THE CASE OF Lay-Communion WITH THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CONSIDERED And the Lawfulness of it shew'd from the Testimony of above an hundred eminent Non-Conformists of several Perswasions Published for the satisfaction of the scrupulous and to prevent the sufferings which such needlesly expose themselves to LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultry 1683. TO THE DISSENTERS FROM THE Church of England Dear Brethren YOU being at this time called upon by Authority to joyn in Communion with the Church and the Laws ordered to be put in Execution against such as refuse it it s both your Duty and Interest to enquire into the grounds upon which you deny Obedience to the Laws Communion with a Church of God and thereby expose our Religion to danger and your selves to suffering In which unless the cause be good the call clear and the end right it cannot bring Peace to your selves or be acceptable to God Not bring Peace to your selves For we cannot suffer joyfully the spoiling of our Goods the confinement of our Persons the ruine of our Families unless Conscience be able truly to say I would have done any thing but sin against God that I might have avoided these sufferings from men Not be acceptable to God to whom all are accountable for what portion he hath instrusted them with of the things of this life and are not to throw away without sufficient reason and who has made it our duty to do what we can without Sin in Obedience to that Authority which he hath set over us as you are told by some in the same condition with your selves To assist persons in this enquiry I have observed that of late several of the Church of England have undertaken the most material points that you do question and have handled them with that Candor and Calmness which becomes their profession and the gravity of the Arguments and which may the better invite those that are willing to be satisfied to peruse and consider them But because Truth and Reason do too often suffer by the prejudices we have against particular persons to remove as much as may be that obstruction I have in this Treatise shewed that these Authors are not alone but have the concurrent Testimony of the most eminent Non-Conformists for them who do generally grant that there is nothing required in the Parochial Communion of the Church of England that can be a sufficient reason for Separation from it The sence of many of these I have here collected and for one hundred I could easily have produced two if the Cause were to go by the Pole so that if Reason or Authority will prevail I hope that yet your satisfaction and recovery to the Communion of the Church is not to be despaired of Which God of his infinite mercy grant for your own and the Churches sake Amen THE CONTENTS THE difference betwixt Ministerial and Lay-Communion pag. 1 The Dissenters grant the Church of England to be a true Church p. 4 That they are not totally to separate from it p. 12 That they are to comply with it as far as lawfully they can p. 16 That defects in Worship if not essential are no just reason for Separation p. 23 That the expectation of better edification is no sufficient reason to with-hold Communion p. 39 The badness of Ministers will not justifie Separation p. 48 The neglect or want of Discipline no sufficient reason to separate p. 59 The opinion which the Nonconformists have of the several practices of those of the Church of England which its Lay-Members are concerned in p. 64 That Forms of Prayer are lawful and do not stint the Spirit ibid. That publick prescribed Forms may lawfully be joyned with p. 66 That the Liturgy or Common-Prayer is for its matter sound and good and for its Form tolerable if not useful p. 69 That kneeling at the Sacrament is not idolatrous nor unlawful and no sufficient reason to separate from that Ordinance p. 71 72 That standing up at the Creed and Gospel is lawful p. 73 The Conclusion ibid. THE NON-CONFORMISTS PLEA FOR Lay-Communion With the CHURCH of ENGLAND THE Christian World is divided into two Ranks Ecclesiastical and Civil usually known by the names of Clergy and Laity Ministers and People The Clergy besides the things essentially belonging to their Office are by the Laws of all well-ordered Churches in the World strictly obliged by Declarations or Subscriptions or both to owne and maintain the Doctrine Discipline and Constitution of the Church into which they are admitted Thus in the Church of England They do subscribe to the truth of the Doctrine more especially contained in the Thirty Nine Articles and declare that they will use the Forms and Rites contained in the Liturgy and promise to submit to the Government in its Orders The design of all which is to preserve the Peace of the Church and the Unity of Christians which doth much depend upon that of its Officers and Teachers But the Laity are under no such Obligations there being no Declarations or Subscriptions required of them nor any thing more than to attend upon and joyn with the Worship practised and allowed in the Church Thus it is in the Church of England as it is acknowledged by a worthy Person to whom when it was objected that many Errours in Doctrine and Life were imposed as Conditions of Communion he replies What is imposed on you as a Condition to your Communion in the Doctrine and Prayers of the Parish-Churches but your actual Communion it self In discoursing therefore about the lawfulness of Communion with a Church the difference betwixt these two must be carefully observed lest the things required only of one Order of Men should be thought to belong to all It 's observed by one That the original of all our mischiefs sprung from mens confounding the terms of Ministerial Conformity with those of Lay-Communion with the Parochial Assemblies there being much more required of Ministers than of the People private persons having much less to say for themselves in absenting from the Publick Worship of God though performed by the Liturgy than the Pastor hath for not taking Oaths c. Certainly if this difference was but observed and the Case of Lay-Communion truly stated and understood the people would not be far more averse to Communion with the Parish-Churches than the Non-Conforming Ministers are as one complains and whatsoever they might think of the Conformity of Ministers because of the previous terms required of them they would judge what is required of the people to be lawful as some of them do And as the Ministers by bringing their Case to the Peoples may see Communion then to be lawful and find themselves obliged to maintain it in a private capacity so the People by perceiving their Case not to be that of the Ministers but widely different from it would be induced to hold Communion with the Church
