in the (d) Can. Apost c. 8. ancient Church the very forbearance of open Communicating when this might only be feared to have such effects as to cause offences and raise suspicions in the people was esteemed so blameable though it might continue but a short time that unless a sufficient account was given thereof it was severely punished 9. We know that St. Peters withdrawing from the Gentiles at Antioch 2. From S. Peters withdrawing at Antioch was deeply censured by St. Paul Gal. 2.11 12 13 14. because of the disturbance and trouble it might create to the minds and consciences of the Gentiles But none can think that St. Peter who immediately before communicated with them did now charge them to be no true Church or that their worship and communion was sinful Wherefore it is hence manifest that there may be a scandalous and sinful separation from a Church where there are no such uncharitable censures 10. And I appeal unto any party of our Dissenters themselves whether if any members of their own number should new model themselves into different Forms under several lesser divisions 3. By appeal to the dissenting parties themselves concerning the ill consequences of this their Plea and setting up themselves to be new parties shall desert and declare their dislike of that Society or Communion with which they before joyned still calling them a true Church and not charging their worship with sin I say whether the Teachers and remaining members of this first party will justifie these dividers who thus separate from and forsake them If they will approve these things they must profess themselves Patrons of Confusion and that any part of a Christian Society may separate it self when there is no apparent danger of sin in the Communion and consequently where no rules of conscience will oblige them to forsake that Communion But if they will blame this practice let them reflect upon themselves And yet these new parties of dividers are the less to be condemned by them because they followed their example 11. The danger of dividing to be considered And now let me prevail with you to consider what danger they run upon who causlesly rend the Church of Christ whence it will appear necessary that they who forsake a well-established Church must proceed upon necessary grounds Now disobedience to any Divine precept and therefore to this for Peace and Vnity if it be from carelesness and gross neglect in not minding the will of God or from a temper resolved rather to please it self than to be obedient or from the rule and dominion of pride or passion is so opposite to the spirit of Christianity that he who is guilty hereof cannot find acceptance with God v. n. 16. 12. Joyning in divisions are dangerou to welâ— disposed men But besides this I have one thing more to add which I think is very considerable and which possibly you have not observed It seems plain enough in the Apostolical Doctrine that even such persons who unwarily joyn in dividing and rending the Church though they hold fast the fundamental doctrines of Religion and a care of many other duties of a holy life yet for this miscarriage and their persisting therein they diminish their future happiness and the degrees of glory which they might otherwise attain unto in the other world For the proof whereof I shall give some account of the third Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians 13. When the Apostle reflected upon the Strife and divisions of the Church of Corinth he thence pronounceth them to be carnal and Babes in Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 3 4. or that they were of the lowest sort 1 Cor. Ch. 3. Considered Dividers are not of the highest rank of Christians and meanest rank and degree of Christians if they were Christians at all however they might value and esteem themselves And whereas they were one of Paul and another of Apollos he shews them that Paul and Apollos and all other Ministers of Christ were labourers under God and neither could nor did lay any other foundation than Jesus Christ v. 5.11 which is an Argument against dividing Ch. 1.11 12. 14. And the Apostle Sincerity in Christian Doctrine Piety and Unity is greatly rewarded still continuing his Discourse with a particular respect to this Subject concerning Divisions tells them concerning what is built upon this Foundation that every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it v. 14. and that the Apostle speaks this of the day of judgment or the day of the Lord as being opposed to mans day Ch. 4.3 is manifest from Ch. 3.8 and especially from Ch. 4.4 5. He acquaints them that he who shall build upon this foundation Gold and Silver and precious Stones and whose work shall abide that is who shall keep close to the integrity of the Christian Faith and Doctrine and to the purity of the Christian Life and therein to Christian Unity which is one great duty thereof and a means of growth therein v. 1.3 4. he shall receive a reward v. 12.14 or obtain great and perfect happiness 15. And he lets them know that they who build Hay and Stubble upon this foundation and whose work shall be burnt they shall suffer loss ver 15. Which shews that they who shall joyn hurtful Opinions and Errors though not in things Fundamental with the Christian Religion and irregular Practices tho they be not wholly opposite to a Christian Life Well disposed persons by closing with Divisions lessen their future reward And particularly which is the special occasion of this discourse of the Apostle they who upon this Foundation build