as to deserve this title two things are to be supposed viz. Admonition and Conviction 1. That he hath been admonished and that more than once of the evil of his way of the danger of it and of the necessity of leaving it 2. That he is convinced in his own mind of all this These two are expresly contained in that direction and advice which St. Paul gives to his Son Titus A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject Knowing that he that is such is subverted or perverted and sinneth being condemned of himself Tit. 3.10 11. Secing therefore these two are so necessary to complete the character of an Heretick it may not be amiss to take a view of them severally before we apply the Character SECT VIII Of Obstinacy in Errour against Admonition THAT men in Errour ought to be admonished will be own'd by all and that in case of Heresie the Admonition is to be repeated is plainly intimated by St. Paul in his advice to his Son Titus already quoted And in what manner and by whom this Admonition is to be given our Saviour's Rule in the case of trespasses and offences between brethren will very fully instruct us Matth. 18.15 16 17. which is this If thy brother trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him if he hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he hear thee not take with thee one or two that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be confirmed And if he refuse to hear them tell it unto the Church and if he refuse to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen and a Publican Where we may observe that our Saviour speaks of a twofold Admonition viz. one that is to be given in private and in a brotherly and friendly manner and another that is to be given in publick by those who had jurisdiction over the offending person and are vested with power and authority to censure him Now let us apply this to the case in hand If thy Brother offend by embracing and tenaciously holding some fundamental errour in Religion and this come to thy knowledge it will be a charitable work in thee if in a brotherly and friendly manner thou dost privately admonish him between thee and him alone if thou beest successfull therein thou hast done a good work thou hast gained thy brother But if this will not doe thou must not leave it so but take others with thee and admonish him before them Thus far may a private person interess himself in admonishing another who is faln into or in danger of falling into Heresie and if the person admonished continue obstinate against such admonition he doth by that stubbornness very much add to his crime and incur the guilt of Heresie yet properly speaking he cannot truly be called an Heretick in the eye of the Church because she hath not yet taken cognizance thereof And therefore it follows if he refuse to hear them tell it to the Church i. e. bring the cause before them who have a jurisdiction over him and sufficient power and authority to censure and punish him And being once and again admonished by the Church if he still remain contumacious then let him be rejected saith St. Paul or as our Saviour here let him be unto thee as an Heathen and Publican i. e. let him by Excommunication be cast out of the Church and counted unworthy the society of Christian men This is the method in which we ought to proceed against Hereticks they must be admonished and that Admonition must be repeated and they must be obstinate against that Admonition before we ought to censure them But it is not a private but publick not only a friendly but authoritative Admonition and stubbornness against that which will truly denominate a man or any Society of men to be Hereticks For Heresie is an Opinion contrary to that of the Catholick Church Aug. cont Faustum saith St. Aug. And whosoever doth obstinately believe that which is contrary to the holy Catholick Faith is an Heretick In Enchirid c. 11. p. 141. n. 2. if he be baptized saith their Navar. Doctor And whosoever despising the authority of the Church doth obstinately defend wicked opinions Part. 1. in expos art 9. Symbol p. 76. n. 2. he is to be called an Heretick saith their Trent Catechism Now if the Church of Rome can prove that the Church of England hath espoused and publickly taught any fundamental Errour in Religion and hath been thus regularly dealt withall and duely admonished by those who had authority so to doe and yet continued obstinate in her errour against such Admonition then is she guilty otherwise not But this I shall have Occasion to consider more particularly hereafter and therefore at present I shall proceed SECT IX Of Obstinacy in Errour against Conviction AN Heretick is one that is not only subverted or perverted Tit. 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but self-condemned saith St. Paul i. e. One who having once received and owned the true Faith doth now oppose and condemn it as false saith their own Lyra in loc or one who commendeth Errour and reproacheth truth saith the Ord. Gl. Who like those who accused the Woman taken in Adultery before our Saviour John 8.9 is convicted by his own Conscience i. e. who is conscious to himself of the evil of his own doings Self-condemnation always supposeth conviction an Heretick therefore being one that is self-condemned must also be convinc'd of the errour of his way and one who notwithstanding that conviction still remains stubborn and obstinate therein i. e. who resists the repeated admonition of the Church For if a man labour under an invincible ignorance and be thereby betrayed into some dangerous errour or by the misfortune of an ill education have his judgment perverted and prepossessed with wrong notions and sentiments of things his case is truly pityable and it would be very hard and injurious to burden him with the guilt of Heresie But if such an one being admonished of the evil of his way shall happen to be convinc'd of his errour and yet after such admonition and conviction contumaciously continue therein he will have no plea left to excuse him from the guilt thereof By the old Law Numb 15.24 25 26 27 c. if a man sinned through ignorance there was an atonement provided for him but if he sinned presumptuously there was no atonement for him but he was to be cut off from among the people This was St. Paul's case in the time of the Gospel for he himself tells us That he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an oppressor 1 Tim. 1.13 but he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly through unbelief But if after he was converted he had been guilty of these crimes his plea of ignorance and unbelief would then have been out of doors and his case would
