Subscription that is required to the 39 Articles it is very Consistent with Our Churches giving all Men Liberty to Judge for themselves and not Exercising Authority as the Romish Church doth over our Faith for she requires no Man to believe those Articles but at worst only thinks it Convenient that none should receive Orders or be admitted to Benefices c. but such as do believe them not all as Articles of our Faith but many as inferiour truths and requires Subscription to them as a Test whereby to Judge who doth so believe them But the Church of Rome requires all under Pain of Damnation to believe all her long Bed-roul of Doctrines which have only the Stamp of her Authority and to believe them too as Articles of Faith or to believe them with the same Divine Faith that we do the indisputable Doctrines of our Saviour and his Apostles For a proof hereof the Reader may consult the Bull of Pope Pius the Fourth which is to be found at the End of the Council of Trent Herein it is Ordained that Profession of Faith shall be made and sworn by all Dignitaries Prebendaries and such as have Benefices with Cure Military Officers c. in the Form following IN. Do believe with a firm Faith and do profess all and every thing contained in the Confession of Faith which is used by the Holy Roman Church viz. I believe in one God the Father Almighty and so to the end of the Nicene Creed I most firmly admit and embrace the Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and the other Observances and Constitutions of the said Church Also the Holy Scriptures according to the Sense which our Holy Mother the Church hath held and doth hold c. I profess also that there are truly and properly Seven Sacraments of the New Law instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind although all are not necessary to every individual Person c. I also admit and receive the Received and approved Rites of the Catholick Church in the Solemn Administration of all the foresaid Sacraments of which I have given the Reader a taste I Embrace and Receive all and every thing which hath been declared and defined concerning Original Sin and Justification in the Holy Synod of Trent I likewise profess that in the Mass a True Proper and Propitiatory Sacrifice is Offered to God for the quick and dead And that the Body and Blood of Christ is truly really and substantially in the most Holy Eucharist c. I also Confess that whole and intire Christ and the true Sacrament is received under one of the kinds only I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are relieved by the Prayers of the Faithful And in like manner that the Saints Reigning with Christ are to be Worshipped and Invoked c. And that their Relicks are to be Worshipped I most firmly assert that the Images of Christ and of the Mother of God always a Virgin and of the other Saints are to be had and kept and that due Honour and Worship is to be given to them I Affirm also that the power of Indulgences is left by Christ in his Church and that the use of them is very Salutiferous to Christian People I acknowledge the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and I Profess and Swear Obedience to the Bishop of Rome the Successor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Jesus Christ Also all the other things delivered decreed and declared by the Holy Canons and Oecumenical Councils and especially by the Holy Synod of Trent I undoubtedly receive and profess As also all things contrary to these and all Heresies Condemned Rejected and Anathematized by the Church I in like manner Condemns Reject and Anathematize This true Catholick Faith viz. all this Stuff of their own together with the Articles of the Creed without which no Man can be Saved which at this present I truly profess and sincerely hold I will God Assisting me most constantly Retain and Confess intire and inviolate and as much as in me lies will take Care that it be held taught and declared by those that are under me or the Care of whom shall be committed to me I the same N. do Profess Vow and Swear So help me God and the Holy Gospels of God Who when he Reads this can forbear pronouncing the Reformation of the Church of England a most Glorious Reformation 2. As to the Motives our Church proposeth for our belief of the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures viz. that that Doctrine is of Divine Revelation they are no other than such as are found in the Scriptures themselves viz. the Excellency thereof which consists in its being wholly adapted to the reforming of mens Lives and renewing their Natures after the Image of God and the Miracles by which it is confirmed And as to the Evidence of the truth of the matters of Fact viz. that there were such Persons as the Scriptures declare to have revealed Gods will to the World such as Moses our Saviour Christ and his Apostles and that these Persons delivered such Doctrine and Confirmed it by such Miracles and that the Books of Scripture were written by those whose Names they bear I say as to the Evidence of the truth of these matters of Fact our Church placeth it not in her own Testimony or in the Testimony of any Particular Church and much less that of Rome but in the Testimony of the whole Catholick Church down to us from the time of the Apostles and of Vniversal Tradition taking in that of Strangers and Enemies as well as Friends of Jews and Pagans as well as Christians Secondly We proceed to shew that a Churches Symbolizing or agreeing in some things with the Church of Rome is no Warrant for Separation from the Church so agreeing Agreement with the Church of Rome in things either in their own nature good or made so by a Divine Precept none of our Dissenting Brethren could ever imagine not to be an indispensable duty Agreement with her in what is in its own nature Evil or made so by a Divine Prohibition none of us are so forsaken of all Modesty as to deny it to be an inexcusable sin The Question therefore is whether to agree with this Apostate Church in some things of an indifferent nature be a Sin and therefore a just ground for Separation from the Church so agreeing But by the way if we should suppose that a Churches agreeing with the Church of Rome in some indifferent things is sinful I cannot think that any of the more Sober Sort of Dissenters and I despair of success in arguing with any but such will thence infer that Separation from the Church so agreeing is otherwise warrantable than upon the account of those things being imposed as necessary terms of Communion But I am so far from taking it for granted
