to understand it as any one that ever pretended to write upon the Subject In the fifth page we have an aggregate description of the Communion of Saints which we shall particularly examine and apply to the present case the Communion of Saints consists of these things 1. A firm Belief of all the Articles of Faith contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creed and why not in Scripture these Creeds are but of Humane Composition and some things in them want Explanation however so far we are within Communion though hereby the Greek and other Eastern Churches are shut out which the Citizen of Chester has no Commission to do 2. To partake all of the same Table he cannot mean the same individual Table but the same Eucharist in specie so far we are with him still But whether this will not exclude the Papists who by denying the Cup to the Laity have taken away in part the matter of the Eucharist I shall leave to his second thoughts who I believe will not be over-forward in Unchurching them for fear of breaking the Line by which his own Church hangs 3. To join all in the same holy Prayers and Supplications and in giving Thanks he cannot mean that in these Duties we must necessarily use the very same words without the least adding substracting or changing for then he Excommunicates all the World but those of his own perswasion and a great many of them too 4. To be subject and obedient to our Spiritual Rulers and Governours who have derived their Authority from the Apostles by a due Succession in all things pertaining to a Godly Life Decency and Order We are very desirous to give due Honour and Obedience to our Spiritual Governours who derive their Authority from Christ which is more proper than to speak of deriving it from the Apostles for Christ is the only Fountain of Authority and the Streams are derived rather from the Fountain than the Cistern It is observable the Mans Expression is sunk from an uninterrupted Succession to a due Succession to observe the Apostolical precepts in Government and Worship may make it up a due Succession but there 's more required to an uninterrupted one than so Now before he can say we want this Qualification for Communion he must prove that Diocesan Prelates are made our Rulers by a Divine Command A single Person taking upon him to govern some thousands of Congregations by such Rules and Officers as our English Prelacy uses and this by the Nomination of the Civil Magistrate without the Consent of the People or of the Ministers within the Diocess is a Creature we neither find in Scripture nor in Primitive Times and therefore can be no Spiritual Governour of ours by Divine Right let him prove this and he does something but till this be done his whole Book is as insignificant as waste Paper When this Man or any one for him has made it to appear that the Authority of a Diocesan Prelate Dean Lay-Chancellor c. over all in the Diocess is as certain and Sacred as that of Moses and Aaron we will not dare to dispute it for fear of Corah's doom but till this be evinced I hope he will not take it amiss if we be not frighten'd out of our Wits by such misapplyed Passages which we have often heard urged to back the Doctrines of Non-resistance and all those Principles of Slavery some Men have been endeavouring to instil into our Minds but as we see they have no great regard for such alligations themselves when adhering to them would be chargeable and dangerous so we believe they cannot heartily blame us if we despise them too In the last Paragraph of the fifth page we have the Communion of Saints described over again being willing I suppose to make up in the Number what is wanting in Weight and here we are told all those particular Churches who agree with the Primitive Catholick Church in all the Articles of Faith and in the External Visible Worship and Service of God are true Members of the Universal Church and in the Communion of Saints In what Bounds he will fix the Primitive Church we know not certain it is a Century or two made a very considerable change in the features of their Government and Worship but if we must take our measures by those Courches that are truely Primitive we fear not to put our selves to the Tryal That our Congregations have this agreement in Faith none will deny and he has not proved that we differ from them in the Essential or Integral parts of Gods Worship or in any considerable circumstance and that this Divine Worship and Service is Visible and External this Gentleman is but too sensible and 't is a very great Eye-sore to such as he that it is so much more Visible than formerly it has been If we will take his confident and repeated assertions for demonstration we may believe that the Church of England has from the first planting of the Gospel here retained the Apostolical power of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by an uninterrupted Succession of Arch-Bishops and Bishops in a right Line from the Apostles days to this present time but how uncertain this