Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Seal to be the King 's Arms. And though this Act was Repealed by the First Marie Cap. 2. yet that Act was Repealed again by Primo Jacobi Cap. 25. And some think that the Statute 1 Edw. 6. Cap. 2. is revived thereby and those who are Enemies to the Church are ready to enquire What Penalties our Bishops are liable to by Issuing Process in their own Names and using their own Seals For notwithstanding the Cant of The Church the Church their Courts are the King's Courts and their Law the King 's Ecclesiastical Law and this is acknowledged by the Oath of Supremacy and all the Laws made to this purpose are but in Affirmance of the Common Law notwithstanding the Author of Vox Cleri Vox Cleri P. 1. was so fond of Loyalty to the Church This indeed was an Expression which explain'd the Carriage of the High Church-Party to His Present Majesty for though they talk'd loud in behalf of the Prerogative it was only that the Prerogative might pay them Tribute and they were willing it should rob the Lay-Subject if it allow'd them to possess what they had filch'd from the Crown The King and Queen must first Swear Allegiance to the Church before they should be Crown'd and then they thought they had catched them and refused to Swear Allegiance to them as the Law requir'd but if instead of that horrible abuse to which the Sacrament was exposed in the Late Reigns a Test were Compos'd renouncing Transubstantiation and Common-wealth Principles and obliging to maintain the Government of England by King Lords and Commons as it is now Established the King and Kingdom would be secured beyond all possibility of Danger and the just Rights of the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Clergy would be maintain'd though those Jacobite Church-Men were sent out to the French King whom they were not able to bring in to them And it is observable That as in the Late Reigns all the Champions for the Hierarchy strove to prove that it was the Duty of Dissenters to submit to the Church Establish'd by Law in those things which they acknowledg'd to be in themselves unnecessary Impositions because they were impos'd by Authority but they commonly left the Government to shift for it self and to Answer for those Impositions to God Conscience and the World So now the same Party left His Majesty and all concern'd in the Late Revolution to Answer for it to God their own Consciences and the World for they wash'd their Hands and said They were Innocent of being concern'd therein but they were under the force of Providence and if His Majesty would uphold the Power of the Church and take care to sit fast they would pay Him Allegiance otherwise they were ready for the next that came if he had the good luck to get the better And this is the Substance of the late Writings of that Party How much better Friends are they to His Majesty who believe Him to have an undoubted Right to his Crown and to Govern the Church as well as the State and that they are bound not only not to Resist Him but to Assist Him with their Lives and Fortunes against all Opposers The Church of England rightly understood is Lovely and Desirable but that which hath confounded and divided the Church is the Jumble and Mixture that hath been made between the Bishop's Power which is of the Essence of his Office as a Presbyter the Power which he has as President of the Presbytery and the Power which he has by Delegation from the King A Primitive Bishop as is clear by innumerable Testimonies had no more under his Charge than he could Personally know and when Churches grew larger than one Bishop could Personally inspect they had more Bishops yet so as that one Bishop had the Precedency and in a short Time he only ingrost the Name and the others were called Presbyters from among whom upon the Death of the Bishop another was chosen to succeed him But the Truth is as is most evident and particularly by the Testimony of that Incomparably Learned and Pious Arch-Bishop Vsher That every Presbyter hath a Right of Governing his Church and Administring Discipline Vid. Vsher's Reduction and thence hath the Name of Rector and is in the English Office of Ordination commanded to Administer Disciplinam Christi the Discipline of Christ and he expresly avers That the omission of the Exercise thereof in England is only from the Custom receiv'd in England and that that Impediment may be remov'd by Law So that the Relation a Bishop hath to a Particular Congregation is no more than as a Presbyter the Precedency of a Bishop to the Presbyters in a Diocess is of Pure Primitive Practice grounded on the General Rules of doing all in Order though it be no part of Revealed Institution All Societies are taught by the Light of Reason to keep some Order and for convenience of Regular Converse the Person of a certain Number whom they agree to be First in Honourable Qualities hath a Natural Right to be President though still of the same Order Thus the President of a Colledge of Physicians is no more than a Physician to his Patients but he is a President to the other Physicians and it would be a strange Fancy for such a President to claim a Right of being Physician to all the Bodies in London and alone to administer some sort of Physick to all within the Bills of Mortality I doubt such an Usurpation would increase the Number of the dead and be justly reckon'd horrid Tyranny over the Living But there is a third piece of an English Bishop and in that he is plainly the King 's Ecclesiastical Lord Lieutenant in such a compass of Ground call'd a Diocess and this he has by positive Humane Law and in this respect is not a Church but a State-Officer entrusted with part of the Civil Power His Courts are Civil Courts and he sits in the House of Lords with respect to His Temporal Baronage If the Distinction aforesaid were well understood how easie were it to end the Controversie about the JVS DIVINVM of EPISCOPACY and the JVS DIVINVM of PRESBYTERY and INDEPENDENCY about the Delegation of the Bishop's Power to Lay-Chancellors and the Bishops Lording it over God's Heritage And how easie would it be to Rectifie abundance of Matters complain'd of in the present Practice of the Church For Example If the Bishops were made by the Delivery of the Baculum and Annulum by the King Staff and Ring as they were before the Conquest or by Letters Patents and were he made President of the Presbytery by their Election especially if the King did usually give the Staff and Ring or grant the Letters Patents to the Person first chosen by the Presbytery they might with the greater Assurance Pray for the Assistance of the Holy Spirit at his Election Were his Lay-power understood to be Delegated to his
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
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
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
things are now set in the clearest Light a better Friend to the Church can never fill the English Throne the terms of Catholick Unity are well understood both by the Clergy and many of the Laity while the Church has stood upon Stilts * Ceremonies it has been sometimes bending towards Rome and at other times towards Enthusiasm but by this means it may be unmoveably fixt upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone And this in short is what I would offer on this Subject that her Majesty may receive the like Authority by Act of Parliament as that so often given to King H. 8. and after to Edw. 6. By this means instead of our being cursed once a Year on Ash-Wednesday the Church may obtain the Benefit of that Godly Discipline which the Rubrick wishes to be Restored The Liturgy of the Church of England may be made a Form to some and at least a Directory agreeable to all the Protestant Churches the Rights Powers and Priviledges of an English Convocation would be better understood and all the Attempts of the Factors of Rome and France would be defeated for ever And therefore to use the Word of the Author of the Reasons for passing the late Bill with a very little Variation they being as I conceive much more for my purpose than his Since the Security of Particulars that is the Innocent the Honest and Peaceable for no body I suppose means to incourage the wicked Seditions or to protect them in their Crimes Such as that High Church-man who has lately Publish'd a Latin Treatise to prove the present Church of England Schismatical At least this is not a Design that will bear the Light since the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation in General by the Encouragement of Industry and Increase of Trade by the Benefit and Comforts of Society by Dutiful and Chearful Submission to those whom God God has set over us in Church and State by a most Cordial and Loyal Obedience to Her Majesty and Grateful Sence of the Blessings we enjoy under Her Just and Prudent Government since the Wisdom and Piety of our Legislators the Sagacity of their Judgments the Weight and Authority of their Deliberations their Unanimity and Firmness in the Pursuit of fit and necessary Measures and the Nobleness of their Resolution in overcoming all Difficulties since the Honour and Felicity of Her Majesties most Auspicious Reign Her Reputation abroad and Interest at home the Praise and Veneration that will be paid Her now and that Renown that will attend Her to all Succeeding Ages for securing to all Posterity that unvaluable Blessing which was Established by Her famous Predecessor Queen Elizabeth of truly Glorious Memory And as Her Majesty was pleased to tell us very lately even Her present Satisfaction and what she has most at Heart And above all since the Interests of Religion and the Glory of God are so nearly concerned in this Business and that Temporal and narrow Aims may be cashiered Brotherly Love revived and the little things that divide us giving place to the more Weighty that ought to unite us We may henceforth only contend for the Faith which was once delivered and that Purity of Manners which is the necessary Effect of it Let us unanimously agree in enabling Her Majesty to give all that Security and Perfection to our most excellent Constitution which it may justly require at our Hands Nor is it the Church only that requires this 't is the State likewise which must stand or fall with Her For the sake then of our most Wise and Constituted Government which all Strangers envy and which we seem to pride our selves so much upon for the sake of our Most Gracious Sovereign than whom never any merited more at our Hands and who so pathetically presses us to perfect Peace and Union among our selves and who declares She hath nothing so much at Heart as the Welfare and Happiness of Her Subjects who manages that Treasure so carefully which we have seen formerly squandered away so profusely on French Intrigues and Whores loads her People with no Deficiencies but even Taxes her self to ease her Subjects and