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
application to God for the same things require the same pious exercises of mind whether it be in prose or in meter And it was another oversight that he declares me to know and confess what he thus asserts when I never declared any such thing but know the contrary SECT III. Of the Antiquity of set Forms of Prayer MY third Argument for Forms being no hindrance to Devotion was a Libert Eccl. p. 123. that all the Ages of the Christian Church from the first Centuries have used them as an advantage to Religion My third Argument was from the use of Forms of Prayer in all the Ages of the Primitive Church And when I added that it is not at all probable that such excellently devout and judicious men as the fourth and fifth Centuries abounded with should be so stupid and dull-spirited as not any of them to discern between the helps and hindrances of devotion in matters of most ordinary practice This Author first saith b p. 62. Certainly it was possible i. e. possible all those judicious men should be so stupid Now this is a rash and contumelious expression and if this be true concerning such men as S. Athanasius Basil Ambrose Hierome Eusebius Chrysostome and S. Austin and others such like all pretence from experience must in this case be laid aside For though our Author sometimes intimates that these famous men are now out-done by those for whom he pleads there is so little appearance of the truth hereof that this needs no particular answer 2. When I said c Lib. Eccl. B. 1. Ch. 4. Sect. 1. n. 9. p. 106. that Forms of Prayer were of use in the Church about thirteen hundred years since is acknowledged by them who plead most against them from Conc. Laod. c. 18. 3 Carth. Can. 23. and Con. Milev c. 12. he d p. 66. somewhat misrepresenting my words saith we hold no such thing But whatever singular and unreasonable conceit he or some other persons may have c Smect Answ to Remonstr p. 7. Smectymnuus derive the Pedigree of Liturgies from those three Canons acknowledging that the Church in the Laodicean Canon ordained Our chief Dissenters own Forms of Prayer to have been used 1300. years that none should vary but use always the same Form that the Carthaginian Canon further limited the Form and the Milevitan Canon would have none other used than what was approved in the Synod Thus they And the Presbyterian Commissioners at the Savoy say they f Grand Debate p. 11. cannot find any Records of know credit concerning any intire Form of Liturgies within the first three hundred years And their fixing this period of time is sufficient to justify my assertion 3. But our Author saith he believes g p. 67. they might have denied any such Record of a Liturgy generally imposed for six hundred years and fixeth the Original of Liturgies upon h p. 69. Gregory the Great under the protection of Charles the Great and this eight hundred or a thousand years after Christ Liturgies not first established by Gregory the Great under Charles the Great Of which gross mistake in History having taken notice of it in my Introduction n. 4. I shall say no more here but that we may not reasonably expect any accuracy in the right computation of the time of the birth and first production of Liturgies from him who talks so loosely and falsly about the Age in which Gregory the Great lived whom he would make the Father of them And it is speaking enough at random to fix their original now at six hundred years after Christ and then at eight hundred or a a thousand years after Christ but if in which soever of these periods they began it must be under Gregory the Great he must then suppose against the credit of all certain History that Gregorius Magnus was Pope for above four hundred years in imitation of the Jewish fancy that Phinehas the High Priest lived i R. Dav. Kimch in Mal. 2. v. 5. V. Scalig. in Eus Chron. an ab Abrahamo 861. above three hundred years And if this could be true which I never saw so much as hinted in any Author before then Gregory the Great might become contemporary with Charles the Great and being by that time unable to govern himself by reason of his extream Age might be put under his protection 4. Now though something was done by Gregory the Great in the new modelling Sanction of Charles the Great for the enjoining the Roman Offices I shall before the end of this Section produce as much evidence as is necessary for the satisfaction of the unprejudiced Reader concerning the use of set Forms of Prayer in the Christian Church in the several Centuries before the six hundredth year of Christ And thereby I hope to give a fair proof for that assertion of Cappellus and for a more early practice also who said k Syntag. Thes Thes Salm. Part. 3. Loc. Com. 47. n. 49. Earum formularum usus in universa Ecclesia Christiana toto terrarum orbe jam à plusquam 1300. annis perpetuo obtinuit A publick Form of Liturgy hath obtained in the universal Christian Church throughout the whole World for above thirteen hundred years And he addeth in the same place that it doth now every where obtain nisi apud novitios istos Independentes but amongst them who embrace the new upstart Innovations of Independency 5. But our Author will not allow all the three Canons above mentioned to have any respect to Liturgies and their establishment and herein he hath engaged himself against what Smectymnuus asserted to whom my words had a particular respect He first excepts against what is inferred from the Canon of Laodicea which Council Baronius though he had sometimes thought l Annal Eccl. An. 125. n. 158. otherwise upon a more accurate consideration as he thought m In Appen ad Tom. 4. n. 1 7. concludes to have been before the time of the first Nicene Council But I must confess the other opinion that this Council sate about the year 364 is the more probable from the observation of n de Conc. Sacerd. Imper. l. 3. c. 3. n. 5. De Marca That Conc. Laod. c. 7. condemns the Photinians when Photinus himself lived in the Reign of Constantius 6. But he saith The Bishops o Reas Acc. p. 64. in that Council may not be called the Church in that Age. Indeed this was a Provincial Council yet many Bishops from the several Asian Dioceses were here assembled The eighteenth Canon of the Council of Laodicea considered as appears from the title of that Council And this may appear a remarkable testimony concerning the general state of the Church if we consider that this very Canon was taken into the Code of the universal Church being the 122d therein which Code was extant at the time of the Council of Chalcedon An. 451. which was the greatest
