Churches your Lives are said to be answerable to your Doctrines Many are enlightned Mr. Baxter's Works instructed and persuaded from sin by your Teaching as therefore a Roman said of a good man on the contrary side Vtinam I could repeat the word a thousand times Vtinam noster esses would to God that you and we were but one would to God that you would joyn with us and be persuaded to unite in one Religion and Worship The multitudes that throng at your Assemblies look upon you also to be men that make Conscience of your ways By your Preaching they see that you are not ignorant of the Holy Scriptures and of the Revealed Will of God What can they conclude from hence and your abhorrency of us but that you must be more quick-sighted than they are to spy an Error in our Worship and Prayers something of Idolatry and unlawful to practise which causes you to separate from us for fear of a defilement I know several persons that this consideration alone hath prejudiced so far against us that they have told me and cannot be persuaded to the contrary that there must needs be something of Superstition in our Church for otherwise so many Learned men would never stand at such a distance from us others have cast all the fault upon your Consciences as if your Consciences my Reverend Brethren were to be blinded and mistaken in so plain and clear a business What is free for me to practise some have said to me it may be other mens Consciences cannot allow Your pious behaviour and good lives in the eyes of the world strengthens them in this charitable opinion of you and sinister opinion of us and of our Church so that they look upon us as formalists temporisers men-pleasers worldlings and our Rulers as Persecutors to Enact those just Laws which tend to the preservation of the Nations Peace and Honour For Gods sake begin now to undeceive them suffer not your people to continue for ever in their dangerous mistakes which nourishes envy hatred malice displeasure and keeps them in that hainous and crying Sin before God Schism which caused once the Earth to open her infernal jaws to devour the first Authors of it alive Numbers xvi Your Danger I conceive is greater than theirs for all the sins that they are guilty of by their separation and the vices nourished in them by this division will be charged upon you by our great Judge at the last Tribunal And why will you load your selves with other mens Crimes Have you not miscarriages enough of your own to Answer for Were it not for you and your Religious Carriage all your people would be easily persuaded to listen to Reason and their Duty to the Church But as you have hitherto kept up the Faction for Reasons that we may chance to be ignorant of Now let me tell you that you indanger both the Bodies and the Souls the present and the future interest of your Congregations If you will yet stifly refuse a Compliance and an Union with us your Brethren You see the condition of this Nation the malice and designs of our Enemies the danger that hangs over our heads you see what advantage our divisions in Religion are likely to give them how they endeavour to keep us asunder and laugh at our follies and needless dissensions why will you befriend the Pope and his Papists why will you yield them your assistance and employ your Gifts and Talents to advance Popery amongst us and ruin your People and their Posterity Don't you think that these quarrels between Protestants have increased the number of Atheists and Papists It hath been the usual reason employed by their Jesuits to delude poor Souls into their Damnable Religion to tell them that we amongst our selves were not well agreed what Religion to chuse and that those of the Reformed Religion were always jangling about Fundamentals And how many prophane and loose persons have been glad to catch at this occasion to excuse themselves from observing the Laws of God Besides consider what danger those poor Souls are in that are your auditors whom though their conversation is plausible before men the Devil holds fast by those stroug bands of iniquity prejudice pride singularity hatred envy schism c. and drags to Eternal damnation without Repentance and the Merits of a good Saviour Open your Eyes therefore my Beloved Brethren look to your own your Congregations the Nations and the publick danger and the Lord of his Mercy open your Hearts to have some compassion of them and your selves that you may bring a speedy remedy to these distempers in the Church which will never be cured withou you I commend the Jesuits in China for their wisdom and discretion in complying and joyning with the Protestant Merchants in all Duties of Religion and they with the Jesuits in the parts of Gods Worship which are lawful however they abstain from all Disputes and Quarrels about Christian Religion before the Brahmans and the Heathens lest that the differences in Religion might not appear to them and hinder their embracing Christianity Cannot we observe the same policy we have much more reason than they our differences are not considerable Cease therefore to canton your selves and keep up your Factions Why will you for worldly interest or any carnal end bring Christs Church in England to utter ruin If you cannot be sensible of the Nations danger by that which I have already represented Consider that in the late hurly burly in the West upon a false Alarm of the French being landed upon the Coast of Dorset-shire some of the fiercest Presbyterians and Independents or such at least as pretended that Religion to excuse themselves from an attendance upon the Publick Ordinance had combined together to plunder the Houses of Rich Ministers Gentlemen and