such Books as I thought most fit and necessary for him When the time drew near that I intended to have an Ordination he Petitioned to be admitted to the Publick Examination which was to precede it I read the petition written in his own Hand but the Latin so false and improper that it appeared by it he was not Master of the Grammar much less of the Latin Tongue I consulted some of the Clergy about him and came to a resolution not to admit him but to do it in the softest way I cou'd I discours'd him again shewed him his Defects and that it wou'd Expose him to be Examined publickly especially at the same time when others were to be Examined of Parts and Learning and therefore advised him to delay till some other time and till he cou'd get a Certificate from the Colledge without which I could not regularly Ordain him He seemed Discontented and the next thing I heard was that the Sunday after he went to the Meeting and declared against the Church This is the Truth of the matter and I must declare that I never admitted any to any Order Benefice or Curacy in this Diocess who were not by many Degrees his Superiors in Learning Parts and Steadiness of Thoughts and as to those that were Preferred in the Diocess before my coming to it I suppose that Mr. Sq. himself will have more Modesty than to compare himself with them I must add that he is not the only person has served me at this rate II. And from this you may observe First That no people are more impatient of Discipline than such as would perswade the World that they are the Great Patrons of it and most Zealous for it This Gentleman that is now joyned with you for purer Ordinances and Discipline was so disgusted by the strictness of ours that he left our Church Secondly You may observe that some people are resolved to be Ministers at any rate and when those that have the Keys of the Church will not admit them they leap over the Wall Thirdly You see by this how much Men advance their Reputation and Interest by being of a Party Here is a Gentleman that had so little Reputation amongst us for learning and sufficiency that he was not thought fit to be a Deacon by two Bishops and several Clergy Men And yet by joyning with you most of your Party that knew him in Dublin where they are best able to judge prefer him to many of the Clergy of this Diocess So unjust and partial are Men in their Judgments where their Party is concerned and thus it has been since Divisions were first in the Church St. Paul hints at it 2 Cor. 10. 12. And Tertullian speaks to it in point above 1400 Years ago in his Book De Prescriptionibus where he observes of those that divided from the Church that they Ordained Apost at as nostros ut gloria eos obligent quia veritate non possunt Nusâ— quam facilius proficitur quam in Castris Rebellium 'T were too severe to Translate these words but the meaning is that so a Man left the Church he might have Reputation and Orders easily amongst the divided Parties Fourthly You may observe that it is not always Conviction of Conscience brings Men to your Party Here in the beginning of the week a Gentleman gave in a Petition in his own hand writing and was earnest to be admitted into Orders and being put off next Sunday he declares himself of Your Party against the Church He must have great Charity that will suppose this to proceed from meer Conviction of Conscience Fifthly You may observe how unfit Judges the People are of the Ability and Qualifications of Men for the Ministery and how easy it is to deceive and impose on them in which I have had Experience in three or four other Cases Sixthly This shews the misery and mischief of Parties in the Church and how impracticable they render Discipline I have taken what care I cou'd to obviate this and have refus'd to admit some that were driven out of Scotland by the fury of the Rabble till they brought a Certificate from their Adversaries of their Lives and Conversations and that they had no other Exception against them except their not complying with the Church Government there Established Whether your Party take the same Measures they know best that admitted Mr. Sq. to Preach Sect. XVI Personal Vindication I. THere is one thing further that I am obliged to take Notice of rather indeed to comply with the suggestions of my Friends than that I judge it necessary or so much as convenient It concerns my own Person and not the Cause and I reckon where ever a man that pretends to answer a Book meddles with the Person or Personal Affairs of his Adversary it is a plain Confession that he has the worst of the Argument and that he is forced to make up with Slight and Art what is wanting in point of Reason Yet this Mr. B. has done in several places of his Remarks and has employ'd most of those Arts that popular Lawyers make use of to carry their Clients Cause at the Barr but are very improper to be used by the Advocates of Truth who ought to have no view but the Glory of God the Advancement of his true Worship and the Peace and Unity of his Church I am conscious to my self that I had no other aim in the writing my Book and I hope I may say that the deep concern I had for the due Observation of the Worship of God and the danger of such as neglect it did influence every Sentence in it I had before me the great Obligation that lay on me as a Pastour and Father in the Church even the great and solemn Oath of God made in my Ordination I remembred that the truest Evidences of the presence of the Spirit of Christ and hardest to be counterfeited are Gentleness Goodness and Meekness and I called to mind that a tender Father wou'd not reprove his erring Children nor a Man treat his Friend with Bitterness Pride Scoffing or Lightness That a Pastour has no less reason for bowels of compassion towards his straying Sheep than a Father towards his Children That a Christian was as deeply obliged to Meekness towards his erring Brother as any Man towards his dearest Friend And tho' that Brother be mistaken in his Judgment and alienated in his Affections to the highest degree even to Railing and Madness yet the injured person ought still to treat him with the same gentleness and tenderness and look on all those Extravagancies as the effects of a Spiritual Feaver which to a Mind truly affected with the love of Christ are as little provoking as the ravings occasioned by a natural one and much more to be pitied II. These were the Considerations I had before me and the Measures I took in writing my Book and I hope in God they shall always remain with me and
