through all the Ages of the Church Pliny lib. 10. Pliny tells us That the Christians sang their Hymns secum invicem alternately and by Parts Ignatius is said to have brought in this Usage in the Church of Amioch And many of the Fathers make mention of the Use of Antiphones and Responses in the Worship of God which plainly proves not only the Ancient Use of Liturgies but that the People bore a part in them But my Sermon say you stiles the Minister the Mouth of the People to make known their Requests unto God and how is it agreeable with this and the Holy Scriptures for the People to say half the Prayers when we read ordinarily of no more than Amen to be said by them Sir Though the Minister be truly said to be the Mouth of the People to offer up their Prayers unto God yet the People are requir'd to join with him and with one Mind and one Mouth to glorifie their Maker And how can this be done if their Lips may not be open'd nor their Mouth shew forth his Praise And tho' we read That he that occupieth the room of the unlearned said only Amen at the Priest's Blessing or giving of Thanks that is at the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist yet St. Jerom tells us That Populus cum Sacerdote loquitur in precibus The People speak with the Priest in the other Prayers But the Women saith a Brother of yours are forbidden to speak in the Church and therefore that part of the Congregation at least is debar'd from the Antiâ—…'s and Responses Sir For the composing and directing of Prayers for publick Worship and likewise the teaching and instructing the People this way of speaking being an Act of Authority is peculiar to the Minister and is forbidden to Women in the Church but for joining in the Words of Confession and Supplication this being an Act of Humility and Subjection is allow'd to the Female Sex who have Sins to confess and Souls to save as well as Men. Thus I have consider'd the Stroaks added to the Picture of the Pharisee If they have rather marr'd than mended the Matter and only serv'd to shew you the Spots and Deformity of your Worship you may thank your self I am SIR Yours M. H. Oct. 22th 1697. LETTER XIX SIR YOur Answer to mine of June 17th brings you you say to the very Dregs of my Sermon But why is that unsavoury Word to be given to a Sermon especially by one that is so great an Admirer of Preaching Why 't is for bringing Extempore-Prayer from the very Dregs of Popery which yet will not make it unsavoury in some Mens Nostrils tho' it came from the bottomless Pit When to shew it a late Invention I told you that Antiquity makes mention only of two ways of Praying the one by immediate Inspiration and the other by the use of publick Forms You cry out This is unparallel'd What is there no way of secret Ejaculatory Family Prayer made mention of in Scripture or Antiquity besides these But Sir You forget That 't is the solemn Prayers of publick Worship that is the subject of our Debate which as St. Chrysostom tells us were in the Days of the Apostles and some Ages after perform'd by Inspiration and when that ceas'd the Use of publick Forms hath been prov'd and deriv'd down ever since So that what you say of Secret Ejaculatory Family Prayer in which a greater Freedom hath been ever allow'd is nothing to our Purpose and all your Out cries thereupon are both frivolous and impertinent In your granting the Preliminaries you own the creating and continuing Divisions to be one of the principal Wiles of Romish Emissaries But to salve the Credit of free Prayer you would have Uniformity one of the main Tools they act by Sir Those subtle Agents are too cunning to act with Tools that are not fit and proper for the Work they know well enough that joining together in the same Forms and Way of Worship is the best means to promote Peace and Unity which is none of their Business and they never hope to make that an Instrument of Division any other way than by disparaging and destroying it they have found by Experience that free Prayer is the proper Tool for their Work and therefore have been whetting that and their Wits too to promote it as the best Engine they can work by But is not the New Uniformity say you a standing Evidence and Occasion of our Dissentions Yes but how Why just as our Blessed Saviour is said to bring not Peace on Earth but a Sword Which must not be understood as if the Gospel of Christ had any natural Tendency to War and Disturbance but that Mens corrupt Natures and Designs would take Occasion from thence to fall into them Neither is there any Tendency in Uniformity to create but extinguish Divisions and yet such is the Depravation and Perverseness of some Mens Natures as to turn Antidotes into Poison and make the very Instruments of Peace become the Engines of Discord But you cannot believe the Stories of Cummin and Heth Why so Can any Matter of Fact be confirm'd with better Evidence the one from the Memorials of the Queen's Council-board and the other from the Records of a Bishop's See You would believe any thing that made for free Prayer upon half the Evidence a little glimmering Light peeping through a cranny can shew you the Excellency but the brightest Light of Noon-Day can't make you see the Danger and Deformity of it Is not this gross Partiality But 't is a Mystery say you that these Stories should not come abroad till about 120 Years after the Matter of Fact Sir Have not some Truths slept much longer especially when there was no Occasion for awaking them The Divisions at that time and long after were but few and inconsiderable and there was little or no Dread or Danger of them which might make these and other Passages of like Nature pass away unobserved but when Divisions came to multiply and by the encrease of Sects to threaten the Government the common Safety put Men upon a farther Search into the Rise of them to observe what was before neglected and Divine Providence for wise ends may bring some things to light which had lain a while and slept in Darkness But the Doctor who publish'd these things had a Fire brand in his Tail Why so Why for shewing Mr. Baxter and Mr. Jenkins the Rise and Progress of those Divisions whence they came and whither they tend and cautioning them against the Evil and Mischief of them And is it not better to cry Fire to prevent the Danger than silently suffer it to spread and put a whole Kingdom into a Combustion And yet your reading of Fire and Sword throughout the Book renders say you the Stories the more suspected Sir There is no Fire or Sword in that Book that tends to destroy but like the flaming Sword that guarded Paradise serves
LETTERS WRITTEN TO J. M. a Nonconformist Teacher Concerning the Gift and Forms OF PRAYER The Second PART By MATTHEW HOLE B. D. sometime Fellow of Exeter College Oxon. now Vicar of Stoke-gursey in Somersetshire LONDON Printed for and are to be sold by J. Taylor and T. Bever Book sellers in London H. Clements in Oxen and J. Miller in Sherborn Dorset 1699. THE PREFACE THE Occasion of this Second Part of Letters was briefly this When the Author had withstood the first Assault of the Adversaries Papers hoping to have clos'd up and rested there he was set upon afresh by another Packet the Adversary designing either to weary him with Work or to worry him with Cavils and so to make him drop the Cause to be rid of the Labour and Trouble of defending it Hereupon the Author knowing the Wiles and Artifices of the Party and how apt they are to triumph without a Victory found it necessary to take this Second Packet into Consideration And the better to bring this Matter to some good Issue began to treat with the Adversary upon his own Concessions which if stood to seem'd to bid fair for a Reconciliation But he fearing a Snake in the Grass and doubting lest by yielding one Thing after another he might be drawn in to give up the whole Cause abruptly broke off the Treaty return'd the Authors Letters and would hear no more of an Accommodation That the World therefore might see the inexcusable Obstinacy and Perversness of the Man the Author was desir'd to Publish this Second Part in which not only the trifling Exceptions of the Adversary but all the material Objections of the whole Party are briefly discuss'd and that with as much Mildness and Gentleness too as the Cause could well admit of For the Reader will find that nothing bites but Truth and all the Salt and Smartness in it is design'd meerly to season the Discourse and not to fret the Party I know the Adversaries Complaint is hard Vsage which is wont to be the last Refuge of a bad Cause and this hath betray'd him into an indecent Passion and many unseemly Expressions which are to be pass'd by as the Follies and Frailties of depraved Nature But how little Reason there is for this Complaint any wise Reader may easily discern for he hath been rather gently stroak'd than roughly handled and Corrosives have been never us'd but where Lenitives could work no Effect A necessary and seasonable Rebuke hath been ever reckon'd among the good Offices of a Friend not the Wounds of an Enemy And I think upon the right understanding of the whole Matter the Adversary may see greater Cause to commend the Faithfulness than to complain of the Hardship of such Vsage After this Second Part was gone out of my Hands to the Press there comes forth a Book Entituled A Contract Answer to my Correct Copy of Letters In which besides some Cavils and rude Calumnies the usual Effects of Choler and the feeble Supports of a sinking Cause the Reader will find nothing material that is not replied to in the following Letters In the Preface he tells us That a Civil Peace being restor'd 't is greatly desir'd that the Ceremonial War were at an end Now are not these Peaceable Men to continue a War with their Superiors upon Matters of meer Ceremony Or can they be thought to desire Peace who resolve to differ and contend about such indifferent Things But how would they have this Ceremonial War ended Must Governors submit to them