and living Impression on our hearts and making our hearts that were stony before now to be soft and tender to receive that Impression and yet so solid firm and tenacious as to retain it being as a Nail fixt in a firm place by the Masters of Assemblies given by one Shepherd Eccles 12. 11. But so is not the heart of Unbelievers or Heathen Gentiles whose heart is a heart of stone but the heart of every sincere Believer is a heart of flesh according to Ezek. 11. 19. and 36. 26 27. compared with 2 Cor. 3. 3. But say some cannot the Spirit teach us without Book even without the Scripture Thus some argue for the sufficiency of the Light within without any thing else I answer and so can an able Schoolmaster teach his Scholars without Book but they cannot well learn without Book As the Master condescendeth to the weak capacity of his Scholars to teach them by Books so doth the Spirit condescend to our weak capacity to teach us by the written Word Now as concerning the peculiar positive Laws of the Gospel under the New Testament and the Gospel Precepts some of them are greater and some lesser but all highly valuable and profitable The greater are such that Obedience to them is of absolute and indispensible necessity to our Salvation as to believe in Christ and to love Christ and to rejoyce in Christ whom yet we have neither outwardly heard nor seen according to 1 Pet. 1. 8. and John 20. 29. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed The lesser are such that are not of that absolute and indispensible necessity to Salvation in some cases thought still generally necessary to Salvation as Water-Baptism and the Lord's Supper It would be too uncharitable in us to conclude that all who die without them fall short of Salvation Christ said He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he said not he that is not baptized shall be damned but he that believeth not shall be damned Our most mereiful and gracious Lord knew well that by some unavoidable Providences some could neither receive Baptism nor the Supper how much soever they desired it being prevented by Death before they could have them administred to them in which case all good Casuists and Divines say Votum Baptismi i. e. The Desire of Baptism and the Willingness of the Mind to subject to it as the Ordinance of Christ is equivalent to Baptism it self And the like may be said of the Lord's Supper But what shall we say or think of many in our day and time who may have it and yet through woful Ignorance and Errour being deluded by false Teachers and prejudice of Education or otherwise darkned and blinded in their Minds refuse and reject it not only break these two precious Commands of Christ but teach Men so to do And many have lived and died in this opposition to these Precepts of Christ without any sign of Repentance being taught by their false Teachers to believe that they are no Commands of Christ I own to my Grief and Shame that I have been so deceived by them and I thank my gracious God that has spared and prolonged my natural Life until he was pleased to farther enlighten me and give me to see my great Errour and renounce it as I have done and now to practise that which I formerly rejected But to answer directly to the Question what other or better Answer can I give than the words of our Saviour himself Mat. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven Some understand it so that he shall have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven which is true if he live and die in wilful Ignorance and Disobedience but I will not be so uncharitable as to think so of many who have in some measure in Faithfulness held the Fundamentals of Christianity and have sincerely endeavoured to obey such of the greater Commands of Christ that they are perished but on the contrary I have the charity to them and so I hope and desire that ye may have the same that God has in mercy received them and has not excluded them from the Kingdom of Heaven notwithstanding they have lived and died not only in the disuse of some of Christ's Commands such as Baptism and the Supper but have even continued in the opposition of them to the last moment not throught any wilful Ignorance but by being imposed upon by the high Pretences of their false Teachers whom they esteemed to be Prophets Yet I think without breach of charity I may say that for their Ignorance and ignorant opposition to these or any of the least of Christ's Commands they shall have a lesser degree of Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven than otherwise they should have had I have now done with what I had to say in answer to these weighty Questions I shall only observe one Particular from the words of the Text which is this That it hath oft been and is the Lot of good Men having a good Conscience to be wrongfully judged misrepresented and falsly accused both Scripture and History abounds with Examples to prove this as in the case of Joseph Moses David and Daniel and many of the Prophets and in the case of John Baptist and our Saviour John came neither eating nor drinking and they said he had a Devil Christ came eating and drinking with Publicans and Sinners and they called him gluttonous and a Wine-bibber to which my Case somewhat resembles These four Years past my Adversaries among the Quakers reproached me that I was of no Communion neither Quaker nor Presbyterian nor Independent nor Baptist nor of the Church of England and unless I would declare my self to be of some particular Communion they would not dispute with me nor regard me to answer me though I told them I was a Christian and a Member of the Catholick Church of Christ and have great charity for all the sincere that hold the Head in all the several Communions of Protestants but this would not satisfie but they would insult and sought to trample me under their feet but God supported me But now again when with a good Conscience being farther I bless God enlightned and my Scruples I had being fairly removed after diligent Examination and mature Deliberation I have declared my self to be for the Church of England and have joyn'd in Communion with her they do as much reproach and revile me and falsly accuse me as formerly and so would they have done if I had joyned with any of the Dissenters but I bless God I have a good Conscience and my care hath been is and I hope ever shall be to have Peace with God and my own Conscience and therefore I need not be much concerned what my Adversaries or any other ignorant persons shall say of me I am comforted with the words of
