Reason of the Zeal of a certain Party therein and nor a Consciencious Regard to the Act of Uniformity is further Evident because Bowing at the Name of Jesus and toward the Altar tho' contrary to the Act of Uniformity but signifying an inclination towards Popery are as much practised and defended by that Party as any Ceremonies establish'd by that Law The Occasional Conformist therefore thinks himself bound in Conscience to make a Remarkable Difference in his Practise between the regard he shews to the Commandments of God and to the Inventions of Men especially when those Inventions are manifestly defended with the utmost Vigor to keep a Correspondence with France and Rome I might here name many Things which may be amended in the Church of England But I had rather Convince you that you are in a great Mistake when you affirm That there is no way to heal Divisions but by such a Bill as that against Occasional Conformity And because Her most Sacred and most Excellent Majesty is I trust raised up by Almighty God to perfect that Reformation both at Home and Abroad which was so much advanc'd by Her Predecessor Queen Elizabeth of Blessed Memory and because I take Her Reign to be a more proper Season for such a Work than that of the late King William tho' of Glorious Memory for Reasons easily Occurring to Men of Thought and some of which shall be hereafter mentioned I will venture to propose another Means to put an End to Faction to secure the Publick Peace in Church and State to remove the Causes of all our Fears and of all our Divisions which is worth Ten Thousand such Bills as that against Occasional Conformity and which the Promoters of that Bill cannot refuse to approve of if they be hearty Lovers of her Majesty and the Church of England It were easie to prove what has been before mentioned that the Primitive Rule of Reformation and the Rule universally used at the Reformation was That the Terms of Christian Communion ought to be only such as are found in the Scripture And perhaps in another Discourse the World may see a full Evidence That all the Mischiefs that have happen'd to the Christian Church have been occasioned by departing from that Principle and an account may be given of the gradual Growth of Priestcraft from the days of Diotrephes to the time of Cardinal Woolsey at least But before I mention the said Means of putting an End to Faction I will only observe that notwithstanding by Stat. 31. H. 8. c. 14. Transubstantiation Communion in one Kind Prohibition of Marriage to the Clergy Monkish Vows Private Masses and Auricular Confession are also Establish'd by Act of Parliament yet some time before viz. 25 H. 8. cap. 21. the King and Parliament did declare That they did not intend to decline or vary from the Congregation of Christ's Church in any thing concerning the very Articles of the Faith of Christendom or in any other things declared by Holy Scripture and the Word of God necâ—ssary for their Salvation and that this continued to be the Opinion even of the Popish Church of England appears from Stat. 1. Mar. Ses 2. c. 1. Wherein the Marriage of Queen Katherin to Henry the 8th is declared Lawful and all Sentences of Divorce between them Repealed And lest the Queen and Parliament should seem to enact any thing herein contrary to the aforesaid Principle It is thereby Enacted That the said Marriage had and solemnized between the Queen 's most Noble Father King Henry and her most Noble Mother Queen Katherine should be definitively clearly and absolutely declared deemed and adjudged to be and stand with God's Law and his most Holy Word So sensible were the Parliament in those times that God's Law and his most Holy Word ought to be the Rule of all things relating to Christian Religion And tho' an Act of Parliament will not make that stand with God's Law and his most Holy Word which does not stand therewith yet the Wisdom of the Nation at that time and the Wisdom of all Nations and of all Pretenders to Establish a Revealed Religion such as Numa Mahomet and others have thought it necessary to pretend Divine Authority for all Matters relating to Revealed Religion And had that seemed Good to the Governors of Church and State in Christian Countries which seemed Good to the Holy Ghost and the Apostles Elders or Presbyters and Brethren met in the first Council of the Christian Church at Jerusalem viz. To impose nothing but necessary things Had they taken the Prophet's Advice Isai 55.14 Take up the stumbling Block out of the Way of my People instead of forcing them to use it Popery had never risen but the Church had continued Pure to the Worlds end But this being premised I desire you to remember that when the Supremacy of the Pope was thrown off by the Church of England and the Crown restored to its Ancient Rights it was by Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 19. Enacted That the Convocation should be Assembled by the King's Writs and should not Enact any Constitutions or Ordinances without the King's Assent And it was further Enacted as follows And for as much as such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances as heretofore have been made by the Clergy of this Realm cannot now at the Session of this present Parliament by reason of shortness of Time be viewed examined and determined by the King's Highness and Thirty Two Persons to be chosen and appointed according to the Petition of the said Clergy in form above rehearsed Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority abovesaid That the King's Highness shall have Power and Authority to nominate and assign at his pleasure the said Two and Thirty Persons of his Subject whereof Sixteen to be of the Clergy and Sixteen to be of the Temporalty of the Upper and Nether House of the Parliament And if any of the said Two and Thirty Persons so chosen shall happen to die before their full Determination then His Highness to nominate other from time to time of the said Two Houses of the Parliament to supply the Number of the said Two and Thirty and that the same Two and Thirty by his Highness so to be named shall have Power and Authority to view search and examine the said Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal heretofore made And such of them as the King's Highness and the said Two and Thirty or the more part of them shall deem an adjudge worthy to be continued kept obeyed and executed within this Realm so that the King 's most Royal Assent be first had to the same And the residue of the said Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial which the said King's Highness and the said Two and Thirty Persons or the more part of them shall not approve or deem and adjudge worthy to be abolish'd abrogate and made frustrate shall from thenceforth be void and of none effect and never be put in Execution within
