Obligations he lyes under ANSWER Although you tell us this Church is the Church we ought to hold Communion with and our Parish Church the Place we ought to serve and worship God in and that you how unworthy soever are the Person whose proper business it is to perform any Ministerial Office in this Parish this Doctrine I doubt not but will take with the Church of Rome for they will tell you that their Church is the Church you ought to hold Communion with and the Parish Church the place you ought to serve and worship God in and will give as good Proofs for what they assert as you have in your Paper REPLY I wish with all my heart that this Doctrine would take with those of the Church of Rome in this Kingdom but if he means that Papists may urge the same thing to invite Protestants into their Communion I would fain ask this Man whether he does in his Conscience think that they may do it upon as good Grounds and Reasons as we do For that 's the Question and not whether they can give as Good Proofs as any I have in My Paper for as there was not room so neither was it the Business and Design thereof to give Proofs To those who wanted them and desired them of me I offered to give the best Satisfaction I was able ANSWER Sir As to your Life and Doctrine against which you hope no just Exception can be made it is best known to God and your Conscience how you have lived and what Doctrine you have preached and believed Only I shall say this that if you can make it appear you have lived and preached according to the Rule Christ hath set us you may expect Peace and Comfort at the last day but till then you may never expect us to embrace the Exhortation altho' we tender the Peace of Church and State and the eternal Happyness of our own Souls above all earthly things and do hope through Grace stedfastly to hold Communion with that Church whereof Jesus Christ is the Head against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail REPLY It is a strange way to put me upon the Proof that my Life and Doctrine hath been according to the Rule Christ hath set us He should rather have asked those that have heard and conversed with me If he or any of those whose Cause he espouses have any Objection against either let them in the Name of God speak and spare not let them be as inquisitive as they are desirous to find Faults I fear not the utmost Effort of their Malice But do thou O God be merciful to me a Sinner Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified If nothing appears against either my Life or Doctrine you ought in Charity to believe both to be agreeable to God's Word and then according to your Champion himself to embrace the Exhortation I made you You may pretend as great a Tenderness as you please for the Peace of Church and State yet it is undeniable Matter of Fact that by the Separation both are mightily disturbed and disquieted and tho' I am unwilling to carry the Controversie so high as to dispute whether according to the Laws and Rules of Catholick Communion you do hold Communion with that Church of which Jesus Christ is the Head Yet I beg leave to tell you that Jesus Christ is not the Head of this or that particular Sect or Party of Christians only but of the whole Catholick Church of which our Establish'd Church being a true and sound Part or Branch by vertue of your Profession to hold Communion with that you will if you drive the Argument as far as in its just Consequence it will bear find your selves obliged to hold Actual Communion with this But to save my self the trouble of pursuing this Argument as far as it will go I refer you to the Case of Church-Communion stated by a learned Hand for your right information And I pray as Mr. Baxter advises you endeavour to understand the right Terms of Church-Communion especially the Unity of the Universal Church and the Universal Communion which you must hold with all the Parts And hereupon I desire you 'll let me ask you whether or no you do not really believe the Establish'd Church of England to be a true Church of Jesus Christ a Church of which he is the Head and with which he holds Communion The most eminent and sober Nonconformists as it can and has been proved have own'd Her to be a true Church that She is sound and true as to her Doctrine that her Worship for Matter and Substance is good and for Edification that her Ministry is true and the same for Substance which Christ hath establish'd Nay they have not only own'd the Church of England to be a true Church but have looked upon it as the most valuable in the World both as to the Church it self and as to the Ministry of it And I dare be confident that there is not an honest true Presbyterian in England but will say if he will be ingenuous that the Church of England by which I alwaies mean that Establish'd Church from whose Communion you separate is a true Member of Christ's Body and that Christ holds Communion with her Now as the Presbyterians of old asked their Brethren of the Separation so ask I you If we be a Church of Christ and Christ hold Communion with us why do you separate from us If we be the Body of Christ do not they that separate from the Body separate from the Head also ANSWER Sir give me leave to tell you our Separation is grounded upon real Scruples of Conscience and there is but one way I know of to Answer them and that is to take away the Cause of them for I can assure you that it is neither Humor nor Prejudice that is the Cause of our Dissenting REPLY If you have not endeavour'd all you can to have your Scruples satisfied and removed you do thereby shew your selves to be glad of them and that therefore Humor and Prejudice have the greatest share in your Separation But if after your best Endeavours for Satisfaction in those matters which make you withdraw from our Communion you cannot obtain it your Case is the more pitiable and the more excusable and I am by no means concerned at the Liberty which is indulg'd you But to Answer your Scruples at so dear a rate as the taking away our Liturgy and the abolishing of Episcopacy which you do more than intimate is the Cause of them is what I hope our Governours will never consent to for make what use of it you please I do think them more valuable than your Company at Church as earnestly as I do desire it ANSWER But if you would know I will tell you it 's the Liturgy or Service-book in which you impose such things on us in
