together was and ought to have been to eat the Lord's Supper tho' by their misbehaviour they so corrupted the Ordinance that it could not be called His Supper If one should now reprove Christians whom they observe to mis-behave themselves in Church in these words When you come together into one place this is not to hear the Word of God Preached to you for one is Talking and another is Sleeping Wou'd not every Body conclude That in the Opinion of the Reprover the Hearing the Word of God Preached ought to be one End of their coming together And then surely the Apostles saying that when you come together into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper c. gives us ground to conclude that in his Opinion Eating the Lords Supper ought to be one constant End of our coming together Which is further manifest from the Advice he gives them Vers. 33. Wherefore my Brethren when ye come together to eat tarry one for another One End therefore of their coming together was as Children come together in a Family at Meal-time that is to be fed at their Father's Table For what the Apostle called in the former Verse coming together into one place in this Verse he calls coming together to eat intimating that a main end of their coming together into one place was to eat 3. When the Meeting of Christians came to be fixed to the First Day of the Week or the Lord's Day the Breaking of Bread was likewise brought to the same Day So Acts xx 7 And upon the first Day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preached unto them From which words we may conclude two things First That the First Day of the Week was the Disciples time of Publick Worship Secondly That the Breaking of Bread or celebrating the holy Eucharist was a part of that Worship The Scripture is as plain for the one as the other There have been some Disputes raised about Changing the Day of Worship from the Last to the First Day of the Week and this place is usually produced to justifie the Change And sure the same place is as clear for the Celebration of the Lord's Supper on that Day as for the Observation of the Day it self instead of the Sabbath And therefore whoever wilfully passes the Lord's-Day without it doth not observe it as the Scriptures from the Practice of the Disciples direct us to do 4. I have endeavoured all along to confine my self to the plain words of Scripture and to use such Arguments only as the meanest persons might be able to judge of from their Bibles Yet in a Controverted place of Scripture concerning the meaning of a Command of Christ relating to some positive Duty I take the constant practice of the Church from the Apostles downward to be a good means of determining the sense of it And as there is not any Example of a stated Assembly for Worship in the New Testament without the Lord's Supper so I think there is not any Example of that Nature in all Antiquity For the truth of which I appeal to those that are skill'd in it The nearer we come to the Apostles we shall still find the Lord's Supper the more punctually observed as a constant part of the Ordinary service of the Church And 't is remarkable that when first some who had been present at the Prayers and Preaching of the Church began to go away from the Publick Assemblies without Receiving which was a corruption that came in about 300 years after Christ it was looked on as so great an Innovation and breach of the Scripture Rule that the Church decreed whosoever was guilty of it should be Excommunicated So particularly the Ninth of those commonly called the Canons of the Apostles and the second Canon of the Council of Antioch Thus the Practice of the Church continued for many Ages And tho' the generality of Men could not be persuaded constantly to partake of the Lord's Supper after the Discipline of the Church was dissolved and the piety of Men began to cool yet still it was Celebrated on the Lord's day according to the first setled Practice of the Church 5. And indeed the corrupt practice of the solitary Masses of the Papists is a further evidence of its being counted Originally a part of the ordinary Worship of God I think it is confessed by all even by the Papists themselves that those Masses had their Original from the universal corruption and negligence of Christians For whilst the People had either Piety or Zeal they communicated with the Bishop or Ministers in every Assembly at least a competent number of them But when Piety and Devotion were in a manner lost in the corrupt Ages of the Church it came to pass that tho' the Minister Consecrated the Elements every Lord's-day according to the Example of the Holy Scriptures and Antiquity yet he could prevail with few or none to receive with him but was often forced to receive alone This was a great corruption and a falling from the Scripture precedent but the Roman Church instead of Reforming the abuse by obliging the people to receive as formerly corrupted her principles as well as practice and decreed it lawful and sufficient for the Priest to receive alone Yet this abuse shews us what should be and what has been the practice and that the Church has constantly reckoned the Lord's-Supper as an Ordinary part of Publick Worship in Christian Assemblies on solemn days and sure then to lay it aside can be termed no less then an Invention of our own Since we can neither in Scripture or in the Church of God for 1400 years together which is a sufficient commentary on the Scripture Text produce one Example of a stated solemn Christian Assembly without it Sect. 2. The Practice of Our Church as to frequent Communions I. HAving thus consider'd the Rules and Examples that the Scriptures afford us in this point let us in the second place compare the Rules and Practices of Our Church with this pattern I will not pretend that they come fully up to it this being the most defective part of the Reformation But I doubt not on view it will appear that Our Church comes nearer the Scripture precedent then perhaps any other 'T was the design of the Reformation to throw out the corruptions of the Church of Rome and to bring things back to what was practised in the Apostles time and in the purer Ages of thâ— Church And as to the present point before us Our Reformers found two corruptions crept in by time The first was That the Priest received the Lord's-Supper alone without the people which destroyed the Nature of this Holy Sacrament as a Communion The second was That the people thought they had sufficiently observed the Lord's-day if they saw Mass without understanding it or receiving Our Church therefore to Reform the first of these Ordains That there shall be no Communion except
