the opposition of it and laugh at or rather pity the rest of the World that could be so servilely blind as seemingly to conspire in the belief of so monstrous an Absurdity And in like manner if any Church should declare that Images are to be worshipped or that the Worship of God is to be performed in an unknown Tongue and that the H. Scriptures which contain the Word and Will of God and teach men what they are to believe and do in order to their eternal Salvation are to be lock'd up and kept concealed from the People in a Language which they do not understand lest if they were permitted the free use of them in their Mother Tongue they should know more of the Mind and Will of God than is convenient for the common People to know whose Devotion and Obedience to the Church does mainly depend upon their Ignorance Or should declare that the Sacrifice of Christ was not offer'd once for all but is and ought to be repeated ten Millions of times every Day And that the People ought to receive the Communion in one kind only and the Cup by no means to be trusted with them for fear the Profane Beards of the Laity should drink of it And that the saving efficacy of the Sacraments doth depend upon the intention of the Priest without which the Receiver can have no benefit by them These are all of them so plainly contrary to Scripture and most of them in Reason so absurd that the Authority of no Church whatsoever can oblige a man to the belief of them Nay I go yet further that being evidently contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel though an Apostle or an Angel from Heaven should declare them we ought to reject them And for this I have St. Paul's authority and warrant who speaking of some that perverted the Gospel of Christ by teaching things contrary to it Though we says he or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again though an Apostle though an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which ye have received let him be accursed Gal. 1. 7 8 9. You see he repeats it over again to express not only his own confident assurance but the certainty of the thing And here is an Anathema with a witness which we may confidently oppose to all the Anathema's which the Council of Trent hath so liberally denounced against all those who shall presume to gainsay these New Doctrines of their Church which are in truth another Gospel than that which our B. Saviour and his Apostles taught And yet on their Side there is neither an Apostle nor an Angel from Heaven in the Case To give but one Instance more If Bellarmin shall tell me as he expresly does That if the Pope should declare Virtue to be Vice and Vice to be Virtue I were bound to believe him unless I would sin against Conscience And if all the World should say the same that Bellarmin does namely that this Infallible Declarer of Virtue and Vice were to be believed and followed yet I could not possibly be of their mind for this plain and undeniable Reason because if Virtue and Vice be all one then Religion is nothing since the main Design of Religion is to teach men the difference between Virtue and Vice and to oblige them to practise the one and to refrain from the other And if Religion be nothing then Heaven and Hell are nothing And if Heaven be nothing then an infallible Guide thither is of no use and to no manner of purpose because he is a Guide no whither and so his great Office ceases and falls of it self And now lest any should think me singular in this Assertion and that thereby I give a great deal too much to the single Judgment of private Persons and too little to the Authority of a Church I will produce the deliberate Judgment of a very Learned Man and a great Assertor of the Church's Authority concerning the matter I am now speaking of I mean Mr. Hooker in his deservedly admired Book of Ecclesiastical Policy His words are these I grant says he that Proof derived from the Authority of Man's Judgment is not able to work that Assurance which doth grow by a stronger proof and therefore although ten thousand General Councils should set down one and the same Definitive Sentence concerning any Point of Religion whatsoever yet one Demonstrative Reason alledged or one Testimony cited from the Word of God himself to the contrary could not chuse but oversway them all In as much as for them to be deceived it is not so impossible as it is that Demonstrative Reason or Divine Testimony should deceive And again For men says he to be tyed and led by Authority as it were with a kind of Captivity of Judgment and though there be Reason to the contrary not to listen to it but follow like Beasts the first in the Herd this were Brutish Again That the Authority of Men should prevail with Men either against or above Reason is no part of OUR Belief Companies of Learned Men though they be never so great and Reverend are to yield unto Reason the weight whereof is no whit prejudiced by the simplicity of the Person which doth alledge it but being found to be sound and good the bare Opinion of men to the contrary must of necessity stoop and give place And this he delivers not only as his own particular Judgment but that which he apprehended to be the Judgment of the Church of England I have produced these clear and positive Testimonies of so learned and judicious a Person and of so great esteem in our Church on purpose to prevent any misapprehension as if by this Discourse I intended to derogate from the Authority of