before Luther 2. A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is meant by it and what Tradition is to be received and what Tradition is to be rejected 3. The difference of the Case between the Separation of Protestants from the Church of Rome and the Separation of Dissenters from the Church of England 4. The Protestant Resolution of Faith c. 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 The Second Edition corrected by the Author LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard M. DC LXXXIV TO THE DISSENTERS FROM THE Church of England Dear Brethren YOU being at this time called upon by Authority to join 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 the 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 Mr. Mede 's Farewel Serm. on 1 Cor. 1. 3. 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 Mr. Read 's Case p. 4. spoiling of our Goods the confinement of our Persons the ruin 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 those Sufferings from Men. Not be acceptable to God to whom all are accountable Continuat of Morn Exer. Ser. 4. p. 92. for what Portion he hath intrusted 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 Read Ibid. 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 Poll 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 justify Separation p. 48 The neglect or want of Discipline no sufficient reason to separate p. 59 The Opinion which the Non-conformists have of the several Practices 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 joined 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 own 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 Mr. Baxter to whom when it Defence of the Cure part 2. pag. 29. was objected that many Errors 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 A Book licensed by Mr. Cranford sprung from Mens confounding the terms of Ministerial Conformity with those of Lay-Communion with the Parochial Assemblies there being much more required of the Ministers than of the People Private Persons having much less to say for themselves in absenting from the publick Worship of God tho performed by the Liturgy than the Pastor hath for not taking Oaths c. Certainly if this Difference were but observ'd and the Case of Lay-Communion truly stated and understood the People would not be far more
p. 10. it unlawful then all Communion in any part of God's Worship with such Ministers is unlawful and so the Church in all Ages of the World the Prophets our Saviour Christ the Apostles and the V. Ball 's Trial p. 310. Faithful in the Primitive Churches sinned in holding Communion with such when the Priests were dumb Dogs that could not bark and greedy Dogs that could never have enough when the Prophets prophesied Lyes when the Priests bought and sold Doves in the Temple c. when they were such and did such things they were ungodly Ministers but we never find that the Prophets our Saviour and the Apostles did either forbear themselves or warn the Faithful not to communicate with such in the Ordinance of Worship So much Mr. Nye doth grant More cannot be objected against our Ministers Case of great and present use p. 14. that Conform than might against the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's Time either in respect of their Doctrine which was loaden with Traditions their Standing which was not according to Law their Lives which were vicious yet Christ not only permits but requires us to attend the Truths they deliver Secondly They plead that our Saviour himself did Arg. 2 Communicate where such did Officiate So Dr. Bryan In some Countries I am sure there are many Sober Dwelling with God p. 313. Godly Orthodox able Preachers c. And if you know any Country where it is worse This is attested by another in his Farewel Sermon Our Saviour England's Remembrancer Serm. 4. p. 94. Christ used to attend on the publick Worship in his Time notwithstanding such Formalists and superstitious Ones as the Scribes and Pharisees did Officiate in it Thirdly They say that the Sin of the Minister is Arg. 3 not theirs nor doth bring any detriment to them though they Communicate with him So Mr. Baxter A Minister's personal Faults may damn himself Câ—ristian Directory p. 747. Cure p. 113 114. and must be matter of Lamentation to the Church who ought to do their best to reform them or get better by any lawful means but in case they cannot his Sin is none of theirs nor doth it make his Administration null or ineffectual nor will it allow you to separate from the Worship which he Administreth So the Ministers sent to Oxford do assert Some evil Men may and always have de Account given to the Parliament p. 27. facto been Officers and Ministers in the Church c. and the wickedness of such Men did not null or evacuate their Ministerial Acts for our Saviour would have the Scribes and Pharisees heard while they sate in Moses's Chair c. And that the Ministrations in such a case are not invalid and that the People suffer not by it they further prove 1. Because they officiate not in their own Name So the Old Non-Conformists It hath ever-more been held for a Truth Letter of the Ministers p. 11. in the Church of God That although sometimes the Evil hath chief Authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own Name but in Christ's and minister by his Commission and Authority we may use their Ministry both in hearing the Word and receiving the Sacraments neither is the effect of Christ's Ordinance taken away by their wickedness 2. The virtue of the Ordinance doth not depend upon their Goodness but God's Promise So Mr. Rogers saith