in truth I would tell you that if you are a right true Episcopal Protestant which I fear That then in Reason you ought to love the Papists rather than the Obstinate Dissenters Not but that you ought to use your best arguments to convert both yet if you will be partial in your Respect then you ought to shew it to the Papists And the Reason for so doing is this scil Because The Papists are more like the Episcopal-Protestants than any of the Dissenters And you cannot but know so much Philosophy That where there is the greatest Parity and Likeness There ought to be the greatest Love The Parity and Likeness between them is this 1. The Papists are as the Episcopal-Protestants are for the Sacred Order of Episcopacy distinct from that of Presbytery and Deaconship But the Dissenters are all against it 2. The Papists as the Episcopal-Protestants are for Monarchy rather than for Democracy Whereas All the Dissenters are as was Calvin rather for Aristocracy and Democracy Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 20. than Monarchy in the State 3. The Papists as the Episcopal-Protestants are for solemnly Consecrating and Dedicating Churches and Chapels unto the peculiar Service of Almighty God and his Holy Worship But the Dissenters are all against any such pious Dedications and Consecrations for fear say they of placing Holiness in one place more than in another 4. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for an Uniformity in Divine Service and for a Set-Liturgy and for the Peoples Responsals That so all Persons may serve God with one voice and mind and in one way But the Dissenters are against the Impositions of any such Set-Forms and Liturgies 5. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for Imposition of the Decent Ceremonies of the Cross in Baptism of Kneeling in the Eucharist of the Surplice and of Bowing at the Name of Jesus But the Dissenters and Beaufronts and the Reconciler are all against the imposition of them Though it is to be Noted that the Reconciler to hold his Great and manifold Preferments uses them all and one more to wit Bowing to the Altar as he hints to us in his Book 6. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants do not prefer the Pulpit before the Desk a Sermon before the Judicious Prayers of the Church But they Command and Commend both in their due places and order Whereas the Dissenters and Beaufronts Idolize the Rulpit and slight the Desk highly admire and cry-up Sermons and Preaching but cry-down the Prayers of the Church and sometimes in derision have called the Holy Prayers of our Church no better than a Mess of Pottage 7. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are strict for Catechising and for expounding upon the Catechism according to Canon on Sundays in the Afternoon in the open face of the Congregation that thereby not onely the youth but also the elder people may be taught the Principles of Christianity Whereas the Beaufronts and Dissenters will not come to Church at all on a Sunday in the Afternoon if there be onely Catechising and Exposition and no Sermon 8. The Papists as also the Episcopal Protestants will not allow of any Irreverence or walking up and down in any part of the Church or sitting with their Hats on in the Church But all the Beaufronts and Dissenters do permit and allow of this Irreverence and will tell you That a man is Superstitious and Worships the Walls if he Religiously uncovers his head when there is neither Singing nor Praying in the Church But one thing I have observed among them when they have come to our Churches That in time of Sermon which they so much Idolize and prefer before the Prayers they will sit with their Hats on but in time of Prayer they will pull them off as if God was not present in the time of Preaching as well as of Praing I wondered at their doings and once I asked of them Their Reason for it Their Answer was this That in Prayer they by the Minister spoke to God and therefore in Reverence to God they in Prayer pull off their Hats and for this Reason the Quaker now will put off the Hat in Prayer But said they In Sermon or Preaching God by the Minister speaks to us and therefore we put on our Hats lest we should be thought to adore the Minister instead of God As if God was not as much to be adored when he speaks as when he is spoken to Yet this is the Superstition of all the Dissenters I will not except any no not the Presbyterians nor the Independents for though I never was in any of their Conventicles as I know of yet I have frequently observed in our Churches this Superstition in them that is to put on the Hat in Sermon and to put it off in Prayer-time 9. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for Burying all Baptized Persons Christian-like i.e. decently and piously with a Solemn Funeral Office But the Presbyterians are indifferent Presbyterian Directory for Burying whether there be at the Grave any Prayers or Exhortation made to the Living or no They that will may and they that will not may let it alone Just as our Reconciler says p. 341. Reconcil p. 341. They that will have a May-pole shall have one and they that will not have a May-pole shall have none But the Independents and all the other Dissenters are against all Funeral Offices And their Buryals for the most part are no better than that of a Dead Dog or an Asse 10. The Papists as the Episcopal Protestants are for keeping God's House the Church Neat and Clean and if the Papists err in this respect it is in their excess Whereas the Dissenters are for the other extreme to wit for Sordidness and Nastiness in their places of Divine Worship By these and other instances the unprejudiced Reader may perceive in the Papists a great Parity with and resemblance unto the Episcopal Protestants And therefore if the Reconciler be an Episcopal Protestant and if he will be partial in his Affection which is not at all necessary then he ought in Reason to like that Party best which is most like himself But yet I would not have the Reconciler nor my Ingenuous Reader to mistake me As if I pleaded for an Indulgence and favour to be shewn by the King and Government unto the Papists because in some things they resemble us and none to the Dissenters because in no one Essential of either our Church or our State Government are they like us For in truth I am as I ought to be against both Parties Papists and Dissenters This being my Opinion with submission to my Superiours better judgments That if either Papists or Dissenters get the upper hand our Church of England as now Established and our King's Supremacy and Authority will be utterly destroyed And therefore it is humbly conceived That a Reconciliation with the Papists is as impossible and as Pernicious and
194. when it is no Sin but a Duty of the Inferiour to Obey them A Ruler that hath but a bad end or bad circumstances may sin in commanding And yet it will be the Subjects Duty to Obey Yea as to the Matter it self it may be unlawfull for a Ruler to command a thing that will doe no good And yet it may be the Subjects Duty to doe it Therefore says Mr. Baxter remember that ye do not prove it sinfull in you to doe such things Ibid. p. 195. by proving it a sin in the Imposer unless ye have some better Reason and can shew a Law of God forbidding you And elsewhere he tells his Reader That a Form or Liturgy defective may and must be used rather than a Schism by Separation be made and rather than the Churches Edification be hindered by our Non-complyance with such a defective Form His own words are If I am restrained from the Publick Preaching of the Gospel or exercise of my Ministery Ibid. Direct 32. p. 185 186. unless I will use a more disordered or defective Form I shall take it for my Duty then to use it for to use a more defective Form with Liberty to use my best Gifts also and to exercise my Ministery publickly to all is more to the Churches Edification than by Separation to use my Gifts onely a few days in a Corner and then for my Disobedience to he in Prison and use them no more Thus far Mr. Baxter pleads excellently for Obedience to our King and Governours in things indifferent and which are not forbidden by some express Law of God and that not the King nor the Imposers but the Separatists and Disobedient are the Authours and Causes of the Schism and Faction throughout the Body of the Nation And great pity it is ☞ that Mr. Baxter's own practice by a daily Separation from the Church of England and by his Constant Disobedience to the King 's and Governours Impositions of things Indifferent should so Notoriously Contradict his own Doctrine But to return to our Reconciler and to speak ad hominem The Sin of not observings things indifferent when lawfully commanded is the sole and chief cause of the Schism This is no more than what the Reconciler himself has owned to be true in many places of his * Protest Recon c. 1. p. 22. c. 2. p. 29. c. 3. p. 58 59. c. 5. p. 145. and Preface p. 59. Book When he Exhorts the Dissenters to obey the King and Governours and to Conform to their Impositions And his Argument persuading the Dissenters to Obedience and Conformity is this scil Because the Ceremonies imposed are things Indifferent Ergo The Dissenters ought to Obey and Conform Lest by their Disobedience they become Guilty of Schism For Separating when they ought not to Separate * I verily believe all Separate Congregations in the Nation which are not Subject to the Government of our Diocesans are Schismatical and that all they who