in an Vnity in matters of Faith so that they are truly Schismaticks that are divided from the External Communion of the true Church viz that do not own all the Ordinances of the true Church or if they own them do not live in the Exercise of them these are the Persons that are guilty of Schism Now how deeply guilty of Schism you are who charge us with it I shall leave all honest Men to judge Now if you cannot prove that we own any thing in point of Doctrine or Discipline in our Church that is not according to the word of God how can you have the face to accuse us of Schism If you have any thing to Accuse us of in point of Doctrine or Discipline let us have it and I doubt not but we shall be able to clear our selves of all your false Accusations REPLY Schism he knows not well what to make of he gives me the 〈◊〉 signification of the Word it is true but when he comes to apply it he says 't is a Division in the Church of Christ consisting in an Vanity in matters of Faith either as if the Vnity of the Church consisted only in an Vnity in matters of Faith or that Schism were a Separation from the true Church in matters of Faith But besides Vnity in matters of Faith there is an Unity and Communion of Saints in Worship and whether he knew it or no if he separates from the true Church in Matters of Faith he is an Heretick more properly than a Schismatick for a Man may be a Schismatick and yet be right as to the main Articles of Faith If he is divided from the external Communion of the true Church he is a Schismatick or to explain it in other words if he does not own all the Ordinances of the true Church or if he does own them does not however live in the exercise of them viz in the external Communion of the true Church this person is guilty of Schism Now I leave all men that have sence as well as honesty to Judge whether you or we are divided from the External Communion of the true Church and consequently which are Schismaticks We own all the Ordinances of the true Church and live in the Exercise of them We are in Communion with all the sound parts of Christ's Church all the world over They own our Church as their Sister and give her the right hand of Fellowship and highly condemn you for your separation The Church of Rome only accuses us of Schism and the Charge would be good against ours with respect to her if we had no better reasons for separating from her than the Dissenters in England give for their Separation from Vs Our Separation from the Church of Rome has been sufficiently cleared from the Charge of Schism and when you have brought as good Arguments in defence of your dividing from External Communion with us we shall then pronounce you not guilty of it neither But till then till you prove that ours is not the National Establisht Church with which you lie under an Obligation to Communicate that this established Church is not a sound part of the Church of Christ and that she imposes sinful Terms of Communion till I say you have done all this I shall continue my Accusation of Schism as long as you continue in your Separation and put as good a Face upon it as the Godly Learned of old did who say That every unjust and rash Separation from a true Church i. e. when there is no just or at least no sufficient cause of the Separation is a Schism and that there is a Negative and a Positive Schism The former is when Men do peaceably and quietly draw from Communion with a Church not making head against that Church from which they are departed The other is when Persons so withdrawing do consociate and withdraw themselves into a distinct opposite Body setting up Church against Church which Camero calls a Schism by way of Eminency and farther 〈◊〉 there are four Causes that makes a Separation from a Church 〈◊〉 First when they that separate are grievously and intollerably persecuted Secondly when the Church they separate from is Heretical Thirdly when it is idolatrous Fourthly when 't is the Seat of Anti-Christ And where none of these four are found there the Separation is insufficient and Schism Now we are fully assured that none of these Four Causes can be justly charged upon our Congregations therefore you must not be displeased with us but with your selves if we blame you as guilty of positive Schism This was the Presbyterian Doctrine in those Blessed Days of 49 to those who stood in divided Congregations from them And if it was good Doctrine then I am sure it is much more so now as coming from Vs to You. In what sence you call your separate Meetings a Church I know not but if you think that they deserve that Name more than the Quakers or Anabaptists or Independants who all assume that Title to themselves then I must tell you that I take your Church to be a Schismatical Church for let your Faith be as right as that of the 3 Creeds and your Discipline if you have any as free from fault as you would have the world think you to be yet if you are divided from the external Communion of the true Church in the exercise of the Ordinances of the true Church i. e. if you do not joyn with the true Church in Prayers hearing the Word and receiving the Sacraments your own Paper makes you Schismaticks and I must freely own I do not see how any Man can be acquitted therefrom who being a Member of a particular established Church does upon any pretended Offence taken against such Rites Modes and Ceremonies which are thought convenient by that Church separate himself from the publick Worship when the Substantials and Essentials thereof are so unexceptionable as ours are But forasmuch as your Notions and Discourses about the true Church and about Schism seem to be so confused and extravagant Before I dismiss this point I desire you will give me Liberty to instruct you in the meaning of a Christian Church which I am apt to believe you do not rightly understand Now among the several Acceptations of the word Church one whereof belongs to the place consecrated and set apart for the publick Assemblies of Christians the Church in the Language of the New Testament of Intelligent Writers and indeed of all Men that understand themselves when they talk about it especially with Reference to Communion doth generally signifie the Christian Church either as it is Catholick or as it is Particular The Christian Church considered as Catholick or Universal signifies the whole Body of Christians dispersed upon the Face of the whole Earth and so it comprehends all Persons and all particular Churches professing Christianity And whosoever shall make a Defection or Separation from this Church will be found guilty