Strife Factions or Divisions shall suffer loss Or these though they act from mistaken Zeal or from some other Principle which is not inconsistent with all integrity of heart they shall with respect to another World have abatements of reward Though they shall be saved as by Fire or with appearance of difficulty and danger And besides the evidence that this Truth hath from the scope series and connexion of this Apostolical Discourse it is manifest of it self that such Divisions as these at Corinth were which are so much decried and condemned in the Doctrine of Christianity must be reckoned amongst those works which shall not abide but be burnt to the loss of them who are engaged in them And they who are Babes and carnal ver 1 3. may well be thought inferiour in reward to them who are Spiritual and grown men when every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour ver 8. 16. And this Apostle still eying their Divisions in the Church Dividing the Church is a practice in many destructive of their salvation v. n. 11. goes on to declare their danger Ver. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God And Ver. 17. If any man desile the Temple of God him will God destroy That is that they who deprave
A Vindication OF LITURGIES SHEWING The Lawfulness Vsefulness and Antiquity of performing the Publick Worship of GOD by set Forms of Prayer Wherein several other things also of considerable use are occasionally discussed In Answer to a late Book Intituled A Reasonable Account why some pious Non-Conforming Ministers in England judge it sinful for them to perform their Ministerial Acts in publick solemn Prayer by the prescribed Forms of others By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St Paul's Church-Yard 1680. TO THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD ANTHONY Lord Bishop OF NORWICH My Honoured DIOCESAN MY LORD IT is too well known that notwithstanding the purity of Doctrine and Worship and the Primitive Orders of the Ministry established in our Church in all which Excellencies and Perfections no part of the Christian World doth excel her if any equal her it hath been and still is her portion in Conformity to our Saviour to his Apostles and to the purest Primitive Church to be assaulted and impugned by the various oppositions of many Adversaries Besides others our Dissenting Parties within this last year have been very active both by other methods and by Books of several kinds expressing their objections against our publick Order and Constitution And one of them for the justifying their separation hath adventured so far as to charge the general use of prescribed Forms of Prayer to be sinful which if it were true would indeed be an high accusation against our publick worship and therewith against all the famous Christian Churches He pretends an Answer to all that I had said for the lawfulness and expediency of fixed Liturgies unto which I have here returned as I hope a sufficient Reply The manner of his writing is in this respect more commendable than of some others in that he plainly stateth his Question and then produceth his Arguments that the strength of them may be fairly tried But I could have wished for his own sake that he had not oft intermixed his passionate and groundless aspersions upon our publick Constitutions and Ministry and his talking at a high rate with confident words upon very weak and slender appearances of Reason For such things are testimonies either of the rashness and weakness of the Writer who brings these things as a supply for want of what is rational and substantial or else of the badness of the cause which needs such supports to maintain it And though I thought this discourse not at all like to prevail with understanding men there were many things which enclined me to undertake an examination thereof That Book is spread abroad under the name of a person of as great esteem amongst our Dissenters as any other in these parts There is a fair appearance of a regular way of reasoning though there wants strength of Argument and he more than once declares that he thinks himself to have fully answered what I had written for Forms of Prayer and therefore I was particularly concerned to shew his mistake And though the more cautious and wary men among our Dissenters will not affirm the constant use of Forms to be sinful because they think such a position not defensible yet the Genius of that party is much set against them and in their practice they reject them almost generally with some eagerness and therefore the determining this case is of the greater concernment with respect to our Non-Conformists in general And I have had so much experience of the World as to know that the greater part of men are not so intelligent and soberly considerative as to search into the strength or weakness of Arguments unless they be directed and assisted which defect when it meets with an unsteady temper is the occasion of much infelicity to Civil and Ecclesiastical Society And as I think it in any case a piece of Christian Charity to guide men in their duty so this is of greater moment where the Peace of the Church is concerned as well as the private duty of Christians But it was not the least thing which prevailed with me to this undertaking that the Book I answer led me to the considering several mistaken notions and assertions and I hope to the clearing them which having been presumed to be truths have misguided many well-disposed persons Upon many accounts this Discourse addresseth it self to your