Wealthy Farmers if there had been any Truth in the Invasion My Reverend Brethren I beseech you for the Lords sake consider seriously this particular that will discover to you the present dispositions of our dissenting Brethren and the future dangers of their Dividing from our Church Animosity is increased to that height in their Souls that the Blessed Rules of the Gospel are not regarded that the Laws Human and Divine will be trampled under foot that Plunder Robberies and Massacres will be the end of your teaching many of them not to joyn with us I cannot think that any of you will approve of such wickednesses as these yet these you may see to be the fruits of our Divisions in frivolous matters of Religion I know your zealous Teaching hath had better effects upon more Conscientious Souls but under the Skirts of your Sects you know many Hypocrits and Villains shroud themselves to act their evil purposes under a more plausible Covert Harbor not such Enemies as these encourage them not in their dissenting from us but lead them by your Examples and Teaching at least to an Obedience to our Laws and Government in the Church and State and to an outward Conformity to the Worship of our God amongst us according to St. Pauls Exhortation to you in the Second of his Epistle to the Philippians If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies Fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind THE END
the abolished Ceremonies of the Jews or the prophane practices of the Heathen Idolaters ours are about the Lawful Decent and Religious Ceremonies of Christians Their Controversies were about such matter as were in themselves scandalous as eating of things sacrificed to Idols partaking with the Idolaters in a Heathen Temple or observing the Fasti and Nefasti days of good or ill luck according to the Roman persuasion but our Disputes are for such things as all acknowledge to be harmless and innocent The Romans were newly Converted to Christianity and therefore many weak in Faith were not to be discouraged by the liberty other men allowed themselves we in England methinks should be well grounded and setled in the Christian Religion and not to be discouraged from its Profession by every trifle The things in Controversie were never enjoyned or looked upon by the Rulers of that Church as sit to be practised and of any decency in Gods Worship our matters in dispute are approved by the Authority of the Nation and every true hearted English Soul is bound by the undeniable Laws of God as well as by Mans Laws and for the credit of the Nation as well as for the preserving of publick Peace and Unity to Submit and Conform Do you think in Conscience that in our case if S. Paul did live amongst us that he would bid you not Conform Because you are damned if you Conform doubting He that tells you in the former Chapter vers 16. Be of the same mind one towards another Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate Be not wise in your own conceits And in the fifteenth Chapter vers 5. Be ye like minded one towards another that ye way with one mind and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Think ye that he would have opened so wide a gap to Non-Conformity and to the sinister designs of Apostats and Hereticks Think ye that he would have given this liberty to disturb the Churches Peace to these Sons of Tumult and Division to tell them that a groundless suspition of sin in the practices of the Church or the bare pretence is sufficient to justifie their irregularities disorders schisms separation and disobedience to the Commands of their Superiors He that tells you that ye must needs be subject for Conscience sake would he have said that a naked excuse or a meer immagination of sin in the things enjoyned frees you from all subjection and gives you liberty to disobey the Magistrate in indifferent mattres Are you to prefer your wilful suspitions or groundless fancies to the declarations of your Brethren and Christian Rulers to imagin sin in that which they think not only lawful but also needful to be practised This General Rule Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin vers 23. is misapplied to our case and is not to be allowed as a lawful excuse for the omission of an apparent duty for there are none of our Non-Conformists but might easily attain to that Knowledge and Faith which might justifie their Unity with us Were they living amongst the Canibals or in the darkness of Popery or Heathenish Idolatry where none were able to remove their doubts to satisfie their minds and inform their Consciences this plea might be so long allowable till they were able to gain more knowledg Calig aut in Sole Quinctil But for them to shut their eyes to all the beams of light and their ears to all the Reasons Arguments and Persuasions of the Doctors of the Church of England and to say we are blind we don't believe we are not persuaded and therefore our Conformity without Faith would be a sin is a most ridiculous pretence unto which meer necessity drives them who are obstinately resolved to the contrary Suppose a Heathen or a Papist should have had the same advantages as you have to understand the Truth and as strong invitations to make profession of the Gospel would you allow them this pretence to excuse themselves from embracing the Gospel Why did not the Presbyterians and Independents approve of this Plea in those whom they cast out of their Assemblies for Religions sake and would not admit them to communion Men must take heed in this corrupt Age of such general Rules which the Devil is wont to wrest to promote his own wicked purpose But in this case you will say what shall we