liiillini!<iii?l'!:i'i.: 
 
Columbia ^.^nitiem'tp 
 
 mtI)e€itpofllfttigork 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Natljeintrl (Unrnn Ifunh 
 
 for t\}e 
 
 SntrtVLBt of tl|p IGibraru 
 
 tBtabltshrii 190B 
 
THE 
 
 FAITH AND PRACTICE OF A 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 MAN. 
 
The Faith and Practice of a 
 
 Church of E?igla77d 
 
 Ma7i : 
 
 BY WILLIAM STANLEY, D.D. 
 
 Formerly Dean of St. Afaph. 
 
 With Notes ; and an hitrodu£lory EJfay on the Leading 
 
 Principles of the CHURCH of 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. ROBERT EDEN, M.A. F.S.A. 
 
 LATE FEI.r.OVV OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD : 
 MINISTER OF ST, MARY's, LAMBETH. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WILLIAM PICKERING. 
 
 1848. 
 
^ 
 
 937. ^JL 
 
 P 
 
CO 
 
 m 
 
 ESSAY ON THE LEADING 
 PRINCIPLES, ETC. 
 
 HE licenfe for printing 
 thisbookis dated theyear 
 of the Revolution ; a cir- 
 cumflance which borne 
 in mind by the reader will explain 
 many paffages in the work, and im- 
 part an intereft to many more. 
 
 The work has been reprinted for 
 two reafons : firft, becaufe it feemed 
 truly to exhibit, within a very fhort 
 compafs, '' the Faith and Practice 
 of a Church of England man :" and 
 b 
 
VI 
 
 alfo, becaufe it afforded an oppor- 
 tunity of appending a number of 
 remarks, which would render the 
 book in every way more valuable. 
 Indeed, without a running commen- 
 tary, it would not have been given to 
 the public. For, as no one is called 
 upon to revive a work of this kind, 
 a century and a half old ; foy if any 
 do refolve to be the Author of a fe- 
 cond period of its exiftence, he is 
 bound to provide that its new career 
 fhall be one of the greateft poffible 
 ufefulnefs. But, He may feel, that 
 whilft, in the main, the book is fo 
 valuable as to deferve to reappear, 
 it has yet its defecfls. It may fay on 
 fome points too much, on others too 
 little. It may contain fome ftatements 
 
vu 
 
 which, in his opinion, are either 
 miftaken or obfolete. In this cafe 
 his tafk is one of refponfibility ; for, 
 a great proportion of the readers of 
 the book, being unacquainted with 
 theological fubjeds, or with the nice 
 diftindiions that attach to them, will 
 take on truft whatever is put before 
 them in a book recommended to 
 them, either by their own paftor, or 
 from fome other circumftance which 
 does not involve the exercife of their 
 own judgment. It will be found, 
 accordingly, that not a few remarks 
 of a corrective nature are made, in 
 the notes, upon palTages which feem- 
 ed to contain wrong principles, or to 
 be founded upon any notions which 
 characflerized the Church of England 
 
VIU 
 
 at that particular period ; but which 
 increafed light and experience have 
 ferved to explode. 
 
 The Book which is now repub- 
 lished is not a learned treatife ; an 
 elaborate defence of the Church ; 
 but it exhibits, in a fmall fpace, the 
 principles, both in dodlrine and dif- 
 cipline, upon which our national 
 Church refts. There are larger works 
 for profeffed ecclefiaftical ftudents ; 
 but, this is intended to be a popular 
 manual : and if it become fuch by the 
 acceptance it finds with the people in 
 general, it will convey as much in- 
 fl:rud:ion as mofl members of our 
 Church need to poiTefs. Were the 
 arguments in this little Book care- 
 fully confidered by every individual 
 
IX 
 
 of that number who call themfelves 
 members of the Church of England, 
 our national Zion would be ftrong in 
 the attachment of many enlightened 
 children. We can never expedl a 
 fteadfaft adhefion to the Communion 
 of our Church, except from thofe 
 who, from fome fource or other, have 
 aflured themfelves of the reafons 
 which commend that Church, rather 
 than any other Communion, to their 
 approbation. 
 
 Nor let any be deterred from en- 
 quiring into the merits of our Church 
 fyftem by the objection that fuch an 
 inveftigation proceeds upon a mif- 
 take ; and, that ' the Church does not 
 afk to be patronized by her members, 
 but that fhe patronizes them:' for. 
 
in fuch an enquiry, it is not propofed 
 to confider whether the Church of 
 Chrijl is to receive our allegiance ; 
 this would be prefumptuous and pro- 
 fane : but whether a particular branch 
 of that Church, in our own kingdom 
 and nation, is entitled to our cordial 
 regard. For, if our national Church 
 be anything, it is an Inftitution for 
 the teaching of religion. But,'^Chrif- 
 tian liberty to reafon is the bafis of 
 acceptable religion : " and though 
 '* the privilege may be abufed to ca- 
 price," yet " the abufe of a bleffing 
 cannot be urged as an argument for 
 its removal." It has been exprefsly 
 denied by fome writers, that our 
 Church acknowledges the right of 
 individual judgment, on the ground 
 
XI 
 
 that it enjoins the ufe of the Creeds 
 and of the Liturgy and Catechifm. 
 Each Church has undoubtedly aright, 
 in matters intrinfically indifferent, to 
 prefcribe, to its own members, regu- 
 lations with which it is their duty to 
 comply : but even then it is left to the 
 confcience and judgment of each per- 
 fon, iirft to determine whether the 
 regulations in queftion be in them- 
 felves decent and reafonable ; and, if 
 he fhould be perfuaded, (however 
 erroneoufly), that any fuch ritual en- 
 actments are unfeemly, it becomes 
 a matter of confcientious difficulty 
 whether he may be a participator in 
 them. But, '* to attribute to a Church 
 a fimilar power inrefpedlof docflrines, 
 (of which Church-formularies are 
 
Xll 
 
 only expolitions and commentaries;) 
 and to make it the duty of any one 
 to affent to her interpretation of 
 Scripture is, praftically, to put her 
 on a level with the Scriptures. If 
 it could be imagined that our Church 
 meant to declare that her children 
 have no right to ufe each his own 
 mental faculties in deciding whether 
 the * Book of Common Prayer' be 
 agreeable to the will and Vv^ord of 
 God, but are bound to receive it im- 
 plicitly, and adopt it fubmiflively, 
 becaufe it is our Church's Service- 
 Book, — then, we muft alfo be pre- 
 pared to admit that in exadling this 
 mute obedience from her members, 
 the Church of England has abandoned 
 the grand principle of Proteflantifm, 
 
XIU 
 
 the only one that could juftify the 
 Reformation ; and, that our Reform- 
 ers muft (land convidled as fchifma- 
 tical heretics. Is it not rather true, 
 that not only as Chriftians, but as 
 Churchmen, we are left in poffeffion 
 of the privilege of individual judg- 
 ment ? This judgment men mujl ex- 
 ercife, if they are accountable for 
 their opinions ; for without it there 
 can be no refponfibility." 
 
 The proper office of a Church may 
 be thus briefly fet forth. 
 
 It has pleafed God in his mercy to 
 reveal to his ignorant and finful crea- 
 ture, man, a number of truths re- 
 fpedting Himfelf, and the deftinies 
 of man, and the method by which 
 his grace is conveyed into the fouL 
 
XIV 
 
 Topreferve and to make known thefe 
 truths is the fingle duty of the Church 
 Univerfal. In deciding upon the 
 claims of any individual or national 
 Church, we have fimply to enquire 
 how far that Church has fulfilled, in 
 its place and proportion, the duty 
 which belongs to the Church Uni- 
 verfal. It is not enough that the 
 docflrines fhe inculcates be Apoftolic; 
 they muft alfo be whole and unde- 
 filed : whole, fo that nothing be ta- 
 ken from them ; undefiled, that no- 
 thing be added to them. Now, it 
 is only becaufe the Church of En- 
 gland can make good to her chil- 
 dren this rightful requirement, that 
 fhe has any claim to their allegiance. 
 *' Mine anfwer to them that do exa- 
 
XV 
 
 mine me " (we may Imagine Her to fay) 
 " is this." If the docSlrines preached 
 and recorded by Apoflles ftamp a 
 true Church, which of thefe doctrines 
 is not unfolded, in its full length and 
 breadth, in my Liturgy, Sacraments, 
 Articles, Homilies, and other ritual 
 Services ? If it be further requifite 
 that no addition be made to that 
 which is admitted to be Apoftolic 
 truth, in what particular have I gone 
 '* beyond the word of the Lord to fay 
 more of my own mind:" in what 
 inftance has a Scripture truth been 
 defiled by the admixture of cun- 
 ningly devlfed fables of man's inven- 
 tion ? Or, if it be neceffary to com- 
 plete the pretenfions of a Church, 
 that fhe have not taken aught away 
 
XVI 
 
 from the x^poftolic truth, — what have 
 I *^ hidden of all the things which the 
 Lord faid unto me" by his infpired 
 fervants, fo that the portraiture of 
 divine truth as drawn by my hand 
 fhould be defective?' — Like the vene- 
 rable Samuel of old, our Church calls 
 all Ifrael, and fays to them, in each 
 of thefe refpedis, ' What truth have 
 I invented, or added, or defaced ? 
 Witnefs againft me before the Lord/ 
 And now, as then, the reply to this 
 challenge, her enemies being her 
 judges, is one of triumphant vindica- 
 tion : they " find no occafion againft 
 her concerning the law of her God." 
 To eftablifli thefe aflertions would 
 require that we fhould go with mi- 
 nute particularity into the Formula- 
 
XVll 
 
 ries of the Church, — a tafk far too 
 long for this place. Whoever would 
 aflure himfelf of their truth, need 
 only turn to fuch works as Hooker's 
 '' Ecclefiaftical Pohty," and Puller's 
 ** Moderation of the Church of Eng- 
 land," in which, in the moft power- 
 ful and unanfwerable manner, the 
 above commendations of our Church 
 are vindicated by thofe able champi- 
 ons of our Communion. It is good 
 that every Churchman fhould fatisfy 
 himfelf upon thefe points ; becaufe 
 it is no light matter whether the fyf- 
 tem to which we attach ourfelves 
 from the beginning to the end of our 
 life, be one which will ^' guide us 
 into truth," or keep our feet in the 
 paths even of partial error. Were 
 
XVlll 
 
 the queftion one of fcience or of lite- 
 rature, it would be comparatively of 
 little moment, fhould it be found that 
 we had adopted the views of a fchool 
 that was partially miftaken or but 
 imperfedlly enlightened. But ^* if 
 the foul be indeed immortal," (fays an 
 able Writer), '' if the happinefs or 
 mifery of the thinking fpirit in that 
 endlefs immortality be dependent, in 
 fome myfterious manner, upon our 
 choice of religious opinions in this 
 firft ftage of our never-ending exift- 
 ence ; the queftion whether I ought, 
 or whether I ought not, to profefs 
 myfelf a member of the Church of 
 England, is too folemn, and too im- 
 portant to be decided from any other 
 reafons, than thofe which a difem- 
 
XIX 
 
 bodied fpirit can offer before the 
 throne and tribunal of the heart- 
 fearching and foul-judging God. I 
 do not prefume to judge others. I 
 do not doubt their fincerity. I pafs 
 no opinion on their decifions. I do 
 not afk with refped: to them. Lord, 
 are there many that fhall be faved ? 
 I only afk. What fhall it profit me 
 if I gain the whole world, and by a 
 wrong choice of religion lofe my own 
 foul ? and therefore no earthly con- 
 fideration whatever, ought to induce 
 me to remain in its Communion, un- 
 lefs I am able to anfwer before the 
 Almighty for my decifion." 
 
 It is refrefhing to read fuch fenti- 
 ments as thefe. They hold a middle 
 courfe between the indifference of 
 
XX 
 
 thofe who are Church-people by in- 
 heritance or accident ; and the blind 
 acquiefcence of that clafs who upon 
 principle decline to render any ac- 
 count of their memberfhip with the 
 Church of England, left they fhould 
 feem to countenance the prefump- 
 tuoufnefs which * patronizes' where 
 it fhould bow down. Did fuch views 
 as thofe above quoted generally pre- 
 vail ; were the queftion of continuing 
 in the communion of the National 
 Church treated thus confcientioufly, 
 and made a part of that accountable- 
 nefs under which all are placed; the 
 refult would quickly be found, in the 
 growth of a Church community in 
 which we might rejoice, becaufe it 
 
XXI 
 
 would be compofed of a well-in- 
 flrudted, and a fleadfaft people. 
 
 To purfue fuch an enquiry as this 
 into the claims of the Church which 
 invites us to unite with it in our 
 earthly worfhip, is not eafy. And 
 the difficulty lies in the tendency 
 which dwells in all Chriftians to 
 pay undue deference to human au- 
 thority. Men idolize the wifdom 
 of their forefathers, and are indif- 
 pofed to the tafk of inveftigation ; 
 two caufes which are, of themfelves 
 fufficient to prevent enquiry into the 
 merits of the fyftem to which they 
 are attached. They need therefore, 
 to be encouraged and urged to this 
 duty by their appointed teachers, 
 d 
 
xxu 
 
 who will lofe nothing of the confi- 
 dence of the people when it is per- 
 ceived, that they do not feek to gain 
 a deference to the ecclefiaftical iyf- 
 tem of which they are the Miniflers, 
 upon the ground of prefcription ; 
 but, that they are ready to fupply an 
 *' anfwer to every one that afketh 
 them a reafon," as well ^' of the " 
 heavenly *^ hope that is in them," as 
 of that form of earthly worfhip to 
 which they invite the people com- 
 mitted to their charge. 
 
 The church of this nation has been 
 juftly chara6terized, as ^* pure in its 
 dodlrines, irreproachable in its order, 
 beautiful in its forms." To thefe 
 claims we may add an argument 
 from experience ; that the fame 
 
XXIU 
 
 Church has been *' an honoured in- 
 ftrument for keeping ahve a fenfe of 
 reh'gion in this people and nation;" 
 and is furnifliing continually increaf- 
 ing evidence of being a Church of 
 Chrift, blefl: and acknowledged of 
 Him, by her fruitfulnefs in this and 
 other lands. She ftretcheth out her 
 branches unto the fea, and her boughs 
 unto the river. She delires that 
 her dominion (her interior dominion 
 over the hearts of men) may be co- 
 extenlive w^ith the deftined empire of 
 her Lord, from fea to fea, and from 
 the river unto the end of the earth. 
 And, whilft flie continues to manifeft 
 this defire, not that She herfelf may 
 '' fit a Queen," but that " Chrift may 
 be magnified by" her, flie w^ill at 
 
XXIV 
 
 once prove her title to the preference 
 of EngHfli Chriftians, and effedlually 
 fecure it. 
 
 *' Whether I confider," fays a Wri- 
 ter w^hofe remarks I have frequent- 
 ly cited in my notes, ** the revela- 
 tion which God has given to man 
 of his own nature, of the defliny 
 of the foul, or the bleffing which 
 God imparts and man receives ; or 
 whether I confider the manner in 
 which the Church of Jerufalem 
 taught the truths of this revelation, 
 and compare with both the inftitu- 
 tions of the Church of England ; 
 whether I ftudy the Holy Scriptures 
 themfelves, or the long record of the 
 controverfies which have divided 
 Chriftians refpedting the additions to 
 
XXV 
 
 the primitive faith, or the diminu- 
 tions of the primitive faith ; I am 
 enabled, as a dying man in the pre- 
 fence of the heart-fearching God, to 
 conclude, that though the Church 
 of England is not faultlefs — though 
 there are canons which it may wifely 
 repeal, rubrics it may reconiider, and 
 expreffions it may revife ; yet it 
 teaches no unfcriptural docftrine, en- 
 forces no unfcriptural difcipline, up- 
 holds no unfcriptural authority, and 
 encroaches on no man's privilege, 
 happinefs, and duty, of fearching di- 
 ligently whether its authority is wifely 
 exercifed, and its teachers fpeak the 
 language of truth. It adds nothing 
 to Scripture. It takes away nothing 
 which the Scriptures reveal. If I 
 
XXVI 
 
 do not worfliip in its communion, I 
 have but three alternatives, all of 
 which I am required by my duty to 
 God, my duty to man, and my duty 
 to my own foul, to avoid. I muft 
 worfliip with the Romifts, who add 
 to the word of God the dodlrines and 
 difcipline which deftroy the objed: 
 of Revelation ; or, I muft worfhip 
 with opinionifts who take from the 
 word of God; or, I muft worftiip in 
 folitude and in the wildernefs. In 
 fome form or mode I muft worfhip 
 Him who made me — Him who re- 
 deems me — Him who fancflifies me : 
 and I thank God from my heart that 
 I can confcientioufly worfhip Him as 
 a member of the Church of England, 
 in obedience to the laws of my coun- 
 
xxvu 
 
 try, and in communion with my peo- 
 ple and my nation. I rejoice that I 
 can worfhip with a Church in which 
 all the truths which God has revealed 
 refpeding Himfelf, the foul, and the 
 modes by which a bleffing is impar- 
 ted by God in heaven to the foul on 
 earth, are taught and enforced on the 
 humble and enquiring Chriflian." 
 If anything is capable of being add- 
 ed to the force of this pafTage, fo 
 limply perfuafive, it may be a word 
 of caution. Let not Englifli Epifco- 
 palians make their Church an idol. 
 Let them not give to it the honour 
 which belongs to Chrift ; nor fuffer 
 the type of their Lord to become his 
 rival. They do well to exped: much 
 benefit from the ordinances of the 
 
XXVIU 
 
 Church ; but, they may not place 
 them within a fhrine to bow down 
 to, and worfhip them. They muft 
 not permit the fhadow which fhould 
 illuftrate, to ecHpfe, the Redeemer's 
 glory. 
 
 The laft Chapter in the following 
 work is ** an Earneft Perfwafive to 
 continue in the Church of England,'' 
 drawn forth by the appreheniions 
 which the Writer entertained, in 
 common, we may fuppofe, with 
 many other found Proteftants, that 
 the Popifh leanings of James II. 
 would have the effed: of driving fome 
 into Non-conformity. The principal 
 argument by which he would enforce 
 his entreaties to his brethren, not to 
 quit the Church, is, that the " cler- 
 
XXIX 
 
 gy" of that time were *' no friends 
 to Popery." And, fo long as this 
 aflurance can be given by their Minif- 
 ters to the people of this land, whom 
 we are accuftomed to call, by way of 
 diflindlion, the Laity ; fo long as the 
 Paftors of Chrift's flock, in thefe 
 realms, are able to give fatisfa6lory 
 aflurance to the ^^ flieep of Chrift, for 
 whom he fhed his blood," that their 
 Teachers are neither hankering after 
 Rome, nor deflring to be '' lords over 
 God's heritage, but enfamples to the 
 flock; " the language of * earnefl: per- 
 fuafion' will be fuperfluous. A found 
 and enlightened Clergy will as cer- 
 tainly make intelligent and well-af- 
 fedled Churchmen of the great body 
 of the people, as a Romanizing and 
 e 
 
XXX 
 
 therefore a retrograding Clergy will 
 produce difgufl: and averiion, and at 
 laft feceflion, from a communion in 
 which Truth is found to be betrayed 
 by thofe who had engaged to defend 
 the citadel in which £he dwells. The 
 teaching which recedes farther and 
 farther from fuperftition, and ad- 
 vances towards the pure light of 
 the Gofpel, like Him whom it " lifts 
 up," will *^ draw all men to" it; 
 while that which is difcovered to be 
 working back from light to darknefs, 
 will be followed by an alienation of 
 mind, as enduring as it is juft. 
 
LIFE OF STANLEY.* 
 
 "ILLIAM STANLEY, D. D. who 
 
 was unanimoufly choren Mafter in 
 the room of Dr. Spencer, Jul. 13, 
 1693, was the Son of William Stan- 
 ley Gent, of Hinkley in the County of Leiceiler ; 
 but his Father dying whilll he was very young, he 
 was left to the fole care of his Mother; who put him 
 to School at Afhley in Lancafhire ; and afterwards 
 fent him to St. John's College in Cambridge in 1 66^, 
 at the age of fixteen. It might be becaufe Bp. Be- 
 veridge, who married his Aunt, was of that College ; 
 though perhaps from a ftronger motive, that Mr. 
 Villiers, afterwards Earl of Jerfey (of a Leicefter- 
 fhire Family in his Neighbourhood) went thither 
 about the fam.e time under the tuition of the learned 
 and worthy Dr. Gower, who is faid never to have 
 had any other Pupils but thefe two. He flayed 
 
 * From the Hiftory of the College of Corpus Chrifti and 
 the B. Virgin Mary (commonly called Bene't). By Robert 
 Mafters, B. D. Fellow of the College, and of the Society of 
 Antiquaries of London. 4to. Cambridge, 1753. 
 
XXX ii Life of Stanley, 
 
 tliere till he was chofen into a Fellowfliip of this 
 College upon the expulfion of Scargill in 1669, and 
 this upon the joint recommendation of his Tutor and 
 of Bp. Gunning, then Mafler of St. John's ; who 
 knowing his merit, were loth he fhould quit the 
 Univerfity, fo foon as he muft otherwife have done, 
 his owm County (to ufe the language of their College) 
 being at that time full. 
 
 His firfl ftep out of the Univerfity into the World 
 (and that a very fortunate one) was to the Curacy 
 of Much-Hadham in Hertfordfhire, as it placed him 
 not only under the eye and diredion of that excel- 
 lent Divine Dr. Goodman, but as it gave him an 
 opportunity of being known to the Earl of Effex, 
 (whofe feat was there,) who made him his Chaplain, 
 and then prefented him to the Re6tory of Raine- 
 Parva in ElTex.* But this he voided foon after by 
 cefTion for St. Mary Magdalen in Old Fifh Street, 
 London,*^ which he quitted in like manner for that 
 of Hadham abovementioned,'^ being collated thereto 
 by Bp. Compton upon the death of his Friend Dr. 
 Goodman. Thefe were the only Parochial Bene- 
 fices he ever had. As to Dignities, he was preferred 
 to the Prebend of Cadington-Major in the Cathedral 
 of St. Paul,^ whereof he afterwards became a Refi- 
 dentiary ;* as likewife to the Archdeaconry of Lon- 
 
 a 0£t. 20, 1681. He had been ordained Prieft by Bp. 
 Compton in 1672, became an Univerfity Preacher in 1676, 
 and commenced B. D. 1678. 
 
 •^ 0<St. 30, 1682. ^ Aug. 13, 1690. ' Sept. iS, 16S4. 
 * 1689. 
 
Life of Stanley. xxxiii 
 
 don*^ upon the promotion of Dr. Tenifon to the 
 Bilhoprick of Lincoln, and many years after to the 
 Deanery of St. Afaph :^ which he rather accepted to 
 fet his Uncle Bp. Beveridgc at liberty from the 
 powerful folicitations of others, than that it was a 
 Preferment he either fought after or defired. 
 
 I can't fay Avith certainty, when he went over to 
 be Chaplain to the Princefs of Orange upon the dif- 
 miffion of Dr. Covel ; but conjefture it might be 
 about the year 1687 : but whenever it was, a Cler- 
 gyman of an unexceptionable chara6ler in every 
 refpedl was to be provided by exprefs orders from 
 Holland. Accordingly the Bp. of London had it in 
 charge to recommend two fuch Perfons to the Arch- 
 bifhop of Canterbury, who was to have the final ap- 
 probation of one. The two thus recommended 
 were Dr. Burnet Mailer of the Charterhoufe and 
 Mr. Stanley ; to the latter of whom his Grace gave 
 the preference for this pleafant reafon, that although 
 the former was a deferving man, an ingenious Di- 
 vine, and a good Scholar; yet as Mofes and the 
 Doftor could not agree about making Worlds, he 
 thought it was better to chufe Mr. Stanley ; who 
 after being further favoured by his Grace, (about 
 this time, as I conjefture,) with his Faculty for a 
 Dodlor of Divinity's Degree, was forthwith fent 
 over, and foon became a Favourite both at Court 
 and with her Highnefs. He likewife contradled 
 there a particular acquaintance with the two Huy- 
 
 f Mar. 5, 1691-2. s Dec. 7, 1706. 
 
xxxiv Life of Sta?iley, 
 
 gens, as well as with other Perfons of learning and 
 charadler; being without doubt recommended and 
 fupported herein by his old Friend and Fellow-Col- 
 legian Mr. Villiers, who had waited on the Princefs 
 into Holland upon her marriage, and continued 
 there till the Prince's coming over into England in 
 
 As foon as his Royal Miflrefs was feated on the 
 Throne, fhe advanced him to be Clerk of the Clofet, 
 with a Salary of 200/. per ann. fettled upon him for 
 life, and always had him in fuch credit and efteem, 
 that moft oi her Charities paiTed through his hands, 
 he being the inftrument commonly made ufe of in 
 applications of this kind. She moreover offered him 
 one or two Bifhopricks, which he then declined, as 
 thinking the Refidence and Duty would interfere 
 with his conflant attendance upon her Perfon and 
 Service ; or rather as I imagine (from his refufal of 
 Lincoln upon Abp. Tenifon's promotion) becaufe 
 he was content with the Preferment he already had 
 and his own private Fortunes, and found a Station 
 of lefs Dignity and Eclat more agreeable to his In- 
 clinations, and fuitable to his Schemes of Happinefs 
 in Life. 
 
 The death of his old Friend Dr. Spencer how- 
 ever brought him, (tho* much againft his Will,) into 
 a more publick Scene of it in the Univerfity,' as it 
 occafioned his being elected, (but without his know- 
 ledge,) into the Mafterfhip of this College ; which 
 yet upon the firll notice of his choice he pofitively 
 
 *» Collins's Peerage, V. iii. p. 533. 
 
Life of Stanley, xxxv 
 
 refufed to accept of, and even perfcvcrcd in this re- 
 fufal, till two of* the Fellows went in the Name of 
 the whole Society and importuned him to do it, for 
 the fake of preferving the peace and welfare of the 
 College, and of preventing an irreconcileable divifion 
 among them, feeing they were unanimous in their 
 Votes for him as they fhould not be for any other 
 Perfon. This motive had its defired cfFeft ; even 
 though he forefaw the trouble that would follow, by 
 being elefted Vice-Chancellor of the Univerlity the 
 fame year ; who, as a mark of their great efteem, 
 were pleafed to pafs an extraordinary Grace in his 
 favour for admitting him to the Degree of Do6lor in 
 Divinity with all its Privileges among them, which 
 an Archicpifcopal Faculty could not entitle him to. 
 Confidering from what motive, and wath what 
 reluftance he took the Mallerfhip, it might be ex- 
 pecSled he would refign it, as he did in 1698, becaufe 
 he could not be more conftantly refident, nor confe- 
 quently be of that fervice to the College he otherwife 
 would. Whilil he held it however, he fpent as 
 much of his time here as he could, and as ufefully. 
 For that the World might know how great a Trea- 
 fure our Manufcript Library is ftored with, he fet 
 himfelf to make that valuable Catalogue of it,' which 
 he afterwards printed at his own expence : and 
 which merits the acknowledgments of all Lovers of 
 Antiquity, and efpecially of the Hiftory of this 
 
 i Catalogus Librorum Manufcrlptorum in Bibliotheca Coll. 
 Corp. Chrifti in Cantabrigia ; quos legavit Matthsus Parkerus 
 Archiepifcopus Cantuarienfis. Fol, Lond. mdccxxii. 
 
XXX vi Life of Stanley, 
 
 Church, and Nation ; who being fenfible from their 
 own experience of the care and pains neceffary to 
 finifh a Work of this kind, (wherein the feveral 
 Volumes contain fuch a Variety of Trails, fome of 
 which are often fo imperfeft, ill-wrote, or faded 
 through length of time, that 'tis no eafy matter to 
 get acquainted with their contents,"") will not expedl 
 to find this firft attempt without Defe6ls : fome of 
 which may hereafter be fupplied, if I fhould find 
 leifure, in a fecond Edition. 
 
 During his Mailerfhip it was, that the College, 
 through the negligence of their Servants, were rob- 
 bed of their Communion-Plate on an Ealler-day ; 
 upon which he generoufly prefented them with a 
 Set of Silver gilt ; the fame that are ftill in ufe, w^ith 
 the Arms of the illuftrious Family of Orange upon 
 it, having belonged to the private Chapel of Queen 
 Mary, when Princefs ; who, upon her coming to 
 the Crown of England, gave it to him, as a memo- 
 rial of her Favour and Elkem. 
 
 However this is but one Article in the Accompt 
 of his very extenfive Benefaftions and Charities. 
 For many were the good, and ufeful defigns he was 
 from time to time concerned in, and fupported. 
 Among which was that of printing an Edition of 
 the Councils in 1692 with Proteflant Annotations, 
 by an annual Subfcription. Several Sums were ac- 
 cordingly fubfcribed, by the two Archbifhops 10/. 
 per annum each, and by twelve Bifhops 5/. each. 
 
 J^ Preface to Cafley's Catal. of MSS. in the King's Library, 
 p. 4. 
 
Life of Stanley, xxxvii 
 
 Dr. Stanley not only did the fame, but alfo by his 
 intereil then at Court, was chiefly inilrumental in 
 obtaining a Grant to import what Paper Ihould be 
 wanting, Cuftom-free. Dr. Allix undertook the 
 care, and management of this Edition : and had 
 great quantities of Paper imported for it ; which, 
 (when the Book was laid afide,) was fold to the Sta- 
 tioners for private gain, to the ofi'ence of the Public, 
 and the regret of the learned World. — The Dodor, 
 when Dean of St. Afaph, was at the fole expence' of 
 that A61 of Parliament,'" which annexed Prebends 
 and Sine-Cures to the Bilhopricks of Bangor, Llan- 
 dafFe, St. David, and St. Afaph, in order to relieve 
 the Widows and Fatherlefs of the Welch Clergy 
 from the fore diftrefs of paying Mortuaries to the 
 Bifhiops upon the death of every Incumbent within 
 their refpedtive Diocefes, and Jurifdiflions ; which 
 Mortuaries (as the Preamble to that A61 fets forth) 
 " confiding offeveral of the beft goods of the deceafcd, 
 " did oftentimes amount to a very confiderable part of 
 ** his Eftate, and the payment thereof did very much 
 " leiTen that fmall provifion, which generally the 
 *' Clergy of thofe Diocefes were able to make for the 
 *' fupport of their Families, and tended to the great 
 " impoverifliing of the fame." An Aft of generofity 
 and goodnefs in the Dean, that ought ever to be re- 
 membered with the utmoil gratitude by the Clergy 
 of Wales. — He likewife rebuilt what is now the bell 
 
 Dr. B. Willis's Survey of the Cathedral of St. Afaph, 
 [07, and of Bangor, p. 345. 
 ■^ Anno XII ANNvE. 
 
 f 
 
xxxviii Life of Stanley, 
 
 part of his own Deanry-Houfe, and made the whole 
 of it habitable, convenient and decent; where he 
 often refided, and lived hofpitably, fo long as he was 
 able to take fuch a Journey. — He fettled a Leafehold 
 Eftate on a Charity-School in that Town : and joined 
 with Mr. Carter in augmenting the perpetual Curacy 
 of St. George in its Neighbourhood. — But his Gifts 
 towards the Augmentation of fmall Livings by one 
 or two hundred Pounds at a time, with the aid of 
 Q^ Anne's Bounty were not confined to one County, 
 but extended into different parts of the Kingdom, as 
 may be feen in Edon's Lift, &c. — To his own 
 Church at Hadham he gave a Clock : and to the 
 building of the Regent-Houfe at Cambridge, an 
 hundred Pounds. Such Gifts and Benefaftions as 
 thefe could not be hid ; though he was upon Chrif- 
 tian Principles, as fecret as he could be in doing his 
 Alms. What Charities therefore he diftributed with 
 his o\vn hands cannot be difcovered, as he left no 
 account of them. But fo far is known of him, that 
 it was his conftant rule all his life long, to beftow 
 in Good Works a clear te7ith Part of his whole In- 
 come, whether from Spirituals or Tefnporals. — I 
 may here add, that he was not only a Contributor 
 to the Society /iT the propagating the Go/pel in Fo- 
 reign Parts, and a zealous Promoter of it, but was 
 alfo the lirft mover in the bufinefs of their Char- 
 ter." 
 
 Dr. Stanley confidered as an Author, publilhed 
 but few things, though probably he would have 
 
 " Humjrefi Hift. Account, p. 12. 
 
Life of Stanley . x x x I x 
 
 written more, (as he began early to take a fhare with 
 the London-Clergy in the Popijh Controvcrfy) had 
 he not been prevented in going on with them, by 
 being fcnt over to Holland in the capacity of Chap- 
 lain. — However before he went abroad, he was 
 concerned with feveral learned Divines in the Scheme 
 of printing an Englijh Bible, with a plain and prac- 
 tical Comfnentary, but more efpecially levelled again 11 
 the Errors and Corruptions of Popery. — His own 
 province was to write that upon the minor Prophets ; 
 a Scheme, that was fuperfeded by the happy Eftablifh- 
 ment of our Church and Nation at the Revolution. 
 
 What he publilhed with his Name were — A Ser- 
 mon on Matt. ix. 37, 38, preached Feb. 20. 1707-8 
 at St. Mary le Bow, before the Society for propaga- 
 ting the Go/pel. — He has, as I am informed, another 
 Sermon in print, which I never faw, to recommend 
 a public Colledion for the Redemption of Captives. 
 The Editors alfo of the Bodleian Catalogue have 
 placed among his Writings the Romijh Horfe-Leech, 
 concerning the intolerable Charge of Popery to this 
 Nation. — But as his Friends know nothing of this 
 Piece, and as it came out fo early in his life as 
 1674; I fufpeft they are miftaken. However he 
 was for certain the Author of two anonymous Dif- 
 courfes, the one. Concerning the Devotions of the 
 Church of Rome wherein they are compared with 
 thofe of the Church of England, in 4to. Lond. 1685 ; 
 and the other, intituled the Faith and Practice of a 
 Church of England-Man, in 12". Lond. 1706. 
 
 Such is the Chara6ler and Hiilory of Dean Stan- 
 
xl Life of St a?j ley. 
 
 leyy whom God was pleafed to blefs with a very 
 healthful, happy, and long life ; for he did not dye, 
 till O^. 9. 173 1, in the 85th year of his age. 
 When, according to his own directions, he was 
 buried in the Vaulting of St. PauPs Cathedral, un- 
 der the South-Wing of the Choir, among his old 
 Friends Bp. Beveridge, Dean Sherlock, Dean 
 Younger i Dr. Holder , and Sir Chriflopker Wren ; 
 who have none of them, except the laft, any Monu- 
 ment, Stone, or even Infcription over them. — To 
 this account I Ihall only add,° that he married Mary 
 fecond Daughter of Sir Francis Pemberton Lord 
 Chief Jullice both of the Comfnon-Pleas and King^s 
 Bench, who is ftill living. By whom he had three 
 Sons, all educated in this College ; whereof Thomas 
 the youngeft is dead, William the eldeft, who is 
 fettled at Warwick, is LL. B. and Official of the 
 Archdeaconry of London, Francis the fecond was 
 Fellow of the College, and afterwards Vicar of St. 
 Leonard in Shore ditch, till his Father refigned to 
 him the Redlory of Hadhatn Sept. 30. 1723. A 
 Perfon in every refpeft worthy to be his Succeffor, 
 and deferving of my grateful acknowledgments, for 
 the helps he has given me towards doing fo far Juf- 
 tice to the Memory of his Father. 
 
 ° It is fcarce worth obferving, that the natural Tone of his 
 Voice was fo remarkably loud, as to give occafion to the Tat- 
 ler to exercife his Wit upon him under the name and charadler 
 
 of Sun tor. 
 
Analyfis of the Work. 
 
 CHAP. I.— Of the Church, 
 
 EVERY man fliould be ready to give an account 
 of his belief and pradice. page i. 
 
 We are not only general Chriftians, but members of 
 Chrift's Church. 3. 
 
 The Univerfal Church is one. 4. 
 
 This Unity we keep up by profeffing Chrift in the 
 Church of England. 6. 
 
 Which is the moil uncorrupt Part of the Church of 
 Chrifl, 7. 
 
 Confining of thofe who are united by the fame 
 Formularies and Difcipline. 8. 
 
 This Church agrees with the Scriptures, and the 
 Primitive Apoftolic Church ; 9. 
 
 For its Officers are fanilioned by Scripture and An- 
 tiquity. 9, 10. 
 
 Church-Government is not a light matter : 10. 
 
 Our own has been univerfally received from the be- 
 ginning; 10. 
 
 Under it our own Nation was converted ; 11. 
 
 It, alfo, agrees with, and fubferves the Monarchy ; i 2. 
 
 Our Orders and Sacraments are undoubtedly valid: 
 13- 
 
xlii Analyfa of the Work. 
 
 And, therefore, feparation from this Church is dan- 
 gerous. 14. 
 
 Epifcopacy is not Popifh ; 15. 
 
 Nay, is the bell way to keep out Popery, and other 
 errors. 17. 
 
 Nor can our Bifhops be accufed of Popery : 20. 
 
 They did not come from Rome, 2 1 . 
 
 And have ever difowned any dependence on that 
 See. 22. 
 
 The Bifhop of Rome never had fettled pofTeffion and 
 power here, 23, 
 
 But our laws forbid all tranfadions with him. 24. 
 
 Our Reformation was neither illegal nor fchifmatical. 
 26, 27. 
 
 For fchifm is a feparation, not from a particular, but 
 from the Univerfal Church : 28. 
 
 So that the Romanifts muft fhow caufe for not hold- 
 ing communion with us. 29. 
 
 Therefore the Church of England being Apoftolical 
 and legal, is to be revered. 30, 31. 
 
 The other fubordinate parts of our Church-govern- 
 ment are expedient, and of long (landing. 32 — 34. 
 
 CHAP. ll.—OfChnJi'tan Belief. 
 
 The Church of England is found in Faith and Doc- 
 trine ; 35. 
 
 For, it makes God the author and objeft of faith. 35. 
 
 HEinfpired the Writers of the Holy Scriptures, which 
 contain all things necelTary for falvation, 36. 
 
 Are alfo clear, and to be read by all; 37. 
 
Analyjis of the Work. xliii 
 
 And, arc to be the foundation and tell of Preaching. 
 
 38. 
 We do not depend on the authority of the Expounder 
 
 of Scripture, but on Scripture itfelf. 39 — 41. 
 The Scripture did not receive its authority from the 
 
 Church, which is fallible. 42 — 45. 
 Tradition is not of equal authority with Scripture, 
 
 46-50- 
 
 Nor indeed is an infallible Judge at all ncceflary. 50 — 
 
 53- 
 
 If the Pope were infallible, he would be ufclcfs to us 
 becaufe inacceffiblc. 53 — 59. 
 
 Though we deny Infallibility, we have full proof of 
 the Truth of our Religion, 59. 
 
 And allow the Three Creeds, becaufe they are Scrip- 
 tural and ancient ; 60. 
 
 Difapproving, however, of the additions of the 
 council of Trent, 62. 
 
 Becaufe thefe are neither fcriptural nor ancient. 63. 
 
 IVe keep only to the Creeds, 64. 
 
 Believing, and alfo, profeffing them, as containing 
 ** all the Articles of the Chrillian faith," 65. 
 
 The Apocrypha we admit " for inftru6lion of man- 
 ners," but not to " ellablifh any dodlrine." 65 — 
 67. 
 
 CHAP. \\\,— Of Gofpel Obedience. 
 
 The Church of England urges holinefs of life. 68. 
 No man is fmlefs ; none, therefore, poflefles merit ; 
 yet obedience is indifpenfable. 68, 69. 
 
xliv Analyjis of the Work, 
 
 And not the lefs, becaufe we are ** not under the 
 
 law, but under grace." 70, 71. 
 Good works depend, for their worth, on faith in 
 
 Chrift ; 72. 
 And confiftin having refpedl to all the commandments 
 
 of God, 'ji. 
 Which are paramount, and therefore, cannot yield 
 
 to tliofe of the Church. 74—75. 
 The Merits of Chrift bind us only to greater obe- 
 dience ; 'jS, 
 So that we have need of repentance, and may not 
 
 *' fin that grace may abound." 78. 
 If Repentance does not encourage us to " continue in 
 
 fm," there can be no difpenfation from obedience. 
 
 78. 
 
 Repentance is not forrow for punifhment, butforrow 
 for fin. 78. 
 
 God will reward good works ; yet not as " of debt, 
 but of grace," 79 — 81. 
 
 We muft not only " ceafe to do evil," by avoiding 
 common fins ; 81. 
 
 But " learn to do well" by glorifying God, ferving 
 our neighbours, and advancing in perfonal good- 
 nefs. 81 — 83. 
 
 We mull promote piety by our example; own a 
 Divine Providence ; avoid temptation ; be ** con- 
 tent with fuch things as we have;" pradife fa- 
 mily religion ; " render to all their due ;" and dif- 
 charge all other relative obligations. 83 — 96. 
 
Analyjis of the Work. xlv 
 
 CHAP. \V .—Of the Service of God 
 in Publick. 
 
 Public profciTion of belief is ncceiTary, 97. 
 
 Since it encourages Religion, and Chriil's blefTing is 
 
 promifed to it. 97 — 99. 
 The Congregations of heretics and fchifmatics are to 
 
 be avoided, 99. 
 As well as wandering from church to church. loi — 
 
 106. 
 Public Prayers fhould be frequented, on all opportu- 
 nities ; 106. 
 From no low motives, but in a religious fpirit. 108. 
 Decorum is to be obferved in an early arrival at 
 
 church, 1 10. 
 And in our deportment throughout the Service, 1 1 1. 
 Of which the fuitable pollures, and proper refponfes, 
 
 will form a principal part. 1 12 — 129. 
 A Churchman will frequent the Holy Communion, 
 
 130—132. 
 As the Commemoration of ChrilVs Sacrifice, not as 
 
 itfelf a Sacrifice. 133 — 135. 
 Preaching is to be relorted to as an eilablilhed means 
 
 of grace, yet not to be preferred to Prayer or the 
 
 Holy Communion. 135 — 138. 
 Baptifm is neceffary where it is pofiible : and public 
 
 rather than private Baptifm. 138 — 140. 
 Catechizing is ufeful as a fummary ofthe firil principles 
 
 of the Faith whereby we muft be faved : 140 — 
 
 And, Confirmation is not to be omitted. 140 — 144. 
 S 
 
xlvi Analyfts of the Work, 
 
 Matrimony, though not a Sacrament, is a folemn re- 
 ligious engagement. 144. 
 We fhould join in the prayers for the Sick, and be 
 
 ready to vifit them ; 145. 
 And Ihould, ourfelves, when Tick, defire the vifits of 
 
 our Minifler. 146 — 149. 
 As a prefcribed Form is, on many accounts, neceflary 
 
 for public prayers ; 149. 
 So our Liturgy is unexceptionable both in matter 
 
 and llrufture. 151. 
 Feftivals and Falls are to be obferved, though our 
 
 Church has given no precife diredions as to the 
 
 mode in which that obfervance is to be regulated. 
 
