The unjust mans doom as examined by the several kinds of Christian justice, and their obligation : with a particular representation of the injustice & danger of partial conformity / by William Smyth. Smith, William, b. 1615 or 16. 1670 Approx. 95 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 67 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A60614 Wing S4285 ESTC R10096 13553897 ocm 13553897 100252 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A60614) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 100252) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1557:35) The unjust mans doom as examined by the several kinds of Christian justice, and their obligation : with a particular representation of the injustice & danger of partial conformity / by William Smyth. Smith, William, b. 1615 or 16. [18], 123 p. Printed by W. Godbid for Walter Kettilby ..., London : 1670. Reproduction of original in the Trinity College Library, Dublin University. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Church of England -- Liturgy. Bible. -- N.T. -- Corinthians, 1st, VI, 9 -- Sermons. Obedience -- Religious aspects -- Christianity. 2005-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-05 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-07 Simon Charles Sampled and proofread 2005-07 Simon Charles Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Vnjust Mans DOOM : AS EXAMINED By the several KINDS of Christian Justice , AND THEIR OBLIGATION . WITH A Particular Representation OF THE INJUSTICE & DANGER OF Partial Conformity . By William Smyth , D. D. LONDON , Printed by W. Godbid for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in Duck-Lane , 1670. A PREFACE TO THE READER . I Would willingly meet so much Charity and Ingenuity from thee , to be believed , while I profess that I propound to my self these two Designs in Publishing these Papers : First , That ( by the former part of my Discourse ) I might contribute something towards the restoring the lost Principles and Practices of Christian Righteousness ; & free the Notion of it from such Prejudices and Misprisions which some mens Doctrines , and manner of Preaching the Gospel , have brought upon it . And that the Scandalous Distinction ( which the world have had too just a temptation to make , by the observation of some Professors Actions ) between Godliness and Civil Honesty , Piety , and Obedience , might for ever be removed and forgotten ; and that all persons designing to be Religious , and that do not fully understand their indispensable obligation to the performance of every part of that Justice in order to their Salvation , might be delivered from the Ignorance of so considerable a part of Christianity , and their Duty to God. For it is too notorious , that many earnest Pretenders to Religion , ( by being so especially and continually called upon by their Teachers , to be righteous by the Person , and not the Religion of Christ , by the effects of his Merits , and not as necessarily by obedience to his Precepts ) even while they presumed to engross the Vulgars belief of being the only men that are Godly and honest , have in contradiction to the very design of Christianity , & to the shame of it , been grosly Vnrighteous before God and man , by being so to their Superiors ( both civil and Ecclesiastick ) as to Distributive Justice , nor so careful to free themselves from the imputation of being unjust in their dealings & transactions , as to Commutative . And though I have cast my Discourse of Christian Justice into the Mould of a Sermon , occasionally preach'd , to represent the Danger of Vnjust persons ; yet if any man , being convinced of the necessity of doing Righteousness , that he may be Righteous , ( 1 John 2. 7. ) shall resolve to engage himself in that excellent part of his Obedience to God ; I hope I have so carefully drawn the several Lines of Evangelical Justice , that he may be sufficiently instructed in that part of Christianity , which may be accounted the Vniversal Religion of the World ; that is , as extensive as Gods Love to Mankind or Christ's Death for it , and by which men of every Nation , even among them that are invincibly ign●●●●● of Christianity , and so not criminally Vnbelievers , ( if Charity may be allowed to speak her Sense ) may be accepted for Christ's sake : that is , such as fear God , and do righteousness ) or Justice ( for they are of the same signification ) Acts 10. 35. according to the light God hath given them of their Obligation to it . The next Design ( in the latter Part of my Discourse ) is to represent the Danger and Injustice of Partial and Shuffling Conformity , and to measure the Dimensions of those many wrongs that have been done to the Church of England by it , in all her concerns : and that in order to the finding out the best Expedients , how to redress them And this I have done without the least uncharitable reflection upon any Man or Parties of men , unless to reprove their miscarriages , which do so neerly intrench upon the very Design of Christianity and the Churches Peace , may be so interpreted . And I find upon the most serious examination of the Affairs of the Church since the Reformation , and the most unpassionate observation of things which have been seen done in our time ( to which a great part of this present Age can give testimony ) That Ministers Puritanizing in their Congregations in compliance with some Forreign Churches of different Models , Perswasions and Practices against all their Obligations to do the contrary , ( with consideration had to our many sins for which God hath laid those heavy Punishments upon us ) to be the Original cause of the great Evils that befel the Church of England in the days of her Late calamity , of the many present Discomforts that are now upon it , and the threatning dangers that are before it . For these men so managed their business in their Churches , that the common People ( many of which had honest minds , and upright designs of being good ) are insensibly betrayed into such a dislike of the Government , Service , and universal Constitutions of the Church , that they were prepared upon the least check of Authority to require Conformity from them , to make it the Cause of God , and an eminent Act of Zeal for him , to deny all Obedience to it , if not to endeavour the universal overthrow of all its Peace and Order . So that I am not so uncharitable as to think , that all the People that were Enemies to the Church of England , hated it because it was good and innocent , but because ( through these mens either design'd project of keeping them in Ignorance ; or through their own Inability to instruct them better ) they understood it not ; and being once prejudic'd with an ill Opinion , and presumed not to be Masters of so much Reason as to be able to extricate themselves from their Mistakes , and not likely to entertain an instruction from them , whom they were taught to suspect and oppose , it s no wonder if they became such zealous & implacable Enemies to a Church of the most Catholick and Primitive Constitution in the World. Now the grand Argument which they put into the Peoples Heads , to perpetuate their enmity against the Church of England , is , That the present Constitution is a Disposition to Popery , and that the encrease of it is to be imputed thereunto , when themselves are only guilty of it : For though the Designs of the Factious & the Romanists are as distant as the two Poles , yet in this they Centre , that they aid one another in the boldness of their Separations , and allow a plausible temptation to such ( who consult nothing but the Interest of an unsecure and palliated Peace , or rather to prevent some little trouble of preserving the Church in its Integrity ) to endeavour an universal Toleration of all Perswasions , to the established Churches infallible fall and ruine . But concerning this and all other wrongs done by them to the Church , the Reader is refer-red to the Discourse it self . Now if by Gods blessing I may in any measure attain both my Designs ; If by the first I may fully instruct Souls to live ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) Justly , one part of Evangelical Obedience in St. Paul's Division , ( Tit. 2. 12. ) And if by the second I can contribute any thing towards the cure of the Church of England's present Distempers , I shall not much consult what Entertainment they shall have among such as are resolv'd enemies to both , and perhaps for that reason will be so to their Faithful Monitor , W. S. The Vnjust mans DOOM . As examined by the several Kinds of Christian Justice , and their Obligation . In a SERMON at the Assizes at Bury St. Edmunds in Suff. Sept. 13. 1668. The Vnjust mans DOOM . 1 COR. 6. 9. The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. SO far as the principal Design of Christianity is universal Obedience , and the far greatest part of that Obedience is Morality ; ( Duties to be performed from Man to Man ) And the most excellent parts of that Morality , are the Grand Transactions of Government , Regular Administrations of Common Justice , and Preservation of Mutual Rights in all Societies : And so far as the Rule by which all those are accomplished , is Law , grounded upon Right Reason , of which the Gospel ( above all Institutions that ever were is highly & designedly perfective ) so far , I say , a Divine ex officio , while he moves in his own Sphere , may ( must ) be especially serviceable to such Assemblies as these : For it is certain , that the happy event of your Affairs , ( which is judicially to do all men right , that here appear for it ) depends upon every man's uprightly doing his Duty , 〈◊〉 the part he acts , in this Scene 〈◊〉 Justice ; from the Judge that sentenceth , to the Advocate that pleads ; from the Witness that gives evidence , to the Jurates that determine . Now because that every one of these should do right in his place , a civil account ( at best ) can advance to no other obligation , but that it is fit and worthy to be done ; ( too weak an Argument , to resist a Temptation from Profit , or Passion , to do the contrary ; ) therefore they are to be religiously instructed , ( which makes this present exercise reasonable above all Apologies and Answers for the practice of former times among us , when Divines sate upon the principal Seats of Justice ) I say , men are to be further instructed , that to do Civil Right , is , now , of Divine Obligation , and a necessary condition of every mans Salvation ; under Encouragements of infallible Rewards , which no man shall lose , that brings but ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) the least refreshment or assistance to a just procedure ; and under the terrour of dreadful threatnings , which none shall escape , that pervert Judgment , do wrong , and shall any way be instrumental to the violation of anothers Right : And certainly the severest of all of them is this in my Text ; They shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. My Text being thus brought to hand , offers these two Grounds of Discourse : 1. The guilty persons , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the unrighteous , or the unjust , words Synonimous , and so are promiseuously taken all over the Scripture . 2. Their Doom and Punishment , Shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. 1. As to the first , the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unrighteous , or unjust , is not here to be taken in its larger acceptation , by which it is synonimous with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sinners in general , and names the persons , that live in disobedience to all , or any of Gods Commandments indefinitely , as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used , ( Rom. 2. 