31. The Wrongs of thofe poffeffed of the Government of the Church, to the others, can hardly be diffembled or excufed: they have charged them as if they had denied Tribute to Cæfar; and withdrawn from the civil Magiftrate the Obedience they have ever yielded and taught. taught. They have forted and coupled them with the Family of Love; whofe Herefies they have laboured to deftroy and confute. They have been swift to receive Accufations against them, from thofe that have quarrelled with them, only for speaking against Sin and Vice. Their Accufations and Inquifitions have been ftrict, fwearing Men to Blanks and Generalities; not included within the Compafs of certain Matter, which the Party who takes the Oath may comprehend: And this is a captious and ftrained thing. Their urging of Subfcription to their own Articles, is but irritating and provoking the Difeafes of the Church; which otherwife would spend and discharge themselves. He feeks not Unity, but Divifion, who exacts that in Words, which Men are content to yield in Action. And there are fome who, I am perfuaded, will not eafily offend by Non-conformity, yet make a Confcience to fubfcribe; as knowing this Mark of Inconftancy, and Defection from what they have long held, will difable them from doing that Good they might otherwise effect: for fuch is the Weakness of many, that they think their Miniftry would be thereby difcredited. As for their eafy filencing them, in fuch a great Scarcity of Preachers; this is to punish the People, and not the Priefts. Ought not the Bishops to keep one Eye open upon the Good thofe Men do; and not to fix them both upon the Evil only fuppofed to proceed from them? Indeed for such as are intemperate and incorrigible; God forbid they fhould be permitted to preach but fhall every inconfiderate Word, fometimes captiously watched, and for the most part harfhly enforced, be a Forfeiture of their Voice and Gift in Preaching? As for particular Moleftations; I take no Pleasure to recite them. If a Minifter fhall be troubled for faying in Baptism, do you believe, for doeft thou believe? If another fhall be called in queftion for praying for her Majefty, without the Additions of her Titles; whilft the very Form of Prayer in the Book of Common-Prayer, has, thy Servant Elizabeth, and no more. If a third fhall be accufed upon thefe Words, uttered with relation to our Controverfies, tollatur Lex, & fiat Certamen : (whereby was meant, that the Prejudice of the Law removed, the Reafons on both Sides fhould be equally compared) as if it were calling the People to Sedition and Mutiny; or as if he had faid, away with the Law, and try it out by Force. If thefe, and the like Particulars be true, which I have but by Rumour, and cannot affirm; it is to be lamented, that they fhould labour amongst us with fo little Comfort. I know that reftrained Governments are better than remifs ones; and I am of his Mind, who faid, 'tis better to live where nothing is lawful, than where all things are lawful. I diflike that Laws fhould be difcontinued, or Dif m k Laceffere & irritare morbos ecclefia. 1 Non confenfum querit fed diffidium, qui, quod fatis praftatur, in verbis exigit. turbers turbers go unpunished: but Laws are like the Grape, that when too much preffed, yields a harsh and unwholfome Wine. Of thefe things I muft lay; The Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God. 32. As for the Injuries of the other Side; they are but headlefs Arrows; of the Party fiery and eager Invectives; and, in fome fond Men, uncivil and irreverent out of Power. Behaviour towards their Superiors. This laft Invention alfo, which expofes them to Derifion and Obloquy by Libels, charges not the whole Side: nor even that other, tho ftill more odious, practifed by the worst fort of them; which is to call in certain mercenary Troops, that oppofe Bishops, and all other ecclefiaftical Dignities, to the Spoil of their Endowments and Livings. Of these I cannot speak too feverely. It is an Intelligence between Incendiaries and Robbers; the one to fire the House, the other to rifle it. IV. and Sincerity. 33. The fourth Point wholly regards thofe who oppofe the prefent ec- The Procedure clefiaftical Government; and who, altho they have not cut themfelves off of the Separatifs, or Opfrom the Body and Communion of the Church; yet affect certain Cogni-posers of zances and Differences, wherein they feek to correfpond among them- Epifcopal Gofelves; and to be separate from others. And it is truly faid, that there are vernment. as well fchifmatical Fashions, as Opinions". First, they have impropriated to Their Preten themselves the Names of zealous, fincere, and reformed; as if all others ces to Zeal were cold Minglers of holy and prophane Things, and Friends to Abuses. Nay, let a Man be endued with great Virtues, and fruitful in good Works; yet if he concur not with them, they term him, in Derogation, a civil and moral Man; and compare him to Socrates, or fome heathen Philofopher : whereas the Wisdom of the Scriptures teaches us, to judge and denominate Men religious, according to their Works of the Second Table: because they of the firft are often counterfeit, and practifed in Hypocrify °. So St. John fays, that a Man vainly boafts of loving God, whom he has not feen, if he love not his Brother, whom he has feen. And St. James fays, this is true Religion, to vifit the fatherless and the Widow. So that what is with them but philofophical and moral, is, in the Apostle's Phrafe, true Religion and Chriftianity. 