resolved by Tharasius malum perpetuò idem est aequale That evil is alway the same which sounding too Stoical one Epiphanius a Deacon and representative of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Sardinia solves it by saying That it held true especially in causes Ecclesiastical Aquibus decretis cùm parvis tùm magnis errare idem est siquidem in utrisque lex divina violatur for to erre from such decrees whether in small matters or great is a contempt of the Divine law But John a Monk Deputy for the Oriental thrones pronounceth this heresie worse than all other heresies and of all evils the worst as disturbing the whole Oeconomy of Christ However their penitents being but few for we find not above three or four mentioned they restore three of them to their dignities and one other Gregory Bishop of Neocaesareae who was judged to be a chief Leader of the Iconoclastae was admitted only to the Communion of the Church not to his Bishoprick although he declared for Image-worship But the Anathema is denounced against many others who abhorred this Idolatrous practice professing they did reject all images made by the hands of men and worshipped that only Qua filius Dei in Sacramento panis vini ante passionem seipsum expressit as did the whole Council of Frementum Theodosius Bishop of Ephesus Sisinnius of Pastilla Basilius and others And shortly after Charles the Great assembleth a Council of the Bishops of Italy France and Germany at Francfort Anno 792. of the transactions whereof we have four books yet extant in which we have not only the Canons of that Council but many Imperial Edicts for the taking away of Images and forbidding any worship to be given them Sir Henry Spelman p. 305. of his first Volume of Councils acquaints us that Charles the Great sent a book to Offa King of the Mercians wherein Images were decreed to be worshipped by this Synod of Nice of which he tell us from Hoveden That in that book many things disagreeing and contrary to the true faith were found especially that Images ought to be worshipped which the Church of God doth utterly condemn And that Alcuinus Master to Charles the Great but by birth a Britan in an Epistle written in the name of the Bishops and Princes of England and sent back to Charles the Great did wonderfully overthrow that opinion of the Nicene Council by testimonies of Holy Scripture which moved him to call that Synod of Francfort consisting of 300 Fathers who refuted and condemned this decree of worshipping Images which is the cause saith that Author why the Monuments of that Synod are suppressed And I suppose that all the Reformed Churches especially the Church of England cannot but abhor those that established so great an iniquity by a Law I remember the learned Doctor Jackson p. 113. of his Treatise of the Church saith that by the self same stroke by which this Council did de facto thrust all other out of the visible Church that would not worship Images they declared themselves to be excommunicated de Jure from the Holy Catholick Church and by consequence from Salvation When therefore our Author endeavours by his Rhetorical flourishes to make such destructive errors to dwindle into schisms and allows only the names of schism p. 213. to Arrianism Eutychianism c. I thought I had just cause to except against his first Paragraph especially when I found how much it took not only with the Fanaticks and some witty men of our days but with persons of real worth and learning one of which whom I forbear to name repeats the whole clause in a book of good note in these words It is very well observed by a learned and judicious Divine quoting the Tract of Schism which he calls that little but excellent Tract of Schism that heresie and schism as they are commonly used are two Theological Scar crows with which they who use to uphold a party in Religion use to fright away such as making inquiry into it are ready to relinquish and oppose it if it appear either erròneous or suspicious For as Plutarch reports of a Painter who having unskilfully painted a Cock chased away all cocks and hens that so the imperfection of his Art might not appear by comparison with nature so men willing for ends to admit of no fancy but their own endeavour to hinder an enquiry into it by way of comparison of somewhat with it peradventure truer that so the deformity of their own might not appear This story of a Cock I shall Answer with another of a Hen for I have seen a Countrey-man with the picture of a Hen Pheasant artificially drawn on a stained cloth and a little Pipe to call the Cock-pheasants to draw them from place to place until in pursuit of their pleasures they have been taken in a Snare The reputation of the Author is as a Pipe which calls unwary Persons to view the Pictures on that stained cloth whereof they that grow too fond may follow them to their own destruction Our Author page 215. gives his advice for the composing of Liturgies Were Liturgies and publick forms of service so framed as that they admitted not of particular and private fancies but contained only such things as in which all Christians do agree schisms on opinion were utterly vanished For consider of all Liturgies that are or ever have been and remove from them whatsoever is scandalous to any Party and leave nothing but what all agree on and the event shall be that the publick service and honour of God shall no way suffer Whereas to load our publick forms with the private fancies upon which we differ is the most soveraign way to perpetuate Schism to the Worlds end Prayer Confession Thanksgiving