separate from them is a damnable Sin and a pernicious Schism 'T is a denying of Christ himself who appointed them to rule the Church in his stead But if they are either not Lawful Bishops but Intruders or not Orthodox but Heritical then they that Separate are not only not Schismaticks but the true Church and they that cause the Separation the Schismaticks To confirm what is said I have subjoyned some few Testimonies by which it will plainly appear 1st That tho' Seperation he sometimes a duty yet if the Faith be sound and the Worship pure and uncorrupt Separation is sinful 2ly That Separation from the Communion of Lawful and Canonical Bishops is Schismatical 1st That tho' Separation be sometimes a duty yet if the Faith be sound and the Worship pure and uncorrupt Separation is sinful Violation of the Unity of the Church where there is no sufficient Vnreason Separ p. 209. reason to justifie it is a sin as much as Murder is and is as plainly forbidden My Judgment being that a causeless breaking the peace of Pref. to Vnreas of Separ Shâ—rl Vird. of Def. p. 39â— Doct. of Sch. p. 66. Id. p. 1â—2 the Church we live in is really as great and as dangerous a sin as Murder and in some cases aggravated beyond it To Separate where no sinful terms of Communion are impos'd is a causeless Separation Separation is unwarrantable if Communion with the Church may be without Sin Renouncing Communion or denying to Communicate with any Church upon any dislike or for any cause except sin is properly Separation and Schism it is not actually not communicating with a True Chruch but renouncing Communion that we think makes the Schismatick Schism is directly a Breach of Unity as that is a Breach of Id. ibid. Charity Refusing to Communicate with a true Church when I have opportunity especially my own Church is a plain breach of both whatever my reason be short of Sin There may be an Actual Criminous separation of Churches Bramhal Just Vind. p. 10. which formerly did joyn in one and the same Communion and yet the separaters be Innocent and the persons from whom the Separation is made be Nocent and Guilty of Schism because they gave just Cause of Separation from them it is not the separation but the Cause that makes the Schism Wherever there is no necessity of Separating there the Norris Charg Sch. p. 93. Church has a Right to Communion which to withold from her is Schism or else there is no such thing as Schism in the World A part of the Catholick Church may have so many errors Ans to the Kings Pap. p. 106. and corruptions mix'd with it as may make it necessary to Salvation to leave it There are three Cases wherein the Scripture allows of Separation Vnreason of Separ p. 213. 1st In Case of Idolatrous worship 2ly In Case of false Doctrine impos'd instead of true 3ly In Case men make things indifferent necessary to Salvation and divide the Church upon that account I do not charge those with Separation who under Idolatrous Id. p. 148. or Arian Princes did keep up the exercise of true Religion against the will of the Magistrate There are many false Teachers that transform themselves into Long 's Pref. to 2d pt unreas Sep. Angels of Light But if they teach any thing for Doctrine contrary to the word of God any Doctrine that tends to Impiety Disobedience or Divisions it is our duty to reject and withhold Communion from them It is beyond question that there may be such Corruptions in Id. Ep. to the Char. of a Sepa Doctrines and such Idolatrous practices requir'd in Worship as may justifie a Separation The Divines of the Church of England first prov'd that the Apologet vindic of Ch. E p. 44 Communion of the Romish Church was not Pure and Apostolical and thence justifi'd the Separation of the Church of England from it as necessary c. And on the Contrary They have prov'd that the Communion of the Church of England is Pure and Apostolical and thence condemn the Separation of the Dissenters from it as Needless God only bids me obey the Church in such Cases as are not Faith and practise of Ch. Eng. c. 3. Long 's Char. of Sep. p. 6. defin'd by the Law of God but doth not give the Church leave to Command any thing contrary to God's Law nor oblige me to attend to it or Obey it if it should so Command We do still hold and teach that the Condition of our Communion with the Church of Rome was made sinful by professing False Doctrine Believing Lyes and joyning in Idolatrous Worship and so it was unlawful and intolerable and they who practise such things themselves and would impose them on others are actually in Separation from the true Church Schism indeed we do say is a Damning Sin but there may be Sherl Serm. Nov. 4. 