abet and head them and exercise among themselves a Spiritual Jurisdiction Independent on them do set up Altar against Altar Prot. Recon Preface p. 59. Thus our Reconciler is become a very Bifrons a Janus with Two Faces And with the One He looks upon the King and Governours as the onely Authours of our Schisms and Factions for Imposing things Indifferent But with the other He looks on the Dissenters as the onely Authours and Causes of the Schisms throughout the Nation for their not Conforming to the Ceremonies imposed which are things Lawfully to be observed they being things Indifferent As to the Reconciler's other Reason scil That the King and Governours are therefore the Authours of all our Schisms Because they require Subscription †Protestant Reconciler c. 1. p. 7. to things Indifferent c. It is as scandalous to the King and Governours and as false as the other Argument And can be published for no other end But to amuse the World and to prejudice the People against the King and his Government For did not God himself require an Oath which is much more than Subscription of the Priests and People of Israel thereby strictly binding them to observe not onely his Moral but also his Ceremonial Law which chiefly consisted of things Indifferent before they were lawfully Imposed and Commanded And I pray Are not Kings God's Vicegerents And is it not their Prerogative to be like God and to Imitate him in all things lawfull and expedient And did not the Religious Kings and Princes of old Nehem. 5.12 c. 10.29 2 Chron. 15.14 2 Chron. 34.21 33. particularly Nehemiah Asa and Josias make the People take an Oath and to Swear Vniformity and Conformity to God's Laws and to some things that were Indifferent in themselves And have not all Christian Kings and Princes throughout all Ages imitated those Godly Kings when they went about Reformation Have they not required Subscription to their Pious Orders and Constitutions The Reconciler is not able to mention any one Christian Council or Christian Emperour King or Prince that ever made any Canons Laws or Constitutions for Government of the Church and State but they required either an Oath or Subscription for the better observation of their said Canons and Laws or else they subjoyned a dreadfull Punishment such as an Anathema and Excommunication upon Obstinate Disobedience And yet those Primitive Councils and Ancient Christian Emperours ☞ were never Scandalized as is our Gratious King and Governours nor ever said to be the Authours of Schisms and Factions for requiring Subscriptions and strict Obedience unto their Impositions of things indifferent as our King Bishops and Governours are said to be by the Scurrilous Reconciler SECT II. According to the Reconciler The King and Governours are Proud Men and the Plagues of the Earth for Imposing things Indifferent Take the Reconciler's own words IT seemeth Pride for men to institute unnecessary Rites and Ceremonies and say I Command you all to Worship God according to these my Institutions and Inventions and he that will not thus Worship him shall not have liberty to Worship him at all Note Reader * A Great Lie cast upon the Kingand Government that this is an Abominable Lye told of the King and our Governours for by Act of Parliament Any Man with any Company not exceeding five may in his own House worship God in any manner If says the Reconciler the work of Church-Government be to make small Matters great and make that damnable which before was lawfull and this without any Necessity at all Prot. Recon c. 10. p. 328. it will tempt the People as it does the Reconciler to think such Governours to be The Plagues of the Earth To confirm all this Harangue the Reconciler quotes Mr. Baxter's Disp 5th of Human. Cerem Ch. 14. Sect. 8. and Ch. 5. Sect. 4. And in the following words he says Prot. Recon ibid. p. 328 329. That not the Dissenters for Disobeying But
Clarke a Noted Presbyterian writes of Knox. How that in Queen Maryes days Clark's Martyrol p. 293. Mr. Knox fled into Germany where at Frankfort an English Congregation was setled who served God after the English Rubrick published by King Edward the Sixth But Mr. Knox coming thither disturbed the aforesaid Congregation and made a Schism among them for Knox cryed down the English Service-Book And drew up a Liturgy which was says Clark the very same with that used at Geneva which Calvin had composed But Dr. Cox a Prelatical Man stood up stoutly in Defence of the English Service Book And he complained to the Magistrates That Mr. Knox his Doctrine and Discipline was inconsistent with the safety of Monarchical Government And that he had Preached and Published Seditious Doctrine against the Emperour All which being proved Mr. Knox fled to Basil And there he set up the Genevian-Anti-Monarchical Discipline Afterwards upon the Death of Queen Mary the said Mr. Knox went into Scotland And infected that Nation with his Presbyterian Doctrine Preaching That Kings are to give an Account of their evil Government not onely unto God but also unto the People who entrusted them with the Magistratical Power And that Vngodly Princes such as are all Popish Princes are no less enemies to Christ than was Nero c. And there in Scotland the said Knox set up his Scotch-Kirk and Presbyterian Consistory which assumed to its self a Power over Kings to that Degree as that King James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England who knew them too well to trust them said He would never admit of the Presbyterian Government in England G. G. Ch. Hist of Gr. Brit. p. 268. lest every Jack and Tom in the Consistory should Censure Him and his Council as they had done in Scotland And as thus Calvin in Geneva and Knox in Scotland setled Presbyterian Consistories in Opposition to Monarchy Episcopacy and all Regal Supremacy So did Whittingham Cartwright and Travers who every one of them had been New-principled at Geneva come over from beyond Sea and endeavoured to settle the Like here in England To which purpose One of them broached his Anti-Monarchical Principles at Cambridge being there made a Professour and slily poysoned That Fountain with the putrid waters of Geneva's Lake for which he was Deposed Another of them did the like in the Temple at London being chosen Lecturer thereof And there he infected the other sort of Gown Men even the Lawyers for which he was Silenced They i. e. the Presbyterians thus having got as they thought both Law and Divinity on their side proceeded so high as to fix their Consistories in several places of this our Land In all which Consistories they Declared against Subscription to the English Rubrick and against the Queens Supremacy and the Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons and against the Ceremonies of the Church And thus they would have run on to an higher rate even to the unsetling the Established Government both in Church and State Had not Queen Elizabeth interposed her Authority and by her care and prudence soon put a stop to their carreir The like did King James in Scotland soon after by the advice of Bishop Bancroft who before Queen Elizabeths Death kept correspondence with King James and discovered to him the Inconsistency of the Presbyterian Principles and Consistories with Monarchy in that they Deny'd The King's Supremacy And King James was so far convinced of the truth of what he Asserted Heyl. Life of Arch-Bishop Laud p. 62.63 as that when he came to the Crown of England he caused several eminent Scotch-Divines to be Consecrated Bishops according to our English Rubrick And sent them hence back into their own Country and placed them in several Diocesses in Scotland And by their Prudence and Assistence King James restored His own Supremacy and the Protestant Episcopacy again in that Kingdom which ever since has had a Being there though not a Well-Being by reason of the late Bloudy-Rebellions made against the King by the Presbyterians who all were and still are under an Oath and Covenant to maintain their Consistorian Power against the King's Supremacy and the Churches Episcopacy which verifies King James his Proverb No BISHOP No KING And what the Presbyterians have been in Scotland the very same have they been and still are here in England For they All are still if not by Oath yet by Principle against The King's Supremacy And therefore we may safely conclude them to be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. III. The Independents no Protestants THis Sect and Generation of People are as Dangerous to the State and Church as the Presbyterians and in some respect worse Because they are against a National Church which the Presbyterians acknowledge They make every Individual Gathered Congregation An absolute Church Independent on all other Congregational Churches And therefore are they called Independents So that Every Individual Independent Congregation is invested with a Supremacy of their own And challenge to themselves a Power to Censure Condemn and to Excommunicate any man whether Magistrate Prince or Peasant And that which excells Popery it self The Independent individual Church will allow of no Appeal from their Sentence whether right or wrong unto any other Power And the Reason for it is this scil Because They own no Power on Earth to be above them They being a perfect Church of themselves have the Supremacy absolutely within themselves Hence it is that Dr. Owen the greatest Independent in England says and that very consistently with his own Independent Principles That all Church Power is Originally in the People Owen's Vindica p. 37. who have the casting Vote in their Congregational Church And this is the Professed Doctrine of the Independent Churches in New-England Whose Supreme Magistrates are all chosen Annually by the People of God that is * This is one of their Fundamental Laws Vid. New-England Statutes And if our King should par pari referre in Old England then none should be chosen or Chuse Parliament-Men but onely Protestants i. e. Onely such who are for the King's Supremacy and the Churches Episcopacy by the Members of the Independent Congregations and by no other For in New-England Let a Man be never so vertuous and sober so rich and wealthy yet if he be not a Member of some of their particular Independent Congregations He is not capable of giving a Vote for a Governour nor of being chosen a Governour among them And as all Governours in New-England are chosen by the People so all their Governours and Magistrates if they err and transgress in Government or become wicked and vitious in manners they are all subject to the censure of the People and the Church for in New England none is to be a Governour or Magistrate but he who is endued with Grace and is Godly in their Sense Their great State Maxim being this scil Dominium Fundatur in Gratia That All Dominion and Government