Reading of Scriptures Exposition of Scripture Administration of Sacraments in the plainest and simplest manner were matter enough to furnish out a sufficient Liturgy though nothing either of private opinion or of Church-pomp of Garments of prescribed Gestures of Imagery of Musick of matter concerning the Dead of many superfluities which creep into the Churches under the Name of Order and Decency did interpose it self for to charge Churches and Liturgies with things unnecessary was the first beginning of all Superstition We have a Devonshire Proverb He that builds his house by every ones chop Shall never see his Ouice drop If every Man's fancy should be complied with in the framing of a Liturgy it is most certain we should never have any seeing as there is scarce any part against which some do not except so others are offended at the very form as being a stinting of the Spirit and the opposing of a Directory to the Ancient Liturgy shews that this was the sense of the Presbyterians themselves which appears also by this that when they had in the Grand Debate given in their Objections to the Liturgy some of the Brotherhood had prepared another form but a great part of their Brethren objected many
of them Did the Apostle in vain derive a power to the Church of Corinth 1 Epist ch 5. v. 5. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one as the Incestuous person unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Or can we think the Records of the several Churches in those first Ages which relate the divers painful and languishing Distempers of Body as well as the anguish and trouble of Mind which seized on such as by the Censures of the Church were cast out of Christian communion into the power of Satan to be false or forged The Divine Judgments which pursue such as in our times have been deservedly ejected or do wilfully depart from the Church-communion who are for the most part given up to a reprobate sense and being possessed with a spirit of Giddiness and perversness do as Cain run up and down from the Presence of God in his Publick Worship like Vagabonds from one Faction to another till they fall into unnatural and diabolical practices and straying from Christ's Fold are made a Prey unto the Devil do evidently demonstrate that the Church-censures are not bruta fulmina but have powerful effects for the conversion or confusion of contumacious offenders But non tali Auxilio That Sacred Function which your Lordship sustains in our Church needs not so weak an Apology as I can make for it I have only endeavoured as I was able to silence the reproaches and contradictions of unreasonable Men by whose strivings the burden of Government which of it self is weighty enough is made to sit more uneasie on the shoulders of our spiritual Guides Against whom it is no difficult work to maintain that assertion of Dr. Hammond in his answer to the Catholick Gentleman p. 134. That as long as any particular Bishop remains in due subordination to his Canonical Superiors so long the departure of any Clergy-man that is under his Jurisdiction from that obedience which canonically he owes to him is in him that is thus guilty of it an act of Schism But this comes not now under consideration My present endeavours I do lay at your Lordships feet as an acknowledgment of that great happiness which we of your Lordships Diocess do injoy under your Government in which Authority and Meekness Candor and Courage Piety and Prudence are so duly tempered that though each of them be visible yet it is hardly discernable which is most prevalent That free and favourable access which your Lordship hath vouchsafed me in more private concerns hath incouraged me to this publick Address for the service of the Church hoping that the Work may find the like gracious acceptance as the Author hath both which as they really need so they humbly beg your Lordships pardon and protection which will be a sufficient Sanctuary against all Adversaries of the truths which he defends and therein of EXON New-Years Day 1677. Your Lordships most Humble and Obedient Servant THO. LONG when all other arguments have failed to cut the Gordian knot of our present peace and unity in pieces It is my endeavour by the following Exercitations to take this Sword out of the Enemies hands or at least to blunt the edge of it and make it unserviceable to evil designs When I first apprehended it I only let it fall on the Anvil by its own weight and every one may perceive how it yielded to that gentle Examination wherefore I was encouraged by a severer censure to lay it on the Anvil again and I hope with a few strokes I have so broken it that there is scarce an Artist among the Factions can so solder it as to make it hurtful or formidable again I could wish they would at last turn this and other such Swords into Plow-shares as Men of Evangelical Spirits ought to do and study to be quiet and do their own business But I think it not enough to deprive our Adversaries of this Weapon I shall attempt to vindicate the fame and reputation of the Venerable Mr. Hales of whose authority the Churches adversaries do often make use to the maintenance of Faction against her as sometime they did of the King 's for raising a Rebellion against Him It is an aggravation of sorrow that the Church like the Eagle should receive its most dangerous wounds by the darts which are feathered from her own wing And that that learning and piety which is wanting in the adverse party to inforce their own arguments and support their cause should be supplied by the Revolt as in the