the Church and her just and reasonable Determinations in things no wise contrary to plain Reason or the Word of God And beyond this pitch no judicious Protestant that I know of ever strain'd the Authority of the Church I proceed now in the Second place to vindicate the Reasonableness of this Resolution from the Objections to which this singular and peremptory kind of Resolution may seem liable as Obj. 1. First it may very speciously be said that this does not seem modest for a man to set up his own private Judgment against the general Suffrage and Vote And it is very true as I said before that about things indifferent a man should not be stiff and singular and in things doubtful and obscure a man should not be over-confident of his own Judgment and insist peremptorily upon it against the general Opinion But in things that are plain and evident either from Scripture or Reason it is neither immodesty nor a culpable singularity for a man to stand alone in the defence of the Truth Because in such a Case a man
and to damnable Errors and Heresies And some good Men have upon the matter stood alone in the open Profession of the true Religion in the midst of this general Defection from it Elijah in that general Revolt of the People of Israel when they had forsaken the Covenant of the Lord and broken down his Altars and slain his Prophets and he only as he thought was left to stand alone I say in this Case when as he verily believed he had no body to stand by him he was very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts 1 Kings 18. 18. and with an undaunted courage stood up for the Worship of the true God and reproved Ahab to his face for his defection to the Worship of Idols And those three brave Youths in the Prophecy of Daniel chap. 3. did in the like resolute and undaunted manner refuse to obey the Command of the great King Nebuchadnezzar to worship the Image which he had set up when all others Submitted and paid Honour to it Telling him plainly If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery Furnance and He will deliver us out of thy hand If not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy Gods nor worship the golden Image which thou hast set up v. 17 18. In like manner and with the same Spirit and courage Daniel withstood the Decree of Darius which forbad men to ask a Petition of any God or man for thirty days save of the King only Dan. 6. 7. and this under the pain of being cast into the Den of Lions and when all others gave obedience to it he set open the windows of his chamber towards Jerusalem and kneeled down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks as he did afore time v. 10. In the prevalency of the Arian Heresy Athanasius almost stood alone in the profession and maintenance of the Truth And in the Reign of Antichrist the true Church of God is represented by a Woman flying into the Wilderness and living there in obscurity for a long time insomuch that the Professors of the Truth should hardly be found And yet during that Degeneracy of so great a Part of the Christian Church and the prevalency of Antichrist for so many Ages some few in every Age did appear who did resolutely own the Truth and bear Witness to it with their Blood But these did almost stand alone and by themselves like a few scattered Sheep wandring up and down in a wide Wilderness Thus in the heighth of Popery Wickliffe appear'd here in England and Hierome of Prague and John Huss in Germany and Bohemia And in the beginning of the Reformation when Popery had quite over-run these Western Parts of the World and subdued her Enemies on every side and Antichrist sate securely in the quiet possession of his Kingdom Luther arose a bold and rough Man but a fit Wedge to cleave in sunder so hard and knotty a Block and appeared stoutly against the gross Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and for a long time stood alone and with a most invincible spirit and courage maintained his ground and resisted the united malice and force of Antichrist and his Adherents and gave him so terrible a Wound that he is not yet perfectly healed and recovered of it So that for a Man to stand alone or with a very few adhering to him and standing by him is not a mere imaginary Supposition but a Case that hath really and in fact happen'd in several Ages and Places of the World Let us then proceed to consider in the 2d place The due limits and bounds of this peremptory Resolution In all matters of Faith and Practice which are plain and evident either from Natural Reason or from Divine Revelation this Resolution seems to be very reasonable But in things doubtful a modest man and every man hath reason to be so would be very apt to be stagger'd by the judgment of a very Wise man and much more of many such and especially by the unanimous Judgment of the generality of Men the general Voice and Opinion of Mankind being next to the Voice of God himself For in matters of an indifferent nature which God hath neither commanded nor forbidden such as are many of the Circumstances and Ceremonies of God's Worship a man would not be singular much less stiff and immovable in his singularity but would be apt to yield and surrender himself to the general Vote and Opinion and to comply with the common Custom and Practice and much more with the Rules and Constitutions of Authority whether Civil or Ecclesiastical Because in things lawful and indifferent we are bound by the Rules of Decency