which they think fit to be inserted to the same and some Additional Prayers to the said Book of Common-Prayer to be used upon proper and emergent occasions and have exhibited and presented the same unto His Majesty in writing in one Book entitled The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church c. All which His Majesty having duly considered hath ☞ fully approved and allowed the same and recommended to This present Parliament that the said Book of Common-Prayer with the Form of Ordination and Consecration of Bishops Priests and Deacons with the Alterations and Additions which have been so made and presented to His Majesty by the said Convocations be the Book which shall be appointed to be used by all that ossiciate in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Chappels and in all Chappels of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities and in all Parish-Churches and Chappels within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed and by all that make or consecrate Bishops Priests or Deacons in any of the said Places under such Sanctions and Penalties as the Houses of Parliament shall think fit Now in regard that nothing conduceth more to the settling the Peace of N. B. The Benefits of Uni formity this Nation which is desired of all good men nor to the Honour of our Religion and the Propagation thereof than an universal Agreement in the publick Worship of Almighty God And to the intent that every Person within this Realm may certainly know the Rule to which he is to conform in publick Worship and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and the Manner how and by whom Bishops Priests and Deacons are and ought to be made ordained and consecrated Be it enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by the Advice and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons in This present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same c. And be it farther enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the several good Laws and Statutes of This Realm which have been formerly made and are now in force The farmer good Laws and Statutes for Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments confirmed with Reference to this Book for the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments within this Realm of England and places aforesaid shall stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever for the establishing and confirming of the said Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. herein before mentioned to be joyned and annexed to This Act and shall be applied practised and put in ure for the punishing of all Offences contrary to the said Laws with Relation to the Book aforesaid and no other Provided also that the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration The Book of Q Eliz. continued till This was to take place c. heretofore in use and respectively established by Act of Parliament in the First and Eighth years of Queen Elizabeth shall be still used and observed in the Church of England until the Feast of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the year of our Lord God 1662. when by This Act the other Book aforesaid was to take place in the room thereof so that there was no period of time wherein there was a Liberty or Exemption from the Legal Obligation to Uniformity Such now is That August Authority by which the Things in Question are determined and established And as the Reconciler cites it out of Bishop Taylor A peaceable mind and willingness to learn P. 224. and a charitable Exposition are the just Dispositions of Subjects God Grant they well perform it As He there devoutly and piously adds This was the Religion of Queen Elizabeth ☜ whose Motto was Semper eadem This was the Religion of King James whose Motto was Beati Pacifici This was the Religion of King Charles The Royal Martyr and best of Kings and Men. And This is the Religion of His Gracious Majesty the Inheritor of his Fathers Kingdoms and Princely Vertues who calls aloud upon his Subjects to make the established Laws Their Rule because he protests They shall ever be His. And the Reconciler hath told us that it is only the Religion of His King which in This Book he pleads for SECT VII IN the next place before I leave §. VII This Subject I desire all my Country-men diligently to hearken unto the Church Her self in her publick Apologies about These Matters in the Book so established which because so few do observe in Their Common-Prayer-Books I will here present them with The Preface of our Governours concerning the Alterations made in the publick Service It hath been the Wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first The constant moderation of the Church of England compiling of her publick Liturgy to keep a mean between the Two Extreams of too much stiffness in refusing and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it For as on the one side common experience sheweth that where a change hath been made of The danger of unnecessary changes things advisedly established no evident necessity so requiring sundry inconveniences have thereupon ensued and those many times more and greater than the evils Ipsa mutatio consuetudinis erlam quae utilitate adjuvat novitate perturbat D. August Ep. 118. that were intended to be remedied by such change so on the other side the particular Forms of divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being Necessary changes to be made by Authority only in things alterable and upon weighty important considerations things in their own nature indifferent and alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various Exigencies of times and occasions such Changes and Alterations should