if the most shining Virtue and Goodness placed upon a Throne can affect us if she be as worthy to be trusted as Hen. 8. for the sake of our Countrey for whose Welfare we profess such a mighty Concern and of which we would be thought such Zealous Patriots for our own dear sakes that most powerful Motive with all Mankind and lastly even for God's sake for the Honour and Glory of his Holy Name which ought to weigh with us above all other Considerations Let us not after rejecting a Bill against Immorality be so fond of a Bill which tends only to Establish Ceremonies let us search the Scriptures and not French Presidents for the Means of Vnion least we be judged by our Blessed Saviour for rejecting the Commandments of God that we may keep our own Tradition Let us at last discern the things that belong to our Peace and God forbid that they should at any time this especially be hid from our Eyes And now Sir having offered to your Consideration such Principles as I my self act by and which I conceive are agreeable to the Opinion of most of the English Occasional Conformists and Occasional Dissenters and proposed an Expedient for the Establishment of the Church of England which I conceive far more likely to unite us than the late Bill if it had past and applied the Pathetick Arguments of one of your Party to this Expedient I shall next consider what ever seems to me remain unanswered in your Discourse And first I cannot but admire that you who have pronounc'd that Her Majesty is none of the three Estates of the Realm but the Sovereign Head of that Great Body should in the very same Page allow Her no more than a Councurrence with what Her Parliament should conceive to be reasonable for methinks conceiving what is reasonable should be at least as proper for the Head as the Members I must confess that I concur with you in believing that Her Majesties Allies would not have been offended at the Wisdom of that Bill had it past into a Law because perhaps they could not have discerned it and it would probably have been the more invisible to them because it was so conspicuous to all the Papists and Jacobites in England But as to the Prophetick Part of that Dedication how much the Dissenter would have been pleased to know the extent of his Priviledges or how contented he would be or what Advantage would accreue from such Gentle Methods or in the words of Maimburg to the French King Moyens deux voyes de Grace Maimbourg Epistle Dedicatory to the Life of Gregory the 1st or whether the first words of your Dedication do insinuate that there are some good Men who have no Sense of Religion no concern for
the true Interest of their Native Countrey nor any Duty or Gratitude to Her Majesty I must beg further time for Consideration I must also take time for further Thought or desire further Information what those Truths are which in your Preface you say you do with Deference and Respect to the House of Lords and in a decent and respectful manner endeavour to Establish for as to your two main Pillars other Hands have sufficiently shewed that they are far from being Pillars of Truth I am also with great Submission much surprized to be told Page 6. that the same Arguments were made use of against this Bill which were formerly insisted on for Repealing all the Test-Laws whatsoever for many of the Great and Wise Men in the Kingdom and more especially in Shropshire Herefordshire and thereabouts do well remember that the way to Peace at Home was with much Eloquence declared to be by Repealing those Laws when to Repeal them was manifestly to serve a Popish Interest and with no less Assurance when the late Bill was promoted when the same End would have been served tho' by quite contrary Means so that one at least of those Arguments would have been very acceptable to me who have always thought that the Reasons for Repealing those Laws in a Popish Reign were of the same Size with those that are urged for rendring those Laws more strict and severe in the Reign of a Protestant Queen Concerning this Matter therefore Preface to Peace at Home there are some Mistakes and Misapprehensions I doubt that do still prevail with some Persons and seem to call for a further Explanation of it And perhaps that the same Arguments were used for both these Purposes would be as considerable a Truth if it were made out as any other of the Truths endeavoured to be establish'd by your Discourse But tho' I was against Repealing the Test in a Popish Reign I Publish'd some Reasons for Repealing some part of it in a Protestant Reign which I have added to this Letter No. 1. for your Consideration That the Bill affected only those particular Dissenters who thought fit to Conform for an Office but would not Conform for the Unity of the Church is another of your Truths which needs to be establish'd because on the contrary it seems to affect my Occasional Conformist or rather Occasional Dissenter nay to be principally levell'd at him who conforms meerly for the Unity of the Church and not for an Office who endeavours to preserve the Unity of the Catholick Church from being rent as often as a Whimsey shall take any Sett of Men to be adding their own Inventions to Christianity and then to call themselves the Church to make a parcel of Ceremonies Articles of Communion whereas the 39 Articles of the Church are not so if you believe your Oracle One Truth indeed you have taught us out of the Preamble of the intended Bill against Occasional Conformity viz. That nothing is more contrary to the Profession of the Christian Religion and particularly to the Doctrine of the Church of England than Persecution for Conscience sake only It was therefore it seems to be Enacted to this effect That whosoever being in a Publick Office would not join himself to the High Church Party so as never more to Communicate with any other part of the Christian World altho' he believed the Holy Catholick Churah and endeavoured to shew his Faith by his Works should forfeit his Office and a Fine of 100 l. to the Prosecutor c. Now if the Man did Communicate with other good Christians out of Conscience as is abovesaid would not this be Persecution for Conscience only And pray Sir was not the danger of Establishing the aforesaid Truth the true Reason why that Truth was left out of the Preamble in the Second Edition of that Bill And this Question I ask you with the greater Freedom tho' with great Submission because this Truth being once in the Preamble of that Bill is used by you as an Answer to the Objection That they who think the being present at a Meeting to be so high a Crime can hardly think that Toleration of such Meetings ought to continue which by Reason of the said Truth being in the said Preamble you argue to be an hard not to say unwarrantable and uncharitable Censure on the Representatives of the People I don't say Sir That going to a Meeting is now by the Toleration Act Establish'd or made part of our Constitution thereby But I say that if the Creed be part of our Constitution if the Articles of the Church be another part and the Meeting be within the Description of the said 19th Article going to it is Established both by Law and Gospel But I apply to your Questions which I am willing to take as the chief Points and to expect a good Issue not from the Weakness but Strength of the Reader 's Judgment First Whether it be consistent with the Safety of the Established Government either in Church or State with the Wisdom of the English Nation with the Practice of any Wise Government in the World or with the true Intent and Meaning of the Corporation and Test Acts to admit any Person whatsoever into Publick Offices and Imployments relating to the Government either in Countries or Corporations who are not sincere Members of the National Church and who do not heartily approve of the Laws of the Land and chearfully pay Obedience to them Secondly And whether it is better to have the Administration of Publick Affairs in the Hands of Persons of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion or to have a mixture and confusion of Men of opposite Principles in one and the same Administration or in other words whether it is better to have all the Publick Officers draw together the same way for the Publick Good or to have some drawing one way and some another and thereby tearing the Government between them in pieces That is in short and in effect whether it is fit that the Corporation and Test Acts should be Enforced or Repealed Now that I may keep to the Subject Matter of the Debate I must take leave to divide these Questions into several Heads because they seem to me too perplex'd as they are stated and therefore seeing the Subject Matter is Occasional Conformity or Occasional Nonconformity First Let us consider whether the Occasional Conformist or rather the Occasional Dissenter be not a sincere Member of the National Church who heartily approves of the Laws of the Land and chearfully pays Obedience to them and whether he and the Churchman be of opposite Principles or of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion Secondly Whether if the Occasional Bill had passed it had secured the Government from such who are not sincere Members of the National Church nor heartily approve of the Laws of the Land nor chearfully pay Obedience to them but are of opposite Principles and not