do what course shall we take for our Consciences have gotten such a command over us and our judgments through such like persuasions that we can enjoy no peace within our breasts if we comply with you in things so contrary to our principles We are as much afraid to hear your prayers as to worship before an Idol of Stone or Timber to see a white Surplice as to assist at Mass to have a Cross upon our Childrens foreheads as to receive the marks of the Beast In a word we are as much afraid to submit our selves to your Worship and the Government of Bishops as to Apostatize from Christ and forsake Christianity This fear and these persuasions cannot easily be overcome what advice therefore would you give us that we in this case might take that Course which may agree in some respects with our obligations to our Superiors and favour us a little in our weakness that we may not do any thing to disturb the peace of our Consciences which you say are mis-led CHAP. V. Seasonable and Christian Advices for our Non-Conforming Brethren who are possessed with such strong prejudices against the Church of England that they cannot easily overcome them and a Reconciliation proposed I Will freely grant what you would have us believe that you are afraid by a compliance with our Church to wound your Consciences or to act contrary to your persuasion which you think to be well grounded and that by such a proceeding you should disturb the quiet of your Souls as when Conscientious men commit a sin against Gods Laws Yet my Brethren in this case your resolved Non-Conformity is not warrantable nor agreeing with Christian prudence because your Superiors to whose Judgments Reason and Duty teaches you to yield a little condemns it as prejudicial to the publick and because it is so apparently destructive to Peace and all Christian vertues which Unity and Uniformity in Religion are wont to nourish in a Society Therefore in this case for your own quiet and the publick Peace I advise you my Brethren to observe a medium between a strict Conformity and a Non-Conformity until such time as you can be better informed and to practise these following Rules which will infallibly give your Souls and Consciences satisfaction and answer in some respects your obligations to your Superiors under God as well as secure the publick peace of the Church However I am certain you are bound by Gods Holy Word to observe these Rules that though the case were as you suspect I am certain that if you will govern
a strong spirit of delusion to believe Lies and to work Abominations have their excuses for their own follies and errors and to justifie their leaving of us But these I judge for the most part to be in so desperate a case that without a Miracle of Grace it is not possible to snatch them out of the claws of that commanding Spirit that governs them This advice is designed for the perusal of a more moderate sort and of more reasonable Souls more tractable and sociable who embrace the same Faith with us and expect the same Salvation by the same means the Merits of Christ and good Works These also have their pleas and excuses to hide that which is not justifiable by Gods Word and right Reason Their not Conforming with us in the service of God and Duties of Religion But whatever be their pretence these are the true causes of their obstinacy and our unhappiness The first and chiefest are Prejudice and Partiality proceeding from Education a long custom in and an acquaintance with that irregular way which they are so fond of These are wont strangely to prepossess mens minds and blind their judgments against the most apparent discoveries of Truth The late Usurpation and Anarchy in the Church let in another Government and other Orders unto which many that are accustomed cannot so readily prevail upon themselves to embrace what they fancy to be contrary chiefly in so delicate a business as Religion in which their sincerity makes them constant and faithful to the meanest circumstance But I would entreat you my Brethren to rectifie your mistakes by a diligent enquiry for we desire you not to forsake your Religion but to profess the same according to that most excellent manner that the Wisest and most Religious Governours of our Kingdom have thought fitting to prescribe to us Search into our Belief and Practices and see that we agree as well as you with the Holy Records of Gods Word we have the same Faith the same Sacraments the same God and Saviour the same initiation and we are designed for the same End and Glory what a pitty it is that we should be divided in the way Besides all the occasions of your prejudices proceed from mistakes and misapprehensions of us Therefore for the prevention of this evil take not things too much upon trust but give your selves the satisfaction to examin our way and the reasons we give for that which you object against us converse with us in our Devotions and think not that you shall be defiled to pray with us to the same God If your tender Consciences will suffer you to hearken to reason and to associate your selves with us in our Public Worship I am persuaded that all prejudice and partiality will soon vanish at the clear Sun-shine of the Gospel preached and sincerely taught amongst us You ought therefore to be jealous of that which seems to be your Conscience which is for the most part nothing but Humor strengthned by a long continuance And if your Conscience hath been wrought upon to act against truth good manners the glory of God and interest of Christian Religion you must labor by Prayer and the assistance of others of your more enlightned Brethren to find out the mistakes of your deceived Conscience