and only becoming modes in their time yet by Custom become so uncouth as to help us to proverbs of derision by way of comparison I chuse to instance the rather in this strength of prejudice acquired by Custom because it bears an Analogy to the prejudices which possess peoples minds about the Habits and outward dresses of Religion Thus he who has not been used to see a Churchman in his Canonical habit looks upon him as a strange undrest Monster he who has not been acquainted with the Surplice and other decent Vestments of the Church used in the Celebration of Divine Service especially if he has by his Education been principled with a dislike and detestation of them looks upon them as antick and useless Formalities He who has been accustomed to sit at the Lord's Table and to hand the Bread and Wine to his next neighbour thinks kneeling an unnecessary part of his Devotion and if he has been taught so Superstition and Idolatry and to receive it from the hand of the Minister with the usual Benediction a tedious and troublesome Custom He who has been long used to sudden and Extempore Prayers and believes them a fruit of the Spirit and having it may be acquired a Talent that way and pleases himself and others with it looks upon being tied up to the words of the Liturgy as a hard confinement and the imprisonment of the Spirit because it ties up his tongue and his parts from their accustomed Liberty of saying any thing to God Almighty and offering to him the Sacrifice of Fools Which makes him abhor the Sacrifice of Praise and thanksgiving when tied by the Authority of the Church and the Cords of Royal Commands Psal 18.27 to the horns of the Altar He who has been accustomed to certain studied passionate and languishing Tones his Ears are grated with the Musick of the Church though anciently used in the Jewish Church in the Worship of God the Employment of Angels and commended to us by the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Psalmist upon so many Instruments concluding the Psalm which will reach them both as to the Matter Manner Psalm 150.6 and Time Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord praise ye the Lord. AND for this reason it is that the Politick Heads of Division and Separation both Papists and other Dissenters do industriously Prohibit or Estrange their People from joining with us in our Worship well knowing that the prejudice of Custom will in a little time do more to perswade weak Minds to a dislike than all the Reason in the World can to approve and when once People have gone so far in Custom to forsake the Congregation and Publick Service and Worship of God for their own or the private phancies of their Teachers then do they labour all they can to justifie their Separation against those who either oppose them or indeavour to reclaim them if they meet with weak Opponents they do not only fortifie themselves in their prejudice but stagger the others with their own weak defence and so talk themselves into a Custom of Disobedience if they meet with such as are too hard for them at dint of Argument that is Carnal Reasoning and Worldly Wisdom and the defect of Reason to make good their pretences they either supply with wandring and shifting Wranglings or however with the strength of Obstinacy as I have heard one who being too close hunted from his Shifts and Evasions plainly said It was a folly to talk to him of Reason for he would hear no Reason for he was sure he was in the Right which though some may look upon as a Subject fit for laughter for my own part I look upon them as the greatest Objects of Compashon their Condition being certainly most deplorable who are past the Use of their Reason and one may have but too just grounds to apprehend that more of the Separation are in the same Condition of Obstinacy contracted by long Custom and Education And we have a great deal of Reason both to Pray for them and with the Apostle To be delivered from Vnreasonable Men. So that the great influence of Prejudice whether by long Custom or Education is most apparent and till such time as men can be perswaded to abandon these Fortifications and Barricado's of their Souls they will remain impregnable against all the Attempts of Truth and Reason which may be made Use of to indeavour to bring them to a Christian Compliance into Reconciliation Peace and Vnity CHAP. IV. WHERE Interest combined with Prejudice have taken deep Root they are very hard to be overcome or extirpated from the Minds of Men but there are two things yet behind which are more stubborn because more natural to us as being usually interwoven with the very Tempers of our Nature the Vices of our Complexions as well as contracted with time For no Man is born with any Designs in his head nor are Prejudices and Customs éx traduce derived from our Parents but Pride and Ambition are Vices to which the very Constitutions of some mens bodies do more powerfully incline them some Natures are infected with hot and tumultuary Spirits a restless and a boiling Blood impatient of the Rein of Government as the Poet long ago observed in his Character of Youth Caereus invitium flecti Monitoribus asper and it is descernable many times in the Earliest Sallies of Life and so soon as Reason begins to shew it self Pride and Ambition begin to appear and discover themselves thus you shall see some Natures Meek and Malleable soft and tender others as if with Romulus they had suck't the Wolf will like him play the King amongst their Companions and at that Age are so ambitious of the little Honours and Superiorities above their Equals in Age and sometimes their Superiors in Quality that they will venture the severities of the Ferula and their Blood too in the Quarrel to be Caesar aut nullus and there is scarcely a Publique School where one may not be furnished with a Specimen of this Nature Now to subdue these congenial Inclinations does doubtless require not only the greatest force of Virtue but the greatest stock of Grace and many times without the last all the power of the first proves too weak a Dam to stop these impetuous Torrents of Natural Ambition and Pride when swell'd with the Tides of inviting and feazible Temptations and violently raised above their Shoars with the turbulent Air of Popular breath the most dangerous Tempest that can blow upon these swelling and foaming Waves I joyn these two together because they are seldom found asunder and it is not common to find a proud man that is not Ambitious or an Ambitious person that is not proud and one can rarely be tempted by one without the assistance of the other and if they be not Twins I cannot decide their Pretensions which should be the Elder Brother but which soever is the first born