34. And as in Affection they challenge the Virtues of Zeal, Since- Their Pretenvity, &c. fo in Knowledge, they attribute to themfelves Light and Per-ces to Light and Perfecfection. They fay the Church of England, in King Edward's Time, and tion. the Beginning of the Queen's Reign, was but in the Cradle; and that the Bishops of thofe times did fomewhat for Day-break; but that Maturity and Fulnefs of Light proceeds from themfelves. So Sabinius, Bishop of Heraclea, a Macedonian Heretick, faid, that the Fathers in the Council of Nice were but Infants, and ignorant Men; and that the Church was not fo perfect in their Decrees, as to refufe the farther Ripeness of Knowledge, which Time had revealed. And as they cenfure virtuous Men, Tam funt Mores quidam Schifmatici, quam Dogmata Schifmatica. Their Reproach of Freachers. Their own Their errone Men, by the Names of civil and moral; fo they cenfure Men truly religious, and wife, who see into the Vanity of their Affections, by the Name of political Perfons; faying, that their Wisdom is but carnal, and favouring of Man's Brain. So likewife, if a Divine preach with Thought and Care, not in the vain fcholaftical Manner, but with Strength and Solidity; ordering the Matter he handles diftinctly, for the fake of Memory; deducing it down in the Way of Direction; and authorizing it with ftrong Proofs and Warrants; they cenfure it as a Form of fpeaking, not becoming the Simplicity of the Gospel; and refer it to the Reprehenfion of St. Paul, fpeaking of the enticing Speech of Man's Wisdom. Now for their own manner of Preaching, what is it? Surely they exhort well, work Compunction of Mind, and bring Men to the Queftion, Men and Brethren, what shall we do? But that is not enough; except they refolve the Question. They handle Matters of Controverfy weakly, and flightly; and as before an Audience that will accept of any thing. In their Doctrine of Manners there is little but Generality and Repetition. The Word, the Bread of Life, they tofs up and down; but they break it not: they draw not their Directions down to Cafes of Confcience; that a Man may be warranted in his particular Actions, whether they are lawful or not: neither indeed are many of them able to do it, thro the Want of grounded Knowledge; or thro the Want of Study and Application. 'Tis an eafy thing to call out for the Obfervance of the Sabbath; or to fpeak against unlawful Gain but what Actions and Works may be done upon the Sabbath, what not; and what Courfes of Gain are lawful, and in what Cafes; to fet this down, and to clear the whole Matter, with good Diftinctions and Decifions, is a Work of great Knowledge, and Labour; that requires much Meditation, converfing with the Scriptures, and other Helps, which God has provided and preferved for Inftruction. 35. Again; they carry not an equal Hand in teaching the People their ous and im- lawful Liberty, as well as their Restraints and Prohibitions: but think a perfect Manner of teach-Man cannot go too far in what has the Shew of a Commandment. They ing the People, forget that there are Sins on the Right-hand, as well as on the Left; and that the Word is double edged, and cuts on both fides; as well the prophane Tranfgreffions, as the fuperftitious Obfervances. Who doubts that it is as unlawful to fhut where God has opened, as to open where God has fhut; to bind where God has loofed, as to loose where God has bound? Among Men it is commonly as ill taken to refufe Favours, as to difobey Commands. In this kind of Zeal they have pronounced generally, and without Difference; as for Example, that all Untruths are unlawful; notwithstanding the Midwives are directly reported to have been bleed for their Excufe: as Rahab is faid by Faith to have concealed the Spies. And Solomon's felected Judgment proceeded upon a Simulation: And our Saviour, the more to touch the Hearts of the two Difciples with a holy Dalliance, made as if he would have paffed Emmaus. Farther, I have heard fome Sermons of Mortification, which, I think, with very good Meaning, they have preached out of their own Experience and Exercife; and Things in private Coun fels fels not improper; but furely no found Doctrines, only fuch as are rather apt to breed in Men weak Opinions and perplexed Defpairs, than filial and true Repentance. People to all 37. Another Point of great Inconvenience and Danger, is entitling the Their AdmifPeople to hear Controverfies, and all kinds of Doctrine. They fay, no fion of the part of the Counsel of God is to be fuppreffed; nor the People defrauded: Controverfies. fo that the Difference which the Apoftle makes between Milk and Strong Meat, is confounded; and his Precept, that the Weak be not admitted to Questions and Controverfies, neglected. 