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A58921
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A seasonable corrective to the one project for the good of England intended for God's glory and the good of souls, and dedicated to the King and his great Council.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing S2226; ESTC R13156
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15,035
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12
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be no schisms amongst you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment And what says he to the Romans Now the God of patience and consolation grant Rom. 15.5 6. that ye be like-minded one towards another after the example of Christ Jesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ And so it was from the beginning from the very first plantation of the Church they were of one heart and of one soul and united in one communion in all sacred Offices Acts 2.42 they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers They held a strict communion with the Guides and Governours of the Church in the profession of the same Faith in the use of the same Sacraments and all other sacred Offices 'T is true the Apostle did foretell of false Apostles deceitful workers that would stir up schisms Acts 20.30 and bring in damnable heresies Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them But he does inveigh against them bitterly 1 Cor. 3.3 4. For ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and factions are ye not carnal and walk as men for while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not carnal As the Apostle does condemn them so he prescribes an Antidote against them Rom. 16.17 Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have received and avoid them Here we have our own sad malady divisions and offences and here we may find out certain cure if we will apply the remedy attentively to mark and carefully to avoid them But this goodly Projector tells us these Dissenters have some Grounds for their difference and 't were hard if they could find nothing to say for themselves but what is it Pag. 7. Mostly he says about Church Government and some Forms of Worship apprehended to be not so pure and Apostolical as could be desired And yet if we may give any credit to Church History this Government is at least as ancient as the plantation of Churches by the Apostles and these Forms of Worship having passed the test of sundry Disputes Debates and Conferences they are apprehended very pure and Apostolical by the most Pious Learned and Judicious and as such have received a Civil Sanction for their Establishment from the Supreme Authority whose Determinations if the Projector be to be believed are not to be superseded or controlled Pag. 2. But we have a more sure word of Prophecy whereto we should do well to take heed Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers And Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake And again Obey them that are your guides and have the rule over you and submit your selves Here is Apostolical and that is Divine Authority for it and that to be sure is uncontrollable And are there not Authentic Rules and Canons to direct this Authority Let us examine the Sacred Text. Amongst those Rules two are in effect Negative whereof the one seems more especially to concern such as are in Authority and the other such as are under the command of that Authority The Apostles and Pastors under the Gospel as well as the Prophets under that ancienter Dispensation were subject to like passions as other men And passion in some might be apt to sway them to rigour and severity and possibly they might be precipitant and impose something less convenient out of stifness and contention And on the other side Ambition might warp others to popularity and incline them to study how to gratifie the humour of the people to the prejudice of the Church for their own applause Hereupon the Holy Ghost by the Apostle lays down this Rule Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory Again among such as are or should be under Obedience some are knowing brisk and witty apt to be full of objection or scruple men of this temper will be ready as this Projector is to dispute their duty when they should perform it Others more phlegmatic and dull of apprehension though not active and subtil enough to dispute yet may be froward and stubborn enough to murmur Hence the Holy Ghost by the hand of the same Apostle lays down another Rule Ib. ver 14. Do all things without murmurings or disputings And two other Rules this Apostle gives that are more positive and determine the business more directly 1 Cor. 10.31 Let all things be done to the glory of God this is the first and great Canon 1 Cor. 14.49 and the second is like unto it Let all things be done decently and in order Decently to procure Reverence and according to order to promote edification And on these two hang all the matter of Forms Rites and Ceremonies which relate to God's Worship And whether these Rules and Canons Apostolical be observ'd with due care prudence and moderation in our Establishment let the Reader consult Dr. Puller and Mr. Falkner Seeing then as was said by the honest Town-clerk of Ephesus that these things cannot be spoken against ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly This Projector will have nothing else to do but either to evict the iniquity of those Rules and this Establishment which though oft attempted was never yet done to any degree of Conviction or Evidence or else to shew himself an humble Christian by his due conformity and to call upon such as he has misled to follow his good Example And then we shall have no more marks no more names or titles of division but being perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment we shall peaceably accord in the same practice and then every man shall sit down quietly under his own Vine and follow his own Imployment There will be no more noise of Sequestrations or Suspensions no more leading into prison no more Church Censures no more complaining in our streets The King will receive his full due of Customs and Contributions you and I shall not stand in need of the Charity of a Forein Hand we shall become good Samaritans to one another And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and on the Israel of God To draw to a Conclusion When the Royal Prophet describes an Insurrection and Conspiracy against the King of Saints exalted unto his Throne upon the holy Hill of Sion which is the Church after he has check'd the insolency of the Adversaries by a chiding Expostulation he descends to a gentle Admonition directed to such as wear and manage the Supreme Authority Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye that are Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce unto