Lordship humbly entreating your acceptance thereof It defends that common way of Christian Worship by publick Liturgies which hath been the constant use of this established Church wherein your Lordship deservedly enjoyeth an eminent place and of the Reasonableness and usefulness of whose publick service your self gave a seasonable account And probably the Book I answer was also written within the limits of your Lordships Jurisdiction and therefore I present this Discourse to your view craving your Approbation And this I do with the greater confidence because of the truth of what I defend the clearness and evidence whereof is such as will also I hope recommend it self to any sober and indifferent enquirer I do confess I had this great advantage against my Opponent that I have manifest truth on my side and this advantage I have made the best use of that I could I am so apprehensive of my own defects that I cannot expect that this Treatise should be in all things free from them But I am sensible that if I have trifled in the main subject which is a matter of weight and seriousness I am so far from deserving your Lordships favour herein that I cannot reasonably presume on your pardon for prefixing your name hereunto But the chief reason of my presenting this to your Lordship is that I might express a thankful acknowledgment of those favourable respects I have received from you and profess that real honour which my self with the rest of your Clergy have for you And that God will preserve and bless your Lordship is the hearty desire and Prayer of him who according to his duty Hath a great and humble Reverence both for your Lordships Office and Person WILLIAM FALKNER Lyn-Regis June 9. 1680. THE CONTENTS THE Introduction giving the Reader an Account of the occasion of this Discourse Page 1 Chap. I. Of the state of the Question proposed by this Writer with some Observations thereupon p. 10 Chap. II. Of the gift of Prayer what it properly is How abilities of expression are the gifts of God and how far Ministers are obliged to use their own abilities in Religious Worship p. 28 Chap. III. Of Devotion and attentive fervency of mind in publick Prayer and whether the use of Liturgies be hindrances or helps therein p. 73 Sect. I. Various pretences for Forms of Prayer being hindrances to attention or fervency examined and the contrary manifested Ibid. Sect. II. A defence of some things urged in my Libertas Ecclesiastica to prove Forms of Prayer to be no disadvantage to devotion p. 98 Sect. III. The Antiquity of the publick use of Liturgies
Disciples a Form also as the Baptist had taught his Wherefore this manifestly declares an approbation of Forms of Prayer taught and directed by others who have the chief authority in the Church 34. The last thing he urgeth is y p. 57 58. that supposing that Christ intended this as a Form at that time whether it was to last beyond his Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost is a farther Question And though he doth not positively assert this yet he would have his Reader to be of this opinion and offers in proof of it what he saith was well observed which I shall by and by consider The Precepts of Christ which all ancient Churches reverenced may not now be laid aside But first Is it not a strange boldness and irreverence towards any Precept or Institution of our Saviour for him to suggest to men that it is expired and antiquated when our Lord himself gave no intimation of its being temporary and the Vniversal Church hath understood it otherwise Is not this a new piece of Pharisaism in teaching men how to make void the Commandments of God by looking upon them as out of date This Author may by these means do some service for them who contend that the Sacrament of Baptism was only intended for the first admission of Nations into the Christian Church so far as the reputation of his bare authority will go Yea and for those also who look upon the Lords Supper the Ordination of Ministers and many other Christian duties not to be needful for the succeeding Ages after the Apostles 35. The Apostles had extraordinary assistances and abilities before the Resurrection of Christ Secondly His supposing Forms might be requisite for the Apostles before Christ Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost but that no such low things are since that time fit to be continued doth too plainly manifest that some persons are strangely big with swelling conceits of themselves Dare our Author speak out the plain sense of this suggestion which is this That himself and other dissenters are men of far greater abilities than the Apostles of our Saviour were before his Resurrection though they were then called to be his Apostles were sent forth to preach his Gospel and were enabled to work miracles and cast out Devils and consequently that these men now may reasonably look upon such directions and precepts to be of too low and inferiour a nature for them to observe which yet were enjoined upon and were fit for the state of the Apostles before the Resurrection 36. Thirdly his pretence of proof for this opinion is very shallow which is z p. 58. that Christ left out his own name in the Lords Prayer Of praying in the name of Christ but in that name his Disciples were afterwards enjoined to ask Joh. 14.13 14. Joh. 16.23 But to ask in his name is to ask through his mediation upon the encouragement of his merits and his being our intercessor and advocate at Gods right hand in our nature which is a priviledge peculiar to the time since the