38. But chiefly their Manner of handling the Scriptures is to be fufpect- Their Manner ed, as a Seed of farther Inconvenience; for whilft they endeavour to pro- of handling the Scriptures. duce Scripture for every thing; and have, in a manner, deprived themfelves and the Church of a particular Help and Support, by debafing the Authority of the Fathers; they have recourse to naked Examples, conceited Inferences, and forced Allufions; fuch as ruin all Certainty of Religion P. 39. Another Extremity, is the exceffive magnifying of that, which tho Their extreme it be a principal and most holy Inftitution; yet has its Limits; as well as magnifying of Preaching. all other Things. We fee that wherever, in a manner, they find the Word, spoken of in Scripture, they expound it of Preaching: they have made it almost effential to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to have a Precedent Sermon; and they have, in a fort, annihilated the Ufe of Liturgies, and divine Service; altho the House of God be denominated, in a particular manner, the House of Prayer, and not the House of Preaching. Tenets. 40. As for the Life of the good Monks and Hermits in the primitive Their Stiffness Church; I know they will condemn a Man as half a Papift, who main- and Fondness tains them to be other than prophane: because fuch Hermits heard no Ser-for their own mons. In the mean time, what Preaching is, and who may be faid to preach, they do not enquire: but, as far as I fee, every Man, who prefumes to fpeak in the Chair, is by them accounted a Preacher. But I am affured, that many who call hotly for a preaching Miniftry, deserve to be the first that fhould be expelled. All these Errors and Misconduct of theirs, they fortify and intrench by a rivetted Refpect to their own Opinions; and an Impatience to bear Contradiction or Argument. And I know fome of them that would think it a Tempting of God, to hear or read what may be faid against them; as if Men could hold faft to that which is good, without trying all things first. Ways laid before them. 41. This may fuffice to offer them a Thought and Confideration, whe- 4 Confiderather in these things they do well or no; and to correct and affuage the Par- tion of their tiality of their Followers. But for any Man, who fhall hereby enter into a Contempt of their Miniftry; it is but his own Hardness of Heart. I know the Work of Exhortation chiefly refts upon thefe Men; and they have Zeal, and a hate of Sin. But again, let them beware it be not true which P It may perhaps require a competent Share of good Senfe, to understand the Caution here inculcated, which is fuch as can fcarce be felt by religious Zealots, who thro their Ignorance generally render themselves contemptible to the Men of Senfe, and Learning. VOL. II. Rr one The Way of ligious Controverfies. one of their Adverfaries faid; viz. that they have only two small Wants, KNOWLEDGE and CHARITY. And fo I conclude this Point. V. 42. The laft Point, viz. the due publishing and debating of thefe Controconducting re-verfies, need not be enlarged upon. And the ftrange Abuse of Antiques and Pafquils has been touched before 9. Certainly the Character of Love is more proper for Debates of this nature, than that of Zeal. And as for all direct or indirect Glances upon Mens Perfons; they were ever in thefe Cafes difallowed. The People no 43. And whatever may be pretended, the People are no fit Arbitrators; Judges of but rather the quiet, the modeft, and private Affemblies, and Conferences Controverfies, of the Learned. He who fpeaks before an unqualified Hearer, does not difpute, but calumniate. The Prefs and Pulpit fhould be free from these Contentions. Neither Promotion on the one fide, nor Glory and Heat on the other, ought to continue fuch Challenges at the Cross, and other Places: but rather all Preachers, especially fuch as are of a good Temper, and have Wisdom with Confcience, ought to inculcate Peace, Silence, and a Truce. Neither let them fear Solon's Law, which in Factions compell'd every Perfon to range himself on the one fide, or the other; nor yet the fond Calumny of Neutrality: but let them know, what a wife Man faid is true; viz. that Neuters in Contentions are either better, or worse, than either fide. 44. These things I have wrote in all Sincerity and Simplicity, as to the Controverfies which now disturb the Church of England; and that without all Art and Infinuation: and therefore am not likely to please either Party. Yet I hope that what I have faid will find a Correfpondence in those Minds which are not imbarked in Partiality; but love the Whole better than a Part. Conclufion. 4 See above, §. 6, 7. r Qui apud incapacem loquitur, non difceptat, fed calumniatur. SECT. |