Sequestrations BEfore I saw Mr. Baxters late Treatise called The Grotian Religion it was to me nec beneficio nec injuria neither known for good nor hurt I acknowledge the very Title of his Book did not please me Different Opinions do not make different Religions It is the Golden Rule of Justice not to do thus to another which a man would not have done to himself He would take it unkindly himself to have his own Religion contradistinguished into the Prelatical Religion from which he doth not much dissent so he might have the naming of the Prelates and the Presbyterian Religion which he doth profess for the present and the Independent Religion which he shaketh kindly by the hand and the Anabaptistical Religion which challengeth Seniority of all Modern Sects And then to have his Presbyterian Religion subdivided either according to the number of the Churches into the English Religion and the Scotish Religion and the Gallician Religion and the Belgian Religion and the Helvetian Religion and the Allobrogian Religion of all the names of the Reformers into the Calvinistical Religion and Brownistical Religion Zuinglian Religion and Erastian Religion c. For all these have their differences And so himself in his Preface to this very Treatise admits those things for pious Truths for which we have been branded with the names of Papists and Arminians and have been plundered and spoiled of all that we had Let himself be judge whether this be not to have the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ with respect of persons Iam. 2. 1. The Church of Christ is but one one Fold and one Shepherd Christian Religion is but one one Lord one Faith one Hope Then why doth he multiply Religions and cut the Christian Faith into shreds as if every Opinion were a fundamental Article of Religion Let him remember that of St. Hierome If you shall hear those who are said to be Christians any where to be denominated not from the Lord Iesus Christ but from some other person know that this is not the Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Antichrist So much for the Title of Mr. Baxters Book now for his design His main scope is to shew that Grotius under a pretence of reconciling the Protestant Churches with the Roman Church hath acted the part of a Coy-duck willingly or unwillingly to lead Protestants into Popery And therefore he held himself obliged in duty to give warning to Protestants to beware of Grotius his followers in England who under the name of Episcopal Divines do prosecute the design of Cassander and Grotius to reconcile us to the Pope Page 2. And being pressed by his adversary to name those Episcopal Divines vir dolosus versatur in generalibus he gives no instance of any one man throughout his Book but of my self I shall borrow a word with him of himself a word of Grotius and a word or two concerning my self First for himself he doth but wound himself through Grotius his sides and in his censuring Grotius teach his own Fellows to serve him with the same sawce Grotius and Mr. Baxter both prosecute the same design of reconciliation but Mr. Baxters object is the British World and Grotius his Object is the Christian World Mr. Baxter as well as Grotius in prosecuting his design doth admit many things which the greater part of his own Fellows do reject As that Praeterition is an act of justice in God Praef. Sect. 7. That God giveth sufficient grace in the Jesuits sense to those that perish Sect. 8. That Redemption is universal They the Synod of Dort give more to Christs Death for the Elect than we but no less that he knows of to his Death for all than we Sect. 10. He is as much for Free-will as we They all profess that Man hath the natural faculty of Free-will Sect. 11. He who had all his other Treatises which I did never see in probability might find much more of the same kind I do not dislike him for this but rather commend him for unwrapping himself as warily as he could without any noise out of the endless train of Error And for other points wherein he is still at a default I hope a little time and better information may set him right in those as well as these But others of his own Party do believe all these points which he admits to be as downright Popery as any is within the Walls of Rome And with the same freedom and reason that he censures Grotius they may censure him for the Popes stalking Horse or Coy-duck to reconcile us to Rome Neither can he plead any thing for himself which may not be pleaded as strongly or more strongly for Grotius He may object that those things which he admitteth are all evident Truths but sundry of those things which are admitted by Grotius are Popish Errors This is confidently said but how is he able to make it good to other men Grotius took himself to have as much reason as Mr. Baxter and much more learning and reading than Mr. Baxter But still if his Fellows do no more approve of what he saith than he approveth of that which Grotius saith they have as good ground to censure him as he hath to censure Grotius Those very points which are admitted by Mr. Baxter are esteemed by his Fellows to be as gross and fundamental Errors as any of those other supernumerary points which are maintained by Grotius But to come up closer to him What if those other points disputed between Grotius and him be meer logomachies or contentions about words or mistaken Truths He himself confesseth as much now of all the Arminian tenets Pref. Sect. 15. I am grown to a very great confidence that most of our contentions about those Arminian points are more about words than matter Again in the same Section The doctrine of the divine decrees is resolved into that of the divine operations Let us agree of the last and we agree of the former And almost all the doctrine of the divine operations about which we differ dependeth on the point of Free-will and will be determined with that And how far we differ if at all in the point of Free will c. I see Truth is the daughter of Time Now our Arminian Controversies are avowed to have been but contentions about words Now it is become a doubtful case and deserving an if whether we have any difference at all about Free-will or no. The wind is gotten into the other dore since we were prosecuted and decried as Pelagians and enemies of Grace because we maintained some old innocent Truths which the Church of England and the Catholick Church even taught her Sons before Arminius was born Some of their greatest Sticklers do owe a great account to God and a great reparation to us for those groundless calumnies which they cast upon us at that time For the present I only lay down this disjunctive Conclusion Either Mr. Baxter and his Fellows have changed
