaged under a less Authority than that of both Houses of Parliament I have read that the Parliament of England hath several capacities and among the rest these two First that it represents the people as Subjects and so it can do nothing but manifest their grievances and petition for relief Secondly that by the constitution it hath part in the Soveraignty and so it hath part in the legislative power and in the final judgment Now when as a part of the Legislative Power resides in the two Houses as also a power to redress grievances and to call into question all Ministers of State and Justice and all
and pull down but not to build up They do not hang in the air bur build upon a firm ground they have setled principles consistent with the rules of stable policy Contrariwise Fanaticks truly and not abusively so called do build castles in the air and are fit instruments to disturb and destroy and root out but never to compose and plant and settle for which cause their Kingdom could never hold long in any time or place of the world Upon this ground Presbytery not sectarian Anarchy hath been assaulted with greatest violence by the more observing Prelatists against this they have raised their main batteries this appeared formidable for it is stable and uniform and like to hold if once setled in good earnest This party do not run so fast but they know where to stop they are a number of men so fixed and constant as none more and a Prince or State shall know where to find them They do not strain so high but they consider withal what the Kingdoms of the world will bear and are willing to bring things to the capacity of political Government They can have no pleasure in commotions and alterations for order and regular unity is their way and therefore stability of Government and publick tranquility is their interest It is most unreasonable to object that the late wilde postures extravagancies and incongruities in Government were the work of Presbytery or Presbyterians The Nation had never proof of Presbytery for it was never setled but rather decryed and exposed to prejudice by those that were in sway and that in the more early times of the late Wars The truth of this matter is cleared by a passage of our late Soveraign in a Letter to his Majesty that now is All the lesser Factions were at first officious Servants to Presbytery their great Master till time and Military Success discovering to each their particular advantages invited them to part stakes and leaving the joynt stock of uniform Religion pretended each to drive for their party the trade of profits and preferments to the breaking and undoing not only of the Church and State but of Presbytery it self Thus the joynt stock of uniform Religion was left and Presbytery neglected before the first War was ended Yea and those that stedsastly adhered to it were maligned and reviled by the exorbitant party for opposing their new models or agreements of the people Section XVII Neither can Sects or Schisms with any truth or justice be reckoned the Off-spring of Presbytery Consider the French Dutch Helvetian Churches how intire they keep themselves in Orthodox Vnity from the Gangreen of Sects and Schisms A wide Breach was once made in the Netherlands by Arminius and his Followers but after some years conflict it was healed by the Synod of Dort The Church of Scotland is inferiour to none in the unity of Doctrine and Church-Communion and their form of Ecclesiastical Policy and method of Discipline is very effectual to prevent the broaching of Errour King James in discourse with an English Bishop is reported to have rendred this account why so few Heresies and Errours of Doctrine are united and prosecuted to the publick disturbance of that Church Every Parish hath their Pastor ever present with them and watching over them and he with his Elders and Deacons hath a weekly meeting for censure of manners by which he perfectly knows his Flock and every abberation of them in doctrine practise and lest any heresie might seize upon the Pastor they have their Presbyters which meet together once also every week in the next chief Town or City and there they have their exercise of prophesying after which the Moderator asks the judgement of all the Pastors concerning the doctrine then delivered or of any other doubtful point then propounded and if the Presbytery be divided in their opinions the question is under an injoyned silence put over 〈◊〉 the next Synod which is held twice a 〈…〉 which the Pastors of that quarter or province do duly resort accompanied with their Elders and any question of doubt is either decided by that Assembly or with charge of silence reserved to a national Synod which they hold every year once whither come not the Pastors onely but the King himself or his Commissioners and some of all orders and degrees sufficiently authorized for determining of any controversie that shall arise among them Could the Bishops in former times procure a greater unity in the Church of England Whence therefore should this charge arise peradventure some Presbyterians have turned Sectaries Surely it would be taken for a weak arguing to say That Prelacy is the way to Popery because some Prelatists have turned Papists The truth is Sectarianism grew up in a Mystery of Iniquity and State policy and it was not well discerned till it became almost triumphant by Military successes But after that its growth and strength did manifestly appear Presbytery began to struggle with it and so continued until by the power of the Army it was inforced to sit down but never to comply Whereupon the tongues and pens of Sectaries were imployed against none