Austria under Bishops deriving their succession from the time of Constantine and therefore from the Apostles they sent them thither to be Ordained protesting against their weakness in going to Masse for fear The protestation was admitted and the persons ordained Bishops Now I take not upon me to maintain the truth of that information concerning the succession of these Bishops whereupon they proceeded But they being reasonably perswaded of it and not knowing how to proceed otherwise through a mistake which they could not overcome and setling themselves upon an innocent presumption why should the effect of these Ordinations seem questionable For under these Bishops they have subsisted from that day to this And with what conscience is it demanded for conformity to the Reformation that we acknowledge them Priests who are ordained against Bishops If we do not we shall condemn those Reformed Churches which have no Bishops Is it the fashion that a man quit his Cloke because his fellow hath none Or is it any thing else to renounce a good Title because they cannot plead it There was a good expedient in the ancient Church to refer things to God which could not be decided without a breach in the Church Let their zele against the abuses of the Church of Rome be counted pardonable with God which caused them to think the Order of Bishops a support of Antichrist when as the Papacy is visibly raised upon the rights of Bishops which it ingrosseth Let the difficulty of procuring Ordinations and having Bishops render them excusable to God Those that are ordained by Presbyters against Bishops on purpose to set up Altar against Altar how can we count them ordained refusing the concurrence of the Church to their Ordinations They that would ty us to comply with the Reformation are first to show us that the Unity of Bohemia is no part of it And that their Reformation is not to be preferred either before that of Luther or that of Calvine For can we acknowledg the Ordinations of Presbyters against their Bishops and not condemn them that sought all over the World for Bishops to ordain them Bishops that the Bishops so ordained might ordain them Presbyters But not only in this prime point of our differences but also in the difference of the Clergy from the people in the three Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the matter of Justification and the Eucharist of Confirmation and Penance of the Festivalls and Fasts of the Church one of divers Orders and institutions of less consequence their profession agreeth with the ancient Church and the Church of England where it departeth from both Luther and Calvine In the matter of Penance though with much humility they tell the Lutheranes roundly they have but one of the keyes viz. that of loosing but bind not as pronouncing absolution without injoyning of Penance The discipline of Geneva they magnify indeed as they find it described by Bodine in his method of Histories But they distinguish not whither they mean the civill discipline which the Lawes of that State inforce or that which the Power of the Keyes exercised there according to Calvine doth constitute For the Civill Law of a Christian State especially no bigger then that of Geneva may settle such a discipline over the outward man as may restrain from the outward act of sin without mortifying the inward man to the inward love of it The late Usurpers Army we have seen well disciplined against the ordinary vices of the Camp Who appearing now to have been then enimies to their Country are thereby discovered not to have followed the reward of Christians but of Souldiers And the Lawes of Christian States by the means of Christianity which they maintain may reach to the mortifying of sin and the quickning of righteousness at the heart But of themselves being Civill Lawes and proposing no further reward or punishment then that good which a mans Country signifies they reach no futther then the outward man for the better or for the worse Nor is it of any greater consequence to Christianity that the outward act of sin or virtue is repressed or incouraged by the rewards and penalties of Civill Lawes But when the discipline of the Church takes place he who forfeiteth his Christianity by gross sin that is notorious forfeiteth also Communion with the Church and recovereth it not till the presumption be no less notorious that he hath recovered his Christianity Now Communion with the Church is the consequence of our Baptism which intitleth us to life everlasting Therefore it is not duely forfeited without forfeiting the effect of Baptisme our right to life everlasting So our right to heaven depending upon the Communion of the Church the discipline of the Church must needes reach the inward man as effectually as any outward application can reach the heart which is invisible For the presumption is grounded upon visible workes of Penance the effects of that invisible disposition without which they could not be constantly brought forth Whither or no this discipline be visible at Geneva I will not pronounce This I undertake that comparing the Doctrine of Calvine with their Orders they need not set a value upon the Power of the Keyes exercised according to his Doctrine in comparison of the same exercised according to their own Orders So that supposing not granting that the Lawes of the Church of England being the Lawes of the primitive Catholick Church are to be changed for conformity with the Reformed Churches it