that the Chiefs of the Party are only the Remainders of the old Rebellion and the Republican Faction and such as profess no great kindness to Monarchy or Sovereign Princes These that are so stein'd with Guilt and Disloyalty are they that are every where so zealous to make their Cabals of Zeal and their Musters of Reformation or at least to keep up the Cause and themselves above despair by keeping up a factious and discontented Party that if ever opportunity should favour them may have Strength and Interest enough to act over their old Designs of Zeal and Reformation Now at present it is the Way and the Wisdom of these Men to bend all their Forces against the Ecclesiastick State not only to disguise their Intentions but to remove the main hindrance of their Designs For 't is the Church that is the best part of every Commonwealth and when all Projects are tried Religion is the best Security of Peace and Obedience The Power of Princes would be but a very precarious thing without the Assistance of Ecclesiasticks and all Government does and must owe its quiet and continuance to the Churches Patronage 't is the Authority that has over the Consciences of Subjects that chiefly keeps the Crown upon the Princes Head and were it not for the Restraints of Conscience that are tied on by the Hands of the Priest and the Laws of Religion Man would be a monstrously wild and ungovernable Creature For though the World be kept in some tolerable Order notwithstanding there are too many Persons in it of Atheistical and Irreligious Principles yet of all Subjects these are the most dangerous and disloyal because 't is impossible to bring them under any effectual Engagements of Duty and Allegiance and hence it is that all Seditions and Treasons are headed and managed by such Leaders At least though they are not able to do so very much mischief because their Party is not very considerable yet were all Mankind of their Humour and Perswasion nothing could be more insecure and destitute of help than the Condition of Princes because no Man according to their Principles could be so foolish as to think himself any way obliged to venture Life and Fortune for the sake of their Interest and whenever they are attempted Subjects would be determined as to their Loyalty by the chance of Success and not by any antecedent Obligations and whenever the Princes Affairs were brought into any straight or danger they must leave him to shift for himself and revolt to an Usurper for their own Safety and Interest But those only are Loyal Subjects and true Friends and Servants to the Establisht Government that think it their Duty to adhere to their Prince in all Fortunes and to assist and serve him against all Enemies and 't is their Numbers every where that keep the World in that little order and security that it enjoys for beside the useful and advantagious Offices that they do to the Crown by their own immediate Service 't is their known and sworn Fidelity that in a great measure keeps back wicked and seditious Men from attempting it too lightly Every aspiring Mind or neglected Grandee would be presently venturing at the Throne if it stood naked and unguarded of the Assistances of Loyalty but when they are assured that howsoever their Designs may succeed that there is so strong a Party unalterably resolved to make Head against them and all their Attempts 't is that that chiefly makes such Projects and Practices not so very frequent or easie Now 't is nothing but Conscience and Religion that can awe the Minds of Men to any sense of this Duty and they ever are and ever must be Govern'd by Ecclesiasticks other Persons may tamper with them and inveigle some stragling People but still the main Body of a Nation and especially the sober part of it will chuse to submit themselves to their Conduct whose Publick Profession it is to guide Souls and instruct Consciences so that to them and the discharge of their Duty do all Princes plainly owe the main Strength and Seourity of their Government This Obligation of kindness to the Ecclesiastical State is common to all Civil States and so much as they discountenance the Power and Reputation of the Church so much do they disadvantage the Interest of their own Authority But this reason of State is of greater force and more peculiar usefulness in reference to the present Constitution of the Kingdom of England The Nation is manifestly divided into two opposite Parties the Church of England and the Body of the Nonconformists The former whereof is the greatest Example of Loyalty that perhaps ever appeared in the Christian World Its Clergy are the most Zealous Assertours of the Rights of Princes they have all along undauntedly maintain'd their Supremacy against all Assaults and Invasions they have possest the Peoples Conscienecs with a religious Awe and Reverence of Government they have restrained them from all Attempts of Rebellion or of taking up Arms upon any Pretence whatsoever under the greatest and most dreadful Penalties they have secured them from being abused with the Impostures of Zeal and Superstition and have carefully prevented all the Shifts and Excuses of Disobedience and after they have made Subjection a prime and indispensable Duty they do not evacuate the Efficacy of their Doctrine by juggling Reserves and Limitations And thus are the People train'd up in a Conscience of their Loyalty and take it in together with their Religion and are as strongly principled against the hateful sin of Rebellion as against Witchcraft or Idolatry And of this our Princes have had sufficient proof and experience ever since the Reformation They have ever found all their Subjects of the Communion of the Church of England modest and peaceable and were never troubled with Disputes and Remonstrances Plots and Disturbances from any of her Friends And when Rebellion broke forth and the Royal Power was invaded and oppressed with what Zeal and Devotion did they appear in its Defence and for its Recovery and what Numbers sacrificed Lives and Fortunes out of meer sense of Duty and Allegiance For though it is not to be doubted but that some might engage themselves in the Royal Cause for other ends yet 't is manifest from too many sad Circumstances that the true and hearty Sons of the Church were acted by Principles of Conscience and Religion and whilst others might be bought over by the Rebels and Usurpers no Temptation could prevail upon their Minds but they were constant and impregnable in all Conditions They forsake their Prince You must first force them to renounce their Faith their Loyalty stands upon their Religion and they were Martyrs as well as Souldiers for his Cause and in his Service This is the peculiar Genius and these the distinguishing Principles of the Church of England and as far as they are admitted into the Minds of Men so far do they work in them this religious
