inviolable in all opinions And the Church a standing â—ynod from Rome Hereby it may appear that the Visible Unity of the Church must stand or fall with Episcopacy And therefore no marvel that it should not bee acknowledged by them who acknowledg not Episcopacy For the soul of this unity consisting in the resort of inferiour Churches to superiours and in the correspondence of parallel Churches neither can this resort nor this correspondence ever appear to have been had and exercised but between Bishops as heads in behalf of their Churches Whether by a treaty of Bishops personally assembled in Council or by correspondence between Bishops by means of their Presbyters Deacons or inferiour Clergy good intelligence were preserved between Churches towards the maintaining of communion in the whole it maters not The Church in the form which I state is a standing Synod able by consent of the chief Churches containing the consent of their resorts to conclude the whole In all the records of the Church let them shew me one Presbyter that ever answered for his Church to the rest of the Church at least in his own name for if in the name of and by Commission from his Bishop it is for my turn and let them take all And therefore though Episcopacy must needs bee declared for part of Gods Law by the Scriptures understood as the consent of the Church directeth against which no Scripture can bee rightly understood yet supposing the Church Visible by Gods Law I have enough to make them Schismatickes that oppose it though I should make Episcopacy no part of Gods Law but introduced by consent of the whole Church For that part which submitteth not to the consent of the Whole in maters which Gods Law referreth to the Whole for the preservation of that unity which it enacteth are justly to bee taken for those that violate the Unity which Gods Law enacteth Epecially in a Law of that consequence as one of those Rights wherein the chief power of the Church consisteth It is strange to see how fondly men argue that Presbyters have the power of the Keys which made the Apostles Apostles Therefore much more are they equal to Bishops As if they could not have that power in private maters between God and the conscience of particular Christians Reserving the same power for the Bishops peculiar in things which being publick concern the Body of each Church For in the cause of Arius this power was in the Council of Nicaea and in no less Had Athanasius of Alexandria or Alexander of Constantinople loosed him whom the Synod had bound though at the instance of Constantine they had been sinners to God and to his Church in violating the Unity thereof which hee hath made more inviolable then any temporal endowment of it How far are wee now from having evidenced the Visible Unity of Gods Church to bee a part of the common Christianity The Church Visible by disowning Haeretickes and Schismatickes supposing these things proved the proofes whereof have no way been insringed Haeretickes are condemned by themselves saith Paul because they know they forsake that profession upon which they were baptized members of the Church But it is Titus that is to refuse them The Church avoids them because the Bishop finds them incorrigible If other Bishops and their Churches duely informed from Titus do the like then is the Visible Unity of the Church visible in their proceedings If they do not the like then must they break communion with Titus and his Church by a perpetual Rule of the Church holding all Excommunicate that shall acknowledge an Excommunicate person to bee a member of the Church But wee read of no breach in the Church for any of those whom the Church hath declared Haeretickes Except what shall by and by bee excepted Thus far all the Church owneth the Visible Unity of the Church As for Schisme how many occasions of it have been prevented The difference about keeping Easter the difference about rebaptizing Haeretickes Many other differences have threatned breaches in the Church which have been prevented through the conduct of Christian Prelates Other divisions that have come to pass have been re-united sometimes sometimes not The communion of the Church of Sardinia with the rest of the Western Churches stood interrupted by the discontents of Lucifer Archbishop there And therefore I conceive for his time and no more The Church of Antiochia stood divided within it self under two Bishops for a mater of threescore years till by the intercession of the West as well as of the East it was re-united The East under Constantinople stood divided from the West under Rome upon the cause of Acacius for some seventy years till the Church of Rome was satisfied How long the Schism of Montanus lasted for at the first it was but a Schisme if wee judge by Tertullian who is the best record that remains of it I say not It seems to have turned into an Haeresie first and then to nothing as other Haeresies have done The Schisme of the Novatians for it was no more seems to have returned to the Church by pieces And so that of the Meletians The Donatists seem to have continued till Africk was overrun by the Mahumetans In all these breaches what signifies the attribute of one Catholick Church but a Visible Unity opposite to so many visible Apostasies St. Austine saith that if a stranger asked an Haeretick or Schismatick the way to the Catholick Church hee durst not shew him the way to his own Church because the title was not questionable Not meerly because the Catholick had more belonging to it as some would have us judge of Religion by counting Noses but as Optatus saith quia rationalis ubique diffusa because the due reason why men are Christians swayed men to stand to the unity of the Church all over The undue reason that moved men to break with it prevailed but here and there At all hands discounting Haeretickes and Schismatickes whom they that follow do seldom approve so many Christians so many witnesses of one Catholick Church which by being Catholick was alwaies and must needs bee Visible And thus far wee have the same evidence for one Visible Church as for the rest of Christianity After the Council of Ephesus the reputation of Nestorius held The breaches that have come to pass evidence the same entire in the East notwithstanding the Decree of the Council The Records of the Church have preserved us no intelligence how or by what means Those that write of the Wars of the holy Land afterwards represeut us the Nestorians in the East so numerous as might well stumble those that pretend to decide the Controversie of Religion by the Poll in our Western parts But whether the breach stood upon the opinion or upon the person of Nestorius is more then I am able to decide For in Aegypt likewise after many troubles about the Council of Chalcedon and the condemning of their
that the Church of Rome is Gods Church which as I said in the beginning hath always been granted how easie is it to infer That there is no salvation but in Communion with the Church of Rome For how many of them whom they deal with can distinguish a Church from the Church or give a Reason how God having founded one Church it may nevertheless stand so divided that salvation may be had on both sides Which Reason being once overseen the Infallibility of the present Church is swallowed ipso facto and all the Decrees of the Council of Trent must down with the same assurance as the H. Trinity Nor need you distinguish between Haeresie and Schisme when once the Church shall have pronounced Thus save they the labour of proving Transubstantiation Purgatory Prayers to Saints Latine Service the half Communion and other points of difference all of them too tough to bee overcome All of them are clearly gained by the prejudice which men have imposed upon themselves that the Church which enjoyns them cannot erre Whereas nothing can bee more evident then that which I proposed at the beginning That it cannot be tryed which side is the true Church but by going to tryal upon the particulars in difference But they who charge the Pope to be Antichrist and the Papists What wee get by the charge of Idolatry and Antichrist Idolaters the higher their charge the more to do must they have to perswade common reason that so great a part of mankind should expect to besaved by professing to contradict that which themselves profess And suppose that a prejudicate zeal can transport a man to think the wisest people upon earth those that Govern the See of Rome and all those whom their wisdom carries along so far out of their wits as to contradict by their profession that which themselves profess When all this is done every Text of the Scripture that cannot bee expounded to this supposition will bee a peremptory bar to their pretense And how much is there of the Apocalypse it self that is acknowledged not to bee fulfilled as yet in that sense how much of the rest of the Scripture that cannot without violence be reconciled to it And when a Novice grounded upon this supposition is forced from his ground upon Remonstrance of such Reasons How ready is he to fall into the snare of the Missionaries Whether or not this be the reason of that which wise men have observed that the passage from the one extream to the other is more easie and frequent amongst us then from the mean to the extream let men of discretion judge Let not them lead the people by the Nose to believe that they can prove their supposition when they cannot and then expect that it be maintained by them that own the Church of Rome for a true Church And therefore must contradict themselves if they maintain it It is then Achitophels Counsail that hath prevailed on both Immoderate charges vaine on both sides sides For make the quarrel irreconcileable and nothing but Conquest must end it But what joy have they of their expectation on either side In all troubles of Christendom since Luthers time what gaping hath there been for the sack of Rome and the downfall of the Pope upon a Prophesie ten for one more probably fullfilled in the sack of Rome by the Gothes and Vandals many hundred years ago And all the Civil blood all that abominable desolation in Religion which wee have seen our late Usurper seemeth to have accompted meer godliness in order to that work which God had designed him for as he thought himself inspired to believe Nay did not some of the Reformation prick up their ears and begin to think well of his Christianity for that works sake And yet this expectation hath not been more vain then the deep designes of the See of Rome to reduce the Reformation to the obedience thereof by conquest do now after a long tryal appear desperate for the future Now if the parties be willing to abate of their charges as they have reason to do there is a way for both to come off with credit For the charge of Haeresie naturally shrinks into the Measure of Schisme whensoever they shall be pleased to explain themselves And they seem to do it at least as many of them as now insist