hath been worshipped such Constitutions and Solemnities have been derived from the Apostles or Apostolick times When the World was enlightened by the knowledge of the Son of God he did not extinguish the light of Reason but he supposes it and reasons from it and strengthens it and there is nothing more strongly enclined towards God and the Communications of his Spirit than true and unbiassed Reason Therefore such Constitutions as the reason of all Mankind is agreed in have nothing in them contrary to the purity of our Religion If Anniversary days and Festivals have been profaned among the Pagans to the worship of Idols why may they not be sanctified by the true Object of Worship and the honour of Jesus Christ Publick Solemnities have nothing in their own nature that is reproveable no more than the motion of the Sun or the vicissitude of Seasons if any part of our time be abused to excess or riot or the worship of an Idol we are liable to the Justice of God But when we return from Idols to the true God when we change our excess into fasting and prayer and when the whole Scene is become pure what is there in all this that can be blamed Do not we see all Nations agree in this that publick Solemnities and anniversary Festivals and Fasts are necessary to the being and beauty of Religion even those Nations that are at the greatest distance from our Customs our Language our Laws and way of living upon the Conversion of Nations to the Christian Religion some of the places where they worshipped their Idols have been dedicated to the true God and was it not a happy Victory over the Kingdom of Darkness when the publick Solemnities of Idolatry times and places have changed their Objects their Exercises and their End It is true the great Anniversaries of the Jewish Religion were appointed immediately by divine Authority But had not they other Anniversaries not immediately appointed by God and do you read that ever the Prophets did reprove the Jews for such Anniversaries They did indeed reprove their negligence and indevotion in them but the thing it self was acknowledged reasonable and prudent and a very powerful instrument of true Religion when managed with Contrition true Simplicity and Piety Zach. Did ye at all fast unto me saith the Lord. The Fasts mentioned here are of humane appointment and yet anniversary Our Saviour was present at the Feast of the Dedication for which there was not any immediate Divine Institution and though he had not been present if it had been superstitious he had certainly reproved it and given directions against such usages in the general To shake off all the externals of Religion is as dangerous as the multiplying of them the one is the Error of the Romanists and the other the superstition of the Dissenters It is certain that nothing preserves Knowledge of Christian Religion amongst the Body of the People more than the Festivals of the Church for it is not left to the Arbitrary or Extemporary Fits of Devotion but the Church by her excellent Discipline orders the matter so that it is not possible to forget the Faith unto which we have been once Baptized but amongst the Presbyterians in Scotland the People are taught by their Leaders to despise all Forms such great souls ought not to be fettered to the Rules and Methods of the Universal Church and therefore it is very rare to find a Child in the West of Scotland that can repeat the Commandments or the Creed I mean the Children of Presbyterian Parents and by such Enthusiastick pretences Atheism is insensibly promoted and the Body of the People alienated from the simplicity of Christian Religion and scarcely will they allow any man to be acquainted with true Religion that mentions those first Principles of it It is not possible to tell how much their opposition to Forms and Festivals of the Church has infatuated their People there is nothing can make a Clown in the West of Scotland laugh so heartily as when the Curate recommends to their Children the Creed the Lords Prayer and Ten Commandments and therefore they have no opinion of any Mans understanding unless he entertain them with Discourses of Gods unsearchable decrees of Justification before Conversion and how the Convictions of natural Conscience may be distnguished from the Convictions that proceed from the Spirt of God to observe the Festivals of the Church is but a piece of antiquated Superstition But we ought to remember that the stated Festivals and Fasts of the Church do preserve and increase true Devotion and Mortification Fasting is acknowledged a necessary Instrument of Religion by all Nations who profess any Religion at all It is not enjoyned but suposed by our Saviour why may not then the Church regulate and direct the Publick Solemnities of Fasting as well as of Prayer There is nothing so proper to fix our attention as Fasting it delivers the Soul from the oppressions of the Body and restores it to its true and native Sovereignty over our Lusts and Passions The stated Periods of Fasting oblige the most stubborn and impenitent