be able to expose them to popular Scorn and Infamy for 't is manifest that their Principles will never much take in the World in that the generality of Men are not to be work't off from their natural sense of Religion that ever did and ever will keep the strongest Party in spite of all Opposition and whoever attempts against it must of necessity be run down with Reproach and Disgrace and that transports them beyond all bounds to be thus contemptuously kept under by ignorant and ill-bred Fops and it becomes the great exercise of their Wit and their Drink to entertain the Company with pleasant Stories of Priests and Black-coats This humour has prevail'd so far in our Age beyond what it could ever arrive to in former times that it is become in some degree Gentile and fashionable every Man now has Wit and Pride enough to despise a Parson and he is no Vertuoso that does not in his common and Table-talk call and prove them Cheats and Impostors and some Persons that one would think should have more Breeding or more Sobriety affect the extravagance out of meer wantonness and others that are no declared Enemies to the Cause of Religion are yet well enough content for other reasons to have its Officers kept low and despicable but for some reason or other they meet with disrespect enough on all hands And now though this ill usage signifies very little to those against whom it is intended because it falls upon an Order of Men that are above its regard and resentment in that the Clergy of the Church of England know themselves far enough from being obnoxious to any contempt but what Sacriledge has made unavoidable and though we take them under all the Disadvantages that Plunder and Robbery and Reformation as some Men have managed it has brought upon them they are at this very time vastly the farthest off from being justly contemptible to mention no other Order or Profession of Men of any Clergy in the World the preheminence is so evident that it clears the comparison from all possible suspicion of its being either proud or odious But though this unkindness be able to do them so little harm yet it falls very heavy in its mischievous Consequences upon the Publick For all wise States have hitherto always given the deepest respect to the Presidents of the sacred Rites and setled the greatest Priviledges and Immunities upon the Church as well for Reasons of State as for the Ends of Devotion In that no Government can support it self without the Assistance of Religion and the Assistance of Religion is ever proportioned to the Power and Interest of the Clergy its Esteem as it is in all other Arts Sciences and Professions depends upon the Reputation of those whose Office it is to dispense its Mysteries and Publick Solemnities they have always and every where found the same Fate and the same Entertainment so that to make the Priestly Order any way contemptible is to enervate the force of Religion upon the Consciences of Subjects and thereby to destroy the greatest Strength and most lasting Security of the Civil Government So interwoven are the Cause of God and the Prince and the Priest that no Man can be an Enemy to one without proclaiming Hostility to all Is not this wise work then and fit to be endured in a Christian-Commonwealth for the witty People to be so much concerned to make the Profession of the Clergy vile and despicable especially when this whole Design is at last founded upon no milder Supposition than that Iesus Christ himself is the great and leading Impostor for if he were seriously vested with any Authority from Heaven their Commission from him is too evident to be called into question so that if the Power they claim by vertue of his Grant be forged and insignificant Usurpation it is only because be abused the World with Tales and false Pretences to a Divine Authority i. e. only because he was the lewdest and most prostigate Impostor that ever appeared amongst Mankind And this no doubt is a notable piece both of Policy and Good-manners to be own'd yes or endured in a Christian-Commonwealth But yet however passing by this horrid Blaspemy against our Blessed Saviour and if our Religion were nothing else but as all Religion is lately defined the Belief of Tales publickly allowed and the Priesthood only a Succession of Cheats and Iuglers yet after all this they are and must be allowed necessary Instruments in the State to awe the common People into fear and Obedience because nothing else can so effectually enslave them as the dread of invisible Powers and the dismal Apprehensions of the World to come and for this very reason though there were no other it is fit they should be allowed the same Honour and Respect as would be acknowledged their due if they were sincere and honest Men because unless that be supposed they can never bring that assistance that is absolutely necessary to the support of Government and the preservation of Society But so far are they from being allowed that Respect and Reputation that is necessary to the usefulness of their Function that they are even Out-lawed from the common Rights of Iustice and Humanity One would wonder how People should so combine in such an inhumane and imprudent baseness but that the reason is so very plain and obvious The old Probity and Integrity of our Nation is fled and gone and what remains of it has taken Sanctuary in the Church and its Friends that are assaulted by a Fanatick Rage on one hand and a base-natured Atheism on the other and then no wonder if they are treated accordingly when they are faln into the hands of such Salvages and Cannibals And in truth when I consider the temper of both these sorts of Men that the one hates Peace and the other hates Mankind and withal some present and some probable Circumstances of things it were easie to represent to view a black and gloomy prospect of things but it is to no purpose to affright our selves with distant Miseries and it is better to leave the care of future Events to the Wisdom of Providence sufficient to the day is the evil thereof only let me desire thee Reader to consider whether that Nation be according to Humane Accounts likely to continue long in a firm and setled Condition of Peace a great part of whose Inhabitants are tainted with such malignant Principles as make them to delight in Mischief and Confusion Atheism and Enthusiasm are apart and by themselves the most desperate and dangerous causes of Misery and Calamity to Mankind but when they combine Interests and join Forces against a common Enemy what Government can withstand their Fury in that there is no Wickedness that is necessary to the carrying on the Cause that one of them will not undertake and be able to go through with They are provided with all sorts of Pretences and prepared for all kinds of
