communicate you cannot be excused from the Sin of Schism at least as to the Matter and Outward Act of it because where-ever there is an Actual Separation from a Church with which we ought and with which we may lawfully communicate there is an Actual Schism commenced let the Pretence for the Separation be what it will How far you are chargable before God with the formal Guilt of Schism I know not I must leave that to your Consciences and the Searcher of Hearts who knows whether your Separation be occasion'd through the fault of your Wills or the weakness of your Understandings whether through Passion or Humor or Interest or from the misfortune of your Circumstances as to Education or any other matter I hope the best and judge as charitably as I can and that is as charitably as any Man living This was and this is still my real Opinion and there is nothing said in your Paper to induce me to alter it for unless the Errors you separate from be such as make Communion absolutely unlawful you can never produce a Command to withdraw your Communion from the National Church where the Divine Providence hath placed you and especially from that Church wherein you were born and baptiz'd That 1 Cor. 6.17 which you pretend as a Command will not stand you in the least stead till you have proved our Service to be Idolatrous and we Unbelievers of whom you will find that the Apostle speaks if you will but look to v. 14 and as the Margin directs you to Isa 52.11 whence these words are cited where the Prophet bids the whole Body of the Jews to fly out of Babylon and therefore it must be something worse than gross Ignorance to apply it to such a Separation as you are in I doubt not but the Errors as you call them mentioned in this Paper are thought by you to be the greatest of any in our Church and yet even these have been abundantly vindicated from that Imputation and Christ's own Ordinances are Administred by us according to his own Institution without any such Defect or Addition as alters their Nature and destroys their Vertue And what purer Administration and Ordinances Men would have than those of our Saviour's own Institution without any corrupt and sinful Mixtures to spoil their Vertue and Efficacy I cannot tell nor durst this Man positively say in his Paper that Christ's Ordinances are not thus purely Administred by us notwithstanding his sly and malicious Insinuation to the contrary But granting that in the Administration of Christ's Ordinances there be some particular Modes and Rites accompanying them which are not commanded in the Gospel if they are such as do not destroy the Efficacy or alter the Nature of the Ordinance they cannot be pretended unlawful or the Ordinance ever the less purely Administred because the Vnlawfulness of any thing depends upon its being forbidden and the Purity of Divine Administrations upon their Agreement with the Institution Thus the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administred exactly according to the Institution of our Blessed Saviour and because it is the most solemn part of Christian Worship and deliver'd to the Receiver with a most devout and affectionate Prayer that the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given and shed for him may preserve his Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life and therefore requires the utmost Devotion and Reverence of both Soul and Body it is order'd to be received kneeling Thus also is Baptism purely Administred and after the Person is baptized and solemnly received into Christ's Church he is signed with the Sign of the Cross in tokâ— that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified but manfully to fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and continue Christ's faithful Soldier and Servant unto his Life's end And at the Baptism of Infants Persons are deputed by the Parents expâ—icitly in the Infant 's Name to make that Vow and Stipulation which those who allow of their Baptism must however suppose to be tacitly and implicitly made by them and also to give Collateral Security to the Church for the Religious Education of the Infant the design of which Institution was to provide against the Remisness or Mortality of the Parents whose Obligation to breed up their Children in the Fear of God is never the less but is on the contrary thought to be already so great by the Laws of Nature and Religion that they themselves cannot be more strictly bound It is indeed to be lamented that the Regard to this Appointment is not answerable to the Piety and Excellency of its design but it ought to be consider'd that that is the fault of the Men and not of the Constitution and that those who object against it upon this score may themselves help to remedy it Now if when Christ's Ordinances are thus purely Administred it be not a rending and dividing the Body of Christ so highly to contend for such Modes of Administration which are not more Scriptural but only more agreeable to their own Fancies as to separate from and break the Peace of Christ's Church if I say this be not a rending the Body of Christ I know not by what Name to call it and I believe my Opponent will be hard put to it to give it a more proper one But allowing that those you insist upon be Errors Are they fundamental ones Are they destructive of true Christian Faith and Practice Did I not know the Power of Passion and Prejudice I durst be confident you will say they are not but however I positively assert they are not and defie all the Dissenters in England to prove that they are If they are not then your own Writers shall instruct you in your Duty Private Brethren says Mr. Noys may not separate from Churches and Church Ordinances which are not fundamentally defective neither in Doctrine or Manners Heresie or Prophaneness Dr. Owen asserts That many Errors in Doctrine Disorders in sacred Administrations irregular walking in Conversation with neglect and abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches and yet not evacuate their Church-State or give sufficient warrant to leave their Communion and separate from them Mr. Cotton saith Vnless you find in the Church Blasphemy or Idolatry or Persecution i. e. such as forces them to leave the Communion there is no just Ground of Separation Observe saith Mr. Baxters in his Catalogue of the Faults of nine Churches in Scripture that no one Member is in all these Scriptures or any other commanded to come out and separate from any of all these Churches as if their Communion in Worship were unlawful And therefore before you separate from any as judging Communion with them unlawful be sure that you bring greater Reasons than any of these recited were And this Advice he gives to his Brethren Teach them to know that all Men are imperfect and faulty and so
