it Dr. Field of the Church 1. B. Ch. 13 I will transcribe the whole His words are these This is the first sort of them that depart and go out from the Church of God and Company of his People viz Schismaticks whose departure yet is not such but that notwithstanding their Schism they are and remain parts of the Church of God for whereas in the Church of God is found an entire profession of the saving Truth of God Order of holy Ministry Sacraments by vertue thereof administred and a blessed Vnity and Fellowship of the People of God knit together in the bond of Peace under the command of lawful Pastors and Guides set over them to direct them in the wayes of eternal Happiness Schismaticks notwithstanding their Separation remain still conjoyned with the rest of God's People in respect of the Profession of the whole saving Truth of God all outward acts of Religion and Divine Worship power of Order and holy Sacraments which they by vertue thereof administer and so still are and remain parts of the Church of God But as their Communion and Conjunction with the rest of God's People is in some things only and not absolutely in all wherein they have and ought to have Fellowship so are they not fully and absolutely of the Church nor of that more special number of them that communicate intirely and absolutely in all things necessary in which sense they are rightly denied to be of the Church which I take to be their meaning that say they are not of the Church So that Dr. Field expresly acknowledges that Schismaticks may be rightly denied to be of the Church though they continuing Christians by external profession of Faith in Christ may in a loose and large sense of the Word be said to belong to the Christian Church as they retain something which belongs to the Church still among them But to make this more plain and easie I shall briefly distinguish between the several Notions and Acceptations of a Church For 1. the Church sometimes signifies the number of the Elect that is all sincere Christians who are vitally united to Christ by a true and lively Faith a divine Love and Charity and all other Christian Graces and Vertues who are living and fruitful Branches in this spiritual Vine And this Church is commonly called the mystical Body of Christ by reason of that mysterious union which is between Christ and good men and the invisible Church because we who cannot know the Hearts of men cannot certainly know who belongs to this Church 2. There is the visible Catholick Church which consists of all those Christians and Churches who profess the true Faith of Christ observe his Laws and Institutions and live in Communion and Fellowship with each other This Church is called visible from its visible profession of the Christian Faith and external and visible Communion and Catholick because all such Churches all the World over are but one Communion This is that Church which is the visible Body and Spouse of Christ to the Communion of which all the ordinary means of Salvation are annexed and confined Now it is commonly and truly observed that there are some professed Christians who are only in this Church others who are of it and others who are out of it Those who are in the Church but not true Members of it are those professed Christians who live in the Communion of the Church but yet are either secret Hypocrites or openly wicked but not excommunicated these are in the Church by external Profession as dead and withered Branches are in the Vine till they be cut off All sincere good Christians are both in the Church and of it they are in the Church by an external and visible Profession and an external Communion which is absolutely required of all Christians when it may be had and they are of the Church that is true and lively Members of it by a sincere Faith and Obedience to Christ None properly belong to the visible Church but those whom we call the invisible Church that is all sincere Christians for the visible and invisible are not two but one Church And the Reason of the distinction between them is because the Government of the Church being committed to men who cannot discern Hearts and Thoughts and the necessity of external Affairs or the negligence of Church-Governours loosening the Reins of Discipline many bad men continue in the visible Communion of the Church either because they are not known or because when known they are not through the Neglect of Church-Officers or cannot through the Iniquity of the Times be cast out And therefore the visible Church in Scripture is called the Body the Spouse of Christ the Wife of the Lamb a royal Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar People pure undefiled holy and by such like Characters of peculiar Sanctity with respect to what the Church is in its original Institution and what it actually is in its true and sincere Members not regarding what some visible Professors are who are in the Church indeed but are not of it and ought not to be in it The not observing of which has occasioned many Divines to ascribe all such Titles and Characters not to the visible but to the mystical and invisible Church which in many Cases is the Reason of some considerable Mistakes But then all Hereticks and Schismaticks and excommunicated Persons are out of this Church till they either return or be restored to the Communion of it For to be in the Church is nothing else but to live in the Communion of it and to have a Right to actual Communion in some or all Christian Offices And therefore those who either by their own Choice or by the Censures of the Church are not in Communion must be out of it And nothing is more common in all Church-Writers both ancient and modern than to meet with such Expressions as these of separating from the Church going out of it being out and being cast out of the Church which is a very strange way of speaking if Mr. Lob's Notion be true That all professed Christians what-ever they are are Members of the Catholick Church for then it is impossible for a professed Christian either to go out or to be cast out of the Catholick Church as it is for a man to go out of the World This is that one Catholick Church and Catholick Communion which I asserted and proved in the Defence from whence Hereticks and Schismaticks depart and go out and the Excommunicate are cast out But now the Difficulty is Whither these Hereticks and Schismaticks go when they go out of the Church They cannot go into the World of Infidels and Unbelievers for Heresie and Schism does not make men Infidels and if they be neither in the Church nor in the World what third State shall we find for them The plain Resolution of which in short is this That they are the Conventicles of Hereticks and Schismaticks which
Catholick Church of Christs Institution whatever there may be by humane Combinations and Confederacies The Sum of all is this Christ in the Institution of his Church designed but one Church all the World over which we call the Catholick Church This Catholick Church must of necessity have a beginning somewhere as De facto it had at Jerusalem where-ever this beginning is there is the Root and Fountain of Catholick unity because all other Christians and Churches which afterwards embrace the Christian Faith are added to this Church and received into the Unity of this one Body and it is impossible that any man should be a Christian or any Society of men a Christian Church who are not received into the Unity of this Church not considered as such a particular Church but as the beginning of the Catholick Church and thus all particular Churches are united to one another and by vertue of this Catholick union are one Catholick Church He who carefully considers this will see what Reason I had to assert that the Catholick Church was in order of Nature antecedent to particular Churches for a Church which is one by Institution must begin in one and enlarge it self by receiving others into the Unity of the same Body which for the convenience of Worship and Discipline may form themselves into distinct but not separate Church-Societies This is an intelligible Account how all the Churches in the World come to be but one Church as proceeding from one principle of Unity from one Root and Stock and by the necessary Laws of their Constitution incorporated into one Body and closely united to each others but those who make particular Churches to be entire and compleat Churches by themselves in order of Nature and time too antecedent to the Catholick Church must either make the Catholick Church an imaginary Being a meer Ens Rationis as Mr. Lob does or else no better then an arbitrary Combination which may last as long as they please and be dissolved again when they please and yet the particular Churches remain very entire and perfect Churches without it It is certain that the Catholick Church cannot be one Church and one Body if any particular Churches by their essential Constitution are entire compleat Churches and not integral parts of the Catholick Church which they cannot be without such a necessary Union as I have now described And to conclude this Argument I shall refer Mr. Lob for better Instruction in this Matter to Mr. Baxter who in Answer to this Question Whether a single Church or the Catholick Church be first Answer to Dr. Sherlock p. 202. Resolves it thus Christ was first himself and then Christians as Christians were Vnited to him and were the Catholick Church in Fieri or an Embrio And then the Pastor's Office was made as the Organical Office to make the rest And when the particular Churches are formed they are thereby parts of the Vniversal and as such are Simul et Semel such Churches and such parts Now though Mr. B. and I are not like to agree very well in our Notions of the Catholick Church a particular Account of which I shall give hereafter yet here are several things for the Instruction of Mr. Lob and to vindicate my Notion from such ridiculous Absurdity as he charges it with For 1. Mr. B. acknowledges an universal Church In fieri or Embrio before any