or prejudice to Charity The Faith of Christians did at first consist in few Points those which were professed in Baptism whereof we have divers Summaries in the Ancients by analogy whereto all other Propositions were expounded and according to agreement whereto sound Doctrines were distinguished from false so that he was accounted orthodox who did not violate them So he that holds that immovable Rule of truth which he received at his Baptism will know the words and sayings and parables which are taken out of the Scriptures c. II. It is evident that all Christians are united by the bands of mutual Charity and Good-will They are all bound to wish one another well to have a complacence in the good and a compassion of the evils incident to each other to discharge all offices of kindness succour consolation to each other This is the command of Christ to all This is my commandment saith he That ye love one another This is the common badge by which his Disciples are discerned and distinguished Hereby saith he shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another They must have the same love They must love as brethren be compassionate pitifull courteous each to other They must bear one anothers burthens and especially as they have opportunity doe good to the houshold of faith If one member suffer all the members must suffer with it and if one member be honoured all the members must rejoice The multitude of them who be-believe must be like that in the Acts of one heart and of one soul. They must walk in love and doe all things in love Whoever therefore doth highly offend against Charity maligning or mischieving his brethren doth thereby separate himself from Christ's body and cease to be a Christian. They that are enemies to brotherly charity whether they are openly out of the Church or seem to be within they are Pseudo-christians and Anti-christs When they seem to be within the Church they are separated from that invisible conjunction of Charity Whence Saint John They went out from us but were not of us He saith not that by their going out they were made aliens but because they were aliens therefore he declareth that they went out Wherefore the most notorious violations of Charity being the causing of dissentions and factions in the Church the causeless separation from any Church the unjust condemnation of Churches Whoever was guilty of any such unchristian behaviour was rejected by the Fathers and held to be no Christian. Such were the Novatians the Donatists the Meletians the Luciferians and other Schismaticks For what can be more acceptable and pleasant than to see those who are severed and scattered into so many places yet knit and joined together in the bond and union of charity as harmonious members of the body of Christ. In old time when the Church of God flourished being rooted in the same faith united in love there being as it were one conspiracy or league of different members in one body For the communion of the Spirit is wont to knit and unite mens minds which conjunction we believe to be between us and your charitable affection They therefore who by the bond of Charity are incorporated into the building setled upon the rock But the members of Christ are joined together by the charity of union and by the same cleave close to their head which is Christ. III. All Christians are united by spiritual cognation and alliance as being all regenerated by the same incorruptible seed being alike born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God whence as the sons of God and brethren of Christ they become brethren one to another so that it is a peculiar title or appellation of Christians the brethren signifying all Christian people and a brother being the same with a Christian professour IV. The whole Christian Church is one by its incorporation into the mystical body of Christ or as Fellow-subjects of that spiritual heavenly Kingdom whereof Christ is the sovereign Head and Governour whence they are governed by the same Laws are obliged by the same Institutions and Sanctions they partake of the same Privileges and are entitled to the same Promises and encouraged by the same Rewards being called in one hope of their calling So they make up one spiritual Corporation or Republick whereof Christ is the Sovereign Lord. Though the place disjoin them yet the Lord joins them together being their common Lord c. Hence an habit of Disobedience doth sever a man from this Body for not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven or continue therein Every such person who denieth God in works is a Rebel an Outlaw renouncing his Allegiance forfeiting his Title to God's protection and favour He is not a sheep of Christ because he doth not hear his voice He is separated from the Body by not holding the Head 'T is a lie to call one's self a Christian and not to doe the works of Christ. He that does not the work of a Christian name seems not to be a Christian. When in stead of the works themselves he begins to oppose even the most apparent truth whereby he is reproved then he is cut off from the