upon the charge of Schisme Let our people follow their example and extend the Idolatry they charge them with to all Superstition And I will undertake to find them Idolaters in all professions Namely all those that commit Idolatry to their own imaginations As for the mutual imputation of Schisme it is a civil and a The charge of Schisme on both sides moderate as to the Church moderate challenge in comparison of those For Schisme is nothing but civil War in the Church And in civil Wars as in all Wars though it be rather impossible then difficult to name a War that shall be just on both sides yet it is easie to find a War that is unjust on both sides St. Augustine commends the saying of one in his time that declaimed upon the Rape of Lucrece Mira res said he duo fuerunt Adulterium â—â—us commisit A strange thing that a man lying with a woman only the one should commit Adultery I will not compare War with Adultery which carries sin in the name of it For I will not say that all War is sin But he that can look upon the mischiefes either of civil War in the World or of Schisme in the Church with the heart of a Christian will not think strange that both sides should bee Schismaticks to God though only one part can bee Schismaticks to the Church For when the cause may bee visibly decided as in the Schisme of the Donatists then the one side are Schismaticks the other is the Church But when it cannot as perhaps it will prove between the Reformation and the Church of Rome then if the blame of the Schisme fall on both sides both sides shall bee Schismaticks to God neither to the Church But though I make it a moderate charge as to the Church The sinne of Schisme as to God horrible when one side challenges the other to bee Schismaticks Yet as to God the sin of Schisme is of an horrible tincture For an Haeretick or an Apostate in the sight of God destroys only his own soul But he that causeth division in the Church either peremptorily destroys or probably hinders the salvation of all that are parties to it So the Authors of Schisme must answer for all the souls that perish by it How the means of salvation depend upon the Unity of the Church is a thing that must appear by proving that God hath ordained it for that purpose But if so it prove then may every man see how heavy a charge the crime of Schisme will prove in Gods sight The mischief of Haeresie will lye in the Schisme which it
so it is though indeed it bee otherwise The first is the plea of the Reformation against the Church of Rome The second the plea of the Church of Rome against them as to this point of Traditions And the issue is the same that is to bee tried between the Church of England and those that stand at this distance from it For the Unity of the Church being a part of the common Christianity the breach of it will bee chargeable upon that side which makes such a change as the rest have not reason to embrace If the pretense thereof bee either not evident or not sufficient the fault is in them If both in those who refuse to joyn in iâ— The Rules and Customs and Rites of the Church which are called Traditions are not commanded because good but are good because commanded And therefore even the Traditions of the Apostles being of this kind may cease to oblige by the change that may-succeed in the state of the Church for which they are provided Instances hereof recorded in the Scriptures have been produced They therefore that break from the Church upon any point The difference between Haeresic and Schisme of the Tradition of Faith which is before the Church as being requisite to make a man a member of the Church are properly called Haereticks For if they only disbeleeve in the heart they may bee counted Haereticks to God but that is nothing to the Church of which wee now speak But they that will not stand to the authority of the Church in maters subject to it are Schismaticks For those things to which the authority of the Church extendeth are the mater of Schisme Not that this difference is alwaies observed For many times the name of Haeresie extendeth to all Sects which mans choise not the will of God createth But because there is that difference visible in the mater of Christianity which many times appropriateth the common name of Haeresie to the most eminent that Separate upon mater of Faith These things are here premised to make way for the evidence which I tender for the Visible Unity of the Church from the consent of all Christians Hee that sticketh at any point of it may have recourse to the proofe which I have made in due place taking all therefore here for granted But I will advance another assumption tending â—o set the The dependence of Churches evidâ—nâ—eth the Unity of the Whole Church same evidence in better light by stating the form in which the whole Church from the Apostles hath alwaies been governed without repeating the proofes whereby it appeareth A Church then in the sense of all Christians before the Reformation is the Body of Christians contained in a City and the Territory of it For the Government of such a one the respective Authority of the Apostles conveyed by the overt act of their Ordination was visibly vested in a Bishop in a number of Presbyters for his advice and assistance and in Deacons attending upon them and upon the executing of their Orders I say the respective authority of the Apostles because as less Cities are subject to greater in Civil Government so have the Churches of less Cities alwaies depended upon Churches of greater Cities throughout Christendom Rome Alexâ—ndria Antiochia were from the beginning of Christianity visible heads of these great resorts in Church Government which the Council of Nâ—câ—â— made subject to them by Canon Law for the future The eminence of other Cities over their inferiour Churches appears in the Records of the Church as soon as there is any mention of them to make it appeaâ— In these Churches and in the Governors of them the whole Authority of the Apostles was vested For they constituted the Church In process of time the Government of the Roman Empire The form of this dependence throughout the Roman Empire was moulded anew under Constantine otherwise then it had been by Augustus But this new model was designed by Adrian It made the chief Cities of the chief quarters of the Empire the Residences of the chief Commanders of the Armies with civil Jurisdictions respective Which civil Jurisdictions Constanâ—ine left them when hee took from them their commands over the Armies Carthage for Africk Milane for Italy that part which was not under Rome Triers for Gaule Thessalonica for Illyricum Ephesus for Asia Caesarea Cappadociae for Pontus the pre-eminence of the Churches is as visible over the Churches of their inferiour Cities in the records of the Church as the pre-eminence of the Cities in the records of the Empire And according the course of all humane affairs must not this pre-â—minence of necessity bee further limited enlarged or abated in process of time whether by written Law or by silent custom For the effect hereof I present to your consideration the Canons of the Council of Sardica whick I take to bee the greatest advantage that ever lawfully and by regular means accrewed to the Church of Rome toward that greatness which since it hath irregularly obtained For it is visible that they were the means to extend the superiority thereof over Illyricum which continued till the Eastern Empire having the Church of Rome in jealousie laid that whole Jurisdiction under the Church of Constantinople The encrease of which Church upon the seating of the Empire at that City the ground which I allege for the superiority of all Churches as it hath been unjustly opposed by the Church of Rome so it is justly owned by those who protest against the Usurpation of it They that would except Britaine out of this Rule upon the No exception to bee made to it for the British Church act of the Welsh Bishops refusing Austine the Monke for their head should consider that St. Gregory setting him over the Saxon Church which hee had founded according to Rule transgressed the Rule in setting him over the Welsh Church For the Canon of the Apostles maintains every Nation to bee governed by their own Bishop Which the Welsh had reason then to insist upon because of the jealousie which appeared from the Saxons of their incroaching upon the Nation if their Bishop should bee owned for the head of the Welsh Church Setting this case aside the rest of that little remembrance that remains concerning the British Church testifies the like respect from it to the Church of Rome as appears from the Churches of Gaule Spain and Africk of which there is no cause to doubt that they first received their Christianity from the Church of Rome And if so they did then is there reason to conclude that they owed it the respect which was due to their Mother Church But that they either owed it or shewed it the respect of a Subject to the Sovereign which none is challenged none at all As for Illyricum which shewed the same respect after the Council of Sardica it cannot bee thought to have owed it before because it received not Christianity Episcopacy by this formâ—
Bishop Dioscorus by it at length these Churches are counted Jacobites from the name of one Jacobus Zanzalus or little Jacob of Syria who is said to have taught them the position of Eutyches condemned by that Council Whether so or whether a fond zeal for the reputation of Dioscorus hath served to divide that people from the Church upon a meer difference in terms the breach still continues and the Abyssines depending alwaies upon the Church of Alexandria are said to continue in it Since that what breach of intercourse and communion hath fallen out between the Greek and Latine Church or upon what cause and how far it continues I need not relate But there can bee no question that it disposed these Western parts to that breach which the Reformation hath made Within the Reformation I need not speak of the Division between the Calvinists on the one side and the Lutherans in the Empire the Arminians in the Law Countries on the other side I am only this to demadn did ever any of these parties declare that the Visible Unity which these breaches interrupt is not Gods Ordinance That one of the Parties is not always guilty to God for the mischief of Schisme That Christian charity is not highly concerned in violating that Communion which Christianity enacteth Until the dregs of our times I do not know that it was ever Disputed that Christians are not bound to bee members of one and the same Visible Church I have already said that the Reformation was not made by common consent I must now acknowledg futher that it proceeded not expresly upon the profession of one Visible Church though neither denying nor questioning the same No marvel then if in all things it bee not confined to the consequences of it And therefore no marvel that dissentions have fallen out in