Harrison His example was soon followed by others of his Brethren who Wrote the Admonition to the Followers of Brown and the Defence of that Admonition When Barrow and Greenwood published their Four Reasons for Separation Three of which they took out of the Admonition to the Parliament viz. Vnlawful Ministry Antichristian Government and False Worship Gifford a Non-conformist at Maldon in Essex undertook to Answer them in several Treatises And it is observable that these Non-conformists Charge the Brownists with making a Vile Notorious and Damnable Schism because they withdrew from the Communion of our Churches and set up New Ones of their own Gifford not only calls them Schismaticks but saith They make a Vile Schism Rending themselves from the Church of England and condemning by their Assertions the Whole Visible Church in the World even as the Donatists did of old time and he adds That the end of Brownism as it was then called is Infinite Schismes Heresies Atheism and Barbarism And the same Author in his Second Book reckoning up the ill effects of this Separation among the People hath these remarkable words Now look also on the People where we may see very many who not regarding the chief Christian Vertues and Godly Duties as namely to be Meek to be Patient to be Lowlie to be full of Love and Mercy to deal Vprightly and Iustly to Guide their Families in the Fear of God with Wholsome Instructions and to stand fast in the Calling in which God hath set them give themselves wholly to this even as if it were the Sum and Pith of Religion namely to Argue and Talk continually against Matters in the Church against Bishops and Ministers and one against another on both sides Some are proceeded to this that they will come to the Assemblies to hear the Sermons and Prayers of the Preacher but not to the Prayers of the Book which I take to be a more grievous sin than many do suppose But yet this is not the worst for sundry are gone further and fallen into a Damnable Schism and the same so much the more fearful and dangerous in that many do not see the foulness of it but rather hold them as Godly Christians and but a little over-shot in these matters But that this Man went upon the Principles of the Non-conformists appears by his Stating the Question in the same Preface For I shewed saith he in express words that I do not meddle at all in these Questions whether there be corruptions and faults in our Church condemned by Gods Word whether they be many or few whether they be small or great but only thus far whether they be such or so great as make our Churches Antichristian Barrow saith That this Gifford was one that Ioyned with the rest of the Faction in the Petition to the Parliament against the English Hierarchy and it appears by several passages of his Books that he was a Non-conformist and he is joyned with Cartwright Hildersham Brightman and other Non-conformists by the Prefacer to the Desence of Bradshaw against Iohnson and I find his Name in one of the Classes in Essex at that time The Author of the Second Answer for Communicating who defends T. Cs. Letter to Harrison Browns Colleague against Separation proves Ioyning with the Church a Duty necessarily enjoyned him of God by his Providence through his being and placing in a particular Church and justly required of him by the Church or Spiritual Body through that same inforcing Law of the coherence and being together of the parts and members which is the express Ordinance of God So that saith he unless I hold the Congregation whereof I am now disanulled and become no Church of Christ for the not separating an unworthy Member I cannot voluntarily either absent my self from their Assemblies to Holy Exercises or yet depart away being come together without Breach of the Bond of Peace Sundring the Cement of Love empairing the growth of the Body of Christ and incurring the guilt of Schism and Division To the same purpose he speaks elsewhere Richard Bernard calls it An Vncharitable and Lewd Schism which they were guilty of But I need not mention more particular Aâ—thors since in the Grave Confutation of the Errors of the Separatists in the Name of the Non-conformists it is said That because we have a True Church conâ—â—ting of a Lawful Ministery and a Faithful People therefore they cannot separate themselves from us but they must needs incur the most shameful and odious Reproach of Manifest Schism And concerning the State of the Persons who lived in Separation they say We hold them all to be in a Dangerous Estate we are loth to say in a Damnable Estate as long as they continue in this Schism Sect. 9. But for our farther understanding the full State of this Controversie we must consider What things were agreed on both sides and where the Main Points of Difference lay 1. The Separatists did yield the Doctrine or Faith of the Church of England True and Sound and a Possibility of Salvation in the Communion of it In their Apology presented to King Iames thus they speak We testifie by these presents unto all Men and desire them to take knowledge hereof that we have not forsaken any one Point of the True Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith professed in our Land but hold the same Grounds of Christian Religion with them still And the Publisher of the Dispute about Separation between Iohnson and Iacob saith That the first Separatists never denied that the Doctrine and Profession of the Churches of England was sufficient to make those that believed and obeyed them to be true Christians and in the state of Salvation but always held professed and acknowledged the contrary Barrow saith That they commended the Faith of the English Martyrs and deemed them saved notwithstanding the false Offices and great corruptions in the Worship exercised And in the Letter to a Lady a little before his Death he saith He had Reverend estimation of sundry and good hope of many hundred thousands in England though he utterly disliked the present Constitution of this Church in the present Communion Ministry Worship Government and Ordinances Ecclesiastical of these Cathedral and Parishional Assemblies 2. The Separatists granted That Separation was not Justifiable from a Church for all Blemishes and Corruptions in it Thus they express themselves in their Apology Neither count we it lawful for any Member to forsake the Fellowship of the Church for blemishes and imperfections which every one according to his Calling should studiously seek to cure and to expect and further it until either there follow redress or the Disease be grown incurable And in the 36 Article of the Confession of their Faith written by Iohnson and Ainsworth they have these words None is to separate from a Church rightly gathered and established for faults and Corruptions which may and so
committed to the Presbyters Preaching and Administration of Sacraments required of them and the exercise of Discipline as far as belongs to them of which afterwards but now in the Consecration of a Bishop this part is left out and instead of that it is said That he is called to the Government of the Church and he is required to correct and punish such as be unquiet disobedient and criminous in his Diocese So that the more particular charge of Souls is committed to every Pastour over his own Flock and the general care of Government and Discipline is committed to the Bishop as that which especially belongs to his Office as distinct from the other Sect. 13. II. Which is the next thing to be considered viz. What Authority the Bishop hath by virtue of his Consecration in this Church And that I say is what Mr. B. calls the ordinary parts of the Apostolical Authority which lies in three things Government Ordination and Censures And that our Church did believe our Bishops to succeed the Apostles in those parts of their Office I shall make appear by these things 1. In the Preface before the Book of Ordination it is said That it is evident unto all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient Authours that from the Apostles time there have been these Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church Bishops Priests and Deacons What is the reason that they express it thus from the Apostles time rather than in the Apostles times but that they believed while the Apostles lived they managed the affairs of Government themselves but as they withdrew they did in some Churches sooner and in some later as their own continuance the condition of the Churches and the qualification of Persons were commit the care and Government of Churches to such Persons whom they appointed thereto Of which we have an uncontroulable evidence in the Instances of Timothy and Titus for the care of Government was a distinct thing from the Office of an Evangelist and all their removes do not invalidate this because while the Apostles lived it is probable there were no fixed Bishops or but few But as they went off so they came to be settled in their several Churches And as this is most agreeable to the sense of our Church so it is the fairest Hypothesis for reconciling the different Testimonies of Antiquity For hereby the