Body or the Church Hence St. Austin often denieth wicked persons to be in the Church or to appertain unto its Unity For when there is one and the same Lord that dwelleth in us he every where joins and couples those that are his with the bond of Vnity V. All Christians are linked together in peaceable concord and confederacy so that they are bound to live in good correspondence to communicate in works of Piety and Devotion to defend and promote the common interest of their Profession Upon the entrance of the Gospel by our Lord's Incarnation it was by a celestial Herald proclaimed Peace on earth and good-will among men It was our Lord's office to preach Peace It was a principal end and effect of his Death to reconcile all men and to destroy enmity He specially charged his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to maintain Peace one with another It was his Will at parting with them Peace I leave with you The Apostles frequently do enjoin to pursue Peace with all them who call upon the Lord with a pure heart to follow the things which make for Peace and edification mutual to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace It was in the Prophecies concerning the Evangelical state declared that under it The Wolfe should dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard should lie down with the Kid and the sucking Child should play on the hole of the Aspe that is that men of all tempers and conditions by virtue of this Institution should
which Conclusions it is evident That the Apostles themselves would not be able to understand many of them That ancient Fathers did never think any thing about them That divers of them consist in application of artificial terms and phrases devised by humane subtilty That divers of them are in their own nature disputable were before disputed by wise men and will ever be disputed by those who freely use their judgment That there was no need of defining many of them That they blindly lay about them condemning and cursing they know not who Fathers Schoolmen Divines c. who have expresly affirmed points so damned by them That many Truths are uncharitably back'd with Curses which disparageth them seeing a man may err pardonably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in many things we offend all For instance what need was there of defining what need of cursing those who think concupiscence to be truly and properly sin upon Saint Paul's Authority calling it so That Adam presently upon his transgression did lose the sanctity and justice in which he was constituted What need of cursing those who say that men are justified by the sole remission of sins according to Saint Paul's notion and use of the word Justification What need of cursing those who say the grace of God by which we are justified is onely the favour of God whereas it is plain enough that God's grace there in Saint Paul doth signifie nothing else applied to that case Or that Faith is nothing else but a reliance in God's mercy remitting sins for Christ seeing it is plain that Saint Paul doth by Faith chiefly mean the belief of that principal point of the Gospel Or that good works do not cause an encrease of justification seeing Saint Paul doth exclude justification by works and it is a free work of God uncapable of degrees Or that after remission of sin in justification a guilt of paying temporal pain doth abide Or that a man cannot by his works merit encrease of grace and glory and eternal life seeing a man is not to be blamed who doth dislike the use of so sawcy a word the which divers good men have disclaimed What need of cursing those who do not take the Sacraments to be precisely Seven or who conceive that some one of their seven may not be truly and properly a Sacrament seeing the word Sacrament is ambiguous and by the Fathers applied to divers other things and defined generally by St. Austin Signum rei sacrae and that before Peter Lombard ever did mention that number What need of damning those who do conceive the Sacraments equal in dignity What need of defining that Sacraments do confer grace ex opere operato which is an obscure Scholastical phrase What need of cursing those who say that a Character is not impressed in the soul of those who take Baptism Confirmation or Orders seeing what this Character is or this spiritual and indeleble mark they do not themselves well understand or agree What need of cursing those who do not think that the validity of Sacraments and consequently the assurance of our being Christians dependeth on the Intention of the Minister What need of cursing those who think that a Pastour of the Church may change the Ceremonies of administring the Sacraments seeing St. Cyprian often teacheth that every Pastour hath full authority in such cases within his own precinct What need of defining the Second Book of Maccabees to be Canonical against the common opinion of the Fathers most expresly of St. Austin himself of the most learned in all Ages of Pope Gelasius himself in decret which the authour himself calling his work an Epitome and asking pardon for his errours disclaimeth and which common sense therefore disclaimeth Their new Creed of Pius IV. containeth these novelties and heterodoxies 1. Seven Sacraments 2. Trent Doctrine of Justification and Original sin 3. Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass. 4. Transubstantiation 5. Communicating under one kind 6. Purgatory 7. Invocation of Saints 8. Veneration of Reliques 9. Worship of Images 10. The Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches 11. Swearing Obedience to the Pope 12. Receiving the Decrees of all Synods and of Trent A DISCOURSE Concerning the UNITY OF THE CHURCH By ISAAC BARROW D. D. late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge Aug. de Bapt. 3. Non habet Charitatem Dei qui Ecclesiae non diligit Vnitatem LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1683. A DISCOURSE Concerning the UNITY OF THE CHURCH EPHES. 4.4 One Body and one Spirit THE Vnity of the Church is a Point which may seem somewhat speculative and remote from Practice but in right Judgments it is otherwise many Duties depending upon a true notion and consideration of it so that from ignorance or mistake about it we may incur divers offences or omissions of Duty hence in Holy Scripture it is often proposed as a considerable Point and usefull to Practice And if ever the Consideration of it were needfull it is so now when the Church is so rent with Dissentions for our satisfaction and direction about the Questions and Cases debated in Christendom for on the Explication of it or the true Resolution wherein it doth consist the Controversies about Church-Government Heresie Schism Liberty of Conscience and by consequence many others do depend yea indeed all others are by some Parties made to depend thereon Saint Paul exhorting the Ephesians his disciples to the maintenance of Charity and Peace among themselves doth for inducement to that Practice represent the Unity and Community of those things which jointly did appertain to them as Christians the Unity of that Body whereof they were members of that Spirit which did animate and act them of that Hope to which they were called of that Lord whom they all did worship and serve of that Faith which they did profess of that Baptism whereby they were admitted into the same state of Duties of Rights of Privileges of that one God and universal Father to whom they had all the same relations He beginneth with the Vnity of the Body that is of the Christian Church concerning which Unity what it is and wherein it doth consist I mean now to discourse In order to clearing which Point we must first state what the Church is of which we discourse for the word Church is ambiguous having both in Holy Scripture and common use divers senses somewhat different For 1 Sometimes any Assembly or Company of Christians is called a Church as when mention is made of the Church in such a house whence Tertullian saith Where there are three even Laicks there is a Church 2. Sometimes a particular Society of Christians living in spiritual Communion and under Discipline as when the Church at such a Town the Churches of such a Province the Churches all the Churches are mentioned
no more than Humane Thus in effect we see that it hath succeeded from the Pretence of this Unity the which hath indeed transformed the Church into a mere worldly State wherein the Monarch beareth the garb of an Emperour in external splendour surpassing all worldly Princes crowned with a triple Crown He assumeth the most haughty Titles of Our most holy Lord the Vicar general of Christ c. and he suffereth men to call him the Monarch of Kings c. He hath Respects paid him like to which no Potentate doth assume having his Feet kissed riding upon the backs of men letting Princes hold his Stirrup and lead his Horse He hath a Court and is attended with a train of Courtiers surpassing in State and claiming Precedence to the Peers of any Kingdom He is encompassed with armed Guards He hath a vast Revenue supplied by Tributes and Imposts sore and grievous the exaction of which hath made divers Nations of Christendom to groan most lamentably He hath raised numberless Wars and Commotions for the promotion and advancement of his Interests He administreth things with all depth of Policy to advance his Designs He hath enacted Volumes of Laws and Decrees to which Obedience is exacted with rigour and forcible constraint He draweth grist from all Parts to his Courts of Judgment wherein all the formalities of suspence all the tricks of squeezing money c. are practised to the great trouble and charge of Parties concerned Briefly it is plain that he doth exercise the proudest mightiest subtlest Domination that ever was over Christians 8. The Union of the whole Church in one Body under one Government or Sovereign Authority would be inconvenient and hurtfull prejudicial to the main designs of Christianity destructive to the Welfare and Peace of Mankind in many respects This we have shewed particularly concerning the Pretence of the Papacy and those Discourses being applicable to any like Universal Authority perhaps