be made therein as to those that are in place of Authority from time to time seem either necessary or expedient This is quoted by the Reconciler as the chief ground-work of his Proposals P. 35 36. but let us hear the whole Accordingly we find that in the Reigns of several Princes of blessed Memory since the Reformation the Church The practice of the Church accordingly upon just and weighty Considerations her thereunto moving hath yielded to make such Alterations in some particulars as in their respective times were thought convenient yet so as that the main Body and Essentials of it as well in the chiefest materials as in the frame and order thereof have still continued the same unto This day and do yet stand firm and unshaken notwithstanding all the vain attempts and impetuous A Character of the Adversaries of the Church assaults made against it by such men as are given to change and have always discover'd a greater regard
ANIMADVERSIONS UPON A LATE TREATISE Entituled The Protestant Reconciler Humbly pleading for Condescention to Dissenting Brethren in things Indifferent and Unnecessary for the sake of Peace And shewing How Unreasonable it is to make such things the Necessary Conditions of Communion By a WELL-WISHER to the Churches Peace and a LAMENTER of her Sad Divisions My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Prov. xxiv 21. Qui deliberant jam desciverunt Tacitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui spirnit modica paulatim decidet Ecclus xix 1. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. TO THE READER Courteous Reader THou wilt find in these Papers some publick Memorials both of Church and State which tend to maintain just and charitable Thoughts of our present Establishments and Governours with certain Considerations of no small moment to be duely weighed by all that importune or attempt a Change and may possibly evince That our Peace and Happiness dependeth rather upon a teachable Spirit and Christian Obedience and Submission in the Subject than any great Necessity of Condescension or Alterations by Authority which yet are left entirely as they ought to be to the Religious Prudence of those who are over us in the Lord to whom they properly belong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles 7. 16. SOME ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE Protestant Reconciler c. SECT I. The Reconcilers Apology in his Preface GOD is my Witness what I have discoursed in these Papers is my fixed Judgement which I have taken up upon Convictions which I am not able to resist and not from any carnal Motives or any Prejudices whatsoever Yet being sensible of my own weakness and proneness to mistake in judging and most unwilling to do the least dis-service to the Church of which I am at present an unworthy Member or to those Reverend Superiours whom from my heart I honour and own as the true Apostolick Guides and Rulers of the Church which if I be mistaken in my Judgement I unwillingly may do I therefore do entreat my Brethren of the Clergy who shall peruse these Lines to do it with the exactest scrutiny and if upon perusal they do find or judge my Reasons unconcluding and that my Judgement in this Matter is not according to Truth that out of their abundant Charity they would be pleased to convince me of my Error There being nothing in the World in which I shall more heartily rejoyce than a clear Conviction that in that part of my Discourse which doth concern my ever-honour'd Superiours I have been mistaken Teach me my Reverend Brethren and I will hold my peace cause me to understand wherein I have erred and I will thankfully yea I will publickly retract it I hope I shall not be accused of Singularity or Unkindness to the Church of England Since what I plead for in this Book Ibid. p. 55 is only the Religion of my King and that which I have learn'd from his most excellent Declaration c. Since I my self do from my heart conform to all that is required by the Church of England c. Since I verily believe all separate Congregations in the Nation which are not subject to the Government of our Diocesans are schismatical and all they that do abet and head them and exercise among them a spiritual Jurisdiction independent on them do set up Altar against Altar and therefore out of pure commiseration to their souls do plead in their behalf Since I do only plead for this Condescension because I do really believe 't is for the Glory the Safety the Advantage of the Church of England and of the Protestant Religion that it will be highly instrumental for the Good of Souls and will conciliate so great Renown and Credit to our Reverend Bishops as to make future Generations rise up and call them Blessed And therefore if I have been somewhat transported beyond the measures of my Station it is pure zeal for my Religion and the Good of Souls and for the Honour Safety and Advantage of the Church of England and her Apostolical Governours which caused me to be thus transported Since I who do now humbly plead for Condescension do intend God willing to plead as stiffly and I hope with more Conviction for submission to the Constitutions of the Church of England Since lastly I am very willing and desirous to be convinced of my Error and such conviction being given to retract what I have writ on this Subject I hope what is written with all the P. 60. modesty I could and as much deference to my most honour'd Superiours as the application of the present Subject would permit I say if these things be consider'd I hope that I have given no just occasion of offence to any Member of the Church of England All this I allow of so far as it is not evidently protestatio contra factum for in that case the Reconciler