succession of Bishops is secured from the Apostles times for which the Testimonies of Irenaeus Tertullian Saint Cyprian and others are so plain hereby room is left to make good all that Saint Ierom hath said and what Epiphanius delivers concerning the differing settlements of Churches at first So that we may allow for the Community of names between Bishop and Presbyter for a while in the Church i. e. while the Apostles governed the Churches themselves but afterwards that which was then part of the Apostolical Office became the Episcopal which hath continued from that time to this by a constant succession in the Church 2. Archbishop Whitgift several times declares that these parts of the Apostolical Office still remained in the Bishops of our Church As for this part of the Apostles function saith he to visit such Churches as were before planted and to provide that such were placed in them as were vertuous and godly Pastours I know it remaineth still and is one of the chief parts of the Bishops function And again there is now no planting of Churches nor going through the whole world there is no writing of new Gospels no prophesying of things to come but there is Governing of Churches visiting of them reforming of Pastours and directing of them which is a portion of the Apostolical function Again Although that this part of the Apostolical Office which did consist in planting and founding of Churches through the whole world is ceased yet the manner of Government by placing Bishops in every City by moderating and Governing them by visiting the Churches by cutting off schisms and contentions by ordering Ministers remaineth still and shall continue and is in this Church in the Archbishops and Bishops as most meet men to execute the same Bishop Bilson fully agrees as to these particulars 1. That the Apostles did not at first commit the Churches to the Government of Bishops but reserved the chief power of Government in their own hands 2. That upon experience of the confusion and disorder which did arise through equality of Pastours did appoint at their departures certain approved men to be Bishops 3. That these Bishops did succeed the Apostles in the care and Government of Churches as he proves at large and therefore he calls their function Apostolick Instead of many others which it were easie to produce I shall onely add the Testimony of King Charles I. in his debates about Episcopacy who understood the Constitution of our Church as well as any Bishop in it and defended it with as clear and as strong a Reason In his third Paper to Henderson he hath these words Where you find a Bishop and Presbyter in Scripture to be one and the same which I deny to be always so it is in the Apostles times now I think to prove the Order of Bishops succeeded that of the Apostles and that the name was chiefly altered in reverence to those who were immediately chosen by our Saviour In his first Paper at the Treaty at Newport he thus states the case about Episcopal Government I conceive that Episcopal Government is most consonant to the word of God and of an Apostolical Institution as it appears by the Scriptures to have been practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular persons as their substitutes or successours therein as for ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving Rules concerning Christian Discipline and exercising Censures over Presbyters and others and hath ever since to these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ and therefore I cannot in conscience consent to abolish the said Government In his Reply to the first Answer of the Divines he saith that meer Presbyters are Episcopi Gregis onely they have the oversight of the Flock in the duties of Preaching Administration of Sacraments publick Prayer Exhorting Rebuking c. but Bishops are Episcopi Gregis Pastorum too having the oversight of Flock and Pastours within their several precincts in the Acts of external Government And that although the Apostles had no Successours in eundem gradum as to those things that were extraordinary in them as namely the Measure of their Gifts the extent of their charge the infallibility of their Doctrine and the having seen Christ in the flesh but in those things that were not extraordinary and such those things are to be judged which are necessary for the service of the Church in all times as the Office of Teaching and the Power of Governing are they were to have and had Successours and therefore the learned and godly Fathers
Reformation he declares That he did mightily approve a Certain Form from which Men ought not to vary both to prevent the inconveniencies which some Mens folly would betray them to in the free way of Praying and to manifest the General Consent of the Churches in their Prayers and to stop the vain affectation of some who love to be shewing some new things Let Mr. Br. now Judge Whether it were likely that the Controversie then at Frankford was as he saith between them that were for the English Liturgy and others that were for a free way of Praying when Calvin to whom the Dissenters appealed was so much in his Judgment against the latter And it appears by Calvin's Letter to Cox and his Brethren that the State of the Case at Frankford had not been truly represented to him which made him Write with greater sharpness than otherwise he would have done and he expresses his satisfaction that the matter was so composed among them when by Dr. Cox his means the English Liturgy was brought into use at Frankford And to excuse himself for his liberal censures before he mentions Lights as required by the Book which were not in the second Liturgy of Edward the Sixth So that either they deceived him who sent him the Abstract or he was put to this miserable shift to defend himself the matter being ended contrary to his expectation For although upon the receipt of Calvin's Letter the Order of Geneva had like to have been presently voted in yet there being still some Fast Friends to the English Service they were fain to compromise the matter and to make use of a Mixt Form for the present But Dr. Cox and others coming thither from England and misliking these Alterations declared That they were for having the Face of an English Church there and so they began the Letany next Sunday which put Knox into so great a Rage that in stead of pursuing his Text which was directly contrary he made it his business to lay open the nakedness of our Church as far as his Wit and Ill Will would carry him He charged the service-Service-Book with Superstition Impurity and Imperfection and the Governors of our Church with slackness in Reformation want of Discipline with the business of Hooper allowing Pluralities all the ill things he could think on When Cox and his Party with whom at this time was our excellent Iewel were admitted among them they presently forbad Knox having any thing farther to do in that Congregation who being complained of soon after for Treason against the Emperor in a Book by him Published he was forced to leave the City and to retire to Geneva whither most of his Party followed him And thus saith Grindal in his Letter to Bishop Ridley The Church at Frankford was well quieted by the Prudence of Mr. Cox and others which met there for that purpose Sect. 4. It is observed by the Author of the Life of Bishop Jewel before his Works that this Controversie was not carried with them out of England but they received New Impressions from the places whither they went For as those who were Exiles in Henry the Eighth's time as particularly Hooper who lived many years in Switzerland brought home with them a great liking of the Churches Model where they had lived which being such as their Country would bear they supposed to be nearer Apostolical Simplicity being far enough from any thing of Pomp or Ceremony which created in them an aversion to the Ornaments and Vestments here used So now upon this new Persecution those who had Friendship at Geneva as Knox and Whittingham or were otherwise much obliged by those of that way as the other English were who came first to Frankford were soon possessed with a greater liking of their Model of Divine Service than of our own And when Men are once engaged in Parties and several Interests it is a very hard matter to remove the Prejudices which they have taken in especially when they have great Abettors and such whose Authority goes beyond any Reason with them This is the True Foundation of those Unhappy Differences which have so long continued among us about the Orders and Ceremonies of our Church For when Calvin and some others found that their Counsel was not like to be followed in our Reformation our Bishops proceeding more out of Reverence to the Ancient Church than meer opposition to Popery which some other Reformers made their Rules they did not cease by Letters and other wayes to insinuate that our Reformation was imperfect as long as any of the Dregs of Popery remained So they called the Vse of those Ceremonies which they could not deny to have been far more Ancient than the great Apostasy of the Roman Church Calvin in his