him with reverence Kiss the Son lest he be angry and so ye perish from the right way For of him as Head and in conjunction with his mystical Body the Church the Lord saith by his great Prophet Isa 60.12 The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted Their Civil Vnion which this Projector so much relies on shall not be their Civil Safety To come then to the last Scene of this Project is not the Religious taking of an Oath a serious part of God's solemn Worship and Service Let 's consult the Law and the Prophets and then the Gospel God says by his great Law-Giver Moses Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God Deut. 6.13 and serve him and shalt swear by his Name as a part of his Service Is it not then a most prodigious Superstition to be afraid of offending God in doing that which he himself does so expresly command and practise For this is his Practice as well as his command He swore unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob. Psal 110.4 Heb. 6.13 Ezek. 18.3 Psal 89.35 He sware unto David and took an oath to establish an everlasting Priesthood upon the Saviour of the World Nor did he scruple at the Form at all for sometimes he sware by Himself sometimes by his Life sometimes by his Holiness And if we consult the Prophets we find an Oath not onely lawful and practicable but so highly useful that Rules and directions are carefully prescribed to regulate the circumstances and manner of it Thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in truth in righteousness Jer. 4.2 and in judgment And can any man be so sensless as to think such a solemn part of God's Worship and Service should be abolished or superseded And yet they say it is and that if we believe them by great Authority viz. that of our Blessed Lord I say unto you Mat. 5.34 swear not at all But 't is observable that our Saviour has not one word touching the Office of the Magistrate in all that discourse And that Prohibition of Swearing is expresly restrained to our private and familiar Converse Ver. 37. 't is determined to that by our Lord himself Let your communication be yea yea and nay nay James 5.12 And Saint James who derived his Doctrine from this Fountain must be understood according to this Interpretation And the Psalmist has declared in the Name of God that all they that swear by him shall be commended Psal 63.11 For to take an Oath if it be duly circumstantiated is not a moral fault but a religious duty And so it was many hundreds of years before the Law and amongst more Nations than one It was a part of natural Religion which Christ came not to abolish and therefore when he was required to take an Oath before the Magistrate he did not at all boggle at it He held his peace indeed at a frivolous and trifling Accusation but when the Chief Priest said solemnly to him I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God he did submit to the Imposition and spake the truth without any equivocation or reserve whatsoever Mat. 26.63 64 he gave a positive and intelligible Answer Thou hast said Besides there is still the same reason the same use the same end of Swearing as ever was The Gentleman in his Letter against the Bishops being Judges in Causes Capital pag. 72. tells us That an Oath is the greatest Obligation that mankind is capable of making even God a party to it to see it obeyed and punish the transgressors 'T is such a confirmation therefore Heb. 6.16 as presently puts an end to all dispute and doubtfulness And does Paradise or the third Heaven afford any different Revelation Let 's hear how S. Paul understands the point Rom. 9.1 1.9 and we may learn it by his practice I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost And God is my Witness And to ascend to the highest Pitch of Asseveration he saith 2 Cor. 1.23 I call God to record upon my soul And no Oath could with any modesty be express'd in higher terms but we find the duty performed with more solemnity by some of those heavenly Officers Rev. 10.1 6. an Angel of special note and dignity With his hand lifted up to heaven sware by him that liveth for ever and ever But we have gotten a new Project which were it practised universally as the Projector doubtless would have it would make God himself which cannot be thought on without horror in some danger to be forsworn for he has taken an oath Isa 45.23 that first or last every man shall do so too I have sworn by my self the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear And if we allow St. Paul to be a good Interpreter this is a kind of Oath Ex Officio at the Supreme Court of Judicature Rom. 14.10 11. Eccles 7.16 But our Arrogant Projector and his Party let the Preacher give what advice he please to the contrary are grown so over-wise and so much over-righteous that they must needs be more holy than their Maker and a great deal wiser too To swear in truth and in judgment and in righteousness though to find out the most useful or the most needful Secret and to give the most necessary assurance of our Fidelity the Omniscience the Veracity and Justice of God being solemnly asserted and invoked to this effect yet this to them is a profane custom wherefore all sorts of Oaths Assertory Promissory Arbitrary or imposed by a just Authority they will have abolish'd and their sacred Office must be supplied by a Substitute a doubty Declaration of this Projector 's own coyning Is not this a pretty piece of Innovation taken up in opposition to a Practice approved and appointed by God himself for so many thousand years together among all Nations A rare Invention sure to fish out Truth and secure Soveraign Authority of the Fealty of the Subject by an Expedient which came as little into the mind of Almighty God as the Worship of Molech Jer. 32.35 Does not our Arrogant Projector by this device make an Idol of his own Right-worshipful Imagination But the Apostle tells us of a sort of great Philosophers who professing themselves to be wise became fools Psal 63.11 But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped In short we are taught by all sorts of Laws Human and Divine of Nature and of Nations by the declaration and practice of holy men and of God himself that a just and solemn Oath is the best security And to anticipate all Objection if any man be so profligately wicked that a solemn Oath cannot hold him a Pilory 't is likely may but certainly a Halter will and when all comes to all we may observe that this is the last resort of our Projector 's Declaration Pag. 9. This I confess may possibly ensnare some good man under an ill Government but 't will seldom fail to catch a noted Knave under a very good one To conclude we are somewhat in the dark overcast with a thick Cloud of Confusion and for the divisions of England there are great thoughts of heart And we have reason to fear God will adjourn the day of our deliverance to that of our repentance But however the personal sins that reign amongst us are great and many yet I think there are none that do so much threaten our safety as those that are more rise and national Hypocrisie Schism and Irreligion from which good Lord deliver us Amen FINIS