and to joyn with those of their Ministers that think it their Duty so to do and are therein of the opinion of the old Non-Conformists that did not act as if there was no middle between separation from the Church and true Worship thereof and subscription unto or practice or approbation of all the corruptions of the same For though they would not subscribe to the Ceremonies yet they were against separation from Gods Publick Worship as one of them in the name of the rest doth declare So that as great a difference as there is betwixt presence and Consent betwixt bare Communion and approbation betwixt the Office of the Minister and the attendance of a private person so much is there betwixt the Case of Ministerial and Lay-Communion And therefore when we consider the Case of Lay-Communion we are only to respect what is required of the people what part they are to have and exercise in Communion with the Church Now what they are concerned in are either The Forms that are imposed the Gestures they are to use and the Times they are to observe for the Celebration of Divine Worship or The Ministration which they may be remotely suppos'd also to be concerned in The lawfulness of all which and of all things required in Lay-Communion amongst us I shall not undertake to prove and maintain by Arguments taken from those that already are in full Communion with the Church of England and so are obliged to justifie it but from those that in some things do dissent from it who may therefore be supposed to be impartial and whose Reasons may be the more heeded as coming from themselves and from such that are as forward in other respects to owne the miscarriages of the Church as those that wholly separate from it For the better understanding of the Case and of their Judgment in it I shall consider 1. What opinion the most eminent and sober Non-Conformists have had of the Church of England 2. What opinion they have had of Communion with that Church 3. What opinion they he had of such practices and usages in that Church as Lay-men are concerned in 1. What opinion the most eminent and sober Non-Conformists have had of the Church of England And that will appear in these two things First That they owne her to be a true Church Secondly To be a Church in the main very valuable First They owne her to be a true Church Thus an Eminent Person saith of the old Non-Conformists They did always plead against the Corruptions of the Church of England but never against the truth of her Being or the comfort of her Communion And as much is affirmed of the present by a grave and sober Person amongst them The Presbyterians generally hold the Church of England to be a true Church though defective in its Order and Discipline And thus it 's acknowledged in the name of the rest by one that undertakes their Defence and would defend them in their Separation We acknowledge the Church of England to be a true Church and that we are Members of the same visible Church with them And this they do not only barely assert but do undertake to prove This is done by the old Non-Conformists in their Confutation of the Brownists who thus begin That the Church of England is a true Church of Christ and such an one as from which whosoever wittingly and willingly separateth himself cutteth himself off from Christ we doubt not but the indifferent Reader may be perswaded by these Reasons following 1. We enjoy and joyn together in the use of those outward means which God hath ordained in his Word for the gathering of a visible Church and have been effectual to the unfeigned conversion of many as may appear both by the other fruits of Faith and by the Martyrdom which sundry have endured that were Members of our Church c. 2. Our whole Church maketh profession of the true Faith The Confession of our Church together with the Apology thereof and those Articles of Religion which were agreed upon in the Convocation-House An. 1562. whereunto every Minister of the Land is bound to subscribe so far forth as they contain the Confession of Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments do prove this evidently c. So Mr. Ball Wheresoever we see the Word of God truly taught and professed in Points fundamental and the Sacraments for substance rightly administred there is the true Church of Christ though the health and soundness of it may be crazed by many errours in Doctrine corruptions in the Worship of God and evils in the life and manners of men As much as this is also affirmed in the Letters passed betwixt the Ministers of Old England and New England It is simply necessary to the being of a Church that it be laid upon Christ the foundation which being done the remaining of what is forbidden or the want of what is commanded cannot put the Society from the Title or Right of a true Church And if we enquire into the judgment of the present Non-Conformists we shall find them likewise arguing for it Thus the Author of Jerubbaal The Essentials constitutive of a true Church a re 1. The Head 2. The Body 3. The Union that is between them Which three concurring in the Church of England Christ being the professed Head She being Christ's professed Body and the Catholick Faith being the Union-band whereby they are coupled together She cannot in justice be denied a true though God knows far from a pure Church If we should proceed in this Argument and consider the Particulars I might fill a Volume with Testimonies of this kind The Doctrine of the Church is universally held to be true and sound even the Brownists own'd it of old in their calm mood who declare We testifie to all men by these Presents That we have not forsaken any one Point of the true ancient Apostolick Faith professed in our Land but hold the same grounds of Christian Religion with them See more in Bayly's Disswasive c. 2. p. 20.33 and Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation part 1. § 9. p. 31. The Presbyterians if I may so call them for distinction sake do owne it So M r Corbet The Doctrin of Faith and Sacraments by Law established is heartily received by the Non-Conformists So M r Baxter As for the Doctrin of the Church of England the Bishops and their Followers from the first Reformation begun by Edward the VI were found in Doctrine adhering to the Augustan method express'd now in the Articles and Homilies they differed not in any considerable Point from those whom they called Puritans The like is affirmed by the Independents The Confession of the Church of England declared in the Articles of Religion and herein what is purely Doctrinal we fully embrace As to the Worship they owne it for the matter and substance to be good and for Edification So