 152 — 156. 
 We are to comply wuth Church regulations, but 
 
 to abftain from harfh cenfures of thofe who differ 
 
 from us. 156 — 158. 
 
 CHAP. Y , — Of Additions to the Faith. 
 
 Our Church is complete in Dodrine and Order; 
 
 159- 
 
 So that fubjeftion to the Bilhop of Rome is unne- 
 
 celTary : 160. 
 For, his infallibility cannot be proved, 162. 
 Nor has it been pradically acknowledged by Ro- 
 
 manifls themfelves : 163. 
 But, befides Infallibility, no plea can be offered for 
 
 our communion with Rome. 166. 
 Tranfubfhantiation is contradidory to reafon, and to 
 
 the evidence of our fenfes ; and is idolatrous. 
 
 170— I7S. 
 
Analyfis of the Work. xlvii 
 
 The ufe of Images is forbidden in the Second Com- 
 mandment : 178. 
 
 It is alfo, unneceliiiry and dangerous. 179, 180. 
 
 Prayers to Saints are fcarcely more defenfible, 180. 
 
 Since fuch prayers fuppofe Divine properties in the 
 objeds of them : 181 — 183. 
 
 Or, prayers for the Dead ; which, though poffibly in- 
 nocent in their origin, have given occafion to the 
 dodrine of Purgatory. 183 — 187. 
 
 There are many other Additions to the Faith, which 
 our Church has repudiated. 187. 
 
 CHAP. Yl.^- Of Civil Converfation. 
 
 We promife, in our Baptifm, to *' renounce" the 
 wickednefs of the world ; but Scripture com- 
 mands us to fulfil the relations we fuftain in the 
 world, as Chriftians. 189 — 191. 
 
 Government is neceflary, and appointed by God, 191. 
 
 Of its various forms. Monarchy is the bell: 192. 
 
 Our own Monarchy is lawfully eftablilhed, 193—198. 
 
 And ought to be upheld, by each fubjedl of the State 
 bearing his burden, 198 — 201. 
 
 And giving his vote, on all occafions, confcientioufly. 
 201. 
 
 At home, the duties of a Hufband, Son, Father, 
 Brother, and Mailer, are to be difcharged, in a 
 fpirit of piety and charity : 202 — 207. 
 
 While, abroad in the world, the condu6l is to he 
 marked by fincerity, jullice, kindnefs, forbearance, 
 and prudence. 207—216, 
 
xlviii Analyfis of the Work. 
 
 Our time, if we are free from daily labour, is to be 
 
 employed in gaining knowledge in Religion, Laws, 
 
 and ufeful Arts ; 216 — 224. 
 And partly, in focial intercourfe; in which we are to 
 
 ftrive to be candid, difcreet, grave, and peaceable; 
 
 224—228. 
 Though we may unbend fo long as we preferve re- 
 
 colleftednefs, and a difinterefled temper. 228 — 232. 
 
 CHAP. VII. — An earneji Perfwafive to 
 continue in the Church of England. 
 
 From a Church, holding fuch a Belief, and enjoin- 
 ing fuch a Pra6lice,feparation is not reafonable. 233. 
 
 It is eftablifhed, ancient, and not fchifmatical ; and 
 preferves a mean between two extremes, 233 — 
 240. 
 
 Though, neverthelefs, fome are offended at our Order; 
 others at our Forms ; and others at our Ceremo- 
 nies, 240. 
 
 But, it is impoffible to pleafe all ; and, we may con- 
 gratulate ourfelves, that we do not give greater of- 
 fence; While we are confcious of having a Church 
 framed upon found, yet tolerant principles. 241 — 
 250. 
 
 The Church of England does not favour Popery ; a 
 point which is made certain, as well from hiftory, as 
 from the Subfcriptions and Oaths of the Clergy. 
 250 — 256. 
 
 Our Doftrines, our Worfliip, our Scriptural Refor- 
 mation, and our Loyalty, challenge the fcrutiny, 
 and refute the objedions, of thofe who feparate 
 from us. 256 — 264. 
 
Faith and PracSlice, &c 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Church, 
 
 AINT PETER, I Pet, 3. 
 
 15, Bids us to fan£lifie the 
 Lord God in our hearts, 
 mid to be ready always to 
 give an anjwer to every one that ajketh us 
 a reajon of the hope that is in us, with 
 meeknejs and fear. And therefore it can 
 never be improper, or unfeafonable for 
 the moft private Man to give an account 
 of Himfelf, of his Belief, and Pradice, 
 efpecially in a time when Religion is fo 
 
2 Of the Church. 
 
 much controverted ; that he may be cor- 
 recfled by others^ If he be in any miftake/ 
 (which I call God to witnefs, is not wilful ;) 
 or if he be in the rights that he may, at 
 leaft by this example, do fome good in 
 the World, and provoke others to an 
 Imitation. 
 
 ^ The lover of t^th need not be always in adlual 
 doubt on every point ; but he mull be always open 
 to conviftion ; always ready to hear and to meet 
 fairly, any ferioufly urged objeftions. Not indeed 
 to hold himfelf obliged at once to abandon his reli- 
 gion, if he is unable immediately to refute every 
 objedion ; but to take into confideration each objec- 
 tion ; calling in the aid of thofe qualified to afford 
 it, and confidering, with their affiftance, not only 
 how far each objedlion is capable of an anfwer, but 
 alfo what is its weight, even if unrefuted againft 
 fuch pofitive proofs as he may have on the other 
 fide in fupporting his faith. It is one thing to be 
 without faith, and another thing to have the Faith 
 of the Apoftolical Chriflian, who is always ready to 
 give to every one that alketh him a reafon of his 
 hope ; — not, be it obferved, an anfwer to every ob- 
 jeBion y for there may be objeftions which none carr 
 anfwer, and others which the unlearned cannot, of 
 themfelves, be expedled at once to anfwer, againft 
 
Of the Church. 3 
 
 I do therefore freely own, that I am 
 not only a Chriftian at large, who Be- 
 lieves Chrlft to be come, and the Gofpel 
 to be the Word of God, and Law of Men, 
 and content myfelf with a filent Belief 
 of This : But I look on my felf as a 
 Member^ of his Church, his Body, being 
 
 concluHons which may yet be fairly eflabliflied by a 
 preponderance of evidence ; by pofitive proofs that 
 have more force than the objections, even if left un- 
 anfwered. ' There are objeftions,' faid Dr. Johnfon, 
 * againll a plenum, and objedlions againft a vacuum ! 
 but one of them muft be true.' If there be any 
 thing virtuous or manly in any faith, it muft be in 
 that which defies impugners, which courts inveftiga- 
 tion ; not in that which refts on our refolution to 
 fhut our ears. 
 
 ^ " Inftead of exhorting his difciples to labour 
 fingly for their own falvation, and that of other men 
 generally ; — inftead of merely leaving a fet of doc- 
 trines and precepts to be adopted and obeyed by 
 each infulated individual who might approve of 
 them," our Lord '' combined his followers himfelf 
 into a diftinil fociety, which we term the Church ; 
 of which He is himfelf the head, and all Chriftians 
 the members. This Chriftian fraternity, this com- 
 munion of faints branching out into feveral diftin(5l 
 
4 Of the Church, 
 
 admitted into it by Baptifm, and enjoying 
 fingular priviledges and advantages by it, 
 as having a right to all the benefits which 
 he purchafed to his Church, and a fhare 
 in all the Prayers that are made for it. 
 This Church, or generality of Christians 
 hath feveral parts, fome of which are 
 more pure, fome more corrupt ; yet all 
 that hold the EfTentials of Religion, I ef- 
 teem to be of it. And tho' it be fpread 
 over the whole world, yet I look on it 
 but as One^ Chrift himfelf fpeaking of his 
 Church but as one^^ and accordingly I 
 
 Chriftian churches, had a formal inftitution : it has 
 a folemn initiation in the facrament of Baptifm ; it 
 has rules of belief and of conduct for its members in 
 the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 '^ " The Church is undoubtedly one ; and fo is 
 the Human Race one ; but not, as a fociety. The 
 Church was from the firft, compofed of diftind fo- 
 cieties j which were called one, becaufe formed on 
 common principles.^'* 
 
 The Primitive Catholic Church had an exaft 
 Communion in all Elfentials or Fundamentals, and 
 in many other things. But, that they had differ- 
 
Of the Church. 5 
 
 profefs it In my Creed, And I think it 
 ought to be but one ; for the feveral parts 
 of it ought not only to believe the fame 
 Articles of Faith, but as far as is poflible 
 to maintain the fame Government, and 
 keep up the fame outward Order and 
 Adminiftration of affairs : That fo who- 
 foever fees them, may know them to be 
 the fame kind of men, though fcatter'd^ in- 
 to feveral Countries. And they ought to 
 keep up Union, not only with one ano- 
 ther, but efpecially with the Firft"* and 
 
 ences alfo of leiTer moment, in points of do6lrine and 
 difcipline, and forms of adminillration of the Holy 
 Sacraments, and Liturgies, no man can doubt that 
 
 hath his eyes in his head The reafon of their 
 
 agreement was plainly this, becaufe all Churches re- 
 ceived the Primitive Creed, and no Church exafted 
 more in point of Faith than the Primitive Creed." 
 BrajnhaWs Works, Dubl. 1676. p. 170. 
 
 ^ *' For prefervation of Chriftianity, there is not 
 any thing more needful, than that fuch as are of the 
 vifible Church, have mutual fellowihip and fociety, 
 one with another. In which confideration, as the 
 
6 Of the Church. 
 
 Pureft Ages of Chriftianity. For the 
 Unity of the Church feems to require 
 that we fhould endeavour as much to 
 keep up Unity with the Firft Chriftians, 
 tho' we live fo long after them in time, 
 as if we had lived at the fame time with 
 them, but far diftant from them as to 
 place. And all the Members of the 
 Catholick or Univerfal Church ought to 
 be more one^ to have a better agreement 
 among themfelves, a clofer correfpondence 
 and connexion, and a greater concern one 
 for another, than the Mahometans have 
 one for another, who profefs the fame 
 Religion; or than the Philofophers of 
 the fame Sed: have, who hold the fame 
 Opinions. 
 
 And for my part, I do what I can to 
 
 main body of the fea being one, yet within divers 
 precin6ls hath divers names ; fo, the Catholic Church 
 is in like fort divided into a number of diflinft fo- 
 cieties, every of which is termed a Church within 
 itfelf. Hooker's Eccl. Pol. iii. i. 14. 
 
Of the Church, J 
 
 keep up the Unity of it, by profefTing 
 Chrift openly with this^ Church, which is 
 fo pure a part or member of it. 
 
 And indeed next to the fending of our 
 Saviour into the world, I reckon myfelf 
 bound for ever to thank God, that by his 
 All-wife, and overruling Providence, he 
 was pleafed to order me to be Born in 
 England y and to be Baptized there, and 
 admitted into that part of his Church, 
 which is there by Law eftablifhed, and 
 which I do verily believe to be in all 
 particulars, the Trueft, and moft Sincere^ 
 part of the Catholick Church on earth. 
 
 ^ The queftion whether I ought or whether I 
 ought not to Profefs myfelf a member of the Church 
 of England, is too folemn and too important to be 
 decided from any other reafons, than thofe which a 
 difembodicd fpirit can offer before the throne and 
 tribunal of the heart-fearching and foul-judging God. 
 ' Dedication^ prefxed to * Scriptural Communion zuith 
 Gody^ Pt. a. by Rev. G. Townfend, M.J, Cajion of 
 Durham y i^c. 
 
 ** * I believe I am right in deciding that the Epif- 
 copal Trinitarian Church of England is more entitled 
 
8 Of the Church, 
 
 Now by the Church of England^ I un- 
 derftand that Body of Men, who as to 
 Church-afFairs, are United together, un- 
 der the fame principal Church-Officers, 
 the Bifhops, Priefts, and Deacons;' and 
 Communicate with them, and with one 
 another, in all Religious Offices, accord- 
 ing to the Liturgy and Orders of our 
 
 to my approbation as a reafoning, immortal, refpon- 
 fible, and dying man than any other Church, Com- 
 munion, or religious fociety, by whatever name it 
 be called ; and that I confequently fhould commit 
 fin, and * forfake my own mercies' if I did not adopt 
 for myfelf, and if I did not invite others alfo to adopt, 
 as our chief affiftant and guide, to the blelfednefs of 
 prefent and future peace of the foul, (next to the 
 Holy Scriptures) the dodlrine, the difcipline, and 
 fervices of the Church of England.* Ibid. 
 
 '=' * We find that in the Chriilian Church in all 
 ages, there have been teachers who ruled as the 
 Apoftles taught and ruled, teachers who did not rule, 
 and affiftants to the teachers who did not rule. In 
 other words, the three orders of Biihop, Prieft, and 
 Deacon (though the names of the two firft were at 
 the beginning interchangeable,) have always confli- 
 tuted the paflorlhip of the Chriilian Church.' Ibid, 
 
Of the ChurcJu 9 
 
 Church, profefs the Chriftian Faith ac- 
 cording to the Ancient Creeds and the 
 Thirty Nine Articles, and are governed 
 according to the Canons and Laws of this 
 Church. 
 
 And this Church, thus Framed, and 
 Governed, (as far as I can judge) I find 
 to be very confonant to the Scriptures, 
 and in all material Points to be exadly 
 correfpondent to the Primitive Church, 
 in its greateft Purity, viz, under and pre- 
 fently after the Apoftles.^ 
 
 For it hath not only a fubordination of 
 Officers, which is neceflary in all Regular 
 Governments whatfoever ; But it hath 
 the fame Officers, Bifhops and Priefts, 
 both in Name, and Authority, which 
 feem fpoken of in Scripture, which this 
 Church always had, and all Churches that 
 
 ^ Epifcopal Government is acknowledged to have 
 been univcrfally received in the Church, prefently 
 after the Apoilles' times. Chillingworth on Epif- 
 copacy, Lon. 1704, p. 324. 
 
 C 
 
lo Of the Church, 
 
 I can read of/ ever had till of late ; and, 
 the Church-Government that beft agrees 
 with a Monarchy in the State. 
 
 And whatever other men do, I efteem 
 it not a light matter, what Church-Go- 
 vernment is among us, if it were only for 
 this, that this Church-Government hath 
 been fo univerfally received by all that 
 own themfelves Chriftians, from all An- 
 tiquity : I may juftly think there was 
 fome necefTity^^ of fuch an Inftitution at 
 
 ^ A thoufand five hundred years and upward, 
 the Church of Chrill hath now continued under the 
 facred regiment of bilhops. Neither for fo long 
 hath Chriftianity been ever planted in any kingdom 
 throughout the world, but with this kind of go- 
 vernment alone ; which to have been ordained by 
 God, I am for my own part even as refolutely per- 
 fuaded, as that any other kind of government in the 
 world whatfoever is of God. In this realm of En- 
 gland, before Normans, yea, before Saxons, there 
 being Chriftians, the chief pallors of their fouls were 
 bilhops. &c. Hooker, vii. i. 4. 
 
 ^•^ The Apoftles who began this order of regiment 
 bifhops, did it not but by divine inftind:. 
 
 lb. vii. 10. 
 
Of the Church. 1 1 
 
 firft, and fear varying from fuch an Order, 
 as not being able to difcern perhaps all 
 the ill Confequences of altering it. 
 
 But I find alfo that all other Nations, 
 and particularly our own, were Converted 
 under this Miniftration. That this is the 
 way by which fo many good men have 
 gone to Heaven ; the Principal of the 
 Martyrs of the ancient Church, as well 
 as of our own, having been its Bifhops. 
 And by the going but in the way that fo 
 many good men have gone, I may hope 
 fooner to meet Chrifl:,^^ that in a by-way 
 of my own Invention. 
 
 And I find alfo this Church not only 
 to be govern'd by the fame Governours, 
 
 ^^ The foundnefs of this mode of reafoning of the 
 Author is more than queftionable. Thofe '* good 
 men have gone to Heaven," walking ** in the ^vay" 
 of epifcopal government, but not by virtue of walk- 
 ing in that way. All forms of church-government 
 are to be ranked, not among eflentials, but non-ef- 
 ientials ; whereas the former alone have to do with 
 the great queftion of perfonal falvation. Ed, 
 
12 Of the Church, 
 
 by which the ancient Church was govern- 
 ed, but alfo to have the fame general 
 Laws, and to execute the fame kind of 
 Orders (onely where the Times will not 
 give leave, or where there is a juft Power 
 in our Church to change,^" or good Rea- 
 fon to vary) and to be the fame way con- 
 fiftent with Monarchy, and fubfervient to 
 it, and to the Peace of the State by it. 
 Befides, that it is the beft way, according 
 to Humane Prudence, to keep out Here- 
 fie, or Schifm, and preferve Union be- 
 tween the Members of the fame Profef- 
 fion. 
 
 And laftly, I admire this Government, 
 and Institution, becaufe under it I am in 
 no doubt of the Validity of the Ordina- 
 
 1- See ' Art. oi Rel.' xxxiv. " Every particular 
 or National Church hath authority to ordain, change 
 and abolifh Ceremonies or Rites of the Church or- 
 dained only by Man's authority, fo that all things 
 be done to edifying." xxxiv\ *Art. of Rel.' See alfo, 
 * Preface of Ceremonies,'* 
 
Of the Church, i 3 
 
 tions of our Minifters, or of the Validity 
 of the Sacraments by them adminiftered. 
 For we have our Orders by a continued 
 SucceiTion^"^ from the Ancients, and fo 
 
 ^^ That there has been a Chriftian miniftry con- 
 tinuoufly, from the time of the Apoilles to this day, 
 is as complete a moral certainty as any hiftorical fadl 
 can be. This continued fucceffion of minillers (bi- 
 fhops, priefts, and deacons) is afTerted by the Church of 
 England, in the preface to the ordination fervice. 
 But, while our church unequivocally lays down her 
 own principles with refpeft to the true miniftry be- 
 ing in the line of Bifhops, fhe has not entered upon 
 the queftion whether, in order to the validity of re- 
 ligious ordinances, and to the right adminiftration of 
 the facraments, the officiating minifters muft have 
 been ordained by a bifhop who derived his defcent 
 in one unbroken chain from the Apoftles : nor has 
 fhe made any ftatement from which her views on 
 that point can be inferred. That Church has apof- 
 tolical fucceffion in the true fenfe which is framed 
 in accordance with the fundamental principles, taught 
 by the Apoftles, and their great Mafter. 
 
 It is poffible that the Author meant no more by a 
 ** continued fucceffion from the ancients," than has 
 been here aflerted to be the view of the Church of 
 England. But, notions exifted in his day (and they 
 are not yet extindl) which receive no fupport from 
 
14 Of the Church, 
 
 from the Apoftles, which is the only or- 
 dinary way, that I know of, for a man 
 to be CommifTionated to ad In Chrift's 
 name. 
 
 And therefore, for one of our Nation, 
 and Born within the Pale of our Church, 
 to feparate himfelf from us, either from 
 diflike of Epifcopacy, or on pretence of 
 greater Purity, I muft needs think to be 
 a very dangerous pradlce. For I no 
 more doubt there is fuch a fin as Schifniy'^ 
 
 any recorded declarations of our own Church. 
 The tenet of apoftolical fucceffion (in the fenfe re- 
 ferred to) was founded on Romifli affertions, pro- 
 mulgated with a view to give an undue influence 
 and fuperftitious power to a Priellhood ; and, is lit- 
 tle in unifon with the principles on which our Pro- 
 teftant Church was founded on its fucceffion from 
 the Papal power. Ed. 
 
 " " It will hardly be denied, that there is fuch a 
 thing as the fin of Schifm, and that it is incurred by 
 thofe who, without fufficient grounds, feparate them- 
 felves from our communion, whether to enrol them- 
 felves as adherents of an ufurping foreign Church, 
 or to join any fed of proteftant diflenters." 
 
 Abp. IVhatelyy Barnp. Led. (vii.) 
 
Of the Church. 15 
 
 than I doubt there Is fuch a fin as Murder. 
 Further, I cannot but admire at the 
 want of Underftanding (to fay no worfe) 
 of thofe men who have endeavoured of 
 late Years to run down Epifcopacy in 
 general, as Poplfh, feeing It Is very evi- 
 dent, that Epifcopacy was from the very 
 beginning of Chrlftianity, and many Ages 
 before Popery, as by it are meant the 
 Errours of the Church of Rome. And if 
 it muft be called Poplfh, becaufe the Pa- 
 pifts^^ have fuch as they call Bifhops ; 
 
 ^^ When we are in a fretting mood at the Church 
 of Rome, and with that angry difpofition enter into 
 any cogitation of the orders and rites of our church; 
 taking particular furvey of them, we are fure to have 
 always one eye fixed upon the countenance of our 
 enemies, and according to the blithe or heavy afpeft 
 thereof, our other eye fheweth fome other fuitable 
 token, either of diflike or approbation towards our 
 
 own orders We have mofl heartily to thank 
 
 God, therefore, that they amongft us to whom the 
 firil confultations of caufes of this kind fell, were 
 men, which, aiming at another mark, namely the 
 glory of God, and the good of this his Church, took 
 
i6 Of the Church, 
 
 for the fame Reafon a Man may call the 
 Creed ^^ Popifh^ becaufe the Papifts ufe, 
 and profefs it : And a man may call all 
 the Greek, and other numerous Eaftern 
 Chriftian Churches Popifh, though in fo 
 many Points of Do6lrine they are fo con- 
 trary to the Church of Rome : But they 
 agree with us in every confiderable point 
 of Do(5trine, as well as in Epifcopal Go- 
 vernment ; And this by a continued Suc- 
 ceffion from the firft Ages, which is alfo 
 another very ilrong Argument on our 
 fide. 
 
 that which they judged thereunto necefTary, not re- 
 jefting any good or convenient thing, only becaufe 
 the Church of Rome might perhaps like it. If we 
 have that which is meet and right, although they be 
 glad, we are not to envy them this their folace : we 
 do not think it a duty of ours to be in every fuch 
 thing their tormentors. Hooker, iv. ix. 2. 
 
 ^^ With Rome we dare not communicate con- 
 cerning fundry her grofs and grievous abominations ; 
 yet, touching thofe main parts of Chriftian truth, 
 wherein they conftantly ftill perfilf, we gladly ac- 
 knowledge them to be of the family of Jefus Chrift. 
 
 Id. iii. I, 10. 
 
Of the Church. 17 
 
 Indeed it is To far from being true, 
 that Epifcopacy is a Branch, or a note of 
 Popery, that I look on Epifcopal Go- 
 vernment, as the beft way to keep out 
 Popery, or any other Error. For Epif- 
 copacy, as Eftablifhed in its Jufl Rights, 
 and Power, utterly deflroys the Papal 
 Pretences;^' For this will bring the Bi- 
 fhop of Rome to his former ftate, when 
 he was look'd on as no way differing 
 from other Bifhops, but only as he was 
 Bifhop of a bigger City, and had a larger 
 Diocefs. And the Pope's Creatures were 
 fo aware of this, that in the Council of 
 ^renty when the Spani/h Bifhops would 
 have Ena6led Epifcopacy to be of Divine 
 Right, the Italians, the Pope's Creatures, 
 
 " ** The Antipapal Epifcopal churches of Eng- 
 land and Ireland, of Scotland and America, acknow- 
 ledge the Bifhop of Rome to be Patriarch of the 
 Weft, according to the ecclefiaftical and imperial 
 conftitutions ; but not by divine right." Rev. G. 
 Townjend's * Scriptural Communion with God.'' Pt. 
 iii. Dedication. §. iii. i. 
 
 D 
 
I 8 Of the Church, 
 
 prefently fmelt out the Confequences of 
 it, viz. That This would be to deprefs 
 the Pope himfelf to the fame Level with 
 other BifhopSj and therefore made all the 
 Intereft they could that That Vote fhould 
 not pafs; and accordingly it was caft out. 
 And therefore I muft look on the Pope^^ 
 as a greater Enemy to Epifcopacy, than 
 even Prefbytery it felf. For Mafter 
 Calvin'^^ himfelf did approve of Epifco- 
 pacy ; onely it could not fo well be 
 brought into Geneva^ where there was a 
 Popifh Bifhop living, who was Lord of 
 that City. But the Pope will allow of 
 no Bifhops, in proper fpeaking, but one- 
 ly himfelf ;-'^ all Bifhops deriving their 
 
 ^^ Our Church * does not add the Papacy to the 
 Epifcopate, nor feek any unity of the Church uni- 
 verfal in any other manner than in the way which 
 Chriil appointed, the fteadfaft adherence to the 
 dodlrine and fellowfliip of rf//the Apoftles.' Town/- 
 end. 
 
 19 See Bramhall's Works, fol. p. i6i. 
 
 ^" The Roman Pontiff alone fhould of right be 
 
Of the Church, 19 
 
 Power from Him, He being the Head, 
 and Root of Epifcopal Power, as Cajetan 
 hath determined ; And all Bifhops ading 
 onely with his Leave, and by his Autho- 
 rity, and Grace, fwearing Obedience, and 
 Homage to Him, as they do by the Oath 
 which they muft take when they are Con- 
 fecrated ; All this makes them onely the 
 Popes Servants, and fcarcely fo good as 
 his Deputies;"^ To be fure they are not 
 properly Bifhops in the true, and ancient 
 fenfe of it, as fuch who, under Chrift, 
 
 ftyled Univerfal Bifhop. He alone can depofc and 
 reftore Bifhops. " Di6latus Papas" (Maxims of Gre- 
 gory VII.) Baronii Annal. A. D. 1076. § 24. 
 
 -^ Though the Popes do not abolifli the order of 
 Bifhops, or Epifcopacy in the abflraft, yet they limit 
 the power of Bifhops in the concrete at their pleafure, 
 by exemptions and refervations, holding themfelves to 
 be the bifhops of every particular Sec in the world, 
 during the vacancy of it ; and making all epifcopal 
 jurifdiftion to flow from them, and to be founded in 
 the Pope's laws What is this, but to tram- 
 ple upon Epifcopacy, and to make them equivocal 
 bifhops, &c. Bramhall. Y<- 125. 
 
20 Of the Church. 
 
 had over their Prefbyters, and People, 
 Supreme Power, as to Church Affairs, 
 and Accountable only to Chrift, and to a 
 Council of their Fellow-Bifhops, often 
 Meeting, and Confulting together for the 
 good of the whole. 
 
 And as Bifhops in general are not Po- 
 pifh, fo neither can our Bifhops appointed 
 and confecrated according to the Orders 
 of the Church of England^ be accufed of 
 Popery, of any kind of men ; For at their 
 Ordination firft, and Confecration after- 
 wards, they all fubfcribe to the XXXIX, 
 Articles^ to the ufe of the Liturgy^ take 
 the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy^ 
 and give all the Caution, and fecurity, 
 that one Man can give to another of 
 their Averfion to Popery, and fteddinefs 
 to the Church of England : And now be- 
 fides this, they take the TV/?, and Renounce 
 Tranjuhftantiation^ and the other great 
 Points of Popery ; and particularly difclaim 
 all fubjedlion to the Pope, or dependance 
 
Of the Church. 21 
 
 on him, and this with abundance of Truth 
 and Reafon. 
 
 For if Chriftian Religion had been 
 planted here from Rome, it doth not 
 prove that we ought on that Account for 
 ever to depend on Rome, or our Bifhops 
 be fubjed to the Pope. For we can 
 prove that Scotland, fome parts of Germa- 
 ny y and other places, received their Chrif- 
 tianity from England ; And yet they will 
 not allow us to challenge power over 
 thofe places upon that account ftill in 
 Spirituals. But it is evident that we did 
 not fo much as receive our Religion from 
 any of the Bifhops of Rome,"" but had it 
 planted here, either by the Apoftles, or 
 Apoftolical men, as is fully made out, ef- 
 pecially of late by thofe great and learned 
 
 " ** The Popes by degrees thruft in their fickle 
 into the ecclefiaftical affairs of England. This in- 
 truiion was manifeft ufurpation and tyranny. No 
 Saxon, Englifh, or Britifh King, ever made any fub- 
 miffion to the Pope." Bramhall. p. 72. 
 
22 Of the Church, 
 
 Members of our Church, Archbifhop 
 UJher^ the Bifhop of St. Afaph, and Dean 
 of St. Pauls, 
 
 Indeed when Chriftianity was almoft 
 deftroyed in the Eaftern parts of this 
 Ifland by the Saxons^ who were Hea- 
 thens, the Bifhop of Rome fent Auguftin 
 to Convert fome of thofe Saxons ; but he 
 found many Bifhops in this Countrey, 
 who altogether difowned any dependance 
 on Rome ; and would pay no Obedience 
 to the Pope, profefTing they owed no 
 more fervice to him, than to any other 
 good Bifhop and pious Chriftian. And 
 moreover we in England^ may juftly plead 
 the privilege of the Kingdom of Cyprus, 
 according to the Council of Ephefus{^ of 
 
 ^ The ** independency of provinces was fecured 
 againll the encroachment of the greater itts, by the 
 general council of Ephefus (vid. Labhe Concil. torn, 
 iii. p. 80 1, can. 8.) where, upon the complaint of 
 the Bifliops of Cyprus, againft the encroachments of 
 the Bifhop of Antioch, this latter claiming a right 
 to confecrate the Cypriot Bifhops, and making that 
 
Of the Church, 23 
 
 being a diftind National Church, without 
 Dependance on any other. 
 
 And as thus in point of Right we can 
 juftifie our not being fubjedl to Rome, fo 
 alfo in point oi Fa^^ we can fay, the Pope 
 never had any fettled, and quiet Pofleffion, 
 and exercife of Power here ; at leaft for 
 any confiderable time together, as is at 
 
 ifland one of the dependencies of his See; upon this 
 complaint, I fay, the Bifhop of Antioch's claim was 
 examined, and being found all novelty and ufurpa- 
 tion, it was rejeded by the council. And, to pre- 
 vent all invaiions of liberty for the future, there was 
 a general canon drawn up in thefe words, which 
 was to hold in all other places, no lefs than in An- 
 tioch and Cyprus ; the former part of the canon 
 having determined the caufe in favour of the Bi- 
 fhops of Cyprus, and decreed them a fecurity for 
 the future, proceeds thus ; to fi kwl xat liil tiSv ax- 
 
 "Kan. J;oJX>;<r£iwv xai tSv a.itMTa.y^^v itca.^'/im 'ffa,pa,<pvXa)(9r}(reTai, 
 
 Sec, Now, the Britifh Churches being in no cir- 
 cumftances of fubje6lion to the bifhop of Rome 
 till long after this time, — their liberties are effeftu- 
 ally fecured by the general council of Ephefus, and 
 all future attempts of encroachment, barred, and 
 declared nullities." Collier^ s Eccl. Hijl. vol. i, 
 p. 84. Lond. 1840. 
 
24 Of the Church, 
 
 large evident from what Mafter Prynn 
 and others have colle6led : and all our 
 Statutes of Provifor's, and Pramunire's 
 do fhew how little hold here the Pope 
 was by our Government allowed, or own'd 
 to have. And though many did appeal 
 to Rome, it was againfl: Law ; and there- 
 fore. That gives the Pope no more Right 
 here, than many peoples being Traiterous, 
 and paying Homage to an Ufurper, doth 
 annul the Right and Title of the Lawful 
 Prince. 
 
 If the Pope ever had any Power here, 
 it could not be by a Divine, but a Hu- 
 mane Conftitutlon, by the approbation of 
 the King and Nation ; and that very 
 Power hath for good reafons annulled 
 this Liberty, and revoked this Grant, and 
 made it High Treafon, or at leaft a Pr^- 
 munire,-'^ to have any thing to do with 
 
 ^^ Appeals incaufes teftamentary, matrimonial, &c. 
 were prohibited under Praemunire A. D. 1532-3. 
 
 See Collier's Eccl. Hijl. vol. iv. p. 207. 
 
Of the Church, 25 
 
 the Pope, or See of Rome. And what 
 ever Reafons there ever could be for 
 holding a friendly Correfpondence with 
 the Bifhop of Rome, I am fure there were 
 and are as good, or greater Reafons for 
 denying it now, and forbidding all Ap- 
 peals to Rome ; not only by reafon of the 
 vaft fumms of Money drawn out of the 
 Nation,'-'^ (all great Eccleiiaftical Caufes 
 being judged at a Foreign Tribunal/^ 
 
 ^ *' The grounds of feparation were many : firft, 
 the intolerable extortions and exceffive rapine of the 
 Court of Rome committed in that Realm (England) 
 by their Legates and Nuncios, and Commiffioners, 
 and Colle6lors, and other inferior Officers and 
 Harpies, enough to impoverifh the kingdom, and to 
 drain out of it all the treafure that was in it, and 
 leave it bare as a grafshopper in winter 
 
 They endeavoured to rob the King of the faireft 
 flowers of his crown ; as of his right to convocate 
 Synods, and to confirm Synods within his own do- 
 minions ; of his legiflative and judiciary power in 
 ecclefiaftical caufes, of his political jurifdidion over 
 ecclefiailical perfons, &c. Braftihall. pp. 92, 93. 
 
 -^ He who appeals to the alleged decifions of a 
 certain community, is clearly bound, in the firll 
 
26 Of the Church, 
 
 and all Ecclefiaftlcal Perfons made to de- 
 pend on another Jurirdidllon^) But alfo 
 we having found by woful experience how- 
 great an enemy the Pope was to our 
 Peace, all Tranfa6lions with him were and 
 are by our Laws moft juftly forbidden. 
 
 And therefore we being thus a Le- 
 gally Conftituted National Church, had 
 confequently full power to Reform our 
 felves, without afking the Bifhop o^ Rome's 
 leave (When we found many Errors by 
 degrees crept in*"^ among us). Nor can 
 
 place, to prove its exigence. But if we proceed to 
 hiftorical evidence, we find on examination, that 
 there never was a time when the fupremacy of any- 
 one Church was acknowledged by all, or nearly all 
 Chriftians, and to fay that they ought to have done 
 fo, and that as many as refufed fuch fubmiilions, are 
 to be regarded as fchifmatics and rebels, is evidently 
 to prejudge the queftion. Jbp. Whatelfs EJJhys on 
 * Dangers^ ^c. p. 170. 
 
 ^' There is a right mean between thofe extremes, 
 if man could light on it ; that is, neither to deftroy 
 the body out of hatred to the fores and ulcers, nor 
 yet to cherifli the fores and ulcers out of a doting 
 
Of the Church. 27 
 
 we with any fhew of Reafon, or Confci- 
 ence, be charged with Schifm on that 
 account ; for we are ready to juftifie to 
 the World (as we have done it abund- 
 antly) that we have only caft off Errors,"^ 
 or fuch things as ought to be reje6ted, 
 and have retained, or received, nothing 
 but what is Neceffary, or Lawful. And 
 it is a hard cafe that we muft be forc'd to 
 afk the Pope's leave for us to grow better 
 
 afFedlion to the body; that is, neither to deftroy 
 ancient inftitutions, out of a zealous hatred to fome 
 new abufes ; nor yet to dote fo upon ancient infti- 
 tutions, as for their fakes to cherifh new abufes. 
 
 Bramhall. p. 29. 
 
 Juft as if you fliould argue thus : you may not 
 leave your friend or your brother ; therefore you 
 may not leave the vice of your friend, or the error 
 of your brother. Chillingworth. chap. iii. §. 66. 
 
 ^ The Church of Rome is a true Chriftian 
 Church, metaphyfically, becaufe it Hill retains all 
 the efTentials of a true Church. To have feparated 
 from it in any of thefe, had been either formal he- 
 refy, or formal fchifm, or both. But we have re- 
 tained all thefe as much as themfelves, and much 
 more purely than themfelves. lb. p. 197. 
 
28 Of the Church. 
 
 Chrlftlans ; and it Is yet a harder cafe if 
 he fhould be unwilling, and not fuffer us 
 fo to be. 
 
 And One particular National Church 
 cannot, without great Impropriety, be fo 
 much as charged with Schifm, from ano- 
 ther National Church, fuch as That at 
 Rome is, but from the Univerfal Church. 
 So that it is a kind of Non-fenfe for us 
 even to be charged with being Schif- 
 maticks from Rome^ unlefs Rome be all 
 the World,-'^ or a particular be an Uni- 
 verfal. 
 
 Ours is the National Religion ; And 
 for the firft Ten Years of Queen Eliza- 
 beth^ the Papifts did Communicate with 
 us, till the Bull of Pope Rius the Fourth, 
 
 2^ There is a vaft difference between the Ca- 
 tholic Church and a Patriarchal Church. The Ca- 
 tholic Church can never fail; any Patriarchal Church 
 may apellate and fail. We have a promife that the 
 candle Ihall not be put out: we have no promife 
 that the candlefticks (hall not be removed. Bram- 
 hall. p. 30. 
 
Of the Church. 29 
 
 An, 1569-70, though our Reformation 
 was then fully fetled. So that They are 
 bound to anfwer it, why they joyn not 
 ftlll in Communion with us. And I hold 
 my felf bound to Obey this Church in 
 all its Lawful Commands/^ it having as 
 much Power, as any other Church in the 
 World, over its own Members, though it 
 is lefs imperious in its Commands, and 
 pretends not to a Dominion ^^ over our 
 Faith. 
 
 ^•^ Our Divine Head, even Chrift, ruling Chrif- 
 tians by his Spirit, which fpoke to them from time 
 to time through the Apoftles, while thefe were living, 
 fpeaks ftill in the words of the Chriftian Scriptures. 
 It follows that each Chriftian is bound (as far as 
 Church-authority extends) to fubmit to the ordinances 
 and do6lrines, not repugnant to Scripture, (fee Art. 
 xxxiv.) of the particular Church, of which he is a 
 member. Abp, Whately's EJJays on 'Dangers,'' i^c. 
 p. 170. 
 
 ^^ The Romifh fyftem requires that each man is 
 to forego the exercife of his own judgment, and to 
 receive implicitly what is decided for him by the 
 authority of the Church. The principle of Protef- 
 tantifm, on the contrary, is, that it is the duty of 
 
30 Of the Church, 
 
 And therefore moft highly do I Ho- 
 nour, and Revere This Church, thus 
 ApoftoHcally Govern'd, and Legally Ef- 
 tablifhed; and of all things in this World 
 dread its Cenfures. For I cannot but 
 reckon that thofe great Priviledges, and 
 Promifes granted by Chrift to his Church, 
 
 every man, firfl to avail himfelf of all help within 
 his reach, and to diveft himfelf of prejudice ; and 
 then to decide according to the befh of his own judg- 
 ment, and embrace that which appears to him to be 
 truth. It has been exprefsly denied by fome writers, 
 that our Church acknowledges the right of private 
 judgment, on the ground that it enjoins the ufe of 
 the Creeds, and of the Liturgy, and Catechifm. 
 To which it is replied, that in matters intrinfically 
 indifferent, each Church has a right to prefcribe to 
 its members regulations with which it is their duty 
 to comply ; but that, to attribute to a Church fuch 
 power in refped of doftrines, of which Church-for- 
 mularies are only expofitions and commentaries, and 
 to make it the duty of any one to affent to her in- 
 terpretation of Scriptures, is practically to place that 
 Church on a level with the Scriptures : and that if 
 our Church can be fuppofed to declare that an indi- 
 vidual has no right to exercife his private judgment 
 in deciding whether the Liturgy be fcriptural or 
 
Of the Chur'ch. 3 i 
 
 Matt. 18, mufl belong to This Church, 
 which is fo truely Chriftian. And I am 
 To far from flighting or defpifing its Au- 
 thority, becaufe it doth not fo Imperioufly 
 Curfe its Enemies, or doth not pretend 
 to inflict Temporal Punifliments^" on De- 
 linquents, that I revere it the more on 
 
 not, and is bound to receive it implicitly, and with- 
 out further inquiry, becaufe it is ' our' Liturgy — 
 the grand principle of Proteftantifm, the only one 
 that could juftify the Reformation, is abandoned ; 
 and our Reformers mull; rtand convi6led as fchifma- 
 tical heretics. Ed. 
 
 ^~ Burning is not now pradifed for knavery, any 
 more then cutting men up alive for high treafon ; 
 though the punifhment of heretics by the civil rules, 
 even by fire, was yet not immediately difcontinued af- 
 ter the Reformation. Thofe who defend the fyftem 
 of fecular coercion, or, of enading laws for punifhing 
 by the arm of the civil magirtrate, fuch as are in 
 religious error, do fo upon the plea that it is the duty 
 of Chriftians to difcountenance religious error by 
 every means in their power ; and therefore, even by 
 violent means, if necellary ; appealing ufually, to 
 the Old Teftament, in fupport of their views. 
 Their opponents, on the contrary, urge that no pcr- 
 fonal violence, no fecular penalty whatever, is fane- 
 
32 Of the Church, 
 
 this very account. For God will be ne- 
 ver the lefs fevere againft a Rebellious 
 Son, becaufe the Father did only with 
 Pity and Tendernefs rebuke him, and 
 defire to reclaim him. And it hath been 
 of old obferved, that where, and when 
 the Church had lefs fecular aid, there 
 God did in a more fpecial manner Vin- 
 dicate it himfelf. 
 
 As to the other fubordinate parts of 
 our Government under the Bifhops, fuch 
 as Arch-Deacons, Deans and Chapters,"^^ 
 
 tioned by the Author of our Religion : that the 
 whole of the New Teftament breathes a fpirit of 
 earneftnefs indeed, in the caufe of truth and zeal 
 againft religious error ; but of fuch a zeal as was to 
 manifeft itfelf only in vehement, and perfevering 
 perfuafion. Ed. 
 
 '^'^ The bifliop for his afTiftance and eafe, had un- 
 der him, to guide and direft deacons in their charge, 
 his Archdeacon, fo termed in refpeft of care over 
 deacons, albeit himfelf were not deacon but pref- 
 byter. For the guidance of prefbyters in their func- 
 tion, the bifhop had likewife under him one of the 
 felf-fame order with them, but above them in autho- 
 
Of the Church, 33 
 
 and the feveral Ecclefiaftlcal Courts, I 
 think none can deny, but either thefe very 
 Orders, or fomewhat like them, is necef- 
 fary to the good of the whole, and the 
 regular Adminiftration of affairs under 
 the Bifhop ; and thefe very Orders have 
 been fo long among us that they can 
 plead the Prefcription of fo very many 
 hundred years, and are fo interwoven with 
 our Laws, and the frame of our Govern- 
 ment, and we have been fo long ufed to 
 them, that they have every way a firm, 
 and fetled Right among us ; and nothing 
 in this Life can be ftable nor right certain, 
 if, to other Arguments, a Prefcription of 
 fo many hundred years fhall not be valid ; 
 
 rity, one whom the ancients termed ufually an 
 arch-prefbyter: we at this day name him Dean. For, 
 moft certain truth it is that churches, cathedrals, and 
 the bifhops of them, are as glaiTes, wherein the face 
 and very countenance of apoflolical antiquity re- 
 maineth even as yet to be feen, notwithftanding the 
 alterations which tra<5l of time, and the courfe of the 
 world hath brought, &c. Hooker, vii. vii. 2. 
 