be prohibited they must be asserted to be unlawful And being thus prohibited no pretence of necessity on Mans part can make them lawful For according to that ancient rule Nulla est necessitas delinquendi quibus una est necessitas non delinquendi (e) Tertul. It can be never necessary for them to sin for whom it is only necessary that they do no sin And it is more necessary to forbear any present external expression of Homage to God than to make use of that which is unlawful and forbidden as is manifest in the instance of Saul's sacrificing 4. Obs 2. By this way of arguing the particular conceptions and expressions of him who prayeth without a Form are as much forbidden And will conclude Prayers without Forms to be fitful as the use of a Form is pretended to be since God hath not prescribed these Expressions But here our Author tells us that the light of Nature shews our own invention to be a mean and a sufficient mean in this act of Worship Thus Men who talk at this loose rate can tell when it serves their own turn how to allow what God hath not prescribed and to justifie it upon this very account because it is the Invention of Man though they can declaim against Ecclesiastical Constitutions under the very name of Inventions of Men. But if we may use words and expressions and a method and composition of Prayer not particularly prescribed of God what an unreasonable vanity is it to argue from this Topick against a Form of Prayer because these particular things in this Form are not appointed of God 5. But possibly he may tell us as some have done that by keeping to the constant use of a Form of Prayer we make that a proper part of Divine Worship Now though this was answered (f) Thes Salmur Part 3. de Liturg. n. 35. by Cappellus and in part by (g) Lib. Eccles B 2. p. 305 306. me elsewhere I shall here say That we are far from thinking that any particular Form of Prayer appointed in any part of the Church is necessary to be used in all Christian Churches in the World who all of them are obliged to perform all the proper parts of Divine Worship Nor is Religion and the Worship of God placed in the bare reciting the words of a Form but chiefly in the pious devotion of the Heart of which these words are an expression and guide And thus much must be allowed to the use of words in those Prayers which for distinction sake I call Conceived Prayers I hope he will not say that it is the constant and prescribed use of the same thing not commanded of God which only is forbidden in the Second Commandment as if the worshipping an Image was only forbidden where there is a constant Adoration given to the same Image but that it is allowable where there is so great a number of them that men sometimes make choice of one and sometimes of another with various changes We allow the Second Commandment and the Rules of Scripture concerning God's Worship to require that no act of Divine Adoration be given to any thing else besides God himself What God hath forbidden or commanded concerning his Worship and that that Homage and Service which is sutable to his Nature and according to his Will be religiously performed and that no such pretended Worship which is unsutable to his Nature or disagreeing to his Will ought to be presented to him But this suggestion that Forms of Prayer are forbidden by the Second Commandment as included under Idolatry is so unreasonable that (h) View of Direct Chap. 1. Sect. 22. Dr. Hammond might justly wonder at the strangeness and prodigiousness thereof and Cappellus might well declare concerning them who urge this as an Argument (i) Ubi sup n. Crasse admodum hîc homines isti hallucinantur These Men are herein exceeding grosly deceived 6. Obs 3. This Position That nothing may be used or appointed in God's Worship but what is particularly enjoyned by God himself besides (k) Reas Acc. p. 75 76 77. p. 86 87. necessary circumstances to humane actions as Humane is that concerning the falseness and dangerous consequence of which I discoursed largely in my Libertas Ecclesiastica (l) B 2. c. 1. throughout c. 2. to which I refer nor is any answer given thereto by this Writer And I shall here note that as it is improved That Position that nothing not prescribed may be used in Gods Worship is destructive of all Rellgion it is destructive to publick Worship and Religion For since God hath commanded us to pray but hath not in all acts of Worship enjoyned our Words or the performance of this Duty with or without a Form it must according to this Position be done in neither since each of these are by consequence sequence pretended to be forbidden being not prescribed The same may be said of our Saviour's Precept concerning the celebrating his Supper in Bread and Wine but he hath not prescribed or determined the sort of Bread or the kind of Wine And though God hath commanded us to sing Praises to him whatever this Writer saith he can never prove the singing continually the Psalms of David and others recorded in Scripture to be particularly enjoyned by a Divine Institution under the Gospel though the Church of God hath very generally and advantageously used them