As for those of New-England Mr. Baxter doth say that their own expressions signify that they take the English Parishes that have godly Ministers for true Churches though faulty Mr. Cotton professeth that Robinson's denial of the Parishional Churches to be true Churches was never received into any heart amongst them and otherwhere saith we dare not deny to bless the womb that bare us and the paps that gave us suck The five Dissenting Brethren do declare We have this sincere profession to make before God and the World that all the conscience of the defilements in the Church of England c. did never work in us any other thought much less opinion but that multitudes of the Assemblies and Parochial Congregation thereof were the true Churches and Body of Christ. To come nearer Dr. T. Goodwin doth condemn it as an error in those who hold particular Churches those you call Parish-Churches to be no true Churches of Christ and their Ministers to be no true Ministers and upon that ground forbear all Church-Communion with them in hearing or in any other Ordinance c. and saith I acquitted myself before from this and my Brethren in the Ministry But the Church of England is not only thus acknowledged a true Church but hath been also looked upon as the most valuable in the World whether we consider the Church it self or those that minister in it The Church it self of which the Authors of the grave and modest confutation thus write All the known Churches in the world acknowledge our Church for their sister and give unto us the right hand of fellowship c Dr. Goodwin saith If we should not acknowledge these Churches so stated i. e. Parish-Churches to be the true Churches of Christ and their Ministers true Ministers and their order such and bold Communion with them too in the sence spoken of we must acknowledge no Church in all the Reformed Churches c for they are all as full of mixture as ours And Mr. J. Goodwin saith that there was more of the truth and power of Religion in England under the late Prelatical Government than in all the Reformed Churches in the World besides If we would have a Character of the Ministry of the Church of England as it was then Mr. Bradshaw gives it Our Churches are not inferiour for number of able men yea and painful Ministers to any of the reformed Churches of Christ in foreign parts c. And certainly the number of such is much advanced since his time But I cannot say more of this subject than I find in a page or two of an Author I must frequently use to which I refer the Reader Before I proceed I shall only make this inference from what hath been said that if the Church of England be a true Church the Churches true Churches the Ministry a true Ministry the Doctrine found and Orthodox the worship in the main good and allowable and the defects such as render not the Ordinances unacceptable to God and ineffectual to us I think there is much said toward the proving Communion with that Church lawful and to justifie those that do join in it which brings to the second general which is to consider 2. What opinion the sober and eminent Non-Conformists have of Communion with the Church of England And they generally hold 1. That they are not totally to separate from it this follows from the former and must be own'd by all them that hold she is a true Church for to own it to be such and yet to separate totally from it would be to own and disown it at the same time So say the members of the Assembly of Divines Thus to depart from true Churches is not to hold Communion with them as such but rather by departing to declare them not to be such And saith Mr. Baxter nothing will warrant us to separate from a Church as no Church which yet is the case in total separation but the want of something essential to a Church But if the Church have all things essential to it it is a true Church and not to be separated from When the Church of Rome is called a true Church it s understood in a metaphysical or natural sence as a thief is a true man and the Devil himself though the Father of lies is a true spirit But withal she is a false Church as M r Brinsly saith from Bishop Hall an Heretical Apostatical Antichristian Synagogue And so to separate from her is a duty But when the Church of England is said to be a true Church or the Parochial Churches true Churches it s in a moral sense as they are found Churches which may safely be communicated with Thus doth D r Bryan make the opposition The Church of Rome is a part of the universal visible Church of Christians so far as they profess Christianity and acknowledge Christ their head but it is the visible society of Traiterous Usurpers so far as they profess the Pope to be their Head c. From this Church therefore which is Spiritual Babylon God's people are bound to separate c. but not from Churches which have made separation from Rome as the reformed Protestant Churches in France and these of Great Britain have done in whose Congregations is found truth of Doctrine a lawfull Ministry and a people professing the true Religion submitting to and joyning together in the true Worship of God Such a separation would as has been said unchurch it This would be deny Christ holds Communion with it or to deny Communion with a Church with which Christ holds Communion contrary to a principle that is I think universally maintained The errour of these men saith Mr. Brightman is full of evil who do in such a manner make a departure from this Church by total separation as if Christ were quite banished from hence and that there could be no hope of salvation to those that abide there Let these men consider that Christ is here feasting with his members will they be ashamed to sit at meat there where Christ is not ashamed to sit Further this would be a notorious Schism so the old Non-Conformists Conformists conclude because we have a true Church consisting of a lawful Ministry and a faithful people therefore they cannot separate themselves from us but they must needs incur the most shameful and odious reproach of manifest Schism for what is that saith another but a total separation from a true Church This lastly would not diminish but much increase the fault of the separation as another saith For it is a greater sin to depart from a Church which I profess to be true and whose ministry I acknowledge to be saving than from a Church which I conceive to be false and whose ministers I take to have no calling from God nor any blessing from his hand This therefore is their avow'd principle that