and not ye nor any else are the Couragious Gallant Spirited Men who in Our Zeal for God and his Glory Killed not to say Murthered the late King We were the Justiciaries who paid unto Him the proper Wages of his sin which was death And now Surely any pious heart would have thought That all the Sect of Independents with one consent would have sharply exclaimed against this Traytour and his Treason But pudet dictu instead of that The Independents Cryed up and Applauded this their Champion And sent forth into the Field two others to be his Seconds For Soon after Johannes Melaina Bdella alias John Blackbdell appears * Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John Milton the Blind Independent Historian and †Jo. Goodwin's Defence of the SENTENCE passed on the KING John Goodwin the Independent Pastour of Colemanstreet London Both Wrote in Justification of King Charles his Tryal and Execution And we heartily wish Dr. Owen yet Surviving would Recant his Treasonable Words spoken to the Commons of the Rump Parliament the very day after the King's Murther on Jan. 31. 1648. when he said He that is trusted with the Sword and dares not doe Justice on every one that dares doe Injustice is afraid of the Creature But makes very bold with the Creatour From these and an hundred other Instances which might be brought it is evident That the Independents were the Professed Enemies of the late King and of this his present Majesty And although the Presbyterians began the War and the Rebellion against King Charles the First yet it was the Independents who carryed it on unto the Death For Who but the Independents debarred the Secluded Presbyterian-Members that began to Repent of their Rebellion from entring the House of Commons Who but the Independents Brake up the Presbyterian-Assembly of Divines What was Oliver and his New-Reform'd Army But Independents and Anabaptists Who continued the War and Rebellion after the King's Murther But the Independents And when the Whole Nation Groaned under the Oliverian-Tyranny and Oppression And Long'd for the Present King's-Restauration Who opposed it but the Independents Was it not Mr. Caryll the Great Independent that was Sent * Church-Hist of Gr. Brit. p. 367. in the Name of all the Independent Churches unto General Monk in Scotland with Arguments to divert and hinder him from Marching on into England urging this for one Reason to wit That if he did persist Then †Mr. Caryll's Speech in the Name of the Independent Churches Charles Stuart King of the Scots and his Party would reap Great Advantages and as it was feared would soon be Restored and the Perizzites and Canaanites in the Land would Triumph And the People of God for so he called his own Party would be brought into great danger And when General Monk was Marched into England against Lambert Who was it But the Independents that in their Juncto Voted on Jan. 2. 1659. That No man whatever should be a Councillour of State But onely he who took an Oath of Abjuration of the King his Family and Government And I pray Who was it But Doctor Owen Head of the present Independents that since the Act of Oblivion and of Vniformity Dr. Owen's Vindica cult Evang. Satyrically called All the Church of England and therefore among them the King Limbs of Antichrist and said Dissenters Sayings That the Ministery of the Church of England is False Superstitious and Idolatrous And that Persons performing the Publick-Worship in the Church of England are No Officers appointed by Christ But are an Anti-Christian Ministery and Idolaters Now What is all this But the very same Railery and Doctrine continued which was formerly Preached and Vented by the same Man Dr. Owen's Thanksgiving Sermon 1651. on Octob. 24. 1651. when he Queried in the Pulpit What is this Prelacy A mere Anti-Christian Encroachment upon the Inheritance of Christ And it is to be noted That this Independent Doctor Preached and Printed this his Anti-Prelatical Sermon soon after Worcester-Fight when the Oppressed Nation was in great Hopes That Monarchy and Episcopacy would have been restored And truely in all probability they both had been Restored had not the Independent Army prevailed and prevented So that all the Calamities and Troubles which our King and our Nation met with after Worcester-Fight they were all occasioned by the Independents And all the Bloud Shed then and since in the Defence of the Present King and his Government as also the Bloud of King Charles the Martyr it all chiefly lies at the Independents Door And more particularly at That Man's Door who has in Print Justified the said Murther and Rebellion So that we may truely say to him what Nathan said to David Thou Art The Man We will add onely two instances more as First That of the Independent Authour His BOOK Entitled One Blow more at BABYLON Printed 1650. It is well known saith he that the late King was not Murthered by the Parliament Page 57. but fell by the stroke of Justice and that so Legally and Righteously administred for his bloudy Crimes he became guilty of in the Face of Heaven that we doubt not but God was well pleased with it and will clear the inflicters of it if they keep their integrity against all their Accusers and Condemners whatsoever Secondly The Character which Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton gave of the Independents in which they say That the Independents are Revilers Covenant-Breakers with God and Man Hereticks Causers of Divisions and Offences and such as all Christians ought to take heed of and not to bid them God Speed And yet these are the Godly the Conscientious Men Our Reconciler would have the King and Government to admit into the Bosome and Communion of our Church of England and that without any Publick Penance or Abrenunciation of their Treasonable and Anti Protestant Positions But For as much as these Men have and still do peremptorily deny The King's Supremacy We therefore Conclude them as we did the Presbyterians to be No Protestants CHAP. IV. The Anabaptists No Protestants THis Sect has as many Names as Hydra had Heads Full. Hist l. 5. p. 229. and therefore it may well be called The Monster of Religion or rather of Impiety This Monster Swiming over from Amsterdam as did the Presbyterian from Geneva made its first unlucky Arrival in England about 29 Hen. 8.1538 Their Opinions are innumerable And therefore we will onely take notice of such of them as speak them Enemies 1. To the King's Supremacy in the Church 2. To his Monarchy in the State 1. The King by his Supremacy is to order all matters in the Church so as in his Royal wisedom he shall think most consistent with the revealed will of God in his written word and most conducing to the advancement of God's Glory Religions Honour and of the Churches wellfare Whereas the Anabaptists deny this power to be granted by God unto Kings or to