34 Of the Church, 
 
 for it is an Ancienter Right than any man 
 can fhew for his Eftate : and for thefe 
 Reafons do I fully approve of them. 
 And whatever fault is in any of them, I 
 muft needs afcribe it to the Perfons and 
 AbufeSj rather than to the Nature of the 
 Office. ^^ Much lefs can the Church be 
 charged with blame, who, I am fure, by 
 her Canons, defigns the Preventing of all 
 thofe abufes committed ; and if the times 
 at prefent will allow of no better, let 
 every man bear his own burthen. 
 
 ^ See Racket's Speech before the Houfe of Com- 
 mons in behalf of Deans and Chapters. Collier' s 
 Eccl. Hi/l, Vol. VIII. p. 213. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of Chrijlian Belief. 
 
 ND as I find this Church 
 thus Rightly Conftituted^ 
 and under a Government 
 the moil: truly Agreeable 
 to the Apoflolical Pattern, and the Prac- 
 tice of all Ages : So I cannot but admire 
 it more, if poflible, for the foundnefs of 
 its Faith and Docfrine. 
 
 For as it makes a true Faith necefTary, 
 as well as Pra6lice, fo it refolves this 
 Faith into the true Author, and Objed 
 of it, God ; It being moft agreeable that 
 we fhould learn from Him, what to Be- 
 
36 Of Chrljlian Belief. 
 
 lieve of Him, and by what adlions to 
 pleafe Him. 
 
 Now He hath in his Goodnefs Ordered 
 certain Books to be written, by Men in- 
 fpired^ by Him, that do contain all that 
 God would have us know, as from Him, 
 in order to our Salvation. And thefe 
 Books all together v/e call the Bible^ or 
 Holy Scriptures. And this Book I am 
 by the Church of £;/^/^;;<^ taught, to look 
 on, as a compleat Rule of Faith, and 
 Manners;^ And that neither a Man*s 
 own private Spirit, or Reafon, nor the 
 
 ^ The divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, 
 our Church, according to great wifdom, doth rather 
 take for granted, than labour much to prove fuch an 
 undoubted principle of religion ; jullly fuppofing 
 there is no reafon either to queftion that the church 
 hath furely received thofe divine oracles, or furely 
 delivered them ; and therefore our iixth Article 
 fpeaks of them as " of whofe authority there was 
 never any doubt in the Church." Puller'' 5 " Mode- 
 ration of the Church of England.^'' Chap. iv. 
 
 ^ The acknowledging of the Holy Scriptures to 
 be a perfect rule of faith and manners, is the main 
 
Of Chrijlian Belief, 37 
 
 Authority and Commands of any Men, 
 ought to be liftned or attended to in op- 
 pofition to it. 
 
 I reckon alfo that this Scripture is clear 
 enough, as to all neceffary points, to them 
 that will make it their Bufinefs without 
 Prejudice, to confider, and underftand it ; 
 And that whatever hath been faid againft 
 it, I find none, but onely feeming Contra- 
 dictions and Oppofitions in it, which do 
 allow of a very favourable Interpretation, 
 and Reconciliation ; And that even thefe 
 feeming Difficulties, and Contradictions, 
 as well as the divers Tranilations of Scrip- 
 ture, and the various Readings, are chief- 
 ly, or only, in fmall and indifferent cafes, 
 which concern not the Eflence of our Re- 
 ligion. And to reconcile thefe feeming 
 Oppofitions, and to explain the whole, is 
 a great part of the Office, and duty of the 
 
 article of the Proteftant religion as oppofed to the 
 Romifh. Bp. Sandcrfon. Pref. to Sermons. Lond. 
 1657. 
 
38 Of Chrijiian Belief. 
 
 Clergy, the BIfhops, Priefts, and Deacons, 
 who are bound to Inftrud:'^ the People out 
 of this Book, and to convince the Gain- 
 fay ers. 
 
 And though, as Saint Peter fays, many 
 do wrefl the Scripture to their own de- 
 ftruiftion ; yet I look on it as very fit and 
 neceffary, that this Scripture fhould be in 
 the Vulgar Language,* and often read by 
 the People ; That fo they themfelves may 
 fee, and know the Law, by which they 
 muft be judged;^ that they may be fatif- 
 
 ^ See Office for the " Ordering of Priefls and 
 Deacons." " Are you perfuaded" t^c. 
 
 * The Church of England from thne to time, 
 hath taken a juft care to have the holy originals ren- 
 dered into the common language, that all God's 
 people may be enriched more and more in the 
 knowledge of God ; as Epiphanius tells us the An- 
 cient Church had its i^ixm'.vrki;, interpreters of the 
 Divine Books. Puller's " Moderation of the Church 
 of England, ^^ Chap. iv. 
 
 ^ In giving religious inftru6lion to any clafs of 
 perfons, — I warn you, I do not fay, againft fetting 
 up yourfelves, but permitting them to fct you up, 
 as oracles, — as a dccifive authority — as a final appeal 
 
Of Chrijiian Belief. 39 
 
 fied the Clergy do not impofe on them, 
 and teach them a ReHgion of their own 
 invention ; and feeing every man muft be 
 judged at the laft day feverally by himfelf, 
 and according to what he himfelf hath 
 done ; it feems neceffary, that he fhould 
 now firft judge for himfelf/ whatever 
 help or afliftance he may have from ano- 
 ther to make a right judgment. 
 
 And this fufficiency, and clearnefs of 
 the Scripture, is the Reafon why I do not 
 depend on the Authority or Credit of the 
 
 in refpeft of religious truth. You muft not only 
 incite and teach them to read, and to read profit- 
 ably, — to ** mark, learn, and inwardly digeft," the 
 Scriptures ; but you muft leav^e and lead them to 
 cxercife the beft powers of underftanding that Pro- 
 vidence has beftowed, to '* prove all things, and hold 
 faft that which is right;" — to allow no mere unin- 
 fpired man, or Church, or other Body of uninfpired 
 men, the claim either of fuperfeding Scripture, or of 
 pofTeffing a joint and equal authority with Scripture, 
 or pronouncing and deciding infallibly what is the 
 fenfe of Scripture. Whatelfs EJpiys. 
 
 ^ If men are accountable for their opinions, it 
 follows that they mu/l exercife private judgment. 
 
40 Of Chrijlian Belief. 
 
 Prieft that expounds it, or Preacheth' 
 from it, but on the Scripture it felf ; he 
 being always bound to bring fome clear 
 pafTage of Scripture for the proof of what 
 he faith. And therefore I do not look 
 on any thing that he faith as infallible, 
 any further than it is confonant to Scrip- 
 ture ; Nor do I reckon any infallible In- 
 terpreter at all to be given to the Church. 
 For if there were any Infallible Interpreter 
 of the Word, and Will of God, doubtlefs 
 
 without which there can be no refponfibillty. It is 
 for his minillers and ftewards to do their bell to- 
 wards training the People to exercife their private 
 judgment rightly, and profitably for their eternal in- 
 terefts. In addition to all other inftruftion, we 
 mull alfo warn them of the refponfibillty which is 
 then laid on them ; a refponfibillty from which we 
 cannot relieve them, if we would j and, of which 
 they cannot diveil themfelves. 
 
 ■^ Men will ufually be more ready to thank any 
 writer or preacher, who places them in a well-trod- 
 den road, which they have only to keep to without 
 looking on either fide, than one who prefents them 
 with a map of the country they are to traverfej — 
 
Of ChriJVian Belief. 41 
 
 it would of all things have been the moft 
 plainly faid, and the moft frequently re- 
 ferred to in Scripture, becaufe of the Infi- 
 nite ufe of knowing it, and the Danger 
 of being Ignorant of it ; and God in his 
 wifdom, and goodnefs would never have 
 put fo many particulars into the Scripture, 
 which there is no fuch need we fhould 
 know, and leave any thing out of Scrip- 
 ture, which it is fo abfolutely neceffary 
 that we fhould know. 
 
 better pleafed with one who faves them the trouble 
 of thinking, than with one \^\\o gives them trouble, 
 by inciting, encouraging, and directing their ftudics. 
 Hence, thofe who have been ufed to look up to 
 their miniller as a man of learning and ability fupe- 
 rior to their own, of eminent piety, and perhaps, of 
 great eloquence, are in general, ftrongly difpofed to 
 refer to him as their ultimate ftandard ; and to con- 
 clude that as he may be prefumed to have good 
 grounds for every thing he fays, they may fave them- 
 felves the labour of exercifing their own inferior 
 powers, and give themfelves up to his guidance with- 
 out further thought. Abp. Whatelfs EJJays on 
 "Dangers,'^ t^c. p. 245. 
 
 G 
 
42 Of Chrijlian Belief, 
 
 And though it is true, that the Church 
 did convey down to us the Books of 
 Scripture, and fo we receive the Scripture 
 from the Churchy as fome of the Fathers 
 have faid, yet it doth not hence follow, 
 that the Scripture received its Authority 
 from the Church, or that the Church is 
 above the Scripture, and to be believed 
 before it. For the Scripture received its 
 Authority only from God, who Infpired 
 thofe Men that wrote it; and the Church, 
 in Conveying down the Scripture to us, 
 is to be look'd on only as a witnefs^ of 
 fuch Books being written by Divinely in- 
 
 ^ It is a well known faft, that the books of the 
 Bible have come down to us through the Church ; 
 and we of this day and generation, fliould never 
 have known what were the Scriptures of God, the 
 charter of our falvation, but through the Church. 
 This is a ftriking and often-forgotten truth ; but it 
 is fometimes ftated in a way, which would feem to 
 intimate that they who make the ftatement, imagine 
 that the Church ?nade the Scriptures the rule of 
 faith. The Holy Spirit made them fuch ; and the 
 Church, walking in His light, has judged them to 
 
Of Chrtjiian Belief, 43 
 
 fpired men, not as giving us thofe Books 
 by its own Authority^ to be received by 
 us as Divinely infpired. For all that v^e 
 need prove concerning the Scripture, is, 
 that it was written by fuch and fuch men, 
 and received as Divinely infpired. Now 
 even Humane Teftimony is fufficient to 
 prove this, without any Authority. And 
 to argue for the necefTity of Infallibility^ 
 or Divine Authority in the Church, to 
 affure us which is the Scripture, is the 
 fame thing as if we would admit only of 
 a King and Parliament's Teftimony, or 
 Authority to prove. That fuch an A61 of 
 
 be fuch : juil: as a Jury does not make a man who is 
 arraigned at the bar innocent, when it pronounces 
 a verdift of acquittal ; but, he being in himfelf in- 
 nocent, it does its duty by him, and declares him to 
 be fuch. The Church is a " witnefs" to the exif- 
 tence of their books from the beginning, fo that they 
 are not new: and a "^ keeper "of them, guarding them 
 from, and alluring us of their freedom from, interpo- 
 lation. " The National Church of Efigland, Anci- 
 ent, Apojlolical, Pure:'' A Sermon by the Editor. 
 London: Wertheim. 184.2. 
 
44 Of Chrijlicui Belief, 
 
 Parliament was formerly made. And 
 therefore I may juftly look on the Scrip- 
 ture as Infallible, though the Church that 
 conveys it down to us, is Fallible. For 
 otherwife, if the Church muft be efteemed 
 Infallible in every thing, becaufe fhe con- 
 veys down to us the Scriptures, which all 
 own to be Infallible ; By the fame reafon 
 the keeper of the Records of the 'Tower , 
 or any where elfe, may urge that his 
 Word ought to go as far as any of thofe 
 Records, becaufe he hath the keeping of 
 them. And therefore as I may believe 
 the Records, but difcredit the man, fo I 
 may believe the Scripture, though I believe 
 not the Church. Befides, a man may 
 tell one thing true, but lye in many 
 others ; fo the Church may be believed 
 in handing down to us the Scripture, be- 
 caufe it hath all collateral evidence to 
 ftrengthen its Teftimony, but yet need 
 not be believed in every thing elfe, which 
 fhe pretends to. Though the Church of 
 
OfChriJllan Belief, 45 
 
 England will dlfown nothing that can be 
 proved to have been received and prac- 
 tlfed by the whole Church from the Apof- 
 tles days, fuch as the Canon^ of Scripture, 
 the keeping of the firfi day of the Week 
 holy inftead of the Seventh, Infant-bap- 
 tijm^"^^ Epijcopacy ^^ &c. but very ftridlly 
 infifts on them, becaufe fhe reckons her 
 felf bound to keep up Unity with the 
 firft and pureft Ages, and cannot think 
 it probable or pofTible that an Univerfal 
 practice, contrary to the defign of Chrift 
 and his Apoftles, fhould prevail^- imme- 
 diately after, and even during the Apof- 
 ties' days. 
 
 » See vi. Art. ofRel. 
 
 ^^ See xxvii. Art. of Rel. 
 
 ^^ See Preface to Ordination Service. 
 
 ^^ ** Had Epifcopal government been an aberra- 
 tion from, (or a corruption of) the Government left 
 in the Churches by the Apoftles, it had been very 
 ftrange that it fhould have been received in any one 
 Church fo fuddenly, or that it fliould have been 
 prevailed in all, for many ages after." Chilling- 
 worth on Epifcopdcy. § 7. 
 
46 Of Chriftian Belief, 
 
 But ftill we cannot allow of all things 
 that the Church of Rome pretends an 
 Univerfal and conftant Pradice of; fuch 
 as Prayers to Saints^ Prayers for the Dead, 
 'Tran/ubftantiation, Adoration of the Hofl^ 
 Suhmiffion to the Pope's Supremacy^ i^c. 
 For they notorioufly falfifie in their Quo- 
 tations to this purpofe, as any one will fee 
 that fhall without prejudice, read their 
 Books, and Ours, written on thefe Sub- 
 jedls. Much lefs do we own any Infalli- 
 bility of Tradition y^^ or make what is 
 deliver'd down to us by it, to be of equal 
 Authority with the Scripture, as the Coun- 
 cil of Trent exprefly doth. For Chrifl 
 hath no where told us. That he would 
 
 ^^ Tradition is not an aflcflbr with Scripture upon 
 the throne of judgment, but fits in a lower place; 
 and, her voice is to be liftened to, while fhe keeps 
 her diftance refpeftfully, fpeaks in a humble tone, 
 and fuggefts modeilly what may be, but does not 
 pronounce what is, the import of any fentence that 
 is heard from the throne itlelf Ed, 
 
Of ChriJUan Belief. 47 
 
 deliver Tome things by word of mouth, 
 to be handed down to all Ages, which 
 fhall be of the fame NeccfTity, and Infal- 
 libility, with what is written in Scripture. 
 Nor is there any Intimation of any man, 
 or number of men's being fo extraordina- 
 rily guided and afTifted, as without Error 
 to convey down to us this Oral Tradition. 
 And if they rely only on the General 
 Promifes made to the whole Church,^^ of 
 Chrifl's being by his Spirit prefent with 
 ity we fee not why a fmall part of the 
 whole Church, viz. thofe of the Roman 
 
 " The injunftion (Matth. xxviii. 20.) to '* ob- 
 ferve all things which Chrift commanded," is given, 
 not to the minifters of the Church only, but to all 
 baptized Chriftians ; and the promife of being with 
 his minifters for ever, depends on the fulfilment of the 
 above condition by them, and by the people. Chrift 
 is with them fo long as they ** teach" and " obferve" 
 what He taught them. Whenever ** for dodrines" 
 the " commandments of men" are taught and follow- 
 ed, the promife is ** come to an end." Ed. 
 
48 Of Chrijiian Belief, 
 
 Communion, fhould take this Promife to 
 it felf, any more than the Reformed Wef- 
 tern, or Eaftern Churches, unlefs it can 
 be proved that the Italians have better 
 memories, or are honefter men, and fo 
 fitter to convey down old Traditions to 
 us, than the Greeks or others ; which, I 
 believe will be a hard matter to prove. — 
 Therefore we both deny any Tradition to 
 be of equal Authority with the Scripture,^^ 
 and efpecially we find no number of men 
 fit for the handing down fuch a Tradition 
 to us, if it were given at firft. And yet 
 much lefs can we rely on any certain 
 number of men, telling us that This, or 
 That is fuch Infallible Tradition, and 
 think our felves bound to believe them, 
 
 15 ^( While I am willing to attend to the teftimony 
 of tradition, hiftory, criticifm, and all other fountains 
 of evidence to guide me in the controverfial enquiry, 
 I limit my fources of reafon to the Holy Scriptures 
 alone." ^Dedication'* prefixed to ^^ Scriptural Com- 
 munion with God.^^ Pt. a. by Rev. G. Tozvnfend, 
 M. A. Canon of Durham. 
 
Of C/iriJiian Belief, 49 
 
 fay they what they will. And yet this is 
 plainly the cafe with the Church of Rome 
 concerning Tradition : They are not fo 
 follicitous that we fhould in all things 
 believe, and do as the ancient Church 
 did, but as the prefent Church of Rome 
 would have us ; for they know that we 
 appeal in all cafes to the Ancient Primi- 
 tive Church, and challenge to be judged 
 by it. And they know alfo, that the An- 
 cient Church hath believed, and a6led 
 otherwife in many particulars, than they 
 now do. But all their ftickling for Tra- 
 dition is to this purpofe, that they may 
 but get this one little point. That Tradi- 
 tion is Infallible, and that they are the 
 only Conveyers of it ; that is. That they 
 are Infallible, and that confequently we 
 muft Believe, and do in every thing, as 
 they bid us.^^ For nothing elfe is allow- 
 
 ^^ In treating of the means whereby Churchmen 
 are to arrive at the true knowledge of the Holy 
 Scriptures, they often leave out the promifed teach- 
 
 H 
 
50 Of Chrijlian Belief. 
 
 ed for Tradition in the Church of Rome-, 
 but what the prefent Church fays, and 
 declares to be Tradition. And this being 
 granted by us, there would be an end of 
 all difpute. For then they may teach us 
 a new Religion, a new Gofpel, and fay 
 they have Tradition for it, and who can 
 gainfay it ? and fo make us deny our old 
 one that Chrift and the Apoftles taught 
 us : But we have not Jo learned Chrift, 
 
 Be fides, I confefs, I fee not any necef- 
 fity of an Infallible Judge in the world. 
 
 ing of the Holy Ghoft, the endowment, the privi- 
 lege of the Church ; and the grand inflrumentality 
 by which, upon their own principles as Churchmen, 
 they look to " have a right judgment in all things." 
 If it would be prefumptuous to hope that we could 
 individually unlock the myfteries of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, without fuch teaching, it is profane to 
 doubt that every man may do this for himfelf, when 
 he has the Scriptures of God for the field of his en- 
 quiry, — the hand of the Church to guide him, and 
 the light of the Holy Ghoft to illumine both the 
 face of the field, and his own fteps as he follows his 
 guide. Ed. 
 
Of Chriflian Belief, 5 i 
 
 Nor hath God in his Providence been 
 wanting to his Church, in not providing 
 one, as fome of the Church of Rome have 
 blafphemoufly argued. For feeing he 
 hath given us in the Scripture, a Rule 
 and Foundation to proceed on, and our 
 own Reafon^^ to apply it to our felves, 
 and make ufe of it to our own purpofes, 
 I fee not why we may not make ufe of 
 this Book for its purpofes, as well as we 
 make ufe of other Books, for other pur- 
 pofes. And why cannot God fpeak his 
 
 ^"^ The Almighty Creator whofe Providence al- 
 figns to every perfon his place and ftation in the 
 world, and who has entrufted to each an immortal 
 foul, has not only implanted within that foul the 
 power to reafon refpedling the truth or falfehood, the 
 good or evil, the right or the wrong, of the matters 
 which are brought before the minds of men ; but 
 He has commanded them to excrcife that power : 
 and fuch exercife of his reafon, therefore, by every 
 individual, according to his opportunities, circum- 
 ftances, and ftation, is not merely a right and a 
 privilege, but a folemn and bounden duty to himfelf 
 and his Creator. To this power of enquiring into 
 
52 OfChriJlian Belief, 
 
 will as plainly to be underftood, as men 
 can, and do daily ? and if there be Truth 
 delivered in Scripture, why fhould not all 
 men be able to apprehend, and difcover 
 it ? feeing Truth is but one, and Reafon is 
 the fame to all ; and efpecially feeing we 
 fhall be judged, every man for himfelf, 
 and by a God that knows our hearts, 
 
 truth, of examining evidence, and of concluding ac- 
 cording to evidence, the God of Revelation has uni- 
 formly appealed. Mofes expoftulated with Ifrael by 
 reminding the ftubborn race of the miracles of Egypt, 
 and in the wildernefs. Chrift appealed to his works. 
 The Apoflles to their figns and wonders. The 
 Church of Rome appeals to the reafon of its adhe- 
 rents, though it feems to limit its permiiTion to their 
 enquiring into the authority of the teacher only ; 
 without permitting the extenfion of the enquiry into 
 the certainty o'i the things which the authority of 
 that teacher enforces. The Church oi England ap- 
 peals to reafon, when it affirms that its teachers mull 
 inftru6l its people, whatever be the affiftance which 
 they derive from antiquity and the Fathers, in thofe 
 things only which can be proved from the Holy 
 Scriptures. * Dedication^ prefixed to " ScriptJiral 
 Communion with GodJ^ Pt. ii. by Rev. G. Townfend^ 
 M.J. Canon of Durham. 
 
OfChriJiian Belief. 53 
 
 who fees with what fincerlty of heart, or 
 with what byafs and ill IncHnation, we 
 apply this rule to our felves. 
 
 Although if there were an Infallible 
 Judge at Rome, according to their way of 
 reafoning, it would not be much to the 
 advantage of the Church, efpecially of us 
 that live fo far from Rome. For feeing I 
 cannot hear the Pope himfelf fpeak, they 
 mull all be Infallible, that, to the fourth 
 or fifth hand perhaps, convey what he 
 faith to me ; for if any of thefe miftake, 
 or wilfully deceive me, what muft I do ? 
 Nay, if I were at Rome, the Pope cannot 
 be fpoke to at all hours ; for he takes 
 ftate on himfelf fometimes, and fometimes 
 hath the Gout, and other infirmities inci- 
 dent to old men, and doth not love to be 
 difturbed by every one. And yet if I 
 fhould fpeak with him, I perhaps fhould 
 not be much the wifer. For to make a 
 full ufe of fuch an Infallible Judge, we 
 muft be as Infallible as he ; for we may 
 
54 Of Chrijlian Belief, 
 
 miftake him without an InfalHble Spirit ; 
 and if he doth tell me true, and I do not 
 apprehend, or receive it fo, I am ftill in a 
 bad cafe. And yet it is evident that the 
 words of an Infallible Judge or Inter- 
 preter may be miflaken. For our Blefled 
 Saviour himfelf was mifunderftood, both 
 by the Jews^ and by his Difciples fome- 
 times. And what fhall we fay then of 
 this pretended Infallible Judge on the 
 Seven Hills^ who is often a man of the 
 weakeft Underftanding, and not always 
 of the greateft clearnefs of expreffion, and 
 who doth not know truth himfelf; For 
 fometimes he hath excufed himfelf from 
 judging in a cafe in Divinity, by alledging 
 that he was not bred a 'Divine^ and there- 
 fore did not underftand the Queftion. 
 And yet methinks Knowledge is fome- 
 what neceffary in order to Infallibility. 
 Befides, if a man fhould by chance, fpeak 
 a very true fentence, but doth not know 
 what it means, and therefore cannot ex- 
 
Of Chrijlian Belief. 55 
 
 plain It to me^ I may eafily miftake him, 
 or apply what he faith to an improper 
 purpofe. For words are ambiguous, and 
 fome mens Notions are found to fit things 
 fo well, that they often take the one for 
 the other. And yet if there be any need 
 of this Infallible Judge, there will be con- 
 ftant need of him ; it will not be enough 
 for him to fpeak now and then in a Ge- 
 neral Council, but very often, or always to 
 fit, and have application made to him, ac- 
 cording to their own Principles, and ways 
 of arguing, becaufe there are new Difputes, 
 and Queflions, and Herefies that are raifed 
 almofl daily (for if the Pope can give any 
 one flanding Rule for refolving all Doubts, 
 and defining Dodlrines, we fhould be apt 
 to think that God may have given this 
 himfelf in Scripture : and this would fpoil 
 his Trade) : and if a man hath not this In- 
 fallible Judge ready to refolve him, be he 
 never fo defirous of knowing truth, he 
 may die in Herefie, and his cafe then mufl 
 
56 Of Chrijlian Belief. 
 
 be very bad. So that there is an abfolute 
 neceility of a man's living very near the 
 Pope/" or elfe he can have no tolerable 
 fecurity of himfelf, but he may be in fome 
 confiderable error. And the People of 
 Rome muft be the only happy people in 
 this life, that only are fure of the true 
 Catholick Religion, as living fo under the 
 conftant droppings of Infallibility. And 
 yet I believe Rome is the laft place in the 
 world to which the Prieft would fend you, 
 to make you a good Catholick. But how 
 if it happen after all this, that this old 
 Gentleman at Rome dare not fpeak even 
 
 ^^ That all Chriflians fhould belong to one fmgle 
 ecclefiaftical community, the chief governor of which 
 fhould refide at Rome, though exceffively inconveni- 
 ent, w^ould not neceifarily imply the abandonment 
 of any Chriftian principle. But, that the governor 
 or governors of any Church fhould demand from all 
 Chriftians acquiefcence in their determinations, be' 
 caufe thefe emanate from an unerring Church, this 
 is a claim whofe foundation is deftroyed by the ad- 
 miffion of fallibility on any one point. Abp, Whate- 
 ly^s EJJays. 
 
OfChrijiian Belief, 57 
 
 what he thinks, for fear of angring this or 
 that party, French^ or Spani/h ? or when 
 a queftion Is put to him, as concerning the 
 immaculate conception of the Blefjed Virgin ^ 
 He fees that if he determine it either way, 
 he fhall lofe, or at lead difoblige a very 
 powerful and numerous Order, and there- 
 fore ufeth all the tricks of Tergiverfation 
 and delay that can be, that he may not be 
 forced to decide the Controverfie ; as we 
 know it happened within thefe feventy 
 years ? If this Gentleman did know more 
 than other men, what would his know- 
 ledge fignifie if he be afraid to own or 
 declare what he knows ? Therefore let 
 them decide their own Controverfies firft 
 by this their Infallible Judge, before they 
 pretend to impofe him upon us. Will 
 any man believe me that I have an Infal- 
 lible Cure for the Gout, when he fees me 
 lie groaning under it all the year round ? 
 And therefore not till they have deter- 
 mined among themfelves the queftion of 
 
58 OfChriJlian Belief. 
 
 the Immaculate Conception^ of the Power 
 of the PopCy befides or without a Council, 
 and convinced the F^-ench King and Cler- 
 gy of the Pope's Infallibility ^ and abfo- 
 lute unlimited Authority ^ and of the nullity 
 of the Liberties of the Gallician Church, 
 fhall we ever think they believe them- 
 felves, when they fay the Pope is Infalli- 
 ble ; or if He be, I am fure it is to as lit- 
 tle purpofe, as if He were not. So that 
 Infallibility is only a long word to amufe 
 People.^^ It is down-right Force that 
 
 ^^ The corredl llatement of the cafe is this : To 
 profefs certain dodlrines, and (which is implied by 
 fo doing) to declare that thofe dodlrines are true, is, 
 for every Church, allowable, becaufe unavoidable : 
 to err in any of thofe doftrines, or in the mode of 
 fetting them forth, as long as there is a readinefs to 
 corredl any thing that fhall be proved at variance 
 with Scripture, or with reafon, is nothing unpardon- 
 able ; nor, in its refults incurable : while, to deny 
 the liability to error, and to claim, without warrant, 
 the infallibility which implies infpiration, is in itfelf 
 prefumptuous impiety, and leads to interminable 
 corruption. Jbp. Whatelfs EJJays. 
 
OfChriJlian Belief. 59 
 
 doth all things in the Church o{ Rome^ as 
 I dare fay at this time it will be granted 
 me, that the King of France's Army fig- 
 nifies more, than the Pope's Infallibility, 
 to the converting of his own Subjedls to 
 the Romijh Faith. 
 
 And though we allow not of any Infal- 
 libility refident in any man, or number of 
 Men on Earth, yet we have as great a 
 certainty of the Truth of our Religion, 
 as the matter is capable of. We have all 
 the Proofs of the Reality of our Blefled 
 Saviour's appearing in the World, of the 
 Apoftles preaching according to his will, 
 and committing to writing the fubftance 
 of what they taught, in thofe Books which 
 we call the New Teftament; and we have 
 all the Evidence of the Truth, and uncor- 
 ruptnefs, and alfo of the fence and mean- 
 ing of thofe Books, that we can expedl, 
 and that a matter of that nature will allow 
 of; and I think no man in his wits will 
 require more. 
 
6o Of Chrijlian Belief, 
 
 And according to this Church alfo, I 
 allow of the three Creeds, called by the 
 names of the Apoftles\ Nicene^ and Atha- 
 nafian Creeds ; ^° both becaufe they are 
 confonant to, and the very fubftance of the 
 Scriptures, as to the great Points of our 
 Belief; and alfo for the antiquity of their 
 compofure, and the general afTent and re- 
 ception that they have found for fo many 
 ages in the Church of Chrift. For I have 
 a very great reverence for whatever can 
 be proved very ancient in Religion, and 
 to have been generally received by the 
 Church ; as we profefs a wonderful refpedl 
 
 ^^ The myftery of the Divine exiftence is developed 
 in the three Creeds, the third of which, the Athana- 
 fian, exprelTes the decifions of the Church on the 
 four great controverfies of the Church ; the fecond, 
 the Nicene, is the expanfion of the Apoflles' Creed ; 
 the firft is the Apoftles' Creed, containing the brief 
 enumeration of fads believed by all Chriflians. The 
 Athanafian and Nicene Creeds are but the explana- 
 tory gloflary of the firft, in which they may be faid to 
 be contained. Abp, Whatelfs EJjays. 
 
OfCbriJiian Belief, 6i 
 
 for the Four firft General Councils/^ which 
 Pope Gregory the Fh-fl fald he reverenced 
 as the Four Evangellfts. For by giving 
 this attention to the Ancients, we go the 
 beft way to keep our ReHgion the fame, 
 and alfo maintain Unity with them. So 
 
 ^^ The decifions of the firft four General Councils 
 of Nice, Conftantinople, Ephefus, and Chalcedon ; 
 are acknowledged by our own Church. But if they 
 are binding upon us, it is not in virtue of any right 
 they had to prefcribe to the whole Chriftian world 
 its faith, but fimply becaufe our Church has confent- 
 ed to receive them ; the ground of fuch acquiefcence 
 being her allurance that the conclufions at which they 
 arrived were in harmony with the Scriptures. Ed. 
 
 *' A General Council binds not" fays Bifhop Jere- 
 my Taylor, " till it be accepted by the Churches ; 
 and therefore, all its authority depends on them ; 
 and they do not depend upon it." And again : 
 " The Church of England received the four firll 
 Generals as of higheft regard ; not that they are in- 
 fallible, but that they have determined wifely and 
 holily. * Pro captu ledloris habent fua fata.' " {Works, 
 Vol. X. pp. 356, 358. Ed. Lond. 1828.) 
 
 ** We reverence thofe Councils for the fake of their 
 do6lrine ; but do not believe the dodrine for the 
 authority of the Councils." Bp. Burnet on Art. xxi. 
 
62 Of Chrijlian Belief . 
 
 that if they were part of the true Church 
 of Chrift, fo are we ; and if it would have 
 been our duty to have kept unity with 
 them, if we had lived in the fame Age 
 with them, but in Countries remote from 
 them, it is as much our Duty to preferve 
 the fame Unity with them, though we live 
 fo long after them, feeing we pretend to 
 be Members of the fame Body of Chrift 
 with them. 
 
 But though we allow thus of the anci- 
 ent Creeds, yet we cannot approve of thofe 
 Additions, which Pope Fius the Fourth 
 had the confidence to make to the Nicene 
 Creed, according to the Definitions of the 
 Council of Trent^ where after the laft 
 words of the Nicene Creed, / look for the 
 Rejurre^ion of the Body^ and the Life of 
 the World to come. He adds thefe Points, 
 ^^ Of Seven Sacraments properly fo called; 
 " of a proper and propitiatory Sacrifice in 
 " the Af^j for quick and dead; of Tranfub- 
 " ftantiation; of Communion in one kind; 
 
Of Chrijlicin Belief, 6 3 
 
 *^ of Purgatory ; of Invocation of Saints ; 
 *' of the Veneration of their Reliques ; of 
 " the Veneration of the Images of Chrift, 
 " and the Blefled Virgin, and other Saints ; 
 " of Indulgences; Of the Church of i^^;;?^, 
 " as Mother and Miftrefsof all Churches : 
 " Concluding, that this Is the true Catho- 
 " lick Faith, out of which no Man can be 
 " Saved/' 
 
 For thefe Articles are neither confonant 
 to Scripture, nor Antiquity ; they were 
 added by an unjuft, and illegal authority, 
 after the Decrees of a Packed Affembly 
 of men ; all the ancient Church, as well 
 as the bigger, and better part of the mo- 
 dern Church difowning them ; that is, the 
 Do6lrines were firft eftablifhed by the Bi- 
 fhop of Rome, and thefe Articles, purfu- 
 ant to thofe Do6lrines, were added to the 
 Creed by the Bifhop of Rome, and his 
 Creatures, as if his Confcience, and Judg- 
 ment were to be a Model for all other 
 Mens. And yet to thefe Articles are 
 
64 OfChriJiian Belief. 
 
 the Clergy of Italy ^ France^ Spain, &c. 
 bound to fubfcribe, as well as to the Trin- 
 ity itfelf, and the Incarnation of the Son 
 of God, or his Refurredlion from the 
 Dead. 
 
 But we keep only to the Creeds them- 
 felves, without any additions. And for a 
 right underftanding them, and to prove 
 them confonant to Scripture,*- and pure 
 antiquity, we have feveral Books to help 
 us, and efpecially that incomparable Ex- 
 pofition of the Apoftles Creed, made by 
 
 ^^ The framers of our Articles having to fpeak of 
 the Creeds, not only leave out any hint that they 
 pofTefs of themfelves, any thing of final authority, 
 but diligently explain why they are to be retained ; 
 namely, becaufe they ** may be proved by moft cer- 
 tain warrants of holy writ." See viii. *'^rt o/Re/.'* 
 Now, fince the Authors of the articles have omitted 
 to refer to tradition as an authority, when it was 
 open to them to have made fuch reference, had they 
 thought it right, fuch omiffion is to be regarded as 
 the mofl ftriking moral evidence that they declined 
 to recognife the claims of Tradition (or Antiquity) 
 to regulate the Church's faith. EJ. 
 
Of Chrijiian Belief . 65 
 
 the moil: Learned the late Bifhop of Chef- 
 ter. 
 
 And thefe Creeds I not only fully be- 
 lieve^ but I verily think it my Duty, and 
 advantage to profefs often, according to 
 the Orders of our Church. For by fo 
 doing, I live in an adtual profefTion of the 
 Chriflian Faith, according to my Vow of 
 Baptifm. I keep Kfummary of my Belief 
 conftantly in my head, and yet every Ar- 
 ticle is of great moment, if we mind the 
 confequences of it. And whilft I keep 
 but this Epitome of my Chriftian Faith 
 prefent to my thoughts, I fhall not fo ea- 
 fily be feduced into any Error in Belief? 
 or Pra6tice, difagreeable to it. 
 
 I approve alfo of the Books of the 
 Apocrypha, at leaft fome of them, to be 
 read for the inftrudion of the People, as 
 a kind of comment on the Old*^ Tefta- 
 
 ^ Similarly, Hooker fpeaks of the Apocrypha, as 
 a ** lift or marginal border unto the Old Teftament;" 
 but, (adds that writer) " we hold not the Apocrypha 
 
 K 
 
66 OfChriJlian Belief, 
 
 ment, or fomewhat between the Old and 
 New Teftament. For we find Tome kind 
 of Dawnings of Chriftianity in them. 
 But I am taught not to reckon them of 
 equal Authority with the Scriptures, noi 
 do we eftablifh any Point of Dodrine on 
 them, they having not been received by 
 the Jewijh Church before our Saviour's 
 time, as Divinely Infpired, but were writ- 
 ten after the fealing up of Prophecy under 
 
 for facred (as we do the Holy Scripture) but for hu- 
 man compofitions." See Eccl, Pol. v. xx. x. xi. 
 The fentiment of the Author which follows, that 
 there are fome " dawnings of Chriftianity" in the 
 Apocryphal books, may be regarded as very queftion- 
 able ; and cannot for a moment be admitted as con- 
 ferring any degree of authority on the Apocryphal 
 books ; fince the fame argument might create a claim 
 for fome of the writings of Socrates, or even of Ci- 
 cero. 
 
 Indeed it may be doubted whether Hooker's plea 
 for the admiflion of the Apocrypha be a tenable one ; 
 fince upon the principle of admitting any ** lift or 
 marginal border" to adhere to that which is infpired, 
 the epirtle &c. of Clemens Romanus to the Corin- 
 thians, and other fuch ancient writings, may put 
 in a claim to be attached to the Nezu Teftament alfo. 
 
 Ed. 
 
Of Chrijlian Belief , 67 
 
 the Old Law, and before the Revelation 
 of God's will by the Gofpel. And they 
 not having any Original authority in them- 
 felves, as written by Prophets, it is impof- 
 fible the Church fhould now give them the 
 Authority of Divinely Infpired Books,'* 
 as the Council of T^rent pretends to do. 
 For the Church cannot make him a Pro- 
 phet, that really was no Prophet, nor own'd 
 for fuch for many Hundreds of Years. 
 
 ^ In relation to thofe books whofe title is the 
 Apocrypha, the moderation of our Church exprefTeth 
 an excellent temper, in that, in their title, as of un- 
 certain writings, they are diftinguifhed from canoni- 
 cal ; all the Apocryphal Books are not recommended 
 to be read in the Church ; nor on all days, particu- 
 larly, not on the " Lord's" day, as fuch Our 
 
 Church indeed doth prefer them before any other 
 ecclefiaftical or private writings, becaufe of the many 
 excellent and facred inilruftions in them ; for which 
 good and religious ufe which may be made of them 
 all, we do them the honour to bind them up with 
 our BibleSj though we make them not of equal au- 
 thority thereby, or of divine infpiration, as we do not 
 alfo either the Englifh metre of the Pfalms, or the 
 epiftle of the Tranflators of the Bible. Puller's 
 ** Moderation of the Church of England''' Chap. iv. 
 

 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of Gofpel Obedience. 
 
 ND I find alfo that in this 
 Church a good and holy- 
 life is as much urged, reck- 
 oned as necefTary J and, I blefs 
 God, I think I can fay, as much pradifed, 
 as any where elfe in the World. 
 
 Indeed we confefs that there is no man 
 that lives, and converfeth in the world, but 
 finneth, Chrift being the only Perfon with- 
 out fin^ Original, and Adual. And that 
 
 ^ See XV. Art. ofRel. ** of Chrift alone without 
 Sin," 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience . 6 9 
 
 the very bed: things that we do we are ftill 
 in truth and Juftice, to account of our 
 felves but as unprofit able Jerv ant s^- and that 
 we do but what it was our Duty to do. 
 And therefore we cannot think it pofTible 
 for us to Merit any thing, in ftrid Juftice, 
 at the hand of God, all the power and 
 ability by which we do any thing of good, 
 being of his giving. And therefore of 
 the beft of our adions we fay with Saint 
 Faul^ they are of the ability which God 
 giveth. But though a perfed unfinning 
 obedience is not to be expeded here, yet 
 ftill we reckon that the beft Obedience we 
 can perform, is neceftary ; that it is not 
 fufficient for us to believe. Salvation being 
 promifed to fuch a Faith only, as is pro- 
 du6tive o^ good works, ^ 
 
 2 See xiv. Art. of Rel. " of Works of Superero- 
 gation." 
 
 ^ " The Chriftians of the Apollles' times, needed 
 to be earneftly warned againft the danger of being 
 content to ** continue in fin that grace might abound," 
 
70 Of Go/pel Obedience. 
 
 As to the concurrence of God's grace, 
 I reckon it ablblutely necefTary in order to 
 my doing any thing as I ought.* And 
 though I cannot define to a point, juft 
 how far God works, and how far we work, 
 in every good adlion, yet I am fure I can 
 do Jomewhat through God that ftrengthens 
 me ; and I am fure alfo that God worketh 
 in me to will^ and to do^ and that he will 
 do more and more for me accordingly as 
 I make a good ufe of the Grace that he 
 gives me, and pray to him for more 
 ftrength, and therefore that I am fome- 
 what adlive both in the ufmg of Mercies, 
 and in Praying for more Grace. And I 
 
 and of fatisfying themfelves with a faith, without 
 works, which " is dead, being alone." Should we 
 therefore, flatter ourfelves that in thefe days, we and 
 our hearers are fafe from any like danger, we (hould 
 be only the more expofed to it, through carelefs fe- 
 curity." 
 
 ^ This neceflity is repeatedly afl'erted by our Church 
 throughout her Formularies ; and ftrikingly, in the 
 Collefts. See x. Art. of Rel. and Colleds for v. S. 
 after Ealler, and xix. after Trinity. Ed, 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience, 7 1 
 
 am fure I anfwer all objedions, and fatisfie 
 all difficulties If I thus afcrlbe all the good 
 that I do to God affiftlng me, and take 
 all my fallings and weaknefTes to my felf. 
 And on this ground as I fhew my felf the 
 neceffity of doing the beft that I am able, 
 and cut off all Plea of merit for my felf 
 or others ; fo I fhew alfo the neceffity of 
 Prayer to God for his Grace, and lay a 
 Foundation for Thankfulnefs to him. 
 