Apostates to Popery or the Captivity as in the case of Mr. Hales of some unsetled and unwary Sons of the Church of whose parts and reputation the Enemies on both sides have made more advantage than of their own This hath been the beginning and growth of Errors and Schismes when Men of subtile parts and popular esteem raise doubts and arguments against the truth and instill them into weaker judgments and unstable minds who are apt for want of understanding to take their Sophistry for solid reasoning and through affection to their Persons to adhere to them as to the most faithful guides and jurare in verba magistri But it is a very preposterous method to judge of the cause according to the reputation of such as espouse it S. Augustine gives us a safer rule nec causa causae nec persona personae praejudicet Let both causes and persons stand or fall according to their own merit That little which I can gather concerning Mr. Hales all which and a great deal more I charitably believe he did well deserve is to this effect compiled by Mr. Lloid in his Memoires p. 606. In writing of which it seems he consulted the present Bishop of Chester and Mr. Faringdon his familiar friends Mr. Hales was born in Kent and bred Fellow of Merton Colledge where he was chosen Greek Professor of Oxford Sir Dudley Carleton made him his Chaplain when he was at the Hague about the business of the Synod of Dort whereof being sent thither to that purpose he wrote a daily and exact account completed as appears in his Remains by Dr. Balcanquel At which Synod he hearing Episcopius well pressing as he thought that of Saint John 3. 16. he said There I bad John Calvin good night After this he was Fellow of Eaton and then Prebendary of Windsor in the first of which places he was Treasurer but which is strange such was his integrity and charity to his loss in point of Estate And Fellow such his prudence in avoiding the Oaths of the times without any snare to his Conscience A person of so large a capacity so sharp quick piercing and subtile a wit of so serene and profound a judgment beyond the ordinary reach built upon unordinary notions raised out of strange observations and comprehensive thoughts within himself and of so astonishing an industry that he became the
Heylen with whom he was acquainted told him that he found the Arch-bishop whom he knew before to be a nimble Disputant to be as well versed in Books as business That he had been ferreted by him from one hole to another till there was none left to afford him further shelter That he was now resolved to be Orthodox and to declare himself a true Son of the Church of England both for Doctrine and Discipline p. 361 362. If it be demanded why our Author did not refute this Tract in his life-time I answer 1. he did do it as effectually as the Philosopher confuted him that denied motion when he arose from his seat and walked up and down before him for his long profession and practice contrary to what was there written was Protestatio contraria facto 2. The Tract carried its confutation with it as appears in the examination 3. It 's not impossible that he foresaw how it might be serviceable to the Royal Party whom their adversaries had begun to revile and persecute as Arminians and Papists and in some cases poyson well tempered and rightly applied may become medicinal 4. He might be confident such weak arguments as he made use of though they might please the factious multitude who knew no better yet they could do no great hurt among Judicious men And because we cannot guess at the Author's aim which is secret we ought to judge by his actions which were publick The learned Bishop Taylor made use of a like Stratagem to break the Presbyterian power and to countenance Divisions between the Factions which were too much united against the Loyal Clergy for in his Liberty of Prophesying he insists on the same Topicks of Schism and Heresie of the incompetency of Councils and Fathers to determine our Ecclesiastical controversies and of scrupulous Consciences and urgeth far more cogent arguments than our Author did but still he had prepared his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Antidote to prevent any dangerous effect of his discourse Not unlike to some Mountebanks Pardon the Comparison who to amuse the vulgar and to effect their own ends do administer to their Merry-Andrews a certain Dose of Poison but immediately give them such an Antidote as causeth them to cast it up again and hinders the mischievous operation of it For the Judicious Reader may perceive such a reserve though it lay in Ambuscado and be compacted in a narrow compass as may easily rout those Troops which began too soon to cry Victoria and thought of nothing else but dividing the Spoil And if the learned Bishop did this and was blameless the goodness of the End in such cases denominating the Action I see no cause why our Author whose ends as we ought in charity to believe considering the integrity of the Person were for the restoring of peace seeing he represented the causes of War so frivolous and inconsiderable ought to be represented as a Criminal or adversary And thus I have endeavoured to rescue the Author's Person as well as his Papers from the Enemies tents according to the advice of Tully in the case of Muraena Tolle Catonem de Causâ that by any means he should take off Cato from appearing as an Enemy or an Evidence against him lest the Opinion of Cato's vertues should create him more prejudice than the strength of his Arguments were like to do I have only to acquaint the Reader that the