he so rested from his Labours that he made no other Creatures then he made before He made no other Creatures afterwards but whatsoever he made he makes them every year to the end of all time He createth men in their Souls and Bodies living Creatures and Beasts without Souls The Soul of Man is given by God and he renews his Creatures as Christ saith in the Gospel My Father worketh hitherto and I work Christ suffered for us in the sixth Age of the World and on the sixth day and reformed lost Man by his Sufferings and the Miracles which he wrought He rested in the Sepulchre on the Sabbath-day and Sanctified the Lords-day by his Resurrection for the Lords-day is the first day of the New World and the day of the Resurrection of Christ and therefore it is Holy and we ought to be his spiritually keeping a Sabbath-day Sabbatum Sabbatizantes Leg. Presbyt Northumbr Mereaturam in Die solis exercere Curias allicubi celebrare prohibemus opus etiam quodlibet omnimodam vectionem sive in plaustris sive in equis sive in aliis oneribus ferendis Qui contra hoc deliquerit solvat We forbid any to Trade or keep open Courts on the Sunday and also all other work whatsoever and all manner of Carriages whether with Carts or Horses or in bearing any other Burdens he that transgresses this Decree shall pay nisi sit viator necessitate compulsus vel ob cibi inopiam aut ex causâ—… evitandi mimicos Except he be a Traveller compelled by necessity either by the want of Food or to avoid the Enemies Reader whether this be Judaism or no I shall leave to thy more sedate judgement but it is a mighty strong temptation rather to be one of those old Iews then one of the new Christians Leg. Eccles Canut An. Christi 1032. Die quidem Dominico mercata concelebrari Populive conventus Agi nisi stagitante necessitate planissimè vetamus Ipso Die sacrosancto praetereà à venationibus opere terreno prorsus omni Quisque abstineto We do absolutely forbid all Markets and Assemblies of the People to be kept on the Lords-day except in case of urgent necessity and moreover Let every one refrain from Hunting and from all other earthly business upon that sacred day A little now for diversion let us step over the Seas and look into the temper of the times under the Reign of Charles the Great Statuimus secundum quod Dominus in lege praecepit ut Opera Servilia diebus Dominicis non Agantur sicut bonae memoriae Genitor meus Pipinus in suis Synodallbus edictis mandavit i. e. Quod nec viri Ruralia opera exerceant nec in vineâ colendà nec in campo Arando vel foenum secando vel sepem ponendo vel in sylvis stirpare vel arbore caedere vel in Petris laborare nec comus construere nec hortum laborent nec ad placita conveniant nec venationem exerceant We ordain as also the Lord hath commanded in the Law that no servile works be done on the Lords-day As also our Father of happy memory in his Synodal Edicts hath commanded that is to say That Men neither exercise the labours of their Farms neither in dressing Vineyards nor in Plowing nor in Mowing Grass or in laying a Hedge or to grub up or cut down Trees or to labour in Quarries or to build a House or to order a Garden or to hold pleas or to practice Hunting Item foeminae opera Textilia non exerceant nec Capillent vestitús non consuant vel Acupictile faciant nec lanam Carpere nec linum battere nec publicè vestimenta lavare nec verveces tondere habeant licitum ut omnimodis Honor Requres diei Dominicae servetur Let not Women practice Weaving let them not take pains about their Hair nor mend their Cloaths nor work Needle-work or Point nor Card Wool nor Heckle Flax nor wash Cloaths openly nor Shear Sheep That the Honour and Rest of the Lords-day may by all means be secured Const. Carol. M. fol. 32 It will be time now to draw to a conclusion when I have noted § 1. It looks like a piece of great disingenuity to Bait Dissenters like Jews for the indifferent use of the word Sabbath because not found in the New Testament and at the same time to worry them with Barking words and Biting penalties for not practising upon that very day Humane Ceremonies which name and thing are perfectly strangers to the New Testament § 2. It seems so far from a next cause of Non-conformity Religiously to observe The Lords-day that it were rather an Allurement to Conformity when we observe the Church so strictly commands her Children in the Rubrick After every Commandment Kneeling to ask God mercy for their transgression of the same And if the Dissenters were of this Enquirers principles they must be obliged to be Non-conformists till the Liturgy in that particular should be Reformed § 3. It s highly disingenuous to upbraid them with the less strictness of some of the Reformed Churches abroad in this one point when they are not allow'd to vouch their principles and practices in twenty others § 4. It deserves a most serious Enquiry whether any Church did long maintain any splendour of Practical Religion that grew remiss and loose in the Consciencious Observation of the Lords-day § 5. Whether the strict and Religious attendance to the Worship of God on that Day be a cause of Non-conformity or no is uncertain but this is certain that the loose and formal observation of it has been a direct and immediate cause of that Atheism and Prophaneness and perhaps of those Iudgements which have broken in upon us § 6. It ought to be matter of serious Humiliation and Repentance both to the Conformists and Non-conformists that between them both they have suffered Piety to decline in their hands by a visible degeneracy from the strictness of former time in Sanctifying Gods name on his Holy-day § 7. It ought to be considered That they who of late times have written against the Divine Right of that day have yet spoken so honourably of and pleaded for the Holy use of the day as will justifie greater Reverence to the day then I fear the Non-conformists are guilty of The Learned Brerewood Tract 1. p. 47. I confess It is meet that Christians should on the Lords-day abandon all wordly affairs and dedicate it wholly to the Hunour of God The B. of Ely p. 255. Devout Christians who are so piously affected as that on the Lords-days and other Holy-days they do resolve to retire and sequester themselves from secular business and ordinary pleasures and delights to the end they may more freely attend the Service of Christ and Apply their Minds to Spiritual and Heavenly Meditations are to be commended and encouraged for the doing thereof is a work of Grace and Godliness and acceptable to God § 8. It would be