by blackening another and when that is done without truth as the case is here it is a grief to a good Man to think that serving a Party should Influence any to do it V. But Mr. B. gives me very hard words Vind. p. 15. for looking back no further than my own time in my account of Sacraments administred in the Establish'd Church whereas I give an account of yours for seven Years If I had for 30 I do not see any harm in it but the truth was that many Ministers were dead and I could not meet with any that readily could inform me But to satisfy you that I had no design in this I will not give you the best Account I can get for these three Years that are omitted Tho' I suppose all are not come yet to my knowledge In the Year 1688 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was Administred in the Cathedral 12 times In the Parish Churches 83 times In the Cathedral in the Year 1689 12 times In the Parish Churches 41 times In the year 1690 in the Cathedral 12 times In the Parish Churches 39 times In all 199 And now I do not see what advantage it was to me to have omitted this or why Mr. B. should express such resentment at it St Paul cautions us against Evil Surmisings 1 Tim. 6. 4. And whether the imputing this to Disingenuity in me be of that sort I leave you to judge if you compare the two years of the Troubles there is 104 of ours to none among you VI. The last excuse Mr. B. makes for your Ministers is their Sickness this he alledges in behalf of Mr. Wilson for Strabane Mr. Rowat for Lâ—fford and Mr. Crooke for Ballykelly but this is no excuse These were as negligent when well as sick and none of them was a year without Preaching several Sundays twice And it is full as easy to Administer the Sacrament to two or three hundred as to Preach a Sermon It is usual for 3 or 4 of your Ministers to assist at Neighbouring Sacraments and one assistant would have prevented any disappointment of the People which Mr. B. says Vin. p. 16. hapned twice at Balindret Ministers that are infirm may very lawfully omit one of their Sermons on the Lords Day and Administer the Sacrament in lieu of it In which Case there is no hardship on them since the People give it to one another amongst you without any blessing at the delivery to each Neither doth your Directory require the Minister to make any Exhortation whilst the People are receiving nor after they have received only says he may in a few words put them in mind c. And therefore whilst your Ministers make two Sermons a-day and yet pretend disability for Administring the Lords-Supper we must reckon this another instance of your making void the Commands of God by your own Tradition A Sermon that justles out the Sacrament is a Human Invention as much as Alms that hinder a Man from relieving his Parent Mark 7. 11. VII These are all the excuses that Mr. B. seem to have made for you and I doubt they will appear very slender in the eyes of God when he calls your Teachers to an account for their Stewardship in dispersing the Misteries of God It had been much more proper methinks for a Christian Minister to have reproved you for your negligence than to have denied plain Matter of Fact and pleaded such Excuses Mr. B. doth both in his Remarks and Vindication object to us the Diocess of Down and Conor I think he has little reason to do it to Me But I must now tell you that the neglects there were neither so Universal nor unexcusable as these of your Ministers have been in this particular and had you been in Chancery Michaelmas Term last you would have heard as much said for the most negligent there as Mr. B. has written for your Ministers which only shews that Money and interest will find colours for every thing But the negligence of your Ministers sufficiently shews the want of Discipline amongst them and that the Inspection of a Bishop would do them no harm And I hope this Admonition will not hurt you nor them I shall think I have done a good work and thank God for it if I can awaken you to more care for the future and reckon that the nearer you come to the Scripture-Rule the nearer you will come to us and there will be the more hopes of an Union which I shall always heartily endeavour Sect. VI. Concerning the Reading the Scriptures I. THE third Matter of Fact in dispute between Mr. B. and Me is concerning your Reading the Holy Scriptures The words he excepts against are these Disc. Chap. 3. S. 3. N. 3. but the most sad and deplorable defect of your performances of this Duty is your casting out the Word of God from most of your Publick Assemblies directly contrary to God's Institution and Ordinance for the Instruction of his Church insomuch that in many of your Meetings setting aside a Verse or two for a Text or Quotation at the discretion of the Minister the voice of God is never publickly heard amongst them And in all the Meetings in the North of Ireland in a whole Year perhaps there is not so much Scripture Read as in one day in our Church And 't is a sad thing that a man may go to most meetings many years and never hear One entire Chapter read in them The things Asserted here are First That the Reading of the Word of God as God Instituted and Ordained it for the Instruction of his Church is cast out of most of your Meetings I shewed that God ordered his Word to be read Regularly and in Order and that this Reading of it is cast out not only of most of your Meetings but out of all of them there not being one of them that yet appears to have read either Testament through in 30 Years before the writing of my Discourse or indeed ever that I can learn And therefore till I see good Vouchers that the Word of God has been thus Read I think there can be no question of the Truth of this Fact It is not only the manner of Reading is here in Dispute and denied by me but the thing it self of which we can never be sure without the Manner be settled for when there is a certain method for Reading the Word of God as in our Church we can be sure that it is Read But this is so far otherwise with you that no man that ever I yet met with or could have an account of could vouch that he heard so much of the Bible read in your Meetings in his whole Life as is read in the Cathedral of Derry every Year and in many other Churches and ought by our Rules to be in all Now when a Man has been a Hearer 50 years in your Meetings and cannot affirm that ever he heard two intire Books of the Bible