himself will excuse P. 118. us from believing of men's demurest Protestations He entreats his Readers who shall peruse these Lines to do it with the exactest scrutiny and professeth wherein-soever he shall be convinced of Error not only thankfully to accept of it but publickly to retract c. SECT II. The Reconciler's Proposition laid down THat things indifferent which Ch. 1. P. 4. may be chang'd and alter'd without sin or violation of God's Laws ought not especially under our present circumstances to be imposed by our Superiours as the conditions of Communion or as conditions without which none shall minister in sacred things though call'd to that work and none shall be partakers of the publick Ordinances which Christ hath left to be the ordinary means of Grace and of Salvation to Mankind but shall upon refusal to submit to them for ever be excluded from the Church and from the Priviledges belonging to the Members of it A farther Declaration of what he means to contend for 1. He who saith that it is sinful P. 2. and mischievous to impose these unnecessary Ceremonies and to retain these disputable expressions of our Liturgie which may be alter'd and removed without transgressing the Law of God saith true 2. And he also who pleads that Separation from Communion with us on the account of these few scrupled Ceremonies and disputable expressions of our Liturgie is sinful and unreasonable as well as mischievous doth also speak the words of Truth and Soberness Or That one should not impose these P. 3. things as conditions of Communion and that the other should not when they are once imposed refuse Communion upon that account Elsewhere it is only the doing that P. 333. which the first Reformers declar'd to be lawful upon great occasions The Churches using her Liberty in matters wholly lest to her Liberty Not that the Ceremonies be abolished Ibid. or the Conformists forbid to use them but that others should be
in place thereof other foreign and unfitting usages by little and little to creep in yet forasmuch as in Our own Royal Chappels and in many other Churches most of them have been ever constantly used and observed We cannot now but be very sensible of This matter and have cause to conceive that the Authors and Fomenters of these jealousies though they colour the same ☞ with a pretence of zeal and would seem to strike only at some supposed iniquity in the said Ceremonies yet as We have cause to fear aim at Our own Royal Person and would fain have Our good Subjects imagine that We Our Self are perverted and do worship God in a superstitious way and that We intend to bring in some Alteration of the Religion here established Now how far we are from That and how utterly We detest every Thought thereof We have by many publick Declarations and otherwise upon sundry occasions giv'n such assurance to the world as that from thence We also assure Our Self that no man of wisdom and discretion could ever be so beguiled as to give any serious entertainment to such Brain sick jealousies And for the weaker Sort who are prone to be misled by crafty Seducers We rest no less confident that even of ☜ them as many as are Loyal or indeed but of charitable hearts will from hence forth utterly banish all such causless fears and surmises upon These our Sacred Professions so often made by Us a Christian Defender of the Faith their King and Soveraign And therefore if yet any person under whatsoever Mask of Zeal or counterfeit Holiness shall henceforth by speech or writing or any other way notwithstanding These our right hearty faithful and solemn Protestations made before Him whose Deputy We are against all and every intention of any Popish innovation be so ungracious and presumptuous as to vent any poysoned conceits tending to such a purpose and to cast These devilish aspersions and jealousies upon our Royal and Godly Proceedings We require all Our Loyal Subjects to make the same known to some Magistrate Ecclesiastical or Civil c. Read the Rest before and after the said Book of Canons too long to be here transcribed See we the very Image and Transcript of This Royal Martyr's Soul in the midst of all His Sorrows and Sufferings And when He had Death before His Eys in some of His Last words to the Then Prince of Wales our Now most Gracious Soveraign You may never expect less of Loyalty Justice and Humanity than from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. xxvll Those who engage into a Religious Rebellion Their Interest is always made Gods under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the Populace you may hear from them Jacob's voice but you shall feel they have Esau's hands Nothing seem'd less considerable ☞ than the Presbyterian Faction in England for many years so compliant were they to publick Order nor indeed was their Party great either in Church or State as to mens judgments But as soon as Discontents drave men into Sidings as Ill humors fall to the Disaffected part which causes Inflammations so did all at first who affected any Novelties adhere to That side as the most remarkable and specious note of difference then in point of Religion All the Lesser Factions at first were Officious Servants to Presbytery their Great Master till Time and Military Success c. Let nothing seem little or despicable Never had Prince more reason to inculcate This excellent Advice Oâ—â—a principlis sâ—râ— mediâ—iâ—a paâ—atur Cum mala per longas invâ—luere moras to you in matters which concern Religion and the Churches Peace so as to neglect a speedy Reforming and effectual suppressing Errors and Schisms which seem at first but as an hand-breadth by seditious spirits as by strong winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heaven If you never see