Letter to the Protector Avows this to be the best Rule of Reformation To go as far from Popery as they could and therefore what Habits and Ceremonies had been abused in the time of Popery were to be removed lest others were hardened in their Superstition thereby but at last he yields to this moderation in the case That such Ceremonies might be reteined as were easie and fitted to the Capacities of the People provided they were not such as had their beginning from the Devil or Antichrist i.e. were not first begun in the time of Popery Now by this Rule of Moderation our Church did proceed for it took away all those Ceremonies which were of late invention As in Baptism of all the multitude of Rites in the Roman Church it reserved in the Second Liturgy only the Cross after Baptism which was not so used in the Roman Church for there the Sign of the Cross is used in the Scrutinies before Baptism and the Anointing with the Chrysm in vertice after it in stead of these our Church made choice of the Sign of the Cross after Baptism being of Uncontroulable Antiquity and not used till the Child is Baptized In the Eucharist in stead of Fifteen Ceremonies required in the Church of Rome our Church hath only appointed Kneeling I say appointed for although Kneeling at the Elevation of the Host be strictly required by the Roman Church yet in the Act of Receiving it is not as manifestly appears by the Popes manner of Receiving which is not Kneeling but either Sitting as it was in Bonaventures time or after the fashion of Sitting or a little Leaning upon his Throne as he doth at this day therefore our Church taking away the Adoration at the Elevation lest it should seem to recede from the Practise of Antiquity which received the Eucharist in the Posture of Adoration then used hath appointed Kneeling to be observed of all Communicants In stead of the great number of Consecrated Vestments in the Roman Church it only retained a plain Linnen Garment which was unquestionably used in the times of St. Hierome and St. Augustin And lastly As to the Episcopal Habits they are retained only as
II. Of the Nature of the Present Separation Sect. 1. HAving made it my business in the foregoing Discourse to shew How far the present Dissenters are gone off from the Principles of the old Non-conformists I come to consider What those Principles are which they now proceed upon And those are of Two sorts First Of such as hold partial and occasional Communion with our Churches to be lawful but not total and constant i. e. they judge it lawful at some times to be present in some part of our Worship and upon particular occasions to partake of some acts of Communion with us but yet they apprehend greater purity and edification in separate Congregations and when they are to choose they think themselves bound to choose these although at certain seasons they may think it lawful to submit to occasional Communion with our Church as it is now established Secondly Of such as hold any Communion with our Church to be unlawful because they believe the Terms of its Communion unlawful for which they instance in the constant use of the Liturgy the Aereal sign of the Cross kneeling at the Communion the observation of Holy-dayes renouncing other Assemblies want of Discipline in our Churches and depriving the People of their Right in choosing their own Pastors To proceed with all possible clearness in this matter we must consider these Three things 1. What things are to be taken for granted by the several parties with respect to our Church 2. Wherein they differ among themselves about the nature and degrees of Separation from it 3. What the true State of the present Controversie about Separation is I. In General they cannot deny these three things 1. That there is no reason of Separation because of the Doctrine of our Church 2. That there is no other reason of Separation because of the Terms of our Communion than what was from the beginning of the Reformation 3. That Communion with our Church hath been still allowed by the Reformed Churches abroad 1. That there is no Reason of Separation because of the Doctrine of our Church This was confessed by the Brownists and most rigid Separatists as is proved already and our present Adversaries agree herein Dr. Owen saith We agree with our Brethren in the Faith of the Gospel and we are firmly united with the main Body of Protestants in this Nation in Confession of the same Faith And again The Parties at difference do agree in all Substantial parts of Religion and in a Common Interest as unto the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion Mr. Baxter saith That they agree with us in the Doctrine of the 39 Articles as distinct from the form of Government and imposed abuses And more fully elsewhere Is not the Non conformists Doctrine the same with that of the Church of England when they subscribe to it and offer so to do The Independents as well as Presbyterians offer to subscribe to the Doctrine of the 39 Articles as distinct from Prelacy and Ceremony We agree with them in the Doctrine of Faith and the Substance of God's Worship saith the Author of the last Answer And again We are one with the Church of England in all the necessary points of Faith and Christian Practice We are one with the Church of England as to the Substance and all necessary parts of God's Worship And even Mr. A. after many trifling cavils acknowledges That the Dissenters generally agree with that Book which is commonly called the 39 Articles which was compiled above a Hundred years ago and this Book some Men call the Church of England I know not who those Men are nor by what Figure they speak who call a Book a Church but this we all say That the Doctrine of the Church of England is contained therein and whatever the opinions of private persons may be this is the Standard by which the Sense of our Church is to be taken And that no objection ought to be made against Communion with our Church upon account of the Doctrine of it but what reaches to such Articles as are owned and received by this Church 2. That there are in effect no new termes of Communion with this Church but the same which our first Reformers owned and suffered Martyâ—dom for in Q. Maries days Not but that some alterations have been made since but not such as do in the Judgment of our Brethren make the terms of Communion harder than before Mr. Baxter grants that the terms of Lay Communion are rather made easier by such Alterations even since the additional Conformity with respect to the late Troubles The same Reasons then which would now make the terms of our Communion unlawful must have held against Cranmer Ridley c. who laid down their Lives for the Reformation of this Church And this the old Non-conformists thought a considerable Argument against Separating from the Communion of our Church because it reflected much on the honor of our Martyrs who not only lived and died in the Communion of this Church and in the practice of those things which some are now most offended at but were themselves the great Instruments in setling the Terms of our Communion 3. That Communion with our Church hath been still owned by the Protestant and Reformed Churches abroad Which they have not only manifested by receiving the Apology and Articles of our Church into the Harmony of Confessions but by the Testimony and Approbation which hath been given to it by the most Esteemed and Learned Writers of those Churches and by the discountenance which they have still given to Separation from the Communion of it This Argument was often objected against the Separatists by the Non-conformists and Ainsworth attempts to Answer it no less than Four times in one Book but the best Answer he gives is That if it prove any thing it proves more than they would have For saith he the Reformed Churches have discerned the National Church of England to be a true Church they have discerned the Diocesan Bishops of England as well as the Parish-Priests to be true Ministers and rejoyce as well for their Sees as for your Parishes having joyned these all alike in theâ—r Harmony As to the good opinion of the Reformed Church and Protestant Divines abroad concerning the Constitution and Orders of our Church so much hath been proved already by Dr. Durel and so little or nothing hath been said to disprove his Evidence that this ought to be taken as a thing granted but if occasion be given both he and oâ—hers are able to produce much more from the Testimony of foreign Divines in Justification of the Communion of our Church against all pretences of Separation from it Sect. 2. We now come to the several Hypotheses and Principles of Separation which are at this day among the Dissenters from our Church Some do seem to allow Separate Congregations only in such places where the Churches are not