B. alledges p. 11. but the effect of Tryal and Certainty I can very well distinguish between silence and ignorance whatever Mr. B. suggests All that he alledges to justify his pretences is Vind. p. 2 That Any one that considers the Genius of that people and their particular dissatisfaction with his Lordship will be easily inclined to believe this to be the genuin account of the matter I do believe your Ministers whom I have reproved are angry at me and some I am informed in this Country pray against me by Name in their Pulpits and those joyn with them that are deep in your Interests as it is a Faction rather than a Religion But I thank God I do not find any such dissatisfaction as Mr. B. would have the world believe On the contrary I find great respect from the Pious and Humble and many have been so far from Sullenness when I have discoursed them that they have even with tears bewailed their ignorance So that I do not find all the Endeavours that have been used or the Misrepresentations spread either by Mr. B. or your leading men have been able to hinder in a great measure the effect of my Book and even they that are most angry at it are forced for very shame to mend several things and some have had their Eyes opened by it and do not only frequent their Parish Churches but Communicate in them These are all the Matters of Fact of which I took Notice in my Admonition and you see without troubling my self with any other Informations than those Mr. B. has Published the truth sufficiently appears in every particular Yet he is not content with these but renews several others which I passed over either as not material or so apparently true on my part that they needed no Justification Yet since he has insisted on them again I will take Notice of the most material Sect. IX Concerning Bodily Worship I. SIxthly Therefore he reckons it as a mistake in Matter of Fact that I affirm that The Directory Excludes all Bodily Worship These he quotes as my words Dis. p. 128. and Vind. p. 23. Tho' these are not the very words I used yet I will shew there is no mistake in them First Then the Composers of the Dirictory own no Worship of the Body as requisite in the Service of God nor do they require any either in general or particular and for this I urge not only their omitting it in general but their leaving it out in these particular places where if they had believed it a Duty they could not without the greatest unfaithfulness have passed it over If any place of Scripture require Bodily Worship certainly the First or Second Commandment must do it and Mr. B. owns Râ—m p. 107. that in the Second Command These External marks of our Inward Reverence when we offer up our Prayers and Thanksgivings are required by God But if you look into your Larger or Shorter Catechism the Assembly owns no such Duties to be required in those mandments or so much as hints at them Nay in the particular and large Catalogue of Sins Forbidden in them there is not so much as Irreverence in Publick Worship mentioned Look likewise into the Confession of Faith Chap. 1. where Religious Worship is handled and there is not the least mention made of Bodily Adoration tho' that only be called Worship in Scripture as I shewed Dis. Chap. 4. Sect. 1. N. 6. and I do not find that it is denied Therefore if the Assembly thought it still to be a Christian Duty to Worship God with the Body it was great unfaithfulness in them to omit it in all the places they treat of Religious Worship in their Directory Catechism and Confession of Faith II. Secondly They positively forbid it in one place where it was most proper that is in our first appearance in Gods peculiar presence in the Publick Assemblies To this Mr. B. answers Rem p. 108. That this Order was only Levelled against the Custom of Bowing towards the Altar Which is a plain mistake for it forbids All Adoration or Bowing themselves towards one place or other therefore not only towards the Altar He alledges Secondly Rem p. 109. That the Assembly forbid Bowing should be used by the People as they entered the Church because they supposed such External Adoration should be only used when some part of Publick Worship was to be performed But I answer They supposed in this that which neither they or Mr. B. have proved from Scripture or I believe ever will be proved since Adoration is to be used in the Congregation not only to signify our joyning with them in Publick Prayers or Praises but likewise to declare that we come into the Assembly as Worshipers not Spectators and to stirr up and prepare our hearts to meet our God Every good Man comes there with a design to appear in God's presence and with expectation to receive a Blessing from him in the answer of his Prayers and ought to have his heart affected with this when he enters especially And tho' no Publick Worship is performed by the Minister at that time yet he that enters ought to acknowledge by Adoration his Belief of God's presence amongst a People met to Worship him and exert an act of submission in his mind and certify it with his Body and joyn some short Prayer or Ejaculation with it And when I see a Man who comes into an Assembly thus prostrating his Body and lifting up his hands and eyes to Heaven to suppose that this is separated from A mental Act of Worship is as uncharitable as Eli's censure of Hanna when she thus prayed privately in the Tabernacle And therefore 't is very unreasonable which Mr. B. requires Re. p. 107. That I should prove Meer Bowing the Knee c. When there is no other part of Worship offered neither Vocal nor Mental is yet made in Scripture a part of Worship Since I suppose Bowing our Knees in a Publick Assembly is a sign of our sence of God's presence and our inward submission to him which it signifies and testifies to all present tho' no other part of Publick Worship is at that time performed by the Minister Without this Inward sense it is Hypocrisy not Worship And so are all our Praises and Prayers when separated from this Mental Devotion being only parts of Worship as they signify our sense of God's Excellency and our desires to be assisted by him And if Bowing the Knee c. signify our Submission and sense of God's Sovereignty as Universally Certainly and Explicitely as Praises do our sense of his Excellencies the one is as proper a part of external Worship as the other And indeed only bending the Body is called Worship in Scripture as I shewed in my Book and it would seem to me by Mr. B's denying it to be a proper part of Worship that he will not allow the Scripture to call things by their proper names but will