1680. Id. vind of the Def. p. 323. Divisions where there is not always the guilt and formality of Schism c. The principal Acts of Christian Communion consist in Christian Worship and if any Church have so corrupted Divine Worship that a good Christian must not joyn in it we must of necessity abstain from their Communion No Church can oblige a man to believe what is False or do Vind. Kings pap p. 106. what is Vnlawful and rather than do either he must forsake the Communion of that Church If you ask by what Authority we Separate from the R. C. Id. p. 68. I answer by the same Authority which makes it Unlawful for us to Profess what we do not believe and to Practise what we believe God has forbidden Neither abroad nor at home can we purchase Unity of Communion Difference of the Case p. 9. at so dear a rate as to break God's Commandments for it We do Unanimously acknowledge that if this Church makes Id. p. 44. the Profession of false Doctrine or the breaking of God's Commandments a condition of her Communion They that upon this account Separate from her Communion are before God clear of the guilt of Schism in so doing When it is a Sin to Communicate it is not a Sin to Separate Vind of Ch. E. from Sch. p. 34. Doctr. of Sch. p. 66. Separation from a true Church is sometimes Lawful if one cannot remain in its Communion without Communicating in her Sins Suppose a particular Church tho' Lawfully Constituted and Vind. of Ch. E. from Sch. p. 10. Establisht under Lawful Governours should make the Terms of her Communion such as Her Neighbour Churches could not without Sin and Danger hold Communion with her would Separation in this case be adjudg'd a Schism Or would it not rather be lookt upon as their Duty and Interest to withdraw from her If Schism be consider'd as a Separation from the Communion Id. p. 25. of some particular Church then 't
with the Rules of Christian Patience yet perhaps there may be to reconcile it with Loyalty for Julian was a Rebel against his Emperour Constantius So having forfeited all Right of Succession to Constantius by Rebellion and not being elected by the Lawful Army of Constantius he was no other than as Oliver Cromwell had been in England if all the Royal Family and Relations had been extinct So that if it were not done like a Martyr calmly to permit the Wolf to raven as he hoped yet it was no opposition to any Lawful Prince or His Commissioner but an Vsurper and his Elf And for any thing I know prudential and Venial if no more than so if not also laudable And on this ground the Solemn Liturgies us'd openly against him and the Commendations bestow'd on him that Kill'd him tho one of his own Army may be justifi'd not upon the Account meerly of persecuting Christianity had he been a Lawful Prince but for that he was an Vsurper only of the Empire no Lawful Emperour according to the Rules of Imperial Election c. a Meer Oliver Cromwell and Tyrannical Intruder c. The substance of what is said in answer to this Query is this 1. That Christian Princes tho they are liable to Church Censures yet they are not to Temporal Penalties as Deposition Exile Death 2. That the Doctrine of Resisting and Deposing Lawful Princes upon pretence of Excommunication or any other pretence whatsoever is Damnable and Heretical contrary to the Laws of this Realm and contrary to the Doctrine not only of our Church and all Protestants but of Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians 3. That the Crown in Hereditary and Successive Monarchies Faith and Practice of Ch. Eng. man cap. 6. descending from Fathers to Children whether Males or Females is not liable to be Disposed Alienated or Sold nor doth it depend on any Election or Choice of the People 4. That Monarchy hath at least as good a Title to all its Powers Rights and Privileges as any of its Subjects can have to their Honours Properties and Estates and if Subjects lose no Temporal Rights by Excommunication certainly Princes ought not Q. Whether the People are not oblig'd to Communicate with the Establish'd Church if Superiour in Number to any other Communion and more firmly United A. If the Establish'd Religion be Corrupt in Doctrine and Worship as in Popish Countries or Schismatical as in some Protestant Kingdoms and States they ought not to Communicate with them tho' their Numbers be never so great and they never so closely United For if it be sinful to Communicate with a false or Schismatical Church as it certainly is its being establisht can never make it no Sin It is not the great Number of Church Members in any Diocess Apologet Vind. Ch. Eng. p. 37. Province or Patriarchate but the Cause and Nature of the Communion that makes a True Church As I observ'd before it is not the Number of Communicants Id. p. 39. but the Cause or Soundness of Communion that makes a true Church and therefore were there both for Kind and Number ten times as many more Opposite Sects and Communions as there are in this Nation and Bishops at the Heads of them all yet upon Supposition that the Church of England is sound and Apostolical in Doctrine Worship and Discipline that small number adhering to her Communion must be the True Church Nay if all the Bishops of England but One should fall away from the Church of England that