An Humble APOLOGY FOR Non-Conformists WITH Modest and Serious REFLECTIONS ON THE FRIENDLY DEBATE And the CONTINUATION Thereof By a Lover of Truth and Peace 1 Cor. 4.13 Being defamed we intreat 2 Cor. 6.8 As Deceivers and yet true Printed in the Year 1669. To the Readers THe Author of the Friendly Debate having smitten us on the face both on the right cheek and on the left lest our deep silence be brought in evidence to proclaim our guiltiness and so having lost our Livings we should lose our good Names also which ought to be dearer to us than our very Lives It may seem high time to Apologize for our selves and to make it appear to the World that we are not so black and ugly as we are painted nor so bad as we are represented Our Apology shall be that of the blessed Apostle St. Paul a little alter'd against whom also they brought many and grievous Accusations which they were not able to prove They have not found us in the Temples or Churches disputing with any man neither raising up the people neither in the Synagogues or places of Convention for Religious Exercises or in the City neither can they prove the things whereof they accuse us But this many of us confess That After the way that they call Schism and Phanaticism so worship me the God of our Fathers believing all things that are written in the Old and New Testament and in the Articles of Religion of the Church of England so far as concerns the Doctrine of Faith and Sacraments And are still ready to subscribe to all that the Learned and Famous Mr. Chillingworth saith was meant by Subscription namely That we are perswaded that the constant Doctrine of the Church of England is so pure and Orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it shall be saved and that there is no Error in it which may necessitate any man to disturb the peace or renounce the communion of it Now this being our Judgment I humbly conceive we are acquitted from Schism in the Opinion of Mr. Chillingworth and ought to be so in the Judgement of that learned and judicious Bishop Saunderson who as I have been credibly informed being asked what he thought of the Subscription before mentioned said after he had read it and considered it I never subscribed in any other sense my self And that this Subscription might suffice in Equity and Conscience if the Supreme Authority should think fit my Lord Chancellor Bacon hath declared in his Considerations about Ecclesiastical Affairs tendred unto King James His words are these For Subscription it seemeth to be in the nature of a Confession and therefore more proper to bind in the Unity of Faith and to be urged rather for Articles of Doctrine than for Rites and Ceremonies and points of outward Government for howsoever politick Considerations and Reasons of State may require Uniformity yet Christian and Divine Grounds look chiefly upon Unity It is the Duty of all Christians to be zealous and to contend earnestly for the Unity of Faith and to labour with all their might with themselves and one another for unity of affections Luther's Motto becomes every good Christian In quo aliquid Christi video illum diligo That the most considerable Nonconformists are Sons of Peace and not Sons of the Coal may hence be argued That those who were Joynt-Commissioners for the Reformation of the Liturgy became humble and earnest Petitioners to their Fellow-Commissioners the Bishops and others their Assistants for peace That we are not generally such Boutefeu's and Incendiaries as we are charged to be may in part appear in this That we published no Answer for so long a time to two such angry and provoking Pieces as these And that little which is here done by way of Reflection is with so great moderation Doubtless if we had been utterly unable to have answered the Reason or Logick of these two Books we could not have easily failed of abundantly requiting the Author of them with Stories and Recriminations Were all the Irregularities and Impieties of Men of our own Coat though Canonical reckoned up and should we give our selves leave to look back thirty or forty years for matter of Accusation as the Author of the Friendly Debate sometimes doth we might fill whole Volumes with Errata's and might occasion the common Enemy of out Religion to triumph over and the common People to trample upon the English Ministry Had the Author we deal withal had like Charity with Constantine the Great or with King Charles the First of blessed memory he would rather have buried in silence the faults of the Ministry than to have exposed them whether real or imaginary to the Eye of the World to be beheld through a Multiplying and a Magnifying-glass as he doth Yea had he not come short of Mr. White the Centurist in his Charity he might have learnt of him not to have published a Second Part to blaze abroad the faults of his Brethren there being now no War to inflame him no Adversary by any Reply to provoke him The Non-conformists now outed being down on the ground down in the mire and yet perhaps neither