Separation of the Reformed Churches themselves from the Church of Rome with which they once held Communion is against that Church So that if there be any thing in this Argument it holds every whit as strong against them as against us But the truth of it is the Argument its self is of no force against either one or the other But in the Case of Separation the only point to be considered in order to the discerning where the blame lies is for what cause the Separation was made For if the ground of our separating from the Roman Church be as indeed it was because we could not communicate with her without Sin this justifies our Separation and is indeed a just Objection against that Church which enjoined such unlawful terms of Communion And on the other side if the Doctrine that we profess and teach be Pure and Orthodox and our Worship to say the least of it such as may in every part of it be lawfully joined in if even they who dissent from us cannot fix on any one thing in our Communion which they can prove is unlawful if consequently the ground of their Separation from us be either because they will not endure sound Doctrine or because they have itching Ears which nothing will please but Novelties they indeed are highly to blame who separate from us upon such trifling Accounts but it is no more a just Objection against our Church That there are some that separate from it than it was against that Church which was at first Assembled and governed by our Lord himself in Person that there were some who when they had listed themselves under him as his Disciples did afterwards upon an unreasonable and groundless disgust go back and walk no more with him 3 What may further be observed from hence in general is this That the Example of a Multitude is not a sufficient inducement to follow their practice any further than the same may be justified by reason For in the Text we are told that many of our Lords Disciples probably not fewer than 5000 went away from him at once and as far as appears by the History there were only 12 that remained with him a very small number in comparison with that great Multitude that went away and yet there can be no doubt but that these were the True Church and that they which went away were Schismaticks From whence therefore by the way we may observe how vain and trifling that Argument is which they of the Church of Rome do urge in behalf of their Church and to perswade us to return to it taken from the great Multitude of those that are of the Roman Communion in comparison with the Reformed Churches For granting that the Roman Church is of much greater extent than the Reformed nay if we should grant it to be of larger extent than all the Christian Churches besides that are not of her Communion which yet is certainly false this is but a very sorry Argument to prove her to be the True and only True Christian Church For if truth be always on the side of the greatest number Which was the True Church in Abraham's time when he was of a Religion by himself Was it in his small Family or amongst the Idolatrous Nations that dwelt round about him Or which was the True Church in all that long Tract of time from Moses to our Saviour Was it not confined to a very small spot of Land even when it was at its largest extent And that again contracted to a much less compass in Elijah's time when there were not in Ten of the Tribes of Israel above Seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal 1 Kings 19.18 Again if that be always the True Church which is the largest time was when the Arian Hereticks were the True Christian Church and the Orthodox Professors of Christianity who were but a very few in number in comparison with them were consequently miserably deluded and rank Hereticks And thus according to this Rule given by the Romanists for finding out the True Church truth and goodness are really nothing at all but vary according to the Fancies and Customs of Men and what is true and good now may in the next Age become very false and wicked But by what hath been said it appears that the true Worshippers of God have sometimes been but a very few and that the True Church of Christ hath in some Ages consisted but of a very small number and what has been once may be again So that tho we should grant that the Roman Church is larger than any one or even than all the Reformed Churches together yet still these may be the True Churches of Christ and that not for why may not the True Religion and the right Worship of God be confined to a narrow compass now as well as it hath been in former times The truth is number or fewness are both meerly accidental and extrinsecal things sometimes a multitude may be in the right and sometimes probably much oftner they are in the wrong and whether they be in the right or no is a thing to be inquired into not to be taken for granted For Truth and Goodness are always the same but the Fancies and Opinions of men are infinitely various and uncertain And therefore seeing God hath not left it to us to determine among our selves by most Votes which is the True Religion and the Right Worship of God but hath himself clearly stated and fully determined this matter in the Books of Scripture many hundred years ago that Determination of his is and will ever be most undoubtedly true 't is that therefore that we must stick to and abide by let the Crowd or the Multitude go which may it will And so much for the first thing Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him II. The second thing which I took notice of in the words was the occasion of this great Schism intimated in that Clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from that time or as it may be rendred upon that occasion Many of his disciples went back Now what the occasion was we must learn from the foregoing part of the Chapter and it was in short this Our Saviour well knowing the Hypocrisy of that great Crowd that followed him and that all their pretended Zeal for him was really nothing else but Interest plainly tells them of it v 26. Verily verily I say unto you ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled and thereupon takes occasion to perswade them to withdraw their Hearts and Affections from this World and from their Temporal Interests and Concernments and to give themselves up to be instructed by him in the way and means of Salvation v. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the son of man shall
