First then It is not bare Vnion but the things in which a Church is united that must truly recommend and justifie it to the Christian World and prove it to be the Church of God. This is a self-evident Proposition which all the Churches in the World will admit at first hearing and the very Test by which when Disputes arise they must be content to be tryed For as to this Particular it is just in Ecclesiastical as it is in Civil Law and Government where it is not the Union but the Things or Cause in which men are united that distinguish lawful from unlawful Societies and Meetings otherwise if bare Union and Agreement how strict soever were a Sign of or a good Argument for the true and Catholick Church then Aaron the high Priest at the Head of that Congregation which worshipped the golden Calf was the true Church of the Jews He was their supream and lawful Pastor and they were very unanimous in making the Calf after his direction and in building an Altar before it and in oftering up Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings to use the new phrase in the presence of it They sate down to eat and drink before it and said with one unanimous Acclamation These be thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt I believe there never was a more perfect Union and Agreement in the Church of Rome then among the Communicants of this sinful Congregation nevertheless it was no Schism to divide from them because they united in a sin Their Union was their Crime because the object of it was highly criminal and God was provoked to consume them because they agreed in a thing that was so abominable in his eyes So the Corahites were as firmly united under Corah as the true Church was under Moses and Aaron Two hundred Princes of the Assembly with a great number of People were firmly united together in a Cause wherein they stuck together to the death even till the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and they went down alive into Hell. So likewise the ten Tribes were as firmly united at Bethel as the two were at Hierusalem they had number as well as union to plead but notwithstanding both their number and union they were but a great Schism because they united in Innovations contrary to the will of God. So to pass from the Jews to the Christians there hath been at several times as strict an Union among Hereticks and Schismaticks as among the Catholicks The Novatians in particular were remarkable for their Concord Unity and Unanimity So were the Arians generally all of one Communion and very unanimous against the Homousian Doctrine and yet they were but a great prevailing Schism when they were at the highest and had almost gained the whole Christian World. From these Examples it is plain that in passing judgement upon Churches we are not to look at the Union so much as the Cause in which they are united We are to consider if their Doctrine and Discipline be Apostolical and their terms of Communion truly Catholick and if they be so then their Union in them is holy and laudable and such as makes them true Churches of God. A concurrence of these things is the genuine badge of a * Ad bane it aque for mam probabuntur ab illis Ecclesiis quae licet nullum ex Apostolis vet Apostolicis Autorem suum proserant ut multò posteriores quae denique quotidie instituuntur tamen in câdem fide conspirantes non minùs Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae Tertull. de praescript Haeres truly Catholick and Apostolical Church and if those of the Roman Communion would have us admire their Union and be made Converts by it they must first make it appear to us that they are united in these things Otherwise their Unity instead of being an Argument for their Church is a strong Argument against it to prove that it is but a Conspiracy and an over-grown Schism from the one Catholick and Apostolical Church But secondly Church-unity may be the effect of culpable Causes and by culpable Causes I mean only such as in a great measure make the embracing of any Religion an inspontaneous or unwilling action and these are only two Ignorance and Compulsion when men either are of a Religion which they would not be of if they knew the faults of it or when knowing the faults of it they would certainly forsake it were they not under force but left to their own free choice First then Church-unity may be the effect of Ignorance which was one great cause of the Unity and Agreement of almost all Mankind in Paganism and therefore their ignorance of the Gentiles is called darkness in the New Testament as where our Lord is compared to the Day-spring or Sun-rising which gave light to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death So the Apostle of the Gentiles told them It was their duty to shew forth the Praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light and truly their spiritual darkness was so great that God did in some measure excuse their gross error in thinking that the Godhead could be like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by Art or man's device Tho' men who were worthy and absurd Idaea's of him yet as the Apostle told the Athenians The times of their former ignorance God winked at but then commanded all the Gentiles every where at their utmost peril to repent There never was a more strict and general Union among the Jews or Christians then there was among the Greeks For Paganism was become the Catholick Religion or Superstition as Catholick signifies universal and was spread far and wide upon the Earth and yet as the Apologetical Writers replied to the Greeks when they argued from the