it No marvel that they who dare not look so clear a principle in the face can wrangle out the salvation of souls upon pety scruples which the admitting of it must needs presently disperse CHAP. VII Reformation to bee bounded by that wherein the Visible Church agreeth No change without regard to the Rules of the Catholick Church Regular authority in the Church of Rome the means of Vnity absolute of Schisme How wee are visibly one with the onely Church of God Reforming without the Church of Rome AS for the Church of England where Episcopacy stands Reformation to bee bounded by that wherein the Visible Church agreeth setled by the Law of the Land as well as by the Law of God and the right of goods consecrated to the Service of God by investing them upon his Church is maintained by the same Are we not to fear the curse of God if in all things of Religion wee mete not by the same Standard if wee weigh not by the same Weights Can wee pretend to weigh by the same Weights unless wee admit the whole Faith and all the Lawes of the Catholick Church Unless wee confine the Reformation to the restoring of that which hath been without introducing that which cannot appear to have been Men see new fanfies every day in the Scriptures which the same man sees not to morrow another man never sees The Profâ—ssion of Faith the Rules of Government the Rites of Gods service are the things that must make a Church a part or no part of the Whole Church For if the Church bee a Visible Body it must bee visible by the Lawes which it useth And if it bee to continue one and the same Body from the first to the second coming of our Lord the Lawes of it will necessarily change as the Lawes of all Bodies do but the authority whence they proceed must needs continue the same If corruption and abuse bee to bee Reformed and those in whom the authority visibly resteth agree not Restoring that which was you have the Authority of the Apostles and their successours for the reviving of their acts Introducing that which was not you go by the spirit of the Fanatickes the dictate whereof appears not in the Scriptures by the consent of the Church In fine mater of Faith is to the worlds end the same that the whole Church hath always from the beginning professed If you impose more the Church of Rome will have a better pretense then you can have namely a better claim to the authority of the Church For it is an imposture to induce any man to think that professing Christianity they can renounce the Scriptures The issue is and will bee whether you or the Church shall be judge Untill you distinguish between the present Church and the Whole Church not contesting the Faith of the present Church so far as it holds with the Whole But in mater of Church Law which for the reason that hath been said is necessarily changeable though the difference of times and the estate of things will not indure the restoring of Primitive Discipline yet shall it bee easie thereby to discern what is abated for Unities sake what is rejected because the Catholick Church and the Lawes of it are not owned And upon these terms it will bee easie to answer all demands No change without regard to the Rules of the Catholick Church not only here but at the great day of Judgement at which otherwise the account cannot bee clear They that would have it thought that the mischiefs which wee have seen have not been acted for nothing would have the Law of the Kingdom in mater of Religion changed to give them content without considering what cause wee give the Church of Rome to take us for Schismatickes balking the Whole Church that wee may bee reconciled to those that have broken from us For supposing for the present though not granting that all Papists are Idolaters and the Pope Antichrist The Unity of the Church is nevertheless as it hath been proved a part of Christian truth Nor can Papists bee Idolaters or the Pope Antichrist for beleeving any thing which the Whole Church beleeveth for commanding or for practicing that which the Whole Church hath commanded or practiced Nay not for that which the Whole Church of any age hath allowed part of the Church to practice For God forbid it should bee said which it were senseless to imagine that part of the Christian World should own part of it for Christians being indeed Idolaters and Partizans of Antichrist The Church must have been utterly lost in that case and the Reforming of it must not bee the mending of the old Church but the making of a new Church Yet is it not enough for these men to allege the antient Church in any particular They must weigh by their own Weights and mete by their own Standard if they will not fall under Gods curse They that stand not to the consent of the Church in all things answer themselves when they allege it Nay they may invite us to bee Schismatickes for their sakes in that for which they truly allege the antient
necessary in Gods Service What kinde of signification requisite Not enough for the Presbyterians to allow Ceremonies THe determining of times and places and persons by The Lords Day observed by the authority of the Church which and at which of the Circumstances and Ceremonies of the Form and order according to which the service of God is to be celebrated is the Office and therefore is within the power of the Church The substance of Christianity wherein salvation consisteth was determined by our Lord in person to his Apostles That which hee trusted them with was the regulating of his Church supposing the same Christianity that God might bee served by the Assemblies of such as might appear to profess it That which he trusted the Apostles with the Church remains of necessity trusted with by the Apostles saving the personal Gift of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles rendring their Acts blameless in that estate for which they were made though not sufficient for all estates of the Church Otherwise the power of the whole Church is the power of the Apostles and obligeth the parts of the Church not to transgress the Acts of it Because the Unity of the Church is equally concerned in them and the substance of Christianity in neither of both This discovereth the Superstition of that Imposture which is pretended by deriving the Obligation of the Lords Day from the Jewish Sabbath For what reason can endure that the Church should bee bound to keep the first day of the week by that Precept which tyed the Synagogue to keep the last day of the week Seeing then the Obligation of it is to bee derived from the Act of the Apostles that is from the power of the Church For being once received by the whole Church it is for ever received to the same effect if the premises bee true it is the same Obligation that tyes all to observe the times appointed for the service of God by the Church whether Fasting days or Festivals The Example of the Primitive Christians at Jerusalem justifieth St. Hierome and others of the Fathers affirming that the Church should and would serve God continually in publick could the business of the world stand with it And therefore that order is to bee accounted most Christian that provides most opportunity for frequenting the publick service of God If this were considered it would appear a meer Imposture Therefore other Festivals and times of Fasting are to bee observed to demand that the Lords day bee celebrated with Sermons morning and evening and arbitrary prayers to usher them in and out treading underfeet all other times set apart by the whole Church for the service of God by such Offices as it enjoyneth If wee weigh by our own Weights and mete by our own Measures not only the mysteries of our Lords dispensatiâ—n in the Flesh but the memories of his Apostles and Saints not only the time of Lenâ— and the Wednesdays and Fridays But the time of Advent the Evens of Festivals the Ember and Râ—gation dayes once appointed to that purpose must still bee solemnized for the Festivals and Fasts of Gods Church To set a peculiar mark upon the Lords Day as if the time of it were more obliging then other time that is appointed to the same purpose is to change the day but to retain the Jews Superstition as Calvin most truely hath told them who in other things commit Idolatry to his Opinion But wherein he follows the whole Church in this point and in the state of souls before the Resurrection bid him farewell The Case is the same in the qualities of places as well as of How places and persons become qualified for Gods Service Preaching not convertible with ministring the Sacraments persons For the exercise of Christianity by the Law of this Kingdom there must bee places where all must meet they must bee limitted by the authority of the Church they must not bee balked for other places of mens private choise but by those that are willing to bee charged with Schisme for doing it They that quarrel the Bishops power in all other things must call this also in question when they mean to weigh by their own Weights and mete by their own Measures They are very studious to confound the difference between Priests and Deacons by having all called Ministers being a Term that may serve all Orders ministring those Offices which the Church enableth them to minister But they who would impose this sense upon the stile of Ministers of Gods Word and Sacraments that all and no other but they who are ordained to Preach are ordained also to Baptize and celebrate the Eucharist must bee told that this is an Imposture till they shew better reason for it then hitherto hath been shewed For I conceive I have shewed sufficient reason that the power of celebrating the Eucharist is convertible with the power of the Keys qualifying all Christians for the Eucharist which in the Bishop onely extendeth to publick causes concerning his whole Church or Diocese But in all Presbyters to private Causes wherein it may bee questionable between God and the Conscience whether a Christian bee qualified for the Eucharist or not As for the Sacrament of Baptisme that as the Bishop only allows it in any case that may bee questionable so the ministring of it may come to a Deacon in the Priests absence nay to a Lay-man rather then that any Child should dye unbaptized Neither is the Office of preaching restrained either to Priests or Deacons alone by any other authority then that of Gods whole Church Which being once passed in the Case by the general Custom and Practice of it it must bee the greatest Sacrilege in the World that is the Sacrilege of Schisme to transgress it The respect due to the memories of the Apostles and other Times places persons and things consecrated to Gods Service under the Gospel Saints and Martyrs of Christ is a reason sufficient to determine the time and place for the service of God To question that they are not just occasions for the consecrating of Festivals and of Churches to the service of God in honour of their memories is a just presumption that men seek to bee saved by some other Christianity then that which their Doctrine and their Blood planted But their names and the Festivals and the Churches that bear their names are but circumstances determining that service to bee acceptable to God which is performed in the Unity of his Church the authority whereof assigneth them to that purpose No more are the Utensils and Ornaments of Churches the Vessels in which the Sacraments are celebrated But they who think it Superstition that these things should bee set apart from Vulgar use and reserved only for Gods service plainly commit Idolatry to their own Imaginations in it For it is manifest that Consecration was in force not only by the Law of Moses but before it under the Law of nature as the