Sin For what think you if the Twelve Apostles upon this leave given them by Christ had gone back with the Five thousand would they not by our Saviour himself at the great day have been judged Schismaticks or Apostates for their so deserting him And yet as Man he gave them leave to forsake him he left it to their choice whether they would stay with him or no he used no Force or Compulsion to keep them against their Wills so that here was truly Liberty of Conscience granted them They might be Christians if they would if not they might return back to the Synagogue or go whither else they pleased Here were no worldly Motives offered to them to induce them either to stay or to go but the whole matter was left to their own Conscience But notwithstanding this Toleration as it may be called it was most certainly their Duty still to adhere to that Profession of Christianity which they had taken upon themselves and if they had forsaken it they would have been guilty of a most inexcusable Sin before God And the Case is the same now Humane Lawgivers may give leave to their Subjects to be of any Religion or to be of no Religion but if they do they can't make it lawful in its self either to be Atheists or to profess a false Religion or to forsake the Communion of the True Church for to believe a God and to Worship him Publickly and to Worship him in the Assemblies of the Faithful are Duties that are laid upon us by a higher than any Humane Authority and therefore no Humane Authority can discharge us from them The Law can take away and discharge us from no Obligation but that which its self laid upon us so that all the meaning of the largest and most unlimited Toleration that the Law can grant is no more than this viz. a Declaration that men shall not be liable to any Temporal Mulcts or Penalties or be any ways punish'd by the Civil Power upon the account of any Differences in Religion or for being of no Religion at all but if antecedently to the Establishment of any Church by the Civil Power and if antecedently to the enacting of any Penal Laws to oblige Men to hold its Communion it was a Schism to separate without cause from that Christian Church whereof we were Members and such Schismatical Separation was a Sin before God then so it will be still notwithstanding any License or Toleration that can be granted by the Secular Power But now That before any Civil Laws were enacted in savour of the Church it was unlawful for any man to separate from that Church whereof he was a Member without cause and that such Separation rendred men guilty of the Sin of Schism and that Schism was a damnable Sin is clearly evident from Holy Scripture For in the Apostles days there was no Civil Establishment of any Church all the Civil Powers then in being were either Jewish or Heathen and Judaism or Paganism were the only established Religions and all Profession of the Christian Religion was strictly prohibited under the severest Penalties but for all that there was a Christian Church even in those days with which all Christians were obliged to hold Communion and from which it was a Sin to separate They continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship saith St. Luke declaring the Practice of the first Converted Christians Acts 2.42 Even then it was a Sin to forsake the assembling themselves together as you may see Heb. 10.25 Even then it was a Duty to mark them that caused Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned from Christ and his Apostles and to avoid them Rom. 16.17 Even then Strifes and Divisions were Acts of Carnality as we are told 1 Cor. 3.3 and Heresy was then one of those Works of the Flesh of which the Apostle says That they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Gal. 5.20 In a word There was a Christian Church before there was any Christian State and long before there were any Acts of Vniformity made it was an Apostolical Canon Let all things be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 which obliged both the Bishops and Governors of the Church to ordain such Constitutions as were requisite for the decent and orderly Celebration of the Publick Worship and the People to submit thereunto From the very beginning of Christianity it was a Duty incumbent on all Christians to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 Rom. 15.6 and with one mind and one mouth to glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And it was always against the Nature and Constitution of the Christian Church that there should be Divisions in it or Separations from it Seeing therefore Church-Communion is a Duty laid upon us by God it plainly follows That no Human Authority can release us from our Obligation to it and consequently that these words Will ye go away Or you may go away if you will by what man soever they are pronounced cannot make it lawful for us to forsake the Assemblies of the Faithful and to leave the Communion of that Christian Church in which we were baptized and of which we are Members so long as the terms of her Communion are lawful And so much for the third thing I proceed now to the Fourth and Last thing observable in the Text viz. IV. The honest and discreet Answer that was made by Simon Peter in the Name of himself and the other Apostles when this Option was put to them Will ye also go away says our Saviour Lord says he to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life From whence we may briefly observe these three things 1. That 't is indispensibly necessary to be of some Church or other this is clearly intimated in the Apostles answer Lord to whom shall we go He takes it for granted as a matter of which there could be no reasonable doubt that in case they had left our Lord they must have betaken themselves to some other guide and that if they had forsaken his Communion they must have gone over to some other Communion he supposes it as a most evident and undeniable Truth as indeed it is That it is not enough for a man to have Faith to himself to adore God only in his heart or to Worship him only in his Closet but that it is also necessary to make a publick Profession of that Religion which he is of and to hold Communion with others of the same Faith and Profession in the Common Acts of Worship and Devotion And this is a Point very needful and well worthy to be considered by a great many that now-a-days do forsake our Churches not to go to any other Religious Assemblies but to spend their time in sleeping or dozing at home or in tipling at the Ale-house If we go