to think of his Soul and the visible Practice of the Church Preach Repentance more effectually and make more lasting Impressions than the loose and indefinite Homilies of self-conceited men The External Solemnities of Religion may be abused as the most excellent things are when they are left to the Conduct of humane weakness but it is not possible to preserve Religion among the Body of Mankind without those Vehicles of Form and Order Nothing hinders the Reformation of the Grecian Churches from the variety of their Errors and Superstitions so much as the open neglect of Fasting among the Protestants and this Practice is not to be defended but rather lamented and amended What a Cruelty is it in all the Sectaries to deprive the People of the Publick helps of Prayer and Fasting Who can justifie this that considers the many Incumbrances Tentations Weaknesses that we daily encounter They that set up Methods of their own in opposition to the Wisdom of the Church in all Ages may amuse the People for a while but can produce nothing that is solid or useful It is certain that the Grecian Churches had long ere now made an utter Apostacy from the Christian Religion if the ancient and fix'd Discipline of the Church did not retain them in the Faith and when we consider how much the Religion that we are Baptized into triumphs over Sensualities and Concupiscence we cannot but acknowledge the Wisdom and Beauty of the ancient Discipline The most useful things in Art or Nature may be sadly abused by Folly or Ignorance We are not to separate from the Roman Church further than they have separated from the Wise and Primitive Constitution of the first Ages of Christianity and all the Protestants abroad seem to agree in this Truth for they Preach and Pray Publickly upon the great Fasts and
it as a thing worse than the Calves of Dan and Bethel Now you have no other Character of the Vindicator from me than what I have extracted from his Book nor do I conclude him to be habitually guilty of such shuffling and disingenuity but single Acts may grow into rooted Habits He is so deeply tinctur'd with the fulleness of his Faction that he 'll rather question whether the Body of the Sun is luminous than admit the least scruple concerning the Divine Right of Presbytery The next thing I promised to Discourse of was his Theological Reasonings that occasionally falls under his Consideration when he pleads the Innocence of the Presbyterians It is true the Vindicator does not designedly insist on those Theological heads that I am shortly to speak of but incidentally they fall in his way but he cannot forbear his venomous Squibs when he mentions the practice of the Catholic Church that mostly expose their Novelty and Enthusiasm The first I take notice of is his Censure of the Catholick Observation of Christmas The Author of the second Letter did very iudiciously observe how diametrically opposite the western Phanaticks are to the spirit and practice of the Catholick Church That they should begin their Barbarities against the Clergy upon that very day upon which the Church did celebrate the Nativity of our blessed Saviour and which the Angelical Hosts of Heaven did magnifie with triumphant Songs the Vindicator cannot let this Observation pass without his Theological Animadversions And he tells us in the first place that the Author of that Letter valu'd himself upon this fine Notion certainly the Author could not value himself upon this Notion but he had great reason to value the universal practice of the Christian Church from the first plantations of Christianity Next the Vindicator tells us that it is ridiculous to assert that that day was celebrated by the Court of Heaven What says he Did the Court of Heaven keep the Anniversary day This is profoundly wise There is no standing before the wit and smartness of such Repartees What did not the Court of Heaven celebrate the birth of our blessed Saviour And was not the Anniversary Solemnity of this Festival a just imitation of what the Court of Heaven did But he asks if the Court of Heaven did keep an Anniversary For the great Danger is in that word Anniversary But might not the Christian Church take care that this glorious Mystery should never be forgotten And was it not reasonable that our Posterity should remember it as well as they to whom it was first reveal'd and could the Christian Church take more effectual methods to preserve the memory of it than by appointing this Anniversary Festival He grants that the Institution is very ancient but that the Church did keep it in all Ages is said without book If he means that there are no Presbyterian Books that give Evidence for this Festival we grant it but if he mean that the Church did not observe it from the very days of the Apostles we desire to know when it began and in what Period of the Church it was not observed and then we may see more clearly into the Origine of this Festival And tho it had not been from the beginning the Christian Church may continue the practice of it upon the best reasons He asks