146 The Li F E of the Pm 111 explain my felt TheChurch may becon!ideredasvnivcrfz', and fo Chrift alone is the head of it, and we receive our Laws from him ; Or as Particular, and fo the Paftors areHeads, Guides, or Bithops over their refpecaivc flocks, who are com- manded therefore to obey them in the Lord: Or as National, which is an accidental andexternal refpedt to the Churchof God, wherein the King is to be acknowledg- ed the fupreme Headof it, and as I judge no otherwife : For thus alfo runs the ftatute,That our Sovereign Lordfball be taken and reputed the only fupreme Head inEartb of the Church of England, called Ecclefia Anglicans. Now if it thould pleafe the King and Parliament, to allow and approve thefe :'eparate Meetings, and Stated Places fir WorJhip, by a Law, as His Majeftydid by his Declaration, I muffprofefs that as fuch Affemblies by this means muff beconftituted immediately integral parts ofthe Church as National, no lefs than our Parifh Congregations : So would the Congre- gate Churches (at lealt chafe that underftand them.elves) own theKing for Head over them, in the fame fenfe as we own him Head over ours, that is as much as to fay, for the fupreme coercive Governour of all (in this accidental regard) both to keep every feveral Congregation to that Gofpel-order themfelves profefs ; and to fnpervife their Conftitutlons in things indifferent, that nothing be donebut in fu- bordinationto the peace of the Kingdom. Well, Let us fnppofe then a liberty for thefe feparate Alfembliesunder the vista- tionof his Majefty and his lattices, and not the hilltops; 1 would fain know what were the Evil you can find in them. If it lie in any thing, it muff he in that you call Schifm. Separationthenletus know, in it felf limply confidered, is nothing, neither good, nor Evil. There may be reafon to divide or feporxe foam Chrifti- ans fromothers out of prudence, as theCathechumens of old, from the fully infhu£1_ ed, for their greater Edification; and as a Chappel or two is added to a Parifh- Church when the peopleelfewere too big a Congregation. It is not all Divifion thenor Separation that is Schifm; but fistful Divifion. Now the fupreme Authority as National Head, having appointed the Parochial Meetings, and requiredall the Snbjeas of the Land to frequent them, and them alone, for the Acknowledging, Glorifying, or National ferving and woríhiping the only true God, and his Son, whom we have generally received : And thisWorthip or Service, in the nature of it beingintrinfecally good, and the external Order (filch as that of time and place and the like Circumstances) being properly under his Jurifdidion, it bath Teemed to me hitherto, that unlefs there was fomething in that order or way prefcribed which is finfal, and that required too as a Condition of that Communion, there is no Man could refufe his attendance on thefe Parochial AIlèmblies, without the fin of Difobedience, andconfequently his feparation thereby becoming finful, proves Schifn : But if the Scene be altered and there feparate Atfemblies madeLegal, the Schifm; in reference to the National Church, upon the fame account, does vanifh. Schifm is a feparation from that Church whereof we ought or are bound to be Mem- bers: if the fepreme Authority thenbofe our obligation to tht Parifh Meeting, fo that weare boundno longer, the iniquity (I fay, upon this account) is not to be found, and the Schifm gone. Lo here, a way opened for theParliament (if they pleafe) to rid theTrouble and Scrupleof Schifm (al once) out of the Land. If they pleafe not, yet is there foneething to be thought onfor the Separadit ina way of forbear- ance that the innocent Chriftian, at leaft, as it was in the time of Trojan, may not be fought out unto Púnifhment : Efpecially when filch a toleration only is deüred, as is confidentwith the Articles of Faith, a Good Lafe, and theGovernvrent of the Natron. And now I turn me to the Hoofer. My Lords and Gentlemen ! I will fappofe you honed perfons, that would do as you would be done onto ; that would not wrongany or if youdid, wouldmake them recompence. 'There hath been very hard Ads parted, which when the Billswere brought in, might haply look fmooth and fair to you ; but you fay/ not theCovert Art, fecret Machination, and purpofe- ly contrived fnares againft one.whole Party. If filch a form of would not, another flhonid dotheir bulinefs. By this means, you in the first lace, your f ltes,. foiñeof yon were overftript t Multitudes difpoiihlt of their Livings :.The Vine- yard Let out to others:TheLordJehm,the Matter of it,deprived of many ofhisfaith- ful Labourers:And the poor flieep(whathad they done?) bereft of their accumflou.ed- fprtlttol food, to the ha-tard of their Eternal Souls. Among many Arguments thereforefor Liberty in other Papers, from Policy, Convenience, Rcsfoe ofState, and Reafon,,of Réligicn, I have this one to offer youof a more binding Nature, an Argo- went fromWire, Righteoufnefa, and Reftittttion to the Difplaced. It is true, that the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=