of Prayer If this burden of bad Ministers Tract 3. p. 223. must be born I ask If among many sweet Liberties we enjoy we may not join in Prayer with them if we can pray in Faith seeing their unworthiness cannot with-hold the Fruit of God's Promise from us which is to one kind of Prayer as well as another So saith Mr. Cradacot of the Word Take heed saith he of being leavened with prejudice Farewel Sermons Vol. 3. p. 22 23. against the Ministry of the Word because of the misdemeanors or miscarriage of the Minister It is the Word of the Lord which converts not the Person of the Dispenser or Speaker Hence it was that the Ministry of the Scribes and Pharisees was not to be rejected but to be esteemed so long as they failed not of the Substance thereof c. I conceive it 's a rare thing for unconverted Ministers to convert and yet we must remember not to tie the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments to the goodness or badness of a Minister's Person So when it 's Case of great and present Use p. 14. objected How can we expect a Blessing upon the Labours of such though they preach truth Mr. Nye replies Answ 1. The mixtures in Sermons are nearest the irregularities of their Calling next the sins of their Conversations furthest from their Doctrine and therefore have less efficacy at such a distance to prejudice it Answ 2. It 's God's Word and not their own they preach c. 3. That if Persons themselves do believe and are sincere they are notwithstanding such a Ministry accepted The Sacrifice of a faithful Elkanah saith one England's Remembrancer Serm. 4. p. 94. was pleasing to God even when Hophni and Phineas were Priests From all which we find some declaring that notwithstanding this they would Communicate So a Learned Person The Peoples Prejudices Bonasus Vapulans p. 133. against the Liturgy are grounded for the most part upon the wicked Lives of those that are the most constant readers and frequenters of it doubtless the Author if he had considered this would rather have said that they are grounded upon the wicked Lives of some of those that read and frequent it I shall never upon that account cease to join in Prayers and to hear Sermons Others we find exhorting their Auditors to attend even upon such So Mr. Fairclough in his Farewel-Sermons Get all Pastor's Legacy p. 125. good from shew all Duty to him that follows If he should be weak or evil yet while he preacheth Truths while he sits in Moses's Chair hear him seriously and carry your selves towards him as becomes a People to their Minister I have thus far considered the Case of scandalous Ministers because many make it an Objection as well those that are not concerned as those that are Otherwise it must be acknowledged that England was never better provided with a Learned and Pious Ministry than at present who have as good Vnderstanding Non-Conformists Plea for Conformists p. 12 23. preach as good Doctrine do as much good by their Preaching as any others as a late Writer doth confess But though many Congregations are well supplied with a Pious Able and Industrious Ministry yet there are few or none but what have some more or less amongst the Laity that are as it may be supposed not fit to be received into Communion with a Church or to be communicated with This brings me to the next thing in Worship which
we be said to give offence to others in either of these sences by conforming to the Institutions and Rites of the Church of England 1. Not in the first sence for that can onely be in one or both of these two cases either first by doing that which is essentially and in its own nature evil and a sin Or secondly by doing that which is directly a temptation and a snare to induce another to do that which is a sin Now if it can be shewn that complying with the Rites and Service of the Church of England is giving offence in either of these sences then I here profess I will my self immediately turn their Proselyte and renounce Conformity and protest against it for ever 1. It hath scarce ever yet been so much as intimated that the Church of England requires any thing as a condition of Communion with her that is essentially evil None of our adversaries that I know of have yet dared to charge her Doctrine with falshood or her Discipline with any thing that is in it self evil And when any shall adventure to do it I doubt not but he will find enough to enter the lists with him Even our bitterest Enemies of the Romish Communion have dared to charge us no further in either of these but onely that we are defective in both and reject many things which the Church of Christ as they pretend hath believed and practised in the ancient and primitive ages of it They would rather chuse to call us Schismaticks than Hereticks or to prove us Hereticks not because we believe or teach any things for necessary Doctrines which are false but rather because we do not teach or believe all things that are Christian and true Neither do they charge our Liturgy and Service or Form of Worship with any thing that is materially evil no nor redundant but onely deficient in many Usages and Rites which they pretend to be Apostolical And if our own Brethren must be more spightful and bitter against us than our worst Adversaries let them look to it that even they become not their accusers at the great day But yet thanks be to God they have not adventured to do this and will be unsuccessful enough when they do it and therefore themselves free us from giving any offence in our Conformity in this sence of giving offence i. e. doing any thing which is formally a Sin our selves and thereby inducing others into the same evil by joyning with us 2. Neither secondly do I see any one sin that Conformity is directly introductive of or a temptation unto and I will believe it will puzzle the most curious and inquisitive to find out any such I have so much charity for my dear Mother the Church and so much duty I thank God yet left in me as to dare to justifie her from this imputation I am sure she intends no sin in what she doth nor knowns of any evil that her Communion will betray