again If our Saviour was born upon the 25th day of December but this is childish and impertinent when the Church did order the Commemoration of that Mystery on the 25. of December she did not decide that Chronological Nicety whether our Saviour was born on the 25. of December nor was it needful to encrease the Devotions of the Church that they should be performed with regard to one day more than to another as if they depended upon such a Critical Minute of time I hope the Vindicator knows that the 25. of December in France is not the 25. of December in Britain and yet the Christians of either communion celebrate the Nativity of our blessed Saviour with regard to the Calculations of the Country in which they live nay he may know that there are Confiderable Objections against the common Aera of the Christians But the Vindicator thinks that such an Anniversary day is not to be kept by Gods Appointment But hath not God appointed us to obey the Apostles and their Successors our lawful Ecclesiastical Rulers to the end of the World And may not they regulate the publick Solemnities and returns of Gods Worship Is there any thing in this Regulation but what hath a natural tendency to preserve and propagate the great truths of the New Testament With what impudence then dare we refuse obedience to the universal Church when her Constitutions are so just so wise and so agreeable to the whole tenor of the Gospel If all the Ecclesiastical Constitutions from the days of the Apostles had been written in the Bible could one read it in a thousand years There was a plain necessity in that case to have continued the immediate inspiration in the Church until the consummation of all things Upon this their Hypothesis Reason becomes useless to order the publick Solemnities of the Church the Christian Faith being once revealed they needed not the assistance of a new Revelation to order its publick Solemnities For when the festivities and Fasts of the Church were only conversant about the Articles of Faith already reveal'd it is supposed that common sense and discretion must cloath the great Mysteries of our Religion with such vehicles of time place and publick Solemnity as best preserve their reverence and transmit them to Posterity But this is an unfortunate mistake an original Blunder of the whole Party and as long as they keep to this Maxim they must necessarily continue stubborn and ungovernable and proof against the wisest Constitutions of the Christian Church for they must have Scripture for such things as could not be contain'd in the Scripture but he fortifies this with a Latin Sentence as if Nonsence could change its Nature by being put into Latin For the Question is not of Articles of Faith but concerning the Constitutions of the universal Church But perhaps the Vindicator might yield to the Observations of Christmas if the Observation of it were not anniversary There is some hidden dangerous Plot in that word Anniversary as if our Posterity were not to be educated in that Faith which we believe And so Enthusiastick our Presbyterians are become that they broach Principles unknown to all the subdivisions of Dissenters in England and tho more knowing and intelligent among them never scruple the observation of an Anniversary day since they yearly commemorate the dreadful Fire of London by Fasting and Prayers From all this I conclude That it is very dangerous if not impious to separate from the Church in those excellent Constitutions that have been received from the beginning and in all Countries where the name of Jesus
external Evidences there is no penetrating into the hearts of men they are only accessible to Omniscience to whom all things are naked and open But the Vindicator may remember that the dissenting Ministes in and about London in their late agreement require no more of any as marks of Orthodoxy than the subsoription of 36 Articles The Vindicator insinuates that though the Clergy do subscribe them yet they preach against them This is another stroke of his good Nature and Civility and he may beconvinced long e're now that the Episcopal Clergy is not so very pliable to do any thing against their Convictions in view of their worldly Interest even when he and his Party have been very active to reduce them to extraordinary straits and difficulties nay if he will oblige me to be plain I could tell him where some Ministers of that Faction were so villanously zealous against the Clergy that they did solicite Witnesses against them where they themselves or some of their intimate Brethren were Judges I am not to publish Names but I can prove this whenever it is found convenient I know the Vindicator will be very curious to know my Informers but I am not obliged to be so particular though I am resolved by Gods assistance to perform all the promises I make to him and his Associates But the next Censure that he bestows on the Clergy is of the same nature with the former The Author of the second Letter had said that there were many among the Clergy who were not inclined to be