just as reasonable as to make an Engine to draw Mens Bodies into the same Dimensions We have no wild Liberty for Adamites to run about the Streets or Enthusiasts to disturb us in the time of Divine Service but the Church of England is secur'd in its Legal Establishments and a Liberty to Dissenters has received the Sanction of a Law Now that Maxim Salus populi suprema lex est appears in its Beauty being writ upon all the Actions of our King and not us'd by the People in Opposition to Monarchy Now the other Maxim Bono principi inservire est optima libertas is rightly applied being writ upon the Actions of the People both in and out of Parliament and not us'd by the King to enslave his People The Courage and Conduct of our King and the Wealth and Valour of the People have once more made Great Britain a happy Nation and the Arbiter of the Fate of Europe The Glory of His Majesty in procuring the late stupendious Peace and restoring to our Neighbours their Ravish'd Liberties is as much greater than that of Alexander Pompey Caesar or of any other of the Fam'd Conquerors as 't is more Glorious to hinder the World from being Conquer'd than to Conquer the World to save Mens Lives than to destroy them And what was said of the Romans who Restor'd Liberty to the Conquer'd Cities of Greece in the Days of Flaminius is more Emphatically true concerning His Majesty and his Loyal Subjects That at last there are a Prince and a People in the World born for the Safety of all others that crost Seas and made Wars at their own Costs and Peril to relieve the Oppressed to establish Laws and cause them to be observed and to maintain the Publick Security throughout the whole Earth But this is a Subject fit to fill a Volumn and not to be cram'd into a Parenthesis in a Preface and therefore I must hasten to what I principally intended And notwithstanding Matters in the State are so happily adjusted and Persecution ceases to be the Reproach of the Church yet we are still on very ill Terms among our selves in Matters of Religion and to make the following Discourse more intelligible as well as the Design of the Author I must a little consider the Grounds and Causes of our Divisions When by the Divine Mercy we had escapt out of the Tyranny of Rome and the Protestant Religion became the National Religion of England Ignorance was lamentably visible not only in the Laity but Clergy and whoever looks over the Lists of the Indocti Mediocriter Docti Docti into which Classes the Clergy were divided will plainly see the Necessity of the Forms of Prayer and Homilies so much complain'd of And as the Clergy's Ignorance made these things necessary so the First Reformers thought it their Wisdom to make the Transition from Popery to Protestant Religion as Vndiscernable as might be for this reason while they took away other Parts of the Clergy's Habits they left the Surplice that People might not miss the other Trinkets while they took away Transubstantiation they left the Posture of Kneeling which was much more sensible than the Doctrine while they took away the Adoration of the Cross they nevertheless continued it at Baptism though they threw off the Latin Service they kept a Liturgy in English while they Renounc'd the Authority of the Bishop of Rome they nevertheless continued the same Arch-Bishops and Bishops in the same Provinces and Sees This Conduct they hop'd wou'd have brought the Papists to Church and it had that effect for some time but after that the English Refugees who went hence in the Reign of Queen Mary returned from among the Learned and Pious Reformers abroad who had gone quite through the Work of Reformation perhaps a Step too far the Clergy of England fell into two Parties one Party were for finding out Means of Reconciliation with Rome and bringing the Pope to Terms The other Party were for Accommodating Matters and Forming an Union between the English Church and Foreign Protestant Churches but there having been much fewer Non-Conformists found among the Clergy upon the Change of Religion made by Queen Elizabeth in Substantials than that made by King Charles the Second in Circumstantials the Party which inclined to Rome were much the stronger and most prevalent at Court. And although the State of Rome was generally opposed yet the Church of Rome was much hanker'd after though most were against the Pope's Supremacy yet many were for allowing him to be Principium Unitatis On the other side the most Learned and Pious of the Clergy were for the other Union Accordingly those that enclin'd towards Rome were extreamly fond of the Ceremonies that their Coalition with the Holy See might be the more easie From using the Cross at Baptism they might easily proceed to its farther use from Kneeling at the Sacrament they might take an occasion of Believing Transubstantiation or letting it alone that they might easily slip on something more upon the Surplice they had hopes to prevail with Rome to allow the Liturgy in English and while they kept up the Difference of Order between Bishops and Presbyters they were capable not only of arriving at the Lordship of a Bishop and at the Grace of an Arch-bishop but upon the Coalition had a Prospect of the Eminency of a Cardinal and the Holiness of a Pope They were for allowing Sports on the Lord's Day and for Holidays and a Religion that Men might wear Genteely for Singing Prayers which makes little difference between Latin and English in Point of Edification especially in that Time when very few cou'd read They were fond of God-fathers and God-mothers Bowing at the Name of Jesus and to the Altar and setting the Communion-Table Altar-wise On the other side the Pious Puritan Bishops were for Union with the Protestants abroad who scrupled most of these things and were for that Reason for taking these things away or at least for leaving them indifferent They were indeed for the pure Primitive Episcopacy and I conceive had they seen the following Discourse would generally have Subscribed thereto And this is in Truth the Reason that so many are to this Day so extreamly fond of things which they themselves account to be indifferent in their own Nature and which others take to be sinful The Grotian and Cassandrian Design was the good work in hand so much applauded by Arch-bishop Laud and his Adherents and Followers and Oppos'd by the Arch-bishops Abbot and Usher the Bishops Hall Davenant and others And this is the true Difference between the High Church and Low Church as they are called to this Day And here I cann't without great and pungent sorrow lament the Misery of the Church of England for almost a whole Century By this Means Protestant Religion which lies in those things wherein both sides agree and even Morality it self hath been little regarded and Mens Zeal for the most part