of Grotians is that they are for a visible head of the Universal Church whether Pope or General Council They who are for the Headship of a General Council are no fit instruments for the introduction of the Popes tyrannical power It seemeth he rejecteth the Authority of General Councils either past or to come as well as Popes so dare not we If under the name of the Universal Church he include the Triumphant Church we know no head of the Universal Church but Christ. If he limit it to the Militant Church we are as much against one single Monarch as he we dislike all tyrannical power in the Church as well as he yet we quarrel with no man about the name of Head or a Metaphorical expression But if he think that Christ left the Catholick Church as the Ostrich doth her Eggs in the Sand without any care or provision for the governing thereof in future Ages he erreth grosly So the Catholick Church should be in a worse condition than any particular Church yea than any Society in the World like the Cyclops Cane where no man heard or heeded what another said Particular Churches have Soveraign Princes and Synods to order them but there never was an universal Monarch And if he take away the Authority of General Councils he leaveth no humane helps to preserve the Unity of the Universal Church what is this but to leap over the backs of all second Causes The first Council was of another mind It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Act. 15. 28. And so have all the Churches of the World from Christs time until this Age. His fifth note of Grotians To dery the sufficiencie of Scripture in all things necessary to salvation might well have been spared for we all maintain it as well as he but he shuffles into the question such impertinent and confused generalities about the Peace of the Churâ—â— and Traditions as deserve no answer The sufficiency of Scripture is not inconsistent either with prudential Government or the necessary means of finding out the right sense of Scripture When he expresseth himself more distinctly he may expect a Categorical answer His last mark is that they will not be perswaded to joyn on any reasonable terms for the healing of our present divisions This dependeth upon his own interpretation what he judgeth to be reasonable terms We have seen his dexterity in making wounds and would be glad to have experience of his skill in healing them He complains only of illegal Innovations Dare he stand to the ancient Laws If he dare the Controversie is ended If he like not this for we know their exceptions were against the Laws themselves not against illegal Innovations let them name those Laws which they except against and put it to a fair trial whether there be any thing in any of them which is repugnant to the Laws of God or of right reason If they will but do this seriously without prejudice the business is ended I will make bold to go yet one step higher though our Laws be unblamable yet if the things commanded be but of a middle or indifferent nature we are ready to admit any terms of peace which we can accept with a good conscience so as we may neither swerve from the analogy of Faith nor renounce the necessary principles of Government nor desert the communion and ancient and undoubted customs of the Universal Church Such an accord would be too much loss both to you and us He would perswade us that there are two sorts of Episcopal Divines in England the old and the new And that there is much more difference between the old and the new than between the old and the Presbyterians Sect. 67. O confidence whither wilt thou what is the power of prejudice and pride The contrary is as clear as the light we maintain their old Liturgy their old Ordinal their old Articles their old Canons their old Laws Practices and praescriptions their old Doctrine and Discipline against them Then tell us no more of old Episcopal Divines and new Episcopal Divines we are old Episcopal Divines one and all out of his own words I condemn him The old sort of Episcopal Divines that received the publick Doctrine of the Nation contained in the 39. Articles Homilies c. I wholly acquitted from my jealousies of this compliance Sect. 12. If they be old Episcopal Divines who maintain the Doctrine of the 39. Articles and Homilies then we are all old Episcopal Divines In acquitting all them he acquitteth all us If he can shew any thing that I have written contrary to these I retract it if he cannot let him retract his words He might have taken notice of my submission of whatsoever I writ to the Oecumenical essential Church and to its Representative a free general Council and to the Church of England or a National English Synod to the determinations of all which and each of them respectively according to the distinct degrees of their Authority I yield a conformity and compliance or to the least and lowest of them an acquiescence Pref. to the Reply to Bish. Chalc. So far am I and always have been from opposing the Church of England wittingly He maketh a shew as though he could make it appear that the Grotian design was the cause of all our Wars and changes in England but it is but a copy of his countenance How should the Grotian design be the cause of all our Wars when our War began before Grotius himself began his design or to write of the reconciliation of Protestants and Papists which was in the years 1641 and 1642. But without all controversie either the Grotian design was the cause of our Wars or the design and more than the bare design of his own Party The World knows well enough and I leave it to his own conscience to tell him whether of the two was the right Mother of the Child Though he fail in his proofs against Episcopal Divines yet he produceth sundry other reasons to prove that there was such a Plot on foot to introduce Popery into England but they do not weigh so much as a Feather nor signifie any thing more than this how easily men believe those things which they wish He saith Franciscus à Sancta Claras design and Grotius his design seem the very same and their Religion and Church the same Sect. 73. Nay certainly that is more than seemingly their Religion and Church was not the same unless he mean the same Christian Religion and in that sense his own Religion is the same with theirs but in his sense they were not the same This is begging of the question which he ought to prove Grotius was not of the French Communion And for their designs the World is so full of feigned Plots and designs that I do not believe that either of them had any design except that general and pacificatory design which he himself professeth and extolleth every where I