any man into All that she designs in her Doctrine is to teach the truth as it is in Jesus and to keep close to that Symbol of Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints And what she intends and aims at in her Liturgie and Discipline is by the one to keep men from innovating and corrupting that Faith or debauching it in their manners and deteining it in unrighteousness And by the other to direct them to worship God in such a way as is suitable to his own nature and to the Principles of such a holy Religion and thereby conciliate that grace that may enable them to live so as the Worship of such a God and the Belief of such a Religion require and oblige them to do I must confess in one thing the Church of England may be an occasion of a great deal of sin in the world but it is such as will as little advantage our Brethren to have it granted as it will be any disparagement or disadvantage to be caused by it I mean in being an occasion of all that in and guilt that all those bring upon themselves that rail and cry out so much upon it that separate and divide from it and studiously maintain and keep up an unreasonable and downright Schism against it But certainly all men will see that this is an offence onely taken and not given and ought no more to be objected against the Church than Murther and Adultery Theft and Robbery ought to be charged upon the Laws of God that declare the same to be sin Were there no such thing as the Constitution of a Church these men would not be guilty of Schism and unjust Separation from it But so if there were no Law there would be no transgression and Adulterers may as well accuse the Law for their sin in one case as Schismaticks can accuse the Constitution of the Church in the other They are both in this case equally culpable i. e. indeed not at all In a word and to conclude this Period if Piety and becoming expressions of Devotion in the publick Worship of God If Gravity Decency and Order in the Offices of Religion And if engaging men to a due respect and regard to the rules of the Gospel be sins or evils to be eschewed and dreaded by men then I will grant that Conformity to the Church of England may possibly give offence in this sence of giving of it but if not I do not see any reason to apprehend or fear any danger at all of it By these considerations it will appear we are free from giving offence by our Conformity to the Rules of our Church in this first sence of Scandal and giving Offence 2. I proceed therefore now to enquire if we cannot clear our selves sufficiently from it in the second notion of these things also And this I think will best and most plainly be determined by considering what can be thought just cause of sorrow and grief to a good man or a reasonable discouragement or hinderance to him in his way of Duty I mean still cause of these given to him by another Now these I think I may reduce pretty safely to these three Heads 1. Some dishonour offered to God and his Religion 2. The Wickedness and Profaneness of men 3. The making the way of Religion and Duty more cumbersome and difficult than otherwise it would be These are great and just causes of offence and grief to a good man It cannot but greatly afflict a good man to behold his God whom he adores and honours and loves above all things affronted and dishonoured his Laws violated his Authority contemned and trampled upon by daring and foolish men Rivers of waters saith the holy Psalmist run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law Psal 119. 136. And it cannot but be cause of the like sorrow to such a man to see other men for whom he hath a great and concerning charity and whom he loves as his own soul to live in sin
cannot charge the Church with any plain degeneracy or open Apostacy from the Doctrine or Practice of the Scriptures When any particular Church degenerates plainly either in Doctrine or Worship there I am not concerned to determine how far she forfeits all that respect that she might otherwise claim from men nor how much the Credit of a single person may vie with her Perhaps when the Church was degenerated into Arrianism the judgement of Athanasius and some few other Bishops was more to be regarded than that of a whole Synod and in the horrid Apostacy of the Roman Church perhaps the single Doctrine of John Huss was preferable to that of the whole Council of Constance But still in both these Cases or any other parallel ones that respect derived it self not from their persons but was wholly owing to truth and the holy Scriptures that stood with them But blessed be God this is not our case our Church doth challenge and triumph over all charges of any such Apostacy and all the disputes and contests with her by any of these men are about things confessedly doubtful and such as are in their own nature indifferent things about which to say the least it is as possible that single persons may erre and mistake as it is for the Church unless in this also as in many other instances men fall in with the grossest Tenet in Popery that single persons may more reasonably pretend to Infallibility than the whole Church Every man derides and thinks he can baffle all the pretences of the Bishop of Rome to Infallibility and therefore should blush and be ashamed of his own either arrogating it to himself or ascribing it to another For the truth is I do not see but his pretences are as just as another man's i. e. indeed they are both monstrously unreasonable And yet alas this is not the least source of the unhappiness of this Age nor need I be condemned for staying a little while to drop a tear upon it Men turn Dictators in Religion and impose their own Dreams as magisterially upon their Followers as if they were oracular and I am perswaded their Disciples hang as much upon their single authority and confidence and yield as absolute and implicite Faith to all their Doctrines as ever any poor Papists against whom they exclaim so tragically for blind Obedience and Faith They are kept in as absolute subjection to their placits and dare no more read and consult Books that are