came into their City And What could this be for but to draw People from their Churches to make up Separate Congregations And ever since that time they have been hammering out Principles such as they are to justifie their own practices But the Presbyterians did not joyn with the Papists for a General Toleration I grant some of them did not although very powerful Charm's were at that time used to draw them in and not a few swallowed the Specious Bait although some had the Skill to disentangle themselves from the Hook which went along with it But that this honor doth not belong Vniversally to them I shall thus evidently prove In A. D. 1675 there was a Book Printed Entituled The Peaceable Design or an Account of the Non-conformists Meetings by some Ministers of London In it an Objection is thus put But What shall we say then to the Pâ—pists The Answer is The Papist in our Account is but one sort of Recusants and the Conscientious and Peaceable among them must be held in the same Predicament with those among our selves that likewise refuse to come to Common Prayer What is this but joyning for a Toleration of Popery If this be not plain enough these words follow But as for the Common Papist who lives innocently in his way he is to us as other Separatists and so comes under like Toleration This notable Book with some few Additions and Alterations hath been since Printed and with great sincerity called An Answer to my Sermon And the Times being changed since the former Passage is thus alter'd The Papist is one whose Worship to us is Idolatry and we cannot therefore allow them the liberty of Publick Assembling themselves as others of the Separation Is it Idolatry and not to be tolerated in 1680 And was it Idolatry and to be tolerated in 1675 Or was it no Idolatry then but is become so now and intolerable Idolatry too The latter passage hath these Alterations in stead of He is to us as other Separatists and so comes under the like Toleration these are put in He is to us in regard of what he doth in private in the matter of his God as others who likewise refuse to come to Common Prayer Now we see Toleration struck out for the Papists but it was not only visible enough before but that very Book was Printed with a Design to present it to the Parliament which was the highest way of owning their Concurrence with the Papists for a general Toleration And the true reason of this alteration is that then was then and now is now And to shew yet farther what influence the Jesuitical Counsels have had upon their People as to the Course of Separation I shall produce the Testimony of a very considerable Person among them who understood those affairs as well as any Man viz Mr. Ph. Nye VVho not long before his Death foreseeing the Mischievous Consequence of those Extravagant Heats the People were running into VVrote a Discourse on purpose to prove it lawful to hear the Conforming Ministers and Answers all the Common Objections against it towards the Câ—nclusion he wonders how the differing Parties came to be so agreed in thinking it unlawful to hear us Preach but he saith He is perswaded it is one constant design of Satan in the variety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits among us Let us therefore be more aware of whatsoever tends that way Here we have a plain Confession of a Leading Man among the Dissenters That the Jesuits were very busie among them and that they and the Devil joyned together in setting them at the greatest distance possible from the Church of England and that those who would countermine the Devil and the Jesuits must avoid whatever tends to that height of Separation the People were run into And Mr. Baxter in those days viz. but a little before the Indulgence came out was so sensible of the Mischief of Separation that he saith Our Division gratifieth the Papists and greatly hazardeth the Protestant Religion and that more than most of your seem to believe or to regard VVhere he speaks to the Separating People And among other great inconveniencies of Separation which he mentions this is one That Popery will get by it so great advantage as may hazard us all and we may lose that which the several Parties do contend about Two ways especially Popery will grow out of our Divisions 1. By the odium and scorn of our disagreements inconsistency and multiplied Sects they will perswade People that we must come for Unity to them or else run Mad and crumble into dust and individuaals Thousands have been drawn to Popery or confirmed in it by this Argument already and I am perswaded that all the Arguments else in Bellarmin and all other Books that ever were Written have not done so much to make Papists in England as the Multitude of Sects among our selves Yea some Professors of Religious strictness of great esteem for Godliness have turned Papists themselves when they were giddy and wearied with turnings and when they had run from Sect to Sect and found no consistency in any 2. Either the Papists by increasing the Divisions would make them be accounted Seditious Rebellious dangerous to the Publick Peace or else when so many Parties are constrained to beg and wait for liberty the Papists may not be shut out alone but have Toleration with the rest And saith he Shall they use our hands to do their Works and pull their Freedom out of the Fire We have already unspeakably served them both in this and in abating the Odium of the Gunpowder Plot and their other Treasons Insurrections and Spanish Invasion Thus freely did Mr. Baxter VVrite at that time and even after the Indulgence he hath these passages concerning the Separating and Dividing Humor of their People It shameth it grieveth us to see and hear from England and from New England this common cry We are endanger'd by Divisions principally because the Self-conceited part of the Religious People will not be ruled by their Pastors but must have their way and will needs be Rulers of the Church and them And soon after he saith to them You have made more Papists than ever you or we are like to recover Nothing is any whit considerable that a Papist hath to say till he cometh to your case and saith Doth not experience tell you that without Papal Unity and Force these People will never be ruled or united It is you that tempt them to use Fire and Faggot that will not be ruled nor kept in concord by the Wisest and holyest and most Self-denying Ministers upon Earth Are not these kind words for themselves considering what he gives to others And must you even you that should be our comfort become our shame and break our hearts and make Men Papists by your Temptation Wo to the World because of offences and wo to some by
this tast let the Reader Iudge what Ingenuity I am to expect from this Man The Last who appeared against my Sermon is called the Author of the Christian Temper I was glad to find an Adversary pretending to that having found so little of it in the Answers of Mr. B. and Mr. A. His business is To commit the Rector of Sutton with the Dean of St. Paul's which was enough to make the Common People imagine this was some busie Justice of Peace who had taken them both at a Conventicle The whole Design of that Book doth not seem very agreeable to the Christian Temper which the Author pretends to For it is to pick up all the Passages he could meet with in a Book written twenty years since with great tenderness towards the Dissenters before the Law 's were Establish'd As though as Mr Cotton once answered in a like case there were no weighty Argument to be found but what might be gather'd from the weakness or unwariness of my Expressions And Have you not very well requited the Author of that Book for the tenderness and pitty he had for you and the concernment he then expressed to have brought you iâ— upon easier terms than were since required And Hath he now deserved this at your hands to have them all thrown in his face and to be thus upbraided with his former kindness Is this your Ingenuity your Gratitude your Christian Temper Are you afraid of having too many Friends that you thus use those whom you once took to be such Methinks herein you appear very Self-denying but I cannot take you to be any of the Wisest Men upon Earth When you think it reasonable that upon longer time and farther consideration those Divines of the Assembly who then opposed Separation should change their Opinions Will you not allow one single Person who happen'd to Write about these matters when he was very young in twenty years time of the most busie and thoughtful part of his life to see reason to alter his Iudgment But after all this wherein is it that he hath thus contradicted himself Is it in the Point of Separation which is the present business No so far from it that in that very Book he speaks as fully concerning the Unlawfulness of Separation as in this Sermon Which will appear by these particulars in it 1. That it is unlawful to set up new Churches because they cannot conform to such practises which they suspect to be unlawful 2. Those are New Churches when Men erect distinct Societies for Worship under distinct and peculiar Officers governing by Laws and Church Rules different from that form they separate from 3. As to things in the Judgment of the Primitive and Reformed Churches left undeterâ—in'd by the Law of God and in matters of meer order and decency and wholly as to the Form of Government every one notwithstanding what his private judgment may be of them