my Face again I do require and intreat you as your Father and your King that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against or disaffection from the True Religion established in the Church of England I tell you I have tryed it and after ☜ much search and many disputes have concluded it to be the best in the world not only in the Community as Christian but also in the special Nation as Reformed Virtus est medium vitioâ—um utriaque relactum keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious Tyranny and the meanness of Fantastick Anarchy Not but that the Draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Government in the Church of England some lines as in very good figures may haply need some sweetning or polishing which might here have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens precipitancy had not violently demanded such rude Alterations as would quite have destroyed all the beauty and proportion of the whole The Scandal of the Late Troubles which some may object and urge to you against the Protestant Religion established in England is easily answer'd to them or your own Thoughts in This ☞ That scarce any one who hath been a Beginner or an active Prosecutor of This Late War against the Church the Laws and Me either was or is a True Lover Embracer or Practiser of the Protestant Religion established in England which neither gives such Rules nor ever before set such Examples T is true some heretofore had the boldness to present Threatning Petitions to their Princes and Parliaments which others of the same Faction but N. B. of worse spirits have now put in Execution c. Thus the Royal Martyr the Best of Kings and men And may we not say upon it with the Widow of Tekoah As an Angel of God so is my Lord the King to discern good and bad 2 Sam. xiv Sect. VI. WE are now come to the Suffrage of His present Majesty the Living Image of the Royal Martyr whom God preserve as the Reconciler well prayeth in the Contents of his Preface His present Majesty in His Dechbration Pref. p. 5. from Breda to all His loving Subjects April 4. 1660. speaks thus We do declare a Liberty to tender Consciences and that no Man shall be disquieted or call'd in question for Differences of Opinion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that We shall be ready to consent to such an Act of Parliament as upon mature doliberation shall be offered to Vs for the full granting that Indulgence And in His Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Octob. 25. 1660. When We were in Holland We were saith he attended by many Grave and Learned Ministers from hence who were look'd upon as the most able and principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinions And to Our great satisfaction We found them and I would His Majesty had always found them so in England as well as There Persons full of
our Government by Bishops is Popish our Liturgy Popish our ministring of Baptism with the Cross Popish our Kneeling at the Communion Popish our Holy Duties Popish and almost Every Thing Popish Wherefore the Brownists having learnt that the Pope is Antichrist and the present Church of Rome Babylon and hearing a Voice from Heaven crying Go out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Sins and that ye taste not of her Plagues have upon your former Premises gathered a Practical Conclusion ☜ and made an actual Separation and Rent from the Church of England And surely my Brethren as they had their Original from your Positions so now are they strengthned by your Practices For they may well think that such learned and vertuous Men so famous and renowned Preachers knowing a Wo pronounced against them if they preach not the Gospel would never suffer themselves to be silenced for matters which they judged indifferent And therefore they will take it as granted that the things you stick at are in your opinion simply unlawful And upon this dangerous Position they will build another For if the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is enjoined at this day to be performed be such as a Minister cannot execute his Function with a good Conscience then they conclude that neither may the People hear it with a good Conscience because their Presence were an Approbation of it Thus the unquiet Will of Man will still be working even till it run it self upon the Rock of its own Destruction Here we see the true Occasion and Rise of all those separate Congregations in the Nation whom the Reconciler himself notwithstanding his abundant Charity to Dissenters believeth to be schismatical Pref. p. 59. And 't is agreed on all sides Book p. 23. saith he that Schism is a very great Offence and by the Writers of the Church of England and by the Primitive Fathers it is declared to be a Sin in its own nature damnable How little Encouragement then have we to indulge unto or confide in such Men or their genuine Off-spring or whatsoever may be urged for the Men their schismatical Principles With what Reason and Zeal have the most learned and pious Sons of the Church of England appeared all along even against those first Dissenters and leading Patriarchs of the Non-conforming Brotherhood O what a grief ought this to be to their Souls saith one so to Mr. Mason ep ded to his Serm. oppose themselves against such a Learned and Religion Church and so irreverently to traduce that holy Book of Common-Prayer a Work of so great and admirable Excellency Concerning which I may truly affirm that it hath been cut up like an Anatomy every Vein of it hath been opened every Corner searched every Rubrick ransack'd not a Word but hath been weighed in the Ballance not a Syllable but hath been sifted to the uttermost and yet for all this like to the Bridg of