the old Non-Conformists as M r Hildersham There is nothing in our Assemblies but we may receive profit by it c. And again There is nothing done in God's Publick Worship among us but what is done by the Institution Ordinance and Commandment of the Lord. So among the present it is own'd by both Presbyterians and Independents by the former in the Morning-Exercise Why may it not be supposeable that Christians may be moved by reasonable considerations to attend the Publick Forms the substantial parts of them being thought agreeable to a Divine Institution though in some Circumstantials too disagreeable So it 's acknowledged That in private Meetings the same Doctrine and Worship is used as in the Parish Churches only some Circumstances and Ceremonies omitted By the latter We know full well that we differ in nothing from the whole form of Religion established in England but only in some few things in outward Worship But I shall have further occasion to treat of this under the third General As for the Ministry of the Church 1. It is acknowledged to be true and for substance the same which Christ hath established So M r Bradshaw I affirm That the Ministry of our Church-Assemblies howsoever it may in some particular parts of the execution happily be defective in some places is for the substance thereof that very same Ministry which Christ hath set in his Church This he speaks as he saith of those that do subscribe and conform according to the Laws of the State 2. That they have all things necessarily belonging to their Office so the grave and modest Confutation maintains The preaching of the whole truth of God's Word and nothing but it the administration of the Sacraments and of publick Prayer as they are all parts of the Ministers Office prescribed in the Word so they are all appointed to our Ministers by the Law 3. They owne That all the defects in it whether in their Call or Administration do not nullifie the Office Thus much M r Bradshaw doth contend for So many of our Ministers who in the Book of Ordination are called Priests and Deacons as in all Points concerning the substance of their Ministry are qualified according to the intent of the Laws have their Offices Callings Administration and maintenance for the substance thereof ordained by Christ. And yet I deny not but there may be some accidental defects or superfluities in or about them all yet such as do not or cannot be proved to destroy the nature and substance of any of them This is maintained at large in the Letter of the Ministers in Old England c. p. 86 87. And the like is also affirmed even by those of the Congregational way so the Brethren in their Apology The unwarrantable power in Church-Governours did never work in any of us any other thought much less opinion but that the Ministry thereof of the English Churches was a true Ministry So M r Cotton The power whereby the Ministers in England do administer the Word and Sacraments is either spiritual and proper essential to their Calling or adventitious and accidental The former they have received from Christ c. The latter from the Patron who presents or the Bishop who ordains c. Whoever has a mind to see their Ordination defended may consult Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici part 2. p. 12 16 17 25 c. Jus Divinum Râ—gim Eccles. p. 264 c. Cawdry's Independency a great Schism p. 116. and his Defence of it p. 35 37. Thus far therefore we see how far it is agreed that the Church of England is a true Church in its Doctrine Worship and Ministry But when we come to consider what the Church is they own thus to be true there we shall find that they do differ The Presbyterians generally own a National Church and have writ much in the behalf of it as may be seen in the Books quoted in the Margin others look upon it as a prudential thing and what may lawfully be complyed with So Mr. Tombs It is no more against the Gospel to term the believers of England the Church of England than it is to term believers throughout the World the Cahtholick Church nor is it more unfit for us to term our selves Members of the Catholick Church nor is there need to shew any institution of our Lord more for the one than the other But those that will not own it to be a true Church in respect of such a constitution or that speak doubtfully of it do yet assert as much of the Parish Churches It s acknowledged by all that the distribution into Parishes is not of divine but humane institution but withal its thought by some agreeable to the reason of the thing and somewhat favoured by Scripture and by experience has been found to be of such convenience advantage and security to Religion that a person of great eminence hath more than once said I doubt not but he that will preserve Religion here in its due advantages must endeavour to preserve the soundness concord and honour of the Parish Churches And another very worthy person saith that the nullifying and treading down the Parish Churches is a Popish Design But whatever opinion others may have of that Form yet all of one sort and another agree that the Churches so called are or may be true Churches This was the general opinion of the old Non-Conformists Thus saith a late Writer who though he is unwilling to grant that they did own the National Church to be a true Church yet doth admit as he needs must at least that they did own the several Parishes or Congregations in England to be true Churches both in respect of their constitution and also in respect of their doctrine and worship and that there were in them no such intollerable corruptions as that all Christians should fly from them And even those that were in other respects opposite enough to the Church did so declare It was saith Mr. Baxter the Parish Churches that had the Liturgy which Mr. H. Jacob the Father of the Congregational party wrote for communion with against Fr. Johnson and in respect to which be called them Separatists against whom he wrote The same I may say of Mr. Bradshaw Dr. Ames and other Non-Conformists whom the Congregational Brethren think were favourable to their way And if we will hearken to the abovesaid Author he saith again and again that the general sence of the present Non-Conformists both Ministers and People is that the Parishes of England generally are true Churches both as to the matter of them the people being Christians and as to the form their Ministers being true Ministers such as for their doctrine and manners deserve not to be degraded But left he should be thought to incline to one side I shall produce the testimony of such as are of the Congregational way