the Irish Air and Soyl If then the substance of the Articles was owned it 's no matter whether the Jurisdiction of the Synod was owneâ—… for I rather think that the Synod of Dort owned the Doctrine of the Church of England than that the Church of England owned that Synods Iurisdiction I must here remember him of his own discourse in the Introduction and desire to know whether he abide by that Doctrine he once Preach'd to us That the Presence of the British Bishops in the Council of Arles was good proof of the Nations Piety Let him show how that Proof proceeds and it s very probable we shall be in a fair way to show him how the Presence of the English Delegates at the Synod of Dort might imply that the Church of England did compromise with it in the Points now in Question I confess I do not well understand the Mystery of one company of Mens making a Faith for another but yet I may plead from an equality of Reason that if the Non-conformists are bound up by the Decrees of a Convocation at London where they have no representatives the Church of England may be as well bound up by the Decrees of Dort where she had her representatives If it be said that this Church had no equal Number at Dort to make a full representation of her Body it may be answer'd that in the Convocation 1571. there was no such equal representation of the Clergy nor any at all of the People who have Souls to save and Consciences to Account for and ought not to be concluded in matters of Faith by what a Couple of Clerks shall agree to who are only chosen by the Parochial Ministers I never saw a good Argument to this day to prove that the people ought to Believe all that their Ministers Believe or that the Ministers are bound to hold all that their Representatives shall subscribe seeing it cannot be supposed that they give them so large a Commission and if they should it were actually void because they give away their Consciences which are none of their own How things are now I know not well but in former times a Convocation had been judged no equal representation either of the inferior Clergy or the Body of the People In the lower house of Convocation there have been in some Diocesses one Dean one Clerk for the Cathedral three or four Archdeacons and for the inferior Clergy of the whole Diocess only Two Clerks to Counterballance all the rest So that all things must of necessity be concluded according to the Temper and Interest of the Cathedrals and that I think was no equal representation but these things are inconsiderable He comes now to draw up a Charge against not the Iurisdiction but the Doctrine of that Synâ—… 1. They were such as knew not how God could be Iust unless he was cruel nor Great unless he Decreed to Damn the far greater part of Mankind A company of silly Souls I perceive they were and their Heads just of the same size with St. Austins But in my poor judgment they took the wrong end of the Staff for it had been much he harder task to make him Iust if he were first supposed Cruel but this is one of those Chymerical Consequences which the persons of this distemper and prejudice use when their Blood is up to fasten upon the Principles of the Calvinists It was an Ingenious Observation of the Author of Orig. Sacr. p. 10. where he assigns this as one cause of errour To question the soundness of Foundations for the Apparent Rottenness of the Superstructures For says he There is nothing more usual than for Men who exceedingly detest some absurd Consequence they see may be drawn from a Principle supposed to reject the Principle it self for the sake of that Consequence which it may be doth not necessarily flow from it but from the shortness of their own Reason doth only appear so to do And if it were possible to perswade these Censurers to so much humility as to suspect they may possibly not be infallible in drawing Conclusions from other Mens Principles all this heat might be over What the Synod of Dort asserts in this matter is thus much Ar. 15. Deus Homines quosdam ex liberrimo justissimo immutabili beneplacito dectevit in Communi Miseriâ in quam se suâ Culpâ praecipitârunt relinquere nec salvificà side conversione donare sed in vijssuis sub justo judicio relictos tandem non tantum propter infidelitatem sed etiam Caetera peccata omnia ad declarationem Justitiae damnare aeternum punire In which as there is nothing but what is Iust so there 's nothing at all that is Cruel 1. That Act of God which our Enquirer for the greater Grace will call a Decree to damn the far greatest part of Mankind the Synod calls a Reliction of some Men or a Decree to pass by some Men. Quosdam Homines decrevit Relinquere 2. They say not that God Decrees to damn Men absolutely but Propter infidelitatem caetera omnia peccata damnare to damn Men for their Infidelity and all their other sins which is neither injustice nor cruelty 3. They say indeed that God Decrees to leave some Men in the common Misery but withal t is such as whereunto they have thrown themselves through their own fault In communi miseriâ in quam se suâ Culpâ praecipitarunt 4. They say this is an Act of Iustice in God to leave them to lie in that common misery into which they had plunged temselves it is Iustissimo Beneplacito So that all the difficulty will be to resolve 1. Whether it be an Act of Cruelty in God to leave Man as he found him in Massá corruptá damnabili And 2. Whether it be an Act of Injustice in God to damn Men for their unbelief and other sins If neither of these it will be no difficult province to make it out How God may be just in damning Men for their sin and yet not cruâ—… leaving them in their sin I am aware that this whole Controversie at last must empty it self into that of Original sin And a difficulty it is that may require strong Heads to prove that will not bring humble Faith to believe how Men have plunged themselves into the common Misery wherein God leaves those some by their own default Culpâ suâ But the Church of England will be responsible for this difficulty who determines in her Ninth Article That in every Person born into the World it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation The pretence for this odious Imputation is nothing but a Fancy which forsooth these great Masters of Wit have agreed to call Reason That that which would be Cruelty and Injustice in Man must presently be so in God As thus Because it would be Cruelty and Inhumanity in me to see my Enemy or if it were but his Oxe or his Asse lie in a
it and I cannot loose my right through his malice Navar indeed cells us That Mortale est peccatuâ—… Audire Missam aut Recipere Sacramenta à notorio Concubinario That its a mortal sin to hear Mass from a notorious Whore maâ—…erly Priest but honest Suarez corrects that preciseness and clears it up that That Prohibition is repeated by the Council of Constance So that in this one point the Papists are as Orthodox as our Enquirer can reasoâ—…bly desire and have laid no Stone of offence at which any onâ—… might stumblâ—… into separation They do indeed hold That Holiness is necessary in a Priest necessitate praecepti and I hope even â—…e will not deny that but that they held iâ—… not absolutâ—…ly necessary necessitate medii so as that the absence thereof will make a nullity in all Ministerial Acts or render them utterly veid and of none effect and that 's as much as he can prove The Papists then are taught no such matter § 2. Protestants may without contradiction to their principles separate from a person who by Law is vested with all the Tythes Profits Perquisites Emoluments of a Parish whatsoever whether he be called Parson Vicar Curate if withal he be ignorant and not apt to teach Erronious and does worse then not teach and scandalously prophane and so does unteach all he taught before He must have a good Stomack that can receive the Sacramental bread from him out of whose nasty hands I could not take my Coâ—…poral Bread without a Vomit If a Preacher shall constantly Preach Heresies and damnable Doctrines such as the entâ—…rtainment of them would destroy my Soul must I venture the ruine of it out of civility and run the risque of being damned for fear of one of those Theological Scâ—…rcrows which men have set up to fright us into Compliance Can I in Faith expect that God will deliver me from Evil â—…hen I lead my self into Temptation Can I hope that he will preserve my Judgement untainted when I expose my self to be practised upon by the cunning insinuations of a sly deceiver and set my self as a mark for Satan to shoot at Mr Harding I remember presses the Reverend Iuel with this Be the Bishop of Rome's life never so wicked yet we may not sever our selves from the Church of Rome The Learned Man Answers from Cyprian Plebs obsequens praeceptis Dominicis Deum metuens à peccatore praeposito separare se debet A People that obey Gods commands and fears him not only may but ought to separate from a wicked Minister Art 4. And yet he understood the Principles of Protestants as well as our Enquirer But let Cyprianus Africanus go which way he pleases we have a greater than he Cyprianus Anglicus who in his discourse with Fisher from that Text Rom. 16. 