Commotions and Insurrections against their Princes As was Thomas Muntzer one of the first Anabaptists in Europe who gathered a great number of Common people together upon the account of Religion and Tender Conscience and Headed them in a Bloudy Rebellion against the Princes of Germany Though it pleased God that this Religious Traytour was overcome in Battel and deservedly executed for his Treason It would be endless to enumerate all their Treasonable Principles for with them as with all others the Proverb is true Mores sequuntur Humores Mens Practices are the Natural Results and effects of their Principles And therefore forasmuch as the Anabaptists Principles are Treasonable and Anti-Protestant Declaring against The King's Supremacy in Church And His Monarchy in State We may and ought to Conclude them as we did the Presbyterians and Independents To be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. V. The Quakers No Protestants THis is a Sect of Men who also pretend to Religion and like bad Weeds have in a very short time grown high and numerous within this our pleasant Garden of England And truely they are outwardly whatever they be inwardly more modest than the three former Dissenters in that these men knowing their own Principles and Practices to be directly opposite to the Protestant Religion have not presumed as did the three other to Name themselves Protestants But have been Content to pass under the Denomination of The PEOPLE of GOD Commonly Called QVAKERS And as for their Tenets and Principles no man is able to give a perfect Account of them They being a Maniple of Confusion Nor are they among themselves agreed what are their own Doctrines and Principles Witness their own Writers who Contradict one another Onely in these particulars they all agree 1. To deny The King's Supremacy 2. The Churches Episcopacy 3. The Lawfulness of taking an Oath and of Swearing before a Civil Magistrate And in one thing they are out of a Principle of pretended Sanctity more Rude and Inhumane than any of their Dissenting Brethren In that they obstinately refuse to pay to the King or to any Person whatever the Common Civility of outward Respect and Reverence and do deny the King and all Magistrates the Civil Honour and Complement of the very Hat And this is to be noted That although the Quakers will not Swear in their own Persons Because it is a sin to Swear yet they will desire and sometimes hire others to take an Oath and Swear for them and to sin in their stead as frequently they doe in the case of Burying in Woollen onely nay sometimes they will procure Knights of the Post to Swear for them Persons who never saw their Dead either laid forth wound up or Buryed and yet have Sworn and made Affidavit before the Justice of the Peace onely upon the Credit of their Word As the Writer of these Lines once discovered and advised the said Quakers to take up their Dead out of the Grave and to get a true Oath to be made according to Law the which advice they within the time did follow and saved their forfeiture In truth this Action of the Quakers in getting others to Swear for them seems to us very like David's killing the poor Man's Lamb to save his own But forasmuch as the Quakers abhor a Reconciliation with the Episcopal-Protestant Church of England We therefore think it had been more proper for the Reconciler to have urged Arguments rather for their Conviction than for their Reconciliation For untill He has convinced them and the other Dissenters of their Errours and Disloyalties it is Impertinency not to say Teason for him or any other to persuade the King and Government unto a Condescention towards them or such as them who are all by their Principles obliged for ever to be Enemies to The King's Supremacy And as Impertinent and Ridiculous is it for the Reconciler to persuade his Mother as he calls the Church of England to be reconciled to such as these This being to persuade a Reconciliation Between LIGHT and DARKNESS Between YEA and NAY Wherefore seeing these things are impossible we do from the Premisses Conclude The Quakers As we did their former Brethren In DISSENTION Not to say In INIQVITY To be No PROTESTANTS CHAP. VI. The RECONCILER'S Design proved to be as Pretended IMPOSSIBLE HAving hitherto given the Reader a short account of all the most considerable Sects in England and proved them to be No Protestants We now presume That the Reconciler cannot but by this time perceive his own Mistake and Confess That the TITLE of his Book is False And that he has gratified by Printing it no Party of Protestants but the Beaufronts alias Whigs and Trimmers who are of no Religion Because they are of every Religion according to their company and interest And we hope he will acknowledge his Pretended Design if true to be impossible Because Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers and All Dissenters if true and constant to their own Principles will ever remain such i. e. Dissenters for no Soap can wash the Blackamoor white And therefore it is utterly impossible for the Church of England to be Reconciled to them Unless the Reconciler would have the Church of England to Vn-church her self and become the Mother and Patroness of all Sects and Religions at one and the same time Now if this should ever happen to be as the Reconciler desires may be pray What an uggly Monster what a deformable Beast must the Church of England be even worse than the Scarlet-coloured Beast in the Revelations Rev. 17.3 which was full of Names of Blasphemy full of Abominations and Filthiness But we cannot imagine the Reconciler's Brains to be so shallow as ever to think Impossibilities feasible as he must if ever he thinks it feasible to reconcile the Episcopal Church of England and the Dissenters whilst they continue such In our apprehension the Reconciler may as well plead for the Church of Englands Condescention to and Reconciliation with the Papists as with the Dissenters For the Dissenters are as dangerous to the King and his Monarchy and to the Church of England and her Episcopacy as the Papists And therefore if the Dissenters may be brought into the Body of our Church and be indulged because of their tender Consciences notwithstanding their erroneous and treasonable Principles Then pray Mr. Reconciler Why may not the Papists also for the same reason be indulged For Thousands of the Papists have proved themselves to be men of great Conscience by their constant Loyalty to the King in Temporals notwithstanding their Obligations to the Pope in Spirituals as also by strict and frequent Fasts according to their Churches Orders and by their daily devotions and great Charity even to their very Enemies as well as to their Friends and by their sober inoffensive Lives by these and other instances you may see that the Papists do not onely prosess but also live Christianity in many degrees above the generality of Dissenters or
of the Beaufront Protestants Now if this be a truth as verily it is then pray Sir seeing as you pretend that you wrote your Book onely to ease your own Conscience and that poor Dissenters may not be damned by being excluded our Church why then Sir will you damn the Conscientious Papists by excluding them for you do in your Book exclude all the Papists as the Onely Common Enemy to our Church and State As if the Dissenters were no Enemies to either as if they dear innocent Souls had no Gall or Bitterness no Malice or Ill-will against the King and his Government Sir you are become an eloquent Tertullus a great Apologizer for not onely some but even all the Dissenters When in Page 108 and Page 114 of your Book you declare to the whole world in these very words Their Innocency and your own good opinion of them Protestant Reconciler p. 113 114. saying I Sincerely profess I know not any pure Malice Obstinacy and Wilfulness which can certainly be applied unto the Case of the Dissenters Surely Sir you will for once eat your words and Confess That you know some yet Surviving who entred into a Malitious Scotch-Covenant against the late King and obstinately raised a Bloudy-War against Him and his present Majesty and you know farther That They have not as yet Openly declared their Repentance and sorrow for so doing Ergo You know some that still continue Obstinate and Malitious as the Learned Dr. Womack and Faulkland have informed you Surely Sir you knew or at least have heard of Oliver Cromwell and his Malitious Army that Murthered King Charles the First and you know many of that Army do yet survive without declaring the least Abhorrency of that Horrid Action Ergo Did you never know nor hear of Tho. Venner and his Company who in 1660 shot and fired at the King 's peaceable Subjects in London Streets and pleaded They did it out of a Tender Conscience and for King Jesus his sake And is there not one Fifth Monarchy Man of all your Acquaintance Did you never hear of a late Malitious Association carryed on by the Beaufronts and the Dissenters against the King and the Church Government The which if you will believe the King 's late Declaration would in all likelyhood had it took effect have proved more fatal and destructive to the King and the Church of England as now established than ever the Scotch Covenant And I pray Sir don't you know one of these Associatours Did you never know Stephen Colledge that was hang'd at Oxford I wonder in what County you live For in all Counties the Associatours exceedingly abound both Beaufronts and Dissenters And 't is observed that the Beaufronts are of this humour That they will on Sunday Morning go to their Parish-Church and in the Afternoon to a Conventicle in the Afternoons they will never come to Divine Service nor to Catechising nor to Exposition on the Church Catechism though never so profitable and large yet if there be no Sermon in the Pulpit they will turn their back upon Divine Service and either go to another Church where there is no Catechising but a Sermon or to a Conventicle or else they will stay at home and Scurrilously Rail at the King and Bishops and be sure at their own Parson and complain that he is lazy and idle although he be never so laborious and painfull in his Exposition on the Church Catechism and in instructing old and young according to the Church Canons in the Desk Yet because he does not in the Afternoon ascend the Pulpit and beat the Cushion he cannot escape the Virulency of their Tongues And Mr. Reconciler in one County a Canonical Parson being sent for to Preach before his Diocesan he was thereby prevented from Reading Divine Service the next day which fell out to be an Holy-day at his own Parish Church Hereupon it happened that the Dissenters and Beaufronts in the said Parish who never came to Divine Service on Holy-days went from House to House in the said Town railing on the said Parson tauntingly saying