with more advantage Monarchy being less subject to abuse than other ways of Government I shall forbear to say more 9. Such an Union is of no need would be of small use or would doe little good in balance to the great Mischiefs and Inconveniences which it would produce This Point also we have declared in regard to the Papacy and we might say the same concerning any other like Authority substituted thereto 10. Such a Connexion of Churches is not any-wise needfull or expedient to the Design of Christianity which is to reduce Mankind to the Knowledge Love and Reverence of God to a just and loving Conversation together to the practice of Sobriety Temperance Purity Meekness and all other Vertues all which things may be compassed without forming men into such a Policy It is expedient there should be particular Societies in which men may concur in worshipping God and promoting that Design by instructing and provoking one another to good practice in a regular decent and orderly way It is convenient that the Subjects of each temporal Sovereignty should live as in a civil so in a spiritual Uniformity in order to the preservation of Goodwill and Peace among them for that Neighbours differing in opinion and fashions of practice will be apt to contend each for his way and thence to disaffect one another for the beauty and pleasant harmony of Agreement in Divine things for the more commodious succour and defence of Truth and Piety by unanimous concurrence But that all the World should be so joined is needless and will be apt to produce more mischief than benefit 11. The Church in the Scripture sense hath ever continued One and will ever continue so notwithstanding that it hath not had this political Unity 12. It is in fact apparent that Churches have not been thus united which yet have continued Catholick and Christian. It were great no less folly than uncharitableness to say that the Greek Church hath been none There is no Church that hath in effect less reason than that of Rome to prescribe to others 13. The Reasons alledged in proof of such an Unity are insufficient and inconcluding the which with great diligence although not with like perspicuity advanced by a late Divine of great repute and collected out of his Writings with some care are those which briefly proposed do follow together with Answers declaring their invalidity Arg. I. The name Church is attributed to the whole body of Christians which implieth Unity Answ. This indeed doth imply an Unity of the Church but determineth not the kind or ground thereof there being several kinds of Unity one of those which we have touched or several or all of them may suffice to ground that comprehensive Appellation Arg. II. Our Creeds do import the belief of such an Unity for in the Apostolical we profess to believe the Holy Catholick Church in the Constantinopolitan the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Answ. 1. The most ancient Summaries of Christian Faith extant in the first Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian c. do not contain this Point The word Catholick was not originally in the Apostolical or Roman Creed but was added after Ruffin and Saint Austin's time This Article was inserted into the Creeds upon the rise of Heresies and Schisms to discountenance and disengage from them Answ. 2. We do avow a Catholick Church in many respects One wherefore not the Unity of the Church but the Kind and Manner of Unity being in question the Creed doth not oppose what we say nor can with reason be alledged for the special kind of Unity which is pretended Answ. 3. That the Unity mentioned in the Constantinopolitan Creed is such as our Adversaries contend for of external Policy is precariously assumed and relieth onely upon their interpretation obtruded on us Answ. 4. The genuine meaning of that Article may reasonably be deemed this That we profess our adhering to the Body of Christians which diffused over the World doth retain the Faith taught the Discipline setled the Practices appointed by our Lord and his Apostles that we maintain general Charity toward all good Christians that we are ready to entertain communion in Holy Offices with all such that we are willing to observe the Laws and Orders established by Authority or Consent of the Churches for maintenance of Truth Order and Peace that we renounce all heretical doctrines all disorderly practices all conspiracy with any factious combinations of people Answ. 5. That this is the meaning of the Article may sufficiently appear from the reason and occasion of introducing it which was to secure the Truth of Christian Doctrine the Authority of Ecclesiastical Discipline and the common Peace of the Church according to the Discourses and Arguments of the Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian St. Austin Vincentius Lirinensis the which do plainly countenance our Interpretation Answ. 6. It is not reasonable to interpret the Article so as will not consist with the State of the Church in the Apostolical and