20. Mark them which cause divisions amongst you Observâ—… to 〈◊〉 That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the causer of the Division is the Schismatick The prudence which we use in flying the Contagion of a scandalous Miâ—…ister does not imply that all his Minisâ—…erial Acts are meer Nuâ—…lities nor that God may not possibly concur wiâ—…h his Ministry to advance my Spiritual welfare but that a Soul is a Being so precious bought with a Price so precious the loss of it so irrecoverable and my whole concerns embarqued in the bottom that I ought not to expose it to apparent danger upon presumption of what God can or may do for ordinarily we know that â—…od delights to serve himself of the labours of those Instruments who having dedicated themselves inwardly to the Service of God in the Gospel do Sincerely design and Zealously pursue the glorifying of his Name in the turning Sinners from their evil ways to God which we may reasonably suspect of them whose Lives witness that they have no concern for others Salvation who have so little for their own The Apostle Paul commands his Son Timothy 1 Ep. 4. 16. To take heed to himself and so the Doctrine for in so doing he should both save himself and those that heard him More then implying that the Soul of another will never be dear to him to whom his own Soul is cheap As my running from a Pest-house does not suppose that all must necessariâ—…y die that come within its Walls but that it becomes a prudent Man to dwell not where he may possibly escape death but where he may most probably secure his life So my with-drawing from an heretical and scandalous Minister does not imply a necessity of damnation by attending upon his Ministry but that a Soul is too precious a concern to be put to that adventure In all matters of lesser moment we exercise our wisdom freely without the least scruple in our selves or rebuke from others If an Act of Parliament were made by advise of the Convocation it self that no sick person should consult any other Physician but only him that dwells in the Parish nor any one to take advise of other Councellor than him that dwells in the Viâ—…age he that knows how difficult it is to keep and preserve health and estate how much more difficult to recover them when lost would without any Prefaces of Modesty take leave to seek out the most experienced in their faculties and to become a civil Non-conformist to those Injunctions There 's no Man but will tell Money after his own Father and thinks it no incivility that he will see with his own Eyes and not anothers and why my Soul must be hazarded in a Complement as if it were the most inconsiderable trifle in the world I cannot once Imagine And the rather because if by my imprudent choice I should destroy my Soul the sin and guilt will lye upon my self alone but if I should ruine it by the neglect of timely escape none can give me security that he will answer for my folly before the Judge of all the Earth Nor can it be imagined that I should be such an Enemy to my own Soul as to destroy it wilfully or that any other should have a greater kindness for it than my self and when I find them not over tender of my Body Estate Liberty Good Name Life or Livelyhood which they have seen they have cautioned me into a jealousie that they can have no such miraculous good will to my better part which they have not seen I have heard of a Gentleman who having a Son fitted by Academick Learning for fome serviceableness and employment was much perplext within himself upon what particular Calling to fix for a future livelyhood He consults his Friâ—…nds and with them thus Debates the Case If I design him a Physician he must study long and gain good experience before any judicious person will put his Life into his Hand which he values so dear If I should educate him towards the Law he must wear out many a year before the wary World will intrust an Estate under his management The only way therefore will be to make him
and exasperate Mens Minds one against another He has spoken more truth than perhaps he is aware of in these few words I have ever suspected and now have warrant to utter my suspicions that it is a spice of Atheism that exasperates Men against those who quietly and peaceably Worship God Blessed for ever 3. They scurrilously traduce all that 's serious and what they cannot do by Manly discourse they endeavour by Buffâ—…onry Thus these blind Bettles that rose out of filth and exâ—…rement Buz about the World And now I am sure where to find the whole Club of Atheists Amongst those Churchmen who blaspheme the Office of the Divine Spirit as a Noise and Buz Amongst those who openly scoffe at the Beauty Loveliness and Preciousnâ—…ss of a Redeemer Amongst them who have no better way to confute the satisfactoriness of Christs death then to make God like an Angry Man when his passion 's over and has glutted himself with revenge amongst them who can no otherwise describe the Zeal of Christ for his Fathers House then by the furies of a Iewish Zealot He has now dispatch'd the remote Causes of separation and if the Reader complains that amongst all these Causes he hears not a syllable of that grand Cause of all Divisions the needless imposing of things doubtful or sinful as the Terms of Union and Communion with the Church Let him have a little Patience he may find it in its proper place viz. amongst the nearer immediate direct and proper Causes of separation whither we now follow our Enquirer CHAP. III. Where the more immediate Causes of Distractions viz. Rashness of Popular Iudgement Iudaisme Prejudice want of true Zeal are considered and the Enquirer manifested to have been something ridiculous HItherto our Author has acted with good Applause the part of a Compassionate Enquirer he will now alter his Properties and play the other part of the Passionate Enquirer He has worn the Person of a Friend long enough and will now put on the severer Habit â—…f a Iudge and then he is resolved some body or other shall smart sort it though that belongs properly to the Lictor's or Beadle's Office There is only one small matter which he would bespeak and if he could procure it too of his Reader he need not doubt the happy issue and success of this Discourse and that is a certain Commodity which Men call Candour a very scarce and dear Commodity it is grown since the Writers of this Age Appealed from the Tribunal of their Iudicious and