Look ye Neighbours ye see what care the Parson has of his Parishioners Souls He is gone out of Town and has left no Body to Reade Prayers to morrow it is very true for we have been with the Clark to know the truth And if we should die before Sunday we may all be Damned for all the Parson's care of us A Vengeance on him and on all his Tribe They mind onely the Fleece and not the Flock c. And yet you must know that when the said Parson is at home he never misses if he be well the Reading of Divine Service on Holy days at his Parish Church no although he has had no other Auditours but the Walls and those few of his own Family And when the said Parson has as he often has called upon the aforesaid Dissenters and Beaufronts to frequent the Divine Service on the Holy-days They have answered him to his very face and complained That Holy days were first of the Pope's Superstitious Appointment And that they doe more hurt than good for they make Servants idle and bad Husbands And farther said they What need we goe to Church on the Week-days Sunday is enough God required but One Day in Seven We can Pray at home as well as at the Church Come Sir we must tell you that you have a Pope in your Heart and that makes you so Superstitious as to Observe Days of Man's Inventions And now pray Mr. Reconciler be ingenuous and tell the truth What think you of this true Story for it is no Romance Do you not think these men were and all men like them are Malitious Obstinate and Turbulent But because you profess you know not one of them pray Know you not one Associatour or Beaufront besides your Dear Self in all your Town and Country Know you none of the Men of Shaftsbury Or Are they and all your Acquaintance since Stephen Colledge his Execution transformed from Associatours into Abhorrers from Knaves into Honest Men If so it is very good News But if not then pray Sir What makes you plead so earnestly in their behalf as even to Damn the King and Government if they do not Humour you in Granting to the aforesaid Factious Beaufronts and Dissenters a speedy Condescention But to wave this Digression and to return to our former Querie Pray Sir tell us What Reason is there That the Dissenters should be indulged and the Papists prosecuted Or why should the Dissenters onely be saved by an Admission into our Church-Communion But the Papists though never so Religious be Damned by an Exclusion for according to your Doctrine If Exclusion will damn the one it must also damn the other But you will object and plead 1. That the Papists are Idolaters and therefore ought not to be indulged But I pray Does not Doctour Owen in totidem verbis say the like of us How that all the
Dangerous if possible as a Reconciliation with the Dissenters For it is evident That unless the Papists will Renounce the Pope's Supremacy and so cease to be Papists And unless the Dissenters will acknowledge the King's Supremacy and so cease to be Dissenters Unless these two things be granted It is impossible for the Church of England as now established to be Reconciled unto either of these Schismaticks whether Papists or Dissenters Nor is it safe for the Government to admit of Schismaticks into our Church-Fellowship S. Cyprian de Vnit Eccl. §. 8.298 for Schismatici duos Episcopos duos Greges in una Ecclesia constituunt and they will bring in Confusion which is the destruction of all Order and Government Et dum Conventicula sibi diversa constituunt Ibid. 299. veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt c. which words of St. Cyprian we will leave to the Conventiclers of both Parties to translate and seriously to consider We being well assured that the Principles of both Papists and Dissenters are inconsistent with Truth and with the Well-being of our Established Government in Church and State For as has been already proved Papists and Dissenters Deny the King's Supremacy And therefore notwithstanding their taking the Oath of Allegiance which many of them have taken the King has no firm Security for the Preservation of his Life and Crown from either Papists or Dissenters For if the Pope should command the Papists as he did Ravillac or if the Consistory bid the Presbyterians as it did in the Deposition and Expulsion of Mary Queen of Scotland or if the Congregational-Church bid the Independent as in the Murthering of the late King or if the Spirit move and bid the Anabaptist and Quaker as it did Venner to raise War against the King because he is an Heretick and an ungodly Man and to Depose and Kill him not being fit for Government Then they all both Papists and Diffenters must according to their several Principles obey their several Orders and must Fight against Depose and Murther the King and destroy all that side with him Wherefore that neither the King's Life and Crown nor our own Privileges and Immunities may be exposed to their Cruelty and Usurpation We humbly conceive it necessary That the Laws of the Realm should stand in force equally against both Papists and Dissenters Because there is no party of men in this Kingdom that ever were or can be according to their Principles true and faithfull in all respects to the King and the Government in Church and State as now Established but onely the Episcopal Protestants And for a farther confirmation of this great Truth we have the Attest of our present Dread Sovereign in his Royal and Noble Speech unto the * Dr. Gower Vice-Chancellour Vniversity of Cambridge upon their humble and Loyal Address made to him at New Market Sept. 18. 1681. In which His Majesty was graciously pleased to Oblige them and indeed the whole Nation with the following words and Assurances to wit That He would constantly own and defend the Church of England King Charles the Second his Speech to the Vniversity of Cambridge Printed in the London-Gazette by Authority as Established by Law of this He bid them be Assured for He would be as good as his word Notwithstanding whatever Representation either had or should be made of him to the contrary Being farther pleased to add That there was no other Church in the World that Taught and Practised Loyalty so Conscientiously as that did In truth This short but pithy Speech of His Sacred Majesty is a full Answer to the Reconciler's whole Book especially to that part of it which so unworthily Misrepresents His Majestie 's former Declarations to the eye and ear of the World CHAP. VII The Reconciler's Design proved to be As Managed Malitious and Treasonable towards the King and Governours both of Church and State OUr Church and State of England at present God be Praised are by the Divine Providence and by the King 's wise Conduct of Affairs in a very prosperous well-ordered and Setled State and Condition And therefore for any Man to wish and endeavour as does the Reconciler their disturbance by an unnecessary Alteration of their Established Laws is truely to wish them a worse state and condition than at present they are in And so to wish and endeavour is according to the Stoicks Philosophy the height of Envy and Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. Zeno l. 7. p. 506. c. Now that the Reconciler's Design is as he has managed it thus Malitious and Treasonable Towards the King in Scandalizing and Blaspheming Him And towards the Church as now Established in representing her Bishops and Governours as Anti christian Cruel and Tyrannizing over Godly Mens Consciences And in prostituting her pious Orders and Constitutions to Publick Scorn and Derision That it is so Will be the Task of the following Lines and Sections to prove SECT I. The Reconciler Scandalously makes The King and Governours the Authours of all our present Schisms and Factions And that for Two Reasons 1. BEcause they impose things indifferent upon the People 2. Because the King and Governours require of the Clergy subscriptions to the things Imposed As to the First the Reconciler's own words are Why do Superiours still continue the Imposition of those Indifferent things Reconciler c. 1. p. 30 31. which do occasion the Schism c And in Page 339. he Argues and Queries thus Page 339. Whether those Rules of the Church which concern things indifferent should not be altered or relaxed when it so happeneth that an Horrid Schism with all its dreadfull consequences is by Imposition of them caused throughout the Body of the Nation But a little to stop the Carreir of this fierce WRITER and to Vindicate the Honour and Justice of our King and Governours as to this particular we entreat it may be noted That the Reconciler is not onely Disloyal towards his Prince and Superiours in so Aspersing them But also Disingenuous towards his Ignorant Reader in so miserably imposing upon him For the truth of the matter is briefly this To wit Not the Imposers of things indifferent But the Separatists and Disobedient are the Sole Causes of the Schism For it is Confessed by the Reconciler and by the Separatists that the things Imposed are things Indifferent in themselves and have no sinfulness in them And therefore the not observing them when by Lawfull Authority Commanded is a Sin of Rebellion and Disobedience And this sin of not Observing things Indifferent when Lawfully imposed is the sole and Prime Cause of the Schism Nay Mr. Baxter presses farther scil That although it be a sin in the Magistrate to Command yet it is a Duty in the People to Obey His Command in things not sinfull in themselves Mr. Baxter's own words are Many a Ruler sinneth in his Commands Baxter's Cure of Church-Divisions Direct 34. p.