Wherefore the result of this assertion is for men to contradict themselves in the performances of Religion and which is far more intolerable to look upon God as having contradicted himself in giving such Laws which so clash with one another that they cannot be obeyed and that by the one he hath set us free from observing the other 7. But if these things may be determined by men as they indeed must be the common rules of Prudence will not allow that it should be lawful and fit for every Minister by his more sudden and vario thoughts to determine these things for the Congregation where he ministers Things necessary to be determined in Religion may be best determined by publick Constitutions and that it should be unlawful and unreasonable that any such things should be considered and resolved on by the deliberate Consultations of the most prudent Men And if we consider the Authority of our Superiours to reject pious Forms of Prayer by them appointed and which I have shewed to be of excellent use speaks a wnat of just Reverence and Submission to them and a not yielding to them that due Superiority in matters Ecclesiastical for the right ordering the exercises of Religion which belongeth to them of which I have in another Book discoursed some-what 8. But whilst this Author in this Chapter observes that some urge the Duty (m) P. 74 85 86. of obeying Superiours in things lawful and not forbidden of God as an obligation upon Inferiours in our Case to joyn in
this in a (u) Ch. 3. Sect. 4. former Chapter and therewith justified Uniformity and shewed the great benefit of it and of Forms of Prayer upon this account I shall not need to repeat it again here 12. But that he may vent himself the more against Liturgy and Vniformity he tells us that in the case of Daniel the Princes resolved (w) p. 150. it necessary to establish an Vniformity in Prayers and all must be commanded to pray only to Darius Yet here was nothing of Vniformity in words and phrases of which he was discoursing but that matters not An act for Uniformity is no such wicked thing as the prohibitive Act of worship by Darius so long as an occasion can be taken to reproach Vniformity He might as well if he had pleased have called that precept of our Saviour Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve an act of Uniformity only that would not serve his purpose to insinuate that Liturgy and Uniformity are like that act in the time of Darius designed wholly for mischief and to hinder the worship of God and to establish Idolatry against the second commandment though not so grosly as in worshiping the Persian Kings who were wont to receive Divine worship as is evident in the many testimonies produced by (x) Drus in Esther c. 3 Drusius But these things are so manifestly uncharitable that every sober considering man may easily discern them And since the Holy God appointed certain Forms of Prayer to be used under the old Testament and our Blessed Saviour prescribed the Lords Prayer under the new and since the ancient Jewish Church and the Christian Church in the purest times used Forms of Prayer no considering person who hath any sense of God or Religion can think that all these must be condemned of designing nothing but mischievous things and the ruining the true way of Religion how far soever some mens angry temper may be unjustly displeased with Forms and Vniformity 13. This Writer in some following pages discoursing about the ability or gift of Prayer at length saith (y) p. 154. as we judg the Apostle Heb. 5.1 hath given us the perfect notion of a Minister in the description of the high Priest he is but a person taken from men and ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he might offer Prayers and praises Preach and administer the holy Sacraments So he But I hope he was not knowingly so bold with the Holy Scripture as to alter and change both the words and sense of it as he pleaseth when the Apostle speaks nothing in that place of Prayer Praise Preaching or Sacraments but of offering gifts and sacrifices for Sins And therefore I shall pass by this as a gross oversight in him or possibly something may be left out by the Printer 14. I now come to justifie five Reasons mentioned in my (z) Ch. 4. p. 97.98 99. Expediency of set Forms proved Libertas Ecclesiastica besides others which I vindicated in the third Chapter of this discourse for the requisiteness of set Forms of Prayer which I there produced to shew not only the lawfulness but the usefulness and expediency of Forms 15. My first Reason was because hereby a fit true right and well ordered way of worship in addresses to God may be best secured to the Church in the publick service of God To this he saith 1. That alone is (a) p. 156. 1. as best securing a fit and right way of worship a right way of worship which God hath instituted And I reply that Prayer performed with a devout heart where the matter is holy pious and religious and expressed without affecting variety of words is according to his will and appointed by him But he hath not instituted the very words we are to use upon all occasions whether we pray by a Form or by any conceived Prayer of which I said more Chap. 4. 16. He saith (b) ibid. 2. That God should be so worshipped is reasonable but that this should aforehand be secured is not possible in men who may err nor will Forms secure it which may be read falsly and disorderly enough To which I answer That when he requires that none should be admitted to the Ministry (c) p. 153. and in other places who have not the gift of Prayer is not the intent of this to secure as much as may be the right performance of that duty but this may be best provided for by a Form as I shewed in the second and third Chapters And what he speaks of reading falsly as a disparagement to Forms is inconsiderable and is one of the weak Arguments of the meanest disputants for Oral Tradition against the Scriptures For there may be as many mistakes Of reading falsly see also n. 24. in reading the Scriptures as the Prayers of the Church and besides that they who would decry their Authority can talk of their being possibly printed false or it may be in some things translated amiss or that the copies whence they were translated might not be every where pure and right But such little objections are easily seen through by men of understanding 17. He saith 3. (d) p. 157. That for twenty years together the worship of God was performed in a well-ordered manner in hundreds of Congregations in England without Forms Now though I have shewed Chap. 2. 