Learned to the Chancery of their Courteous and Candid Readers If any should be so Critical as to enquire what this Candour â—…s he may understand that it is a Native Whiteness of Judgement that has not yet received the Prejudicate Tincture of any Colour but retains its Indifferency and Neutrality to every Customer Such a Mind the Reader is desired to bring to the Perusing of this Chapter that he be neither Black nor Blew his affections devirginated neither with Ass. nor Diss. but a meer Rasa Tabula But how much of this Candour might pleasure him is a great Question for if a small Quantity would serve his occasions no more then may incline one to think he never expected a Bishoprick or more then a first-rate Benefice for writing this elaborate work I have just such a parcel of Candour lying by me that will exactly fit his turn But this will not do He has bespoke so much of his Reader That he will believe it is not any delight he takes to rake in the Wounds of his Brethren and fellow Christians that prompts him to this undertaking A Candour to believe all this It must be a stretching white-leather Candour indeed that will reach to the Belief of such Incredibles That he that makes Wounds does not deligâ—…t to rake in them that he that forges Crimes takes no pleasure in divulging them that he who reproaches his Brethren most passionately tenders their repute That he who would ruine Mens Bodies has such a Compassion for their Souls I confess I cannot furnish him wiâ—…h such a Lot of Candour but if I meet with Apella the Jew or any other Candid Wise-acres that have enough to spare he may possibly hear further Proceed we therefore to the next and immediate Causes of the Distractions of the Church of England 1. The first assigned Cause is popular rashness and injudiciousness Whom he should intend by the people that are so rash and injudicious I am at a great loss in my Conjectures One division of a Kingdom is into the Soveraign and his Leige People Now it must not be the People in this notion that are so hair-brain'd for that would include the Clergy Again the Subjects of a Kingdom may be divided into the Nobility and the Common People but neither under this notion must rashness and injudiciousness be charged upon the People for besides that this would still reflect upon the Inferiour Clergy it would also cast reproach upon the Peoples Representatives There is therefore another distinction of us all we are all either of the Clergy or the Laity that is in plain English the Populace or Vâ—…lgâ—… and there is good ground for this classical distinction not only because we hear of Sermons ad Clâ—…rum that is to those who are Gods Lot Portion and Inheritance and others ad Populum the common Herd and Drove of Animals but because we read of old such a division made by the Learned and Iudicious Pharisees Joh. 7. 49. Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him but This People that knâ—…ws not the Law is accursed And yet it will be thought scandalously harsh to fix the guilt of popular rashness and injudiciousness upon the people in this Acceptatiâ—… for under this denomination will come not only the Nobility and â—…try of a Nation but the Prince himself unless he should take on him the Office of the Priesthood We must therefore find out Another sort of People that must bear the burden of this reproach That which comes next to my thoughts and offers fairest to assail the difficulty is the distinction between the Conformists and the Non-conformists and thus we shall need to seek no further for this grand Cause of Non-conformity The Non-conformists are a Rabble-rout of rash and inâ—…udicious People And there needed not half so many words to assert it though twice as many will not prove it This Cause Of Popular rashness is like the Chamaeleon which they say accommodates iâ—…elf to the nearest Subject and will resemble all Colours save one only it 's not suscâ—…ptible of that which our Enquirâ—…r wants most Candour For the Dissenters complain of the inâ—…udiciousness of the People the rashness of their Censures how little they understand their principles how wrongfully they interpret their practices and 〈◊〉 at last it wheels about tâ—… 〈◊〉 a reason of Conformity There is no Theme upon which School boâ—…s are more frank in thâ—…ir 〈◊〉 invâ—…ctives
Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their sureties is also as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants Believe and Repent by Proxie I omit many others § 2. They plead that they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in Gods Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace given unto us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof where we have 1. The matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a pledge to assure us of it Hence it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament That is an outward Visible Sign of an inward Spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an effect to it also to stir up to excite or encrease Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the right efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an Humane Sacrament Such an institution say they is the Sign of the Cross. An outward Visible Sign of an inward Spiritual Grace Ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for 3. They plead that since Communion with the Church is suspended and denyed but upon such Terms as take away Christian Liberty in part and by consequence leave all the rest at Mercy they dare not accept of Communion upon those Terms There are some things which God has in the general left free and indifferent to do or not do yet at some times and in some Cases it may be my great sin if I should do some of them as when it would wound the Conscience and destroy the Soul of a weak Christian If now I shall engage my self to the Church that I will never omit such an indifferent thing and the Soul of that weak Christian should call to me to omit it I have tyed my Hands by engagement I cannot help him though it would save his or a thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church 4. They plead that they ought not to hazard their Souls in one Congregation if they may more hopefully secure them in another for that their Souls are their greatest concernment in this World and the next Now say they there 's no Question but Men Preach such as they Print with pubiick allowance and therefore they ought to provide better for their Souls elsewhere Especially they say That the Doctrine of Justification is Articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae an Article with which the Church falls or stands This Article say they in the Parish where we live is quite demolish'd by the Doctrine of Iustification by Works we are bound therefore to provide for our safety and depart and when we are once out we will advise upon another Church not which is tolerable but which is most eligible and in all things nearest the Word 5. They plead that there 's no obligation upon them to own the Churches Power to impose new Terms of Communion unless the Church can prove her Power from Christ it 's not for them to disprove it it lies upon her to prove it and to prove it substantially too or else it will be hard to prove it their duty to own it 6. They say the World is pestered with Disputes about Worship about Religion and therefore