and Civility not to thwart the general Practice and by the Commands of God we are certainly obliged to obey the lawful Commands of lawful Authority But in things plainly contrary to the evidence of Sense or Reason or to the Word of God a man would complement no Man or Number of Men nor would he pin his Faith upon any Church in the World much less upon any single Man no not the Pope no though there were never so many probable Arguments brought for the proof of his Infallibility In this Case a Man would be singular and stand alone against the whole World against the wrath and rage of a King and all the terrors of his fiery Furnace as in other matters a Man would not believe all the Learned Men in the World against the clear evidence of Sense and Reason If all the great Mathematicians of all Ages Archimedes and Euclide and Apollonius and Diophantus c. could be supposed to meet together in a General Council and should there declare in the most solemn manner and give it under their Hands and Seals that twice two did not make four but five this would not move me in the least to be of their mind nay I who am no Mathematician would maintain the contrary and would persist in it without being in the least startled by the positive Opinion of these great and learned men and should most certainly conclude that they were either all of them out of their Wits or that they were byassed by some Interest or other and swayed against the clear evidence of Truth and the full conviction of their own Reason to make such a determination as this They might indeed over-rule the Point by their Authority but in my inward judgment I should still be where I was before Just so in matters of Religion if any Church though with never so glorious and confident a pretence to Infallibility should declare for Transubstantiation that is that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament by vertue of the Consecration of the Priest are substantially changed into the natural Body and Blood of Christ this is so notoriously contrary both to the Sense and Reason of Mankind that a Man should chuse to stand single in
does not oppose his own single and private Judgment to the Judgment of Many but the common Reason of Mankind and the Judgment of God plainly declared in his Word If the generality of men should turn Atheists and Infidels and should deny the Being of God or his Providence the Immortality of mens Souls and the Rewards and Punishments of another World Or should deny the Truth of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion it would not certainly be any breach of modesty for a man to appear single if no body else would stand by him in the resolute defence of these great Truths In like manner when a whole Church though never so large and numerous shall conspire together to corrupt the Christian Religion so far as to impose upon Mankind under the name of Christian Doctrines and Articles of Faith things plainly contrary to the Sense and Reason of Mankind and to the clear and express Word of God why must a Man needs be thought immodest if he oppose such gross Errors and Corruptions of the Christian Doctrine And what reason have the Church of Rome to talk of modesty in this Case when they themselves have the face to impose upon Mankind the belief of things contrary to what they and every man else sees As they do in their Doctrine of Transubstantiation And to require of them to do what God hath expresly forbidden as in the Worship of Images besides a great many other Idolatrous Practices of that Church To deny the People the free use of the H. Scriptures and the publick Service of God in a known Tongueâ— contrary to the very end and design of all Religion and in affront to the common Reason and Liberty of Mankind Obj. 2. Secondly It is pretended that it is more prudent for private Persons to err with the Church than to be so pertinacious in their own Opinions To which I answer that it may indeed be pardonable in some Cases to be led into mistake by the Authority of those to whose Judgment and Instruction we ought to pay a great deference and submission Provided always it be in things which are not plain and necessary but surely it can never be prudent to err with any number how great soever in matters of Religion which are of moment merely for Numbers sake But to comply with the known Errors and Corruptions of any Church whatsoever is certainly damnable Obj. 3. Thirdly It is pretended yet further that men shall sooner be excused in following the Church than any particular Man or Sect. To this I answer that it is very true if the matter be doubtful and especially if the Probabilities be equal or near equal on both Sides But if the Error be gross and palpable it will be no excuse to have followed any number of Men or any Church whatsoever For here the competition is not between Men and Men but between God and Men And in this Case we must forsake all Men to follow God and his Truth Thou shalt in no wise follow a Multitude in a known Error is a Rule which in Reason is of equal obligation with that Divine Law Thou shalt in no wise follow a Multitude to do evil or rather is comprehended in it because to comply with a known Error is certainly to do Evil. And this very Objection the Jews made against our B. Saviour and the Doctrine which He taught that the Guides and Governours of the Jewish Church did utterly differ from Him and were of a contrary mind Have any of the Rulers say they