you it is often omitted for several years together and in some places for ten or more I fear I may say Your people generally have too little sence of the Obligation of Receiving it at all and your Ministers indulge them so far in this corruption that a Man may live comfortably amongst you and with the Reputation of a Professor to Thirty or Fourty Years of Age and never Receive at all And by the best Enquiry I cou'd make I cou'd not compute that One in Ten that goe to your Meetings ever Receive through the whole course of their Lives notwithstanding Christ's positive Command to do it in remembrance of Him So unhappily are Men over-seen in laying aside the Commands of God for their own Inventions I should be glad to find that I were mistaken in this Computation In the mean time you must give me leave to tell you plainly That this practice of Rare or No Communion is so peculiarly your own that I think you are altogether singular in it and are so far from having any Precedent for it in Scripture that I doubt whether any Precedent can be found for you even amongst the most degenerated or Barbarous People that ever called themselves Christians And therefore if you have either any true regard for Scripture or Reverence for the Constant and Vniversal Practice of the Church of God You ought to reflect upon your practice herein and consider how You can answer it to God or your Consciences I will not Examine the Reasons commonly given for your Omissions in this weighty Affair since it is manifest no Reason of Man's Invention ought to be admitted for direct disobedience to Christ's Command If You are Christians in earnest you ought as often as you have Opportunity to remember the great Love of Our Lord and Master as he has Commanded And your Ministers ought to take care to afford you frequently such Opportunities If you or they neglect this I do not see how you can with Reason insist so much on the Purity and Observation of Christ's Institution CONCLUSION I Have gone through the Five Principal Parts of the Publick Worship of God and I hope in all of them have made good what I first undertook and shewed that there needs no more to justify the Publick Service of our Church than to compare it with the Rules and Examples of Scripture I have only a few words to add by way of Conclusion First to my Brethren of the Clergy and then to the Laity who are under my Charge To the Conforming CLERGY of DERRY 1. AND first as to you My Brethren that are of Our Communion and owning My Authority let Me as a Brother and a Fellow-Labourer exhort you to be thankful to God that has Entrusted you with such an Excellent Ministry and Service which being built on so sure a Foundation as the Word of God can never be shaken or put you to any great Difficulty to defend it since you need no more than the plain words of your Bibles without gloss or Commentators to assert and justify it 2. Let me recommend to you Reverence Devotion and Diligence in the Use of this Service I have already observed that there is a Language of Gestures rather more significant and affecting than that of Words It becomes us therefore not only to Love and Use our Service but likewise to recommend it to the people by a distinct and affectionate manner of pronouncing and reading it and by a devout and grave behaviour at it This can never be pressed too much on you or on others by you since 't is absolutely necessary to give Life and Efficacy to it as the contrary will expose the best and most sacred thing to contempt and bring a greater disparagement on our Service then all Our Adversaries endeavours can ever do Tho' Our Service be appointed by God and Warranted by Scripture yet even God's Appointments are Abominations to him when separated from the heart and are only acceptable to him as they contribute to Inward Devotion Let me therefore intreat you to labour so to perform the Service of Our Church that it may attain the End for which God has design'd His Worship 3. Since the Service of Our Church is such as God has required in his Word let nothing discourage us in the use of it Let us Remember that we perform it in Obedience to God And tho' some hate some revile and some despise it yet that the Author of it is able to vindicate it This is no New Thing 'T is the Entertainment the World has generally given God's Service and his Truths And therefore neither Obstinacy Perverseness or Negligence of the People whom you are to persuade ought to discourage you Be Diligent be Constant be Resolute and be assured that God will always give you success so far as is necessary to support his Truth All means are therefore to be attempted and when one faileth another is to be applied And the more averse people seem to the way of Worship prescribed by God and the more eager they are for any Corruption the more Industry is to be used to bring them off from it And when all other means fail earnest Prayers and Intercessions with God still remain We are never to dispair whilst we have God's Truth on our side tho' whole Provinces should fall off from the Church As all they in Asia did from St. Paul 2. Tim. i. 15 Tho' few or none should believe our Report as it happened to Our Saviour himself Yet God will have a Reward for the Faithful Endeavours of his Ministers And therefore me must not desist tho' people seem obstinate but in season and out of season by Exhortation and writing by all means of Importunity and Industry we must press them to their Duty and endeavour to bring them back to the purity of God's Worship as he has Instituted it 4. Let me put you in mind That the Motives you have to do your Duty are the most Noble and Generous that can be And you have this Advantage that you cannot be supposed to be zealous in your Office out of any private Interest or prospect of particular profit Your Maintenance and Preferments are ascertained to you by Law and do not depend on the Voluntary Contribution of the People And as you are under no Temptation to please them by complying with their vices or humours so neither can you be suspected to be diligent and industrious in your Office out of any such mean Considerations Since therefore what pains you take may well be supposed to proceed only from sense of Duty and the love of God let me entreat you to labour in it It is certain That neither Popularity Faction nor Worldly Interest can influence you to this so as they may some that have no other way to attain to Honour or Support but by making or gaining a Party But God forbid that true Piety and Zeal for Souls should work less