reason why in the following Censure I have sometime named the Author as distinct from Mr. Hales is because I believe it is applied by too many to such intents as the Author never thought of and as the Epigrammatist saith of ill repeating so shall I say of ill applying other mens books Malè dum recitas incipit esse tuus I cannot certainly calculate the time when this Tract of Schism was first penned but I suppose it to be about Forty Years since it being quoted by Mr. Chillingworth in his Answer to Knott which wants but little of that age And unless my conjecture and credible information do both fail me the occasion on which it was written was this Mr. Hales and Mr. Chillingworth were of intimate acquaintance and beside a constant correspondence by Letters they had frequent converse with each other but more especially when Mr. Chillingworth came so far in his Answer as to Vindicate our Church from Schism which was charged on her by Knott He consulted with Mr. Hales concerning the nature of Schism and after discourse he desired Mr. Hales to write his thoughts about it which he did in this Tract out of which Mr. Chillingworth urged some arguments which I think are the worst in all his Book Sure I am that they caused ill reflections not only on the private reputation of Mr. Hales and Mr. Chillingworth but on the Church of England as if that did favour the Socinian Principles The Author of Infidelity Unmasked writing against Mr. Chillingworth tells him that his arguments concerning Schism were conceits borrowed from a Letter of Mr. John Hales of Eaton written to a private Friend of his as I am credibly informed saith that Author by a Person well known to them both at that time and who saw the Letter it self And he farther affirms of his own certain knowledge that Mr. Hales was of a very inconstant judgment One Year for Example says he doubting of or denying the blessed Trinity and the next Year professing and adoring the same And another Person in a Pamphlet called the Total Summ written against Mr. Chillingworth reviles him on the same account in these words In this you shew the Adamantinal hardness of your Socinian forehead and Samosatenian Conscience The truth is that some arguments borrowed from the Socinians and urged first by Mr. Hales and from him by Mr. Chillingworth gave occasion to that imputation But as for Mr. Chillingworth he had sufficiently secured his reputation in the Preface of his Book where he thus professeth I believe the Doctrine of the Trinity the Deity of our Saviour and all other Supernatural verities received in the Scripture as truly and as heartily as any man And whereas he dyed in the Faith of the Church of England he hath given assurance that he was then no Socinian As for Mr. Hales whatever he was when he wrote this Tract of Schism and some others yet as his Adversary says he did afterward profess and adore the blessed Trinity And for the Reader 's satisfaction as well as for Mr. Hales his Vindication I shall transcribe that account which he gives of his Faith concerning the Trinity in his Golden Remains Mr. HALES's Confession of the TRINITY The Summ of whatever either the Scriptures teach or the Schools conclude concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity is comprised in these few Lines GOD is One numerically one more one than any single Man is one if Unity could suscipere magis minus yet God is so One that he admits of distinction and so admits of
behave himself humbly towards them as to his Brethren Secondly Both Nature and Religion agree in this Heraldry that all Families and Societies of men and therefore the Church of God also have ever born something in chief the Father was ever above the Son and the Priest who for a long time was the Father of the Family was superior to the people All did not come by composition and agreement To evince this I shall assert these three propositions 1. That God is to be Worshipped is a dictate of the law of Nature 2. That men ought to gather themselves into assemblies for the Worship of God is a result of the same Law 3. That in those Societies there should be a power and government for the preservation of it self is from the Law of Nature and by consequence from the Law of God both which have directed a Sub and Supra in all Societies and ingraven the principles of it in the Souls of men First That Nature teacheth us that God is to be Worshipped This impression we find in Adam not only before but after the fall who taught his Sons as well Cain as Abel to honour God with their substance And we read Gen. 4. 3. That in process of time that is say some at the revolution of a determined time which being described to be in the Original at the end of days others think it to be meant of the Seventh or Sabbath day Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord and Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof Whether they brought it to a designed place or to their father Adam as their Priest I shall not now enquire I shall only give you an observation of the learned Doctor Outram on this place That the period of days whereon Cain brought his offering was at the end of Harvest and the time of Abels offering was when his flocks were increased at which seasons both of them being instructed by natural reason for no command doth appear thought it meet to return to God some part of the blessing given them by God And whereas it is said Hebr. 11. 