is bound for the Peace of the Church of God to submit to the determination of the lawful Governors of the Church Allow but these Three Conclusions and defend the present Separation if you can Why then do you make such a stir about other passages in that Book and take so little notice of these which are most pertinent and material Was it not possible for you to espy them when you ransacked every Corner of that Book to find out some thing which might seem to make to your purpose And yet the very first passage you quote is within two Leaves of these and Two passages more you soon after quote are within a Page of them and another in the very same Page and so many up and down so very near them that it is impossible you should not see and consider them Yes he hath at last found something very near them for he quotes the very Pages where they are And he saith he will do me no wrong for I do distinguish he confesses between Non-communion in unlawful or suspected Rites or Practises in a Church and entering into distinct Societies for Worship This is doing me some right however although he doth not fully set down my meaning But he urges another passage in the same place viz. That if others cast them wholly out of Communion their Separation is necessary That is no more than hath been always said by our Divines in respect to the Church of Rome But Will not this equally hold against our Church if it Excommunicates those who cannot conform I Answer 1. Our Church doth not cast any wholly out of Communion for meer Scrupulous Non-conformity in some particular Rites For it allows them to Communicate in other parts of Worship as appeared by all the Non-conformists of former times who constantly joyned in Prayers and other Acts of Worship although they scrupled some particular Ceremonies 2. The case is vastly different as to the necessity of our Separation upon being wholly cast out of Communion by the Church of Rome and the necessity of others Separating from us supposing a general Excommunication ipso facto against those who publickly defame the Orders of this Church For that is all which can be inferred from the Canons For in the former case it is not a lesser Excommunication denounced as it is only in our case against Publick and scandalous Offenders which is no more than is allowed in all Churches and is generally supposed to lay no obligation till it be duly executed though it be latae sententiae ipso facto but in the Church of Rome we are cast out with an Anathema so as to pronounce us uncapable of Salvation if we do not return to and continue in their Communion and this was it which that Author meant by being wholly cast out of Communion i. e. with the greatest and highest Church Censure 3. That Author could not possibly mean that there was an equal reason in these cases when he expresly determines that in the case of our Church Men are bound in Conscience to submit to the Orders of it being only about matters of Decency and Order and such things which in the Judgment of the Primitive and Reformed Churches are left undetermined by the Law of God Although therefore he might allow a scrupulous forbearance of some Acts of Communion as to some suspected Rites yet upon the Principles there asserted he could never allow Mens proceedings to a Positive Separation from the Communion of our Church And so much shall serve to clear the Agreement between the Rector of Sutton and the Dean of St. Pauls But if any thing in the following Treatise be found different from the sense of that Book I do intreat them to allow me that which I heartily wish to them viz. that in Twenty years time we may arrive to such maturity of thoughts as to see reason to change our opinion of some things and I wish I had not Cause to add of some Persons too There is one thing more which this Author
themselves from the Society of other Christians they not only Condemned them but also the whole State of the Church Reformed in King Edward's dayes which was well Reformed according to the word of God yea and many Good Men have shed their Blood for the same which your doings Condemn Have ye not saith he the Gospel truly Preached and the Sacraments Ministred accordingly and good order kept although we differ from other Churches in Ceremonies and in indifferent things which lie in the Princes Power to Command for Order sake To which one of them Answered That as long as they might have the Word freely Preached and the Sacraments Administred without the preferring of Idolatrous Gear about it they never assembled together in Houses but their Preachers being displaced by Law for their Non-conformity they be thought themselves what was best for them to do and calling to mind that there was a Congregation there in the dayes of Queen Mary which followed the Order of Geneva they took up that and this Book and Order saith he we hold Another Answered That they did not refuse Communion for Preaching the Word but because they had tied the Ceremonies of Antichrist to it and set them up before it so that no Man may Preach or Minister the Sacraments without them Things being come to this height and Separation beginnâ—ng to break out the Wiser Brethren thought not fit to proceed any farther till they had Consulted their Oracle at Geneva Beza being often solicited by them with doleful Complaints of their hard usage and the different Opinions among themselves what they were to do at last resolves to Answer but first he declares How unwilling he was to interpose in the Differences of another Church especially when but one Party was heard and he was afraid this was only the way to exasperate and provoke more rather than Cure this evil which he thought was not otherwise to be Cured but Precibus Patientiâ by Prayers and Patience After this General Advice Beza freely declares his own judgment as to the Reformation of several things he thought amiss in our Church but as to the case of the Silenced Preachers and the Peoples Separation he expresses his Mind in that manner that the Dissenters at this day would have published their Invectives against him one upon the back of another For 1. As to the Silenced Ministers he saith That if the Pressing Subscription continued he perswades them rather to live privately than to yield to it For they must either act against their Consciences or they must quit their Imployments for saith he the Third thing that may be supposed viz. That they should exercise their Function against the Will of the Queen and the Bishops we Tremble at the Thoughts of it for such reasons as may be easily understood though we say never a word of them What! Is Beza for Silencing and stopping the Mouths of such a number of Faithful and able Ministers and at such a time when the Church was in so great Necessity of Preaching and so many Souls like to be famished for the want of it when St. Antholins St. Peters St. Bartholomews at which Gilby saith their great Preaching then was were like to be left destitute of such Men Would Beza even Beza at such a time as that be for Silencing so many Preachers i. e. for their sitting quiet when the Law had done it And would not he suffer them to Preach when they ought to have done it though against the Will of the Queen and the Bishops It appears that Beza was not of the Mind of our Adversaries but that he was of the contrary it appears plainly by this That before he Perswades the Dissenting Ministers rather to live privately than to subscribe and that he expresses no such terrible apprehensions at their quitting their Places as he doth at their Preaching in Opposition to the Laws 2 As to the case of the People his Advice was As long as the Doctrine was sound that they should diligently attend upon it and receive the Sacraments devoutly and to joyn Amendment of Life with their Prayers that by those means they might obtain a through Reformation So that nothing can be more express against Sâ—paration than what is here said by Beza for even as to the Ministers he saith Though he did not approve the Ceremonies yet since they are not of the nature of things evil in themselves he doth not think them of that moment that they should leave their Functions for the sake of them or that the People should forsake the Ordinances rather than hear those who did Conform Than which words nothing can be plainer against Separation And it further appears by Beza ' s Resolution of a case concerning a Schism in the French Church then in London That he looked on it as a Sin for any one to Separate from a Church wherein Sound Doctrine and a Holy Life and the Right use of the Sacraments is kept up And by Separation he saith he means Not meerly going from one Church to another but the Discontinuing Communion with the Publick Assemblies as though one were no Member of them Beza's Authority being so great with the Dissenting Brethren at that time seems to have put an effectual Stop to the Course of Separation which they were many of them then inclined to But he was not alone among the Foreign Divines who about that time expressed themselves against Separation from the Communion of our Church notwithstanding the Rites and Ceremonies