Besides this, he was not at all satisfied to give his unfeigned Assent and Consent, to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common-Prayer, &c. for he thought that thereby he should receive the Book it self, and every part thereof, Rubrics and all, both as true and good; whereas there were several things which he could not think to be so. The Exceptions which the Ministers made against the Liturgy, at the Savoy Conference, he thought very considerable; and could by no means submit to, much less approve of the Imposition of the Ceremonies: He often said, that when Christ came to free us from the Yoke of one Ceremonial Law, he did not leave it in the Power of any Man or company of Men in the World, to lay another upon our Necks. Kneeling at the Lord's Supper he was much dissatisfied about, and it was for many Years his great Grief, and which in his Diary he doth often most pathetically lament; that by it he was debarred from partaking of that Ordinance, in the solemn Assembly: For to submit to that Imposition he thought whatever it was to others (whom he was far from judging) would be Sin to him. He never took the ⟨p. 104⟩Covenant, nor ever-expressed any soundness for it; and yet he could not think, and therefore durst not declare that (however unlawfully imposed) it was in itself an unlawful Oath, and that no Person that took it, was under the Obligation of it: For sometimes Quod fieri non debuit factum valet. In short, it cannot be wondered at, that he was a Nonconformist, when the Terms of Conformity were so industriously contrived, to keep out of the Church such Men as He; which is manifest by the full Account which Mr. Baxter hath left to Posterity of that affair; and it is a passage worth noting here, which Dr. Bates in his Funeral Sermon on Mr. Baxter relates; that when the Lord Chamberlain Manchester told the King (while the Act of Uniformity was under debate) that he was afraid that the Terms were so hard, that many of the Ministers would not comply with them; Bishop Sheldon being present replied, I am afraid they will. And it is well known how many of the most sober, pious, and laborious Ministers, in all parts of the Nation, Conformists as well as Nonconformists did dislike those Impositions.
Besides this, he was not at all satisfied to give his unfeigned Assent and Consent, to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common-Prayer, &c. for he thought that thereby he should receive the Book it self, and every part thereof, Rubricks and all, both as true and good; whereas there were several things which he could not think to be so. The Exceptions which the Ministers made against the Liturgy, at the Savoy Conference, he thought very considerable; and could by no means submit to, much less approve of the Imposition of the Ceremonies: He often said, that when Christ came to free us from the Yoke of one Ceremonial Law, he did not leave it in the Power of any Man or company of Men in the World, to lay another upon our Necks. Kneeling at the Lord's Supper he was much dissatisfied about, and it was for many Years his great Grief, and which in his Diary he doth often most pathetically lament; that by it he was debared from partaking of that Ordinance, in the solemn Assembly: For to submit to that Imposition he thought whatever it was to others (whom he was far from judging) would be Sin to him. He never took the ⟨p. 104⟩Covenant, nor ever-express'd any foundness for it; and yet he could not think, and therefore durst not declare that (however unlawfully impos'd) it was in itself an unlawful Oath, and that no Person that took it, was under the Obligation of it: For sometimes Quod fieri non debuit factum valet. In short, it cannot be wondred at, that he was a Nonconformist, when the Terms of Conformity were so industriously contrived, to keep out of the Church such Men as He; which is manifest by the full Account which Mr. Baxter hath left to Posterity of that affair; and it is a passage worth noting here, which Dr. Bates in his Funeral Sermon on Mr. Baxter relates; that when the Lord Chamberlain Manchester told the King (while the Act of Uniformity was under debate) that he was afraid that the Terms were so hard, that many of the Ministers would not comply with them; Bishop Sheldon being present replied, I am afraid they will. And it is well known how many of the most sober, pious, and laborious Ministers, in all parts of the Nation, Conformists as well as Nonconformists did dislike those Impositions.