had reformed effectually these Abuses I should not have troubled my self with a Vindication for my design was not to Accuse but Reform you yet I thank God my Endeavours have not altogether proved unsuccessful upon you even in this point VIII Mr. B. affirms Rem p. 111. That your Ministers frequently in their Discourses to their People recommend Standing or Kneeling in their publick Prayers and p. 112 That they have faithfully declared to their people their dislike of Sitting Now pray let me give you this easie Test to distinguish your Faithful Ministers from the Unfaithful Those of them that have frequently and heartily reproved you for Sitting at your publick Prayers before my Book appeared count them in this point Faithful Ministers of the Gospel and those that have not done so reckon them as they truly are Unfaithful and conniving Shepherds And take heed how you trust them in other cases I thank God for it that by all I can learn my Book has done more to reform this Unseemly Practice as Mr. B. himself calls it Rem p. 112. amongst you than all your Ministers these 50 years and plainly shews that they need some inspection to mind them of their Duty Sect. X. Concerning the Practise of Bodily Reverence by Dissenters 1. A Seventh Matter of Fact with which Mr. B. anew charges me Vind. p. 23. is That I affirm that the Dissenters are Taught that external postures of Bodily Worship may in no case be practised for which he quotes my Discourse p. 137. I wish that Mr. B. while he taxes me for Accusing you Unjustly and misrepresenting you were careful of avoiding such dealings toward others If you look into the place quoted you will neither find the Words nor Sence of what he alledges against me my Words are That in case of Necessity we think our Outward Performances may be lawfully omitted but you are Taught that in no case they may be lawfully practised You are Taught rather to stay at home and not to Worship God at all publickly than to conform in Outward Gestures or Circumstances In which words it is plain First That I address my self to you in particular and not to Dissenters in general as he represents me Secondly It is evident I spake here of the Outward Gestures and Circumstances to which our Church requires you to conform in order to joyn in her publick Worship and not of all External Postures of Bodily Worship And it is too sad a Truth that above Twenty thousand of you in this Diocess refrain and have refrained every Lord's day from all Publick Worship for many Years rather than joyn in these and that you have counted our Standing Kneeling c. idolatrous heretofore appears not only from your Practice and Profession but from your Authors Witness the Reasons for which the Service-book urged upon Scotland ought to be refused printed 1638 in which the Third Reason is because it hath a number of Popish Superstitious and Idolatrous Ceremonies amongst which are reckoned the Priest's Standing Kneeling Turning to the People and the Peoples Standing at Gospels at Gloria Patri c. Creeds their Answering the Minister and many such-like in number above Fifty These unchristian and unjust Censures are still in many of your Minds and for ought I find they are the chief Objections you have against our Service and I beseech God in his Mercy to grant that either my Reasons or Mr. B's Concessions may remove them so that we may hear no more from you of the Idolatry Superstition or Popery of our Ministers Kneeling at their Prayers or standing at their Blessings or of our Peoples Kneeling at their Confessions of Sins at their Prayers and Communions or Standing at their Praises Thanksgivings Professions of Faith and other parts of our Service that require a more solemn attention and concern Sect. XI Concerning the Praises of God 1. I Shall add an Eighth Matter of Fact that has relation to the same Affair and that is concerning your praising God Mr. B. alledges Vind. p. 23. these as my words and puts them as such in Italian Characters That You have no other way of Praising God but by singing a Verse or two of a Psalm And quotes my Discourse p. 24 for them but if you look into the place you will find that these are neither my words nor sense I am there only comparing your use of Psalms and Hymns in the Praises of God with ours and I observed that our Church praises God every day with five or six Psalms besides other Hymns Whereas You only praise him in a piece of a Psalm of a few Verses A thing so notoriously true that without perverting the words 't is impossible to find any Exception against them He objects indeed That your Directory prescribes Extemporary Thanksgivings and spends many Pages in his Remarks about them But I answer Thanksgivings and Praises are different things tho' they commonly go together and your Extempory Thanksgivings are reckoned in your Directory under the Head of Prayers The Title under which they are prescribed is that of publick Prayer after Sermon The Rule is The Sermon being ended the Minister shall give Thanks c. And then the Prayer ended let a Psalm be sung I had no intention to deny these but reckoned them as your Directory doth with your Prayers Which gives no other Rule for the Praises of God but under the head of singing Psalms the words there are It is the Duty of Christians to praise God by singing of Psalms the only Rule for the Praises of God in the whole Directory Properly speaking Psalms and Hymns are the Scripture way of praising God tho' in a large sense we praise him by our Confessions of Sins and Faith and by our Prayers as well as by our Thanksgivings Sect. XII Concerning the Rule of Human Prudence 1. A Ninth Matter of Fact is concerning the Rule of Human Prudence that we find Rem p. 7 9 he charges me Vind. p. 28 with Mistaking that Rule and supposing that he denied that God had given us any particular Directions at all in reference to the Modes of Worship But I must declare I neither did nor intended to ascribe any such Opinion to him I knew very well that he owned many such but he positively affirmed Rem p. 7. That tho' God has commanded publick Prayer Praise Hearing Celebration of the Lords-Supper c. yet at what time or place we shall assemble in in what order these parts of Worship shall be performed what particular devout posture we shall use among several equally expressive of our religious Reverence what Translation of the Bible or Version of the Psalms we shall chuse what portion of the Scripture shall be Read Explained and Applied what Utensils shall be employed in the celebration of the Sacraments and a multitude of such Circumstances and Modes of that kind are left to Human determination only therein the general Rules of Scripture must be regarded Now tho'