since all cannot be in the right they are willing to go the safest way and Worship God according to his Word If the things disputed be lawful to be done let 'em be so they are sure its lawful to let 'em alone and they think there 's no great hazard in keeping to Scripture Rule nor can believe that Christ will send any to Hell because they did not Worship God in an External Mode more neat and spruce then God commanded 7. They pretend that the things imposed are parts of Worship which none can Create but God nor will God accept of any but such as are of his own Creating and whether they be Integral or Essential Parts they do not know but in the Worship of God they find them standing upon even ground with those that are certainly Divine or at least as high as Man can list them 8. They do not find that God ever commanded the things imposed either in general in special or their singulars If God has commanded a Duty to be done the Church must find a place to do it in but though the Church must find a place for the Duty a time for the Duty she may not find new Duty for the time and place 9. They are the more cautious of all Ceremonies because the old Church of England in her Homilies Serm. 3. Of Good Works tell us That such hath been the corrupt inclination of Man superstitiously given to make New Honcuring of God of his own Head and then to have more Affection and Devotion to keep that then to search out Gods Holy Commandments and do them 10. They say they have read over all the Books that have been written in justification of those things and they find their Arguments so weak their Reasons so futilous that setting aside Rhetotick and Railing there 's nothing in them but what had been either answered by others or is contradicted by themselves which hardnes them in their Errour who are gone astray into the right way 11. They say it 's their duty to endeavour a Reformation according to the Word which if others will not they cannot help it and hope they will not be angry with the willing PART II. CHAP. I. The several ways for prevention of Church-Divisions mentioned by the Enquirer considered The Papal Methods 1. Keeping the People in Ignorance 2. An infallible Iudge 3. Accommodating Religion to the Lusts of Men. Three other ways mentioned by the Enquirer 1. Teleration 2. Comprehension 3. Instruction AS that Person will highly merit of this present Age whose discerning eye shall discover and his charity propound to the world such rational expedients as may amicably compose our present differences upon terms comporting with the Consciencious principles of the contending parties so our fears of the success are justly greatned by the frequent disappointment of our hopes Confident Pretenders posting up their Bills in
which is no essential point of our Religion for Charity which is I am heartily sorry that Peace is not to be had upon easier terms But especially that Charity a Lady of so much Debonaireté that seeks not her own much less to rob another that 〈◊〉 not to look so Big and stand upon Terms should enflame the Reckoning It is not it cannot be Charity I know her Temper too well that requires Conscience or Truth should be sacrificed upon her Altar A true friend she is to Truth and no less to Peace and will wait on her usque ad Aras and no further No! It 's the Tyrian Idol Meloch that old Canibal and bloodsucker that delights in Humane Carnage For thus we read in Q. Curtius that when they were in a great straight Sacrum quod quidem Diis minime Cordi esse Crediderim jam multis saeculis intermissum repetendi quidem Autores erant Which we may accommodate in the Translation thus Some there were that perswaded the State to Revive an old and obsolete Statute which since the time of Ancient Persecutions had lyen Dâ—…rmant and to sacrifice Freemen to the Common safety but for my part though you count me a Heathen Writer I can never believe according to those notions I have of the Gods that such Cruelties were ever acceptable to their Deities I would have Peace upon any terms that are Reasonable but to part with all that in Religion which he shall say is no essential part of it is a very hard Chapter We may chop off a mans Legs Arms put out his Eyes cut off his Nose and yet though thus miserably dismembered and mangled in his Integrals his essential parts Body and Soul remain Thus he may cut off even what he pleases of Religion all Worship all Sacraments all Discipline and leave us but Faith Hope and Charity there 's as much as is essential to our Salvation and then dispose of the rest To this or some other or no purporse at all he quotes us Greg. Nazianzen Who asks us this Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What 's far more beautiful then our own Reason And he Answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nay I will add the most profitable too We were made to believe page 126. That no man in England is bound to give away his Reason for quietness sake But now four pages further Peace is far more beautiful and useful then our own Reason How shall we reconcile these cross Capers Why Qui bene distinguit bene respondet Then he was commending the Moderation of the Church of England in opposition to Rome How that Imperious Lady that sits on the seven hills Hectors the World out of their Reason and common Sense and then Reason was more precious then Peace but now he 's arguing the Non-conformists into obedience and then Peace is more precious then Reason To the same purpose he gives us that excellent counsel of the Apostle 12 Rom. 18. If it be possible as much as in you lyes live peaceably with all men Admirable advice it is God grant us grace to take it And truly the Non-conformists can live peaceably with all the World if they might be let alone but it s not in their power to prescribe Terms to others but to receive them Leges à victoribus dari à victis Accipi said Caesar If then reasonable Terms be offered us we will accept and love them If unreasonable we will refuse and love them If we be taken into the circle of their Charity we will love them if we be excluded yet still we love them Amabo si Nolis Amabo si Nolim ipse We will love whether they will accept our love and thank us for it or no Nay we will love them whether our own exasperating sufferings will perswade us or no that is we will follow them with a Christian affection in spight of their teeths and of our own But this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to live converse peaceably perhaps may be Impossible and the Apostle we see will not tye us up to Impossibles Now sinful Conditions create a Moral impossibility for id tantum possumus quod jure possumus I confess it cost me a Smile when I read his improvement of the Apostles exhortation Surely says he he did not mean we should only accept of Peace when it s offered us for nothing or be quiet till we can pick a quarrel but that we should be at some cost to purchase it and part with something for it The old something still Why we are willing to part with all our outward Concerns we will give skin upon skin will neither Gods Terms nor the Devils please him Only we would not part with our Consciences instructed from the Scriptures the Soveraingty of Christ the Perfection of the Written Word and is all this Nothing But still he 's at it again We must deny our selves something upon that account Why we will take an Oath in the presence of Almighty God to lead quiet and peaceable Lives as become good Subjects in all godliness and honesty Will that serve to purchase our Peace No! It must be something else which before he acquaints us with he will first prove the necessity of it and thus he Reasons There are hardly says he page 1. 