8. ) unrighteousness or unjustice for all ungodliness : And that because , ( as C●… . Alex. observes ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , every sinful act is injurious , frequently to others , alwaies to our selves . But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here to be understood strictly , and so denotes persons guilty of the breach of Justice in its limited and natural sense , as it stands distinguished from other Virtues in the Moralists Scheme : And being brought over to be a part of Christ's Religion , was established as such , when he made love to our Neighbour ( that is , the love of practice , to do all men right and good ) to be of like obligation with Love to God , as practised in the most immediate Duties , and Services of Faith and Worship : For so saith Christ ( Mat. 22. 39. ) The second is like unto it ( that is ) equally , and as indispensably necessary to Salvation , Thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thy self . Now for the Measures of that Love , and ( the principal design and excrcise of it ) . Justice , he gave one general Rule , ( ut primum principium ) : All things whatsoever you would that men should do unto you , do ye even so to them ; that is , Suum cuique tribuere ( the Definition of Justice ) to give to every man his Right and Due . The Offenders then against this Rule of Justice , in this strict sense , are the guilty persons in my Text , as the words before it , ( and the very occasion of it ) doth fully evince ; where the Apostle chargeth them , ( v. 8. ) that ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) Ye do wrong and defraud . And thence infers , that such as do so , are unrighteous , or unjust ; and shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. But our Christian Obligation of doing right to all , having an influence upon all the conversation we have with men , that is , almost all the actions of our Lives ; It 's necessary ( that we may throughly find out the guilty in my Text ) to make a strict enquiry after this Christian Justice , as it is distinguished by its several Objects , and Relations , and by the various kinds of Right , we owe one to another ; the breach of every part of which , doth expose us , as to the guilt , so to the severe sentence of my Text. The first kind of Gospel-Justice , ( as it respects differing Relations ) is that which is call'd Distributive , that is , the reciprocal Dues and Rights which Christians must pay one to another , in matters of Superiority and Subjection to it ; from an Empire , to the little Dominion of a Family . The first of that kind , is , the mutual Duties of Princes and Subjects . As for the Duties which Princes owe to their Subjects , or rather to God for them ; it is not our business to enquire after . And St. Paul in his Epistles , when he carefully provided Rules for all distributive Justice , makes no mention of the duties of Princes ; intimating , that they are accountable to none but God , whose ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) Ministers they are . We must not curse them ( Eccl. 10. 20. ) not slight them , so the Hebrew , ( ne detrahat Regi ) not disparage them , so the Vulgar Latin , in the most retired thoughts of our Bed-chamber , for their miscarriages ; For which , ( when at the greatest ) we must pretend to no other remedy , but the Primitive Churches powerful Engines , Prayers and Tears . But then the Subjects are bound in Christian Justice , to pay their Prince Honour , Tribute , and Obedience . And those that fail in any part of these duties , that is , that shall whisper Jealousies into the heads of the Multitude , to defraud them of their honour ; or refuse , or decline their Tribute , the price of their own protection ; or disobey their Laws , the Nerves of all Communion and publick safety , they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they have wronged their Princes , and are unrighteous , unjust persons , in the sence of my Text. But if their unrighteousness in these cases shall ferment to rebellious Designs , ( let them pretend to as much Saintship as Corah , or common Justice as Absolom , or Reformation as both ) they are not then only unjust to a Prince in his Personal Capacity , contrary to the Rule of doing to all men , &c. And though he be a Tyrant , act contrary to an express Precept ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) not to resist evil , not allowable among private persons : But as he is a publick person , they are guilty of a National wrong ; they wrest out of Gods hand the Ordinance ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Rom. 13. 2. ) the only expedient of Mercy , by which the Rights of all men are preserved , and the world kept from Confusion ; and are therefore answerable for all the Blood , Ruine , and miserable Consequences of a Civil War , that is of a Princes Military defence of himself , and faithful Subjects that adhere to him , in the day of Rebellion . So that a Rebel is an unrighteous person , by a complication of guilt and an accumulation of wrongs . But now permit not your thoughts , nor will I my Tongue , to make application , by reflecting upon the unparallell'd Tragedy of Evils done and suffered , upon the breach of this Justice in our late Rebellion . If I have said so much , as may teach the Guilty Repentance , and others that were not engaged , their duty , it 's enough ; let us bury all the rest in Prayers and Charity . But further , if the Nation be Christian , there is another Authority invested in a Prince , over Ecclesiastick Persons , and Cases ; for he is concerned as well in the ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) the Religion , as the Civil Concerns of his Subjects ( 1 Tim. 2. 2. ) And there is a Due of Obedience to be paid him in Christian Justice on that account also . This Power was apparently conferred by God on the Kings of the Old Testament ; Moses had both the Trumpets ; David ordered the Courses of the Levites , and the Solemnities of the Publick Service : Joash had the Testament given him in his hand , as well as the Crown on his Head , ( 2 Chron. 23. 11. ) Hezekiah and Josiah reformed the Church by their Royal Authority . And as Christ found it ( there being no retrenchment of that power in the Gospel ) so he left it , as his own general Laws expressed and interpreted by the Churches after-practice , can testifie above all exceptions . Ex quo ( saith Socrates ) Imperatores facti sunt Christiani , ab ipsis res Ecclesiae dependebant . After that the Emperors became Christian , the Churches Affairs depended upon them . Thus was Constantine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . And Leo the Third could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that is , they were mixt persons , they were concern'd in the Government and Protection of the Church . But of this Right , hath the Romanist , and Assemblies , defrauded their Princes ; the one gets away half of their Crowns , the other of their Scepters ; both rob them of their Authority , and of their Subjects full Allegiance . And thus it is with us , while we have a Profession establisht by Law , by a power next to God ( Solo Deo minorem , saith Tertullian ) and by such Constitutions , as God and Man cannot be pretended to stand in competition for Obedience . The Bishop of Rome hath a superior power acknowledged by some , and the Assembly by others , and both profess a Religion in Obedience to those Usurpations , and in opposition to their Lawful Soveraign's Commands and Laws : So that the King is robb'd of his Subjects , they , of their Allegiance , and the Church torn in pieces by them both , as between two Milstones ( as the late Arch-B . in his Preface to his Controversie ) This wrong is done on either side , and for that reason they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unjust , unrighteous persons that do it . This as to the first part of Distributive Justice , in the Concerns of Princes and their Subjects . The next kind of Distributive Justice in the larger Circles of it , is , the reciprocal Dues and Rights , which the Governours of the Church , and their Charges , are in Christian Justice obliged to pay to one another . Without the mutual performance of which a Body of men can be call'd no more a Church , than a Tumult can be call'd an Army , or an ungovern'd Rout , a City . Now as it is in Civils , though the King be ( Supremus Judex ) Chief Judge in the Law , yet he administers Ju-Justice by his commission'd Justicers to whom also an Obedience is due on that account : so in Ecclesiasticks , he exerciseth his supreme authority , for the care of the Church , by proper Officers ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) set apart for that design ; whose Calling though it be governed and protected by Princes , is yet immediately from Heaven ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Heb. 5. 4. ) they are called of God to it . and ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Acts 20. 28. ) Whom the Holy Ghost hath made Bishops , or Overseers ; and for that reason a right of Obedience is due unto them on that account also . First then , the Pastors of the Church are bound in Justice ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) to feed the Church of God , by pastoral Government and Preaching , by Sacraments , and Offices of Discipline , and instituting Canons , for fit Circumstances , that all things may be done ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 1 Cor. 14. 40. ) decently , & in order , or uniformity in the Church of God. If they fail of their duties , they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unrighteous , and must answer deeply for the wrong they have done to their Charges . On the other side , their people in Christian Justice owe them Reception , Love , Honour , and ( which for the Churches sake , is most especially required ) Obedience . Obey them that have the rule over you , ( Heb. 13. 17. ) And as S. Ignatius , ( the best Interpreter of the Apostles meaning and practice ) saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) It is necessary that nothing be done in the Church , but in obedience to the Governors of it . And this was the Sense and universal Practice of the Church , it its primitive purity , and best Integrity . But if their Charges shall condemn their Callings , contemn their persons , separate from their Administrations , and refuse conformity to their Rules of Order , in the service of God ; they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unjust persons , they have defrauded their Spiritual Rulers of their , due , and ( by infallible consequence ) the Church of the very Essentials of its well-being , Peace , and Unity ; the ends for which Spiritual Government was especially design'd : Of which Unity the Church being once deprived , in comes the Inundation of Atheism , Prophaness , Contempt of Gods Service , Heresies and Factions ; for all which those unjust persons must answer , when they happen . And of all this , our own woful experience is too convincing an evidence . For as it is certain , that those miseries are now upon us , so it is as certain , they own their beginning to the breach of this Christian Justice , and commenced from the days the Disciplinarians first withdrew their obedience from their lawful Superiors , and taught the people to despise , and quarrel with them about indifferent Rites . Which undutifulness afterward , fermenting , and gradually increasing , hath in the various agitations of several ages , brought upon the Church , and the Pastors thereof , all these Infelicities and wrongs they now unjustly suffer : Grown too great ( without a gracious divine Deliverance ) for hope of relief . The Church being in that Common-wealth's case , quae nec ferre sua possit vitia , necremedia , neither able to bear its miscarriages nor remedies . But I desire the severe Character of my Text may be applied to no particular persons alive , unless it be in our Prayers , to beg forgiveness for them , as they were instrumental to these heavy punishments , and for our selves , that ( for our sins ) have justly deserved them at the hand of God. Thus I have gone over the parts of Distributive Justice , which Christians are to act in the greater Circumferences of Publick Relations ; I now contract my Discourse to the lesser Circles of it , in Domestick Concerns : Which though they be less considerable , are not at all less necessary . Our salvation depends upon every part of that Justice , as much as the other : Loyalty to a Prince , or conformity to the Church , cannot make us just , if we do wrong at home to our Wives , Children or Servants . Now the Christian Justice of the Family-Relations , are the reciprocal Dues of Husbands and Wives , Parents and Children , Masters and Servants ; bread to Dogs , throw it away in luxurious expences ; or if both , or either of them , by their carelesseness in education , or by evil Examples , shall endanger the loss of their Childrens souls : If the Children , on the other side , grow rough , and untractable , making no Conscience to disobey a Fathers Commands , and disoblige a Mothers tender care ; or when their Parents are in want , to evade their duty , shall tell them , with the Pharisees , it is Corban , ( Mark 7. 