 For now by the New Covenant, there 
 is a ftrld obligation to all kind of Chrif- 
 tian Duties, though there Is allowance 
 made for humane frailties and Infirmities. 
 There is Indeed a way made through the 
 fufFerings and merits of Chrlft for forglve- 
 nefs on Repentance : But ftlll It Is more 
 acceptable with God, that we live fo, as 
 far as it Is poffible, as to need no Repen- 
 tance.^ 
 
 I reckon good Works therefore abfo- 
 
 * As there is " no man that liveth and finneth 
 not" for, ** in many things we offend all;" — fo 
 
72 Of Go/pel Obedience, 
 
 lutely neceflary in order to Salvation, but 
 that it is not fo much the Ad:ions them- 
 felves, as the Mind and Temper, and 
 Defign which they are done with, or the 
 Chriftian Principles which they proceed 
 from, called Faith in Scripture, to which 
 the worth of them is to be afcribed,^ and 
 for which they are accepted of God through 
 the merits and mediation of Chrift. 
 
 there is none of whom it can be faid abfolutely and 
 flriftly, that he needs no repentance. The expref- 
 fion, as found Luke xv. 7. defcribes the condition of 
 thofe who, as contrafted with the impenitent, need 
 no univerfal c\\2ingQ of heart and life, (jugravoja). Ed. 
 ^ " You will generally find, for one perfon who 
 feeks to juftify himfelf by the pradice of moral virtue, 
 twenty who rely on external ordinances, and com- 
 pliance with poiitive rules : and, the term ** good 
 works" has come, even among Chriftians, in various 
 ages and countries, to be emphatically applied in this 
 fenfe. An error, very nearly the fame, had crept 
 in among us, to a vafl extent, before the reformation. 
 '* Good works" had come to fignify, principally if not 
 exclufively, pilgrimages, falls, genuflexions, and ce- 
 remonial obfervances o^ various kinds ; and hence 
 o.ir Reformers ufed much the fame language as the 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience. J 3 
 
 The good Works which are required 
 of us as Chriftians in the New Teftament, 
 and in the Ten Commands, or the Moral 
 part^ of the Old Teftament, all Duties 
 and Vertues there commanded I reckon 
 my felf bound, as I am able, to perform ; 
 and all Sins or Adions there forbidden, I 
 make Confcience to abflain from ; and do 
 not think that by obeying one Command 
 
 Apoftle Paul, with the fame meaning, and on a like 
 occafion. Both were indeed, well aware that virtu- 
 ous adions can never give a man a claim to the 
 Chriftian promifes, independently of Chrillian faith ; 
 and alfo that the bell adions, in themfelves the beil, 
 are not acceptable in God's light (indeed are not 
 even morally virtuous at all) independently of the 
 principle from which they fpring. But, it is a no- 
 torious fa6l, that it was not by virtuous aftions ; — 
 what are ufually fo called, that the Judaizing Chrif- 
 tians, and the later corruptors of ChrilHanity fought 
 to juftify themfelves, but by ceremonial obfervances." 
 See, xii. & xiii. Art. of Rel. 
 
 ' By the " w^r^/part of the Old Teftament," the 
 Author is to be underftood as meaning thofe com- 
 mands which are of their ozvn nature binding, and 
 are, therefore, perpetual. 
 
74 Of Go/pel Obedience. 
 
 I am free from others ; or that becaufe 
 there are fins greater and lefs, yet that 
 any are perfedlly Venial. 
 
 I reckon my felf bound alfo to obey 
 the commands of my Lawful Governours, 
 both in Church and State, not only for 
 Peace, and Order fake, but for the fake of 
 God who hath commanded me fo to do, 
 and am willing to forego my own Right 
 often, and deny my own Profit, rather 
 than difobey, or oppofe a command of 
 my lawful Governors, where I can obey 
 them without fin. But I religioufly ab- 
 fl:ain from fetting up the Commands of 
 men in oppofition to the Commands of 
 God ; and cannot think that I fiiall be ex- 
 cufable if I obey the Commands of Men 
 to the negledl of the Commands of God. 
 And therefore, for Example fake, though 
 I pay all deference and obedience to the 
 Laws of the Church, as knowing that God 
 hath bid me to obey it ; yet I dare not 
 do, as is done in the Church of Rome, 
 
Of G of pel Obedience, J 5 
 
 when the Church commands me one thing, 
 and the Law of God the contrary, faying, 
 God bids me obey the Church, and therefore 
 it is all one which of the two I obey. For 
 God only bids me obey the Church^ in 
 
 ** See XX. Art. of Rcl. " On the authority of 
 the Church." 
 
 Every Church has a right to prefcribe the terms 
 on which men are to be admitted and retained as 
 members of that particular Church. This is ac- 
 knowledged : but, it has been queftioned by fome 
 whether Church-decifions or matters of faith are as 
 fuch, binding on the confciencc : To recommend or- 
 dinary Chriftians to give up their judgment to the 
 guidance of" the Church," is, to refer them to the 
 guidance of the Paftors of their own denomination. 
 They not only will, but they muft, fo underftand the 
 recommendation ; they have no means of complying 
 with it in any other way. Thus the belief of the 
 great mafs of Chriftians would fimply be the belief 
 of their Paftors ; and fuch a faith would be the moft 
 </;7-perfonal thing imaginable ; and would be more 
 properly entitled ^^'^belief. It would be an acquief- 
 cence in the belief of others, but could never be 
 called. Belief. The only alternative is, the freeft 
 exercife of private judgment in deciding, by the light 
 of Scripture, on the claims of every doftrine, pro- 
 pounded to our acceptance. Ed. 
 
76 Of Go/pel Obedience, 
 
 fuch cafes as are not defined by the Laws 
 of God, but doth not give the Church 
 leave to command any thing contrary to 
 God's Law, nor oblige me to attend to it, 
 or obey it, if it fhould fo command. 
 
 I thankfully own, and frequently com- 
 memorate the blefled Son of God's coming 
 into the world, to dye for us, and fatisfie 
 for our fins ; but yet I think not, that he, 
 by his fufi^erings, hath either excufed me 
 from obedience to God's commands, or 
 exempted me from punifhment, if I ob- 
 fi:inately perfevere in my difobedience. 
 For by Chrifl:'s coming, I am, if pofiible, 
 more obliged to a good life, being now 
 obliged to a firider obedience out of Love 
 and kindnefs to him, who hath done and 
 fufi^ered fo much for me. And all his 
 Commands are Laws, which are fi:ri(5i:ly 
 to be obeyed by me, only there is now a 
 provifion made, that fincere, and hearty 
 obedience,^ though mingled with many 
 
 ** It is more than qucllionable whether fach \A\i- 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience. J 7 
 
 imperfedlions (as it will always be whilfl; 
 we live in thefe houfes of Clay) fhall for 
 the fake of Chriil: be looked on as if it 
 were perfed, and our failings will in 
 Mercy be forgiven, if we immediately^'^ 
 repent us truly of them, and beg God's 
 Pardon for them, and refolve for the fu- 
 ture, by the afliftance of God, to Live 
 better. 
 
 guage as this is Scripturally corre6l. The Apoftle Paul 
 teaches that " when we were without ftrength Chrift 
 died for the ungodly ;" that, " by the obedience of 
 one, fhall many be made righteous ;" that, " not by 
 works of righteoufnefs which we have done, but ac- 
 cording to his mercy he faved us." Obedience is 
 reprefented as the fruit and evidence of faith ; but 
 never, either in whole or in part, as the ground of 
 acceptance. " We are accounted righteous before 
 God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jefus Chrift, by faith, and not for our own works or 
 defervings. Art. xi. " Of the juftification of men." 
 
 Ed. 
 ^^ The limitation contained in this word ** im- 
 mediately'' is not fanftioned by our Church, which 
 is the fixteenth "Art. of Rel," ftates that " the place 
 of forgivenefs" is not to be denied *' to fuch as truly 
 repenty Ed, 
 
78 Of Go/pel Obedience, 
 
 And therefore I gratefully own the 
 Dodlrine of Repentance, and the hopes of 
 Pardon on Repentance ; but yet I think 
 that It doth not at all encourage fin, nor 
 is it to be lookt on by us before we fin, 
 only it is provided to prevent Defpair 
 when we have finned, and there is no 
 other Remedy. And it is a double af- 
 front to God, for me to fin out of hopes 
 of Pardon on my Repentance. For by 
 this means I both break his Laws, and 
 alfo abufe his Mercies ; and the mofl fe- 
 vere Punifhments are threatned to fuch a 
 courfe. 
 
 And if the do6lrine of Repentance or 
 of Pardon upon Repentance, will not give 
 me any liberty to fin, nor excufe me, if I 
 fin wilfully ; then much lefs can I expecft 
 a difpenfation from obedience to the Laws 
 of God any other way. 
 
 And by Repentance, I do not under- 
 fland, only a bare ConfeJJing that I have 
 finned, and forrow for it, only out of fear 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience . 7 9 
 
 of punifhment, which they call Attrition^ 
 but reckon Contrition effential to Repen- 
 tance, and necefliiry to the Pardon of my 
 fins ; vi-z. that I be heartily grieved for 
 the hainoufnefs of my fins in themfelves, 
 and their being fo difpleafing in the fight 
 of God, and am fully purpofed and re- 
 folved, by the blefiing of God, to Live 
 better for the future ; and alfo that neither 
 by the power of the Priefl:, nor any other 
 way, can this Attrition^^ be turned into 
 Contrition^ or be fufficient for Repentance 
 and Pardon. 
 
 I reckon that every good work done 
 thus, by God's afiiftance, and with an ho- 
 
 " This expreffion is founded on a groundlefs dif- 
 tinftion drawn by the Romanifts, between two forts 
 of repentance. By contrition they mean perfe6l re- 
 pentance, the fpirit of man being as it were, crujhed 
 to powder (contritus) under the fenfe of fin ; while 
 by Attrition, they intend an inferior degree of forrow, 
 fuch as may arife from regret for the prefent incon- 
 venience of fm, anfwering to z friSlion (attritio) of 
 the confcience falling fhort of contrition. Ed. 
 
8o Of Go/pel Obedience. 
 
 neft mind, is well-pleafing to God, and 
 will, if we perfevere, in due time have its 
 reward. But this is to be afcribed to his 
 own goodnefs, and the merits of Chrift, 
 not to any worth or merit in the adions 
 themfelves. For how can a few good 
 Adtions, and mingled with many Failings, 
 or a whole courfe of fuch Adions, for the 
 little while that we live upon earth, bear 
 any proportion to, much lefs deferve, eter- 
 nal rewards^- in the world to come P efpe- 
 cially how can any man pretend to merit 
 at his hands, by whofe very aid and afTif- 
 tance we do any thing that is good ? For 
 
 ^ " What is the fault of the Church of Rome ; 
 Not that (he requireth works at their hands that will 
 be faved ; but that (he attributeth unto works, a 
 power of fatisfying God for fin ; and a virtue to me- 
 rit both grace here, and in heaven, glory Works 
 
 following our firft, to merit our fecond juftification, 
 and by condignity our lall reward in the kingdom of 
 heaven, pulleth up the dodrine of faith by the roots; 
 for out of them, the plain dirc6l denial thereof may 
 be neceffarily concluded." Hooker y Serm. ii. 32. 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience, 8 1 
 
 of the beft of our A6lIons we muft In truth 
 and juftlce fay, as David faid of his own, 
 and his Princes offerings, i Chron. 29. 14. 
 All things come of thee^ and of thy own 
 have we given to thee. 
 
 I do not think that I do my duty fuffi- 
 ciently by abftaining from evil. For there 
 are Affirmative as well as Negative Com- 
 mands; and if I only fhould efchew^^ Evil, 
 and not endeavour to do good^ I muft, ac- 
 cording to the Tenor of the Gofpel, be 
 reckoned among the unprofitable ferv ants. 
 
 And in this confideration I take care 
 not only to avoid the fms, which I fee 
 many Chriftians too much indulge, or 
 which I am, by Temper, Education, Cuf- 
 tom, or Company, more than ordinary 
 inclined to ; but alfo I reckon it my in- 
 difpenfable Duty, to be conftant in all the 
 parts of Pofitive Chrifiianity ; knowing 
 that Heaven is not a ftate of filence, but 
 
 ^^ See Colledl for iii. Sunday after Eafter. 
 M 
 
82 Of Go/pel Obedience, 
 
 infinite invaluable Happinefs, and there- 
 fore, which I cannot pofTibly think, can 
 be gotten with the doing of nothing. And 
 even among Men, there is little Commen- 
 dation thought due to him, of whom the 
 beft that can be faid, is. That he hath done 
 no harm}"^ 
 
 Now by Pofitive Chriftianity ^ or Affir- 
 mative Duties, I understand fuch things 
 as I actually do out of Obedience to God, 
 and to ferve him ; and not only forbear 
 doing what he forbids me. 
 
 1^ The Parable of the " Talents" (Matth. xxv. 14, 
 30.) is not " for thofe that are evidently by their 
 lives and adlions denying that they count Chrift to 
 be their Lord and Mailer at all : it is not for them 
 who thus fquander their talent or deny that they 
 have ever received one : the law and their own hearts 
 tell them fufficiently plainly of their fm and danger. 
 But, the warning we have here, is for fuch as hide 
 their talent ; who being equipped and furnifhed for 
 a fphere of activity in the kingdom of God, do yet 
 choofe, to ufe Bacon's words, ' a goodnefs folitary and 
 particular, rather than generative andfeminal.' " Rev, 
 R.C. Trench' i'' Note son the Parables:' Lond. 1844. 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience. 8 3 
 
 So in reference to himfelf, I am fo far 
 from doing any thing to difhonor, or blaf- 
 pheme God, that I every way, that I am 
 able, feek to glorifie^-pratje^ 3.nd/erve him. 
 
 In reference to my Neighbour, I not 
 only forbear wronging him, but I do him 
 all the good, by good y^dvice, by /peaking 
 well of him, by aiding and ajjifting him in 
 any cafe, that I am able. 
 
 And as to my felf, I think it not enough 
 to lie on my Bed, and avoid the fins of 
 Intemperance, &c. but that by all the 
 Diligence that I am able, I ftudy to Im- 
 prove my Mind, get a Conqueft over my 
 Pajfwns, and every way work up my M^ 
 to a better temper, and pra6lice. 
 
 I am fo far from doing the World harm, 
 or making it worfe, that I endeavour to 
 leave it better than I found it. Hence I 
 not only Pra^ife Piety conftantly my felf, 
 but I do what I can to Promote, and En- 
 courage it in others ; which, if I am in a 
 Publick ftation and Employment, I can in- 
 
84 Of Go/pel Obedience. 
 
 deed do more efFedlually ; and I am fure 
 I fhall be called to an account why I do 
 it not. And if I am in the moft Private 
 Capacity that can be, yet by my filenty and 
 conftant Example ^ I fhall do fome good ; 
 by my Advice to my Friends I may do 
 more ; and by occafional Difcourfe, or mak- 
 ing ufe of fuch opportunities as will often 
 prefent themfelves, I may be an Inftru- 
 ment to a great deal of Good, and all this 
 without being Conceited, or Pragmatical ; 
 without Intrenching on other Mens bufi- 
 nefs, going out of my own place, or dif- 
 turbing the World. 
 
 I own a good and wife Providence watch- 
 ing over the World, and not only over 
 Publick, but even extending to the moft 
 Private Affairs, and Perfons, and accord- 
 ingly I daily commit my felf, and all my 
 Concerns to the Government, and over- 
 ruling of that good God, that I am fure 
 loves me, and knows my Cafe and Wants 
 better than I do my felf. But though I 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience, 8 5 
 
 thus own a Providence y yet I take a Reli- 
 gious Care not to tempt God,^^ by running 
 my felf into Evil, and then to expedl God 
 to keep me out, and deliver me. Juft as 
 though I know God's Grace to be All- 
 fufficient for me, yet I dare not expe6t it 
 to keep me from fin, if I wilfully, and 
 with my eyes open run into it. 
 
 For God's Grace and Prote^ion is pro- 
 mifed, and to be expeded only in fuch 
 cafes, as in which I have done all that was 
 in me for my felf, and then I am allowed 
 to hope for help from God ; or in fuch 
 cafes as into which I am unwittingly and 
 unwillingly led, or in which I am inno- 
 cently, and honeftly engaged ; and here 
 I am fure of fuitable aid, and fupport, if 
 I humbly and earneftly make my Requeft, 
 but not where I wilfully expofe my felf 
 to Sin and Evil. 
 
 ^^ That is, that I muft not put his providence, 
 unneceiTarily, to a trial. Ed. 
 
86 Of Go/pel Obedience. 
 
 And on this Principle I do not Expofe 
 my Jelf to Temptations^ either as to Eft ate 
 by Gaming^ or as to Life by 'Duels ^ or as 
 to Religion and a good Confcience, by aim- 
 ing only at the loweft degree of what is 
 Vertuous or Commendable, or taking all 
 the Advantages againft Religion and my 
 Duty, that I think I pofTibly may ; or by 
 going to Majsy or any other Irregular way 
 of worjfhip, though perhaps out of vanity 
 only, and Curiofity^ tempt God, and my 
 felf. For I know not but God may leave 
 me when I thus dally with him. And the 
 wife Son of Sirach fays, He that loves dan- 
 ger^ Jhall fall into it. And our Saviour, 
 that we muft not thus "Tempt the Lord 
 our God. For in all cafes, in which the 
 Intereft of my Soul is concerned, I do no- 
 thing by Fancy, or Humour, but with all 
 the Judgment, and Reafon that I have, I 
 confider ferioufly the Fitnefs, or Lawful- 
 nefs of it, as knowing that it is here, as in 
 War, where one Error is Fatal ; and if I 
 be taken off in a fmful Pradice, there is 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience. 87 
 
 no Refcuing me, or Retrieving me for 
 ever. 
 
 As to a /Jiare of the things of this life, 
 I keep my felf in a great indifferency. 
 For I am fure that life it felf is not always 
 Good, or a Bleffing ; and then much lefs 
 are any of thefe things very defirable, 
 that ferve only for the Conveniencies of 
 Life. And feeing I never Pray to God 
 for my own, or my Friends longer life, 
 only as far forth as it fhall be for the Glo- 
 ry of God, and good of Religion, and the 
 World, or in order to our being the bet- 
 ter fitted, and prepared for Heaven ; much 
 lefs am I follicitous for more Eftate, or 
 make That the fubjedt of my Prayers. 
 For I am fure that every one cannot have 
 a great Eftate, few men can bear, and 
 manage a great Eftate as they ought, and 
 no man needs it. And in the Lord's own 
 Prayer we are taught, and allowed only to 
 pray for Breads or what is neceffary, and 
 That only from hand to mouth, this day 
 our daily Bread, 
 
8 8 Of Go/pel Obedience, 
 
 I am therefore well content with the 
 little that I have, as thinking that God 
 knows my ftrength and ability beft, and 
 what is propereft for me, and as knowing 
 that if I fhould get more, though by the 
 moil lawful means, and by the moft mode- 
 rate endeavours, it will be proportionably 
 expeded that I fhould do the more good, 
 be the more ufeful in the world, and I 
 fhall have more Talents to anfwer for the 
 Receipt of; as on the other hand, the lefs 
 I have, the lefs Temptations I am lyable 
 to at prefent, the lefs tyed I fhall be to 
 this world, and the lefs will be my ac- 
 count at the laft day. And I am very 
 fenfible that when a Man comes to die, 
 he will wifh he had enjoyed lefs of this 
 World; there being at leaft fome danger 
 of receiving our good things here}^ And 
 
 ^^ ** The receiving of this world's goods without 
 any portion of its evil, the courfe of an unbroken prof- 
 perity, is ever a fign and augury of ultimate reproba- 
 
Of G of pel Obedie?ice . 8 9 
 
 therefore though a great Eftate may afford 
 more eafe and delight here, yet a mean 
 fortune feems to afford more fecurlty in 
 order to hereafter. And hence I pray 
 for fuch a Portion as is fitteft for me, 
 and with which I fhall do moft good ; 
 that God would fuit my Condition to my 
 Defires, or my Defires to my Condition, 
 that I may ferve him chearfully, and with- 
 out Diftradion. And I think not that I 
 am out of the favour of God, or even of 
 good men, becaufe I have lefs than others, 
 but do much condemn the unjufl: Meafure 
 of the world, of flighting a Man, becaufe 
 he is poor, or of valuing him for his 
 
 tion. Nor is the reafon of this hard to perceive ; 
 for, while in every man there is a large admixture of 
 that drofs which has need to be purged out, and 
 which can only be purged out by the fire of pain and 
 afflidlion, he who is not call into this fire is left with 
 all his drofs in him, with his evil unpurged ; and 
 therefore can be no partaker of that holinefs, without 
 which no man fhall fee the Lord." Rev. R. C. 
 Trench's ** Notes on the Parables.^* 
 
90 Of Go/pel Obedience, 
 
 Outfide, rather than for his Infide. For 
 Vertue^ and Prudence, Integrity, and an 
 earnefl defire to do good, are more true 
 Accomplifhments, than Beauty, Riches, 
 Honours, &c. And He is the moft con- 
 fiderable Man in the world, not that en- 
 joys moft of this world, but that doth moft 
 good in it ; For him the world will moft 
 mifs, for him good Mens Prayers are 
 moft, over him the Providence of God 
 will watch in a more peculiar manner ; 
 and therefore he is every way the moft 
 valuable and confiderable Perfon. 
 
 I am taught to Pray at home in private 
 always, and in my own Family too con- 
 ftantly, efpecially if I have not the ad- 
 vantage of going with my Family to the 
 Publick Service daily. But if I have the 
 opportunity of Publick Worfhip, I am 
 conftant in it, as in all other Offices of 
 Piety, and fear not being called an Hypo- 
 crite ; for this is another of the unjuft 
 Meafures of the world, to reckon a Man 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience, 9 1 
 
 guilty of Hypocrlfie, if he be more ftridl 
 in Religion, and more fcrupulous of a fin, 
 than others are ; whereas true Piety muft 
 neceffarily openly fhew it felf, and we are 
 bid to Let our Lights /Jiine before men, 
 that they may fee our good works, and glo- 
 rifie God. 
 
 And agreeably to this, I not only openly 
 profefs a ftrid Regard to Juflice, but ex- 
 adlly pradife it towards all men. I pay 
 all men their Dues, alP^ Officers and Of- 
 
 ^' " One of the erroneous notions which has been 
 entertained refpe6ling" fuch precepts as thofe deli- 
 vered by the Apoflle, '* and which has contributed 
 to bring them into difrepute, is that they apply ex- 
 clufively, or particularly, to kings ; an abfurdity fo 
 grofs, that thofe who have never chanced to meet 
 with it, may perhaps think it undeferving of ferious 
 
 attention In thofe Countries indeed which 
 
 have a King as the higheft magiftrate, the higheil 
 reverence is, on that account, due to him : but on 
 the very fam.e ground, a proportionate obedience and 
 refpedl is no lefs ftriftly due to fubordinate magiftrates 
 alfo, and even to the humbleft minifters of the law. 
 * Render therefore unto ally their due.'" Abp. 
 Wbatelfs Serm. on *' Obedience to Rulers.'^ 
 
92 Of Gofpel Obedience. 
 
 fices in Church and State, according to St. 
 FauVs command, Rom. 13. I pay not 
 only all honour and refpedl, but alfo all 
 faithful fervice and obedience to the King, 
 as God's Vicegerent, and the common 
 Father of the Country. I cannot endure 
 to hear him ill fpoken of, or hurt in his 
 Reputation, nor injured as to his juft 
 Rights, either in Power, or Revenue. 
 
 And as to my Fellow-Subje6ls, I main- 
 tain an exadl Juftice, fo as not only to 
 forbear open Violence, OpprefTion, or 
 Fraud towards any, but alfo to take care 
 pundually to pay my Debts, and to an- 
 fwer all Promifes, and Obligations. For 
 not paying Debts, is much the fame thing 
 as Robbing, or violently taking from 
 another. There being but very httle dif- 
 ference between taking Mony from a Man 
 when he is unwilling, and keeping it from 
 him when he defires it, and ought in Juf- 
 tice to have It. 
 
 From this Principle I am alfo pundual 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience. 93 
 
 in paying my Tythes, and all fuch Publick 
 Dues for the maintenance of Religion, 
 and for my part take fuch care otherwife 
 that they that wait on the Service of God, 
 and watch for my Soul, may have a hand- 
 fome maintenance,^^ left by my niggard- 
 linefs it fhould happen that the Service of 
 God fhould be difcouraged (and Religion 
 will always fuffer in the Minifters of it) 
 or left worthy Men fliould be diftieartned 
 from entring into the holy Office, or left 
 they that already ferve at the Altar, ftiould 
 be forced to any unlawful or any unbe- 
 
 ^^ By making the commiffion of her teachers y and 
 the provifion for their fupport, to be, both, equally 
 independent of the taught, our Church has refcued 
 her minifters from the deleterious influence, of either 
 hope or fear : She has purfued a courfe founded up- 
 on her reverence for the uncorrupted word of God, 
 upon her acquaintance with the tendency to be cor- 
 rupted which is in the heart of men ; and upon her 
 experience of the mifchievous workings of an oppo- 
 fite fyftem : fo that not the ufe only, but the perpe- 
 tual neceflity of an eftablifhed religion might be con- 
 fidered as proved, if only by this argument. Ed. 
 
94 Of Go/pel Obedience. 
 
 coming means to maintain themfelves ; 
 but that they may have advantages and 
 helps fit for their Improvement in Learn- 
 ing, that they may be able to defend Re- 
 ligion, and convince the Gainfayers : and 
 this is no more than common Juftice ; for 
 as they fhare not with others in Secular 
 bufinefs, and Trade, and other advanta- 
 gious ways of raifing themfelves, fo they 
 ought to be provided with fuch a mainte- 
 nance as anfwers the ingenuous Education 
 they have had, and the Relation they bear 
 to Religion. 
 
 Finally, I confider my felf as to all the 
 Capacities, and Relations, that I am in in 
 the World, and endeavour to behave my 
 felf fuitably to them : knowing there is a 
 diftind Duty, and Obligation between 
 Father and Children, Hufband and Wife, 
 Superiours and Inferiours, Friends and 
 Equals, and therefore which every Chrif- 
 tian muft take care to Anfwer and Per- 
 
Of Go/pel Obedience . 9 5 
 
 form : and which are very fully exprefled 
 in that excellent Book of the Whole Duty 
 of Man. "^ 
 
 ^^ There are Three Works, the " Whole Duty of 
 Man" publifhed about the middle of the fcventeenth 
 Century; the " New Whole Duty of Man," publifhed 
 fifty or fixty years after; and Venn's " Complete Duty 
 of Man," publifhed on the revival of religion, which 
 illuftrate the charafter of the divinity of their refpec- 
 tive eras. The " Whole Duty of Man" was a 
 pradical book to countera6l the Antinomians ; and 
 contains an impreffive Introdu6lion on the care of 
 the foul : the devotional part is full and ufeful, and 
 it has a good flatement of relative duties: but it does 
 not exhibit prominently the only principles and 
 ftrength on which man can perform them. The 
 " New Whole Duty of Man," attempting to remedy 
 this, by bringing forward the faith as well as the 
 duty of the Chriftian, has, in the opinion of fome, 
 departed from the principles of the Reformation, and 
 advanced views not more unlike thofe of the Gofpel 
 than they are contrary to our Liturgy, Articles, and 
 Homilies. In Venn's " Complete Duty of Man'* 
 (according to the judgment of thofe who difapprove 
 of the two former works) a return is made to the 
 principles of the Reformation, fince that writer ex- 
 hibits clearly the charaderiftic dodrines of the Chrif- 
 
96 Of Gof pel Obedience, 
 
 But much of this Nature will come 
 to be confidered alfo in the Sixth Chapter, 
 under the Head of Civil Converjation. 
 
 tian faith. Bat, even this Book, though doftrinally 
 an improvement, has been fpoken of as a defedive 
 fubiVitute for the former works, in the flatement of 
 praftical duties. A pofitive opinion of the Work 
 referred to by the Author, will be found exprefTed 
 in a Note to the Chapter " Of Civil Converfation." 
 
 Ed. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Service of God in 
 Publick. 
 
 AM taught alfo in this 
 Church, that it is not fuf~ 
 ficient for ine to Believe 
 well, and to perform the 
 Duty of a Chriftian by my felf, or in pri- 
 vate ^ but that there is a puhlick Frofejfion^ 
 and an open exercife of feveral Adls of 
 Religion neceflary. 
 
 For many Duties of Chriftianity do re- 
 quire the doing of them in Company, and 
 it is an open Profeflion that doth moft 
 o 
 
9 8 Of the Service of God 
 
 encourage^ Religion, and provoke other 
 men to an imitation. And by the nature 
 of the Publick Service which I frequent, 
 and by my demeanour in it, I give a Sam- 
 ple of my felf, and men may thence take 
 an eftlmate how I am affedled in my mind, 
 and hov/ I carry my felf in my more pri- 
 vate retirements. And I find in the Gof- 
 pel, that Chrifl promifeth his blefTmgs 
 efpecially to Publick Services, where Two 
 or Three are gathered together in his name, 
 and therefore that it ought always to be 
 preferred before Private. And Publick 
 Communion hath always been accounted 
 neceffary in order to our letting our light 
 Jhine before men, and making the world 
 know what opinion we are of. For the 
 Publick Articles, and ConfefTion of Faith 
 
 ^ " The increafed zeal, the encouragement, and 
 the confolation which men derive from the confci- 
 oufnefs that others fympathize in their fentiments, 
 their hopes, and their wifhes, feem to have been re- 
 garded by the Apoftles as of no fmall importance." 
 
in Pub lick, 99 
 
 of that Church with which I Communicate, 
 being known to all the world, my Faith 
 and Belief alfo, as to the main Articles of 
 Religion, is known at the fame time. 
 But the excellency of Publick Service, 
 and its Preference before Private, is fully 
 made out, in that late excellent Treatife 
 of Prayer by Dr. Patrick. 
 
 And for this reafon alfo, I religioufly 
 abftain from Communicating with any 
 Heretical or Schifmatical Congregation, 
 that is, with any that hold any erroneous 
 opinion contrary to any of the great Ar- 
 ticles of Chriftianity, or that but keep pri- 
 vate and feparate meetings from the Pub- 
 lick Worfhip that is Lawfully Eftablifhed, 
 left I be reckoned of their party and per- 
 fwafion. For all fuch feparate meetings 
 are breaches of Charity ; and though they 
 may pofTibly encourage no Heretical opi- 
 nions now, yet it is odds but fuch opinions 
 will find fhelter, and countenance among 
 them. Such Clancular and irregular Con- 
 
loo Of the Service of God 
 
 ventlcles' being the proper feed-plots for 
 fuch weeds to grow in. They break the 
 Unity of the body of Chrift, and difobey 
 Lawful Authority in the Church. And 
 I am fure that if they can Communicate 
 without fin, for them to feparate is a very 
 great fin. Befides that all fuch private 
 
 ^ The name ** conventicle" which properly ligni- 
 tes d./ecret, and therefore unlawful aj/emi/y, was firft 
 given as an appellation of reproach to the religious 
 liHemblies in the time of Wickliffe, and was after- 
 wards applied to thofe illegal meetings of the Non- 
 conformiils, which occafioned the paffing of the two 
 A6ls known as the " Conventicle Ads ;" the iirft of 
 which was pafled by the Oxford parliament in 1664; 
 the fecond in the Weilminfter parliament, in 1670. 
 In the iirll of William and Mary, it is ordained that 
 Diffenters may aflemble for religious worlhip, pro- 
 vided their doors be not locked, barred, or bolted. 
 This word is ftill ufed by fome as a term of reproach, 
 but ignorantly ; becaufe it is the legal term to defcribe 
 the houfe of aflembling for any defcription of Diffen- 
 ters. The feventy-third Canon does not forbid cler- 
 gymen to meet together in a private houfe ; but, to 
 meet to pafs refolutions, or devife fchemes " which 
 may any way tend to the impeaching or depraving 
 of the dodtrine of the Church of England." Ed^ 
 
'n Publick, loi 
 
 in 
 
 meetings are dangerous to the State ; for 
 all men, that are ill affecfled to the State, 
 will herd with them, and fo will be fecure 
 of a Party. And it weakens alfo the 
 publick ftrength, when a number of men 
 make themfelves a diftind party, who 
 will be fo far from joyning heartily with 
 the Publick, that they will reckon it their 
 duty to oppofe, and find fault with what 
 is done, if it be but to give fome excufe 
 and countenance to their own Schifm. 
 And by thus finding fault with the Pub- 
 lick management, they will alfo draw all 
 difcontented people to them (who are 
 always numerous in every State) and fo 
 not only flrengthen their Schifm againft 
 the Church, but alfo form a dangerous 
 Faction againfl the State. 
 
 And as I thus Confcientioufly forbear 
 the going to any irregula?^ unlawful Af- 
 femblies, though only out of curiofity, be- 
 caufe my very being there but once, and 
 out of no bad defign, is a giving them 
 
I02 Of the Service of God 
 
 countenance and encouragement (for num- 
 ber and company is always encouraging) 
 and is a putting my felf out of God's 
 protedion, by tempting him by running 
 my felf into evil and danger, which he 
 may juftly fuffer me to fall into : So alfo 
 I am very fcrupulous of leaving my own 
 Church at all, or going to any other 
 Churchj or Regular Congregation, For the 
 thus running to other Churches generally 
 argues a vanity of mind ; it is oft the 
 mother of Schifm and Fadlion, and rather 
 tends to advance popularity than true Re- 
 ligioji, it gives a very bad example, it dif- 
 courageth my own Parifh Congregation, 
 and I do not think it is fo likely to have 
 a bleffing from God.^ For God will give 
 
 ^ ** There is a fort of occafional dilTent which is 
 fometimes praftifed and defended by perfons who 
 profefs no difapprobation of our Church, but objedl 
 to fome particular minifter of it, as incompetent, or 
 unfound in his preaching, in comparifon with fome 
 dilTenting teacher to whom they have accefs. The 
 excufe is plaufible ; nor would it be fair to queilion 
 
in Publtck. 103 
 
 his blefling to us efpecially where he him- 
 felf hath placed us, and in regular ways, 
 he being the God of Order, and not of 
 Confufion. And I am fure I have at lead 
 as good Prayers, and the Word of God it 
 
 the fincere good intentions of many who offer it ; 
 much lefs to do away the force of the admonition 
 which is thus given to a minifter when his flock de- 
 fert him ; and efpecially when he finds that even 
 the judicious and fober-minded part of them, who 
 are not unfriendly to the Church, nor fooliflily eager 
 for novelty, complain of his preaching as unedifying 
 or difgufting, and withdraw from their attendance on 
 his miniftry. For very juil and ferious ground of 
 complaint may exift where nothing can be fo taken 
 hold of, as to be made the ground of complaint to 
 Church authorities. Thofe who in fuch a cafe for- 
 fake their parifh-Church, to attend on the miniftry, 
 not of a dillenting teacher, but of fome other clergy- 
 man belonging to the national Church, have been 
 fometimes perhaps too feverely cenfured for the prac- 
 tice. For, though thofe are juftly to be blamed who 
 * having itching ears' are feeking to gratify their tafte 
 for eloquence, and to exercife their critical fkill, or 
 who are aftuated by a wanton love of variety, it 
 would furely be going too far to fay that no circum- 
 ftances can juftify thofe who in finglenefs of heart 
 are anxioufly feeking fpiritual inftrudion for reforting 
 to the expedient in queftion." 
 
I04 Of the Service of God 
 
 felf as pure/ as I can find it in any other 
 Church. And though it is pofTible I may 
 hear a neater and more elegant Sermon 
 there, yet befides that I do not think there 
 is fo much ReHgion, properly fo called, in 
 
 •* " If it be only a deficiency in the edifying incul- 
 cation of Gofpel truths that is complained of (by 
 thofe who are tempted to refort to the miniftry of 
 fome other than their parochial Paftor); for this evil, 
 lamentable as it certainly is, our Church has provided 
 the belt remedy that the cafe will admit, both in the 
 public reading of the Scriptures thcmfelves, and alfo 
 in a Liturgy fo framed as not only to be agreeable to 
 the general tenor of the Gofpel, but likewife to in- 
 culcate its leading doftrines. If our Church (as was 
 the cafe before the Reformation), kept the Scriptures 
 a fealed book to the unlearned ; or if, like fome of 
 the reformed Churches, fhe admitted neither the 
 public reading of the Scriptures, nor the ufe of an 
 eftablifhed Liturgy, but truiled everything to the ex- 
 temporaneous effufions of the preachers, the excufe 
 in queftion would have great weight. But as it is, 
 men fhould conlider whether the immediate advan- 
 tage gained is not more than counterbalanced by the 
 violation of an important general rule, by the gradual 
 depreciation thus produced of the duty of preferving 
 Chrirtian harmony, by the countenance afforded to 
 Schifm, and the extenuation in the eyes of men in 
 
in Pub lick, 105 
 
 hearing Sermons/'"' they being not fo much 
 in reference to God, as to our felves, and 
 for our own benefit ; I fay befides this, if 
 at my return home from fuch a Sermon, 
 I fit down, and confider what I have got- 
 
 general, of the evils which it produces. It fhould 
 be remembered, however, that whatever degree of 
 blame may, in each cafe that occurs, attach to thofe 
 who forfake the Church, the minifter is not the lefs 
 heavily refponfible, whofe unfound, or negligent, or 
 indifcreet preaching, has aided to drive into dilTent 
 thofe entrufted to his care." 
 
 ^ " Some perfons are accuftomed to fpeak of 
 preaching, or the delivery of Sermons to the people, 
 as a fubordinate part of the minifterial office, and 
 fecondary, in point of importance to Prayer, and the 
 adminiftration of the Sacraments : whilft others think 
 that it is neither expedient, nor indeed allowable, to 
 make a fcale of the means of grace ; or to lay down 
 any rules concerning the dignity or neceffity of each ; 
 but, that it is by the joint ufe of all, that Chriftians 
 are to grow up to ' ripenefs and perfeftnefs of age 
 in Chrift.' It is their opinion, however, that while 
 in * awakening the hardened finner, or reclaiming 
 the carelefs Chriftian, the Holy Spirit is by no means 
 confined to any one mode of operation, it is yet ex- 
 perimentally certain that, from the Apoflles times to 
 the prefent. His bleffing has peculiarly attended the 
 
I 06 Of the Service of God 
 
 ten by my wandrlng, I fhall find that ra- 
 ther my curiofity, and fancy are gratified, 
 than Piety and Devotion advanced in me, 
 and that I am rather Pleafed than In- 
 ftru^ed^ or made either wijer or better. 
 
 And I keep conftantly to my own Pa- 
 riih on all occafions, not only on Sundays, 
 but other days,^ fetting down this for a 
 Rule, that Prayers hinder no bufinefs. 
 And if it fhould once happen that I fhould 
 
 labours of the Chriilian preacher.' " " ChurchmaTi* s 
 Theological DiSiionary " (Art. *' Pi'eachiiig'^ ) by the 
 Rev. R. Eden, M.J. London, Parker. 
 
 ^ At the Reformation, in order to fupply the ab- 
 fence of a vain and idolatrous worlhip by a fcrip- 
 tural and * reafonable' fervice, it was appointed that 
 the * Morning' and * Evening Service' fhould be 
 * faid daily throughout the year.' This order is ob- 
 ferved in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, in the 
 Univerfities, and in fome pariflies ; but has not been 
 generally followed in parochial Churches : whether 
 it would be expedient to revive, under prefent cir- 
 cumllances the ancient ufage of the Church, in this 
 particular, is regarded as queftionable by many who 
 think that in populous places, (where it might be 
 confidered of the greateft importance), the amount of 
 duty is already more than enough to overtafk the 
 
in Piihllck, 107 
 
 fuffer a little by it, I am fure it will be 
 abundantly recompenced fome other way ; 
 though commonly there is no need of 
 that ; for fo hath God in mercy ordered 
 the world, and men's concerns in it, that 
 a man may eafily, at leaft with a little 
 forecaft, fo order all his Bufinefs that there 
 fhall be time enough both for Publick and 
 Private Devotion. Nay indeed with moil 
 men it is certain that I need defire them 
 
 powers of a fingle clergyman, to whom, in manyin- 
 flances, the fpiritual care of a large parifh has been 
 entrufled. The fame perfons confider, moreover, 
 that the neceffity for dally fervice does not now exift: 
 as it did when it was lirft inftituted ; and that the 
 increafe of religious feeling and knowledge in the 
 community both difpofes and enables the heads of 
 families to condud domeftic worfhip with advantage. 
 It is urged alfo, that the altered circumftances of So- 
 ciety, and the imperative avocations of perfons in 
 bufinefs, muft make any general attendance upon 
 fuch fervices, a thing utterly and permanently im- 
 poffible. The daily Service has, however, been 
 ufefully reftored in the chapels of the Inns of Court 
 and in fome other places. It gives an opportunity 
 of congregational worfhip to many perfons whofe 
 circumftances enable them to embrace it j and offers 
 it to all. Ed, 
 
I o 8 Of the Service of God 
 
 only to fpend fo much time in Devotion, 
 or Reading, or in any other method in 
 order to Heaven, which elfe they would 
 be perfedly idle in, and would, as we fay, 
 hang on their hands, and which they are 
 not obliged to fpend in any neceffary, or 
 ufeful bufinefs of Life. So that the moft 
 diligent man of the world, and he that 
 hath mofl Bufmefs, with a little contri- 
 vance, may find time enough for conftant 
 Devotion ; and it will be a Relaxation, as 
 well as Comfort to his mind, and will pro- 
 cure for him moreover a BleiTmg of God 
 on his other, and fecular bufinefs. 
 
 And when I come to the Publick Ser- 
 vice, I come not out of cuftom, or to pleafe 
 others, or get a Reputation, or only with 
 fuch a kind of difpofition of mind, as when 
 I make a vifit to a Friend, or go to any 
 common place and company. For when I 
 come to Church, as I am going, I always 
 think with my felf, now am I going to 
 appear before God in a more efpecial man- 
 ner ; and I refledl on fome, or all the de- 
 
in 
 
 Pub lick. 109 
 
 figns of a Publick Prayer and Service, and 
 for which I go now, and at all other times. 
 For I muft always propound to my felf, 
 and defign by this, and every other ad of 
 Publick Devotion, to pay the Homage due 
 from me to my great Creator, and Bene- 
 fadlor, who hath thus commanded to be 
 ferved, and acknowledged by me ; by 
 Praifes to magnifie and extol him for his 
 infinite perfections in himfelf; by 'Thankf- 
 givings to thank and honour him for the 
 mercies already vouchfafed to all mankind, 
 his Church in general, or This Church 
 and Nation, as well as my felf in particu- 
 lar ; and by my humble Prayers and Sup- 
 plications to beg a continuance of all the 
 good things we enjoy, and a fupply of 
 thofe that we do or fhall want, for my felf 
 and others ; as alfo by my exarnple as far 
 as I can, to keep up, and encourage Reli- 
 gion and Piety in the world, and fhew 
 what Church and ProfefTion I am of. 
 
