POST SCRIPT,

Containing Remarks on the DEFENCE of your Three LETTERS.

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HE above Letter being fent to the Prefs before your Defence, &c. was advertifed; its Publication was ftaid, till I had feen what Occafion it might give, either to retract or fupport what was offer'd in my first Letter. You feem moved at its pretending to be an Anf wer to your three Letters, when fo fmall a Part of them is confider'd therein: And with Airs quite futable to the Cause you are pleading, ecclefiastical Authority, give me to understand, that your taking any Notice of this Perfor mance is to be confider'd as a Condefcenfion to which you were not obliged, and which I had no Right to expect from you. But, pray recollect: What was the avow'd Design and Purport of your Letters? Was it not to refute the great and popular Objections of the Diffenters, and to bring me over to your Church? But upon reading. your Letters, I found you had scarce touch'd upon the principal Objection which kept me from your Church. Was it not then my Part to ftate the Objection to you, and fet it in its full Light? As unask'd, you had taken on you to be my Inftructor in this Affair; had I not a Right to lay my Difficulty before you, and to demand your SoJution of it? What, muft I confine myfelf to the Pleas which you had feen fit to cook up for the Diffenters ; and if I prefume to offer others, you will magifterialle

call them Ramblings, in which you are not obliged to follow? Very pleasant indeed !

Here therefore I now put in my Claim, Sir, and give you to understand, that I expect your plain and full Anf wer to the feveral Objections against your establish'd Forms prefented in the above Letter: Some of which, though you knew them to be of great Weight with Diffenters, you dextroufly avoided bringing into the Debate. To this you are most clearly and indifpenfibly obliged by the Province you have taken on you. If there be any Parts of the Liturgy indefenfible and abfurd, this (1) Condemns your own CONFORMITY, who not only declare, but folemnly fubfcribe your unfeigned. Affent and Confent to ALL and EVERY THING contained in and prefcribed by the Book of Common Prayer, &c. And, (2.) it juftifies the Separation, by proving it a fevere and cruel Thing to caft out above 2000 of our Minifters from the Church for not declaring and fubfcribing this unfeigned Allent and Confent, &c. which began the Separation.

This being premifed, we come to the Point of Church Authority, upon which the Controverfy turns. Here I obferve, with pleasure, that you are for mutilating your XXth Article, ridding your Hands of one Part, and holding only to the other. "The Church's Autho"rity in Matters of Faith you have nothing, you fay, to do with *. But this, you know, your Church claims as much as a Power to make Ceremonies; and against this Part of its Claim I as much excepted as against the other. When you declare therefore you have nothing to do with it, you mean, if I take you right, you will not pretend to undertake its Defence. This to be fare is wife: No Man upon Earth being able to defend it. But then, is it not extremely hard that your Church fhould ftill inflexibly maintain its Claim to this Authority: Should force its Clergy to fubfcribe and acknowledge

Defence, p. 18.

this

this Claim; and keep Diffenters from a Share in those Emoluments," after which, you fay, they languish,” partly for refufing their folemn Subfcription to fo unreasonable a Claim?

"By the Church's Power to decree Rites and Cere"monies, is meant, a Right in the Paftors and Gover"nors thereof, to ordain and appoint fuch Things, "fo as to make it, ordinarily, the Duty of the People "to conform themselves to them t." You have artfully declined to fay, whom you understand by its Paftors and Governors; but from other Paffages S it is evident you mean the Bishops and Clergy; for the Civil Magiftrate, you declare, has no fuch Power at allt. Now,