One Bishop and the flock adhering to him would be the True Church of England and as True and Catholick a Church as if there were not one Dissenter in the Land Ans to several Capt. Quer. p. 12. Id. p. 16. Truth is to be follow'd with a Few if there are but Few the follow it but thou shalt not follow a Multitude to do evil Truth is the same and changeth not whether they be Few or Many that profess it and our Religion stands not in a Multitude of Pretenders but in a Holy Doctrine and a Holy Practice whicâ— all ought to follow even when the most do not He who denies that the Major part of the Guides of the Reflect on Hist part of Ch. Gov. pt 5. p. 96. Jewish Church err'd must also deny Christ since by such Church Authority he was rejected He who will determine the Prince to Judge alwaies with the Majority of Church Guides obligeth him in Elijah's time to establish Baalism and at other times Calf-Worship If truth be alwaies on the side of the greatest Number Blackhalls Serm. p. 6. which was the True Church in Abraham's time when he was of a Religion by himself Was it in his small family or amongst the Idolatrous Nations that dwelt round about him or which was the True Church in all that long tract of time from Moses to our Saviour was it not Confin'd to a very small spot of Land even when it was at its largest extent And that again Contracted to a much less compass in Elijah's time when there were not in ten of the Tribes of Israel above 7000 men who had not bow'd the Knee to the Image of BAAL 1 Kings 19. 18. Again if that be alwaies the True Church which is the Largest Id. ibid. time was when the Arian Hereticks were the true Christian Church and the Orthodox Professors of Christianity who were but a very few in Number in Comparison with them were Consequently miserably deluded and rank Hereticks In the Text we are told that many of our Lord's Disciples Id. p. 5. probably not fewer than 5000 went away from him at once and as far as appears by the History there were only 12 that remain'd with him a very small number in comparison with the great Multitude that went away and yet there can be no doubt but that these were the True Church and that they which went Vind. pr. Ch. p. 151. The Protestant Religion vindicated from the charge of Singularity and Novelty in a Sermon preached before the King at Whitehall by Dr. Tillotson April 2 1680. away were Schismaticks Multitude may render a Sect Formidable but 't is but a poor Argument of Right Suppose we were by much the Fewer So hath the Church of God often been without any the least prejudice of the Truth of their Religion What think we of the Church in Abraham's Time which for ought we know was confin'd to one family and one small Kingdom that of Melchisedeck King of Salem What think we of it in Moses's Time when it was confin'd to one People wandering in a Wilderness What of it in Elijah's Time when besides the Two Tribes that worshiped in Jerusalem there were in the other Ten but Seven Thousand that had not bow'd the Knee to Baal What in our Saviour's Time when the whole Church consisted of Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples and some few followers besides How would Bellarmin
Momentous particulars 1. It was a Primitive and Fundamental Power and Duty of See Municipium Ecclesiasticum printed 1697. Bishops to convene in Synods without restriction 2ly All Ecclesiastical Rights are so Spiritual that they cannot be by Allowance and Approbation of God or his Church vested in any one in form of a Temporal Right but only on this Condition that the parties intrusted with them continue in the Unity of the Catholick Church and their own Provincial Bishops as Prelates of it having immediate care of their Souls What Princes have no Rightful Authority to do that they may Municipium Eccl. p. 100. irresistibly do upon an uncontroulable Domination and Impunity Upon which when they presume to repress our Rights and Liberties if it be in matters Necessary they are to be disobeyed in Fact and submitted to as to their Legal Processes without resistance The Church is Subject to all Common-Wealths where it is Thornd prim Ch. gov p. 89. maintain'd in Temporal matters In those which concern the Soul whom shall we think our Lord leaveth her in charge with but those whom he trusteth with the Keys of his House Our Church acknowledges the King to be Supreme in all Causes Ans to several Capt. Qu. p. 36. and over all Persons Ecclesiastical viz. that no Quality in the Church nor Cause of the Church exempts a Subject from the Secular Laws and the Sword of Justice which may be very true as it undoubtedly is yet all manner of Obedience in Religious matters shall not presently become due to the King For when Sovereigns require the Subjects to do things contrary to Religion if their Subjects give but one manner of Obedience to their Laws which goes with us under the Name of Passive Obedience it saves at once their Acknowledgment of the