4. that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain which some think could not be said to be done in faith unless it had been in obedience to some command of God He consenteth with some others that this place doth evince the contrary because if Abel had sacrificed according to some express command we cannot conceive but Cain offered upon the same command also and so might be said to have done it by faith as well as Abel which is contrary to that text which implies that Cain did not Whence it may be concluded that they did neither of them present their offerings by virtue of any command but according to a dictate of nature imprinted on their Souls as an acknowledgment of their several blessings received from him which if Cain a wicked man was inclined to do by the light of nature how much better may it be said of Abel who was a good man But it will be demanded wherein that faith of Abel which is so commended did consist And the Answer is in that he had so great a respect to the Dominion power and goodness of God the author and giver of all blessings and Lord of life and death that he thought himself obliged to offer the best of his flocks in testimony of the Worship of his Creator and of a thankful mind towards him And indeed the light of nature might serve not only to direct the family of Adam who had so much of the knowledge of God but others also that were removed into a greater darkness and ignorance That as the invisible God had manifested his eternal power and Godhead to them by things visible so they ought to agnize and honour their invisible Creator and benefactor by offering him some portion of those visible and sensible blessings which he had vouchsafed them These and such like arguments saith Dr. Outram p. 7. did so prevail with the Ancients that they were of opinion that men did first offer sacrifice from an instinct of natural reason and not from any command of God for which he quoteth many learned Authors and concludes with the Opinion of Eusebius de demonstratione Evangelica l. 1. c. 10. That Cain did of his own accord offer the fruits of the ground but every good man as Abel Noah and Abraham did by Divine reasoning or understanding sacrifice living creatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as the learned Doctor proves cannot be understood of a Divine Command I shall add but this one medium more for the proof of my first proposition That the general instinct and inclination of Mankind to worship some thing as God doth argue that the Light of Nature doth direct them that God is to be worshipped only through the decay and weakness of Reason they mistake the Object and are become ignorant of the right manner of serving him which hath been the cause of all Idolatry And it is very observable that whereas other dictates of Nature have been obliterated and disused among divers Nations this hath been constantly and universally observed by all with great solemnity which is the second Proposition viz. That God must be worshipped by Men in Society is according to the Law of Nature which I suppose our Author doth grant p. 227. where he saith It hath been at all times confessed necessary that God requireth not only inward and private Devotion when Men either in their hearts and closets or within their private walls pray praise confess and acknowledge but he further requires all those things to be done in publick by Troops and Shoals of Men. If this was always necessary then sure before there was any positive command for it God requiring it by the Law of Nature which doth not only teach us that God is to be worshipped but in such a manner as may best display his excellencies and manifest that he is glorious in praises which cannot be done in a corner but in the great Congregations and therefore God so graciously accepted the intention of David and Solomon's devotion in building him that great Temple at Jerusalem where all the Tribes of Israel at Solemn times should meet together to offer up their prayers and to give thanks to the Name of the Lord. And before we read of any precept for this purpose we find Gen. 4. 26. that in the days of Enos the Grand-son of Adam by Seth that is as soon as there was a competent number to make a Solemn Assembly Men began to call upon the Name of the Lord viz. in Publick Assemblies as the best Expositors do interpret it Which farther appears in that all Nations have built Temples set a-part solemn Festival days and instituted Priests and mysterious Rites for the honour of their Gods which they have done without any previous command or commerce with more
overweighed by another accident shall cease to make them unlawful For instance p. 461. Sect. 4. If of two Translations of Scripture or two Versions of the Psalms the Pastor use the worser so it be tolerable we must obey And Sect. 7. If the Pastor appoint a more imperfect Version of the Psalms to be sung in the Church as is commonly used in England the obeying of him in the use of this will not bring so much hurt to the Church as the disobeying on that account would do For besides the sin of disobedience it self the Church would be in a confusion if they forsake his conduct that preserves the union and some will be for this and some for that and so the Worship it self will be overthrown And let it still be remembred that we allow both Magistrates and Pastors to see to the execution of God's Laws and to determine of circumstances in order thereto that are necessary in genere p. 482. Sect. 35. but not determined of God in specie p. 422. § 65. It may be very sinful to command some ceremonies which may lawfully yea must in duty be used by the subject when they are commanded p. 398. Certain things commonly called