11. ) a Gift , not to the Temple ( yet that would not exempt them from their Duty ) but perhaps to a proud entertainment , or a Female Prostitute : Such Parents , such Children , are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unrighteous , unjust in the sight of God. Lastly , As to the third , of Family Relations , Masters and Servants : First , Masters owe their Servants , in Christian Justice , civil regard , kind usage , and just rewards for their Labours : And they again , owe their Masters Honour , Obedience , and Faithfulness . But if the Masters shall use their Servants like Brutes , nay like senseless Engines , like Bodies without Souls , ( for so Slaves are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ●poc . 18. 13. ) making their Burdens too heavy , and their Rewards too light . And if Servants shall be ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Tit. 2. 9. ) contradicters , or answerers again , and deny their Reverence ; or shall serve ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Col. 3. 22. ) with eye-service , and lose their diligence ; or shall be ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Tit. 2. ) Purloiners , and depart from their Faithfulness : these are wrongs done on either side , and are all unjust , unrighteous persons , on that account : And ( as it is of the other Relations ) if they had nothing else to answer for , had guilt enough , to be disinherited from the Kingdom of God. These are they , which depart from Christian Justice in Family-Relations . Having thus found out the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the guilty of Injustice , by the Rule of Distributive , we shall now examine the actions of men by the li●●● of Commutative Justice : Which Aquinas defines to be that , by which a man is directed in such Rights , as are interchangeably to be paid , from one man to another . Now the ground of this Justice is this , God hath so ordered it in his wise disposition of the world , that the well being of every man should depend on the mutual help of one another ; to the performance of which , all men being obliged by right reason and Religion , it becomes every mans right , to be done to him in Christian Justice as his duc . Upon this , St. Paul grounds his exhorta●●● to his Philippians , to look ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Phil. 2. 4. ) to the good and ●●ncerns of others , as well as their 〈◊〉 . He therefore that shall with●●●d this Right , so that his Neighbour is injured in any capacity of 〈◊〉 well-being , he hath done wrong and defrauded , and is an unjust , and an unrighteous person . Now ●●at we may know , how far this ●●stice extends , for the further discovery of the Guilty in my Text , we must examine the several cases 〈◊〉 which a mans well-being consists , and accordingly a right to be done 〈◊〉 . First , As to his spiritual well-being , we owe the right of saving one anothers Souls , which God hath put in our power to do , as St. James intimates , ( Jam. 5. 20. ) And this is done , by brotherly correction , Counsel , Prayer , exemplary Life , and such like Acts of spiritual Justice : But on the contrary , 〈◊〉 any man hinders the salvation 〈◊〉 another , by neglecting those 〈◊〉 or shall really prevent it , by scandal , ill example , or by tempting him to assist in social sins , 〈◊〉 Uncleanness , Conspiracies , and the like , that man hath wronged a Soul , he hath destroyed his Brother , for whom Christ died , ( Rom. 14. 15. ) and so is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an unjust person on that sad account . 2. We owe the right in Christian Justice of preserving one another in our Temporal well-being : And the first of those , next our Neighbours life ( which we suppose to be a case too apparent to need our present consideration ) is his Honour . He therefore that shall defraud him of that precious Jewel , either by eclipsing an innocent worth , through a subtil detraction , or wound his Credit , by dispersion of false slanders , ( following Machiavel's rule , fortiter calumnia●… , & aliquid adhaerebit ; cast dirt enough that some may stick ) or shall publish his private infirmities , 〈◊〉 his disgrace , or make use of them any way , but in following St. ●aul's direction , to restore him with the spirit of meekness , ( Gal. 6. 1. ) ●ath robb'd his Neighbour of his honour , hath done him wrong , and is an unjust person on that account . The second right we owe in Christian Justice , as to the temporal well-being of our Neighbour , is the preservation of his Estate and Fortune ; which whosoever shall violate , upon any temptation , is one of the unrighteous persons in my Text. And we consider not this , as done by acts of horrid oppression only , when the Beams and Stones are disquieted with the cries of Orphans , tears of Widows , 〈◊〉 perpetuated sorrows of ruin'd Families ; nor only by the intrenchments that are made upon it , by secret thefts or notorious Rapine but whosoever shal disadvantage another , by fraud , or subtilty , in any Negotiation , Bargain , Trade or Commerce whatsoever , beyond the ordinary profit allow'd to all Callings , by custom and consent of honest minds ; or in any kind of Vocation or employment , deal otherwise in every single act , than he himself would be dealt with , is unrighteous , one of the guilty , and consequently one of the unhappy persons in my Text. Lastly , We owe in Christian Justice ( as to our Neighbours temporal well-being ) the right of preserving one anothers Health , Limbs , and Peace ; therefore he that shall wrong him in the first , by ingaging him in intemperate courses , or deprive him of the second , by any act of private hostility , as Duelling , or the like ; or defraud him of the third , by uncivil usage , or vexatibus Suits and Controversies ; so far as in any of them , or in any other way , a man is disadvantaged in the comfort of his Life , or means of Livelihood , there is a wrong done , & he that hath done it , is an unjust , an unrighteous person , and as such , stands upon the necessity of restitution , or in the danger of his exclusion from the blessed Inheritance . Thus having gone over the Breaches that are made upon the several Branches , both of Distributive , and Commutative Justice ; there remains two more to be considered apart ; because they have a mixture of both . Of the first of these I would give a is the Devil ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 3. ) The Devil hath filled their hearts with the Design . 5. Gods certain vengeance upon that wrong , by the fatal fall both of the one , and of the other . I shall not controversially apply this evidence , but must ( for shortness sake ) leave it to your serious reflections , for the ends I mentioned it . Now that portion which hath been set apart for God , and the maintenance of 16000 Servants of his Worship among us , are either Lands , or Tithes . As for the wrongs done to the first , they are commonly acted ( per Sorices Palatii , as Bish. Andrews calls them ) by the unhappy men about the Courts of Princes ; who as they thirst after them , so would not stick to suck the milk of Orphans , drink the tears of Widows , as well as devour the Demeans of Gods Servants ( because as defenceless as either ) as Sacrifices to their pride and luxury . But it is alledged by the Favourites of this Design , that the supreme Judicature may , ( when they please ) take them away : I answer , they may ( impunè ) without controul ; and their Authority ought not ( must not ) be resisted ; but whether ( justè ) righteously , or whether every one that hath a vote in their alienation , doth not thereby rob God and man , and may justly fear Gods vengeance for doing so , I leave it to the former Evidence to determine . As for the wrongs done to the Church in point of Tithes , ( Decimam meam as St. Austin supposeth God to speak ) there depraedations happen upon lower contrivements ; as when either the powerful mans heavy hand first presseth out the Vintage for himself , and then leaves some few drops ; enough rather to upbraid , I intended should reflect upon the occasion of this Assembly , where the proper business is judicially to administer right to them , that cannot otherwise obtain it . Let every one then , that hath to do this day with the tender Rights of men , ( whether they be the Ministers of the Law , of every sort , Witnesses , or Juries ) have a care what they do ; their Souls are at stake , the Oath of God is upon them , the Curse of God over them , the Cries of the oppressed about them , the Evidence of my Text , and the Law of Christ against them ; if therefore any unjust Cause goes away triumphant , if any mans right be impeached , through any defect in the discharge of their trust , they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unrighteous persons , and wheresoever it lies , must either make a timely satisfaction , or one day appear at the great Assizes of the world , to receive for the wrong that he hath done in this , and where there shall be no respect of persons , Col. 3. ult . Thus I have finished the whole Scheme of Christian Justice ; to the universal performance of which , the Gospel doth so strictly oblige us . And now who would think it possible , that a Christian Nation , possessed with so many advantages of Religion , should in contradiction to the clearest Evidence of Gods Will , so generally degenerate from the practice of it in every part ; and that not among them only , that have thrown off all Concern for Religion ( that were no wonder ) but amidst the very Professors of it , even among them , that pretend to a greater Zeal than others , in appearance for it , I cannot but think , that there hath been some psal . 73. 