bring them to a Compliance with the Rules of Decency in their Religious Performances 3. My third Instance shall be in the Matter of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper I suppose no serious considering persons amongst you can deny but the celebrating it so seldom as it is done in your Meetings and the people's backwardness in Receiving it are very great faults and therefore we may reasonably expect that you should press home to your people the Danger of their Neglect and represent to them truly the sin of it so as not to suffer any to assume the Name of a Professor or a Religious Person that doth not in some measure come up to the Scripture-precedent in this particular and withal so order the celebration thereof that every one may have sufficient Opportunities to Receive as the first Christians did which in your present way of managing is impossible From whence you may be sure yours is not the Scripture-way and therefore needs Reformation 4. Let me put you in mind That it is ordered by your Directory as I have already observed that ordinarily one Chapter of each Testament be read at every Meeting and sometimes more I think you cannot dispense with this Rule without being liable to just Censure from all that have a true value for the Word of God And yet I am informed that there is not one of your Meetings in this Diocess where it is observed to the great detriment of our common Christianity and offence of your Brethren I know the people are fonder of Sermons and Lectures of Human Composure than of the pure Word of God in its Naked Simplicity but you know this to be a carnal and sinful Humour in them And God forbid any that claims to be a Minister of the Gospel shou'd indulge them in it And therefore as you wou'd maintain a due Reverence in the people for the Word of God I think we may expect your Conformity to us in this particular 5. I suppose you very well know that the most learned and sober Nonconformists do own that Occasional Communion with our Church is lawful and that people had better come to our Worship at least where he that officiates is of Ability and Sobriety than sit at home on the Lord's Day or frequent no Assemblies at all And you cannot be ignorant that many thousands in these parts neglect all Publick Worship and many suffer their Children to die Unbaptized for want of Ministers of their own Communion And therefore in this case it is a point of Justice due to the Souls of these poor people and to our common Christianity to let them know that it is their Duty to joyn with us both in Worship and Sacraments as far as your Brethren in England have Allowed it on such Occasions 6. You are sensible that amongst those Protestants that dissent from our Church some are Congregational and others Presbyterians You of this Diocess where I am concerned profess to be of this latter sort and agree with us in owning that by Christ's Appointment the particular Churches in convenient Districts ought according to Scripture-Precedents to Associate under one Government and these again to Unite themselves into greater Combinations of Provincial and National Churches The Difference between You and Vs is concerning these particular Districts Namely Whether the Government of them ought to be in a Presbytery with a Bishop as President and Governor by Christ's Appointment or in a Colledge of Presbyters absolutely Equal So then we both own National and Provincial Churches as well as single Worshiping Congregations but the Congregational Dissenters deny that Christ Instituted any other Church besides a single Congregation and affirm that all other Churches such as Classical Provincial or National are Human Inventions and that every single Congregation is Independent and may indeed keep a fair correspondence with its Neighbour Congregations but is not under any common Government with them These last are the avowed Principles of Mr. Baxter Dr. Owen Mr. Lob Mr. Humphrys Mr. Boyse Mr. Alsop Mr. Clerkson and generally of all the late defenders of the Dissenters cause in England and Ireland that I have met with Now it is manifest that these Principles of theirs are much more different from your Principles then ours are And the difference is much greater and more material For it is possible on your Principles and ours to preserve Unity and to keep up some value for Excommunication and other censures of the Church since he who is censured in one Church cannot be received into another neither with you nor us Whereas in the Congregational way he that is Excommunicated in one Congregation may remove to another or set up one for himself if he pleases at the worst if he shou'd it wou'd be counted but an Irregularity These Principles are destructive to the Peace and Unity of the Church as well as to our common Cause and our Learned Men have carefully Answered all the principal Writers of that sort so that no Books of that kind have remained Unanswered but such only as were meer Repetitions of what had been said and answered before I do not remember any of you have of late undertaken the Defence of this important Truth tho' the Assembly of Divines in their Humble Advice concerning Church-Government which I suppose you approve do prove it from the Holy Scriptures in their Title of Classical Assemblies Now we think in Justice to your Own Cause as well as to Us you ought to warn your people against those Books that maintain Principles contrary to us both at least not to bear them in hand that those Books written against Vs make for You for this will appear a great piece of Insincerity as well as Ingratitude and will tempt the World to believe that you are willing to encourage Principles destructive to your own Cause as the Principles of those Books manifestly are in this very Point so they do but serve a Turn and strengthen your Party amongst the ignorant People 6. Lastly I think we may justly expect from you a ready concurrence with us to beat down such Vices and Immoralities as are confessed on all hands to be against our common Christianity such as Adultery Fornication Blasphemy Profanation of the Lord's Day c. And since the Bishop's Courts are Legally Impowered to punish these and many are guilty of them who yet will not appear or submit to acknowledge their sins and upon that Account are Excommunicated The least that can be expected from you in these Cases is Not to encourage such Sinners in their Obstinacy or to admit them to Communion amongst You whilst they lie under such Censures which might be a means to Reform in some measure these Crying Vices These are but a few of those things that might be instanc'd in which we may concur in our Practice as well as we do in our Opinions and if we did I perswade my self that tho they did not bring us to one