necessary to the Salvation of Christians as Christians are by that mark for ever distinguished from things necessary to the Salvation of Christians as Members of the Church Because the Salvation of private Christians is concerned in not understanding the intent of the former sort But in the latter sort cannot bee concerned by not understanding the intent of them but by violating that Order and Unity of the Church which the Regular Use of them serveth to maintain That which I am to say of them here consists of two points That they are Ofâ—â—ces necessary to bee â—inistred to all Christians concerned in them And that they are to bee solemnized with those Ceremonies for which they are without any cause of offense called Sacraments by the Fathers of the Church How necessary iâ— it that those that are baptized Infants when Why the Bishop only Confirmeth they come to discretion and to receive the Eucharist should give account of the hope that is in them and undertake their Christianity upon which it is grounded For hee hath not this hope to God hee appeareth not to the Church to have it but upon these terms And thus far the parties seem content But why should not Presbyters Confirm as well as Bishops that can baptize and celebrate the Eucharist which is more to the Salvation of Christians By Commission from Bishops that they may do it is a point very disputable The practise of the Greek Church in the case is not new Besides some appearance of the like under S. Gregory in the West But that serves not the turn They must have the Catechising of them after their mode and make the grounds of Salvation what they please and not what the Church appointeth So the Answer is easie For neither is Baptism or the Eucharist ministred but by authority from the Bishop And to Catechize beside that Form which the Church allowes is to sow the seed of everlasting dissention in matter of Faith Hee that thinks there was a Reason why S. Peter and S. John should come to Confirm those whom the Deacon S. Philip had baptized can never want a reason why the Bishop alone should do it For hee cannot minister the means of Salvation alone But the Faith and the Unity of his Church with the rest is not to bee preserved without him Therefore the Gift of the Holy Ghost which Baptism promiseth dependeth upon the Bishops blessing because it dependeth upon the Unity of the Church Therefore Haereticks and Schismaticks who by departing from the Unity of the Church barre themselves of the effect of their Baptism being received with the Bishops blessing in the Primitive Church were justly thought to recover their Title to it If Ordination were taken for the conveying of publick Authority The effect of Ordination requireth Ceremony in giving it to minister the Offices of Gods Church by the act of those that have received by their Ordination authority to propagate the same there would bee no mervail that S. Paul should suppose a Grace received by Timothy through the laying on of his hands or the hands of the Presbytery For if the profession of Christianity inferre the Grace of Baptism shall not the profession of that Christianity which the state of the Clergy in general or that particular degree to which every man is ordained importeth inferre the Grace which the discharge of it requireth What is there to hinder it but the want of sincerity in undertaking that which the Order that a man undertakes requires him to undertake This is that which renders those Prayers of the Church of no effect as to God whereby the power is effectually conveyed as to the Church In the mean time shall not those Prayers bee solemnized with Why the Ordinations of our Presbyters are void due Ceremony by which so great a Power in the Church is conveyed Now seeing Presbyters never received by their Ordination authority to ordain others seeing no Word of God gives it them seeing all the Rules of the Whole Church take it from them The Attempt of our Presbyters in Ordaining without and against their Bishops must needs bee void and to no effect but that of Schisme in dividing of the Church upon so unjust a Cause They could not receive the Power of the Keyes from them that had nothing to do to give it And therefore in celebrating the Eucharist they do nothing but profane Gods Ordinance Therefore the lawful Ordaining of them is not re-ordaining but Ordination indeed instead of that which was only so called If a Christian after Baptism fall into any grievous sin voiding The necessity of Penance the effect of Baptism can it fall within the sense of a Christian to imagine That hee can bee restored by a Lord have mercy upon mee No it must cost him hot tears and sighs and groans and extraordinary prayers with fasting and almes to take Revenge upon himself to appease Gods Wrath and to mortifie his Concupiscence If hee mean not to leave an entrance for the same sin again If his sin bee notorious so much the more Because hee must then satisfie the Church that hee doth what is requisite to satisfie God that is to appease his wrath and to recover his Grace The Church may bee many ways hindred to take account of notorious sin But the power of the Keyes which God hath trusted it with is exercised only in keeping such sinners from the Communion till the Church bee so satisfied And for this Exercise the time of Lent hath always been deputed The observation of Leâ—â— and the use of it by the Church The Fast before the Feast of the Resurrection stands by the same Law by which that stands For the Feast was from the beginning the end of the Fast So the Lent-Fast and the keeping of the Lords day stand both upon the same authority For the Lords day is but the Remembrance of the Resurrection once a week It doth not appear that the Fast was kept forty days from the beginning That it was kept before Easter whensoever Easter was kept that is from the time of the Apostles it doth appear The baptizing of Converts the restoring of the Relapsed and the preparing of all by extraordinary Devotion to solemnize the Resurrection was the work of it Did this Church desire the restoring of this Order and yet disowne Lent Daniel abstained from pleasant meat when hee fasted The Jewes forbad all that comes of the Vine on the day of Attonement The Whole Church of God always forbore Flesh and Wine when they fasted And shall our Licentiousness make the difference of meats superstitious Then let the late Parliament Fasts bee Reformation that provided a good break-fast to fast with and heard a Sermon as well after Dinner as before If Sin bee not notorious there is no cause why it should not The necessity of private Penance for the cure of secret sins bee pardoned without help from the Church supposing that the
enableth Recusants to take the Oath of Supremacy pretense of the pre-eminence of his Church in Ecclesiastical matters hath given this Crown just occasion to declare it self Supreme Head or Supreme Governour for the kingdom of heaven is not in word but in power as St. Paul saith in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil But the capacity of several senses in words that signifie humane matters capable of so great a Latitude by their nature seemeth to have Produced out of this Act a Sect of Erastians very dangerous to Christianity As immediately denying any Ordinance of God for the Visible Unity of his Church which is an Article of our Creed but by consequence shewing all how they may enjoy the benefit of Civil Law in a State that professes Christianity without beleeving any more of Christianity then they please This capacity was restrained in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign by her Injunctions by the Articles of Religion by an Act of Parliament not to signisie the abolishing or the disclaiming of Ecclesiastical power in part or in whole And to such effect that it is acknowledged now in books written on purpose by one party of Recusants that they may freely take the Oath of Supremacy saving the scruple that may remain of offending those Recusants who think that they may not take it And I can by no means marvel at it For they who do openly profess that unlimited obedience to the Pope in Ecclesiastical maters which hee requireth how can they swearing the Oath of Supremacy bee thought to abjâ—â—e his Ecclesiastical power in England the words of the Oath being restrained by Law to disclaim only the Temporal effect of it But it is manifest that not only the unlimited power of the Pope What further ambiguity that Oath involveth but all authority of a General Council of the Western Churches whereof the Pope is and ought to bee the chief member according to the premises may justly seem to bee disclaimed by other words of the same Oath And that Whereas the Pope usurped not only upon the Crown but upon the Clergy of this Kingdom all those Usurpations are by the Act of Resumption under Hâ—nry the VIII invested in the Crown So that when the Oath declares to maintain all Rights and Pre-eminences annexed to the Crown you may understand that maintenance which a Subject owes his Sovereign against those that pretend to force his claims from him But you may also understand that maintenance which a Divine owes the Truth in asserting the Title of the Crown to all rights vested in it Which hee that believes that some rights of the Church are invested in the Crown ought not to undertake Though as a Subject for preserving the State of his King and Country hee bee tyed to maintain all the claims of the Crown against all the enemies of it Now if an Oath required by the Sovereign Power bear two What scanâ—al the takiâ—g of it in the true sense ministreth senses in the proper signification of the Words which is more ordinary then it is believed the Subject may undergo it in that sense which truth and right warranteth And so in regard the Pope not content with his Regular authority in the Church pretends Temporal power in disposing of the Dominiâ—nâ— which hee disclaims Communion with besides absolute power in materâ— of Religion it is lawful to swear that hee ought to have no manner of power in this Kingdom as things stand tiâ—l hee depart from claims so unjust But there is appearance that the misunderstanding of it hath produced an Opinion destructive to one Article of the