be hereafter accounted for in this Discourse And however the Epistles of St. Ignatius stand Irrefragably defended from the charge of being Spurious I cannot see but that allowing the Bishop to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sufficient to comply with the full Sense of those Epistles especially if it be consider'd that the Bishops of which he speaks were made so by the Apostles themselves and no doubt were chosen by infallible Direction and must therefore deserve a most singular Respect But allowing Men to think as they see Evidence concerning this Difference of Order certainly the Practice of the Church may be such as may allow of Different Apprehensions without occasioning either Tyranny or Schism the Method whereof is attempted in this Discourse However it is plain that both our Saviour and his Disciples did wholly reject all Temporal Jurisdiction and applied themselves entirely to their Spiritual Administrations and that there was no Distinction Causes into of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical and Temporal or Civil in the Christian World for above Three Hundred Years after Christ Indeed while the Emperors were Heathens and the Judges too throughout the Empire the Christians according to the Advice of St. Paul forbare to go to Law 1 Cor. 6.5 6. and referred all their Differences usually to the Bishops or Pastors of the Congregations of which they were Members And when Constantine came to the Empire his mistaken Zeal confirm'd the Custom though the Apostle's Reason for it ceased And whereas the Civil Power ought to have been reassum'd by the Christian Magistrate and the Clergy eased of Secular Business his Edict set up the Clergy's Domination and from Arbitrators they became Judges and Christian Magistrates might not Judge unwilling Christians This Corruption grew so fast Socrat. lib. 7. cap. 11. that about the Year 430. in the Popedom of Celestine the Patriarchs of Rome and Alexandria did Degenerate from an Ecclesiastical to a Secular Ruling and Dominion And when I consider how positively that Degeneracy is forbidden by our Saviour Matth. 20.26 Luke 22.25 Mark 10.43 who upon all Occasions reprov'd it in his own Disciples When I consider what Miserie 's the Clergy Domination has caused more than Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years since that Degeneracy how it has turn'd the Church into a meer Worldly Kingdom and the Laws thereof into Humane Politicks I cannot but rejoice that by the Laws of England this Degeneracy is or might be cured were the Laws put in Execution and the Supremacy restor'd to the Civil Power And whether the Pope of Rome by this Degeneracy did commence the Apocalyptick Beast entring into the Seat of Daniel's 4th Beast and so the time of his Reign be expired may be worth the Consideration of those that study the Apocalypse But certain it is that in England the Bishop of Rome before the Norman Conquest had no allow'd Jurisdiction but the Conqueror coming in under the Pope's Banner gave him leave to send Legates into England From William Rufus he attempted to gain Appeals to Rome which occasion'd the Banishment of Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury during the Reign of that King Upon Henry the First he Usurp'd the Donation of Bishopricks On King Stephen Appeals to Rome On Henry the Second the Exemption of Clerks from the Secular Power And from King John he got the whole Kingdom I shall not trace the Steps by which the Kingdom recover'd it self out of the Hands of the Clergy but notwithstanding the Pope held our Ancestors Consciences in Slavery till the Reign of Henry the Eighth many Acts of Parliament were made to uphold and maintain the Sovereignty of the King the Liberty of the People the Common Law and the Commonweal as appears by the Statutes of Edward the Third and and Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth being Laws of Premunire and Provision by which the Civil Power was preserv'd and the Body secured against the monstrous pretended Foreign Head And upon the whole the Civil Power of England kept it self out of the Hands of the Priests in all Matters and Causes except Causes Testamentary and of Matrimony Divorce Rights of Tythes Oblations and Obventions for as the Emperors out of a Zeal and desire to Grace and Honour the Bishops allow'd them Jurisdiction in Causes of Tythes because they were paid to Priests in Causes of Matrimony because Marriages were Solemniz'd in the Church in Causes Testamentary because Testaments were many times made in Extremis when Priests were present So the Kings of England before the Reformation did all along derive Jurisdiction in these Causes to the Bishops though the Right remain'd in them as the Fountain But herein England hath been more unhappy than the Empire for whereas the Bishops when Christian Emperors granted them this Jurisdiction proceeded in these Causes according to the Imperial Law as the Civil Magistrate did proceed in other Causes our Bishops introduced the Imperial Law and since it came into the World the Canon Law also into England and endeavoured all they could to destroy Caesar's Image and Superscription They call'd their Courts Courts Christian as if the Civil Courts were but Courts of Ethnicks and their Causes Spiritual as if Civil Causes were Carnal And yet if an Honest Man Examine the Matter he will probably find as much Christianity in Westminster-Hall as in Doctors Commons and Adultery a Crime no more Spiritual than Murder Since the Reformation began the Civil and Pretended Spiritual Authority have been wresting and they are not yet fully agreed It was Enacted by the Statute 24 Hen. VIII Cap. 12. That all these Spiritual Causes should be Judged within the King's Authority and not elsewhere By the 26 Hen. VIII Cap. 14. The Parliament took upon them even in those Popish Times to Create new Bishops Suffragans and to appoint their Sees And this multiplying of Bishopricks is no new thing for if you will believe Giraldus Cambrenses he tells us in a Writing which he presented to Pope Innocent the Third That in Britain there were in the time of the Romans Five Provinces and accordingly Five Arch-Bishopricks under each of which was Twelve Bishopricks so there were Threescore Bishopricks at a time when the Island was not wholly Christianized Nor is the Translation of Sees any Novelty for in the Year 604 Pope Gregory did for the sake of Austin the Monk procure the Translation of the Archiepiscopal Seat from London to Canterbury where it remains to this Day notwithstanding the endeavour of Gilbert Folioth Bishop of London in the time of Henry the Second and the endeavours of other Bishops of London since to recover the Archiepiscopal Dignity But to proceed by Statute 1. Edw. VI. Cap. 2. The Writ of Conge delire was ousted and it was Enacted That none but the King by his Letters Patents should collate to an Archbishoprick or Bishoprick That all Process Ecclesiastical should be in the King's Name and the Test in the Name of the Person having