herein used For Gualter a Divine of good Reputation in the Helvetian Churches takes an occasion in an Epistle to several of our Bishops to talke of the Difference then about these things and he extremely blames the Morose humor of those who disturbed the Church for the sake of such things and gave an occasion thereby to endless Separations And in an Epistle to Cox Bishop of Ely 1572. he tells him How much they had disswaded them from making such a stir in the Church about Matters of no moment and he Complains grievously of the Lies and Prejudices against our Church which they had sent Men on purpose to possess them with both at Geneva and other places Zanchy upon great Sollicitation wrote an earnest Letter to the Queen to remove the Ceremonies but withal he sent another to Bishop Iewel to perswade the Non-conformists if the Queen could not be moved not to leave their Churches on such accounts which for his part he did not understand how any could lawfully do as long as they had otherwise liberty to Preach the Gospel and Administer the Sacraments although they were forced to do something therein which did not please them as long as the things were of that kind which in themselves were neither good nor evil And the same Reason will much more hold against the Peoples Sâ—paration Sect. 7. But about this time the dissenting party much increasing and most of the old and peaceable Non-conformists
between what falls out through the passions of Men and what follows from the nature of the thing But one of their own Party at Amsterdam takes notice of a Third Cause of these Dissentions viz. The Iudgment of God upon them I do see saith he the hand of God is heavy upon them blinding their Minds and hardening their Hearts that they do not see his Truth so that they are at Wars among themselves and they are far from that true Peace of God which followeth Holiness There were two great Signs of this hand of God upon them First Their Invincible Obstinacy Secondly The Scandalous Breaches which followed still one upon the other as long as the course of Separation continued and were only sometimes hindred from shewing themselves by their not being let loose upon each other For then the Firebrands soon appear which at other times they endeavour to cover Their great Obstinacy appears by the Execution of Barrow and Greenwood who being Condemned for Seditious Books could no ways be reclaimed rather choosing to Dye than to Renounce the Principles of Separation But Penry who suffered on the same account about that time had more Relenting in him as to the business of Separation For Mr. I. Cotton of New-England relates this Story of him from the Mouth of Mr. Hildersham an eminent Non-conformist That he confessed He deserved Death at the Queens hand for that he had Seduced many of Her Loyal Subjects to a Separation from Hearing the Word of Life in the Parish Churches Which though himself had learned to discover the Evil of yet he could never prevail to recover divers of Her Subjects whom he had Seduced and therefore the Blood of their Souls was now justly required at his hands These are Mr. Cotton's own words Concerning Barrow he reports from Mr. Dod's Mouth that when he stood under the Gibbet he lift up his eyes and said Lord if I be deceived thou hast deceived me And so being stopt by the hand of God he was not able to proceed to speak any thing to purpose more either to the Glory of God or Edification of the People These Executions extremely startled the Party and away goes Francis Iohnson with his Company to Amsterdam Iohnson chargeth Ainsworth and his Party with Anabaptism and want of Humility and due Obedience to Government In short they fell to pieces separating from each others Communion some say They formally Excommunicated each other but Mr. Cotton will not allow that but he saith They only withdrew yet those who were Members of the Church do say That Mr. Johnson and his Company were Accursed and Avoided by Mr. Ainsworth and his Company and Mr. A. and his Company were rejected and avoided by Mr. Johnson and his And one Church received the Persons Excommunicated by the other and so became ridiculous to Spectators as some of themselves confessed Iohnson and his Party charged the other with Schism in Separating from them But as others said who returned to our Church Is it a greater Sin in them to leave the Communion of Mr. Johnson than for him to refuse and avoid the Communion of all True Churches beside But the Difference went so high that Iohnson would admit none of Ainsworth's Company without Re-baptizing them Ainsworth on the other side charged them with woful Apostasy And one of his own Company said That he lived and died in Contentions When Robinson went from Leyden on purpose to end these Differences he complained very much of the disorderly and tumultuous carriage of the People Which with Mr. Ainsworths Maintenance was an early discovery of the Great Excellency of Popular Church-Governmâ—nt Smith who set up another Separate congregation was Iohnson's Pupil and went over In hopes saith Mr. Cotton to have gained his Tutor from the Errors of his Rigid Separation but he was so far from that that he soon outwent him and he charges the other Separate Congregations with some of the very same Faults which they had found in the Church of England viz. 1. Idolatrous Worship for if they charged the Church of England with Idolatry in Reading of Prayers he thought them equâ—lly guilty in looking on their Bibles in Preaching and Singing 2. Antichristian Government in adding the Human Inventions of Doctors and Ruling Elders which was pulling down one Antichrist to set up another and if one was the Beast the other was the Image of the Beast Being therefore unsatisfied with all Churches he began one wholly new and therefore Baptized himself For he declared There was no one True Ordinance with the other Separatists But this New Church was of short continuance for upon his Death it dwindled away or was swallowed up in the Common Gulf of Anabaptism And now one would have thought here had been an end of Separation and so in all probability there had had not Mr. Robinson of Leyden abated much of the Rigor of it for he asserted The Lawfulness of Communicating with the Church of England in the Word and Prayer but not in Sacraments and Discipline The former he defended in a Discourse between Ainsworth and him So that the present Separatists who deny that are gone beyond him and are fallen back to the Principles of the Rigid Separation Robinson succeeded though not immediately Iacob in his Congregation at Leyden whom some make the Father of Independency But from part of Mr. Robinson's Church it spread into New England for Mr. Cotton saith They went over thither in their Church-State to Plymouth and that Model was followed by other Churches there at Salem Boston Watertown c. Yet Mr. Cotton professeth That Robinson 's Denyal of the Parishional Churches in England to be true Churches either by reason of their mixt corrupt matter or for defect in their Covenant or for excess in their Episcopal Government was never received into any heart from thence to infer a nullity of their Church State And in his Answer to Mr. Roger Williams he hath these words That upon due consideration he cannot find That the Principles and Grounds of Reformâ—tion do necessarily conclude a Separation from the English Churches as false Churches from their Ministery as a false Ministry from their Worship as a false Worship from all their Professors as no visible Saints Nor can I find that they do either necessarily or probably conclude a Separation from Hearing the Word Preached by godly Ministers in the Parish Churches in England Mr. R. Williams urged Mr. Cotton with an apparent inconsistency between these Principles and his own Practice for although he pretended to own the Parish Churches as true Churches yet by his Actual Separation from them he shewed that really he did not and he adds that Separation did naturally follow from the old Puritan Principles saying That Mr. Can hath unanswerably proved That the Grounds and Principles of the Puritans against Bishops and Ceremonies and profaneness of People professing Christ