Expiating Guilt and Purchasing Heaven after all the Enjoyments of a sensual lascivious and debauched Life by Confession here and Masses bought to be said hereafter and at the worst the pains of Purgatory all which Doctrins bring in Treasure and Authority to the Priests and Church which generally shares with them in the purchase and permits them not to have lawful Heirs that so she may be their Executrix these and a multitude of the same Nature which are made matters of Faith and Sacraments in their Church essential to Salvation Fasten on the Manacles and make their Proselytes voluntarily entertain a slavery so agreable to their Wishes and Desires For who would not like a Religion which permits him to Enjoy all the Liberties of the World and the Flesh though renounced by his Baptismal Vow and yet puts him out of the danger of Hell and Damnation that allows him to serve his Mammon of Unrighteousness and yet expect a Reward from God whom he may at the same time serve though Christ says Nay to it and please with a few random Prayers repeated only with the labour of the Lips which at one Heaven according to their Quantity and are Efficacious by their Multiplicity who would not be a Papist who can believe that though he live all the Year like a Heathen in Sensuality and open Impiety yet if at Easter he make Confession to a Priest he shall thereby clear the score betwixt God and his Soul and be a good Catholique though he is no sooner parted from his Ghostly Father but he repeats the same Crimes or it may be worse and returns to the former Vomit and wallowing in the Mire perfectly upon the incouragement of the same Remedy who would not be such a Catholique when a few knocks upon his Breast shall be Contrition and some austerities and hardships practised upon the Body shall satisfie for the sin of his Soul and the most flagitious Offenders may hope for and be certain of Reconciliation to God and yet never be sensible of the severe Agonies of Spirit and the insupportable Wounds of Conscience the dreadful Horrors of a guilty Mind Is not this a soft and easie way to Heaven which makes the Way so broad and the Gate so wide which is set open by St. Peter's Keys that it is impossible any man should either Miss the one or not Enter the other who is not either so miserably Poor or so wretchedly Covetous or so great an Vnthrift or so destitute of Charitable Friends as not to be able to leave a small sum of Money for Masses and Dirges to reskue him from the Pains of Purgatory O dangerous Simony which sells Heaven and the Holy Ghost without which the other cannot be had for Money And if the Pope has such a Power to relieve the Quick and the Dead he is the most Uncharitable person to say no worse in the World who when for a word of his Mouth he can Save so many Souls from the Horrid Pains of Purgatory will not do it unless he be hired to it the Good Shepherd lays down his Life for the Flock but the Hireling will not spare his Breath to Cool the Flaming Tongues of those who suffer such Intollerable Pains unless he be paid for his AND if at any time the more Learned or Intelligent come to discover the pious Frauds the Great Severities which are made use of against them if they do but mutter against the Church the Fear of loosing their Lives or Estates and wearing the Infamous Brand of Hereticks is the Interest which seals their Lips in silence AND for the Clergy the High Honors to which they may arive and the dazeling Lustre of the Tripple Diadem shines so full upon their Eyes that it takes away their sight and the innumerable ways of obtaining Dignities Riches Esteem and Veneration with the Laity generally prove too strong Charms to be resisted by feeble Nature For who would turn a poor Protestant Priest when thereby he shall be so great a looser when thereby he shall part with all the fair Revenue of Masses for the Dead Money for Pardons Indulgences Licences Dispensations and the more than Almighty Priviledge and Miracle of making his Creator and transubstantiating a poor piece of Bread into the real body of the Son of God when he must renounce all hopes and pretensions to the Red Cap the Title of Eminency and the Princely state of S. E. R. Cardinal the next step to Vice Deus and the Supreme Honor of the Triple Miter and when in Exchange he must confine his Ambition to it may be a small Benefice and a great Charge in his vigilant Cure of Souls a heavy Burthen and it may be a light Gain and which if he does indeavour faithfully to discharge shall procure him in the room of Love Honour and Esteem Hatred Scorn Contempt and Reproaches And when the highest that can be hoped is but a Pastoral Staff and humble Mitre the Load and Envy of Government the Constant Care of the Churches and a certain Revenue of Malice for the little Temporal Honour and Estate which it may be is but just sufficient to maintain Charity and Hospitality those Honourable Characters as well as Expensive Duties of a Primitive Bishop I could heartily wish that even this Interest and the Revenue of the Church could not be objected against any Dissenters as a former Motive that induced them to Ruine her that so they might Rob her and that the same Spur did not still continue their Career in the same Design I know they will disown it and I wish we could believe them and our senses at the same time I wish the advantages they make of Tones Phrases long Prayers sanctified Looks and Religious Disobedience with which they please the Factious shelter the Seditious and agrandize themselves both in Riches and Reputation might not be objected against Dissenters as a greater Reason for their Nonconformity than any real Power of Conscience And they give a just occasion to suspect that they have not a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man who dare daily break the Laws of the one and the other and make no scruple to wound the Consciences of others both weak and strong under pretence of keeping their own from being wounded which is just so charitable as for me to wound another man and say it was in my own defence and lest he should have injur'd me So that it appears how great an influence Interest has upon the minds of Men to obstruct the Entertainment of Truth and that therefore in Order to obtain Peace and Vnity there is an absolute necessity that Men should lay aside the Clog of self Interest CHAP. III. IT is not Interest alone that obstructs the happy Vnion that ought to be amongst Christians and occasions those Divisions amongst them but there is also a necessity that Men should devest themselves of their prejudices and prepossessions of mind for these do always
might well stile himself with Tamerlan Flagellum Dei the Scourge and Wrath of God to accomplish his wicked Designs Which may be a Sea-mark to the Unwary to take Care of the Rock and not to Credit the charming Voice of the Syren hereafter who therefore shews her beautiful Face and sings her bewitching Airs that she may more easily Effect the desired Shipwrack HE was a Person who in the first sallies of his Youth was Debauched even to the Terror of all the Villages of the Neighbourhood who were used to give the Allarm when they saw him at a distance with Look to your selves here comes Mad Cromwel his great Frolique was the Destruction of Glass Windows which he persisted in to his last beginning with those of Cottages and not sparing at last those of Churches when his Debauchery only changed the Name but not the Nature and one was the Effect of Wine the other of his Drunken Zeal Having run the small Barque of his Fortune aground by his profusion he begun to think how to get her off again and finding that impossible he imbarqued himself into the Acquaintance and Friendship of one Tims of Cambridge an Eminently disaffected person to the King and Government and being naturally of a quick and sagacious Spirit he easily found the soft place in the head of Tims who was the head of the Faction thereabouts and believing that if he could but act a Convert to the Life he might thereby get a Livelyhood and by swimming down their stream buoy up his sinking Fortune by fishing in the Waters which they troubled he therefore joyned himself to their Congregation and because his Reformation was Miraculous he did not doubt but for the Credit he did their powerful Göspel they would pay