followeth not therefore that they are to be changed for those of the Churches reformed according to Calvine Certainly the receiving of the Communion kneeling having been one of the Adors of their Reformation from the beginning and so stiffly insisted upon by them in Poland they that pretend to change the Law of England in that point for conformity with the Reformation think they have not men but beasts to to deal with The Church of England in the Commination against sinners hath declared a great zeal for the renouncing of that ancient discipline of Penance which was in force in the primitive Church And certainly the Church of England is not the Church of England but in Name till the power of excommunication be restored unto it which there was not nor ever can be sufficient cause to take from any Church But the discipline of Penance though depending upon the Power of excommunication is as much to be preferred before it as it is more desirable to bring men to the Church then to shut them out of it If prejudice faction have not more to do in the pretenses of this sin then the truth of Christianity and zeal to advance it it is a point that cannot be neglected in any deliberation of Reforming the Church I cannot render a more visible reason why so godly a zeal in these that first prescribed our Reformation to the restoring of penance hath now been improved by their successors then the partialities which sprung
up in it like tares in the wheat and have now prevailed to choke even the power of excommunication wherein the being of a Church consisteth And though many sinnes of this Nation may be alleged for the cause why God hath taken this sharp revenge upon us yet can no reason be so proper why he should permit the hedge of the Church to be cast down for all Sects to devour and tread his vineyard under foot by suffering the power of excommunication to be taken from it as the neglect of improving it in and to the discipline of penance True it is not only all capital but all infamous crimes whereof men are convicted by Law are thereby notorious and require this discipline no less then those which the Law of this Land punisheth not otherwise then by penance And if the Church did make a difference among those that dye by publick Justice owning only these who approve their desire to undergo regular penance in case they might survive then were this discipline visible no visible crime escaping it For all capitall and infamous crimes that are not actually punished with death must by that reason remain unreconciled to the Church though free of the Law till penance be done And seeing crimes that are not known cannot be cured upon easier terms then those that are would â—oâ— the judgment of the Law authorizing the Church in the cure of known sins move even them that believe their Christianity no further then it is authorized by Law to submit invisible sins to the same cure For what is it but the slighting of this cure that makes mens sins fester and rankle inwardly and break out into greater and greater excesses And therefore to debate of Ceremonies and words in the service and May-poles and Sabbath dayes journeyes not considering the Power of the Keyes upon which the Church is founded and the restoring of the same is to neglect a consumption at the heart pretending only to cure the hair or the nailes Now if any of our Sects insist upon a pretense that deserves to be insisted upon far be it from us to cast off the consideration of it because they have unduely separated from the Church for it Our Anabaptists it is known insist upon two points The baptizing of Infants and that by sprinkling not by dipping In both they have neglected S. Peters Doctrine That Baptisme saveth us not the laying aside of the filth of our flesh but the answer of a good conscience to God For were the profession of Christianity celebrated by the Sacrament of Baptisme believed to be that which saveth us men would not goe to baptize them as not baptized who by their profession which they acknowledge by seeking the Communion of the Church are under that bond which intitleth them to the Salvation of Christians Nor can there be any greater presumption then the voiding of Baptisme so celebrated that they expect Salvation upon other termes But in making void Baptisme ministred by sprinkling alone without dipping they neglect S. Peter again when he maketh the Baptisme that saveth not to consist in cleansing the flesh but in a due profession of Christianity signifying this to be the principal that only the accessary Ceremony which it is solemnized with And therefore they are to acknowledg this difference by acknowledging Baptisme so ministred to be good and valid not void But this being acknowledged well may they insist that it is unduely ministred For it is evident that neither the Scripture nor the practice of the whole Church can by any means allow the sprinkling of water for Baptisme though the pouring on of water in case of necessity be allowed Nor doth the Law of the Church of England allow any more then pouring water upon a Child that is weak commanding therefore dipping otherwise And therefore this Law being much weakned by the tenderness of Mothers and friends supposing all Infants weak which the Law supposeth not and by undue zeal for forraign fashions ought to be revived and brought into use by all Ordinances that there may remain no colour for such an offence And therefore reparation is to be made for the sacriledge of the late Warrs in destroying the Fonts of Baptisme in Churches and bringing in Christening out of Basins by force I cannot say that I have touched all that is fit to be touched But I hope I have said nothing but that which followeth upon the ground which I have justified That which is proposed and is not so justified seems to demand the consent of those who propose it as able to hold the Church divided if they be not contented But that calls to mind a reason on the other side that men use to get a stomack with eating in such cases The due measure is not the satisfying of mens appetites but the improvement of our common Christianity FINIS