or they to Governors For this is the great Question If they would but know their Station and pay the Duty they owe to the Lawful Commands of those that are set over them this Ceremonial War would soon cease but if nothing will please them but to over-rule Authority and do as they list 't is plain they are Enemies to Peace and whilst they speak thereof are but making ready for Battel So that themselves are plainly the Persons he speaks of in the following Words who instead of allaying inflame the Differences and Animosities at home For are not Conventicles the Nurseries of Discord and Division And do not all the Flames of Contention and Animosity arise and break out from thence This all Men see but Themselves who are too wise to be in an Error and too holy to be in a Fault 'T is with great Reluctance he saith that he bears any part in this present Controversy Though himself began it by reviling the Doctrin and Discipline of the Church and still continues it by abusing the People with false Notions of Both without any Reluctance However being engag'd Necessity he saith extorted an Answer to my Letters Now what was this Necessity Why there was a double Necessity in the Case the one to answer the Importunity of the Party that would not be satisfied without it The other to keep up the Ceremonial War which else would soon come to a happy end To prevent which he hath revok'd or at least omitted some Concessions in the Print which were granted in his Original Papers beside other gross Prevarications too many to be here recited In the next place To excuse his Excursions he complains of my Rambling which is the old way of shifting a Fault by charging it on another In proving of which he falls into this evident Mistake viz. That I discours'd in my Sermon not of Prayer in general but only of Vocal or as he calls it Ministerial Prayer which is a notorious Falsity and the rotten Foundation of his whole Book For my Design was to Treat of the Gift of Prayer in general Mental as well as Vocal Both which agree in the Nature of Prayer and differ only in the manner of performing it the one being done with Silence and the other with the Voice which are only Cicumstances of the Duty and therefore I plac'd the Gift of Prayer as it should be in something that was Common and Necessary to both these to wit not in an ability of Expressions which is nothing else but the Gift of Speech applied to the Matter of Prayer and is peculiar only to vocal Prayer but in an ability of lifting up the Heart in Holy Desires and Devotion unto God which is common to mental and vocal Prayer and necessary to the right performance of both Again To exclude mental Prayer out of the Controversy he would exclude it out of the Devotions of the Church Whereas if we search into the Devotions of the antient Christians we shall find the silent Breathings of mental Prayer made up a great part of them Their publick Service was performed partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Silence and partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the use of the Voice And we read of secret mental Prayers us'd by Christians in the publick Assemblies in the Intervals between the publick Offices when all the Congregation kept Silence and these were made and offer'd up as St. Cyprian tells us Tacite Modeste
Laws or Statutes which are Terms that denote and challenge Obedience but by the odious Name of Impositions that is apt to beget a Dislike and Abhorrence of them For though Men are willing to be rul'd and directed yet they hate to be impos'd upon and therefore to weaken the Power of the Magistrate he shall not be term'd a Lawgiver but an Imposer and his Ordinances not Laws but Impositions that by giving them a bad Name you may the better set them aside at pleasure But if that will not do you have another Artifice to escape the Punishments of them and that is by fixing on them the hateful Name of Persecution a Term apt to denote more of Cruelty in the Inflictors than of Guilt in the Sufferers Now to detect the Fallacy and Falshood of these Arts 't will be necessary to consider the Punishments you thus complain of together with the Reason and Authority upon which they are grounded that you may the better discern between just Punishments and unjust Persecution And this I shall do as Matters stand before these Penalties were suspended that all Men may see the Injustice of such Clamours What then are the Punishments annex'd to the Laws that do establish Conformity to the Church Why These are both Ecclesiastical and Civil Of the First sort are the Ecclesiastical Censures of Admonition Suspension Deprivation and Excommunication which are inflicted by the Authority of the Church for the Correction and Amendment of Offenders This is the Power of the Keys committed to the Church by Christ himself whereby he hath given Authority to the Bishops and Pastors of Admitting into and Excluding out of the Church and thereby of opening and shutting the Kingdom of Heaven Which Power or Commission is granted by our Saviour in these Words If he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a Publican Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Matt. xviii 17 18. Now these Punishments being ordain'd and appointed by Christ himself cannot be styl'd Persecution or made any just matter of Complaint when duly inflicted on Offenders But These things say some have been ill manag'd especially Excommunication that great Punishment being made too cheap and common for many have been Excommunicated for Trifles and turn'd out of the Church for what no Man would be turn'd out of Doors But Sir Is Obstinacy and wilful Disobedience to the Church to be reckoned a Trifle And yet this is still the chief if not the only Cause of Excommunication He that hearkens to the Church and submits to the Authority of it is not to be put out of it but he that will not is by our Saviour's Rule to be accounted no better than a heathen man and a Publican Neither doth the Smallness of the thing extenuate but rather aggravate the Fault for the less the Matter of the Command is the greater is the Disobedience he that will disobey in a small thing will sooner do it in a greater And the Reverence of Authority is so tender a Matter and of so great Moment that it must not be despis'd in either For he that heareth you saith Christ heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Luke x. 16. You know God Almighty punished the whole Race of Mankind for our first Parents tasting the for bidden Fruit which one would think was a small Fault for so great a Punishment and yet considering the Ingratitude the Stubborness and Disobedience involved in it 't was a crying Enormity and justly deserved that Vengeance that was inflicted I shall leave you to apply it and proceed 2dly To the Civil Punishments annexed to the Violation of these Laws and these are so easie and gentle that none have any need to cry out of Persecution or to brand the Magistrate for a Tyrant or Persecutor in inflicting of them For is not Twelve-pence a Sunday a moderate Fine for absenting from the publick Assemblies And nothing but Mens own Wilfulness and Obstinacy can draw upon them the higher Fines or the Penalty of Imprisonment which were thought necessary to awaken and reform some stubborn Offenders Our Laws have no Capital or Sanguinary Punishments in Matters of Religion nor do they allow any to be put to Death or to be cruelly tormented for them but only by moderate Penalties compell them to hear Instruction and to hinder them from propagating their Errors and Divisions to the Disturbance of the Peace of the Church and State And yet you make as loud Outcries and Complaints of Persecution for these things as if with some of the Ancient Martyrs you were to be broke upon the Wheel and with St. Lawrence to be roasted upon the Gridiron But let us see the Difference between Legal Punishments and Persecution these must be carefully distinguished for else the Thief and Murderer and all other Offenders may cry out of Persecution for suffering the just Punishments of their Crimes In Persecution then Two things are to be considered viz. the Cause and the Measure of their Sufferings For to suffer without a Cause and to be punished for the Breach of a Law which neither hath nor can be prov'd is a sort of Persecution and such likewise is that where the Punishment exceeds the Design of the Law or the Demerit of the Crime But the proper Notion of Persecution is to suffer for a good Cause that is for Righteousness sake To be brought before Magistrates and hal'd away to Prisons and Death it self for the Name of Christ and adhereing to his Truth This was the Case of the Apostles and Primitive Christians who were therefore said to be persecuted In this Case our Saviour's Direction was Either to fly where it might be or patiently and chearfully to suffer where it could not so that my mentioning your Removal into Scotland was no worse Advice than Christ gave to his own Apostles that is If they were persecuted in one place to flee to another and if England were such a hot Furnace of Persecution as you represent it 't was no bad Counsel to move into the more Northern and cooler Regions of Scotland where the Temper of the Air and the Religion of the Climate may be the more agreeable with the due Temper of Dissenters But this by the by 'T is the Cause then and not the Suffering that makes the Martyr In like manner 't is not the undergoing of Punishment but the suffering for Christ and for Righteousness sake that makes the Persecution For what glory is it saith St. Peter if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God 1 Pet. ii 20. Now the Sufferings you complain of are neither for Christ nor for Righteousness sake for you may be as Righteous and serve Christ as