extent of their Religion and the consent of Mankind in it their great agreement in Idolatry was the effect of their Ignorance as plainly appeared from the preaching of the Gospel upon which they forsook those dumb Idols unto which they were carried even as they were led and turned from their former Vanities and Superstition unto the living God. They worshipped the Gods and observed their impure Rites because they knew no better but when their Understandings came to be well informed then they made a new and manly choice such as proceeded from all the Principles of humane Actions and plainly shewed that Ignorance had hitherto been the Mother of their Idol-devotion and by consequence that the choice of their former Religion wanted a sufficient measure of knowledge to make it a rational and truly willing choice I wish those who pride themselves so much in the Unity of the Roman Catholicks would consider how far the Sons and Daughters of the Church of England may use this Plea in their own defence against their so much celebrated Union It is certain that upon the Preaching and Writing of the
person striving to have his own will and humour doth thereby form a Schism Thus have I shewed the instrumental Causes which the devil uses in sowing Differences and Divisions and making Separations and Schisms in Churches And perhaps of such men acted and inspired by the Devil as much as of the Devils themselves St. Peter is to be understood 1 Ep. 5.8 where he exhorted the Christians to be sober and vigilant because their adversary the devil as a roaring lion walked about seeking whom he might devour whom saith he resist steadfast in the faith If the Devil had so many Instruments of dividing the Catholick Church then methinks it should not seem strange that he hath so many now Nay methinks the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion out of the particular Veneration they have for St. Peter whom the whole Christian World ought to honour should not so delight to upbraid the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms it being evident from this and other Passages in his Catholick Epistle cited in the first Chapter that there were almost as many and altogether as great Division while he governed in the Church as there are now in England and most other Parts of the Christian World. Wherefore all that can justly be concluded upon the Church of England from the English Heresies and Schisms if we consider the instrumental Causes of them is no more then this That there are and have been many ignorant over curious ambitious convetous and contentious men among us which as I shewed before hath been the common Calamity of all Churches and what is common to all Churches at least according to our Logick can be no just matter of reproach against any one I am so confident that there is no Inconsequence in this way of Apologizing for the Church of England that I believe our Adversaries cannot find a better way of Apologizing for the Divisions that have formerly risen or may hereafter arise in the Church of Rome If they were reproached by others as they reproach us they could not but say that the Causes of Divisions are common to all Churches and therefore craving leave to set the Church of England in the midst of all other Churches I desire that Church may cast the first Stone at her which hath remained from the beginning a pure Virgin without Heresie or Schism If there be a Church in any corner of the Earth which is exempted from the common Causes of Divisions or of so happy a Constitution as not to be capable of suffering by them let that Church come forth and reproach the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms but let not the Church of Rome do it which hath so many old Scars to shew and so many and great Rents yet visible in many parts of her Coat as none of her most curious Workmen with all their art and skill will probably ever be able to make up I have said thus much by way of Apology for the Church of England from considering the general Causes of Church Divisions and Separations and shall find yet more to plead for her upon making a more particular Enquiry into the Causes of our English Heresies and Schisms Now in this Enquiry no man that knows the state of Great Britain betwixt the beginning of the great Rebellion and his late Majesty's happy Restauration but must needs look upon the ruine of the Church and State to have been such a Cause of Heresies and Schisms as perhaps never happened before to any Church in the World. Was it any wonder to see Errors and Heresies and Blasphemies abound among us in a Time of such strange Disorder and Confusion when there was no King nor Priest in Israel Can we imagine the Devil should be idle in such an Opportunity Or can our Adversaries imagine that the like would not happen in any other Church or Kingdom of the Roman Religion should God in judgment dissolve the Government of them as he did that of ours I refer the candid Roman-Catholick Reader to Mr Edwards his Gangraena for an Account of the Errors Heresies Blasphemies Sects and Opinions that sprung up in the British Isle In a few years after the Church of England was pulled down and her Liturgy cast out of the Churches and Liberty of Conscience as they called it was set up in its stead He was a Minister of the Presbyterian Party and a mighty Bigot for the Cause and yet he could not but acknowledge that there came in a Deluge of Heresies and Impieties after the removal of the Prelates and I appeal to any man of Ingenuity if it be Reasonable or Christian or Gentile to reproach our Church with Sects that