of some errour or practice of some evil is not required as the terms of our Communion And M r Burroughs himself doth grant as much and more for he saith Where these Causes are not viz. the being constrained to profess believe or practise contrary to the Rule of Faith or being deprived of means altogether necessary or most expedient to salvation but men may communicate without sin professing the truth and enjoy all Ordinances as the Free-men of Christ Men must not separate from a Church though there be corruption in it to gather into a new Church which may be more pure and in some respects more comfortable And as though such corruptions should be imposed as terms of Communion yet if not actually imposed upon us our communicating in the true part of God's Worship is never the worse for the said imposition as long as we do not communicate in those corruptions as M r Bradshaw doth argue So though they should be imposed and be unavoidable to all that are in Communion that is not a sufficient reason for a total separation as it is also own'd for saith one When the corruptions of a Church are such as that one cannot communicate with her without sin unavoidably that seems to me to be a just ground though not of a positive yet of a negative though not of a total yet of a partial separation it may be a just ground for the lesser but is not so for the greater Supposing then the corruptions in a Church not to be of an heinous nature not respecting the Fundamentals of Religion supposing again they are not necessarily imposed and unavoidable then Separation for the sake of such is unwarrantable But to make this the more uncontroulably evident I shall consider the Corruptions as they respect Worship or Discipline In Worship I shall consider the defects of it in it self in the Ministration the Ministers and those that joyn with it and shew that these do not disoblige from Communion in it and attendance upon it 1. The defects of Worship if not essential are § 1 consistent with Communion and no just reason for withdrawing from it This the Brownists did acknowledge with some qualification Neither count we it lawful for any member to forsake the Fellowship of the Church for blemishes and imperfections which every one according to his Calling should studiously seek to cure c. So M r Cotton Suppose there were and are sundry abuses in the Church yet it was no safe ground of Separation When the Sons of Eli corrupted the Sacrifices of God their sin was great yet it was the sin of the people to separate and abhor Thus a Reverend Person in his Farewel Sermon doth rightly instruct his Auditors A means to hold fast what you have received is diligent attendance on the publick Ordinances and Worship of God if and when you can enjoy them in any measure according to God's Will though not altogether in the manner you desire and they should be administred in c. Though I dare not advise you to join in any thing that is in it self or in your judgment evil till you be satisfied about it yet I must advise you to take heed of Separation from the Church or from what is good and God's own Ordinance c. For the fuller proof of which it may not be amiss to produce the several Arguments used by them in confirmation of this Truth As First To break off Communion or to refuse it for such defects would be to look after a greater perfection than this present state will admit of So the Brownists do declare None is to separate from a Church rightly gathered and established for faults and corruptions which may and so long as the Church consisteth of mortal men will fall out and arise among them And M r Jenkin argues upon this Principle Must not he who will forbear Communion with a Church till it be altogether freed from mixtures tarry till the day of Judgment till when we have no promise that Christ will gather out of his Church whatsoever doth offend This was it that amongst other reasons conquer'd the prejudices of that Good Man M r J. Allen and kept him from Separation of which we have this Account He knew of how great moment it was that the publick Worship of God should be maintained and that its Assemblies should not be relinquished though some of its Administrations did not clearly approve themselves unto him because upon the account of some imperfections and pollutions in them supposed or real to withdraw Communion is evidently to suppose our selves join'd before our time to the heavenly Assembly or to have found such an one upon Earth exempt from all mixtures and imperfections of Worshippers and Worship The want of this prudent consideration makes many to expect more than can be expected and to look upon every defect or corruption as intolerable to prevent which therefore M r Baxter doth give this Advice to his Brethren Teach them to know that all men are imperfect and faulty and so is all mens Worship of God and that he that will not communicate with faulty Worship must renounce Communion with all the World and all with him Secondly They argue our Saviour and the Apostles did not separate from defective Churches and Worship but communicated in it notwithstanding the corruptions and therefore it s not unlawful for others so to do No doubt it was written for our instruction saith a Reverend Person our Lord Jesus Christ who was as zealous for purity in God's Worship as much against corrupt mixtures of mens inventions therein as any can pretend to be used to attend on the publick Worship in his time notwithstanding the many corruptions brought into it That he went into their Assemblies not to joyn in any Worship but only to bear witness against their corruptions is no where written but rather the contrary is held forth in Scripture when he acknowledgeth himself a member of the Church of the Jews approves of and justifies their Worship as right for substance that salvation might be attained therein which he denies to be attainable in any other Worship John 4.22 we know including himself amongst those that worshipped God aright what we worship for salvation is of the Jews This is sufficiently proved by many that Christ did communicate with the Jewish Church and is granted as well by those of the Congregational as Presbyterial way And yet Doctrine Discipline and Worship were much corrupted of which M r Hildersham doth give a specimen but especially D r Bryan There were many great corruptions in the Church of the Jews in Christ's time the Priests and Teachers were ignorant and wicked and had a corrupt and unlawful entrance into their calling and the People were like to the Priest generally notoriously and obstinately ungodly and the Worship used in that Church was wofully corrupt