Sovereigns Supremacy over them and of Gods Supremacy over all So that we are not oblig'd by our Oath to become Calvinists c. nor in a word to be of the King's Religion but to submit to his Authority let his Religion be what it will c. If by the Parliaments changing the Church of England you mean Id. p. 25. that Parliaments can make the Religion profess'd by the Church of England to become a false Religion when their Inclinations are once vary'd from us then I tell you that the Church of England is not changeable by English Parliaments nor by all the Powers of the Earth for this matter is fix'd to their hands and can never be unfixt to the end of the World No Ordinance of Secular State can deprive our Church of its Hill's Cath. Bal. p. 99. essential Rights given us from God but only lay Temporal Punishments on us for the use of them without their permission Which if it be absolutely necessary for us at any time to do in Opposition to the State Our Ecclesiastical Acts are not Null but valid to all effects Purely Ecclesiastical and we can but suffer and despise the Penalty The Romanists triumph that we have no Power to meet in Id. p. 122 Convocation without Royal Licence nor at Liberty when there to dispute one Question without the Kings Allowance nor are our Conclusions valid without the King's Ratification whether Catholick Heretick Heathen Turk or Jew on pain of hampering by Praemunire's c. But here it is to be remember'd that these are Impositions of the State for which the Church is not bound to advocate if they are Persecutions but if men would be just they would pass the most favourable interpretations on publick Sanctions and herein conclude that these Statutes were intended not for Persecution but for Caution only against those extravagancies which the Church had abus'd its freedom to the Kings always graciously promising us on request opportunity to Convene and discuss our Matters as to us shall seem Convenient that we might have no cause to think that their Laws are intended for Persecution And for the Kings Ratification it is justly necessary not meerly to an Ecclesiastical effect but that our Censures for breach of these Canons may be seconded upon the Contumacious by the Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo c. It being no reason that the King should be the Churches Hackney without any consent of his own But if any Prince should Pervert these advantages to a Persecution we must then do our duty and fear no Sufferings We hold our Benefices by humane Right our Offices of Priests Bramhal Vindic. Ord. p. 77. and Bishops by Divine Right and Humane Right But put the case we did hold our Bishopricks only by Humane Right is it one of your cases of Conscience that a Sovereign Prince may justly take away from his Subjects any thing which they hold by Humane Right If one man take from another that which he holds justly by the Law of Man he is a Thief and a Robber by the Law of God The substance of what has been said upon these two last Queries amounts to this 1. That Toleration may excuse a Schismatick from the Penalty but not from the guilt of Schism 2. That Communicating with Schismaticks because Tolerated makes the crime less dangerous but not less sinful 3. That tho' Persecution or extreme Severity in Governours may make some men thro' humane frailty to comply with a Schismatical Church yet that will not excuse them from Schism in the sight of God because they ought to obey God rather than Man 4. That tho' the Prince be Supreme in Ecclesiastical Causes yet he cannot alter Religion at his pleasure or injoyn a Sinful Worship and if he do's 't is no Sin but a duty to disobey him 5. The Bishops and Governors of the Church in such a case are bound to defend the Rights of the Church against him as the Primitive Christians did against the Heathen Emperours 6. That all even Kings are liable to Church Censures Q. Whether a Prince being Excommunicated by the Church may be Resisted Depos'd or Murder'd by his Subjects A. It is contrary to the nature of Excommunication tho' in the Falkner Christian Loyalty p. 316. highest degree that any person and especially a Sovereign Prince should thereby lose those Temporal Rights which are not founded in their relation to the Church Indeed in Christian Kingdoms there are ordinarily some Temporal Penalties and abatement of Legal Privileges inflicted upon the persons Excommunicate But this is not the natural Effect of that sentence but is added thereto by the Civil Government and Sovereignty under which such persons do live And therefore no such thing can take place with respect to Sovereign Princes who have no Temporal Superiour to annex this as a Penalty Sovereign Princes are not liable to the Sentence of Excommunication Id. 318. in the same manner with Christian Subjects A Sovereign is capable of losing and forfeiting his relation to the Society of the Christian Church as well as other persons because as Mr. Thorndike Rt. of the Ch.