so dirty or so much sullyed as were some formerly Sequestred there being neither Scandal nor Insufficiency so much as charged upon one of a thousand as any Reason or Cause of their Ejectment Had be used the like Candour towards the Non-conformists that Dr. Moulin doth towards the Romanists and which I believe he expects from us towards his own Party he would never have charged the faults and errors of a part upon the whole of a few upon all a very few excepted and so doing he might have spared wholly his Continuation and have much abridged his first Dialogue He needed not to have made so many blazes as he doth by so often firing men of straw of his own making nor so great a noise in the world by discharging so many great Guns against Castles in the Air of his own building But since he advanceth Reason so much in word upon all occasion we may wonder he hath made no more real use of it in his Discourse For say we might and think we can justifie it that his Words are more than his Matter his Rhetorick far beyond his Logick and therefore we choose rather that he should smite us with his Fist than with the Palms of his Hands I mean with his Logick rather than with his Rhetorick What Reason or Logick is in such a Discourse as this Mr. T. W. and Mr. W. B. have Printed such and such things therefore all or almost all the Non-conformists are so and so or Preach and Print thus and thus or else Mr. Lewes Hughes Mr. Viccars the two Mr. Bridges say or write thus Ergo this is the Way the Spirit and the Language of the whole Party Or one or two in a Kingdom or in the three Kingdoms and that too when the Kingdoms were all in a
Instruments of Cruelty are in their Habitations Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce and their Wrath for it wat cruel And we each one say O my Soul come not thou into their Secrets unto their Assemblies mine Honour be not thou united But let God divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Mr. Bridge was not in Town then which may be supposed the Reason we find not his Name amongst the Subscribers As for W. B. whether his Writings be so faulty as they are charged to be in the Debates I cannot tell having not read them but a Conformable Doctor told me that he had searched them and that the Author of the Debate had dealt disingeniously in his quotations of him c. Quest. May not every whit as much be said for the Papists why they should be tolerated as to the publick exercise of their Religion as for Nonconformists Do not they profess all Loyalty to his Majesty and declare against all Rebellion Answ The Papists depend upon a forraign Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs superiour as they think to his Majesty And it was subscribed by twelve Bishops in Ireland as follows Their Religion is superstitious and idolatrous their Faith and Doctrine erronious and heretical their Church in respect of both Apostatical Whereas the Nonconformists whether Presbyters or Congregationists agree with the Church of England in the Doctrine of Faith and Sacraments differ not in any substantial part of Religion from her What the Papists practice hath been how dangerous to the Civil Peace the History of England in Q. Elizabeth's days can tell us That 't is impossible for any Nation to be free from Troubles or Treason so long as they suffer Jesuites amongst them saith Watson in his Quodlibets And that he and his Order were not so good and loyal as they pretended may be guessed from hence that he himself was afrerwards executed for Treason Moreover Papists cannot when they have power long live without persecuting Protestants saith a Reverend Doctor Hence may appear that we see K. H. III. of France stabb'd and lamn'd because he would not persecute them enough So the Answer to the Papists Apology p. 21. As for Quakers they may seem to be the very Spawn of the Romish Emissaries proselyted by them but made more dangerous to Magistrates and all Civil Society by this one Principle that they hold viz. That they ought to be guided and to act not by the Scripture nor according to the command of the Civil Magistrate or Spiritual Guides and Pastors but by and sudden Flash or Light within them I am not satisfied to have a hand in the Execution of the Sanguinary Laws against Papists yet should be loth to try how Sanguine or good natur'd they would be if they had power in their hands to execute the Writ De Haeretico comburendo If we may say of them as they use to say of Fire and Water They are good Servants I am sure 't is as true That they are but bad Masters Quest How can we agree to live quietly with these Nonconformists Are they not so much divided from us in their Judgement that they divide from us in their Language also and in fine would bring all things into a Babel of Confusion Cont. p. 1. Answ The greater number of them I presume speak as others do and conform to that ordinary phrase Well I thank God If any when enquired of about their Health say I am well through Mercy they do but as the French