not condemn such Christians as having Pastors in the places where they live of meaner gifts do desire so they do it without open breach or contempt of the Churches order to enjoy the Ministry of such as have better gifts c. so they do it without contempt of their own Pastors and without scandal and offence to them and their People So again You ought not to leave your own Pastor at anytime with contempt of his Ministry as when you say or think alas he is no body a good honest man but he hath no gifts I cannot profit by him And as if he could not be too cautious in the case he lays down this as the Character of one that doth this innocently He only makes right use of the benefit of hearing such as have more excellent gifts than his own Pastors and learns thereby to like his own Pastor the better and to profit more by him That this is to be but seldom we have the concurrent testimony of the Provincial Assembly of London who upon this Question Would you have a man keep constantly to the Minister under whom he lives do answer We are not so rigid as to tye up People from hearing other Ministers occasionally even upon the Lords Day But yet we believe 't is most agreable to Gospel order upon the grounds forementioned Thus it is resolved also by one of a more rigid way who puts this Question Whether members of particular Churches may hear indifferently elsewhere and returns this answer God will have mercy and not sacrifice as distance of habitation handling such a point But most certainly members of Churches ought mostly to be with their own Churches The imagined content in hearing others is rather a temptation than motion of the Spirit From all which we may conclude that the pretence of better edification is no sufficient reason for Separation from a Church Worship or Ministry without there be other reasons that do accompany it and then it is not for this reason so much as those it is in conjunction with But admitting this yet it will hardly be granted to be a reason for Separation from the Church of England if the testimony of many worthy persons be of any consideration Thus Mr Hildersham declares when he is reproving such as make no conscience to come to the beginning of Gods publick Worship and to stay to the end of it he thus proceeds Because I see many of them that have most knowledge and are forwardest professors offend in this way I will manifest the sin of these men 1. They sin against themselves in the profit they might receive by the Worship of God There is no part of Gods service not the Confession not the Prayers not the Psalm not the Blessing but it concerns every one and every one may receive edification by it This he otherwhere repeats and saith By the Confession and all other Prayers used in the Congregation a man may receive more profit than by many other Of this opinion as to the most of the Prayers in our Liturgy were the old Non-Conformists We are perswaded that not only some few select Prayers but many Prayers and other exhortations may lawfully be used with fruit and edification to Gods People As for the word preach'd amongst us Mr Nye saith that there is a summ of doctrinal truths which in the enlargement and application are sufficient both for conversion and edification to which the Preachers are to assent And that the word of God interpreted and applyed by preaching in this way is a choice mercy and gift wherewith God hath blessed this Nation for many Years to the conversion and edification of many thousands And he afterwards ascribes the want of edification to the prejudices of People Such reasonings saith he against hearing though they convince not the unlawfulness of it yet they leave such prejudices in the minds of them which are tender as perplex and render hearing less profitable and edifying even to those that are perswaed of its lawfulness This M r Tombs declares himself freely in If we look to experience of former times there is now ground to expect a blessing from conforming Preachers as well or rather more than from Preachers of the separated Churches Sure the conversion consolation strengthening establishing of Souls in the truth has been more in England from Preachers who were Enemies to Separation whether Non-Conformist to Ceremonies or Conformists Presbyterial or Episcopal even from Bishops themselves than from the best of the Separatists I think all that are acquainted with the History of things in the last age will acknowledge that more good hath been to the Souls of men by the Preaching of Vsher Potter Abbot Jewel and some other Bishops by Preston Sibbs Taylor Whately Hildersham Ball Perkins Dod Stock and many thousands Adversaries to the separated Churches than ever was done by Ainsworth Johnson Robinson rigid Separatists or Cotton Tho. Hooker and others though men of precious memory promoters of the way of the Churches Congregational And therefore if the Bishops and conforming Preachers now apply themselves as we hope when the heat of contention is more allayed they will to the profitable way of preaching against Popery and Prophaneness exciting Auditors to the life of faith in Christ c. there may be as good ground if not better considering how much the Spirits of Separatists are for their party and the speaking of the truth in love and edifying in love is necessary to the growth of the Body Eph. 4.15 to expect by them a blessing in promoting the power of Godliness than from the Separatists So that whether we consider the Worship or Doctrine or the preaching of it the Church of England in their apprehension doth not want a sufficiency of means for the conversion and edification of Souls And consequently the argument taken from edification in justification of forsaking the Communion of it is inconclusive and of no force But this branch of it will be further confirm'd under the third general But however this will not be so easily quitted for supposing the Doctrine good and those that teach it capable as far as learning and parts are requisite to improve it to the conversion and edification of others yet if they themselves are loose and scandalous it may give just offence and be thought a sufficient cause to separate from the Worship in which such do officiate 3. Therefore I shall shew that the badness of the Ministers is of it self no sufficient reason to forsake the Communion of a Church or to separate from the Worship administred in it What holy M r Rogers saith is a great truth It is not to be denied but that the example of ignorant and unreformed especially notorious Persons in the Ministry hath done and doth much harm and if either they cannot be convicted or if their crimes be such as cannot remove them out of their places there is just