Caesar the more it is opposed the stronger it stands And again To come to the Form Id. Serm. p. 22. of Common-Prayer as it was established by Queen Elizabeth O what Blessings hath the Lord vouchsafed the People of this Land by means of that Book How many Millions of Souls have received comfort by it How many thousands of Learned Men have commended and defended it You shall hear one for all even that Judicious Jewel in whose opinion it containeth nothing either disagreeing from Holy Scripture or misbeseeming sober Men. And yet it hath pleased our Gracious Soveraign that some things should be explained that the Publick Form of Prayer might be free not only from Blame but from Suspicion This excellent Book we know hath been since deliberately reviewed and certain Alterations made in it by the best Advice and Authority in the Kingdom And yet some Men raise fresh Objections even from those Alterations What can we suppose will ever satisfy them unless they may themselves prescribe and govern all Let me here recommend to an impartial Consideration the Words of a very Reverend Person on this occasion When God that here calls us unto Peace shall one Day call us to account Dr. Frank. Serm. at St. Paul's on Col. 3. 15. how gracious and thankful we have been for his calling us to it what we have done or not done towards it Consider I beseech you whether you think seriously in your Hearts that it will there pass for true Endeavours for Peace to answer thus Lord we have been all for ' Peace ☞ and we petitioned for it but we could not have it upon our own Conditions We would have agreed for a Publick Service but we could not have it of our own making We could well enough have condescended to an Uniformity but they would not let us that were the Inferiours set the Rule We yet agree in the Articles of the Faith only for Indifferences we keep still off We are all saved too we confess by the Cross of Christ but the very Sign of it we thought enough to keep us still asunder We were zealous for thy Worship but we would not be confined to it by any imposed Rule of Reverence and Order We could indeed have yet submitted to it our selves but we some of us had taught the People otherwise and were ashamed to unteach them We might perhaps have easily come in at first but now we have so long stood out that it is not for our Honour to retreat they will call us Turn-coats and Apostates and we shall lose the People quite Gracious and kind notwithstanding we have been in our Deportments but 't was only to our own Party Thankful besides to God though we kept not indeed any solemn Days of Thanksgivings or as perfunctorily as we could we would go no further In the Sum We have done all we could to have Peace upon our own Terms but we could not obtain it unless we would submit to Decency and Order And so it stands And when our Governours and Superiours call'd to the same account shall be content to stand to our own Confessions that they imposed nothing but for Unity and Order Think soberly I beseech you on which hand lies the true Plea for the Endeavour of Peace where lies the Perverseness where the Compliance And if this be the business as I fear it is too near it I shall leave the whole World to judg whether Peace truly rule in the Hearts of those who upon their own Terms only seek it whether they answer their Callings or are thankful Nevertheless if it shall still be thought expedient for mere pitty and commiseration-sake to some weak and prejudiced Dissenters to importune the Church and State for some Condescension farther in scrupled Ceremonies and certain disputable Clauses of the Liturgy which is the professed Design of the Reconciler alone to plead for in certain Passages of his Treatise it ought certainly to be done without any affront to the
Stillingfleet as he sometimes P. 270. P. 81. P. 109. Pref. p. 15. caresses him the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet the Excellent Dr. Stillingfleet and through him I fear casts some dirt upon his Dear Mother the Church of England in her publick Declarations The reading of some Dissenters Books seems unto me to have a little inspeevish'd him and disturbed the more calm and temperate disposition of his nature so that he treats his Adversaries now and then with too much slighting and contempt Thus what Dr. Womock alledgeth out of Meisner a Learned Lutheran P. 155 c. he calls trifling Arguments giving the lye to St. Paul Falshoods and Fooleries miserable Trifles But particular persons may the better bear with him since he sometimes forgets himself in his Duty of Reverence to the Church and the Apostolical Governours thereof That passage I think is somewhat scandalous and vain where he tacitly resembles the Ceremonies which he elsewhere calls trivial things unto the P. 208. May-pole Let him that will have a May-pole have it and he that would P 341. not have it have no May-pole Sect. IV. I Desire it may be well considered by how great and sacred Authority and that upon the maturest examination the things excepted against stand established Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical that of the Convocation which is the Church of England Representative and of the Parliament which includes King Lords and Commons the Consent of the whole Nation involved and This not once but often time after time the Objections to the contrary frequently canvassed and deliberated upon All sorts of Authority meet here with Advantage This the Reconciler had in his eye when he said with a deal of Reason for it I know that it is not in their power meaning the Reverend Bishops at present Pref. p. 9. sent to make such Concessions they being as much tyed to the observing of the Laws as any order of men and having no