of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion Thirdly Whether the Administration of Publick Astairs may not be in the Hands of Persons who are not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion nay of Men of opposite Principles without Confusion or tearing the Government in pieces between them and whether they may not notwithstanding draw together the same way for the Publick Good Fourthly Whether it is sit that the Corporation and Test Acts should be enfore'd or Repealed Fifthly Whether upon the whole Matter the Occasional Conformist may not be admitted into Publick Offices and Employments relating to the Government consistently with the Safety of the Established Government both in Church and State with the Wisdom of the English Nation and with the Practice of some wise Governments in the World And as to the first I answer that the Occasional Conformist is a sincere Member of the National Church who heartily approves of the Laws of the Land and chearfully pays Obedience to them and he and the Church-men are not of opposite Principles but of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion If the Church-man whom you suppose the only Person fit for an Office be one that troubles not himself about Religion but believes as the Church believes and does as he sees others do I neither can judge of his Principles nor his Perswasion in Matters of Religion but if he have espoused the Religion of the Church of England with consideration and can give a Reason of the Faith or Hope that is in him he knows that the Religion of this National Church is all to be found in the Bible He is taught by the sixth Article of that Church that Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believ'd as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation The Reason given by the 8th Article why the three Creeds ought throughly to be received and believed is for that they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture And as to Creeds so as to Councils we are taught by the 21st Article that things Ordained by them as necessary to Salvation have neither Strength nor Authority only as it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture Now the Occasional Conformists are herein intirely of the same mind they agree intirely in the Creeds the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments as contained in the Decalogue and as explained by our Saviour In the two Sacraments and every Part and Article that any Protestant can have any Colour to call a part of Christianity But I have not Inclination nor can it be expected that I should particularize every Head and Point of Religion wherein they agree but should be glad to be informed by you of any Article of Religion or Point of Doctrine wherein they differ for no Man ever called Rites and Ceremonies of humane Institution Principles or Matters of Religion I must own that they are not fully satisfied in the large Sense of that Passage in the 20th Article That the Church hath Power to decree Rites and Ceremonies nor that as the 34th Article expresses it it is sufficient as to the Ceremonies that nothing be Ordained against God's Word if the Opposition of God's Word be intended a particular express Opposition but they are of opinion that to make any Rites or Ceremonies of Humane Institution necessary to Communion especially as is aforesaid to make them Terms of Separation from the rest of the Catholick Church is against God's Word but they are extricated out of this Difficulty by the last Clause of the 34th Article it being plain by long and pungent Experience that the Ordaining of such Rites and Ceremonies is not among the Things that have been done so edifying or if this should fail yet your said Oracle is express that the 39 Articles are required from no Layman a Licence for which no Occasional Conformist will thank him The Romanists by such Ordinance have indeed edified their Babel and from things not contrary have proceeded to ordain things destructive to Christianity and so in some Measure are all such Ordinances which differ as much from Religion as Christianity does from Priestcraft But to bring this Matter a little closer I hope to make it plain that not only the Occasional Conformist but the Presbyterian and the Independent are of the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion with the Church-man and not of opposite Principles and that nothing but gross Ignorance or a wilful blind Prejudice has kept Men of either Party from being convinc'd of this Truth And to make this evident I take leave to acquaint you with plain Matter of Fact You well know that in the late times the Assembly of Divines at Westminster as also the Kirk of Scotland agreed in a Catechism called the Assemblies shorter Catechism And this Catechism was also agreed to by the Synod of the Independent Divines met at the Savoy Now after the Restauration of King Charles the 2d and particularly some time before the Popish Plot a mighty Zeal appeared against that Catechism in the Men of your Party and if I mistake not this Catechism was publickly burnt at Oxford But it happened that one Mr. Thomas Adams formerly fellow of Brazen-Nose-Colledge in Oxford being convinc'd of the Truth of what I am endeavouring to prove he in the Year 1675 wrote a Discourse Entituled The Main Principles of Christian Religion in 107 short Articles or Aphorisms generally received as being proved from Scripture now further cleared and confirmed by the Consonant Doctrine Recorded in the Articles and Homilies of the Church of England under 4 Heads Of things to be Explained 1. Believed comprehended in the Creed 2. Done in the Ten Commandments 3. Practiced in the Gospel particularly two Sacraments 4. Prayed for in the Lord's Prayer Which Discourse was Licensed Sold well and received a Second Edition in 1677 which I have but alass it was at last discovered that the 107 Articles were the Answers to the 107 Questions of the Assemblies Shorter Catechism and that hated Book was thus disper'd under the Patronage of the Articles and Homilies of the Church of England And if you will please to peruse this Book I suppose you will need no other Proof that the Occasional Conformist Presbyterian Independent and the Church-man are not of opposite Principles but of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion and the Acceptation which that Discourse met with puts me in mind of a like Passage relating to the Sorbon to whom your Oracle above-mention'd desires that the Church of England may be united for when Abbas le Roy Publish'd a Discourse in France without naming the Author being a most Elegant and Pious Oration or Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ for obtaining the Grace of a perfect Conversion the
the word Church till after the end of the Prophecy and this perhaps is also the Reason why the Reformed Christian Church of the latter Days is called the Bride the Lamb's Wife A Bride in opposition to the Whore and the Bride the Lamb's Wife in opposition to the Wife of Anthropos But this by the way only observe that Simon Magus the Father of these Aeons was if you believe Baronius fetch'd down out of the Air by St. Peter's Prayers at Rome Anno 45 about 4 Years before St. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Thessalonians And take notice also that Irenaeus in his 33 d. Chapter of his first Book observes that Ignorance and Impudence False Zeal Fury Envy and Lust were said to be born about the same time with this same blessed couple Now Sir you must excuse me if I have no kindness for any of the Off-spring of these Folk and if I find any thing put upon me as part of Revealed Religion which appears to be begot by Anthropos on Ecclesia and if you or the Men of your Party Write as many Books as would fill the Tower of Babel in behalf of such things I shall still remember such Texts as these to the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this Rule 't is because there is no Light in them 8 Is 20. Thus it is written c. I must always say of the Christianity contained in the Writings of the Sacred Penman as Josephus says of the Writings of Moses Every thing that they wrote is yet extant and we must take it as they left it Joseph Page 92. without any room for Ornament or Variation And it was by this Principle which runs throughout his whole Work that Irenaeus routed all the Hereticks and all their Army of Aeons except this couple who have plagued do plague and will plague the World till the total downfal of Antichrist for as your aforesaid Oracle in his New Association Page 2. Page 17. observes when once we leave the Institutions of God there is no stop and our Imagination is our only Rule Magna est veritas prevalebi◠But 't is high time Sir to stop least after all you should think that I here condemn the Church of England as by Law Establish'd against which I don't say one word the late designed Act not being past For I do declare I take no Church to be a Whore unless she be guilty of Idolatry for that is Spiritual Adultery in Scripture Language I could wish that none but the Great Whore were concerned with Anthropos but some Churches that are not Whores are a little guilty of Jilting now and then and are too apt to Paint and to take some parts of the Attire of an Harlot tho' they are not so and therefore I wish all honest Churches would consider what it is that will be done when it shall be said that the Marriage of the Lamb is come 19 Rev. 7. and his Wife hath made her self ready The Case of the Regale makes the only considerable Matter in Controversie between the Church and Dissenters to be Episcopacy all other Matters being easily accommodated that Episcopacy was the Heir which they said come let us kill him that the Inheritance may be ours Page 248 that he takes Episcopacy to be no indifferent thing but Instituted by Christ and confirmed by the constant Practice of the Vniversal Church of Christ in all Ages Page 254. And yet in the Shape of a Wolf Page 27. He falls very fiercely upon his Brother Wolf of Rome and calls the Pope the Grand Schismatick and why e'en because Catholick Communion is broke by the Church of Rome in the Usurpation of her Bishops over all the rest of his Fellow Bishops and confining the Catholick Church to his own Communion then it seems that is Schism in the Pope which would have been Establishing Peace and Unity and Setling our Constitution upon a sure and lasting Foundation if done by the Occasional Bill Peace at Home Page 12. But if the Pope be in the wrong what is this Episcopacy that is of Divine Right And what is a Diocess and what Texts are there that prove an Equality among Bishops which do not also prove Presbyters to be Bishops St. Peter we just now read was a Fellow Presbyter and would never have Exhorted Presbyters to act the Bishop if he had known that Presbyters and Bishops differed in Order Jure Divino Nor would St. John who Wrote his Gospel about the Year 98 about 65 Years after he had received the Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost and after he came out of the boyling Oil have omitted so necessary a Matter nor would he in his 2 d. and 3 d. Epistles just before his Death have misled the Church by calling himself the Presbyter which is the first word in both those Epistles especially in his Third Epistle in which he complains of Diotrephes who lov'd the Preheminence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of Prelacy for not receiving him and for casting the Brethren out of the Church He would have been careful to have used the Stile of a Higher Order nay 't is plain he did not think it a Disparagement to the surviving Apostle of Jesus Christ to be styled a Presbyter but hitherto the Church of Christ remained a pure Virgin Hegesippus in Eus l. 3. c. 32. and Anthropos had not prevailed to introduce his Spouse in her stead This Parity appears from divers Places in Irenaeus in the second Century and the well known Place in St. Hierom the Confession of Binius in 1 Can. Apost is remarkable that the Names of Bishop and Presbyter were promiscuously used and not distinguish'd for above 200 Years I will add the words of the Learned Hales in his Discourse of Schism They deceive themselves and others who would perswade us that Bishops by the Institution of Christ have any Superiority above other Men except that which requires Reverence or That a Bishop is Superior by any other Law than Positivo and by the common Consent of Christians Do I then Sir Humphrey say any thing against the Constition of the Church of England not at all Jure Positivo The Priests and People are Governed by the Queen the Laws are made by Queen Lords and Commons there are as many Lord Lieutenants as Counties and Bishops as Diocesses and Archbishops as Provinces there are among the People Dukes Marquesses c. and among the Ministers Deans Arch-Deacons Prebends c. But for God's sake what Texts do you quote for the Jus Divinum either of the Monarchy limitted by our Laws and all the Subordinate Officers in the English Form of Government tho' the best in the World or for the Hierarchy of the Church of England with all its Subordinate Officers as described by Dr. Cousius in his Ecclesiae Anglicanae Politica Reprint that Book and let us have the Scriptures proving the Constitution Jure Divino in the next Edition