maimed in Discipline So D r T. Goodwin Whereas now in some of the Parishes of this Kingdom there are many Godly Men that do constantly give themselves up to the Worship of God in publick c. These notwithstanding their mixture and want of Discipline I never thought for my part but that they were true Churches of Christ and Sister Churches and so ought to be acknowledged So that if Discipline be not essential to a true Church and a true Church is not to be separated from as has been proved above then the want of Discipline is no sufficient reason for Separation Secondly This they further prove by an induction of particulars This way Mr. Blake proceeds in Discipline was neglected in the Church of Israel yet none of the Prophets or men of God ever made attempt of getting up purer select Churches or made separation from that which was in this sort faulty All was not right in the exercise of Discipline in the Churches planted by the Apostles some are censured as foully faulty c. yet nothing heard by way of advice for any to make Separation nor any one instance of a Separatist given To come lower we are told by a learned person that the Helvetian or Switzerland Churches claim to be Churches and have the Notes Word and Sacraments though the order of Discipline be not settled among them and I am not he that shall blot out their name To come nearer home it was so in the late times when this was wanting as was acknowledged and of which Mr. Vines saith we know rather the name than the thing And if we shall look into the several Church-Assemblies amongst the Dissenters we shall find that there are many Preachers without full pastoral charge as it is acknowleded and that have little authority over their flocks in this kind that have not so much as the name of Discipline amongst them And so they have little reason to justifie themselves in a Separation by such an argument that will as well wound themselves as those they bend it against and they that do so are guilty of Sin So Mr. Baxter Many that observe the pollution of the Church by the great neglect of holy Discipline avoid this error by turning to a sinful Separation I shall conclude this with that grave advice of Dr. Owen When any Church whereof a man is by his own consent antecedently a Member doth fall in part or in whole from any of those Truths which it hath professed or when it is overtaken with a neglect of Discipline or Irregularities in its Administration such a one is to consider that he is placed in his present state by Divine Providence that he may orderly therein endeavour to put a stop unto such defections and to exercise his Charity Love and Forbearance towards the persons of them whose miscarriages at present he cannot remedy In such cases there is a large and spatious Field for Wisdom Patience Love and prudent Zeal to exercise themselves And it is a most erverse imagination that Separation is the only cure for Church disorders If this advice be good in one case it is so in another and if it were well understood and faithfully followed this argument would be of little or no force 2. I shall shew how little this plea of the Defective Discipline reaches the case It s granted that there is such a Power and Authority of Ecclesiastical Discipline resident in the Church of England that if open and scandalous persons are not cast out the fault is in the Governours for the Law takes order they shall be as D r Bryan saith And the power of suspension put thereby into the Ministers hands is so evident that after D r Collins had proved it from the Rubricks Canons c. he concludes its plain that the judgment and practice of the Church of England in all times ever since it was a Church hath been to suspend some from the Table of the Lord. So that if there be defects through some past and present obstructions in the exercise of Discipline yet cannot the Church properly stand charged with them as is acknowledged or whatever may be charged upon the Church there can be no sufficient cause from a defect remisness or corruption therein for a Separation from it This was the constant judgment of the old Non-Conformists which I shall transcribe from a grave Author Those saith he that for many Years together during the Reign of the three last Princes denied to come up to a full Conformity to this Church had a low opinion of the Discipline then exercised of which they have left behind them large evidences yet how tender were they of the Churches honour to keep Christians in Communion how zealous were they against Separation as may appear in the labours of M r Parker M r Paget M r Ball. M r Brightman laid us low enough when he did not only parallel us with luke-warm Laodicea but made that Church the Type and we the Antitype by reason of our Discipline yet how zealous is he against Separation from these Assemblers and breaks out in these words Therefore their error is wicked and blasphemous who so forsake the Church as if Christ were altogether banished thence Having thus far considered what opinion the graver sort of the Non-Conformists have of Communion with a Church and what rules they do lay down about it and shew'd that according to those rules Separation from the Church is unlawful I shall close all with the last advice given by a Reverend Person to his Parishioners in a Farewel Sermon in these words Take heed of extreams It is the ordinary Temptation in a time of differences to think we cannot run too far from them we differ from and so whilst we decline one Rock we split upon another Remember the old Non-Conformists were equal Enemies to Superstition and Separation Maintain I beseech you sober Principles such as these are that every defective Ministry is not a false Ministry that sinful super-additions do not nullifie Divine institutions that sinful defects in Ordinances do not hinder the saving effects of them That there is a difference betwixt directing a Worship prescribing things simply evil and manifestly idolatrous and directing about Worship things doubtfully good being injoyned but the unquestionable substance of Worship being maintained This latter doth not justifie Separation And that the supposed corruptions in the Church of England are of that nature as do not affect the substance of it nor are such but what may be safely communicated in I shall now proceed to shew from them 3. I shall consider what opinion the eminent Non-Conformists have had of the several practices in the Church of England that are injoyned upon those that hold Lay-Communion with it which respect Forms Gestures Time c. In general they acknowledge that they are things