1. any two persons perfectly of the same apprehensions or stature of understanding in the whole World So much difference there is in mens Constitutions such diversity of Education such variety of Interests and Customs and from hence so many prejudices and various Conceptions of things that he that resolves to yeeld to no body can Agree with no body What now is to be done in this perplexed Case Must we take our Constitutions in pieces I doubt we shall never put them right together again or must we have no Peace till all the propensities and inclinations rooted and riveted in our Beings Natures Temperaments besides that second Nature growing out of Custome be stormed The Terms of Peace will be next to desperate this way What then must the prevailing party commit a Rape upon the intellectuals of the depressed Minority and Marry them afterwards to make them amends Yet still there is a Tower called Assent and Consent can never be forced by assault What then must the lesser number openly profess themselves Convinced and make Recantations before they have cause for 't Alas this is but to Proselyte a few Hypocrites who are not worth the whistling Or must we tarry till we come to Heaven where we shall be of one mind Oh our Enquirer is not satisfied in that point to Plerophory some thinâ—… so indeed but he wisely keeps his faith to himself What course must we then steer Why we must castigate our heats take in our sailes lighten the ship and offer sacrifice to the touchy Deities of received Custome and Vulgar Opinion with all the fine stuff you heard before But surely there 's an easier cheaper more honourable
proved Defiling Causes in other places Causes of Offence scandal and Division they have burdened some and debauched others and Raised persecution against the rest but they were never yet Conservators of the Churches purity or peace surely the parts of a Church are very sorrily put together that has no other Cement to unite them and the frame and contexture there of exceeding brittle that must dissolve upon the Removeal of a Ceremony § 4. If by Rites he understands nothing more then meer Natural Circumstances we grant that no Church can be Conserved no publick worship Celebrated without the Observation and Determination of some such Rites that is in plain English no Church can worship God except they agree to worship him somewhere which is a Discovery well worthy of all this Periphrasis and tedious Circumlocution for who ever once thought in a Dream that A Body could exist and yet possess no place or an Action be spun out by Men for an hour or so and yet not be measur'd with time It must be some strange vertigo therefore that whitles the brains of these Non-conformists that they will endure the utmost extremities rather then renounce and abjure such Cross non-sense That God must be Worship't and yet may be worship't no where That a Sermon may be Extended to an hours length and yet preach't in an Indivisible Instant some or other must needs be out 〈◊〉 their wits God says he cannot be Worship't by men without all Circumstance By men No nor by Angels They have their Ubi and definitive place nor can they traverse the Poles in a moment though they are so swift winged as to dispatch it in imperceptible Time So that this Argument will enforce the Cherubims to Conform to the Ceremonies as well as the poor Dissenters And well did he say It can never be thought by wise men For he must be a Natural fool or Idiot that thinks otherwise And to make sure work he will confound us quite with two most unmerciful Reasons 1. Reason Fâ—…rasmuch says he as no petty Corporation or Company can Nay I will strengthen his Reason for once Not only no petty but none of one great Trading Corporation those Nurseries of Schism and nesis of non-Conformity can be conserved with uâ—… some Rites or others They have their pageants and goodly things they are and Contribute wonderfully to their Consâ—…rvation but yet to deal freely and plainly with our Enquirer Though I allow his Conclusion I cannot swallow his Medium Arguments taken from my Lord Majors show will never enforce Religious mystical Ceremonies Bodies politick may be beholden to some little Artifices to conciliate admiration if not Adoration from the thickskin'd rulgar who see no further then the scarlet and furr But Religion needs nonâ—… of these tricks and devises of wit to set her off She is never more Glorious then when she shines with her own Naked and Native Lustre she Adornes her Attire but borrows no Ornament from her cloathing She is none of these Empty Quelque choses who wanting intrinsick worth to recommend him to society thinks to strike the Spectators with Reverence to his Pantaleons and waving Plume such was the answer of Luther to Vergerius That it was the great fault and folly of Rome to establish the Church with aGovernment taken from Humane Reason as if it were some temporal state 2 Reason Because men have bodies and are bound to glorify God with their bodies as well as souls I am sometimes ready to say in passion of an Age cheated with such silly Arguments Qui decipi vult decipiatur He that has a mind to be gulled much good may it do him That we have bodies will only iâ—…fer that all Natural Circumstances which necessarily adhare to a body must be determined but not at all that we worship God by Mystical Ceremonies for that I may worship God acceptably without them I can demonstrate Because Christ did so but that we may worship him acceptably with or by the Ceremonies he has not yet offer'd us demonstration I never yet understood that the Dissenters did worship God in statu separato which if they could 't would notably disappooint the Informers who could never swear their presence at a Conventicle because they never saw the Complexions of their souls 〈◊〉 It 's as plain says he that neither any society can Continue nor any publick worship be performed if all Ceremonies and Circumstances such as of time place persons and the like be left indefinite and undetermined All the stile in this proposition lies in this that he has wisely foisted in Ceremonies amongst Circumstances And to prevent all fraud and Legerdemain Let him use a little of that Candor he borrow'd of his Reader not longe since and tell us uprightly whether He takes Ceremoniès and Circumstances for Terms of the same impor t And if so then whether he will degrade the word Ceremony from its usual Repute to signify no more then a Natural Circumstance or Advance the Term Circumstance to signify Mystical Ceremonies for if by Circumstance he understands Ceremony in the common and received Acceptation of the word the Proposition is false That no society can be Conserved without some Circumstances that no publick worship can be performed without some Circumstances that is without unscriptural symbolical Ceremonies And all this discourse will not reach the hundreth part of a proof of it for its the easiest thing in the World to worship God without the sign of the Cross or any such like circumstances and there are thousands that have made the