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 concurrence to the Act or Decree or Order according to which the Sectaries ought to be tied to renounce the damnable positions which they have notoriously set on foot For if they should refuse this what reason could be alledged why they should be 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 pretence 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 we 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 be 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 be established for the future And indeed what can they challeng 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 judg of such matters think upon the madness of the Lancashire Presbyterians without prejudice Of whome 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 be 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 be celebrated therein I refer my self to the wisdom of Superiors Thinking it would be a great impertinence in the Presbyterians if finding a necessity of submitting those whom they have allready promoted to the judgment of the Church for the condition upon which they are to Minister which without doubt is the principall they should insist upon the accessory which is the form and solemnity by which the power is visibly convayed And thus I think the second great difficulty concerning their Ordinations may be composed But supposing these great difficulties set aside the composing of our first differences about the Order of Bishops and the Service cannot seem difficult if the parties be content to give up their ingagements to the advantage which the Christianity of the Nation may have by it For what reasonable Christian can think much to acknowledge that by reason of those partialities which at length have produced this Schisme the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land are capable of amendment in those two points On the other fide doth not dear evperience tell all parts that the change of them by force though it must be called Reformation if the Law of the Land call it so yet it is not likely to be that which it is called Besides Consider the kindness which his Majesties return and Gods goodness that hath over-ruled mens hearts in it hath bredde in all parties consenting to it For can we have this before us and not hope that it will be enough to subdue all prejudices and animosities to the interest of our common Christianity Had the peace of the Church never been questioned it might be charity in a discreet Christian not to call it into question by proposing what might be amended because the hope of amendment might not countervail the danger of that Peace But now that unity is not to be had without setling of agreement in matters of difference to propose what may seem best for the Community of Gods Church in the cure of our breaches is not to give offence but to take it away I will therefore premise here one consideration which I mean to assume for a supposition to ground that which I shall propose to this purpose It shall contain that which I observe in the New Testament and the primitive practice of Gods Church pointing out the meaning of it concerning the difference between the Clergie and People in all Churches and the ground of it For though the edict of our Lord in the Gospel be peremptory that who so forsaketh not all things cannot be my Disciple that is a Christian For they who were other whiles called Disciples were called Christians at Antiochia as we read in the Acts yet common reason evinceth that all Disciples professed not to forsake the World which we all profess to forsake at our Baptisme according to the same rate For we see by the Gospel that the voluntary oblations of those who followed our Lord ministring to him made a stock of money which Judas was trusted with for charity to the poor after that his followers were provided for But it is against the evidence of commmon sense to imagine that all those who professed to follow Christ and to be his Disciples were provided for out of this Stock It is true our Lord promiseth in the Gospell that whosoever shall forsake kindred or wife or house or goods for the Gospell shall receive an hundred fold here and in the World to come life everlasting A thing visibly fullfilled in the primitive state of the Church when whosoever was persecuted for Christianity all Christians acknowledged themselves bound to provide for his support Neither can it be said how S. Paules saying that godliness hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come could be otherwise fullfilled when those who had undertaken Christs Cross where subject to powers that did or might persecute Christianity at their pleasure But though all Christians in case of persecution are bound by their Baptisme to leave all they have that they may carry Christs Cross after him Yet it was something more that S. Peter meant when he said Lord we have left all to follow thee what shall we have For though a Net and a Fisher-boat were no great thing to leave yet so firm a faith as to forsake a mans whole course of living casting himself upon the word of Christ for his very being whither here