Heads and to make it obnoxious to the Romanists for its Invisibility And hence upon the Happy Revolution it was a Question between a very Eminent and Learned Prelate Vox Cleri P. 68. and the Prolocutor of the late Convocation What it was that distinguish'd the Church of England from other Protestant Churches The Bishop rightly affirming That the Church of England is an Equivocal Expression and was not distinguished from other Protestant Churches but by its Hierarchy and Revenues And the Prolocutor asserting That the Church of England was distinguished by its Doctrine as it stands in the Articles Liturgy and Homilies as well as by its Hierarchy And although since His Majestys happy Accession to the Throne His Pious and Princely Care of the Church hath fill'd the Archi-Episcopal and Episcopal Seats with Men of Consummate Piety Learning and Moderation whereby and by giving the Royal Assent to the Act for Indulgence He hath been our Deliverer from Tyranny in the Church as well as in the State yet it cannot be forgotten how during the Prevalency of the High Church Party in the late Reigns not Kneeling at the Sacrament not Baptizing with the Cross Hearing in Congregations which are Churches of Christ within the Definition given by the Articles of the Church were Prosecuted with the greatest Violence and Men cast out of the Church for those Reasons while Men of the most Profligate Lives Swore D n them they were for the Church of England and were admitted to the Sacrament without reserve That great Numbers of the sober Serious Subjects of England were kept out from that which was called the Church for Conscience sake and all the Prophane and Vicious let in that were willing to enter That those things that would make a Man Holy on Earth and prepare for Heaven yet would not let him into the Church and that he might be a beloved Member thereof who was not fit to live on the Earth and made most visible haste to the Devil These and the like considerations made me wonder that no Man had concerned himself to tell us plainly What the Church of England is And since the Cant of that Party is still The Church the Church I will like an Honest Lay-Christian that is not any way infected with Priest-Craft return a short Answer to the Question which may be at least of use to put some Body upon explaining it better The Articles of the Church to which all the Clergy have Subscribed and to most of which since His Majesty's happy Accession to the Throne the Dissenting Ministers have also subscrib'd expresly Teach us That the Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men Article XIX in which the Pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly Ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same Now whether this Description be meant of the Universal Church or of a single Congregation 't is thence an easie Conclusion That the Church of England is that Part of the Universal Church which is Compos'd of all the Congregations of Faithful Men in England in which the Pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly Ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same And if this Description be allowed 't is impossible to exclude the Presbyterian Independant and Antipaedobaptist Churches from being Part of the Church of England Of the Antipaedobaptist may be the greatest doubt because they deny Infants to be capable Subjects of Baptism but nevertheless that Error excludes them not out of this Description for to the Subjects they allow to be capable and of which their whole Communion consists the Sacraments are duly Administred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same It is therefore a wonderful thing to hear Men on one side loudly declare in the Presence of God and the Congregation That they Believe the Holy Catholick Church and yet calling their Brethren that go under those several Denominations Phanaticks Hypocrites and other odious Names and Excommunicating them out of the Church And it is no less wonderful on the other side to hear some under those several Denominations accusing those that conform to the Establisht Ceremonies with Antichristianism and denying the Church of England to be a True Church when they themselves have Subscribed to that very Article and Five or Six and Thirty more of their Thirty Nine and are really Part of the same Church And this one Consideration Justifies the Practice of those who condemn the Imposition of unnecessary things by Communicating with the Moderate Dissenters and condemn the Separating Censorious and Schismatical Humour wherever sound amongst the Dissenters by Communicating with the Conformable Part of the Church And indeed it seems to be little considered by the Generality of Protestants how great the Agreement is between all the said Parties They have the same Rules of Faith Manners and Devotion for they own the same Scripture to be of Divine Authority and a perfect Rule of Faith and Life the same Creeds are Profest by them all the same Ten Commandments are acknowledged by them all as the Divine Law and they agree to our Saviours Exposition thereof and to all the Precepts and the Ordinances and Sacraments of the Christian Religion they have the same Object of Worship the same Mediator the Inspiration of the same Holy Spirit they have the same Objects of their Hopes and Fears they fly from the same Wrath and expect the same Glory Again these several Parties do condemn the Twelve new Articles of the Roman Faith all the Idolatries of the Mass Image-Worship Praying to Saints and Angels and for the Dead Monkery 1 Tim. 4.1 2. with all the Doctrines of Demons invented by the Hypocrisy of those Lyars nor do any of them retain any thing substantial in Doctrine or Practice introduc'd by the Apostacy of the Latter Times The Disagreement among them lies only about Imposing and Refusing Circumstances of Worship Observation of Days the Use of Habits and Gestures of Forms and Ceremonies and Unscriptural Forms of Church-Government and about Subscriptions and Oaths and Laws made to enforce Mens own Inventions All which I shall briefly touch when I have in the following Propositions endeavour'd to shew what are the true Terms of Union for the whole Christian World and how all the above-mention'd Parties may enjoy this their Unity in the Church of England When our Saviour condemn'd the Jewish Divorce he grounded his Sentence upon this Foundation From the Beginning it was not so and to discover the true Terms of Christian Unity we must look back to the Rise of Christian Religion CHRISTIANITY came into this World Pure and Free without the Jewish Yoak of beggarly Elements without the Heathen Niceties of painful Rights and Ceremonies It taught to Worship God in Spirit and Truth bound Men to no
City or Mountain prescribed no Postures nor Dresses it threw down all Inclosures and was a Gospel sit to be Preach'd to every Creature Our Saviour taught in Synagogues and in Mountains and in a Coat woven from the top throughout The Apostles wore the Habits of the Places where they dwelt and taught in the Synagogues that were built Both Christ and they used the Septuagint Translation and complied with the Customs and Hours of the Jews And in short the Apostles Rule was to become all Things to all Men 1 Cor. 9.22 and to comply with the innocent Usages of all Places but when those Customs or Usages Gal. 2.3 4 5. Gal. 5.1 2. were added to Christianity or impos'd they always rejected them with Abhorrence Thus were Matters left by the Apostles and the Disciples of the First Age followed their Example and hence the Christians among the Jews complying with their Customs and the Christians among the Gentiles with theirs the Christian World might within one Age be distinguish'd into the Judaizing and Gentilizing Christians Paul Circumcised Timothy among the Jews And Church-History tells us That Fifteen Jerusalem Bishops were Circumcised And the Empire of Habbasia which was Discipled by the Aethiopean Eunuch a Jewish Proselyte continue Circumcision to this Day though as no Religious Rite On the other side the Roman Christians and others among the Heathens used several of their Customs by that General Rule of becoming all Things to all Men. But as in the Apostles Time some used their Liberty for an Occasion to the Flesh and this Charitable Principle occasioned Differences among the Apostles themselves for Paul withstood Peter to the Face at Antioch for withdrawing from the Gentiles to please the Jews so in the following Ages Gal. 2.11 12. when the Power of inward Religion grew more cold the Customs which were taken up as convenient such as keeping Days in compliance with the Jewish and Heathenish Festivals distinguishing the Clergy by Habits as both Jews and Heathens used to do their Priests became at last to be accounted Sacred and the Days were taken for Holy Days and the Clothes for Holy Garments But the greatest Depravation of Christianity came from the Agreement that was between Jews and Gentiles in their setting up of High-Priests The shew of Order and Unity Mark 8.27 Luke 9.18 that appear'd therein was very tempting When our Saviour had told Simon Mat. 16.13 to 24. that he should be call'd Cephas and that the Church should be built on his Confession of Faith it is probable that the Apostles began to think of his being the Chief for the Question was soon after started among them Matth. 