The Healing Attempt, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. The Reaſonableneſs of the Church of England's condeſcending to eſtabliſh the Government propoſed by Archbiſhop Uſher in this Reduction.
IF then the Government of the Church of England be declared to be the ſame held by the Firſt Reformers, and by the Renowned Archbiſhop Ʋſher, any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithſtanding.
And the Subſcription of Submiſſion be only unto the Church-Government, as fram'd accordingly, there are many powerful Preachers (if not moſt of the Sober Godly) amongſt the Diſſenters will chearfully enter into Pariſh-Churches, and be capacitated to exerciſe their Miniſtry in Publick, whom the Multitude otherwiſe will never hear, nor be benefited by their Talents.
The Allowance of this can do no hurt to the Biſhops, unleſs the eaſing 'em of an intollerable burthen, or diſcharging 'em of ſuch Duties now incumbent on them, as are impoſſible to be performed by any.
Beſides, that hereby ſhall all the pious and conſcientious Pariſh-Miniſters be put upon the attending thoſe Paſtoral Duties which are enjoyned them by the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, in order to the right Guidance and Edification of the particular Churches committed to their Cure.
And as hereby the Church of England will be enlarged and ſtrengthned by the Acceſſion of many Proteſtant Diſſenters, great eaſe given the Biſhops, without the leaſt Diminution of their Temporal Emoluments and Honours; all Pariſh-Paſtors allowed the Exerciſe of their Functions, as the Lord Chriſt commanded them. In like manner hereby,
1. The Honour due to the Firſt Reformers, that with their Blood, or other grievous Sufferings, ſealed to the Truth of the Reformation, ſhall be maintained and reſtored. I muſt ſay reſtored, becauſe the altering our Epiſcopal Government, and ſhaping it to the meaſure of the Canons of 1603, and ſince to the Act of Ʋniformity in Charles the Second's Reign, hath made it ſo much another thing than what they held and defended, that we cannot entitle them to be the Aſſertors of it without Reproach, or a Vindication. The Epiſcopacy they were for, I ſay, was but of the ſame Allay with the excellent Moderation of Archbiſhop Ʋſher.
2. This Primitive Government Reſtored, doth not in the leaſt interfere, or claſh with, but moſt effectually ſupport the Ancient Regal Power in matters Eccleſiaſtical. But the Canonical Epiſcopacy advanc'd by Laud, and in its Heighths of Divine Right, eſtabliſh'd by Charles the Second, will on Examination be found to be held by ſome of the Clergy, as unalterable, to the great Diminution of the King's Eccleſiaſtical Supremacy, and the Power of Parliaments.
3. This Government Reſtored, will give Countenance to the Proteſtant Reformed Churches abroad, as well as to the Churches of Diſſenters at home, owning their Miniſtry and Sacraments, and holding Communion with them, as with true Goſpel Churches of Chriſt: Whereas the Epiſcopacy Ʋnreſtored, (our Nobles and Gentry of both Houſes, having not been aware of it) does null their Church-State, deſtroying both their Miniſtry and Sacraments; and as that very Learned, but herein more dangerous man, Mr. Dodwell, will have it, puts 'em out of the common way of Salvation, and into the ſame deplorable Condition with the Heathen. They muſt be ſaved by an uncommon Prerogative, or not at all.
I the rather inſiſt on this Particular, becauſe, ſince his preſent Majeſty, the glorious Inſtrument of our Deliverance, hath been brought up, and continues in the Communion of theſe Foreign Reformed Churches, we lye under a ſpecial Obligatian of our declaring, that we hold Communion with them: And will it not be a ſurpriſing Conſideration, (if there be any who have not yet reflected on it) that our Church owns the Miniſtry of the Church of Rome, and at the ſame time diſowns the Miniſtry of the Reformed Churches, even of the Churches of which His Majeſty is now a Member?
4. This Government Reſtored will remove out of the way of thoſe Diſſenters who cannot do all that is neceſſary to their obtaining the Advantages of this Comprehenſion, the principal Blocks, which hinder their holding Communion with the Church of England.
The Reaſon why theſe Diſſenters cannot joyn with the Pariſh-Aſſemblies in the Eſtabliſhed Worſhip, ſo far as I can gueſs, is not the bare uſe of a Liturgy, nor the neglect of Diſcipline, nor becauſe there are ſome diſorderly Members of their Communion, but becauſe the Specifick Nature of Chriſt's Inſtituted Churches are deſtroyed; the Pariſh-Miniſters, who were Goſpel-Paſtors, depoſed, and Church-Government made impracticable, by the erecting Dioceſan Churches, one of which, compos'd of many Pariſhes, under the Government of one only Paſtor, call'd the Dioceſan Biſhop, is made a particular Church of the loweſt Rank, and ſubſtituting in the room of Pariſh-Paſtors a New Order of Sub-half-Presbyters, affirming all that have been baptiz'd and live within the Terriers or Boundaries of the Dioceſs, how ignorant or ſcandalous ſoever, to be ſit Matter for an Inſtituted Church of Chriſt; and becauſe of their ſetting up Forms of Prayer in oppoſition unto, and ſuppreſſion of Spiritual and Free Prayer; the Corruptions in the Liturgy; and impoſing, as Terms of Communion, ſuch Ceremonies as are, in their Conſciences, ſinful.
If therefore the deſired Church-Government be ſettled, the Pariſh-Churches will be eſtabliſhed as particular Churches of Chriſt's Inſtitution, their Paſtors Reſtored, Government made practicable, Diſorders amended; and tho ſome things remain in the Pariſhes which theſe men can't conform unto, yet they will own the Pariſhes thus Conſtituted and Reformed, for true Churches, and admit their Members, if deſired, unto Communion with them.
THE END.
ADVERTISEMENT.
PLain Dealing: Being a Moderate general Review of the Scots Prelatical Clergies Proceedings in the latter Reigns. With a Vindication of the preſent Proceedings in Church-Affairs there. Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt, at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapſide, near Mercers-Chappel.
End of the text · John Humfrey, The Healing Attempt (1689)