Authentick Rule concerning it at all as I shew'd in my Admonition And when Proposals were made concerning it they were rejected by a Parliament of your own Party with great Abhorrence We cannot say they in their Declaration 1646 consent to the granting of an Arbitrary and Unlimited Power and Jurisdiction to near Ten thousand Judicatories to be Erected within this Kingdom and this demanded in a way inconsistent with the Fundamentals of Government excluding the Power of Parliaments The Question then between Your Discipline and Ours is Whether it is better to have no Rules but meer Arbitrary Power in Ten thousand Judicatories to exercise a Discipline inconsistent with the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and the Power of Parliaments or to have certain and determinate Rules for the Exercise of it such as our Canons and Rubricks which are very consistent with the Constitution of the Kingdom and would certainly reform the World if executed and nothing hinders their execution that I know but Your Separation I cannot reckon it a Happy Progress in Reformation as Mr. B. does to throw down a well-establish'd Discipline founded on good Authority and with good Rules and Establish nothing in the place of it 'T is not Purity of Discipline to make it Arbitrary and have no Rules at all And yet I am afraid many are for reforming Faith as You have reformed Discipline III. Secondly in your Church Constitution you are not yet agreed and we do not know what you would have I observed that Mr. B's sense of these things is much different from yours both as to the Rules and Manner of Proceeding in your Judicatories insomuch as you are not yet agreed who shall have the power of the Keys Whether a single Congregation or a Presbytery Adm. p. 47. To make you a little sensible of this I will compare Mr. B. and his Parties Sentiments with Yours First then You own generally That a National Church is of Divine institution but Mr. B. and his Party declare Reflect p. 4. That such a National Church is not of Divine Institution and is indeed only A Combination of Churches as united under one Civil Soveraign its true Notion lies not in any Combination purely Ecclesiastical and Intrinsical but Civil and Extrinsical Secondly You hold that many particular Congregations may be under one Presbyterial Government Mr. B. and his Party That no particular Church shall be subordinate to another and That none of them their Officer or Officers shall Exercise any power or have any Superiority over any other Church or their Officers Heads of Agreement p. 11. You hold That it is agreeable to the Word of God that there be a Subordination of Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies for the Government of the Church Mr. B. and his Party That Church-Councils are not for Government but for Unity not as being in Order of Government over the several Bishops Reflect p. 58. and Heads of Agreement p. 10. Thirdly You hold that Excommunication is a shutting the Kingdom of Heaven against impenitent Sinners But with Mr B. and his Party Excommunication it self in their respective Churches is no other than a declaring such scandalous Members as are irreconcilable to be incapable of Communion with them in things peculiar to the visible Relievers Pref. to the Heads of Agreement In which sense any two Men may Excommunicate a third It requires no Power at all to declare a Man incapable of Communion with me but only Judgment and so there is an end of Church Governors and Censures Fourthly You hold That those that are Ordained ought not to be Ordained again but Mr. B. and his Party teach That if any hold in case of the Removal of one formerly Ordained to a new Station or Pastoral Charge there ought to be a like solemn Recommending him and his Labours to the Grace and Blessing of God No different Sentiments or Practice herein shall be any occasion of Contention or Breach of Communion amongst you Fifthly You hold That Ruling Elders are of Divine Right and your Constitution so far as appears to us is founded on them but Mr. B. and his Party declare that whereas divers are of Opinion that there is also the Office of Ruling Elders and others think otherwise They agree that this makes no Breach among them Heads of Agreement p. 13. Sixthly You hold That the Ruling Officers of a particular Congregation have only power to suspend from the Lord's Table and that Casting out belongs to the Presbytery But Mr. B. and his Party hold That each particular Church hath Authority from Christ for Exercising Government and of enjoying all the Ordinances of Worship within it self Heads of Agreement p. 4. All these are material Differences and concern the Being of a Government and in all of them you differ from Mr. B. and his Party and only in one of them from us that is in the Fifth and then judge what Progress it is in Reformation to separate from a National Constitution to joyn with such that do not so much as pretend to it IV. Thirdly Your Purity that should invite Men to joyn with you doth not consist in Doctrine for in this confessedly you have no Advantage of us for these very Heads of Agreement acknowledge it sufficient as to Soundness of Judgment in Matters of Faith to own the Doctrinal part of those commonly called The Articles of the Church of England which we all Subscribe You then have made no Progress in this Point Fourthly As to Preaching the Gospel which is a necessary Mark of the Purity of a Church it is manifest You come short of Us the great Mysteries thereof being neither so Diligently so Constantly so Regularly or so Universally taught by your Ministers as in our Church nor so Good and Obliging Rules for doing so So that Men that would hear them taught in this manner ought to joyn with us as I have already shew'd Fifthly As to the Administring the Sacraments which is another necessary Mark of the Purity of a Church Your Ministers have been Notoriously Defective they have let many dye without Baptism that had a Title to it and have been no less Negligent in Administring the Lord's Supper insomuch that not one of them have done their Duty this thirty Years in Administring it often as Christ requires Therefore those of you that would partake frequently of this Sacrament must joyn with our Church Sixthly As to Holiness of Life you have no Advantage over us being no better than your Neighbours and if you take away such as are not of us as a Church but as we are the Governing Party and who will always Joyn themselves to that which is so I doubt whether you be so good There needs no more to convince you of this than to consider that Mercy Justice and Truth are counted by our Saviour to be the great things of the Law and you will not find that the Protestants in the North of Ireland of which You
