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PREFACE.

T

HE many Mif-representations, which have been made of this Sermon, fince it was preach'd in this great Town, have forc'd me to Print it in my own Vindication; That all the World may fee and be convinc'd, that notwithstanding the ftrange Claniors and Outcries made concerning it, as if it was downright Po pery, and contain'd a Doctrine very prejudicial both to Church and State; yet that it contains 110 other Doctrine, than what was taught by our Saviour and his Apoftles, by the Primitive Church, and the Establish'd Church of England.

If I had faid that the Prieft might Abfolve abfolutely, and Pardon Sins by his own Authority, that he might remit the Sins of the Impenitent, or retain those of the Penitent; then indeed the Accufation had been juft, and I had been guilty of false Doctrine. Or if I had talk'd about Contrition and Attrition, of daily or annual Auricular Confeffion, or indeed made it any ways neceffary for a Man to confefs all his Sins to the

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Prieft,

Prieft, or allow'd that a Priest might give Abfolution, upon a Man's bare Confeffion, or his going a Pilgrimage, or giving a Sum of Money to fome Pious or Charitable Ufe, or doing any other thing prescribed to him, which he might do without being really and truly Penitent; then had the Accufation of Popery been juft and warrantable. But as I have faid nothing of all this, and have only taught, that Jefus Chrift hath left Power to his Church, to abfolve all Sinners, who truly repent and believe in him, as our Church teaches in the very Words of our Liturgy, in the Office for Vifiting the Sick, I cannot but think it hard to have this call'd Popish Do&trine, fince it is a Doctrine establish'd both by our Convocations and our Parliaments, and has been fubfcrib'd to by all the Bifhops and Paftors of the Church of England. So that those who condemn this Doctrine as Popish, condemn not only me, but all the Prelates and inferiour Minifters of this Church, who have fubfcrib'd the fame; and are bound to maintain it.

As to what I have faid of the Power of retaining Sins, I refer my felf to the Rubrick before the Office for the Holy Communion, where the Prieft has Power given him, to repell notorious evil Livers from that Sacrament; and to the Practice of all our Bishops in their Ecclefiaftical Courts. This Right of the Church, to retain the Sins of the obftinately Impenitent, by excluding them from the Communion of the Church, has been fully maintain'd and vindicated

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by the Judicious and Learned Dr. Potter, in his Excellent Difcourfe of Church Government, chap. 5. pag. 330. Second Edit. &c. To which I therefore refer the Reader, for his further Satisfaction in that Point.

I had no Thoughts when I compofed this Sermon, of putting it to the Prefs, as it now is but intended, if ever I fhould fee occafion to publish it, to have taken fome more Pains about it, and to have explained and clear'd fome Paffages, and indeed to have enlarg'd it to a juft Treatife. But after it had made fuch Noife in the World, and been cried out upon as Popfb, so that I was thereby forc'd to publish it in my own Defence, as a Vindication of my self from fuch an unjuft Afperfion; I was not then at liberty to correct or amend any Part of it, but oblig'd to publifh it as I preach'd it; that no Man might take Occasion to say, That though the Sermon I printed was not Popish, yet that which I preached was fo. And to fatisfie all Perfons that the Printed Sermon is the very fame, Word for Word, with that which was Preach'd, the Manufcript is ftill preserved by the Bookfeller, who is ready to give any Man leave to compare them, who fhall think it worth his Trouble.

Now because the Sermon was too long to be preach'd at one time, in thofe Places where I preach'd but one Part of the Day, I omitted that which is enclos'd between two Crotchets [

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from pag, 13. to pag. 17. And again from pag. 25 to pag. 31. where it ends thus, God is no Respecter of Perfons.

If any Perfon doubt, whether the Doctrine I have here published, was always the Doctrine of this Church, even from the Beginning of the Reformation to this Time: Let him read Archbishop Cranmer, the Martyr's, Sermon of the Keys; Bifhop Andrews's Sermon on the fame Text with that which I preach'd on; Bishop Baily's Practice of Piety, in that Place, where he fhews, how the Sick Perfon ought to fend for fome Godly and Religious Paftor; and Dr.Comber on the Common-Prayer. I doubt not but there' are many more excellent Difcourfes of this Subject, though I have not feen them: But these are fufficient to fhew, That what I have here published, has been the Senfe of the Religious and Learned of the Church of England, ever fince its Reformation from Popery.

If any Paffage in this Sermon may appear Harth, or any ways Exceptionable at firft fight, (though I am not confcious that there is any fuch Paffage) I defire the Candid Reader to compare it with what goes before, and follows after, where I doubt not but he will find it fully cleared.

I fhall conclude this Preface with Dr. Comber's Words juft before his Paraphrafe on the Abfolution, to be used at the Vifitation of the Sick :

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