power to dispense with them or to make any Proposals for the healing of our Breaches till by his Majesties Authority they meet in Convocation for that end And therefore wonder at the wickedness and injustice of those men ☞ who clamour so much against them because such Condescensions are not immediately made that is because they do not change the Laws which is not in their power to do All the Arguments therefore which the Reconciler doth so copiously insist upon for an enlarged Charity in the censuring and judging of others whose Consciences as he saith we cannot know but by their professions he should have added and open practices do reach P. 88. more strongly against the harbouring or insinuating of undue Fears and Jealousies concerning our Superiours whom the fifth Commandment enjoyns us to honour We cannot be too careful of all unjust and uncharitable Imputations to our Governours Let me here call to mind some few Clauses of the Act of Uniformity in the first year of Queen Elizabeth of blessed Memory confirmed again in the eight year of her Reign If any Minister shall preach declare Prim Eliz. or speak any thing in derogation or depraving of the said Book of Common-prayer c. or any thing therein contained The crime and Penalty of derogating from depraving or despising any thing contained in the Book of Common-prayer or of any part thereof and shall be thereof lawfully convicted according to the Laws of this Realm by Verdict of twelve men or by his own Confession or by notorious Evidence of Fact he shall lose and forfeit to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors for his first offence the profit of all his spiritual Benefices or Promotions coming or accruing in one whole year next after his Conviction and also that the person so convict shall for the same offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of six months without Bail or Mainprise c. And it is Ordain'd and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons whatsoever after the said Feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming shall in any Interludes Plays Songs Rhimes or by other open words declare or speak any thing in the derogation depraving or despising of the said Book or any thing therein contained or any part thereof Then every such person being thereof lawfully convict in form aforesaid shall forfeit to the Queen our Soveraign Lady her Heirs and Successors for the first offence and hundred The zeal of the Queen Lords Temporal and commons in urging the Bishops and other Ordinaries as they will answer it before God to see to the execution of this good and wholesom Law Marks c. And for a due execution hereof the Queens most Excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do in God's Name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their knowledge that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesses and Charges as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues wherewith Almighty ☞ God may justly punish his people for neglecting this good and wholsom Law Provided always and be it Enacted A Provision touching such Ornaments of the Church and Ministers as are to be retained with a power left to take farther order about Rites and Ceremonies That such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof shall be retain'd and be in use as were in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward until other order shall be taken by the Queens Majesty with the Advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the Great Seal of England or of the Metropolitan of this Realm And also That if there shall happen any Contempt or Irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the mis-using of the Orders appointed in this Book the Queens Majesty may by the like Advice of the said Commissioners or Metropolitan ordain and publish such farther Ceremonies as may be most for the advancement of God's Glory the edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christ's holy Mysteries and Sacraments And now I have occasion to remember that the first step of the Reconciler's Apology is in these words Since what I plead for in this Book is only the Religion of my King c. And that he Pref. p. 58. begins his Preface with some remarkable Sayings ad amoliendam invidiam of King James King Charles the Martyr and his present Majesty It may not be amiss to shew a little more particularly how far it may be said with ingenuity and truth that he hath learned of them or pays a deference to their Judgements and Authorities To begin therefore saith he Pref. p. 3 4. with the Testimonies of our Learned and Judicious Kings That
Affection towards Us of Zeal for the Peace of the Church and State and neither Enemies to Episcopacy nor Liturgy but modestly to desire such Alterations in either as without shaking the Foundations might best allay the present distempers which the Indisposition of the Time and the Tenderness of some mens Consciences had contracted For the better doing whereof We did intend to call a Synod and in the mean time We published in Our Declaration from Breda a Liberty to tender Consciences c. The Declaration from Breda then is here ☞ acknowledged to have been an Interim or Temporary Concession onely until a Synod was call'd and as it was limited to such differences of Opinion as do not disturb the peace of the Kingdom so it had reference plainly to an Act of Parliament which upon mature deliberation should be offered to His Majesty But there was no such Act thought sit by the Wisdom of the Nation to be offered ' Nay the Henourable House of Commons in their Address to His Majesty did Thus express themselves Febr. 28. 