every day talking to the people of Gods decrees and absolute reprobation c. Indeed I think the Author gave a just account of the prudence and modesty of his Brethren but the Vindicator lashes him here with great severity and tells him that his discourse is impertinent for they do not require that one should talk always to the people of Decrees and Reprobations But here the Vindicator gives no great proof of his Logick For the phrase every day did not imply a Metaphysical strictness as if the Presbyterians never preach'd on any other Subject but on the absolute Decrees and Reprobation but the plain and obvious meaning is that Presbyterians did frequently and indiscreetly handle such abstruse Subjects as neither they nor the people were able to fathom And all such Phrases though they seem to imply a Logical universality must be interpreted to intend no more than that such or such a thing frequently comes to pass The next Blow is more severe and one had need to be armed Capa-pee to meet with it But if he mean as he must if he speak to the purpose that the absolute decrees of Electon and Reprobation both praeteritum as an act of Sovereignty and praedamnatum as an act of Justice are not to be held forth or taught to the people we abhor this as an unsound Doctrine and look on him as a pitiful Advocate for the Orthodoxy of the Clergy Thus the Vindicator is sufficiently revenged of his Adversary who is now more lamentably shattered than can be imagined It is not generous in the Vindicator thus to pursue his Victory is it possible that such meek and calm Saints shall thus openly expose the weakness of their Antagonists But if the Vindicator were out of his passion I would entreat him to tell me in what place of Saint Paul's Epistles does he read of a Decretum praedamnatum and what ever come of the Calvinian or Arminian Hypothesis I am afraid his Explication is both conplicated Nonsense and Blasphemy But he tells us that he understands Philosophy as well as his Neighbors pray let him tell us in which of the Schoolmen or Protestant Calvinists did he ever read of a Decretum praedamnatum praeteritio and praedamnatio may be met with but a Decretum praedamnatum is the peculiar invention of this Philosopher The Decree is the Act of God and there is no act of his can be condemned Such an unfortunate Blunder as this is was never before seen in print and yet the Vindicator must tell us that such things must be held forth to the people and in imitation of Saint Paul too Truly I think they had as good not be held forth but hid and laid up in the boundless Registers of Chimera's Non-entities and Negations I think this Deoretum praedamnatum may keep company with such ancient Gentlemen of its own kindred and Family and ought not at all to be held forth to the people And if you be acquainted with the Vindicator you may advise him to read the Calvinian Hypothesis before he venture to explain it And perhaps there are some about him who may expose his explication of the decrees as much as they do his Latin reasonings against Idolatry The next thing I take notice of is his historical Argument from the Culdees to prove that there was a Presbyterian Church in Scotland in the primitive times before Popery entred And the plain truth is this is the only thing that he says that deserves to be considered not for any weight or historical Truth that is in it but because the learned Blondel made use of it to support that imaginary Hypothesis from some Ancient Testimonies He had met with it in Buchanan's History and that learned Historian took it unwarily from his Contemporary Monks Boctius and others or such as were little removed from his own Age Blondel made use of it to serve the dissenting Interest in Britain And to the end that he might make a great muster of Testimonies he must needs erect a Presbyterian Church in Scotland towards the end of the second Century or beginning of the third If they can prove this I must confess it is of considerable weight but the great misfortune is there are no Authors now extant upon whose Testimony an affair so distant from our times can be reasonably founded None within six hundred years of that Period gives us the least evidence for it when I say six hundred years I do not mean that good Authors at the distance of seven or eight hundred years give any Evidence for it more than their Predecessors but when there is none to vouch it within that Period it is ridiculous to impose it as a piece of true History And our Vindicator tells us that tho the Presbyterian Government continue for some Ages in the Church of Scotland before they had Bishops Can he name any Church upon Earth that embrac'd the Christian Religion and yet none to write the affairs of their own time for some Ages together But if the writings of those ancient Presbyterians are lost Are there no fragments of them preserved in the writings of succeeding Ages There were no people so ignorant as the Monks for some Centuries before the Reformation and yet there was nothing that they were so ignorant in as true Ecclesiastical History And if they had been the most learned and accurate what could they help