arose among us when she was fast bound in misery and the Iron entred into her Soul. Were not her Pastors driven from their Flocks when the Wolves entred in and all the time she was in the House of Bondage was it not a time of Liberty for every man to do what was good in his own Eyes Nay I desire those that are most petulant in upbraiding us with our Divisions to tell me truly if they do not think that as many and as monstrous Swarms of Errours and Heresies would breed in Spain or Italy as there did in the late Times of Confusion in England if the Divine Providence which God prevent should suffer the same Tragedy to be acted in those Countries that was acted in ours How would Sects verminate any where in Twenty Years of such Confusion Methinks our Adversaries should have the Ingenuity to consider this but since they seem not to do it I hope they cannot find fault with us for putting them in mind of it by way of Apology for our Church There are many other special Causes of our English Divisions which might fall under consideration but for brevity sake I shall mention but one which is this That we have reason to suspect that our Divisions both in the beginning and progress of them may have been influenced from abroad I do not know whether this will pass for mis-representing but some Observations have been made to this purpose And if the Gentlemen of the R. Communion know or believe it to be true I beseech them by our Common Saviour Jesus Christ they would no longer upbraid the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms In Foxis and Firebrands in Ravialac Redivinus p 72. of the 2d Edition fol. 1682. And in several Letters which passed between the Archbishop of Armagh and other eminent persons which may be seen in a late printed Collection of Letters If the Tares which were sowen in the Field of our Church were indeed brought from other Places then I hope they will grant that it is not ingenuous for them of all other Christians to reproach us with them but rather to blame those who sowed them and who transplanted those strange Plants which are not of our heavenly Father's planting into the Vineyard of
Christum negarent in carne venisse qui non putarent Jesum esse filium Dei. Tertull. de praescript Heret 33. Antichrists by St. John Little children saith he it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist should come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time of which our Lord spoke And least any should think that these Monsters of Heresie and Sorcery which afflicted the primitive Church were not Christians it follows They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us And so in his 2. Ep. saith he Many deceivers are entred into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh this is a deceiver and an Antichrist and then knowing in what danger the faithful were of being seduced by them saith he by way of Caution to them Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought but that ye receive a full reward by enduring to the end So to see the sad estate of the primitive Church more fully out of St. Paul's Writings he saith in his 2. Ep. to Timothy This know that in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous c. having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women c. Now as Jannes and Jambres the Aegyptian Sorcerers withstood Moses so these resist the truth men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith But besides the Simonians or Gnostick Hereticks who divided the primitive Church and formed themselves into separate Sects there are evident footsteps in the New Testament of many other Divisions and Schisms So in the Church of Rome it self there were many schismatical Members as we find by the words of the Apostle I beseech you Brethren saith he unto the Romans mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have receiv'd and avoid them for they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple So in his 1. Ep. to the Corinthians how often doth he charge them with envying strife and divisions while one said he was of Paul another that he was of Apollos and a third that he was of Cephas or St. Peter So in the Text I cited before I hear saith he that there be divisions among you and truly these Divisions notwithstanding all his Authority and Doctrine to the contrary were come to such an height that we find him in the 11th Chapter using the very same Apologue for substance to perswade the to peace and unity and submission to their Superiors that Menenius Agrippa used to appease the seditious Commons of Rome and perswade them to return to their obedience to the Senate As the Body saith he is one and hath many members and all the members of that one Body being many are by union made one Body so also is the Church of Christ with much more to that purpose At the same time also there was many among them that denied the * Paulus in primd ad Corinthios not at negatores dubitatores resurrectionis Haec opinio propria Sadducaeorum partem ejus usurpat Marcion Apelles Valentinus Tertull. depraescript Haeret. 