Forms of Prayer For in your Letter of June 28th you acknowledge Forms to be in themselves lawful and to some needful and complain of your being mis-represented by some as Enemies to all Forms Disputation of Liturgy Proposition 10. Your Oracle Mr. Baxter frequently asserts the lawfulness of them and withal declares That the disuse of Forms is apt to breed a giddiness in Religion and to make Men Hypocrites who delude themselves with Conceits that they delight in God when it is but in these Novelties and varieties of Expression that they are delighted and therefore adviseth Forms to fix Christians and make them sound Reason Discourse And another Brother of yours acknowledges That their Labours are profitable who have drawn the matter of Prayer into Forms Now these Concessions one would think were a fair step to a Reconciliation and might lay a good Foundation for Peace and Unity For this Principle if well observ'd and follow'd would bring all to the Church and help them to join in the same Forms of Publick Worship from which nothing but their unlawfulness can justifie a Separation St. Paul wills us To do what in us lies to live peaceably with all Men Rom. 12.18 and more especially with the Church whereof we are Members And elsewhere requires us To use our utmost Endeavours To keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Ephes 4.2 Now does it not lie in us to do what we lawfully may Should we not go as far as we can for the sake of Peace and Unity Especially when we are commanded to do so by lawful Authority And what a mighty influence would this Amicable and Christian Temper have to promote Unity and prevent Divisions For if we lawfully may and ought as this Principle teaches to agree in offering up the same Prayer which will have the greater force from the benefit of Concord and Unanimity why should we break into Parties and put up different and contrary Petitions which must lose all their Efficacy from the mischief of Division 'T is evident Sir that you can and do upon occasion join in the Publick Prayers of the Church Which shews you are satisfied both in the lawfulness and use of them Now what should hinder you from doing that always for the sake of Peace which you can do sometimes to serve some other Turn Was ever Peace and Unity valued at so low a rate among Christians as to refuse to do what they lawfully may to preserve it As for what you object of renouncing the Covenant as a hinderance That is long since out of doors and cannot now with any shew or colour of Reason be pretended Only you find it in Mr. Baxter and being something to say you cannot forbear to use it tho' the Author and the Covenant too are both laid asleep in their Graves As for Re-ordination which you mention as another hinderance Neither can that affect you being if I am not mis-inform'd ordain'd by a Bishop And as for Assent and Consent to all that is Established which you talk so often and so much of tho' it be in its self very reasonable and no more than is required in all Established Churches and Societies yet if you cannot presently come to it you are to acquiesce and wait for farther Satisfaction which if you bring but a willing and humble Mind you may soon have In the mean time you are to continue as a private Member of the Church without disturbing the Peace of it either by separating from it your self or drawing the People from it by Objections wherein they are no way concern'd This Sir is unquestionably your Duty if you will keep a good Conscience and shew that Modesty that becomes you without giving Offence to that Church whereof you were Baptiz'd a Member and Ordain'd a Minister But the Misery is tho' you are driven by the evidence of Truth to own the lawfulness of Forms yet there is nothing which you more universally decry and disuse in the Practice even when enjoyn'd by that Power which in all lawful Things you are bound to obey This is a gross inconsistence and plainly shews that you have no mind to do what you safely may to promote Peace Is not this to act quite contrary to the Apostles Advice Nevertheless whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same Things Phil. 3.16 Where he wills us to go hand in hand together as far as we can and not to differ or break off from the use or practice of those Things wherein we are agreed If we have attain'd to the Knowlege and Belief of the lawfulness of Forms we are here required to join together in the use of them when the Peace of the Church and the Authority of Superiours make it necessary Certainly Sir he that will not do what he may to preserve Unity is an Enemy to Peace and hath another Game to play that is better promoted by Divisions And he that will not obey Magistrates in lawful and indifferent Things shakes off the Yoke and will obey only what he pleases But there is not say you a clearer Proof against Impositions than the following Words If any be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you not Man by his Laws enforce it upon you But how is this to be revealed unto you I hope you do not expect an immediate Revelation or voice from Heaven to satisfie you in this Matter or think that you are safe enough in your Error till you have such a Revelation to convince you Is it not sufficient that God hath in his Word revealed this unto you by appointing Forms of Prayer and Praises both in the Old and New Testament And what clearer Revelation will you have of this Divine Truth Yea is not this Ordinance of God Established by the Ordinance of Man too which we are commanded to submit unto for the Lord's sake If you believe not Moses and the Prophets as our Saviour speaks in another Case neither will ye believe tho' One rose from the Dead Luke 16.31 If so plain a Revelation of this Truth will not convince you neither will you be convinc'd tho' it were revealed to you from Heaven But you tell me If all lawful Things may be enjoyn'd by Superiours in the Worship of God then Spittle and Cream in Baptism Crossing at the Eucharist and abundance more of such Popish Trumpery may be enjoined by them which you endeavour to prove lawful Are you sure Sir that 't is lawful to clog the Institutions of Christ with such needless burdensome and insignificant Things Indeed Decency and Order and Edification require a few Ceremonies and such as are expressive of Reverence and help to promote the inward Piety and Devotion of the Mind but does not the same Decency and Edification forbid too many and such as are vain and unserviceable to those Ends 'T is certain that the Worship of God cannot be perform'd without
pick and chuse out of publick Orders and Establishments to obey what they please and refuse the rest Is not this to let loose the Reins and suffer every one to do only what is right in his own Eyes Is it not strange that any should own or vent such wild Principles of Confusion 2dly Secondly The other hard Term you complain of in the Injunction of the Liturgy is your being commanded to use That and no other And where 's the Hardship of this Would you have the Liturgy enjoin'd and the use of another thing set up by its side How can this consist with any Order or indeed with common Sense Or would you have the Liturgy enjoin'd and the use of it left free This would be to enjoin and not enjoin it at the same time and can any Establishment stand upon such a precarious and inconsistent Bottom If a Liturgy containing all the daily and constant Matter of Prayer and Praises together with all the standing Offices of Religion be enjoin'd and no other it thereby becomes necessary to be used and excludes the use of any other And if it be so full as to comprehend all that is needful to those ends what need is there of any other Unless you think it necessary to ask the same things every Day in new and varied Expressions Which can't with any colour of Reason be affirmed Besides the Liturgy of the Church is not so strictly enjoin'd as never to permit the use of any other For in your private and secret Devotion you are at liberty to use your free or compos'd Prayers And in publick too upon any new Occasion or Emergency other Prayers appointed by Authority are and ought to be used But for the ordinary and standing Offices of publick Worship as there is no Occasion so there is no need of any other Lastly for the further clearing of this Matter let us see the Grounds and Reasons of this Injunction And if that make it necessary for all Persons and Occasions you will easily see the weakness both of your Complaints and Objections against it Now the great Reason of enjoining publick Forms is as sundry Acts of Parliament declare the Uniformity of publick Worship whereby alone one regular and uniform way of serving God may be preserv'd among all the Members of a National Church And this makes it necessary for all Persons Places and Countries who according to the Apostle's Direction desire With one mind and one mouth to glorifie their great Creator But I find you with another Brother of yours often styling this That pitiful thing call'd Vniformity that never enter'd into the Mind of God or his Son to command It seems you can agree well enough in a Form of Railing tho' not of Devotion But is Uniformity such a Pitiful thing which alone can help us to speak the same things and to agree in our Petitions which our Saviour hath made necessary to the Success of our Prayers Is that to be so undervalued that wise and knowing Men have so highly prized in all Ages And will you call that a Pitiful thing which puts such a Form and Comliness into Religious Worship as to render it more prevalent with God and more pleasing in the Eyes of Men Hath not the Wisdom and Piety of our Governors thought fit to establish an Uniformity ever since the Reformation And have they employed all this Time and Care and Prudence about a Pitiful thing Is not this a vile Reflection on our Superiors in Church and State Can there be an Instance of greater Pride and vain Conceit that some have of themselves In a word does not this plainly shew that Arrogance and Obstinacy are the great Vertues and Perfections of our Dissenting Brethren But an Vnity say you in the Matter of Prayer is sufficient without any such