particular organized Church before the Apostolical Office it self which is more than I say who only make the first Church The Root and Fountain of Catholick unity 2. He asserts That when particular Churches are founded they are thereby parts of the universal Church and therefore the universal Church must be in order of Nature before particular Churches which is very consistent with their being Simul semel in order of time And that he does not look upon the universal Church to be a meer Ens Rationis in an Eutopian Common-wealth but a real existent thing appears from hence that in the next Paragraph he owns Particular Churches to be integral parts of the Catholick Church CHAP. II. Concerning Catholick Communion HAving thus vindicated my Notion of Catholick unity the next thing in order for I shall confine my self to the Method I observed in the Defence that my Readers may the better know what the present Controversie is which my Adversaries have endeavoured to conceal as well as misrepresent concerns Catholick Communion I asserted and proved at large Defence p. 169. Ch. 4. That the Vnity of the Catholick Church consists in one Communion I explained what this one Communion is produced variety of Proofs for it from the Authority of Scripture and Ancient Fathers and none of my Adversaries yet have had the confidence to attempt any Answer to it either by shewing that my Arguments are not cogent my Authorities from Scripture or Fathers impertinent or false Mr. Lob thinks it sufficient to start some difficult Cases and to confront me with the Authority of some late Writers of the Church of England who as he who understands neither one nor th' other imagines contradict what I say which if it were so indeed is neither a sufficient Answer to me who prefer the Authority of the Scripture and Ancient Fathers before any Modern Doctors of what Note soever nor a sufficient justification of himself and his party who are condemned by these very men whose Authority they oppose against me though they do not value it themselves An Argument Ad hominem can never establish a Cause though in some cases it may silence an Adversary and it is an evident sign of great prevarication when men fence only with such Authorities as they themselves do not think valid as it is a desperate Cause when they can neither confute the Reasons which are alledged nor oppose Reason to Reason but Mr. Lob shall have a fair hearing presently Mr. Baxter seems not to have read this Chapter which is the main seat of the Controversie but skips to the 8th Chapter where this Doctrine of one Communion is applyed to the Catholick Church and this is the Reason why he does not understand what I mean by one Communion but imagines that I have a Grammar or Dictionary by my self and will excommunicate them and make them Schismaticks for speaking as all mankind do Good man he is a little mistaken in this Matter as usually he is and as every man must be who confutes Books before he reads or understands them and replies before he knows what to answer However Answer to Dr. Sherlock c. 6. p. 208. let us hear what terrible Objections he has against this plain Proposition that the Unity of the Catholick Church consists in one Communion I shall transcribe his Reasons and then give a plain and easie Answer to them 1. He says This is contrary to the common course of Nature in which the Vnion of all compounded beings maketh them what they are and goeth before their Operations and
Effects The Vnion of the Soul and Body goeth before Sensation Imagination Intellection or Volition 2. It is contrary to all Artificial beings in a Clock a Watch a Coach c. The Vnion of their parts is their relative Form and goeth before the Exercise and Vse and the Effects 3. It is contrary to all Political Beings and Societies The Vnion of King and Subjects is the constitutive Form of the Kingdom and goeth before the Administration or Regiment by Legislation and Judgement and the Allegiance and Subjection before Obedience Thus the Vnion of Husband and Wife Master and Servants Captain and Souldiers Schoolmaster and Scholars as the Constitution of the Relation go before their Communion in the Exercise 4. If Vnion and Communion be all one then a man is new made a Christian at every Act of Communion for Vnion is the Constitution and makes us Christians but the Consequence is not true 5. If Vnion and Communion be all one then Baptism doth no more make us Christians and unite us to Christ and his Church than after-Communion in Prayer and Sacraments do but this is singular and false What pity is it that so many good Arguments should be lost for want of some Thing and some Body to oppose for all these Arguments proceed upon this Mistake That by Communion I mean only some transient Acts of Christian Communion such as Praying and Hearing and Receiving the Lord's Supper together that the Christian Church is united by such Acts as these whereas these Acts of Christian Communion necessarily suppose Christian Union and therefore can neither be the efficient nor formal Cause of it A man must first be united to the Church and one Church to another before they can communicate together in such Acts of Worship or have any Right to do so But then I wonder what he thought I meant by one Communion for if by Communion I meant only a transient Act of Communion by one Communion I could mean but one such transient Act. And here he might have found out greater Absurdities than before and have triumphed over this sensless Notion unmercifully for what a ridiculous conceit is it to place Christian Unity in some one transient Act But possibly Mr. B. might see this Absurdity and be merciful to it for the sake of his darling Notion of Occasional Communion which is just such a transient Act and yet as he thinks sufficient to Church Unity and to justifie any man from the Guilt of Schism and Separation But then I cannot but wonder that he should so industriously prove that the Unity of the Church cannot consist in such transient Acts of Communion for if this be true as certainly it is he may be a Schismatick from the Church of England notwithstanding he sometimes holds Occasional Communion with her But had Mr. B. carefully read and considered but the six first Lines of the 4th Chap. of the Defence where I explain what I mean by one Communion he might have spared all his Arguments from natural artificial and political Unions My words are these Defence p. 164. The 2d thing to be considered is That the Vnity of the Christian Church consists in one Communion Catholick Vnity signifies Catholick Communion and one Communion signifies one Christian Society of which all Christians are Members From which it is plain That I did not place this one Communion in any transient Acts but in a fixed and permanent State And that this is not a new uncouth way of speaking but very agreeable to the Language of Scripture and Antiquity I made appear in the same place and concluded This is sufficient to let you understand what the Ancients meant by Christian Communion which in a large notion signifies the Christian Church or Society which is called Communion from the Communication which all the Members of it had with each other So that when I say the Unity of the Catholick Church consists in one Communion the plain and obvious sense of it is this That all the Churches of the World are but one Church or one Society and have the same Right and the same Obligation on them to communicate with each other as opportunity serves in all those Duties for the sake of which Christian Churches are instituted as the Members of a particular Church are For all particular Churches are as much Members of the universal Church as particular Christians are Members of a particular Church and therefore are as much bound to communicate with each other One Communion signifies one Body and Society in which all the Members communicate with one another As to explain this by a familiar Comparison Suppose the whole World were one Family or one Kingdom in which every particular man according to his Rank and Station enjoys equal Priviledges in this case the necessity of Affairs would require that men should live in distinct Houses and distinct Countreys as now they do all the World over But yet if every man enjoyed the same Liberty and Priviledges where-ever he went as he does now in his own House and Countrey the whole World would be but one great Family or universal Kingdom And whosoever should resolve to live by himself and not to receive any others into his Family nor allow them the liberty of his House would be guilty of making a Schism in this great Family of the World and what Nation soever should deny the Rights and Priviledges of natural Subjects to the Inhabitants of other Countreys would make a Schism and rent it self from this universal Kingdom Thus it is here The Church of Christ is but one Body one Church one Houshold and Family one Kingdom and therefore though the necessity of Affairs requires that neighbour-Christians combine themselves into particular Churches and particular Congregations as the World is divided into particular Families and Kingdoms yet every Christian by vertue of his Christianity hath the same Right and Priviledge and the same Obligation to Communion as occasion serves with all the Churches of the World that he has with that particular Church wherein he lives Where-ever he removes his Dwelling whatever Church he goes to he is still in the same Family the same Kingdom and the same Church I can hardly be so charitable to Mr. B. as not to believe this to be a wilful Mistake for it is impossible for any man of common sense who had ever read what I discoursed so largely and particularly of Catholick Communion to mistake it for some transient Acts of Communion when I so frequently explained one Communion by one Body and Society And all the Arguments whereby I prove one Catholick Communion prove only that all Christians and Christian Churches are but one Body and thereby obliged to all Duties and Offices and Acts of Christian Communion which are consequent upon such a Relation And this is a sufficient Answer to his three first Arguments from natural artificial and political Unions But upon a stricter Examination of Mr. B's Arguments I