33. Resurrection or doubted of it which the Roman Catholicks which are so ready to note our Schisms and Heresies will not deny to be down-right Sadducism Let them hear the Apostle arguing against it If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead for if there be no resurrection of the dead then is not Christ risen and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith vain yea and we are found false witnesses of God. In his ad Ep. to them we find him telling them of false Apostles and deceitful workers that were then among them who transform'd themselves into the Apostles of Christ These counterfeit Apostles had got a mighty esteem and interest among the people for it was in reference to them that he said Ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage to the Jewish Ceremonies if a man devour you if a man take money of you if a man exalt himself over you and smite you as it were on the face And that they should not think it strange that such fair pretenders to the Apostolical Office should be false Apostles Marvel not at this saith he for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light and therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of righteousness In his Ep. to the Galatians we find they had those among them whom the Apostle wished out off because they had perverted the Gospel with ‖ Et ad Galatas scribens invehitur in observatores defensores circumcifionis legis Hebionis haeresis est Tertul. ibid. Judaism and so bewitched the people with an opinion of the necessity of Circumcision and other legal Rites that they had brought them from the Gospel which the Apostle preached into another Gospel which gave him occasion to say If we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached let him be accursed In his Ep. to the Colossians he bids them beware least any man should spoyl them through vain philosophy after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ and prays them to take care that no man beguiled them in a voluntary humility and worshipping of * Simonianae autem magiae discipiina Angelis serviens utique ipsa inter Idololatrias deputabatur Tertull. de praescrip Haeret. 33. Angles intruding into those things which he had not seen and vainly puft by his fleshly mind In his 1st Ep. to Timothy he tells him That the Spirit saith expresly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisie having their conscience seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth In that Ep. he also charged him to hold the faith and a good conscience which saith he some having put away concerning the faith have made shipwrack of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus whom I have delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme And again O Timothy avoid profane and vain bablings and opposition of science falsly so called which some professing have erred concerning the faith In his 2d Ep. to Timothy
Catholick Church drew tears from the eyes of Constantine and moved him to call the Council of Nice to compose this Difference and another not much less about a matter of far less moment which had risen between the Eastern and Western Churches about no greater matter then the observation of Easter day The unanimous Decree of the Council against Arius and his Doctrine backed with the Autority of the Emperor did for the present silence the Arian Controversies but his Son Constantius turning Arian it broke out with more fury then formerly and caused so much Sedition and Bloudshed in Christian Cities especially about the * Socrat. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 6 7 11 12 13 16 28. choice of Bishops and so many Subdivisions in opinions among the Arians themselves that one may well wonder how ever Christendom came to be at peace and unity again Then not only Bishops were divided against Bishops but Councils contradicted Councils Then were made at several Times and Places no less than nine Forms of Confession most of them differing from one another and all from the Nicene Creed Nay then not only the Arians were divided among themselves but the Orthodox about the manner of receiving the convert Arians into Communion †Faustin Marcell lib. precum ad imper Val. Theodos Arcad. Socrat l. 3. c. 9. Lucifer and his Party standing upon stricter terms then the rest I have given this short Account of the Arian Schism to shew how not onlyh this and that Church but the whole Catholick Church may at one time labour under Schism And upon making particular enquiry into particular Churches we shall find how in many of them there was Bishop against Bishop Altar against Altar and Communion against Communion which made Julian the Emperor scoptically say That the Son of Mary had now verified his own Saying that he came not to send Peace upon the Earth but a Sword. At Alexandria there were two opposite Churches owning two opposite Bishops the Orthodox who still adhered to Athanasius present or absent and the Arians who received Gregory and George and the rest that were put in his Place At Antioch there were at one time three opposite Churches one of the Arians of which Euzoius was Bishop one of converted Arians of which Meletius was Bishop and one of those who never sell into Arianism of which Paulinus was Bishop and yet the divided state of Christendom at this time was no offence or wonder to a wise Pagan I mean the Philosopher Themistius who in a * Socrat. H E. l. 4. c. 32. Speech which he spoke to the Emperor Valens to perswade him to moderate his cruel Persecution of the Orthodox told his Majesty That he ought not to admire at the disagreement of Opinions among the Christians which was but small if compared with the multitude and confusion of Opinions among the Greeks among whom there were above 300 different Sects Nay he pray'd him to consider that the most excellent and useful Arts had never arrived to such perfection but by difference of judgement and strife among the Artists themselves nay that Philosophy the Mother of all good Arts had risen from small beginnings to such a height of perfection by differences among learned men At Constantinople and