Suppose the Bishops and Clergy have gained the consent implicit at least of the People and so are no Vsurpers yet if they be Persecutors or Ithacian Prelatists i.e. if they either act towards or approve of the Silencing Non-conformists the People may Separate from them When Mr. B. wrote the Defence of his Book called The Cure of Divisions to satisfie the People who were much displeased with him for it one of the material Questions he Asks about his Book is Is there a word to perswade you to Communion with Persecutors As though that had been an unpardonable Crime In the Plea he saith If any Excommunicate persons for not complying with them in sin i.e. Conformity but also prosecute them with Mulcts Imprisonments Banishments or other Prosecution to force them to transgress this were yet more heinously aggravated Schism and therefore it is no sin to Separate from such And how easily Men are drawn in to the guilt of this persecution appears by the example he makes of me for although I expresly set aside the case of Ministers and declared I intended only to speak of Lay-communion yet he charges me with engaging my self in the Silencing design And by such consequences all that speak against Separation may be Separated from as Persecuters and Ithacian Prelatists Sect. 13. 4. As long as they suppose the terms of our Communion to be sinful they say the Schism doth not lye on those that Separate but on those that do impose such terms and therefore they may lawfully separate from such imposers This is the most colourable Plea hath been yet used by them But in this case we must distinguish between terms of communion plainly and in themselves sinful and such which are only fancied to be so through prejudice or wilful Ignorance or error of Conscience That there is a real distinction between these two is evident and that it ought to be considered in this case appears from hence that else there can be no sinful separation under an erroneous Conscience As suppose some men should think that Preaching by an hour-glass and much more Praying by one was a stinting of the Spirit in point of Time as Praying by a Form was in point of words and all Men should be required to begin the publick Worship at such an Hour and so end at such an Hour time being a necessary circumstance our Brethren grant that the Magistrate or Church may lawfully determine it Here is then a lawful imposition and yet the Quakers may really judge it to be sinful and declare they cannot communicate unless this sinful Imposition be removed For it is against their Consciences to have the Spirit limited to any certain time On whose side doth the Schism lie in this case Not on the Imposers because they grant such an imposition lawful therefore it must lie on those that Separate although they judge such terms of Communion sinful If therefore the determination of other things not forbidden be really as much in the Magistrates and Churches Power as the necessary circumstances of time and place c. then mens apprehending such terms of Communion to be sinful will not hinder the guilt of Separation from lying on their side and not on the imposers Because it is to be supposed that where there is no plain prohibition men may with ordinary care and judgment satisfie themselves of the lawfulness of things required As for instance when the Church of Rome imposeth the Worship of Images we have the plain prohibition of the Second Commandment to prove that it is really a sinful condition of Communion but when our Church requireth the constant use of a Liturgy and Ceremonies which are now pleaded as sinful conditions of Communion Where is the prohibition In the same Second Commandment say some I desire them to read it over to me They do so Where say I are the words that forbid a Liturgy or Ceremonies I am mistaken they tell me it is not in the words but in the sense I Ask How we should come by the sense but from the words Yes they say there are certain Rules for interpreting the Commandments Are they Divine or Human Where are they to be found What are those Rules One they say is that where any thing is forbidden something is commanded So say I there is here a Command to Worship God without an Image What is there more Yes say they 1. That we must not Worship God with our own Inventions now Liturgies and Ceremonies are Mens Inventions But I say no Inventions are condemned in the Worship of God but such as God himself hath somewhere forbidden but he hath no where forbidden these And human Inventions are forbidden in this Commandment in the Worship of God but then 1 They are such inventions which go about to represent God and so to disparage him and no other inventions are to be understood than the Reason of the Law doth extend to i.e. not such which are consistent with the Spiritual and Invisible nature of God 2. They are not such as do relate to the manner or form of Worship supposing the Worship it self be performed in a way agreeable to the Divine Nature and Law For otherwise all use of mens inventions as to Preaching or Reading or Interpreting Scripture would be forbidden And then this interpretation of the Second Commandment would be unlawful because it is a meer Invention of Men as much as Liturgies or Ceremonies By this we see what stretching and forcing of Scripture there must be to make Liturgies or Ceremonies unlawful terms of Communion And that Men must first blind and fetter their Minds by certain prejudices of Education or Reading only one sort of Books and taking some things for granted which they ought not before they can esteem the terms of Communion required by our Church to be sinful and therefore the Schism doth not lye on the Imposers side but upon those who suffer themselves first to be so easily Deluded and then Separate from our Church upon it But there is another plain instance in this case wherein our Brethren themselves will not allow the Schism to lie on the imposers side and that is of those who deny the lawfulness of Infant-Baptism Many of whom pretend to do it with as much sincerity and impartiality as any of our Brethren can deny the lawfulness of Liturgy or Ceremonies if they break Communion rather than allow what they judge to be sinful On whose side doth the Schism lie on theirs that require the allowance of it as a condition of Communion or not If on the Imposers side they must condemn themselves who blame the Anabaptists for their Separation And so did Fr. Iohnson and so did the New-England Churches From whence it appears that they do all agree that where Men through mistake do judge those to be sinful terms of Communion which are not the guilt of Schism doth not lie on the imposers side but on those that separate
the duty of every Christian to Worship God not only in purity of heart but according to the purity of Gospel-Administrations Now observe that there was nothing the Donatists pleaded so much and so vehemently for as the purity of Gospel-Administrations This was that which Parmenian Petilian and the rest still contended for as appears by the Plea they put in for themselves in the last Conference at Carthage We are they say they that have suffer'd persecution for maintaining the Purity of the Church this hundred years because we would not comply with their corruptions we have been turned out of our Churches and been sent to Prison and had our Goods taken from us and some of our Brethren have been killed and others hardly used for so good a Cause And Can such Men as you condemn them for a horrible Schism I tell you they are as Innocent as our selves for they went upon the same grounds 3. That every Christian is obliged to live in the use of all God's Ordinances and Commandments Now Is not Discipline one of God's Ordinances And Do we not make want of Discipline one of the Reasons of our Separation And therefore the Donatists were very honest Men for they were just of our mind And these being the chief grounds we go upon we cannot but in Brotherly kindness speak this in vindication of them against your unreasonable severity I know you tell them often There will be no end of Separation upon these terms for why might not Maximiaâ—â—us do the same by Primianus that Majorinus did by Caecilian and so make frustum de frusto by which they did minutaâ—im concidere cut the Church into so many little pieces that could never be joyned together again But let me tell you that the force of your Argument comes to this That Men may choose one Pastor to day and another to morrow and a third the next and so turn round till they are giddy and run â—hemselves out of breath in a wild Goose chase till they sit down and rest in Irreligion and Atheism And is this all these are his own words The Apostle commands us to prove all things What! By running from one Communion to another Mâ—â—t we needs therefore never hold fast that which is good unsetled heads and unsetled hearts will be â—â—ndring let them go 't is a good riddance of them 〈◊〉 they be obstinate but where this humor has destroyed one Church this rigorous forcing of Pastors on the People as Caecilian on the People of Carthage has divided and destroyed hundreds Thus far the Advocate-General for Schismaticks Judge now Reader whether the Causes of the present Separation as they are laid down by my Adversary do not equally defend the Donatists in their Schism and his making so light a matter of Schisms doth not give encouragement to Men to make more Sect. 27. But I shall not send him so far back as St. Cyprian and St. Augustin for better instruction in this matter but I shall refer him to one whose Writings I perceive he is better acquainted with even Mr. Baxter Who hath very well in several Books set forth the great Mischief of Divisions and Separations He doth not look upon them as petty and inconsiderable inconveniencies little troubles to the Church the effects of levity and volubility of Mens Minds but he quotes above Forty places of Scripture against them and saith That the World the Flesh and the Devil are the causes from whence they come that they are as much the Works of the