3. that it cannot be reasonably expected that it should be constantly performed so well in any one Congregation by any Person whomsoever in a way of constant varying as in the use of a good Form yet there ought to be respect had to all our Congregations And we do not think that a well ordered Worship where one or both the Sacraments were in many places disused and other considerable parts of Worship and Prayer as confession of Sin purposely and generally omitted by others as I observed above And the several Sects ordered the Worship of God according to their own Errors And I can as easily be persuaded that the Papists Arians and Donatists did rightly order the Worship of God as that all our several Sects and Parties did so 18. My second Reason was That needful and comprehensive Petitions for all spiritual and outward wants with fit thanksgivings may not in the publick supplications of the Church be omitted which can be no other way so well or at all secured To this he saith (e) P. 157. It is to the shame of our Church 2 As providing for a comprehensiveness of Prayers if there be not Persons enough sufficient for this and however there are some Now in this Answer he contradicts what in the foregoing Page he said in answer to my former Reason to wit That it is not possible to secure this right Worship before-hand And I have above shewed that no Persons in using constant alterations can perform publick Worship with that due fulness comprehensiveness and
and the matter also or the use of Water 27. And touching Prayer in this case and Exhortation also there is no small difficulty For there are various mistakes concerning the Sacraments which some would have only significative signs others will have them to be an absolute sealing in Christs name remission and other blessings to every person who communicateth in them and that therefore certain evidence of actual grace in the Communicants is necessary to the Administration thereof And other mistakes there are concerning the effects and gracious benefits of the Sacraments concerning their efficacy and operation and the manner of Christs presence therewith Now they who keep a well ordered Form are in the most sure and safe way But they who affect to vary constantly may from the difficulty of the Subject more easily go astray here than in other cases And here particular Persons will be apt to express themselves according to their own different opinions whereby they may err and miscarry and great inconvenience and hurt may ensue 28. My fifth Reason for the expediency of Forms of Prayer is That this may be an evidence to other Churches and future times after what way and manner we worship God and that such a Church is in its measure a pure and incorrupt Church To this he saith (q) p. 162. 1. Where hath God required the leaving any such Testimony Now we need not a special command 5. As leaving a testimony to others of our right worship for every particular thing which is of good use and his question might equally be put concerning Forms of publick Confession which all Protestant Churches have owned amongst other ends for a Testimony of their owning the true principles of Religion And the precepts of Christian profession and the case of Vnity with all true parts of the Christian Church doth at least greatly recommend such a Testimony as this And since in all cases of Religion we are to give an answer to them who accuse us where that is needful to this end Forms may be of considerable use Besides the charge of the Romanists some earnest Lutherans accused the Churches of the Palatinate for not having the Sacraments truly Administred for the refelling of which (r) Ursin Praesat in Apol. Catech Vrsin appeals to their publick Forms 29. He saith 2. (s) ibid. That Forms of Sermons are also needful to this end but though we have many volumes of our Printed Sermons they are no direct part of our common Worship 30. He saith 3. While we declare our selves Christians and that we worship God according to his word (t) ibid. we leave a sufficient Testimony that we are a true Church of God If this be true our Author hath now found a precept for giving such a Testimony if he allow any precept for declaring our selves Christians But indeed if persons so declaring themselves Christians c. do enough in this case then all manner of Sects and Hereticks who own the Christian name give sufficient Testimony of their being a true Church and of their right worshiping God But we are further to profess the true Catholick Doctrine and to worship God according to the true rules of Christianity 31. He saith 4. (u) ibid. a confession of Faith is a sufficient Testimony It is so as to our Doctrine not as to our Worship since several chief parts of worship as the Sacraments may still be neglected and there may be many other defects in worship performed without the use of Forms by forgetfulness or being at a loss And withall no such Confessions of Faith were kept to in England by all those who undertook to guide others in the worship of God in our late times when the Liturgy was taken away nor do all our several dividers who reject our Church and Liturgy agree in any such Confession at this time CHAP. X. Ch. X. A