experiment but if by Ceremonies he intend no more then bare natural Circumstances The whole proposition is granted him but then the misery is it will do him no service contribute nothing to his design The Reader may beat a loss perhaps as well as my self about the determinate sense of his words and it 's convenient we should be so at present matters are not yet Ripe for discovery I know his cause requires his Conclusion needs Ceremonies but his premises are modest his instances only pretend to Circumstances such says he as of Time place person and the like Which must be a little Examined 1 Time That Time is a natural Circumstance inseparably adharing to or if you will say accompanying every Action sacred or civil wants not the Authority of the seven wise men of Greece to Confirm it that is sometime in General yet time in special that is Religious time is no such Circumstance No Action can be done without time to do it in yet Actions may be done without such time as shall render them either morally better or worse that is such as add any moral goodness or evil to the actions If then he take Time in the former sense 't is then very true that no publick worship can be performed without the determination of time It must be determined by some or other when the publick worship shall begin as whether at eight nine
determined by power from God ten thousand such may be determined and then our misery will be this that though our burden be intolerable yet we can have no cause to complain but with Issachar must patiently â—…ouch down under it 3. If Circumstances besides their Natural Adhesion to an Act have any Morality ascribed to them as if they render'd an act of Religion either better or worse none is vested with power to impose them nor any with a Liberty to use them Because we ought not to make Gods Worship worse and we are sure we cannot make it better then he has made it 4. In those cases where God has vested any with a power of determination it ought to be made clear that they who pretend to the power have a commission to show for it because liberty is a thing so precious that none ought to be deprived of it without good Reason and this is the Task which our Enquirer will in the last place undertake for us 4 If Circumstantials says he must be determined or no Society And God hath made no such determination what remains but that man must And then who fitter then our Governours who best understand the Civil Policy and what will suit therewith and with the Customs and inclinations of the people under their Charge In which notable Thesis two things call for examination his â—…ssertion and the Reason of it § 1. His assertion That none is fitter to Determine Circumâ—…antials then our Governours Where 1. We must suppose that he understands Civil Governours or else his Reason will bear no proportion to his assertion 2. Let it be observed that it 's no â—…eat or however no killing matter to the Non-conformists 〈◊〉 their Cause who it is that Determines meer Circumstanâ—…als for they are things of a higher Nature then these about which the Controversy is if some mens Interest would 〈◊〉 them see it 3. Seeing that the Determination of such â—…eer Circumstances in some cases is matter of meer trouble in some cases impossible for the Civil Magistrate to determine them I am confident they will not be displeased if Reason dischargâ—…s them of so useless a burden As time in General is a Circumstance concreated with every Humane Action so with every command and obligation to duty there is a Concreated Command and obligation to determine of some time wherein to discharge that duty And hence it must unavoidably follow That to whomsoever God has immediately and directly given a Command to worship his Great and holy Name to them he has immediately and directly at the same time ipso facto given a Concurrent Command to determine of all those circumstances which are necessary to the executing of that Command Thus if God has obliged every Individual person to Pray he has therewith commanded him to single cut and set apart some time wherein to put up his supplications to God Thus also If God has directly and immediately Commanded every particular Church to worship him jointly and publickly he has also by virtue of that Command enjoyn'd them to agree upon a time to celebrate and solemnize that worship Now this Command is so straightly bound upon the Consciences of all Churches that though none should determine for them nay though all should Determine against them yet are they under it's authority and must come to an issue about it unless they will draw the guilt of the neglect of worshipping God upon their souls with that wrath which is due to so great contempt of the Divine Law Now that every particular Church has a direct Command to worship God and by consequence to determine of those circumstances which are necessary to the worship is evident from this one Consideration that they all did so in obedience to the authority of Christ in his word whilst all Civil Governours were so far from Determining the Circumstances that they determined against the substance The Gracious God has now made some of the Kings of the earth Nursing-fathers to his Churches but yet we cannot believe that the Churches power is less under her Fathers then it was oâ—…der those Bloody Persecutors And if this power be lodged in the Civil Magistrate and he have no rule to Direct him about the when and where what a miserable case would the Churches be in if he should never determine these Circumstances without which the Churches can never worship God For thus proceeds his Argument No publick worship can be Performed without the Determination of some Circumstances as time for one and place for another But God has determined none of these Circumstances therefore unless some other Determination be made besides what God has made no publick worship can be performed Again If some other determination must be made besides what God has made then it must be made by man but some other determination must be made besides what God hath made therefore it must be made by man Again If a determination of circumstantials must be made by Man then by the Civil Magistrate But a determination must be made by man therefore by the Civil Magistrate from whence it will be easy to Argue That if a Magistrate will not determine of those circumstances which are necessary to the publick Worship of God there can be no publick worship but when the Magistrate is an enemy to the Christian Religion he will never determine of those circumstances which are necessary to the publick Worship of God Therefore when the Magistrate proves an enemy to the Christian Religion there can be no publick Worship of God Nay there ought to be none And it will hold against the Protestants worship where the Magistrate is a severe Romanist Now though it be true that the Command to Worship God publickly be directly and immediately given to the Church yet seeing every Church is in the Commonwealth as a part of it and that every soul therein ought to be subject to the higher powers and because the peace of a Nation is not a little concern'd in the prudent or disorderly management of publick assemblies and seeing that the chief Magistrate is the Vicegerent and great Minister of God to preserve the peace that this lower world may not be too like a Hell therefore has he a very great concern herein Ne quid Reâ—…ublica detrimenti capiat And therefore if any Church shall chuse such unseasonable times or places as may give just occasion of jealousy that some mischief is hatching against the Government he may prohibit them that suspected place time or other jealous Circumstance and command them to elect some more convenient and in offensive ones That so Religion may be cleared the Magistrates heart 〈◊〉 the peâ—… secured only it seems reasonable to assert 1. That the Magistrates power herein is but Indirect and in order to peace and that the Christian Church had such power to determine all such circumstances before ever Magistrates owned Christianity 2. That the Magistrates power seems not to extend