themselves to and do ordinarily communicate with own the same Scriptures profess the same Creed worship the same God and are in all respects of the same Religion that we are of But if it be so then why do they go from us If they believe that we have the words of eternal life what need they go elsewhere what can they hope for more in the Communion of any other Church than they might have in their own If they are really of the same Religion with us why do they break our Communion why do they make a rent and a Schism in the Church for nothing They indeed that forsake a Corrupt Church or an Idolatrous Worship they that leave the Communion of a Church in which they think they could not be saved act prudently and wisely but to forsake a Church and at the same time to profess that they are still of the same Religion with that Church which they have forsaken is a practice which I think no account can be given of This is certainly to break the Unity of the Church for nothing and needlesly to make a rent and a Schism in the Body of Christ and that very thing which they plead in excuse for their Schism does to my apprehension render it altogether inexcusable For if ever Schism be a sin it is certainly so when there is no cause for it and there can be no just cause to leave that Church which we were bred in and are Members of and to go over to another which professes the same Faith teaches the same Doctrines and agrees in all the Essentials of Worship with that Church which we leave For why should a man leave the Establish'd Church and go to another or set up another against it when by his own confession he does not mend himself by the change but might have been saved as well in that Church which he leaves as in that which he goes to But I know it is pleaded by this sort of Separatists That though they agree with us in the Substantials of Religion they differ from us in the Circumstantials and therefore go for the most part to other Religious Assemblies because there they think God is worshipped after a purer manner than he is amongst us That tho there be in the Established Church all things necessary to Salvation and she has the words of eternal life yet she has also some unnecessary Observances some Rites and Ceremonies which they think might be better omitted and which are not used in those Religious Meetings which they join themselves to But to this the answer is easy Either these Circumstantials of our Worship these Rites and Ceremonies are lawful to be used or not now if they be not lawful to be used if for instance it be unlawful to be present at and to join in those Prayers which the Minister puts up while he is clothed with a white Garment or if it be unlawful to receive the Sacrament upon the Knee why do they ever do these things at all why do they do that to qualify themselves for an Office which if it be a sin they ought not to do to gain the whole world But if these things be lawful and the only thing they have to say against them is that they are in their opinion needless and superfluous Observances what a small reason is this to make a Schism and Division in the Church There can be no end of Separations and Divisions if they may be justified by such fanciful dislikes as these for the Fancies of men are so infinitely different as to such things that 't is impossible that the same should please all people so that either Church-communion is no duty or else such dislikes of the Fancy only cannot be a sufficient ground of a Separation for there is no Congregation where the Minister is not cloathed with some Garment or other and where the Sacrament is not received in some posture or other and there is no Garment or posture which some may not have a fancy against as well as against these and with as good reason Nay not only the Fancies of divers men but even of the same men at divers times are so very different as to such things that what they like one day they oftentimes dislike as much the next so that he who goes from a Pure and Orthodox Church upon such trivial accounts cannot tell himself whither he shall go at last but it is most probable that if he goes on thus indulging his Fancy he will be one day of this Sect another of another and a third of a third till at last having tried all Sects and found in every one something that he disliked he will come to be of no Religion at all Or if not so yet 't is highly probable that while he thus busies himself about the Ceremonies and Circumstantials of Religion he will neglect the substance of it and omit the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith without which all his zeal for the external Purity of the Divine Worship will avail him nothing Thus having as briefly as I could run through all those Particulars which the Text offered to our meditation I proceed in a few words to apply what hath been said and indeed the Application is so easy that I shall not need to be long in it For as it happened to our Saviour in the 1st verse of the Text so it hath happened to this Church whereof we are Members many that formerly joined in her Communion and seemed as hearty and zealous in it as any have of late forsaken her I will not make the application so near as to say that they then followed her for the Loaves and for their temporal Interest tho their leaving her just at this time might well enough make that be suspected neither will I say that the true reason of their leaving her is because her Doctrine is too pure and too good for them But whatever was the motive of their separation 't is matter of fact that there are many now gone away tho God be thanked not near so many as it was bragg'd there would be if ever a Toleration were granted many there are that are gone back and will now walk no more with us But the number of Separatists from any Church is not as I have shewed a just objection against it neither ought it to be any inducement to others to follow their Example for what hath now happen'd to our Church is not near so much as befel our Lord himself who had 5000 Disciples that deserted him at once while only twelve remained with him And what he said to them I may say to you that still continue in our Communion If you are disposed to follow the Example that these have set you you have now free liberty to do it You also may go away if you please there is no restraint now laid upon you by the Laws the whole matter is between God and