ascension of our Lord and also to ask sutably to the rules and doctrine of Christianity This is the sense which is generally given of this expression of asking in the name of Christ and even the Assemblies Annotations declare asking in the name of Christ to be a Assembl Annot. on Joh. 14.14 Ch. 16.24 26. through his mediation and they also add from S. Gregory si id quod non expedit petitur non in nomine Jesu petitur pater if that be desired which should not be God is not asked in the name of Jesus And this sense of this phrase In his name that it signifies upon his account and though him is evident from Joh. 1.12 Joh. 20.31 and many other places But the Apostles under the guidance of Gods Spirit did not always verbally express the name Jesus in all their Prayers as Rom. 15.13 2 Thes 3.16 and elsewhere 37. Now in the Lords Prayer we know that what we ask is according to the will of our Lord being directed by him We call not God Our Father but upon the account of Christ and upon his account we desire all our Petitions in the Lords Prayer to be granted And our desiring that Gods name may be hallowed that his Kingdom should come and that our trespasses may be forgiven c. have particular respect to our Mediator And in this whole Prayer we according to the direction of our Church-Catechism trust that God of his mercy and goodness 〈◊〉 do what we ask through our Lord Jesu◠Christ and therefore we say Amen And this is also the general sense of all b Formula à Resormatis usurpata ante illius Orationis recitationem Haec alia quae nosti Domine nobis esse necessaria à te postulamus in nomine Christi ea Orationis formula quam ipse nos docuit Pater noster c. Thes Salm. Par. 3. loc Com. 47. n. 13. sober Protestants 38. My second Argument to prove Forms of Prayer to be no disadvantage to devotion was c Libert Eccles p. 122 123. because it is generally acknowledged that the singing Psalms of Prayer and praise may be advantageously performed in a set Form of words and the Scriptures are not the less edifying because they are contained in a set form of words But concerning singing Psalms this Writer saith d p. 59. this is a mistake of the Question and e p. 60. that these are such Forms as God hath Canonized And he tells us he is against singing by any Forms not made of God which he calls f p. 18 19. p. 60.78 Apocryphal Anthems as much as he is against Liturgical Forms of Prayer And yet he allows g p. 78. p. 60. singing the Psalms in Meter though the words be not dictated of God My second Argument was that the Psalms in a set Form of words are useful to devotion and so are the Scriptures because the sense and matter in the Psalms in Meter is so directed 39. But when he saith this Argument mistakes the Question the Reader will easily see it was proper enough for the Question or Case of which I was discoursing which was in general whether Forms of Prayer are disadvantageous to Piety But our Author that he might avoid the force of this and some other Arguments hath put the Question into another method but hath not done it solidly nor hath he avoided the force of this Argument thereby For first when he grants concerning the Psalms of Prayer and praise that God hath Canonized those Forms he here asserteth what in Answer to the former Argument he would not own viz. that God ever appointed or prescribed any Forms of Prayer And as the matter of many of the Psalms is Prayer So S. Hierome observes there are h Hieron Epist 139. Comment in Ps 189. four Psalms which bear
our publick Forms of Prayer besides what he urgeth against this that Forms of Prayer are things forbidden of God as I above noted he hath some other expressions concerning the Power and Authority of Superiours and our obedience to them which I shall reflect upon 9. He grants that the Superiour may in some cases determine of such a thing (n) P. 88. which both he and the Inferiour confess to be in it self indifferent but not in things (o) P. 77. which the Superiour acknowledgeth not necessary and the Inferiour thinks are forbidden Useful things are fit to be stablished tho some by mistake may rashly Condemn them Now if any Inferiour or any Person whosoever account any thing to be forbidden and proceed in his judgment upon good and true grounds no such thing may be appointed being in it self evil whether the Superiours acknowledg it not necessary or by mistake think it is so But where any Superiours do upon good grounds judg any thing to be of good and profitable use for the publick good though not absolutely necessary in it self And some Inferiours out of mistakes or forwardness to censure will condemn such things as sinful and unlawful it is no way fit that such good Orders be laid aside and many others and the Church it self be deprived of the good they might receive from them by yielding a Compliance to these mistakes And whereas he here urgeth (p) P. 77. the duty of Charity he ought to consider that real charity in providing for the good and profit of the Souls of Men is of far greater value than that which he calls Charity in gratifying the Opinions and complying with the Errors of Men in their mistakes But of the appointments of such things as are scrupled I have treated more at large in another (q) Libert Eccl. B. 2. Ch. 2. § 3. throughout Discourse 10. Concerning obedience to Superiours he saith (r) P. 80. Doth this make a sufficient reason for practice in Divine Worship that Man commandeth it And he produceth (Å¿) P. 81. Bishop Jewel's Testimony that God is to be obeyed rather than Men which we assert