18.1 Mark 9.33 Luke 9.46 Ibid. and Mat. 20.25 Luke 22.25 Mark 20.42 Heb. 7.23 24. which of them should be greatest that is to say the Pope And had not our Saviour Positively and Catagorically resolved the Question both on that Occasion and in Answer to the Ambitious Sons of Zebedee Hierarchical Domination in greater and lesser Popes might have been thought Justifiable from the Example of the Jews whose Hierarchy was of Divine Institution But that our Saviour is our only High Priest is most evident That by that Rule of his It shall not be so done amongst you he hath taken away all colour of Domination among his Ministers on Pretence of his Institution seems a reasonable Opinion for the several Evangelists do so expresly agree in that Prohibition that it is impossible to evade it by the common Distinction viz. That our Saviour there forbids Tyranny and Ambition but not Superiority especially since the Evangelist Luke speaks not of the Authority exercised by Tyrants but Benefactors It doth no where appear that the Apostles were the Governors of the Seventy nor is any Difference in Order to be found in Scripture between Bishops and Presbyters for the Difference between the Apostles and the Seventy appears to be this that the Apostles were Persons chosen to be Witnesses of all that Jesus did or taught and of his Resurrection and Ascention they were of the Family of our Saviour and Privy to his whole Conversation in which Respect they neither had nor can have Successors No more than the Evangelists ☜ whom no Man pretends to have had Successors as Evangelists And it seems most reasonable to believe that whereas Dr. Hammond and others hold that the Presbyters mention'd Acts xx were also Bishops So they were Apostles also in the sense of St. Chrysostom Epiphanius Theodoret and others and Luke x. 1. and divers other Places the same word is used concerning them viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived And if we say that Apostles Bishops or Presbyters and Deacons are Officers of Divine Institution to continue in the Church surely we are right for such only do we find in Scripture and of such did the Governors of the Church at Philippi consist Phil. 1.1 Some indeed in Ecclesiastical History are said to have succeeded the Apostles but they succeeded them not as Matthias did Judas for he succeeded him in the Extraordinary Work of the Apostolate and therefore was chosen out of those who had accompanied with the Apostles all the Time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same Day that he was taken up and was added to them to make twelve Witnesses of his Resurrection Acts 2.21 22. but the Nature of the Succession was as Apostles Bishops and Presbyters in their several Sees whereas Apostles in the strict Sense as Apostles were not confin'd to any See but were Ministers of the whole Catholick Church and on whom as St. Paul speaks of himself was the care of all the Churches and unless it can be made appear that the Apostles have such Successors and also such as were Witnesses of what our Saviour did and taught as Matthias was the Apostolate as to so much of it must be Temporary from the Nature of the thing The Arguments for a Superiority of the Order of Bishops drawn from the Precedency of James at Jerusalem who there seems to be Superiour to the Apostles tho' he was none of the Twelve concludes only for a Bishops Power in his own Church where he is fix'd but nothing for the Superiority in Order of Bishops above Presbyters as of revealed Institution If Ignatius who tells us that St. Stephen was a Deacon to St. James had told us also of his Presbyters of a distinct Order no doubt but his Testimony had been concluding but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a Bishop are all one in Antiquity And although at first the Twelve Apostles who had the Infallible Direction of the Holy Ghost did ordain those President Bishops perhaps then but certainly afterwards they were made by Election The Epistles of St. John to the Angels of the Seven Churches of Asia prove not this Distinction of Order nor any thing more than shall
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
Lay-Chancellor according to the good Example of Sylvanus of old who would find fault And the Legislators would soon think of giving their Courts a Civil Process instead of their horridly abused Spiritual Weapon Excommunication Were the Presbyter restor'd to his Just Right we might soon see some good Effect of Discipline which can never be exercised to any purpose till Parish-Communion be made more pure and the Pastor's Power be restor'd One Physician may as well take the Charge of all the Bodies in London as one Bishop of their Souls and the Congregations that are gather'd from the several parts of great Cities cann't have the personal Inspection nor ready Access to the Pastoral Help nor enjoy the Advantage of that Article of the Creed Communion of Saints which ought to be provided for in a well Disciplin'd Church And this is what my Soul longs for and not without hope For he that will impartially consider the late Writings for Episcopacy particularly those of Doctor Maurice and Doctor Scot and the Writings against it particularly of Mr. Baxter and Mr. Clerk son will as I conceive find these things true First That the Roman and English Prelacy as now Exercised are wholly dropt in the Scuffle and no Foundation found for either in Scripture or Primitive Antiquity Secondly That Independency if it be meant only of the Relation between a Pastor and his Flock and his Independent Right of Exercising the Power of the Keys over them it is plainly Jure Divino but if taken in a Sense excluding National Churches taking away all the common ordinary Means of Communion among Christian Congregations and leaving the Power of Ordination and Admission to the Lord's Supper in the People hath as little Foundation in Scripture or Antiquity Thirdly That Councils are for Advice not Legislation for Concord not Domination and have no Power to make Laws for the Universal Church They can no more Alter or add to the Laws of Christ than the Jewish Priests could Add to or Alter the Laws of Moses And as there never was so there never can be a General Council and that a Visible Head of the Universal Church on Earth Monarchical or Aristocratical is a meer Chinera never design'd by GOD nor of Use to Men. Fourthly That the Episcopacy which within a certain compass of Ground provides a Person chosen by the Presbytery to a Superintendency to preside in Conventions of the Clergy within his Precinct or Diocess to be consulted and principally join in the Ordination and Confirmation of Persons who desire to be admitted to the Lord's Supper to be advised with by every Presbyter within his Precinct where any Difficulties arise concerning the Exercise of the Keys but which destroy not the Power of the Presbyter nor the Primitive Church Species has good warrant in Scripture Antiquity Reason and the Nature of the thing I say chosen by the Presbytery For even Mr. Dodwel that unaccountable Bigot to Prelacy acknowledges that Bishops were first made by Election Fifthly Episcopacy thus stated is Jure Divino as all things aagreeable to right Reason are Jure Divino that is to say Reason teaches such Things without Revelation and if Reason had not been sufficient to this End he that spent Fourty Days on Earth after his Resurrection instructing his Apostles in the Things concerning the Kingdom of God would not have Omitted to direct them herein He that was faithful only as a servant gave Rules for every Pin in the Tabernacle Hebr. 3.5 and the very Colour of the Ribbons used by the Priests And our Lord who was Faithful as a Son over his own House would not have Omitted a Matter of such Importance So when Christ had Instituted the Office of Presbyters or Bishops and the Apostle given an Account of and Instructions for their Office there was no need to Institute the Method of their Concord which right Reason taught Men of all sorts of Learning as Philosophers Physicians c. Again Presbytery if it mean only an Equality of Gospel Ministers by the Institution of Christ it is Jure Divino as plain as Words can make it if it be meant the Form of Government so diversify'd as is usually meant by that Word it is not Jure Divino having no Reveal'd Institution And Reason taught all the Christian Church to appoint a President Bishop for Life and nothing but the Rise of Popish Prelacy could make the other Method seem Reasonable and Calvin himself as I take it fell into it out of Necessity and not out of Choice But surely this Part of Church Government is no more determin'd by Revelation than the Form of Civil Government Sixthly While under the Notion of CHVRCH GOVERNMENT the Clergy encroach on the Prerogative of the Civil Power whether it be in an Episcopal or Presbyterian Form neither God nor His Majesty will have the Obedience paid them which is due and the only way to support both Civil and Ecclesiastical Government is to keep them entirely distinct and unconfounded to give to Caesar the Things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods To own the Divine as the Vicegerent of Christ in his Prophetical and Priestly and the Civil Magistrate as his Vicegerent in his Kingly Office Particularly the Civil Power is to appoint the Bounds of Bishopricks and so is the Twelfth Theses of that clear headed and accurately Learn'd Dr. Isaac Barrow By the Laws of God and according to Ancient Practice Princes may Model the Bounds of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Erect Bishopricks Enlarge Diminish or Transfer them as they please Thus he where by Princes he necessarily intends the Legislative Power where-ever 't is placed by the Respective Constitution of Christian Kingdoms Seventhly Were these things well consider'd the Controversie between the Episcopal and Presbyterian would be certainly reconcil'd and even the Independent and Antipoedobaptist would probably be folded if the Terms of Union which the Church prescribes did not keep them out Which will come next to be consider'd after I have premised the few following short Propositions First Proposition When God bringing his First-begotten into the World commanded all his Angels to Worship him Hebr. 1.6 Luke 2.14 their Song was Glory to God on High on Earth Peace and good Will towards Men But while Christians have join'd with the Heavenly Host in the First Clause of that Song they have neglected the two other Parts thereof and for want of Peace on Earth the former and latter Clauses have made us yet but little Harmony Second Proposition The Eternal Father hath called himself The God of Peace Rom. 15.33 the Blessed Jesus is The Prince of Peace Rom. 16.20 the great Legacy which he left behind Him Isai 9.6 was His Peace and The Gospel of Peace John 14.27 is the great Instrument of Erecting that Kingdom of which Peace is one of the greatest Glories Till God give his People the Blessing of Peace we can't expect that Happy Time