his special Command authorised the Israelites to borrow of the Egyptians Iewels of silver and jewels of Gold with no intent I am perswaded to repay them either use or principal God is the soveraign and Absolute Legislatour who may suspend rescind alter his own Laws at pleasure and yet he has said such a stress upon the meanest of them that no Man may nor any man but the Man of sin dares presume to dispense with them much less to dispense against them 9 Nor are we to think that God lays little stress upon a Commandement because he little regards those observances which superstition folly Tradition Custom have ascribed to it which were never comprehended in it yet such is the process of our Enquirers Arguments He instances in some superstitious Additament to the Command which God never required and thence concludes very learnedly that God lays very little stress upon the Command let him therefore have leave to infer God laid little weight upon the observation of the Sabbath day because the supperstitious Jews were halter'd with an erroneous opinion that they were bound tamely to sit still and offer their Naked throats to their enemies Naked swords upon that day which folly indeed God little regarded 2 Whence then ought we to take the measures of that stress God lays upon his institutions 1 The true measure of that respect which God has for a Commandment is to be taken by us from the Authority of God If the thing be small yet we are to regard his authority in it for this God regards And therefore he has back't of old both the positive and the Moral precepts with this I am the Lord and the greatest Instances of his Royal Praerogative are given us in those Mandates which have only his soveranig pleasure to recommend them to our observance 2 The measure of that regard God has to an institution is to be taken from the greatness of that glory which we give him in our obedience The great tryal of our sincerity and subjection to God lies in giving Deference to his will as the Rule and Reason of our obedience and then do we recognize his Absolute power to dispose of us when his will whatever be the Reason of it is the Reason of our Compliance Thus Abraham gave God the greatest testimony of inward Honour when he praepared himself to sacrifice his only Son upon his only Command 3 We may take the measure also of the weight of a Command from its designed usefulness to his great ends for seeing the smallest and seemingly weakest of his injunctions are attended with his blessing upon the Holy and due use thereof we are thence to instruct our selves in the weight and worth of it The Enquirer tells us from Maimonides that there were some things in the Iewish Law that were primae intentionis such as God required for themselves as being intrinsically good others that were secundae intentionis only required for the sake of and in order to the former Now his own judgment herein he acquaints us with in these words The first kind that were essentially good were absolutely necessary and could never be otherwise such we call Moral duties the latter kind were of so indifferent a Nature as thâ—… they might not only not have been commanded but also insome cases having been Commanded they may not be a duty but either he or his Mr. Maimonides are quite out For. 1. The Acts of Affirmative moral praecepts may in some cases become no duties the Command it self abiding in it's full force yet none will say that God lays little stress upon the Acts of affirmative Moral precepts Thus the Acts of affirmative positive precepts may become no duty yet none can say that God lays little stress upon the Acts of obedience to a positive precept 2. If this wil prove that God lays little stress upon positives because they are required only for the sake of and in order to the former Then it will evince that God lays little stress upon all the means which he has appointed for his great ends for the means as they are means are only valuable for the sake of and in order to the end 4 What stress God lays upon his positive precepts we may judge from those severitiis which God has threatned against and sometimes executed upon the Violaters of them It was for the violation of a Ceremonial Law the eating of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil that God ejected Adam out of Paradise It was for the neglect of a Ceremonial affirmative Command that the Lord sought to kill Moses 4. Ex. 24. And yet he had this to plead that he was upon a journey and about Gods Errand It was matter of meer institution that was the Israelites security against the Destroying Angel 12 Exod viz. The sprinkling the blood of the Paschal Lamb upon the lintle and posts of the dore That many do escape Gods vengeance at present notwithstanding their not obeying what God has instituted and instiâ—…uting what God has not commanded will prove the admirableness of Gods forbearance towards them who turn this grace into Lasciviousness and embolden themselv's to sin from his patience but not in the least that he lays little stress upon his own precepts whereof he will find a time to satisfy the Sons of men from whence § 1. It follows That he argues himself a pittiful Sophister who concludes the least Command may be broken because God turns not men to hell as oft as 't is broken § 2. He proves himself a notorious Hyprocite that from either Gods grace in waiting or pardoning shall encourage himself in sinning And flatter his soul that he may curse God and live when the Devil was more modest to suggest curse God and dye § 3. Whosoever shall openly preach this Doctrine that God lays little stress upon the Circumstantials of Religion has open'd a floodgate to let in a Deluge of prophaness upon the world for seeing no Command of God is small in respect of the Authority of the Law-giver which is the formal Reason of our obedience 〈◊〉 that Law so no Command of God will be Great but that Command paramount de non-separandâ—… And then if every command that is less then another may be said to have little stress laid on it seeing there is such a Gradation in the weightiness this is in order to that and that for another there will but few perhaps but one of which it may not be said God lays very little stress on them § 4. Although the Acts of positive Commands may give place to the Acts of Moral precepts when both cannot consist yet when ever we can possibly perform both we can omit neither without sin § 5 To forbear the practise of an affirmative precept when Circumstances do not conspire is no violation of such a precept Though no evil may at any time be done yet some good may at some time be forborn § 6. In all Laws