written to inform them than a poor Papist dare let a prohibited Book be seen in his House by a Father of the Inquisition If ever people followed their leaders blindfold these men do they will not hear any thing against them They have their persons in admiration and I wish I could not say of some for filthy lucres sake or at least some mean reasons equivalent thereto They will not so much as submit to means of Information they commonly say they are satisfied already and the single blustering of one of their own Rabbies shall signifie more with them than all the Arguments of the most Learned and sober men living beside But I am insensibly drawn aside from my chief Subject which is not to treat so much of a respect of Credit and Faith as of Tenderness and Charity which is certainly as justly due from us to the Church as to any private persons whatsoever and it cannot but be as unreasonable to fail in the one as in the other It is every whit as unjust for men to be more regardless of grieving and troubling the Church of Christ as it is foolish and unreasonable to set up one single man's opinion against that of many others that are in the same circumstances and advantages of Knowledge and every way both as knowing and as upright as himself Whatever considerations there are to determine our Charity to single persons there are the same at least to make it necessary towards the Church and as strong reasons to restrain us from offending the one as the other Whatever becomes an Argument in one case is equally so also in the other and if it be not as effectual with us we are partial in the Law and distinguish without any reasons but those of our own partial and unjust respects Let men be pleased to look into the Scriptures and consult the practices of our Lord himself or his Apostles after him and their thoughts will soon be resolved in this matter they will find the one calling for as much deference and respect to the Church as to private persons and the other upon all occasions as careful to pay it and in all cases extreamly careful not to give offence to it in any thing whatsoever as were easie to shew in Instances enough that are plain and obvious to all that read and can scarce pass unobserved by any This is the first Consideration and I appeal to all if it be not a very easie Postulatum a very modest and reasonable intimation and yet I assure you it were a good point gained and a very good step towards our peace were men hearty in their concessions of it Would men pay but the same deference to the Church of Christ and her Constitutions as they readily do to their own single Opinions or the confident suggestions of some admired Leader we might quickly hope to see some end of our Questions and Disputes And would they be but as tender of giving any offence to the Publick as they are of doing so to every little person of their own party we might begin to hope that the Constitutions of our Church might gain some respect and some measure of peaceableness and modesty bless the Inhabitants of this Nation once more 2. But this is too little to suggest and the lesser part of what I would propose to consideration upon this Subject and therefore in the second place I desire it may be considered whether we ought not to have a greater respect to the Church of God than to any single or private persons whatsoever And truly I think this is as reasonable a Postulatum as the other and that which will be as soon granted true by all that duly consider things In all things whatsoever the Publick requires more respect from us than any private person and the welfare of the one is to be preferred by us before that of the other If the Church of Christ and any private Party of men come in competition and it so happen that we probably may give offence to one we ought to let our regard to the Church sway and determine us and think it a less evil that some particular persons be offended than that trouble or offence be given to the whole Church That saying of Caiaphas recorded Joh. 11. 50. though spoken with an unjust and barbarous design yet is a certain and rational truth It is expedient that one man suffer and not the whole Nation perish And it is certainly a less evil
into its own Laws After this great example I proceed to take notice of some that we find registred in the life of St. Paul to the like purpose I instance onely in two which will be sufficient The first was his circumcising Timothy of which you have the story Acts 16. 1 2 3. It is certain Timothy might have objected against Circumcision and pleaded his freedom from any obligation to it being the Son of a Grecian Father and there is no reason to doubt but it must be irksome and troublesome to him yet for all that St. Paul hath greater respect to the Church of the Jews in those parts which might be offended had he not been circumcised his Mother being a Jew The other is that famous story of St. Paul's shaving his head and purifying himself in the Temple with the men that had a vow upon them just according to the manner prescribed in the Levitical Law you have the account of it Acts 21. from 23 to 27. I do not at all question but this action of St. Paul must be strangely looked upon at first by Trophimus and those other Heathen Converts that came with him to Jerusalem who knowing his Doctrine and manner of conversation abroad could scarce chuse but reflect with some trouble upon this action and the truth is it was a plain temptation to them to have some hard thoughts of him Yet notwithstanding this St. Paul preferred his respect to the Church of Jerusalem and chose rather to incur this censure of theirs than to give any offence to the Church of Christ which was there From which example a great advantage may be drawn not onely to direct us what regard to have to the Church of God in general above any private persons but even to a National or Local Church which is but a member and part of Christs Church and from which the constitution of other Churches as to Customs and Usages may be different St. Paul might have pleaded strongly against this thing to which