when all the ends of the Earth shall fear him Psal 67.7 and his Name will never be Hallow'd to purpose Mat. 6.9 10. nor his Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven till this Kingdom of his be come Third Proposition The Methods which Men have taken to attain Peace have been various Conquerors have endeavour'd it by making Mankind Slaves and reducing the World under an Universal Monarchy Mark 9.38 Luke 9.49 54. The Apostles themselves began to be Tempted by the Antichristian Spirit and were for bringing all under their Master by Silencing first and then by Fire from Heaven Popes have attempted it The Reason of this is Plain if the Pope be Antichrist and his Reign extended to 1260 Years by pretending to Infallibility and Councils by making Canons Some Places have labour'd to attain it by an Inquisition and others by Penal-Laws concerning doubtful Matters of Speculation And of them all except the Apostles who were afterwards better Instructed we must conclude with the Apostle The way of Peace they have not known or at least not practised to walk therein Fourth Proposition Ever since the Fall of Man this Lower Creation hath been a Stage of War Gen. 3.15 the Seed of the Woman and of the Serpent have been in constant Action 1 John 3.8 Our Saviour came to Destroy the Works of the Devil Eph. 2.2 whilst the Spirit that works in the Children of Disobedience keeps up his Works with all Diligence and therefore there is no Peace saith God Isai 57.21 to the Wicked Peace without Holiness is impossible and the World seeks it in vain The Apostle Instructs us to follow Peace with all Men and Holiness Hebr. 12.14 and the Prophet assures us Isai 32.17 That the Work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the Effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever And that when God hath wrought all our Works in us Isai 26.12 He will Ordain Peace for us Fifth Proposition It is therefore Impudent Folly for men to Apprehend that they can have Peace with one another while they are at open Enmity with God He that hath all Mens Hearts in His hand will manage them so that his own Word shall be Establish'd if Men will not join in the Practice of Things in the Theory of which they all agree they will be still the Instruments of Divine Vengeance on one another And therefore if Magistrates would labour for Peace they must lay the Foundation thereof in the Reformation of Manners and be very Cautious of making Laws about Matters of Speculation For our Saviour hath told us John 1.17 That if any will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine the way to know more is to Practise what we do know Otherwise Sixth Proposition While Men Dispute with Vehemency and turn Divinity into the most Abstruse and Exquisite fine Notions they make Christianity unintelligible and distinguish all Religion out of the World They Impose on the Credulous confound mean Capacities divide Christians into Sects and every Sect Adores its own Distinguishing Character till if the Question be what Religion a Man is of 'T is Answer'd A PAPIST A CHVRCH OF ENGLAND MAN A PRESBYTERIAN AN INDEPENDENT AN ANTIPOEDO BAPTIST But no Man does and who can truly answer I 'm a Christian Seventh Proposition True Religion is the Bond of Union Isai 11.9 When the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Isai 2.4 Mich. 4.3 then Men shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks Then Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation nor shall they learn War any more then nothing shall hurt or destroy in all God's Holy Mountain And since it is evident that although Actions are Belief is not within the Power and Reach of Humane Law and that the Generality of Mankind never will without a Miraculous Power and Extraordinary Revelation agree on the Matters so hotly Disputed even among Protestants 't is worth the while to consider what are the probable Means which the Scripture hath Reveal'd and which it is our Duty to Use for attaining an Universal Peace among Christians There is a Rock on which our Saviour promis'd to build his Church that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it So solemn a Promise requires a Serious Consideration for as the Papists taking it to be the Person of Peter and his Successors have by that Mistake concerning this Rock laid the Foundation of the Antichristian Kingdom so the Kingdom of CHRIST MEDIATOR is truly and surely built upon this Rock which our Saviour intends in that Promise and that is Matt. 16.18 That JESVS CHRIST IS THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. Ye believe in God John 14.1 believe also in me was the Substance of our Saviour's Doctrine and the Apostles Creed I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God was Martha's Creed Mark 16.18 John 11.17 And he that Confesseth That Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh God dwelleth in him and he in God John 1.4 It is the end of Writing the Gospel and this saith the Apostle is the Word of Faith That if we confess with our Mouth the Lord Jesus John 20.31 Rom. 10.8 9. and believe in our Hearts that God hath raised him from the Dead we shall be saved And accordingly upon his Profession of the Creed Acts 8.37 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Ethiopian Eunuch who before believed in God was Baptised and the words of Baptism instructed him as they do us in the Foundation of the Christian Church And before any other Creed was made the Effect of this Creed was Miraculous both with respect to the Holy Lives of those that profess'd it and the great Encrease of the Number of such Now what was sufficient in the first Ages was so to after-Ages and is so now 1 Cor. 3.11 For other Foundation can no Man lay than that which is laid already was a Truth in St. Paul's Time The Apostles Creed and the other Creeds subscribed to by the Church of England are not Additions to but Paraphrases of this Creed or Truths which necessarily follow from the Belief thereof and many of the Articles thereof were added in After-Ages in contradiction to the several Heresies which rose at several Times to the endangering that Foundation For Instance Iraeneus Adv. Haeres Lib. 1. cap. 19 20 21 22 23 c. all the Hereticks mention'd by Iraeneus wherewith the Devil vext the Church for the first Three Hundred Years were for a Plurality of Created Gods whom they held also to be Creators and for this reason it should seem were those Words MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH added which were not in the Creed called the Apostles for many Years as appears in the Symbol recited by Marcellus Ancyranus in the Confession of Faith which he
quasi tradita ab Apostolis asseruntur percutiuntur Gladio Dei Hier. in Agg. long after the 4th Century All those things which are asserted as delivered by the Apostles without the Testimony of the Scriptures are smitten with the Sword of God For it seems when Irenaeus and the other ancient Fathers had exposed all Vnrevealed Parts of Revealed Religion the Lovers of Priest-craft would have introduced some things as Revealed tho' not written but conveyed down by Tradition But I must not enlarge at least at this time on this Subject only having some Reason to know the Original of the Charter granted by the late Glorious King Willian Establishing a Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge I earnestly intreat the Reader to consider the Consequence of these Additions to Christianity with respect to that Design If I were now to apply my self to an Indian to instruct him in the Christian Religion I would appeal to his Experirience that Nature is corrupted and shew him the History thereof in the Scriplures 3 Gen. 5 Rom. 12.18 I would appeal to his Reason that Sin deserves Punishment and that Justice must be a Divine Attribute and shew him the same things in Scripture 34 Ex. 7. 45 Is 21. 3 Rom. 26. I would appeal to his Reason and shew him in Scripture what a loss Mankind was at to find out an Atonement that thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl would not suffice 6 Mic. 6.7 8. not the First-born the Fruit of the Body for the Sin of the Soul But that notwithstanding all that Man could do 49. Ps 7.8 the Redemption of the Soul was so precious that it must have ceas'd for ever Then I would shew him only by Revelation out of the Word of God That faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners and so proceed to Preach the Gospel to him and to instruct him out of the New Testament The suitableness of such a Propitiation for our Sins sufficient to satisfie Divine Justice and the Cravings of a wounded Spirit seeking Means to make Satisfaction thereto was in my Opinion the true Reason of the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of the Church and will be so when rightly enforced to the yet Vuchristianiz'd Part of the World And the Man by this time would be very willing to believe those Scriptures to be the Word of God And the Proof thereof would be very agreeable to him Account of the Proceedings of the Society by Mr. Stubbs or as an Indian King lately exprest himself that there was a Saviour born for Mankind But when he had rejoyc'd in Christ Jesus and hugged his Bible and read in the end of it and elsewhere Deut. 4.2 22 Rev. 18.19 Prov. 30.6 the Curses pronounc'd against those that diminish from it or add to it and desired to be Baptized with what Face could I tell him that he must not be admitted to have any benefit thereby unless he will constantly submit to divers things not to be found there and that unless he did so he was both for God and Baal Wou'd he think it a decent thing to add to the Institutions of such a Redeemer But I will not enter into Particulars if the Design of the following Discourse do prevail these Matters will be considered by wiser Heads but by none who wish more the Glory of the Christian Church and particularly of that part of it in England than Your Christian Friend J. HOOKE CATHOLICISM WITHOUT POPERY SIR IN your Preface to your late Discourse Entituled Peace at Home you have rightly observed That the Controversie which is the Subject Matter of that Discourse ought not to be carried on with Heat and Passion but fairly debated with Reason and Moderation not by unknown Persons who may be Jesuits or Deists but by such as dare own their Principles and will endeavour to Reconcile our Differences and not inflame them I hope that an Acquaintance of some Years hath sufficiently convinc'd you that I am neither Jesuit nor Deist And I dare appeal to your Conscience whether I have not given you undeniable Evidence of an Affection to the Church of England and a desire not to keep up but to reconcile our Differences not to promote Parties and Factions but Peace and Unity not for the sake of any private End or Interest whatsoever but for the sake of Truth and for the general Good Thus far therefore I conceive my self to be such a Person as you wish your Answerer should be But because you and the Writers of your Party have taken the liberty to accuse Men of my Principles as Hypocrites as unfit to be Guardians of Children or Executors of Wills as dispensing with our Principles for the sake of an Office as setting up an Arbitrary Dispensing Power in our own Consciences as acting contrary to our Original Principles as if Occasional Conformity were such an Offence as in inconsistent with the Publick Safety and Occasional Conformists Persons sit to be rank'd with Papists Deists and Socinians I have thought it my Duty thus to acquaint you that I have also that other Qualification to become your Answerer That I dare own my Principles