Preferment receives a Presentation from the Patron he goes to the Bishop and the Bishop sends him to the Presbytery to undergoe the ordinary tryals of his Literature and Sufficiency and when the Bishop and his Presbyters with him are satisfied of his Knowledge and Learning then the Bishop serves a publick â—dict at the Church where the Candidate is to be preferred inviting all the Parishioners to come to the Cathedral Church against an appointed day to see if they have any reasonable exception against the Candidate and this is not done in a hurry but they have a competent time allowed them to gather all possible Informations concerning him from all Quarters and if they can object any thing against him that is of any weight they are heardand the Candidate is repulsed now I would gladly know what is it that the People can complain of in this Ecclesiastical Polity The Consusions of Elections that are solely left to the People are innumerable and though we had not famous and remarkable Instances in Ecclesiastical History of the bloody and tragical Effects of such popular Elections our own Country might furnish us with very many sad Experiments when the Parishoners could not compromise the affair peaceably they quickly came to Blowes and in many places to Bloodshed and Riots These were all the good effects we could discern of their popular Elections it cannot be denyed but that the method of electing the Clergy varied often and appeared under many Figures in several Ages and Countries since the first Plantations of Christianity but I dare boldly say no Christian Church came nearer the Apostolical Method and more happily avoided both Extremes than the Church of Scotland under the Episcopal Constitution But you may put the Vindicator in mind that the Presbyterians themselves never thought the Call of the People so essential a Constitution of that Pastoral Relation For there is an Act of the General Assembly ordering the Presbytery to name a Minister to such Parishes as were Malignant that is such as were of the Episcopal persuasion so this pretended popular Election if at any time it prove unserviceable to advance their Tyranny is immediately rejected For the Presbyterians do not at all believe any such inherent Right in the People to chuse their own Ministers for they think the Malignants have no Right to chuse for themselves this is the sole privilege of the Godly The Malignants are not at all to be consulted accordingly we see that though their Parliament Iudged the power of Election in the Heretors and Elders of each Parish or in the major part of them yet no Elections are allowed by the Presbyteries though never so unanimous and universal but such as are promoted by their own Factions witness Musselburgh and Tranent There is hardly any thing insisted upon by the Presbyterians more foolish and inconsistent with common honesty than this Topick from popular Elections and to say the truth the old Presbyterians never obtrude such a whimsey upon the People the Lay Patronages were not abolished in Scotland until the year 49. when the Discipline was in its Zeaith when there was no sin Preached against but Malignancy and the King Prerogative Royal was possessed by the Kirk Presbyterians in other Countries quietly submit to Lay Patrons and indeed if the Bishops take care that 〈◊〉 but pious and vertuous Men be Ordained what harm can the Church 〈◊〉 by such Presentations May not the Clergy examine such Candidates 〈◊〉 offer themselves to the Ministry accurately and narrowly 'T is certain that the most tristing and supersicial Students do most effectually recommend themselves to the People nay there are so many mean and abject Arts requisite to promote a Clergy-Man if the Hypothesis of the popular Election hold necessary that an ingenuous man cannot proslitute himself to such servile and popular methods As for the grave and retired Clergy-Man he is sure never to be preferred and if some judicious and discreet Patron does not force him out of his Solitude he is like to die amongst his Books and the Church has been served in all Ages to the best Advantages by such as least understood the Arts of Insinuation and it will continue so until the end of all things In the next place I do not see why the Vindicator should say that the Clergy pressed the Consciences of their Hearers there was nothing in our worship but the use of the Lords Prayer the Doxology and the Apostolick Creed at Baptism that they themselves objected against are not these mighty Grievances to Tender Consciences The Vindicator tells us that Presbyterians were not against the use of those Forms but they would not use them as the Prelatists did What he means by this I cannot tell but I can tell you that all the Presbyterians before the year 1638. made use of them all And that after the year 38. until Cromwell's Army invaded our Nation they never left off the using of those Catholick and Christian Forms But such of