have despis'd this little Flock because it wanted one or two of his goodliest Marks of the True Church Vniversality and Splendor And what think we of the Christian Church in the Height of Arianism and Pelagianism when a great part of Christendom was over-run with these Errors and the Number of the Orthodox was inconsiderable in comparison of Hereticks But what need I urge these instances As if the truth of Religion were to be estimated and carry'd by the Major Vote which as it can be an Argument to none but Fools So I dare say no Honest and Wise man ever made use of it c. The Revolt to Donatism in all parts of Africa was so general Apologet. Vind. p. 20 that the Catholick Communions look'd more like Conventicles than the Catholick Church It is not bare Vnion but the things in which a Church is united Id. p. 45. that must truly recommend and justifie it to the Christian world and prove it to be the Church of God I believe there never was a more perfect Union and Agreement Id. p. 46. in the Church of Rome or in any other Church than among the Israelites which worshiped the Golden Calf nevertheless it was no Schism to divide from them because they United in a Sin Their Vnion was their Crime The Corahites were as firmly United under Corah as the True Id. p. 47. Church was under Moses and Aaron The ten Tribes were as firmly united at Bethel as the two were at Hierusalem they had Number as well as Vnion to plead but notwithstanding both their Number and Union they were but a great Schism because they united in Innovations contrary to the will of God There hath been at several times as strict an Union among Id. 47. Hereticks and Schismaticks as among the Catholicks The Novatians in particular were remarkable for their Concord Unity and Unanimity So were the Arians generally all of one Communion and very Unanimous against the Homousian Doctrine and yet they were but a great prevailing Schism when they were at the highest and had almost gain'd the whole Christian World From these examples 't is plain that in passing Judgment upon ibid. Churches we are not to look at the Vnion so much as the Cause in which they are united We are to Consider if their Doctrine and Discipline be Apostolical and their Terms of Communion truly Catholick and if they be so then their Union in them is Holy and Laudable and such as makes them the true Churches of God A Concurrence of these things is the genuine Badge of a truly Catholick and Apostolical Church The worst Fraternities have sometimes the firmest Union as Id. p. 55. we of this Nation very well remember the Time when those of the Great Rebellion boasted that God had united the Hearts of his People in his Cause as one Man nevertheless those pretended People of God whose Hearts and Hands were so United that we could not break their Bonds of Union asunder were no better than a Band of Rebels and their Cause downright Rebellion against God and the best of Princes tho they acted in it as if they had been all inform'd with one Common Soul The like hath often happen'd in Ecclesiastical Societies The Samaritans who had neither Sadduces nor Phraisees nor Essens nor Herodians nor Cabalists nor Carraites among them for that reason had a firmer Union among themselves than the Church of the Jews had and yet they were not the True Church So among the Ancient Christians The Novatians liv'd in perfect Peace and Unity among themselves when there were many Feuds and Contentions among the Catholicks which shews that bare Vnity is not a good Test whereby to try Churches The Sum of what is said upon this Query is That 't is Soundness in Doctrine Discipline and Worship that makes a True Church and not Number and Vnion Q. Whether a well-meaning Christian may not now and then or Occasionally Communicate with a Schismatical Church A. We must not give countenance to the Church Assemblies Sanderson's Case of the Liturgy p. 190. Vind. Def. of D. St. p. 5. of Schismaticks by our presence among them if we can avoid it Now if there be but one Catholick Church all the World over then every Separation is a Schism on one side or other for where there are two Separate Churches one if not both must be Schismatical because there is but one Church And if the Unity of this Church consists in one Communion which exacts a joynt discharge of all the Duties of a Church-relation in Hearing and Praying and Receiving the Lord's Supper c. together then to forsake the Church and meet in private Conventicles in Distinct and Opposite Communions for Religious Worship is Separation and when it is Causeless is a Schism You cannot be in Communion with two Churches which are in Sherl Resol of some Cases a State of Separation from each other for to be in Communion with a Church is to be a Member of it and to be a Member of two Separate and Opposite Churches is to be as contrary to our selves as those Separate Churches are to each other Wherever there are distinct and Separate