1663. We have consider'd the Nature of Your Majesties Declaration from Breda and are humbly of Opinion that Your Majesty ought not to be pressed with it any farther 'T is This Other Declaration therefore which we are particularly to attend unto and though it be somewhat long I will not forbear the representing of it again to view so far as the Reconciler refers unto it So then he proceeds And again we must for the honour of all those of either Persuasion with whom we have conferred declare that the professions and desires of all for the advancement of Piety and true Godliness are the same their profession of zeal for the peace of the Church the same of Affection and Duty to us the same They all approve Episcopacy N. B. They all approve a set Form of Liturgy and they all disapprove and dislike the sin of Sacriledge and the alienation of the Revenue of the Church And if upon these excellent Foundations in submission to which there is such an Harmony of affections any Superstructures shall be raised to the shaking Those Foundations and to the contracting and lessening the Blessed Gift of Charity which is a vital part of Christian Religion we shall think our self very unfortunate and even suspect that we are defective in that Administration of Government with which God hath intrusted us We need not profess the high Affection and Esteem which N. B. we have for the Church of England as it is established by Law Nor do we think That Reverence in the least degree diminish'd by our Condescensions not peremptorily to insist upon some particular Ceremonies which however introduced by the Piety and Devotion and order of former times may not be so agreeable to the present but may even lessen that Piety and Devotion for the improvement whereof they might happily at first be introduced and consequently may well be dispensed with ' And we hope This charitable compliance of ours will dispose the minds of all men to a chearful submission to that Authority the preservation whereof is so necessary for the Unity and Peace of the Church And we have not the least doubt but that the present Bishops will think the present ☜ Concessions now made by us to allay Have They not well Answer'd This Hope Even as they did His Majesty's most Hearty desire that in the mean time They would not Totally lay aside the Book of Common-Prayer but Read the parts against which there can be no Exception c. the present distempers very just and reasonable and will very chearfully conform themselves thereunto Lastly As for Ceremonies which have P. 7. administred so much matter of difference and contention Our present consideration and work is to gratifie the private Consciences of those who are grieved with the use of some Ceremonies by indulging to and dispensing with their omitting those Ceremonies not utterly to abolish any which are by Law established And therefore by This Royal Declaration it is provided 1. That none shall be denied the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper though they do not use the gesture of kneeling in the Act of receiving 2. That no man shall be compell'd to use the Cross in Baptism or suffer for not so doing 3. That all men shall be left to their Liberty as to the using of the Surplice to do as they shall think fit without suffering in the least degree for wearing or not wearing it And because some men otherwise pious and learn'd say They cannot conform unto the Subscription requir'd by the Canon nor take the Oath of Canonical Obedience We are content and it is Our Will and Pleasure so they take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy that they may receive Ordination Institution and Induction and shall be permitted to exercise their Function and to enjoy the Profits of their Livings without the said Subscription or Oath of Canonical Obedience So they read and declare their Assent to all the Article of Religion which only concern the Confession of the True Christian Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments comprized in the Book of Articles These saith the Reconciler are the very terms of Peace which here I plead Ib. p. 8. for and which I humbly conceive would very much conduce unto the healing of our Breaches And if ever a Divine Sentence was in the Mouth of a King and his Mouth erred not in judgment which I hope is not doubted of because it is Scripture I verily believe Prov. xvi x. saith he it was thus with Our present Majesty which is a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have again p. 9. for His present Majesty when he composed that admirable Declaration which next to Holy Scripture I Adore and think that the Vnited judgment of the whole Nation cannot frame a better or a more unexceptionable Expedient for a firm and lasting concord of these distracted Churches Now I observe 1 That His Gracious Majesty did here sufficiently Testifie and express his high Affection and Esteem for the Church of England as it is established by Law and suppose that the Ceremonies scrupled were introduced by the Piety and Devotion and Order of former Times ann for the improvement of the same and assert that He would not utterly abolish any which are by Law established but only by a Dispensation and Indulgence gratifie the private Consciences of Those who were grieved with the use of some of them 2. That His Majesty did testifie an extraordinary charity in his Opinion of the persons to whom This Indulgence was designed as full of Affection towards Himself of Zeal for the Peace both of Church and State and neither Enemies to Episcopacy or Liturgy without Equivocation or Mental Reservation of Parochial Episcopacy or Directorian Liturgy but modestly desiring such Alterations only in either as might not shake the Foundations and best allay the present distempers And pity it is so