For I cannot conceive but that many of the well meaning people amongst you are governed by their Consciences and frighted with secret remorses from the justest actions agreeable to Gods will and word For when an inveterate prejudice hath possessed the Souls of men it blinds their judgments it hardens their hearts it strengthens their resolutions and causeth Conscience it self to sooth them up in their Error So that they are not easily reconciled to the most apparent Truths An Example we have in the Pharisees of old whose obstinacy in opposing Christ and his Gospel is most remarkable as therefore this plea is not allowed by Gods word in such cases I would advise every good Christian to have some other reason ready for his Actions than bare and naked Conscience which is so apt to deceive our selves and others in this corrupt Age. II. Others of the simpler and more hypocritical sort are kept in their Non-Conformity by an inclination to singularity and a desire to gain the reputation of being more precise and more religious than their other Neighbours as if that were the only way to seem religious to men to cast off all respects to the Religion of the Countrey as if they had no other means to purchase this esteem but by their contempt of the ordinary Acts of Devotion and of the Society in Gods worship of the common people This folly is entertained by too many of those who have more regard to the outward garb than to the inward reality and are more afraid of defiling themselves with other mens sins than their own These pretend the wickedness of the times the viciousness of such as assist at Prayers and publick Acts of Piety and it may be the Ministers weakness in manners and abilities as just causes of their separation from us however they think thereby to answer their end to oblige others to look upon them as more Holy and Angelical than those whom they despise whiles their hearts are full of hatred malice envy pride vanity and many times you may perceive in them the Devil of Hypocrisie that hath a worldly interest to manage by this fond conceit of preciseness with which the poor Soul endeavors to deceive it self and others for that intent as the boasting Pharisee of the Gospel To cure this kind of Lunaticism in Religion I would advise the distempered to seek but into their own Souls and understand themselves better and it may be they would find there more cause to lament at their own corruption than to exclaim against the viciousness of others I would advise them to take heed of being more severe against their sinful Brethren than God and to consider that by partaking with the vilest of men in Holy Duties thou art not partakers of their negligence prophaness and other Crimes unless thou followest their vicious Examples That thy Piety and Humility will be so much the more acceptable to thy God and pleasing to men in a publick Congregation the more it excels the rest of the Assistants That other mens unworthiness should be so far from scaring thee from performing thine obligations to God and his Church that it should animate thee the more with an inclination to promote Gods glory and keep up his worship in the eyes of the world with that due respect and reverence which other men neglect in their constant attendance upon this Holy Ordinance And that it is a most ridiculous persuasion to fancy thy self able to obtain the esteem of Holyness by the omission of the duties of Religion and by a scornful neglect of the incouragements of Holyness and Piety III. Another cause of many of our Brethrens refusing a Conformity with us in our
worshipping of God is a too zealous affection for a Party or for the Name of a Party unto which they have devoted themselves This factious humor proceeds out of some displeasure conceived against us our persons or our way or out of a propensity for that Party which they embrace in opposition to us And many times they are so fond and blind that they give not themselves the trouble to examin the differences between us but resolutely embrace Presbytery or Independency and addict themselves to these empty names for no other cause nor reason but because they have an inclination for the Sect or only for the Name of the Sect. I dare appeal to the judgment and inquiry of the more reasonable persons amongst them whether this be not the cause of the separation of many from us I am persuaded that most of them know no real difference between us and them but only in the outward form and garb they understand not what Presbytery and Independency are and yet they are in appearance such rigid Presbyterians and Independents in their outward behaviour that by no means will they be persuaded to comply with us in the least punctilio These are commonly the greatest Enemies of Unity who are thus led on by blindness and ignorance They are the most unreconcileable slanderers of our Worship and Government upbraiding us with the Ministers viciousness the Peoples formality and other trivial matters which discover more hatred than reason in their carriage to us To this kind of Non-Conforming Brethren whom St. Paul checks for their carnality I recommend that Christian moderation which the same Apostle wishes to the Corinthians and his other Disciples and to remember that their furious Devotion for their several parties agrees not with that Devotion which they should have for Peace for Religion for their Christ and his Interest That their espousing of a Factior divorces them from this good Saviour and renders their Souls unfit for a Communion with him here or hereafter And that they shew themselves to be the greatest Enemies of Truth and Concord when they thus engage themselves