1. That the Clergy have no Power nor Authority at all of this kind over the Laity, I proved beyond all doubt from the exprefs Command of our great Lawgiver. Call no Man upon Earth MASTER; ONE is YOUR MASTER, even CHRIST, and all ye are Brethren The Princes of the Gentiles exercife Dominion and Authority over them, but it fhall not be fo amongst you. What have you faid in Answer to thefe Texts? Not a fingle Word. You leave them to ftand in full Force against you: And without one Text of Scripture to fupport this Authority of the Clergy over the Laity, you go on to treat it as a Thing indifputable and allow'd: And labour hard in raifing a pompous Structure upon the Sand. What you fay as to the Kifs of Charity, has been confider'd above, p. 62. Should even this be allow'd to be a merely ecclefiaftical and prudential Inftitution, it will by no Means establish the Authority you claim for your Paftors and Governors; the Orders, Decrees and Appointments of thofe Times being by the Common Confent and Suffrage of the whole Church; in

which the Laity had an equal, if not a far greater, Share of Authority than the Clergy tt.

But,

2. Your lodging this Power in the Paftors and Governors abfolutely contradicts the Articles themselves. For as the XXth Art. claims it for the Church: So the immediately preceeding Art. (XIX) exprefly defines what it means by THE CHURCH, viz. A Congregation of faithful Men where the pure Word of God is preach'd. 'Tis to, the whole Body of the Faithful then that this Power of decreeing Ceremonies, if any fuch there be, belongs: How then do you prefume, Sir, to wrest it from them, and to veft it folely in the Clergy? And,

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3. When you add, that to this Right of the Paftors to decree Ceremonies, it is the People's Duty, ORDINARILY, to conform themfelves: The Word, ordinarily, feems thrown in as a Mift to darken the Point; a feafonable Salvo to which to retreat when you feel yourfelf pufh'd. What mean you, Sir, by ordinarily ? How fhall the People know when it is, and when it is not, their Duty to fubmit to these Injunctions of their fpiritual Gover nors? Are the People themfelves to judge, always to judge, of the Fitnefs and Expedience of the injoin'd Ceremonies; or are they not? If they are not, then they are abfolutely to refign themfelves to the Direction of their Governors; which is palpable and grofs Popery, and leads directly to Rome. But if they are, then the Babel of Church Authority is at once overthrown: For then the Authority refides no longer in the Decrees of the Governors, but in the Judgment of the People. 'Tis the Judgment they form of them, which alone makes them binding upon them or not. Of their Number, whether they are too many; and of their Nature, whether they are fuperftitious, foppifh, and vain, you feem fometimes to allow, the People are to judge: But if they have a Right to judge, they have Right alfo to act in

tt Vid. Exam. of the Codex, pag. 120.

Confequence

Confequence of that Judgment; and to withdraw from thofe Churches where fuch Ceremonies are injoin'd, as they think foppish and vain; and to join themselves to others, where they think the Worship of God perform'd, in a more fcriptural and proper Manner. So then, the folemn Parade of Church Authority turns out a meer Shadow. 'Tis an Authority to command, which no one is under Obligation to obey. This Power of making Ceremonies must be either limited or unlimited: If it be not limitted (which you feem to difavow) Pray! what is it limits? What prefcribes its Bounds beyond which it fhall not pass? If the Church has Power to ordain five Ceremonies, why not ten? And if ten, why not more? Who fhall pretend to fay how far it may go ?

Your Illuftration "as to the King's Injunctions," &c.* will not reach the Cafe; because the Constitution and Laws of England empowers the King to make fuch Injunctions: But you have not yet proved, and I prefume never will prove, that the Conftitution of the Chriftian Church empowers its Paftors to decree Ceremonies and Rites.

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You ask "Where does the Church pretend to "be alone the proper Judge, or where difallow private "Chriftians to judge for themfelves in thefe Matters?" I will tell you, Sir, in its XXXIVth Article, which decrees, that whosoever thro' his PRIVATE JUDGMENT, willingly and purpofely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of GOD, and be ordain'd by common Authority, ought to be rebuked openly (that others may fear to do the like) as he that offendeth against the common Order of the Church, and burteth the AUTHORITY of the MAGISTRATE. Private Judgment, you fee, is here forbid to oppofe the common Order of the Church, and the Authority of the Magiftrate; and when it prefumes fo to do, is to be cenfured and punished for it.

Def. p. 14. † P. 13.

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