because he hath not Five Nay he that hath but one may improve it to Salvation though he never understood School-Divinity nor the Power of the Church in Decreeing Ceremonies But though I might I will not presume to name those Truths or Terms of Union the Moderate of all the aforesaid Persuasions will easily agree therein And to the Consideration of the Sons of Peace I leave the Particulars though I think I may say That the Articles of the Church to which the Dissenters do Subscribe contain them all But it will still be Objected That though an Assent to those Doctrinal Articles to which the Dissenters have Subscribed and which include Scripture as the Rule of Faith and Manners and thence Collect Rules of Faith Practice and Devotion were made the Terms of Admission into the Church of England yet there remain many things in Point of Practice which keep up Differences and divide us into Parties as I. Forms of Prayers II. Habits of the Clergy III. Presentations IV. The Cross in Baptism V. Kneeling at the Sacrament VI. God-fathers and Godmothers VII Holy-Days VIII Ordination of Ministers Subscription and Oaths on one Hand Objections Antipathy and Prejudices against all these things and some Indecencies on the other hand And I will shortly touch on all these Heads when I have premis'd First Indifferent Things used in Religion or by Religious Men and suffer'd to remain according to their Nature were never the occasion of Division and Indifferent Things enforc'd by Laws have ever caused Divisions in the Christian World To instance in the Church of England kneeling at the Sacrament is impos'd and keeps out Thousands of Good Christians out of the Establish'd part of the Church whereas sitting when we sing Psalms is not commanded but the Posture has obtained in all Assemblies as well of the Church as of the Dissenters We have had abundance of Paper spoil'd in Writing for and against Kneeling at the Sacrament but not a Page for or against Sitting when Psalms are Sung And yet we may Argue as strongly against Sitting when we Praise God as against Kneeling at the Sacrament abstracted from the Imposition We do not pretend to an Uniformity in Time but in some Churches the Parish meet at Nine in some at Ten in others not till Eleven yet the Church of England never received any prejudice by the want of Uniformity therein The Surplice has even divided the Martyrs among themselves being an indifferent thing impos'd wearing black Cloaths is used by Conformable Men and the Teachers among all the Dissenters indifferently and yet one may prove the Unlawfulness of the Clergy's wearing Black with as strong Arguments as any Man can use against wearing White But when Men will be giving Religious Significations to Insignificant Things we see what comes on 't Imposition is warring against the Nature of Man Adam in Innocency fell by the Breach of a Positive Law concerning a Matter in it self indifferent abstracted from the Sanction of the Law although it receiv'd the Sanction from GOD Himself And it must be highly unreasonable for Men to expect from fallen Man that Obedience which was not paid by Adam to GOD Himself except at least their Power to Command were as Evident as His. The Right Reverend Prelate Doctor Jeremy Taylor tells us in his Liberty of Prophecying That he that makes an Article of Faith or a Term of Church-Communion without a Divine Authority chalks out a new way to the Devil The Incomparable Chillingworth and the Excellent Hale of Eaton have fix'd the Name of Schismaticks on the Imposers of unnecessary things And certainly he that in Matters of Religion makes indifferent things necessary Usurps Power Superiour to Christ and his Apostles yea to GOD Himself for they thought fit to leave them indifferent Job 40.12 And shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him If it was not well done he that reproveth GOD let him answer it As for the Appointing of Churches and Places and Times for Assembling and Circumstances of the like nature Reason makes such Appointments necessary but still without Restraint as to other Places or Times and such Appointments fall not under the Notion of Indifferent Things 'T is an absurd way of Arguing That the Church may command Indifferent Things because Things Good are Commanded and Evil Forbid by God and they have no other way of Exerting their Power Would they be Greater or Wiser than their Master Our Saviour died to bear witness to the Truth and the single Truth that he immediately died to bear witness unto was That He was a King And I know no Man or Church that has any thing to do to mend our Saviour's Institutions Their Power in Religious Matters is to enforce what He has commanded and to restrain from what he has forbidden and accordingly to Administer Rewards and Punishments This is Power and Work enough for Souls that are sincere and wherever any Power on Earth hath been found making such Additions they have also been found entirely negligent of what is commanded or forbid by God and their whole Zeal hath been employ'd in enforcing their own Innovations Christians as well as Jews have made void the Commandments of GOD through Mens Traditions But to Reflect a little upon the several Particulars above-mentioned Form of Prayer I. I am of Opinion That a Set Form of Prayer appointed to be read in all Churches which receive Maintenance from the Government The beginning of the Preaching of John the Baptist was the beginning of the Gospel and yet John taught his disciples and our Saviour his a Form of Prayer is not only lawful but desirable yet so as no Man be compell'd to use it against his Judgment or Conscience For a Form of Prayer Compos'd in Scripture Language or according to the Sense of Scripture is certainly Dictated by the Spirit and is according to the mind thereof and he who joins in that Prayer hath two Advantages which he that joins with an Extempore Prayer hath not First He is not bound to Reflection upon the Expressions of the Minister which is necessary in the other Case 1. To understand his Meaning 2. To judge whether it be sit to join with him in what he says And Secondly He that joins with a Scriptural Form hath consequently greater Liberty of Thought and may while the Prayer is Reading enlarge in his own Meditations and receive with greater freedom whatsoever immediate Influences the Holy Spirit may please to afford But there are Multitudes who cann't use a Form of Prayer without Formality And really the variety that is in the Temper and Genius of Men makes all unnecessary Impositions grievances to the World Nitimur invetitum is a great Truth though it be not an Article of Faith but the continual Fluctuation of Humane Affairs makes it necessary that the Minister use himself to a readiness of applying Extempore to the Throne of Grace upon extraordinary occasions which is a Liberty not