Creed to the being of any Visible Church as founded by God And besides it is not possible that all they who are called to this Oath by Law can ever bee able to distinguish that sense wherein they ought from that wherein they ought not to take it And therefore of necessity the Law gives great offense and that offense is the sin of the Kingdom and calls for Gods vengeance upon it Which though all are involved in yet in the other world the account will lye upon them that may change it and do not Now it is manifest that all Recusants believe not the Popes That this Oatâ— ought to bee inlarged to all pretenses in Religiâ—n that abridge Allegiance Temporal Power nor think themselves bound to execute such Acts as the Bull of Pius quintus against Queen Elizabeth Those that do not how should they bee liable to capital punishment which the Law in some cases inflicts For how should they bee taken for the enemies of their Country otherwise On the contrary I have shewed by the Troubles of Franckford in the beginning of the Reformation that there was then the same difference of opinion amongst them that held with the Reformation about obedience to Sovereigns obeying the Church of Rome And that the same difference of opinion was the cause of the late Troubles appeareth by the aspersion of Popery upon his late Majesty alleged to justifie the War against him Whereby it appeareth that they of that opinion do undergo the Oathes of Supremacy and Allegiance as provided only against the See of Rome and the claims of it Thinking themselves enabled notwithstanding the same to limit their Allegiance to that which their Religion shall allow And therefore there is great Reason why the Kingdom should enact a new Oath extending the Original Allegiance of all Subjects to all cases in which experience hath shewed or reason may foresee that Religion may bee pretended to abridge the Obligation of Allegiance This I am encouraged here to declare by the late Act of the Kingdom of Scotland establishing for the future the form of an Oath whereby the obligation of Allegiance iâ— extended to the renouncing not only of any claim for the See of Rome but of all pretenses whatsoever whether upon the account of Religion or of civil Right of abridging the obligation of it For though I neither maintain nor find fault with the terms which it useth yet the agreement and the difference between the case of both Kingdoms as it evidenceth to all the necessity so it determineth to them that are to understand the State of both the agreement and the difference of that which ought to bee provided And seeing it is the true consequence of the common Christianity that enables the Kingdom to do this because supposing as it doth the State of this World it cannot extend to the altering of it there is great reason why a Divine should bee allowed to say it not entring upon other considerations wherein Religion is not concerned For in the next place to the bringing in of a new Provision the conscience of the Kingdom is best discharged the Scandals that may bee occasioned removed the wrath of God prevented or appeased by the secular Powers allowing these interpretations to pass without contradiction that may enable all estates to depose it
large that the Cathedral Churches cannot bee made serviceable under the Bishop to the Government of the Whole Diocese If Colleges of Presbyters were erected in all the Head Towns of Counties the youth of the Counties that pretend to the Clergy restoring this Canon must bee under the inspection of the same If before their going to the University they were listed under them as expecting imployment and maintenance under them that is within the County then must they make account to approve their conversations and studies to them as having no other way to live in that estate to which they addict themselves As for the course of finding imployment and maintenance for them I will go no further to particulars then I have done It is enough that the intention should bee the restoring of the Primitive Canons as the estate of this time will require or allow It would bee no small gain that by restoring this Canon Reasons for it the complaint of pluralities would bee silenced For that persons whose abilities and trust are approved to the Bishop by information of the said Presbyters should have the care of more then one Church would bee no more inconvenience then that those Presbyters have a care of the County the Bishop of the Diocese Always supposing that the incumbent upon the Cure and the rate of his maintenance bee allowed or rather constituted by the Bishop to whom that right originally belongs I will say no more to justifie this Proposition but this That hee who is obnoxious to several Churches that is to several Dioceses either as to the duty of Governing or of being Governed can by no means bee accountable to both according to that account which the constitution of the Catholick Church requireth of every Order and Degree of the Clergy And again that seeing all exemptions privileging against the Ordinary Rule and Government of the Church are the effects and consequences of the Papacy and the Usurpations thereof that the Reformation which wee profess cannot bee justified in it self though in comparison it may abate of the abuse which went afore without restoring a Rule of such consequence Buâ— all this while it is no part of my intent that those who are presently possessed by the Law of the Land should bee presently destituted But that a course bee prouided for the future to which the world may bee disposed by degrees In the second place for the justifying of our Reformation Publick fame of sin to bee purged by Ecclesiastical process and towards restoring the Discipline of Penance it is requisite that all Malefactors convicted by Law of capital or infamous crimes or others of as great malice to God though not so destructive to Civil Society should stand Excommunicate when their lives and liberties are saved till they satisfie the Church of their conversion to God The Law of this Land providing no other trial for sins of uncleanness but that of the Ecclesiastical Courts hath hitherto enabled them to proceed to the trial of publick scandals by deposing witnesses ex officio Which according to the rest of the ignorance and malice of the blessed Reformation hath been construed for an Usurpation upon the liberties of Christian people For it is manifest that under the Old Testament the Rulers of Gods antient people were able every one within the Sphere of his authority to oblige all men to answer upon Oath in any thing wherein they should adjure them to answer For upon this account our Lord himself beeing subject to the Law answered the adjuration of the High Priest And the Levitical Law prescribeth a trespass Offering for him who being adjured to speak his knowledge in any business should conceal it This the Jews extend to the adjurations of private persons if made in open Court But there is no question that the Princes and Judges of that People each in the mater of his Office obliged their Inferiors to answer their knowledg So that they were perjured ipso facto concealing that which they knew of any mans cause Under the Gospel it is evident that the Bishop in Consistory with his Presbyters did try all scandals in the Church by summoning all persons within the Diocese to witness their knowledge And that to this effect That if any man were detected to have concealed his knowledge hee became thereby liable to Penance as for a heinous sin And Constantine the Great authorizing by an Act of the Empire yet extant the Sentences of Bishops in all causes that should bee brought to them by consent of parties gives this reason for it Because their authority was able presently to discover that which Civil Courts could not bring to light by tedious suits Whereby it appeareth that all Christians found themselves tied to answer the truth which their Pastors summoned them to declare for discharge of their conscience Christianity being corrupted by the coming of the World into the Church it might become requisite that the generality of this authority should bee restrained within such bounds as emergent abuses might oblige the Law to provide But when a Power so neerly concerning Christianity is cried down for an Usurpation upon the Church it appeareth that Christianity is at a low ebbe if they who understand so little in the Scriptures or in maters concerning the Church dare undertake to Reform it Adultery is one of the sins which the antient Church in some places durst not warrant forgiveness And therefore did not restore Aulterers to the Communion no not at the point of death If the Law therefore provide no other trial for it but by the Christian Court to take away that means of trial which the Church inheriteth of Gods antient people is in some measure to authorize adultery in a Christian Kingdom That is to call down Gods vengeance upon it Rather it should bee provided that inquisition after all scandals upon publick fame might bee authorized upon terms fit to prevent abuses though not for civil punishment which the Christian Court should have nothing to do with yet for the bringing of sin under Penance And therefore much more that sinners which are become â—â—torious Sinners convict â—y â—â—w nâ—â—â—â— Communicate bâ—fore Penance by conviction in Court according to the Civil Law of the Land ought not to bee admitted to the Communion wiâ—hoâ—â— satisfying the Church by performing fit Penance that God is satisfied And the Curate indeed seemeth to bee enabled by the present Law to refuse all such the Communion much more If hee bee able to refuse those that seem scandalous till they bee tried And if hee do not what he is able to do must answer God for the soul which hee poysoneth by giving him the Eucharist who barres himself the effect of it His Repentance not being manifest as his sin is But if the Law will not leave out the Curate in refusing him till hee have satisfied The choice is hard for him that hath a family to forfeit his Benefice by