our Blessed Lord to his Disciples Matth. 5. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake This I thank God is my case I charge my Adversaries to prove any thing against me of evil Conversation I have with Zeal and Resolution which God hath been pleas'd to give me and who has greatly supported and strengthened me opposed and testified against their vile Errours and this is all the cause of their Hatred against 〈◊〉 and that God has been pleased to bless and prosper 〈…〉 with some Success so that both in America many and here in England both in City and Country divers have come from Quakerism and gone over to the Church of England with me yea divers have prevented me and gone before me and divers here I hope will go along with me I also remember what Christ said John 16. 2. The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God Service Persecutors commonly follow an erring Conscience few Persecutors and be sure they are of the worst sort that knowingly and wilfully persecute the Servants of God Having thus far proceeded according to the Doctrine I mentioned at the beginning of this Discourse on the foregoing Verse 1 Pet. 3. 15. I think it my Duty and a weighty Concern lyeth upon me to give to this Auditory the Reason of the Hope that is in me of my Faith and Persuasion in this very particular Why I have joined in Communion with the Church of England although I retain Charity to all the honest-hearted of other Communions hoping that in God's due time the more Sincere will follow my Example and that God will make all the Sincere to be not only of one Faith as many at present are but of one Way and Practice and Uniformity Worship and Church Discipline so as with one mouth and one heart and mind to glorifie God Rom. 15. 16. This will be a Joyful Day which I hope many here and elsewhere pray for Why then will ye not help it forward by your good Examples laying aside all weak and insufficient Scruples which upon due Examination will be found without just ground And why find ye fault with those that begin to give you good Example Though this Change of mine is not so great as some imagine I was never so uncharitable as I find some are though I grant I have been too uncharitable which I have retracted I have been for a considerable time very charitable to all sober and religious Protestants of all sorts and have oft in secret bewail'd their Opposition one to another perceiving that in great part it came more from Prejudice of Judgment and Education than any just Cause I date not my Conversion to Christianity from this Change nay nor from my first turning to the Quakers My gracious God began early to deal with me and turn'd my Heart towards him I was well instituted in the Fundamentals of Christianity by the good Education I had for which I praise God before I knew the Quakers and though in too many things I was misled by them being deceived by their high pretences to Perfection and divine Enjoyments by which they have deceived many as well as me yet I retained a sound Faith of the Fundamentals of Christianity and did constantly profess the same which I can sufficiently prove both by my printed Books from time to time and divers Manuscripts and from my Childhood to this day God has in mercy preserved me from all scandalous Conversation and Practice whereof some of good Credit are ready to give a Testimony who have known me for Fourty six Years past and my manner of Conversation I am the more concerned to give the reason of my said Change chiefly for the sake of some of my good Friends here present who though by the Blessing of God have been by me as an instrument brought off from the Quakers Errours that were opposite to the Fundamentals of Christianity yet have some remaining Scruples that at present hinder them from so cordial a joining with the Church of England and seem to be concerned with my joining with her which I hope God in due time will remove and so far as is possible for me I will endeavour as his instrument to be assisting to them as also for the more confirming of such who are cordially ready to join with me And in the next place to silence the unjust Clamours and false Accusations of my professed Adversaries and others ignorantly prejudiced against me I am desirous to let them know that I have good reason for what I have done and have acted as a rational Christian Man in my so doing A chief Reason therefore which I offer is this Suppose there were a parity or equality in all other respects betwixt the Dissenters and the Church of England I mean the more sound and orthodox among them as in Doctrine and Worship Sacraments and Church-Government Discipline and Constitution of Members yet this with me doth cast the Balance and I think ought to cast the Balance with any rational considerate person that on that supposition the minority or lesser number should yield to the majority or greater number and the younger should yield to the elder and the Daughters to the Mother For certain it is that the Church of England as she was in King Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth's time and in Queen Mary's time was the Mother Protestant Church The Dissenters Forefathers had their Christianity Baptism and Christian Education and Profession in her Communion and were nursed as it were in her Arms and suckled at her Breasts and the more sober of all Dissenters will say she was a true Church then in all the main things of Religion Now unless they can prove that she is changed from what she then was either in Doctrine or Sacraments or Worship or Discipline or Church-Government in any material thing from better to worse which I think they cannot do how can they justifie their Separation from her And I think I may safely add that the wiser Men and ablest in solid Learning and Piety and in the sound Knowledge of the Scriptures to instruct the Ignorant and convince or put to silence Opposers to refute Antichristian and Popish Errors as well as all other old and late Heresies are much more numerous to be found in the Church of England And what solid Learning the ablest of the Dissenters have had so far as may be acquired by outward means has been originally by means of Church of England Men. She hath been all along and still is the greatest Bulwark against Popery whereof she hath given sufficient Proof from time to time witness the many elaborate and excellent Books and Tracts written by her Members against Popery especially and other old and new Heresies as Deism Atheism c. yea let the Libraries and Closets of the generality of the Dissenters Ministers be searched who