find he is as much blundered and confounded about the notion of Unity as he is about Communion I asserted that Catholick Unity consists in one Communion the plain sense of which is no more than this That the Catholick Church is one considered as one Body and Society wherein all Christians and Christian Churches have equal Right and Obligation to Christian Communion This Unity he turns into Union and understands it of our Union to Christ not of the Unity or Oneness of the Christian Church and argues thus 4. If Vnion and Communion be all one then a man is new made a Christian at every Act of Communion for Vnion is the Constitution and makes us Christians 5. If Vnion and Communion be all one then Baptism doth no more make us Christians and unite us to Christ and his Church than after-Communion in Prayers and Sacraments do Where you see he misconstrues both the terms and it would be wonderful to any Logician to hear him conclude from these premisses Ergo the Unity of the Catholick Church does not consist in its being one Body and Society and Communion of Christians If this be to write Controversies we may e'ne as well lay Wagers and cast Lots for Major Minor and Conclusion for any Propositions well shuffled will naturally fall into as good Syllogisms as these And yet Mr. B. had notice given him of this distinction between the Union of the Church to Christ and the Unity of all Churches in one Body and Society in the 8th .. Chap. of the Defence where I consider what Communion is essential to the Catholick or universal Church where the Reader may find these words which Mr. B. himself takes notice of I have already proved the Catholick Church to be one visible Body and Society Answer to Dr. Sherlock p. 208 and therefore need not now add any thing more to confute that opinion that the Catholick Church is invisible which is asserted by Dr. Owen and his Independent Brethren But Mr. B. and others who acknowledge one visible Catholick Church consisting of all the particular Churches in the World do not much differ from Dr. O ' s. invisible Church while they make the Vnity of this Church to consist only in their Vnion to Christ as Head of the Church not in the Vnion of Churches as Members of the same Body For I take it not to be enough that all Churches are united to Christ unless they be all united in one Body for the whole Church cannot be the one Body of Christ unless all particular Churches are one Body And therefore I would desire Mr. B. and his Brethren to tell us how the whole Catholick Church is united into one Body I assert this is done by one Communion if he can tell any better way I would gladly learn it especially if he can tell me how all Churches can be one Body without one Communion This sudden Humiliation as Mr. B. calls it in being contented to learn of him makes him condescend to undertake this task to teach me but very much suspects my capacity to learn till I am better instructed by some Grammarians Metaphysical and Political Teachers what the meaning of Vnion and Communion is Ib. p. 209. what is the difference between Essentials and Integrals and Accidents and of Vnion and Communion in each of these and how many sorts of Vnion and Communion there are that are pertinent to our Case c. I do not wonder there are so few persons who understand Mr. B. or are capable of learning from him since there are so many things to be understood before-hand to prepare them for his Instructions as no man of sense can ever understand I ask Mr. B. one plain Question How the whole Catholick Church is united into one Body so as to become one Church In Answer to this he sends me to Grammarians and Metaphysicians to learn how many sorts of Union there are though I care not how many sorts of Union there are if he will tell me what the Unity of the Catholick Church is But he says 1. He cannot talk sense about these things without distinguishing about the unifying of the Society and the uniting a single Member to that Society But I suppose in my Question particular Churches already formed and particular Christians united to these Churches and only enquire how all these Christians and all these Churches are one Church Other men I believe could talk sense without these Distinctions which Mr. B. seems to be so fond of only to prevent his Readers from understanding sense 2. He must distinguish also an essentiating Vnion and an integrating or accidental Vnion and Communion I perceive we shall never come to the Business For I did not enquire wherein the essence of the Church consists or what degrees of Communion are more or less necessary to its Being which I suppose he means by his essentiating integrating accidental Union and Communion but I suppose a thousand Churches or as many more as you please with all the Essentials Integrals Accidentals of a Church and enquire how these thousand Churches become one Church Possibly these Distinctions may be the way of speaking sense but I perceive they are not the way of speaking to the purpose But let us now consider the Account Mr. B. gives us of this Matter And 1. he says It is only essential to the Church that there be an organized Body of Pastors and People united to Christ the Head Here I agree with Mr. B. if he would add one Body for that is the thing in Dispute whether Christ have one or a thousand Bodies if but one how all the Christians and Churches in the World make up that one Body 2. He adds In this Definition Christ only is the supream constitutive Summa Potestas or regent part the organized Body of Pastors and People but the Pars subdita and the Vnion of Christ and that Body maketh it a Church This is very well still We acknowledge Christ to be the supream Governour of his Church and that the Union of Pastors and People to Christ makes them a Church but the main Question still remains untouched What it is which makes all the Christian Pastors and People in the World to be but one Church Nor does his Similitude help him out which is so admirable in its Philosophy and Application that I cannot let it pass His words are these As in the Constitution of Man 1. The rational Soul is the real Form which is Principium Motus 2. The organized Body is the constitutive Matter That there be Heart Liver Stomach is but the Bodies Organization that these parts be duly placed and united is Forma Corporis non Hominis and makes the Body but Materia disposita 3. The Vnion of Soul and Body is that Nexus like the Copula in a Proposition which may be called the relative Form or that which maketh the Soul become Forma in actu Had this Philosophy been known in
St. Paul's days I should not much have wondred that he warns men against vain Philosophy I shall avoid disputing with Mr. B. as much as I can and therefore shall not quarrel with him for saving that the Soul is Principium Motus the Beginning or first Cause and Principle of Motion to the Body though it may be some Cartesians will not like it Nor for affirming that the Union of Soul and Body is but like the Copula in a Proposition which is a speck and spang new Notion but shall only consider how he applies this to the Church Christ it seems then is the Soul and Christians the Body though in Scripture he is represented as the Head of the Body and the divine Spirit as the Soul which enlivens and animates it And if Christ be not the Head of the Body which I think the Soul was never accounted yet the Church must be without a Head or have some other Head than Christ which I suppose is the Reason why he talks so much of a constitutive Regent Head of the Church But the organized Body is the constitutive Matter of the man though other Philosophers used to call the Body a constitutive part but to let that pass Thus an organical Church is the constitutive Matter of what Of Christ or of his Church or of some third thing compounded of both That there be Heart Liver Stomach is but the Bodies Organization this is easily applied Thus Apostles Prophets Pastors and Teachers and People make an organical Church but that these parts be duly placed and united is Forma Corporis non Hominis is the Form of the Body not of the Man which what it means I cannot tell unless that a man would be a man though the several parts of his Body did not stand in their right places nor were united to one another so they were all united to the Soul And thus the Catholick Church is one Body by being united to Christ though the parts of it are not united to each other and much such a Body it is as the natural Body would be did the Legs and Arms grow out of the Head and every Member change places without any order or divide from each other and hang together only by a Magical kind of Union with the Soul Well but this Organization and due Position of the Parts makes the Body Materia disposita Matter fitly disposed I suppose he means for Union with the Soul But is this disposition of the Matter so necessary that a Soul cannot unite with a Body otherwise disposed without forfeiting the external Form of a Man his Senses or his Understanding And consequently that no reasonable Soul which is not under some force would unite with such a Body If this be his meaning it sits our present Case very well for then the Church cannot be united to Christ in one Body without union with it self and the Unity of the Catholick Church cannot consist meerly in the union of all particular Churches in and to Christ without any union among themselves But how to apply the Copula in a Proposition either to the union of Soul or Body or of Christ and his Church I cannot tell and shall never be able to learn till I meet with some new Baxterian Logick as well as Grammar and Metaphysicks But to proceed as a farther Explication of this Matter he adds 3. In this Vnion there is no Summa Potestas or universal Governour Monarchical or Aristocratical but