him for a Miracle of so great use and advantage for their intended Reformation which being then a brewing he might be lookt upon as a necessary Instrument strument and skilful in the Trade of boiling up Jealousies and Fears to the highest strength of Intexication however he could not doubt but by his Credit amongst them and the Credit of the Party he might retrieve his past Losses and prop up his desperate Fortune by more desperate Principles and Practices Upon these considerations he forsook his wild and loose Companions and with an Ego non sum Ego reproves them wherever he met them he composes his Habit his Looks and Words to the Tune of the greatest Sobriety Repentance and Sanctity he frequents the Meetings and Exercises of the Godly and there by the strength of his Natural parts and that Learning which the Vniversity had unluckily bestowed upon such a Crocodile he like an apt Scholar quickly learn't from the then Nonconformists not only the Talents of making Publique and Private Harangues against the Bishops and particularly against Dr. Wren then Bishop of Ely against the Abuses of the Government the Designs of the great Ministers of State and the Prelates to introduce Arbitrary Government and swallow up Priviledg and Liberty by Prerogative to whisper the great Jealousies and Fears of the Danger of Popery but he became miraculous in the Gift of Extempore Prayer in which by the volubility of his Tongue and his great Industry and Constant Practice he arrived to that perfection as to out-do his Masters and so diligent was he in obtaining and exercising this necessary Qualifiation to recommend him to the disaffected Vulgar that being then a Farmer at Ely he was used to send for his Plough-men out of the Field to go to Duty with them and to keep them sometimes so long at it till other people having done their Mornings work were ready to come out of the Fields by which good Husbandry whatever returns he had of his Prayers he had a very slender return of his Seed which he sowed in Tears but could not reap with Joy or say it came a hundred fold into his Bosom or his Barns so that in a short time he threw the Plough in the hedge as the Husbandmen say and by the unfortunate breaking out of those Misunderstandings between the King and his Parliament he being by Tims's Party got into the House of Commons as Burgess for Cambridge and a great Promoter of those Rebellious Hostilities he betook himself to reap with his Sword in the Field of Disloyalty that Harvest of Treason which he and his Confederates of the Association had been so long sowing in the minds of a Discontented Populace He became presently one of the Heads of that Combination and by his own Gifts and those of Ireton and Peters formerly expelled from the Vniversity for a Rakehell but now converted by his voyage to New-England and returning to ruine the Old and by destroying the Hierarchy of the Church to make himself Oliver's Muphti so soon as he should come to be Englands Grand Signior by these assistances and the Art of Wheedling with fair words and long Prayers all Parties how different so ever in Persuasion he advanced himself into their Esteem and by that into the Affections and Command of the Rebel Army Whereby a Series of strange successes he appear'd the Favourite of Heaven and the Darling both of Fortune and his Party and having ruin'd the King and Loyal Party outwitted the Presbyterians and their great Patrons Essex and Fairfax men of better hands than Heads gently laid them aside as Eclipfing his Glory and Designs he then had the Game wholly in his own hand and arrived at length by the strength of Dissimulation Protestations Prayers and Arms to the highest degree of Supreme Arbitrary and absolute tyranny and wanted but little of prophaning the Imperial Diadem with his Traiterous Temples BUT what is observable of him after he had pray'd the Kings Crown off his head and his head from his Body and the power and Revenues of the Crown into his own hands then the Spirit began to fail him and he left that necessary Gift which was beneath him who was now got above all ordinances even of the House of Commons to the management of Peters Sterry and other his Domestick Chaplains By which it appears that he made use of extempore only pro tempore as a Strastagem to serve his own Designs and the Sword of the Spirit was with him always taught the good breeding to give the Wall to the spirit of the Sword Nor was he wont to go to prayer with his Legions so as to obstruct the Duty of the Day or to miss the favourable opportunity of an advantageous ingagement in the observation of which he was a Great Master and owed most of his Successes rather to his cunning than his valour and therefore he never went to wrastle with God for victory when a fair occasion offerd to wrastle with the arm of flesh IN short he made the same use of this curious Network of his pregnant Invention which'tis said a certain Cardinal did of that Net which he always used to spread upon his Table alledging for his humour
affraid he had bestowed upon them Labour in Vain for that they were relapsing to Jadaism and to the observing of Days and Years according to the Mosaick Law THIS has been a Constant Quarrel amongst Christians this bred those Mortal Divisions betwixt the Eastern and the Western Churches which has almost intirely ruin'd one of them and not advantaged the other as to Truth for whilest both pretended to be the only true Church of Christ by that exclusive Arrogance they were both so far False and this Unlawful claim was the Mother of the Doctrine of Infallibility in the Catholique Church which if it be understood of any particular company of Men and not of the whole Body of the Faithful which are in all Churches have been or shall be guided by the Spirit of God into all truth must be False for whoever is infallible must be without Sin which none can be in this imperfect State For if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us and the Maxim is undoubtedly true Quod predicatur de singulis universalium predicatur etiam de universalibus singularium If all men are Sinners they are fallible if every man is a Sinner then are all men here in this Mortal State So that if men would with Justice and Modesty allow degrees of Truth and that every Church possessed some so long as they retain the foundation of one only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent whom to know is Life eternal if they would strive more for Peace and Purity than for this Supremacy and impossibility of being the only true Church they would certainly have more Truth because more Charity Peace Vnity THERE were Seven Churches in Asia though now nothing but the Names and those scarce Legible in their Ruins to which our blessed Lord commands St. John to write Rev. 1 2 3 Chapters What thou seest write in a Book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea Every Church was a Golden Candlestick and every one had a Star which was the Angel Guardian or Governour of the Church and which Christ held in his right hand These Candlesticks were all of Gold but some more refined and purer Mettal than others the Stars were all bright and shining but some more dim and obscure than others for one star exceeded another star in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 42. even in the Firmament of the Church as well as in Heaven And doubtless if that place be true shall hereafter for so is the Resurection of the Dead From this Instance of the Seven Churches these Deductions