believed on him What will you be wiser than your Rulers and Governors What follow the Doctrine of one single Man against the unanimous Judgment and Sentence of the Great Sanhedrim to whom the Trial of Doctrines and pretended Prophets doth of right belong But as plausible as this Objection may seem to be it is to be considered that in a corrupt and degenerate Church the Guides and Rulers of it are commonly the worst and the most deeply engaged in the Errors and Corruptions of it They brought them in at first and their Successors who have been bred up in the belief and practice of them are concern'd to uphold and maintain them And so long a Prescription gives a kind of Sacred Stamp even to Error and an Authority not to be opposed and resisted And thus it was in the corrupt State of the Jewish Church in our Saviour's Time And so likewise in that great Degeneracy of the Christian Church in thâ— Times of Popery their Rulers made them to err Insomuch that when Martin Luther appeared in opposition to the Errors and Superstitions of that Church and was hard prest with this very Objection which the Pharisees urg'd against our Saviour he was forc'd to bolt out a kind of unmannerly Truth Religio nunquam magis periclitatur quà m inter Reverendissimos Religion says he is never in greater hazard and worse treated than amongst the most Reverend meaning the Pope and his Cardinals and all the Romish Hierarchy who had their dependance upon them Obj. 4. Fourthly it is Objected That as on the one hand there may be danger of Error in following blindly the Belief of the Church so on the other hand there is as great a danger of Schism in forsaking the communion of the Church upon pretence of Errors and Corruptions Very true but where great Errors and Corruptions are not only pretended but are real and evident and where our Compliance with those Errors and Corruptions is made a necessary Condition of our Communion with that Church In that Case the guilt of Schism how great a Crime soever it be doth notâ— fall upon those who forsake the Communion of that Church but upon those who drive them out of it by the sinful Conditions which they impose upon them And this is truly the Case between Us and the Church of Rome as we are ready to make good and have fully done it upon all Occasions and they have never yet been able to vindicate and clear themselves of those gross Errors and Corruptions which have been charged upon them and which they require of all their Members as necessary Conditions of Communion with them here and of eternal Salvation hereafter For we do not object to them doubtful matters but things as plain as any are contained in the Bible as every body would see if they durst but let every body read it The Worship of Images is there as plainly forbidden in the Decalogue as Murther and Adultery are The Communion in both Kinds is as express an Institution of our Saviour as any in all the New Testament and even as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper it self only that Church pretends to a Dispensing Power as a Priviledge inherent in theâ—â— Church and inseparable from it And to add but one Instance more Publick Prayers and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue are as plainly and fully declared against by St. Paul in a long Chapter upon this
the weeding of Corn which is a necessary piece of good Husbandry Vices like ill weeds grow apace and if they once take to the Soil it will be hard to extirpate and kill them But if we watch them and cut them up assoon as they appear this will discourage the Root and make it dye Therefore take great heed that your Children be not habituated and accustomed to any evil course A Vice that is of any considerable growth and continuance will soon grow obstinate and having once spread its roots it will be a very difficult matter to clear the ground of it A Child may be so long neglected till he be overgrown with Vice to that degree that it may be out of the power of Parents ever to bring him to good fruit If it once gain upon the depraved disposition of Children it will be one of the hardest things in the World to give a stop to it It is the Apostle's caution to take heed of being harden'd by the deceitfulness of Sin which they who go on in an evil course will most certainly be We should observe the first appearances of evil in Children and kill those young Serpents assoon as they stir lest they bite them to death Fourthly Bring them assoon as they are capable of it to the publick Worship of God where He hath promised his more especial presence and blessing It is in Zion the place of God's publick Worship where the Lord hath commanded the blessing even Life for evermore There are the means which God hath appointed for the begetting and increasing of Grace in us This is the Pool where the Angel useth to come and to move the Waters Bring your Children hither where if they diligently attend they may meet with an Opportunity of being healed And when they come from the Church call them frequently to an account of what they have heard and learn'd there This will make them both to attend more diligently to what they hear and to lay it up in their Memories with greater care and will fix it there so as to make a deeper and more lasting impression upon their Minds Fifthly Be careful more especially to put them upon the exercise and practice of Religion and Virtue in such Instances as their understanding and age are capable of