But alass to what End were your Applications made to Her Majesty on Occasion of the late Bill since by your own Confession the Fears and Jealousies of those who are Members of the Church of England and of those who dissent from it And the Matters in Controversie arising from those Fears seem in a fair way to be determined to the Satisfaction of all Parties by Her Majesties Gracious Speeches from the Throne That Her Majesty will always make it Her particular Care to encourage and maintain the Church as by Law Established and to maintain the Act of Toleration for the ease of Dissenters Give me leave to add alass to what end did you erect a Pompous Frontispiece before an Epistle Dedicatory a Preface a Discourse and a Postscript and all these on a Subject of which you seem to know no more than if you had lived in Turky or under the Great Mogul I mean the Principles of the Occasional Conformists for I had rather impute your unaccountable Mistakes concerning them to Ignorance than Insincerity And unless they be understood your Discourse in behalf of the Establish'd Government in Church and State of Uniformity Establish'd Religion and Establish'd Constitutions seems Calculated and may indifferently serve for the Meridian of Edenburg Geneva Paris Rome or Constantinople and with a small Variation of Names may be publish'd in behalf of the Constitutions in Church and State in all those places I take leave therefore to inform you That the Description of the Occasional Comformists is true which is given by the Author of a Letter to a Clergy-man concerning the Votes of the Bishops in the last Sessions who divides them into two sorts such as prefer the Worship of
the Church of England for a Constancy but hold the separate Congregations to be Lawful Churches and think themselves obliged in Conscience sometimes to Communicate with them tho' I had rather call such Occasional Dissenters and such as prefer the Worship of Dissenters for a Constancy but hold the Worship of the Church of England to be Lawful and think themselves obliged to testifie their Charity by Communicating sometimes with it who are properly Occasional Conformists I take leave also to inform you That both these sorts of Occasional Conformists do believe the Apostle's Creed and particularly the Holy Catholick Church or as the Nicene Creed has it They believe One Catholick and Apostolick Church They acknowledge the 19th Article of the Church of England That the Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithful Men in which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duly ministred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same That neither sort of these Occasional Conformists find any such Article in any Creed as this I believe the High Church-Party of the Church of England And thus believing they thus Reason He that believes the Holy Catholick Church takes himself to be a Member of that Church and consequently believes it his Duty to refuse Communion with no Party of Christians whose Communion does not necessitate him to Sin and no Communion of Christians who are a Visible Church of Christ within the said Description given by the said 19th Article do necessitate him to Sin They make a great difference between the Use of a Ceremony or any indifferent thing about Religion and the Imposition thereof as necessary to Communion in the Ordinances of Christ and again another difference between the Imposition thereof by any particular Church or Division of Christians on those that Communicate with them and the Separation of that Division of Christians by such Ceremony or indifferent Thing from the rest of the Catholick Church The Use therefore of a certain Ceremony is what they do not scruple as wearing a Gown or Surplice Standing at the Creed Kneeling or Standing or Sitting at the Sacrament according to the Usage of that Party of Christians with whom they Communicate Again They don't scruple the like Ceremony tho' they be imposed by the Government on any National Church or Party of Christians so as they be not made Parties to the Imposition or compelled to declare their Approbation thereof by Word or Practise It is their Judgment That all Religion is Natural or Revealed That there is no Revealed Religion nor any part of it which is not found in the Word of God That nothing ought to be imposed amongst Christians as a Term of Communion which has not its Warrant from thence according to the Sense of the Primitive Church and the whole Protestant Church at the first Reformation And they think it absurd to talk of Unrevealed Parts of Revealed Religion It is therefore their Opinion that if any Party of Christians make a Law That whoever communicates with them must use such or such an Unscriptural Posture or Ceremony and must not have Communion with any other Christians who use not the same altho ' true Churches according to the said 19th Article of the Church of England and this under the Penalty of being starved or any other severe Penalty they take that Party of Christians to be such as the Psalmist speaks of Psal 94.21 who frame Mischief by a Law They think that such Party of Christians do thereby set up an unaccountable Schism in the Catholick Church and separate themselves from it by setting up their Posts by God's and their own Thresholds by his and their making a Wall between him and them so that the Schism lies at their Door and not at theirs who in Contradiction to such a Law continue Members of the Catholick Church They are of Opinion that the Roman Catholicks are justly charged with the greatest Schism that ever was in the Christian World because they separate themselves from the Catholick Church by their new Articles of Faith and Notorious Idolatries which they impose as Terms of Communion but they pretending that the things which they impose are necessary and to be comply'd with on Peril of Damnation are not therefore so Self-condemned as that Party would be who should by such a Law concerning things indifferent separate themselves from all the rest of the Catholick Church The Occasional Conformist therefore by his Communicating with the Church of England declares That he takes it to be a sound Part of the Catholick Church and his Communion with it is Communion with the Catholick Church and not with a Party He Communicates with it because he Agrees with it in all the Essentials of Christianity tho' he Approves not of its Impositions And his Communion with other Protestants is Communion with the Catholick Church of which he takes them also to be a sound Part. By the first he declares himself an Enemy to Separation by the second to unnecessary Impositions by both a Catholick Christian And he is the more confirmed in this Practice because of the plain Tendency of the Unscriptural Terms of Communion which the High Church-Party would establish to a Re-union with Popery as is obvious to any Person who shall seriously consider them And for satisfaction therein I would refer you to avoid Repetition to the Preface of a little Discourse entituled Catholocism without Popery where this Matter is particularly Considered And the Notions therein advanc'd have been effectually Justified by the Oracle of your Party the Author of the Case of the Regale Pontisicat a Book written directly against her Majesty's Supremacy and which has received a Second Edition which asserts That the Dissenter will neither take nor give quarter will neither propose nor accept any Terms of Reconciliation Page 255. and cannot for that unless only for that Reason be angry at the High-Party's seeking or offering Reconciliation with others who may be better disposed and that the whole and only difference between that Party and the Church of Rome Page 244. and which hinders Communion is the Extents of the Pope's Supremacy which the Galliean Church have thrown off as well as they But that all the difference between the Popish French Church and the Church of England are so far Reconcilable as not to hinder Communion And proposes in the First Edition a Treaty between our Convocation and the General Assembly of the Galliean Bishops and Clergy and complains in the Margin of the Second Edition pag. 263. That the English Convocation not being suffered to sit while that of France lasted rendered any Treaty betwixt them impracticable And pag. 179. proposes it plainly as a means to this blessed End that a Bill should pass to render all those that go to Meetings uncapable of any Place of Trust or Profit in the Government And that this must be the
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
but otherwise let us not be bubled out of our Senses either by the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy or of Presbytery while by one is meant the English Hierarchy or the Seotch Church Government by the other Do not all Learned Men know that Pope Leo the Great who began his Popedom about the Year 440 in his 87th and 90th Epistles is express for a pular Election of Bishops And altho' Pope Symmachus in the latter end of the Fifth Century about the Year 498 endeavoured to exclude the People from the Election yet Pope Celestine the Second in the Year 1143 was the first Pope made without the Peoples Election even in the See of Rome where Priesteraft did most prevail And now in England the Dean and Chapter chose the Bishop in Pursuance of an Act of Parliament and by Authority from the Crown Hierom and Eutichius are express that in Alexandria from Mark their first Bishop one of the Presbyters was chosen to be Bishop by the rest So that the Presbyters could make a Bishop for we read of no Bishops that Ordained or Consecrated Him when so chosen which is the Practice in England The Learned Vsher acknowledges that the Presbyters Power which I plead for is taken from Him in England only by Law and may by Law be restored And yet because an Episcopacy was early in the Church the English Prelacy must be put upon us to be Jure Divino Take it as it is Jure Humano and I have not one word to say against it And 't is plain that notwithstanding the noise now made about the Jus Divinum of Bishops as a Superiour Order to Presbyters that was not the Sense of the Church at the Restauration of King Charles the Second for if it had the Lords Spiritual would never have agreed to the Stat. 12. Car. 2. Cap. 17. which restores Ministers Ordained by any Ecclesiastical Persons before the 25th of December then last past Alass Sir Christ himself and not the Apostles Ordained the Seventy Philip the Deacon sent Christianity into Abasinia where it still is by the Aethopian Eunuch who was no Bishop that I know of and yet they had Ordained Ministers before they received an Abuna or Archbishop from the Patriarch of Alexandria Let the Priests be Governed in all Countries as they are most Governable it hinders not but we may be all of the same and not of opposite Principles but of the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion I don't pretend