a regard for the everlasting Salvation of our own Souls that we shall endeavour to make choice of such a Minister as may be able to divide the Word of Truth aright and give to every one their Portion in due season REPLY I have observed but very little Coherence in any part of this Paper but I see none at all in this Clause on the contrary the very design of chusing another Minister is a Proof beyond denial of your Desire of Separation Your Reformation was the drift of my Paper and 't is Nonsense for you to retort it upon us till you have given some better Proofs that there are really such Faults in the Constitution of our Church as ought to be amended But if the Reformation you desire be as to Matters which you either have proved or can prove to be really evil I doubt not but the next Convocation that sits will readily gratifie you herein nay I verily think that they would take away some of those Ceremonies you scruple or however leave the Use of them to every ones liberty as the Canons of 40 have done Bowing towards the East if you could secure them against the evil Consequences of unnecessary Alterations or give them sufficient Grounds to believe that the Dissenters of this Kingdom would then Vnite in the Communion of the Church or that the major part of you who are distinguish'd from the other Sects by the Name of Presbyterians would thereupon come over thereto or indeed that such a Method of proceeding would not drive more out of the Church than it would bring in But if the Reformation you talk of be such as would maim and wound at least if not Vnchurch us or however lay us open to all manner of Confusion it is unreasonable you should be complied with and you do thereby plainly shew your Desires to be either after Ascendency over us or Separation from us Of which another Evidence is that you use no Endeavours to get your selves satisfied of the Lawfulness of joyning in our Worship You only read Books and hear Persons of one side You are full of Prejudice against us and are glad of any Pretence to separate from us You cry out against the Common-prayer but pray let me ask you and answer it to your Consciences Have you ever seriously and impartially read and examin'd that Book Have you a desire to hold Communion with us if you could perswade your selves that you might lawfully do it Have you proposed your Scruples to the Divines of our Church or Have you read what they have written in order to your satisfaction If you have done all these things then you have acted fairly But then let me ask again Have you met with any of your own Teachers that are able to give a sufficient Answer to their Arguments They may possibly put you off with Noise and Clamour instead of true Reason but certain it is they have none of them yet answer'd those excellent things that have been writ in the defence of our Church If they think their Cause so good and themselves able to defend it let them try their Skill at Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity and the several Treatises writ by our Divines in the Reign of King Charles the Second not above two of which were ever answer'd but those Answers were Replied to without ever a Rejoinder some or all of which I would have those among you that have Time and Capacities for it to peruse particularly those that I have already had or shall have occasion to mention or refer to as also a Perswasive to Communion with the Church of England by the late Bishop of Chichester and The Case of Indifferent Things by the present Bishop of that Diocess The Discourses about Conscience and a Scrupulous Conscience by the present Archbishop of York and Dr. Calamy wherein you will be inform'd how far that Pretence will and will not bear you out in your Separation Our Church is freed from the Imputation of Popery by Dr. Hooper and all your Objections against the Common-Prayer answer'd by Dr. Claggett and Dr. Comber which latter has largely and devoutly Explain'd and Paraphras'd upon every part of it Mr. Evans has in two parts stated and resolved for you the Case of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament And several more Discourses there are all writ with that Candour and Calmness which if you have leisure is sufficient to invite you to peruse and consider them And indeed one would wonder that after so many excellent Tracts writ in vindication of our Church there should be such a Person as a Dissenter in England I have all or most of these things by me and the Use of them is at the service of any of you that will desire and accept of it but you must put in practise the Advice of Epictetus which is to seek after Truth with the indifference of Travellers who matter not whether their way be to the right or left or forward so that it lead them to their Journeys end ANSWER Sir as for your accusing us of Schism the keeping it up in the Church of God and rending and dividing the Body of Christ and all for separating from those Errors the Church is guilty of from which we have a Commandment to separate our selves Come out from amongst them saith the Lord and touch not the Unclean thing and I will receive you now whether it be right to obey GOD or Man judge ye Now if you can make it appear that it is Schism to obey GOD rather than Man and that it 's a rending and dividing the Body of Christ when we contend but for the pure Administration of his Ordinances according to his own Appointment Now if you can prove this I will yield you the Cause REPLY Your saying that I accused you of Schism the keeping it up in the Church of God and rending and dividing the Body of Christ is false I did not positively charge you therewith I signified to you the Guilt and Danger of that Crime that you might take care not to incurr either by separating upon Humor or Prejudice without just Grounds and Reasons And I was purposely thus cautions in expressing my self that I might not baffle my own Design by saying any thing that might disoblige or exasperate Persons whom I had some Grounds to suspect were self will'd and too inclinable to be soon angry but since you will force me to speak out I 'll tell you my Mind freely and because this Man seems to exult in vindicating you from that Charge and says it wholly upon us I will endeavour to make it appear that notwithstanding any thing he has said you are Schismaticks still That therefore which I do say and for which I have both good Reason and good Authority is this that forasmuch as you withdraw your Communion from that Church that I mean to which I invited you with which you lawfully may and with which therefore you ought to