Christ In this we agree also as will appear more hereafter And now or never to the Point 4. The Body is sufficiently organized if it consists of local Churches called single or particular being Pastors and Christian People having all the Essentials of Christianity But is our Dispute then about the Organization or about the Unity of the Body The Catholick Church has no other Organization but that of particular Churches but there is something more required to make it one No says Mr. B. that which maketh this Body that is all the Christians and Christian Churches in the World to become a Church he should have said one Church is no union of the Members among themselves So that the Catholick Church may be one Body without the union of its Members among themselves i. e. it may be one without Unity But why should not union of the Members among themselves be necessary to make a Church one Because says Mr. B. that maketh them only Materia disposita i. e. Matter disposed prepared fitted but for what To be one Church I should rather think that the union of several Churches makes them one Church and does not only prepare and dispose them to be one unless he can tell how they can be more one than by Unity But however are any other Churches which have no union among themselves this Materia disposita or Matter disposed and fitted to make one Catholick Church If they be then there is no need of any Union so much as to dispose and prepare the Matter If they be not then I still enquire what that Union of Churches is which is necessary to make them fit matter for the Catholick Church But this Mr. B. has not yet vouchsafed to tell me though possibly this may be one of those things which I must learn from some Grammarians or Metaphysicians before I can be capable of his Instructions But Mr. B. tells us how the Church is one without any Union of the Members among themselves viz. by their common Vnion with Christ and then all single Persons and Churches are one Catholick Church because united in and to him as all Lines are united in the Center So that there is no necessity of any other Union between several Churches to make them one Catholick Church but that they are all united to Christ the common Center they are one Church though as distant and opposite to each other as the two Poles because they meet in the same Center But 1. This is a pretty easie way of determining Controversies to out-face all the Authority of Scripture and Antiquity by a dogmatical Assertion without offering the least Reason or shadow of Reason to confirm it I had at large proved the necessity of one Catholick Communion to make one Catholick Church and instead of answering these Proofs he asserts the contrary upon his own naked Authority and that must pass for a Confutation And 2. He takes that for granted which I can never grant him that those Churches which are divided from each other by separate and opposite Communions may yet be all united to Christ for Christ has but one Body one Spouse one Flock one Church and if we be not Members of this one Church as no Schismaticks are we are not united to Christ and therefore it is a vain thing to talk of uniting those in Christ who are not united among themselves for Christ hath not an hundred several Bodies but one Body and we must continue in the Unity of
contained in these Creeds is professed by the Dissenters this Gentleman doth not fall short in this respect of Catholick internal Communion by excluding the Dissenters from the Catholick Communion and hope of Salvation But our Questionist should have considered that to exclude from Catholick Communion is an ambiguous Phrase and may signifie two very different things 1. Not to receive those into our Communion who are willing and desirous to communicate with us and thus no man that I know of but themselves exclude Dissenters from Catholick Communion and thereby from the ordinary means of Salvation which is to be had only in the Unity of the Church Or 2. It may signifie not owning those for the Members of the Catholick Church who divide themselves from the external and visible Communion of it while they profess the same Catholick Faith If the Bishop meant this by excluding from Catholick Communion all that I shall say to it is this that he must condemn St. Cyprian Cornelius and all the Italian and African Bishops in their dayes and St. Austin Optatus and the Catholick Church in their time for excluding the Novatians and Donatists from Catholick Communion and the hope of Salvation not for any Error or Heresie in Faith but for a Schismatical Separation from the Catholick Church and I am contented to be a Schismatick in so good Company as the Catholick Church in St. Cyprian's and St. Austin's dayes But I have proved at large in the Defence P. 171 c. that the same Faith is not sufficient to make any men Catholick Christians who separate from the external Communion of the Catholick Church but this our Author did not think fit to meddle with Mr. Lob proceeds Moreover as to external Communion sayes Bramhal there are degrees of Exclusion and did I ever deny this Do I make all the Censures of the Church equal But it may be waved or withdrawn by particular Churches or Persons from their neighbour Churches and Christians in their Innovations and Errors most certain If they be such Innovations and Errors as make their Communion sinful but every Innovation nor every Error which does not corrupt their Religious Worship is no just cause for a Separation or for waving or withdrawing Communion But of this more hereafter He adds from Bishop Bramhal Nor is there so strict and perpetual adherence required to a particular Church as there is to the universal Church But how I am concern'd in this I cannot see for by adherence to the universal Church the Bishop seems to mean adhering to the Judgment or Decrees of the universal Church assembled in a general Council which he makes the supream Authority of the Church on Earth and therefore prefers their Decrees before the Decrees or Canons of any particular Church and I agree with him so far that the Judgment of a general Council if such a Council could be had is to be preferred before the Decrees of any particular Church and ought not without some necessary and apparent Reasons be slighted or disobeyed by particular Christians or Churches though I do not make a general Council the constitutive regent Head of the Catholick Church but if by adherence Mr. Lob will understand Communion I do assert that Communion with a particular Church which is it self in Catholick Communion is as necessary as Communion with the Catholick Church and he that separates from any such Church separates and divides himself from the Catholick Church and this I shall believe till I see better Reason for the contrary Let us now consider how he urges me with the Authority of Mr. Hooker and Dr. Field I assert that the Unity of the Catholick Church consists in one Communion and consequently that those Christians and Churches which do not live in Catholick Communion are no Members of the Catholick Church but are out of the Church extra Ecclesiam foris according to the Language of the primitive Fathers Whereas I acknowledge he has proved by very plain Testimonies from Mr. Hooker and Dr. Field that they own all those for Christians and Members of the visible Church who profess the Faith of Christians and are baptized though they be Schismaticks Hereticks Idolaters excommunicable or excommunicated Persons and therefore either Christ must have more Churches than one which I deny or the Unity of the Catholick Church cannot consist in one Communion as I assert for Schismaticks Hereticks Idolaters are not in the same Communion and yet are all Members of the visible Church I own his Citations out of Mr. Hooker and Dr. Field and therefore need not repeat them and have represented the Objection with greater Advantage and Perspicuity than he has himself for I neither design to cheat my self nor to impose upon my Readers nor to perpetuate Controversies as my Adversaries do by false Representations of Things or some shuffling and sophistical Arts to put by a Blow But all this appearing Difference is not real but verbal Mr. Hooker and Dr. Field believe Schismaticks and Hereticks to be as much out of the Church as I do and I believe them to be as much in the Church as they do When Mr. Hooker asserts That all that profess the Faith of Christ whatever they be whether Schismaticks Hereticks Idolaters are Members of the visible Church of Christ he understands the visible Church in a large Notion to comprehend the whole Body of profess'd Christians And therefore the Reason he assigns for it is because all Mankind are Christians or Infidels Those who believe in Christ what-ever their other Errors in Doctrine or Miscarriages in Life and Practice may be are Christians in some sense notwithstanding and therefore visible Members of the Christian Church as that comprehends all Christians but those who do not believe in Christ are Infidels Now I acknowledge as much as Mr. Hooker can do that there is a difference between a profest Christian though a Schismatick Heretick Idolater or excommunicated and an Infidel Such Persons who have been once incorporated into the Church by Baptism whatever they prove after may be restored to the Church again without being rebaptized but an Infidel cannot be admitted without Baptism which is a plain proof that the first do in some sense belong to the Body of Christ and that the other do not Baptized Christians though Schismaticks Hereticks Idolaters shall at the last day be judged not as Infidels but as wicked and apostate Christians when men are made the Members of Christ's Body by Baptism and an external profession of Christianity they can never alter this Character but shall be finally judged either condemned or rewarded as Christians and upon this account may still be said to belong to the Church of Christ Dr. Field whose Authority Mr. Lob alledges against me has plainly reconciled this appearing difference as every ordinary Reader would have seen had our Author been so honest as to have transcribed the whole Paragraph and therefore since he has only cited a part of