what hath passed for the matter of Religion in the World was it ever protested by those who demanded Reformation in the Church that the Eucharist cught to be celebrated but four times or twelve times in the year That by Gods Law there ought to be two Sermons every Sunday in every Church That other Festivals beside the Sunday and set times of fasting oughr not to be solemnized with the service of God That the Church doors ought not to be open but when there is preaching Take the primitive practice of the Church along with the Scripture and they shall tell you another tale that Prayer and the praises of God is the more principal end of Christian Assemblies than Preaching The reason is unanswerable For the one is the end the other the means That the celebration of the Eucharist is the most principal Office of Gods service under Christianity is no less evident For other Offices are common to Judaisme this consisting most in Prayers consists of those Prayers which are proper to Christianity that is to those causes wherein our Salvation consisteth And can there be question how frequent it ought to be Shall not the practice of the whole Church from the beginning decide the question if any remain The single life of the Clergie prevailed for this end that they might be alwaies ready to celebrate the Eucharist say the Fathers and the Canons which I alledged afore It is a question in Gennadius de dogmatibus Ecclesiasticis whither every man ought to communicate every day or not But therefore no question that it ought to be celebrated every day that who so would might communicate In conscience would they be bound to Preach every day that are so much for Preaching After the reading of the Scripture follows the Sermon and after that the Eucharist This is the primitive order of the whole Church at that solemne service when the Eucharist on Fasting-dayes in the Evening on other dayes before Noon was Celebrated After the Scriptures were read the people were taught their duty out of them A thing necessary and possible Not that every Curate should be bound to declame by the Glass But that he should be bound to instruct his Parish out of the Scriptures which are read If he be tied to Preach as often as the Church door opens the Church door must be shut because no sides can hold out so oft as Christians ought to meet for Gods service I call the World to witness Is it not as much a work of lungs and sides as an Office of Gods service which takes up the time of their Church Assemblies Is not the way opened by this means to declame of publick Government in Church and State to intertain the Hearers For alas should men confine themselves to that which the generality of their audience might edifie by in their Christianity the Trade would be obstructed For let me freely say the undoubted truth of the common Christianity which no Sermons ought to exceed because they pretend the edification of the generality of Christians is contained in so narrow a compass that no eloquence much less the eloquence of all that must come into the Pulpit can change the seasoning and serving of it so as to make it agreeable to mens palats without fetching in matter impertinent if not destructive to the common Christianity And the same is for more peremptory reason to be said of arbitrary Prayers For the very posture of him that pretendeth to prefer the devotions of Gods people to the Altar which is above strongly impresseth upon the hearts of simple Christians an opinion that thereby they discharge to God the duty which their creation and redemption requires at their hands Which if the matter of those Prayers be such as the common Christianity requires they may do indeed But if it be possible that Rebellion Slander Nonsense and Blasphemy may be the matter of them as well as Christianity then is it not Religion but Superstition which such devotions exercise Nor can that Kingdom stand excused to God which shall gratifie that licentiousness whereof they see the effect before their eyes All reason of Christianity concurres with the practice of the whole Church to witness that the interest of Christianity requires the service of God to be maintained and exercised daily yea hourly were it possible not only by particular Christians but by Assemblies of Christians so far as the business of the World will give leave and as there is means to maintain mens attendance upon it There may come abuse in the order the forme the matter of that which is tendred to God for his Service But instead of reforming those abuses to take away the means the Rule the obligation of such meetings is meer Sacriledge in destroying under pretense of Reforming his Church And though I charge no such designe upon those who maintain the obligation of the Sabbath to consist in two Sermons yet I do maintain it is manifest to common reason that the forme which that opinion introduceth necessarily tends to that effect Strange it is that a Nation capable of sens in an age improved by learning should be intangled with the superstition of so vain an imagination that God by the same fourth Commandment should oblige both Jews to keep the Saturday Christians