in many other Cities there were formed Churches of Arians and Novatians under their respective Bishops opposite to one another and both in opposition to the true Catholick Church From this toleration of separate and opposite Churches arose many †Socrat. H. E. l. 6. c. 22. Differences ‖ Id. l. 5. c. 13. Tumults Quarrels and Bloundshed as when the Arians assembled in the Piazz's of Constantinople by night and from thence went through the Streets of the City singing alternative Hymns against those who believed three to be one Power Chrysostom the Catholick Bishop fearing lest the People might be drawn from the Church by such Hymns appoints some of the Catholicks in opposition to the Arians to go about singing nocturnal Hymns against their Opinions upon which the * Socrat. l. 6. c. 8. two Parties meeting one another and being more willing to fight then to sing they fell to violence and in the Conflict many on both sides were wounded and some slain Nay in Rome it self which now boasts so much of its Unity under one Head in Rome the pretended Center of Christendom there have been as shameful wide and violent Schisms as any were ever in the Christian World Schisms * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. E. H. l. 4. c. 29. not upon the account of any pretended Heresie or dislike of Ceremonies nor consisting in a separation of the Clergy and People from the Bishop but Schisms of a more dangerous and scandalous nature betwixt Rival Popes and their Parties when there were several Pretenders to the Chair of St. Peter and some adhered to this Pope and some to that Thus in the Reign of Valentinian upon the death of Pope Liberius the Clergy and People of Rome were divided in the choice of a Bishop to succeed him The holy part of the People which adhered to Liberius in his Banishment against the perjured and usurping Pope Felix being convened by Vrsinus Amantius and Lupus chose †Alias Ursicinas Vrsinus but the perjured part of the Clergy which broke the solemn Oath they had made not to choose a Bishop during the Banishment of Liberius and that part of the People which adhered to them chose Damasus Bishop who was one of those who broke his faith with Liberius Ursinus was ordain'd Bishop by Paul of Tibur and Damasus was ordained by others in the Lateran Church and part of the Clergy and People adhered to one and part or the other with very great Animosities on both sides Where was the Unity of the Roman Communion when the Roman Church had two opposite Popes and the People were divided into two separate Chruches under them Damasus indeed prevailed not by the merits of his Cause or that he had the better claim but by bribing the Courtiers and great men of Rome and intrigueing with the ‖ He was called Matronarum Auriscalpius Matrons of the City and so procuring the Banishment of Vrsinus who was chosen by the faithful and holy part of the People which suffer'd their bloud to be shed for him and the justice of his Cause and after his Banishment owned themselves to be his Flock and refused communion with Damasus believing him to be the rightful Pope Damasus from the first was so enraged against them that he hired the Rabble to outrage them they made a great slaughter of them for three days together at the Temple of Julius then in the Church of Sicininus called also the Church of Liberius * Vid Marcellini hist l. 27. c. 3. where they killed an hundred and sixty and wounded very many more whereof a great part died of their Wounds But all this did not deter them from meeting
the account of Divisions that he in effect apologized for them and for the goodness and wisdom of God that suffered them for saith he there must be * Ac si diceret ob hoc haereseôn non statim divinitùs eradicantur authores ut probati manifesti siant id est unusquisque quam tenax fidelis fixus Catholicae fidei sit amator appareat Vincent Lirin heresies among you that those who are approved may be made manifest So St. Clement begins his Epistle to the same Church which was written upon the occasion of a great Schism in this manner The Church of God at Rome to the Church of God at Corinth It seems the Church at Corinth rent and torn as it was with intestine Divisions was the Church of God as well as that of Rome in which there were then no Divisions at all St. Peter's next and immediate Successor bewailed the sad Misfortune of the Corinthians but he did not unchurch them for it he told them how it occasioned their venerable and illustrious Name to be evil spoken of but nevertheless he called them the * §. 1. elect of God. And so Constantine the Great in an Epistle which he wrote to the Alexandrians when they were very infamous upon the account of the deadly Feuds and Separations which divided their Communion salutes them in these words †Socrat. H. E. 