the Remonstrators as were deeply in the Interests of the Usurper then left off the use of such Forms drawing as near as was possible to the Spiritual Heights and pretended Purity of the Independents in the Army And the Christian Religion at that time in our Nation varied in its outward Figure and in their Notions about it as much as the Philosophy of the Schools and the wise Questions of Universale and Objectum Attributionis logicae The Vindicator is content to use such Forms but not as the Episcopal Church doth command it That is to say he will do nothing in Unity and Society with the Christian Church and though the Vow of Baptism oblige us as we are Members of Christs Mystical Body to preserve and support the Unity of the Christian Church yet he thinks he may leave the Communion the Church without either fear or scruple in those very things that are short Abstracts of our Faith and Symbols of our Profession And yet no People are now so violent as they in pressing Subscriptions to the Presbyterian Confession at Westminster and that without any exception restriction or explication I am of Opinion that the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland have been from their Infancy taught in and are firmly resolved to adhere to the Protestant Religion and is it not a piece of extraordinary vanity in the Presbyterians to insinuate that they themselves are the only men careful to preserve the purity of Doctrine Did not the Clergy that addressed to the pretended General Assembly plainly declare that they would subscribe the Westminster Confession as it contained the Fundamentals of Protestant Religion But this the Vindicator thinks did not sufficiently purge them from the suspicion of being Arminians There are but very few of the Clergy of Scotland that explain the Doctrine of Grace and Freewill after the method of Arminius and if any of them does not favor the Calvinian Hypothesis they are very far from propagating their
Festivals of the Church The publick Seasons of Devotion are the Catechism of the People It is true when there is no day fixt for the Uniform Celebration of such a Mystery it may be remembred by some but it is not credible that all the People will remember it but when the day is fixt we cannot forget it and from our Infancy we are easily trained in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and in the simplicity of Christian Religion free from Jewish Superstition touch not taste not handle not with which all our Sectaries are unhappily Leavened as well as from giddiness and Enthusiasm The next thing that I mention is his Accusation against the Episcopal Church that they were guilty of Schism For He tells us that he knows no Schism but such as was caused by his Opposites and this is pleasant enough There is a Company of men lately started up in the Christian Church and if the Universal Church does not immediatly strike Sail to their Novelties all must be concluded Schismaticks By our Baptismal Vowes we are obliged to preserve the Unity of the Catholick Church we are Members of that visible Body that worship the true God through Jesus Christ and consequently we are obliged to worship God in Unity and in Society nor can we separate from any sound part of the Catholick Church that does not require unlawful Conditions of Communion and such as are forbidden by that God whom we Worship Upon this Hypothesis I think it impossible for the Presbyterians of Scotland to defend themselves against the Charge of Schism in its most rigorous and formal Notion First Because they separate from all Churches Ancient and Modern there is not now a Church upon Earth with whom they think they may Communicate without fear of being polluted The Protestants of France observe the Festivals of the Church as also the Protestants of Geneve and Swisserland and the Calvinists in Germany do the same As for the Lutherans of Germany Denmark and Sweedland we dare not so much as once name them they have all of them Liturgies and Festivals and Organs and Divine Hymns distinct from the Psalms of David As for the Socinians of Poland though they agree in some things with them yet they would no doubt refuse their Communion They must refuse upon their Principles the Communion of the Grecian Church and all the Subdivisions of it and they cannot joyn with the Papists nor yet with the Church of England And their Consciences could not endure to Communicate with the Episcopal Church of Scotland that was against their Covenants and their Obligations as if a man could disingage himself from what he is obliged to by the Common Ties of Christianity and the Vows of Baptism by any Bond or posterior Obligation of his own But if there be no visible Church with which they can Communicate they are certainly cut off from the visible Communion of Saints over the Habitable World and this Pharisaical singularity is so much the more hateful that it is abhorred by all Protestant Churches and if the Vindicator will Read Durellus only he will easily see how opposite this peevishness is to the