desperately in the encouraging of a Party without understanding the depth and designs of it No doubt but if these men had but as sincere an inclination for Truth and the Publick Peace they would be as averse to their Sects as they are now forward to promote the interest of them IV. Another sort are preingaged by a worldly interest and kept from a compliance with us for fear of crossing or losing that advantage which they reap from a Non-Conformity or from their Acquaintance with the Non-Conformists Too many I understand are kept from hearkening to their Reason and Knowledge of the Lawfulness of our Worship and their Duty to God and Man by that bewitching thing Seeming Interest But such men value more their present profit than their future hopes and prefer the vanities of the Earth to the unspeakable advantages of Heaven which they might reasonably expect from an obedience to Gods Laws Their condition I reckon to be very desperate for however they may look upon this Sin with contempt or think their refusal of joyning with us deserves less blame because they side with our Brethren of the same Religion yet in regard that they stand in opposition to us and division is thereby encouraged in Christs Church This their sin of Non-Conformity is so much the more hainous because they know their Duty and refuse to practise it for fear of parting with an advantage which they might probably lose did they forsake their Faction and Party I would intreat these men to weigh the words of our Saviour directed to such Idolaters of worldly interest He that denies me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven And to remember that Christ is seemingly denied when we refuse Communion with such whom we know to be real Christians and a compliance with that Lawful Worship which is agreeable with his Word and Will V. Another hinderance to the Non-Conformity of some of the more Learned and Wiser sort are those who either think themselves so or desire to be so esteemed is Shame The shame and reproach of the world which they justly deserve for complying too much with the irregularities of former times causeth them to continue constant in their Errors for fear of confessing their guiltiness by a change though for the better I conceive that their judgments were then over-ruled by the Authority and Currant of the times and perswaded to condemn that Government and Worship which Rebellion was resolved to pull down being insensibly drawn in to side with that Enemy of our Laws and Liberties Now therefore that this same Government and Worship is by Gods good providence reestablished they are ashamed to confess their former weakness to discover any unsetledness in their minds they choose for this purpose rather to persist in their mistakes than to acknowledge them by a recantation Such men consider not that obstinacy in Errors is a great aggravation of a Crime and that to confirm now wilfully and resolutely in opposition to Law and the dictates of their Conscience what the necessity of the times forced them to subscribe to is a most hainous sin near related to that of the Holy Ghost However our Saviour Christ highly condemns such men in the Gospel according to S. John Ch. xii vers 43. For loving more the praise of men than the praise of God For having a greater regard to the approbation of their former disciples than to be approved of by God for their ready compliance with their duty and his Divine Laws Truth is to be always acknowledged by all the Disciples of Truth and may be denied in little matters as well as in great but in matters of Religion of the publick Peace of the Service of God and the Unity of Christs Church every Truth is of a great importance to stand stifly in the denyal of it to refuse a compliance with it to oppose it obstinately and continue in that opposition till death is a wickedness that I judge to be unpardonable before God as it is inexcusable before men Such persons to save their credit care not how they damn their Souls and for fear of the reproach of men run themselves into the danger of forfeiting their God and happiness together with their interest in his Church by a wilful separation I intreat these my Brethren to take heed how they deny or oppose that which they know to be Just or True for the God of Truth is a revenger of all opposition to it A small liberty that men give themselves in an error or a vice hardens them in it and draws them insensibly into greater and more hainous and the longer men continue in them the less able they are to repent and amend VI. Some of the wiser sort were first persuaded to oppose the Church of Englaad and to refuse Conformity to its late establishment because
to be reconciled with us and their own duty by all the Reasons and Commands of God and Man You know and may easily discover in your usual hearers if you please to give your selves the trouble several wicked vices as pride selfconceitedness hypocrisie hatred malice envy c. which their Non-Conformity alone hath bred and nourished in their Souls You know that the blessed rules of the Gospel and the sweet temper of Christs Religion requires from you another disposition and other carriage than many of you and most of your followers exprest to us your Brethren and your Christian Governors If you have a sincere regard to Religion and a desire to advance Gods Glory on Earth you will at last endeavour a reconciliation for fear of the mischiefs which our separation from one another is like to bring upon us all Remember that a compliance with your Peoples Non-Conformity is no longer seasonable in regard of the obstinacy of those that continue in it against all Law and Reason You have sufficiently