Teach them some short and proper Forms of Prayer to God to be said by them devoutly upon their knees in private at least every Morning and Evenâ—ng A great many Children neglect this not from any ill disposition of mind but because no body takes care to teach them how to do it And if they were taught and put upon doing it the habit and custom of any thing will after a little while make that easy and delightful enough which they cannot afterwards be brought to without great difficulty and reluctancy Knowledge and Practice do mutuallyâ— promote and help forward one anotherâ— Knowledge prepares and disposeth for Practice and Practice is the best way to perfect Knowledge in any kind Mere Speculation is a very raw and rude thing in comparison of that true and distinct knowledge which is gotten by Practice and Experience The most exact skill in Geography is nothing compared with the knowledge of that Man who besides the Speculative part hath travell'd over and carefully view'd the Countries he hath read of The most knowing man in the Art and Rules of Navigation is no body in comparison of an experienced Pilot and Seaman Because knowledge perfected by practice is as much difâ—erent from mere Speculation as the skill of doing a thing is from being told how a thing is to be done For men may easily mistake Rules but frequent Practise and Experience are seldom deceived Give me a man that constantly does a thing well and that shall satisfy me that he knows how to do it That Saying of our B. Saviour If any man will do my will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self is a clear determination of this matter namely That they understand the Will of God best who are most careful to do it And so likewise the best way to know what God is is to transcribe his Perfections in our Lives and Actions to be holy and just and good and merciful as He is Therefore when the minds of Children are once thoroughly possest with the true Principles of Religion we should bend all our endeavours to put them upon the practice of what they know Let them rather be taught to do well than to talk well rather to avoid what is evil in all its shapes and appearances and to practise their Duty in the several Instances of it than to speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels Unto Man He said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding Job 28. 28. Hereby â—aith St. John we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 3 4. Xenophon tells us that the Persians instead of making their Children learned taught them to be virtuous and instead of filling their heads with fine Speculations taught them honesty and sincerity and resolution and endeavoured to make them wise and valiant just and temperate Lycurgus also in the institution of the Lacedemonian Commonwealth took no care about Learning but only about the Lives and Manners of their Children Though I should think that the care of both is best and that Learning would very much help to form the Manners of Children and to make them both wiser and better Men And therefore with the leave of so great and wise a Lawgiver I cannot but think that this was a defect in his Institutionâ— Because Learning if it be under the conduct of true wisdom and goodness is not only an ornament but a great advantage to the better Government of any Kingdom or Commonwealth Sixthly There must be great care and diligence used in this whole business of Education and more particularly in the Instruction of Children There must be line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little as the Prophet expresseth it Isa 28. 10. The Principles of Religion and Virtue must be instill'd and dropt into them by such degrees and in such a measure as they are capable of receiving them For Children are narrow-mouth'd Vessels and a great deal cannot be poured into them at once And they must also be accustomed to the practice and exercise of Religion and goodness by degrees till Holiness and Virtue have taken root and they be well settled and confirm'd in a good course Now this requires constant attendance and even the patience of the Husbandman to wait for the fruit of our labours In some Children the Seeds that are sown fall into a greater depth of earth and therefore are of a â—low disclosure and it may be a
considerable time before they appear above ground it is long before they shoot and grow up to any heighth and yet they may afterwards be very considerable Which as an ingenious Author observes should excite the care and prevent the despair of Parents For if their Children be not such speedy Spreaders and Branchers as the vine they may perhaps prove proles tardè crescentis Olivae It is a work of great pains and difficulty to rectify a perverse Disposition It is more easy to palliate the corruption of Nature but the cure of it requires time and careful looking to An evil temper and inclination may be covered and conceal'd but it is a great work to conquer and subdue it It must first be check'd and stopp'd in its course and then weaken'd and the force of it be broken by degrees and at last if it be possible deâ—troyed and rooted out Seventhly and Lastly To all these means we must add our constant and earnest Prayers to God for our Children that his Grace may take an early possession of them that he would give them virtuous inclinations and towardly dispositions for goodness And that he would be pleased to accompany all our endeavours to