persuasive Conclusion HIs tenth and last Chapter which contains little more than one Page is has Conclusion wherein in some things he more particularly repeats his own sense but addeth nothing of any further Argument which requires my answer Among these things he saith (a) Reas Acc. p. 164. We do not think it unlawful to joyn with another praying by the use of Forms provided the matter be good and pious It is granted that the Congregation may discharge their duty by joyning in publick Forms We have in such praying nothing to do but to say Amen whether he who ordinarily doth so doth his ministerial duty we confess that we question But that we may do our duty though he fails in his we do not question From these words it is apparent that after all his discourse he here freely grants that all the Congregation except the Minister who officiateth may without question do their duty in the use of Forms of Prayer And then they cannot be justified and excused from Sin who make separation out of dislike of them 2. But as the conclusion of my Discourse I shall hence take occasion to apply my self a little to all those who dissent and divide from our Church both Teachers and People Our dissenting Brethren intreated 〈◊〉 consider how they will answer for such sad divisions and among them to the Author of that Discourse which I have examined if he shall please to take notice of it by serious and earnest persunsion And that I would intreat of them is that they would calmly consider what good account they can give to God and what security they have from the dangers of Sin in making that sad separation wherein they engage and too much please themselves That these Divisions do hinder Religion and Piety and disorder the Spirits and Minds of men is so manifest that some among your selves have much complained thereof That these are the great encouragements to Popery and that here is the greatest danger of undermining our Protestant Reformation both many Romish Authors and some of your own Writers do acknowledg And many other sad effects there are of these Dissentions 3. Friends can you think rending the Church to be a slight thing Hath God given you any special leave or authority to overlook all your Obligations to a Constituted Church Or may any Christians at their pleasure divide themselves from any Church When they cannot and mostly do not charge our Commution with sin and frame new Models to themselves Or will your dislike of some things upon highly probable Arguments as our Author calls them and yet without any certainty of truth secure you Very few men of any note among your selves dare charge any sin upon our Communion and they who do it are not able to give any tolerable proof of their Accusation and without evidence of sin in communicating separation can never be justified I hope what this Writer I have dealt with hath insisted on for the unlawfulness of ministring by a Form will sufficiently appear to be weak enough And yet his
that this great Apostle and other Christians at that time should be ignorant of the common matters of Christian Prayer who could not but be acquainted with g Aug. Ep. 121. ad Prob. the Lords Prayer but a considerable part of the sense of this clause is that whilest under troubles and sufferings of which the Apostle was discoursing even good men are apt to think their present redress and deliverance most desirable as this Apostle himself did the departing of that outward affliction which he calls h Aug. ib. Chrys in Rom. 8.26 a thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 8 10. the influence of Gods spirit directs them to seek his Kingdom and with hope and patience and submission to resign themselves unto the will of God that that may be done on earth and that his most wise Government should order all their affairs in this life And the guidance of the Holy Spirit by keeping pious men humble preserves them ordinarily from such irregular inclinations and desires as appeared in the request of the two Sons of Zebedee James and John which they made to our Lord. And all this is performed by the influence of the grace of the Holy Spirit 6. And in the latter part of these words the Spirits making intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered may well be applied to vehement affections and inward gracious motions of the heart but cannot consistently with common sense be referred to words and expressions But I see no great difference whether this clause be understood immediately of the Holy Ghost himself as most of the i Aug. Ep. 105. Ep. 121. passimâ—â— Ambrâ—â— ad Horonâ—â— Ancients understand it that he gemendi inspirat affectum promotes affectionate groans as in a like way of expression they observe the Spirit is said to cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 because thereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 Or whether it be understood of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the spirits of pious men who are influenced thereby in dependance upon him which is the interpretation of k Chrys in loc S. Chrysostom and is also mentioned by l Contra Serm. Arian S. Austin 7. The continued and encreased supplies of this divine grace and gift of Prayer This gift necessary to be exercised or inward devotion of mind is usually vouchsafed to pious men according to their diligence and progress in piety goodness and righteousness and their frequent practice of these duties of Religion with careful preparation of mind And the exercise of this gift being so great a part of Religion and of singular use for obtaining various blessings from God it ought by all men to be performed with the greatest seriousness And as that ability of expression whereby a man largely professeth the particular doctrines of the Christian Faith in the several Articles of our Belief is not properly the gift of Faith or of believing so neither is the like ability of expressing the matter of our Prayer to be accounted in any proper sense the gift of Prayer but rather of speaking utterance or Elocution But it is the inward gracious dispositions and motions of our hearts and minds which is the most powerful Oratory to prevail with God And this whether with or without a Form of words yea whether joined with outward expressions or attended with silence is the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man which availeth much Hereby as Cl. Alexandrinus m Cl. Alex. Strom. l. 7. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We speak distinctly though with silence Of the extraordinary gifts used in Prayer in the beginning of Christiauity and utter inward loud cries where no voice is heard 8. Secondly There was also a gift of Prayer and praying with the spirit when together with what is above expressed many Christians in the beginning of Christianity were frequently enabled by the extraordinary impulses and immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit upon their minds so to pray either in their own or other Languages that these motions of their hearts and inward desires and also their words and expressions were the proper and extraordinary works and dictates of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 14.14 15 16 17. And it seemeth highly probable that the Apostle had some respect to this gift Rom. 8.26 27. according to the interpretation of n Chrys in Rom. 8. S. Chrysostome who thinks that for the better clearing those words there must be recourse had to the times of such extraordinary gifts which in his days were ceased And he saith God then gave gifts which are called also spirits and having mentioned the gift or spirit of prophecy of wisdom healing miracles tongues c. he addeth after all these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a gift of Prayer which is also called a spirit or spirit of Prayer and he who had this saith he prayed for the whole multitude And in another place the same Father observes that this gift which he there also calls o Chrys in 1 Cor. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was sometimes accompanied with the gift of tongues or an ability by the inspiration of the spirit to express these Prayers in other Languages which is also manifest from the Scriptures themselves 1 Cor. 14.14 15 16. 9. How far such extraordinary gifts were to be used Now he who had this gift ought to make use thereof in a due and regular manner especially so far as concerned the matter of this inspiration and guidance For this was an extraordinary and singular favour from God and these impulses were most excellent assistances and infallible guides for the right performance of the duty of Prayer and making intercession according to the will of God Rom. 8.27 But these eminent and extraordinary motions being miraculous were peculiar to that primitive time for which they were calculated when the Christian Faith needed Confirmation by the demonstration of the spirit both for the establishing of Christians and the Conversion of others But no man now can justly pretend to speak or pray by such infallible inspirations nor ought he to be credited who shall so pretend Yet they who then received these assistances were not obliged always to make use of them meerly for the exercising of their gifts in the Christian Assemblies but they ought only so far to use them as was consistent with the rules of order and decency and edification but in other Cases they were to forbear the use thereof as is manifest from 1 Cor. 14. And upon this account the Apostle argues against the publick use of the gift of Prayer in an unknown tongue though in the use of inspired gifts 1 Cor. 14.14 my spirit prayeth but my understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is unfruitful i.e. my gift is exercised and my own mind and spirit is affected but my sense and meaning is not declared to the profit and benefit of others For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here rendred understanding appears
in a persons being able to express his mind whereas it is chiefly to be provided that the conceptions of his mind be sober and well ordered comprehensive and every way sutable to the nature of the duty 2. In that he only mentions the expressing his mind Whereas in publick Prayers it is not a mans own private desires or wants so far as they are peculiar to himself which he is to present to God but he is to express what is fit to represent the minds of the whole Assembly and the common desires and wants and joint Devotions of all the Congregation 46. Another place I shall examine is where he tells us they x p. 9 10. His defavâ—ing the ministry of our Church is unjust and unreasonable think it will be hard to find nine or ten thousand Scholars in England furnished with the gift either of praying or preaching in any tolerable manner and one great reason is because they have been so tied to a Liturgy that they have never applied themselves to the study of the Scriptures and their own hearts as they should Thus in this place and in many others he takes any occasion to reproach and cast dirt upon the Ministry of the Church of England even to such excess as sometimes to call them though he excepts very many particular persons from that charge y p. 124. an ignorant lazy and sottish Ministry And he is the more liberal in these exorbitant Censures when he doth withal bespatter our Liturgy as in both these places or what he terms z p. 149. that pitiful thing called Vniformity in words and syllables and phrases 47. Now I conceive my self abundantly warranted to say that the abilities of the present Ministry of the Church of England are such as were never in this Church outdone if equalled in any foregoing Age nor as I verily believe in any other part of the Christian World since