6. ) they were exhorted to the getting the Robe of Christ's Righteousness about , and imputed to , them ; and all was well . By these and the like unhappy Modes of teaching the Gospel , men have been driven from their Reason , and Religion , and set their Consciences loose to all unrighteousness . And hence it is , that they are grown every where so cross and intractable to all Authority , Laws , and Order , and the State is full of Rebels , the Church of Schismaticks , our Houses of undutiful Children , and untrusty Servants ; and men are made universally false and unfaithful one to another . But let them pretend what Religion they will , they shall not so escape ; all unjust persons ( such as I have described ) are upon the Rock , the severe Sentence of my Text ; They shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. PART . II. So at last I am arriv'd at the Second Part of my Text ; The Unjust mans Doom or Punishment : They shall not inherit , &c. In which , are two things to be observed ; I. The Nature of the Punishment ; it is a disinherison . ● , The Quality of the State , The Kingdom of God. In the first , here 's a case in Law , a Title supposed , and a Disinherison expressed : A Title , these unjust persons had , and heirs at Law they were , ( and so were all that are , or shall be deprived of that eternal Blessing ) or they could in no sence be said to be disinherited : 'T is true , that Adam once forfeited the Estate , but it was purchased again , or redeemed , by Christ , not with Silver and Gold , but with the dear price of his precious blood , ( 1 Pet. 1. 18. ) And that Redemption was made as large , as the Forfeiture , as St. Paul discourseth , ( Rom. 5. 18. ) So that the Reason why any man is now disinherited , must be upon another account ; not because Adam sinned , or that the Covenant of Grace was renewed with any number less than all men , ( 1 Tim. 2. 4. ) or that Christ died for fewer than ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) for every man , ( Heb. 2. 9. ) but because that universal Covenant , and Redemption , was made conditional , and required terms to be performed on our part , which , whosoever should refuse to keep , should forfeit his Title to that new purchased Inheritance . Now the Conditions of this new Covenant made in Christ , are Faith and Obedience . To which Repentance is to be added , as Tabula post Nausragium ; of which , more anon . The sum then is , That the unjust man , as such , in all the particular cases I have mentioned , shall not inherit the Kingdom of God , because he failed in both the Condi●ions . 1. Every unjust person hath failed in the first ; he is not a true Believer in the sense of the Gospel . For the clearing of which , we are to consider , that Evangelical Faith , when mans Salvation or Justification is wholly attributed to it , ( as when 't is said , that He that believeth shall be saved , John 3. 16. and justified by Faith , Rom. 5. 1. and saved by Faith , Eph. 1. 8. and the like ) intends not any Act or Habit of believing , in any strict sense , but a comprehension of all Christ's Virtues , and the whole Body of Christianity , of which a just life is the most considerable portion Therefore St. Paul upon the breach of distributive Justice , in one particular Instance of it , that is , a Child 's not providing for his Parents , ( which by Family , 1 Tim. 5. 8. is undoubtedly intended ) affirms , that such a person ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) hath denied the Faith , and is an unbeliever , so much worse than an Infidel , as a practical Atheist is a greater Prodigy than a speculative . But if Faith be taken in a stricter sense , as sometimes it is ; and particularly by St. Jame . ; ( Jam 2. ) unless it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( Gal. 5. 6. ) except it worketh , or is consummate by Love , ( of which Love the greatest part ( in the Gospel sense ) is Justice ) it avails not ; it cannot , it is dead , saith St. Jam. that is , as useless to a mans Justification as the Faith of Devils . Whosoever therefore is an unjust person in any of the senses I have described him , whether a Rebel to his Prince , or refractory to the Church 〈◊〉 its Order and Institutions , as to Distributive Justice ; or does wrong to his Neighbour as to Commutative , let him pretend to what Faith in Christ he will , let it be a receiving , laying hold , or reliance upon him , or howsoever he hath been taught to define it , he is ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Col. 3. 6. ) a Child of Unbelief ; and upon the non-performance of the Condition of Faith , ( in the account of the Gospel ) he shall be dealt withal as an Unbeliever ; he hath forfeited the Inheritance , he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. But then 2. Faith is not the only Condition of the Convenant , by which we may preserve our Title common peace and happiness of the world ; that all Superiors might have entire Subjection , and all others Peace and right . So that a Rebel , a Schismatick , and the unjust of the lesser Orders , may not be said only to disobey , but to frustrate the prime purpose and design of the Gospel , and to offer the greatest affront and contradiction to the very Spirit of Christianity . For wheresoever the Grace of God is predominant , it will certainly , and observedly ( as its prime and signal effect ) reduce the Soul to the greatest innocency and simplicity , tractableness and obligation of doing right , and good to all ; with all which , the sins of Injustice in every kind , are perfectly inconsistent , and irreconcileable . The Sum is , whosoever is an habitual Offender against any part of Christian Justice whether Distributive or Commutative , hath broken not only a particular , but an universal Commandment of Christ , and is grossely disobedient ; and so hath forfeited his Inheritance , his Title to the Kingdom of God. Thus I have shewn you the unjust mans Doom in the nature of his Punishment ; He shall not inherit : which will appear so much the greater , when we consider the quality of the Estate , from which he is disinherited ; The Kingdom of God. Which is the next thing to be discours'd . The Kingdom of God is a Figurative Expression , design'd to exalt our Imagination of the blessed state to come : And that because we cannot now behold its unconceivable happiness , but as ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 1 Cor. 13. 12. per Speculum ) through the dark Perspective of Sense , and a clouded Intellect ; and therefore it must be represented to us ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) by little Riddles and Shadows of the best humane Felicities ; Here it is by a Kingdom , the greatest and noblest possession this world affords ; and so enough to confirm us , that ( the Design of that lofty Metaphor ) the future Bliss , is too great a loss , for so small a recompense , as the most prosperous unjust man gains by his unrighteous practices . But that the unjust man may be more fully upbraided for the greatness of his Loss , let me improve the Metaphor , by saying , that first he loseth God ; that is , the Beatifical Vision of his Blessed Countenance , which is better than Life it self : He loseth the Comforts of his Blessed Redeemer , who shall now appear to him with the terrible Aspect of Flaming Fire , taking vengeance on him , and all them that obey not his Gospel , 2 Thes. 1. 8. He loseth the possession ( to make use of the most sensible Description of the happy issues of an holy Life ) of the City of the Living God , the New Jerusalem , the Society of an innumerable company of Angels , of the General Assembly of the first born , & of the spirits of just men made perfect , Heb. 12. Lastly , He loseth his own Soul ; that is , he brings himself into such a State , ( that praestat nunquam natum ) it were better for him he had never been born , or that a Milstone were hanged about his neck , and were drowned in a Sea of Forgetfulness , and Annihilation . And all this he adventures that he may add one handful of Earth more to the Turf of his worldly possessions ; one grain more to his accumulated heap ; one garnish more to the pride of his Life ; from all which , and from whatsoever else he enjoys in this world , he shall possibly within a few Minutes , probably within a few Moneths , certainly within a few Years , be as much a stranger , as he that holds up the Train of the Persian Emperor , or the Infant that hangs upon his Mothers Breast . These are the miserable measures of the unjust mans Doom and Punishment . But is he past the utmost Confines of Hope ? Is his evil an irreparable loss , an irrecoverable danger ? Certainly no : For though the Gospel have drawn up the Indictment against him , it is not yet come to Judgment : He is in a state of damnability , but not Damnation . Not so shipwrack'd , but that there is ( Tabuta post Naufragium ) one Raft left to land him safe , one remaining condition of his recovery , and that is , a timely Repentance ; For ( saith God ) if the wicked man shall turn away from his unrighteousness ( his Injustice ) and do that which is lawful and right , &c. if he shall restore the Pledge , and execute judgment between man and man , he shall save his Soul alive , Ezek. 18. 27. When first by Repentance , must be understood nothing less , than ( what is necessary for all other sins ) a real departure from all unrighteous Actions and engagements : Whatsoever is called Repentance , and brings not this change ( be it Sorrow , Contrition , or Confession ) ought in no reason to be accounted sufficient for Evangelical Reconciliation . Much less will ( Lachrymula & Suspirium ) a Tear and a Sigh at the last period of our Life ( by such measures of Mercy as are revealed to us ) expiate the guilt of the sin of Injustice , or any other sins , habitually and reigningly continued in , to that helpless hour . Therefore 2. Besides this Repentance , which is common to all other sins . The unjust ( which doth much heighten the sin of Injustice above all others ) are obliged to restore the injured persons ( to their utmost capacity ) to that Right , of which they have deprived them . Otherwise all other Acts of Repentance , ( even to the departure from any further Commission of the sin ) will be accounted fair , but abortive Attempts . Now in the several cases of Injustice , where the Scene lies not for restitution , as in the cases of Rebellion , Schism , and the like , the unjust person must make satisfaction , and amends , by acknowledgments and recantations , and those to be ( if possible ) as publickly and earnestly done , as those wrongs had been before committed . For if those attempts of satisfaction be not made ( if in his power ) whatsoever other acts of Repentance he had performed , ( let no man deceive himself , nor mock God ) he hath yet no title to the Blessing of the penitent . But where the unjust man ( in the cases of the breaches of Commutative Justice ) hath defrauded any man by Oppression , Theft , or Subtilty , in any Employment , or Contract whatsoever , so that another is damnified by him , if that person should weep an Ocean of Tears for his sins , and pray till his knees became callous , like a Camels , for the pardon of it , if the unjust thing lies upon his hand , if there be not restitution made , to the injured person , ( according to his power ) or if he be dead , to his Heirs ; or if neither can be found , to the Poor ; ( whose Right then it is , by an Escheat to the Soveraign Lord , whose Exchequer they are ) he cannot be numbred among the Penitents , he is still an unjust man , and shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. It was upon Zacheus noble Restitution , that our Saviour pronounced , This day is Salvation come to thy House , ( Luke 19. 