not oblige This M r Tombs hath undertaken to shew 1. Because this gesture seems not to have been of choice used by Christ. 2. Because S t Paul omits the gesture which he would not have done if it had been binding 3. He mentions the night and calls it the Lords Supper and if the time be not necessary much less the gesture 4. If the gesture doth oblige then Christians must use the self same that Christ used 3. It is granted that the nature of the ordinance doth not forbid kneeling So M r Bains kneeling is not unbeseeming a Feaster when our joy must be mingled with reverent trembling So M r Baxter The nature of the ordinance is mixed And if it be lawful to take a pardon from the King upon our knees I know not what can make it unlawful to take a sealed pardon from Christ by his Ambassador upon our Knee Hence M r Bayley reckons it as an error of some Independents that they accounted sitting necessary as a rite significant of fellowship with Christ and a part of our imitation of him and for both these reasons declared it necessary to keep on their hats at the time of participation 4. It is granted not to be idolatrous So M r Bains Kneeling is neither an occasion nor by participation Idolatry kneeling never bred Bread-worship And our doctrine of the Sacrament known to all the world doth free us from suspicion of adoration in it To these M r Tombs adds 1. that the Papists adore not the bread at putting into their mouths but at the elevation It being inconsistent with their principles to worship that which is not above them 2. That the worship of God not directed to a creature but before it as an occasional object of adoration to God is not Idolatry 3. That yet in the Church of England the Elements are not occasionally so but the benefits of Christ in the Lords Supper and 4. Kneeling is not to the Bread but as the signification of an humble and grateful mind as he shews from the Rubrick 5 thly Those that do account it inconvenient yet account it not to be unlawful Thus M r Cartwright Kneeling in receiving the Sacrament being incommodious in its own nature and made far more incommodious by Popish superstition is not therefore so to be rejected that we should abstain from the Sacrament if we cannot otherwise be partakers of it because the thing is not in its own nature unlawful So it s said of the old Nonconformists Kneeling at the Sacrament was disliked by all but yet thought tolerable and that it might be submitted to by some of the most learned From all which we may conclude with Mr. Vines that the posture being a circumstance of action as well as the time and place is not of the Free-hold of the ordinance and with Mr. Baxter that those that think they must not receive kneeling think erroneously As for standing up at the Creed c. Mr. Baxter saith his judgement is for it where it is required and where not doing it would be divisive and scandalous Nay elsewhere he saith that t is a convenient praising gesture c. Thus I have considered the most material points in which the Lay-members of the Church of England are concern'd and shew'd that the lawfulness of the things injoyned upon such is declared and justified by the suffrage and judgement of as eminent Nonconformists as have lived in the several ages since that unhappy controversie was first set on foot amongst us And now what remains but that every one concerned set himself seriously and impartially to consider it and it becomes such so to do when they go against the stream of the most experienced writers of their own party who might pretend to understand the case as well if not better than any that were conversant in it It becomes such when they bury that under the condemnation of false worship which the Lord the author of all truth doth allow in his service When they forsake the prayers of the Congregation and depart from the Table of the Lord and break off society and communion with the Churches of Christ c. when they expose Religion to contempt and the truth of God to reproach by the rents and divisions in the Church as M r Ball doth represent it It becomes them when our division gratifieth the Papists and greatly hazardeth the Protestant Religion and by it we may lose all which the several parties contend about as Mr. Baxter hath proved It becomes them when the Church of England is the bulwark of the Protestant Religion amongst us at home and that according to the noted saying of Mr. Egerton The withdrawing totally from it would more effectually introduce Popery than all the works of Bellarmine It becomes them when this is the Bulwark of it abroad and all the reformed Churches in the world have a venture in this Bottom which if compar'd to a Fleet the Church of England must be acknowledged to be the Admiral And if it go ill with this Church so as that miscarry there is none of the Churches of Christ this day under Heaven but are like to feel it as M r Brinsley discourses Lastly It becomes them when divisions and separations draw down the displeasure of God and lay us open to his Judgements Therefore Dr. Bryan after he hath largely insisted upon the Argument and the present case amongst us doth thus apply himself O that I could prevail with you to lay sadly to heart the greatness of the sin of divisions and the grievousness of the punishment threatned against it and hath been executed for it and that the Leaders and encouragers of private Christians to make this sinful separation would read oft and me ditate upon S t Jude's Epistle to v. 20. and that the multitudes that are willing to be led by them would follow the prescription of the means here to preserve or recover themselves from this seduction v. 20 21. And that both would leave off their reviling the Government Ecclesiastical and the Ministers that conform and submissively behave themselves by the example of Michael c. I shall conclude the whole with the peaceable and pious advice of Mr. Bains Let every man walk within the compass of his Calling Whatsoever lyeth not in us to reform it shall be our zeal and piety to tolerate and with patience to forbear especially in things of this nature which concern not so much the outward Communion with God or man essentially required in a visible state as the due ordering of business in the said Communion wherein there be many superfluities and defects silvâ tamen Ecclesiâ yea and such a Church notwithstanding as wherein the best and truest Members circumstances considered may have more cause to rejoyce than to grieve ERRATA PAG. 5. l. 25. r. soundness p. 7.