seem evidently to follow FIRST That several Nations are several Distinct Coordinate not subordinate Churches for so the Son of God calls these Seven which yet were comprised in the lesser Asia and People of one Language though of distinct and separate Polities which seems to be that which differences Nations and not Languages SECONDLY That distinct and several Coordinate Churches may all be true Churches and Vnited in the Common Bond of the same Faith and Charity who yet may not be of equal Purity two only are here commended for their Purity viz. Smyrna and Philadelphia the other are condemned Ephesus for having forsaken her first Love her Zeal and Devotion Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and for suffering the odious Sect of the Nicolaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezebel a woman to teach contrary to the Express Command of God and therefore to seduce the People by eating things offered to Idols Sardis for having a name to live but being dead Loadicea for being luke-warm neither hot nor cold a Church of Latitudinarians all these are threatned and reproved but not rejected from the name and being of Churches THIRDLY That the holy Catholique Church is composed of several distinct National Churches for we must not think the Son of God could be guilty of an impropriety of Speech he distinguishes them by the places where they were planted and by their degrees of Purity as so many several Churches without giving them any precedency on preheminence one over another he does not direct the Angels of the several Churches to Rome or Alexandria or Jerusalem or Antioch though all then famous Churches for redress of their Errors he does not send them to St. Peter or his Successors the Catholique Apostolique Roman Church as the Pillar and Ground of Truth not a word of the Sancta sedes Apostolica Petri Cathedra Ecclesia Principalis nothing of the Romanorum Fides ad quos perfidia habere non potest accessum which place of St. Cyprian the Romanists boast so much of whilest they indeavour to appropriate the word Catholique only to their Church which is as good sense as that any one man is humane Nature But for the redress of their Errors amendment of their Lives and reformation of their false Doctrines he gives them all this short Direction He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches and that to every one of them distinctly so that what the Spirit of God speaks to the Churches was to be the Rule of Faith Life and Doctrine and what was it which the Spirit spake unto the Churches was ever any Tradition said to be spoken by the Holy Spirit No certainly nothing was ever spoken by the Spirit to the Churches but the Books of the Holy Canon which all Ages have consented to without the least Addition or Diminution as the late Bishop of Durham Dr. Cosins has made appear more distinctly till such time as the Absolutissima Syndus Tridentina as they call the Trent Session for some passages which seem favourable to Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead was pleased to adopt these into the Holy Canon though nothing is more evident than that till then they were Esteemed only Humane Writings and Apocryphal however hereby they have given a Specimen of the Power they pretend over our Faith for by the same Authority they may impose Aesops Fables and the Alchoran as matters of Faith Neither did the ancient Churches when Heresies sprung up resort to Rome for infallible Determinations but to Oecumenical and General Councels not Esteeming their Determinations valid neither unless agreeable to the Holy Scripture which was always accounted the Norma or Rule by which they were to be guided and at which Councels the Pope did assist not as the Head but as a Principal Member and the respect he had given him was as Patriarch of the Imperial City and the Western Churches and not as Monarch of the whole Catholick Church and even some later Councels as that of Basil have undertaken to reform Errors and Abuses and to depose the Pope being found guilty of them LASTLY It may from hence be concluded That Christ himself is the only head of the Catholick Church which is composed
of several distinct Churches who are all Members of that Mystical Body he walks among the Candlesticks he holds the Stars in his right hand The Angel of every distinct National Church is to be the mover of the Orb to guide it by the Light of Divine Truth spoken by the Spirit of the Churches the Temporal Power may be Supreme Head of the Church as they are a Society of Christian Men but neither the one nor the other can justly pretend a Power over the Angel of another Church or the Dominions of another Prince for that is the Prerogative of the Son of God who Unites them in his Right hand and who alone can challenge the Title of that Name of King of Kings and Lord of Lords NOR will this Independency of Churches one upon another which is only in point of Jurisdiction and Limits which was anciently practiced and commanded by the Decrees of Councels give the least disturbance to their Charity and Vnion so long as they maintain the same Universal Doctrine of Faith as to the substance and all acknowledge one Catholique Church and themselves Members of it Nay it is observable that this incroachment of the greater Churches upon the less and indeavouring to aggrandize themselves by imposing upon all other Churches a Soveraignty and Dominion never intended for Christian Religion and striving by force to oblige them to use their Rites and Ceremonies in indifferent Circumstantials and not only so but to receive all their Opinions as matters of Faith were the first occasion of the most remarkable Schisms and Divisions and the loss of Peace and Unity and still continue so to this very day Whereas did they all resolve to content themselves with their own Precincts and not indeavour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and act out of their own Provinces but would permit others to make use of such indifferent Rites as the Governours of the several Churches judge necessary and expedient in their respective Charges and if any Controversies should arise in Point of Doctrine resolve amicably to compose them by hearing what the Spirit saith to the Churches and how the Universal Church has already determined in the same or like Affairs according to the Rule of Scripture would they study more to propagate Peace and Vnity than Dominion and Soveraignty to increase Piety and Purity of Life more than outward agreement of Rites and Ceremonies the ancient Happiness of the Church in her first and Vnambitious Age when the Office of Government was the surest way to Martyrdom would in a great measure be restored to the Members of the Catholique Church and there would be that Vnity which is by God Commanded and by all good Christians not only to be desired but promoted to the uttermost of their Power Were it possible that this true and ancient Temper Modesty and Moderation of Primitive Christianity might obtain in the World the Names of distinction with the occasions of them would be taken away one would not be of Paul another of Apollos another of Cephas one a Romanist another a Calvinist Lutheran Hugonot or a Zuinglian but all would be of Christ but alas what hope so long as the Church of Rome will be Vniversal and will exclude all those who Refuse the tyranique Yoak of both her Declared and Implicit Faith and to be subject to her absolute Dominion not only from the Name of Churches and being Parts of the Church Universal but from the Communion of Saints from all hopes of the Resurrection of the just nay even from her Purgatory too which is very severe if there be such a place as admits of Hope for Sinners after Death and in a word from all possibility of the Life everlasting How disterent is this from the ancient Charity and Doctrine of St. Peter and St. Paul whom they believe the Founders of their Church for they incourage us to hope we may receive the Benefit of the Common Salvation Act. 10.35 for God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him for with him there are no Distinctions neither Greek nor Jew Col. 3.11 to v. 16. Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but all are Christs who have put on as the Elect of God holy and beloved bowels of Mercy kindness humbleness of Mind meekness long-suffering forbearance one of another and forgiveness one towards another if there be differences as Christ also forgave us and above all things they who have put on Charity which is the bond of Perfection and whose Hearts are ruled by the Peace of God But in regard that this is to be dispair'd of and may well seem forreign to the Design of these Papers let us come to consider what Influence this ought to have upon us as to Vnity amongst our selves which without Excluding our Neighbours from our Charity though they do us from theirs and Heaven is the principal Intention of this Discourse CHAP. VI. HAVING shewn that the Peace and Vnity of the Catholick Church Militant upon Earth depends in a great Measure upon this Justice in preserving the Common Faith of Christ as the bond of Vnion not only among our selves but with that part of the Church which is now Triumphant in Heaven and in order thereunto in allowing every distinct and National Church their particular Bounds and Jurisdiction free from Incroachments and Invasion permitting them a freedom of Using such Rites and Customs in the Celebration of Divine Worship as the Governors of each respective Church shall judge to be nearest the Rule of Scripture the Constant Usage and Determination of the Catholique Church in the best Ages and of the best Men in all most conducive to the Great End of all Religion by promoting the Happiness of Mankind both here and hereafter before we proceed any further it will be requisite to answer what may and will be certainly objected by all Dissenters FOR if an Independency of Churches of Distinct Nations and Polities so long as they agree in matters of Faith may be permitted a distinct Jurisdiction different Rites and manner of Worship to the increase of Charity Peace and Unity why may not the same be likewise practised by several Churches in the same Nation To which I answer That as Vnity in point of Faith is the Bond of Vnion in the Vniversal Church so Obedience to the Supreme Government of any Nation is that which Vnites them into one Polity and distinguishes them from all other People who do not own that Subjection and Obedience And this Vnion of Obedience is also that which preserves and maintains them as well as Constitutes them a distinct Political Body from all other Nations Herein lies their Strength herein their Security their Safety and Happiness For as I may be Lawfully permitted to disobey the King of Spain or France nay and ought to do it in many Cases for the Interest of my Nation but cannot disobey my
to the Scotch Prophecy The State of England Paid the Piper for the Presbyterians in pretence Religious but in reality Envious of the great Power Honors and Estates of Episcopacy never lest till by Arts and Arms perswading the Credulous Vulgar that it was Popish and Antichristian and animating their Party in their Rebellion with promises of Heaven and the Churches Revenue for a Booty God Almighty was pleased for our sins to permit them to be so successful as to overthrow that Government after it had stood above a thousand years in England No sooner had Presbytery taken Possession of Naboth's Vinyard he being stoned and dead but they became as Odious to the Independents who with more cunning and Address and less trouble gently laid them aside as Babylonish too and notwithstanding all their Exclamations from the Pulpit and the Press both in their Prayers and Sermons they could not prevail either with God or Men to hear them or support their sinking Cause but their Companions mocked them as the Priests of Baal as Elijah did and as they had done those of the Church of England And had not the God of Mercy and Compassion pitied us in our Low Estate when we lay in the Dust by miraculously restoring our Soveraign to his Crown and with him the Church to her right no doubt but the Power and Revenue of the Church would have been a perpetual Prize and England the Bloody Theatre upon which every Church would have Acted their Part and indeavoured to have their turn of being Uppermost AND if we could suppose that the present Dissenters are only influenced by mistaken Zeal for the Glory of God the Purity of Religion and the Salvation of Mens Souls and not the Destruction of their Bodies and Estates with that of the Government Yet can they give us no assurances or if they can they will not that they or their Successors shall continue in the same Undesigning Innocence And since these are such specious and taking Pretences with the Deceivable and Easy Multitude who can promise but that Ambition may put on the Cloak of Malicionsness and call it Religious Reformation that cunningly Dissembled Pride may shelter it self under the shining habit of pretended Piety and Purity and that Covetousness the root of all Evil may not appear in the borrowed Robes of Sanctity These Impostors may easily furnish a furious Jehu with Masks and Vizzards of Religion to impose upon many innocent Jehonadabs and take them up with him into the Charriot of Rebellion whilst with the same Popular and Insinuating Courtship he shall salute them kindly 2 Kings 10.15 16. with Is thy heart right as my heart is with thine if it be give me thy hand Which with him they will be ready to do and to lend their assistance to the Confederation especially upon hopes of being advanced and taken up with him into the Charriot of Government and hurried away with the tempting invitation Come with me and see my Zeal for the Lord. Though all this Zeal was meerly Interest and Ambition to Establish the Crown to himself by the utter Extirpation of the House of Ahab and not one dram of true Religion as the sequel of the story made appear And how easy is it for Hypocrisie to put on any shape and to appear an innocent Lamb when in reality it is a ravening Wolf how easy for Ambitious Spirits to pretend the Glory of God whilst they only design their own to decry all Forms of Prayer and Godliness and appear Zealous promoters of the Power of Religion only to advance themselves to Greatness and Power and under pretence of gaining Souls to God to make a Gain of Godliness and by sacrificing all to their Covetousness to make Godliness great Gain how feasible is it for Men to set up the Standard of King Jesus and make a Stale of a fifth Monarchy and under the Scepter of Christ to invade the Scepter of his Anointed and to Usurp his Throne THESE are easy Suppositions of what may be the Dangerous Consequences of that Disunion in a Nation which proceeds from admitting various Forms of Church Government in the same Nation Nor are they bare Suppositions but real Truths and what has been done and lately done among us and what may therefore be done again If there are any Persons