the Governours for Commanding Obedience in things Indifferent are the Disturbers of the Churches Peace SECT III. According tot he Reconciler The King and Governours Deserve Death for imposing things Indifferent The Reconciler's own Words are YOu Superiours Sect. Recon c. 10. p. 329. King and Governours disturb the Church much more Sinfully than the Dissenters by laying such Snares as shall unavoidably procure it i. e. a disturbance and then taking occasion by it to make a greater disturbance by your Cruel Execution ☞ If the Fly offend and deserve death by incautelously falling into the Spider's Web What doth the Spider that is the King and Governours deserve that out of her own Bowels Spread this Net in the way and kills the Fly that is taken in it Your own Actions most concern your selves try therefore whether you doe well in Commanding and Punishing as well as whether others offend in disobeying Thus far the Reconciler for which he again quotes Mr. Baxter Now What Sense can there be made of this Similitude between the Fly and the Spider but this to wit That the Venemous Spider is the King and the Governours who lay Snares for the People by Imposing on them Strict Laws for the Observation of Ceremonies and things Indifferent And that the Harmless innocent Fly are the Dissenters who are caught in the Snares of the Laws made by the King and Governours and for their Rebellion and Disobedience are either put to Death or Cruelly Punished And therefore according to the Reconciler as the Spider Deserved Death for making Webs by which the Fly was Caught So does the King and Governours deserve Death for making Laws by which the People are Caught and Restrained their Liberty and their Tender Consciences Imposed upon as to things Indifferent Never let this Authour any more Write against the Jesuits for their Treason untill he quits himself of the same SECT IV. The King and Governours according to the Reconciler are Traytors to the Common-Wealth and Betrayers of the Peoples Liberties for Imposing upon them Things Indifferent And that therefore the People ought not to yield to their Impositions But ought To Rebell and Vindicate their Christian Liberty The Reconciler's own Words are BOth these things that is Prot. Recon c. 5. p. 160 161. the Superiours King and Governours Imposing things Indifferent and requiring Subscription to them Both these things do put a necessary abstention and restraint upon us as to the use of these things if therefore says the Reconciler by so doing i. e. the Superiours our King and Governours if they in effect Betray our Liberties Dissenters ought not to yeild to them in the least nor should good Christians by a Vow restrain themselves from the free use of things Indifferent And as bad or rather worse Treason does the Reconciler utter p. 338. Where he plainly Suggests Two things by which Suggestions he extremely prejudices and incends the-Giddy-Vulgar against the King and his Government He Suggests 1. That the King and Governours are going about to Betray the City and Common-Wealth unto the Enemy 2. That therefore The Subjects May and Ought to Rebell and Vindicate their own Privileges For the Subjects may says the Reconciler neglect and transgress the Orders and Commands of their King and Superiours In hopes of a Greater Good The Reconciler's own Words are Secondly I Answer with the Learned Camero Prot. Recon c. 10. p. 338. That even Order may be not onely laid aside but even neglected and transgressed for a Greater Good As when a Citizen doth volantarily rise up against a Magistrate who is endeavouring to Betray the City to the Enemy or a common Souldier against a Rebellious Officer Never did Hugh Peters Preach and Print greater Treason For upon the pretended force of this very Treasonable Argument of the Reconciler's did Oliver and the Rump with their Rebellious Army cut off King Charles the First His Head Pretending to the People That the said King was going about to bring in Popery and to Betray the City of London and the whole Nation to their Enemies and deprive them of their Liberties And because as they alleged that He Imposed such Ceremonies and Orders upon Tender Consciences as would Damn the Souls of Myriads Therefore it was that the late Rebels made War against the said King and Murthered Him And loe Here is a Second Hugh Peters one that styles himself not onely a Protestant but a Priest nay a Cathedral-Man and therefore Doubly obliged to the King and the Church yet loe Here is Such an One That dares publish in Print That it is not onely lawfull but necessary to Neglect and Transgress the Magistrate's Orders and to Rebell if so be The Subjects apprehend a Greater Good will accrew to them thereby That is to say If the Subjects do fear that Myriads of Souls will be Damned by the King 's and Magistrates Impositions But may and will be Saved by their Rebellion and Transgressing such Orders and Impositions Then according to the Reconciler the Subjects May and Ought to Rebell The Reconciler's own words farther are Now says he Charity is greater than Faith Ibid. c. 10. p. 338. and therefore is a greater Good than Order in Extrinsecalls and the Salvation of Souls is the end of Order That therefore must be better than the Means and consequently Order may be transgressed when it is Necessary for that end to be so That is in plain English The King 's and Governours Orders and Laws may Lawfully be Transgressed Treason and Rebellion may Lawfully be Committed whenever the People shall think for their Greater Good and Ease it should be So. Thus the Reconciler takes the Liberty and Confidence to speak out that Treason which the Shamefaced Dissenter dares onely conceive in heart and mind And which of the Two is the most Malitious and dangerous to the King and his Government we will leave to others to determine SECT V. The Reconciler Scandalously affirms That the King and Governours want Piety and Prudence And therefore it is that they impose upon the People Things Indifferent FOr Proof of this the Reconciler quotes Doctour Tillotson though very Falsely The Reconciler's own words are If then this be not done to wit Prot. Recon Preface p. 19. an Abolition of things Indifferent it must be in his Judgment that is in Dr. Tillotson's Judgment through defect of Piety and Prudence in some men that is if he writes sense Tillots Serm. on St. John 13 34.34 p. 28. through defect of Piety and Prudence in the King and Governours especially of the Church for of such Dr. Tillotson treats in his said Sermon or through Consent with what is reasonable in others c. Now that the Reconciler means the King and Governours by what he says is evident Because he knows and confesses that it is in the power of none but onely of the King and Governours to alter the Imposition of things Indifferent And therefore according
plainly If the Dissenters will not be satisfied However the King and Governours ought to Indulge them and Leave the Event to God And if by such an Indulgence the Dissenters shall destroy all our Church-Government and bring in Confusion among us God's will be done However the King and Governours must doe their Duty and INDVLGE them and then Leave the Event to God And if the Pragmatical People shall usurp an unlawfull power to themselves and shall chuse their own Bishop and every Parish Priest Volens Nolens the King or any Proper Patron God's will be done However the King and Governours must doe their Duty and give the People their Liberty and then Leave the Event to God If Dissenters should as they did in 48 Mutiny Rebell and Cut off this King 's Sacred Head as they did his Fathers and destroy all Good Order and Government in Church and State as formerly under the fair Pretence of Liberty of Conscience if so God's will be done However The King and Governours must doe their Duty that is Indulge the Dissenters and meekly resign up their Lives and Concerns to the Mercy and Courtesie of their Rebellious Enemies and then Leave the Event to God Now should this Rule of the Reconciler's take place in its full Latitude without the due use of Means for the Support of Government and for the Suppression of Vice Rebellion and Treason Then there would be nothing but Anarchy and Confusion in Church and State Which evil Design to bring to pass has been the great endeavour of All the Reconciler's Arguings For the main force of all his Arguments for Condescention to the Dissenters have tended to nothing more than to break down the Hedge of all our Good Laws and Orders for Vniformity and Conformity and to introduce an Unbounded Licentiousness and Confusion And therefore we may very truely Conclude The Reconciler's Design in Publishing his Book as Managed by him to be Malitious and Treasonable towards the King the Church and the State as now Established CHAP. VIII The Reconciler's Proposition Proved to be False His Proposition is this scil THat Things Indifferent considering the Circumstances our Church and State at present are in ought not to be Imposed by the Legislatours Prot. Recon c. 1. p. 4. as Conditions of Church Communion This