is and how inconsistent with other parts of his Book I suppose has been sufficiently manifested I shall therefore take no farther notice of it especially because that till the true Bounds of Episcopal Power be fixt by Scripture Rules it is as impertinent as uncertain After he has thus delivered himself of his crude and confused apprehensions he tells Mr. H. he has done it as cleanly as he could and that may be true enough for ought I know but 't is no fault of Mr. H's he could do it no better his Capacity and Employment indeed may be some excuse for his blunders but will by no means lessen the fault of his officious and confident impertinency in medling with things he so little understands We are no way concerned in the Citation of the Fathers brought in against us till he has proved that Episcopacy then was the same thing it is now and that the terms of Communion we scruple were ever imposed by them Ignatius charges the Bishop in his time to take a personal cognizance of every Member of his Church not excepting the very Servants It was the Custom then in every Congregation to receive the Sacrament every Lords day and they never received it nisi ex Antistitis manu but from the Hand of the Bishop What could such Bishops be more than Pastors of single Congregations but I shall forbear dipping into this Argument which has been so copiously managed by Blondel Baxter Owen Clarkson and others It is observable in the passage cited out of Irenaeus the Presbyters are said to have their Succession from the Apostles it seems they were the Apostles Successors as well as Bishops surely then they must have the same power if the Bishops claim the power they have as the Apostles Successors
own for the pride and perverseness of men shall not make the Faith of Christ of none effect That prevalency of the Gospel which he speaks of in Primitive times we believe and adore that divine Energy that appeared therein making its way through so formidable an opposition as it every where met with and next to the Power of God which is to be accounted the principal cause we cannot but ascribe this wonderful success to the sanctity of the Preachers and the spirituality and simplicity of their Doctrine and Worship for we find it has made but a slow progress in the World since men upon pretence of adoring it have encumbred it with needless Ceremonies and committed the management thereof to men who many of them had little to recommend them to the service besides a vehement Zeal for these Religious Impertinencies But though the Apostles did propagate the Gospel far and wide yet that they did actually Preach it to all Nations is a thing we never heard of before T. W. told us so and we must have better evidence before we believe it Whether the seven Churches in Asia had seven Bishops presiding over them neither more nor less is a thing that no way affects the present Controversie nor can any thing be concluded from thence in favour of our English Prelacy till the Power of those Bishops the extent of their Diocesses the quality of their Under-Officers the Modes of their Worship and Terms of Communion be proved the same with ours or liable to the same exceptions We have no prejudice against Episcopacy name or thing provided it be reduced to the Primitive Standard He must not think to run us down with a bare word We find mention made of Presbyters in Scripture he would think it irrational from hence to assert Scotch Presbytery to be Jure Divino the name will signifie little in the debate till the true bounds and limits of the Office so named be stated and adjusted I will not take upon me to contradict those Learned men that think the Angels there mentioned were Bishops but to say it is plain by the word Angel they were so is a wonderful Argument indeed as if Bishop and Angel were convertible terms And so the two young men that came to rescue Lot out from the Sodomites were Bishops and the glorious Messengers that brought to Mary and Elizabeth the joyful tydings of our Saviour's approaching Birth were Bishops it 's plain they were so by the name Angel the Scriptures give them and if this hold good there will be a great many more Bishops in Heaven than Chrysostom expected to find there He tells us though there was a multiplication or plurality of Churches in those times by the encrease of Believers yet no variation I am glad to hear that the encrease of Believers will make it necessary to multiply Churches and why does it so but because the encrease of Church-members may be so great as makes them uncapable of ordinarily meeting together to worship God therefore a Church in the primitive sense must consist of no more than could ordinarily so meet and that every Church had its Bishop is evident for without the governing part it cannot be a distinct Political Society but if the model of our Episcopal Churches be right which are made up of some hundreds of Congregations and Millions of Persons that cannot be known to the Bishop or one to another if this I say be