A SERMON Preach'd at the Chappel of BRENTWOOD IN ESSEX October the 7th 1693. AT THE VISITATION Of the Right Reverend Father in GOD HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON Published by his Lordship's Order IMPRIMATUR Novemb. 2. 1693. Carolus Alston By Ofsp. Blackall Rector of South-Okendon in Essex LONDON Printed by Will. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1694. JOHN VI. 66 67 68. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Then said Jesus unto the twelve Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life IN these words there are four things considerable I. A Remarkable Accident that befel our Saviour in the Course of his Ministry his being deserted at once by a great many of his Disciples Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him II. The occasion of this great Desertion intimated in that Clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from that time or upon that occasion III. A Question thereupon put by our Lord to those few that still remained with him He said unto the twelve Will ye also go away And IV. And Lastly The honest and discreet Answer which Simon Peter in the name of the rest returned to this question Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life Each of which Particulars will afford some useful Observations which in the Sequel of this Discourse I shall briefly touch upon the time not permitting me to do more and then make some Application of the whole I begin with the first viz. I. The Relation of a Remarkable Accident that befel our Saviour in the Course of his Ministry viz. his being deserted at once by a great many of his Disciples Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him The Evangelist doth not say how many but that we may probably collect from the former part of the Chapter For at the 10th Verse we are told That the number of those that were with him before and had been miraculously fed by him with five Barly-loaves and two small fishes was about 5000 and that upon that they all of them acknowledged that he was the Christ as you may see at the 14th Verse This is of a truth say they that Prophet which should come into the World and thereupon presuming according to the Notion generally received among the Jews at that time that the Messias was to be a mighty Temporal Prince they would fain then have perswaded him to take upon him the Kingdom Nay as the Evangelist notes at the 15th Verse They would have taken him by force and made him a King which when our Saviour had avoided by conveying himself privately away they would not however be thereby diverted from pursuing their Intention but perceiving which way his Disciples were gone over the Sea and supposing that he had appointed to meet them on the other side they took Shipping the very next day to follow him and when they had found him knowing that he had not gone over in the same Boat with his Disciples and that no other Boat had gone over besides except those wherein they themselves had passed so that consequently he must needs have conveyed himself over the Sea by a miracle they seemed hereby still the more confirmed in that belief which they had of him before and yet behold on a sudden even the very same day upon occasion of some disgust which they took at his Doctrine they all forsook him leaving him as it seems alone only with his Twelve Apostles Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him From whence we may observe 1. That Infallibility its self is not sufficient to prevent Schisms and Separations in the Church For surely they will not deny that our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself was an infallible Teacher who believe that his pretended Vicar is so and yet for all that he was deserted by a great many of his Disciples there were many more that forsook him than there were that continued to adhere to him Nay indeed his Infallibility may be said in some sense to have been the occasion of this great Schism for the reason of their forsaking him was because he spake to them the words of Truth for had he but suited his Doctrine to the Carnal Palates of his Hearers they would still have continued with him And if Infallibility will not serve for this purpose there is manifestly no such absolute necessity no such great usefulness of any Infallible Guide in the Church as the Romanists pretend who also from thence only without any ground from Scripture boldly infer that there is such an one For we have already an Infallible Rule both of Belief and Practice in the Holy Scriptures and this Rule is sufficiently plain to and easily enough applicable by all such as are of honest minds and give due Attention and Regard to it An Infallible Guide if there were any such now-a-days could not teach more than the Holy Scriptures do of such things as are necessary to be known by us neither could he teach the same things plainer than they teach them and if men were of perverse and carnal minds they would give no more heed to the Infallible Guide than they do now to the Infallible Rule that is they would hear him no longer than while his Doctrine pleased them or while it was for their advantage to continue in his Communion and when either his Doctrine was ungrateful or it was not safe to adhere to him they would do by him as the Disciples in the Text did by our Saviour who was beyond all dispute an Infallible Teacher They would go back and walk no more with him 2. Another thing that may be observed from hence is this That it is no just Objection against any Church that there are a great many that dislike it and separate from it Let not then our Adversaries of the Church of Rome any more object against us as they have used to do that their Church is at Unity within its self that they are all of one Mind agreeing in the same Form of Doctrine and holding together in the same Worship whereas no sooner did the Reformed Churches separate from them but they were immediately divided into innumerable Sects among themselves each pretending to greater Purity and Perfection than the other For besides that the truth of this matter of fact might well be doubted viz. whether there be greater Divisions among Protestants than among Papists which point I will not at this time dispute This I dare boldly say That the Unity which they boast of is in great measure owing to the Inquisition and such other means of holding their People in their Communion as we neither do nor think lawful to use And then after all the Separation of other Sects from the Reformed Churches is not a juster Objection against them than the