can be united upon any other principles but these I am come to his tenth and last Exception It would be an exceeding dishonour to God and injury to the Souls of many millions of men if but under the Popes Patriarchal Iurisdiction in the West the Papists way of Worship were set up and their Government exercised as now The good will of Rome or the name of peace would not recompense the loss of so many thousand Souls as some one of the Papal abuses might procure for instance their driving the people from the Scriptures and other means of knowledge All along he buildeth upon a wrong Foundation It is one thing to set up or to approve the setting up of a false way of Worship which I do not justifâ—e And another thing to tolerate it when and where it is not in our power to hinder it as both he and I must do whether we will or no. I do not only give no consent to the setting up of any unlawful Form of Worship where it is not but I wish it taken away where it is set up already But if it be without the sphere of my activity I must let it alone perforce If a Shepherd when it is past his skill to cure his rotten Sheep shall do his uttermost to preserve that part of his Flock which is sound from infection he deserveth to be commended for those he saved not to be accused as the cause why so many perished that were past his skill and power to cure In a gâ—eat Scathfire it is wisdom not only to suffer those Houses to burn down which are past quenching but sometimes to pull down some few Houses wherein the fire is not yet kindled to free all the rest of the City from danger If the Pope within his own territories or other Christian Princes by his means within their territories will maintain a way of Worship which I do not approve must I therefore nay may I therefore make War upon them to compell them to be of my Religion So we shall never have any peace in the World whilst there are different Religions in the world for every one takes his own Religion to be best But what certainty hath he that so many thousands yea millions of Souls are lost because they live in such places as are subject to the Pope God is a merciful God and looks upon his poor Creatures with all their prejudices Or how doth this agree with what he saith elsewhere that the French moderation is acceptable to all good men And that Nation is an honourable part of the Church of Christ in his esteem It is no very honourable part of the Church of Christ if so many millions of Souls run such extream hazard in it p. 10. His marginal note of their streams of blood and Massacres might have been spared for fear of putting some of them upon a parallel between theirs and ours And for his instance of driving the people from the Scriptures he escapeth fairly if none of them cast it in his teeth that the promiscuâ—us licence which they give to all sorts of people qualified or unqualified not only to read but to interpret the Scriptures according to their private spirits or particular fancies without any regard either to the analogy of Faith which they understand not or to the interpretation of the Doctors of former Ages is more prejudicial I might better say pernicious both to particular Christians and to whole Socities than the over rigorous restraint of the Romanists Whereof a man need require no farther proof but only to behold the present face of the English Church Truth commonly remaineth in the modest And so I have shewed him how little weight there is in his ten Exceptions At the conclusion of his Exceptions he hath this clause Besides most of the evils that I charged before on the Grotian way as censures persecutions c. would follow upon this way It may follow in his erroneous opinion but in truth and really no inconveniency at all doth follow upon what I say The third cause of his dislike of the Grotian way was Because it is uncharitable and censorious cutting off from the Catholick united Society the reformed Churches that yield not to his terms and will not be reconciled to the Pope of Rome Let them take heed that they cut not off themselves for I neither cut them off nor declare them to be cut off If they will not be reconciled to the Pope of Rome upon warrantable and just terms such as were approved by the Primitive Church such as those are which I propose for any thing he doth say or can say to the contrary it is his own unchaâ—itableness not mine Some men would call it Schismatical obstinacy But this reason hath been fully answered before The fourth reason of his dislike of this design is Because it is a trap to tempt and engage the Souls of millions into the same uncharitable censorious and reproachful way When a false Center of the Churches unity is set up and impossible or unlawful terms of concord are pretended thus to be the only terms they that believe this will uncharitably censure all those for Schismaticks or Hereticks that close not with them on these terms His first office should have been to have proved that my way is uncharitable censorious or reproachful and that my terms are impossible and unlawful which he neither doth nor attempteth to do nor ever will be able to do And until he do it or go about it all his reasons are a pure begging of the question and no better and consequently deserve no answer The fifth reason of his dislike is because it tendeth to engage the Princes of Christendom in a persecution of their Subjects that cannot comply with these unwarrantable terms And that is likely to be no small number nor the worser part but the soundest and wisest and holiest men For if Princes be once perswaded that these be the only terms and so that the dissenters are factious Schismatical and unpeaceable men no wonder if they silence the Ministers and persecute the people It is an easier thing to call them unlawful and unwarrantable terms twenty times than to make it good once It is a fault in Rhetorick and in Logick also to use common reasons such as may be retorted against our selves by an Adversary Such a reason is this and may be urged with as much shew of reason against all Writers of Controversies whatsoever and against Mr. Baxter himself in particular with as much colour of truth as he urgeth it against Grotius or me That if Princes be once perswaded that those terms which he proposeth be true and the contrary errours no wonder if they silence the Ministers and persecute the People Or if they be once perswaded by him that his new Discipline is the Scepter of Christ prescribed in the Gospel then the Episcopal Divines and the Independents are sure to suffer This srivolous pretense will fit