who will own the Lawfulness of such dangerous Consequences as drown a Christian Nation in Blood Misery and Confusion or can but rationally be supposed that they may indanger it let them adhere to the Principle of tollerating diverse Forms of Church Government which is the ready Way to reduce those Suppositions into these most pernicious Realities and if it be so as no doubt can be made let all Dissenters either acknowledge that these Opinions are the Common Pests of Humane Society as well as Religion and therefore abandon them and reunite with the Government from which they are broke loose or if they will persist in maintaining defending spreading and increasing these Inhumane Principles and Practice◠〈◊〉 the minds of Men both by their Doctrine and Example Let them not think us uncharitable if as all sober and truly Pious and Judicious men must an Estimate be made of them according to the future Consequences and not their present Appearances which for any thing can be known to the Contrary may be only double-guilt Hypocrisie Simulata Pietas duplex Iniquitas and that is in truth double-di'd Iniquity IF they did not foresee these Mischiefs they are now shewn them and if upon Notice and Warning given they do not indeavour to avoid them we cannot remain Masters of common sense but we must believe they intend them and if we do believe that we may very lawfully not only Pray against them for the Peace of Jerusalem 2. Thess 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from such men as are out of place disorderly and not deserving therefore any place in society Exod. 21.29 To be delivered from Vnreasonable Men but the Government may and ought to take care of it self and those under its Charge who are Obedient and truly Fear God and the King to secure them from such wicked Attempts In the Law of Moses which was given by Gods Command if an Ox were wont to push and the Owner had warning and did not take Care to prevent it he was to make good the Dammage either with his Life or his Estate if a man digged a Pit and any thing fell into it he was to make restitution let me infer with St. Paul Doth God take care of Oxen and shall no care be taken of Christians 1 Cor. 9.9 10. or saith he it altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written that we may plough in hope and sow in hope and be made partakers of our hopes by reaping the quiet and peaceable fruits of Righteousness That these Principles have pusht against Government in times past is most notorious and one may truly say of them
Divine Truths of Worshipping God which you pretend to have discovered If you are certain shew it us that we may be so too Truths of this Nature must be clear and shining Error is dark and obscure If you are not certain as it is impossible you should you are certainly Proud and Presumptuous to Despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities which God has appointed in both Church and State And if it be certain that you are in Error and fight against God while you disturb the Peace of the World destroy Charity Peace and Concord by Hatred Strifes Seditions do you think that you shall ever see God to receive the Blessing of the Peace-Makers who shall be called the Children of God If Bishops be the true Shepherds as is Evident from Scripture Antiquity Oecumenical Councels and the Testimony of all those Martyrs the spirits of Just Men now made Perfect how will you answer the Chief Shepherd and Great Bishop of Souls at his appearing for climbing over into his Fold for Stealing and Killing and Destroying both the Sheep and the Shepherds How will you answer for all the Blood which has already been shed in the Quarrel to maintain your Vsurpations upon all things Civil and Sacred For all those Injuries Oppressions Spoiles Devastations and that Sacriledge which you have been the occasion of whilest you pretended by the Sword of Rebellion to Erect your Government Do you think that when God makes Inquisition for Blood Psal 9. that he will not remember the Complaint of the Poor the souls of so many Pious Innocents and their blood Cries like Abels but above all the blood of the Royal Martyr with those that St. John saw under the Altar crye aloud and of those who served at his Altar here Quousque Domine How long Lord Holy and true dost thou not Avenge our blood IN short either you must shew that the Government in Church and State are Unlawful and that your whole Charge against them is as true as it is Black or you are Calumniators You must prove yours a true Church or you are False Accusers of that which is you must shew that the Impositions are Unlawful or your Disobedience must be so and you will appear to be the Devils Factors and not Gods Ministers whilest you preach Religion to Destroy it and your Disobedience to indifferent things will be Damnable sin You will be accountable not only for your own Guilt but for that of all those who deceived by your Example and Doctrine Glory in what is the shame of Christianity thinking Reformation consists in Ruine and true Religion in open Rebellion and that to be a Friend of God it is requisite a man should be an Enemy to his Church IN the Name of God therefore consider seriously of these things If this be true Receive it and Repent if it be False shew it Where and in What for I profess my self as willing to embrace Truth from you as desire you should receive it from me Let not the vain shame of Revoking your Opinions the fear of losing the Esteem Flatteries and Benevolences of your Followers Mislead you Truth is an Excellent Companion though never so Naked It is better to Blush here than Burn Eternally Let not the hopes of the Churches Revenue animate you to Kill the Heir that the Inheritance may be yours Church Lands have not been Lucky to their Possessors Laqueus erit illi qui devorat Sacra says Solomon It is a Snare to devour Holy things They are Gods Portion you will bring a Snare upon your Souls and it may be upon your Necks which may spoyl the pleasure of those sweet Morsels And be assured that God will not forsake his Church for ever there are Praying Legions in that Glorious Army both in Heaven and Earth and more are they that are with us than they that are against us our Mountain may be full of Chariots and Horses of Fire though you see them not God will not suffer his Darling always to dwell among Lions or to lye under the Saws and Harrows of Iron She shall come up out of the Wilderness leaning upon her Beloved She shall look forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners Tanquam acies Ordinata with flying Colours in good Discipline and Comely Order take Heed lest whilest you think your selves upon Jacobs Ladder climbing up to Heaven that by sighting against this Army you do not prove your selves the Gates of Hell which shall not prevail against it but will against you If God arise for the Meek of the Earth his Enemies will be scattered and they that hate him shall flee before him but not be able to out fly his Vengeance Arise O Lord God thou and thy Ark into thy Resting-place let thy Priests be cloathed with Salvation and let thy Saints rejoyce in thy goodness And let all them that wish and pray for the Peace of Jerusalem Prosper and let all the People say Amen FINIS THe Author's Absence from the Press hath occasion'd the following Errata's which I hope the Candid Reader will Correct with what other Faults he finds Errata PAge 4. line 6. r. Impostor p 21. l. 7. for at one r. atone p. 27. l. 23. r. Cardinalis p. 31. l. 24. dele learn