the Apostolical times in any Church of so large extent And it is an easy thing but mightily unworthy of a Professor of Christianity to speak bad and evil words of the mosT worthy men and things But doth the use of a Liturgy hinder men from studying the Scriptures or their own hearts which is a loud calumny upon our Ministry and many other excellent persons of eminent piety and goodness who have a very high value for our Liturgy and were the ancient Fathers and our first Reformers and their Successors who closely adhered to a Liturgy men of no understanding in the Scriptures and men of no piety of heart or holiness of life Or is the dayly reading the Scriptures as is done in the Liturgy and by the Ministry of England at other times also that which must hinder mens study and understanding in them and is the constant use of morning and evening devotions which the Liturgy directeth the great obstacle to piety and to mens taking serious care of their own hearts to have them possessed with fear and reverence of God and disposed to the exercises of Religion and universal obedience And what a wild accusation is this to revile and asperse a National Ministry at random and at a venture concerning such things wherein every Reader may discern that it is impossible for him to know what he speaks to be true and others blessed be God know them to be false 48. And I wish our Author be not himself defective in some part at least of what he chargeth upon others For in studying the Scriptures he could not but meet with Precepts against evil speaking false accusing rash judging and uncharitableness and in studying his own heart he would discern whether he had not offended in any of these And I presume him though I am not very certain who he is to be so much a Scholar as to know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the usual Greek word for the Evil one doth properly and primarily signify a Calumniator and it is thence unlikely that any of the spirit of Christianity should be contained in reproaching others which Nazianzen accounted to be a Naz. Orat 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the greatest evils 49. In Answer to such words I could also without much pains find out defaming and reflective expressions if I were enclined that way but I am content herein to be inferiour to him but truly sorry to see what liberty he sometimes gives himself in such things I have long since learned from the example of our Lord and Saviour from the rules of the Christian Religion and particularly from our Church-Catechism to keep my tongue from evil-speaking lying and slandering And if he will not take it ill from me which I assure him I intend no otherwise than with a truly charitable mind I dare confidently affirm that if he shall please to be a strict observer of so much though it be out of our Liturgy he will not thereby be the worse man 50. And I hope he may be the less offended with me for this Counsel because I do not write it out of any private provocation or any apprehension of disrespectful expressions towards my self I acknowledge his expressions towards me in particular to have been very civil and courteous and I thank him for them And I shall not return to him any thing unmeet But I should not be faithful to the truth nor to himself if I should not shew the weakness and mistakes of his Arguments so far as I discern them And the duty I owe to the Church of which I am a member cannot well be discharged without taxing his reproachful words against it where I meet with them 51. What he speaketh concerning b p. 18 19. Hymns and Anthems I shall have occasion to take notice of in the next c Ch. 3. Sect. 2. n. 38 c. Chapter CHAP. III. Of Devotion and attentive fervency of mind in publick Prayer and whether the use of Liturgies be hindrances or helps therein SECT I. His pretences for Forms of publick Prayer being an impediment to attention and fervency examined and the contrary manifested HIS second Argument against the lawfulness of the ordinary publick use of Forms by him who hath abilities of expressing himself without them is that they hinder the attention intention and fervency both of Minister and people and therefore a Reas Acc. p. 23. may not be used But this charge against well-ordered Forms can never be made out and his proofs will appear very weak and slender 2. Now I freely acknowledge and assert Pious devotion greatly needful in Prayer that in our Prayer we ought to have a holy and Religious sense of God and of Jesus our Mediator We ought also to be serious in minding and attending to the duty in hand Ch. III. and as free as may be from distractions and to have a lively exercise of faith hope reverence and such other Christian Graces as I mentioned in the b n. 2. former Chapter And the
some things to be genuine in them but with an addition of other things spurious See also Mr Å¿ Of Religious Assembl c. 7. p. 248. Thornedike to the same sense 18. Our Author also takes a slight notice of that weighty evidence I produced for the proof of Forms of Prayer t Lib. Eccl. p. 107 108. in the time of Constantine And he only tells us that u Reas Acc. p. 67. Constantines composing Godly Prayers for his Souldiers is a good Argument that the Church had then no publick Liturgies for surely Constantine need not then have made any and it had been a great derogation from the honour of the Church 19. But if our Author had duly observed what I produced Forms of Prayer used in publick service in Constantines time and consulted Eusebius in the places to which I referred he would have found 1. That these Prayers which Constantine made and Eusebius applauded were peculiarly fitted for his Souldiers as is manifest from that particular Prayer related by x De Vit. Const l. 4. c. 20. Eusebius and therefore his inferring from hence that the Church had no Forms before that time is as if