upon that rock We are well satisfied how dangerous and destructive Heresie is It withdraws men from the way of Truth and makes them enemies and blasphemers of it Gal 5.20 21. It excludes men from the Kingdom of God and makes them become men of corrupt minds 2 Tim. 3.8 and reprobate concerning the Faith. Nor is it only hurtfull to those that are guilty of it but to others also For It doth grievously disturb and trouble the peace of God's Church by stirring up strife contention emulation and division among the members thereof It seduceth unwary Souls and betrays them to their own ruine and destruction It weakens the authority of Holy Scriptures and deprives men of the profit and advantage thereof by perverting sometimes the sense and sometimes the letter of those Sacred Writings In a word it makes the Christian Religion to be evil spoken of among those who are without Bishop Jewel gives us a short but full description of it Defens Apolog c. part 1. chap. 7. divis 2. p. 43. when he tells us Heresie is a forsaking of salvation a renouncing of God's grace a departing from the body and spirit of Christ These are our Sentiments of the sin of Heresie and if our Adversaries can draw a Character more black we solemnly promise and seriously declare that so far as it is true we are ready to joyn with them And after all this can any one suspect that we should be in love with Heresie But whether we be or no it matters not so long as the Church of Rome which thinks her self infallible is pleased to charge us therewith to fix that title upon us and as such to represent us to the World. How justly or unjustly rather this foul aspersion is cast upon us will be enquired into in the following discourse the design of the Authour therein being to vindicate the Church of England therefrom which if he shall be so happy as to doe then will it appear that the Church of Rome was mightily mistaken in her Censure and that will be no small flaw in her Infallibility but if upon a fair and full debate it shall plainly appear that they who so rashly pronounce and call us Hereticks be themselves the guilty persons then will it highly concern them if they have any care of their Souls to consider how deeply they are wounded with their own dart and how low they are fallen into that Pit which they had digged for us that so by a true and timely repentance they may rise again SECT I. Of Heresie IN order to a right stating of the true and genuine Notion of Heresie it will be requisite to consider both the Importance of the Name and the Nature of the Thing The word Heresie is a Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and admits of many and those different significations as Scapula informs us out of several Authours To reckon them all up would wast too much time and paper and conduce but little to the design in hand I shall therefore onely mention three 1. I find it sometimes rendered conquering or subduing thus it is used by Herodot and Thucyd. in whom we meet with these expressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to subdue a City In Epit. Basilii and thus it is used by Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not overcome us 2. It is sometimes rendered Election or Option as appears by these expressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make choice of friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I choose my way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to choose a Judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erring in the very choice of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Election or Creation of an Emperour In Epist ad Galat. And thus St. Hier. useth it where he saith Heresie in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Election because every one chooseth to himself that discipline which he thinks best 3. Sometimes it denotes a Sect or sort of men who having espoused an opinion different from the received opinion of all others do tenaciously hold the same Thus is the word usually taken by Philosophers and Divines Galen meeting with some of his own profession who both in their opinions and practice dissered from him and the whole body of Physicians at that time yet used some method and did not altogether swerve from the rules of Art calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Methodical Heresie And finding others who observed no method nor pretended to understand the reason of things or the natural causes of Distempers but practised by some receipts which they had got and which by use and experience they had found in some cases to be very advantagious and therefore boldly though blindly went on in so doing this he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Emperical Heresie or the Heresie of Quacks and Empericks in that profession And in this sense we find the word used by Ecclesiastical Writers who by Heresie do generally understand an Opinion which is not agreeable to the Orthodox Faith and whosoever doth espouse such an Opinion boldly teaching and obstinately defending the same is by them always reputed an Heretick Thus have I shown you the importance of the Word and in what sense it is used by Ecclesiastical Writers and now I come to consider the nature of the thing imported thereby which we may partly learn from such as have written upon that Subject but best from the Holy Scriptures When Men entertain Opinions contrary to those which the Catholick Church holds and believes That is Heresie saith St. Augustine Aug. contra Faust And whosoever Aug. de Definit for the sake of any temporal profit and especially for the advancement of his own Glory and Grandeur doth forge and follow false and new Opinions he is an Heretick saith the same Holy Father And whosoever doth obstinately defend that new Errour which he hath embraced Idem ibid. he is an Heretick Heresie is a kind of Infidelity Th. Aq. 22. qu. 11. art 1. c. belonging to them who profess the Faith of Christ and corrupt the Doctrines thereof saith their Angelical Doctour Heresie is conversant about those things which are of Faith Idem ibid. art 2. c. viz. the Articles of Faith and such things as follow upon them and consists in an obstinate dissent therefrom saith the same Doctour He that obstinately believes what is contrary to the holy Catholick Faith In Enchirid c. 11. p. 141. n. 2. is an Heretick if he be baptized saith their Navar. Doctour Whosoever neglecting the authority of the Church Catech. ad Parochos part 1. in expos art 9. Symbol p. 76. n. 2. doth defend wicked opinions with a wilfull and obstinate mind is to be called an Heretick saith the Trent Catechism And what we are to understand by the name of Church the same Catechism afterwards informs us and quotes St.