account we reject Agnus Dei the Pilgrimages Processions Whippings and Fasts of the Papists that are performed with Opinion of Merit 9thly Such as have been abused and perverted to superstitious uses and cannot be separated from them on this account chiefly we have laid aside the common use of Crossing Not but we believe it was Piously and Prudently used by the Primitive Christians as an Instance Expression and Badge of their Profession amongst Heathens and Infidels but it was so abused and the Opinion of Efficacy and Vertue in it to drive away Devils and to produce other Spiritual Effects so rooted in the Minds of Men concerning it that there was no probability of taking away the abuse of it whilst the thing remained And besides the common use of it doth now no more amongst us signifie our common Christianity but is become the peculiar Badge of a Papist and so has lost its primitive signification To conclude we condemn only those Rites of the Roman Church against which we have these Exceptions or the like as where they want Gravity or Decency and we are able to Justifie our Exceptions by Reason and Scripture but we never condemn'd any Rite of that Church as Mr. B. doth the Sign of the Cross in Baptism either first because it Represented to us our Duty and instructed us in it Or 2dly Because it signified our purpose resolution or vows to serve God that is our Obligation or Dedication to his Service Or 3dly Because it distinguished Christians from Heathens Worshippers from spectators or the devout Worshippers from the negligent On the contrary we think these to be proper and allowed Scripture uses of outward signs in Gods Worship and it were a just exception against any of them if they did not serve to some of these purposes Mr. B. may call such signs foolish Inventions c. as he seems to do Vind p. 51. and charge the Church of God for using them but we ought to be modest in such censures and remember the danger of calling our Brother fool as we are taught by our Saviour Matt. 5. 22. we never used such Objections against Popery from our first Controvertists to this Day and this alone may convince you that Mr. B's Principles are not the common Principles of Protestants And it is a great disservice to our cause which we have maintained thanks be to God with success without the assistance of Mr. B. his party or Principles to tell the World that we used such Arguments as these VI. Lastly he objects that the multiplicity of these Rites or in the Bp's language significant actions had almost eaten out the vitals of Religion Vind. p. 51. But I answer 1st That we do not plead for the multiplicity of them but for such as are decent proper and edifying and which universal custom has made significant not such as Mens fancies can invent to admit some of the first sort in Religion doth no more open a Door to our Fancies than admitting such Words as general custom has made significant to express our desires gives us Liberty to invent new ones never heard of before or to introduce the Artisices of Mens Wisdom into our divine Discourse which have done as much mischief as significant Actions and are expressly forbidden 2dly The significant Actions our Church uses are far from a multiplicity they are indeed fewer than we find used in the New Testament and if we have err'd on either hand which I hope we have not it is not in the multiplicity but rather in the fewness of them 3dly They are with us so far from eating out the bowels of Religion that on the contrary the little care Men have of using such has destroyed the sense of Religion in a great many and induced them to make no distinction between Good and Evil Sacred and Profane in many cases 4thly The multiplicity of words which are signs to the ear are as apt to eat out the bowels of Religion as the multiplicity of significant Actions and our Saviour gives us an express caution against them Matt. 6. 7. the like we have Eccles 5. 2. so that the whole Dispute seems to me to be between the Eye and the Ear which shall be gratified and excess in either have had too much the same Effect Too many visible Signs are apt to eat out the heart of Religion and make it degenerate into Shew and too many words which are audible Signs are apt to have the like effect and make Religion degenerate into Talk of both which the Church of God has had equal Experience and are both equally to be avoided CONCLUSION THus I have examin'd all that Mr. B. has Objected against our Worship from the instance of the Sign of the Cross and prov'd it to be no Human Invention but warranted by Scripture according to the Rules laid down in my first Discourse to you for the determining what are Human Inventions in the Worship of God Mr. B. Indeed wou'd perswade you that by those Rules he has retorted upon me my own Arguments against your Worship and alledges Vind. p. 55. 'T is strange that except that of Crossing I have not so much as endeavoured to vindicate any one practice of the Establish't Church from my own Arguments retorted on me But I Answer first that to retort Arguments is generally only a shift of Disputants when the Arguments pinch them and they want fair and direct Answers and seldom are either justly or convincingly apply'd and therefore weigh little with such as seek only Truth and not the service of a Party And indeed Mr. B's were of such a nature that I durst well trust them with indifferent Readers the meaning of them being only this if the Dissenters Worship be mixed with Human Inventions that of the Establish't Church is guilty of the same fault which is a method to blacken both but to defend neither and may help to open your Eyes and let you see that the Arguments formerly brought by your Advocates against our Worship are equally conclusive against your own in this point and therefore you are as much obliged to Answer them as we are And I desire you to observe that Mr. B. has no way Answered them on your part but by flying to his Rule of Humane Prudence which I do not find you do generally approve and therefore even according to your own Opinion he has not cleared you from the charge of Humane Invention which I brought against your Worship But 2dly I have shew'd you plainly in the 2d Chap. Sect. 2. N. 9. of this 2d Admonition that he has perverted the sense of that Rule I laid down concerning things Contain'd in and Warranted by the Word of God and on that perverted sense he has founded all those retorted Arguments which he alledges I did not Answer But having explain'd that Rule in my 2d Edition so as he can find no exception to it it was a sufficient Answer to all his Arguments 3dly I