Vniformity in Words and Syllables But Sir sad Experience which is the best Argument hath taught us That when the Unity of Forms was by a prevailing Faction laid aside the Unity of the Matter of Prayer soon went with it For Men fell a praying one against another And when the Pales of the Church were taken away the grossest Blasphemies in point of Doctrine as well as the greatest Divisions in point of Worship immediately broke in upon us The Enemy taking Opportunity to sow those Tares that can't be rooted out to this Day This hath been acknowledged and lamented by some sober Presbyterians themselves particularly by Dr. Tuckâ—ey in his Sermon on 2 Tim. I. 13. and Mr. Edwards in his Gangraena To which I refer you Thus I have shewn you how far we agree about the enjoining Forms of Prayer And have endeavoured to carry you further by making you sensible of your Mistake where you differ But to take off the Force of all this I find you questioning the Authority that commands these Things which must be examin'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. August 14th 1697. LETTER V. SIR I Have been comprizing the Difference between us about the Injunction of Forms by shewing the reasonableness of enjoyning them on all Persons and Occasions for Publick Worship And likewise how fit it is that all the Members of a National Church for the sake of Peace Order and Uniformity should join in the use of them and no other But because you have some Exception against the Authority that thus imposes them I must endeavour to remove or adjust that Matter For in yours of June 28th you would have me tell you Whom we mean by Superiors And who or what those Rulers are that Christ hath vested with such a vast Authority as to command an Invariable Form and the rather you say because we are divided in this point among our selves One part of the Disputers for the Church of England making the King the External Civil Governour but the Bishops the Internal Governours of the Church as a Church c. Sir I know none of the Regular Sons of the Church of England divided in this Point And I hope to shew from the Concessions of the most eminent Presbyterians that the Difference between them and us in this Matter is not so great as is imagined To this end let us see what Power is lodg'd in the Civil Magistrate about Sacred and Spiritual Things And what is peculiar to those Spiritual Officers and Ministers which Christ hath appointed in his Church and by that means you will see plainly who are those Rulers and Superiors that may command in these Things 1. First There is a Power in the Church that is purely Spiritual Such is That of Preaching the Word Administring the Holy Sacraments the Power of Absolution Ordination Confirmation Excommunication and the like This is the Power of the Keys committed by Christ to the Apostles and in them to their Successors the Bishops and Pastors of the Church And this Commission is peculiarly directed and confin'd to them No Civil Magistrate having Authority of doing any of these Things For when
Vzziah the King would venture upon the Execution of the Priest's Office we read that it was said to him It pertaineth not to thee Uzziah to burn Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests of the Sons of Aaron who are Consecrated to burn Incense 1 Chron. 26.18 Herein I suppose we are all agreed and I know of none but Erastus that affirmed the contrary who I think hath few or no Followers 2. Secondly There is an External Political Power of Protecting Ordering and Well-governing the Church and this is the Power of the Sword which is committed to the Civil Magistrate only who is therefore said to be The Minister of God to us for Good and an Avenger to execute Wrath upon him that doeth Evil. Rom. 13.4 And as King Vzziah was blam'd for medling with the Power of the Keys so was Peter check'd for drawing the Sword and commanded to put it up as a Weapon that appertain'd not to him Matt. 26.52 These are two distinct Powers the one appointed to work upon the Inward the other upon the Outward Man and both ordain'd by Christ for the edifying and well-ordering of his Church As for the Ministers Power In Spiritualibus or the due Exercise of the Sacred Function there is no Dispute But the Magistrate's Power Circa Spiritualia i. e. Whether it extends to Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes is the Knot to be untied For the clearing whereof I must shew wherein the Civil Magistrate's Power in Church-matters doth mainly consist that we way see how we agree about it 1. And First The Prince or Civil Magistrate hath a Power of protecting and defending the Church and every Member of it in the profession and practice of true Religion For this end chiefly was the Sword put into his Hand which he is therefore requir'd Not to bear in vain Rom. 13.3 4. but to draw it forth to the Terror of Evil doers and the defence of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.14 'T is the Magistrate's Province and Duty to maintain the Church in its Rights and to preserve it in that fulness of Power and Privileges which Christ hath Communicated to it Hence Kings are stil'd Nursing Fathers and Queens Nursing Mothers to the Church Isai 49.23 And we are bid to pray for them that under their power and protection We way lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 1 2. v. This is granted on all Hands 2. Secondly The Prince hath a Power of regulating and well-ordering Matters appertaining to the Church 2 Chron. 29.5 24. As keeping Ecclesiastical Persons to their respective Offices and Duties preserving the Places of Publick Worship from Sacriledge and Profanation Establishing a Regular and Uniform way of Divine Service to be observed in them 2 Chron. 31.4 providing and securing a convenient Maintenace to such as serve at the Altar He may reform the Church when it is corrupted in its Doctrine Worship or Discipline 1 Tim. 5.17 These things we find practis'd and commended in all the good Kings both of Israel and Judah Who took care to remove the Impediments and encourage the exercise of true Religion Again Princes may and ought as Vice-roys of Christ's Kingdom to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church by suppressing Schism and purging it from Idolatry and Superstition To this end they may guard it with good Laws and may likewise convene the Ecclesiastical Governors to meet in Synods and Convocations to consult and agree upon such Canons as the Necessities of the Church shall require And because the Power of the Church is wholly Spiritual and some bold Obstinate Persons may despise and slight the Censures of the Church which may thereby be render'd ineffectual therefore 3dly Thirdly The Prince may and ought to ratifie and enforce such wholesome Laws by Temporal Sanctions and Penalties thereby correcting such Disorderly Members and punishing the Breach and Contempt of Ecclesiastical Canons and Constitutions This we find was the practice of Christian Kings and Emperors ever since they became Christian For when the Church was either corrupted by Error or infested by Schism they interposed their Power to put a Check to such Disorders and partly by their own imperial Edicts and partly by the Canons of Councils call'd by their Authority and enforc'd by Civil Coercions put a stop to the spread and increase of them And this is no more than what is necessary for the peace and good Government of the Church For tho' the Spiritual Rod of Excommunication hath indeed Terror enough in it to be dreaded of All that have any sense or care of their Souls yet because too many are so harden'd in their Schism and Errors as not to feel the smart of it The Secular Prince may and ought to second the Spiritual with the Temporal Rod to awe such Offenders with Corporal Corrections as are fearless and insensible of the Censures of the Church In a word because All things in the Church of Christ are required to be done Decently and in Order therefore Kings and Princes who are the Guardians and 1 Cor. 14. Protectors of the Church are to take care of the Decency and Solemnity of the publick Worship perform'd in it To effect which they have not only a Directive and Mandatory Power to make Laws and give Rules about it but likewise a Coactive and Compulsory Power to make them observ'd Without which they can never attain their End All this is granted by the most Eminent Presbyterians in their Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici Jus Div. c. 9. And the same is acknowledg'd likewise by Mr. Baxter Plea for Peace p. 30 99. both in his Plea for Peace and Treatise of Episcopacy Now these Concessions are abundantly enough for our purpose Epise p. 144 192 193. For if Publick Forms of Prayer have the Authority of Ecclesiastical Governours in Convocation and be likewise ratifyed and enforc'd by the Sanctions of the Civil Power there can be no just exception against the Authority that enjoyns them And you may be satisfied from hence who those Superiors and Rulers are that may command an invariable Form which was the thing you question'd and I hope is now to your Satisfaction answer'd So that if there be no unlawfulness in Forms of Prayer which you have already granted you may easily see a strong Obligation lying upon you to use those that are commanded and no other which was the thing to be proved But you ask What if the King should command one Translation Version or Form of Prayers and the Bishops another whom must we obey Sir This in our Case is a meer Cavil because all Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical agree in the prescribed Forms And we hope they will never Clash or interfere in that or any other thing for the publick good of Church or State But if it should so happen which God forbid You must know That tho' Christ erected a standing Form of Spiritual Government