19. ) And , Si res aliena ( saith St. Austin in his Epistle to Macedonius ) cum reddi potest , non redditur , non agitur poenitentia , sed fingitur ; If the unjust thing be not restored , the Repentance may be feigned , but is not performed . And now I beseech all those persons here this day before me , whose Consciences can inform them , that they are so unhappy as to be unjust in any of the measures I have mentioned , first , that they take no offence at the Religion , that requires , nor at me that preach , so severe a Method ( as men may be apt to think ) of their recovery ; for they ought to consider , that it was their own wilful prevarications of the most reasonable Rules of Justice , and not the Religion , that made it necessary . And let me further assure them , that whosoever shall give his Soul leave ( for his own salvation ) to ingage in the performance of this Duty of Restitution ( how unkind or difficult soever it may appear at the first view ) let him not be discouraged ( my Soul for his ) he shall find such a sensible return of sweetness and satisfaction in the very Acts , and much more in the Issue of it , that he would not exchange his Comforts , or have neglected his Duty , for all the Pleasures and Enjoyments in the world . His Soul shall dwell at ease , and he shall lie down in peace ; his bed shall be no more shorter , but that he shall stretch himself upon it , nor his Covering narrower , but that he shall wrap himself in it , ( Isa. 28. 20. ) that is , he shall have a quiet mind , while he lives ; and when he comes to die , he shall not be tormented with the confluence of direful Furies about his Bed , nor behold dreadful Aspects hanging about his Curtains , the usual Attendants of unjust men , living and dying . What if thy House shall stand one Story lower by removing the Chambers built by wrong , ( Jer. 22. 13. ) ? Or contract the compass of thy Land by hedging out Naboth's Vineyard ? Or lay aside some Circumstances of a splendid Life ? Nay : what if thou shouldst be reduced to a retired condition , or the narrow circles of a low fortune , by restoring what is anothers right ? the assurance of Gods Favour above thee , the enjoyment of a good Conscience within thee , the view of a glorious hope before thee ; ( in a word ) a contented life , a peaceable death , and a blest eternity , will be a redundant compensation for all thou shalt so nobly part with . Thus have I adventured a prejudice in your opinion , by chusing these unwelcome ( though very necessary ) Doctrines of universal Justice , and upon the breach of it , Satisfaction , and Restitution . My comfort is , if I have not pleased you , I have done you right , I have dealt justly with you . And I do not despair , but I have met here many persons of David's Choyce , and Ingenuity , ( Psal. 141. ) who would rather be smitten friendly , and reproved , than to hear the pleasing Balmes of unconcerning and indulgent Doctrine , to break their heads , destroy their souls . With whom ( I hope ) these Instructions may so far prevail , that it may be said of them , as St. Paul said of his penitent Corinthians , in the Verse following my Text ; Such were some of you , but ye are washed , ye are sanctified , but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus , and by the Spirit of our God. A particular Representation of the Injustice of Partial Conformity to the Clergy . A POSTCRIPT . Representing the Injustice and Danger of Partial Conformity . I Have in this Sermon ( as fully & faithfully as I could ) made an universal Survey of the several Branches of Christian Justice , and given notice , that the wilful Transgressors of any part of it , stand arraign'd and condemned for unrighteous persons , as to their guilt , and cannot ( upon the Gospels requiring universal Obedience in general , and doing right to all men in particular , as the Conditions of Salvation by it ) inherit the Kingdom of God , as their punishment . But amongst the great numbers of unjust men , I have ( in the former part of my Discourse ) sorted those persons , who deprive the Supreme Magistrate of his due , in that part of his Authority which concern Spirituals ; and the Governors of the Church of their right of Obedience from their Charges ; by refusing to conform themselves to the Commands of both , so far as they are invested with a power from God , to institute Laws and Canons , for the Peace , Order , and Unity of the Churches , under their Rule and Conduct . Now because not only the People in general are concern'd in that part of Evangelical Righteousness ; but the Ministers also of Parochial Congregations stand most especially obliged to it , and because their offences against it , are of far more dangerous consequence , I have for their sakes , who are of the Clergy , made this enlargement in that particular Branch of it , as to them . And this I have done the rather , because ( at this present time ) this kind of Injustice is so spreadingly , and unconscionably committed and practiced ; that ( what with the miscarriage of some , who out of worldly prudence , of others , who out of weakness , of most , who out of wilfulness , neglect their due conformity to the establish'd Laws ) a great number of the Churches are made irregular and disordered in the publick Administrations of Gods service : By which means the Laws are baffled and despised , the Government suspected and defamed , the Priesthood in general reproach'd as false and careless , and the whole profession of our establisht Religion , is made a scorn at present , and ready to be made a prey in future , to our enemies on every side . My Brethren , let us have a care therefore in time , we do not too much , and too long ( for the narrow Concerns of our present quiet or profit , or to conciliate vulgar Love or Fame ) not only wickedly and unjustly , but weakly and imprudently comply with the humors of any party whatsoever , in the neglects of our Duties , or partial performance of our Offices : For it is certain , that no man can do it , ( upon what pious Motives soever he pretends to be induced to it , as favouring infirmities , or tender Consciences , and the like ) but besides his real offence against the Laws of Christ strictly obliging Obedience to his Superiors just Commands , he doth thereby promote and cherish a Faction in his own bosom ; which being once warm'd into a sufficient strength , shall upon the next advantageous opportunity , not only destroy the Church in its Legal Constitution , but in the same pitch and posture of abasement , to which the condescension was made . And of this , let our late experience be an impartial Judge . For when some Bishops , and other eminent persons of the Church , who out of a pious tenderness to some mens dissatisfactions , and designing the upholding their own , and the Churches Respect & Credit among them ( for which they were distinguished from their Brethren by the name of Puritans ) did either not urge , or not practise strict Conformity , found at length their own grand mistake in the frustration of all those ends which they propounded to themselves , as the reasons of their compliance : For neither themselves , nor the Church for their sakes , found any mercy at all from them , in the days of their Power and Fury , when nothing less would satisfie them , than the confusion of both . Little did those Reverend Persons think , when they strain'd their Candor to that Party , beyond the bounds of their due Obedience to Law , that such a petty shew of tender Piety , and Consciences so demurely nice ( that could not digest so much as a Ring on the Brides Finger , the Infants wearing the shadow of a Cross three minutes at its Baptism , upon its Forehead , or but the colour of the Priest's Vestment ; for they pretended then but such little offences ) should cover such black Designs , of the most unwarrantable practices that ever were acted in the world . It behoveth us therefore to suspect , when we meet with Conscience-scruplings about such , or the like indifferent Rites and Circumstances that there lodgeth underneath an unsatisfiable dislike and dissatisfaction to the whole establishment ; so that if our Ingenuity should be tempted to debauch our Obedience , by a partial conformity to indulge them in those lesser things , it were prudence to believe , that we should be so far from giving them full satisfaction , that it would but the more advance and strengthen an unruly appetite , which nothing could determine , but the destruction of all . Of this their unsatiable humour , our late experience can convincingly inform us ▪ when their first modest desires of a Moderated Episcopacy , ended in nothing less , than its extirpation ▪ and of regulating some offensive parts of the Liturgy , in its utter abolition . And when ( as among many of them ) after the Cross , followed Baptism it self ; after removing the Rails and Genuflexion , went away the Sacrament : And when they had been at first a little gratified with the taking away the Habits , they were never quiet , till they had renounced the very Order & Calling of Priesthood it self . Such effects , and no better than these we must expect from the greatest condescention that can be made , to men of this temper and complection . In stead therefore of any sinful ●●●pliance with any Faction what●●●ver , by remitting our Duties , 〈◊〉 please them , as Friends ( which 〈◊〉 will be no longer than they ●●●●ot be otherwise ) let us gird our selves in all our spiritual Armature against them , as the Churches , ours , and their own , destructive Enemies ; that is , let us fast and pray , and weep against their Ignorance and Perverseness in private : Let us preach down their Follies in publik : But especially let us guard the establish'd Church against their designs of unsetling the peoples ●●herence to it , with an intire con●●mity to its legal Constitutions 〈◊〉 every Circumstance ; and then let us conquer their prejudice with ●●nocency of Life and simplicity of ●anners , till by these holy Methods , and Gods blessing , we have ●●tained ( or at least endeavoured to administer the most reasonable means to obtain their recovery , 〈◊〉 Sense and Obedience . And though , if after all this , we cannot prevail , yet it will be 〈◊〉 honourable and safe ( before G●● and Man ) for us , who are the Physitians of Souls , that they may be said to perish under , than without the application of the most sufficient remedy . And if truth must 〈◊〉 to the ground , yet let it not 〈◊〉 without a competent witness gi●●● to it , whatsoever we suffer for it . But by no means , let nor futurity lay it to our charge , that we have help'd to betray the best constituted Church in the world to ruine , by neglecting our Duty , to hu●●● and indulge a perverse generation of men , whom no kindness could reconcile , no remissions or condescentions satisfie . For he that thinks , that the lessening , or laying aside his Confor●●ty , or the concealing some necessary Truths , because distastful 〈◊〉 their vitiated Palates , or the ●●pping on to some degrees of com●●ance with their popular Modes 〈◊〉 Praying and Preaching , will se●●re the Church from the danger 〈◊〉 those Factions ; shall find his ●●pedient as unsuccesseful , as that ●●ysitian's , who leaving the Cause 〈◊〉 the Distemper behind , thinks 〈◊〉 obtain health for his Patient , by ●●ring the Symptom for the Dis●●se ; or as absurd as his expectation , who would hope for a regular ●●●fect , from the most equivocal ●●ause . For it is observed ( and we are ready to make the Observation good by several Instances ) that 〈◊〉 Congregations have contributed greater numbers to the Herds of the different Factions , than those that have been under the conduct of such , who would have the pieced , and partial Conformity and popular Compliances , esca●● under the specious , yet mista●●● Title of Moderation . I must confess , amongst the Enemies of the Church of England , think that sort of amphibious Clergy , not the least , nor less dangerous than any ; who forfeit the Fidelity to their solemn Subscriptions and Declarations , and treacherously decline the work they have assumed , and act their Offices in the Church , in such a manner , that the People may believe , that there is something that is very evil in them , and that they repented themselves of what they had undertaken . These are they , that set up Altar against Altar in the same Church that join the Liturgy and Directory together , at the same Assembly but as much as possible to the Disadvantage of the former , which they shuffle over with such an undecent and undevout Mode of Delivery , and then manage their Voluntier Effusions in Prayer , and their Hints and Corollaries in Preaching , with such Zeal and Fervor , as if they design'd to tell the People , that they never were in earnest till then , or that those Offices in the Pulpit might be interpreted to serve no better end , than to undermine the credit of what they had done ( or undone ) in the Desk . Such unconformable Conformists as these began the Church of Englands danger at first Reformation , and the miserable Series , of almost all its Troubles since , hath been propagated by them ; and if a ●imely care in Governors , and the Resurrection of a good Conscience in themselves , do not prevent it , they will yet contribute as much , ( if not more ) as any enemy we have , to make the present Distempers in the Church , to become an uncurable Disease , an unsuperable Evil. These mens Congregations are the Fountains , from whence the crooked Rivers , and Rivulets , the Mother and Daughters of Factions , have deriv'd their streams , to that swelling greatness , as they now run among us , and almost over us ▪ They were the Seraglio's , where the late Warriors against the King and the Church , were trained up and disciplin'd : And what the Seminaries beyond Seas , are to the propagation of Popery , these are the same to the keeping up of all Factions among us . So that all attempts for the recovery of the Churches Peace , and Unity , by suppressing Conventicles ( in which are many serious , though abused Souls , who would the rather be ●itied ( so far as can possibly conist with the Churches safety ) because they received their first prejudice by them , whom we have too much or too little reason to call our selves ) will be found uneffectual for that end , so long as the Nurseries of Faction within the Church , are permitted to perpetuate a Succession of such , who upon the least check or discontent , have prepared Principles and Affections to depart from us , and to supply their places . And this will easily be believed , when it is considered , that the difference between some Ministers practices in Churches , and those of unlawful Meetings is so small , that oft-times the separation may be rather accounted a Change of Places , than Professions . But that these Clergy-men may be more regularly convinced of their sin and folly , and find Arguments , both from Conscience and Prudence , to change their destructive practices of popular compliances , into a Design of preserving the Church of England's general safety , by a faithful conformity to its Institutions ; I shall here offer to their considerations , ( besides those which I have already intimated in general ) a particular Series of Evils , certainly consequent to their Disorders . 1. From these mens Miscarriages , and the teaching their People to adhere to them ( where they are ) it comes to pass that the Enemies of the Church , have contrived an Argument , by crying up the numbers of Dissenters ( which by their means are more numerous in Churches , than without ) as great and formidable ; to tempt , and terrifie the Civil Power , from protecting the Church , under its present danger and oppression . Whereas , as I believe the allegation to be false ( especially if a lesser number of men in power , and of learning , and honour , may be allowed to compensate a greater , of the mean and ignorant ) so , if this one Expedient were tryed , that all Clergy men might be compelled to serve God in publick , in one uniform submission to Law , without any liberty to extravagate from that Rule ; and so no more Beacons on fire in any neighbouring Churches to alarm the Vulgar , to run up and down to gratifie their natural love of Opposition and Novelty ; and a diligent care taken that no Factions without the Church , might be headed by men of Orders , or Parts ( though the common people were less prosecuted with afflictive penalties ) I am perswaded in a few years , the numbers of Dissenters , would be so far from being formidable , that they would not be considerable for any thing , but our pity and Charity . And I have this ground to assure me of the possible successefulness of this Expedient , because it is certain , that where the strictest Conformity hath a long time been constantly used , there are fewest that do trouble themselves , or their Governors about the Design of Relaxation from it ; and that there are none that hate conformity so much , as they who live in places where it is discountenanced and neglected . And this appears by the disloyal and undutiful temper of those that dwell in Cities and greater Towns , where , because there was no provision in Law for them , that would obey it ; the people were resolved to bestow their Contributions on none , but such , by whom they might be instructed and indulged in an assured opposition to the Church . To which one cause , most of our former and present miseries refer , 〈◊〉 effects ; as when from those places were elected Burgesses of Parliament of the same Principles , to create troubles above ( whose heavy ●and , our late Gracious Princes of Happy Memory felt sufficiently , even to the loss of the life of one of the best Kings that ever was : ) and 〈◊〉 when the People of the Neighbour-Villages flockt to their Market Lectures , and were there trained up , in dislike and enmity to the establish'd Church , and prepared to contemn their own Shepherds at home ; unless they became such as themselves , which very oft they did , when younger Divines ( who for want of Parts or Government , had little encouragement to continue in the Universities ) made it a piece of their Education , to go thither , to scribble Notes for their own Pulpits , and to learn the Tones , Gestures , and Phrases , which might give their own People contentment at home . Whereas if our present Parliament ( as it was the Design of many ) had upon the Kings Restauration found out a way , to have setled a competent legal maintenance , and men of the greatest Integrity and Learning ( whose abilities are commonly either lodg'd up in Colledges and Cathedrals , or obscur'd in little Villages ) planted in those greater places ; and where they are popularly elective , if they had been brought under the Patronage of the Crown ( whose safety is especially concern'd in it ) and a way found out , to embetter Trade , in the stead of Factious Lectures , there could not have been a Stone laid , which would have added more to the defence and security of the Church and Throne . But to recover my self from this Digression , I am confident that this Expedient that I have mentioned , ( whatsoever is pretended to the contrary by them that have a design to ruine us ) will give far less trouble to the Civil Power to preserve the Church , than a Toleration of all Religions ( by the making and maintaining so many Rules to limit it , and so many Provisions to prevent the dangers that will ensue upon it , half of which cannot be be foreseen ) will cost to destroy it : Besides the Dishonour of discountenancing that Party , which are the only assured Friends to undoubted Loyalty , all other Parties lying under a stain of being unfaithful to the Crown ; of confounding the most absolute platform of Primitive Christianity , which no other Perswasion makes any such pretence to ; and in defending of which , we have so far prevail'd in all rational Debates , that our enemies stand ashamed , and baffled on every side : Of making that Church which hath appear'd hitherto the honour of the whole Reformation , to become vile and contemptible in the eye of the world , by giving advantage for the encouragement and immixture of as many false and ridiculous Professions at one time among us , as all the Ages of the Church ever knew in its successive Periods : Of contradicting the sense of both the Universities , and of the principal of the most Learned men of the Age , with a great Blow to Learning it self : Of opening a door to the increase of Atheism and Prophaneness , which if they have thriven so much under a looser hand of Discipline , what will they come to , when all the Bars of Ecclesiastick Government are thrown down ? Lastly , ( with many more evils which a better and more experienc'd skill might foresee ) besides the dishonour of treading upon the Bloud and Ashes , and of blemishing the Fame and Actions of our Late Gracious King and Martyr , who died to prevent the admission of those evils among us . The Sum is , It is no wonder , ( while so many Churches continue in their Irregularities ) why the Arms of the Civil Power are wearied and discouraged , when all their Endeavours for the establishing an universal uniformity by the method of dispersing unlawful Assemblies , may be too justly interpreted to be but an emptying the streams , while the Fountain is kept running ; and cutting down the Branches , while the Root is left entire , to propagate a new progeny of the same kind and spirit . So that when some Civil Magistrates have had their aid required , for the redressing of Misdemeanors without the Church , it hath been reasonably answered , and objected by them , let the Churches own work of Reformation and Order be done at home , and we are ready to give our assistance to endeavour it abroad . 2. From these mens Disorders it comes to pass that it is no wonder that the Government and Discipline of the Church is baffl'd and despis'd , and men are tempted to reproach them as ineffectual , and consequently useless ; when it is considered , that besides the known Dissenters , who impudently oppose them without , the R. R. Bishops universal care of their Churches ( every Parish being their proper Charge ) is executed by so many Curates , who are Traytors to them and their Authority within . Who contrary to their trust ( given and taken with all possible Religious and reasonable Obligations ) of keeping up the Reverence and Esteem of their Persons , Calling , and Discipline , by conducting Souls , in one legal uniform performance of their Offices , in Canonical Obedience ( which by Oath they stand oblig'd to ) and Filial submission to them ; they tempt and teach the people to decline all respect and obedience to their Authority , by setting up a new mode of Worship , by the Rubrick and Canon of their own Fancies , and in opposition to their Orders and Injunctions . Thus in stead of those excellent enjoyned Prayers , and Regular Forms of Worship , which they either omit in whole or part , or render unacceptable by an irregular usage , they substitute such an unsavory Offering of their own inventions , oft-times so full of Ridiculous Clamors and Gestures , and odd Familiarities , if not of non-sense and blasphemies ( against which evils , neither the Church , nor themselves , will be secured , while they are permitted to assume a liberty of uttering what they please , and of gaining a reputation by it , of praying by the Spirit ) that the wiser sort of the Friends to the Church of England , are scandall'd and ashamed , and forsake the Publick Assemblies , whither by Law they are ingaged to go ; and the ignorant and credulous Vulgar train'd up and disciplin'd , in the Love and Admiration of an irregular Devotion , and in an irreconcileable disaffection to the rational setled Service of the Church , and an insuperable hatred to the Laws and Persons that oblige and require it . And then , as to the executing the Churches