is a kind of middle State between the true Catholick Church and the World of Infidels They have not wholly renounced Christianity and therefore in some sense belong to the Christian Church though they are not in it There seems to be the same difference between Hereticks and Schismaticks and Catholick Christians as there is between Rebels and dutiful Subjects They are both natural Subjects to their Prince as being born in his Territories and under the same Oaths of Allegiance Rebels are not Aliens and Foreigners but Subjects still Thus Hereticks and Schismaticks though they have corrupted the Christian Faith and divided the Church yet they have the Character of Christian Baptism and either retain the Christian Faith entire or so much of it as will denominate them Christians They may have the Power of Orders Officers rightly constituted Christian Sacraments and all the Essentials of a true Church excepting Christian Peace and Unity and Catholick Communion This was the Case of the Donatist Churches which were in all things like the Catholick Churches excepting Catholick Communion Upon this score many learned men own corrupt Churches which retain the Essentials of the Christian Faith though mixed and blended with many Errors and schismatical Churches which retain the Purity of Faith and Worship to be true though not every way sound and orthodox nor Catholick Churches Which I hope will satisfie Mr. Lob how the Church of Rome may be acknowledged to be a true Church and yet both corrupt and schismatical There is one Distinction which is not so commonly observed which will make all this Dispute plain and easie And that is between the visible Church and the one true Catholick visible Church The visible Church comprehends all Societies of professed Christians whatsoever Hereticks Schismaticks Idolaters or whatever they be the one visible Catholick Church contains only those Churches which are sound in the Faith and live in Catholick Communion these visible Churches are Christian Churches by outward Profession but not Parts or Members of the one Catholick Church which is the Body and the Spouse of Christ as Optatus observes that besides one Church which is the Catholick Church the other Churches of Hereticks are thought to be Churches but are not that is they have the visible Appearance of Churches and so are visible Churches as bad men are visible Christians by a visible profession Praeter unam quae est vera Catholica caeterae apud Hereticos putantur esse non sunt Opt. l. 1. but they are not such Churches as Christ will own Quae sit una Ecclesia quam Columbam Sponsam suam Christus appellat Id. l. 2. as he adds in another place that there is but one Church which Christ calls his Dove and Spouse So that in this Sense men may be visible Christians and Members of the visible Church and yet not Members of the one Catholick Church The not observing this occasioned St. Cyprian's and the African Fathers mistake about the Rebaptization of those who were Baptized by Hereticks or Schismaticks and upon this very Mistake our Dissenters at this day dispute the validity of Orders received in the Church of Rome and Mr. B. so often twits us with deriving our Succession from Rome which if it were true is no Objection against us unless he will wholly unchurch the Church of Rome and assert that which Mr. Lob charges me with that Heresie or Schism does destroy all relation to the Church for if they belong to the Church still they may retain the Power of Orders and the Administration of Sacraments among them And therefore to confirm this Notion it will not be amiss to give a plain and short Account of the State of that ancient Controversie about the Rebaptization of Hereticks as it was managed by St. Cyprian and St. Austin as far as concerns our present Dispute Now 1. Both St. Cyprian and St. Austin were agreed that there is but one Catholick Church which is the Body and the Spouse of Christ this is so acknowledged by all men who are acquainted with their Writings especially their Tracts De unitate Ecclesiae That I shall not need to transcribe any particular Sayings to that purpose 2. They were agreed also that there is no Salvation ordinarily to be had out of the Communion of this one Catholick Church Both of them do over and over affirm this Salus inquit extra Ecclesiam non est quis negat August de Baptismo contra Donat. l. 4. cap. 17 and St. Austin asserts that no Body in his days denied it But 3. St. Cyprian would not allow that Hereticks or Schismaticks did in any Sense belong to the Church but denies them to be Christians and consequently that they had any Christian Sacraments among them Quisquis ille est aut qualiscunque est Christianus non est quia in Christi Ecclesia non est Cypr. E◠52. ad Anton. He would not allow Novatianus to be a Christian or to be in the Church of Christ and this was the Reason why he so vehemently urged the necessity of Baptizing those who had been Baptized by Hereticks or Schismaticks when they returned to the Unity of the Catholick Church because Schismaticks had no Church and therefore no Baptism it being impossible to separate the Church and Baptism according to the Judgment of the African Fathers in the Council of Carthage St. Austin on the other hand considered Mirum autem est quomodo dicatur separari à se dividi omnino non posse Baptismum Ecclesiam si enim Baptisma in Baptizato inseparabiliter manet quomodo Baptizatus separari ab Ecclesia potest Baptismus non potest August de Baptismo cont Donat. l. 5. ca. 15. See St. Hierom. contra Luciferianos in Initio that those who were Baptized in the Catholick Church did not forfeit their Baptism by turning Hereticks or Schismaticks and forsaking the Communion of the Church for no man ever disputed whether such Persons upon their Repentance might not be restored to the Communion of the Church without being re-baptized which proves that the Church did not think them Infidels for Infidels cannot be admitted into the Church without Baptism and if such men retain their Baptism when they are out of the Church then the Church and Baptism may be separated Ita posse extra Catholicam Communionem dari Baptismum quemadmodum extra eam potest haberi Sic illi qui per Sacrilegium Schismatis an Ecclesiae Communione discedunt habent utique Baptismum quem priusquam discederent acceperunt quod si foris baberi potest etiam dari cur non potest Ibid. l. 1. cap. 1. which overthrows the main Principle on which the African Bishops founded their Doctrine and Practise of re-baptizing Hereticks From hence he concludes that if men may retain their Baptism out of the Church they may give Baptism out of the Church too for the same Argument whereby they opposed the
the Saviour of the Body and that he has redeemed his Church with his own Blood which confines the Effects and Application of his Grace and Merit and Satisfaction to his own Body which is the Church But besides this we may consider That the Jewish Church was Typical of the Christian Church nay indeed that it is the same Church still only enlarged and Chrystianized for the Christian Church is built upon the foundations not only of the Apostles but Prophets and Jews and Gentiles are united into one Church by breaking down the middle wall of partition and engrafting the Gentiles upon the same Root and Stock with them as I discoursed at large in the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet Now we know the Mosaick Covenant was made with the Children of Israel as a Nation whom God had chosen for himself of the Seed and Posterity of Abraham Natural Jews had no Title to this Covenant till they were circumcised and incorporated into the Body of Israel considered as in Covenant with God of which Circumcision was the Sign and Seal and no strangers were admitted to these priviledges of the Covenant till they were engrafted into the Body of Israel by Circumcision and became one People with them So that the Mosaick Covenant which was but the Christian Covenant in Types and Figures was confined to a particular Nation or Body of men and to all those who were incorporated into the same Body with them now it is plain that the Christian Church is incorporated into the Body of Israel and therefore the Apostles call the Christians the true Israel of God and all the Names of Israel are given to the Christian Church A chosen Generation a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 an holy Nation a peculiar People So that the Christian Church is a Nation and People peculiar to God and chosen by him out of the rest of the World as the Jews formerly were that is united to God and to each other in the same Covenant and therefore as the Mosaical Covenant was confined to the Body of Israel that no Strangers or Aliens had any right to it so is the Gospel Covenant confined to the Communion of the Christian Church And therefore Christ is said to give himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tit. 14. as it is in St. Peter which is one of the Names of Israel as they were a Nation a peculiar Body and Society of men separated from the rest of the World 3. To confirm this we may consider that it is not enough that Christ has died for us and purchased the Pardon of our sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit unless this Pardon and Grace be applyed to us in such ways as he has appointed For it will not suffice that we make Christ our own by a fanciful Application of his Merits to our selves which would quickly overturn the Church and make the Institutions of our Saviour very useless things as we see this conceit has in a great measure done already but we must receive Christ and all his Blessings as he is pleased to bestow them Now that the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are by the Institution of our Saviour the ordinary Conveyances and Ministries of Grace has been the universal