 And my but thinking of thefe ends of 
 my coming to Publick Service, will even 
 
1 1 o Of the Service of God 
 
 awe me into a Devout and Reverent car- 
 riage, and will make me attentive when I 
 am there, and fo to make a good ufe and 
 application of all parts of Publick Service 
 to my proper occafions. 
 
 I always contrive to come before Pray- 
 ers begin, both to fhew my willingnefs, 
 and defire to worfhip God, and that the 
 Publick Service may not be difcouraged 
 for lack of Company, and left I mifs any 
 part of Service, efpecially the firft part, in 
 which there is both the Confejfion^ Abjolu- 
 tion, and the Lord's Prayer^ and alfo that 
 by my coming a little before Prayers be- 
 gin, I may have fome time to prepare my 
 felf for what I am going to do. 
 
 In the firft place I fall down on my 
 knees, to thank God for all his mercies, 
 and particularly for this other opportunity 
 of appearing before him, befeeching him 
 to give a Bleffing on all the Congregation, 
 as well as on my felf, that he will aftift us 
 in vvhat we are about to do, and accept 
 
in Pub lick. 1 1 i 
 
 of what we fhall do ; Pardoning our In- 
 firmities, and doing for ourfelves, our 
 Church, and Nation abundantly more than 
 we are able either to afk or think, for the 
 fake of Jefus Chrift that dyed for us. 
 
 When I am rifen from my Private Pray- 
 ers, and at all other times during Publick 
 Service in the Church, I ufe as little Cere- 
 mony to others as pofTibly I can, (though 
 I take care to be wanting in no part of 
 civil Ceremony abroad in a common place) 
 For I reckon that the common Ceremonies 
 of Bowing to one that comes in, or to a 
 friend that I fee in the Church, or to one 
 that Sneezeth,^ or on the like occafions, 
 is a kind of Compliment that may very 
 
 ' The praftice here referred to, is a fuperftition 
 of very ancient date, in our own and other countries; 
 and is fuppofed to be expreifive of good-will, or even 
 of a blefTmg on the part of him who makes the bow. 
 It is now almoft extinft in our own country ; and, 
 perhaps, was an involuntary a6l in many inftanccs 
 in the Author's day ; and therefore lefs indecorous 
 than we mi2;ht imagine it. Ed. 
 
1 1 2 Of the Service of God 
 
 well and ought to be fpared ; for it doth 
 not fo well become the place where I am, 
 nor the bufinefs I come about ; it argues 
 fome kind of lightnefs of mind, or will 
 create it, and is certainly diflradting both 
 to my felf and others ; and I may be fure 
 that no man that confiders the Sacrednefs 
 of the place, and occafion, and that fees 
 my Civility and Courteoufnefs abroad, will 
 ever think the worfe of me, if I be more 
 referved, and lefs ceremonious at Church. 
 And all along the Service I take care 
 both to be Uncovered^ in token of refpedl, 
 and to fhew I confider the Majefty of him 
 before whom I appear, and alfo to carry 
 my felf with all Gravity, Silence, and In- 
 offenfivenefs to others, neither by Talk- 
 ing, Gazing about, nor any light or un- 
 feemly carriage to be a disturbance to 
 
 ** May not this be an oblique reproof diredled 
 againft the habit of the Society of " Friends" (or 
 Quakers), who remain covered, in their Religious 
 
 alTemblies ? Ed. 
 
in Pub lick. 1 13 
 
 them ; all indecency of carriage arguing 
 a wandring mind, and is both unbecoming 
 Religion, and a fcandal to other men. 
 Neither do I bring Dogs into the Church, 
 or encourage thofe that are brought, very 
 great unfeemlinefs often following it, and 
 it being at the beft, and always a hin- 
 drance of compofednefs of Thought, a 
 diftradlion of Devotion, and argues fome 
 Irreverence towards God. 
 
 While the Exhortation is Reading, I 
 ftand gravely, and mind ferioufly what is 
 there faid, and thereby more fit my felf 
 for all that is to follow, refolving by the 
 blefling of God, to keep my thoughts fo 
 fixed on what I am going to do, and every 
 part of Service, as the Worfhip of the 
 great God, and the Salvation of my own 
 Soul do require. 
 
 At the ConfeJJion^ with the Congrega- 
 tion, I fall down on my Knees, that being 
 the pofture injoyned by the Church, and 
 the humbleft pofture efteemed in thefe 
 
114 Of the Service of God 
 
 Countries. And I not only acknowledge 
 my own fins, and the fins of the Church 
 and Congregation in general^ but as far as 
 I am able, fuch particular fins of my own 
 as are either greater in themfelves, and of 
 a more provoking nature, or elfe that hav- 
 ing been lately committed, had not been 
 fo very particularly and fully Repented 
 of by me. I am heartily forry for them, 
 and beg God's Pardon of them, that they 
 may never rife up againft me in this Life,^ 
 if it be his will, but efpecially not in the 
 other Life. And whilft I beg his Grace, 
 that we may live Godly, Righteous, and 
 fober Lives, at the fame time I refolve 
 with my felf, that by his Grace and Afiif- 
 tance, I will firive and endeavour to lead 
 every way a better Life, be more confl:ant 
 in every good adtion, and more carefully 
 avoid thofe fins that I have juft now con- 
 fefied, than hitherto I have done. 
 
 ^ That is, that none of God's judgments may fall 
 upon us for them. Ed. 
 
in Pub lick. i i 5 
 
 When the Prieft pronounceth the Ab- 
 Jolutioriy both here, and in the Communion 
 Service, I attend to it, and receive it with 
 all gladnefs and humility of mind, begging 
 that this Pardon, which God hath given 
 his Miniflers power to pronounce in ge- 
 neral, may be applied to my felf, and my 
 cafes in particular. Therefore I efteem 
 this Abfolution very much, it being the 
 Voice of God,^^ and being pronounced at 
 
 ^•^ He, who on the hearing that the Father of our 
 Lord Jelus Chrift '* forgives all that truly repent and 
 unfeignedly believe his holy gofpel" can fay " Lord, 
 thou knoweft all things, thou knoweft that I have 
 both thefe conditions;" this man goes down to his 
 houfe juftified ; yet, not becaufe the Prieft has con- 
 veyed to him the grace by which his foul has been 
 relieved, but becaufe Chrift hath fpoken ; the human 
 medium through which that Sovereign upon his throne 
 in heaven, that Difpenfer of an incommunicable pre- 
 rogative has been heard to fpeak, is the Mmifter of 
 Chrift ; who has held up to view that pi6lure of the 
 main features of penitence which a divine hand had 
 drawn ; upon his own likenefs to which the confci- 
 ence of the penitent, and not the judgment of the 
 Minifter, had decided. Ed, 
 
1 1 6 Of the Service of God 
 
 the Command of God, as the Auguftane 
 ConfeiTion fpeaketh, but it being only on 
 the Conditions that we Repent and Believe y 
 I immediately refolve to Repent and Be- 
 lieve, and I pray to God to AfTift me, and 
 Abfolve me ; and I am encouraged to 
 hope that I am in God's favour, and that 
 he doth Pardon, and accept of me, when 
 I hear this gracious Declaration of his 
 mercy to all true Penitents. And I take 
 it as well, and doubt not but it will be to 
 as good purpofe to me, as if it had been 
 fpoken to my felf alone, and in a more pre- 
 fuming^^ way and manner; It being pro- 
 nounced by fo truly a conftituted Prieft,^^ 
 
 ^^ ** prefuming," that is, ajfuming. See below, 
 '' I abfolve thee." &c. Ed. 
 
 ^~ It were to have been wifhed that the Author 
 had not damaged his otherwife clear and unexcep- 
 tionable ftatement on the Subjedl of Abfolution, by 
 the infertion of fuch expreihons as thefe, concerning 
 a "truly conflituted/>r/^" pronouncing Abfolution; 
 " with his hearty defire" that a benefit might accom- 
 pany it ; — language which favours too much, in the 
 
/;/ Piibltck. 1 1 7 
 
 In God*s name ; and with his hearty de- 
 fire, and prayer for Pardon to his Congre- 
 gation accompanying it ; and the People 
 at the fame time devoutly accepting of it, 
 and the terms on which it is granted ; 
 there feems nothing wanting as to what 
 I can expedt from the Church ; and I 
 have the fame aiTurance alfo from God, 
 as if it were pronounced the moft autho- 
 ritatively, according to the pradtice of the 
 Church of Rome^^ I ahjolve thee. For 
 
 one inftance, of the erroneous notion of a facerdotal 
 charadler attaching to the clergy of our Church ; and 
 in the other, of the idea that the intentioTi of the 
 Minifter has an influence either to promote or re- 
 ftrain, the efficacy of his minifterial a6ls. 
 
 " The Church of Rome makes the inward inten- 
 tion of the Prieft requifite to the efficacy of every 
 facrament he adminifters ; fo that if he defignedly 
 withhold this intention, there is no true facrament ; 
 and the Council of Trent anathematizes thofe who 
 deny this pofition : but the Church of England does 
 not affign to the perfonal fincerity of the miniiler, 
 any fuch influence." Ed, 
 
 ^■^ The Romaniils hold abfolution to be a part of 
 the facrament of penance. The Church of England, 
 
I 1 8 Of the Service of God 
 
 feeing the Pardon of fins is in reference 
 to the Life to come, I cannot expe6t fo 
 full and abfolute a Pardon here, but that 
 if I continue in, or return to a vicious 
 courfe, even my former fms will return 
 upon me. And feeing it comes only from 
 God, I regard efpecially the promife of 
 God, who hath promifed forgivenefs of 
 fins to them that truly repent, and care 
 not whether the Minifter, who is as it 
 were, the Herald, or Perfon who makes 
 Declaration of this promife, pronounce it 
 authoritatively, / ahjolve thee^ or declara- 
 tively,^* He ahjolveth, Efpecially I being 
 
 alfo holds the do6lrine of abfolution, but reftrains 
 herfelf to the Scriptural limits, within which the 
 power is granted; which are, the pronouncing God's 
 forgivenefs of fins upon the fuppofition of the exif- 
 tence of that jftate of mind to which forgivenefs is 
 granted. The remiffion of lins is God's fpecial pre- 
 rogative, ("who can forgive fins, but God only?") 
 but, the public declaration of fuch remiffion to the 
 penitent is, like all other offices in the Church, com- 
 mitted to men as God's minifters. Ed. 
 
 ^^ Our Church has three forms of abfolution. In 
 
in Pub lick, 1 19 
 
 very fure that God will rather do more 
 than lefs, when he fees we take not too 
 much upon our felves. He loves Mo- 
 defty and Humility in all cafes, efpecially 
 in reference to himfelf, and will rather 
 give the more, when we prefume, and 
 challenge the lefs. 
 
 When the Lord's Prayer is read, I 
 joyn with it, and repeat it, as the Church 
 enjoy ns ; my very repeating it ftirring up 
 my own attention better to regard and 
 mind the full, and comprehenfive fenfe of 
 each Petition ; and to help our Infirmi- 
 ties, this moil excellent Prayer is feveral 
 
 that which occurs in the morning fervice, the aft of 
 pardon is declared to be God's. The fecond form, 
 in the Communion StrviCQ, is precatory ; itexprefles 
 the earnell wifh that God may pardon the linner. 
 The third form in the Vifitation of the Sick, which 
 is here called " authoritative" is apparently more un- 
 conditional ; but not really fo, fmce it is fpoken to 
 thofe who " truly repent and believe in" God. 
 The words of abfolution which follow, mull be in- 
 terpreted according to the analogy of the two other 
 forms, which refers the adl of pardon to God. Ed, 
 
1 20 Of the Service of God 
 
 times ufed, that To we may have oppor- 
 tunity to recolledl, or attend to that fenfe 
 of it the fecond or third time, which by 
 reafon of the narrownefs, or diftra6tion of 
 our minds, or the vaft fenfinefs^^ of the 
 Prayer it felf, we were not able to mind 
 fufficiently the firft time that it was read. 
 Indeed I very much approve of, and 
 commend this Order of Our Church, in 
 requiring that the People fhall with their 
 own mouths Repeat the Confeffion^ Lord's 
 Frayer^ PJalmSy Hymns ^ and other Re- 
 Jponjes. For by this the People are 
 taught, that they are as much concerned 
 in the Service of God, as the Prieft, and 
 ought to bear a part in it. The Peo- 
 ple being required to anfwer fometimes, 
 awakens and quickens their Attention and 
 Devotion, which elfe would be afleep or 
 remifs, and by their thus frequently joyn- 
 ing in full fentences, and by faying Amen 
 
 ^^ Senfinefs: — fulnefs of meaning. Ed. 
 
i?j Pub lick. 121 
 
 at the end of every Prayer, they not only 
 hear how the Prieft prays to God, but 
 make every Prayer, and Praife their own 
 a6l and deed, are adive in the Service of 
 God, keep up a fenfe of God and Religion 
 more in their own minds, and fo may 
 hope to have a BlefTing from God accord- 
 ingly. But in reading the Pfalms, or 
 other Hymns alternately, I not only mind 
 what I read my felf, but as much what 
 the Prieft readeth, and apply it all to my 
 felf, and our own cafes, with fuch a tem- 
 per of mind as becomes a Chriftian. 
 
 Indeed I am very glad that the Pfalms 
 are fo much ufed, and fo conftantly in 
 our Liturgy, not only by reafon of our 
 Conformity herein with the ancient Peo- 
 ple of God, the Jews^ and the ancient 
 Church of Chrift in the firft Ages, but 
 alfo for the fenfinefs and devotion of the 
 Pfalms in general, which may be eafily 
 and properly applied to our felves, and to 
 our cafes, if we by Zion^ Jerufalem, &'c. 
 
 R 
 
122 Of the Service of God 
 
 underftand our own Church and Nation, 
 turning fometimes a Prayer into a De- 
 nunciation, and an aflertion into a Prayer, 
 as there will be occafion, and which will 
 be very natural and eafie for a truly de- 
 voutly difpofed mind to do ; as every one 
 may fee, that will but read and ufe Dodlor 
 Patrick's excellent Paraphrafe on the Book 
 of Pfalms. But efpecially I admire the 
 Book of Pfalms, for all the ThankfgivingSy 
 and Praifes to God in it, that make up 
 the bigger part of that moft excellent Book ; 
 thanks and Praije being doubtlefs the 
 moft acceptable part of Divine fervice, 
 they being what we offer to God for his 
 fake, not our own, they arguing the moft 
 elevated, and well difpofed mind. For 
 the moft felfifti man will fray fometimes, 
 and heg a boon, but pride, ftubbornnefs, or 
 ingratitude will not fuffer him to Praije^ 
 or Thank his Benefadlor. And yet the 
 higheft of the Praife, and Thanks that 
 v/e can give, are both ftridly due from 
 
in Pub lick. 123 
 
 us to God, and are all the Returns that 
 we properly can make him for all the in- 
 numerable Mercies we receive from him. 
 When the Lejfons^^ are read, I compofe 
 my felf with all the attention and refped 
 imaginable, as to the word and mefTage 
 of God himfelf to me, and cannot but ad- 
 mire at, and pity thofe Men that feem 
 mighty attentive at, and place much Re- 
 ligion in hearing a Sermon^ and yet are 
 perfedly carelefs at, and feem almoft to 
 defpife the Reading of the Scripture; fee- 
 ing whatever Authority, or excellency 
 any Sermon hath, is derived from thefe 
 Scriptures ; and that the very beft Ser- 
 mons mufl be judged of,^^ and examined 
 
 ^^ It may not be known to all readers, that the 
 term " Leflbns" as applied to the portions of Scrip- 
 ture appointed for Publick Service, does not mean 
 Injlr unions co?weyed through thofe paflages; but is a 
 Latin word, " Le^iones,'^ that is ** Readings of 
 Scripture." Ed. 
 
 " " The obedience demanded from thofe who are 
 not permitted to adminifter the Sacraments, nor to 
 
I 24. Of the Service of God 
 
 by the Scripture, and are to be condemn- 
 ed, if they be not confonant to it. And 
 though I know the Scripture very well 
 already, and know beforehand what will 
 be read, yet I am never the lefs attentive; 
 for by exad; attention it very often falls 
 out, that I obferve fomewhat from the 
 Scripture, which I had not obferved be- 
 fore ; at leaft I have my old notions re- 
 vived, and as from God further imprefled 
 on me ; by coming to hear the fame things 
 read which I knew before, I encourage 
 the more Ignorant to come, and Counte- 
 nance the Publick Service, as well as do 
 an Ac5l of Homage, and worfhip to God. 
 Therefore I expedl not new things to be 
 
 preach, is not incompatible with the utmoft liberty 
 that a Chrillian may require ; for they are not only 
 permitted to read the Scriptures, but they are com- 
 manded to hear and to read them, and thus to become 
 enabled to judge of the truth of the dodrine fub- 
 mitted to them by the preacher." " Dedication" 
 prefixed to " Scriptural Communion with God." Pt. 
 a. by Rev. G, Tozunfendy M. J. Canon of Durham. 
 
in Pub lick . 125 
 
 taught me generally, either out of the 
 Scripture, or in Sermons, but by conftant- 
 Jy having the fame great truths urged to 
 me, I have a more exadl and uniform 
 Notion of Religion imprinted on me, and 
 my mind is more inclined, and worn into 
 a fuitable compofure. 
 
 The Hymns between, and after the 
 LefTons I joyn in, as I do in the Pfalms, 
 they being all Praifes of God, either for 
 the coming of Chrift into the World, and 
 being made known to us, when fo many 
 of the great Men of the World, both 
 formerly, and now, have been ignorant of 
 him, as in the Magnificat^ Benedi^lus^ and 
 Nunc dimittis ; or elfe to Praife God for 
 that, and all other his Mercies in the Te 
 Deum, and other Hymns. And furely 
 no Man can grudge fuch a piece of fervice 
 now, who hopes that this will be his bu- 
 fmefs, and happinefs to do the like to all 
 Eternity. 
 
 With the fame Devotion do I ftand up. 
 
I 2 6 Of the Service of God 
 
 and rehearfe the Creed with the Prieft, to 
 evidence my Continuance in the Faith of 
 Chrift, of which that is an Epitome. Be- 
 fides that to profefs my Belief in God, 
 and of what he hath taught, is a very 
 acceptable' piece of fervice ; I honour God 
 by it, and make my felf more religioufly 
 affedled : So that every command of Re- 
 ligion will have a better efFedl on me ; 
 For the force of every Command depends 
 on the truth of the Creed, and is enhanc- 
 ed, as to me, by a ferious refledlion on my 
 Creed.^^ 
 
 And then with the Congregation / 
 kneel down alfo, and in all things demean 
 my felf, as the Order of the Church re- 
 quires, and as the reft of the Congregation 
 doth ; the Fofture^'^ being in our Church 
 
 18 See Bp. Pearfon on the Creed. Art. " I Be- 
 lieve." Ed, 
 
 1^ " As the wifdom of our Church doth account 
 it * a reafonable fervice ' to offer up our * bodies a 
 holy and acceptable facrifice' in the worfhip of God; 
 
/// Pub lick. 127 
 
 always very properly fuited to the occafion. 
 And by my but obfervlng the rules of the 
 Church in thefe cafes, I exerclfe two Ver- 
 tues at once, I fhew my Peaceablenefs, as 
 well as my Devotion. 
 
 And accordingly at Prayers I n^vtY/it, 
 but kneely that being the lowllefl pofture, 
 efpecially in thefe Countries, and I cannot 
 carry my felf too lowly when I fpeak to 
 the great Majefty of Heaven and Earth, 
 and that not only for others, for our 
 Church and Nation, but for my felf alfo, 
 and for my own Eternal Salvation. 
 
 fo fhe requires fuch reverent and becoming geftures 
 as are proper to betoken the awful thoughts of our 
 minds. Wherefore, at our prayers we are enjoined 
 * meekly to kneel upon our knees ; ' and at the Ab- 
 folution, and repeating the ten Commandments, and 
 at receiving impofition of hands ; becaufe the fame 
 are accompanied with holy prayers : and at our re- 
 ceiving the holy Supper of our Lord ; the fame be- 
 ing the moft fuitable pollure to teftify and promote 
 our humility, our thankfulnefs, and our reverent 
 worfliip of God." Puller's " Moderation of the 
 Church of Engla}id" Chap. iv. 
 
1 2 8 Of the Service of God 
 
 And though in all the Prayers it is not 
 required, nor fuffered that I repeat them 
 aloud, with, or after the Prieft, as in the 
 ConfelTion and Lord's Prayer, yet I fail 
 not to go along with him in my mind, 
 and generally alfo, to prevent the diffrac- 
 tion of my thoughts, and to faften and 
 fecure my attention, I even fpeak the 
 words with my lips, yet fo as not to be 
 heard, for that would breed difturbance 
 in the Church, which I always take care 
 religioufly to prevent. And to be fure I 
 am ready always, at the end to anfwer. 
 Amen J audibly ; for I thereby keep my 
 attention more awake by anfwering fo of- 
 ten, and fhew I joyn in all the Prayer that 
 went before, and make it my own. 
 
 When any of the Prayers are read, I 
 think it not enough for me to fay my 
 own Private Prayers, as they are taught 
 to do in the Church of Rome, but take 
 care to mind and Pray earneftly for what 
 the Prayer defireth ; our fervice being for 
 
in Puhlick. i 29 
 
 this end in our own""^ Language, that 
 every Man may underftand,-^ and joyn 
 with the Prieft. And I muft not think 
 that his Praying for me, or my being 
 prefent, will fuffice me, or do me good, 
 unlefs I alfo really with him Pray for my 
 felf and others. 
 
 And what is here faid of Puhlick Pray- 
 ers for others, extends alfo to Thankfgi- 
 vings^ either for general BlefTmgs, or for 
 particular Mercies to particular perfons 
 commemorated, as to Women when Church- 
 ed, or Per Jons recovered from ficknejs^^c. 
 For the fame Charity that makes me fo 
 far to make others concerns my own, as 
 to Pray for their good, will oblige me 
 alfo to give thanks to the God of all mer- 
 
 20 a -^Ye do not add to our prayers the imaginary 
 fanftity of the Latin language," " Dedication" pre- 
 fixed to ** Scriptural Communion with God." Pt. ii. 
 by "Rev. G. Town/end, M.J. Canon of Durham'' 
 
 ^^ Sec xxiv. Art. of Religion, ** Of fpeaking in 
 the Congregation in fuch a tongue as the people un- 
 derftandcth." 
 
I 3 o Of the Service of God 
 
 cies, for all the Bleffings and Benefits he 
 hath beftowed on them. 
 
 As I omit no opportunity of going to 
 Church, fo nor of receiving the Sacra- 
 ment ; '- and yet I always take moft reli- 
 gious care to prepare""^ my felf before I 
 come to it. For the frequent Celebration 
 of this Holy Office, is what the Church 
 of Chrift always pradifed, and our Church 
 expedts, and a conftant ufe of it, and of 
 preparation in order to it, I look on as a 
 moft prudent, if not neceffary means, to 
 
 " The habit of fpeaking of the Lord's Supper as 
 ' the Sacrament,' which prevailed in the days of the 
 Author, and has lafted to our own time, has led to 
 a forgetfulnefs, with many perfons, that Baptifm, as 
 a facrament, has the fame rank as the Holy Commu- 
 nion : and, doubtlefs, has contributed to keep up 
 thofe fuperftitious views refpeding the Eucharift, 
 which the Author fo juilly refutes in the remarks 
 which follow. Ed. 
 
 ^•^ The preparation for the Holy Communion 
 which Our Church requires, (as fet forth in the laft 
 Queftion and Anfwer in the Catechifm) is really no- 
 thing more than the habitual recolleftednefs which 
 
{?! Pub lick. I 3 I 
 
 counterballance the conftant follicitations 
 and temptations of Life. And by fuch a 
 conftancy I both honour, and obey God, 
 and keep my own Devotion warm, and 
 by the blefTing of God, fhall make Piety, 
 and Goodnefs even cuftomary and habi- 
 tual to me, which is the greateft Blefling 
 furely of which we are capable in this 
 Life. I look on it indeed as the moft 
 holy Office of our Religion, and therefore 
 of all things in this life dread being Ex- 
 communicated^-'^ or debarred from coming 
 
 is the duty of a Chriftian for his every day life. 
 " To examine ourfelves" &c. are duties to be fpeci- 
 ally remembered but not fpecially praSiifedy in antici- 
 pation of the Holy Communion. And yet, it is to be 
 feared that the very title of fome Books on this fub- 
 jed, (fuch as the " Week's Preparation^^ as well as the 
 tone of the fentiments contained in them,) has tended 
 to fofter the pernicious notion of Religion being con- 
 fined to peculiar periods and celebrations, inftead of 
 making thefe Solemnities the occafion of expreiTmg 
 what we habitually acknowledge and feel. Ed. 
 
 ^^ Such was the cafe before the alteration of the 
 law, in this refpe6l, 53 George III. 
 
1 3 2 Of the Service of God 
 
 to it ; Excommunication^ when it proceeds 
 on juft grounds, being, as TertulUan calls 
 it, an earneft or for et aft of the laft Judg- 
 ment and Condemnation there; and there- 
 fore I take care neither by Herefie^ Schi/m, 
 Profanenefs^ nor yet by any contempt of 
 Authority or of the Ecclefiaflical Courts, 
 to have it pronounced againft me ; for to 
 fay no more, I think no wife man would 
 willingly come under the fufpicion of fo 
 great, and intolerable an evil, or have it 
 on any account inflicted on him.^^ 
 
 ^ Excommunication is the removal, either tempo- 
 rary or perpetual, oi^ an offending perfon, from the 
 fellozvjhip of the Chriftian Church. Such a power 
 is neceffarily inherent in every community ; and al- 
 though * the only fenfe in which the Apoftles or, of 
 courfe, any of their fucceffors in the Chriftian minif- 
 try, can be empowered to " forgive fins" as againjl 
 God is by pronouncing and proclaiming His forgive- 
 nefs of all thofe who coming to Him, through Chrift, 
 repent and forfake their lins, yet fince offences as 
 againfl a community, may be vifited with penalties 
 by the regularly appointed officers of that community, 
 they may enforce or remit fuch penalties. On thofe 
 
in Pub lick. i 33 
 
 But though I look thus on the Sacra- 
 ment as the moft holy Office of our Reli- 
 gion, as a holy thing, which Chrift hath 
 left to be remembered by, as it were to 
 fupply, and to make up the lofs of his 
 Bodily Prefence, and to the due receiving 
 of which Chrift hath promifed unvaluable 
 BlefTmgs, it being called by the name of 
 his Body and Bloudy yet ftill I know it is 
 but Bread and Wine, that there is no 
 Tranjubftantiation^ -^ the very Body of 
 Chrift that hung on the Crofs being in 
 
 principles is founded the right which our Church 
 claims both to punifh ecclefiaftical offences, and pro- 
 nounce an abfolute and complete pardon of a par- 
 ticular offender on his making the requifite fubmiffion 
 and reparation. See Canons 65, 68 : alfo, on the 
 nature of Excommunication as a ** banifhment," 
 Hooker's Eccl. Pol. viii. i. 6 : and, on the mode of 
 exercifmg it in the Primitive Church, the Homily 
 " of the right Ufe of the Church." 
 
 ^ The Romifli doftrine is commonly defcribed as 
 the change of the bread and wine at the Eucharift, 
 into the real material body and blood of Chrill, 
 though with the appearance and all other feniiblc 
 
I 3 4 Of the Service of God 
 
 heaven and not here, it being againft the 
 truth of Chrifl's natural body, that it 
 fhould be in more places than one at the 
 fame time. And on this account I wor- 
 fhip not the Sacrament, or what appears 
 to my eyes, but God and Chrift in my 
 mind. As I reckon not the Celebration 
 of the Sacrament to be at all a Propiti- 
 atory Sacrifice,"'^ my hopes being only 
 
 attributes of bread and wine. It is moll remarkable, 
 that the very inftitution which Chrillianity in its 
 pure ftate had abrogated, was grafted into it as it be- 
 came corrupted with human devices. An order of 
 Priefts in the ancient fenfe, oiFering pretended facri- 
 fices, on a pretended altar, in behalf of the people, 
 was introduced into the Chriftian fcheme, in fuch 
 utter contradiftion, both to the fpirit and the very 
 letter of it, that they were driven to declare the 
 bread and wine of the Eucharift, miraculoufly chang- 
 ed into literal llefh and blood offered up day by day 
 repeatedly ; although the founders of our Religion 
 had proclaimed both the perfedlion of the one obla- 
 tion of our Lord by Himfelf, and the imperfe6lion 
 of the Levitical facrifices, from the circumftance of 
 their being offered " year by year continually." 
 ^' The Lord's fupper is not, as the Romanifts 
 
in Pub lick. 135 
 
 ill the merits of that Sacrifice of Chrift on 
 the Crofsj which was once offered, as St. 
 Paul fays, to take away our fins, of which 
 this is only a Commemoration. 
 
 I am conflant alfo at all Sermons in my 
 own Parifh, and when I can conveniently, 
 often at Sermons in other neighbouring 
 Churches, when we have none in our own, 
 and hope to receive good by them, they 
 
 pretend, a frefh facrifice, but manifeftly a celebration 
 of the one already made : and, the Minifter, fo far 
 from offering any facrifice himfelf, refers the commu- 
 nicants to the facrifice already made by another : 
 whilft it is yet true that the Eucharift is a fpiritual 
 feaft upon a facrifice, even the facrifice of Him, 
 the ** Lamb of God," in partaking of which we ac- 
 knowledge the efficacy of that his atonement, and, 
 by faith are made partakers of his grace through the 
 fymbols which He appointed. The Church of En- 
 gland has evinced great care to guard againfl the no- 
 tion of a facrifice either of Chrift's body, or of bread 
 reprefenting it, both by omitting all mention of any 
 fuch facrifice, and alfo by referring exprefsly to the fa- 
 crifice of Chrift. The expreflion a ' commemorative 
 facrifice,' fometimes applied to the Eucharift, — if it 
 docs not contain a notion as grofs as that which is the 
 
136 Of the Service of God 
 
 being part of the ordinary means which 
 God hath appointed for my Inftrudlion, 
 and therefore am very Attentive as to the 
 ExpHcation of that Word of God, by 
 obeying of which I hope to be faved. 
 But yet I never fuffer the Sermon^^ or 
 my Love to it, to juftle out, or underva- 
 lue the Prayers, or the Sacrament, thefe 
 being more properly the Service of God, 
 and A^s of Devotion than that. For 
 Prayers, and Praifes, and the Sacrament, 
 are directed to God, have a diredt relation 
 
 foundation of the Romifh view of Tranfubilantiation, 
 is equally unwarranted by Scripture, or our own 
 Church : fince neither the one nor the other fpeak of 
 any material (a-cnhce. whatever, either literal or re- 
 prefentative. The inward, mental, partaking of 
 Chrift, which is a _//>/>///('/?/ feafting,— or a feafhing by 
 the ' fpirit' of a man, by his ' foul' — upon a pa/} fa- 
 crifice, is very diiFerent from a * bodily' eating of a 
 facrifice then prefent, even though nothing more be 
 claimed for the fubftance partaken of, than, that it 
 be reprefentative only, of Chrift's body and blood. 
 See" Confecration Prayer^^'m ** Communion Service." 
 ^ See p. 105. note 5. 
 
in Pub lick. i 37 
 
 to him ; but Sermons are efpecially in 
 reference to my felf, and for my own In- 
 formation ; and therefore mufl: yield to 
 the other, as the Means are lefs noble 
 than the End. Befides alfo, the Scriptures 
 being read have more Authority than a 
 Sermon, and are more neceflary, and fhould 
 be minded accordingly. And it is the 
 fame thing to me, whether the Parfon 
 read his Sermon, or Preach without read- 
 ing. Although I muft needs fay, there 
 is hardly any one man in the world but 
 will fpeak better, and more ufeful fenfe 
 premeditately, than ex tempore, and though 
 he that fpeaks ex tempore may fpeak with 
 more heat, yet he that writes down what 
 he fays, is like to fpeak with more Con- 
 fiftency ; and if we look on a Sermon to 
 be any way in reference to God, furely it 
 ought to be as Senfy and Confiftent as we 
 can frame it. And I reckon that every 
 man that may be exceeding ufeful in the 
 Church, hath not the fame Prefence of 
 
I 3 8 Of the Service of God 
 
 mind, fluency of ExprefTions, or grace of 
 Delivery that another man hath ; and 
 there is fcarcely any man but will fpeak, 
 not only with more Confiflency and 
 weight, but alfo will be guilty of lefs Im- 
 pertinencies and Improprieties, if he write 
 down his Sermons, than if he do not : and 
 I am taught to mind always the Senfe of 
 a Sermon, more than the Noije and Tone 
 with which it is fpoken, and I deflre ra- 
 ther to have my Reafon convinced, and 
 Judgment informed, than my PafTions 
 and AfFedlions raifed by the moft Elo- 
 quent and Pathetical harangue. 
 
 As to Baptifm^ I am taught the abfo- 
 lute neceffity of it, where it can be had,^^ 
 
 2^ " It hath been conftantly held as well touching 
 other believers as mart}Ts, that baptifm taken away 
 by neceffity, is fupplied by defire of baptifm, becaufe 
 with equity this opinion doth bell ftand. . . . 
 Grace is not abfolutely tied unto Sacraments ; and 
 befides, fuch is the lenity of God, that unto things 
 altogether impoffible, he bindeth no man : but, when 
 we cannot do what is enjoined us, accepteth our 
 will to do, inftead of the deed itfelf. 
 
in Pub lick. 139 
 
 we being by It admitted Into the number 
 of Chrlft's Dlfclples, made part of his 
 Body, and have a fliare in all the Prayers 
 for, and BlelTmgs to his Church. And 
 therefore I take a moft religious care that 
 my Children be Baptized as foon as con- 
 veniently they can. But I bring them to 
 Church, and fufFer them not to be Bap- 
 tized at home, unlefs in cafe of utmoft 
 extremity. For as I think that Publick 
 Service ought to be preferred before Pri- 
 vate, fo I think there Is no Office, or part 
 of Religious Service that more necefTarily 
 requires to be Publick, than this of Bap- 
 tifm, the Child being by It folemnly ad- 
 
 A neceffity there is of receiving the facrament of 
 baptifm, — perad venture not fo abfolute as fome have 
 
 thought We grant that thofe 
 
 fentences of Holy Scripture which make facraments 
 moll: neceffary to eternal life, are no prejudice to 
 their falvation that want them by fome inevitable ne- 
 ceffity." Hooker's Eccl. Pol. Bk. v. Ch. lx. 
 
 The expreffion ''generally neceffary to falvation'* 
 is fometimes explained to mean univerfally necef- 
 fary ; — abfolutely indifpenfable for all. But, this is 
 
1 40 Of the Service of God 
 
 mitted Into the Church of Chrift, of which 
 the whole Congregation are to be wit- 
 nefles, and all their Prayers being defired 
 In behalf of him. And when any one is 
 Baptized^ I both put my felf In mind of 
 my own Duty, as Chriftian ; and examine 
 my felf how I have kept my Vow of Bap- 
 tifm ; and how carefully I have performed 
 my Promife and Duty toward thofe Chil- 
 dren In whofe name I have anfwered as 
 Godfather ; and alfo devoutly and heartily 
 (as the Church teacheth) pray that this 
 Child may have Grace to live fome way 
 agreeable to this holy Religion^ into which 
 he is now admitted. 
 
 I am glad alfo to afTift at the Catechi- 
 zing of Children, and think it no time loft 
 
 not its meaning. It lignifies common to ^Z/Chriflians 
 as fuch ; (ingenere; ) and, that, whereas the other five 
 pretended facraments of the Romifh Church are ca- 
 pable of being received only by particular perfons, 
 or under particular circumftances, thefe two apper- 
 tain to all alike. Ed, 
 
in Pub lick. 141 
 
 to have the Fundamentals'^'^ of our Reli- 
 gion repeated over^^ in the Catechifm.^^ 
 
 ^^ Catechifing is a ufcful fort of preaching, and, 
 I cannot but note the moderation of the Church in 
 framing fuch a form of Catechifm as the ancient 
 Fathers commended : fo full and comprehenfive is 
 the expofition of the foundations of our Religion, 
 and yet without thofe curious queftions which are 
 not needful to trouble the green heads of thofe who 
 are to be catechized ; however, which are not to be 
 fet forth as fundamentals." Puller^ s '^ Moderation. ^^ 
 
 ^^ Schoolmafters and miflrelles, and other lay ca- 
 techifts need to be warned againft an error which is 
 of very frequent occurrence, that of teaching chil- 
 dren to repeat by rote words which they do not un- 
 derftand, or which they mifunderftand : and, being 
 fatisfied with a fluent repetition of prepared anfwers, 
 of which they have not received, or not compre- 
 hended the explanation. It is, in the end, the leaft 
 troublefome, as well as incomparably the moft efl'ec- 
 tual courfe to teach children the meaning of what 
 they are learning, before they commit the words to 
 memory. By this means they are trained to exer- 
 cife their underftanding, and are guarded againft ac- 
 quiring that moft hurtful habit fo difficult to eradi- 
 cate, of fufFering their thoughts to wander while they 
 are repeating or reading forms of words." Ed. 
 
 ^^ " Catechifm" fignifies a form of oral inftrudion 
 in the firft rudiments of any art or fcience : Luke i. 
 
142 Of the Service of God 
 
 For it is by them that I, as well as the 
 Children, can be faved. And I think it a 
 mighty advantage to have the whole 
 fumm, and fubftance, not of one Text of 
 Scripture, or of one point, but of all 
 Scripture, and of whole Chriftianity deli- 
 vered at once, as it is in the Catechifm. 
 And it will naturally put feveral things 
 into my mind, which either I did not mind 
 before, or had forgot. And fo I fhall 
 alfo benefit my felf as well as countenance 
 Religion, and the Publick Service, and 
 encourage the Children, and do them 
 good. 
 
 I omit not to bring my own Children, 
 or God-children, as foon as they are about 
 
 4; and, generally (in the prefent day) by way of 
 queftion and anfwer. The firil Church of England 
 Catechifm contained merely the explanation of the 
 Baptifmal Vow, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and 
 the Ten Commandments. In the reign of James I. 
 it was thought advifable to add fome explanation of 
 the Sacrament, which was done by Bp. Overall, then 
 Dean of St. Paul's. Ed. 
 
in Pub lick, 143 
 
 II or 12" years old, to be Confirmed by 
 the Bifhop (having firfl taught them their 
 
 ^ The Rubric dircds that candidates for Confir- 
 mation fliould be of a " competent age." Accord- 
 ingly, the fifteenth or fixteenth year, is ufually point- 
 ed out, in the Inftruftions of the Bifhops of this day, 
 as the proper time for admitting perfons to this rite; 
 while they very wifely do not ** conceive it right to 
 exclude any perfon from confirmation merely on the 
 ground of his not having reached a certain determi- 
 nate age, fuppofing him to have both fuch a degree 
 of religious knowledge, and alfo fuch religious fenti- 
 ments and ferioufnefs of mind, as may be deemed 
 requifite. The Rubric in the office of Baptifm di- 
 rects that this child fhall be brought to the bifhop 
 to be confirmed by him, fo foon as he can fay the 
 Creed, &c. &c. We muft not, indeed, fuppofe no- 
 thing more to be meant than the mere learning the 
 words by rote : to fay the Creed &c. muft be un- 
 derftood (according to the fpirit, and not the bare 
 letter of the expreffion) to include a proper under- 
 ftanding and feeling of what is faid. But it does 
 feem to be meant, that " fo foon as" this due prepa- 
 ration is accomplifhed, the perfon, of whatever age, 
 fhall be brought to Confirmation. The Office for 
 the ''Baptifm of fuch as are of Riper Years" would 
 be an excellent Formulary to be ftudied by perfons 
 contemplating Confirmation, while it muft be re- 
 garded as the precife ftandard by which the judg- 
 
144 Of the Service of God 
 
 Catechifm, and the defign of Confirmation) 
 For by fo doing, I obey the Church, fhew 
 my own Religious care, make fome good 
 imprefTions on the Childrens minds as to 
 Religion, and put them in mind of their 
 Vow of Baptifm, and the neceffity of their 
 performing it, and I hope I get further a 
 great deal of good for the Child. For 
 the Prayers of one good man for another 
 are very available, and then more, of 
 Perfons fo highly CommifTionated by God 
 as our Bifhops are, who not only Pray for, 
 but alfo are empowered to Blefs in God's 
 name. And I have much Reafon to hope 
 that God will hearken to them, and grant 
 what they Pray for, and make good, and 
 fulfil what by their Bleifing us in God's 
 name, they give us ground to hope for. 
 When the Banns are publifhed in the 
 
 ment of the clergyman as to the fitnefs of the appli- 
 cant, fhould be regulated ; candidates for Confirma- 
 tion being in the exaft pofition (relatively to the 
 Communion of the Church), of unbaptized adults. 
 
 Ed. 
 
in Public k. 145 
 
 Church, or people are Married^ I am fo 
 far from making it a matter of fport, as 
 many do, that it ftirs me up to pray for 
 a BlefTing from God on them ; and it at 
 the fame time puts me in mind of my own 
 Vow and Promife in Marriage, how I 
 have performed it ; and I make it alfo an 
 occafion of a frefh engagement in my felf 
 to keep it flridlly. For though I look 
 not on Matrimony as a Sacrament^ yet I 
 look on it as the moft folemn Engage- 
 ment among men, and Sacred, as being a 
 Vow made before God, and witnefled to 
 before men, and in a cafe of the greateft 
 moment in this Life ; and therefore in all 
 refpeds a proper occafion for ferioufnefs 
 and devotion. 
 
 When the Sick are mentioned in the 
 Church to be Prayed for, I Pray for them 
 heartily (as I would others fhould pray 
 for me if I were in the like cafe) not ab- 
 folutely that they fhould Recover, but if 
 it be God's will, and if it will be moft for 
 u 
 
14-6 Of the Service of God 
 
 God's Glory, and for their Good ; that 
 God will give them Patience and Thank- 
 fulnefs, and make both their Sicknefs, and 
 Death it felf, when ever it fhall happen, 
 a real Bleffing to them. 
 