most primitive ages when evidently there was no such a political Conjunction of Christians Arg. III. The Apostles delivered one Rule of Faith to all Churches the embracing and profession whereof celebrated in Baptism was a necessary condition to the admission into the Church and to continuance therein therefore Christians are combined together in one political Body Answ. 1. The Consequence is very weak for from the Antecedent it can onely be inferred that according to the Sentiment of the Ancients all Christians should consent in one Faith which Unity we avow and who denieth Answ. 2. By like reason all Mankind must be united in one political Body because all men are bound to agree in what the Light of nature discovereth to be true and good or because the Principles of natural Religion Justice and Humanity are common to all Arg. IV. God hath granted to the Church certain Powers and Rights as Jura Majestatis namely the Power of the Keys to admit into to exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven a Power to enact Laws for maintenance of its Order and Peace for its Edification and Welfare a Power to correct and excommunicate Offenders a Power to hold Assemblies for God's Service a Power to ordain Governours and Pastours Answ. 1. These Powers are granted to the Church because granted to each particular Church or distinct Society of Christians not to the whole as such or distinct from the Parts Answ. 2. It is evident that by virtue of such Grants particular Churches do exercise those Powers and it is impossible to infer more from them than a Justification of their Practice Answ. 3. St. Cyprian often from that common Grant doth infer the Right of exercising Discipline in each particular Church which Inference would not be good but upon our Supposition nor indeed otherwise would any particular Church have ground for its Authority Answ. 4. God hath granted the like Rights to all Princes and States but doth it thence follow that all Kingdoms and States must be united in one single Regiment the Consequence is just the same as in our Case Arg. V. All Churches were tied to observe the same Laws or Rules of Practice the same Orders of Discipline and Customes therefore all do make one Corporation Answ. 1. That All Churches are bound to observe the same Divine Institutions doth argue onely an Unity of relation to the same Heavenly King or a specifical Unity and Similitude of Policy the which we do avow Answ. 2. We do also acknowledge it convenient and decent that all Churches in principal Observances introduced by humane prudence should agree so near as may be an Uniformity in such things representing and preserving Unity of Faith of Charity of Peace Whence the Governours of the primitive Church did endeavour such an Uniformity as the Fathers of Nice profess in the Canon forbidding of Genu-flexion on Lord's days and in the days of Pentecost Answ. 3. Yet doth not such an agreement or attempt at it infer a political Unity no more than when all men by virtue of a primitive general Tradition were tied to offer Sacrifices and Oblations to God that Consideration might argue all men to have been under the same Government or no more than the usual Agreement of neighbour Nations in divers fashions doth conclude such an Unity Answ. 4. In divers Customes and Observances several Churches did vary with allowance which doth rather infer a difference of Polity than agreement in other Observances doth argue an Unity thereof Answ. 5. St. Cyprian doth affirm that in such matters every Bishop had a Power to use his own discretion without being obliged to comply with others Arg. VI. The Jewish Church was one Corporation and in correspondence thereto the Christian Church should be such Answ. 1. As the Christian Church doth in some things correspond to that of the Jews so it differeth in others being designed to excell it wherefore this argumentation cannot be valid and may as well be employed for our Opinion as against it Answ. 2. In like manner it may be argued that all Christians should annually meet in one place that all Christians should have one Arch-priest on Earth that we should all be subject to one temporal Jurisdiction that we should all speak one Language c. Answ. 3. There is a great difference in the case for the Israelites were one small Nation which conveniently might be embodied but the Christian Church should consist of all Nations which rendreth Correspondence in this particular unpracticable at least without great inconvenience Answ. 4. Before the Law Christian Religion and consequently a Christian Church did in substance subsist but what Unity of Government was there then Answ. 5. The Temporal Union of the Jews might onely figure the spiritual Unity of Christians in Faith Charity and Peace Arg. VII All Ecclesiastical Power was derived from the same Fountains by succession from the Apostles therefore the Church was one political Body Answ. 1. Thence we may rather infer that Churches are not so united because the Founders of them were several Persons endowed with co-ordinate and equal Power Answ. 2. The Apostles did in several Churches constitute Bishops independent from