extraordinary a Charity should in any thing be imposed upon I wish heartily that we had once Reason to believe or that we could persuade the People to believe as His Majesty upon the Professions of some then did That the most able and principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinions did with an Harmony of Affections submit to These excellent Foundations which were to lie unshaken at the bottom of all His Majesties designed Superstructions that we might pronounce of them to their perpetual Honour They are all zealous for the Peace of the Church They are all ☞ Loyal in their Duty to their King They all approve Episcopacy English Diocesane Episcopacy They all approve a Set Form of Liturgy and do only with modesty desire such Alterations in the Common-Prayer-Book as may not shake the Foundations of it They all disapprove and dislike the sin of Sacrilege as well as Rebellion and the Alienation of the Revenue of the Church the Sale of Bishops Deans and Chapter-Lands Did their Followers thus think and believe of them they would I am persuaded be soon reconciled to a good Opinion of us of the Church of England by Law established and cry out of them as the strangest Assertors of Presbyterian Opinions in the world 3 In order to this Indulgence Commissioners we know were under the Broad Seal Appointed and the Result of their Debates commended to the Convocation or Synod and so tendred to the examination and consent of Both Houses in Parliament the Product whereof we had at last in the Act of Uniformity which His Majesty did pass into a Law And it is to me a Transport of Admiration in the Reconciler so to adore a Declaration of His Majesties by the Advice of His Council only as to prefer it beyond tho maturer Thoughts of That Sacred Person upon the united judgment of the whole Nation We have liv'd in days wherein a Vote or Ordinance of Parliament hath born down both the Obligation of Laws and the Repute of His Majesties most solemn Declarations And how the Reconciler may scape I know not but sure I am that some others would be look'd upon with a very evil Eye as Popishly affected and so many Friends to Arbitrary Government should they presume almost to Deifie a Proclamation from the King at This Rate beyond an Act of Parliament wherein the United Wisdom of the King and all Estates of his Subjects the Wisdom both of Church and State is concerned What a miraculous Cure would it be to our present Convulsions were the Dissenting Populace but a little leaning to the Reconciler's mind That a Divine Sentence is in the King's Mouth and his Lips transgress not in Judgment even where the United Judgment of the whole Nation may possibly Opine otherwise But we will leave him undisturb'd in his Extatical and Rapturous Loyalty and content our selves with That of the more Currant Stamp which is like best to hold It will not be amiss therefore here to take notice how the Wisdom of the Nation did utter it self in the aforenamed Act of Uniformity not without some reference made to This Declaration XIV carel II. And so to add This other Text of Solomon to the Precedent ' In the multitude of Counsellors there is safety Prov. 11. 14. And This properly too while the Sentence is still the King 's and the Council his Subjects Whereas in the First year of the late Queen Elizabeth there was one Uniform Order of Common-Service and Prayer and of the Administration of Sacraments Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England agreeable to the Word of God and Usage of the primitive Church compiled by the Reverend Bishops and Clergy set forth in one Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. and injoyned to be used by Act of Parliament holden in the First year of the said late Queen entituled An Act for the Uniformity Commendation of the Common-Prayer-Book c. very comfortable to all good People desirous to live in Christian Conversation and most profitable to the Estate of this Realm upon the which the ☜ Mercy Favour Mercy Favour and Blessing of Almighty God is in no wise so readily and plentifully poured as by Common-Prayers due using of the Sacraments and often preaching of the Gospel with Devotion of the Hearers And yet This notwithstanding a great number of People in diverse parts of This Realm following their own sensuality and living A Character of the dissenting and separating Multitude without Knowledge and due Fear of God do willfully and schismatically abstain and refuse to come to their Parish Churches and other publick Places where Common-Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and preaching of the Word of God is used upon the Sundays and other days ordained and appointed to be kept and observed as Holy days And whereas by the great and scandalous neglect of Ministers in the said Order or Liturgy so set forth and injoyned as ☞ aforesaid great Mischiefs and Inconveniences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 during the times of the The head of Nilus late unhappy Troubles have arisen and grown and many People have been led into Factions and Schisms to the great decay and scandal of the Reformed Religion of the Church of England and to the hazzard of many Souls For prevention whereof in time to come for settling the Peace of the Church and for allaying the present Distempers which the indisposition of the Time hath contracted His Majesty's Declaration Octob. 