Flesh as Adulteries Fornications c. that contentious dividers are carnal Men and have not the Spirit that Divisions are the Wounding nay the Killing of the Church as much as lieth in the Dividers and that to Reform the Church by dividing it is no wiser than to cut out the Liver or Spleen or Gall to cleanse them from the filth that both obstruct them and hinder them in their Office that Divisions are the deformities of the Church the lamentation of Friends and the scorn of Enemies the dishonor of Christ and the Gospel the great hindrance of the Conversion and Salvation of the World and of the Edification of the Members of the Church That they fill the Church with sins of a most odious nature they cherish Pride and Malice and Belying others the three great Sins of the Devil as naturally as dead flesh breedeth Worms In a word the Scripture telleth us that where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work And is not this a lamentable way of Reformation of some imaginary or lesser evils Yet farther he saith They are uneasie to the persons themselves and rob them of the sweetest part of Religion they lead directly to Apostacy from the Faith and shake States and Kingdoms having a lamentable influence on the Civil Peace Is all this nothing but the natural effect of the levity or volubility of Peoples Minds This learned Author begins his Book with a very starched relation of his admirable Reading That in his time he hath read an Elegant Oration in praise of a Quartan Ague another upon the Gout a third upon Folly but there wants one yet in the praise of Schism and I never met with one that doth offer fairer toward it than he doth For he not only excuses it from the natural cause of it and the small trouble that attends it but he implies it to be the consequence of Mens using their Reason and not being made Bruits to be managed with a strong bit and bridle But Mr. Baxter will teach him another Lesson for he saith that Schism is a sin against so many and clear and vehement words of the Holy Ghost that it is utterly without excuse Whoredoms and Treason and Perjury are not oftner forbidden in the Gospel than this that it is contrary to the very design of Christ in our Redemption which was to reconcile us all to God and to unite and centre us all in him that it is contrary to the design of the Spirit of Grace and to the very nature of Christianity it self that it is a sin against the nearest bonds of our highest Relations to each other that it is either a dividing Christ or robbing him of a great part of his inheritance and neither of these is a little sin that it is accompanied with Self-ignorance and Pride and great unthankfulness to God that Church-dividers are the most successful servants of the Devil being enemies to Christ in his Family and Livery and that they serve the Devil more effectually than open enemies that Schism is a sin which contradicteth all Gods Ordinances and Means of Grace which are purposely to procure and maintain the Vnity of his Church That it is a sin against as great and lamentable experiences as almost any sin can be and this is a heinous aggravation of it that it is commonly justified and nâ—t repented of by those that commit it and it is
que Dieu vous presente vous ferez voir à toute la terre en convaincrez les plus incredulez que vous aves de la pietè du zele de la crainte de Dieu que vous estez de dignes ouvriers de dignes serviteurs de Iesus Christ. C'est deja le temoignage que vous rendent les gens de bien que nul quelque mal intentionnè qu'il soit n'ose contredire je ne doute pas que vous ne poussiez vostre vocation jusqu'an bout Mais outre cela Monseigneur j'espere que vous ne defaudrez point aux devoirs de la charitè de l'esprit de paix que quand il ne s'agria que de quelques temperamens ou de quelques Ceremonies qui servent d'achoppement qui en elles mesmes ne sont rien en comperaison d'une entiere reünion de vostre Eglise sous vostre saint Ministere vous ferez voir que vous aymez l'Epouse de vostre Maitre plus que vous mesmes que ce n'est pas tant de vostre grandeur de vostre dignitè Ecclesiastique que vous desirez tirer vostre gloire vostre joye que de vos vertus Pastorales des soins ardens que vous avez de vos troupeaux I'espere aussi que ceux que vous avez choisis appellez au S. Ministere ceux que desormais vous y appellerez avec un prudent discernement reglez non seulement par la donceur mais aussi par la severitè de la Discipline quand la severitè sera necessaire marcheront sur vos traces suiront heureusement l'exemple que vous leur donnerez pour estre eux-mesmes en exemple en edification aux Eglises qui leur sont commises Ie finis Monseigneur par des prieres tres-ardentes que je présente à Dieu de tout mon coeur afin qu'il luy plaise de vous conserver à jamais le flamebeau de son Evangile de repandre sur tout le corps de vostre Ministere une abondante mesure de son onction de sa benediction celeste dont celle de l'ancien Aaron n'estoit que l'ombre afin qu'elle soit non l'embleme l'image de la concorde fraternelle comme cette ancienne mais qu'elle en soit la cause le lien Ie le prie qu'il veuâ—lle de plus en plus ramener le coeur des enfans aux peres des peres aux enfans afin que vostre Eglise soit heuereuse agreable comme un Eden de Dieu Ie le prie enfin qu'il vous conserve vous Monseigneur en parfait longue santè pour sa gloire pour le bien l'avantage de cette grande considerable pertie de son champ qu'il vous a donnè cultiver que vous cultivez si heureusement Ie vous demande aussi le secours de vos saintes prieres la continuation de l'honneur de vostre affection en vous Protestant que je seray toute ma vie avec tout le respect que je vous dois Monseigneur Vostre tres-humble tres-obeissant Serviteur Fils en Jesus Christ CLAVDE Paris Novemb. 29. Stilo Novo My Lord MOnsieur de L' Angle having given me the Letter which you have been pleased to write me I was surprized to see by that that you had done me the honour to write me another which I have not received and to which I had not failed to make an answer You do me a great deal of honour to desire that I should tell you my thoughts of the difference that has troubled you so long betwixt those they call Episcopal and those they name Presbyterians Although I have already explained my self about this divers tims both by Letters which I have written upon this Subject to several persons and in my Book too of the Defence of the Reformation where speaking of the distinction betwixt the Bishop and the Priest I have said expresly That I do not blame those that observe it as a thing very ancient and that I would not that any one should make it an occasion of quarrel in those places where it is established pag. 366. And though I otherwaies know my self sufficiently not to believe that my opinion should be much considered I will not forbear to assure you upon this occasion as I shall always do upon any other of my Christian esteem my respect and my obedience This I shall do the rather because I shall not simply tell you my private thoughts but the opinion of the generality of our Churches First then my Lord we are so very far from believing that a man cannot live with a good Conscience under your Discipline and under your Episcopal Government that in our ordinary practice we make no difficulty neither to bestow our Chairs nor to commit the care of our Flocks to Ministers received and ordained by my Lords the Bishops as might be justified by a great number enought of Examples both old and new And a little while since Mr. Duplessis that was ordained by my Lord Bishop of Lincoln has been established and called in a Church of this Province And Monsieur Wicart whom you my Lord received to the Holy Ministery did us the honour but some months agoe to preach at Charenton to the general edification of our Flock So that they who in this respect do impute unto us any opinions distant from peace and Christian concord do certainly do us wrong I say Peace and Christian concord for my Lord we believe that the obligation to preserve this Peace and this Brotherly concord which make up the external unity of the Church is of a necessity so indispensable that St. Paul has made no difficulty to join it with the internal unity of the same Faith and the same Regeneration not onely as two things which ought never to be separated but likewise as two things depending the one upon the other because if the external unity be as it were the Daughter of the internal she is likewise the preserver of it Walk says he Ephes. 4. worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace On the one side he makes this brotherly love which joins us one with another to depend upon our common vocation and on the other side he teaches us that one of the principal means to preserve our common vocation intire which he calls the unity of the spirit is to keep peace among our selves According to the first of these maximes we cannot have peace or Ecclesiastical communion with those that have so degenerated from the Christian vocation that one cannot perceive in them a true and saving Faith especially when with mortal errours they