Sentiments and Practice of all Reformed Churches It is acknowledged by all sober men that to joyn with or abet Schismaticks makes one guilty of Schism and therefore the Presbyterians can by no means require the Members of the Episcopal Church to joyn with them who have wilfully and furiously cut themselves off from the whole Body of Christians but there is lately found out a wise Distinction to save them from this blow they can have occasional Communion with other Churches tho they cannot have a sixt Communion with them Before I consider this Distinction let me inform you that the Ringleaders of the former Presbyterians in Scotland never made use of any such Distinction they themselves reasoned against Separation upon such frivolous pretences as are now alledged by their Successors but the Presbyterians have borrowed this Distinction from English Dissenters And the former Presbyterians did never separate from the Publick Worship under the Episcopal Constitution nor did the latter Presbyterians after the Restoration dream of it until the year 1664. that some of the Western Bigots as had fled to Holland thought that the Faction could not be supported unless People were taught that they were obliged to leave the Communion of the Episcopal Church intirely And accordingly in Ann. 1664. there appeared a Seditious Pamphlet in Octavo Entituled The Apologetical Relation of the Church of Scotland And it is impossible for any Presbyterian to name any one Book or Treatise before this Pamphlet that justified the Separation of Presbyterians from the Publick Reformed Worship under the Episcopal Constitution in the Church of Scotland It is a long time since I Read this Book and therefore I cannot give a particular account of it though I remember that the Author when he comes to that Conclusion that the People were not to hear the Curates he speaks with diffidence and hesitation and in some one place or other of that Dispute he softens this wild and extravagant Paradox by some restrictions and limitations That they were not to hear them always nor constantly but that they ought so far to separate as to keep the Party from being swallowed up in the Communion of the Church Accordingly their first Essays of Schism were but faint and timorous they were not in the beginning so well armed against the Remorse of their own Consciences for this was a Novelty and they did not venture upon it with that boldness and assurance that afterward appear'd to that degree that our Governors were forced to make severe Laws against their Field Meetings which were justly termed by our Law the Rendezvouze of Rebellion And though the Bigots in the West had advanced this Paradox yet the Presbyterians of greatest Note and Learning took no notice of it but kept the Communion of the Church after the Restoration of Episcopacy as punctually as any Church-malt And it is very observable that all the Presbyterian Ministers in Scotland made use of the Christian Forms of the Lords Prayer Creed and Doxology until Olivers Army invaded Scotland and the Independent Chaplains in that Army thought their own Dispensation was above that of Geneva Upon this such of the Presbyterians as would recommend themselves to the Usurper and such as had his Ear forbore those Forms in the Publick Worship and by degrees they fell into desitetude for it was not Creditable to be out of the Fashion and yet they have the Confidence to justifie their Separation from the Episcopal Church partly because such such Christian Forms are retained in the Publick Worship And though they dispute against the use of Forms yet they pronounce the Apostolick Benediction after Sermon as others do except some few who love rather to Paraphrase it than keep to its Original simplicity The unhappy temper of Schismaticks
the rather because we fortifie our Exhortations with the same motives that the Apostles used and with which the Pagan Philosophers could not be acquainted Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works It is very true that the Pagan Philosophers Preached against Lust and Sensualities and Uncleanness but could they recommend Chastity by such powerful and invincible motives as you meet with 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. What know you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and your spirit which are Gods And without all doubt S. Paul recommended to the Philippians the true use of the Moral Philosophers when he exhorts Phil. 4. 