allowable I see not how the encrease of Believers can be a sufficient cause for the multiplying of Churches But what does he mean in saying in these multiplied Churches there was no variation was there no variety at all in any circumstance of worship That 's gratis dictum and the contrary may be proved even in the Apostles times Whence was that scuffle betwixt the believing Jews and Gentiles about Jewish Ceremonies Acts 15. What need was there of that Apostolical Synod and of all those precepts against imposing upon or condemning one another upon the account of different Sentiments If he means there was no variation from the Scripture Rules tho we are afraid that will scarce hold yet we wish it had been so still We have a Notion of Church Unity laid down p. 2. in which we freely concur with him i. e. That all Churches are one as united into one Body whereof Christ is Head having the same Baptism the same Faith and the same Eucharist that is the same for substance for it that they all agreed in the Primitive times in the same Circumstances such a Unity we hold and doubt not but in our Congregations this Unity may be found They are made up of visible Christians such as in the Judgment of Charity are united to Christ by Faith we have the same Baptism with the Apostolical Churches for Substance and come as near in circumstances as we can to the Rule leaving out the innovations of latter and more corrupt times we hold the same Doctrines of Faith and the same Eucharist and after the Apostolical Mode as far as by their Writings appears and thus far we are the same with them in the External Worship and Service of God and the same with all other true Churches as far as they are the same with the Apostolical and differ from them no farther than upon a serious Enquiry we find they differ from these We expect T. W. should stand to this Description of Church Unity he has here given us and if he does we can easily make it appear he has ruin'd his whole Book and Cause for if this be the true proper Unity of Churches then there may be true Church Unity without the uniting of many particular Churches Ministers and People into one Diocesan Church under the Jurisdiction of a Prelate and his Officers then there may be true Church Unity without a necessary observation of the same Parochial Precincts I do not speak against the conveniency of such a thing but only observe that it is not de Essentiâ Unitatis according to this Mans definition and there may be true Church Unity without an absolute Uniformity in the same Modes and Circumstances of Worship and consequently a Man may plead to the Jurisdiction of a Diocesan Prelate may step over Parish Bounds and may worship God without the Ceremonies used in England and yet be free from the guilt of Schism for if none of these things be Essential to the Churches Unity they may be omitted and that preserved entire notwithstanding Touching the continuance of the Church of God upon Earth we have no Controversie with him we believe it will be till Christs second coming but whereas he affirms that the power wherewith our Saviour vested the Apostles was not to cease or expire with them we think a Man of Sence would have distinguish'd betwixt the extraordinary power which was properly Apostolical and that ordinary Pastoral power which was eminently comprehended in the other as to the former we do not
Udal Barrow c. as Dr. Fuller himself testifies That Great Princess had something of the â—â—re in her and there wanted not Prelaâ—â—ck Breath to blow the Spark into a flame Mr. Baxter's Censure of a Universal Toleration which he would twit us with agrees with the sence of every wise and good Man in England but surely there 's a great deal of difference betwixt tolerating all how Erroneous soever their Tenets may be and giving ease to such as only differ from you in Ceremonies which your selves confess might well be spared if this Man knows no Medium betwixt tolerating the grossest Heresies and Blasphemous Opinions and tying all Men up to the very same Punctilio with our selves he shall never be a Privy Councillor He falls very foul on Mr. H. for saying the Unthinking Mobile are so well taught as to know no other Churches but the publick places of Worship are easily induc'd to believe we leave the Church This he says is highly reproachful as if the Pastors of the Church seduc'd the people to believe that which is false Mr. H. does not charge them with having seduced them to believe what is false but they are indeed very many of them justly chargeable with not having sufficiently taught them what is true for our most common Experience assures us that there is amongst you a Debauched Ignorant Rabble that Rant and Swear against our Hearers upon this very account and never offer at any other reason but that they leave the Church for you to deny that there are such a Crew is to trample upon our Sences and perswade us we can neither hear nor see How many of the Privy Council Judges and Magistrates believe us to be Schismaticks