Protestants do they are surely few in comparison that say so commonly and I do not remember one Minister that useth to say so they that do possibly have recovered from some sickness or escaped some danger which occasions them to use this expression But if you will be critical some think it a sign of a greater humility to say I am well through mercy than the other I am well I thank God However it is not so liable to exception as to say I am well y' faith as I have heard that some Conformists do although Bishop Saunderson doth not approve of that language in common discourse We do not hold it unlawful to use the name of God in our Salutations as Boaz did and can say and pray God save the King as heartily as your selves I know â—o Nonconforming-Ministers that hold it unlawful to teach Children their Catechism Prayers lest they should take God's Name in vain And yet I must have leave to say that a reverend Bishop doth reckon that we sin against the third Commandment by an irreverend and customary mention of God's great and glorious Name upon trivial occasions and a learned Doctor in his Exposition of the third Commandment makes it a duty not to use the Name of God but with great reverence See Dr. Pat. Catech. Quest Are Nonconformists most guilty of breaking the third Commandment in the main sense See Cont p. 4. Answ Mr. Case Mr. Edwards and the London Ministers cited by the Author of the Debate in his Continuation all prove they were very tender of the breach of an Oath desirous to keep far from it themselves and to save others with fear plucking them out of the fire and the present ejected and dejected estate of the Nonconformists may testifie that they are such as fear an Oath The Presbyterians are bold to say in one of their Papers to his Majesty That the Obligation of the Covenant upon the Consciences of the Nation was not the weakest Instrument of his Return As to your citations out of Mr. John Goodwyn and Mr. John Lilborne I say there lyeth an Exception against the Witnesses in the Case as I suppose you might say if their Testimonies were produced against the Hierarchy Liturgy and Ceremonies Quest What may be the cause the Author of the Debate is so fierce against the Protestation taken by the Parliament before the War and which his late Majesty excepted not against when taken although he was then at Whitehall Answ The true Reason may be this because the House of Commons put out an Interpretation that by the Doctrine of the Church of England which they promised to maintain they meant onely the Doctrine in opposition to Popery and Popish Innovations and did not thereby oblige themselves or others to the maintenance of the Discipline and Government If that had been in 't is to be thought it would have gone down as easily with men of his way as the Et-caetera Oath did concerning which the Historian gives us this account That some Bishops pressed it on Ministers before the day required to take it by the Canon and enjoyned them to take it kneeling a Ceremony not exacted or observed in taking the Oath of Alleagiance and Supremacy Full. Hist 6.11 p. 17. Quest What is to be thought of the Continuation of the Friendly Debate Answ It seems to be an unfriendly Continuation of Debate and Strife contrary to the Act of Indempnity and to be a continued breach of
a better man than ever he thought him to be there were so many good things charged upon him And another Presbyterian now a Nonconformist preaching to the same Auditors preached that Antichristian and Babylonian were terms sooner imputed or charged than proved But if the Nonconforming-Ministers or People were yet ignorant and to seek for scoffing and reviling language they might have a Dictionary of such hard words out of the Friendly Debate If there be in Private-meetings that use railing and reviling speeches as too many too often have is publick Congregations I would rather advise people to sit quietly at home if they will not go to Church than to go or step out of doors to learn their language I do not love a biting tongue and I take a black mouth to be as venemous in a man as 't is accounted wholsom in a dog And if there be any printed Book wiâ—h such railing speeches or phrases in them I will promise you it shall never have my Imprimatur without an Index expurgatorius in the next Edition Quest Is the Divinity of the Nonconformists a Phrase-Divinity and in case their Books and Sermons are not fill'd with foul language is there any thing besides fine words and new phrases in them Answ There was something besides words in the Old Nonconformists witness the writings of Mr. Dod Mr. Ball Mr. Hildersham Mr. Bradshaw c. And doubtless there is matter and that good matter and sound speech that need not to be ashamed in the Writings of Nonconformists of this Generation witness the Books written by Mr. Baxter Dr. Manton Mr. Caryll Mr. Allen Dr. Owen Mr. Pool c. they hold to Scripture-expressions and to the terms of sound words which they have received from the most serious solid pious