tender care of instructing Youth in form and manner , as they are ingaged by Law and Duty , they either wholly omit that sweet and charitable Office , and convert it at the time appointed , into a Discourse , that neither for matter or manner , doth suit with either their needs or capacities ; or instead of conducting them in the knowledge of the duties of Christianity , by the Church-Catechism ( which doth so concernedly design it ) they have presumptuously substituted a great company of other Forms , full of private Opinions , and Heads of controverted Doctrines ( as those of absolute Election , Justification by Faith alone , and the like ) which have no influence upon , if not a contradiction to , the very reason of Christian Obedience ; and thence Parents and Tutors , and the Children themselves are left to a strange uncertainty , when ( upon change of places ) they are either committed to the conduct of men of other Fancies , or to those that follow the Churches Order in their Institutions . Now what kind of Youth such irregular usage of Children is like to make , may be judged by them , which they trained up in their ▪ Twenty years Liberty , to use their own Methods without controul . Then as to the improving the Churches care of instructing men by the Office of Preaching , in the Duties of Justice , and Mercy , Peace and Innocence , Subjection to Authority , and ( which is the Sum of all ) universal Obedience : the Peoples ears are accustomed to the noises of new invented Phrases , and impertinent Notions ; with the Discourses of Gospel-Priviledges , Christian Liberties , and controverted Opinions ( such as of the Famous five Points , and their dependent Articles ) . And instead of Preaching upon the Renowned Sermon upon the Mount ( in imitation of our Saviour's own example ) and pressing the Rules of Life contained in it , the People hear the weight of their Salvation laid upon some occasional expressions in the Epistles of the Apostles , ( especially those to the Romans and Galatians ) or else they send them to Patmos , to busie themselves about opening some of the Seals of the Revelation . By which kind of Preaching , the People ( as their Practices do too pregnantly declare ) are kept in Ignorance ( some think , greater than in the darkest Age of Popery and Superstition ) of those Christian Duties , but especially of their necessary obligation , for the attaining Eternal Salvation : which doth evidently appear , when it is observed , that no sort of People of the Nation , are so defective in most of them , nor ( as to the case in hand ) so cross & intractable to all Authorities , nor so apt ( on all occasions ) to rebellious designs against them ( which if a strict observation were made what places did most especially afford the greater numbers of them , that were lately ingaged against the King and the Church , would easily be proved ) than those that have been under the conduct of such Ministries . Hence ingenuous persons may consider , what grand and confused difficulties ( made so through these mens disorders ) the Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction hath to deal with , to preserve the Church in any degree from a present sinking , into a total ruine ; and ( as things stand ) how impossible it is ( were its power executed to the greatest perfection ) to attain its end of universal Peace and Order . But if all Ministers of Congregations were compelled to do their Duties exactly according to Law , and not one permitted to perform any thing in the publick Worship of God , by his own choice or fancy , whereby one Church should be distinguish'd from another ; and so none be presum'd to come to Church , nor meddle with any Offices or Business about it , but such as come thither ( there being no temptation from any thing else ) in a willing submission to conformity , which ( 't is supposed ) none would do but such , as would also be worthy and civil to the Government of the Church : And that all professed Dissenters were look'd upon as excommunicate persons ( all which are really so , either , by the Sentence of the Church , or by their own wilful Separation ) and so no further to belong to the Churches Jurisdiction ( while they resolve obstinately to continue so ) than an Heathen , or an Alien : And that then the secular power would look upon them as only their proper Province , to regulate them by such Laws as they are , or shall be impowered withal , made on the most Charitative Design to restore them to the Church ; its Discipline would do its own work with honour , and all that live under its excellent conduct , enjoy it with comfort and safety to their Souls . Whereas , while so many Churches remain in their irregular , and mixt conformities , and for that cause as dangerous enemies , as any the Church of England is oppressed with , continue a kind of Communion with it , in her publick places ; no wonder , when such persons are either made Officers , or any otherwise dealt withal , by the Churches Jurisdiction , that they appear , either , to affront it , or to render it as trifling and ridiculous as they can : and when the Secular Power by due execution of Laws , shall bring any man to some publick Churches , it 's a question whether he be restored to the Church of England , or only removed from a lesser Conventicle to a greater ; and so the Law be made use of , rather to confirm the Dissenters in their opposition , than to restore them to the peace and order of the Church . 3. By these mens humouring the poor people with their Directorian Conformity , it is , that the True Sons of the Church , who in Conscience of their duty to God , shall entirely conform themselves to the Laws established , are made the scorn and hate of the people : who are taught to reproach them ( for want of an accusation that hath truth or sense in it ) by the names of Popish & Superstitious : whereas their own Teachers might with less Injustice , and upon a nearer agreement than we have with either the Pope , or the Worship of Daemons ( as I can shew them if they desire it ) be called Jews or Turks , did not a good Cause solemnly abhor such Unchristian Defences , though a bad one ( and it is a convincing sign it is so ) hath no other to protect it . And then upon the temptation of those reproachful . Names that signifie and prove no determinate thing ( had they said Conformity had been against any Law of Christ , and shewn us a Precept general , or particular to prove it so , they had done like men and Christians ) the people think themselves acquitted towards God , if they persecute their conformable Pastors , with all imaginable acts of Cruelty , to make their lives bitter and vexatious to them : To which evils they add this also ( with him in the Psalm , imagining God to be such an one as themselves ) that if any sad Accident ( in common contingencies ) shall befall them , it shall be recorded as a Prodigy from heaven to argue Gods disowning them And whatsoever Faults ( be they true or false ) their watchful eye of envy can find in their lives , they shall ( with all possible disadvantage to their Reputation ) be rumour'd abroad as Scandals to their Profession , and as Arguments against the Church . Not considering that the Juggling of their own admir'd Guides with Christian Obedience in some things , and their gross Disobedience to Authority in others , ( to the universal wrong both of their Civil and Ecclesiastick Superiors ) are sins so much more scandalous against the Gospel , than any their Malice pretends to lay to the Conformists Charge ( if the miscarriage of some were allowed to be a just Accusation of all ) as the Hypocrisie of a Pharisee is worse than the open Offences of a Publican ; and as a sin that passeth under a pretence of Godliness , is much more dangerous , than those sins , whose shame is written on the Offenders Foreheads ; and for which there is no approbation or allowance from those of their own perswasion , and ( so oft as their Spiritual Governors can have it signified to them ) for which , some have been obliged to submit to the Penances of publick Recantations ; as hath been done in this particular Diocess . But a wise man may easily discover ( though the People cannot ) the difference between the Solid Piety , and Innocency of a true Son of the Church ( by which as he hath no design , so , to which he hath no temptation , but to please and honour God , and is not much concern'd if any but his All-seeing Eye shall know it ) and the Sheeps-cloathing of Wolves , the Angelical Light which the Devil puts on , when he turns Fanatick , and the Form of Godliness of a Deceiver , that is so much outward Sanctimony and framed Piety , as will ( by a subtle observation of the Peoples humour ) gain an acceptance and reputation from them of being Godly , without any regard to the common Peace of the Church . And if any of them shall chance to fall into any apparent acts of sin , which they dislike , and of which they so bitterly accuse others , and the Church for them , so long as they comply with them in their disobedient humour to the Church , all the condemnation they shall have , shall amount to no more , than , It 〈◊〉 pity for the man , and God in his 〈◊〉 time will shew him his Errour , and call him home ; but he shall not lose the opinion of an honest man. But wo to the poor Conformist , if he falls into the same . 4. From the example of these mens Disorders it comes to pass , that the ignorant and easie Dissenters are encreased , confirmed , and hardned in their Separations , beyond all possible recal ; when they understand , that what they depart from in the whole , is but that which those men ( who by mistake enough and by incompetent Judges are accounted the only Godly Ministers do in their Churches reject in portions . And when , as to that little they observe , the matter is so ordered , that they may be believed to do it , but in their own defence unwillingly , and by constraint , and as resolved to continue the doing it no longer , than they can get themselves set free from the burden of Authority . But this mischief ends not here & that which makes it much worse is , that such persons , who are yet unconcern'd as to any Religion , and are tempted through Idleness , or Business , or some little Offence to the person of their Priests , to stay at home ; do answer all inward Checks of Conscience , and all outward Perswasions against their neglect of serving God according to the order of the Church , by alledging to themselves , that they absent themselves from nothing but that , which those that are accounted Godly , do make it their Religion to scorn , and forsake , and would fight to destroy ; and those that use it , seem to be opprest by it , and seek to avoid it as much as they can . By which it comes to pass , that great numbers of Men ( I dare not say how great I think them ) and of Youth especially ( O unhappy they that gave the occasion ! ) by continued absence from the Blessings and Ordinances of the Church , and the means of Grace and Knowledge are grown Atheistical and Barbarous , Vile and Vitious , Bold and Hardened in their opposition to 〈◊〉 Virtue and Goodness . Hence it is ( what with the one and the other ) that some places look like ( if they really be not ) an universal defection from Christianity : And some Priests who faithfully perform their duty , could not without great shame and oppression of Spirit , be serving God in the Publick Place , with so few about them ( perhaps two or three in some populous places ) but that they comfort themselves , that their little Handful , compared with the Flocks that attend Faction , look so like the different Numbers in the Narrow and Broad way , mention'd in the Gospel , and the unequal proportion of the good and evil in the world ; and by considering , that Multitudes ( when Differences are upon the Stage ) seldom ( and that by accident ) entertain the right side , but do usually suffer themselves to be conducted by such Impostors , who because they cannot satisfie their Pride and Ambition in being considerable in real worth and weight , will endeavour to make themselves so , in Throngs and Numbers . 