to lay aside the thought of it so long as there appears any means of proceeding to it Now it seemeth manifest to common reason that there can bee no such opportunity for improving the Laws of the Kingdom by which Religion is to bee established as while the minds of men after the breaches which wee have seen remain unsetled to any Order in Church maters For before the breach there is appearance enough that all means of doing this were studiously obstructed by the Puritan party in Parliament And it will appear if it bee well considered that this is it that made it popular having always just cause of complaint which can never bee wanting in any Civil Laws And therefore not in those Civil Laws whereby Religion is setled but always pretending an unjust way of redressing the same But there is a greater reason for us to think that the Church The restoring of the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land is not the restoring of the Church of England will not bee restored by the restoring of those Civil Laws of the Land which gave force to the Order of it After those manifest and notorious breaches which wee have seen in it For it is visible that it is the Secular power only that is acknowledged by those that return from their Schisme and conform themselves to the Ecclesiastical Laws which it inforceth in consideration of the temporal reward or punishment which they are inacted with It is now found to bee the sin of Superiors when such things are imposed upon tender consciences as they are offended at Not the sin of them who conform themselves to that which is enjoyned And all that hath been pretended for a change in the Laws seems now to bee made a meer Office of Charity to the Kingdom That it might not sin in imposing upon tender consciences that which they were offended at who are safe enough from sinning all the while that they submit to it In like manner they who to bee capable of Benefices get to bee Ordained anew because the Ordination was void which they had from those who had nothing to do to give it do profess openly enough that they do it not because they thought their void Orders defective but to obtain the privileges which the Law of the Land annexeth to that Ordination which it protecteth At which rate the Oath of Canonical Obedience it self will tye them in conscience only to themselves That is to avoid those temporal penalties which the Law punisheth disobeying the Ordinary with In the mean time the Fanaticks are owned by them upon all occasions And not only the Schisme of the Congregations is passed over for a weakness of tender consciences but that damnable error of assurance of salvation without assurance of Christianity the fry that hath spawned all the Congregations of Enthusiasts and Fanaticks must go for a frailty of the Godly in professing the true consequence of common Principles And seeing all severity of Penalties which may restrain the License of such Conventicles must needs insinuate an invitation of returning to Communion with the Church for those who would avoid them It is much to bee considered that they who shall return without disowning their Schisme which is of it self always notorious Or the perverse doctrines which have been notoriously owned for the ground of it do manifestly bring with them their profession into the Church For returning only that they may avoid the temporal Penalties which it inferreth they are at liberty in point of reputation as well as of conscience to practice the Maxime which Michiavel teacheth to make themselves of that party which they intend to overthrow as not having engaged with the Church upon profession of conscience It is not for nothing that the Rules of the Church from the beginning have made them Haereticks and Schismaticks as to the Church that communicate with Haereticks and Schismaticks It is not for nothing that they admit them not to return without disowning their Schismes or their Haeresies It is not for nothing that they admit not the Clergy that have been involved in them in their own Orders But render them incapable of that trust for the future The reason for all is the same The profession of the mouth intitleth to the visible privilege of the Church in communion with it the sincerity thereof in the heart to the invisible privilege of Christianity with God And though there bee great reason to hope that communion with the Church and the daily use of it may bee a mean to restore the heart into a right relish of that which the distance that hath been causeth men to distaste beyond measure yet is there nothing but the solemnity of profession to render such a change visible And therefore it will not serve to justifie the common cause till time render the effect notorious In the mean time the reason of the distance which wee hold Yet are wee not therefore chargeable with Schism by the Church of Rome with the Church of Rome remains the same and therefore the measure of it The abuses which created the necessity for parts of the Church to Reforme themselves without the Whole remain the same Only wee are left without hope of amendment seeing the Council of Trent received without it So no terms of reconcilement but those of conquest which how should this Church and Kingdom bee obliged to accept of to the betraying of all the souls which must needs perish by those abuses And therefore allowing the due value of that sin which Schisme signifieth in the party that causeth it wee shall not need to fear the charge of it though both parties are visibly in the state of it For the Unity of the Church being next in consideration and weight to the substance of Christianity which the being of the Church presupposeth The Faith which only justifieth is seen in making good that profession which intitleth us to bee members of the Church But that Charity whereby that Faith is brought into effect is seen in the first place in maintaining the Unity thereof Which a private Christian maintaineth onely by continuing a member of it So a Christian as a Christian fails of his salvation by failing of that which a Christian professeth as a Christian But a Christian as a member of the Church fails of his salvation by failing of that which a Christian professeth as a member of the Church namely by forsaking the Unity of the Church But a man cannot seem to forsake the Unity of the Church by pursuing the integrity of that Christianity upon which it is founded If the corruption thereof bee so great as may seem to render the communion thereof ineffectual to the salvation of them that use it it will bee Charity to joyn for the restoring of it to so good an effect though a breach succeed by the misunderstanding of those who refuse to joyn for that purpose Though divers mistakes bee committed in a work of so great
weight and consequence the want of Charity will lye on that side which shall refuse that reason which had it condescended to those mistakes might have been redressed How much more when there is no other choice left but either to continue at the distance under which wee were borne or to give our selves up to the will of those who not having given satiâ—faction in the trust which they undertake condescend to no terms of better assurance for the future And truly though the sin of Schisme hinder salvation more What Schisme destroyeth the salvation of what persons by instances of the most notable Schismes then any other sin because it involveth the body of the Church and so hindreth the salvation of more yet is there no cause to think that all who are involved in the state of Schisme are involved in the sin of it The less cause there is for it the greater breach of charity by it Therefore the greater the more visible the causes are of that change which occasions it the less is to bee imputed to them that follow such causes Especially to private Christians when such causes are as visible on the one side as the interest of each mans salvation is visible to the contrary on the other side Besides I said afore that Schisme in the Church is the same which Civil War in the state of the World Now though War cannot bee just on both sides for the heads and causes of it yet for those that follow their heads in causes too difficult for private persons to judge it will bee no guilt of bloud to follow that authority which appears to them Visible Which if it bee true as it is evidently reasonable there will no question remain that there may bee salvation on both sides of a Schisme The Schismes of the Novatians Montanists Donatists Meletians and perhaps divers others were grounded upon such causes as the Unity of the Church did no less visibly outweigh then the consent thereof to the contrary was visible Notwithstanding so long as the Faith remained intire as it doth not appear that they disbelieved from their beginning any thing necessary for the salvation of all to bee believed and the Offices of Gods Service were ministred by them according to the Order of the Church as not differing about any of them I should bee as loth to condemn all the partizans as to excuse the causes of them to or from eternal death How much more in the Schismes of the Luciferians of that at Antiochia between Meletius and Paulinus of that between Rome and Constantinople in the cause of Acacius and perhaps in others in which there was onely breach of Communion upon some discontent in the governing of maters in the Church without either difference of Faith or in the Offices of Gods service I confess Pope Gelasius de vinculo anâ—thematis in the cause of Acacius takes it for granted all along that the want of Communion with the Church of Rome rendred all liable to that curse which Christians by failing of the duty of Christians either as Christians or as members of the Church do incurre upon the sentence of the Church But hee who admitteth that constitution of the Church which I maintain will not easily admit the sentence of a part suppose all the West engaged in the Act of the Church of Rome able to damn all the Christians of the East that adhered only to the successors of Acacius not being able to redress his miscarriage which his successors themselves owned not Rather is the Church of Rome to answer God for the souls that miscarried by maintaining the breach open beyond that which the good of Christendom required Nay I cannot condemn the opinion of those who allow a possibility of salvation in the Sects of the Nestorians in the East and the Jacobites in the South notwithstanding that they stand divided from the Church upon occasion of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon which it imbraceth For it is possible that they may understand the terms of their distance in such a sense as may very well stand with the Decrees of those Councils So that the difference being occasioned by personal discontents though it were mortal to those who brought it to pass yet may it not bee so to those that know not how to help it if it occasion not the want of means necessary to salvation otherwise But this is not to say that these parties are not bound to concur to the visible Unity of Gods Church by communion in the Offices of his service Should they profess themselves free from an obligation concerning all Christians as members of the Church I would not excuse those that take upon them to continue such breaches because they know not that which they should know But those that are only sufferers in such breaches I should not exclude from the hope of salvation upon that account not wanting otherwise that which is necessary to the salvation of all Christians which the divisions of the Church must needs render very difficult for the greatest part to obtain This I would say much more of the Schisme between the Greek and Latine Church being well assured that there is no such defect in the Faith of the Greek Church as may warrant the Latine