being freed and deliver'd from the Corruptions and Errors which have been introduced into the Christian Church by Hereticks by the Ambition and Tyranny of Priests and the Ignorance and Folly of the Laity At the late Revolution I presumed to present to the late Queen of Pious Memory some Thoughts on this Subject in Manuscript the Substance whereof was afterwards Printed under this Title Catholicism without Popery c. In the Preface to which short Discourse the Reader may find this Passage viz. If this Attempt may stir up the Spirits of others whose Parts and Qualifications are equal to such an Vndertaking to offer better Means to the same End In magnis voluisse sat est I shall greatly rejoice to be confuted by Proposals of better Expedients But no Man having been stirred up to the Vndertaking and my Practice agreeable to my Principles having rendered me Obnoxious to the Enemies of Peace I could no longer forbear to publish to the World what I judged necessary at the same time to vindicate my own Integrity and to promote the Interests of Genuine Christianity I need not any other Excuse than what I made to the Person who presented that former Discourse to Her late Majesty A Passage Recorded by all the Evangelists That it was a Lawyer that took care of the Body of our Blessed Saviour Matth. 27.57 Mark 15.43 Luke 23.50 John 19.38 when Crucifi'd at the Instigation of the Priests And while some Priests of all sorts are Crucifying his Mystical Body a Lawyer may have leave to Rescue it in hopes of its speedy Resurrection I hope I may with great Assurance use those words of Erasmus in his Epistle to the Bishop of Trent before Irenaeus Good hope possesses my Soul Itaque bona quaedam spes habet animum meum fore ut hanc Ecclesiae tempestatem Dominus inscrutabili suo concilio vertat in bonos Exitus Excitetque nobis Irenaeos aliquot qui compositis dissidiis pacem orbi restituant that God by his unsearchable Council will give a good Issue to this Storm in the Church and will raise up for us such as Irenaeus who by composing Differences may restore Peace to the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifying Peace that Father surely was Baptized very late or his Name was given by Prophecy But alas what possibility is there of Peace if the Priests continue so fond of their respective Parties that they will venture to trespass against their God against their Sovereign against Truth Scripture Charity and Reason to maintain their own Follies Of which we have a fresh and notable Instance in a late Discourse before the Queen Entituled Of the Imitation of Christ in which the Author appears to be a Person of good Learning and I hope serious Religion a Master of good Language and well read in Scripture yet has offered that to his Sovereign in the Name of God and as the Imitation of Christ which is false and Unscriptural a Notion mention'd by Papists Irrational and uncharitable The whole Passage runs thus Tho' one great end of his coming Page 13. was to take away the Ceremonial Part of the Law of Moses yet as long as it was to last how careful was he to preserve in it Decency and Order How readily in the mean time did he comply with all indifferent and harmless Rites much more those that were instructive and significant He Celebrated the Passover but an hour before the Substituted his Holy Supper in its Place He observed all the Festivals of the Church not only those that were of Divine Appointment but the Feast of the Dedication it self a Feast purely of humane Institution and no older than Judas Maccabeus It was sufficient to him that it was ordained by the Church of the which he was then a Member nor did he take upon him to question the Authority in so innocent a Right And what he practised himself he expresly commanded his Disciples to imitate The Scribes and Pharisees says he sit in Moses's Seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Which by the way is an unanswerable Authority for the Churches Right in ordering Matters of Ceremony and Things indifferent For surely the Jewish Church was at that time corrupt enough to be denied that Priviledge If it were ever fit that such a Priviledge should be denied the Church And if Christ thus taught and practised Obedience to a Corrupt Church what must be thought of those who refuse it to a pure one If he submitted to all the Jewish Rites so numerous so dark and so burdensome what can they plead in their Excuse who disdain to comply with the Ceremonies of our Church so few so rational and so discreet They must not they cannot justly take it ill to be told that however they may flatter themselves they do not abide in Christ because they do not walk as he walked The things advanced in these words with which I am so free are these That our Saviour complied with all the Rites of the Jews which he calls indifferent and harmless That he observ'd a Festival of the Churches Institution viz. the Feast of Dedication That he commanded his Disciples to imitate him therein and that therefore they who do not comply with the Ceremonies of our Church do not abide in Christ because they do not walk as he walk'd Now 1. All this is false and Unscriptural for he justified his Disciples not washing their Hands before Dinner 15 Mat. 9.7 Mark 7.9 11 Luke 38.39 and told the Jews that in vain did they worship God teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men many Passages of like import are found in the New Testament and surely no Rite could be more indifferent or harmless than that 'T is also false that the Feast of the Dedication was Ordained by the Church for the place which he quotes tells us that it was Ordained by Judas Maccabeus and his Brethren with the whole Congregation of Israel 1 Mac. 4.59 which is rather the State than the Church and so Josephus tells us that Judas succeeded to the Command of the Army that he had the Publick Administration put into his Hands and that the People appointed that Anniversary Nor does it appear that our Saviour observed that Feast Josephus 336.338 by Sir Roger L'Estrange The Text says that he walk'd in the Temple in Solomon's Porch or Gallery which was without the Temple Joseph Lib. 8. Cap. 2. 3 Acts 11. 1 Kings 6.3 or Place of Worship but what then Suppose a Dissenter or an Occasional Conformist should on the Feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul or of St. Barnabas which were added to the Holy-days of the Church at the Restauration of King Charles the Second to shew the Parties Inclination to Unity and Peace walk in the Porch of St. Paul's would this be taken for Conformity 'T is also false that he commanded his Disciples to imitate him in