Communions and Def. of Dr. Stil p. 235. Churches which do not own Church-membership with each other but tho they live in the same place yet divide into several distinct Congregations under different Governors and Opposite Orders and Rules there is certainly a Schism on one side or other where there are two distinct and opposite Communions one of them must be Schismatical because there ought to be but One. To assert that there are more True Churches than one how large Def. of Still p. 63. or narrow soever the bounds of it be which were not very large in the first Institution of a Church and may be reduc'd again to a narrow Compass by a general Apostacy is to justify Schism by a Law for then there may be Distinct Churches and Distinct Opposite Communions without Schism which is the most Schismatical Principle in the World if Christ have but One Church and One Body It is impossible to joyn in Communion with such men without Ans to Protest Recon p. 332. Judging and Censuring those whom I believe in those very Acts of Worship in which I joyn with them to be either Superstitious or profane and therefore tho' such men should worship in the same Church or Religious Assemblies yet they do not worship in One Communion It is hard to understand if occasional Communion be Lawful that Mischief of Separ p. 56. constant Communion should not be a Duty Q. Whether Salvation may be had out of the Church A. It is Universally agreed that there is no Salvation to be had Sherl disc of Nat. Vn and Communion c. p. 41. Lowth's Catechism out of the Catholick Church Infidels Jews Turks c. that never were in the Church Hereticks that
obstinate refusal to obey the Imposition of Lawful Bishops Id. p. 381. and Pastors makes Men Schismaticks Whosoever is a Member of any particular Church and refuses Vind. Ch. of Eng. from Sch. p. 22. Thorndike of forbear p. 15. all due Obedience to the Pastors and Governors thereof doth thereby contract the guilt of Schism As it is Heresy to depart from the Faith which they The Apostles Preached so is it Schism to depart from the Authority which they left in the Church till the Worlds end Whoever by virtue of any Authority under Heaven shall Usurp Ecclesiastical Id. Rights of the Ch. p. 278. Power shall Usurp the Succession of the Apostles and take it from them that Rightfully stand possest of it upon pretence of Governing the Church by such Laws as he is really perswaded but falsely to be commanded the Church by our Lord and his Apostles this whosoever shall do or be accessary to is guilty of Schism Suppose a Prosperous Usurper in this Kingdom had gain'd Vind. Ans to the Kings Papers p. 23. a considerable interest in it and challeng'd a Title to the whole and therefore requir'd of all the Kings Subjects within his power to own him to be Rightful King Upon this many of them are forc'd to withdraw because they will not own his Title Is this an Act of Rebellion and not rather of true Loyalty Schism in the Church is like Rebellion in the State There are some things immediately necessary to the Salvation Thorndike's Right of the Church p. 276. of particular Christians whether concerning Faith or Good Manners and there are other things necessary to the publick Order and Peace of the Church that by it Christians may be edify'd in all matters of the first kind The denying any point of the first kind may for distinction sake be call'd Heresie when a man is resolute and obstinate in it But in the other kind it is not false opinion that makes a man a Schismatick till he agree to destroy the Unity of the Church for it It can scarce fall out indeed that any man proceed to destroy the Unity of the Church without some false opinion in Christianity Yet it is not the opinion but the Destroying of a true or erecting of a false Power in the Church that makes Schism Whatever discouragments the Clergy have found they still Faith and Pract. Ch. Eng. Man c. 7. Preach up and perswade Loyalty to the King and by the Doctrine of Passive Obedience to Temporal Authority keep People from Rebellion notwithstanding they have been so often jeer'd and abus'd with it But yet out of modesty seldom insist on the Obedience that is due to the Church and Ecclesiastical Authority tho' there is as much obedience due to Her as even to the Church of Rome from her members Cath. Bal. p. 62. As the Faith which we have in the Principles of Christianity is the foundation of all Christian Graces in the Soul and the inner dispensation of Eternal life so is Episcopacy the Foundation of all visible Union and Government in the Ecclesiastical Body insomuch that were there no one Bishop left in the world the Integrity at least if not the very Essence of the Church would be destroy'd The summ of what has been cited upon this Query amounts to this viz. 1st That if any Church makes the terms of Her Communion sinful by framing new Articles of Faith or by imposing false Doctrines for true or by corrupting Divine Worship