to determine how far the Civil Power may enforce Reveal'd Religion but I hope all Christian Princes and States will take care that the Priests add not to or diminish from our Christianity in any Form and let them be Governed as they may but for God's sake let Discipline be restored and then 't is no great matter in what Form the Priests are managed Let every Minister who has the Cure of Souls be enabled to exercise Disciplinam Christi which I am sure is Jure Divino and perhaps the Reduction of Episcopacy to the Form of Synodical Government by Archbishop Vsher tho' not Jure Divine would be found so agreeable to Reason suitable to Primitive Practice and accomodate to the Ends of Discipline that a due Consideration thereof might in a while bring all Christian Churches into the same Form of Government without the Pretence of a Jus Divinum for it Let us have no Laws about the Matter of Reveal'd Religion but what are at least plainly justified by the Scripture and not be hampered by the Priests Additions in any Form and Discipline will be easie and without Difficulty But if the Parish Minister may not Excommunicate a Notorious Convicted Atheist Deist Blasphemer Idolater Prophane Swearer Sabbath-breaker Abuser of Parents Murderer Adulterer Thief Perjured Person Extortioner Barretor and such like but must complain to the Diocesan and an Appeal must lie to the Archbishop the same Reason may carry it to the Pope tho' our Laws justly prohibit it So in the other Form of Government if such a Criminal after Conviction by Law may appeal from his Pastor to the Sessions thence to the Presbytery thence to the Synod and thence to the General Assembly the same Reason will carry it to a General Council and I think there ought to be one Appeal more in such Cases viz. to the Day of Judgment Indeed if Priests may make us a Horse-load of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical and load us with Ceremonies of which St. Augustine in his Second Epistle to Januarius complains that the Condition of the Jews was more tolerable than of the Church in his Time which was the 5th Century and the Transgression of every one of them shall be a new Sin there may be need of Appeals nor will it be sit to trust a single Person to teaze a Parish for not submitting to Priestcraft But the Laws of God are plain the Duties required by Christianity are well known and I am so far from Abridging the Ministers of the Gospel of their just Power that I think 't is a horrid shame that they have not more 'T is an excellent Passage cited out of Mr. Chillingworth by the late Author of a Discourse called the Principle of the Protestant Reformation I am fully assured that God doth not and therefore that Man ought not to require any more of any Man than this to Believe the Scripture to be God's word to endeavour to find the true Sense of it and to Live according to it The Bible the Bible I say the Bible only is the Religion of Protestants But though I agree with the Author page 5. That a Person by Baptism is not made a Member of any particular Church but only of the Christian Church Universal yet I conceive that he is wretchedly out when he insinuates That there is no Part of Primitive Church Communion which might not have been performed by a Woman as well as a Man and that a Woman 's Narrative would have been part of the Gospel Because that Bible tells me not that our Saviour had any She-Apostles or Evangelists Indeed Priscilla as well as Aquila did instruct Apollos but so may any good Woman instruct her Friend without being a Church-Officer And the Context of that Passage 1 Cor. 11.21 which he quotes seems to insinuate as if this Fancy of a Female Officer had got footing in the Church of Corinth but the Apostle tells us That the Head of the Woman is the Man ver 3. and that she ought to have Power or a Covering on her Head So far from being heard that she was not to be seen And in the next Chapter v. 28 29. he speaks of Church-Officers but of no She-Ones And again Chap 14. v. 34. He is plain in the Case Let the Woman keep Silence in the Church for it is not permitted to them to speak and so 1 Tim. 2.12 Again I think he is strangely out when he says page 11. That there is no absolute Necessity for
much longer on this Head than I designed But I cannot Omit to give you a Copy of a Letter Written by Cardinal Woolsey to the Pope when we of the Laity began to shake our Ears and look about Us as you may find it Ld. Herb. Hist H. VIII No. 2. And now Sir Humphry what is there in all this that hinders but that you a High Church-Man and I an Occasional-Conformist or rather if you please an Occasional-Dissenter are not of Opposite Principles but of the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion Is there any particular Part of Religion in what I have Discourst under this Head in which Consideration you do not fully agree with me in all Respects Sure you cannot still think either English-Prelacy or Scotch-Presbytery Jure Divino tho' by the Civil Sanction they be justifyed in the respective Kingdoms where they are Established T' is a wonderful Thing considering for how many Ages Prelacy prevailed in the World and the many Forgeries of Pieces of Antiquities and the Indices Expurgatoriae that have been made that there are so many Things to be said against Jus Divinum out of Antiquity and on the other side 't is wonderful that if Presbyterian Government without a President Bishop had been Jure Divino that so Early as the Year 140. it should be Decreed over all the World to change it to Diocesan-Episcopacy which the Presbyterians indeavour to Prove out of St. Jerom and that in no Age since till of late the Jus Divinum of it should be Discovered And I believe it may be proved that the Albegois and Vaudois Churches which have been pure Churches from the Apostles Days have always allowed of President Bishops tho' not of Diocesans being sole Pastors of a Diocess Jure Divino But this Question is no matter of either Natural or Revealed Religion and therefore hinders me not to Conclude that you and I are not of Opposite Principles but of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion especially since we are both Members also of the National Church heartily Approve of the Laws of the Land and cheerfully pay Obedience to them tho' both you and I would be Glad to see them altered so as to restore Discipline to Establish the Church of England more firmly to make a better Provision for the small Vicarages and Curacys to Unite our Differences and heal our Breaches to Provide for Employing the Poor to Suppress Vice and Immorality more Effectually and to promote Christian Knowledge both at Home and Abroad 2. And having been too Prolix tho' far from Impoverishing the Subject of the first Question I shall be short in my Answer to the other and as to the Second Whether if the Occasional-Bill had past it had secured the Government from such who are not sincere Members of the National Church nor heartily approve of the Laws of the Land nor chearfully pay Obedience to them but are of Opposite Prinnciples and not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion I will only say That 't is plain that altho' the Bill had passed Atheists Deists Socinians those that Value no Religion nor any Church if wise enough to avoid the late Act against Blasphemy Adulterers Common Swearers Extortioners and all those truly Scandalous Occasional-Conformists whose Lives shew that they neither heartily Approve of the Laws of God or of the Land and neither chearfully nor otherwise pay Obedience to them would be Capable of Publick Offices and Employments relating to the Government either in Countries or Corporations notwithstanding that Bill and would have been no way Affected by it a Person of Sober Life that had been in 5 or 6 Years 5 or 600 Times at Church and frequently received the Sacrament according to the Usage of the Church of England might have been removed out of an Office tho' he had also all that while laboured in doing Service to the Church as by Law Establish'd which will be of Everlasting Advantage to it and a Person of a Prosligate Life who had Publickly owned that he had not been at Church for as many Years might be Capable of a Wh. St. f. notwithstanding that Act but this is so Clear That it needs no Proof as to so much of this Question as relates to Religion and if you intend any other Laws the Defacto Men such as believe the Jus Divinum of Absolute Monarchy that take the Oaths to Her Majesty as an Ass eats Thistles that neither heartily Approve of the Laws of the Land abjuring the pretended James the III. and Establishing Her Majesty's Throne and the Protestant Succession nor the Law for Toleration nor chearfully pay Obedience to them would be all unaffected by this Bill surely the Promoters of it thought there was no Sin but going to a Protestant Meeting as one of the Characters in Timon of Athens thought there was no Sin but Murder Thirdly Whether the Administration of Publick Aflairs may not be in the Hands of Persons who are not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion nay of Men of opposite Principles without Confusion or tearing the Government in pieces between them and whether they may not notwithstanding draw together the same way for the Publick Good Now certainly Calvinists and Arminians High-Church and Low-Church Sherlockians and Southians such as take the Articles of the Church to be Articles of Faith and such as take them only to be Articles of Peace such as are for the Occasional-Bill and such as are not such as hold the Pope to be Antichrist and such as do not are not of one and the same Perswasion in Matters of Religion but of opposite Principles and yet Sir Humphrey you will not deny that they may be all employ'd without Confusion or tearing the Government in pieces between them and may notwithstanding draw together the same way for the Publick Good but the truth is this Queens Coronation Sermon p. 24. Mixing of Heaven Earth together as his Grace the Lord Arch-bishop of York expresses it When Men for difference of Opinion about the Methods of the publick Conduct break out into Parties and Factions sacrifice the Peace of the Kingdom to their own private Resentments and mingle Heaven and Earth for the supporting of a Side 'T is this which tears the Government in pieces It were indeed desirable that all the Subjects of England were good Christians for the sake of the Publick and of their own Souls for that Christianity gives the best Rules of Morality and the Name of Jesus Christ is the only Name under Heaven given among Men whereby they can be Saved Yet Faith is the Gift of God and Men may be of great Use in this World who may be very unhappy in the next It is a Notion long since exploded That Dominion is founded in Grace and Honesty Honour Skill and Imegrity may consist with a mistaken Belief as to revealed Religion and in this respect no Religion but the Popish or