St. James advised him especially upon the account of offence to those that were with him and to others from whom he came yet for all this his respect to the present Church where he was and his care not to offend it overcame all other considerations and caused him readily to do that which neither they were greatly pleased with nor himself in all probability neither Which hath often brought to my mind the Apostolical temper of St. Ambrose in that famous answer of his to St. Austin's Mother which he magnifies so highly for Oracular and Divine That at Millain he did not observe the Sabbath-fast because it was not the usage of his Church but at Rome he did because it was the custom there advising her in all such things to make the custom of the present Church her Precedent and Rule and by no means to give any offence to it By both which notable Examples we may learn by what measure to govern our selves in these things namely a respect to the Usages and Constitutions of the present Church we are in provided they be not sinful and plainly contrary to any Law of God for of such things I am speaking all this while and about such things it is that our present dispute about giving offence is by both sides acknowledged to be I onely add one thing more before I leave this Precedent That if we ought to have this great and over-ruling respect to any National Church of Christ to which we chance to come and in which we sojourn we certainly ought much more to have the same to our own National Church in which we not onely live but were born and baptised Members of and therefore suffer our regard to it to over-rule all other respects to private persons that may interfere with it These things might be enough to assure the reasonableness of the present Consideration and I do not see what can well be objected against them 2. And yet I shall proceed to some Popular Considerations here also which are owned for sound and good Rules to act by in all other like Cases by all sorts of men and which when applied in our Case will presently determine it our concern and duty to have greater care not to give offence to the Church of God than to any private persons Four of these I shall just mention and leave to take effect by our leisurely consideration of them 1. That offending the Church is offending the greater party I hope I may say not onely greater than any other single denomination of men but than all of them together I know how forward each party hath been to boast its number and some to threaten Authority with their strength and to that purpose to make false musters and great shews to crowd together upon all occasions and to make it piacular for one to be absent when either the Party or the Cause was to be credited But thanks be to God that we have publick evidences now and of late that the Church-party is not so small and inconsiderable as some men would have it thought to be It is true honest men are not apt to be noisie and tumultuous the sense of their own Integrity satisfieth them and the assurance that they are known to God is to them more than Ten thousand witnesses They do not use to boast of themselves nor court greatly man's observance they keep their station and use not to run from place to place an art by which the same man may appear ten or twenty and this perhaps hath made some good men fearful and some others confident But thanks be to God they know one another better now and have signalized their numbers to material purposes Now this ought to be a swaying consideration with all scrupulous persons in this case In all others it is thought safest to offend the lesser party supposing them but in the same circumstances with others And when a Dissenter considers that by Conforming he can but offend some few of his own small party or at most but some few of others but by his Separation shall certainly offend the whole Church methinks it should soon teach him which side of the Question to chuse Unless those few must be counted the onely wise and the onely good the sober and the godly party and the whole Church be disparaged as consisting onely of ignorant and loose silly and dissolute persons When blessed be God plain experience contradicts both and shews them to be equal at least to their supercilious accusers both for knowledge and virtue and there is nothing to make them appear otherwise but onely the Pride and Uncharitableness of some men whose interest it is to have them believed to be so But Wisdom is justified in her Children 2. Offending the Church of Christ must needs be of worse consequence than offending any private party of men I need not stay to remark each single instance in which this is evident every man's reason
Men if it be to make plain the great things in Religion to the understandings of Men or whatever the import of it is in relation to Faith or Virtue which is the condition of our Salvation it is to be found in this Church whose Constitution is apt and fit to do all this And St. Jude seems to tell us that true Edification was a stranger to those who separated from the common building but those who kept to the Vers 19. Communion of the Church built up themselves in their most holy Faith and pray'd in the Holy Ghost And the honest Christian with greater assurance may expect the Grace and Blessings of Christ and the Divine Spirit whose Promises are made to them who continue in the Communion of the Church and not to them who divide from the Body and have greater hopes of Edification from their Teacher than the Grace of God from Apollos that waters than from Christ the chief Husbandman who gives the encrease 2. This Constitution is us'd and manag'd in the best way by the Pastours of our Church to Edifie the Souls of Men. This will appear if we consider these two things 1. That there are strict Commands under great Penalties laid upon the Pastours of our Church to do this who are not left to their own freedom and private judgment or the force onely of common Christianity upon them thus to improve Mens Souls committed to their charge but have Temporal Mulcts and Ecclesiastical Censures