he would conclude that because we have had Prayers lately framed to be used at sea that therefore we never had before that time any Common-Prayer And besides this y Ib. c. 19. Eusebius declares that these Prayers he composed were to be used on the Sunday by that part of his Souldiers who had not embraced the Christian Religion whilest the other part of his Army who were Christians did attend the Assemblies of the Church and join in its Prayers 2. He might also have further observed that Constantine was said by Eusebius de Vit. Const. l. 4. c. 17. to order his own palace according to the manner and usage of the Church in that taking into his hands the Books he either applyed himself to the Scriptures or expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Prayers which had received an authoritative sanction But this clear evidence for the use of Forms of Prayer he was willing to overlook as also what I produced from Origen Cyprian and others 20. But because this Authour pretends Liturgies more ancient than six hundred years after Christ that there was no established Liturgy before the time of Gregory the Great nor till six hundred years after Christ that the Reader may see how much he would be imposed upon by giving credit to any such untrue and groundless Assertion I shall waving very many Citations of some Clauses of Liturgies in St. Austin St. Chrysostome and many other of the ancient Writers produce as many testimonies as are sufficient to satisfie an indifferent Reader that in all the first Ages of the Christian Church for the first six hundred years there were publick forms of Prayer and Liturgies established 21. Justinian the Emperour began his Reign above seventy years Enjoined by the Imperial Law An. 541. and ended it almost forty before the year 600 and his Imperial Sanctions were of as large extent as his Empire He accounteth it a great fault z Novel 137. in Praef. that there were some persons of the Clergy and Monks who were not versed as his Canons required in the prayers of the usual Service and of Baptism And he declares that he would have things canonically ordered which if it had been before done they would every one have acquainted themselves with the holy Liturgies a ibid. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he also by his Imperial Sanction required that every person ordained Bishop b ibid. c. 2. should recite the office for the holy Communion and the prayer for Baptism and the other prayers And he also enjoins c ibid. c. 6. these prayers in the performing publick offices and in the administring Baptism not to be said by the Bishops or Presbyters silently but so as they may be heard Which things are plain testimonies both that the Church then had Liturgical Forms and that they were established and enjoined by an Imperial Law 22. And besides this it was enacted by Justinian d Novel 131. c. 1. that the Canons of the four holy Synods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both such as were made by them and such as were confirmed by the Council of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon should have the force of laws And therefore if there was any Canon which enjoined the use of forms of prayer confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon for the proof of which I referre to n. 6 7 8. and 23. of this Section then by virtue of this Constitution that Canon had an equal authority with a law of the Empire throughout all the Dominions thereof And both these Constitutions of Justinian bear date in the same year 541. which is fifty nine years before the period our Authour fixeth upon 23. In the middle of the foregoing Century from the year 400. and downwards Their ordinary and established use in the fifth Century manifested was the General Council of Chaladon An. 451. in which that Code wherein was the Canon of Laodicea which required the constant use of Liturgies was both approved and confirmed as may appear above n. 6 7 8. and therefore the use of Liturgies was hereby established in the Christian Church as far as the authority of a general Council did extend In this time Proclus a Bishop of Constantinople of good note declared forms of divine service to have been e Procl Const de Tradit Liturg in Bibl. Patr. delivered from St. James and Clement and to have been ordered by St. Basil and St. Chrysostome But how far soever his authority may prevail concerning the time almost four hundred years before him when St. James and St. Clement lived he being the first Writer which I have met with who mentions the ancient Liturgies under their particular names yet for the later times his authority is unquestionable that there were then Liturgical forms and that these had been so long in the Church as not to be then accounted new upstart things And he could not but have sufficient opportunity to understand fully what he delivers concerning St. Chrysostome especially since 〈◊〉 was Bishop in the same See of Constantinople and was educated there about the enâ—â— of St. Chrysostom's time And at the beginning of this Century was the Council of Milevis whose Canon enjoining seâ— forms of Prayers is f n. 10 11 12. above produced iâ— this Section 24. In the Century beginning An. 300 the attestation to the Liturgy of St. Chrysostome in the foregoing Paragraph 〈◊〉 the more considerable in this Case because as g Theod. Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 28. Theodoret informs us his Government and Authority extended it selâ— over Thracia Asia and Pontus and he established excellent laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to twenty eight Provinces within those Regions The like in the fourth Century St. Basil's ordering a publick form of
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
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
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