Ibid. n. 3. ad calcem Augustine in Ps 49. for it telling us that by Church we are to understand the faithfull people dispersed through the whole world Though none of these will perhaps pass for an exact Definition Aug. ad Quodvult Deum Epist 2. if examined according to the strict rules thereof nor it may be were ever intended as such for as for St. Aug. he freely confesseth That to express by a regular Definition what Heresie is or what thing it is that makes an Heretick in his judgment is either impossible or very difficult yet may they pass for good Descriptions whence we may learn what notion they had of Heresie in those days and what it was that in their judgment did make a man an Heretick From St. Aug. we may learn that there are three things necessary to make up an Heresie 1. To believe such things as are not believed by the Catholick Church 2. To broach those false and new opinions and thereby endeavour to make a party for some secular advantage especially for the sake of ones own glory and grandeur 3. To defend those false and new opinions with obstinacy From their own Angelical Doctour we may learn that there are four things necessary to make a man an Heretick 1. He must be one that professeth the true Faith. 2. He must corrupt the Doctrines of that Faith. 3. He must dissent from some known established Article of the Faith. 4. His dissent must be maintained with obstinacy From their Navar. Doctour we may learn that there are three things necessary to make an Heretick 1. He must be one that is baptized i. e. admitted into the membership of Christ's Church and who by himself or others or both hath made profession of the holy Catholick Faith. 2. He must be one that hath embraced some false and new opinions which are contrary to that Holy Catholick Faith. 3. He must be one that doth believe and maintain those false and new opinions with obstinacy From their Trent Catechism we may learn who may properly be called an Heretick 1. He must be one that doth neglect and despise the Authority of the Church 2. The Authority which is neglected or despised by him must be the Authority of the Catholick Church diffusive Ecclesia est populus fidelis per universum orbem dispersus are the words of that Catechism quoted out of St. Augustine in Ps 49. 3. He must be one that holdeth and defendeth wicked opinions in despight and defiance of that Authority 4. He must hold and defend those wicked opinions with a wilfull and obstinate mind Thus far may we learn the nature of Heresie from these Authorities which are such as I suppose our Adversaries will not disown and if upon any of these severally or all of them joyntly they think fit to implead us we are ready to join issue with them and if by any of these they can make it appear that we are guilty we do solemnly promise that by God's grace assisting us we will repent and amend and I would willingly hope that they would be so ingenuous on their parts as to doe the same But before we proceed any farther let us see what is more to be learn'd of the nature of Heresie out of the Holy Scriptures St. Paul writing to the Church of Corinth tells them that there must be Heresies among them 1 Cor. 11.19 that they which are approved may be made manifest The rise of which Heresies is intimated in the verse immediately preceding V. 18. where he saith For first of all when ye come together in the Church I hear that there are dissensions among you c. Dissension is the first and greatest evil being the Source and Original of all others for from thence proceed strifes debates envyings evil-speaking and all manner of contention by means whereof the Unity of the Church is broken her peace disturbed and her Members crumbled into parties and factions Then doth every party set up for it self and for the sake of its own glory and grandeur endeavours to inlarge its bounds by alluring others to joyn with it This it can never hope effectually to accomplish without having something new to present them with and therefore all Heads are at work to forge and foment some new and plausible though false opinion which being once broached must obstinately be defended and so commenceth Heresie Thus we see the rise and original of Heresie the dangerous and destructive consequence whereof the same Apostle acquaints us with who in his Epistle to the Church of Galatia reckoneth Heresies among the works of the Flesh and tells us Gal. 5.19 20 21. that they who doe such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. And on this account is it that St. Peter gives them that dreadfull Epithet calling them damnable Heresies For saith he 2 Pet. 2.1 There were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction From this Text it is plain that the Introducers of Heresie and the Ringleaders of Hereticks are false Teachers and these false Teachers in the time of the Gospel are compared to false Prophets in the time of the Law. To know therefore and rightly understand who those false Prophets were and what they did to deserve that title may possibly afford us some light by which to discover those false Teachers who privily bring in these damnable Heresies and not onely so but in some measure also acquaint us with the nature of those Crimes He who by signs and lying wonders sought to turn away the People from the way Deut. 13.1 2 c. which the Lord their God had commanded them to walk in or perswade them to pay their Religious Service and Worship to any other Being but onely the true God was thereby known to be a false Prophet not to be attended to but severely punished Whosoever shall presume to speak a word in the Name of God Deut. 18.20 which God hath not commanded him to speak or shall speak in the Name of other Gods the same is a false Prophet and by the sentence of Almighty God adjudged to death Those who come unto you in sheeps clothing Matth. 7.15 1 Tim 4.2 but inwardly are ravening Wolves Who speak lies in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron 2 Tim. 3.5 Who have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof They are false Prophets and to be rejected by us Those who cause divisions and offences Rom. 16.17 18. contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the simple These are false Prophets or false Teachers and ought to be marked and avoided by us Thus have I given you a short Character of