of a manifest dangerous most abominable Schism or rather Apostacy This general and Universal Church tho' but one body is yet made up of several particular Members or Churches and by a particular Christian Church we understand a Number of Men of the same Country professing Christianity formed into a Society under lawful Governours and governed by such Laws and Rules as are not different from but agreeable to the Laws and Rules of the Catholick Church And if any Man or number of Men who are Members of that Society shall without just cause separate themselves from the Communion thereof he or they so doing are certainly guilty of Schism Such a Church as this was the Church at Corinth the Church at Jerusalem the Church at Ephesus the Church of the Thessalonians the Church of Laodicea the Church of Smyrna the Church of Pergamus the Church of Thyatira the Church of Sardis the Church of Philadelphia and such a Church as this is the National Establisht Church of England which through a Collection of several Parochial Congregations is yet properly but one particular Church by reason of the same bond of Faith Worship and Government whereby they are all United and so make one true sound and pure part of the Catholick or Universal Church Except then there be a more just cause of Separation than you either have alledged or can alledge it must be a very great sin to erect new Churches and separate in the Acts of Prayer and Sacraments from the Body of a Church and Nation For so at Corinth St. Paul told them whilst one was for Paul and another for Apollos and there were divisions among them they were Carnal and walked as Men 1 Cor. 3.34 And at Rome he bids them mark them who cause Divisions and Offences and not adhere and associate with but avoid them Rom. 16.17 or to enforce this in the words of the Presbyterians whereby they of old pleaded for Unity and Uniformity We are loth to speak any thing that may offend you yet we entreat you to consider that if the Apostle call those Divisions of the Church of Corinth wherein Christians did not separate into diverse formed Congregations of several Communions in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Schism 1 Cor. 1.10 may not your secession from us and professing you cannot joyn with us as Members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly called Schism And I must tell you further that it is never the less so in you upon the Account of the Act of Toleration which cannot nor does not pretend to exempt you from the Duty of Conformity but only from the Penalties of Nonconformity Your Separation is not one Jot the more reasonable or more just than it was before and those that were concerned in the drawing up of this Paper seem to be sensible of this in that they do not urge the Plea of Toleration but put their cause upon another Issue viz. the Merits of it But however Mr. Norris has cleared this case in his Charge of Schism continued notwithstanding the Toleration And now that I may be even with my Gentleman for his Idol-syllogism I shâ—â—â— Sum this whole Matter in a Syllogism all the parts whereof have been sufficiently proved to be as true as that was proved to be false and it runs thus Whoever separate from a Church with which they may lawfully communicate are guilty of Schism But you separate from a Church with which you may lawfully communicate Therefore you are guilty of Schism Or if you would rather that I should put the Argument into form in your own Words it stands thus Whoever are divided from the external Communion of the true Church are Schismatiks But you are divided from the external Communion of the true Church Therefore you are Schismaticks The Major or first of these Propositions is your own The Minor or second Proposition is true also because it is undeniable that the Church of England is a true Church and too sadly apparent that you separate from external Communion with her in the Exercise of Prayers and Sacraments the Ordinances of the true Church whence the Conclusion necessarily follows that you are Schismaticks And if so then I beseech you lay to Heart the words of Mr. Ball one of the most learned and judicious Non-conformists before the Wars as Dr. Stilling fleet stiles him in his Mischief of Separaton where he quotes him for them speaking of Separation he calls it a Renting the Church the Disgrace of Religion the Advancement of Pride Schism and Contention the Offence of the Weak the Grief of the Godly who be better setled the Hardning of the Wicked and Recovery or Rising again of Anti-Christianism nay even persecuting the Lord Jesus in his Host which they revile in his Ordinances which they dishonour and in his Servants whose Footsteps they slander whose Graces they Despise whose Office they Trample upon with Disdain ANSWER And I hope God will so direct us in Choosing our Minister that we shall make choice of such a one as will eandeavour to keep with in the Bounds and Limits of the Laws of God and Man and in particular the Act of Toleration and one I hope that will give no Disturbance in the Parish unless you will be disturbed as I fear you are and have been for the Preaching of the Gospel you know such Men there were in the Apostles days these Men say they do exceedingly trouble our City you know who they were that were accused those who were the Faithful Ambassadours of Jesus Christ REPLY I did not desire you to take care in the choice of a Minister there is no Room for that as long as I live and I am not legally dispossessed But if you must have another Preacher who in your Judgements is better qualified than I am I wish still that he may be a Man of Prudence and Temper one that will strictly confine himself within the Bounds and Limits of the Act of Toleration which restrains him wholly to the Meeting-House where he is licenced in the Exercise of his Talent of preaching gives him no Indulgence to perform any other Ministerial Office either there or in any other place nor to Rail and Revile or speak against the Church and Common Prayer either in his Sermons or elsewhere nor to go about to seduce People from the Established Service and their own Proper Minister There is no Toleration that I know of for these and the like Practises to either him or any other and therefore I think it is good and kind Advice both to you and him to keep within the Bounds of that Act for fear an Enquiry should be made whether all such who do not observe the Conditions of the Indulgence be not as liable to the Law as if they had none But let him be as cautious as he will not to transgress that particular Law he must not pretend that he observes all the Laws of God and