And (t) P. 82 83 84. Bishop Davenant condemning the blind obedience of the Jesuits and asserting unto all men such a judgment of discretion that they may consider whether the things be true or lawful which are directed by their Superiours And then he tells us That (u) P. 84. blind Obedience is the very foundation of Popery but the judgment of private and practical Discretion is the foundation of the Protestant Religion 11. Now it is true That to yield such a blind Obedience to Superiours as to account them Infallible and thereupon to account that all they deliver must be received without any liberty to examine the truth and lawfulness thereof is a foundation of Popery But to own the due Authority of our superiours and Spiritual guides and to acknowledg that they may determine matters of Order and Decency in the Church and that it is the duty of Inferiours to submit themselves to such Determinations if they be not contrary to the Will of God is that which Christianity requireth and is a necessary foundation of Peace and Vnity What judgment of discretion the true principles of Religion do allow in all Men. And to make use of our own judgments and understandings so as to reject whatsoever we certainly know to be false and evil is that which all true Religion and good Conscience and the Christian and Protestant Principles will direct But for any to think it their duty to close with such Arguments as seem to them probable but are weak and fallacious and are of no clear evidence and undoubted certainty and to account themselves warranted thereby to pursue what is against the established State and Order of the Church and its Peace and Welfare and against the Authority of their Superiours or any rules of Duty this will lead Men into all manner of evil Faction Schism and Fanaticism and such Principles cannot justifie themselves in the sight of God or good Men as I have (w) Ch. 1. n. 9. c. above shewed 12. This is that which the Writers of our Church declare against and so do Protestants generally and so doth particularly (x) Daven de Judice Controvers c. 1.2 Bishop Davenant who first reserving to god the Supreme power of judging (y) ibid. c. 16. asserteth to our Superiors the ministerial judgment whereby besides other things they have Authority to judge de constitutionibus ad externam Ecclesiae politiam pertinentibus of Constitutions belonging to the external Polity of the church And he then declares the necessity of a judgment of discretion in all Christians which he understands according to the sense I have in the former Paragraph expressed as is manifest both from that Treatise and the other cited by this Writer In Epist ad Colos c. 2. v. 23. And he particularly acknowledgeth it to be the general sense of Protestants (z) ibid. cap. ult Judicium hoc discretionis vanum falsum fanaticum esse concedunt quando ex privato sensu phantasmate ipsius judicantis dimanat verum firmum legitimum cum oritur ex lumine infuso Spiritus Sancti dirigitur ad normam verbi That they acknowledg that judgment of discretion to be vain false and Fanatical when it proceeds upon the private sense and fancy of him that judgeth but that it is true firm and allowable when it is inlightned by the Holy Spirit and directed by the rule of the word Wherefore he gives no allowance to mens proceeding upon probable and uncertain arguments but only upon manifest and clear evidence in opposing what is established by Superiors And indeed disobeying upon such grounds as are not manifest is but a blind disobedience which may well be ranked with blind Obedience We and all sober Protestants are against both and if the former should be followed by Children to their Parents and Servants to their Masters especially in working Fancies and weak Judgments it would bring nothing but confusion into Families 13. This Author also tells us That to justifie the Subjects obedience (a) p. 89. there must appear to him some reason from a Divine command requiring the thing Here if the Precepts of Vnity Peace Order and Obedience be sufficient these are frequent and clear but if he still mean that no particular thing may be established unless it be some way determined by a Divine Precept this I have above refuted n. 2. c. 14. He declares also (b) ibid. that Gestures or Actions that are idle or insignificant are in worship sinful and therefore may not be submitted to Now it is well he hereby disallows the fond notion of them who decry our Rites or Ceremonies because they are significant The appâ—inting Liturgy in what sense to reckoned among things indifferent But this can make nothing against Forms
thus much might be sufficient Whether it be a duty to use other Prayers besides formâ— for answer to this Chapter as it hath a particular aspect upon the Authority and commands of our Governors yet because I would not avoid any thing which may seem material and useful I shall farther here consider Whether and how far Christians or Ministers are under any obligation to Duty to use any other prayers besides set forms in all those particular cases mentioned in this chapter before and after Sermon in the Family and in the Closet Now comprehensive and well ordered forms being with deliberation fitted to the common state of Christians and the ends of our Religion are as I have above shewed to be preferred in the publick worship of God And that before or after Sermon there should ordinarily be new and varied Prayers I know no rule of reason or precept of the Christian Religion which requireth this and maketh it a Duty 6. Before Sermons Before Sermons (g) Of Religious Assembl c. 7 p. 237. 