held over them to keep them to their Duty That when they do inform or direct their Flocks about their Belief they should keep to the Analogy of Faith or Form of sound Words Or when they perswade to practice their Rules and Propositions must be according to Godliness That whenever they Exhort or Rebuke Preach or Pray whenever they Direct or Answer the Scruples of Mens Minds in the whole Exercise and Compass of their Ministry they are to have an Eye to the Creed to regard Mercy and Justice the Standard of good Manners in short to preserve Faith and a good Conscience with substantial Devotion which will to the purpose Edifie Mens Souls and effectually save them 2. That these Commands are obey'd by the Pastours of our Church and they do all things in it to Edification For the truth of this we appeal to good Men and wise Men in the Communion of our Church who have Honesty and Judgment to confess this truth and with gratitude acknowledge that the Pastours of the Church of England have led them into the ways of Truth and Righteousness cured their Ignorance and reform'd their Lives and upon good grounds given them an assurance of Heaven To say such as these are prejudic'd and want sincerity and knowledge to pass a judgment is onely to prove what we justly suspect that they want true Edification among themselves and should be better taught the Doctrine of Charity Our Protestant Neighbours impartial Judges will give their Testimony to this Truth who have own'd and commended the Government of this Church condemn'd the Separation magnifi'd the Prudence Piety and Works of her Governours and Pastours and wish'd that they and their charge were under such a Discipline and translated many of their Pious and Learned Works to Edifie and Save their People Our The Unreasonableness of Separation p. 117. dissenting Brethren themselves at least in the good Mood and out of the heat of Dispute give their consent to this that the Instructions and Discourses of our Pastours from their Pulpits are Solid Learned Affectionate and Pious and their only Crime was that sometimes they were too well studied and too good If in the great number of the English Clergy some few may be lazy one particular person may clothe his Doctrine in too gay a dress another talks Scholastically above the capacity of his hearers a third too dully a fourth too nicely and opinionatively and here and there a Pastour answers not the true design of Preaching to inform mens Minds to guide their Consciences and move their Affections what is this to the general Charge That no Edification so good is to be had as in the separate Meetings the pretended Cause of their Separation For 't is no more a true Cause than want of Accommodation or Room in Churches for some to separate where good Edification and Conveniency too may be easily had And since they compel our Pastours to speak well of themselves by their detraction and speaking ill of them they must gladly suffer them as fools boldly to say 2 Cor. 11. 19. That since the Reformation and many hundred years before there hath not been a Clergy so Learned and Pious so Prudent and Painful and every way industrious to Edifie and save the Souls of Men as now is in the English Church The Second Argument to confirm the Answer is That those that usually make this pretence for Separation do commonly mistake better Edification We have prov'd already that good and sufficient Edification to save the Souls of Men is to be had in the English Church For if teaching plainly the Articles of Faith and laying down clearly Rules of Manners using well-composed Prayers and proper Administration of Sacraments be not good and sufficient Edification I know not what Edification means it may be heating of fancy stirring up of humours this or that and Men may as well define the thing they call Wit as what Edification means And therefore to desert the plain and great Duty of our Church-Communion for disputable doubtful or truly mistaken Edification is to be guilty of the sin of Schism In most cases to judge what is better or best is very hard and requires a sincere and considering head and so it is in the business of better Edification which is so easily mistaken especially by the generality of the People who are usually ignorant of such nice things and prejudic'd by their Parties and Affections and are mutable and various according to their fancies For better Edification purer Administrations and Churches and things that are more excellent absolute Perfection and a less defective Way of Worship are hard to understand perplex mens minds and fill them with innumerable doubts and scruples and put them upon refining and purging so long till they weaken and destroy the Spirit of Religion And so they run themselves into a known sin for dark and dispâ—â—able advantages which indeed are only mistakes and principally are these three that follow 1. In taking nice and speculative Notions for great and Edifying Truths When Doctrines have been rais'd only to please the temper of the curious and inquisitive yet have made many think their hearts were warm'd when their heads and fancies were gratifi'd And dark and obscure Discourses about Angels the state of separated Souls and things of the like nature have made Colos 2. 18 some call the Preacher high and mysterious while others teaching the way of Salvation plainly by Faith and a good Conversation