the Sunday Especially no man daring to maintain that both were or are tied to the same measure of resting And therefore though rather than cross the stream of such a superstition For let no man think that all superstition can be shut out of Gods Church I am ready to conform to the Order that shall take place so far as the strength of my body shall inable me Yet provided that the Ecclesiastical Laws of England being the Laws of the whole Church be not abated so as to stick an evident mark of Schisme upon the Church of England For the Law that is recommending the celebration of the Eucharist upon all Sundayes and Festivals but commanding the service to be used as well on Festivals and Fasting dayes as upon Sundayes besides the week dayes at the publick Assemblies of respective Congregations To change this Order for two Sermons on the Sunday alone what is it but to renounce the whole Church for the love of those that have divided from the Church of England upon causes common to it with the whole Church They that would have the Reformation of the Church to be indeed that which the Law of the Land calleth it should first provide a course to be established for Law by which all Christian soules who have equal interest in the common Salvation might serve God in publick all Sundaies and Festivals For seeing there was a course in Law before the Reformation for all servants as well as others to be at Masse all Sundayes and Festivals And the Church was inabled to require account of it at their hands It will not be Reformation to abrogate the abuses of the Mass till a
course be taken that all Christians may frequent that which shall appear to be indeed the service of God instead of the Masse Let no Preachers flatter themselves with an opinion that they shall ever make Christians so perfectly Jewes as to perswade them to dress no meat on the Sundayes If Servants must stay at home to dress meat on Sundayes and for other occasions they must stay at home besides that will not the way to repair that breach be to injoyne several Assemblies in all Parish Churches upon all Sunday mornings that several Persons of several Estates and qualities may have opportunity to attend the publick service of God at several hours of the same Sundayes and Holy-dayes For though I understand very well that this would impose upon the Church that is upon my hrethren of the Clergie a greater burthen than an afternoons meal of a Sermon which all men know is furnished of the cold meat of the forenoon yet I would have the Word cleared of this imposture that reigneth that two Sermons every Sunday is the due way of keeping the Sabbath among Christians or of advancing Gods publick service I will not here dispute that the Lent-Fast was instituted by the Apostles But this I maintain to be evident that the Fast afore the Resurrection of Christ is and was as antient as the Feast of his Resurrection and that more antient than the keeping of all Lords dayes in the year being meerly the reflection of that one all the weeks of the yeaar Nor will any man that knows what he sayes ever question that the inlarging of it to forty dayes is a just Law voluntarily undertaken by the whole Church not to be condemned without the like mark of Schisme For since the World is come into the Church is there not manifest reason that more time should be taken for the expiating of more sins which are the sins of more people to prepare as well the Elder to renew their Christianity by communicating at Easter as the yonger to be confirmed and come first to the Communion at Easter now they are baptized Infants Which in former ages was the time of their first coming to Baptism As for the Wednsdayes and Fridayes if we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven unless our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharises And if it be evident as evident it is that the Scribes and Pharises prescribed Mundayes and Thursdayes for dayes of less solemne Assemblies then the Sabbath How shall we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if in despite of the whole Church which hath hitherto used Wednesdayes and Fridayes in lieu of Mundayes and Thursdays used by the Synagogues we void the Law of England by which they are in force Of the Ceremonies the same is to be understood Not because it can be within the compass of common reason to imagine that the same Ceremonies have continued from the time that the Church was persecuted into holes and caves of the Earth to this time in which the question is of setling Christianity by the Law of this Kingdom It were want of common understanding to think that the same could serve But because so few and so innocent as we use cannot be condemned without condemning not only Gods whole Church but also Gods antient people who will evidently be found in the same cause One thing hath been cast forth in barre to all this which we must not swallow whole unless we mean to impose upon our selves It is the pretense of complying with the Reformed Churches For it is evident that there are four forms of Reformation extant One according to Luther another according to Calvine the third is that of the Church of England and in the last place though first for time because least known and protected by no Soveraign I name that of the Union in Bohemia For we are to know that the followers of John Husse having sent Deputies to the Council of Basil they accorded to reunite the Nation upon four Articles The chief whereof