this Realm provided alway that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinance shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrariant or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding And in the close of the said Act it follows Provided that such Canons Constitutions and Synodals Provincial being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the King's Prerogative Royal shall now still be used and executed as they were before the making of this Act till such time as they be viewed searched or otherwise ordered and determined by the said Two and Thirty Persons or the more part of them according to the Tenor Form and effect of this present Act. But nothing being done in pursuance of this Power vested in that King thereby the same was again Enacted by Stat. 27. H. 8. c. 15. But the Power of Popery rendring that Law also Ineffectual it was again by Stat. 35. H. 8. c. 16. Enacted That that King should still have the same Authority during his Life But still nothing was done for the Priests chose rather to continue the Canons and Constitutions and Laws Ecclesiastical in the uncertainty in which they were left by the said Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 19. than that the King and Sixteen of the Temporalty should intermeddle in Matters Ecclesiastical But King H. 8. died and left the Ecclesiastical Constitutions as the were unestablish'd by the last mentioned Statute And the Reformation having made a considerable Progress in the Reign of Edw. 6. the like Power and Authority was again given to that King by Stat. 3. and 4. Ed. 6. c. 11. But still the Old Leaven remained and nothing was done in his short Reign and Popery returning to its Vigor under the Reign of Queen Mary the aforesaid Stat. of 25 H. 8. c. 14. was Repealed by Stat. 1. and 2 Phil. and Mary c. 8. And although that Act was Revived again by the Act of 1 Eliz. c. 1. yet that Authority which had been given to King H. 8. and King Edw. 6. seems not to be given by that Act to Q. Eliz. But by the same Act the High Commission Court was created to Act under the Queen's Prerogative which was quite another sort of Authority and left the Laws Ecclesiastical as they were left by the Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 19. And the High Commission being since found inconvenient and condemned by Law it seems to me that something remains to be done for the Establishment of the Church And therefore tho' I impute it to the Prevalency of Popery that all those Statutes were of no Effect yet I would hope that the Divine Providence did permit so many Laws of that Kind to be made with a design that they might be Presidents for the like Authority to be vested in our most Gracious Sovereign Queen Anne whose Life hath set a rare Example of Christian Piety whose Reign the Almighty hath blest with the best Bishops that ever fill'd the English Sees and whose Care of all her Subjects hath been so often Exprest with such moving Accents from the Throne of whose Affection to the Church of England no Man can doubt and who may easily render it a Means and Pattern of Union to all the Protestant Churches and in a short time to the whole Christian World I write not this without Ground but with good Reason and some Glimpse of Hope Had any of the said Statutes in the Reign of H. 8. been pursued Popery had been further establish'd And in the short Reign of Edw. 6. Things were yet in great Confusion Matters in Controversie had not been fully discust Laymen-had but just got the Bible which is the Instructions left by our Blessed Saviour into their Hands and therefore could not so well judge whether his Ambassadors followed his Instructions or no. Humane Inventions had so long been made Equal to Divine Institutions that it was not easie at that time to distinguish them And considering the gross Ignorance that abounded among the Clergy when the Transition was made from Popery to the Protestant Religion by Queen Elizabeth it is wonderful that the Reformation should have made so great a Progress as it did in her Reign During the Reign of King James the First the Spanish and French Matches the Cowardise and yet the Ambition of that King diverted his Thoughts to other Matters than the Establishment of the Church but yet a step was made towards it by the new Translation of the Bible which was made in his Reign During the Reign of King Charles the First the Cassandrian Design of a Re-union to Rome was pursued with great Industry and therefore no wonder that a better Establishment of the Church was not attempted in his Reign And perhaps till the Mischief of Enthusiasm had shewed us the necessity of a National Church it would have been difficult to have brought the Dissenters to any Reasonable Terms of Union and therefore the first Opportunity which seems to me to have presented it self for such an Attempt was at the Restoration of the Royal Family when it was in the Power of King Charles the Second to have Establish'd the Church on such Foundations as would easily have taken into her Communion almost all Denominations of Christians who had not cast oft the Ordinances of Christ and their Allegiance to the Civil Government But the foreign Education of the Royal Brothers had sixt their Inclinations to a Union with France and Rome and the Fear under which King Charles the Second laboured was not lest the Dissenters should not comply with the Act of Uniformity but lest they should One Party was to be turn'd out that another might be brought in So that this time was not improved towards our Union But after that Popery appear'd barefac'd under the late King James the Second and Advances were made both by the Church-Party and the Dissenters towards Union at the Revolution that Season was look'd upon as a happy Juncture for such an Attempt But to speak my Mind freely although I think no Man can give an Instance wherein his late Majesty King William shewed any want of Affection to this National Church yet his Education under another sort of Church-Government did as I apprehend cause the Church Party to take Umbrage as if he designed to bend the Constitution in the Church too much toward the Dissenter And might also occasion in the Dissenter Expectations of greater Concessions than are necessary to Peace and Unity But the Mischiefs of Enthusiasm in the late Times the Persecution of the Episcopal Party then and of the Dissenters in the Reign of King Charles the Second and the terrible Visage of returning Popery under the late King James have occasioned great Thoughts of Heart All