in his Church yet he never gave any Authority to Ecclesiastical Persons to controul the commanding Power of Princes in lawful and indifferent Matters But left all such things intirely to their Disposal and Determination And we never read That the Apostles or Primitive Christians ever claim'd such a Power or suffer'd for disobeying in such Things There is but one Limitation assign'd of our Obedience and that is To obey God rather than Man If the Commands of God and the Prince clash and contradict each other there the Prince hath no Right to be obey'd because his Will is counter-manded by a Superiour Authority And therefore we find Christ and his Apostles who were very tender of giving the least Offence to Secular Powers in lawful and indifferent Things would yet yield no Obedience in things forbidden by the Express Will of God This is evident in Matters between God and the King And 't is no less so in the Case between the King and his Subjects where if the Spiritual Power of the one clash with the Temporal Power of the other 't is manifest which must yield the Inferiour Power being to give place to the Higher Powers For St. Peter stiles Kings and Emperors Supream in their Dominions And a Supream you know can have no Superiour Power upon Earth to controul or over-rule him But tho' the King say some be Supream in Temporal Affairs yet there may be and is a Superiour Power to him in Church-matters This is the Power that is claim'd and usurp'd by the Pope over Christian Kings and Emperors And there are others who are great Enemies to the Pope that put in their Claim to the same Power in these Matters and would fain take it out of his Hands to put it into their own But St. Peter from whom the first claim as his Successors expresly asserts Kings to be Supream in their Dominions without Limitation or Exception of Spiritual Matters And what Authority have any to except where the Spirit of God makes no Exception And our Saviour Christ from whom the latter claim hath no where limited or circumscrib'd the Sovereign Power of Princes in these Things So that Kings had need look well to the Rights of their Crown to preserve them from the unjust Pretensions and Encroachments of both Besides what mad work must two Co-ordinate Supremacies make in the same Kingdom For since Sacred and Civil Matters are many times so closesly twisted and inter-woven together that they can hardly be separated or distinguish'd what sharp and unavoidable Contests must frequently arise about them And if these two Rival-Supreams differ about the extent and limits of their Power what shall the Subject do who cannot possibly obey or please both For since no Man can serve two Masters the serving of the One will be the despising of the Other which may draw on him the Displeasure of both And can it be conceived that the Great Sovereign of the World who hath styl'd himself A God of Order and not of Confusion should lay such a Stumbling-block in our way and leave so weighty a Matter upon which the Peace and Welfare of Kingdoms depend to such great Uncertainties Again if these two Rival-powers fall at variance who shall reconcile them or what shall decide this great Controversie Why nothing upon Earth is able to do it but the Sword with which the Spiritual Power hath nothing to do for that hath no other Weapons but the Censures of the Church and can only strike with the Thunder of Excommunication and if these be dis-regarded as they too often are it hath nothing left to preserve or maintain a Supremacy So that if the Sword be the only Weapon to defend it he who is of right intrusted with that is thereby design'd and constituted Supream But those Scriptures you say that require Obedience and Subjection to the Higher Powers respect Church-governours 300 Years before the Christian Magistrate appeared in the World Sir If you consult Expositors or the History of those Times you will find those Scriptures to respect the Roman Governors who then sway'd the Imperial Sceptre To whom our Saviour would have all due Submission and Obedience paid For he commanded To render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar 's He acknowledg'd Pilate's Power to be given him from above And the Apostles and Primitive Christians demean'd themselves towards them accordingly Indeed for the first 300 Years after Christ when the Roman Power not only persecuted but sought to root out Christianity the Church was govern'd by its own Laws and by its own Legislative Power provided the best it could for its own Safety and Edification but when the Roman Emperors embrac'd Christianity to the great Joy of the Christian World they took the Church into their Care and Protection which by that means got out of that heavy Storm of Persecution under which it had long labour'd and began to flourish in Peace and Prosperity For Constantine and other Christian Emperors built Churches for publick Worship and provided for the decent Celebration of it They conven'd General Councils and often presided in them ratifying their Canons with their Imperial Edicts and enforcing them with Temporal Sanctions and Penalties By which means the Church is derived down in that happy and flourishing State in which it now continues Thus Sir you see who those Rulers and Superiors are that may enjoin an Invariable Form And I hope I have in some measure satisfy'd your Demands and remov'd your Exceptions against the Authority that enjoins them But when you have nothing to say against the Authority of Superiors you are wont to complain of the Injustice and Severity of their Laws and to cry out of Persecution when you suffer for the Breach of them how justly this is done must be examin'd in the next I am SIR Yours to serve you M. H. August 10th 1697. LETTER VI. SIR I Shew'd in my Last what that Authority is that lawfully may and hath enjoin'd Forms of Prayer together with the Equity and Obligation of those Laws that require them My next Task must be to inquire into the Reasonableness and Justice of those Penalties that are annext to the Violation of them And this must be the rather done because I find you talking much of Goals and Imprisonments and other Hardships which you have endur'd upon the account of them You complain most bitterly and frequently of Persecution as if you lived under Nero or Dioclesian and felt all the Tortures that were inflicted on the Primitive Christians and that for the same or as good a Cause too All which is done merely to derive an Odium upon the Laws and Lawgivers and to procure the greater Pity and Liberty for your selves And here I must observe a double Artifice which I find you making use of the one to evade the Duty the other the Penalty of these Laws To effect the First you are wont to call the Injunctions of Superiors not by the Style of
preceptive Part of Laws and having an Eye only or chiefly to the coercive Part by which means if you are not at any time subject 't is merely for Wrath and not for Conscience sake Again 3dly This hath led you into a farther Mistake and made you take the suspending the Penalties for the Abrogation of the Laws for you imagine That the Act of Uniformity and all the Laws against Conventicles to have lost their Force from your being exempted from the Penalties of them Which shews That you place the Obligation of Laws not in the Matter or Things enjoined by them but wholly and solely in the Penalties annex'd to them so that when these are taken off the other of course are gone with them Yea 4thly You have a wilder Conceit than all this for you imagine That the removing the Penalties not only removes the Obligation of Laws but establishes the things forbidden by them For you take Conventicles to be allow'd and establish'd by that Law which merely exempts you from being punished for them which shews your deep reach in the Knowledge of the Laws or rather your gross Prevarications in the Observance of them In your Letter of July 11th you tell me That your Places of Meeting are as lawfully allowed as our Temples now our Temples being establish'd by Law yours it seems must have the same Authority And in your Letter of June 30th you say 't is to arraign the Government to affirm otherwise 'T is to be fear'd Sir That your Confidence in time will mount you so high as to reckon it a Crime to go to Church and to shut up all Religion and Virtue within the Walls of a Conventicle But let us hear what you have to say for these things and 1st you tell me That this Law amounts to more than a Suspension of the Penalty For it allows your Congregations guards them from Disturbance and exempts the Ministers from serving in any secular Office which is a sort of Reward Sir the Allowance mentioned in that Act implies no Approbation of your Congregations much less any Establishment of them but merely a winking at them for some temporal Reasons To keep any from disturbing them amounts to no more than a bare Permission or Toleration And for exempting you from secular Offices 't is a privilege granted to all in holy Orders of which you make a very bad use to think it a Reward for your making and continuing Divisions But you go on to tell me That if it were a bare Suspension of the Penalty yet that were enough to render them void of any Obligation on your Consciences to Obedience because they are merely Penal Laws Sir if you account all Laws that have a Penalty annex'd to the Breach of them to be Penal Laws you may then reckon the Ecclesiastical Laws and indeed all other Laws in that Number there being scarce any to be found without it But to reckon them merely Penal upon that account is a great Mistake to rectifie which you must know That there are some Laws express'd in Disjunctive Terms requiring to do this or that as in the Case of bearing such an Office or paying such a Fine Here the Law is purely Penal and paying the Fine answers the end of it being left in the Power of the Subject to chuse either but there are other Laws that directly and positively require something to be done or not done with a Penalty added to the Violation of it and here 't is not the suffering the Punishment but observing the thing that