25. 1660. referred to with his commission for a Revien the King's Majesty according to his Delcaration of the five and twentieth of October 1660. granted his Commission under the Great Seal of England to several Bishops and other Divines to review the Book of Common-Prayer and to prepare such Alterations ☜ and Additions as they thought fit to offer And afterwards the Convocations of both the Provinces of Canterbury and York being by his Majesty call'd and assembled and now sitting His Majesty hath been pleased to Authroize and Require the Presidents of the said Convocations and other the Bishops and Clergy of the same to review the said Book of Common-Prayer and the Book of the Form and Manner of making and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons And that after mature consideration they shall make such Additions and Alterations in the said Books respectively as to them should seem meet and convenient And should exhibit and present the same to His Majesty in Writing for his farther allowance or Confirmation Since which time upon full and mature Deliberation they the said Presidents Bishops and Clergy of both Provinces have The Alterations and Additions made upon That Review by the Convocations of both Provinces upon full and mature deliberation exhibited and presented to his Majesty And b◠his Majesty upon due consideration 〈◊〉 approved allowed and recommended to This Parliament And thereupon the Book enacted accordingly reviewed the said Books and have made some Alterations
that tend to prove the utter unlawfulness ☜ of imposing any Ceremonies especially that are insignificant without respect had to such Restrictions as he at other times propounds and such as slander our Reformation and the Defenders of it Of this nature is that Citation out of Pref. p. a. Beza's 8th Ep. to which he puts an Hand in the Margin and marks it out in distinct Letters I affirm That Men so oft do grievously sin as they do introduce into the Church of God any Sacramentals that is any Ceremonies significative of spiritual things and that all symbolical Rites should be utterly excluded from the Christian Church into which they never could rightly be introduced and I believe the Church can never be restored to her native beauty whilst they do remain Again out of the same Author As P. 26. to the Rite of Crossing though it be most Ancient I cannot see what good it doth I would by no means reckon it among things indifferent but think it less so than the brazen Serpent of Hezekias the Example of which good King in this matter that is in destroying the Idols of the Cross and Crucifixes it behoves all Christian Princes to imitate And upon this the Reconciler afterwards expostulates Why do we not rather follow the Example of good King P. 43. Hezekiah who broke the brazen Serpent and carefully removed that occasion of the Idolatry of Israel c This indeed is an Instance which the non-Conformists have all along been copious in dilating on Again from the same Epistle with another hand in the Margin They indeed P. 26. seem to me to do best of all who no less diligently than open Idolatries do abolish such things which though they are not impious of themselves yet are unnecessary and profitable for little if a man use them aright but very noxious when abused And according to this rigor of Reformation the Reconciler afterwards applies that serious Question in the Homily of the Peril of Idolatry directed there against Ch. 1. p. 31 the makers setters-up and maintainers of Images in Churches to the case of imposing our few indifferent Ceremonies How is the Charity of God or Love of our Neighbour in our hearts if when we may remove such dangerous stumbling-blocks to the weak and simple people we will not remove them c. Again out of Mr. Baxter It is a Cruelty next to Diabolical to lay before men an occasion for their damnation for nothing p. 327. Again from the same Author Beza still Pref. p. 27. If the Apostle did rightly chide the Galatians that they having begun in the Spirit fell back unto the Flesh with how much greater reason may this be said of you of England if when you have begun in the Spirit you fall back not as they to the Flesh that is unto the Coremonies of Moses but to the Trifles and Refuse of humane Traditions which God forbid Which Things should they once happen they would most certainly be the beginnings of much greater Calamities Ibid. than what you have yet felt The truth of which Prediction saith the Reconciler we have found by woful ☞ experience Laying the Load of all our great Calamities upon this Imposition Then he cites Zanchius his vehement Declamation against the Surplice to Queen Elizabeth upon the mis-Information given him by some