252. Mr. Thorndike observes That in the flourishing times of the Church Preachers were wont to commend themselves and their labours to Gods blessing But this was frequently at least done by a set form A short form to this purpose of St. Ambrose is as Mr. Thorndike there observed yet extant may be seen in Ferrarius de ritu concion and from thence in (h) Alliance of Divine Offices Chap. 6. p. 183. Mr. Hamon L'estrange and the form of Aquinas is published by (i) Casland Prec Ec. Cassander And some of the most eager of our Dissenters ahve formerly kept themselves ordinarily to set forms before their Sermons And our Church in her (k) Can. 55 Canons hath given direction for a form of Prayer to be used before Sermons as is there expresed or to that effect but among the different practices it is not necessary for me here to consider what liberty is hereby allowed to Ministers 7. In the close of the Sermon After Sermons many Homilies of the ancient Writers had some supplicatory expressions interwoven as a conclusory part thereof and sometimes with particular respect to the subject of their Discourse Such things were in some of their popular Discourses practised by (l) Basil Hom. 2. 6. in Hexaem De Jejun Hom. 1. de Mam. Mart. de Lib. Arb. St. Basil (m) Naz. Orat. 2.6 10 28 42. V. Schol. Gr. in Not. Billij in Naz. Orat. 18. Gr. Nazianzen St. Chrysostom in some Homilies ad Pop. Antioch and others and also in St. Augustine St. Gregory Bernard and divers others and our Church doth not seem to dislike this Method which is imitated in some of her Homilies But yet this was used but in some either of the ancient Homilies or of those of our Church St. Austin used most requently the same conclusory Prayer or Collect which is extant in (n) Aug. Tom. 8. pag. ult his works The method used by several persons of the several persuasions among our Dissenters who frequently have prayed over the several heads and parts of their Sermons that their Auditors might be persuaded of them stands chargeable with this fault among others that as (o) Disc Prayer extemporet Bishop Taylor observed as their Sermons according to their different parties were oft directed against one another and in contradiction to one another so by consequence were their Prayers and therefore the matter of Prayer must be in many of them unsound But that excellent Collect Grant we beseech thee Almighty God c. much used in our Chnrch after Sermons besides the expressions in the Prayer for the Church militant to the same purpoe is so pithy in desiring the blessing of God for obtaining the best effect of the Sermon that no pretence can remain to charge any blame upon those who use no different concluding supplicatory expressions of their own 8. Indeed there are sometimes extraordinary cases and occasions which are proper matter for our publick Prayers and Thanksgivings and ought not to be omitted It is observed by (p) Ann. Eccl. An. 37. n. 7.8 Banonius that the Church presented their especial Suffrages to God for the good success of Gratian against the Alemans and (q) Athan. Apol. 2. ad Constant Athanasius did publickly do the like for Constantius against Magnentius Such cases as are most weighty or usual are provided for by particular Collects in our Liturgy and if they be cases of particular persons they may be comprised in the Prayer for all conditions of men and the general Thanksgiving according to the directions in our Liturgy And these parts are as blameless and as commendable in their use as the ordinary parts of the Liturgy And if there should yet be some great and extraordnary case which is not sufficiently contained under any of these Prayers or Praises Dr. Hammond declared (r) Pract. Catechism l. 3. Sect. 2. The Church sometimes permits and upon incidental occasions prescribes other forms in the Congregation Such are upon great special reasons the Prayers for particular public days of Humiliation and Thanksgiving And if saith Mr. (s) Discour 1. on Mat. 6.9 â— Mede There be any sudden unexpected occasions for which the Church cannot provide the spirit of her Ministers is free Who will forbid her Ministers to supply in such a case that by a voluntary and arbitrary form that the Church could not provide for in a set form But such cases where this is necessary will be very rare and must keep their place 9. And for Family and Closet Prayers what ever freedom of expression any man hath whensoever he devoutly and piously addresseth himself to God in a form of words in the daily and constant matters of worship Of Prayer in Families and Closets as acknowledging and adoring the Divine excellencies and perfections blessing God for daily benefits and seeking to him for such mercies as we always stand in need of I do not see how the least blame can be charged upon such a Person but his mind may be enlarged his memory helped and his affections quickned thereby 10. And so far as I can discern the ordinary use of a well composed form may usually in a Family most conduce to the promoting inward and serious Piety upon many of the same grounds that prove it expedient in the publick service and the disparaging the use of forms of Prayer in Families is both unreasonable and really hurtful to Religion Forms of Prayer of great use in Families it being the probable occasion of the total neglect of such Religious services in many Families many persons on this account omitting the use of all Prayer in their Families rather than to expose themselves to be censured as weak in using a Form And other persons of greater confidence perform this much worse both as to matter and words of Prayer and the profit of others than they might do in the use