Church to sentence them for Haereticks And as for Schisme that the Latine Church by undertaking more then one part of the Church can undertake without the consent of the other in maters of common concernment hath the greater hand in it whatsoever the truth bee of the Disputes that occasion it And therefore it is much to bee lamented that the See of Rome should pursue no other terms of reuniting those distressed and persecuted Churches unto it self but those of absolute submission to the dictates thereof without why or wherefore Not being afraid to raise them persecution by unbelievers that they may bee necessitated to that submission which will increase their persecution from their Sovereigns Seeing then that we have so many instances of Schismes which exclude not the hope of salvation especially for those that are sufferers in them that is for private Christians How far ought wee to bee from yielding to the unreasonable demands of the Missionaries charging the Schisme upon the Reformation whereof the abuses which they maintain are the onely true cause For though it was always and still is a very difficult thing to see the true point of Resormation so as to bring those that feel the abuses to consent in it yet the abuses being both visible and palpable the faults committed by the mistaking of it will bee imputable to those that will condescend to no reason as well as to those who proceed to a change without due information in the ground and measure of it And therefore upâ—n that account there can bee no bar to the salvation of private Christians that are no actors but sufferers in such breaches though the misunderstanding of the due ground and measure
of the difference must needs occasion the Ioss of infinite souls by hindring them of the means that is truly necessary for the salvation of Christian This is that which I said afore that Schisme as War may Difficulty of salvation on both sides the Reformation remaining unpersect bee unjust on both sides The charge of which injustice as it will lye upon those which are actors in it and causes of it having power to abate it and not imploying the same to so good a purpose so it leaves a possibility of salvation for both sides And that is no more then hath been said from the beginning of our Reformation by all that allow the Church of Rome a true Church But that difficulty of attaining salvation on both sides which the Schisme inflameth will bee imputable to those that maintain the extreams taking offense at the due ground and termes of composing it And this I confess câ—eates a question upon that which remains for our Ecclesiastical Laws to redress For if they inforce not the due use of the Power of the Keys so great a part of the conduct of Christian souls to salvation and that it is not to bee inforced without restoring Discipline in the Clergy How shall it bee visible that a simple Papist sins in being a Recusant How shall hee that invites him to bee no Recusant assure him of means of salvation visibly sufficient How shall the State bee enabled to inflict upon him the legal penalties of his Recusancy upon other crimes For it is manifest that from those whom the Civil Law of the Land qualifies for the Cure of souls without any ground of pretense that they do concur to the true intent of the Church in ministring the power of the Keys there is not the least appearance for any hope of that help which the Office professeth Indeed alleging on the other side those abuses in private Penance that neglect of publick Penance which the Church of Rome alloweth wee allege a sufficient reason for a change without the authority of it And a possibility of salvation notwithstanding a defect in redressing the same But this possibility will consist in the more then ordinary diligence of private Christians considering the snares which division multiplieth and labouring to supply themselves in that wherein the publick Order of the Church provided by God to supply them of it saileth of the effect which God intendeth A consideration which though the late distraction made it more visible yet will always remain in force till the due ground and measure of Reformation take effect It will bee worth the while to instance this in the Cure of An instance herâ—of in the Cure of sâ—ulâ— departing according to the Order in force souls departing this life according to the Order in force In the beginning of Christianity some sins were questionable in some parts of the Church whether curable by the Keys of the Church or not The Schisme of Novatianus pretended for the ground of it the re-admitting of Apostates As that of Montanus in part the re-admitting of Adulterers But before all were come to agreement in it the same severity had been practised in the Church without Schisme They lest such persons to Gods mercy They engaged not the Church in warranting them pardon The Council of Nicaea seems to have put an end to all difformity in the case There is no mention of denying the Eucharist upon the bed of death after that But supposing publick sinners admitted to publick Penance thereby to give proof of the sincerity of their repentance And binding them over to the remainder of their Penance escaping death Some Canons go so low as to release sin without revealing it upon condition of undergoing the Penance it shall require being revealed in case hee survive The Church of Rome chargeth all Priests of absolve all at the point of death which it alloweth not all to do otherwise As for the Reservation of Penance they who require Penance not to qualifie for pardon but to satisfie the debt of temporal pain that remains after pardon I suppose doe upon that account turn it over to Purgatory But they from whom as I said afore there is no appearance for any hope of that help which the Keys of the Church ministred according to the Order of the Church do hold forth what can wee expect of them towards the preparing of him that lies on the bed of sickness for his passage For the comfort which all pretend to give in that estate may bee imagined to consist in assuring salvation to all that once were assured of it to all that think themselves sure of it by believing it not by their Christianity without which there is no assurance of it If men bee not â—o much Fanaticks perhaps hee assureth them of pardon trusting in the merits of Christ for it Let him see his sin let him renounce his own merits let him trust in the mâ—ritâ— of Christ which hee is sure are of more virtue and value then his sin and the business is done Not considering what the Gospel requireth to give a man interest in the merits of Christ What it requireth of him who shall have forfeited that interest by grievous sin What hee hath done for the mortisying of that concupiscence for the appeasing of that wrath of God for the preventing of that sin for the future whereby hee may formerly have committed that forfeiture Certainly it is no good sign in this Case that our people are so willing to have the Minister pray by them but so unwilling to hear of the Communion because they know it requires them to take account of themselves Nay it is oddes that it is condescended to at the warning of the Curate who must needs let slip the anthority of his Office in requiring account of him that expects comfort from him by offering all that hee is able to give before the account is tendered In the mean time how shall hee who prays onely by the sick and leaves him so as prepared for his passage who absolves him of all sin without being satisfied that hee hath mortified that hee will mortifie any in case he survive rest satisfied that hee hath done his Office and not dismissed his patient insufficiently prepared for so terrible a voyage Especially being satisfied that there are two Keys in the Church as to Christians That it is to loose no sin but that which it bound afore loosing him that appears to bee alive because it bound him when hee appeared to bee dead afore That the Blessing of the Church the Communion of the Eucharist and the Burial of Christians ought to siâ—nifie some reasonable presumption in the Church that they depart in Gods peace to whom it alloweth the same But where is that presumption when hee that is convicted of a capital crime shall bee able to demand the Communion of his Curate without further satisfaction And perhaps have his action of the Case against him
they bee members of Gods Church That is setting aside their Baptism and the Covenant which is solemnly inacted by it between God and each soul And though I do refer my self to the wisdom of Superiors in what form this reconciliation bee solemnized yet I must express my opinion thus far that there can bee none so fit as that which the wisdom of the Catholick Church from the beginning hath alwaies frequented By granting them the blessing of the Church with Imposition of hands renouncing for their part their several Sects and Errors That is by the praiers of the Church for the Spirit of God to rest upon them who have barred their baptism from giving it by opposing the peace of the Church which now they retire unto For how shall the Unity of the Church bee secured but by declaring them who violate the same accursed of God Nor let it bee thought that our Sectaries of their own accord retiring themselves unto the Communion of this Church it will bee requisite for the Church to admit them without taking notice of any thing that hath passed For neither is it to bee presumed that they who have made their own wills their Law for so many years will so much as profess conformitie to the Rule of the Church And if they did profess it there is no reason to think that they should stand to it having a dispensation dormant of the Spirit to stand to their profession as the interest of their faction shall require So their coming to Church would bee only an advantage for them to infect others And how should that Communion bee counted a Church which intertains Haereticks as Haereticks and Schismaticks as Schismaticks that is without renouncing positions destructive to the Faith without obliging themselves for the future to hold Unity with the Church Certainly there is no just answer for this if the Church of Rome should object it for the reason why they refuse to hold communion with us Certainly St. Augustine when hee was charged by the Donatists that the Church received their Apostates without rebaptizing them and in their respective Orders could have had no answer if he had not had this That the Church received them not as Donatists but as converted from being Donatists they not refusing to profess so much Certainly it may bee and perhaps is justifiable for the Secular Power to grant them the exercise of their Religion in private places of their own providing under such moderate penalties as the disobeying of the Laws of a mans Country might require For persecution to death for that cause the whole Reformation condemneth in the Church of Rome And I conceive there is no