more then the Presbyterians And I should be glad to hear of such bitter Invectives of the Papists against the Prelatists not that I rejoyce in the sin of the one or the suffering of the other but that the Protestant friends of Prelacy might more incline to their Protestant Presbyterian Brethren Surely the way to prevent the growth of the two utmost extreams is for the two middle parties to draw up and close together But however the world goes the Presbyterians shall ever keep as good a distance from the Sectaries or Fanaticks as the Prelatists shall from Papists And verily there is no greater bar against Fanaticism then the right Presbyterian principles as not to sever but joyn the written word and spirit for direction the spirit and use of Ordinances for Edification to erect a stated Church-Order and Discipline to allow to the Church a directive and to every Christian a discretive judgment to insist only upon Divine Scripture Warrant and to wave humane authority in matters of Religion For such is the temperament of these Maximes that they commend and require a distinct knowledge and illumination in the mind and in the affections lively motions and stirrings against Formality and blind Devotion and so do satisfie the minds of those who conceive that in true Religion there is spiritual light and life and power and also they shew the necessity of the written Word of constant publick Ordinances and private Exercises of Religion and of the direction and discipline of the Church all which do serve to settle the mind against dilusive impulses and wild fancies and raptures Section XVIII But of all the prejudices and scandals taken against this way there is none greater then this that it is represented as tyrannical and domineering and that those who live under it must like Issachar crouch under the burdens In
inveterate malice by good turns which is indeed a true saying but perverted by mis-application In this case to judge rightly of things that differ let a Prince consider diligently whether the present averseness proceeds from rooted Principles and a fixed Interest inconsistent with the security of his Estate or from the pressures of the grieved Party in things which are not the necessary props of his Power and without which his greatness may well consist and let him never question the gaining of such a people whose Principles and designs are not against the true and proper Interest of his Estate whatsoever their present distempers be for the grievances being redressed time will wear out those distempers And in that case a people will not less value their Prince because he yieldeth to them with respect to his own concernments for they will not judge it a forced yielding because that proceeds from force which is yielded for present necessity and against the main Interest but they will cleave to him the more by discerning that his and their good do agree in one for it makes them hope that he will seek their good as his own When Governours resent the non-compliances of a party their best remedy is to remove the occasions when it may be done without crossing the Interests of State or Maximes of Government then will the honest-minded be mollified and moulded and towards the residue of obstinate persons if there be any such severity will be used more succesfully It is the wisedom of rulers by all means to lessen offences and to contract the number of offenders For where there are many sufferers upon a Religious account whether in truth or pretence there will be a kind of glory in suffering and sooner or later it may turn to the Rulers detriment Section XXXII Another great impediment of publick concord is an erroneous confidence in the more numerous Party that they need not seek nor mind the way of peace for they reckon themselves sure to carry it by the major Vote in all Councils and Conventions they see wind and tide serving them But they who consider but few things do make a sudden judgment which commonly falls short Great prosperity oft-times blinds the wise as well as fools and great advantages divert the mind from heeding many important circumstances of a business that the judgment made concerning it is most imperfect Wherefore in the present case it should be minded that the dissenting party is not small that it is not made up of the rabble multitude nor yet of Phanatique spirits but of honest and sober people who act from principles of knowledge and can render a reason of their practice in things pertaining to conscience with as much discretion as any sort of men in the Nation that the instances which they make do not concern by-matters and mutable occasions but matters of conscience that will never cease nor vary that they are not a party far distant but very near I mean not only in respect of place for so the Papists that live among us cannot be far from us but of agreement in Principles of Religion that they cannot be well severed nor kept in a divided State nor yet be rooted out but they will grow up under the influence of the Doctrine professed in the Church of England that in many deliberations they may be able to put things to a stand and in debates of great consequence to lead the indifferent sort of men and also many temperate spirits of the other perswasion by the apparent equity of their proposals All these things and more of the like nature do challenge a due regard from those that would see through a business and make a perfect judgment Besides the judicious should consider not only the bulk and corps of a party but what spirit doth quicken them and with what vivacity and constancy their motions do proceed and their Interest is pursued