undertaking goes not so high as to urge these things against the lawfulness of Communion or joyning in the Religious Worship which is so performed 4. If some things be said in behalf of your Separation or as proofs that your withdrawing is no Separation and your dividing no Schism which till they be throughly examined and understood may seem plausible to you even this is not enough Plausible Arguments are no security to them who neglect their duty to justifie your practices without certain evidence that Communion is sinful Those who are men of any parts and learning among your selves know how easie it is to make some fair pretence and plea for almost any Error yea and to bring some subtle Arguments against any truth in the World But no Christian may hence conclude that hereupon he may safely neglect his duty of imbracing that Truth or rejecting that Error And I presume that those who are of the meanest rank among you may know that there are few causes so bad but that a Lawyer who hath used himself to pleading though he be not a person of profound skill in the Law may say something plauble in the behalf thereof But this will not justifie him who doth an injury to his Neighbour in his civil Rights Much less will the like secure you if you act against that which is really your duty to God his Church and other Christians in matters of Religion 5. In reading the holy Scriptures nothing can be more plain than that the Peace and Vnity of the Church The Precepts for Peace and Unity are plain and weighty parts of of our Christian duty is frequently and earnestly commanded and enjoyned and Divisions vehemently condemned and censured in the Christian Religion We profess our selves the Disciples of that Jesus who before his Death expressed his affectionate desire and prayer for Vnity in his Church And he declared this to be a great means whereby his Religion might be propagated and take the greater place in the World John 17.11 21 23. In Christianity while many are eager in prosecuting their Contests too highly in other things the Apostle assures us that Peace is one of the great parts in which the Kingdom of God consists Rom. 14.17 19 And he persuades to Unity in the Church with very great and affectionate earnestness Phil. 2.1 2. and urgeth the same in almost every Epistle Declaring also that they who make Drvisions contrary to this Christian Doctrine serve not our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 16.17 18. But can any persons be the better Christians by despising the weighty and frequently inculcated Precepts of Christianity Or can they be the faithful Disciples of Christ who are earnest in disobeying him even in such Precepts which besides his Authority are intended for the Honour and the progress of his Religion 6. The ancient Church zealous practisers hereof How unlike are these practices to the ancient Catholick temper of Christianity which long continued in the Church sutable to Rules of our holy Religion by the ancient Canons of the Vniversal Church they who would withdraw from the established Church (b) God Can. Eccl. Univ. can 65. and as disesteeming that would privately and without the consent of the Bishop set up another Church were under an Anathema And that the Ancient Fathers and Christians accounted the Precepts of the Gospel for Peace and Vnity to forbid and condemn Divisions and Separations from the Church and that they themselves were zealous in rejecting such practices may sufficiently appear from what I have shewed in (c) Libert Eccles p. 17 18 19 20 23 24. another Discourse But are the rules and practice of Christianity now changed and become quite different from what they were in the Primitive Times Or can any man pretend to a sufficient Warrant and Authority for altering the nature of these Duties or cancelling their Obligation 7. I know that some plead on your behalf that you are not chargeable with any blameable separation You meet indeed by your selves to perform publick worship in a different way from us as one Church may do distinctly from another but you do not censure the Church of England to be no true Church but profess to own her to be a true Church and her Communion to be lawful and therefore you are chargeable with no Schism Those Dissers not excused from schism who professedly acknowledg us to have a true Church and a true worship or unwarrantable division Now though this profession is not always made with sufficient clearness and freedom the acknowledgment thereof is so far from being a plea on your behalf that it is rather an unanswerable charge against you For you reject in your practice the Rules and Constitutions established by Authority concerning the order of the Church and its worship you generally express your dislike of our way of worship or at least your disesteem and undervaluing thereof many of you use your utmost endeavours to draw off persons from our Communion and to bring them to your Congregations and some of your chief Teachers have written their Letters to that purpose to such persons in whom they think they have any great interest some of which I have seen some years since your party frequently useth sharp censures against such pious persons who will not forsake our Church to joyn with you Your people ordinarily use reproachful expressions of our service yea concerning our Church and Ministry