Belief of the Christian Church in all Ages in Baptism we receive the Remission of our sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit and therefore we are said to be baptized for the Remission of sins and to be born of Water and of the Spirit and we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration 3 Titus 5. and the renewal of the holy Ghost In the Lord's Supper Christ gives himself to us as the Bread of Life See Dr. Sherlock's practical Discourse of religious Assemblies part 2. which is the daily Food and Nourishment of our Souls of which the Manna in the Wilderness was but a Type The Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communion of the Blood of Christ that Blood which was shed for the remission of Sins and the Bread which we break is the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 That is in this holy Sacrament all the Merits of Christ's Death and Sufferings are made over to worthy Communicants Here we receive the fresh Supplies of the holy Spirit Ch. 12 13. and therefore are said to drink into one Spirit but I need not insist on the proof of that which no body denies who has any Reverence for our Saviours Institutions and does not think them meer empty Shadows and insignificant Ceremonies If then our Saviour has appointed these holy Sacraments as the Means and Conveyances of Grace and these Sacraments are ineffectual to those who do not live in the Unity and Communion of the Christian Church then we cannot ordinarily expect the Application of Christ's Merits to us or the Vertue of his Death and Passion out of Catholick Communion And yet this was as generally acknowledged by the ancient Fathers as the other as I have already shown St. Cyprian would not acknowledg that Schismaticks had any Sacraments no more than that they had any Church St. Austin acknowledged that they had Sacraments but inutiliter their Schism made the Sacraments ineffectual to attain the end for which they were instituted and indeed the very Nature of the Sacraments will easily satisfie us that it must be so Baptism is the Sacrament of Pardon and Forgiveness of our Regeneration and new Birth by the holy Spirit but it is the Sacrament also of our initiation and incorporation into the Christian Church And upon this very account our sins are forgiven in Baptism and the holy Spirit is bestowed on us because it makes us the Members of Christ's Body that is of his Church to whom the Forgiveness of sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit is promised and therefore those who are baptized in a Schism and are no sooner made the Members of Christ's Church but do immediately divide and separate themselves from its Communion if they do receive remission of their Sins and the Gift of the Spirit in the instant wherein they are baptized as St. Austin supposes they may yet do immediately forfeit it again by their Schism For the same Sacrament must have its entire effect or none at all Incorporation into the Christian Church and forgiveness of sins are inseparably united in Baptism as God's and man's part is in the same Covenant Incorporation into the Christian Church which is signified represented and compleated in Baptism is our part of the Covenant our choice and resolution and actual undertaking of Christianity which is done by a Profession of our Faith in Christ and subjection to him and by uniting our selves to the Society and Fellowship of his Church by such a sacred Right as he has appointed for
because the chief Care of his Church is committed to him and he cannot so intirely give away the Government of it to others From whence it appears that all the Bishops in a Nation much less all the Bishops in the World cannot unite into such a Colledge as shall by a supreme Authority govern all Bishops and Churches by a Major Vote which is the Form of Aristocratical Government And for the same Reason a National Church considered as a Church cannot be under the government of a Democratical Head for if the Colledge of Bishops have not this Power much less has a mixt Colledge of Bishops and People Let any impartial Reader now judge wherein I contradict my self in this Scheme of Church Government I acknowledge the Church to be a governed Society to have a pars Imperans Subdita for every Bishop is the Governor of his own Church and thus the whole Church is governed by parts I deny that there is any one constitutive Regent Head of a National or Universal Church because every Bishop is the supreme Governor of his Church and cannot so absolutely part with his original Right to any Bishop or Colledge of Bishops as to oblige himself to govern his Church by their Order and Direction though contrary to his own Judgment and Conscience but yet the Episcopacy is one because all Bishops have the same Power and are bound to live in the same Communion and to govern their several Churches by mutual Advice and Consent and in order to this may unite themselves in stricter Associations and Confederacies under such Rules of Government as do not encroach upon the unalienable Rights and Power of the Episcopacy And this is sufficient to make them one Church for if the Catholick Church be one by one Catholick Communion why may not the National Church be one by one Communion And those guilty of Schism who separate without just Cause from such a National Union of Churches though it were not backt by any Civil Authority or humane Laws And now I doubt not but every intelligent Reader will think it needless to give a particular Answer to the cavilling Objections of Mr. Baxter and Mr. Humphrey but I must beg his patience for the sake of others who are very unwilling to understand these Matters while I particularly apply what I have now discoursed in Answer to them being ashamed that I am forced to prevent such wilful or ignorant Mistakes by so frequent a Repetition of the same things but I consider it is better to do this effectually once than to be obliged to write as often as these men can spit Books The original Dispute was concerning the constitutive Regent Head of the Church of England in Answer to which Question who is the constitutive Regent Head of the Church of England I 1. distinguished between a National Church considered as a Church and as incorporated into the State and 2. reinforced the Deans Answer to this Question and though I know not any one thing that need be added to what I have already Discoursed in the 7th Chapter of the Defence yet this being the Chief and almost only Place my Adversaries have thought fit to fix on to shew their great Abilities I shall briefly review this Dispute in the same Method which I before observed that I may not confound my Readers with altering the state of the Question I distinguish between a National Church Defence p. 558. considered as a Church and as a Church incorporated with the State this Mr. H. says is no good distinction because the Church is National only under the last Consideration i. e. as incorporated with the State Reply p. 130. The Church of Christ considered in its self is either Vniversal or Particular but it must be considered as incorporated in the State to make it National Now this is said without any Reason and therefore might be as well denyed without assigning any Reason for such a Denyal but to satisfie Mr. H. in this Point I answer That the Church considered as a Church is not necessarily considered either as Universal or Particular The essential Notion of a Christian Church is a Body or Society of men confederated in the Faith and for the Worship of Christ under such Church Officers as he hath appointed That this Church is Universal is founded on the Laws of Catholick Communion which unites all particular Societies of Christians into one Body that it is divided into particular Churches is owing to the Necessity of things for since all Christians in remote and distant places of the World cannot all worship God together nor live under the Care and Government of one Bishop this makes it necessary that the Episcopal Office and Power be divided into many hands and the Multitude of Christians divided into many particular Churches under their proper Pastors but in the same Communion Now if Catholick Communion makes all the Churches in the World one universal Catholick Church and a particular Communion makes a particular Church why does not a National Church-Communion make one National Church A Church is a Church considered as a Religious Body and Society of Christians as I have now described it but it is Universal National or Particular from the different degrees and kinds of Communion and therefore Churches joyned in National Communion are properly called a National Church though there were no Christian Prince to head it And that a National Church is of a distinct Consideration as it is a Church and as incorporated with the State I proved in the Defence from this Topick that de facto p. 558. there have been and may be still National Churches when the Prince and great numbers of the People are not Christians For Patriarchal and Metropolitan combinations of Churches are of the same Nature with what we call National Churches and such there were in the times of Paganism under Heathen and persecuting Emperors To which Mr. H. Answers A Patriarchal Church and a Metropolitan Church is not a Church National A Patriarchate may contain in it the Churches of many Nations A Metropolitan but half the Christians of one and so the one is too bigg and the other too little to be a National Church and a Diocesan much less But what is this to the Purpose Can Mr. H. prove that a Patriarchate must of necessity be always larger and a Metropolitan Church always less than a Nation Might not a National Synod before the Conversion of Princes to the Christian Faith have set up a Patriarch or Metropolitan over themselves and may not the Kings of England France and Spain do so still if they please And yet I did not say that a Patriarchal or Metropolitan Church was a National Church but of the same Nature with a National Church that is they were a voluntary Combination of Churches founded on the Laws of Catholick Communion antecedent to any civil Conjunction by the Laws and Authority of Princes and I would fain know