was the Communion in both kinds They that stood to the accord are to this day called thereupon Calixtin or sub utraque in Latine But another part of those that were at distance thinking themselves betrayed by their Deputies in that accord proceeded to settle themselves in a form of Religion and the service of God by that which they held the pure truth of God in all points that had been disputed The Emperour Ferdinand I. King of Bohemia having subdued his subjects there that rose with the Protestants in Germany cast a good part of these out of the Country who finding shelter in Polonia and Prussia there planted and propagated their form till the troubles of our time when by the Emperours victory in Bohemia and the late troubles in Poland they seem to be at a loweble though they impute it to the decay of their first discipline They that would reform the Church of England professing already that Reformation which it found best will they not first show us reason why we are to leave Luther for Calvine For if they mean his form when they talk of conforming us to the reformed Churches because of the Scotts Presbyteries they must have better arguments then either the learning or the Christianity of the Scottish Presbyterians will yeild to perswade us They say those that framed the Reformation in England beeing bred under Melancthon among the Lutheranes followed them much an end in the order and form which they prescribed But is that any reason for any change before it appear which is in the right I freely profess I find Melancthon the better learned and the more Christian spirit But the Church of England which in divers points differeth from both why should it be thought to follow either for any reason but as either agrees with the Catholick Church And for that I prefer the Unity of Bohemia before both For they had the rule of Vincentius given them to take their measure by the consent of the Catholick Church and these things which have allwayes and every where been professed and practised in it And had they done nothing but what is justifiable by that Rule I should not blame them for that which I blame in them most But where they agree not with Luther and Calvine wherein do they not agree with the Church of England In particular they sent all over the World to inform themselves of a visible succession of Bishops whose profession was such that they might derive the Ordination of Bishops for their Churches from their hands They took the superstitions of the Greekes to be such that they could not own it from them In that I think they were in the wrong For I doubt not the Greekes would have granted them Ordination onely under the profession of the Catholick Church and that had been enough But thinking themselves in a strait of necessity they chose twelve by lots And hearing that the Waldenses lived in
THE DUE WAY OF COMPOSING The differences on FOOT Preserving the CHURCH According to the opinion of HERBERT THORNDIKE LONDON Printed by A. Warren for John Martin James Allestry and Thomas Dicas at the Bell in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLX I Have found my self obliged by that horrible confusion in Religion which the late Warre had introduced to declare the utmost of mine opinion concerning the whole point of Religion upon which the Western Church stands divided into so many parties And now finding no cause to repent me of doing it can find no cause why I should not declare the consequence of it in setling of that which remains of our differences For middle waies to so good an end are now acceptable meerly as middle waies and tending to drive a bargain without pretending that they ought to be admitted How much more an expedient pretending necessity from reasons extant in publick and not contradicted The chief ground that I suppose here because I have proved it at large is the meaning of that Article of our Creed which professeth one Catholick Church For either it signifies nothing or it signifies that God hath founded one Visible Church That is that he hath obliged all Churches and all Christians of whom all Churches consist to hold visible communion with the whole Church in the visible offices of Gods publick service and therefore I am satisfied that the differences upon which we are divided cannot be justly setled upon any terms which any part of the whole Church shall have just cause to refuse as inconsistent with the unity of the whole Church For in that case we must needs become Schismaticks by setling our selves upon such Laws under which any Church may refuse to communicate with us because it is bound to communicate with the whole Church True it is that the foundation of the Church upon these terms will presuppose the intire profession of Christianity whether concerning Faith or manners For otherwise how should those offices in which all the Church is to communicate be counted the service of God according to Christianity And this profession is the condition upon the undergoing whereof all men by being baptized and made Christians are also admitted to communion with the Church as members of it But nothing can make it visible to the common reason of all men what communion they are to resort unto for their Salvation but the visible Communion of all parts of the Church which having been maintained for divers ages of the Church is now visibly interrupted by the Reformation and before by the breach between the Greek and Latin Church and therefore though it be visible