satisfies the Law Of this kind are the Laws that establish Conformity where he that does not what is commanded is a Transgressor of the Law and justly suffers for the Breach of it But you prove these to be merely Penal Laws because they require things that are no way apt to promote the common Good and till we prove them otherwise you will never be sensible of their pretended Obligation Sir Are Unity Order and Decency in the publick Worship which are the subject of these Laws things no way apt to promote the common Good Do you not read many express Precepts and Exhortations to them for the Benefit and Edisication of the Church Certainly if you have any Sense of Duty to the Laws of God or Man these things will carry more than a pretended Obligation But you have one thing more to say in your Letter of June 28th and that is That the Law does not only call your Liberty an Allowance but also that 't is for the Ease of Conscience Now the Suspension of the Penalty is only say you for the Ease of the Back and the Purse but 't is the taking off the Obligation that is for the Ease of Conscience Sir All the Ease granted or intended by that Act relates only to the Persons and Purses of Dissenters which are thereby exempted from the Temporal Fines and Penalties annex'd to the Breach of some Laws which is all that the Civil Magistrate can do but may not be extended to the taking off the Guilt or Obligation to Eternal Punishments which none but God the sole Law-giver and Judge of Conscience hath Power to remove Now Schism which is a Breach of the Peace and Unity of the Church being forbidden by the Law of God cannot have its Guilt or Obligation to eternal Punishment taken off by suspending the Temporal Penalties much less can it become lawful or made harmless by humane Laws I hope you do not think that Impunity can void the Obligation of Divine Laws or that a thing ceases to be a Sin because it ceaseth to be punish'd by the Civil Magistrate for then Theft Adultery and Murder would be no Crimes if the Punishment of them were at any time forborn and suspended And if Sentence against an evil Work be not executed presently the Hearts of the Children of Men might be safely set in them to do Evil Eccles viii 11. But how come they to plead for Toleration now who not long since thought and stil'd it intolerable Is that which was then the Mother of Confusion the Nurse of Schism Jus. Div. Reg. Eccl. and the Step-mother of Edification as they were wont to call it become of a sudden the Parent of all true Religion and Vertue No certainly the Matter is That 't was other Mens Case then and 't is their own now and that makes a mighty Alteration Are you not asham'd of such gross Partiality which is enough to make a Forehead of Brass to blush I shall conclude this Letter with the Words of your beloved John Calvin who tells us That in a true Church Instit L. 4. cap. 1. Sect. 10. where the Word of God is truly preach'd and the Sacraments duly administred none may presume to despise the Authority or resist the Admonitions or refuse the Counsels or slight the Corrections of it much less to withdraw from it and break its Unity and go unpunished Adding That God so highly
same one to another which Words are commonly interpreted of Alms which the Apostle would have imparted as occasion should require But cannot with any congruity of Sense have any Reference to Prayer for the Apostle speaks there of Ministring one to another whereas in Prayer He that Ministreth Ministreth to God only to whom alone our Prayers are directed But if this Gift be not to be sound in either of these places James 1.17 they think they cannot fail of it in that of St. James Every good Gift and every perfect Gift is from above and which Words being so general they think must necessarily comprechend it But if there were no appearance of any such Gift at that time or since why should we think that this must needs comprehend it Besides the Gifts mentiou'd by St. James are good and perfect Gifts and such as came down from above whereas the Imperfections that attend your pretended Gift and the many Evils that have proceeded from and are still continued by it shew it to have no Title to either Yea the Mischief done by this black Art of Variations shews it came rather from the Fiends of Darkness than Father of Lights with whom is no Variableness neither shadow of Change However these Men having strongly possess'd themselves with vain Imaginations of this Gift think themselves bound to use it not only without but against the Authority of their Superiors for one of them tells us That this Gift is a Mean given by God for the performance of the Duty of Prayer and therefore may not be omitted at the Command of Man for they are required not to neglect but to stir up the Gift of God that is in them and are called upon daily to imploy and improve the Talent that is committed to them But is it a sinful neglect think you of your own Gifts at any time to make use of the Composures of others in Divine Worship And must all the Gifts we have or imagine our selves to have be constantly Exercis'd upon pain of being thought Idle and Lazy Persons Why then as a Reverend Divine hath well observ'd He that hath any Talent in Greek and Hebrew may not use the Translation of the Bible drawn up by others but must for the Exercise of his Gifts make a new Translation of his own and vary it too if he can as oft as he hath occasion to quote it Again he that is able to gather the Articles of the Christian Faith into a brief Summary may not make use of the Creed drawn up by others for that purpose but must for the Exercise of his own Gifts be daily making of new Creeds Once more he that hath any Talent in Poetry or Musick must not make use of Psalms set to Musick or Meeter by others but for the Exercise of his own Gifts must be still making new Hymns of his own and if he can daily set them too to new Tunes These things are every jot as necessary upon the account of exercising Mens Gifts as it is to lay aside the pious and well compos'd Forms of others and think themselves oblig'd to be daily making new Prayers of their own But the Preservation of any Gift or Faculty say you depends on the Exercise of it and it must be extreamly prejudic'd and impair'd by Disuse Sir There are Times and Occasions enough for the Exercise and improving your Gifts without affecting or making new Prayers which are more hurtful than helpful to true Devotion As for the Gift of Speech which you still Mistake for the Gift of Prayer that may well enough be preserv'd by daily Discourse and Conversation especially if they are applyed to wise and useful Subjects whereas the true and proper Gift of Prayer is better preserv'd and improv'd too by a devout and diligent Application of the Heart and Soul to the known Words of a well-digested Form than by the Study of new and varied Words in an Extempore Prayer But does not this set aside the Gifts of good Men in Prayer to be thus confin'd to Forms No it only sets aside such Gifts as Alexander the Copper-smith boasted of in St. Paul's time and Weavers and Coblers have pretended to in ours But it sets aside none of the Gifts of wise godly and authorized Persons who find Work enough to employ their greatest Abilities to the Glory of God and the good of the Church in the Use of these Forms which are enjoin'd for the Unity and Decency of publick Worship And to tell you the Truth the not setting aside the pretended Gifts of these gifted Brethren by publick Authority hath employed the Gifts of the best and ablest Persons to lay them aside by Argument and Perswasion to keep ignorant bold and unauthorized Persons from foaming out their own Shame to the great Scandal of Religion Increase of Athcism and Disorder of the whole Church of Christ And if these do not prevail 't is time for Authority to work lest they who would now be indulg'd as weak Brethren do by that means in a little time grow too strong for their Masters But to carry on the Charge of Loosness and Laziness you farther add That the Neglect of using Mens Gifts in Extempore-Prayer hath hinder'd them from studying the Scriptures and other good Books that reading the Liturgy tempts them to lay the Reins upon the Neck of their voluptuous Inclinations makes them waste their Time in Drinking Sports and Recreations and gives them Leisure to frequent Fairs Markets and Coffee-houses c. Now here are a great many Bolts shot at Randome and serve only to shew the Badness of a Cause that must be supported by such Calumnies As for what you say of the Liturgies hindring Men from the Study of the Scriptures what a wild Accusation is this when the Use of the Liturgy consists altogether in the reading of the Scriptures and of devout Prayers compos'd by them where all the Psalms of David are appointed to be read over every Month the Scriptures of the Old Testament once and of the New thrice a Year beside what they may do in private at other times And is this the way to hinder Men from studying and understanding the Scripture Sir If you had studied and understood the Scriptures as you ought you might soon see the Baseness and Wickedness of such false Accusations As for what you say of Leisure for Fairs Markets and Coffee houses there may be many just and necessary Occasions that may call Men of all Professions to those Places and this can be no fault in any if they are not unnecessarily or unseasonably frequented much less is this to be charg'd upon the Liturgy For if you look abroad you will find the Frequenters of Conventicles as great Frequenters of those Places as any others As for what you say of a Liturgy's making Men lay the Reins upon the Neck of their voluptuous Inclinations this is either a foul Calumny or a Fallacy of non Causa pro
