they never charged us with any of these things for that I very well know they both do and have done but I do say that they neither have nor ever can prove any of these things against us And here now were a fit opportunity to examine the particulars of their charge and the validity of them but before I do that it will be requisite to make good our own ground and by giving you some account of these Propositions that either are or will be denied to make it appear that they are not the issue of a rash and inconsiderate zeal but the offspring of deliberate and well digested thoughts And though it be contrary to the Laws and Rules of Disputation to put one upon proving a Negative and therefore I need not doe it yet for once and to gratifie our Adversaries I will endeavour to doe a work of Supererogation To make it appear that none of all these things have been by our Adversaries proved against the Church of England though it would be no very difficult yet would it be a very tedious business For to doe it effectually I should be obliged to examine not only all the particulars of their charge but also the strength or weakness of every Argument which they have at any time brought to make it good which would take up so much time and paper as the designed brevity of this small Treatise cannot allow I shall therefore wave this and instead thereof take a more short and compendious but every way as effectual a course It is acknowledged by all that when an Adversary is pressed with an Absurdity which he cannot escape the Argument is conclusive against him If therefore I can make it appear that it is a thing impossible for our Adversaries according to their own Notion of Heresie to make good their charge against the Church of England I may safely conclude that they have never done it because they could not doe that which is impossible to be done A thing is then said to be impossible either when it is simply and absolutely so in it self or when it is so only upon supposition It is then said to be simply and absolutely impossible when it implies a contradiction or is altogether repugnant to the nature of the thing as for instance That one and the same Body may be in more places than one at one and the same time is a proposition so repugnant and contradictious to the nature of Bodies that he must be wilfully blind who doth not see an impossibility therein A thing may be also said to be impossible upon supposition of an incapacity or insufficiency either in the active or passive power in the Efficient or Matter that is to be wrought upon Though the thing be possible in it self yet if the Agent be not of sufficient power to produce the effect designed it is impossible upon that account As for instance if ten unarmed men should undertake to beat ten thousand well appointed and well disciplined Souldiers in open field it is possible indeed that those ten thousand may be beaten but not by those ten because they have not power sufficient to doe it Again a thing may be said to be impossible upon supposition of an incapacity in the passive power or matter that is to be wrought upon for if the subject matter be wholly incapable of receiving such an impression as the Agent would stamp upon it though there may be no defect in the active power yet in respect of the passive there is an impossibility Let us now apply this to the case in hand The Church of Rome chargeth the Church of England with the guilt of Heresie and the question is Whether they can make good this charge against her I do not question the power of our Adversaries to doe the thing if it were to be done but if it be not to be done then notwithstanding the sufficiency of their power there is an incapacity in the subject they are to work upon which renders their attempt impossible If therefore I do make it appear that it is impossible for them to prove this against us it will be a fair Justification of the Minor Proposition in all the foregoing Arguments and consequently a clear discharge of the Church of England from that foul aspersion so unjustly cast upon her by the Church of Rome Now this I shall endeavour to make good in this manner The Notion of Heresie here laid down I have made appear to be that which is allowed by them as well as us and therefore that must be the Standard we are to be tried by Their work therefore will be to make it manifest that there are some Doctrines received believed and taught by the Church of England which are Errours in the foundation of Religion and those obstinately defended and maintained by her Now the only way to know what Doctrines are received believed and taught by any Church or Society of Christians is to have recourse to the publick Acts and authentick Records of that Church or Society and that is no difficult task for ours are made publick and exposed to the view of all And if they know not what we own as authentick Records I shall here inform them 1. The Holy Scripture is the foundation of our Faith and the Rule of our Religion 2. The 39 Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year 1562 which are partly Positive and partly Negative where they declare the Faith and Religion of the Church of England they are positive and where they reject the Additions Alterations and Innovations of the Church of Rome they may be termed Negative 3. The Book of Homilies wherein the Doctrines of our Church briefly declared in the Articles are more largely explained These are the publick Acts and authentick Records wherein the Doctrines of the Church of England are to be found Art. 6. for she publickly declares That all things necessary to Salvation are contained in the Holy Scripture and that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation She also declares Art. 8. That the three Creeds the Nicene Creed Athanasius's Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought thoroughly to be received and believed for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture Unless therefore our Adversaries can find Heresie in the Holy Scripture or in the Articles of Faith summarily contained in the three ancient Creeds it will be impossible for them to find it in the Church of England because she doth not receive believe or teach any other Doctrine but what is contained therein or may be proved thereby This is that Faith and common Christianity which we received from Christ and his Apostles and