〈…〉 9. Constantine the Emperor to the Catholick Church of Alexandria Not long after when the Arian Bishops ‖ L. 1. c. 27. conspired against Athanasius to get the Emperor to depose him and his Majesty upon hearing his Cause found their Accusations to be false he wrote a Letter in his behalf to the Alexandrians of which this is the Title * Athan opera vol. 1. p. 779. Constantine the great Emperor to the People of the Catholick Church which is at Alexandria When he wrote this Letter to the People of Alexandria it abounded with Melitians and Arians who had formed themselves into opposite Communions and yet those schismatical opposite Communions were in the judgement of that learned Emperor no Argument against the Alexandrian Church So Constantine junior shortly after his Father's death before he assumed the Title of Augustus directed Letters to the Church of Alexandria in favour of Athanasius with this Superscription †Socrat. H. E. l. 2. c. 3. Constantine Caesar to the People of the Catholick Church of the Alexandrians Notwithstanding all the Sects and Sectaries of Alexandria the Church still remained Catholick in the Communion of the Faithful who retained the ancient Apostolical Doctrine and Discipline These wise Emperors considered that the Tares could not alter the property of the Wheat and therefore tho' there were a World of Hereticks and Schismaticks in Alexandria and all the Regions round about it yet they called the Church a Catholick Church It was every jot as Catholick then as it was before the Melitian and Arian Schisms when the People were of one mind and one Communion for it is not the great number of Church members is any Diocess Province or Patriarchat but the cause and nature of the Communion that makes a true Church Otherwise if Churches must be no longer reputed truly Catholick and good then all the Members which are or ought to be of it are unanimous and communicate together then it must follow that both the Church universal and every particular Member of it long since lost their Catholick nature and were no true Churches in the eyes of God. What for instance became of the Church Catholick after the Council of Ariminum when almost the whole Christian World became Arian except a very * Libellus precum p. 8 9 10 11. Vincent Lirin c. 6. small number of Bishops who stuck to the profession of the Catholick Faith More particularly what became of the Church of Rome when Pope Liberius embraced the Arian Communion and subscribed to the Sentence of the Arian Bishops against Athanasius as †Eccles Ann. T. 3. p. 761 762 763. Baronius acknowledges tho' he endeavours to prove that he never subscribed to the Arian Confession or Heresie Nay what became of it especially upon their Principle when Pope ‖ Vid. Nili Archiepiscop Thessalon de primatu Papae lib. qui est ad calcem Salmas de primatu Papae p. 33 34 35 p. 61. Honorius the 1st fell into the Heresie of the Monothelites for which he was condemned by the 6th General Council and anathematized for it after his death by the 2d Council of Nice which they receive for the 7th General Council Nay if Heresies and Schisms are good Arguments or just matter of Exception against any Church what shall we say to the Church of Rome upon the account of the Novatian and all the other Antipapal Schisms mentioned in the former Chapter Or to go farther back into Antiquity what Apology shall we make for her when * Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 15. Blastus and Florinus a degraded Roman Presbyter raised a great Schism in Rome endeavouring to introduce new Doctrines which †C. 20. Irenaeus confuted in Books written for that purpose Their Doctrines were very absurd as well as inconsistent with the Faith and Tradition of all Churches and yet they drew away many from the Church of Rome and enticed them to embrace their Opinions Nay what shall we do to defend her in the Time of Pope Victor and Zephyrinus when she was infested with the Heresie Euseb H.E. l 5. c 28. which asserted our Lord to be a meer man This damnable Heresie was first taught at Rome by Theodotus no better a man then a Tanner for which he was excommunicated by Pope Victor and afterwards in the Time of his Successor Zephyrinus it came to a perfect Schism when the Hereticks made Natalis the Confessor a Bishop of the Heresie and settled a Maintenance upon him One of the Scholars of Theodotus the Tanner was another Theodotus a Banker a great promoter of the Schism and therefore I cannot but wonder that any Roman Catholick who understands Antiquity should upbraid the Church of England with the Preaching of Mechanicks and Tradesmen when a Tanner and a Banker in the 2d Century were the Ring-leaders of such a pestilent Heresie in the Church of Rome and as an Author of that Time reports impudently took upon them to adulterate the Scriptures and reject the Canon of the primitive Faith. Why should men pretending to Sense and Learning use and Argument that is so easily retorted upon themselves and when it is pursued into all its Consequences makes it impossible for them to defend either the Church Universal or any particular Member thereof What will they say for the primitive Church by way of defence against the Gnostical Heresies if they argue against that as they are wont to argue against the Church of England Or to pass over the Schisms of which I have given some Account in the
and his and are under a political oeconomy of the same nature and he that understood it very well said That Satan was not divided against Satan because if he were his kingdom could not stand But it hath stood firm and undivided ever since it was first formed before the sensible Creation it was never yet shaken with intestine Divisions there was never two or three opposite Soveraigns at one time in that cursed Hierarchy nor two or three Pretenders to the Chair of Lucifer And therefore I hope bare Unity or want of Divisions will never hereafter pass among considering men for a mark of a truly Catholick Church And as it is among Spirits so 't is among men The worst Fraternities have sometimes the firmest Union as we of this Nation very well remember the Time when those of the great Rebellion boasted that God had united the Hearts of his People in his Cause as one Man nevertheless those pretended People of God whose Hearts and Hands were so united that we could not break their Bonds of Union asunder were no better then a Band of