that end with his powerful Assistance and Blessing without which all that we can do will prove ineffectual Parents may plant and Ministers may water but it is God that must give the increase Be often then upon your knees for your Children Do not only teach them to pray for themselves but do you likewise with great fervour and earnestness commend them to God and to the power of his Grace which alone is able to sanctify them Apply your selves to the Father of lights from whom comes every good and perfect gift Beg his H. Spirit and ask Divine knowledge and wisdom for them of Him who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth no man Beseech Him to season their tender years with his Fear which is the beginning of Wisdom Pray for them as Abraham did for Ishmael Oh that Ishmael may live in thy sight Many Parents having â—ound all their endeavours for a long time together ineffectual have at length betook themselves to Prayer earnest and importunate Prayer to God as their last Refuge Monica the Mother of St. Austin by the constancy and importunity of her Prayers obtained of God the conversion of her Son who proved afterwards so great and glorious an Instrument of good to the Church of God According to what St. Ambrose Bishop of Milain to encourage her to persevere in her fervent Prayers for her Son had said to her Fieri non potest ut filius tot lachrymarum pereat It cannot be says he that a Son of so many Prayers and Tears should miscarry God's Grace is free but it is not likely but that God will at last give in this Blessing to our earnest Prayers and faithful Endeavours Therefore pray for them without ceasing pray and faint not Great importunity in Prayer seldom fails of a gracious answer Our B. Saviour spake two Parables on purpose to encourage us herein Not because God is moved much less because he is tired out with our Importunity but because it is an Argument of our firm belief and confidence in his great Goodness And to them that believe all things are possible says our B. Lord To whom c. SERMON III. OF THE Education of Children PROV XXII 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it I Proceed to the next general Head which I proposed namely III. To discover some of the more remarkable and common Miscarâ—iâ—ges in the management of this Wâ—â—k I do not hereby mean gross neglects for want of care but mistakes and miscarriages for want of prudence and skill even when there is no want of care and diligence in Parents and Instructers And I shall for Method's sake reduce the more considerable and common Miscarriages to these three Heads First In matter of Instruction Secondly In matter of Example Thirdly In matter of Reproof and Correction I. In matter of Instruction Parents do very often mainly miscarry in not teaching their Children the true difference between Good and Evil and the degrees of them As when we teach them any thing is a Sin that really is not or that any thing is not a Sin which in truth is so Or when we teach them to lay more stress and weight upon things than they will bear making that which perhaps is only covenient to be in the highest degree necessary or that which it may be is only inconvenient or may be an occasion of Scandal to some weak Christians to be a Sin in its own nature damnable Parents do likewise lay too great a weight upon things when they are as diligent to instruct them in lesser things and as strict in enjoining them and as severe in punishing the commission or neglect of them according as they esteem them good or evil as if they were the weightier things of the Law and matters of the greatest moment in Religion Thus I have known very careful and well-meaning Parents that have with great severity restrained their Children in the wearing of their hair Nay I can remember since the wearing of it below their Ears was looked upon as a Sin of the first magnitude and when Ministers generally whatever their Text was did in every Sermon either find or make an occasion with great severity to reprove the great Sin of long hair and if they saw any one in the Congregation guilty in that kind they would point him out particularly and let fly at him with great zeal I have likewise known some Parents that have strictly forbidden their Children the use of some sorts of Recreations and Games under the notion of heinous Sins upon a mistake that because there was in them a mixture of Fortune and Skill they were therefore unlawful a Reason which I think hath no weight and force in it tho I do not deny but human Laws may for very prudent reasons either restrain or forbid the use of these Games because of the boundless expence both of Money and Time which is many times occasioned by them I have known others nay perhaps the same Persons that would not only allow but even encourage their Children to despise the very Service of God under some Forms which according to their several apprehensions they esteemed to be Superstitious or Factious But this I have ever thought to be a thing of most dangerous consequence and have often observed it to end either in the neglect or contempt of all Religion And how many Parents teach their Children douâ—tful Opinions and lay great stress upon them as if they were saving or damning Points and hereby set such an edge and keenness upon them for or against some indifferent modes and circumstances of God's Worship as if the very Being of a Church and the Essence of Religion were concerned in them These