utterly root out Priestcraft Revel 11.15 the Kingdoms of this World must become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ not by turning Kingdoms into Churches and Kings into Priests or setting up Imperium in Imperio Our Saviour at first indeed appeared to St. John in the Habit of a Priest and his Sword went out of his Mouth a plain Representation how his Gospel should at first prevail But after that Anthropos and Ecclesia had set up Antichrist and the Kings of the Earth had been a long time committing Fornication with the Great Whore Revel 18.3 and the inhabiters of the Earth had been made drunk with the Wine of her Fornication when Babylon is to fall when the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready and the Heavens open for the utter destruction of the Beast and false Prophet Revel 19.11 he then appears as a General in the Head of an Army and tho' the Sword still comes out of his Mouth and his Name is called the Word of God Verse 15. that we may be sure to know Him Verse 13. and the true means of Reformation yet his Name written on his Vesture and on his Thigh is not Bishop of Bishops Verse 16. or chief Priest of Priests but King of Kings and Lord of Lords that we may know also who they are whom He will use as Instruments of Reformation And I dare appeal to the Reason of Mankind whether it does not agree with this Prophecy that the Civil Powers must interpose or the Priests will be quarrelling about their pretended Jus Divinum and tearing Christendom to pieces till the Day of Judgment And here I rid my hands of all the lamentable Stories that the abovementioned Woolf tells of the Presbyterian Tyranny in Scotland I have not one word to say for it if it be true which he relates and others deny I hope the Civil Power will keep them in Order as well as his Party in England The Apologetick Declaration annex'd to that Discourse says That they cannot own Princess Ann as their lawful chosen covenanted Princess such as they ought to have nor can they have any Prince or Princess but a Covenanted one Why says another Party no Prince or Princess without they maintain the Jus Divinum of Absolute Monarchy and maintain the Jus Divinum of Prelacy is not this fine work Sir Humphrey and has not our most Religious and most excellent Queen whom may the everlasting Arms support to the Age of her Predecessor Queen Elizabeth at least and with greater Glory Happiness a sine time of it amongst them for my part I most heartily wish that now Re assumptions are in fashion all Princes and States in Christendom would enter into a solema League and Covenant to re-aslume the just Rights of the Civil Power and to hold the Noses of all the Priests in Christendom to the Bible and to give them all the Honour and Respect Authority and Maintenance which is their due as the Stewards of the Mysteries of God and as the Ambassadors of Christ and to continue or derive to them by express Laws all such share of the Civil Power as the Wisdom of the Legislature shall see convenient in all Places and that all we Laymen as they call us would enter into the same solemn League and Covenant to support the Queen and all other Sovereigns therein that so the Christian World may be quiet then the Priests may enjoy the Blessing of our Saviour's Presence which is annex'd to their teaching all things whatsoever he has commanded and we may have the Benefit of being so taught otherwise many a good Christian will be ready to say with poor Melancton at his Death I desire to depart out of this Life for two Causes that I may enjoy the desired sight of the Son of God and the Church Triumphant and that I may be delivered from the most barbarous and implacable hatred of Divines and to believe that Eneas Sylvius was more infallible when he pronounc'd That all the Evil in the World either arose from Ecclesiastical Persons Omne malum in Mundo out exortum aviris Ecclesiasticis aut ab illis patratum or had been perpetrated by them than he was afterwards when about the Year 1458 he became Pope Pius the Second Those therefore who are Papists or who desire a Reunion with Popery and those that have got the same Principles tho' in an Aristocratical or Democratical form are dangerous to the Civil Government but what is this to most of the English Dissenters and to all the Occasional-Conformists who look not Abroad for any Sovereign of any sort Ecclesiastical or Temporal but Acknowledge Her Majesty to be Rightful and Lawful Queen who rejoice in the Laws Establishing the Protestant Succession and have no Interest to serve by Embroiling the Government Fourthly Whether it is sit that the Corporation and Test Acts should be enforc'd or Repealed Now as to so much of this Question as relates to the Test Act I shall choose to refer you to the Plea annext to this Discourse No. 1. only adding that since the Writing thereof your Oracle in the same Place where he Advises to the late Bill against Occasional-Conformity seems to give up the Point as to that Part of the Test that enjoins the actual Receiving of the Lords Supper for Case of the Regale Pag. 179. He sinds Faults with Bribing Men to Prophane the Holy Sacrament for an Office that an Action should be against the Minister who should refuse it to them tho' he Knows Sees and Hears them in their Conversations and Principles to be never so much Unqualified And as to the Corporation Act 't is plain that there have been vast Alterations made in the Constitution of the Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil since the making of that Act which may justly Occasion a Review of that Act without any Danger to the Government especially if made by such Persons as Her most Excellent Majesty shall Commissionate for that Purpose and in hope of living to see such an Act of Parliament as I have before mentioned and such a Commission I will say no more on that Subject And now methinks the Fifth Question is sufficiently considered already that Part of It which relates to the Practice of other wise Nations has been Effectually answered by other Hands in the Examples of most Wise Nations Heathen and Christian and I don't find any Reply is offered except a dry Discourse just come to Hand at the Writing of these Lines Indeed Sir Humphry I was comforting my Self with the thoughts of Subscribing your humble Servant when I was Interrupted by the Noise of one J S. who seems to be John at Style in whose Name we Lawyers use to put Cases from whom I expected some mighty Matter for Peace and Union are Excellent Things But alas 't is a poor Creature and I shall consider him in a few Words