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things Compare this with the place on the Margin and hundreds of such places and from them I conclude that to Preach what the Moral Philosophers commended though we must Preach many things that they could not see and to strengthen them by Christian Motives is a thing very becoming the Ministers of the Gospel because it is indispensably necessary and agreeable to the Practice of our Saviour and his Apostles But the Vindicator tells us Pag. 62. That this is the dialect of men strongly enclin'd to Socinianism I let go this mark of his spite and ill nature for we have no Socinians amongst the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland And if he understands the Socinians they are not so very zealous for Celebrating the Festival of Christs Nativity and Incarnation nor yet are they great Enemies to Presbyterian Government nor can they be thought zealous for any particular Platform were it never so agreeable to the Canons of the Ancient Church any further than their interest is involv'd He tells us a little after that the preaching of some men is such morality as Seneca and other Heathens taught only Christianised with some words so the Vindicator thinks that the morality they recommended to their Hearers was neither higher nor purer than the Doctrines of Seneca and other Stoicks But it may be that they have read Seneca with as much attention as he did and can give as good an account of the Defects of the Stoical Philosophy and wherein it fell short of the Christian Standard One may easily guess whom he means and intends to hit by this waspish accusation But to pursue him thorow all his hiding places and little Subterfuges is as useless as it is wearisom The reason why I kept you so long on this Head was to discover the Genius of the people we have to do with He tells us this Philosophy was never much preached by the Presbyterians but the Philosophy that I have describ'd was preach'd by S. Paul and consequently not opposito unto the Doctrine of Christ crucified as he fancies but rather subservient unto it and a great confirmation of the truth and divinity of it It is very true that the Princes of Philosophers understood not the Revelations of the Gospel but the true exercise of Reason is very consistent with Revelation and S. Paul's discourse to the Athenian proves him a learned and solid Philosopher And tho the Apostles were mean and illiterate men yet God did strengthen their Reason beyond the most accurate Philosophers And when he sent them forth to preach the Gospel they became in the strictest sense greater Philosophers than their Enomies And tho the Christian Religion in its beginnings appeared weak and foolish yet when it was narrowly enquired into it was found to be the wisdom of God and the power of God for the Apostles offer'd the best Reasons to convince both Jew and Gentile that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messins and consequently that there was no other name under heaven known by which men might be saved but the name of JESUS They proved their Mission and their Doctrine by their Miracles and this was an Argument divine and a refragable in its nature as it was obvious and plain to the meanest Capacity and therefore the Author to the Hebrews concludes that the damnation of Infidels is the most just and reasonable thing because infidelity it self is most inexcusable since God did bear witness to the Gospel by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost True Philosophy and Religion support one another None can be truly religious but he that exercises his Reason and he that exercises his reason must of necessity be religious For the whole of our Religion is a reasonable service God treats us as reasonable Creatures he makes himself Master of our Will by methods sutable to his wisdom and our nature when the light of the Gospel enters the Soul and warms it by its direct beams and perpendicular rays she then chuses what is best with all her force and delight It is certain that if the Moral Philosophers could lay aside their pride and the interest of a Faction they might be sooner gained to Christianity than others they could not but see the beauty and reasonableness of such excellent Morals as were recommended in the Gospel and were far above the lame and defective systems of the Pagan Schools There are no excellent Precepts amongst the Pagans but what are contained in the New Testament and if we recommend Christian vertue by Christian motives I think the whole undertaking is very commendable Why the Vindicator should thus waspishly Comment on an innocent Sentence or two of that Author I cannot tell but he may remember that when we were Boys we were taught that Philosophy in its utmost extent and latitudo was the knowledge of divine and human things And then Christian Philosophy is good Christian Divinity vicê versâ but the Vindicator is afraid lest any one may think him a stranger to Philosophy and therefore tells us that it may be that they understand that as well as their Neighbours And no doubt this Paragraph of his that I have examined is a sufficient Evidence of his Philosophical skill and knowledge Such another Specimen of his Candour and Ingenuity we meet with pag. 66. where he again insinuates that the Clergy are Socinians c. The Author of the second Letter had justly observed that the Clergy could not be erroneous because they could sign the 39 Articles of the Church of England But the Vindicator replies So can many do who every day preach against the Doctrine contained in these Articles And at this rate he may disprove all