It comes also within the compass of this inquiry to know the intrinsick strength of the Hierarchy and what they can do when they stand by themselves alone for their adventitious strength may fail them We need not tell them that on their side at present the advantage is very great yet haply it may appear in shew greater then it is indeed Though the English Nation appear to affect a stated Order in the Church nevertheless they may not serve the designs of the Hierarchy nor yet be conscious thereof Upon the late great revolution the multitude do easily run from one extream to an other thinking they cannot run too far from those troubles and discomposures which last oppressed them But as the prudent ponder their paths at present so the passionate multitude may at length know where they are and discern alike the evil of both extreams Many that are lifted up may give offence and fall under great displeasure they that are cast down may be better advised by their sufferings and remove the occasions of stumbling and so become if not indeared yet inoffensive to the Nation Such vicissitudes of love and hatred do happen in every age and there is no new thing under the Sun Section XXXIII Another obstacle in the way of this conjunction is an opinion of many that the sure and only means of preventing schism and maintaining unity in the Church is by multiplying Ceremonial injunctions and Canons by requiring full conformity to controverted forms which might well be spared by exacting not only submission of practice but assent of judgment declared by subscription to all particulars of Doctrine Worship and Discipline in every jot and tittle thereof But in very deed this is the sure way of endless dissention among a people that are not bottomed on this principle of believing as the Church believes This kind of imposing hath discomposed all Christendom and rends the several Churches from each other and makes the rent incurable It is the way of the Church of Rome which upon this account is guilty of the foulest schism that was ever made in the Christian world It is a notable saying of Chillingworth Not Protestants for rejecting but the Church of Rome for imposing on the faith of Christians Doctrines unwritten and unnecessary and for disturbing the Churches peace and dividing Unity in such matters is in an high degree presumptuous and schismatical God is jealous for his worship and consciences well informed and duly tender are likewise jealous concerning it lest they should provoke God to jealousie Mindes truly religious do set an high price on matters of conscience and will expose all to sale rather then cross their principles Wherefore if in matters of perpetual controversie between godly wise persons the Church shall make peremptory decrees and severe injunctions it must needs dissolve the band of unity But the best and surest means of preventing and suppressing Schisms is to prevent corrupt administrations and real scandals in matters Ecclesiasticall and seasonably to reform abuses and not to interpose in
lesser differences Section XXXIV Furthermore a great prejudice is taken up against Bishops ruling in consoâ—iation with Presbyters and against Classical or Presbyterian meetings as inclining to Faction and likely to produce alterations which evils are supposed to follow tbe distributing of the power among many Whereupon the Government of a single Person or a Bishop having sole Jurisdictson is apprehended to be the surest means of keeping Church affairs in a fixed state This prejudice having a great shew of truth we must stoop to pry into it more narrowly And first we have this political maxime to direct us in this inquiry that the condition of the people to be governed is the best rule of discerning the aptest form of Government And according to this principle we resolve that absolute Prelacy is the only Government to hold a people that content themselves with a customary service and the Religion of their Country and of their fore-fathers whatsoever it be All Discourses Debates Disputations and all occasions of contest touching Religion and particularly that exercise which is called prophesying must be avoided But this Government is not so agreeable to a people that are given to search the Scriptures and try Doctrines In England where the inferior Clergy or Parochial Ministery is not rude and ignorant but in a great part learned and conscientious where the common people in a great part try all things that they may hold fast that which is good the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction cannot conveniently reside in a Prelate alone governing by severe Canons and denouncing excommunication against all those that express any dissent from any particulars of the received Forms of Worship and Discipline For among such a people this is a likelier way to beget some great distemper then to keep all in quietness and deep silence But a form of Government more free by distributing the power among many and regular meetings for free debates with in certain limits will be much more peaceable and succesful It is here acknowledged that in such an order of things dissentions may arise and cause some interruptions Nevertheless no great inconvenience but sometimes much advantage may follow The stirrings of warm contests may be unadvisedly condemned For as Thunder purgeth the Air so these stirrings may purge the Church from Corruptions ingendering in it Let the frame and order of things be so established that both parties may be made hopeless concerning factious attempts of promoting this or that extream that the contests may not be on the one side for Dominion nor on