 And I make ufe of thefe Prayers for 
 the Sick J to be inftances to my felf of my 
 own Mortality, and Arguments with my 
 felf to Prepare for Death, which I know 
 is appointed for all men. And hence I 
 go to Fijtt the Sick that are of my Ac- 
 quaintance, both to Comfort them, and 
 give them good Advice, and alfo to work 
 upon my felf; and I apply to my felf 
 what I fay, or I hear others to fay, to them, 
 concerning their Sicknefs and Death ; and 
 efpecially when I am Sick I fend for the 
 Parfon of my Parifh to aifift me, and 
 counfel me, to Pray for me, and Guide 
 me, and to put me in mind of feveral 
 things in order to my departure hence, 
 which elfe I fhould forget. For always 
 people need moft advice in their own 
 cafes, efpecially when of fo great Impor- 
 
in Pub lick. 147 
 
 tance ; for they are too apt to be partial, 
 and favourable to themfelves. And hence 
 I make no fcruple to Confefs/^ if not the 
 particularities, yet the general nature of 
 my Sins, efpecially thofe of the deepeft 
 dye, and that lye hardefl on my Confci- 
 ence. For if I be in earneft to have fuch 
 fins Pardoned, Religious Prudence will 
 oblige me to take all poffible care that I 
 may throughly underftand the ftate in 
 
 ^^ That the confeffion of fin to Almighty God, 
 is a duty, all will admit : but, how far, and in what 
 cafes confeffion fhould be made to a fellow-creature, 
 has been much difputed. There is certainly a na- 
 tural craving in mankind for unburdening the con- 
 fcience by confeffion to a fellow-creature ; and, fuch 
 confeffion has fometimes, its advantages ; there being 
 many cafes, in which men, under the guilt and 
 trouble of their lin, can neither appeafe their own 
 minds, nor fufficiently diredl themfelves, without 
 having recourfe to fome pious and prudent guide: in 
 fuch cafes, confeffion to a faithful and kind paftor has 
 its advantages. But, to make confeffion to a Minif- 
 ter a part of the Church-difcipline, and to infill (as 
 the Church of Rome does) upon fuch confeffion be- 
 ing made at ftated times, and being a complete con- 
 feffion, that is, a declaration of fuch thoughts and 
 
148 Of the Service of God 
 
 which I am, and the danger of my Condi- 
 tion, and my fureft method in order to a 
 Pardon and Cure ; and all this I may beft 
 hope for from God's Minifter, who both 
 loves me, and is moft likely to judge moft 
 unprejudicedly of me, hath a particular 
 concern in me, and for me, and is by God 
 impowered, and enabled to affift and help 
 me. For thefe and the like reafons, I 
 think it not fufficient to be prayed for in 
 the Church when I am Sick, but I defire 
 
 adions as the Prieft may require, this does evil ten 
 times oftener, and often thoufand times greater mag- 
 nitude, than good : and, hence it is, that confeffion 
 as pradlifed in the Church of Rome, is the very 
 worft part of her fyftem. The Church of England, 
 in fome cafes, exhorts to confeffion, but fhe makes it 
 no part of her difcipline; nor does fhe (as the Church 
 of Rome infills upon, or as fome of her own mem- 
 bers would fondly introduce the pra6lice,) prefcribe 
 regular, complete, periodical confeffion. For the doc- 
 trine of the Church of England upon the Subjedl of 
 confeffion to a paftor, fee (in the Prayer-Book) the 
 former of the two " Exhortations" in giving warn- 
 ing for the Communion: and, the Order for the Vifi- 
 tation of the Sick. Ed, 
 
in Pub lick. 149 
 
 frequently to be Vifited, and not only to 
 Examine my felf, but alfo to fubmit to 
 another's Examination and Diredion; but 
 ftill am fenfible that it is my own repent- 
 ing that is required in order to the Pardon 
 of my fins, elfe his Ah/olution^'^ will fig- 
 nifie nothing. 
 
 And all thefe parts of Religious fervice 
 I am fo far from flighting or undervaluing, 
 becaufe they are prefcribed, and we com- 
 manded to ufe thefe words, and no other, 
 that I like them much the better. For 
 as far as I can find, fince Miracles ceafed, 
 there always was a Form^^ of Prayer and 
 
 ^ See pp. 117, 118, notes 13, 14. 
 
 36 <e "YhQ Church of England does not recognize 
 extemporaneous prayers in the congregation : it is 
 contrary to the whole fpirit of her regulations. In 
 fa6l the very title * Cojnmon prayer' implies a pre- 
 compofed and known form : efpecially as * uiiifor- 
 mitfm the various congregations is one of the objeds 
 aimed at. For it mufl be generally impoffible that 
 the whole congregation fhould join in a prayer they 
 never had heard before, the inflant it is uttered ; and 
 that many diflindt congregations Ihould all be uni- 
 
I 50 Of the Service of God 
 
 Service prefcribed, and it never was left 
 to every Clergyman to fay what Prayers/^ 
 and ufe what Form of Service he pleafed j 
 much lefs was an extempore Grayer to God 
 in Publick ever approved of. For befides 
 the Indecency that will often be committed 
 in Extemporary Prayers (which furely 
 ought to be prevented if we can, when we 
 addrefs our felves to the Infinite Majefty 
 of Heaven and Earth in behalf of his 
 Church, as well as on the concerns of our 
 own Souls) It fpeaks refped to God, when 
 we take all poflible Care, that nothing but 
 what is well weigh'd be offered to him. 
 
 formly employing the fame extemporaneous prayer. 
 Our Church has provided forms, not only for ordi- 
 nary ufe, but for every extraordinary occafion that 
 feemed likely to arife ; which forms the Aft of Uni- 
 formity obliges all Miniflers to ufe." 
 
 37 t< ^g Jq j^qj. ^^^ |.Q Q^j. public worfhip the 
 innovation of the fpontaneous prayer of the minifier. 
 We do not take away from the ancient prayers of the 
 Church one Scriptural petition. We do not take 
 away Liturgies altogether in favour of extemporane- 
 ous prayer." 
 
in Piihlkk, 151 
 
 A prefcrlbed Form alfo is the only way 
 to keep up Uniformity among our felves. 
 And feeing whatever is fit for us to afk 
 in Publick, is known fufficiently, why 
 fhould not the ExprelTions to be ufed on 
 fuch occafions be defined alfo ? If the mat- 
 ter be known, why fhould not the words ? 
 Befides that, it is an eafe to my mind, when 
 I know beforehand what I am to joy n in : 
 And I confefs there are very few Men, 
 with whofe extempore Prayers I would 
 willingly joyn. In extempore Prayers alfo 
 it is too often found, that he that Prays, 
 will often more exprefs and vent his own 
 private thoughts, and paflions, than the 
 defires, and wants of his Congregation, and 
 the Church ; all which are things utterly 
 to be avoided in all Religious Offices. 
 
 And feeing a Prefcribed Form in gene- 
 ral, is on many Accounts thus expedient, 
 or neceflary in Publick : I think nothing 
 can be objeded againft our Liturgy^ either 
 for the matter, or for the Frame, and Com- 
 pofure of it. For it is, for its matter, ex- 
 
152 Of the Service of God 
 
 a6lly agreeable to Scripture, and the Ge- 
 nius of our Religion ; nothing prayed for, 
 or done, but what (as far as we can learn 
 of his will by Scripture) is acceptable to 
 that great God, whom alone we ferve, and 
 pray to : And for the Compofure of our 
 Liturgy, it is in every thing fuch, as Pub- 
 lick Devotions ought to be, and fo exadtly 
 after the ancient pattern, fitted with Re- 
 fponfes, Hymns, Prayers, thankfgivings, 
 Scriptures read. Sermons preached. Sacra- 
 ments adminiftered, and all other Occa- 
 fional Religious Offices performed, that I 
 cannot but admire it: and muft profefs my 
 wonder and aftonifhment, that any perfons 
 fhould really either diflike, or flight it. 
 
 But I will not now flay to vindicate the 
 feveral parts of it, from the Objections 
 brought againfl it, but refer all Men to 
 what the Judicious Mr. Hooker hath writ- 
 ten on this Subje6t, in his Eccleftajlical 
 Polity, 
 
 And though our Church hath not de- 
 
hi Public k, I 53 
 
 fined exacflly, and commanded pofitively 
 what ihall be done by every particular 
 Man on either the Feaft, or Faft-days, yet 
 feeing fhe hath fet apart fuch days for 
 thofe purpofes, I think my felf bound to 
 have a particular refped: to them. 
 
 And accordingly I make ufe of the 
 Feaft-days^'^ not only in joyning with the 
 
 ^ " The Feafts, (or Feftivals) are certain days fet 
 apart by the Church for the more particular remem- 
 brance of the prominent tranfa6lions connedled with 
 our Lord in his redemption of mankind ; and alfo 
 for the commemoration of the labours and fuiferings 
 of his Apoftles. Some objeft to the obfervance of 
 thefe Feafts, on the ground that fuch obfervance is 
 contrary to the injundion of the Apoftle Paul, (Col. 
 ii. 1 6), forgetting that in this paflage the Apoftle al- 
 ludes exclufively to Jewilh Feafts : others objed to 
 all fuch feftivals, as being Popifh, forgetting that they 
 have been obferved from the earlieft ages of the 
 Church. If a Church has power to ordain rites and 
 ceremonies which are not contrary to Scripture, fhe 
 has the power to fet apart certain days in commemo- 
 ration of the moft important events and perfons con- 
 nected with the firft promulgation of the Gofpel : 
 and none but fuch are commemorated by the Church 
 of England." 
 
154 Of the Service of God 
 
 Congregation in the Prayers appointed for 
 that day, but alfo in thanking God in pri- 
 vate for all Mercies, and particularly for 
 the mercy commemorated, in ferving God 
 more that day than ordinary, and endea- 
 vouring particularly by my Charity to do 
 more good, and by a prudent demeanour 
 of my felf to encourage both Thankfulnefs 
 in my felf, Friendfhip in the World, and 
 Piety towards God. 
 
 The Faft-days alfo I refpedl with fome 
 kind of denial of my felf, as to my ufual, 
 and lawful liberty in Meat, and Drink ; 
 and this without affedlation, or making a 
 noife, or placing Religion in the kind of 
 meat and drink. And Fafting being In 
 Scripture prefcribed,^^ I cannot think it an 
 
 ^^ Has it been '' prefcribed^^ under the Gofpel? as 
 Fafting is a pofitive ordinance, if it were intended 
 that it fhould be binding on all Chriftians, wefhould 
 expeft to find in the New Teftament fome pofitive 
 precept enjoining it. But there is none. Even, 
 therefore, when its ol>jefi is in accordance with Gof- 
 pel precepts, it can claim no higher authority than 
 
/// Pub lick, 155 
 
 improper method for the fubduing of fin 
 in us. And feeing it is neceffary, and 
 fuppofed in Scripture, that we Fail fome- 
 times, all Reafon and Peaceablenefs, as 
 well as Obedience, will eafily determine 
 me to that time which the Church fhall 
 
 that of an ecclefiaftical rule, if enjoined by the Church ; 
 and, of an exercife of Chriftian liberty, if adopted by 
 the individual himfelf. Our Church has only fo 
 far recognized the cuftom, as to retain the faft-days, 
 and prayers ; but has prefcribed no regulation of diet. 
 Abftinence from food is not, therefore, the duty 
 which it enjoins on its members ; but, whatever each 
 finds to be beft adapted for felf-difcipline, and moll 
 fuitable, under his circumflances, for a repentant 
 fpirit. Mention is made of abftinence in the '* Col- 
 left for the Firft Sunday in Lent ;" but it is not the 
 refraining from food or particular kinds of food, but 
 ** fuch abftinence " as fhall " fubdue the flefli to the 
 fpirit;" that is, the abftaining habitually from excefs. 
 While however, the Church of England has left it 
 to the Chriftian liberty of each individual to prefcribe 
 to himfelf that rule of life which beft promotes in 
 him habits of felf-denial and forrow for fm, none of 
 its members is the lefs bound to obey the call which 
 the Church makes on them, by means of its feafons 
 and fervices, to give heed to repentance and felf-dif- 
 cipline. Ed. 
 
I 5 6 Of the Service of God 
 
 appoint. But ftill I take care that my 
 Failing neither put me out of humour, 
 nor make me to be peevifh, or conceited 
 in my felf, nor cenfure other men, left I 
 make my good to be evil fpoken of, and 
 fo lofe the benefit of it. 
 
 In fhortj I am ftridly Regular accord- 
 ing to the Rules of the Liturgy, and Com- 
 mand of the Church of England in her 
 Canons, and I wifh all men were even as 
 I, and pity them that are not, and pray 
 to God, that they that are otherwife minded 
 may be convinced, and fee their Errour. 
 I thank God who hath given me fo good 
 an underftanding in my duty, and hope 
 by my fteddinefs and good temper to pre- 
 vail with others. But yet I forbear judg- 
 ing or condemning all that do not exadlly 
 as I do, or that agree not with me in all 
 thefe things, which though they are not 
 Fundamentals, yet are fuch things as on 
 which the flourifhing of Religion, and the 
 peace of the Church, do very much de- 
 
in Pub lick. i ^J 
 
 pend. For I confider fome great preju- 
 dices may lie on their minds, which may 
 in time be removed, that they may be in 
 fome involuntary miftakes which may be 
 corredled ; and, as I have an opportunity, 
 and as becomes the nature of my place in 
 the world, I will endeavour to correct. 
 But ftill I do not fo much attend to other 
 Mens fcruples, as to be by them deterred 
 from my own duty ; for our holy Religion 
 profefled in this Church, teacheth me to 
 take care of my own Pra6tice, but not 
 rafhly to condemn ^° other men. For I 
 
 40 ii Q^J. 2cal" as Churchmen " muft be free 
 from all perfonal hitternefs, illiberal bigotry, and all 
 thofe faults, in fliort, which conilitute and promote 
 party-fpirit. It is a difficult, but moll important 
 duty, to fleer the middle courfe between lukewarm- 
 nefs and repulfive feverity ; to oppofe Diffenters as 
 fuch, without being wanting in charity towards them 
 as men and as Chriilians ; — to be Heady in maintain- 
 ing the fmfulnefs of fchifm, yet without cenfuringas 
 unpardonable thofe who fall into it ; — to mark and 
 avoid thofe who caufe divifions among us, yet with- 
 out any narrow-minded and hoilile averlion. But 
 
158 Service of God in Pub lick, 
 
 can make more excufes for others, than I 
 can for my felf ; and for me to be wanting 
 in any part of Service, or Ceremony, I may 
 juftly think may be a greater fault, than 
 for others, who perhaps know not, or mind 
 not fo much the Reafon, and Confequence 
 of being ftridly regular. At leaft I am 
 fure that their being guilty of a fault, will 
 not excufe me, if I a6l the fame, and every 
 Man fhall ftand or fall to his own Mafter. 
 And I am fure it more becomes an hum- 
 ble and private Chriftian to look after his 
 own Adions, than to be fharp in fpying 
 out, or fevere in cenfuring the Carriage of 
 others. 
 
 this difficulty, which is one of our appointed trials, 
 muft not be allowed to difcourage us. He who "en- 
 dured" fuch " contradiftion of finners againft him- 
 felf, and laboured fo zealoufly, yet fo patiently, to 
 convert men to the truth, may furely expeft a fimilar 
 union cf charity and zeal from his followers." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of Additions to the Faith. 
 
 RECKON the Dodlrlne 
 taught and profefTed in this 
 Church, and the Way and 
 Method of Divine Service 
 here ufed and pradlifed, to be fufficient to 
 Salvation ; and that as there is nothing 
 Commanded that is unlawful, or fuper- 
 fluous ; ^ the Romanifts themfelves con- 
 
 ^ " The Church of England teaches the truths of 
 Scripture refpefting God, the foul, and the means of 
 grace : it does not add to thefe truths, nor take from 
 them : and I am bound therefore, as I value the fal- 
 vation of my foul, to live and die, and to teach others 
 alfo to live and die, in its Communion." " Dedi- 
 cation" prefixed to ^^ Scriptural Com?nunion with 
 Godr Pt. ii. by Rev. G. Tow7ifend, M.J. Canon 
 of Durham. 
 
i6o Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 demning nothing that we teach as necef- 
 fary, but owning it all to be fit and good ; 
 fo alfo I think there is nothing wanting, 
 or deficient, that there is no necefTary or 
 ufeful Article of Faith that is not in this 
 Church exprefly owned ; no Duty towards 
 God, or Man, that is not according to the 
 Rules of this Church taught and prac- 
 tifed. And therefore whatever is further 
 urg'd, as necefTary to Salvation, or is re- 
 quired of me in order to Church-Commu- 
 nion, I cannot but think either falfe, or 
 unnecefTary. And on this ground I mufl 
 difown the belief of the Infallibility^ of 
 
 - By " infallibility" is meant a claim fet up by 
 any individual or body of men, to an exemption from 
 error, or from the pojjibility of falling into it. ** The 
 infallibility of the (fo called) Catholic Church, and the 
 fubllitution of the decrees of Popes or of pretended 
 General Councils for the Scriptures, as the Chriftian's 
 rule of faith and praftice, is commonly regarded as 
 the foundation of the whole Romifh fyftem. 
 
 And it is fo, in this fenfe, that if it be once ad- 
 mitted, all the reft muft follow : if the power of 
 
Of Additions to the Faith . i 6 1 
 
 the Bifhop or Church of Rome^ or fubjec- 
 tion to them, to be neceffary in order to 
 Church-Communion or Salvation : Though 
 the Romanifts prefs this as the firft thing 
 neceflary. For as to the Pope's Infalli- 
 bihty, I cannot think that the good and 
 wife God fhould either have appointed 
 any one Man, or any fet number of men, 
 as an Infalhble Judge, and Interpreter of 
 his will, to whom we muft attend, and 
 obey, refigning up our Judgment and rea- 
 fon, and yet never tell us where this man, 
 or number of men is to be found ; whereas 
 furely this ought to have been of all things 
 
 ** binding and loofing'' belong to the Church of Rome 
 in the extent claimed by her, we have only to afcer- 
 tain what are her decifions, and to comply with them 
 implicitly. But, the truth probably is, that the Ro- 
 mifh claim of the hierarchy to infallibility was not 
 originally the confequence of a mifinterpretation of 
 certain texts ; but that when an abufe had been fuf- 
 fered to prevail, the advocates of fuch abufe reforted 
 to fuch paiTages of Scripture as might be perverted 
 to juilify the pradtice or opinions previoufly fubfifling. 
 
1 62 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 the moft plainly, and frequently urged in 
 Scripture ; it ought to have been as viiible 
 there, as that God is One, or as that Jefus 
 is Chrift. Nay indeed methinks Scripture 
 fliould have told us nothing elfe, but where 
 to find this Infallible Judge, and how to 
 obey him. For all other Precepts, and 
 Rules of Scripture, muft certainly be fome 
 derogation to the Power and Authority 
 of this Infallible Guide. 
 
 And feeing this Infallibility cannot be 
 made out, nor fhewn in whom it doth re- 
 fide (for even they of the Roman Com- 
 munion cannot agree where to place it : 
 and all other Chrifl:ians utterly difown it) 
 How can it be a necefiary Point in order 
 to Salvation to fubmit to the Bifhop of 
 Rome, or receive, and pradlife whatever 
 he tells us we ought to receive, and prac- 
 tife ? For he may be mifl:aken, as well as 
 other men. And I think it is very evi- 
 dent, that unlefs it be on account of his 
 InfalHbility, we in England owe him no 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 163 
 
 more obedience, or fervice, than we owe 
 to any other good and Chriftian BIfhop : 
 Nor do we owe him fo much refpedl, as 
 we owe to our own Bifhop ; for it is cer- 
 tain that we belong not to his Temporal, 
 nor to his Ecclefiaftical Jurifdidion. 
 
 And till they of the Church of Rome, 
 from their own Example fhew us which 
 is this Infallible Judg, and what ufe he is 
 of, by putting an end to their own Divi- 
 fions, and Controverfies, I fhall certainly 
 conclude that they do not believe them- 
 felves when they fay, He is fomewhere 
 among them. Or at leaft, if he be among 
 them, he had as good not have been there, 
 for he is of no ufe or benefit to them ; 
 much lefs can we believe it neceffary to 
 Salvation to own his Authority and Infal- 
 libility. Particularly let them make the 
 Council of Trent ^ to be fully received in 
 
 ^ The Council of Trent was afTembled by Pope 
 Paul III. in 1545, for the purpofe of checking the 
 progrefs of the Proteflant dodrines, and reforming 
 
164 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 France, and its Authority own'd there 
 (and yet if an Infallible Judge ever pre- 
 tended to appear among them, it was in 
 that Council which made a new Creed, 
 and new Religion :) But we know the 
 Authority of that Council is utterly dif- 
 own'd in France, and nothing approved 
 of as decreed by that Council. Let them, 
 by the help of this Infallibility, end, and 
 decide all the great and dividing Quef- 
 tions among their own Members ; Let 
 them refolve, and fatisfie the Quietifts^ 
 
 thofe glaring abufes which rendered the Romifh 
 Church in danger of finking under the weight of its 
 own corruptions. The deliberations of the prelates 
 ■were continued during twenty-five feflions, to the 
 year 1563, under the pontificates of Julius III. and 
 Pius IV. It was by this council, that the Romifh 
 fyflem of dodrine was finally organized and defined ; 
 and a Creed was framed which bears the name of 
 Pope Pius IV., embracing all the articles of faith 
 which the Romifh Church authoritatively declared 
 neceflary to falvation. Ed. 
 
 ■* The Title by which (as a term of Reproach) 
 were defignated, the party attached to the principles 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 165 
 
 now at Rome it felf, Determine the Dif- 
 putes between^ and Reconcile the Jefuits 
 and Janfenifts ; ^ we fhall not elfe think it 
 is out of love to us, or to Truth, that they 
 tell us of this Infallibility, but for fome 
 other, and bad Defigns on us, at leaft I 
 cannot fee how they can exped: that we 
 fhould own and acknowledge it. For if 
 they really had fuch an excellent thing 
 among them, I do believe that they love 
 
 and writings of Michael Molinos, who in 1675, 
 publifhed a work called " Spiritual Guide." In 
 1687, the Pope condemned, as heretical and blafphe- 
 mous, iixty-eight propofitions felefted by the Inqui- 
 lition from the writings of Molinos ; and caufed the 
 writer to be imprifoned for life. 
 
 ® This controverfy had its rife in the opinions 
 concerning divine grace advanced in 1567 by Bains, 
 (Michael de Bay), from whofe ledlures the Francif- 
 cans of Louvain feleded feventy-lix propofitions 
 which were fubmitted to the Pope, who, at the in- 
 ftigation of the Jefuits, condemned the propofitions, 
 and forbad all further controverfy concerning them. 
 
 The Janfenift controverfy continued to divide the 
 French Church until the period of the Revolution. 
 See Riddle's ''Eccles, Chronr 
 
1 66 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 themfelves fo well, that they would apply 
 it to the Cure of their own miferable Dif- 
 fentions and Divifions ; and they will ne- 
 ver perfwade us they have it, till they firft 
 of all ufe it thus towards themfelves. 
 
 And if it be not on pretence of Infalli- 
 bility, that they reckon it neceffary for 
 us to be in Communion with the Bifhop 
 oi Rome^^ I cannot fee how they can on 
 any other account plead it necefTary that 
 we fhould be fubje6l to him. For I can- 
 not think it poffible that God fhould make 
 obedience to any humane thing, to be the 
 firft thing neceflary in order to Heaven, 
 efpecially a humane Authority diftind: 
 from that Regal Authority, under which 
 
 ^ The number of Jefuits in England in the early 
 part of the feventeenth century, were ** about two 
 hundred and fifty, concealed under a lay garb, and 
 combining the courteous manners of gentlemen with 
 a refined experience of mankind, and a logic, in 
 whofe labyrinths the molt praftical reafoner was 
 perplexed." See " Halla7n*5 Conjiitutional Hiftory 
 of Englaiid.'''' Ch. viii. 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 167 
 
 I was born, and to which I owe Subjec- 
 tion, according to both St. Peter's and 
 St. FauVs Command ; much lefs that all 
 the world fhould be fubjed to one man, 
 and much lefs yet that this fhould be, and 
 yet God Almighty never tell us in Scrip- 
 ture where this Univerfal Monarch fhould 
 refide. And yet they may talk what they 
 will, it is not our Believing agreeably to 
 true Chriftianity, and for the faving of 
 our Souls, that they would have us fubmit 
 to them, and own their Infallibility ; it is 
 not out of love to Truth, or to us, that 
 they at all defire our Converfion, as they 
 call it, but it is for the love of our money, 
 and that they may domineer the more 
 over our Eftates, and Purfes, as well as 
 our Confciences. And hence it is that 
 the Converfion of England is at this day 
 fo little regarded and Promoted at Rome. 
 For the Pope and Cardinals are old men, 
 and they fay, that we being very obftinate, 
 there is no hopes that any good fhould be 
 
1 68 Of Additions to the FaitJu 
 
 done with us in their days; and if ever we 
 fhould be Converted, we fhould bring no 
 money to them, we fhall not be fleeced in 
 tjieir times, and they are not much con- 
 cerned for thofe that will come after them. 
 They may fpend money on us, to fend, 
 and maintain men to Convert us, but they 
 jfhall receive no money from us. Thus 
 they argue, and talk freely at Rome, 
 And this is one, if not the main Reafon, 
 that the Pope and Cardinals are fo back- 
 ward, to prefs our Converfion, efpecially 
 when they confider at the fame time, that 
 the men chiefly employed in our Conver- 
 fion, are Jefuites, of whom even the Pope, 
 and all the wife Italians^ are both afraid, 
 and afliamed. Nay indeed, they wonder 
 at us, of all men in the World, that we 
 fhould at all think of embracing that Re- 
 ligion, which they that know it befl:, and 
 get mofl: money by, are weary of, and 
 going to throw ofl^; almofl: all the Learn- 
 ed and Ingenious Romans^ that care for 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 169 
 
 any Religion, being ^ietifts^ and confe- 
 quently no Admirers of the exercife of 
 Religion according to prefent Popery. 
 Thus the Wife Italians think and argue ; 
 and yet furely if there be Infallibility in 
 the Romijh Church, it is among them, and 
 they are neareft to it. And if any here 
 plead (as fome I know have the impu- 
 dence to do) that there are no Divifions at 
 Rome concerning Ciuietifm, they may as 
 foon perfwade that they are all Virtuous 
 there, that there is no Vice^ or that the 
 Pope neither is, nor ever was there, and 
 I will undertake to defend all this too as 
 well as Tranjuhftantiation, And if there 
 happen fuch another Pope to fucceed this 
 Pope'' in his Enmity againfl: the Jefuits, 
 I fee not why the Jefuits may not per- 
 fwade the World that the true Pope Is 
 not at Rome J but at Paris, or where they 
 pleafe. For Paris is as often called the 
 
 ■^ Clement XI. was Pope at the time this work 
 appeared. 
 
 Z 
 
I/O Of Additions to the Faith. 
 
 Seat of St. Peter ^ and the Infallible Chair, 
 as Rome is called fo in the New Tefta- 
 ment ; and I believe it is as evident from 
 Ecclefiaftical Hiftory that St. Peter fate 
 25 years Bifhop in one City, as in the 
 other. 
 
 And as thus I cannot believe either the 
 Infallibility of the Bifhop of Rome to be 
 true, or fubjedlion to him to be neceflary 
 to Salvation : So nor can I think the other 
 Additions that he hath made to the Creed, 
 to be parts of true Chriftianity, much lefs 
 to be neceifary to be believed. 
 
 All the Contradi6lions that a man can 
 reckon up, perhaps may be as Reconcile- 
 able, as the dodlrine of Tranjuhftantiation,^ 
 
 ^ Tranfubftantiation is a Romifh do6lrine com- 
 monly defcribed as the change of the bread and wine 
 at the Eucharift into the real material body and 
 blood of Chrift, though with the appearance and all 
 other fenfible attributes of bread and wine. The 
 do6lrine of the Church of England, as evidenced by its 
 leading ecclefiaftics, underwent a change in the reign 
 of James, through Andrews, Cafaubon, and others. 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 171 
 
 And the Chriftian Religion being by our 
 Saviour, and the Apoflles perfwaded, and 
 recommended to our Reaforiy it is not 
 poflible but they muft give us leave to 
 make ufe of our Reajon in judging of the 
 feveral parts of this Religion. For, tho' 
 where we Contemplate on any thing that 
 entrencheth on Infinity, we are fenfible 
 our Reafon is at a lofs, and we fubmit to 
 Revelation without more ado (for fo if we 
 
 who deferred wholly to antiquity. There can be 
 but two opinions, neglefting fubordinate diiFerences, 
 on this famous controverfy. It is clear to thofe who 
 have attended to the fubjedl, that the Anglican Re- 
 formers did not hold a local prefence of Chrill's hu- 
 man body, in the confecrated bread itfelf, indepen- 
 dent of the communicant, or as the technical phrafe 
 was, extra ufum : and it is alfo clear, that the di- 
 vines of the latter fchool did fo. This queftion is 
 rendered intricate at iirll fight, partly by the ftrong 
 figurative language which the early reformers em- 
 ployed in order to avoid fliocking the prejudice of 
 the people : and partly by the incautious and even 
 abfurd ufe of the word real prefence to mean real 
 abfence ; which is common with modern theologi- 
 ans.' See *' Hallam's Conjlitutional Hijfory of En- 
 gland. Ch. VIII." 
 
172 Of Additiojis to the Faith. 
 
 Contemplate but on the Extenfion of the 
 material World, whether it be Infinite, or 
 no ; or on the Divifibility of matter, whe- 
 ther it can be into Infinite parts, or no ; 
 or of the Ante and Poji duration of the 
 World, or Time, whether it was pofiible 
 for it to have a Beginning, or End, or 
 no ; whether there can be an Infinite 
 Number, or no, &c. In all thefe kinds 
 of Queftions, though only concerning Na- 
 tural things, yet we muft confefs our 
 Reafon to be puzled ; and fo what con- 
 cerns the Attributes, and Nature of God, 
 if there be any thing above our Reafon 
 taught us in Scripture, it is not the fault 
 of Religion, but of our own Minds, and 
 their Incapacity, that we do not compre- 
 hend it (it all concerns Infinity, which we 
 are unable to comprehend, or treat of; ) 
 But that there fhould be fuch Difficulties, 
 and Contradi6lions in our Apprehenfions 
 of a thing fo entirely liable to our Senfes, 
 as a piece of Bread is, one would not fuf- 
 pe6l. 
 
Of Additions to the Faith, 173 
 
 Indeed if the Church of Rome had told 
 us, there are an infinite number of parts 
 of matter in that Bread, we might have 
 yielded to them. But for them to tell us 
 that there are an infinite number of Bo- 
 dies of Men, and all fix foot long, in a 
 piece of Bread of an Inch long, and all 
 this infinite number of Bodies in this one 
 lump, to be but one Body whilfl it is all 
 together, and all thefe Millions of Bodies 
 that are on earth, to be not different from, 
 but the fame with one another, and with 
 that One Glorified Body that is in Hea- 
 ven ; That at the Confecration, that Body 
 comes down from Heaven, though it flir 
 not at all ; That it is Eaten by every one 
 that receives the Sacrament, and yet con- 
 tinues to be Eaten by thoufands of others 
 flill ; That it neither nourifheth as flefh, 
 nor hath any property of Flefh according 
 to themfelves, for it may be eaten in 
 Lent^ that it is real flefh tho* no flefh 
 appear, and that there is no Bread, tho' 
 only Bread appear, that when it is mouldy, 
 
174 Of Additions to the Faith. 
 
 or eaten by Rats and Mice, that neither 
 Bread nor Flefh is mouldy, or eaten by 
 thefe Rats and Mice : All thefe, and in- 
 numerable more Contradidtions are con- 
 tained in this Dodlrine of T^ranjuhftantia- 
 tionP Befides that this Dodlrine, as 
 taught in the Church of Rome^ is contrary 
 alfo to Scripture, which calls it Bread 
 when it is eaten, i Cor, 1 1 . Let a man 
 examine himfelf and Jo let him eat of that 
 bread, and in many other places. 
 
 But now if after all it fhould be true, 
 that Chrift fhould be in the Sacrament, 
 as the Papifts imagine ; yet our Reafon, 
 
 ^ It is the artifice of modern Romifh writers to 
 difguife the incompatibility of their tenets with thofe 
 of the Church of England on this, as they do on all 
 other topics of controverfy, by reprefenting her as 
 maintaining an adlual, incomprehenfible prefence of 
 Chrift's body in the confecrated elements ; which 
 was never meant to be aflerted in any authorized ex- 
 pofition of Faith ; though in the Seventeenth centu- 
 ry, it was held by many diftinguifhed churchmen. 
 See the xxvii. xxviii. and xxix. " Articles of Reli- 
 gion." HallatTiy Ch. ii. 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 175 
 
 and Senfes fo fully informing us the con- 
 trary, and our Saviour having no where 
 bid us lay afide our Reafon or Senfe in 
 this cafe, but our Saviour himfelf even 
 after his Refurredtion appealing to the 
 Reafon and Senfe of St. Thomas for the 
 verity of his Flefh and Bones, we may be 
 fure that he would excufe our Unbelief 
 when we have fo many Arguments againft 
 it, and nothing for it, but one fingle ex- 
 prefTion, which is undoubtedly Figurative 
 as to the Cup, for he calls it Cup^ inftead 
 of Wine in the Cup ; and we may juftly 
 think it is fo Figurative as to the Breads 
 when he calls it his Body. For the Eaft- 
 ern Nations, and efpecially the Jews, very 
 much ufe fuch Figurative Expreffions; 
 and our Saviour elfewhere calls himfelf 
 the true Fine, the IVay, the Door, which 
 no man certainly ever underftood in a lite- 
 ral fenfe. But efpecially the Church of 
 Rome fo ftridly requiring the higheft Di- 
 vine Honours to be paid to that which 
 
176 Of Additions to the Faith. 
 
 appears under the form of Bread and 
 Wine : We are infinitely the moft fafe in 
 paying it no Divine Honours, becaufe we 
 have all the reafon in the World to be- 
 lieve, it is nothing but Bread and Wine. 
 And if it fhould be as the Papifts fuppofe, 
 we may be fure Chrift would excufe us, 
 if we Worfhip him, and Pray to him as 
 in Heaven fitting at the right hand of 
 God ; tho' we take no notice of him 
 here, where, according to them, he appears 
 but at beft incognito^ and hath no where 
 commanded to be Worshipped as Corpo- 
 rally prefent there. And God declares 
 KimMf 3. jealous God as to his Worfhip; 
 and therefore if he fhould not be there in 
 Body, they cannot deny but they commit 
 flat Idolatry. And yet the worfhipping 
 of the Hoft,^° as they call it, is of all 
 
 1° The name given by the Romanifts to the con- 
 fecratcd wafer at the Holy Communion, agreeably 
 to their erroneous doftrine, that Chriil is, on each 
 occafion of the celebration of that Sacrament, offered 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 177 
 
 things the moft ftridly enjoyn'd, and In- 
 fifted on, as if there were no danger at all 
 of giving God's Glory to another, and 
 provoking his jealoufie. And yet accord- 
 ing to the Papifts themfelves, the Eleva- 
 tion of the Hofty and the TVor/Iiipping of 
 it by the people, hath been but lately ^^ 
 ordained in the Church of Rome it felf ; 
 and it is not to this day pradifed in all the 
 Eaftern Churches, and the appointing a 
 Feaft for it, called the Feaji of God, and 
 
 as a m^im (hoftia), by the (fo-called) " Priefts" of 
 their Communion. Againft this error, the xxxi. 
 *' Article of Religion" is exprefsly direfted ; and al- 
 fo, thefe words in the Confccration-prayer of our 
 Communion-Service, ** by his one oblation of him- 
 felf^z/rt- offered," &c.; our Church pointedly declar- 
 ing in both thofe places, that the Minifler, " fo far 
 from offering any facrilice him felf, refers the people 
 to the facrilice already made by another." Ed. 
 
 ^^ The late origin of this praftice (as well as of the 
 do6lrine of traniubflantiation,) has been alleged as 
 one reafon for its rejedlion : and it is a point wor- 
 thy of confiderable notice. If however it had been 
 as early as the fuperilitious veneration for relics and 
 images, it would have been but an ancient error. Ed. 
 
 A A 
 
178 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 the Worfhipping it, when carried in Pro- 
 cefTion, or to a Sick perfon, is of a later 
 date. 
 
 For the fame Reafon alfo I am very fliy 
 of ufing any Image ^" in Divine Worfhip ; 
 For I cannot but think that Images were 
 forbidden the Jews in the Second Com- 
 mandmentj and are forbidden us ftill. 
 And tho' the Church of Rome pretends 
 that they are Affiftances to Devotion, I 
 
 ^- The cullom of admitting the piftures and ftatues 
 of faints and martyrs into churches became very ge- 
 neral in the fifth and fixth centuries. Though in- 
 troduced, at firft, merely as ornaments, they foon 
 became objefts of adoration. At length the corrup- 
 tion of the Church became fo flagrant, that it was 
 thought neceflary to hold a Synod at Conftantinople, 
 A. D. 754, at which fynod, the ufe of the images 
 was ftrongly condemned. In a fliort period after- 
 ward, A. D. 787, a general council was aflembled 
 at Nice, where images were reinftated in their for- 
 mer honours, and idolatry impofed upon the whole 
 Chriftian Church. The Church of England, at the 
 Reformation, not only forbad the worfliip of images, 
 but alfo removed them, as thinking them too falfe a 
 beauty for the houfe of God. Ed, 
 
Of Additions to the Faith. 179 
 
 cannot but think them to be rather hin- 
 drances, and diftradlions. And that a man 
 muft be very fenfual, and immerfed in 
 matter, whom an Image will aiTift in his 
 Apprehenflons of God, or make to be 
 more devoutly affeded towards him. I 
 am fure they are an infufferable offence to 
 both Jews and Turks, and make them fo 
 averfe to Chriflianity, that there is no hopes 
 of Converting them. And yet no man 
 can fay that the Worfhip of them is at all 
 neceffary, and all muft grant they may 
 be intolerably abufed, as we find by the 
 Old Teftament they were, and from the 
 pradice of the Heathen, both of old, and 
 ftill. And tho' the Learned 7nen in the 
 Church of Rome may have better Notions 
 of things, yet it is to be feared that the 
 common people do perform the fame Wor- 
 fhip to them, that the Heathen did to their 
 Images. And if the Image only puts peo- 
 ple in mind of the Perfon, why fhould the 
 Image of the Virgin Mary at Loretto be 
 
1 80 Of Additiojis to the Faith, 
 
 more efteemed, than any other ? For I 
 cannot fancy it is more like the Virgin 
 Mary, who certainly was no Blackamore. 
 Therefore by their running thus to one 
 Image, rather than another, they muft ne- 
 cefTarily think, that there is fome Holinefs 
 in the Images themfelves, fome Divine 
 Vertue refident in them, which is the no- 
 tion, in which the Heathens looked on, 
 and worfhipped their Images : and God 
 himfelf hath faid. He is a Jealous God, 
 efpecially concerning Images, in the fecond 
 Commandment, which the Church o^ Rome 
 is fo fenfible of, that they fuffer not their 
 people to Read, or Learn that Command- 
 ment, left they ftiould boggle at the wor- 
 fhip of Images. 
 
 Nor do I think much better of the 
 Prayers which they make, and the wor- 
 fhip they pay to Saints departed, though 
 thefe are not Dead, and fenflefs, as the 
 Images are. For the very praying to 
 them at all times, places, and occafions. 
 
Of Additions to the Faith, i 8 i 
 
 argues that they muft own fome kind 
 of Omnijcience^ and Omniprefence in the 
 Saints. ^^ For elfe how can the Saints hear 
 
 13 t( jf ^ve call on the Romanifts to juftify their 
 invocation of faints, which feems to confer on thofe 
 the divine attribute of omniprefence, they tell us that 
 the Almighty miraculoufly reveals to the glorified 
 faints in heaven the prayers addrefled to them, and 
 then liftens to their intercefTion in behalf of the fup- 
 plicants. This prailice which began gradually in 
 popular fuperftition, was foftered and fanftioned by 
 the mingled weaknefs and corruption of the priell- 
 hood : and was afterwards fupported by the theory 
 above Hated, which was too unfounded and extrava- 
 gantly abfurd to have ever obtained a general recep- 
 tion, had it not come in aid of a pradlice already ef- 
 tablifhed, and which could be defended on no better 
 grounds." 
 
 The practice of immediate addrefs to the Virgin 
 Mary and other faints, did not prevail in England 
 (as far as can be difcovered), until the tenth century, 
 although in fome of the public Offices ufed by the 
 Englifh Saxons, we find what amounts to a general 
 wiih for the interceflion of the faints ; but, it is far 
 from any diredl application. In the tenth century, 
 however, in the Homily of the Afiumption of the 
 Virgin, there is a direft prayer for her interceffion. 
 (See " Collier's Eccl. Hiji:') The Church of Eng- 
 
1 82 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 us, where-ever we are ? And all Religious 
 Prayer being a part of Divine Honour, 
 we think it too much to be afcribed to a 
 Creature, efpecially when they pray to a 
 Saint, not only to Fray for them, but to 
 give them all Bleflings, Spiritual, and 
 Temporal, for Protedion from all Ene- 
 mies, Ghoftly, and Bodily, from all Evils 
 at Sea, and Land : By fo doing they af- 
 cribe a kind of Omnipotency to the Saint 
 alfo. 
 
 And tho' they do grant, that the Saint 
 gets thefe good things for them of God, 
 yet they are beholden to the Saint, elfe 
 they think, God would not have given 
 them. And therefore tho' they own God 
 to be the original Author, yet they look 
 
 land has declared, in the xxii. " Article of Reli- 
 gion," her convidion that the " Invocation of Saints 
 is a fond, (that is Jiily) thing, vainly invented, and 
 grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather 
 repugnant to the word of God." See Hooker^ Serm. 
 VII. i. 
 
Of Additions to the Faith . 183 
 
 on the Saint, as the immediate Donor, 
 to whom they are immediately and efpe- 
 cially obliged. And after all this, they 
 cannot but grant, that there is no necefTity 
 of praying to a Saint. For they can as 
 well at the fame time pray to God himfelf, 
 who, they are fure, hears them, and can 
 help them, and who will be fo far from 
 taking it ill, that he expeds to be pray'd 
 to by us, and is called in the Scriptures, 
 the God that heareth Prayer. 
 