Rebels and their Cause downright Rebellion against God and the best of Princes tho' they acted in it as if they had been all informed with one common Soul. The like hath often happened in Ecclesiastical Societies The Samaritans who had neither Sadduces nor Pharisees nor Essenes nor Herodians nor Cabalists nor Carraites among them for that Reason had a firmer Union among themselves then the Church of the Jews had and yet they were not the true Church So among the ancient Christians the Novatians lived in perfect Peace and Unity among themselves when there were many Feuds and Contentions among the Catholicks Which shews that bare Unity is not a good Test whereby to try Churches or if it were I am confident the Church of England upon a fair tryal would carry the Garland from the Roman and appear to be the more Catholick Church Could there be found any fit and indifferent Judge between them I durst as far as I am concerned put the merit of the Controversie between us and the R. Cs. upon this single point of Union and would engage to render my self a Proselyte if their Church carried the Cause Perhaps they may think his a very bold Challenge because of the great number of Sectaries that have gone out from us but then they are to consider that as the Protestants which in several Parts of Europe under several Denominations have gone out from them are now nothing unto them so neither are the Congregational Sects which went off from us any thing or of any account to us But take our Church and theirs as they are precisely in themselves without any regard to their respective Separations and I am very confident for all their boastings of Union that the Church of England will be found to have both more potential and actual Union in it then the Church of Rome For first as to potential Union however the Church of Rome is actually united it hath the seeds of Division in its Bowels and as Rebeckah once had different Nations so has she different Churches struggling in her Womb. The Principle of the Pope's Supremacy is it self sufficient were there no more to cause continual Feuds and Factions in the Popedom and * In his excellent Tracts De causis dissentionum in Ecclesiis de primatu Papae ad calcem Salmasii de primatu Papae Nilus Bishop of Thessalonica did most judiciously assign it for the cause of all the Divisions that then tore the Catholick Church into pieces the Bishops of Christendom not being able to endure the Usurpation nor other Churches contrary to their fundamental Liberty to be Subjects to the Roman Church The exercise of this usurped Power of the Pope's being the supream ordinary of the Universal Church is that which makes the Roman Bishops themselves sigh and murmur in private and say with Spalatensis where they can say it safely Frater noster ille est Collega Coepiscopus nobiscum and however they conceal their Resentments as the Spanish Prelates did before the Council of Trent yet they are willing upon the first opportunity to assert their Apostolical Equality and like the English Prelates at the time of the Reformation will be glad when they can do it with a prospect of success to cast off the Yoke which makes Christendom groan and which neither they nor their Predecessor were able to bear Let but Christian Princes say the word and then we shall see what the Bishops will do or let there be but a free and general Council indeed and then let us see if the Pope shall not be told in both ears That the Church Universal is a great Colledge and the Government of it Aristocratical that the Episcopat is one but that it is divided among all Bishops whereof every one hath his share that the Apostles received equal Power and Authority from the same Masters that the Bishops were their Successors and that the other Bishops receive their Authority no more from the Successor of St. Peter then he doth from them but that all receive it alike from Jesus Christ When it shall be safe the Bishops of the Roman Church will talk and write as much to this purpose as ever the English Divines did who in asserting this Doctrine follow the Example of their Ancestors before the Reformation I mean the Saxon Bishops one of whom in his Advice to his Clergy speaks thus * Ge sceolon eac Æ¿itan þat eoÆ¿re hades syndan þa aesteran hadar aester urum hadum and us þa nystan gelice þa biscopas syndan ongeÆ¿rixle þara Apostola on þaere haligþa gesomnunge sÆ¿a syndan þa maesse preostas on þam geprixle â—pister þegna þa Bâ—scâ—opas Aapones and þa maesse preostas Æ¿one had his suna Spelm. Concil uol 1. p. 586. Ye ought to know that your Order is next after and next to ours for as the Bishops are in the place and stead of the Apostles over the holy Church so are the Priests in the place of the Disciples The Bishops are of the Order of Aaron and the Priests have the Order of his Sons This Doctrine in all likelihood will one day revive against the Soveraign Pontif for the Spirit of the Archbishop of Granata will for ever be upon the learned Prelates who like Elastick Bodies under pressure are under a constant inclination to recover their liberty and will recover it as soon as they can The next dividing Principle in the Church of Rome is The Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is a Doctrine more full of Contradictions then perhaps any other which Men or Angles can invent It is contrary to all the Senses and Reason of Man to the plain and obvious sense of those very words upon which it is grounded to the Belief of the ancient Catholick Church to the Principles of almost all Sciences It multiplies the hypostatical Union it makes Christ to