to do well p. 52. l. 9. r. Stratagem p. 65. l. 7 for there r. these p. 94. l. ult r. Menaces p. 128. l. 2. for Honor r. favour p. 133. l. 26. r. Imprudent p. 152. l. 22. for External r. Eternal p. 174 l. 31. for if â— that p. 226. l. 18. r. has not p. 287. l. 12. r. of Age. A Catalogue of some Books Printed for and Sold by Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street THe Commentaries of C. Julius Caesar of his Wars in Gallia and the Civil Wars betwixt him and Pompey Translated into English with many excellent and judicious Observations thereupon as also the Art of our Modern Training or Tactick Practice by Clement Edmonds Esquire Remembrancer of the City of London Whereunto is adjoyned the Eighth Commentary of the Wars in Gallia with some short Observations upon it Together with the Life of Caesar and an account of his Medals Revised Corrected and Enlarged in Fol. The History of the Reigns of Henry the VII Henry the VIII Edward the VI. and Queen Mary the First Written by the Right Honourable Francis Lord Verulam Viscount St. Alban the other Three by the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God Francis Godwyn Lord Bishop of Hereford in Fol. The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia written by Sir Philip Sidney Knight the Thirteenth Edition with his Life and Death a brief Table of the principal Heads and some other new Additions in Fol. The French way of Excercising their Infantry as it is now used in the Armies of his Most Christian Majesty in Fol. sticht Parthenissa that most Fam'd Romance the Six Volumes compleat composed by the Right
men who keep up these Principles of Disunion which have such a desperate influence upon the Civil Affairs and endeavour to Ruine the State by setting up Religion and whose restless and unwearied Industry leaves no stone unmoved Nay who will move Heaven and Earth to accomplish their Design This has been observed to be the Genius of Dissenters in former Times and it is to be feared the Humor has not left them Esay 57.20 21. For they are like the troubled Sea which cannot rest but is continually casting up mire and dirt Foaming and Raging and Raving like that unstable and unruly Element to enlarge its floating and turbulent Empire by incroaching upon the Terra Firma the Peaceable Earth and one may but too truly add the Words of the Prophet There is no Peace saith my God to the Wicked Rom. 3.13 14 15 16 17 18. For their Throat is an open Sepulchre with their Tongues they use Deceipt the Poyson of Asps is under their Lips Their mouth is full of Bitterness their feet are swift to shed Blood Destruction and Misery are in their ways And the way of Peace have they not known For their Practices declare it publiquely what ever they pretend either of Innocence or Sanctity That there is no fear of God before their eyes THERE being no Differences as before was observed which do so absolutely Alienate the minds of Men as those about Religion as they are most irreconcilable therefore they are most dangerous not only to the Essence of Religion but to the Civil affairs of State for if we be divided and distracted what matters it how or by what Means The effects of these Dissentions will have the same influence upon the Publique Affairs whether they come from Religion or Ambition Either will ruine us but the former more certainly and with greater Artifice Because more insinuating and plausible in outward appearance For men who have any sense of Religion cannot but look upon it as the great concern of their Lives and the care of their Posterity to whom they desire to transmit it as well as their Estates And though it is in Charity to be hoped that many Dissenters are not aware of this dangerous Rock which lies under Water and that they have no such Ill designs yet they cannot be ignorant from former Expeence that there may be such among them now as have been formerly and that Popular and Ambitious Spirits have made use of their Zeal and Credulity to abuse them and the whole Nation into Misery and Slavery under the pretence of Liberty And that such Men will never want either Shelter or opportunity under those pretences of Religion to embroyl us among our selves or betray us to a Forrein Power so long as this Disunion continues and these Differences are incouraged maintained and daily propagated among us THIS is a season when these things would be seriously Considered by all Dissenters and if it shall appear a real Truth that this Industry in stead of promoting true Religion must promote our Ruine they ought voluntarily to Unite and return to the Obedience of the King and Church For otherways their Actions will confess what their Tongues deny and that this Reformation is in Reality the Subversion of the Government which they intend FOR what is it possible to believe or think of such Persons as with treacherous Joab 2 Sam. 20.29 call us Brethren enquire of our Health and with the right hand salute that with the left they may stab us as he did the incautelous Amasa with our own Sword under the fifth Rib. Can they be esteemed Friends to their Countrey or the Protestant Religion who through their Dissentions discredit the one and disable the other from defending it is this the way to secure us from Arbitrary Government to make the Princes Government perpetually unsafe and uneasy and almost impracticable without it by forcing him for the guard of the Sceptre to wear a Sword and then exclaim against him for doing that which they have necessitated him to do or to leave his Crown and Life and that of his Loyal Subjects to the mercy of the Sword of Rebellion Can it be probable that this should be an Expedient to preserve us from the Roman Religion to furnish them with Arguments against us that we deny the Catholique Faith in the Communion of Saints and to give them this advantage against us to say and truly that we have neither Vnity nor Charity Or can any man in his Wits believe that the best way to Establish Peace among our selves is to maintain perpetual Principles of Quarrels and Contentions Or that we are like to defend our selves from powerful Enemies abroad Enemies by a Hereditary Animosity and Enemies upon the account of Religion by worrying one another at Home No no as soon shall the Plague become an Amulet to preserve us from Contagion as soon shall Impotent men be cured by cutting their Nerves in pieces as soon shall men see clearly by putting out their Eyes and all that ever can be imagined that is not only improbable but utterly impossible come to pass as that this or any other Nation should be happy without Vnity not only in point of the Civil but Ecclesiastical Government or that Mens minds should be easy whilest the Spring of Jealousies is kept open among us and the fountain of Charity is stopt up or that we should be safe from Forrein Enemies when no man can tell who is his Friend at Home NOR in short can it be hoped that Truth and Peace should flourish in our Days when Private Opinion shall be preferred before the Catholique Faith and the practice of the Church in all Ages 1 Tim. 6.4 when Eternal Wranglings about Words and Questions whereof cometh Envy Strife Railings and Evil Surmisings shall be the great Accomplishment of Christian Religion and shall banish all Love and Charity from the minds and lives of Men. What can be the end of these Mischiefs So long as Obstinacy in our private Judgments shall be accounted a more Essential part of Religion than Obedience to Lawful Authority but what the Apostle long since by way of Caution predicted to the Church of the Galatians Gal. 5.13 14 15. Brethren ye have been called unto Liberty only abuse not your Liberty for an occasion to the Flesh but by Love serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one Word even in this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self But if they bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another Which fearful Prophecy so truly verisied and fulfilled upon that and the rest of the Asian Churches God of his infinite Goodness and Mercy avert from us by bestowing upon us this Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace and which is certainly the true Spirit of Christian Religion and the only way to obtain that peace of God which passeth all Vnderstanding which will fill the
