Why Nonconforming Ministers Judge it Sinful, Title page – To the reader
A Reaſonable Account, Why ſome Pious, Nonconforming Miniſters in England judge it Sinful for them to perform their Miniſterial Acts, in publick, ſolemn prayer by the Preſcribed Forms of others.
Wherein ſeveral of their Arguments are modeſtly propounded, opened and Juſtified againſt pretended anſwers given to them, either by Ireneus Freeman, or Mr. Falconer, in his book entituled Libertas Eccleſiaſtica, or others.
The ſtrength alſo of the ſeveral arguments brought by them, for the lawfulneſs of forms to be uſed univerſally by miniſters, in their publick miniſtrations, is fairly tried.
1 Pet. 4. 10.
As every man hath received the Gift, even ſo miniſter the ſame one to another, as good ſtewards of the manifold Grace of God. If any man ſpeak, let him ſpeak as the oracles of God, &c. As wee believe, ſo wee ſpeak.
Rom. 14. 23.
He that doubteth, is damned if he eate, becauſe he eateth not of faith: For whatſoever is not of faith is ſin.
Habemus quidem nos etiam in Eccleſiâ noſtrâ Agendas, & ordinem in ſacris celebrandis ſervandum; ſed nemo alligatur precibus aut exhortationibus Liturgiae noſtrae: proponuntur tantum ut paradigmata, quibus precum aut exhortationum materia & forma, quoad ſubſtantialia judicantur, non ut iiſdem verbis aſtringantur miniſtri. Didoclavii Altare Damaſc. p. 613.
Anno 1679.
To the Reader.
WE ſuppoſe thee not ſo much a ſtranger in our Iſrael, but that thou knoweſt, that from the 24 of Aug. 1662. very many hundreds of miniſters and many of them (their greateſt adverſaries being judges) of no invaluable parts, and worth have not onelyonly been removed from the Eccleſiaſtical livings of which they were poſſeſſed: but alſo incapacitated to take any other. And very many of them with their wives & children left to live meerly upon the charity of their friends, who formerly valued their miniſtry. Had it been for any immoral debauchery, for any ignorance or negligence of or in their work; they had but been deſervedly dealt with, & had deſerved no great pity: but it was becauſe for fear of ſinning againſt God, they durſt not do diverſe things, which were made the terms of their abiding in their ſtation. Poſſibly, had the like number of any ſort of perſons in England, for ſo many years been debarred of making any advantage of their education for a livelihood, their complaints would have been louder then theirs have been. We are not ignorant how much ſome of our Brethren (at eaſe in Zion) have magnified theſe poor mens portions of alms, during their begging time. To which wee ſhall onelyonly ſay, That though wee ſhall ever adore Gods goodneſs in enlarging the hearts of ſome, that theſe good men have been kept alive, and from a ſcandalous beggery; yet we are pretty well aſſured, from the diligence wee obſerve in thoſe that love thus to talk to heap up parſonages upon parſonages, & ſine cure's & dignities to make one livelihood; that wee do not think, what ever liberty they give their tongues, that any valuable perſon amongſt them would have been content to have changed lots with the beſt of the N. C. or to have been tied up to feed at the Rackſtaves they have fed at. Wee deſire for ever to bee thankful both to God, and our moſt gracious ſovereign, for the liberty wee for a little time enjoyed to preach the Everlaſting goſpel, though as to maintenance it extended (as all know) no farther then to begg cum privilegio. Under theſe circumſtances wee might reaſonably have expected that our Brethren ſhould have had pity upon us becauſe the hand of God had touched us. But alas, in ſtead of it, we have ſeen continual reaſon to cry out with Job, How long will you vex our ſouls, and break us in pieces with words? Theſe ten times have you reproached us, and are not ashamed that you have made your ſelves ſtrange unto us, why do you perſecute us! and are not ſatisfied with our flesh? yet had they been our enemies that had done thus, then wee could have born it, but they were not they that magnified themſelves againſt us. They are men that were our Equals, our Acquaintance: Wee took ſweet counſel together and went to the houſe of God in Company. Had they been ſome of our Brethren who felt the ſmart of former times for adherence to his late Majeſty, or uſing the Liturgy (then prohibited) wee could have born it, though they had miſtaken the due objects of their wrath; there being none of us, that wee know of, who hurt them: many of us, who heartily pitied them, to our utmoſt ſerved them, to our power relieved them. But the truth is, theſe are not the men, from many of theſe wee have found the meaſure we meted to them: But they are thoſe whom wee thought of our mind & could heretofore diſpenſe with their conſciences to ſerve God without Liturgy or Ceremony, & in all things do as we did; if not ſerve the time to ſome degree beyond what wee durſt diſpenſe with: Theſe moſtly are the men, who have turned themſelves into every imaginable form, in which it could be thought they could abuſe their brethren the ſervants of the ſame Lord & Maſter. Some (not it ſeemes ſo good at an Argument) think it worth the while to peruſe the pamphlets & ſermons, printed during the late troubleſome times; & to pick out Such ſentences as any preſent Nonconformiſt then uſed, & to put them together to repreſent the N. C. as men ſeditous, rebellious, ungovernable, &c. forgetting in the meantime that ſome Doctours of their own, and in great requeſt, are far more deeply chargeable then any N. C. wee could ever yet hear of. And forgetting alſo, the Act of oblivion, which was neceſſary for every man of them that in thoſe times was worth any thing, & that to ſave his life: & that a Great perſon (then whom the church had not in his period a greater friend) was at laſt found ſo far to need it, as his friends thought fit to plead it in bar to ſome Articles againſt him. Another comes forth and picks out ſome paſſages, (the product of a Luxuriant wit and fancy) in ſome N. C. ſermons and writings, theſe he ſtretcheth upon the tenter, & thinks he hath made N. C. ridiculous enough to the world: Forgetting all this while, that there was a great Prelate (not many years ſince) out of whoſe ſermons fourty times as much might have been returned them, and improved to a far other advantage to the diſhonour of their way, if this would have done it, or could have been judged a fair way of dealing. Others gather up all ſentences they can find out of the N. C. of former times, and their buſineſs is to repreſent the N. C. inconſiſtent to themſelves: men that can never tell what they would have, &c. In the mean time torgetting how the circumſtances are altered; how many things are required now, not required then: and as to thoſe things which are the ſame, how ſtrangely our circumſtances are varied: beſides that ſince their times matters have been argued at a another rate then they were before: and that the preſent N C. did never ſwear into the ſenſe of their forefathers.