all causes whatsoever though they be never so Diametrally opposite one to another Secondly I answer that there is not one grain of clear distinct necessary truth in this whole Discourse but uncertain suspicions groundless perswasions confused generalities and beggings of the question That the terms are unlawful and unwarrantable that he and his party are the soundest and wisest and holiest of Christians is groundless presumption and begging of the question That the Princes of Christendom will be perswaded themselves and thereupon condemn the dissenters and silence the Ministers and persecute the People are all uncertain conjectures and accidental events What Princes of Christendom he doth intend or can intend who are those dissenters whom he calleth the soundest and wisest and holiest of men what Ministers he meaneth ordained or unordained or both And what Flocks such as they had a legal title to or such as they have usurped are all confused indefinite generalities and ought to have been set forth more distinctly In a word mutato nomine de se Fabula narratur Whatsoever he faineth of imaginary Grotians is really true of his own Party They have prevailed with persons of power and Authority and perswaded them to silence and persecute and to chase away from their Flocks the right Pastors and have usurped their Benefices and Charges themselves And all this while pretended shameless men that they are doing God good service He is not able to charge any of his imaginary Grotians with any such thing This is to bite and whine as the Proverb hath it to do wrong and to complain of suffering wrong Popular Persecutions of all others are ever most groundless and most violent The more moderate that mens judgements are as Grotius his judgement was and mine is the farther off they are from engaging Princes to persecute their Subjects Cowards ordinarily are most cruel So weak and willful persons are most apt to promote Persecutions knowing that to be their only defence against those whom they are unable to answer with reason There are seditious principles and practices enough in the World to irritate Princes without any other bad offices which have been introduced into the Church under a pretext of Religion such as no man living can justifie such as are inconsistent with all humane Societies Such as if God be pleased once to restore men perfectly to their right Wits they must be sure in the first place to cast out of the World if they do ever mean to preserve Peace and Tranquility among themselves It were much more politickly done of him to leave this subject which the more it is stirred in the worse it will smell to some body In the conclusion of this Objection he complaineth thus This is the unhappy issue of the attempts of Pride When men have such high thoughts of their own imaginations and devices c. Which is most true in general if he can let it rest there But if he proceed any farther to examine on what side this Pride doth lie whether among the Grotian Party as Cassander and Wicelius and Grotius or among his own Party if it were fit to name them he will quickly find who they are that do calcare fastum majore fastu tread down Pride with greater Pride through the holes of whose coats vain glory doth discover it self That ever Presbyterians should complain of Pride CHAP. VII Of Mr. Baxters one was of reconciliation THus having in his own Imagination battered down that frame of an Union which he thought I had proposed though in truth all his reasons have scarcely force to shake an Aspin leaf Yet for our comfort he telleth us that he will not leave the business thus lest whilst he pulls down all and offers nothing instead thereof he might he thought an Enemy to peace It is all the reason in the World that if peace be so desirable as he maketh it and he shew his dislike of our ways to procure it he should propose a better expedient of his own that other men may have the liberty to try if they can say more against his way than he hath hitherto been able to say against theirs but I have my jealousies and fears as well as he and better founded that he will never prove a good Architect in this kind because I never found any man yet who was given to innovation but his genius was ten times apter for pulling down than for building up But let us view his own way or terms of peace without prejudice In general therefore I say that the terms of an Universal concord or peace must be purely Divine and not humane necessary and not things unnecessary ancient according to the Primitive simplicity and neither new nor yet too numerous curious or abstruse These are Generals indeed and if they were all consented unto the peace would not be much nearer than it is I think such general terms or Articles of peace were never seen before in our days From what hopes am I fallen I expected that having rejected our ways of reconciliatioxn he would have chalked us a new ready way of his own free from all exceptions And he only telleth us that a way must be short and streight beaten and smooth and so leaveth us to find out such a way for our selves where we can This is just take nothing and hold it fast Such general ways are commonly the ways of Bunglers or Deceivers One of Mercuries Statues though it were dumb could have given better directions for a way than this But he who will be a Reconciler of Controversies must be more particular Yet let us take a particular view of his general directions The terms of an Universal peace must be purely Divine not humane How purely divine not humane That is impossible That which is purely divine hath no mixture of humane in it but these terms of peace must be made and contrived by men between man and man for the use of men and after an humane manner not by immediate inspiration So these terms cannot be purely divine But perhaps his meaning is no more than this that in an accommodation no humane Constitutions ought to be imposed upon the Churches Then down goes his Presbyterian Discipline for that is both humane and new When Calvin first proposed it to the Helvetian Divines for their approbation he desired no more of them but to testify that it was not disagreeable to the word of God or came near to the word of God It is meet and just that no humane Constitutions should be imposed as Divine ordinances but it doth not follow thence that all humane right and law must be thrust out for rotten Humane right is grounded upon Divine right that is the Law of nature and the positive Laws of God and cannot be violated without the violation of the Divine Law and ought to be observed for Conscience sake out of a respect to the Divine Law which commandeth every soul to be subject to the higher