complied with their humors do you now comply with your obligations to God and Man you have had a care of the salvation of their Souls now look to the preservation of your own and run not your selves into the remediless sin of a wilful denial and opposition of God truth to the last The Apostles in their yielding to the Jewish mistakes laboured always to make them sensible of their Error by minding them still that Moses Ceremonies were not needful to be observed and at last told them plainly That they were a denyal of Christs coming in the Flesh Galat. It would become your Learning and Integrity my reverend Brethren to deal thus plainly with your Congregations if you would be true followers of the Holy Apostles Tell them that Conformity to the Church of England is no such a Crime as they have imagined that they are bound to obey Mans Laws when they are not contrary to the Commands of the Gospel That they should be reconciled with our Worship and Church and strive to Conform as near as they can to what is required from them Tell them that Schism and Separation from the approved way is a grievous sin That their Souls are in danger of Damnation by resisting and disobeying the lawful Commands of their Superiors under God That they should take heed of not persisting obstinately in their errors and not to refuse obedience to the least Command of the Gospel when discovered to them Tell them to be more in love with Truth than with Faction more desirous of meeting with the rest of their Brethren in Gods Worship than fond of their private and unlawful meetings where the Gospel may be Preached it is true because it is in opposition to their other Brethren and to the Authority of the Nation they are not warrantable by Gods Word Tell them in short that the Blessed Gospel of our Saviour as well as his Interest and our Glory requires us all to joyn and unite together in all Acts of Piety on Earth that we may avoid the Devils temptations and be more fit to unite together in Heaven to sing oraises to our great God and Redeemer Our Blessed Saviour who is dead for you as well as for us and is gone to prepare a place for us in the glorious Mansions of Eternity intends not to receive you by your selves and appoint your aboads distinct from the rest of Christians why are you so serupulous or so superstitious as for trivial matters now to divide from us in that Worship which is to prepare us for Gods presence O my Brethren did we but consider how ridiculous our Nation appear to our Neighbours and to the Blessed Angels above and how pleasing our Divisions are to our Enemies of Rome we should doubtless blush for shame to have hitherto encouraged a separation so childish and ill grounded for no other cause but the humor and mistakes of the vulgar sort seeing that it renders us liable to the reproach of Men and Angels and causeth us all to be in danger of the ruin of our worldly interest and what mischiefs it causeth to the Souls of men do you judge If the respect to Religion be pretended examin whether this pretence can avail against an apparent Duty or excuse you from a submission to the Laws of God and Man examin whether at present you draw not more evil upon the heads of your Followers and Religion it self by an opposition to Conformity than you would by yielding to Reason and Law and to your Christian obligations I know that some prophane and vicious persons refuse to be conformable for other reasons because they have cast off all respects for their God and Religion I know the Jesuits and the disguised Papists amongst you will not Conform to our Church but exclaim against our Religious Worship because they have a wicked design to manage the ruin of the Nation But I intend not these lines for their benefit and perusal but only for such of our Non-Conforming Brethren whose hearts God may at last move with a sence of their duty to joyn with us in Gods Service They that hereafter shall refuse and continue in an obstinate refusal and in their usual clamors against us may justly be suspected for Papists or some hired to promote the Jesuitical design the overthrow of Church and State Were the differences in Religion between us in the Fundamentals a Separation would be well grounded But we all agree in the chief Articles of our Faith we embrace together the same Religion and Belief we worship the same one God Creator of Heaven and Earth and expect Salvation through the Merits of a Crucified Christ we subscribe to the same Covenant of Grace and acknowledge but two Sacraments as Seals we look upon the Holy Scriptures as the only infallible Rule of our Faith and Practice In a word we agree in all the essential parts of the Christian Religion many of the circumstances in which we disagree are so inconsiderable that if we had not an earnest desire to contend they would not be able to cause any dispute much less to disturb the publick peace The chief differences are about Church Government and Gods Publick Worship for the latter they are so frivolous idle and impertinent that I shall say no more in vindication of our practices than hath been already said but for the Government we agree in the chief Principles and Maxims though we differ in the conclusion For we all say that in all Church Governments amongst Christians that there is a regard to be had to the Models allowed of and appointed by the Holy Apostles and Primitive Fathers That the Rules of the Gospel ought not to be opposed but obeyed in the prescribing of Laws for the preservation of Christian Societies That in all Church Government there is a special regard to be had to the end of all Government which is the safety of the whole to keep it