each other and the like may be now either by succession from those or by the constitutions of humane prudence according to emergences of occasion and circumstances of things Answ. 3. Divers Churches were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all were so according to Saint Cyprian Answ. 4. All temporal power is derived from Adam and the Patriarchs ancient Fathers of families Doth it thence follow that all the World must be under one secular Government Arg. VIII All Churches did exercise a Power of Excommunication or of excluding Hereticks Schismaticks disorderly and scandalous people Answ. 1. Each Church was vested with this Power this doth therefore onely infer a resemblance of several Churches in Discipline which we avow Answ. 2. This argueth that all Churches took themselves to be obliged to preserve the same Faith to exercise Charity and Peace to maintain the like Holiness of conversation What then Do we deny this Answ. 3. All Kingdoms and States do punish Offenders against Reason and Justice do banish seditious and disorderly persons do uphold the Principles and Practice of common Honesty and Morality Doth it thence follow that all Nations must come under one civil Government Arg. IX All Churches did maintain entercourse and commerce with each other by formed communicatory pacificatory commendatory synodical Epistles Answ. 1. This doth signifie that the Churches did by Admonition Advice c. help one another in maintenance of the common Faith did endeavour to preserve Charity Friendship and Peace this is all which thence may be concluded Answ. 2. Secular Princes are wont to send Ambassadours and Envoys with Letters and Instructions for settlement of Correspondence and preserving Peace they sometimes do recommend their Subjects to other Princes they expect
for his actions to any other Judge but God That this notion of liberty did continue a good time after in the Church we may see by that Canon of the Antiochene Synod ordaining that every Bishop have power of his own Bishoprick govern it according to the best of his care and discretion and provide for all the Country belonging to his City so as to ordain Priests and Deacons and dispose things aright The Monks of Constantinople in the Synod of Chalcedon said thus We are sons of the Church and have one Father after God our Archbishop they forgot their Sovereign Father the Pope The like notion may seem to have been then in England when the Church of Canterbury was called the common mother of all under the disposition of its Spouse Jesus Christ. VI. The Ancients did hold all Bishops as to their Office originally according to Divine Institution or abstracting from humane Sanctions framed to preserve Order and Peace to be equal for that all are Successours of the Apostles all derive their Commission and Power in the same tenour from God all of them are Ambassadours Stewards Vicars of Christ entrusted with the same Divine Ministeries of instructing dispensing the Sacraments ruling and exercising Discipline to which Functions and Privileges the least Bishop hath right and to greater the biggest cannot pretend One Bishop might exceed another in Splendour in Wealth in Reputation in extent of Jurisdiction as one King may surpass another in amplitude of Territory but as all Kings so all Bishops are equal in Office and essentials of Power derived from God Hence they applied to them that in the Psalm Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy Children whom thou mayst make Princes in all the earth This was St. Hierome's Doctrine in those famous words Whereever a Bishop be whether at Rome or at Eugubium at Constantinople or at Rhegium at Alexandria or at Thenis he is of the same worth and of the same Priesthood the force of wealth and lowness of poverty doth not render a Bishop more high or more low for that all of them are Successours of the Apostles to evade which plain assertion they have forged distinctions whereof St. Hierome surely did never think he speaking simply concerning Bishops as they stood by Divine Institution not according to humane Models which gave some advantages over other That this notion did continue long in the Church we may see by the Elogies of Bishops in later Synods for instance that in the Synod of Compeigne It is convenient all Christians should know what kind of Office the Bishops is who 't is plain are the Vicars of Christ and keep the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven And that of the Synod of Melun And though all of us unworthy yet are the Vicars of Christ and Successours of his Apostles In contemplation of which verity St. Gregory Nazianzene observing the declension from it introduced in his times by the ambition of some Prelates did vent that famous exclamation O that there were not at all any presidency or any preference in place and tyrannical enjoyment of prerogatives which earnest wish he surely did not mean to level against the Ordinance of God but against that which lately began to be intruded by men And what would the good man have wished if he had been aware of those pretences