we know not but we do not think any of them grounds the charge meerly upon our leaving the Churches which was all Mr. H. spoke of here when you have proved that the presence of God is as much confined to your Churches as it was to Jerusalem your instance may be worth something but when our Saviour tells us that Distinction was to be immediately laid aside 't was very impertinent to urge it now I do not know whether Mr. Dodwel may have hired you to cry his Books but he knows very well where to find his Answer though you do not Mr. Baxter has saved us that Labour in more Treatises than one He complains we rob their Parish Churches I suppose these men look upon all within the parochial Precincts to be their own Goods and Chattels but this cannot be pretended to be by Divine right and therefore the Transgression thereof cannot be the true Nature of Schism whilst men have Preachers thrust upon them without their Election or Consent which is perfectly contrary to Primitive Custom no wonder if they leave them and go to others they are better satisfied in Mr. H. very candidly endeavours to extenuate the difference betwixt Protestants who all believe the same Christian Faith and joyn in the same abhorrence of Papal Delusions to which the man replies by this a man may be an Arrian a Socinian or Atheist and yet free from Schism what do these believe the same Christian Faith with us I could almost blush for this mans gross disingenuity He 's now become such a perfect Humourist he cannot forbear Quarreling with us for not reading the Prayers made for the Wednesday Fast and asks us what account we can give to God and the Government for such Omission Sir You may know if you please that the Kings command to read those Prayers does not extend to us we are not mentioned nor designed therein and where there 's no Law there 's no Transgression We have reason to think the Government does not in the least question but that we are as hearty in our Prayers on this occasion as T. W. who was somewhat with the latest in testifying his Allegiance thereunto 'T is a gross Calumny that we impute our Prayers to the immediate Dictates of the Spirit of God much less the Levities and Impertinencies of them we do believe there is a gift of Prayer that is to be attained by the use of ordinary means and nevertheless is from God who is the Fountain of every good and perfect Gift and this is fully and excellently vindicated by that truly Pious and Worthy Bishop Dr. Wilkins The words you put in the Margin as charged upon Mr. H. are very false as many Persons of as untainted Reputation as your self can testifie You might have spared your Commendation of the Liturgy we grant there are many good Petitions therein but we know no reason to limit our selves unto it as if a man without the Gift of Miracles could not speak Sence in a Prayer but by a prescribed form of words but it were Presumption to attempt it when Miracles are ceased as our great Adversaries to conceited Prayers pretend which by the way is little less than Lampoon upon the common sence of English men I have now waited upon the Citizen through all those Passages of his Book which even he himself can think material and upon the whole I make little question but every sober unprejudiced Reader will joyn with me in these Reflections I. That Mr. M. H. has given us the true Scriptural Notion of Schism that is An uncharitable Alienation of Affection amongst professed Christians occasioned by their different Apprehensions about little things This was the very thing which St. Paul reproves as Schism in the Corinthians and no doubt he knew very well what he said and was acted by too good a Spirit to become a false Accuser of the Brethren To this T. W. has given no manner of Answer but instead of that peremptorily asserts that the formal Nature of Schism is diversity of Communion which both contradicts Scripture and leaves the matter still in Confusion and Darkness for since where-ever there is a diversity there must be two parties diverse this definition may make both or either of them Schismatical but does not determine which till all the Circumstances of the case be considered which makes it evident that the form of Schism lyes not in the distinction of Communion it self but in the true Causes of it which upon due search will be found to be one of these two either Uncharitableness or Unwilling mistake to lay so dreadful a charge as this of Schism is accounted upon an involuntary mistake seems very hard and not agreeable with the Nature of the Gospel that makes so large allowances for this kind of weakness and has commanded us all to do so It must therefore necessarily fall upon the former which having more of the perverseness of the Will in it and being much more contrary to the Nature of Christianity and to the Unity of the Spirit appears by all marks to be the real Criminal after which the Hue and Cry was sent II. That the design of Mr. H's Books appears to be honest and peaceable it is no way calculated