Another thinks it the eaſieſt way to abuſe them, by feigning dialogues betwixt Con. & Noncon. there hee can make the poor Non. Con. ſpeak as ſimply as hee deſires, and this it ſeems is a great Trophy. Another complements them not thus far, but falls upon them with a cartwhip and all the Rhetorick of Billingsgate: and then writes another book to perſuade the world, it is his duty to revile them. He thinks to kill them with envenomed words, & then to ſay, He hath done God good ſervice. Moſt of them make it one ingredient in their ſermons and diſcourſes, That the Non. Con. are a pack of aunces, men whom they have no hope to convince, that have nothing to ſay for themſelves, but are perfectly factious, biaſſed, & prejudiced perſons. Wee refer thee, Reader, but to Dr. Parkers & ſome others ſcripts, & if thou haſt ſo much patience, do but there read with what Moral language (the firſt of them eſpecially) hath treated perſons to whom he is far inferious both in age and learning, but he hath received a deſerved anſwer. The truth is, All theſe are but ſerving another deſign: who ſees not that there is a New meſs of Divinity bringing into the world, which is not like to be well digeſted, or received indeed while the N. C. are in any reputation, but wee ſhall leave that to other hands. As to our preſent purpoſe, Reader! If our Adverſaries could have ſatisfied themſelves to have repreſented us guilty of all manner of errors in our converſation; wee might poſſibly have truſted our repute to thoſe who every day ſee us, and know our way of life: but when this is not enough to them, unleſs they can alſo perſwade the world, that wee are fools, and have nothing to ſay for ourſelves, ſo as it is but a vain thing for their Rabbi-shipps to diſcourſe us. When in truth, they have ſaid nothing in anſwer to what hath been ſaid by ſome of us, which any, but themſelves, will call Reaſon.
—quis ſit iniquae Tam patiens gentis, tam ferreus ut teneatſe.
This hath made us (who have other work enough to do) to give thee the trouble of theſe following ſheets. Every one who knows any thing, knows that Six or Seven things muſt bee done by us, before wee can bee admited into a capacity to take any livings, and ſo bear our ſhare in what they call the Church of England, none of which wee can ſubmit to; not becauſe of ſcandal onelyonly, (though the Duke of Ormonds domeſtick chaplain would make the world believe ſo) but becauſe we judge every one of them unlawful: and have arguments, which appear very probable to us, to evince them ſuch. Amongſt them this is one, Wee muſt ordinarily perform our miniſterial acts in Prayer, by the preſcribed forms of others. Wee believe that of all things required of us there be many think, we have leaſt to ſay for our opinion in this. This is it wee have fixed upon, and have given thee ſome of thoſe arguments which makes this appear to us very probably ſinful. Wee have not willingly omitted any thing, any of them hath ſaid in anſwer to any of them, nor miſreported any of them. Wee make thee our judge (Reader) whether they have ſaid any thing amounteth to an anſwer. If they can deſtroy the probability which theſe arguments appear to us to have, wee ſhall then put ſome of the other Six things in diſpute: but till then wee need go no farther. Wee have been a little the more concerned to do this, becauſe wee have obſerved, That in the time of his Majeſties moſt gracious Indulgence, Some who appeared not before, appeared to juſtify the lawfulneſs of all and Every thing required of us; if it were poſſible, to perſuade the Parliament to believe, that there is no reaſon for any indulgence towards us. Amongſt others the Reverend Mr. Falconer, a Norfolk miniſter (at this nick of time) ingaged himſelf; with what ſucceſs, (ſo far as he hath ſpoken to the point under our hands) wee have examined: and freely leave the judgment to every unbiaſſed, underſtanding Reader, Wee could have wiſhed ſo worthy a perſon, a better argument, or better time; for it is now that time of the day as to thoſe things, as a man can promiſe himſelf little repute from writing about them: there being hardly room left for a new wit to croud in, wee have not willingly balked any thing Mr. Falconer hath ſaid (for wee had nothing to do with what he ſaith in juſtification of our Liturgy) being not yet come ſo far as to diſpute the lawfulneſs of theſe or thoſe forms. Wee have deſired to treat Mr. Falconer with that honour which wee truly have for him, though wee be of another mind to him; and think wee have made it appear he hath not ſaid enough to make of his mind, any reaſonable perſon otherwiſe minded. But, Reader, as to this Read and judge; and the good Lord lead thee and us into all truth, and bring us all to one mind & one heart.