Proposition as it is propounded by the Reconciler is to be considered two ways 1. Simply and Absolutely in it self 2. Relatively as it refers to the present Circumstances our Church and State are in In both respects it will appear to be false 1. For take it Absolutely as simply considered in it self And then his Proposition which is the main hindge and Herculean Pillar on which his whole Book depends runs thus scil That at no time Things Indifferent ought to be imposed upon the People as Conditions of Church-Communion The Falsity of this Proposition is Proved 1. By the Testimony of Sacred Scriptures to the contrary 2. By the Authority and Canons of the first and most Ancient Councils And by the examples and practices of the Primitive Christians in their Church-Government 3. By Reason and the Natural Grounds of Ecclesiastick Polity and Government All these speak the expediency and lawfulness if not Necessity of imposing Things Indifferent as Conditions of Church Communion The prosecution of these Arguments at large we shall leave for an entire Discourse of it self And at present onely touch briefly upon them in their order And therefore as to the first 1. Several Instances in Canonical Scripture speak it lawfull to impose things Indifferent as Conditions of Church Communion For God in the very first founding of all good Order and Government between Himself and Mankind did Impose a thing in it self Indifferent to wit the not eating of the Forbidden Fruit as a necessary condition of Communion and Fellowship with Himself And God Excommunicated Adam and Eva his presence his love and favour for not observing that Ceremony and Imposition of not eating the Forbidden Fruit which fruit might have been eaten as well as any other fruit in the Garden of Eden as Clem. Alexandrinus notes had not God by a strict Imposition commanded the contrary on purpose to try the sincerity of Man's obedience to him his Lord and Creator And farther under the Mosaical Law God Himself and Moses by his Command Imposed many indifferent and unnecessary things as necessary conditions of Church Communion such as All or most of the Levitical Rites and Ceremonies were whose observation was injoyned upon pain of Excommunication and sometimes of Death in case they were wilfully neglected And God gave Authority not onely to Moses and Aaron but also to other his Vicegerents such as the Judges and Kings of his chosen people the Jews to impose things Indifferent as Terms and Conditions of Church-Communion such as the use of Bloud Oil Salt and other things in their Sacrifices such as the use of Garments Ephods Veils and Surplices and Bowings in Divine Worship Washings and Purifications of their very Garments And all manner of Musick such as their Superiours especially such as King David and King Solomon should judge most conducing to God's Glory and to the better stirring up of the Peoples Devotions and Affections in the Worship and Service of God The Imposition of Holy Days is the Imposing of a thing Indifferent for all Days in themselves are alike And yet God highly approved of Queen Esthers and her Uncle Mordecai's Imposition of the Holy-Days called Purim upon the People for ever to be solemnly kept as necessary Conditions of Church-Communion And it is to be noted that this Imposition was laid upon the People without any Command from God in time of Banishment when the Church was in Persecution yet even then in such Circumstances as those did Queen Esther use her Authority as to the Imposing of things Indifferent And if so then surely much rather may Kings and Queens use the same Authority in times of Prosperity The Feasts of Dedication of the Temple and of the Altar but especially of the Wall of Jerusalem Dr. Keller Tricen l. 1. c. 5. part 8. p. 23. was in it self a Thing Indifferent and yet they were so strictly Imposed as that whosoever wilfully neglected their Observation was under an Anathema Maranatha And it is very Remarkable that our Lord Jesus Christ who came to fulfill all Righteousness and to set an unerring pattern and example of Obedience unto all under Command Did himself approve of the Feast of Dedication instituted by the Macchabees l. 1. c. 4. v. 59. Judas and his Brethren with the whole Congregation of Israel Ordained that the days of Dedication of the Altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days For St. John 10.22 It was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication and it was Winter and Jesus walked in the Temple c. So that if you read on our Saviour Christ did not onely honour with his Presence
the Church and for the prevention of Schism and Scandal Then may the King and Governours Now Impose things Indifferent and Unnecessary when they see it is Necessary for prevention of Scandal and Offence unto the Episcopal-Protestants who are the Onely Supporters of the Established Government in Church and State And Thousands of these Canonical Pious Conformists do think in their Consciences the present Ceremonies in the Church ought to be Continued for the Fame Peace and Vniformity of the Glorious Church of England which ever used them And for their own great Antiquity Decency and Vtility Hook Eccles Pol. 1.5 as Judicious Hooker Argues Farther as the First Christian Council at Jerusalem so the Four First General Councils did Impose things Indifferent upon both Clergy and Laity as Conditions of Church Communion as any one may know who will but consult their Acts and Deeds The observation of Easter-Day whether on the Jews Passover Day or on the First Day of the week was a thing Indifferent and some observed it at one time as did the Jews others observed it at another time as did the Romanists But for Vniformity sake the First General Council at Nice the Emperour Constantine being present determined Euseb in vit Const 1. 3. ◠18. That all Christians throughout the World should celebrate Easter on one and the same Lord's Day in the year To Pray unto Almighty God on Sundays whether Kneeling or Standing was in it self a thing Indifferent But yet the General Council at Nice Canon 20. for Vniformity sake Imposed upon the People the Posture of Kneeling in Prayer-Time on the Week-Days but Standing in time of Prayer on the Lord's Days commonly called Sundays And Tertullian informes us that in his time Die Dominico jejunium Nefas ducimus vel de Geniculis adorare c. It was counted a Sin on the Lord's-Day Tertull. Corona Mil. c. 3◠either to Fast or to Pray and Adore God Kneeling To Dip or Sprinkle the Party Baptized was a thing Necessary in Holy Baptism to be observed But to Dip or Sprinkle the Party Baptized more than Once was a thing Indifferent But yet by the Ancients it was Imposed upon the Clergy and People that the Party Baptized should be thrice Dipped or Sprinkled in Reference to the Three Sacred Persons in the Holy Trinity Hence that of Tertullian Tertul. Ibid. Apostolical Can. 49. Dehinc ter Mergitamur c. And the same Order was commanded upon the pain of Deposition And Zonaras on that Canon saith as our Reconciler himself well notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is an ungodly thing to dip in Holy Baptism but Once Tertullian mentions many things Imposed upon the People as terms of Church-Communion and he says the Ground and Warrant for those Impositions was not the Scripture Tertull. Coro Mil. c. 4. but Ancient Custome and Tradition Harum aliarum ejusmodi Disciplinarum si Legem expostules Scripturarum nullam invenies Traditio tibi proetendetur Auctrix Consuetudo Confirmatrix Fides Observatrix Thirdly As Reason speaks a necessity of making Civil Laws for prevention of disorder and confusion in the State so Reason speaks it as necessary to make Laws Ecclesiastical for preventing the same Mischiefs and Inconveniences in the Church And when such Laws are made and nothing can be found in them which is absolutely sinfull then Reason as well as Religion commands Obedience to them As Moral Wisedom preserves Common Life by ordering what is Convenient so Civil and Ecclesiastick Wisedom preserves Life in the State and Church by ordering what is Necessary and Expedient And as the Learned Hooker notes Whatever the Church Hook Eccles Pol. l. 5. p. 136 138. by her Ecclesiastick Authority shall in matters of Order and Comeliness probably think and define to be True or Good must in Congruity of Reason Over-rule all other inferiour judgments whatsoever and must be thought Convenient And all things in the Church which are void of Superstition and are of long Continuance in the Church are things which edifie and are not lightly to be altered Nothing is unfit or inconvenient which the King and Governours shall think fit and convenient Unless the said thing imposed be against 1. The Sacred Scriptures 2. Right Reason 3. The practice of Piety Whatever is otherwise thought to be inconvenient by the Subject it is the Result either 1. Of Pride or 2. Of an unsetled Mind a Melancholick phanoy and imagination or 3. Of Capriciousness And now let the Reconciler chuse and tell us which of them is in the Dissenters and is the Cause