have been lessen'd with the character of dull honest and moral Men fit onely for Catechists and Christians of the lowest Form Tickle but their imaginations with conjectural Discourses about the Situation of Paradise of old or Hell now and you are a sounder Divine than he that onely draws wholsom Conclusions from Adam's prevarication to caution you against sin of the like nature or how to avoid those dismal flames where ever they are And others have been silly and phantastick in admiring those who have pratled about the length of the Sword that guarded Paradise or how the Spirits above pass Eternity away and scorn'd him who in plain methods chalkt them out the way that will lead them to Heaven The ancient Gnosticks because they 1 Tim. 1. 4. made a mixture of the Jewish Fables and Genealogies of their Lilith and Behemoth and fetcht in the Stories of the Gods out of Orpheus and Philistion two great Divines in the Pagan Religion into plain Christianity thought themselves the most knowing Men of the Secrets of God and Heaven and wondred how onely Faith upon Jesus and keeping of the Commands could be knowing of God or Wisdom from above The wranglings of the Schools with their fine distinctions and barbarous terms fitter for Magick than Christianity by their Disciples have been priz'd for great and precious Truths And Enthusiastick Raptures and slights making once the Brain to swim have snatcht the hearers beyond themselves and then thought them the Dictates of the Spirit and the Teachings of God and the more dark and obscure the Doctrine hath been the greater illumination it was esteem'd and call'd a noon-day Thought which was a mid-night Dream Such things as these pass with too many for saving Truths a great part of Mankind being ignorant in their Heads and corrupt in their Practice espous'd to Parties and Interests having Constitutions and Passions fit for these they readily swallow them down The Apostle confirms the truth of this telling 2 Tim. 4. 3. us the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears caus'd by some disease of Vice within which is not to be cured by good Physick but onely scratch'd and gratifi'd and if the Food though wholsom and good be not to their Palate and Fancy they complain of hunger and starving These and many more are the Instances of a weak and sickly nature craving onely nice and curious things for Spiritual Meat and kecking at the sincere Milk of the Word plain and substantial Truths that it may grow thereby To give therefore a liberty to every Man to run from an established Church upon the account of better Edification which is so often and easily mistaken is to direct Men into temptation and a snare and is dangerous and sinful and when once the gap is open where will especially the Vulgar stop May we not add that this pretence of better Edification is very fit to disguise and colour other Vices When Controversies have unhappily risen from an unjust denial of the Ministers Rights and Dues or the accidents of civil conversation they make the Ministry that was spiritual and good before to be call'd dull and mean and better must be sought elsewhere while onely Revenge or Covetousness is at the bottom Wandring Reports or their own lavish Tongue and censorious Temper have call'd some Pastours Covetous or Intemperate or branded them with other Vices and then cry out they cannot Edifie in such a Church and so make one fault help out another and Defamation must excuse their Schism 2. In taking the Opinions of Parties for undoubted Truths essential to salvation When men have once wedded a Party and the Opinions peculiar to it they magnifie and propagate them grow furious for their defence and call them the best part of Religion and if these be not abetted and cry'd up by the Pastours of our Church or they differ from them in explications and distinctions of them the way of salvation is not taught they do not improve their Spiritual condition and therefore is a just cause of their Separation Because the Notion or Explication of Faith and Spirit Church and Grace Justification Regeneration Conversion Adoption and other things of the like nature are generally different in our Church from those of the Separation they therefore cry we destroy the saving Truths of the Gospel and instead of being Edifi'd they find themselves weakned in their Christian Faith Though 't is plain to all impartial judgments that their sense and interpretation of them by natural consequences lessen the Grace of the Gospel and give security to lazy Sinners a strange sort of Edification For though our Charity is not so narrow as to think every man a vicious person who is thus mistaken in his conclusions yet however this alters not the nature of these Opinions and their consequences and who knows how far men of ill Principles do improve them Such is the perverse and angry temper of many about their own Opinions no way necessary to salvation wherein wise men and good men may differ which are not stated by Authority and may not be determin'd till Elias come yet if these be not insisted on and press'd with vehemency the great things of the Gospel are omitted and truths are wanting to their perfection And if once the People are possess'd with Opinions and Notions they grow fierce about them and call them salvation-truths and run head-long into a Sea of disorder and tumult for their defence The Disciples of the fifth Monarchy the Pretenders to the Spirit the Enemies of Childrens Baptism think themselves wrong'd and the Gospel hidden if casually they hear you making Interpretations of the Kingdom of Jesus the Operations of the Spirit and that divine Institution different from their lewd sense And many Questions when determin'd after a great deal of labour and passion and expence of time may improve our Knowledge but not Faith and a good Life the onely Edification The early and best Christians thought themselves mighty Saints and secure of Heaven if they onely knew Jesus and the Resurrection in their full extent and the World being such ill Judges about any other Edification it would be well if they return'd to this good old way and rest satisfi'd there lest they take the Inventions of Men Rhetorick or subtlety secular interest or conjectures for the Pillars of the Temple to support their Faith and so upon the score of Edification break the Peace and Unity of the Church and Obedience to our Governours the great things of Religion 3. In taking sudden heats and warmth for true Edification When melting tones affectionate expressions solemn looks and behaviour passion and vehemency and other Arts have play'd upon the fancy and put their constitutions into different motions some have though themselves so strangely Edifi'd as though it was the impulse and powerful acting of the Divine Spirit which