 But tho' God is fo willing to be prayed 
 to by us, yet ftill there are fome Prayers, 
 which I cannot think that he is much 
 pleafed withall ; And that is Prayers for 
 the Dead,^^ which are fo constantly of- 
 
 ^^ The praftice of praying for the dead has been 
 defended, as a general cuftom of the prhnitive Church, 
 (for it was known as early as A. D. 215,) as having 
 no neceiTary connexion with purgatory, and as being 
 in itfelf, inoffenfive. (See " Collier's Eccl. Hi/l.'" 
 Bk. iv. Pt. 2.) But, if the Church of England has 
 not made any direft ftatement upon the point, her 
 view may yet be coUeded from the language em- 
 
184 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 fered up, and make a confiderable part 
 of the Devotions of the Church of Rome, 
 For whatever Inftances are found in the 
 Primitive Church of Prayers for the Dead, 
 were only either Evidences of their Belief 
 of the Souls living after Death, which they 
 thought proper to Inculcate, and by this 
 means to Evidence in a Heathen World; 
 or Q\k were Arguments of their own abun- 
 dant Charity, and of the Imperfed: ftate 
 
 ployed in the prayer for the " Church Militant" in 
 which no petition occurs in behalf of the deceafed, 
 but only a thank/giving for their departure in God's 
 *' faith and fear," and a petition that the living 
 may " follow their good examples." The view of 
 our Church may efpecially be underftood from the 
 chajige introduced into the above-named Prayer ; 
 fmce, from the year 1552 to 1661, there was no 
 thankfgiving ; the claufe " and we alfo blefs," &c. 
 being added after the Reftoration. In the ancient 
 Service-book, the paflage for which our prefent 
 " thankfgiving" is a fubllitute, was as follows : " We 
 commend unto thy mercie, O Lord, all other thy 
 fervaunts which are departed hence from us, with 
 the figne of fayth, and nowe do refte in the flepe of 
 peace : Graunte unto them, we befeeche thee, thy 
 micrcy and everlaftinge peace," &c. Ed. 
 
Of Additiojis to the Faith. 185 
 
 as to Happlnefs, in which they fuppofed 
 the Beft men to be till the General Refur- 
 redtion ; but it is evident, they had no 
 knowledge of thofe Purgatory Pains, which 
 are now the only occafion of the prayers 
 for the Dead in the Church of Rome. 
 And accordingly they pray'd only for the 
 Beft people, for fuch of whofe falvation 
 and happinefs there was no doubt, as the 
 Virgin Mary^ and Apoftles ; which is di- 
 redlly contrary to the prefent Dodlrine, 
 and pra6lice of the Church of Rome. 
 
 And tho' the Ancients, on fome miftaken 
 Notions, concerning the ftate of the Soul, 
 did fometimes thus Pray for the Souls of 
 good men, yet feldom or never for the 
 Souls of bad men. Nor did they make 
 that ill ufe of it, that is now made in the 
 Roman Communion. For now in the 
 Church of Rome, nothing is fo eafily fe- 
 cured, as Eternal Salvation, the Abfolution 
 of a Prieft being fufficient for that. There- 
 fore all that any man need fear, is only 
 
 B B 
 
1 86 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 the Punifhment of Purgatory ; and to 
 pray for their deliverance thence,, is half 
 the bufinefs of their furviving Friends, 
 and the Purchafe perhaps of half their 
 Eftates ; but if the Juftice of God would 
 not pafs by, or forgive this Temporal 
 Punifhment, as they call it, before the 
 Perfon's Death, and whilfl he might 
 amend, and be made better by the ufe of 
 the means of Grace, how can we think 
 that God fhould pardon him now, feeing 
 there is no hope of his growing better. 
 I cannot indeed fo much wonder that the 
 Church now fhould be glad to have this 
 Opinion prevail among the people ; ^^ But 
 
 ^^ '* If the Romanifts are urged to defend and ex- 
 plain their pradlice of praying for the fouls of the 
 departed, they refer us to the dodrines of their 
 Church refpedling Purgatory. But it is not really 
 the dodrine of Purgatory which led to prayers for 
 the dead : on the contrary, it is doubtlefs the pra6lice 
 of praying for the dead that gave rife to thatdoftrine; 
 a dodlrine which manifeftly favours of having been in- 
 vented to ferve a purpofe. Accordingly it never 
 
Of Additions to tfic Faith, i 87 
 
 I admire that the 'people^ or indeed any that 
 love Truth, fhould rely, or depend on it, 
 efpecially feeing there is not one word in 
 Scripture to encourage this Opinion, nor 
 one Inftance of Prayer for the Dead ; not 
 any fuppofition of any Fire in the other 
 World, but that which 7iever Jliall be 
 quenched; nothing but vehement Exhor- 
 tations to work while it is called to day^ 
 before the Night of Death comes ^ when no 
 man can work ; altogether another kind of 
 method of Salvation, than is now taught, 
 and pradifed in the Church of Rome. 
 
 I might alfo infift on many other Ar- 
 ticles, and fhew them to be Innovations, 
 or Additions to the Faith, as of the feven 
 Sacraments, Traditions, Sacrifice of the 
 Mafs, Communion in one kind. Indulgences, 
 afcribing fuch vertue to Inftitutions of their 
 
 found its way into the Greek Church ; though the 
 ufe of prayers for the dead (difficult as it is to juftify 
 fuch a pradice on other grounds) has long prevailed 
 in that Church no lefs than in the Romifh." 
 
1 88 Of Additions to the Faith, 
 
 own, viz. a Monaftick Life^ Holy Water ^ 
 Crqffing themJelveSy their Dodtrine o{ Me- 
 rit, ?in6. Supererogation, of the Pope's power 
 to Depo/e Princes, ahjolve Subje^sfrom their 
 Allegiance, which, I perfwade my felf, St. 
 Peter would never have pretended to, of 
 the lawfuhiefs o^ breaking their Faith with 
 Here ticks, and efpecially, feeing they of 
 the Church of Rome infift on thefe, as the 
 very Foundation of Religion, and will Pro- 
 mife you Salvation, if you do but own, 
 and profefs thefe, let your Life be what it 
 will be, according to that faying of Ter- 
 tullian, concerning the Hereticks of his 
 time, Nunquam facilius proficitur quam in 
 caftris Rebellium, ubi ipjum ejfe illic promo- 
 veri eft. 
 
 But of all the Points of Popery there 
 have been fo many, and fo excellent Dif- 
 courfes of late written by the Clergy, ef- 
 pecially in and about the City of London, 
 that I need fay no more, but refer my 
 Reader to them. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Of Civil Converfation, 
 
 HOUGH the World be one 
 of the Enemies which I am 
 warned of in Scripture ; and 
 in my Baptifm renounce and 
 promife to fight againft, and though the 
 ill cuflomes and examples in it are too of- 
 ten a Snare to many ; yet ftill I am taught 
 in the Church of England, that I may 
 lawfully, and ought to converfe in it : 
 For as it hath difficulties and temptations 
 to Vice, fo it gives alfo occafion to exer- 
 cife our Vertues; and therefore is no more 
 evil or dangerous than our life it felf here, 
 
190 Of Civil Converfation. 
 
 which is a ftate of trial, in which it is ex- 
 peded that we muft do good and fufFer 
 hardship in order to an Eternal reward. 
 And I cannot think that the wife and good 
 God, would not only have fent us into the 
 World, but alfo have made fo many im- 
 ployments necefTary and ufeful in order to 
 our fubfiftence here, if it had been a fin 
 to manage thofe employments, or to con- 
 verfe with thofe that do. Therefore I 
 reft fully aflured that what-ever employ- 
 ment is necefTary or ufeful in the World, 
 is alfo lawful, and what-ever is lawful may 
 be lawfully managed by my felf, or any 
 other good Chriftian. St. John the Bap- 
 tift, the Forerunner of our Saviour, when 
 the Publicans and Souldiers came to afk 
 him what they fhould do ; doth not bid 
 them lay down their employments, as ei- 
 ther unlawful, or unfit, or unfafe, but 
 gives them good and ufeful Rules fitted 
 to their feveral cafes, but fufFers them ftill 
 to continue in their employments ; and 
 
Of Civil Converfation. 1 9 1 
 
 yet thofe two employments feem as much 
 to expofe Men to temptations, and to have 
 as much to be faid againft them as any : 
 And we find the Apoftles, and particularly 
 Saint Taul in his Epiftles, to give advice 
 to Perfons of all kind of conditions, and 
 to prefcribe Rules concerning the carriage 
 and behaviour of Hufoands and TVives, 
 Parents and Children, Majiers and Ser- 
 vants, Magiftrates and Rulers in Church 
 and State, and both Superior and Inferior, 
 which is to me an undeniable argument, 
 that in every one of thefe Relations, one 
 may live as becomes a good Christian. 
 
 And particularly as to Government and 
 Magiftracy, I am fo far from thinking it 
 unlawful, that I efteem it neceflary, and 
 look on it as one of the moft Sacred 
 things in the World, for it is of God's 
 appointment, and on the maintaining of 
 which, the good of Mankind doth much 
 depend. 
 
 And of all kinds of Government I like 
 
192 Of Civil Conv erf at ion. 
 
 Monarchy/ it being a refemblance of the 
 higheft, and the beft fitted for preventing 
 Fadions and DivilionSj and for the more 
 regular adminiftration of affairs, and feems 
 naturally to derive it felf from Paternal 
 Authority, or the power of Fathers over 
 their Children ; every Father of a Family, 
 or Patriarch of old time, as Adam^ Seth^ 
 Noahy Sem, Abram^ Jacob, being a kind 
 of King over their Children and Grand- 
 
 ^ I rather agree in the following fentiments ex- 
 prefTed by Rev. W. Grefley in his ** Sermons on the 
 Social and Political Duties of a Chriftian." *' No 
 Government is abjlra5ledly better than another. 
 That form of government is the beft which is the 
 beft fuited to the circumftances of the people amongft 
 whom it is eftablifhed. To place an abfolute King 
 over a free and intelligent people would be to gall 
 their fpirit and provoke difcontent ; but, to call on 
 a people who had long lived peaceably under an ab- 
 folute monarch, and were unprepared for change, to 
 eleft a body of reprefentatives, would be to render 
 them turbulent and unhappy. To attempt to fet up 
 a King and a chamber of peers in America, would 
 be juft as fmful as to feek to dethrone or difpolTefs 
 them here." Ed. 
 
Of Civil Converfation, 1 9 3 
 
 children ; and fo the Name of Father is 
 thought at length to have been changed 
 into that of King, for fo we find Kings in 
 Scripture frequently called Fathers^ and 
 they are always fuppofed to have that 
 fame care and tendernefs over their Peo- 
 ple, as a Father hath for his Children and 
 Family ; and accordingly may juftly chal- 
 lenge the fame kind of hearty love and 
 fervice, and obedience from them. 
 
 And efpecially in this Countrey I hold 
 my felf bound, as far as I can, to fupport 
 and maintain the Monarchy in all th^juji 
 and ancient Rights of it : for it is the form 
 of Government that hath been always ef- 
 tablifhed and in ufe here,- and is in the 
 frame of our Laws and Conflitutions fo 
 conftantly refpecSted, that it is a dreadful 
 danger as well as fin to endeavour any 
 change or alteration-^ of Government. And 
 
 - The Licenfe for printing this Book is dated the 
 year of the Revolution. 
 
 ^ Here the Author places Allegiance to the Bri - 
 
 c c 
 
1 9 4 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 if there be any right on earth, furely Mo- 
 narchy hath right with us ; and hath at 
 leaft as good a title to all its Powers, 
 Rights and Priviledges, as any of its 
 
 tifh Conftitution on its true ground. It is the exijl- 
 ing government. The ftate of Civil Society, regular 
 and long eftabliihed, every Chrillian mull regard as 
 a part of the will of God concerning him. The 
 language of Scripture is very obfervable on this fub- 
 jedl : ** The powers that be are ordained of God." 
 It is not faid *' that monarchy was ordained by God, 
 or that arillocracy was ordained by God, or that 
 * popular rule' was ordained by God; but the pow- 
 ers that bey the exifting governments were ordained 
 by God." The Scriptures exprefs no opinion, nor 
 give information, as to what is the befl form of Go- 
 vernment. Though our bleffed Saviour fpoke on all 
 other fubjedls with the greateft freedom, although he 
 regarded not the perfon of men, and taught that all 
 are equal before God, yet he never alludes to the 
 preferablenefs of one form of government over an- 
 other. All we find are general precepts to fubmit to 
 " the powers that be ;" taking for granted that they 
 are neceffary and beneficial. But, fome perhaps will 
 fay "Are all governments equally fo ? Are not fome 
 better than others ? Tou may be well fatisfied with 
 the form of government under which we live, but I 
 may think another fort of government would be 
 
Of Civil Converfation, i 9 5 
 
 Subjeds can have to their Honours, Pro- 
 perties and Eftates. And I think my felf 
 bound to do what I can to maintain this 
 
 better; — Tou may like to be governed by Kings and 
 peers, but I fhould like to fee all ranks equal, and all 
 diilin6lions aboliflied ; and why fhould I not have 
 the form of government which I approve as well as 
 you ? It does not feem that we, as a Chriftian com- 
 munity, have any occafion to entertain the queftion. 
 If, like America in the laft century, we found our- 
 felves fuddenly an independent nation, feparated from 
 the government to which we had before paid allegi- 
 ance, then it would be wife to deliberate what form 
 of government would be beft fuited to our circum- 
 flances. But, for perfons who are living under an 
 eftablifhed and fettled government to bufy themfelves 
 on thefe fpeculations, feems to be likely to lead to the 
 fin of refifting the 'powers that be:' and, when we 
 confider the enormous evils which might fpring 
 from an attempt to change the form of government 
 under which we live ; when we think on the hor- 
 rors and miferies which might be inflifted on our 
 now peaceful and profperous country, by a ftruggle 
 in which the authority of the law muft be broken 
 down, — furely that man mufh have a heart of flint, 
 or be poffefTed by a fpirit of infatuation, who would 
 take one flep towards fuch a refult." See Rev. W. 
 Grejlefs Sermons, 
 
1 96 Of Civil Converfation, 
 
 Monarchy in its true Line and SuccefTion ; 
 the Monarchy of England being always 
 efteemed as truly an Hereditary and Suc- 
 cefTive a Monarchy as any in the world ; 
 the Crown defcending from Fathers to 
 Children whether Males or Females, not 
 liable to be difpofed, alienated or fold, nor 
 depending on any eledion, choice or ap- 
 probation of the People : and according 
 to this method our prefent King enjoys 
 the Crown, who hath, as I believe the 
 trueft and moft ancient right to his Crowns 
 that any King in the known parts of 
 the World hath ; for tho' the SuccefTion 
 hath had fometimes interruptions, and the 
 Crown hath been violently feized on, yet 
 ftill the right to Succeflion was then gen- 
 erally owned, and the interruptions were 
 afterwards cenfur'd as Ufurpations, and 
 whatever irregularities there were fome- 
 times for a while, yet at laft the ftream 
 did return into its true channel, and the 
 Monarchy became fo fetled by the good 
 
Of Civil Convcrfation. 1 97 
 
 providence of God, that as far as Hiftory 
 can inform us, our prefent King is Heir 
 both of the Saxoriy Norman^ and ScottiJJi 
 lines. And our Kings being both by the 
 Laws of God, and alfo by the Laws of 
 our Land, fuppofed to look on themfelves 
 towards their Subjeds, not as Mafters to- 
 wards their Slaves, but as Parents towards 
 their Children, and to deal with them ac- 
 cordingly : I take care therefore alfo to 
 pay him the fame kind of true filial obe- 
 dience, fervice and fubmiffion as to a Pa- 
 rent: to Pray for him, and wifh him well, 
 to be tender of his Honour, and careful 
 of his Good, neither to wrong him my 
 felf, nor fufFer others to wrong him, as 
 far as is in my power, to look on him as 
 one fet over us by God for good, and to 
 refpedt him Confcientioufly on this ac- 
 count : And this I look on as a better 
 foundation for true Loyalty and Obedi- 
 ence, than/d-^r. For that Prince that only 
 defigns to terrifie his Subjeds and keep 
 
198 Of Civil Converfation, 
 
 them in awe, hath but a very uncertain 
 hold of his people. 
 
 And as thus Government is neceflary 
 in the world, and Monarchy is lawfully 
 eftablifhed among us, fo for a man to have 
 a fhare of this Government, and to be fub- 
 fervient to the Monarchy, is not only law- 
 ful, but for him to difcharge it well, it is 
 exceeding commendable, he thereby will 
 purchafe* a bleffing to himfelf from God, 
 and be a publick blefTing to the World. 
 And I am not afhamed of the meannefs 
 of my place and rank whatever it is ; for 
 in every Government or Body of men 
 that live together, there mufl needs be a 
 great variety of Employments, fome high- 
 er fome lower, fome more fome lefs ho- 
 nourable, yet the meaneft if honeft, are 
 both ufeful for the good of the whole, 
 and may be lawfully managed by a Chrif- 
 tian. And tho' I will not thruft my 
 
 ^ '* Purchafe" is here ufed to mean obtain t or 
 drazv down upon himfelf^ blelTing. Ed. 
 
Of Civil Converfation . 199 
 
 (^\i into another mans office and bufinefs, 
 that being the certain caufe of diforder and 
 confufion, nor am I very forward to foli- 
 cit or fue for any publick employment ; 
 for I confider the weight and moment of 
 it, for which I muft give an account both 
 to God and the Publick, and it is pofTible 
 that by my having this place I may ex- 
 clude another that will manage it better : 
 yet when I am lawfully called or appoint- 
 ed to any place, I refufe it not, knowing 
 that fome body muft have all thefe places, 
 and tho' I am not fo fure of my own 
 abilities J yet I am as fure of mxy own in- 
 tegrity and defire to do good, as any can 
 be : and I am fenfible that integrity goes 
 a great way towards the difcharge of my 
 truft : but I do not by reafon of trouble 
 or charge avoid any office even in my own 
 Parifh ; for by every one of thefe I ferve 
 God, and my Neighbours, the Church 
 and State, and a little pains or money laid 
 out in fo good a caufe, is a great gain. If 
 
200 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 the place that I have be honourable or 
 beneficial, I look not fo much at the pro- 
 fit or honour of it, as at the truft repofed 
 in me, and the opportunity that I have 
 by it of doing good ; and to ftir up my 
 felf to a careful management of the truft 
 I have, I confider that both God and Man 
 will expedl that whilft I am in this place, 
 I fhould be more ufeful in the World than 
 other men, or elfe my account will be fad 
 at the laft day. And this confideration 
 will have another good effed: on me, it 
 will make me alfo more willing to leave 
 or part with this place tho' very bene- 
 ficial ; to be fure, it will make me keep it 
 no longer than I can with honour, and a 
 fafe and good Confcience. 
 
 And by my doing my Duty honeftly 
 and difcreetly, tho' but in an inferiour 
 place, perhaps I may ftop a gap, by which 
 mifchief might come to the Publick ; I 
 may encourage my Inferiours, fhame my 
 Superiours, if they are remifs, and give a 
 
Of Civil Convcrfation. 201 
 
 good example to all, and this Is of mani- 
 fold advantage to the Publick. 
 
 And fo if I have any Vote or intereft 
 for the choice of a Member in Parlia- 
 ment, or any publick Miniiler or Officer, 
 or the difpofal of any employment in 
 which the Publick is concerned, I do no- 
 thing for favour or friendfhip, I regard 
 not any kind of Intereft or obligation of 
 my own ; for I always think that regard 
 is firft to be had to the Publick and the 
 good of it : and therefore I employ my 
 pains and intereft, for fuch as I verily be- 
 lieve, are fitteft for it in themfelves, and 
 will do moft good^ to the Publick, both 
 
 ^ " Every Chrillian man Ihould refolve, in exer- 
 cifing his moft important privilege of the elective 
 franchife, to raife his voice for men who honour 
 God. — If there were a ftrong party for God in our 
 national affembly, that party could not fail to hold 
 the balance of power; and thofe ftatefmen only 
 would grafp the helm of ftate, who would conform 
 their policy to the advancement of Chrill's King- 
 dom." Rev. W. Grejlefs Sermons, 
 D D 
 
202 Of Civil Converfation, 
 
 as to Church and State : for I hold it 
 highly unreafonable that any kind of Pub- 
 lick Office or employment, fhould be be- 
 ftowed as a reward for former Services or 
 kindnefTes to my felf, for by fuch kind of 
 tranfadlions, I plainly fell the Publick to 
 pay my own private debts and obligations. 
 
 Next to the publick, I reckon my felf 
 efpecially concerned for my own Family, 
 they being fo particularly committed to 
 my charge, that I only am accountable 
 for them. 
 
 My Wife I not only take care of, but 
 fhew all refpedt and kindnefs to her, as to 
 my beft and deareft friend in the World, 
 for fo by my marrying her, I took and 
 own'd her, and in the Church before God 
 and the Congregation, I promifed I would 
 fo carry my felf towards her, and I can 
 never expedt the bleffing of God, if I 
 break a vow fo folemnly made before God, 
 and in fo great a Cafe. And to put my 
 felf the more effedually in mind of this. 
 
Of Civil Converfation . 203 
 
 I often read over the Office of Matrimony, 
 to fllr up my felf to a ftrift obfervance of 
 my Vow there, and to prevent my vary- 
 ing from it. 
 
 If I have a Father or Mother alive, I 
 not only pay them all poffible refped and 
 obfervance, but give them all kind of aid 
 and fupport that I am able, as to every 
 occafion, as being both commanded fo to 
 do by God, and alfo in gratitude for what 
 they have done for me ; and further, as 
 an engagement on my own Children to 
 fhew the fame duty to their Mother and 
 me, when we fhall be old. 
 
 To my Children I fhew the fame ten- 
 dernefs, as to my Wife, and give them, 
 as I am able, fuch education and inftruc- 
 tion, as may keep them ftridlly vertuous 
 and Religious, and make them ufeful to 
 the World, as well as dutiful, and com- 
 forts to my Wife and my felf, and I take 
 care fo to bring them up, and place them 
 in order to their future fubfiftence, that 
 
204 Of Civil Converfat ion. 
 
 they may have fome honeft and induftri- 
 ous way of employing their time, and 
 maintaining themfelves : Efpecial regard 
 being had to fuch a way of living, as, I 
 think, will be befl for their Souls good. 
 For I am not at all follicitous to leave them 
 a great Eftate, but only fuch a Portion as 
 fhall be an afTiftance and incouragement to 
 their vertue, to their diligence, and induf- 
 try ; but not a maintainance for their 
 vanity, and incentive to their Luxury ; 
 for that may be a Snare, rather than a 
 BlefTmg to them. 
 
 If I have Brothers and Sifters, though 
 living far diftant from me, yet I have a 
 very particular concern for them, as being 
 naturally parts of the fame Family with my 
 felf, and are therefore in an efpecial man- 
 ner the objeds of my love, and of my 
 care, and though I have no diredt autho- 
 rity over them, yet I muft never be want- 
 ing in good advice and admonition to 
 them ; and yet to all People of a good 
 
Of Civil Converfation . 205 
 
 temper^ advice and counfel, will go as fiir 
 as commands or threatnings, efpecially if 
 it be given with that tendernefs and affec- 
 tion, which is due to perfons fo nearly re- 
 lated to me. 
 
 My Servants I treat with fuch gentle- 
 nefs and kindnefs, as may make them 
 thankful to God, chearful in their condi- 
 tion, as well as willingly ferviceable and 
 faithful to me ; for I look on them as 
 Brethren, both by nature, and the Gofpel, 
 and that we are all Servants alike to the 
 great Lord of all, and there is no refpecfl 
 of Perfons with him. And he having 
 committed thefe Servants to my truft, I 
 not only take care for their food and com- 
 fortable fubfiftance here ; but efpecially 
 for their inftrudion, and the good of their 
 Souls hereafter. And therefore I not only 
 frequently in difcourfe teach them their 
 duty to God, and exhort them to the 
 pradife of it, but alfo I take notice how 
 they come to the Publick Service, efpe- 
 
2 o 6 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 cially on Sundays, and Family-prayers 
 every day, and always allot them fome 
 time every day, at leafl a quarter of an 
 Hour, Morning and Evening, for their 
 private Devotions, which I teach them to 
 ufe out of the Whole Duty of Man^ or 
 Dr. Patrick's 'Devotions^ and I reckon it 
 a great fault in Mafters or MiftrefTes, fo 
 to hurry, and perpetually to employ their 
 Servants, as not to allow them any time 
 for the Service of God in private. But 
 
 ^ The Book here referred to, was extenfively ufed 
 at the period when the Author of this Woric lived, 
 and for a long time after. It contains many ufeful 
 direftions ; but has been thought by fome perfons to 
 be defective in that very refpeft in which its title 
 feems to promife completenefs. If the " Whole 
 Duty of Man" comprifes tho. principle s^ as well as 
 the a6ls, of a Chriflian, the Work in queftion exhi- 
 bits very little of the former, and dwells almofi; en- 
 tirely on the latter ; and in this refpedl, may be re- 
 garded as not only imperfed, but mifchievous. 
 
 A more recent Work, " The Complete Duty of 
 Man" (by the Rev. H. Venn) is thought to have 
 fupplied the deficiency, by uniting the faith and mo- 
 tives of the Gofpel, with the rules of holy living. Ed. 
 
Of civil Conv erf at mi. 207 
 
 then this time that I thus allow them for 
 their private Devotions, I make as fure as 
 I can that they thus fpend it, and not in 
 idlenefs, or talk with one another. 
 
 To all my Family in general, I make 
 my felf as eafie as I can, being not diffi- 
 cult to be pleafed, and ready to forgive 
 any flight negledt or fault, for I am fen- 
 fible of my own infirmities and faults, ef- 
 pecially againft God, on the confideration 
 of which only, I think my felf bound to 
 be mild towards others offending me ; 
 their offences againfl me, being againfl 
 fewer and lefTer obligations, than mine are 
 againfl God, and I praying to God fo of- 
 ten every day only to forgive me my trej- 
 pajes, as I forgive them that trefpajs againft 
 me. 
 
 As I contract not friendfliip or extraor- 
 dinary familiarity with any bad man, or 
 ill affeded to Church or State, both for 
 the fake of my own reputation, and my 
 own fafety (an intimate acquaintance with 
 
2o8 Of Civil Converfation, 
 
 a bad man, refleding always on his Com- 
 panions, and Vice is always very infec- 
 tious) fo when I do choofe a Friend, and 
 profefs any kindnefs extraordinary, I am 
 not only real and fincere in my friendfhip 
 without defign or tricks, but make it a 
 part of my ftudy and bufinefs, that my 
 friend may be the better for me. If I fee 
 any thing fit for him to do, I put him in 
 mind of it, and advife him friendly ; if I 
 fee him do any thing amifs, I admonifh 
 him alfo, and as kindly reprove him, 
 which is no other than what I would have 
 him do to me : If I can afTift him in any 
 bufinefs, I do it willingly and readily, and 
 am not fparing of my trouble or ordinary 
 charge for him ; I reckoning it as one of 
 the worft properties of men, who fome- 
 times fo love their own eafe, that they 
 will not fo much as ftir out of their Seat, 
 to do another the greateft kindnefs. And 
 though I am thus ready to help and afTift 
 my Friend, yet I take care always to per- 
 
Of Civil Converfation. 209 
 
 form more than I promlfe, or put him in 
 hopes of, or to promife lefs than I defign 
 to perform, for I confider the way of the 
 World and temper of men, that their 
 hopes and expedlations do generally out- 
 run their reafons what they have, but the 
 leaft encouragement given to hope for, 
 they in their thoughts make themfelves 
 fure of, and therefore by my doing more 
 than I fay for my Friend, or promifing 
 lefs than I intend, I both provide againft 
 difappointment which may pofTibly hap- 
 pen, keep him more at eafe and reft, and 
 yet fhew my friendfhip to him as much. 
 And the carriaQ-e which I have thus ex- 
 prefTed, I ufe towards my Friends, or fuch 
 as I choofe out of the World, for a more 
 intimate familiarity, I ufe it alfo towards 
 my Kinsfolk and Relations^ whom God 
 hath as it were recommended to my 
 Friendfhip and Acquaintance, by making 
 them fo by nature allied to me. 
 
 Towards all my Neighbours, that live 
 
 E E 
 
2 1 o Of Civil Co?2verfation. 
 
 in the fame Parifh or Town with me, of 
 what rank or quality foever they are, and 
 indeed to all that are not only Chriftians 
 in general, but Members of the fame 
 Church and Nation with my felf, I take 
 care to difcharge all the Offices of Jujiice, 
 Charity and Kindnefs, that the Gofpel re- 
 quires of one man to another. And ac- 
 cordingly I not only do them no wrong, 
 by taking from them by ftealth or op- 
 preffion, by cheating or over-reaching, by 
 flander or backbiting ; but I am ftridt to 
 give them whatever by any kind of right 
 belongs to them. Hence I make as much 
 confcience to pay my debts, or what I 
 juflly owe to another, as I do not to rob 
 him, or fteal from him. As to Chanty, 
 I content not my felf with giving only 
 what I am rated, and fo forced to pay to 
 the Poor ; but give alfo confiderably as a 
 free-will Offering of my own, according 
 as I find any more than ordinary preffmg 
 occafion, (and fuch will feldom be wanting 
 
Of Civil Converfation. 2 i i 
 
 long to a Man that converfcth in the 
 World, and hath a mhid to do good) and 
 although the meafure of Charity is not 
 defined in Scripture, yet I confider that 
 the Jews were obliged to give near a fifth 
 part of their yearly income to the Priefls 
 and Levites, and the poor : And I am 
 fure that the general fault of Men, is, 
 that they give too little, and therefore I 
 will go a flep further than ordinary ; and 
 fcarcely any Man gives enough, that doth 
 only give what is perfedly fuperfluous to 
 him, what he doth not at all feel, and there- 
 fore I can fcarcely think I give as much 
 as I ought, unlefs I do at leafl fomewhat 
 abridge^ my felf by my Charity. By 
 
 ^ ** Many are accuftomed to fay too halHly that 
 they cannot afford to give, or that they give as much 
 as they can afford^ without enough confidering ho^v 
 much they contrive to afford for expenfes of a very 
 different kind — for coftly drefs — (perhaps often be- 
 yond their ftation in life) — for luxury and offentation 
 of various kinds ; and then afterwards they give to 
 the poor all that they can fpare j — fpare, that is from 
 
2 I 2 Of Civil Come erf at ion. 
 
 fuch rules as thefe I govern my Charity, 
 and by fuch Motives and Confiderations, 
 I ftir up my felf to it. 
 
 And though only a few perhaps need my 
 Charity^ yet I may and do exercife Kind- 
 nejs towards all, the Apoftle commanding 
 us not only to hQ,juJi and charitable^ but 
 to be pitiful and courteous ; to be far from 
 the temper and practice of fome, who love 
 to provoke and inflame, for I efteem it 
 my duty, as far as I can, to be civil and 
 obliging to all, according to the Apoflles 
 advice, for every man to pleafe his Bro- 
 ther to edification : For this not only ren- 
 
 their fuperfluous abundance — from that which they 
 hardly know how to difpofe of other wife ; inftead of 
 delighting to make fome facrijice for Chrift's fake, 
 and to mark their love to Him, and to their brethren 
 for his fake, by denying themfelves fome gratification 
 of vanity or fenfual enjoyment. Inftead of fulfilling 
 the precept, * Seek y^ firji the kingdom of heaven,* 
 fome perfons rather revcrfe it, as if it had been, 
 * Seek ye lafi the kingdom of heaven, after every 
 thing elfe has been amply provided for.' " 
 
Of Civil C 071V erf at ion. 2 i 3 
 
 ders Mens lives more happy in themfelves, 
 but alfo conduceth much to the peace of 
 the World : And when men are in good 
 temper, they are better prepared, and 
 more eafily won over to any good, and 
 not fo liable to any Temptations of the 
 Devil. 
 
 To all men, and on all occafions, I 
 pradlife fincerity, and hate deceit, and tho' 
 I know it not neceflary for me to tell 
 every man all that I know or think ; yet 
 I will never tell any man contrary to what 
 I know, or think : for I reckon that falfe- 
 nefs and deceitfulnefs is the laft thing to 
 be pardon'd by God or man ; and they 
 that deceive others, it is juft with God 
 that they be deceived themfelves, and it 
 feldom fails, but that God takes fuch peo- 
 ple in their own craftinefs. 
 
 Tho' I know that our Law doth allow 
 Suits for fmall things, and that if a man 
 will, he may be troublefome to his Neigh- 
 bours on many occafions which will day- 
 
2 1 4 Of Civil C 071V erf at ion. 
 
 ly happen, and which are perhaps juft 
 provocations, at leafl: according to the 
 cuftom of the world ; yet I reckon my 
 felf bound to bear with many things, and 
 not to take every advantage againft my 
 Neighbour, which the Law may bear me 
 out in : for I am fenfible that Humane 
 Laws do allow of many things that are 
 not very becoming of a Chriftian. Nay, 
 even if I be defamed and fpoken ill of 
 (tho' nothing is dearer to a man than his 
 reputation) if I know my felf innocent, I 
 will take all prudent and Chriftian ways 
 to clear my felf; yet I will not let every 
 pafTionate expreffion againft me, be the 
 occafion of quarrel, but rather pity the 
 infirmities of humane nature, than high- 
 ly refent fuch mifunderftandings and of- 
 fences that are taken, tho' unjuftly at me; 
 and I am fure that by my thus bearing 
 patiently an unjuft afperfion, I fhall not 
 only pleafe God, but alfo win even on my 
 enemies, who afluredly will fee their error. 
 
Of Civil Converfatio72. 2 i 5 
 
 and To according to Rom. 12. I Jloall over- 
 come evil with good. 
 
 What Eftate I have, I always reckon 
 that it is not given me only for my own 
 ufe, and to enjoy my felf with, but efpe- 
 cially to do good to private and publick 
 occafions. And therefore, as on this con- 
 fideration, I muft not fpend it all on my 
 felf; fo alfo in -prudence (tho' I abhorr co- 
 vetoufnefs as much as prodigality,) yet I 
 reckon I ought to live always below my 
 income, tho' not niggardly, and fo I make 
 fome proviiion and allowance for extraor- 
 dinary cafes and charges, that will fre- 
 quently happen. And in order to my 
 full content of mind, and to prevent my 
 ufing any unjuft or unfit ways of enrich- 
 ing my felf; in the firft place, I make it 
 my bufinefs fo to regulate my paiTions as 
 not to dejire, and my way of living in the 
 world, as not to want a great Eftate or 
 large Income : and then I have reafon to 
 hope, that if God fhould give me more, 
 
2 1 6 Of Civil Converfation. 
 
 I fhould be both more moderate In the 
 ufe of it, and employ it better than elfe I 
 fhould do. And however fcanty my for- 
 tune, or mean my ftation in the world is, 
 (if I am not finfully accefTory of bringing 
 my felf Into this condition) I am not at all 
 afhamed of it, for poverty is no fault or 
 occafion of fhame ; but I reckon that I 
 may both be in the favour of God, and 
 alfo benefit the world. If I difcharge It ho- 
 neftly and difcreetly. But the more I 
 receive from God, I always refle6t how 
 much more thankful to God, better In my 
 felf, and ufeful In the world, ought I to 
 be than other men : and whether my Ef- 
 tate increafe or decreafe, or be more or 
 lefs (unlefs by my own fault) I have al- 
 ways this confideration before my eyes, 
 that the lefs I have, the lefs I muft cer- 
 tainly give an account of, and this I am 
 fure Is the trueft ground of contentment 
 in every condition. As to the employ- 
 ment of my Time ; I reckon it a great 
 
Of Civil C 071V erf at ion, 2 1 7 
 
 part of Prudence, and much conducing to 
 the happinefs of life, fo to accuftom my 
 felf, that I may always have fomewhat to 
 do, that I may have fome way of fpending 
 my time by my felf, with ufefulnefs and 
 fatisfadlion. 
 
 And I not being obliged and forced to 
 work all day long, as day-labourers, and 
 many Farmers and Artificers are, but ha- 
 ving fome time to fpare, from the exercife 
 of Devotion in publick or private, the 
 bufinefs of my calling, and the charitable 
 offices that I have mentioned already ; I 
 take care to employ it as well and ufefully 
 as I can for others and my felf. Time be- 
 ing a Talent which God hath intrufted us 
 with, and for the fpending of which we 
 muft one day be called to a ftrI6l account. 
 And befides this Religious confideration, 
 I reckon it is one of the moft miferable 
 and unhappy conditions in the world, for 
 a man to live fo, as that his time is a 
 burden to him ; and yet it is the want of 
 
 F F 
 
2 1 8 Of Civil C 071V erf at ion, 
 
 having fome ufeful and handfome^ way of 
 employing his time, that makes a Gentle- 
 man fometimes the moft miferable creature 
 in the world, and the only ufelefs part of 
 God's Creation : If the time of year, or 
 weather, or his health be fuch that he 
 cannot Hav/k^ or Hunt, he is undone ; 
 and therefore is almoft forc'd to the piti- 
 ful fhift of Drinking, to pafs away time, 
 tho' to the lofs of his Time, the cibufe of 
 his Reafon, and the prejudice of his Health, 
 and Eftate. Now that I may never be 
 at fuch a fad lofs, as that my Time fhould 
 hang on my hands, but that I may be 
 
 ^ Handfome — dignified and becoming. 
 
 ^ '* This diverfion was among the old Englifh, 
 and down to the period when the Author lived, the 
 pride of the rich, and the privilege of the poor : no 
 rank of men feems to have been excluded the amufe- 
 ment : we learn from the book of St. Alban's, that 
 every degree had its peculiar hawk, from the * em- 
 peror' down to the * holy-water clerk.' A perfon 
 of rank fcarce ftirred out without his hawk on his 
 hand : which, in old paintings, is the criterion of 
 nobility." 
 
Of Chil Converfatton. 2 1 9 
 
 able to fpend a rainy day at home Soberly 
 and to SatIsfai5lIon : and tho' I make no 
 part of Learning my Trade or Bufinefs, 
 yet I inure my felf to fome kind of ftudy, 
 as being fenfible that all Knowledge and 
 Learning, is improving of a man's mind, 
 is a very proper imployment for a man's 
 time, and will generally be of real ufe and 
 advantage in Life. 
 
 And firft, a Knowledge of our Religion^ 
 both as Chriftians in general, and as it 
 ftands dillinguifhed from other kinds of 
 Chriftian Religion in the world, is very 
 neceffary. For feeing the Salvation of my 
 foul depends on it, furely I may well allow 
 it fome fhare of my time and ftudy. And 
 true Religion being the will of God, it 
 every way deferves my thought and con- 
 templation, and by my underftanding my 
 own Religion well, I fhall by the bleffmg 
 of God, keep my felf more fteddily from 
 being feduced into any ill opinion or 
 pradice. 
 
2 2 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 After Religion, the Laws of our own 
 Country ought to be known and ftudied 
 by me, and every man. For I fhall often 
 have occafion for a knowledge in the 
 Laws. If I be a Juftlce of Peace, or if I 
 be a High-Conftable, Petty Conftable, or 
 in any Office Civil or Military ; or if 1 be 
 but empannel'd on a Jury, a competent 
 knowledge in the Law is neceflary : that 
 I may underftand how far my power goes, 
 what my place or office allows or requires, 
 what Is expeded of me, and what not, 
 and this cannot be throughly knov/n with- 
 out reading and ftudying the Law : Be- 
 fides by a little knowledge of the Laws I 
 ffiall be able perhaps fometimes to make 
 up and compofe differences among my 
 Neighbours, prevent Suits at Law, and 
 confequently the ruine of Families, and 
 breach of Friendfhip. 
 
 Befides thefe parts of Learning which 
 are fo neceffary, I exercife my felf in 
 others, which I efteem proper diverfions. 
 
Of Civil Converfation, 2 2 1 
 
 commendable accomplifhments, and which 
 have their ufes alfo in life : fuch as are 
 Hiftory and Chronology, both of the World 
 in general, and alfo of our own and neigh- 
 bour Nations in particular ; together with 
 the defer ipt ion and Geography of them. 
 For fome knowledge of this kind is necef- 
 fary even in order to difcourfe, and for 
 the underftanding but the common news 
 and relations of tranfa6tions in the world. 
 There is no part of thofe Sciences which 
 they call Mathematical, but is both ufeful 
 and pleafant, improving and fining a 
 Man's Reafon, and ferving to many occa- 
 fions of Life ; fuch as are Geometry, Arith- 
 metick, Aftronomy, Navigation, Surveying, 
 Architeolure, Fortification, Art-Military, 
 all Natural and Experimental Philofophy ; 
 and befides thefe, by a man's underftand- 
 ing the Anatomy of his own body, by his 
 having fome knowledge of Herbs, fome 
 fkill in the general grounds of Phyfick ; 
 he may be fometimes helpful to his poor 
 
222 Of Civil C 071V erf at Ion, 
 
 Neighbour, when a Phyficlan is not near, 
 and may be able at laft to pafs a better 
 judgment on his own, or his Childrens 
 and Families diftemper. Thefe and other 
 very ufeful parts of Learning there are, 
 fufficient to take up a man's Life, and 
 there are good Books of all thefe Sciences 
 in the Englijh Tongue, and eafie to be 
 had, and which I can either learn by my 
 felf, or elfe with the direcflion and afTiftance 
 of the Parfon of my Parifh, or fome other 
 Learned Neighbour. And I cannot but 
 reckon that man very ftupid, that hath 
 fuch a field of Knowledge before him, and 
 yet knows not how to fpend his time, and 
 tho' I fhould perhaps have no great edge^° 
 to any of thefe parts of Learning at firft, 
 yet let me but try them a while, and I 
 fhall certainly find them the greateft di- 
 verfion, and the moft pleafant way of 
 pafiing time that can be ; and fuch a con- 
 
 ^° Edge, — keennefs of appetite. 
 
Of Civil Cofivcrfation. 223 
 
 nexlon is there among them, that if I do 
 but mind any one Science or part of 
 Learning with an appetite, I fhall infenfi- 
 bly be drawn on to others, and find them 
 necefTary. And all thefe Sciences have 
 both the general ufes, to inform our igno- 
 rance, and prevent our being deceived 
 and impofed on ; to refine and improve 
 our reafon, to fatisfie and inlarge our 
 minds, and fit us for Difcourfe and Con- 
 verfation. And alfo their -particular ufes, 
 as apply'd to the feveral cafes of Life to 
 which they relate. And my having thefe 
 fo innocent and commendable ways of 
 fpending my time, will befides, have many 
 advantages : it will keep my mind bufie 
 and employ'd, and even make me con- 
 tented ; I fhall not have that uneafinefs of 
 mind, that an idle man hath, nor fall into 
 thofe temptations to which Idlenefs ex- 
 pofeth men. I fhall be fome way ufeful 
 to my Neighbour and the World, adorn 
 and cultivate my mind, and thereby fet 
 
2 24 Of Civil Conv erf ation, 
 
 my felf fo much the farther above the 
 Beafts; Avoid many of thofe Errours and 
 abfurdities, to which want of knowledge 
 in thefe Sciences often betrays men : I 
 fhall hereby be more fitted for any kind 
 of Publick Employment, Civil or Mili- 
 tary : And I think it may go for a rule, 
 That there is no part of good Learning, 
 but a Man will fometime have occafion 
 for, and find ufeful, let his Employment 
 or Quality be whatever it will. 
 