of their Non-Compliance with the King 's Lawfull Commands as to things Indifferent Thus far Scripture Councils and Reason conclude the Reconciler's Proposition as considered absolutely and simply in it self to be false for by these Testimonies it is a very great Truth scil That things Indifferent may and sometimes necessarily ought to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion Contrary to what the Reconciler has Suggested to the Vulgar Secondly If we consider the Reconciler's Proposition Relatively as it Refers to the Circumstances our Church and State are in then it will appear also to be very False and Vnseasonably Propounded The present Circumstances of our Church and State Are either Good or Bad. Consider we them as Good And then they are 1. The enjoyment of present Peace and Quietness in stead of the late Intestine Wars and Rebellion 2. The enjoyment of good Order and Settlement in stead of the late Confusion and Anarchy God be Praised Now our King sits on his Throne of Inheritance Our Bishops and Clergv are repossessed of their Dues quoad Officium Beneficium both as to Office and Benefice And the People Nobles Gentry and Commons are now restored to their Rights and Privileges 3. We enjoy Justice and Equity in stead of the late Oppressions Extortions and Tyranny Our King demands and takes no more than what by Law is his Due And the People receive and enjoy all that by Law and Inheritance is their Right and Property 4. As to our Impositions in reference to Religious Worship they are all the very same which the Primitive Christians observed who died Confessours and Martyrs for the Truth And they are not more than were at the first Reformation in King Edward the Sixth's and Queen Elizabeth's Reign when there was less Talk but greater Exercise of Conscience and of Godliness than is now a-days Nay in this our Day there is an enjoyment of greater Liberty of Conscience than ever was granted by any Prince or by any Law or Act of Parliament whatever since the Reformation in England For now by Act of Parliament Men of all Persuasions may in their own Families use what Liberty they please as to their private Modes of Worship which Freedom none could enjoy under Popery Whereas now there is by Law a Toleration for all Sects and Religious Persons to Meet not exceeding the number of Five and
to serve God after their own Desire And pray What Kingdom is there in the Christian World where by Law Greater Moderation and Clemency is shown than this These are some of the Good circumstances our Church and State are in at present And therefore for any man to desire that our present Laws especially those of Vniformity may be altered it is really to desire That our present Good State and Condition may be Altered especially in the Church whose Good and Welfare does and ought to go hand in hand with that of the State And although an Alteration of the Established Laws may possibly be for the better yet it is an hundred to one but such an Alteration may be infinitely for the worse if we duely consider the great Divisions Heats Animosities and Bloudy-Plots on foot among us and all under the Pretence of Reformation and of setting up a more holy and purer way of Worship than what is Established by Law And therefore these things considered it seems to be the wisest and safest way to keep our present Station and to be what we are that is Well and Prosperous Lest by Changing we prove to be otherwise that is Convulsive Sick and Vnsetled in both Church and State Secondly If we consider our present circumstances as to the Time we live in then in truth they are bad enough For our Church and State as now established have Enemies abroad and which is worse at home The times we live in are full of Deceit and Hypocrisie of Divisions and Distractions full of Plots and Treasons And these Clandestine Treasons are Hatched not onely by Papists but also by Dissenters So that our King and Governours have no real Friends no True Trojanes to Trust unto but onely the Episcopal Protestants of the Church of England whose Honour and Glory it is that they were never sound Guilty of any Treasons or Plots against their King and his Government And in truth it is impossible They should ever be Disloyal unless they shall renounce their own professed Principles and act contrary thereunto and then they would cease to be Episcopal Protestants Whereas on the other side it is impossible for the other Parties whether Papists or Dissenters ever to be constantly Loyal and Faithfull to the King and his Government if they shall continue to act according to their own professed Doctrines as has already been proved For Sinon will ever be a Sinon And if King Priamus shall hearken to his Advice Sinon will persuade him to break down Troy's Wall and let in the Trojan-Horse Nirgil Aen. l. 2. and then in the Night-time of Security Sinon contrary to his Vows and Promises his Plighted Faith and Troth Sinon will Betray the over-credulous King and the Coeci furore Citizens into the hands of the Grecians and set City and all into a Combustion And as my Lord Verulam observes the Wolf will ever be a Wolf though in Sheeps Clothing And the Fox will ever remain a Fox No Art nor Argument can ever prevail with the one to lay aside his Ravening and Cruelty Nor with the other to lay aside his Deceipt and Cunning. And therefore it can be no part of Prudence nor of Fidelity in the Shepherd to let either the Wolf or the Fox into the Fold among the Flock lest the Sheep and the Lambs become a prey to them both Wherefore Queen Elizabeth for the preservation of Peace and Good Order in Church and State and for the prevention of Errour Heresie and Schism did wisely make a strict Law for Vniformity and She Severely punished the Rebellious and Obstinate Offenders Notwithstanding their great and earnest Plea of tenderness of Conscience for their Non-Conformity And She hang'd some of the first Independents that ever were known to be in England Full. Hist l. 9. p. 169. such as Mr. Barrow Elias Thacker and John Coping for their Seditious and Treasonable Practices But to shew that she could be Mercifull as well as Severe she graciously pardoned Mr. Brown the Independent But our present Gratious King has in Acts of Mercy infinitely out-done Queen Elizabeth for he has saved from Death many of the Presbyterian and Independent-Regicides and has pardoned the whole Body of them for that and other their Treasons But because he found that they and the rest of their Dissenting-Brethren were restless and by their daily Separations made a Dangerous Schism in the Church and as Pernicious a Faction in the State setting up Church against Church Government against Government and thus rendring the Kingdom Divided Therefore was the King and Governours forced to make Laws to Restrain them and to bring all things into their Pristine Order and Vniformity And forasmuch as the Causes and Occasions of the said Laws of Vniformity are still in Being Therefore the said Laws themselves ought in Reason and Prudence to be continued and to stand still in their full force and power And if our King should execute the Laws of Vniformity with Rigour and Severity yet His Majesty would doe no more than what the Independents in New England have done for the Suppression of Dissenters among themselves For they Excommunicate and Banish all Anabaptists into Long-Island All Quakers into Road-Island or other parts and all Episcopal-Men they Expell their Territories And it is not to be forgot how Severely they dealt with Mr. Dunster the first Master of Harvey College in Cambridge in New-England whom the Independents first Excommunicated out of their Congregational-Church at Cambridge then deprived him of his Mastership and Expelled him the said College and after all they Banished him and his Wife out of their Dominions upon Suspicion of his being an Anabaptist or rather as some believe for his being an Arminian and for uttering some words in favour of the Church of England's Episcopacy Nor may we pass by their Severity towards two or three Quakers whom they Hang'd for returning after Banishment and for disturbing their Congregations in New-England Thus the Reader may see what Strict Laws the Dissenters where they have power do make for maintaining their own Ecclesiastick Orders and Impositions and how severely they execute them upon the Offenders And therefore neither the Dissenters nor the Reconciler have any Reason to complain of our King for want of an Indulgence and Condescention toward them when by executing His Laws for Conformity He does but give them their own Measure and does onely par pari referre Doe to them as they doe to others This being Granted We may now from the Premisses Rationally Conclude against the RECONCILER and his Proposition That Considering the Circumstances of Treason and Rebellion of Schisms and Factions our Church and State our King and Governours at present are Molested withall Therefore Things Indifferent ought the rather by Strict Laws of Uniformity and Conformity to be Imposed as Conditions of Church-Communion FINIS