which were ordained for their Salvation and this Policy of his appears in no Instance more evident than in the Methods he has taken to make the Eucharist a means of Destruction while by unworthily Receiving 1 Cor. 11 29. Men Eat and Drink Damnation to themselves Hence his faithful Servants the Authors of that Mystery of Iniquity Popery have made Transubstantiation a Test of their Catholicism burning and damning Men for being Men that is for using their Sense and Reason With one hand robbing us of the Holy Sacrament and its proper uses and with the other presenting us with a piece of Pageantry and requiring our Adoration of a senseless Idol The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was instituted by our Blessed Saviour in Remembrance of Himself and as a Bond of Union among his Followers 'T is the peculiar Right of such who by sound Faith well digested Knowledge and some Experience of the Comforts and Pleasures that result from a good Conscience and Holy Conversation are made to long for further Degrees of Conformity to the Will of God clearer manifestations of the Divine Love and more evident signs of the Souls recovery from its fallen State The Motives to come to it ought to be from within or else from above and not from beneath and the things to be obtained by it ought to be increase of Spiritual Blessings and not of outward Emoluments Blessed is that Nation where the Government can find Men otherwise fitted for Publick Employments whose use of this Sacrament appears by their Conversations to proceed from such Principles And surely he who loves the Commemoration of the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Revel 1.5 in this way of his own Institution has an excellent Qualification to recommend him to those Vice-gerents of that Prince who desire and design to promote his Interest But Sir to give a plain Answer to your Question I am of Opinion That it is at least inconvenient to impose the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper on every Man that executes an Office in Publick Administrations and that among others for these Reasons 1. The Ordinance was instituted to other ends and I know not when the Warrant was signed by our Saviour to use it to such a purpose T is his great Seal and ought not to be put to any Commissions but his own 2. No Man who is fit for it needs a Law to bring him to it Heb. 2.10 All the Soldiers of the Captain of our Salvation are Voluntiers Psal 110.3 and on the contrary it is certain that he that needs a Law to bring him to it is not fit for it 3. If this Test be establish'd it is the Duty of all Men in their respective Places to keep from Oâ—â—â—es all that are guilty of Sweâ—â—ing Whoring Drinking and the other parts of a profane Life which are obvious to common Observation for those things evidently unfit Men to receive the Sacrament And if the Government should permit no Man to be in any Office that drinks to excess or mispends his time in Tipling that uses to swear in common Discourse or whose Life otherwise appears vitious what multitudes of Places would be empty which are now well filled for the Publick Interest And yet what Cruelty would it be to any vicious Man to put him under a Necessity of profaning the Sacrament by putting him into Office for it is most certain that not only every Man that lives in the practice of any known Vice but every Man that lives not in a daily endeavour to perform his Covenant made in Baptism with the most Blessed Trinity ought to keep far off from the Sacred Table I know it is objected that all Men ought to be fit for the Sacrament and that it will tend much to a good Life that they be under a Necessity to receive it But let Experience speak Mens Stomachs have scarce yet digested the Sacraments which they have prophaned for some Years past to keep their Places Men have taken the Sacrament and betrayed their Country and ruined their honest Neighbours Taken the Sacrament and introduced Popery Taken the Sacrament and murdered Men by colour of Law And who is there of a Subject among the Authors of the Grievances of the Nation that took not the Sacrament to enable him so to be Not to mention Persons of a better Rank how many Vintners Ale-house-keepers and others of like Profession have purchased their Licences at the Hazard of their souls And I dare appeal to all Men to whom these Presents shall come whether within their Knowledge any Reformation has been wrought thereby Five hundred have refused it for Conscience sake for one prophane Person that has scrupled it And who and where is he whose Life hath been reformed by being under this Necessity But if the universal Depravity of Mens Manners be compared with the universal Attendance that was paid of late at the Communion Table what dreadful Prospect is presented thereby to any considering Mind If of the Corinthians who received unworthily 1 Cor. 11.30 many were Sick and Weak and some were punished with Death What Desolations would Divine Vengeance make in England should the same Measure be meted out to us But Fifthly The Kingdom of our Lord Christ John 18.36 is not of this World Acts 3.21 at least not before the time of the Restitution of all Things And altho' the good Christian must necessarily be a good Subject yet a Man whose fitness to receive the Sacrament is known to God his own Conscience and to all good Men may be very unfit for an Office in the State and he may be exceedingly fit for a Publick Employment whose unfitness to receive the Sacrament is asâ—…vious It is an Opinion in this sence justly exploded That Dominion is founded in Grace Psal 15.16 for God has given the Earth to those Children of Men whom he designs not for Heaven And those Children of this World who are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light Luke 16.8 are by reason of that Wisdom fit to be employed therein 6. The Generations to come shall call them Blessed who instead of forcing Men to the Sacrament use all Means divinely Instituted to make them fit for it The Primitive Bishops kept Men Catechumens for a long time and admitted none to the Sacraments till they were approved and practical Christians And if the Inhabitants and especially the Children of England were every where made Catechumens by Publick Authority the next Generation may probably fill all Publick Employments with Men who would approach the Sacrament both to the Publick Advantage and their own For the Appearances of Divine Providence in the World are now conspicuous and at all times but especially in those Days wherein God is pleased more eminently to take to himself his great Power and Reign good Men are Publick Blessings Rev. 1.17 Ten Righteous had saved Sodom at such a Day Gen. 18.32 Laban's