about which we discourse which then did onely begin to bud and peep up in the World 1. Common practice is a good Interpreter of common sentiments in any case and it therefore sheweth that in the primitive Church the Pope was not deemed to have a right of Universal Sovereignty for if such a thing had been instituted by God or established by the Apostles the Pope certainly with evident clearness would have appeared to have possessed it and would have sometimes I might say frequently yea continually have exercised it in the first Ages which that he did not at all we shall make I hope very manifest by reflecting on the chief passages occurring then whereof indeed there is scarce any one which duly weighed doth not serve to overthrow the Roman pretence but that matter I reserve to another place and shall propound other considerations declaring the sense of the Fathers onely I shall add that indeed 2. The state of the most primitive Church did not well admit such an universal Sovereignty For that did consist of small bodies incoherently situated and scattered about in very distant places and consequently unfit to be modelled into one political Society or to be governed by one Head Especially considering their condition under Persecution and Poverty What convenient resort for Direction or Justice could a few distressed Christians in Egypt Ethiopia Parthia India Mesopotamia Syria Armenia Cappadocia and other Parts have to Rome what trouble what burthen had it been to seek Instruction Succour Decision of Cases thence Had they been obliged or required to doe so what offences what clamours would it have raised seeing that afterward when Christendom was connected and compacted together when the state of Christians was flourishing and prosperous when passages were open and the best of opportunities of correspondence were afforded yet the setting out of these pretences did cause great oppositions and stirs seeing the exercise of this Authority when it had obtained most vigour did produce so many grievances so many complaints so many courses to check and curb it in Countries feeling the inconveniences and mischiefs springing from it The want of the like in the first Ages is a good Argument that the cause of them had not yet sprung up Christendom could not have been so still if there had been then so meddlesome a body in it as the Pope now is The Roman Clergy in their Epistle to St. Cyprian told him that because of the difficulty of things and times they could not constitute a Bishop who might moderate things immediately belonging to them in their own precincts how much more in that state of things would a Bishop there be sit to moderate things over all the World when as Rigaltius truly noteth the Church being then oppressed with various vexations the communication of Provinces between themselves was difficult and unfrequent Wherefore Bellarmine himself doth confess that in those times before the Nicene Synod the authority of the Pope was not a little hindred so that because of continual persecutions he could not freely exercise it The Church therefore could so long subsist without the use of such Authority by the vigilance of Governours over their Flocks and the friendly correspondence of neighbour Churches And if he would let it alone it might do so still That could be no Divine Institution which had no vigour in the first and best times but an Innovation raised by Ambition VII The Ancients when occasion did require did maintain their equality of Office and Authority particularly in respect to the Roman Bishops not onely interpretatively by practice but directly and
do belong although really Hypocrites and bad men do not belong to the Church nor are concerned in its Vnity as St. Austin doth often teach The places therefore of Scripture which do represent the Church one as unquestionably they belong in their principal notion and intent to the true universal Church called the Church mystical and invisible so may they by analogy and participation be understood to concern the visible Church Catholick here in Earth which professeth Faith in Christ and Obedience to his Laws And of this Church under due reference to the other the question is Wherein the Unity of it doth consist or upon what grounds it is called one being that it compriseth in it self so many Persons Societies and Nations For resolution of which Question we may consider that a Community of men may be termed one upon several Accounts and Grounds as For special Unity of nature or as Vnum genus so are all men one by participation of common rationality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humanum genus For Cognation of bloud as Gens una so are all Jews however living dispersedly over the World reckoned one Nation or People so all Kinsmen do constitute one Family and thus also all Men as made of one Bloud are one People For Commerce of language so Italians and Germans are esteemed one People although living under different Laws and Governments For Consent in opinion or Conformity in manners and practices as Men of the same Sect in Religion