with some Papists in the point of perseverance also Sect. 64. The second conclusion was borrowed by Mr. Chillingworth from my Lord Primate That our agreement in the high and necessary Points of Faith and obedience ought to be more effectual to unite us than one difference in opinions to divide us Concerning which there is no need of my suffrage for it is just mine own way My second demand in my proposition of Peace was this That the Creed or necessary points of Faith might be reduced to what they were in the time of the four first Oecumenical Concils according to the decree of the third General Council Who dare say that the faith of the Primitive Fathers was insufficient c. I do profess to all the World that the transforming of indifferent opinions into necessary Articles of Faith hath been that insana laurus or cursed Bay-tree the cause of all our brawling and contention Judge Reader indifferently what reason Mr. Baxter had to disallow my terms of Peace as he is pleased to call them and allow Mr. Chillingworths when my terms are the very same which Mr. Chillingworth proposeth and my Lord Primate before him and King Iames before them both CHAP. VIII The true reasons of the Bishops abatement of the last 400. years Determinations IN his one and fortieth Section he hath these words He will not with Bishop Bramhall abate us the determinations of the last 400. years though if he did it would prove but a pitiful patch for the torn condition of the Church When I made that proposition that the Papists would wave their last 400. years determinations I did it with more serious deliberation than he bestowed upon his whole Grotian Religion Begun April 9. 1658. And finished April 14. 1658. My reason was to controul a common errour received by many that those errours and usurpations of the Church of Rome which made the breach between them and us were much more ancient than in truth they were What those errours and usurpations were cannot be judged better than by our Laws and Statutes which were made and provided as remedies for them I know they had begun some of their gross errours and usurpations long before that time and some others not long before but the most of them and especially those which necessitated a separation after that time Those errours and usurpations which were begun before that time if they be rightly considered were but the sinful and unjust actions of particular Popes and Persons and could not warrant a publick separation from the Church of Rome I deny not but that erroneous opinions in inferiour points rather concerning faith than of faith and some sinful and unwarrantable practices both in point of Discipline and devotion had crept into the Church of Rome before that time But erroneous opinions may be and must be tolerated among Christians so they be not opposite to the ancient Creed of the Church nor obtruded upon others as necessary points of saving faith Neither is any man bound or necessitated to join with other men in sinful and unwarrantable opinions or practices until they be established and imposed necessarily upon all others by Law Whilst it was free for any man to give a fair interpretation of an harsh expression or action without incurring any danger there was no necessity of separation But when these tyrannical usurpations were justified by the decrees of Councils and imposed upon Christians under pain of Excommunication when these erroneous opinions were made necessary Articles of saving faith extra quam non est salus without which there is no salvation when these sinful and unwarrantable practices were injoined to all Christians and when all these unjust usurpations erroneous opinions and sinful and unwarrantable practices were made necessary conditions of Communion with the Church of Rome so that no man could Communicate with the Roman Church but he that would submit to all these usurpations believe all these erroneous opinions and obey all their sinful injunctions then there was an absolute necessity of separation Then if any man inquire when and how this necessity was imposed upon Christians I answer all this was ratified and done altogether or in a manner altogether by these last 400. years Determinations beginning with the Council of Lateran in the days of Innocent the third after the twelve hundreth year of Christ when Transubstantiation was first defined and ending with the Council of Trent So though these were not my terms of peace but preparatory demands yet if these demands be granted our concord would not only be nearer which he acknowledgeth but the peace allmost as good as made and Christians were freed from their unjust Canons and left to their former liberty When they had granted so much it were a shame for them to stick at a small remainder CHAP. IX An Answer to sundry aspersions east by Mr. Baxter upon the Church of England I Have done with all that concerneth my self in Mr. Baxters Grotian Religion But I find a bitter and groundless invective in him towards the conclusion of his treatise wherein he laboureth to cast dirt upon his spiritual Mother the Church of England which out of my just and common duty I cannot pass over in silence He saith p. 75. That this Grotian design in England was destructive to Godliness and the prosperity of the Churches What Churches doth he mean By the Laws of England Civil and Ecclesiastical we ought to have but one Church It was never well with England since we had so many Churches and so many Faiths I am afraid those which he calls Churches were Conventicles He proceedeth that it animated the impious haters of piety and common civility First he ought to have proved that there was such a design in England which he neither hath done nor ever will be able to do That which never had any being but in his Imagination never had any efficacy but in his Imagination He addeth that men were hated for Godliness sake That is to exprest his sense truly were restrained in their seditious and Schismatical courses which he stileth Godliness Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis umbra And troubled and suspended and driven out of the Land though most of them twenty for one were conformists How Conformist and yet persecuted If this be not a contradiction yet it is incredible that so many men should be silenced and suspended every where without Law Certainly there was a Law pretended Certainly there was a Law indeed and that Law made before they were either punished or ordained I will put the right case fairly to Mr. Baxter if he have any mind to determine it Let him tell us who is to be blamed he that undertaketh an office of his own accord which he cannot or will not discharge as the Law injoineth or he that executeth the Law upon such as had voluntarily confirmed it by their own oaths or subscriptions or both He proceedeth that it was safer in