A Second Admonition TO THE Dissenting Inhabitants Of the Diocess of DERRY CONCERNING Mr. J. Boyse's Vindication of his Remarks on a Discourse Concerning The Inventions of Men IN THE Worship of GOD. With an APPENDIX Containing an Answer to Mr. B's Objections against the Sign of the Cross. By WILLIAM Lord Bishop of Derry London Printed for R. Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard 1696. Heads of the Discourse CHAP. I. Matters of Fact Sect. I. THE Numbers of those that Neglect all Publick Worship on the Lord's Day p. 3. II. The frequency of Sacraments p. 11 III. The Number of Communicants p. 20 IV. The Directory a hindrance to Communions p. 24 V. Mr. B's Excuses for few Communions Examined p. 27 VI. The Reading the Scriptures p. 38 VII The Mysteries of Religion p. 44 VIII The Catechism p. 54 IX Bodily Worship p. 59 X. The Practice of Reverence by Dissenters p. 75 XI The Praises of God p. 77 XII The Rule of Human Prudence p. 79 XIII The 3d 4th and 5th Canons p. 97 XIV Mr. B's Demands p. 99 XV. Mr. Sq. p. 107 XVI Personal Vindication p. 112 CHAP. II. Of the Reasoning part of Mr. B's Book Sect. I. MR. B's stating the Case as to purity of Worship and Discipline p. 126 II. Mr. B's Partiality p. 138 APPENDIX Containing an Answer to Mr. B's Objections against the Sign of the Cross. Sect. I. THE proper Method to discover the true Nature of Sacraments as Signs p. 159 II. That Sacraments are primarily Signs of God's Grace not of our duty 171 III. That the Scriptures Warrant us to use other Signs that are not Sacraments for the several uses assigned by Mr. B. to Sacraments 201 IV. Of Representing Signs 208 V. Of Obliging Signs 221 VI. Of Distinguishing Signs 240 VII That the Cross is such a Sign as the Scriptures Warrant 251 Conclusion 274 A SECOND ADMONITION TO THE Dissenting Inhabitants Of the Diocess of DERRY Concerning Mr. J. Boyse his Vindication of his Remarks on a late Discourse of William Lord Bishop of DERRY CONCERNING The Inventions of Men in the Worship of GOD. CHAP. I. Concerning Matters of Fact I. I Thought it necessary in a former Admonition to give you some account of my design in my Book concerning The Inventions of Men in the Worship of God in order to enable you to pass a judgment on Mr. Boyse's Remarks on it He has thought himself concerned to write a Vindication of them And tho' I do not suppose it very necessary I shall give you a few Reflections on it It consists of Matters of Fact and Reasonings I shall say a little to each of them and leave you to judge of it And I pray most heartily to God that it would please him to direct you The matter is of great moment since it concerns the Worship of God and whatever Mr. Boyse would suggest the true point is Whether about Nine in Ten of you shall Worship God publickly any where on the Lord's Day or stay at home If I can prevail with you to come to the Established Worship you may easily and conveniently Worship God in your Parish Churches every Lords Day or oftner and receive the Lords-Supper four times every Year at least and oftener if you desire it But if I cannot perswade you to this about Nine in Ten of you must stay at Home as you have done for many Years and perhaps not have a fit opportunity of Communicating afforded you once in Seven Years Sect. I. Concerning the Numbers of those that neglect all Publick Worship on the Lord's Day THis then shall be the First Matter of Fact of which I shall endeavour to make you sensible since Mr. Boyse questions it and jests at my concern about it Vind. p. 2. The account he opposes to it is in these words That in the Parish of Templemore alias Derry there are two Meetings in which there will be found above 2400 who ordinarily Worship God every Lord's Day the least Congregation amongst you are ordinarily 600 and some above a thousand that do Worship God every Lord's Day so that where Ministers are settled you do not know of one in twenty that do not ordinarily attend Publick Worship This account he says he has from your Ministers You will easily be Judges of the truth of it and therefore I desire you to consider II. First That even in Derry there are Congregations much less than 600 and seldom in Burt above 400 or 500 and that those two Meeting-Houses tho the largest will not hold 1200 to Hear I sent to count and am assured both have not a thousand ordinarily 2dly I desire you to remember that tho' these Meeting-Houses are both in the Parish of Derry yet the Inhabitants of 11 Parishes depend on them who have no nearer or more convenient Meetings to go to That is to say Fanthen Desertegny Clonmany Coldagh Clonca Donagh Movill Clandermot part of Faughanvale part of Cumber and part of Donaghedey a District in length from Malin to Donaghedey Church about 33 Miles and in breadth from the Church of Faughanvale to the lower end of Inch about 14 Miles In which there are 14 Churches and Chappels and in which 12 Conformable Clergy-Men continually Officiate Preaching in the Morning and Catechizing for about one half of the Year in the Afternoons with an Explanation of some heads of the Catechism This scope of ground is well Inhabited and if I mistake not is near as big as the County of Dublin and contains at least one fourth part of the whole Diocess and if there be in the Parish of Templemore of your perswasion 2400 as Mr. Boyse intimates and I do believe there are there can hardly be less in the other 11 Parishes than 4 times as many and then in all about 12000 depend on these two Meeting-Houses Of which I doubt if a thousand attend Publick Worship on one Lord's Day with another And if we allow 1200 as Mr Boyse suggests yet it doth not mend the matter for it is still but a tenth part of the whole III. Your next Meeting is yet in a worse condition for there depends on it Tamlaghfinlagan alias Ballykilly Drumchose Aughanlow Balteagh Dongevin Banagher part of Cumber part of Faughanvale and of Tamlanghard a District containing some of the richest and best planted Parishes in the County of Londonderry and in length from the point of Magilligan to the further part of Banagher at least 20 Miles and in breadth from the Church of Faughanvale to the utmost part of Balteagh or Drumchose about 14. Yet here the Meeting-House will not contain as I am informed above 400. The like may be said of the Meeting of Aghadowy upon which there depend the Parishes of Aghadowy Kilrea Desertoghill Erregill part of Macosquin part of Tamlaghocrielly and the Chappel of Fagevy in length from the old Church of Camus to the most distant parts of Tamlaghocrielly 13 or 14 Miles and from the Ban River to the most