there is want of it and never wants distinctions where there is no difference 2. The next way of maintaining Catholick Communion among Bishops I observed was by advising together about the publick affairs of the Church and Communicating Counsels with each other and giving an account of the reasons of their Actions that there might be no misunderstanding between them these last words which I have included in a Parenthesis Mr. Baxter has left out of his Citation because they did too plainly discover how this mutual Advice and Counsel did tend to maintain Catholick Unity And answers 1. This Independents are ready to do What then Does it hence follow that they are Catholick Bishops Schismaticks may do many things which true Catholick Christians do and be Schismaticks still 2. How doth this differ from the former Do you not mean advising by Letters or Messengers If not is it general Councils you mean or what I told my meaning very plain Sometimes one particular Bishop writ to another Sometimes Neighbour Bishops met in Provincial Synods and sent their Synodical Letters to Forraign Churches But this is writing Letters still and how does it differ from the former Why Sir only as a Letter containing an account of the present state of the Church what Bishops die and who are ordained in their stead who are Catholicks and who are Schismaticks does from a Letter of Advice and Counsel c. but how is it we must advise with them of Armenia Abassia and the rest When Mr. B. can prove that I make it necessary to do so I will undertake to find out a way to do it but this and what follows about Provincial Counsels has been sufficiently considered above 3. Mr. B. proceeds But how Is it only publick Affairs that the Colledge adviseth you about The Man dreams who talks of the advice of the Colledge Who is it then that must dispose of the Church State and Souls of all us Individuals Every particular Bishop with the assistance of his Presbyters must take care of his own Church and the Souls committed to him and that he may do this the better in all difficult 〈◊〉 especially such as concern the whole Church must take the best Advice of his Fellow-Bishops that he can where is the absurdity of all this Surely Mr. B. makes himself more ignorant than he is when he adds It seems it is some body below the Senate that is meant when we are told that we must obey the universal Church I thought whither it would come at last And well he might think whither it would come when he was resolved whither to carry it 3. I observed another way of expressing and maintaining this Catholick Communion was by Letters of recommendation granted to Presbyters or private Christians who had occasion to travel from those Churches of which they were members to other Churches whither they went which were called Formed or Communicatory Letters the use of which I there explained To which Mr. Baxter answers 1. Are not all these three Proofs the same writing Letters of Church-affairs Consultation and Communication Yes writing Letters is writing Letters most certainly but I imagine there may be some difference with reference to the Subject about which men write And that Letters of recommendation differ something from Letters of advice 2. Do any of us deny his Conclusion that this proveth Communion among them Why then does he not own this Catholick Communion which I contend for and which infallibly proves him to be a Schismatick No but I should prove an Episcopal Colledge as one Aristocratical supreme Regent Head I thank him for nothing I am not at leisure to write such Books on purpose for him to confute them But 3. He says these communicatory Letters the Non-conformists are greatly for that no man may be admitted to Communion in any particular Church without either a Personal understanding owning of his Baptismal Covenant or a Testimonial that he hath done it and been received into Communion with some Church with whom we have such Communion as is due between several Churches Quidlibet ex Quolibet How cleverly has Mr. B. turned these Communicatory Letters into an examination by Lay Elders or an Independent Church-covenant and the one Communion of the Catholick Church into such a Communion as is due between several Churches I could wish as heartily as Mr. B. that greater care were taken in the Discipline of the Church though they who make the greatest Complaints of the want of it are the true cause of this defect But what is this to Communicatory Letters Or what if Schismaticks are for Communicatory Letters among themselves are they ever the less Schismaticks for that All that I designed to prove by these Communicatory Letters was this that the Ancient Church did believe that every Christian as a Christian was a member of the Catholick Church and had a right to Christian-communion where he came which cannot be unless all Christians are one Body and all particular Churches members of one Catholick Church And here I had occasion to express my dissent from a very great man whose memory is as dear and venerable to me as to most of his particular and intimate Friends I mean Dr. Barrow and I think I express my dissent from him with all that modesty and just respect which is due to his memory I acknowledged that he had abundantly confuted that notion of a Constitutive Regent Head of the Catholick Church but yet that he made Catholick Communion too arbitrary a thing like the Confederacies of Soveraign Princes I should be heartily glad to see my self confuted in this point and to find that I was mistaken in his judgment in this matter if at least it may be called his Judgment and not rather his Inadvertency I will not dispute with Mr. B. about the judgment of this Reverend Person for I do not find that he understands either of us I am sure he urges such things in his Defence as that great man would be ashamed of and I will not be so injurious to his memory so much as to repeat them I may have occasion to take notice of what he says upon some other score but Dr. Barrows name shall not be concerned in it And now I come to the grand difficulty of all which I did but just name in the Defence What place there can be for Catholick Communion in this broken and divided state of the Church which we see at this day If there be no Catholick Church without Catholick Communion where shall we find the Catholick Church at this day when so very few Churches live in Communion with each other This makes some men suspect that Catholick Communion is a pretty Romantick notion of a Catholick Church but so impracticable that it is of no use to us now nor will put an end to any one Controversie or Schism in the Christian Church But this difficulty when it is thorowly examin'd will vanish of it self For 1.
that purpose Forgiveness of sin and the Gift of the holy Spirit is God's part of the Covenant who has promised to forgive the Sins and renew and sanctifie those with his Spirit who thus solemnly devote themselves to the Faith and Obedience of a crucified Jesus and therefore these two can never be separated unless God will perform his Part of the Covenant whether we perform ours or not Thus the holy Supper of our Lord does as plainly represent the Unity of the Christian Church and the Communion of all Christians with each other as it does their Union to Christ and participation of the Merits of his Death and Sufferings For the Apostle tells us there is but one Bread as there is but one Body For we being many 1 Cor. 10.17 are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread And upon this account it is called the Communion of the Body of Christ and therefore the Body of Christ cannot be received in a Schism for where there is a Schism it is no longer one Bread and Body nor the Communion of Christ's Body when it is divided into different and opposite Communions That which is the common Bread of all Christians must be received in Unity and one Communion for it loses its Nature Vertue and Efficacy in a Schism Thus the Paschal Lamb which was a Type of Christ's Death and Passion and of the Christian Feast of the Lord's Supper as it was to be eaten by the whole Body of Israel so every particular Lamb was to be eaten in one House and nothing to be carried out of it The like may be said of all the other Means of Grace which cannot avail any man who does not live in the Peace and Communion of the Church Our Prayers are effectual only in the Merits of Christ's Sacrifice and Intercession and if such men have no interest in the Sacrifice of Christ as they cannot have if they have no Title to the Supper of our Lord which is the Christian Feast upon the Sacrifice of the Cross and applies the Merits and Vertue of it to us then their Prayers cannot be prevalent neither and if our Saviour would not allow any man to offer any Sacrifice to God who had a private quarrel with his Brother till he had reconciled himself to him how unlikely is it that God will hear the Prayers of those men who are at variance with the Church of God and divide the Communion of it As for hearing and reading Paul may Plant and Apollos may Water but it is God that gives the Increase and if God deny his Grace and Spirit to such external Ministries they can avail nothing and yet we have already heard how little reason such men have to expect it St. Paul tells us that Christ gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry 4 Ephes 11 12. but the end of all is For the edifying of the body of Christ So that all Ministerial Gifts are for the edification of Christ's Body which supposes that their efficacy and influence is confined to the Communion of the Church and does not reach the Conventicles of Schismaticks And he adds But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is Christ the Head from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth v. 15 16. according to the effectual working