5. From these mens disorderly performance of Gods Service in the Church , and the Confusions which they bring upon the Government by it , the Romanists ( whose Ends are chiefly served by it ) have their Hands daily strengthened , and Hopes advanced , for the accomplishing their Designs . And I am assured ( of which sufficient Reasons and Instances may be given that nothing can so fully defeat their Endeavours for the introduction of their Spiritual Empire amongst us , as an entire practis● Uniformity in all our Churches , and a full adherence to , and a faithful preservation of , the establish'd Ecclesiastick Government ; as the main Bulwarks , which they endeavour to overthrow , and which we must chiefly trust to ( under God for the Churches universal Safety . But the truth of this is so infete●ed with Riddles , and made so like the doubtful Answer of an Oracle to the People , that they are perfectly cheated into the Belief of a Sense as contrary to it as it it 's possible and so are delivered into an Opinion of pursuing the Churches safety against Popery , by that Method , which is the only probable means of delivering up the Church unto it . The Romanists know , that they can never bring this Nation back to their Religion , but first the establisht Church must be overthrown ; and they know also ( no other danger yet appearing ) it must be done , by improving the Dissenters Maice , and the Peoples Folly , to confound the Peace and Order of it , by the ruine of Episcopacy and Liturgy : which that they may do with the greater Zeal , the Cheat 〈◊〉 , they must be made believe , that all that they do is to pull down Antichrist , and keep out Popery ; and to hate the Conformist , as designing to uphold both : whereas there is no man , but he , that prevents the setting up of both among us . Thus the best Prince , Prelate , and Statesman then in the world , lost their Lives , by being first rendred the Peoples hate , as designing to bring in Popery ; when wise men knew , that there were not three persons under the Sun , whom the Romanists would rather have removed out of the way , as the grand hinderers of their Design . The people are taught not to conform to the Liturgy , because it is Popish ; whereas the Papists hate it , because it is not so ; and when some of them have been dispensed to hear our Sermons , they are always prohibited to hear the Service . And whereas the Factions are at work to make the People ruine Episcopacy , as Popish ; there is nothing the Romanists desire to see rather , than it's confusion ; as knowing that it was that Order of men , that did at first throw , and now keeps out their Usurpations . And it is known , that the strictest Adherers to the Pope , are but back-friends to the Order of Bishops in the Countries of their own perswasion ; and that the Order of Jesuites was first rais'd up , and now continued in its greatness , on design , to retrench the power of Bishops , as an Order that can only endanger the Popes Usurpations , and yet themselves stand upon a firm bottom of primitive Catholocisme . But fully to confute the Peoples grand Mistake , who have been so falsly and disingenuously tempted , and instructed , to suspect the strict Conformists , as inclinable to Popery ( the spiteful Artifice of the Factions to render them odious ) I wish them to consider , against whom hath the Romanists bent their Forces in all their Debates , and with what bitterness they have sometimes managed them ( to instance in Mr. Serjant's Schism-Disarm'd , against Dr. Hammond ) not against the Factions , one or other , but always against the establish'd Church of England ? And who hath maintained the Disputes against them , but the strictest Adherers to it , and those generally of the Episcopal Order it self ? And if this cannot sufficiently manifest the falseness of the Accusation , and how far the Faithful Sons of our Church are from being Favourers of Popery , what can be said or done more to convince them ? Then let them consider on the other side , what kindness the Romanists have shewn to the Factious , ( not that I think they love them more than us , or would not destroy them also , when they had done their work of confounding us ) of which none can be ignorant , that will enquire after so many Stories that pregnantly prove it , and that are Printed , and not Confuted : Of which there is hardly any Clergy-man , but can say something from the Circle of his own Observation . Let the world therefore judge , whether they that have so unworthily prejudg'd the People with a suspition of us , have not given occasion to be accused as really guil●● of the same themselves . The Sum is , So far as a partial Conformist , doth by his unworthy usage of his Offices , cherish in the People a dislike and disaffection , to the Service , Orders , and Government of the Church , whereby they are prepared to oppose them , ( if not to destroy them ) on all occasions ; so far he must be supposed to be doing the Papists work , to be digging down the Wall , plucking up the Hedge , which fence and secure the Church against them ; and laying all open to give them opportunity to re-enter and possess the holy Vineyard of God amongst us . And I think of this they have been sufficiently forewarned , by the late Incomparable Prelate and Martyr , when in his dying Sermon , he foretold what a Harvest the Pope would make of our Confusions ; though for his good will , and dying-tender care of the Church , the Head of a Faction , ( who afterward lost his own ) was so impudent , as in a Triumph , to dip his Handkerchief in his Blood , in requital for his Kindness . 6. And Lastly , By these mens undutiful practices it comes to pass , that the Parochial Officers , who should inform Authority of the Miscarriages of Congregations , are for their sakes , tempted to break their solemn Oaths to God , given and taken , for the good end of the Churches Order and Unity , and of the purity of Life in the Members of it , which are wholly defeated by it . Of which Oaths so broken , those Ministers cannot but be highly guilty , as being in no capacity to reprove them , and necessarily oblig'd to indulge them , in their abominable sin of Perjury : And all to save themselves from being justly questioned , for their own Disorders and Disobedience . And the event is , that most Churches will be ( without all visible remedy ) kept unreformed from the grossest Abuses ; and the Nation in general will be taught by such remarkable Presidents of Perjury , almost in every Neighbourhood , to contemn all other Obligations by the solemn Religion of an Oath ; that the King can promise to himself little assurance of Fealty , from them that have sworn it ; and no man secure of his Life or Fortune , when both are committed to the tryal of the Law , when only the tye of an Oath can assure any man to have right done him . And there are already Complaints made of gross Miscarriages , where Favour or Interest have tempted men to deal unfaithfully , and to betray the Truth , to the preservation of which , they stood engaged by oath . And if men still proceed to be so Atheistical , and hardy , as to make no Conscience of an Oath , and consequently not of the lesser tyes of Honour , and common Honesty ; the whole world will in a short time be sensible , that we are a false , perfidious , and perjurious People , abominable to God and Man. All these evils ( till they shall endeavour to convince me to the contrary , which if they do , I shall either give them a sober Reply in my own Defence , or a just acknowledgment of my Mistake ) I conclude to be done or occasioned by them . And do yet believe , that without Repentance towards God , and a sincere endeavour to make satisfaction to the Church , for the wrongs they have done , they must answer deeply for them , at the Bar of Divine Justice , and be reckoned among the urighteous in my Text. As for the People who are abused by them , in their Judgment and Affections against the Church of England , so many of them as are invincibly prejudiced , that is , such as having derived their Errour from the force of an unhappy Education , and since been kept up in their prejudice , by the strong Temptation of their Teachers seeming Godliness ( in which it is no hard matter to deceive a weak , though innocent , mind ) and have not natural capacities to discover their Mistake , by the help of an ordinary and general Means of Conviction ; My Charity tells me , that such may be dear and beloved Servants of God , and such as may attain the end of the Gospel in pure and innocent lives , that is , that would not for any earthly advantage , wilfully and deliberately persist in any evil way , ( except in the Instance of their ( which I suppose ) invincible Mistake ) whereby God should be offended , or dishonoured by them . And I wish that the best care might be taken in every part of the Nation , to distinguish them from those , who observedly , out of a ●●oss humour , pride or envy , wickedly maintain their opposition against the Church , and that then there were a particular application made to them , managed with the greatest meekness , and prudence , to undeceive them ; and that all Churches did the same thing without distinction , and no subtle heads of Factions permitted any more to abuse them , and that Church-men would be exactly careful of giving them no offence , by the Irregularities of their Lives , I am perswaded in a short time , the greatest part of the Innocent Dissenters might be gained to the Church , and be an Ornament to it , and the obstinate would either hide their Faces in shame and discouragement , or manifest their Falseness by the evidence of some grosser universally acknowledged Miscarriages . But as to the persons whom I am now reproving , as it is not possible but they must know the tenur of their Oaths , Subscriptions , and Engagements , and cannot but understand that a departure from them , to a contrary practice , must needs be a wilful transgression of their duty to God & man , so I know not yet what Argument to give myself , upon which I may ground a charitable interpretation of their Irregularities and Compliances . Thus have I ( laying aside all apprehension of Fear or Favour from any man , or parties of men whatsoever ) dealt plainly and faithfully in this great Concern of the Church of England , by laying the occasion of the present evils of it , on them that practised , and do yet continue to practise their Partial Conformity and Compliance with the Factious humour of the Age in the Publick Churches . If I have touch'd a tender Sore , it is because I in tended to cleanse and heal it not to inflame or torment it If any man becomes my enemy for telling the Truth , it is none of my Fault , and so shall be none of my Discomfort . But 〈◊〉 the Representation ( which I have made ) of the Sin and Danger , shall prevail with any one ( 〈◊〉 but one ) who hath hitherto halted in his Duty , to entertain a Resolution in future to keep a good Conscience , consult the Right of his Superiors , and the Safety of the Church , by keeping himself strict to his Obedience , I shall have a sufficient Compensation for whatsoever I shall suffer from that angry Generation of men I have to deal with , and an ample Reward for whatsoever is here done , by him , who among the Servants of Jesus , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sept . 18. 1669. W. S.