by Wicked Idolatrous or Blasphemous Prayers then she is Schismatical and those that Separate from her truly Catholick But if she imposes no false Doctrines nor no new Articles of Faith and enjoyns nothing in the service of God but what is innocent decent and tending to Edification then those that Separate from her are a Schismatical and she a Catholick Church 2ly If any Church disobey the Lawful Commands of their Spiritual Governors or throw off their Rightful and Canonical Bishops and Communicate with the Vsurpers and Intruders into their Sees they are Schismaticks 3ly If any wholly reject Episcopacy they destroy the very Foundation of Christian Vnity Q. Suppose there be more Bishops than one in a Diocess with which of them must the People Communicate A. Almost all Heresies and Schisms that have distracted the Vindic. of Prim. Ch. p. 308. Church have been no other than so many Defections of the discontented part of the Clergy and the more Pragmatical part of the Layety from their Rightful Bishop Non aliunde Haereses obortae Cypr. Ep. 55. sunt aut nata sunt Schismata quam inde quod Sacerdoti non obtemperatur Schisms and Heresies spring from no other cause than Disobedience to the Bishop Inde Haereses obortae sunt dum Episcopus Ep. 69. qui unus est Contemnitur All the disturbance of the Church is purely for want of observing that Precept of the Apostle Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account i. e. Obey those that are Rightfully over you and submit to them not choosing your selves new Teachers and running after your own fancy which Ignatius seems to paraphrase as he is cited by Antiochus Let Ep. ad Smyrn the People assemble where the Bishop is present the Sheep ought not to go wandring whither they please but as the Shepherd leads them The People ought to follow the Directions of their Bishop and conclude what he orders to be most pleasing to God No City how great soever had more than one Bishop This Id. p. 502 is so well known that it would be great impertinence to go about to prove it by Instances and besides the Bishops of most Cities if not all had a considerable Territory belonging to their Jurisdiction which was commonly the Country lying round about their City In great Cities there was one chief Ecclesiastical Governor called Saywel of Vnits p. 43. Bishop to which all both Priests and People were subject and 't was Schism and no Communion to do any thing without his Allowance and Direction It was an inviolable Rule among them the Africans that Vnreason Separ p. 245. there was to be but one Bishop in a City tho' the City were never so large or the Christians never so many One of the greatest and most pernicious Schisms that ever Id. p. 240. happen'd might have been prevented if they had yielded to more Bishops than one in a City and that was the Schism of the Donatists The Novatian Schism began at Rome upon the like occasion To set up one Bishop against another is to set up Altar against Id. 249. Altar as that Phrase is commonly us'd in St. Cyprian and St. Austin Our Author Mr. Hales proves the Donatists in two lines to Long 's Ans to Hales of Sch. p. 107. be compleat Schismaticks 1st For choosing a Bishop in Opposition
the Execution of which they abridge themselves is such as has Influence on the Civil Rights of the Subject and therefore necessarily requir'd the Concurrence of the Supreme Civil Power It is confest that the extream of Raising the Ecclesiastical Id. p. 31. Power too high in the times of Popery had now produc'd another of Depressing it too much But this was the Infelicity of the Clergy not their Crime It is certain that before the Empire was Christian the Church Burscough Episc p. 12. Saywel of Vnity p. 138. was govern'd by its proper officers as a Society distinct from the State and Independent on it Who ever did account it Schism in the Gospel sense and as the word is now used amongst Christians to disobey the unjust Commands of the Civil Magistrate Were Christ and his Apostles Schismaticks Were all the Primitive Christians Schismaticks till Constantine's time Nay were there not Schismaticks all that while the Church was a Society that had Laws and Government contrary to the Laws of the Secular Princes For does not St. Paul tell the Corinthians that there were Schisms among them and do we not find the Novatians accounted Schismaticks and many others long before Constantine's time Nay moreover were not the Arians Schismaticks under the Reign of Constantius and Valens tho they had the Edicts of the Emperour to favour them which were then of as good Authority as our Acts of Parliament are now with us Or if we should ever have a Popish Parliament that should command us to go to Mass and abolish our present Constitutions should we be Schismaticks for not obeying them I hope not there 's no such matter Christ has Pastors and Teachers in his Church and has promis'd to be with them to the end of the World and commanded all good