in the Measure of every Part maketh increase of the Body to the edifying of it self in Love So that the Increase and Edification of Christians is in the Unity of the Church and consists in the encrease of brotherly Love and Christian Charity Vertues which cannot be learn't in a Schism nor preserved in it a bitter zeal and envenomed Passions and uncharitable Censures and Surmises and evil speaking and an insolent contempt of all who are not of their Party and Faction being the most usual fruits of a Schismatical Reformation All the Metaphors whereby the conveyance of Grace from Christ to his Church is represented in Scripture do plainly signifie that this is done in Unity such as the influences which the Body receives from the Head or the Branches from the Vine which do not reach those Members which are separated from the Body nor those Branches which are broken off from the Vine The result of what I have said is this If Holiness be not the meritorious Cause but only the condition of our Salvation and therefore cannot save us separated from rhe Merits of Christ if Catholick Unity that is Christian Charity be one main essential part of Evangelical Holiness without which nothing else will be accepted by God if the Work of our Redemption from first to last be an Act of free Grace which we cannot challenge from God as due to our Natures nor as a necessary Effect of his own Goodness considered as our Maker and therefore is as entirely at God's choice in what way and upon what conditions he will dispence it as it was whether he would do any such thing at all if we must expect to receive the Blessings of the Gospel only in such ways as God hath appointed and if Christ hath confined all the Grace of the Gospel to a Church-state this is sufficient to satisfie any unprejudiced man how necessary Catholick-unity and Communion is without which we cannot upon any good grounds hope for the pardon of our Sins the influences of God's Grace or eternal Life 4. But there are some men who will never be satisfied by the most clear and demonstrative Proofs that a thing is so unless they can see the Reason why it should be so a way which of late has mightily prevailed and has in a great measure thrust all revealed and instituted Religion out of the World We cannot always give the natural Reasons of things not because there are none but because they lie too deep for us to discover them and if we cannot fathom Nature which is more exposed to our view and observation how unreasonable is it to think to fathom the unsearchable Counsels of God in such Matters as wholly depend upon his Soveraign Will and have no apparent Cause but his own good pleasure Matters of Revelation can be discovered only by Revelation and in such Acts of soveraign Grace it is abundantly sufficient if God tell us what he will do for us and in what way he will do it without assigning the Reason why he does so But yet to satisfie these men as much as may be let them but assign a Reason why Christ would have a Church and why he would have but one Church and I will give them a manifest and necessary Reason why Salvation should be confined to the Communion of this Church and that is because it is impossible to preserve the Unity Discipline or Government of the Church without it The
instruct and govern them and administer all religious Offices to them but besides the reason of the thing the practise of the Church is a sufficient ground for this presumption For we know the use of Orders is to confer Authority and Power to administer the Sacraments and yet the Church has allowed even Lay-men to baptize Vbi ecclesiastici ordinis non est consessus offers tinguis sacerdos es tibi solus Tert. de exhort cast cap. 7. and if we will believe Tertullian to consecrate too in case of necessity that is where there have been no Bishops nor Presbyters to administer those Offices and we may as well presume the allowance of the Church for Presbyters to Ordain when there are no Bishops as for Lay-men to administer the Sacraments where there are no Bishops nor Presbyters I alledge Tertullian's Authority not for the sake of his reason but as a witness of primitive Practise The reasonings of particular men do not always express the sence of the Church but their own private Opinions though they may be allowed to be good Witnesses what the practise of the Church was in their days Though I confess I cannot see that any thing Tertullian says does derogate from the Evangelical Priesthood or destroy the distinction between the Clergy and Laity or encourage private Christians to invade the Ministerial Function Nonne laici sacerdotes sumus scriptum est regnum quoque nos sacerdotes Deo patri suo fecit Ibid. He says indeed that even Lay-men are Priests Christ having made us all Kings and Priests to God his Father by which he means that every Christian through our great Advocate and Mediator has now so near and free access to God Differentiam inter ordinem plebem constituit ecclesiae Auctoritas honor per ordinis consessum sanctificatus and such assurance of acceptance as was thought peculiar to Priests in former Ages Well but is there no distinction then betwixt the Christian Clergy and People Yes this he owns but says it is by the appointment and constitution of the Church What does he mean by this That it is a humane arbitrary and alterable Constitution By no means But it is the honour of a peculiar Sanctification and Separation of certain Persons to the work of the Ministry to which God has annexed his Blessing and Authority And therefore the Constitution of the Church here includes the Authority of Christ and of his Apostles who from the beginning have made this distinction as Tertullian every where confesses To what purpose then is all this Si habes jus sacerdotis in temet ipso ubi necesse est habeas oportet etiam disciplinam sacerdotis ubi necesse sit habere jus sacerdotis Ib. How does he hence prove that every man in case of necessity is a Priest to himself That he has the right of Priesthood in himself when it is necessary and therefore may perform the Office of a Priest also when it is necessary For if Christ and his Apostles have from the first Foundations of the Christian Church made a distinction between the Evangelical Priesthood and the People and have instituted the Ministerial Office with a peculiar Power and Authority how can it be lawful for a private Christian upon a pretence of the general Priesthood of Christians in any case whatsoever to perform such religious Acts as are peculiar to the Evangelical Ministry But the force of Tertullian's reason seems to consist in this That all Christians being an Evangelical Priesthood to offer up the spiritual Sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgivings to God through the merits and mediation of our great High-Priest they are not debarr'd by any personal incapacity nor by the typical and mysterious Nature of the Christian Institutions from performing any religious Office which Christ has commanded his Church but yet for the better security of publick Instructions for the more regular Administration of religious Offices for the preservation of Unity Order Discipline and Government in the Church Christ hath committed the power of Government and Discipline and publick Administration of religious Offices to Persons peculiarly devoted and set apart for the work of the Ministry But the Institution of this Order being wholly for the service of the Church and not for any other mystical reasons in case of failure where there are none of this holy Order to perform religious Offices the universal Priesthood of Christians takes place and any private Christian without a regular and external Consecration to this Function may perform all the Duties and Offices of a Priest For there are two things wherein the Aaronical and Evangelical Priesthood differ which make a mighty alteration in this case The Aaronical Priesthood was Typical or Mystical and Mediatory the Evangelical Priesthood is neither Now all men cannot pretend a right to a Mystical much less to a Mediatory Priesthood but only such as have a divine appointment and designation to this Office for the nature of Types and Mysteries is lost if the Person be not fitted to the Mystery and the vertue of the Mediation is lost at least our absolute assurance of it if the Person do not act by Authority and Commission But now under the Gospel the Institutions of our Saviour are plain and simple without any shadows and figures and therefore there is nothing in the nature of the Worship which requires peculiar and appropriate Persons and Christ is now our only Mediator between God and men and therefore we need not any other Mediators of divine appointment in vertue of the Sacrifice and Mediation of Christ every Christian is a Priest who may approach the Throne of Grace and offer up his prayers and thanksgivings in an acceptable manner to God Gospel-Ministers indeed are to pray for the People and to bless in God's name but they pray in no sense as Mediators but in the name of our great Mediatorâ— and that which makes their Prayers more effectual than the Prayers of a private Christian is that they are the publick Ministers of the Church and therefore offer up the Prayers of the Church which are more powerful than the Prayers of private Christians And therefore St. Austin reproves Parmenianus the Donatist for making the Bishop a Mediator between God and the People which no good Christian can endure the thoughts of but must needs account such a man rather to be Antichrist August contra ep Parmen l. 1. cap. 8. than an Apostle of Christ For all Christian men pray for each other but he who prays for all and none for him is the only and the true Mediator of whom the High Priest under the Law was a Type and therefore no man was to pray for the High-Priest But St. Paul who knew that Christ was our only Mediator who was entred into Heaven for us recommends himself to the Prayers of the Church and is so far from making himself a Mediator between God