and so do your Teachers too frequently and if any persons forsake you and return to our Church they then fall under the load of your displeasure And because this behaviour is used towards that Church which you acknowledg to be a true Church and her Communion not sinful this is so far from justifying your practices that it renders them unaccountable and unexcusable 8. Can it be supposed The contrary proved from one end of Christian Unity that the Vnity and Peace our Saviour recommended for the gaining upon the world was only this that his Disciples and followers should all profess his Name and Doctrine but might make themselves of as many several parties as they pleased all of them openly before the world protesting their dislike of the several models the other parties embraced and also of that worship which was most publickly used and established by the chief Guides and Governours of the Church Now if all this might be done and care must only be taken that the dividing parties do not charge the main body of the Church to be no true Church or to have no true worship could this be the way to promote the honour of Religion or would it not rather make it appear contemptible And in our own present case do the enemies of the Protestant Reformation when they observe your dividing behaviour honour our Reformation because of our Vnity or do not you know that upon this account they upbraid our discord and divisions and make ill use of them And besides this
the genuine Purity of the Church of God in Doctrine or Practice or who defile themselves by any Vice and particulaly who so engage in Divisions as thereby to turn aside from the Christian Life their end will be misery And to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divisions or Seditions are reckoned among those fruits of the Flesh which exclude from the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.20 21. And yet further with respect to the same thing the Apostle Ver. 18 19 20. shews That what men may sometimes account to be their Wisdom if it lead them amiss as particularly by bringing them into the paths of strife and discord is no true wisdom but folly And the same thing is asserted by St. James Jam. 3.13 14 15 16 17. 17. And to make it manifest that in this discourse of the Apostle thus far and also in his proceeding yet further what he wrote was particularly directed to the case and miscarriage of their Divisions From what he had hitherto said The sense above mentioned further cleared he deduceth this Inference Ver. 21. Therefore let no man glory in Men i.e. to make Factions and Divisions out of pretence of the esteem they have even of Paul Apollos Cephas or any other And he directs Chap. 4.1 Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God And Chap. 4. v. 6. he tells them These things I have in a Figure transferred to my Self and to Apollos for your sakes that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written that no one of your be puffed up for one against another 18. And that no man may slight and despise this consideration and still conclude that as he can please himself in such undertakings so God surely cannot be so displeased with these Divisions I shall take a little notice of the evil temper that generally attends them Besides The evil attendants of Schism the hurt that is done to the Church of God to Religion and to other men the engaging in Separation is also usually accompanied with many disorders of Mind and Practice Here are Prejudices towards them from whom they divide with disordered heats and censoriousness a neglect of due reverence to Superiours and a proneness to embrace some particular Opinions concerning some things in Religion whereby they may distinguish their Party and by opposing others herein keep themselves at a greater distance from them And withal the offending Persons are here ordinarily so far pleased with and ready to justifie and approve their miscarriages that they are not willing to examine their own Errors and Mistakes are far from being pleased with him who shall reprove their faults and sometimes with him also who shall in the mildest and kindest manner persuade them to consider of their Duty and return unto it And this temper of mind besides the various woful fruits and manifest consequents of Divisions themselves may well provoke the Divine displeasure 19. Wherefore as every Person valueth and esteemeth the pleasing God and minding the duties of the Christian Religion which are things of mighty concernment and absolute necessity they must not think Care of Unity is greatly necessary they may safely omit the duty of Vnity or any other great command of the Gospel and practise only such Rules and Precepts as themselves please When St. Paul did beseech his Ephesians Eph. 4.1 to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith they were called he to this end among other duties insists most particularly and most largely upon keeping the Vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace and inforceth this by very many Arguments and Obligations to Christian Vnity v. 3.4 5 6. And I hope I need add no more but the Apostles conclusive words in his latter Epistle to the Corinthians before he gives his Apostolical Blessing to them who had been drawn into Divisions 2 Cor. 13.11 Finally Brethren farewell be perfect or (e) v. Dr. Hammonds Annot. in Loc. be compact and knit together be of good comfort or as others render it not amiss receive exhortation be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you FINIS