male-contented Brethren P. 28. The fire of Contention about certain Garments is now again to the incredible offence of the Godly as it were raised from Hell and kindled afresh in your Majesties Kingdom and that the occasion of the Fire is because your most Gracious Majesty being perswaded by some otherwise great men and carried with a zeal but certainly not according to knowledge to retain Unity in Religion hath now more than ever resolv'd and decreed yea doth Will and Command that all Bishops and Ministers of the Churches here we have an Hand in the Margin shall in Divine Service put on the white linnen Garments which the Popish Priests use now in Popery Yea it is to be feared that the Fire is so kindled and casts its Flame so far and wide that all the Churches of that most large and mighty Kingdom to the perpetual disgrace of your most Renowned Majesty will be set on a flaming Fire Here the Reconciler ☜ inserts Oh true Prophet Though never Prince reigned with greater Quiet Security and Honour Seeing the most part of the Bishops men greatly renowned for all kind of Learning and Godliness had rather leave their Office and Place in the Church than against their own Conscience admit of such Garments And upon this the Reconciler bestows a N. B. thought it be in truth an evil Note and false Suggestion concerning the most part of the Bishops for we read of but one Bishop Hooper by Name who also though he for some time stood it out yet upon long Conference at last reformed himself and yielded to the publick judgment of the Church Of the same nature is that other rash assertion of Zanchius It is out of all doubt P. 30. that by This Law concerning Apparel all Godly men will be offended And as vain was the Fear of the Return of Popery by This means which he so Rhetoricates upon Methinks I see P. 31. and hear the Monks crying out with loud voices in the Pulpits both confirming their followers in their ungodly Religion by the Example of your Majesty and also saying What doth not the Queen of England also a most learned and prudent Princess begin by little and little to come back to the Church of Rome The holy Vestments of our Clergy being again received we are in good hope the day will come wherein she will at length recal all the other Rites and Sacraments of the holy Church of Rome Then upon the Instance of the brazen Serpent before mentioned taken away by godly King Ezekias he assumes How much more then are those unclean P. 32. Garments to be banished out of the Church of God seeing the Apostles never used them but the Whore of Rome hath used them in her Idolatrous Worship and to seduce men Again which the Reconciler marks out in distinct Characters All men know that the most part of all the Churches Ibid. who have fallen from the Bishop of Rome for the Gospel's sake do not only want but also abhor these Garments The contrary to which is to be seen in ☞ the learned Mr. Durel's View of the Government and publick Worship of God in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas wherein is shewed their Conformity and Agreement with the Church of England as it is established by the Act of Uniformity Next I challenge that passage from Mr. Baxter's Dispute of Humane Ceremonies P. 45. which the Reconciler thus introduceth 'T is shrewdly argued by Mr. Baxter This seems to be coming after Christ to amend his Laws and make better Laws and Ordinances for his Church
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
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
than themselves Yet we have good hope that what is here presented and hath been by the Convocations of both Provinces with great diligence examined and approved will be also well accepted and Who to acquiesce in her Determinations approved by all sober peaceable and truly conscientious Sons of the Church of England Now such an one the Reconciler professeth himself to be A well-wisher to the Churches Peace who doth from his heart conform to all that is required by her And therefore he must be presumed to have a singular value for This serious Manifesto and Protestation of our Governours That They have already of their own accord assented to such Alterations as seemed ☞ to them in any degree requisite or expedient and did esteem Those which they have rejected as either frivolous and vain or of dangerous consequence as secretly striking at some established Doctrine or landable Practice of the Church of England or indeed of the whole Catholick Church and that in This Review they have behaved themselves with all Sincerity as in the sight of God and done That which to their best Understandings they conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church the procuring of Reverence and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the publick Worship of God and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of Cavil or Quarrel against the Liturgy that is That they have already endeavoured to discharge their Duty so far as lay in them to all those excellent purposes to which the Reconciler with