the Primitive Church and in the Canons and Constitutions of the four first General Councils But if by Government we understand the Government of particular Churches then is it lodged in the Pastours and Governours of those Churches and is to be administred by them according to such Laws and Rules as are agreeable to those of the Catholick Church And in this case it can have no influence from one National Church to another for as such they are equal and Equals have no power over one another But whosoever is a Member of any such Church and refuseth all due obedience to the Pastours and Governours thereof doth thereby contract the guilt of Schism Now whether the Church of England or the Church of Rome by the violation of all these Bonds of Communion have disturbed the Peace of the Christian Church broken the Unity of the Universal and of all particular Churches and thereby incurred the guilt of Schism you may take a prospect in this short parallel which I shall now lay before you 1. As for Faith considered as a Bond of Communion What the Church of England believes and what she is ready and willing to comply with I have told you in the 6th Sect. But the Church of Rome not contented therewith added to the sacred Canon some Apocryphal Books which were never before received either into the Jewish or Christian Canon And as if the revealed Will of God were an imperfect Rule she undertakes to supply the defects of it by groundless Traditions She makes new Creeds witness the Trent Creed and that both without the consent of the present and against the Doctrine and Practice of ancient Churches Now which of these hath violated this Bond of Communion Judge ye 2. As for Worship considered as a Bond of Communion I have given you our Sentiments of it and told you wherein it consists in the 7th Sect. Now how far the Church of Rome hath corrupted that pure Worship of God both by her subtractions and additions I shall briefly acquaint you As for Prayer it must be performed in publick in an unknown tongue which the People understand not So that they must not know what they pray for and consequently cannot with any true devotion say Amen It must be offered to Saints and Angels and not immediately to God who glories to be styled a God hearing Prayers and this we take to be an Act of Religious Worship due to the Creatour only but by them paid to Creatures As for the reading of Holy Scriptures if any portion of them be read in publick it must be in Latin a Language not understood by the People and therefore impossible for them to be instructed by it It is true indeed they sometimes interpret some portion of Scripture by preaching in the Vulgar language but then the People must take all they say upon trust they must not without special leave be allowed the Bible in their own Language no not in private lest with the Noble Bereans they should examine whether those things be so or no. As for the Sacraments they have added five that were never instituted by Christ and taken away half of one of those which they cannot but own was of his Institution i. e. they deprive the Laity of the Cup in the Lord's Supper besides those many Superstitions which they have intermix'd and therewith corrupted the pure and primitive Worship of God. Now let any indifferent Person judge whether they or we have violated this Bond of Communion and consequently which of us may be charged with Schism 3 As for Government considered as a Bond of Communion What our thoughts are of it you may see in the beginning of this Sect. Now how far the Church of Rome doth differ not only from us but from the Catholick Church both ancient and modern and from all other particular Churches in this point will appear if we consider That she usurps a Dominion condemned as Antichristian by one of their own Popes disowned by the whole Church at that time and which we at present cannot own without betraying the Liberty of the Church That by virtue of this Usurped Power she imposeth unreasonable and unlawfull conditions of Communion and for non-compliance therewith excommunicates not only the Church of England but as some will tell you three parts of the Christian World besides Now if the Church of Rome by setting up and exercising this Exorbitant Power hath broken this Bond of Communion then who is chargeable with the Schism judge ye SECT IX IV. Schism is a voluntary and causeless Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church THese are the two conditions of Schism it must be voluntary and causeless and from these two conditions it receives its greatest aggravation and becomes a sin of the deepest dye and greatest guilt 1. It must be a Voluntary Separation I call it Voluntary to distinguish sin from punishment Schism from excommunication for though by the latter a man be cast out of the Church and made no member thereof yet strictly speaking he is thereby separated from the Church and doth not separate himself 'T is true that every sin is a voluntary act in the sinner but doth that excuse him or rather doth it not aggravate his guilt If a man be separated from the communion of the Church by some pressing necessity this may be his misfortune and not his fault Or if a man be under a constraint and have a force put upon him if he be frighted with threats and menaces or wheadled with promises and allurements if his fears and hopes those two prevalent passions in man be raised to that height as to darken his understanding and overpower his will these circumstances may extenuate though they cannot altogether excuse his guilt But when a man doeth an evil action not by chance but of choice not by force but by inclination not rashly and inconsiderately but deliberately and advisedly this makes his sin to be exceeding sinfull For thereby the Schismatick puts himself out of the ordinary way and means of salvation divideth the body of Christ despiseth and condemneth the Church of God and breaketh the bond of peace which ought to be kept intire and inviolate And therefore do I make this a Condition of Schism because if we can suppose a Separation from the communion of the Church to be involuntary it will not deserve that name SECT X. II. It must be a Causeless Separation c. THAT Schism in it self is a great and grievous sin and in its consequences extremely mischievous to the Church of God and to the Schismatick himself is agreed on all hands But how much greater must the sin needs be when thereby all this guilt is contracted and all this mischief done without any cause i. e. without any sufficient cause Now a Separation may be considered either as it relates to the Catholick or Particular Churches And then a Separation from the Catholick Church taken in the most comprehensive