of a manifest dangerous most abominable Schism or rather Apostacy This general and Universal Church tho' but one body is yet made up of several particular Members or Churches and by a particular Christian Church we understand a Number of Men of the same Country professing Christianity formed into a Society under lawful Governours and governed by such Laws and Rules as are not different from but agreeable to the Laws and Rules of the Catholick Church And if any Man or number of Men who are Members of that Society shall without just cause separate themselves from the Communion thereof he or they so doing are certainly guilty of Schism Such a Church as this was the Church at Corinth the Church at Jerusalem the Church at Ephesus the Church of the Thessalonians the Church of Laodicea the Church of Smyrna the Church of Pergamus the Church of Thyatira the Church of Sardis the Church of Philadelphia and such a Church as this is the National Establisht Church of England which through a Collection of several Parochial Congregations is yet properly but one particular Church by reason of the same bond of Faith Worship and Government whereby they are all United and so make one true sound and pure part of the Catholick or Universal Church Except then there be a more just cause of Separation than you either have alledged or can alledge it must be a very great sin to erect new Churches and separate in the Acts of Prayer and Sacraments from the Body of a Church and Nation For so at Corinth St. Paul told them whilst one was for Paul and another for Apollos and there were divisions among them they were Carnal and walked as Men 1 Cor. 3.34 And at Rome he bids them mark them who cause Divisions and Offences and not adhere and associate with but avoid them Rom. 16.17 or to enforce this in the words of the Presbyterians whereby they of old pleaded for Unity and Uniformity We are loth to speak any thing that may offend you yet we entreat you to consider that if the Apostle call those Divisions of the Church of Corinth wherein Christians did not separate into diverse formed Congregations of several Communions in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Schism 1 Cor. 1.10 may not your secession from us and professing you cannot joyn with us as Members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly called Schism And I must tell you further that it is never the less so in you upon the Account of the Act of Toleration which cannot nor does not pretend to exempt you from the Duty of Conformity but only from the Penalties of Nonconformity Your Separation is not one Jot the more reasonable or more just than it was before and those that were concerned in the drawing up of this Paper seem to be sensible of this in that they do not urge the Plea of Toleration but put their cause upon another Issue viz. the Merits of it But however Mr. Norris has cleared this case in his Charge of Schism continued notwithstanding the Toleration And now that I may be even with my Gentleman for his Idol-syllogism I shâ—â—â— Sum this whole Matter in a Syllogism all the parts whereof have been sufficiently proved to be as true as that was proved to be false and it runs thus Whoever separate from a Church with which they may lawfully communicate are guilty of Schism But you separate from a Church with which you may lawfully communicate Therefore you are guilty of Schism Or if you would rather that I should put the Argument into form in your own Words it stands thus Whoever are divided from the external Communion of the true Church are Schismatiks But you are divided from the external Communion of the true Church Therefore you are Schismaticks The Major or first of these Propositions is your own The Minor or second Proposition is true also because it is undeniable that the Church of England is a true Church and too sadly apparent that you separate from external Communion with her in the Exercise of Prayers and Sacraments the Ordinances of the true Church whence the Conclusion necessarily follows that you are Schismaticks And if so then I beseech you lay to Heart the words of Mr. Ball one of the most learned and judicious Non-conformists before the Wars as Dr. Stilling fleet stiles him in his Mischief of Separaton where he quotes him for them speaking of Separation he calls it a Renting the Church the Disgrace of Religion the Advancement of Pride Schism and Contention the Offence of the Weak the Grief of the Godly who be better setled the Hardning of the Wicked and Recovery or Rising again of Anti-Christianism nay even persecuting the Lord Jesus in his Host which they revile in his Ordinances which they dishonour and in his Servants whose Footsteps they slander whose Graces they Despise whose Office they Trample upon with Disdain ANSWER And I hope God will so direct us in Choosing our Minister that we shall make choice of such a one as will eandeavour to keep with in the Bounds and Limits of the Laws of God and Man and in particular the Act of Toleration and one I hope that will give no Disturbance in the Parish unless you will be disturbed as I fear you are and have been for the Preaching of the Gospel you know such Men there were in the Apostles days these Men say they do exceedingly trouble our City you know who they were that were accused those who were the Faithful Ambassadours of Jesus Christ REPLY I did not desire you to take care in the choice of a Minister there is no Room for that as long as I live and I am not legally dispossessed But if you must have another Preacher who in your Judgements is better qualified than I am I wish still that he may be a Man of Prudence and Temper one that will strictly confine himself within the Bounds and Limits of the Act of Toleration which restrains him wholly to the Meeting-House where he is licenced in the Exercise of his Talent of preaching gives him no Indulgence to perform any other Ministerial Office either there or in any other place nor to Rail and Revile or speak against the Church and Common Prayer either in his Sermons or elsewhere nor to go about to seduce People from the Established Service and their own Proper Minister There is no Toleration that I know of for these and the like Practises to either him or any other and therefore I think it is good and kind Advice both to you and him to keep within the Bounds of that Act for fear an Enquiry should be made whether all such who do not observe the Conditions of the Indulgence be not as liable to the Law as if they had none But let him be as cautious as he will not to transgress that particular Law he must not pretend that he observes all the Laws of God and