distant parts of Desertoghill about 10 or 12. The like might be shewed of Maghâ—ra Ardstra and Donaghmore and there needs no more to prove the truth of this than to consult the Maps of the Counties IV Let me add that even these are not constantly supplyed for the Ministers what on account of assisting their Neighbour Ministers at Sacraments what on account of their visiting other parts of the Kingdom and what on account of their private Affairs do frequently miss and disappoint their People Insomuch that in Ardstra for Example their Minister has been absent at least 7 or 8 Months If then we lay these things together and take one Meeting and one Sunday with another I think my Computation was very modest when I conjectured that hardly one in ten of you Worshiped God any where on the Lords-day V. But because I would have as little dispute with Mr. Boyse as possible I will take his own Computation and allow 1st That there are 9 Meeting-Houses in the Diocess tho really for the last 2 Years there has been only 8 and for the last 7 or 8 Months only 7 2dly I will allow that there are 700 at each Meeting Mr. Boyse sayes 600 ordinarily and some above 1000 tho' really take one Sunday and one Meeting with another there are not 300. 3dly I will allow that there are but 30 thousand Dissenters in the Diocess tho really there are more And now let us see how many Worship God on the Lords day and how many prophane it by staying at home according to Mr. Boyse's own account And it is thus Nine times 700 make 6300 the Number of Worshipers which taken out of 30000 there remains 23700 that stay at home and attend no Worship at all Perhaps half as many as Worship God in all the Dissenters Meetings in Ireland A thing that deserves a serious Consideration and Concern and tho Mr. B. seemes to make light of it Vind. p. 2. yet sure to use my endeavours to perswade these 23000 to attend their Parish Churches rather than to stay at home on the Lords day was my duty as a Christian Bishop and Pastour And how Mr. B. will Answer to God that he has contributed to hinder my Endeavours tho he professes he did not design it I leave it to our Common Judge and Master VI. Neither Mr. Boyse nor your Ministers could be ignorant of this since it arises clearly from their own Compuration And I leave you to judge whether it looks not like amusing the World and serving a Party to publish such an Account as he and they have done For to tell us of two Meeting-Houses in one Parish when indeed there are only those two in one quarter of the Diocess I am sure looks like such a Design Yet this has been your case for many years past and is like to be in a great measure for many to come For when can you expect Ten Ministers more than you have in the District of Derry and Burt And yet these would be rather of the fewest to accommodate each place with a Meeting at a due distance VVhen can you expect Seven instead of one in the District of Ballykelly or Six in the District of Aghadowy and proportionally in the rest VII I desire you to observe that Mr. B. p. 26. declares That it was not his design to hinder you from joyning with the Established Church in our ordinary Lords-day Service and Expresly declares his own Opinion for the Lawfulness of it I hope your own Ministers are of the same Opinion since he professes p. 24. That he had a just call to write his Remarks and that from the Dissenting Ministers of this Diocess And Three of them by their Certificates seem to approve of his Performances If then it be their Opinion that it is lawful for you to joyn in Our Publick Worship at least when you cannot go to your own Meetings and that you had better do so than stay at home especially where the Established Ministers are sober able orthodox and diligent as those of this Diocess I presume generally are I desire you to call to mind whether your Ministers have declared their opinion to you in this point or no. If they have consider how you will answer your neglect of God's Publick Worship so long at the last day when it shall appear you might lawfully have joyned in it But if your Ministers have not made any such Declaration of their Opinion in this point tho they know it to be Lawful judge with your selves whether they have discharged the Office of Faithful Guides to you in revealing to you the whole will of God as they ought to have done since they have suffered for many Years and yet do suffer about Nine in Ten of you to stay at home on the Lord's day and joyn in no Publick Service of God rather than joyn in the Worship Praises Prayers and Sacraments Celebrated in your own Parish Churches or hear the Scriptures Read and the great Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven opened to you by such Ministers as you cannot but in your Conscience acknowledge and many of you have acknowledged to be equal to your own in Piety Learning Diligence and Industry and who would have been eminent amongst you if they had been of your Party I conceive the resolution of this Question to be of great Moment to you and a great step to our Peace and Union and therefore you ought every one of you to require your Ministers direct and positive Resolution in it By which you will perceive whether your Guides are of one mind in this weighty Affair and if they be you 'l consider how you came to be ignorant of it as your Practice and Profession declare you are and where the fault is to be laid I the rather press this because I know that several are willing and desirous to frequent the publick Worship but dare not fearing the malice and hatred of their Neghbours who treat them as Apostates that do so and contrive their Ruine The truth is Your Ministers have Preached you into a Dislike of the Established Worship they have represented it as Idolatrous and by these means they have entirely separated you from us as to all publick Worship and have got you to depend on themselves And now when they have you they are not able to supply you but have dealt with you as the false Mother did with the Child before Solâ—mon they would rather you should not worship God at all than with us But whether this looks like Zeal for God's Worship I must leave it with you to judge As for my self I hope I shall not be reputed I am sure I shall not become your Enemy because I tell you the Truth And shall apply the words of St. Paul Gal. 4. 17. To you and your Teachers They zealously affect you but not well they would Exclude you or rather Us as in the Margine of your Bibles that you may