to reason rightly informed what communion a man is to imbrace for his Salvation yet it is not now visible to the common reason of all men that seek it If this be true then no power of the Church can extend to farre as to make any thing a part of the common Christianity which was not so from the beginning but it must needs extend so farre as to limit and determine all matters in difference so as the preservation of Unity may require And therefore the Unity of all parts supposing the profession of Christianity whole and intire we shall justly be chargeable with the crime of Heresie if we admit them to our communion who openly disclaim the Faith of the whole Church or any part of it For those men have been and are justly counted Hereticks as to the Church that communicate with those who profess Heresie though no Hereticks as to God as not believing it themselves But the unity of all parts being subordinate and and of inferiour consideration to the Unity of the whole we shall justly be chargeable with the crime of Schisme if we seek unity within our selves by abrogating the Laws of the whole as not obliged to hold communion with it I confess I am convicted that as things stand we are not to expect any reason from the Church of Rome and those who hold communion with it in restoring the unity of the Church upon such Laws as shall render the means of Salvation visible to all that use them as they ought And this and only this I hold to be the due ground upon which we are inabled to provide an establishment of Unity in Religion among our selves as heretofore a Reformation in Religion for our selves without concurrence of the whole But if we should think our selves at large to conclude our selves without respect to the Faith and Laws of the whole Church we may easily bring upon our selves a just imputation of Hereticks for communicating with Hereticks but a juster of Schismaticks if we abrogate the Laws of the whole Church to obtain Unity among our selves as declaring thereby that we are not content to hold unity with the whole unless a part may give Law to the whole So farre am I from that madness which hath had a hand in all our miseries of thinking the right measure of Reformation to stand in going as far as it is possible from the Church of Rome For were it evidenced as it neither is nor ever will be evidenced that the Pope is Antichrist and all Papists by their profession Idolaters yet must we either rase the Article of one Catholick Church out of our Creed or confess that the Pope can neither be Antichrist nor the Papists Idolaters for or by any thing vvhich is common to them vvith the vvhole Church I knovv some vvill think it strange that the Pope should excommunicate us on Maundy-Thursdays that vve should svvear in the Oath of Supremacy that no forreign Prelate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction or Authority Ecclesiastical in this Kingdom and yet vve be subject to do such Acts for vvhich the Church of Rome may justly renounce communion vvith us But the vvord ought in that Oath is Indicative and not Potential not deberet but debet For it vvere a contradiction for the Church of England to pray for the Catholick Church and the unity thereof and yet renounce the Jurisdiction of the whole Church and the General Councile thereof over it self King James of excellent memory acknowledgeth the Pope to be Patriarch of the west that is Head of the general Council of the Western Churches And the right R. Father in God Thomas L. B. of Winchester under Q. Elizabeth in his answer to the Seminaries Apology being demanded why we own him not so in effect answereth bluntly but truely because he is not content with the right of a Patriarch For should he disclaim the pretence of dissolving the bond of Allegiance should he retire to the Priviledge of a Patriarch in seeing the Canons executed the schisme would lye at our door if we should refuse it Now if they curse us while we pray for the unity of the whole Church is it not the case of the Catholicks with the Donatists For these rebaptized them whom those had baptized whited over the inside of their Churches when they
into the true Faith and that in the Unity of Gods Church For though the names of Hereticks and Schismaticks have been made only Bug-bears to fright children with in this time of our troubles yet so long as Christianity continues those that separate themselves from the Church upon pretenses concerning the substance of Faith shall be properly called Hereticks But if the cause concern not the substance of Christianity Schismaticks And therefore Christianity consisting not only in believing or purposing with the heart but also in professing with the mouth first sincerely then the true Faith lastly by being baptised he that professeth himself free to renounce his Christianity as farre as the mouth hath effectively renounced it Because he hath effectively drawn back that promise upon condition whereof he was baptized of professing Chistianity to the death And truly if every Christian State be the Church of God within the territories thereof then cannot all Churches concurr to make up that one visible Church of God which our Creed professeth For there is nothing more evidently true than the saying of Plato that all States are naturally enemies one to another especially those that are borderers And this enmity in our dayes consisteth visibly in those differences of Religion upon which the neighbor Soveraignties of Christendome