occasion given to justifie their Separation then may they be truly said to act voluntarily and without cause And if this be our case we must confess our selves guilty of Schism but if not then are we unjustly charged with it That our recession from the Church of Rome was not a voluntary act in us but a necessity upon us occasioned by force and violence constraint and compulsion is plain and evident We did not attempt a Separation but only desire a Reformation that so we might walk together in the House of God as friends If they would have hearkned to us and removed those errours and abuses those Superstitions and corruptions that tyranny and usurpation which they had introduced into the Faith Worship and Government of Christ's Church we had still peaceably continued in Communion with them But so far were they from hearkning to these our just desires that instead thereof we were menaced with fire and fagot with imprisonment with confiscation of our Estates with all kind of sufferings and even death it self if we refused to comply with their Corruptions and innovations And therefore we may truly say with the Learned Causaubon Causaub ad Peron Non fugimus sed fugamur We did not run away from them but were driven away by them But yet notwithstanding all this force and violence if we had not sufficient cause to justifie our recession we must still be criminal Eusch l. 6. c. 44. for we are of opinion with Dionysius Alex. in his Epistle to Novatus That any thing must rather be born than that we should rend asunder the Church of God. But alas we had too great cause for what we did The Church of Rome had corrupted the Faith of God's Church with her unwarrantable additions and alterations The primitive beauty and purity of God's Worship she had defaced with Superstitions That goodly and well compacted structure of Government which had been erected and established in the Church of God she had quite demolished and instead thereof had erected an unheard of tyrannical Government unknown to the Primitive Church and condemned by all other Churches ever since it appeared in the World. In a word she had made the terms of her Communion such as could not be complied with without sin and when it is sin to communicate it cannot be sin to separate Thus much I hope may suffice to satisfie any indifferent and unprejudic'd Reader that the recession of the Church of England from that of Rome in her Reformation was neither owing to a dividing humour nor without just cause And therefore she is unjustly charged with the guilt of Schism by the Church of Rome upon that account 5. Schism is a voluntary and causeless Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church of which we are Members i. e. which hath a Jurisdiction over us and to which we owe Subjection and Obedience Schism imports a breach of Unity a dividing of that Body which before was but one it implies the casting off of a lawfull Jurisdiction to which we were obliged to yield Subjection and Obedience Now if we neither are nor ever were of right Subjects of that Church if we neither are nor ever were such parts of that Body as are to depend upon the Head of it then can we not justly be charged with breaking the Unity of that Church or dividing of that Body because that Church or that Body doth still remain the same it was notwithstanding our recession therefrom And if it neither hath nor ever had any lawfull Jurisdiction over us then we neither do nor ever did owe any subjection or obedience thereunto and therefore cannot without great injustice be charged with a Schismatical Separation therefrom To prove this Negative would require a much longer Discourse than is now designed and therefore at present I shall only say that this we insist upon That the Church of England neither is nor ever was by any divine Authority bound to be in obedience to the Church of Rome And whenever they please to make their claim we are ready to defend our selves against it In the mean time till they make this good they have no reason to brand us as hitherto they have unjustly done with the odious Names of Schismaticks and Hereticks Thus have I taken a review of the several parts of the Definition which if it be allowed will fairly acquit the Church of England from the guilt of Schism And now let us see whether the Church of Rome can so well discharge her self of it SECT XIII The Church of Rome guilty of that Shism with which they charge the Church of England IT is a rule generally allowed that the Cause makes the Schism If the Church gives cause of Separation there is the Schism if not the cause of Schism is in the Separatist So that where the cause is found there the charge of Schism resteth If therefore the Church of Rome hath given just cause of Separation from her then is she causally guilty of that Schism and I am afraid will hardly be able to acquit her self from being so of almost all other Schisms in the Church Their ingenuous Cassander confesseth Cass de Offic. boni viri c. that the Roman Church is not a little changed from her ancient beauty and brightness and that she is deformed with many diseases and vicious distempers And being thus sick Bernh de vita solit St. Bernhard undertakes to be her Physician and prescribes her a Diet which he tells us must be profitable though unpleasing i. e. she ought to be reproved and a Reformation required And if thereupon an offence be taken Bernh ad Hug. de Sancto vict Epist 77. the same Saint Bernhard shall acquaint you where the scandal will rest When saults are taxed and scandal grows thereupon He is the cause of the scandal who did that which was worthy to be reproved not he that reproved the ill doer And that the Church of Rome hath given occasion both to the reproof and scandal let their own President in the Council of Trent inform you Who saith Orat. praes Concil Trident Sess 11. That the Depravation and Corruption of Discipline and Manners in the Church of Rome was in a great measure the Cause and Original of all those Schisms and Heresies which then troubled the Church But that it may appear that I have a desire to deal fairly and friendly with them I shall here present them with a Copy of their Charge and give them time to plead to it The Charge was long since drawn up by two great men of our Church viz. Bishop Hall and Bishop Bramhal and never yet pleaded to that I know much less cleared Bishop Hall in a little Book intituled The Old Religion dedicated to his Diocess of Exeter chap. 4. lays down their Charge in these five particulars 1. Nothing can be more plain than that the Roman is a particular Church as the Fathers of Basil