reason for that which will not condemn persecution to banishment But this would require the like moderation to bee extended to Recusants of the Church of Rome True it is in mine opinion those Papists that think themselves tied by the Bull of Pius V. against Queen Elizabeth or that they may bee tied by the like Acts of his Successors against hers are justly liable to the utmost of penalties as professed enemies to their Country But besides that it is manifest that all Papists are not of that opinion which the said Bull presupposeth The State may easier be secured of Papists against all such power in the Pope then of our Sectaries against that dispensation to their Allegiance which the pretense of Gods Spirit may import when they please And whereas it is manifest that many Papists hold against those equivocations and reservations which destroy all confidence of the Sovereign in his Subjects allegiance How shall a State bee secured against that infamous falsehood of the late Usurper in any man that pretends Gods Spirit upon his terms which I mentioned afore Besides the Recusants being for the most part of the good Families of the Nation will take it for a part of their Nobility freely to profess themselves in their Religion if they understand themselves whereas the Sectaries being people of mean qualitie for the most part cannot bee presumed to stand upon their reputation so much So if they cannot bee tolerated in the exercise of their Religion it must bee provided upon what terms they may bee received by the Church And by that which hath been said it may appear what my opinion will require of the Presbyterians for the condition of reconciling our selves into one Church again Namely in the first place their submission to the Act or Decree or Order according to which the Sectaries ought to bee tied to renounce the damnable positions which they have notoriously set on foot For if they should refuse this what reason could bee alleged why they should bee counted Strangers to that infection which they will not exclude As for the other Article of the Creed concerning one Visible Church it is evident that they cannot belong to that Church supposing the Premises For it is evident that there was a time when the whole Church was governed by Bishops and that not against Gods Law for then there had remained no Church And therefore for them to break the Unity of the Church upon pretense of governing this Church by Presbyters is to break Unity unless a part may give Law to the whole which who so do are for so doing Schismaticks And the Church of Rome would have due cause to cast us off for Schismaticks if wee should admit this pretense But this is a point the knowledg whereof cannot belong to the substance of Christianity for the reason alleged before And therefore I do not think the Church tied to exact the express profession of it or the disclaiming of the error that is opposite to it On the other side the Church maintaining the Ordinations of Presbyters alone to bee meer nullities in themselves can never own their Ordinations without renouncing the Catholick Church yet may it consent in the persons upon their consent to the order which shall bee established for the future And indeed what can they challenge by the meer consent of certain Presbyters which the Ministers of Congregations may not pretend to by the consent of their respective Congregations And yet I suppose both parties are agreed not to own them in that Power which the celebration of the Eucharist importeth Let any man that is capable to judge of such maters think upon the madness of the Lancashire Presbyterians without prejudice Of whom I am duly informed that they caused those who were ordained only Deacons in the Church of England to do the office of Presbyters which they had no title to in celebrating the Eucharist And tell me what reason there can bee excluding the Ordinations of the Congregations to admit the usurpations of the Presbyterians As for the form and solemnity in which the consent of the Church to their Ordinations shall bee celebrateed therein I refer my self to the wisdom of Superiors Thinking it would bee a great impertinence in the Presbyterians if finding a necessity of submitting
correspondent to the primitive forme tending to the Unity of the Whole But let no man think that for the love of such a correspondence I have any itch to call in question the Unity of the Whole The alteration is great and must needs produce a great motion to ingraffe it into the Laws of the Kingdom And therefore I am not of opinion to change the Law for hope of amendment with so much appearance of danger to the being of the Whole But I am of opinion that it would bee easie to erect Presbyteries that is Colleges of Presbyters in all Shire Towns which have no Cathedral Churches for the Ecclesiastical Government of the respective Counties with and under the Bishops And that so the Rule of the Church would bee set on work to the best effect and purpose For those Towns have commonly Churches altogether unprovided of means through the horrible sacrileges that have passed and yet in common reason agreeing with the wisdom of Gods Spirit from whence the Rule of Episcopacy issued ought to bee Nurseries of Christianity to the respective Counties And that intent cannot so well bee brought to effect as by planting the wisest and those that have most of the Clergy in their lives in the most eminent places with authority next to the Chief over their respective bounds By the ministery of such persons the Offices of Gods service might so bee performed in the chief places as might be a patern for their Country Churches to follow These Presbyters might grow up by education in that discipline of the Clergy which I have recommended upon the experience of the whole Church They might live a Collegiate life in common exercising a care and inspection over Inferiours together with the charge of instructing or seeing them instructed in the Scriptures The Canon of the whole Church confining all degrees of the Clergy to their respective Churches might bee revived by their means The superseding whereof being certainly one of the irregularities of the Papacy hath conduced much to the dissolution of Discipline in the Church For in conscience how can hee that is obliged to any Church give account of himself to another to which the first is not subordinate And therefore though the Presbyteries which I propose bee not Churches yet may they take account of their respective Clergy and render it to their Bishops The promotion of inferiour Orders belonging unto their account may procced upon the account which they give The censures that are requisite to pass in foro exteriori may pass them in the first instance and from them being transmitted to the Bishop bee either inacted or voided Always with right of appeal to the Synod of the Province in cases of weight and in the intervals thereof to their Deputies To which purpose and in which nature the High Commission ought to bee revived For as it is by no means to bee allowed that the Bishops negative bee any way questioned So is it no way fit that the consent of Bishop and Presbyters both bee concluded in one and the same instance As for those Dioceses which are concluded within only one County there I suppose I need not say that the Chapter of the Cathedral are by inheritance this Presbytery Now these Colleges of Presbyters consisting of those only that shall have run the whole course of their lives in the education and discipline of the Clergy is there any possible pretense of burthen upon them if the condition of single life should bee required to qualifie them for their places For this were not to tye any man to single life seeing who will may go forth and bee provided of a Country Church But it were to maintain the discipline of the Clergy in the most eminent places wherein there is a course proposed to them who imbrace it of ending their days in it And the course of a Collegiate life which I propose seemeth a sufficient means and advantage to overcome those temptations which in these days may seem too difficult for all the Clergy to undergo As for the means of supporting these Presbyteries wherein the Gure of all Parishes within the Shire Towns is provided for and included It is no difficulty to him that considers with conscience that originally the indowment of the Diocese was the Patrimony of the Mother Church and afterwards appropriated to Parish Churches by abating the right of the Mother Church upon particular contracts appearing to bee for the good of the parts For if the Mother Church have abated so much of her common right when it was for the good of the Parishes Is it not necessary that the Parishes now abate of their property in their respective indowments by Pensions to these Colleges now they appear to bee for the good of tâ—e Diocese And this I am now bold to profess though Superiors do not go before in it because I am confident that by this position I abate not a hair of that Power which the Bishops in England now use But I adde much to the strictness of discipline that is in effect of Christianity by requiring all Ordinations all acts of Jurisdiction in foro exteriori to pass both the Presbyters and the Bishop in several instances And further then this I extend not the opinion of a Divine to particulars but leave the rest intire to the wisdom of Superiors And this may serve to show that there is no cause why the difference on foot concerning the Government of the Church may not settle into a change conducing to the advancement of the common Christianity Which will hold till stronger in the other concerning the Service if men take their measures by the common interest of Christianity not by their particular prejudices For I conceive I may well suppose that the Sectaries pretense of praying by the Spirit is content to bee buried in oblivion and silence considering that the excesses are evident and horrible which that pretense hath brought forth Besides that no man now stands to that dangerous position That the Offices of Gods service are of no effect when they are ministred by such as are not in the state of Grace For I presume it is not nor can bee supposed on any hand that all whom the Church must imploy are indowed with Gods spirit that is are in the state of Grace I suppose further as not questioned on any hand that the publick service of God is to consist of the praises of God by the Psalms of David and other Hymns of Gods Church of the reading of the Scriptures of the instruction of Gods people out of them in fine of the Prayers of the Church and in the chief place of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and those prayers which it is to bee celebrated with Some of our Sects have been bold to pretend that the Psalter or Psalms of David are impertinent to the Devotions of Christians as concerning the particular condition of David and composed with regard to it Whereby they