the other side for inordinate liberty but on both sides for Truths due freedom and then they will end in peace If great mistakes should arise in such meetings and seem for a while to pass currently there may be found some persons of that wisedome integrity and reputation as to be able to shew the fallacy and to convince those of both sides that intend uprightly In which case if they perceive an evil spirit on work and an evil design hatching among some they will turn away with indignation from the contrivers of such mischief Wherfore let the frame of Ecclesiastical politie lean neither towards Tyranny nor Anarchy but be set upright for just liberty Let good orders be kept and priviledges not violated and the greater number of those who mean honestly will not be led into the snare of faction And selfish ambitious pragmatick spirits that trouble them will easily be detected and abandoned Section XXXV Unto this reasoning let the authority of an Eminent pacifique Bishop be superadded concerning the way of order and stability in the conjunction of Episcopacy and Presbytery Bishop Hall in his Discourse Intituled A modest offer of some meet considerations to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster commends the method of the Church of Scotland for prevention of Errour and Heresie by a gradual proceeding from the parochial meeting to the Presbytery from thence to the provincial Synod and from thence to the general Assembly for determining any controversie saying Thus bears the face of a very fair and laudable course and such as deserves the approbation of all the well-willers to that Discipline But let me add That either we have or may have in this very state of things with some small variation in effect the very same Government with us Instead of Presbyteries consisting of several Pastors we have our combinations of Ministers in our several Deanries over whom the rural Dean is chosen every year by the Minsters of that Division as their Moderator This Deanry or Presbytery may be enjoyned to meet every moneth or oftner in some City or Town next to them and there they may have their exercise of Prophecying as I have known it practised in some parts of this Kingdom as it is earnestly wished and recommended by that Excellently Learned Lord Verulam in his prudent Considerations where if any Question fail of determination it may be referred gradually from the lesser to the greater Assemblies till it be brought to a National Synod In the same discourse the said Bishop commends one constant prudent vigilant Overseer superadded to a Grave Judicious Presbytery without concurrence of which Presbytery the Bishop or Overseer should not take upon him to inflict Excommunication or any other important Censure Having discovered certain general Impediments I proceed to Argue upon the particular Concernments of the King of the Nobility and Gentry and of the Episcopal Clergy Section XXXVI His Majesties Concernment in this grand Affair transcends the particular concernments of all others whether Parties or Persons and that beyond all comparison Others may advance themselves and Families by the present occasions and give over in time when they have builded their own houses Many and perhaps the most if changes come may retreat and serve the Times for their own security but the King never descends from the Stage of publick Action and can never cease to be interessed in His people Others having much to get and little to lose may make themselves by present advantages but the King hath little to get but much to secure and not the present occasional and mutable advantage put perpetual stability is His Inrerest His Majesty hath worthily gained the Reputation of a Wise and Gracious Prince of an excellent spirit and temper for these times And truly a Prince as wise as Solomon hath no Wisedom to spare from the weight of these businesses Let the God of the spirits of all flesh and the Father of Lights continually give to His Majesty a large heart and comprehensive Understanding that may see far and near and fetch within its compass all circumstances consequents and moments that are requisite to the forming of a perfect judgment concerning these great Affairs Section XXXVII After so long a War between King and Parliament and after all the changes in Government the King being at length restored to His full Power and Greatness and the people being satiated with Civil Warres tumults and
Party which cannot be rooted out but will be always considerable either as friends or enemies especially when those tearms do comprise some part of their victory that should accept them Let the Episcopal Clergy observe the spirit of the Nation and the condition of the Times that they may rightly comprehend the measure of their own hopes The English are a generous Nation and as they delight in the Majesty and Glory of their King so also in the splendid condition of subordinate Governours that their manner of living be in some sort conformable to the dignity and opulency of the Nation Accordingly they seem to take pleasure that the Ecclesiastical State be upheld by a fair Revenue and competent Dignity yet with moderation For if the Clergy do rise to Princely or Lordly wealth and power they may become the envy of the Nobility and Gentry Let them remember they stand by Grace not by their own strength but by their Prince His Favour The Nation in general may be taken with a grave and masculine decency in all Sacred things sutable to their spiritual Majesty but I make a Question whether in this noon-tide of the Gospel they will fall in love with excessive gaudiness pompous shews and various affected