so great vehemence perswadeth afresh The Church of Englands Declaration of Ceremonies why some be abolished and some retained Of such Ceremonies as be used in the Church and have had their beginning by the Institution of man Difference to be made of Ceremonies some at first were of godly intent and purpose devised and yet at length turn'd to Vanity and Superstition some entred into the Church by undiscreet Devotion and such a Zeal as was without knowledge and for because they were winked at in the beginning they grew daily to more and more abuses which not only for their unprofitableness but because they have much blinded the People and obseured the Glory of God are worthy to be cut away and clean rejected Others there be which although they have been devised by man yet it is thought good to reserve them still as well for a decent order in the Church for the which they were first devised as because they pertain to Edisication whereunto all things done in the Church as the Apostle teacheth ought to be referred And although the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self considered Wherein consists the Guilt of neglecting them is but a small thing yet the willful and contemptuous Transgression and breaking of a common order and Discipline is no small ofsence before God Let all things be done among you saith St. Paul in a seemly and due order Upon This the Church of England grounds her Imposition of Ceremonies The appointment To whom it belongs to Appoâ—â—â—â—â—â—m with the ground of That Authority of the which order pertaineth not to private men therefore no man ought to take in hand or presume to Appoint or Alter any publick or common Order in Christ's Church except he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto And whereas in This our time the minds of men are so divers that some men think it a great matter of Two extreams in the Sentiments of men about them Conscience to depart from a piece of the least of their Ceremonies they be so addicted to their old Customs and again on the other side some be so new-fangled that they would innovate all things and so despise the old that nothing can like them but what is new it was thought expedient not so much to have respect how The 〈◊〉 care and moderation with respect to both how to please and satisfie either of these Parties as how to please God and profit them both And yet lest any man be offended whom good Reason might satisfie here be certain Causes rendred Her Charitâ— in assigning Reasoâ— Ceremonies be put away and some retained and kept still Some are put away because the great excess and multitude of them 1. Why 〈…〉 away hath so encreased in these latter days that the burthen of them was intolerable whereof St. Augustine in his time complained that they were grown to such a number that the Estate of Christian People was in a worse case concerning that matter than were the Jews And He counselled that such yoke and burthen should be taken away as time would serve quietly to do it But what would St. Augustine have said if he had seen the Ceremonies of late days used among us whereunto the multitude used in his time was not to be compared This our excessive multitude of Ceremonies was so great and many of them so dark that they did more confound and darken than declare and set forth Christ's Benefits unto us And besides This Christ's Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or Shadow but in the Freedom of the Spirit being content only with Those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order and Godly Discipline such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified Furthermore the most weighty cause of the Abolishment of certain Ceremonies was that they were so far abused partly by the superstitious blindness of the Rude and Unlearned and partly by the insatiable Avarice of such as sought more their own Lucre than the Glory of God that the Abuses could not well be taken away the thing remaining still And now concerning Those Persons which peradventure will be 2. Why some be retained offended that some of the old Ceremonies are retained still If they consider that without some Ceremonies it is not possible to keep any order or quiet Discipline in the Church they shall easily perceive just cause to reform their judgments And if they think much that any of the old do remain and would rather have all devised anew then such men granting some Ceremonies convenient to be had surely where the old may be well used there they cannot reasonably reprove the old only for their Age without bewraying of their own Folly For in such a case they ought rather to have reverence unto them for their Antiquity ☞ if they will declare themselves to be more studious of Unity and Concord than of Innovations and new-fangleness which as much as may be with setting forth of Christ's Religion is always to be eschewed Furthermore such shall have no just cause with the Ceremonies reserved to be offended For as Those are taken away which were most abused and did burthen men's Consciences without