ceremonies may lawfully be used in the Church upon humane imposition and when it is not against the Law of God no person should disobey the Laws of their lawful Governors in such things If there should be any Pastors of the Churches who instead of concurring to heal the flock of these dividing principles shall rather joyn with backbiters and incourage them in their misreports and slanders because it tends to the supposed interest of their party or themselves Let them prepare to Answer such unfaithfulness to their Consciences which will be shortly awakened And to the great Shepherd of the flock who is at the door and who told even the Devils Agents that A house or kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but is brought to nought POSTSCRIPT I Have proposed such Arguments for Conformity as I occasionally met with in such books of Mr. Baxter's as came to my hands If I had consulted others I doubt not but I might have found many more as cogent as these but these being satisfactory and of eternal verity I humbly desire Mr. Baxter and others of his perswasion to consider them nor can I doubt but Mr. Baxter will charitably accept of these my endeavours for peace upon his own weighty arguments and the rather because I believe him by his writings to be a man of a great experience in the temper of the people of a quick and discerning judgment that can look through causes into the consequences and effects that will naturally result from them and moreover a person of so great sincerity that he will by no means stray from but readily defend his own principles which are sound and pacificatory And seeing he hath done as St. Paul did of whom Tertullian notes he did perswade to peace totis spiritûs sancti viribus I believe he is one that longeth to see the healing of our Churches and that tendered his Arguments to all sorts charging them to do so much as appears to be necessary as they are true to Christ to his Church and Gospel to their own and others Souls and to the peace and welfare of the nations And as they will Answer the neglect to Christ at their peril In the Title of a Treatise of Confirmation And in his Answer to Dr. Tully title page A Compassionate Lamenter of the Churches wounds caused by hasty judging and undigested conceptions and by the Theological wars which are hereby raised and managed by perswading the world that meer verbal or notional differences are material and such as our love concord and communion must be measured by for want of an equal discussion of the Ambiguity of words One who in the Epistle to the Reader for Confirmation exhorts to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because they shall prosper that love it and to seek it of God and man which was his own daily though too defective practice as a servant of the King of peace To him and all others as such I propose the following concessions and the conclusions inferred from them In his Christian Directory p. 854. 1. He that is silenced by just power though unjustly in a Country that needeth not his preaching must forbear there And p. 560. of the Saints Rest he tells us as to his particular If God would dispense with me for my ministerial services without any loss to his people I should leap as lightly as Bishop Ridley when he was stript of his Pontificalia and say as Paedaretus the Laconian when he was not chosen into the number of the three hundred men I thank thee O God that thou hast bestowed on this City so many men better than my self 2. That it is lawful to hold communion with our Churches having but tolerable Pastors notwithstanding the Parochial Order and the Ministers conformity and use of the Common-prayer book And that we ought to do so when some special reasons as from Authority scandal c. do require it Second Admonition to Bagshaw p. 78. 3. That when men are carried to separate on such pretended grounds they will be no where fixt but may still be subdividing and separating from one another till they are resolved into Individuals and have left no such thing as a Church among them p. 486. Of the five disputations and p. 487. By disobedience in lawful things the members of the Church will be involved in Contentions and so ingaged in bitter uncharitableness censures persecutions and reproaches of one another 4. Though Ministerial conformity is now much altered as to ingagements many of the Assembly of Divines yet living do conform again nor would I shun communion with the reverend Members of that Assembly Twiss Gataker Whitaker and the rest if again they used the Liturgy among us And if the old Non-Conformists such as Bolton c. were alive and used now the same Liturgy and Ceremonies as they did then which was worse than now I could not think their Communion in prayer and Sacraments unlawful nor censure that man as injurious to the Church who should write to perswade others not to separate from them Defence of principles of Love p. 12 13. And Mr. Baxter's practice in receiving the Sacrament confirmeth the same 5. If any Pastor instead of concurring to heal the flocks of dividing principles shall rather joyn with backbiters and incourage them in their misreports and slanders because it tends to the supposed interest of their party or themselves let them prepare to Answer such unfaithfulness to their Consciences which will be shortly awakened and to the great Shepherd of the flock who is at the door and who told even the Devils Agents that a house or kingdom divided cannot stand c. p. 253. H. C. 6. The Magistrate will quickly find that the distractions of the Church will quickly breed