are now at distance It is therefore no way imaginable how all Christian States should concur to make up that one visible Church whereinto by being Baptized we obtain the spirituall and eternall priviledges of Christians But that it is the profession of the whole Rule of Christianity that makes any people or State a part of the visible Church being governed by such rules in the exercise of Gods service as may make it the same Society with that which was once unquestionably Gods Church or part of it For otherwise how should the visible Church continue one and the same from the first to the second comming of our Lord And here you have the second point of our differences For all our Sects under the title of Gods free grace do maintain that the promises of the Gospell and our right in them depends not upon the truth of mens Christianity As if God were not free enough of his Grace if he should reserve himself a duty of being served as by Christians upon those whom he tenders life everlasting to upon such termes It is no new thing in England to hear of those who professe that God sees not nor can see any sinne in his elect So that in their opinion there is no mortall sinne but repentance because that must suppose that a man thought himself out of the State of grace by the sin whereof he repents I think I am duly informed of a Malefactor dying upon the Gallows that professed to the strengthening of his brethren that he had overcome all temptation to repentance acknowledging that since his being in Prison he had been strongly moved to repent And that one of Hackets three conspirators when he was come to himself continued to profess that he thought himself in the State of Gods grace all the while But I will go no further then the words which I have quoted in another place out of a Pamphlet written to satisfy the Godly party in Wales being offended at the late Usurpers proceedings which alledgeth that we are not to be judged at the last day either by our works or by our faith but by Gods everlasting purpose concerning each of us By virtue whereof Christ being alive at the heart the violation of all his ingagements to them by usurping over them as over others made no difference in his estate towards God Whosoever writ this I think I am duly informed that himself caused it to be published But I am certain that to the everlasting infamy of a Christian Nation if reparation be not made it is supposed to be the sense of all the Godly in it And to the same effect my memory assures me to have read in one of his speeches That there are at this day inspirations of Gods Spirit besides the Scriptures though not against the Scriptures Now certainly that which a man hath by virtue of the Scriptures that is of Christianity can by no means be understood to be besides the Scriptures And certainly he that presumeth upon any motion of Gods Spirit not supposing Christianity that is not supposing the Scriptures may by the same reason prefume of his own Salvation not supposing that he believes and lives as a Christian The same is the consequence of a Position I will not say injoyned by any party but notoriously allowed among us That justifying Faith consisteth in believing that a man is one of them that are predestinate whom God sent our Lord Christ to redeem and none else For how can he think himself obliged to make good the profession of a Christian who thinks himself assured of all that he can attain to by so doing not supposing it Indeed it may be said that our Antinomians and Enthusiasts and other Sects among us whom no conceit without this could have seduced to their several frenzies do think themselves justified from everlasting by Gods decree to send Christ for that purpose whereas this opinion dateth Justification from the instant that God revealeth the said decree by his spirit in which revelation they think that justifying Faith consisteth And certainly there can be no reason why God receiving men into grace only in consideration of Christs obedience should suspend their reconcilement upon that knowledge of his purpose which he giveth them by Faith For what can be more unreasonable than that God should justifie a man by revealing to him that he is justified But the opinion is not the less destructive to Christianity because it is the more unreasonable Now it is possible that the effect of this position may bestifled and become void in some by reason of other truths which contradict the same in deed and yet are believed by them not seeing the consequence of their own perswasions But those who besides this position do pertinaciously hold absolute predestination to glory those I maintain are in an errour destructive to Christianity that is in an Heresy And therefore this Doctrine being such it is no way enough that it is no way injoyned to be taught but it is requisite that it be disclaimed by those that pretend to recover the unity of a visible Church For there can be no Church where any thing destructive to Christianity which the being of the Church supposeth is notoriously allowed to be taught Novv betvveen these two points of our differences I am to observe a vast difference For this latter is necessary for all Christians to knovv as being the principle of all those actions vvhich being just for the matter of them must render the men acceptable to God in order to life everlasting And therefore he that thinketh he can be regenerate or justified or the child of God or indovved vvith Gods Spirit