Causa for what is there in godly Forms that should lead Men to such Enormities Or what Evil can there be in that way in which all before you worshipped the God of our Fathers No Sir those Vices proceed not from the publick Prayers but from Mens private Designs and corrupt Appetites which are but too visible and predominant in those you stile the Godly Party who decry Forms of Prayer and at the same time place all their Religion in a Form of Godliness So that your Bolts you see are shot at Rovers for they glance back and wound your selves as deeply as any others and your heavy Charge of Loosness and Laziness on the use of the Liturgy serves only to shew your Ignorance or Design not the least Reason or Truth in the Accusation But here you have something to say concerning the silencing of your painful Ministers which shall be consider'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. Sept. 4th 1697. LETTER XV. To J. M. SIR HAving vindicated the Liturgy from your foul and unjust Aspersions and wiped off the Dirt you so liberally cast upon them that use it 't will be requisite to observe your high Encomiums of Extempore-Prayer and the mighty Character you give of those that exercise their Talent this Way For how freely soever you calumniate the former as Idle Lazy Drones the latter never fail of the glorious Titles of Able Godly and painful Ministers And that because they will not dull their Parts with the same old Words of a Form but daily labour for new Expressions and entertain their Hearers with grateful Varieties And is it fit say you that the Mouths of such painful Men should be stopp'd Yes when they take pains to so bad purpose and their grateful Varieties of Prayers lead only to an ungrateful Variety of Sects and Opinions When they open their Mouths to the reviling and rending the Church and undermining the Government under which they live 't is but fit and necessary they should be stopp'd We undermine the Government I would have you to know say you That we adhere to King William and highly value his Government and take our selves to be a true valuable part of it But mark what follows tho' there be some Orders of it that we cannot think good nor conform to Now what are these Orders Why those publick Prayers of the Church that were compil'd by our first Reformers and enjoin'd by all Protestant Princes and Parliaments ever since and confirm'd likewise by the Authority and Practice of the present King and yet you cannot think them good and will not conform to them So that you like King William's Government just as you did theirs who went before him that is you will obey what you please and conform only to what you have a mind to Which is just as when there was no King in Israel to do only what is right in your own eyes And are they not excellent Subjects think you and great Lovers of the Government that set up their own weak or rather wilful Judgments above all the Wisdom and Authority of their Superiors and seek by a few fulsom flattering Commendations to atone for the Contempt and Disobedience of the Laws 'T is not forgotten Sir how you applauded King James's Government and concurr'd with him in taking away the Penal Laws and Test which would have undermin'd the Reformation and brought in all those Evils which wise and good Men saw just Reason to fear And if you had any Modesty left this might stop your Mouths from calling those Jacobites and Popishly affected who wisely foresaw and prevented those Miseries which your corrupt Designs and intemperate Zeal would have brought upon us The Truth is you can like any King or no King as it best serves your Purposes and are so vainly conceited of your own Worth and Wisdom that none is fit to govern or prescribe to you but your selves If Governors say and do as you would have them that is if they give any Countenance to your Divisions you can then speak up for them they shall be be no less than the Glory of Christendom and the Healers of all our Breaches But if they shew their Dislike to your Schisms and Conventicles which have been censur'd by all Governments and condemned by all your own Brethren that have gone before you then your Tongues are turn'd and we hear of nothing but Impositions and Persecution Indeed your Praises and Dispraises are design'd for tacit Directions what you would have done and both are founded on so ill a Bottom that it deserves little regard on whom you bestow either the one or the other But we were silenc'd say you not for refusing a Liturgy for the Commissioners at the Savoy never spake a Word against a Liturgy or set Forms of Prayer but only of Emendations and Additions of several Forms with a Liberty of using one or the other Is not this a plain Proof of what was just before affirm'd You are not against a Liturgy but you must have such a one as you please it must be altered and amended as you will have it and when that is done you must have one of your own making to be set up by its side with a Liberty of using one or the other Who now must be the Judge or Governor in this Case Or whose Will must carry it either they to whom the Care of the Church is committed or they who are subjected to their Rule and Governance The former thinks fit to continue and establish the Ancient Liturgy which is consonant to and compos'd by the Ancient Models of the Christian Church Whereas you will needs have this laid aside or one of a new or different Make set up in Opposition to it Now which think you ought in Reason to take place If you knew but your own Place and obeyed them that have the Rule over you in the Lord it would be no Question but instead of that you must have your own New-fangl'd Liturgy or else you are resolved to be as factious and troublesome as you can And if the Government will not submit to you and give you your own way you care not what Evils or Confusion come of it Will you never mortifie this notorious and intolerable Pride But you ask What will Posterity say or think when they hear or read of the silencing of so many godly and painful Ministers Why the same that our Predecessors always did who thought it fit and necessary to silence all such as would not submit to the Constitution and good Orders of the Church Your Friend Mr. Beza who was often consulted in his Time about these Matters was clearly for silencing Ministers in such Cases as you may find him cited at large Unreas of Separat p. 21 22. by the Reverend Bishop of Worcester And all Christian Churches have ever done the same to this Day and 't is no more than what our Saviour would have done to those that will not
hearken to the Church Yea Posterity would have reckon'd it a great Blot upon the present Age if it had continued those in publick Ministrations of the Church who refuse to conform to the Offices and good Orders of it But these Men say you were not silenc'd for any Irregularities Insufficiency or Immoralities as some have formerly been Sir They were silenc'd for as great if not greater Enormities than these 't was for their Refractoriness to Government and Disobedience to Laws made for Order and Unity which are greater Evils and have a more pernicious Influence upon the publick than particular Mens private Immoralities Yea to tell you the Truth things were then at that pass that they were telling of Noses and counting their Numbers to see whether their Party could not over-balance the Government and force it to a Complyance with them And their frequent Boastings of their Numbers ever since and their daily Endeavours to seduce the People to increase their Party plainly shew what they are still driving at and may be a warning to Authority to have a watchful Eye over them to prevent their Designs Their Principles of Government are loose and their Obedience to it is much looser and tho' the growing Evils of Atheism and Deism call for our united Prayers and Endeavours to withstand them yet these Men can easily over-look these things to serve their other Purposes But To shew the Hardship of their silencing you rub up some of the old threadbare Objections of Mr. Baxter's against the Liturgy which have been so often and so throughly answered that 't is a Wonder how you can have the Face to mention them any more as against the Calendar which contains wholsom Directions for Reading the Holy Scriptures through the whole Course of the Year Against the Rule for finding out Easter which depending upon the various Course of the Moon can scarce be reduc'd to greater Certainty and one would think you should like this well enough if it were but for the sake of its Variation against the Rubrick the Translation of the Psalms some Expressions in Athanasius's Creed and other Offices of the Church all which are so agreeable to the Sense and Doctrin of Antiquity that no wise and well-meaning Person need entertain any Scruples about them Indeed there never was or can be any thing so well-devised by the Wit of Man but what in time some evil Spirits will find something to carp and cavil at we find the Holy Scriptures themselves can scarce escape the Lash and Censure of some Men And if the Enemies of our Liturgy ever since the first hatching of Separation could find no greater Flaws in it than those you mention there is greater Cause to admire its Excellency than to cavil at its Imperfection So that upon the whole nothing you alledge can justifie your Separation or give any just Cause to complain of your silencing But when I ask'd if these Men were so justly silenc'd how came they to speak again and in Conventicles too which they themselves had spoken so much against You have something to say in Answer to it which shall be consider'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. Sept. 7th 1697. LETTER XVI SIR I Shew'd you in my last what just Reason there was for Silencing your able and painful Ministers that refus'd to conform to the Laws both of Church and State I come now to consider whether the Persons thus Silenced may and ought to open their Mouths again in the Publick Exercise of the Ministry without and against the Consent and Authority of your Lawful Superiors The Negative whereof being asserted in a former Letter I shall in this shew the weakness of what you urge in Answer to it First Laying