are the more knowing and judicious and of best repute among them either for Piety or Learning and it will be found that they have more Books of Church of England Divines and other forraign Divines who own Communion with her than of any others And yet for all this shall I be so uncharitably judged and my Friends who go along with me as a sort of Apostates and as having bad Ends and Designs and as some of them I hear suggest against me that I do it for a Living I pray God forgive their uncharitable Judgment I neither was nor yet am so hard put to it for a worldly Living as some imagine and as others wish and desire I mean of my Adversaries among the Quakers who have Prophecied of my outward as well as inward Ruine and longed to have their false Prophecies accomplished against me but God hath hitherto disappointed them and preserved me and mine from Ruine both inwardly and outwardly for which I bless his Name and I hope he will preserve me to the End Why should the Expectation of a Living incline me more to the Church of England than to the Dissenters Had I joyned with them I might have got a Living among them perhaps more plentiful by the Peoples Gratuities than by a Set maintenance in the Church of England Which last way of living I think is the more Honourable and less obnoxious to many great Temptations and every way as suitable to the Gospel I find that the Church of God in Scripture is compared to an Army whose Captain is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ called the Captain of our Salvation Now suppose there were two Armies in the Field the one very great and numerous the other far less in Number as suppose the one Thirty thousand the other Ten pray tell me whether it is not more safe for us all who are concerned in one common Cause against the common Enemy to keep within the Body of the Army then in several Parties to straggle and keep asunder from it or Entrench by themselves The like is our present Case both the Church of England and all called Protestant Dessenters profess to be concerned in one common Cause against Papists Turks and Jews Deists and Atheists and others guilty of vile Heresies in a Spiritual Warfare Is it not therefore more prudent and safe to unite together in one Body of Christian Society and Communion against the common Enemy that we may be the stronger especially seeing the differences betwixt the Church of England and the more judicious and moderate of the Dissenters are not in any Materials either of Doctrine or Worship but the very same as they have Confessed Have not these Divisions and Separations had bad Effects weakned the Protestant Interest strengthned the Papists yea and Deists and Atheists and loose and scandalous Persons who take occasion to say there is no true Religion on either side by observing the great Heats and Annimosities and bitter Prejudices of the differing Parties I will now come to answer what I think they will object mainly against my Reason above given They will tell us that if the parity or equality on both Sides were the same my Reason would be good but they will alledge there is a great disparity and inequality the Dissenters having the Advantage in several Particulars as 1st in Doctrines 2dly in manner of Worship 3dly Administration of the Sacraments 4thly Church Governments which say the Dissenters is more agreeable to Scripture among them than in the Church of England To every one of which I think to say something as briefly as I can And First as to the Doctrine as touching the Articles of Faith the Quakers excepted they profess to be one with the Church of England and have signed or profess themselves willing to sign to her Articles Secondly as to the manner of Worship which the Dissenters contend for should be wholly by an extempore Gift of the Spirit whereas the Church of England though she alloweth that Ministers before and after Sermon may Pray without a Set Form either read or repeated from the bare Memory by using their sanctified Parts and Gifts of Understanding to Conceive Prayer by the Help of the Spirit yet She is not only for the Lawfulness of Set Forms of Prayer composed by Pious Men of Spiritual Abilities both ancient and late but for the great Conveniency and Profitableness of them yea and Necessity of them in many respects in the Publick Worship of God leaving every one to their Christian Freedom whether to use or not use Set Forms in their Closet and Private Devotions But to this I say The most Pious as well as Judicious whom the Dissenters esteem so and repute as their Fathers and others that repute them not so yet will allow that they were very holy and spiritual Men have owned the Lawfulness of Set Forms of Prayer yea not only the Lawfulness but the great Conveniency and Necessity of them in the Publick Worship of God Calvin one of the most famous of the Protestant Reformers was for them as I proved to you some time ago Quod ad formulam precum c. As to the Form of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites Note that I greatly approve that it be certain from which it may not be lawful for Pastors to depart in their Function both to guard against the Simplicity and Unskilfulness of some and also that the Consent of all the Churches among themselves may be more certainly known And lastly to Put a Check to the insolent Liberty of some who affect certain Innovations So then it behoveth there be a Set or fixed Catechism a Set Admininistration of Sacraments also a Set Form of Prayers out of his express words in his Letter to the Protector of England Epist 87. The Protestant Churches abroad in Germany Holland Poland Sweden Denmark and France from the beginning of the Reformation to this very day have used Set Forms of Prayer and Thanksgiving in their Publick Worship And yet I think the Dissenters here will not conclude that their Worship was wholly carnal dead and without Life or Spirit as many of them do now argue against the publick Prayers of the Church of England The Life and Spirituality of Prayer doth not consist in the Mode or Form of the words whether Set or Extempore say all sound and judicious Christians but in the Purity and Fervour of the Affections And therefore an Extempore Prayer may be very Formal dead and dry and a Prayer in a Set Form may be very lively powerful and effectual as the experience of Thousands daily confirm And suppose the Dissenters would be so uncharitable to judge that Calvin's Prayers at Geneva in Set Forms and Luther's in Wittenberg and all the other Protestants Prayers in Set Forms were barely Formal Carnal Dead and Dry and the blessed Protestants Prayers who died Martyrs in Queen Mary's Reign that used Set Forms yea many of these now in use which would