gestures in Sacred Administrations and not rather esteem them vanities too much detracting from the dignity and purity of Gospel-Worship In this noon-tide of the Gospel the Bishops cannot magnifie their Office but by other courses then what were taken in former and darker times Meer formalities will no longer dazle our eyes We shall think they have work of an higher nature then to look only to the observation of outward Forms and Rites ann Ceremonies they must make a nearer approach to the Presbyterian practice in the constant Preaching of the Word in the strict observation of the Lords Day in keeping a true watch over the Flock and in correcting the real scandals that break forth in mens conversations And if they walk in these paths the Prelatists and Presbyterians will not be far asunder Perhaps the friends of Prelacy may imagine that in this coalition Presbytery may at length undermine Episcopacy but reason shews that Episcopacy will stand more firm in conjunction with Presbytery then by it self alone In the body natural there is some predominant humour as sanguine cholerick melancholy or phlegmatick yet none of these do subsist alone without the mixture of the rest in a due temperament In like manner the Body Ecclesiastical may be of several complexions or constitutions as Episcopal or Presbyterial according to the predominant quality Now if the Presbyterian Churches would become more firm and stable by the superintendency of one grave President and the truth is in all Presbyteries there appeareth some Episcopacy either formal or vertual so an Episcopal Church may be judged more firm and stable by a Bishops superintendency in consociation with assistant Presbyters And to remove the fear of the incroachments of Presbytery it is easie to discern that Episcopacy if it contains it self within moderate bounds will be always in this National Church the predominant quality In the Conclusion of this Discourse let me offer these few Essayes concerning the pathes of peace Section XLV The glorifying and pleasing of the highest Potentate and universal Monarch and the eternal happiness of immortal precious souls are the most noble and blessed ends of Government Let his Majesties Reign be happy and glorious in attaining these ends A Christian King esteems it the excellency of his regal Power to hold and manage it as the servant of Jesus Christ to be a Protector of the true Church the Body of Christ the Lambs wife for whose redemption Christ dyed and for whose gathering and perfecting the world is continued It is the Character of this true Church to make the holy Scriptures the perfect rule of their faith and life to worship God in spirit and in truth according to the power and spiritual worship of the Gospel to walk by the rule of the new Creature in spiritual mortification and crucifixion to the world to study holinesse in sincerity to strive to advance it in themselves and others and to have influence upon others unto sound knowledge faith humility godlinesse justice temperance charity The true Church lies in the middle between two extreams Formalists and Fanaticks They are of circumspect and regular walking no way forward in attempting or desiring alterations in a civil State A Prince doth hold them in obedience under a double bond For they know they must needs be subject not onely for wrath but for conscience sake Indeed we will not conceal that in lawful wayes they assert that liberty which is setled by the known Laws and fundamental Constitutions the maintaining whereof is the Princ's as much as the Peoples safety Section XLVI That being the happiest politie that is founded in true Religion and most fully suited to mens everlasting concernments it greatly behoveth Governors to mark and avoid those things which bring Religion into contempt and tend to the increase of Atheism and infidelity The many various Sects and absurd opinions and fancies and pretended Revelations of these latter times have much lessened the reverence of Religion in England This is a great evil and much observed and decryed by the present times There is another evil no less injurious to the honour and estimation of Christian piety to wit Ceremonial strictness with real prophaness or at the most but lukewarmness in the real part of Religion And this is the true state of the Papacy by occasion whereof Atheists have so abounded in Italy Machiavel observes in his time that Christianity was no where less honoured then in Rome which is the pretended Head thereof Let this evil be seen prevented and remedied that the sacred name of the Church be given to a society not carnal but truly spiritual according to that of the Apostle We are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Section XLVII It is the preheminence of His Majesty as General Bishop of the Land for so He is in a political sence to visit His people of all ranks by His prudent inspection And it is worthy of His chiefest care and search to know whether every Pastor be resident with his own Flock and doth constantly on every Sabbath teach them the good Knowledge of God what Pluralists do seize upon several Congregations thrusting or barring out laborious Ministers and leaving the sheep in the hands of one who is a meer mercinary and careth not for them whether Preaching in Cathedral Churches be more frequent since the reviving of Deans and Chapters then before when those places were supplied by one or two stipendiary Ministers whether the Precincts of Cathedrals be the purest parts of the Land and the Members thereof the purest parts of the Clergy as in reason they ought to be In all His Majesties superintendency there is