 But befides this way of employing of 
 time in Reading and Study, It Is confefled, 
 that It will be neceffary alfo, for a Man to 
 be fometimes In Company^ when he vlfits, 
 or Is vifited, or Is obliged to meet other 
 Men on any publick or private afi^air or 
 bufinefs. And tho' thefe meetings do too 
 often become a Snare, and draw Men into 
 excefs of Wine, PafTion, i^c. which there- 
 fore as we are Chrlftlans, and have Souls 
 to be faved, we muft watch again ft : Yet 
 It cannot be denied, but that as being In 
 
Of civil Convcrfatlon. 225 
 
 company, and converfing with others, is 
 neceflary in the World, fo It hath great 
 and manifold advantages ; It foftens Mens 
 tempers, and makes them pliable, it re- 
 duceth the rules of Religion and prudence 
 into a6t, it cures the mind of that fower- 
 nefs or conceitednefs, to which a very re- 
 tired and Monkifh perfon is too much 
 expofed, acquaintance and friendfhip is 
 kept up by it, both private and publick 
 affairs are concerted, and much good done 
 many ways. But then I take care what 
 I can, to prevent or avoid the evils, in- 
 to which keeping company often draws 
 men. And therefore if I hear a rafh 
 word fpoken, though againft my felf, I 
 do not prefently blow it up intO a quarrel, 
 but prudently pafs it by, as fuppofing it 
 is not the fetled thoughts of his mind 
 that fpake it; I examine my felf, what 
 occafion I have given for fuch fpeeches ; 
 if I find I have done anything amifs, I 
 modeflly own it, and if I have wronged 
 
 G G 
 
2 2 6 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 him, I am not afhamed to acknowledge 
 it, and beg his pardon : But if I find I am 
 innocent, I doubt not but that he will in 
 a fhort time fee his error, and be afhamed 
 of himfelf, and therefore he need not be 
 feverely rebuked by me. I believe not 
 eafily ill ftories told of others, nor love to 
 hear them, nor incourage the tellers of 
 them ; what Mens company I do not like, 
 I neither publickly affront them, nor com- 
 plain of them, but either bear it patiently 
 (if it be fuch a company, as I am obliged 
 to be in) and fo it will teach and inure 
 me to get a conquefi: over my paffions, or 
 elfe I wholly abftain from it, but even 
 this I do without making a noife ; or 
 being taken notice of, as avoiding fuch a 
 Man's company. 
 
 If I hear fwearing or profanenefs, ob- 
 fcenity or backbiting, I take the liberty 
 fome way or other to fhew my diflike of 
 it ; if before my Superiours, with a re- 
 ligious modefty ; if among my equals. 
 
Of Civil Convcrfatioji . 227 
 
 with freedom ; if among my Inferiours, 
 with fome kind of Authority ; for all 
 profane and obfcene difcourfe, and refledl- 
 ing on others, is really an affront and 
 wrong to every Man : For every Man 
 hath a right ^' in Religion ?indi good manners, 
 and ought to fee them vindicated ; and as 
 a Man fhould not fuffer his Friend or 
 Relation to be abufed and fpoken ill of 
 unjuftly, without fome way appearing in 
 his defence : So ought every Man to en- 
 deavour to vindicate Religion and good 
 manners, according to the nature of the 
 place in which he is, and the company 
 with which he doth converfe. 
 
 On this ground alfo I make it part of 
 my bufinefs, when I am in company, as 
 often as I have opportunity, to prevent 
 mifunderftandings, and to compofe dif- 
 ferences among men ; And whatever I 
 hear that may provoke Men againfl one 
 
 12 (t j^ right " &c — an interejl in fiipporting reli- 
 gion, &c. Ed. 
 
2 28 Of Civil Cofiv erf at ton, 
 
 another, I never divulge, but endeavour 
 by all means to fupprefs, and fo hope for 
 the blefTing of a Peace-maker, Matt. 5. 
 I always make the beft of, and put the 
 moil candid interpretation that I can, on 
 what is done or faid, hereby to keep 
 People at peace, and to incourage good 
 adlions in the World. And the more 
 filently and fecretly I do this, or any thing 
 of the like nature, I efteem it is always 
 the beft ; for the lefs it is obferved, it will 
 always do the more good, and will alfo be 
 as fure or furer of a full reward. 
 
 And though I confefs I feldom play at 
 any game, yet when a Man is in Compa- 
 ny, to pleafe a friend, and to avoid drink- 
 ing, and fpeaking ill of their Neighbours, 
 or the publick, I cannot but allow of 
 playing at fome innocent Game or Recre- 
 ation ; but ftill whatever lawful Recreation 
 I ufe, or Game I play at, I obferve fuch 
 Rules as thefe, Firft^ Never to let it take 
 up either the moft, or the beft, but only 
 
Of Civil ConvcrfatioJi . 229 
 
 the refufe of my time, and the Intervals 
 of bufinefs and ferioufnefs. 2. Never to 
 fpend on recreations, or to venture the 
 lofing fo much, but what 1 can well 
 afford, and may lawfully lay out on my 
 own diverfion, without ftreightning my 
 eftate, or abridging my charity (for my 
 Charity muft not be the lefs, but the 
 more liberal, for what I fpend in recrea- 
 tions : For if I can afford to throw away 
 fo much, it is always fuppofed^^ that I can 
 give more). 3. Never to fuffer my felf 
 to be put in paffion, or out of humour at 
 my loffes, or difappointments in thefe di- 
 verfions, and therefore never to defign 
 gain or profit, but health and recreation 
 in them. And then I think there is no 
 lawful Diverfion, but may be fafely ufed 
 fome times ; If I ufe it not too often, fo 
 as to make it my bufinefs and employ- 
 
 ^■' Suppofed — required, as z previous condition: or, 
 it is implied, in order to warrant fuch felf-indulgence. 
 Ed. 
 
230 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 ment, and if I always obferve a Decorum^ 
 to do nothing, though lawful in it felf, at 
 an improper time, or which is not fit for 
 my age, place, and ftation. For that 
 may be fit for another, that is not fit for 
 me : and I am fo far from the common 
 cuftome of the World, of cenfuring others 
 for what they commit themfelves, that I 
 can very patiently bear with many things 
 in another, which I will not take the li- 
 berty to do my felf ; for I can lawfully and 
 commendably abridge my own liberty, 
 but I cannot fo well impofe on, or charge, 
 or cenfure others : There may be more 
 excufes made for others than for me : and 
 therefore in all doubtful cafes, I choofe 
 rather to confine my felf, than other men. 
 And by my thus managing my felf in 
 thefe little and common cafes, I fhall not 
 only keep my Confcience clear, and live 
 inofFenfively before God and men, but 
 fhall alfo contribute to the keeping up 
 
Of Civil Converfation . 231 
 
 Peace, and frlendfhlp, and good corre- 
 fpondence among Men, Members of the 
 fame Church and Nation : For I diredt 
 all my adions, as far as I can, to the 
 pubHck good, and I always wifh that the 
 pubhck may flourifh rather than my felf, 
 and wifh that another may have this or 
 that place or employment, rather than my 
 felf, if he will manage it better, and be 
 more ufeful to the publick. And from 
 this Principle alfo, I will even venture or 
 part with all, to do real fervice to the 
 publick, and am neither covetous nor 
 timorous, where-ever the good of the 
 Publick is concerned. And however in 
 a matter of a ^private concernment, I may 
 yield up my own rights to pleafe others : 
 Yet in what the good of the publick, 
 either as to Church or State is concerned 
 in, I will by no means recede from my 
 juft rights, out of any kind of fear or 
 complaifance ; for in fo doing I fhould 
 
232 Of Civil Converfation . 
 
 rob Pofterlty, I fhould rob not only my 
 felf, but all that I love moft, and that 
 depend on me ; and betray my truft, and 
 lay a foundation for a publick mifchief 
 and ruine, and to be fure God will re- 
 quire fuch injuftice feverely at my hands. 
 
»>; 
 
 ■ms 
 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 An earnejl perfwafive to con- 
 tinue in the Church 
 of England. 
 
 UCH is my Belief, and fuch 
 is my pradlife and carriage, 
 according to the Do6lrine 
 and Commands of the 
 Church of England; and therefore I think 
 a man but little underftands Chriftianity, 
 or hath not any peaceable inclinations that 
 finds fault with it, and that doth on any 
 account feparate from it. 
 
 For firft, it is the Churchy which is by 
 all kind of Lawful Authority Setled and 
 
 H H 
 
2 34 A perfwafive to continue 
 
 Eftahlijhed^ \\\ our Nations. And there- 
 fore If there be any obedience due to any 
 Commands of Governours in Church or 
 State ; Communion with the Church efta- 
 blifhed here, is a duty ; unlefs a man can 
 ihew any exprefs Commands of God to 
 the contrary, which a man will be fo far 
 from finding in Scripture, that he will find 
 much there to oblige him to continue in 
 
 ^ The term " Eftablifhment" is applied to the 
 polition, in any country of that Religious denomi- 
 nation, which folely, or peculiarly enjoys the pa- 
 tronage of the State; and the Clergy of which have 
 in confequence, their feveral endowments and in- 
 comes efpeciallyy>///<?^ and maintained by the legif- 
 lature or government. There is no doubt that a 
 religion '* by law eftabliihed," meant originally and 
 ftriftly that which all fubje6ls were bound to pro- 
 fefs, juft as much as to fubmit to any other law of 
 the land : and, this ought to be the cafe if the civil 
 magiftrate have the religion of the citizens under his 
 proper cognizance. But, this view is not now 
 maintained in thefc realms: and, in the Britifh iflands 
 there are two forms of religion. Thefe Eflablilh- 
 ments are combined with the fulleft admifTion of the 
 Chriftians contained in them to all civil and pradli- 
 cal rights and privileges. Ed. 
 
/// the Church (^/^ England. 235 
 
 it : For where ever Government in gene- 
 ral is eftablifhed, and obedience to Gover- 
 nours enjoyned, it ought to be reckoned 
 as fpoken of our Government or Gover- 
 nours Ecclefiaftical and Civil, as well as 
 of any other in the world. 
 
 But we are not only obliged to commu- 
 nicate with the Church, becaufe it is Ef- 
 tablifhed among us, but becaufe we fee it 
 hath all right" to be Eftablifhed, as being 
 fo agreeable to Scripture ; the Practice of 
 all Antiquity, efpecially the firft and pureft, 
 is fo well fitted to anfwer the very end, 
 and defign of a Church, and purfues thofe 
 
 - The fad that the Church of England is " efta- 
 blifhed" furniihes a prefumption in its favour, but it 
 is not a decifive argument. For the Romifli faitli 
 might become the eftablifhed religion of this or any 
 other nation ; and then, feparation would be a duty. 
 We have efpecially to beware of** that corrupt and 
 unchriftian party-fpirit, which is more zealous for 
 the Church than for the Gofpel, and which rather va- 
 lues our Religion for the fake of the Eftablifhment, 
 than the Eflablifhment for the fake of the Religion." 
 
 Ed. 
 
236 A Perfwafive to continue 
 
 ends fo fully, as well as that it hath had 
 a conftant immemorial prefcription among 
 us. For at the Reformation, we did not 
 begin anew to frame and form our Church, 
 but kept the eflentials of a Church which 
 we found eftablifhed, and only correded 
 thofe Errors, and reformed thofe Abufes 
 which had by degrees and length of time, 
 or efpecially by the prevalency of the Bi- 
 fhop of Rome and his Agents, crept in 
 among us. For as we were not Convert- 
 ed at firft from Rome^ fo nor did we as 
 
 ^ We are not beholden for the firft knowledge 
 of Chriftianity In this land to the Romifh Church, 
 fo as to be under a neceffity of deferring to her opi- 
 nions as our Mother ; but, we are in polTefTion of the 
 moft convincing evidence to prove that "religion came 
 into Britain, not by the femi-circle of Rome, but (it 
 may with more reafon be prefumed) in a direft line 
 from the Afiatic churches." Were it otherwife, — 
 could it be Ihewn that the worfhipping Chriftian 
 community in this land, which we call the Church, 
 muft trace its commencement from Rome ; then, fo 
 far as Antiquity can make out a claim to deference 
 in matters of faith, we fhould be bound, as a na- 
 tional church, not only to acknowledge refpedlfully. 
 
in the Church (^/^ England. 237 
 
 firft receive fuch a Chriftianlty as is now 
 taught and pradifed at Rome, but fuch as 
 is now eftablifhed in our Church. Nay 
 
 our origin, but, to revolve and rcconfider, again and 
 again, the grounds upon which, for nearly three 
 centuries of time, we have pcrfifted in ftanding aloof 
 from the Romifh church. Under any circumilances, 
 indeed, it would behove us to do this, that we 
 might not be partakers of the guilt of an unwarrant- 
 able fchifm : — but, if it were true that we owe our 
 firft ecclefiaftical being to Rome, every confideration 
 of duty to her as our mother in the faith, would 
 unite with the primary obligation we owe to Chrift, 
 to uphold the unity of his Church in leading us to 
 afk ourfelves why we are ftanding aloof from our 
 fpiritual parent. But we have not this motive, at 
 leaft, for reviewing our pofition. Early Hiftory, 
 and Early Councils, alike afTure us that an indepen- 
 dent Epifcopal Church exifted in Britain down to 
 the conclufion of the fourth century. The fame au- 
 thorities tell us that the faith of that church was un- 
 corrupt : fo that the authors of that great movement 
 which took place three hundred years ago, are not 
 chargeable with the guilt of departing from primitive 
 truth, but are to be held in " everlafting" and ho- 
 nourable, and grateful remembrance for reftoring, in 
 its integrity the '* faith once delivered unto the 
 faints." " The National Church of EngLmd, An- 
 cient, Apojlolical, Pure: by the Editor.^"* London 
 Wertheim. 1842. 
 
238 A Perfwafive to co?itinue 
 
 we can fliew that we were a fetled Church 
 before they came among us ; They indeed 
 brought a great many bad things among 
 us, which we at laft threw out, and in 
 our Reformation we departed from them 
 only in what they had departed from the 
 True Church of Chrift, and from them- 
 felves, in the firft Ages, as our Canons 
 fpeak. 
 
 So that our Reformation was neither a 
 Schifm, nor doth it countenance any Schif- 
 maticksj or excufe any Separation from 
 our felves. For we can fhew that all that 
 are born in thefe Countreys are more un- 
 der the Ecclefiaftical Government of thefe 
 Countreys, and more bound to Commu- 
 nicate with us, than we are under the Bi- 
 fhop of Rome, or bound to Communicate 
 with him. And they can never fhew the 
 like reafons and grounds of their fepara- 
 ting, or diflenting from us in Do6lrine or 
 Difcipline, as we can for our Believing 
 and ac5ting otherwife than the Bifhop of 
 
in the Church ^England. 239 
 
 Rome doth. So that if any People, Born 
 and Baptized in any Church under Hea- 
 ven, have a duty incumbent on them, and 
 ought to continue in that Church, I am 
 fure we in England have at lead fo much 
 as they have or more. So that either 
 there is no necefTity of continuing in any 
 Church in which men are Born and Bap- 
 tized, or there is a necefTity for us to con- 
 tinue in our Church. 
 
 Indeed we confefs our cafe is on many 
 accounts very hard, by reafon of the fe- 
 veral Adverfaries that we have on either 
 hand ; but yet even this feems fomewhat 
 to fpeak for us, our Church being in this, 
 like Virtue it felf; which confifts in a 
 mean, between two extreams ; or as King 
 Charles the Martyr exprefled it, like our 
 BlefTed Saviour who was Crucified be- 
 tween two Thieves. For fuch, and fo 
 different are our Adverfaries, that what- 
 ever we do, we are fure to be blam'd 
 and accufed by one fide or other. But as 
 
240 A Perfwajive to coiitlnue 
 
 Mr. Hooker^ Dr. Falkner and others, have 
 abundantly made out the Lawfulnejs of 
 all our Inftitutlons, fo he that confiders 
 what oppofition is made againft us on 
 every fide, and what provifion we muft 
 make againft objedions, tho' of different 
 and contrary natures, will fee the prudence^ 
 and even neceffity of whatever is enjoy ned 
 among us. So it is confeffed that by our 
 retaining the Epijcopal Government in our 
 Church we anger fome, and yet if we had 
 omitted or rejedted it, we had more in- 
 jured our felves, and our caufes, and more 
 juftly offended others. 
 
 By our infifting fo ftri6lly on our Ordi- 
 nations^^ we are liable to complaints from 
 
 ^ " The authority to appoint the adminiftrators of 
 the facraments and the preachers, is declared by the 
 Church to be vefted in teachers who rule : and the 
 power to rule is not given equally to all teachers ; 
 that is, the bifliop, the prieft, and the deacon, are not 
 identified with each other." "Dedication" prefixed 
 to " Scriptural Communion with God." Pt. ii. by 
 "Rev. G. Townjend, M.A. Canon of Durham.'^ 
 
in the Church ^/England. 241 
 
 Tome : and yet If we did negled and not 
 infift on them, we fhould fubjedt our felves 
 to jufter accufations. Our having a L/- 
 turgy, dlfpleafeth fome; but if we had not 
 had a Liturgy^ we fhould have anger'd 
 more, and injured Religion.^ If we en- 
 joyn any thing, if it be but a rite or cere- 
 mony in the Service of God, fome blame 
 us, and yet if we fhould enjoyn nothing, 
 but leave all at liberty to do what they 
 would, nothing could follow but Confu- 
 fion. 
 
 The Ceremony of the Sign of the CrofSy 
 fome blame us for ufing it fo much, others 
 blame us for ufing it no more. So that 
 
 ^ The time would fail me to tell of the excellen- 
 cy of the Church as it appears in that holy liturgy ; 
 up to which the people require to be educated, that 
 they may enjoy a more intelleftual banquet than all 
 the poetry and literature of the beft authors of the 
 land can give them, whilll the heart burns within 
 them at the elevation of its praifes, or melts with 
 humility at the fervour of its confeffions or prayers. 
 
 Uid. 
 I I 
 
242 A Perfwajive to continue 
 
 all men mufl needs fee that it is impofTible 
 for us to live without offence : our wifefl 
 courfe therefore furely mufl be, next to 
 confulting what is neceffary for Religion, 
 for us fo to order things as to difpleafe 
 leaft, or feeing we cannot pleafe all, yet 
 to pleafe fome ; efpecially thofe who feem 
 to have more of reafon on their fide. And 
 this is the rule which I think we have ex- 
 adlly followed. For there is nothing in 
 our Conftitution againft which exceptions 
 are taken by any, but what we have out 
 of Chriftian Charity and Condefcenfion 
 retained or enjoyn'd, as far as we can, and 
 as Chriftianity allows to fatisfie and pleafe 
 fome others of our fcrupulous Brethren. 
 And I know no one thing tho' the moft 
 plaufibly argued againft by fome, but 
 would have been liable to greater objec- 
 tions if we had not ordered it fo. And 
 therefore, I verily believe there is no man 
 that confiders our cafe, ftands in our place, 
 and weighcth impartially Truth according 
 
tn the Church ^'England. 243 
 
 to Scripture and Antiquity, and that would 
 with all take care to provide agalnft, and 
 to avoid all the objedllons that this or that 
 party of men makes agalnft us, but will 
 fee a plain necefTity for our enjoyning and 
 ac5ling in every cafe as we do. 
 
 I am not therefore ftartled to fee fome 
 on all fides to oppofe us, for I am fenfible 
 that if we adted otherwife than we do, we 
 fhould render our felves liable to greater 
 oppofition and contradi(5lion on one hand 
 or other. So for inftance, if we ufed and 
 infifted on more Ceremonies, our other ^ 
 DifTenters would think they had more juft 
 reafon to complain : if we ufed not fo 
 many, the Church of Rome would have 
 greater advantage againft us. Befides I 
 
 ® " Our other diflenters." The Author, in this 
 expreffion, conveys his opinion on Romanifm, that 
 it is a fyftem of Dijjfent. This is doubtlefs the true 
 view of it, to be put forth in all queftions which 
 concern the peculiarities of that fyllem. It is plain- 
 ly, ^fchifm from the ** faith once delivered unto the 
 faints." Ed. 
 
244 -^ Perfwajive to continue 
 
 confider, that nothing can be enjoyn'd, 
 much lefs can a whole frame of things be 
 laidj but that fome people may take of- 
 fence at it, and obje6tions may be raifed 
 againft it. Therefore the Rule that we 
 go by in our Church is this, Firji, we 
 take care that nothing neceffary be omit- 
 ted, nor any thing untrue be taught, or 
 unlawful be enjoyned, but that the whole 
 frame of things may be fo contrived, as 
 fhall conduce mofl to the advancement of 
 True Devotion, and the rational and de- 
 cent Service of God. Governing our 
 felves all along by the Scripture, expound- 
 ed efpecially by ancient pradice ;'^ for we 
 would not have it faid that we are fuch a 
 number of men as never were in the world 
 
 '' Our Reformers have omitted to refer to tradition 
 as authority in matters of doftrine, when it was open 
 to them to have made fuch reference, had they 
 thought it right. In fuch omiffion may be feen the 
 moft ftriking moraJ evidence that they declined to 
 recognize the claims o^ Tradition to regulate the 
 Church's faith. If our " Services" are taken with 
 
in the Church (5/^ England. 245 
 
 before, but that we are fuch, and fo Con- 
 ftituted, as we are confident the Primitive 
 Martyrs and holy men of old, would have 
 joyned In Communion with, we living by 
 fuch kind of rules as they themfelves 
 pradllfed. And then in the next place we 
 confult what will difpleafe others leaft, or 
 be leaft liable to mlilakes and obje6tions, 
 for we comply with either fide as far as 
 we can without forfeiting truth, or laying 
 our felves open to a juft reproof and accu- 
 fation ; and accordingly it Is obfervable 
 that fome things we have abrogated, that 
 were formerly pradllfed by us, others we 
 have changed and altered, and fome thing 
 we have recalled and revived, which was 
 formerly omitted, and all this as we de- 
 
 fmall alteration from the ritual of the ancient Church, 
 it was not becaufe the Compilers aimed to adapt 
 themfelves to the forms which the Church had ufed 
 in her oldeji days, as fuch ; but becaufe thefe were 
 alfo her bed days; not her antiquity, but the fim- 
 plicity of faith which coincided with it, conftituting 
 the excellence of the Church in that period. Ed. 
 
246 A Perfwajive to continue 
 
 figned to gain the more, and do the more 
 good ; tho' fo uncharitable have our Ad- 
 verfaries been, as even to charge this on 
 us as a fault, and put a bad interpretation 
 on this our fo Chriftian Condefcenfion. 
 
 On feveral other fuch accounts do we 
 juftly think our Church very hardly ufed. 
 It is generally very affeding to complain, 
 and people naturally pity them that fuf- 
 fer, whatever the occafion is, efpecially it 
 is popular to complain of v/hat is efta- 
 blifhed ; it goes with many for a fign of 
 Courage and of Confcience, for a man to 
 find fault with the Pubiick. Now the 
 Church of England being by Law Efha- 
 blifhed, it can never want enemies for 
 that very reafon. If it be the Eftabhfhed 
 Religion, it muft have Laws for its fence 
 and fecurity. Thefe Laws muft have 
 fome kind of Penalties^ to inforce them, 
 
 ® " The notion that perfons might lawfully be 
 punifhed for their religious opinions, was not altoge- 
 ther extinft at the period when the prefent work 
 appeared. Thofc who defend the fyilem of penal 
 
in the Church (?/ England. 247 
 
 or elfe they fignifie nothing. If thefc pe- 
 nalties are inflidled, it affords matter of 
 complaint and clamour ; if they are not 
 infli6led, yet they ferve as well for men to 
 complain of the feverity of the Laws 
 againft them^ and fo they are great gain- 
 
 laws, do fo upon the plea that it is the duty of Chrif- 
 tians to difcountenance religious error by every means 
 in their power; and, therefore, even by violent me- 
 thods if neceflary : and they ufually appeal to the Old 
 Teflament, in fupport of their views. Their oppo- 
 nents, on the contrary, urge that no perfonal vio- 
 lence, no fecular penalty, whatever, is fan6lioned by 
 the author of our religion; — that the whole of the 
 New Teftament breathes a fpirit of earnellnefs, in- 
 deed in the caufe of truth, and zeal againft religious 
 error ; but, of fuch a zeal as was to manifeft itfelf 
 only in vehement and perfevering perfuafion." 
 
 Many, however, feem to have been led, by the 
 legal toleration which our laws afford to DilTenters, 
 determining that no man fliall be liable to punifh- 
 ment for his religious opinions, but fhall be account- 
 able for them only to his own confcience, and to 
 God, — to conilder both orthodoxy and conformity, 
 as matters of no great confequence in a moral point 
 of view: as if, becaufe the queilion is and ought to 
 be left to our individual difcretion, we were not molt 
 awfully refponfible for our ufe of that difcretion." 
 
248 A Perfwajive to contmue 
 
 ers by thefe Laws. For it is popular to 
 plead Perfecution, as well as advantage- 
 ous, not to fuffer by it. Nay, our Ad- 
 verfaries gain Reputation againft us fome- 
 times by their fuffering, though the moft 
 juftly. For if they fuffer for Sedition, or 
 Treafon againft the State, They will give 
 out, that they fuffer for their own Reli- 
 gion, and by our Religion ; and this is 
 often fufficient to create pity towards 
 themfelves, and incenfe men againft the 
 Church. 
 
 I mention all this, that Men may fee 
 the common grounds of clamour againft 
 the Church, and may not be furprifed at 
 it, nor tranfported againft the Church, by 
 reafon of it. For you fee, whilft it is the 
 eftabliftied Religion (which I hope in 
 God it will for ever be) it will and muft 
 be expofed to fuch kind of difficulties and 
 objedtions,'-^ which every man muft learn 
 
 ^ "Againft the Members of any legally eftabliftied 
 
/;/ the Church (?/ England. 249 
 
 to confider, and endeavour to prepare and 
 fortlfie hlmfelf and others againft. For 
 indeed it hath no other objedions lying 
 againft it, than will lie againft the beft 
 frame of things in the World, if efta- 
 bliftied and made the National Religion. 
 Of the beft thing in the World, men 
 may fay, it doth not pleafe them, they do 
 not like it, but that ought not to go for 
 an objedion, unlefs they fhow their rea- 
 
 Church, the accufation of adhering to the Church 
 becaufe it is eftablifhed by the State, and, of refting 
 her fpiritual authority on the law of the land, will 
 always be brought by her opponents, whether it be 
 well founded or not. The members of the Na- 
 tional Church, mull for that reafon, be the more dili- 
 gent by their life and dodrine to refute the charge. 
 But, if while they oppofe DilTenters, the members 
 of our Church fail to ufe their beft exertions in 
 every way for promoting the fpiritual improvement 
 of their fellow-fubje6ls, they cannot complain or 
 wonder at finding that their zeal in the caufe is at- 
 tributed to impure motives ; to felf-interefted views; 
 or to political confiderations, and to a regard for the 
 Church chiefly as a part of the Conilitution." 
 
 K K 
 
250 A Perfwajive to continue 
 
 Tons of diflike, and I think that all the 
 reafons of diflike which have been urged 
 hitherto^ our Clergy have fo fully anfwer- 
 ed, as to be fufficient to take away all 
 fcruples out of the mind of rational and 
 unprejudiced Men : Some other Objec- 
 tions have long lain on us, efpecially that 
 of our inclinablenefs to Popery, and that 
 we wanted only an opportunity to fhew 
 our felves, and to bring it in. A few 
 years ago it was both in Sermons and 
 printed Pamphlets daily thus prophefied 
 concerning us. But I hope that all Men 
 now fee how little truth there is in this, 
 and that the Clergy of England are no 
 friends to Popery. And yet if we con- 
 fult the beginnings of Separation among 
 us, we fhall find, that the fear of our 
 Clergies defigning to bring in Popery, 
 was the Principal occafion and motive to 
 Separation from us. And indeed whilfl 
 thofe fears lafhed, there was fome little 
 ground for what they did, if their fears 
 
in the Church ^England. 251 
 
 were real, (though ftlll they ought to have 
 examined our Principles, and not to have 
 judged fo feverely of us by way of Pro- 
 phecy) But now I muft needs fay, I think 
 they are bound in Confcience to return to 
 us, the very Foundation of their diffent- 
 ing and feparation being taken away, or 
 elfe they feem unexcufable before God. 
 For furely no convidlion can be greater 
 than this, which hath now^^ been given of 
 
 ^^ Thefe words obvioufly refer to that event which 
 took place in the very year in which the Licenfe for 
 printing this book is dated ; an event which has been 
 emphatically denominated in the language of our 
 public A6ls, the Glorious Revolution. This name it 
 received from the change which took place in the 
 civil and ecclefiaftical conftitution of England, when 
 James II. had been expelled from the throne in the 
 year 1688, and his fon-in-law, William, prince of 
 Orange, was elefted by the voice of the people. 
 The immediate occafion of the Revolution was a 
 fallacious proclamation ifTued by James, under the 
 pretence of extending toleration ; but the true objedl 
 of which was to place all the offices of truil in the 
 hands of the Papifls, whofe hopes had been revived 
 by the death of Charles II. Some Proteftant dillcn- 
 
252 A Perfwq/ive to continue 
 
 the Church of England's being no favour- 
 er of Popery. And I hope in God, that 
 feeing the main Objedion is removed, 
 they will have more of the peaceable 
 Chriftian in them, than to fludy for new 
 Arguments to juftifie their Separation. 
 
 And on occafion of this Objedion, that 
 lay fo long againft us, I muft for God's 
 fake beg of all men to take heed, efpeci- 
 ally of this kind of Prophetical Objec- 
 tions, that we will be^ or we would be Jo or 
 fo, q{ this or that Party, if we had an op- 
 
 ters were impofed upon by this fpecious pretence, 
 but, the fagacity of the Bifhops juftly apprehending 
 the intended confequences, they flrenuoufly con- 
 tended and petitioned againft the proclamation, and 
 alarmed the fears of Proteftants throughout the king- 
 dom. 
 
 May the like vigilance in forefeeing danger, and 
 founding a timely alarm, be the honourable diftinc- 
 tion of the fuperior watchmen of our Church in 
 thefe days, that " the Church of Chriil" being pre- 
 ferved from falfe Apoftles may be ordered and guided 
 by faithful and true pallors. Ed, 
 
in the Church ^England. 253 
 
 portunlty, for this is an Objedlon that is 
 eafily made, and yet is fcarcely pofTible to 
 be anfweredj and therefore is on all ac- 
 counts the mofl: unchriflian and worft 
 kind of flanders. Indeed in reference to 
 Popery^ it hath plcafed God in wifdom 
 and goodnefs to give us a full occafion 
 and opportunity to fhew and clear our 
 felves, and to evidence the falfenefs of 
 that accufation. But now if we fhould 
 be accufed of being fecretly Jews, Socini- 
 ans, Mahometans, or the like, what polTi- 
 bility is there of our fufficiently clearing 
 our felves, unlefs they would that God 
 fhould bring us into the fame kind of 
 Tryals as to thofe Religions. But I fee 
 not what occafion there is for men to be 
 put to Prophecy concerning us. The 
 Dodlrine of the Church of England, is as 
 legible, and as eafily underftood as that of 
 any other Church in the World. Every 
 man fees what opinions the Clergy are of. 
 
2 54 ^ Perfwafive to continue 
 
 for they fubfcribe and aflent to the Book 
 of Artkles^^ and Homilies^ and to the 
 Book of Comfnon-PrayeTy many have alfo 
 
 " " There may be, and in faft are, Chrillian com- 
 munities fo conftituted, that the moft fundamental 
 differences of do6lrine may creep in without occa- 
 fioning any formal feparation : fo that thofe who are 
 nominally members of the fame Chriftian fociety, 
 may, in reality, be as widely at variance on the moll 
 elfential points of faith, as any, the moft hoftile fefts. 
 Without Articles of Religion, without a Creed, or 
 an eftablifhed Liturgy, a Church may remain one 
 indeed, as long as her members happen to coincide 
 in their fentiments ; but, as they muft be expeded, 
 in courfe o^ time, to Hide infenfibly, into a variety of 
 different tenets, fo, when this has taken place, their 
 union becomes an empty name. But this is not 
 the cafe with the Church of England. She furnifhes 
 on certain points a common authority, to which all 
 her members may appeal. Articles of Faith, and a 
 Liturgy, furnifh, as far as they are wifely framed, a 
 barrier againft the intrufion of any material error ; 
 it being unlikely that thofe who honeftly conform to 
 both, fhould entertain any fuch fundamentally dif- 
 ferent notions as ought to preclude them from be- 
 longing to the fame religious community, and hold- 
 ing together as becomes a Chriftian brotherhood." 
 
/// the Church ^England. 255 
 
 fome regard to the Articles o{ Anno 1 640.^" 
 They take the Oaths of Allegiance and 
 Supremacy y and the Tefl, renouncing Tran- 
 fuhftantiation, and other bad do6trines and 
 pradices of Popery, and give all the Se- 
 curity that one man can give another, 
 of their reality and fincerity as to what 
 they profefs. And now for men to fay, 
 notwithftanding all this, that they are fe- 
 cretly, and in their hearts otherwife af- 
 fedled, and to Prophefie that they will 
 when they have an opportunity to intro- 
 duce fome bad Dodrines or Practices con- 
 trary to what they now Profefs, is moft 
 highly contrary to Chriftian Charity, is an 
 Ufurping the place and prerogative of 
 
 ^- Probably this refers to the Convocation of the 
 Clergy, held in April 1 640, by a Commiflion under 
 the broad feal. One of the canons pafled in this con- 
 vocation, (the 8th. of preaching for conformity,) 
 diredled that every preacher fhould enforce in his 
 fermons, twice a year, conformity to the ** rites and 
 ceremonies of the Eftablifhed Church." 
 
256 A Perfwafive to continue 
 
 Godj in judging of mens thoughts ; nay 
 more, it is a condemning men beforehand, 
 for what they will do, or at leaft for what 
 others think they will afterwards ; which 
 furely is the moft fevere and unjuft way 
 of proceeding in the World. 
 
 Let us then be conftant and perfeverant 
 in the ProfefTion of Religion, and the 
 Do6lrines taught in This Church, and in 
 the exercife of Devotions ufed and encou- 
 raged in it. This is the way, by the 
 blefling and affi fiance of God, to keep 
 our felves from falling into any evil Opi- 
 nion and Pradice ; whilft we continue in 
 it we are fure we are in God's way, and 
 fo may hope for his bleffing. On a ftridl 
 furvey of the State of Religion in the 
 World, I am fure I can find no particular 
 Church, or number of Chriftians, but 
 may have more faid againft it, than can 
 be faid againft the Church of England. 
 We give to the Word of God its fupream 
 and Infallible Authority and Preeminence, 
 
/// the Church ^/'England. 257 
 
 and we give alfo to the Commands, and 
 to the Inflltutions, and Pradliccs of good 
 and holy Men their weight, and refped, 
 and deference alfo. In the Worfhip and 
 Service of God, we keep the mean^"' be- 
 tween Superftition or diftrading gaudinefs, 
 and too great undecency and flovenlinefs, 
 between burdenfomnefs and multitude of 
 Ceremonies, and a want of becoming car- 
 riage and reverence before God. All 
 things that are neceffary or ufeful, we find 
 here enjoy ned, taught and pradifed, and 
 this without the mixture of any thing 
 that is dangerous and hurtful. We are 
 confident and fure of our own being in 
 the right, but yet dare not condemn abfo- 
 lutely all that differ from us, as Repro- 
 bates, which though it is no excufe or 
 fecurity for them that are in a bad way, 
 yet is a fign of our Charitable Chriftian 
 
 ^•^ See Preface * Of Ceremonies' prefixed to the 
 Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 L L 
 
258 A Perfwajive to continue 
 
 temper. We received our Religion at 
 firft, as pure as any other Church, at 
 length we found we had varied from the 
 Truth, and then we reformed our felves, 
 as to Authority^ as regularly as could be ; 
 nothing being done among us by multi- 
 tude or with tumult, but by the Supream 
 Authority of our Governours in Church 
 and State, the King, Parliament and Con- 
 vocation. And the rule and method by 
 which we went and guided our felves in 
 our Reformation,^^ was as good as was 
 pofTible, Scripture the Word of God ex- 
 
 " By this term which, in itfelf, means fimply, a 
 remodelling^ or reconJlru£ltng of any edifice, is ufu- 
 ally defcribed that movement in the fixteenth cen- 
 tury, whereby the corruptions of the then exilling 
 Chriftian church were removed, and her inftitutions, 
 both in doftrine and difcipline, reftored to primitive 
 purity. The Divines whom God raifed up, at that 
 crifis, were aware of the talk they had to fulfil. The 
 Work they undertook was for perpetuity : and, 
 therefore, the rule by which they propofed to aft, 
 muft be one that could itfelf bear to be tefled. 
 
/// the Church ^'England. 259 
 
 adly and nicely examined, and efpeclally as 
 it is expounded by the Primitive Church : 
 and nothing was done, or left undone, but 
 what was agreeable to both. And we ftill 
 defire to be tried and judged by the Scrip- 
 ture, fo Interpreted by the Ancients. For 
 if we in any thing now differ from the 
 Ancients, it is only in fuch fmall things 
 as they did differ in from one another, 
 without breach of unity, or in fuch things 
 as it is in the power of every National 
 Church to appoint ^^ or alter. In reference 
 to its own particular cafes, and circum- 
 
 That which was to laft to the end, mull: be framed 
 upon principles that had exifted from the beginning. 
 Primitive Chriftianity ; — the idea of the Church as 
 it was in the days of the Apollles — this mull be the 
 flandard which regulates the judgment of thofe who 
 defign to fet up a fyftem which is to know no alter- 
 ation. ** That which was from the beginning" is 
 alike the fubjcft of an unchanging Gofpel, and the 
 vindication of an unchanging church. Ed. 
 
 ^•' See xxxivth Article of Religion, * Of the Tra- 
 ditions of the Church. 
 
26 o A Perfwafive to continue 
 
 fiances. And fo very well afTured am I 
 of this, that all I would defire of the En- 
 emies of our Church;, is^ that they would 
 read the Ancient Fathers, or firft Chrif- 
 tian Writers, efpecially in the firft Ages 
 of Perfecution, and then defire them to 
 judge according to the Rules by which 
 the ancient Church proceeded, whether 
 they do not in their Confcience think, 
 that thofe good and Holy Men, if they 
 had lived now, would have maintained 
 Communion with us, and rejected Com- 
 munion with them, and I dare be bound 
 to fland to their own Verdidl and Judg- 
 ment. And as this is a matter of great 
 comfort and fatisfacflion to us, fo methinks 
 to others, it muft be but a melancholy re- 
 flexion for them to find themfelves fuch 
 a kind of Chriftians as never were, nor 
 would have been born with in the World 
 before. And as we were thus by good 
 Authority, and by a good Rule modell'd 
 
/;/ the Church ^England. 261 
 
 at firft, fo I thank God I think I can truly 
 fay, that we have in a good meafure car- 
 ried our felves anfwerably to our excellent 
 Religion. Perhaps Hiftory cannot give 
 us an inftance of fo many Men adling fo 
 honeftly, prudently and uniformly, againft 
 all Enemies on every fide ; and in the 
 mofl: difficult Cafes, as the Members of 
 our Church have done in this late con- 
 jundure ; they have had no confidera- 
 tion of their own Intereft or fafety in com- 
 parifon of their duty. When our Clergy 
 oppofe Rome, we are fure they do it pure- 
 ly for Confcience, for it would be vaftly 
 more for their Temporal Intereft, Power 
 and Authority, to bring in Popery. 
 Whatever difcouragements they have 
 found, they ftill Preach up, and perfwade 
 Loyalty ^'' to the King; and by the Doc- 
 
 ^° In the year 1688, (the date of the Licenfe of 
 this Work), when W. & M. were placed on the 
 
262 A Pef'fwajive to continue 
 
 trine of PafTive Obedience to Temporal 
 Authority, keep People from Rebellion, 
 notwithftanding they have fo often been 
 jeered and abufed with it : but yet out of 
 modefty, feldom infift on the obedience 
 that is due to the Church and Ecclefiafti- 
 cal Authority, tho' there is as much obe- 
 dience due to her, as even to the Church 
 of Rome from her Members. And we 
 may be fure that God will vindicate, and 
 require it as much, as if it were more im- 
 periously infifted on. For Duty is not 
 the lefs, but the more due, the greater the 
 mildnefs, the forbearance, and the kind- 
 nefs is of them, to whom it ought to be 
 pay'd. As Saint Paul deferved never the 
 
 throne, after James II. had been compelled to refign 
 the Engliih crown, on account of his perfidy to- 
 wards the National Church, eight bifhops and four 
 hundred other clergy, refufing to take the new oaths 
 of fupremacy and allegiance, (and, on that account 
 called Non-juro7's)f were ejeded.' See Riddle's Eccl. 
 Chron. Ed. 
 
in the Church of England. 263 
 
 lefs refpedl and obfervance, though he did 
 not ufe his Authority, nor take fo much 
 on him, as he might have done, as an 
 Apoftle of Chrift, fo truly Chriftian and 
 Apoftolical a Carriage, and Condud in all 
 thefe refpeds, cannot go without a moft 
 fignal blelling. 
 
 And how pofTible foever it is for Salva- 
 tion to be had in other ways, yet we are 
 much furer and fafer here, than we can 
 be in departing from It. This is the way 
 that God expedls we fhould walk in, he 
 having not only in his abundant Mercy 
 placed us here, but alfo by all kind of 
 Arguments recommended it to our Rea- 
 fon and Judgment. How unpardonable 
 therefore mull it be to leave this Church, 
 how unjuft to betray it, and not to main- 
 tain it, by all the lawful means that we 
 are able, how accountable to God and 
 Man fhall he be, that occafions, contrives, 
 or yields to the ruine of it ? 
 
264 A Perfwajive, &c. 
 
 But by perfevering conftantly In the 
 Dodlrines taught, and the Devotions prac- 
 tifed In this Church, we fhall pleafe God, 
 adorn our Religion, eftablifh the Church, 
 and get a great and lafting BlefTing to 
 our felves, which God of his infinite mercy 
 grants for the Jake of Jejus Chriji our 
 Lord, 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 037.42 
 
 BRilTLEDONOf^ 
 
UMi 
 
 iij;i:ip:^iiifiiili^ill