Bishops and Doctors of the Chair Professors at home and abroad in former times yea the Nonconforming-Presbyterians and Congregational Ministers profess to agree with our Articles of Religion of the Church of England in all things concerning the Doctrine of Faith and Ceremonies And is all this but Phrase-Divinity The Author of the Debate and divers other of the present Conformists may as justly be charged for new Divinity new minted words in Divinity new phrases and modes of expressing themselves in Sermons and Writings and these too less conform to the language of the holy Scripture our own Articles and Homilies the Harmony of Confessions of the Reformed Churches and our ancient Bishops and Doctors The Author of the Debate though he seems to be the Bishops Advocate yet his Writings shew him more an Episcopian than an Episcopalian and 't is easie to see from what forge they have their new Divinity and new Theological Dictionary Quest. Were not the Nonconformists the cause of the strange and new Doctrines and Opinions and of phantastical words and phrases in preaching and writing Ans I grant the taking down the old Mound or Hedge and not setting a new one in the room was an occasion that many erronious persons like wild beasts did get into the Vineyard and that some strange Doctrines Phancies Phrases and Whimses were vented in the Times of War and late Confusions but I say that these things are not to be charged upon the Presbyterians for if they had had power to their principles and purposes they would doubtless have raised up a Mound or Fence against such Errors Fancies and Follies as strong as that the Parliament removed I have heard it observed that of all Churches no Church hath had fewer Heresies and Heterodoxies spring up or at least prosper in it than the Church of Scotland and that this was acknowledged by King James Quest Were all that took the Covenant bound thereby to endeavour to introduce the Government of the Church of Scotland into England because they obliged themselves to maintain and defend Religion in the Church of Scotland and to reform Religion in the Church of England Vid. Contin p. 168. Answ No. They engaged only in their places and callings and so far as lawfully they might to preserve Religion in the Church of Scotland against the Common Enemy notwithstanding which the Scots might reform ought that was amiss or defective with his Majesties leave and consent in a legal manner And the English Covenanters were not bound to model the Church-Government in England according to the pattern of the Kirk of Scotland but according to the Word of God and the best Reformed Churches Whether Scotland or Holland or Geneva c. was the best Reformed Church was not determined And the English were not engaged in their places and callings and so far as lawfully they might by the Covenant to follow the Model of any one of these or all the Reformed Churches in any thing disagreeing from the Word of God and in case a primitive Episcopacy that is Church-Government by a Bishop with a Presbytery as his Counsellors and Assistants prove most agreeable to the Word of God they were bound to set up onely in their places and callings and so far as lawfully they might that Government in the Church of England Notwithstanding what the Earl of Bristol when Lord Digby hath written in his Letters to Sir Kenelm Digby viz. He that would reduce the Church now to the Form of Government in the most primitive times should not take in my Opinion the best nor the wisest course I am sure not the safest for he would be found pecking towards the Presbytery of Scotland which for my part I believe in point of Government hath a greater resemblance than yours or ours to the first Age of Christs Church But whatever was the meaning of the Imposers or Takers of the Covenant in those days I have heard an eminent Person a Doctor that had taken it though a Nonconformist declare That he was not bound by it to endeavour any other Reformation than what he had been obliged unto if he never had taken the Covenant that he is not bound to use any unlawful or seditious means or endeavours to bring about a Reformation That the Law of the Land is the Rule to judge by what means or endeavours are unlawful and seditious Quest Do not the Presbyterians play fast and loose and turn with the wind Was not the time once when they held Ruling Elders to be Jure Divino but now they hold no such matter Answ I believe the Scottish Presbyterians were and still are of that Judgement that Ruling Elders are Jure Divino but I knew few English if any that held that Office so save onely in a large sence as many Episcopalians now hold Bishops to be Jure Divino that is a lawful Government not repugnant to the Word of God However 't is said and that by no mean Scholar That Geneva did not first institute those Officers but only restored them And I have read that it was acknowledged by a great Prelate That the Church had in every Church certain Seniors to whom the Government of the Church was