or Philosophy of the same Profession Faculty Trade so Jews Mahometans Arians so Oratours Grammarians Logicians so Divines Lawyers Physicians Merchants Artizans Rusticks c. For Affection of mind or Compacts of good-will or for Links of peace and amicable correspondence in order to mutual interest and aid as Friends and Confederates For being ranged in order under one Law and Rule as those who live under one Monarchy or in one Commonwealth as the People in England Spain France in Venice Genoa Holland c. Upon such Grounds of Unity or Union a Society of men is denominated One and upon divers such accounts it is plain that the Catholick Church may be said to be One. For I. It is evident that the Church is One by Consent in faith and opinion concerning all principal matters of Doctrine especially in those which have considerable influence upon the Practice of Piety toward God Righteousness toward Men and Sobriety of Conversation to teach us which the Grace of God did appear As he that should in any principal Doctrine differ from Plato denying the Immortality of the Soul the Providence of God the natural difference of Good and Evil would not be a Platonist so he that dissenteth from any Doctrine of importance manifestly taught by Christ doth renounce Christianity All Christians are delivered into one form of doctrine to which they must stiffly and stedfastly adhere keeping the Depositum committed to them They must strive together for the faith of the Gospel and earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints They must hold fast the form of sound words in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus that great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto them by his hearers God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will They are bound to mind or think one and the same thing to stand fast in one spirit with one mind to walk by the same rule to be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment with one mind and mouth to glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are obliged to disclaim Consortship with the Gain-sayers of this Doctrine to stand off from those who do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or who do not consent to the wholsome Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness to mark those who make divisions and scandals beside the Doctrine which Christians had learnt and to decline from them To reject Hereticks To beware of false Prophets of Seducers of those who speak perverse things to draw disciples after them To pronounce Anathema upon whoever shall preach any other Doctrine Thus are all Christians one in Christ Jesus thus are they as Tertullian speaketh confederated in the society of a Sacrament or of one Profession This preaching and this faith the Church having received though dispersed over the world doth carefully hold as inhabiting one house and alike believeth these things as if it had one soul and the same heart and consonantly doth preach and teach and deliver these things as if it had but one mouth As for Kings though their Kingdoms be divided yet he equally expects from every one of them one dispensation and one and the same sacrifice of a true Confession and Praise So that though there may seem to be a diversity of temporal ordinances yet an Vnity and Agreement in the right Faith may be held and maintained among them In regard to this Union in Faith peculiarly the body of Christians adhering to it was called the Catholick Church from which all those were esteemed ipso facto to be cut off and separated who in any point deserted that Faith such a one saith Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned aside or hath left the Christian way of life He in reality is no Christian nor is to be avowed or treated as such but is to be disclaimed rejected and shunned He saith Saint Cyprian cannot seem a Christian who doth not persist in the Vnity of Christ's Gospel and Faith If saith Tertullian a man be a Heretick he cannot be a Christian. Whence Hegesippus saith of the old Hereticks that they did divide the Vnity of the Church by pernicious speeches against God and his Christ. The Vertue said the Pastour Hermes cited by Clemens Alexan. which doth keep the Church together is Faith So the Fathers of the Sixth Council tell the Emperour that they were members one of another and did constitute the one body of Christ by consent in opinion with him and one another and by faith We ought in all things to hold the Vnity of the Catholick Church and not to yield in any thing to the enemies of faith and truth In each part of the world this faith is one because this is the Christian faith He denies Christ who confesses not all things that are Christ's Hence in common practice whoever did appear to differ from the common Faith was rejected as an Apostate from Christianity and unworthy the communion of other Christians There are Points of less moment more obscurely delivered in which Christians without breach of Unity may dissent about which they may dispute in which they may err without breach of Unity