Soul with peace of Conscience here the World with happiness and all those who follow it with Eternal Joy unspeakable and full of Glory in Heaven CHAP. XII THUS far I have indeavoured to follow Truth by manifesting that Vnity in Faith and Vnity in Government in a National Church are absolutely necessary both to the salvation of Mens Souls and to the Happiness Peace and Security of any People in their Politique Capacities As there can be nothing in the World more desirable so there is nothing that all good Men ought more sincerely to indeavour to promote Blessed are the Peace-makers says the Eternal Prince of Peace for they shall be called the Children of God who is the God of Peace and the Author of the Gospel of Peace Let us therefore in Order to it in the next place see what Expedients have been propounded to restore this Peace to this Church and Nation IT has been already manifested that Vnity in point of Faith is the Bond of the Catholique Vnion among all distinct Churches which are Members of the Catholique or Universal Church but this Faith must Work by Love Gal. 5.6 It has been also shewn that though this Vnity of Faith which works so by Love as that though distinct Nations and Churches disagree about Ceremonies and Circumstances of Religion yet they may all agree in the substance of Faith yet that it is impossible this should be in the same Nation and that therefore Vniformity of Government in the Church is absolutely necessary to maintain Charity and Vnity And though this might be sufficient to shew the Unreasonableness of Tolleration of different Forms of Divine Worship under the same Magistrate yet since there is such a Cry among all Dissenters both Papists and others for Tolleration and Liberty of Conscience as an Expedient both Politique Religious and Necessary let me be permitted freely to speak my impartial sense concerning it THOUGH all Parties whose private Opinion makes them Dissent from the Establisht Government both in Church and State must of necessity be desirous of a Tolleration yet I find the Papists and the Presbyterians are they who appear most solicitous for it and yet of all others they seem least to deserve it For no man ought in reason to demand that for himself which he would not think it lawful to grant to any other if in his Circumstances Now Experience has given us Demonstration of the violent Tempers of both these and there is not a Possibility of doubting but if either the Papist or Presbyter were in Power they would not allow any Tolleration or Indulgence to other Dissenters but the one would Establish the Scepter of the Pope and the other of Christ as they call their New Government with the most unlimited Soveraignty both over the Faith and Actions of All Princes as well as Peasants and since they would compel all People by the utmost Severities and Rigours of Penal Laws to Carry the Yoak which they would Impose upon them what reason can they have to Expect for themselves what they would deny all others for their Practice has made it evident to the lowest Understanding that they who have so little Charity for their Brethren in the Common Christianity as to damn them without remedy to the bottomless Abyss of Hell for dissenting from them in any one point which they have decreed to be De Fide will look upon it as an Effect of Compassion rather than Cruelty to convert them and save their Souls though with the loss of their Lives Liberties and Estates or if that cannot be effected to confound them to Extirpate and destroy them lest they should lead others by their Doctrines or Example to Damnation WHEREAS in truth and reality nothing but Blasphemy Atheism and such Immoralities as are destructive of Humane Society render men obnoxious to Temporal Punishments Insidelity or not believing aright being Crimes or Defects rather of the Understanding fall no further under humane Cognizance or Penal Laws than by their Consequences and Effects they may or do prejudice those Laws and the Common End of Society and therefore they are reserved for the Punishment of a future state and the Church can proceed no further than to Exclude them from her Communion but not out of the Possession of their Lives or Estates which God Almighty as the Common Father of Mankind thinks fit to permit them to Enjoy making his Sun to shine upon the Just and Unjust with an equal influence and benignity BUT since a Papist has undertaken the Common Cause of all Dissenters The Advocate of Conscience Liberty c. and it may be has said as much for them as the subject will bear and more in behalf of his own Party than any other Dissenters can pretend to for themselves Papists having the specious plea of Prescription as the Religion of our Ancestors the ancient Form of Government in the Church and the Ancient Faith had they permitted it to continue so Intire and Undefiled unmixed with their Apochrypha and Tradiditions I will indeavour to answer what is most material in his Discourse in order to discovering the Weakness of his Plea not concerning my self with the sincerity of his Intention which though appearing for all is only Designed for the benefit of his own Party IN the first place therefore I desire that Notice may be taken how he states the Question in the Prooemium of his Book Note saith he by Persecution Imposition and Restraint we only mean the strict requiring to believe this to be true and that to be false c. and upon refusal to Swear or Conform to incur the Penalties Enacted in such Cases but by these Terms we do not mean any Coercive Let or Hindrance into publique Meetings By Liberty of Conscience we understand only a meer Liberty of Mind in believing or disbelieving this or that Doctrine so far as may refer only to religious matters in a private way of Worship which are not destructive to the Nature and Grounds of Christian Faith nor tending to matters of an External Judicature in abetting any Contrivances or disturbance to common Peace or Civility As to the First of these I would gladly be shewn when or where the Government did ever in this sense persecute in any thing which is purely the subject of Faith without relating to Practice or the Consequences of such Faith or where any person for refusing to Believe or Swear or Conform to any thing which did not insluence the Civil Affairs of State was ever punished was ever any man fined imprisoned or banished because he would not swear to believe any Theological Point as of Free Will Merit of Works c. which had no relation to Political Affairs there cannot be one Precedent found in all the Records of all our Courts of Judicature though we can shew many out of that Legend as he calls Bishop Fox's Martyrology who were put to death without any other Crime than that they