down this for the Ground-work That to Preach in any setled Church without or against the Authority of Superiors is repugnant not only to the Subjection we owe to them but likewise to all those Laws of God that require Peace Order Unity and Discipline in his Church for 't is utterly impossible That all or any of these things should be kept up if every one may gather a Congregation and Officiate where he pleases against the known Establish'd Laws both of Church and State God is not the Author of Confusion saith St. Paul but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints 1 Cor. 14 32 33. And therefore wills That the Spirits of the Prophets should be subject to the Prophets implying That Inferior Ministers should be subject to their Superiors that so Order Peace and Discipline may be preserv'd Indeed where there is no true Church nor any legal Ministers duly setled there Necessity and Charity will give great Allowances But for any to thrust himself into anothers Charge and Officiate there against the Consent of the Lawful Pastor is not only to be a Busy-body in other Men's Matters but to be a Troubler of the Church and a Sower of Sedition For this must unavoidably breed Jealousies Sideings and Divisions the People in such Cases naturally falling into Comparisons between Teachers and as in the Church of Corinth one was for Paul another for Apollos and a third for Cephas 1 Cor. 1.12 So one will be for this Teacher another for that and a third for neither and so will be for heaping to themselves Teachers having itching Ears by which means they will come not to endure sound Doctrin but will turn away their Ears from the Truth and be turned unto Fables 1 Tam 4 3 4. The truth of this our own woful Experience may too sadly verifie And therefore We find the Old Non-conformists were utterly against the Preaching of such Ministers as were Silenced by the Established Laws For when the Brownists who were legally Silenced first began the Separation by drawing the People into private Meetings they were highly blamed and written against by the Old Non conformists as you may see at large in the Bishop of Worcester's Unreasonableness of Separation pag. 82 83. And when Beza was consulted in this Point he plainly declar'd the utter unlawfulness of keeping separate Meetings and Preaching without or against the Establish'd Laws dreading and detesting as he tells us the many sad and doleful Consequences of such Practices As you may find him quoted by the same Author pag. 21.22 So that the Dissenters of our Days are clearly gone off from the peaceable Principles of the Old Non-conformists and are fallen into that rigid and wilful Separation which they so severely condemned But because Mr. Baxter the great Ring-leader of this high flown Separation hath something to say for Silenc'd Ministers keeping Separate Meetings and Preaching without and against the Laws which you have transcrib'd from him 't will be requisite to take some Notice of it and what I shall Animadvert upon it will serve for an Answer to both And here you First Urge some places of Scripture as our Saviour's Commission to his Apostles to Go and teach all Nations promising
Disobedience May'nt they be Characteriz'd for stubborn unquiet Schismaticks as we now are No Sir 't is one thing to stick to the truly Ancient Primitive and Apostolical Discipline and way of Worship and another to set up and promote new upstart Ways and Models in both the one is to endeavour to keep the Unity of the Church and the other to break it Now in the Kingdom of Scotland that prevailing Party that laid aside the ancient Discipline and Worship of the Catholick Church to set up those new-fangl'd Models are truly branded for Schismaticks for breaking into different Factions and Communions whereby they divide the Body of Christ and may be justly said to create Distractions and Divisions in the Church whereas they who adher'd to the ancient Doctrin and Discipline of the Catholick Church and would willingly have preserv'd both these can no ways be charg'd with the Schisms and Divisions of that Church for these differ as much from the other as the Keepers of the Peace do from the Breakers of it And you know 't is unreasonable to charge the same Disorders and Disobedience upon those that endeavour to keep the Peace as upon those who make it their Business to break it so that the Artillery you speak of still points to you and cannot be turn'd upon those against whom you level it But it may be your Case say you in another Century if any thing happen to be requir'd which you think unlawful to fall under the like Difficulties of the Government Sir That there is nothing unlawful requir'd in the present Government I suppose you are pretty well satisfied and therefore your Schism in these Circumstances is both unreasonable and inexcusable And 't is to be hoped That the Members of the Church of England will in no Century either voluntarily and causelesly cut off selves or be violently cut off by any others from the Worship and Discipline of the Catholick Church But if it should so happen which God forbid our Duty will be not to applaud but lament the Schism to enjoy as much as we may of the Communion of the Church and to pray and wait for a better Union and fuller Enjoyment of it But there is one Objection more urg'd by your Party against the Authority of Bishops viz. If the Bishops Power be Jure Divino how come they to execute it by Lay-Chancellors Sir Beside the Spiritual Power committed to Bishops as Successors to the Apostles Church-Censurers Ordination c. which are executed by themselves in Person there are other things Circa Spiritualia which are by Law committed to their Care and Inspection as the Cognizance of Wills and Testaments many Cases about Matrimony Alimony and Divorce about Tithes Dilapidations Defamation c. which Things containing many intricate Cases and requiring more time than the Bishop can well spare from the weightier Duties of his Office he is impower'd to commission one Learned in the Canon and Civil Laws to hear and determine such Matters so that as Moses did appoint inferior Officers and Judges to determine small Matters whilst the weightier things were brought to him So the Bishop by the Allowance of the Church is permitted to have these Officers under him to take off part of his Burden in ordinary Matters and to dispatch some of his Business when he is otherwise employ'd or hinder'd But you publish say you such Excommunications as are decreed by Lay-Chancellors according to the Canon And why not For though the Lay-Chancellors by the Authority of the Bishop may decree the Sentence for not hearkning to the Church yet being an Ecclesiastical Censure 't is never executed by him but either by the Bishop in Person or some other Spiritual Person that hath full Authority to do it and when this Censure is thus regularly decreed and pronounc'd why may we not publish it that others may know and avoid them and according to our Saviour's Order look upon them as a heathen Man and a Publican Thus I have consider'd your main Objections concerning the Order of Bishops What you farther offer concerning Bishop Hall shall be consider'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. LETTER XXI To J. M. SIR IN your Letter concerning Bishop Hall after a few flings and reflections upon the Order of Bishops which I endeavour'd to rectifie and remove in my last You tell me That you are far better pleas'd with some Bishops than we think you are and particularly instance in Arch-Bishop Vsher and Bishop Hall wishing there were many Hundreds more of them in England Now these Reverend Persons are much beholding to you that you have not so great an Aversness to them as to some others But what is the Reason of this great Kindness to those Excellent Men Why some By-End to be sure for 't is not out of any Respect to their Order which you will not allow to be distinct from nor Superior to Presbyters No nor yet for their Learning and great Abilities in deciding Controversies in Religion for you are not like you say to refer to their final Decision any Matters in Debate between us in their present Constitution Whence then should this Honourable Esteem of yours for these Great Men proceed Why this you will tell me in the next Words 't was for their Exemplary Piety discover'd by their painfulness in Preaching and likewise for their great Temper and Moderation in Ecclesiastical Matters As for their Exemplary Piety that was chiefly seen in their Pious Lives and Zealous adhereing to the Establish'd Worship of the Church of England and likewise by sticking as close and as long as they could to the Primitive Discipline and Government of that Church But you pass by these Eminent and Exemplary Instances of their Piety because they do not serve your purpose and instead of them take notice of their painfulness in Preaching and their great Moderation Now though painfulness in Preaching be indeed a very good Commendation in all that are call'd to it yet I think a Vigilant care and diligence in ruling well the Church of God and setting in order things that are wanting in it is a more necessary and commendable Qualification of a Bishop and indeed if you will rightly consider the multitude weight and difficulty of the Business that appertains to their Office you will find it enough to employ the Time and Thoughts of the ablest Overseer Besides The Bishops having generally spent their Younger Years in painful Preaching and being seldom advanc'd to that Office till they come to their Elder Years may by reason of the decay of Strength and Voice and other Infirmities that attend that Age be excus'd from that painfulness and may more usefully employ the Time and Experience of those Years in well-governing the Church over which they are appointed Overseers But if any beside their other Work have strength and leisure enough for this Exercise they may and ought to make use of it and you know some Time is by our Reverend