Christians to obey them The Church did subsist before the Magistrates favour'd it and may continue again tho Kings and Parliaments should leave of to protect it We only are the Poor Tame Dispirited Drowsy Body that Municip Eccles p. 119. are in love with our Fetters and this is the only Scandalous part of our Passive Obedience to be not only Silent but Content with an Oc n of our P rs which are not Forfeited nor forfeitable to any Worldly Power whatsoever The Sovereign Power of the Church consisting in the Sword Thornd Rt. of the Ch. p. 40. of Excommunication upon which the Society thereof is founded it is Necessarily manifest that this power is not lost to the Church nor Forfeit to the State that Professeth Christianity and undertakes the Protection of the Church For the Church and Civil Societies must needs remain Distinct Bodies when the Church is ingrafted into the State and the same Christian Members of both in regard of the Relations Rights and Obligations which is the same Persons remain Distinct according to the Distinct Societies and Qualities of several Persons in the same Therefore as no Christian as a Christian can challenge any Temporal Right by his Christianity which the State wherein he is call'd to be a Christian gives him not So on the other side no Man by his Rank in any State is invested with any Power proceeding from the foundation of the Church as it is the Church So far as Excommunication concerns barely the Society of the Id. p. 237. Vid. Falkner's Chr. Loyal p. 319. Church any Person Capable of Sovereign Power is liable to it upon the same terms as other Christians are because coming into the Communion of the Church upon the same Condition as other Christians the failing of this Condition must needs render the Effect void But if we consider either the Temporal force by which it Vid. Cath. Bal. p. 110 c. comes to Effect or the Temporal Penalties which attend on it to These which cannot proceed but by the will of the Sovereign it is not possible that he should be liable Princes as well as any other Persons must Submit themselves to Falkner's Chr. Loyal p. 321. the Power of the Keys in the Undertaking the Rules of Repentance so far as they are needful for procuring the favour of God and obtaining the benefit of the Keys by Absolution The Pastoral Office of the Guides of the Church doth extend Id. 225. Vid. Cath. Bal. p. 118. it self even to Kings with respect to the conduct of their Souls but yet this doth not exempt them from being under the Regal Sovereignty The Habitual Jurisdiction of Bishops flows we confess from Animadv on 8 Thes p. 41. their Ordination but the Actual Exercise thereof in publick Courts after a Coercive manner is from the gracious Concessions of Sovereign Princes As for Causes purely Ecclesiastical the Bishop being Supreme in Vind. of some Prot. prin p. 88. and Vind. Def. p. 183. his own Diocess there can be no Original Right of appeal from him for there is no appeal from the Supreme He has a free power in the Government of his own Diocess and must render an account of his Actions to Christ who is the supreme Lord of the Church as St. Cyprian tells us While the Clergy Faithfully discharge their office the Prince Animadv on 8 Thes p. 52. ought to Protect them and if for this they suffer no doubt but they are Martyrs When the Civil Power will not own the Church The Ecclesiastical Falkner Chr. Loyal p. 45. Governors by their own Authority may establish necessary Rules for Order as in the Primitive times Bishop Taylor tells us from Fulgentius that when Frazamund King of Bisac in Africa had made an Edict under pain of Death that no more Bishops should be Consecrated designing by that device to have the Catholick Faith rooted out of his Dominions the Bishops of the Province no way affrighted at the Edict met together and Consecrated as many as were wanting considering that those who were worthy of a Mitre need not fear to do their Duty when by so doing they are sure to receive a Crown of Martyrdom If any such Heretical or Infidel Prince should design to dissolve Hill's Cath Ballance p. 127. our Succession we have a Canonical right to preserve our Orders and can but suffer Penalties which may Oppress but not Null or Vacate the Validity of our Ordination No Temporal Christian Powers have any Authority in themselves Id. p. 121. to Vsurp Extinguish Pervert Alter or Retard but only to Inspect and Assist the regular operations of the Powers Hierarchical within its own bounds So that whatsoever Offices thereof are Fundamental to the Catholick Faith Charity Union and Government of the Universal and each particular Church and were receiv'd and practised for such in all Ages before the Empire became Christian are not to be violated by any Acts of State For if such violations were accounted Persecutions in Heathen Emperours and Princes what can they be accounted in Christian ones Of these Fundamental Rights therefore I shall subjoyn some