all places that ever he knew for men to live in swearing cursing drunkenness than to have instructed a Mans family and restrained Children and Servants from dancing on the Lords-day and to have gone to the next Parish to hear a Sermon when there was none at home Quicquid ostendat mihi sic incredulus odi I am sory to find so much gall where so much piety is professed Who did ever forbid a man to instruct his own family Let him buâ— name one instance for his credits sake or command any Person to dance â—pâ—n the Lords day or restrain a man fr om going to the next Parish to hear a Sermon if there was no more in it then he pretendeth Here are I know not how many fallacies heaped together No cause is put for a cause and that which is respectively true for that which is absolutely true No man was ever punished for instructing his own family but it may be for holding unlawful Conventicles or for instructing them in seditious schismatical or heretical principles Nor for going to the next Parish to hear a Sermon Thousands did it daily and never suffered for it But it may be for neglecting or deserting his own Parish Church and gadding up and down after non-conformists or after Persons justly suspended or deprived for heterodox Doctrine or labouring to introduce foraign Discipline without Law against Law and strange unknown forms of serving God and administering his holy Sacraments according to their own private phantasies Nor for restraining their Children or Servants from dancing on the Lords day but it may be for taking upon them as busy Bodies and pragmatically controlling the Acts of their Soveraign Prince and lawful superiours which the Laws of God and Man nature and nations Church and Kingdom did allow and for restraining the liberty of their fellow subjects and seeking to introduce new Law without a calling or beyond their calling which the Church of God and Kingdom of England never knew If Mr. Baxter think that no recreations of the body at all are lawful or may be permitted upon the Lords day he may call himself a Catholick if he please but he will find very few Churches of any Communion whatsoever old or new reformed or unreformed to bear him company No no even among the Churches of his own Communion which he calleth the holiest Parts of the Church upon Earth he will find none at all to join with him except the Churches of New England and Old England and Scotland whereinto this opinion hath been creeping by degrees this last half Century of years or somewhat more Before that time even our greatest Disciplinarians in England abhorred not private recreations so they could practise them without scandal And Calvin himself disdained not to countenance and encourage the Burgers of Geneva by his own presence and example at their publick recreations as Bowling and Shooting upon the Lords Day after their devotions at Church were ended In Germany Switzerland France and the Low Countrys all the Churches of his own Communion do enjoy their recreations And in sundry of them their Prayers and Sermons on the afternoon of the Lords Day are but lately introduced whereas formerly not the vulgar only but the most eminent persons did use to bestow the whole afternoon upon their recreations But it may be his pick is not against recreations in general but against dancing in particular Indeed dancing was disliked at Geneva not only upon the Lords Days but upon the other days of the week And if their manner of Dancing there or any where else was so obscene as hath been in use in former Ages in some places not undeservedly No man can be so absurd as to affirm all sorts of Dancing to be unlawful as Miriams Dance and that of the Virgins of Shilo and Iephtha's Daughter and David There is no time for any thing that is absolutely unlawful But there is a time to Dance Eccles. 3. 4. On the other side it is as great an extream to affirm that all sorts of Dances are unlawful Not only consciencious Christians but even modest Heathens have disliked some sorts of Dances And as there are some sorts of Dances unlawful so there may be great danger of abuse in the use of Lawful Dances But where there is no lawful or direct prohibition ther of God or man we may advise a Brother or a Friend to beware of danger but we have no Authority to restrain him except he will of his own accord As for the publick Dances of our Youth on Country Greens upon Sundays after the Dutys of the Day were done I see nothing in them but innocent and agreeable to that under sort of people But if any man out of prudence or conscience or scrupulosity do disaffect them either because they were sometimes used promiscuously or for any other reasons I think it easier to regulate those recreations which should be allowed than to brawl about them perpetually until the end of the World Among all the imputations and aspersions which were cast upon the Governmentt of our late dread Soveraign King Iames and King Charles there was none that had more colour of truth or found more applause among some sorts of persons whose Zeal exceeded their discretion than their Proclamations to tolerate publick recreations upon the Lords Day though there was no Law of God or man to prohibit them The very truth is this King Iames making his Progress through Lancashire about forty years since or more a Country at that time abounding with Papists and Non-Conformists the Country People preferred a Petition to his Majesty that whereas after their hard weekly labours ended they had evermore for time immemorial injoyed the liberty to recreat themselves upon Sundays of late some scrupulous Ministers upon their own heads without any Law or Lawful Authority did restrain them Therefore they humbly besought his Majesty to restore them to their ancient Liberty His Majesty prudently weighing what advantage might be raised to the Protestant Religion in those superstitious parts by his favourable condescension Granted their request upon two conditions First That no such recreations should be used in time of Divine Service or Sermon either forenoon or afternoon Secondly That none should enjoy that liberty but those that had been actually twice at the Church that Day both at morning and evening Prayers And by this prudent condescension he gained the People from Popery to the Protestant Religion The very making this Objection the principal accusation against those two pious Princes is an evident proof of the innocency of their Reigns He proceedeth In some places it was much more dangerous for a Minister to Preach a Lecture once or twice on the Lords Day or to expound the Catechism than never to Preach at all He must excuse us if we can not give credit to what he saith Never any man suffered any where in the Church of England simply for Preaching but it may be for Preaching seditious Sermons