jejuno and so St. Augustin counsels Januarius Sic etiam tu ad quam forte Ecclesiam veneris ejus morem serva which plainly concludes that Christian peace and order requires that we should conform to the Rites and Canons of that Church in whose Jurisdiction we live The five Presbyters of Carthage were by St. Cyprian sentenced for Schismaticks because being within the Diocess of Carthage and so under his inspection they notwithstanding gathered to themselves Assemblies and exercised Ministerial Offices without his Authority And for the same reason Athanasius accused Ischyras of Schism for modelling a Congregation in Mareoles without any subjection or dependance upon him the Bishop of Alexandria unto whose Jurisdiction that Countrey belonged for he shews us his Title in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. All the Presbyters of this Province have their peculiar Cures or Parishes but all the Churches of this Region are under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria And the very same thing Epiphanius tells us in his second Book adversus Haereses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That there were several Parochial Churches in which the Inhabitants might assemble with greater convenience and these Congregations were under the Ministery of peculiar Presbyters but all these Presbyters and their respective Churches were governed by the Superintendence of the Arch-bishop of Alexandria and this was the universal model of unity and order in all other Provinces of the Catholick Church Now the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York have as much Jurisdiction over the Christians in England as Athanasius had over the Province of Alexandria or St. Cyprian in the Diocess of Carthage for beside the Right of Church-Government which their succession from the Apostles give them they are impowr'd to exercise their Jurisdiction by the Laws of our Christian Prince and therefore those Societies of Christians living under the Jurisdiction of the Arch-bishops and Bishops of England and yet do separate from their communion and Government are Schismaticks from the Church of England To conclude this if the Novatians and Donatists if the five Presbyters of Carthage if Ischyras in Alexandria were Schismaticks if from the Ascension of our Lord to his second Advent there was or can be a Schismatick then the Sectaries of England are Schismaticks not only from the Church of England but from the whole Catholick Church Having thus stated the antient notion of Schism and found it a henous impiety though our Non-conformists sport with it as an Ecclesiastical Scarecrow I shall next do them the justice to examine the Doctors Plea and see how well he vindicates them from the guilt of Schism First He denyes that there is any such creature as a National stated governing Church of England If the Doctor means by all these rumbling Epithets of stated National governing organical Church of England that there is no such distinct organical Church in England that is a separate body from the Catholick Church I am then of his opinion But if he means that the Bishops of England have no power of Government over the Christians in England it is a very foul mistake to speak in the modestest phrase for I have already prov'd that the Arch-bishops and Bishops have as much Jurisdiction in their respective Provinces and Dioceses of England as any other Patriarchs and Bishops of the Catholick Church ever had in theirs and if the Act of Uniformity be a Law I am sure there is such an establish'd being as a National Church In Pag. 30. his gravity drolls and gives us a very merry Argument to prove that there is no such creature as a National Church of England for sayes he Whoso will erect a stated National governing Church in England must find us an Officer clothed with Authority to excommunicate from Michael ' s Mount in Cornwall to Carlisle in Berwick Now Sir let this pass for a piece of wit though it is as wide from reason as Cornwall from Berwick What though the Bishop of Antioch could not excommunicate from Antioch to Constantinople and from thence to the borders of Persia must there therefore be no governing Church in Greece and might the Christians in Antioch by that Logick separate themselves from the communion and jurisdiction of their proper Patriarchs without Schism If our Author could have prov'd that there were any Provinces or Natives of England that were de jure exempt from the Canons of this Church and the jurisdiction of the English Bishops then there had been something of argument But if the Doctor for contumacy and disorder should be excommunicated from Church of England in Berwick I am sure without absolution de jure he could not communicate with any Assembly of the Church in England though he travail'd from Berwick to Carlisle and from thence to Mount Michael in Cornwall and this I fancy does strongly conclude That the Church of England is such a part of the Catholick Church which hath a proper and peculiar jurisdiction over all the Christians in this Kingdom Our Doctor pag. 10. sect 12. owns it as a confess'd principle That every individual member of the Church Catholick visible is bound in duty both to God and his own soul to joyn himself to some particular Society of Christians with which he may enjoy all the Ordinances of God so as may be for his souls advantage Well then why do they not communicate with the Church of England where all the Ordinances of God are observ'd and solemniz'd with as much gravity and faithfulness as in any other part of the Catholick Church To this he answers pag. 11. That the business is so stated by the Act of Uniformity that they cannot communicate with us without doing what they judge to be sinful There is nothing can justly be called sinful but what transgresses some manifest Law of God or Nature and could the Doctor have prov'd that any thing practised or enjoyn'd by the Church of England did violate any of those Divine Rules his Plea had been allowed and his Party might vindicate their Non-conformity But to Transgress a plain Law of God to disobey the Orders of our Governours and yet to give us no better reason for it than to say they fancy the things are sinful is so far from excusing that it aggravates the guilt For First Their disobedience is an affront to their Governours and then the doing this only upon the account of their own judgement or fancy is an affront to God for private conscience to usurp the Soveraignty of God and to lay such Divine Obligations upon the soul and mind which God never impos'd The nature and guilt of this disobedience is exactly represented by the story of the young Prophet 1 Kings 13. he was sent to prophesie against the Altar in Bethel now Jeroboam having cast off all the Priests and Levites of the Aaronical line and erected a new model of Religion therefore that the young Prophet might have no communion
to London to receive Consecration from the hands of our English Bishops and so engraft themselves again into the unity of the Catholick Church this they might easily do without being oblig'd to any subscriptions to Papal power or innovations if their omission of this arise from a contempt and abhorrence of Episcopacy I have no Apology for them neither would I be in the communion of those Churches for all the Bank of their East-India Company If any of the forreign Churches be under such unhappy circumstances that they can justly plead a necessity for having no Bishops or Priests of the Apostolick Succession I have great compassion for them and question not but God accepts them for I receive that as an indisputable Maxim That where there is an inevitable necessity there can be no guilt though the fact it self be never so much irregular But as for those Churches in general I have St. Pauls Charity Those that are without let God judge Thirdly Our squeamish Sectaries are offended at the Hierarchy of England because it derives its succession from the Bishops of Rome To which I have a double Answer First That I make not the Chair of Rome the sole Head or Origine of this Catholick succession for the Episcopal or Apostolick power of Government and Ordination was equally conferred upon all the Apostles by the general commission of our High Priest Jesus and therefore a succession of Bishops and Priests from any of these Apostles is enough to assert our unity with the Catholick Church You know the twelve Apostles are made the twelve foundation-stones of the Christian Temple and that part of the Church which in a right line is built upon St. James is as much in the unity and compact of the building as that which stands upon St. Peter Secondly Let us grant it that we claim our succession from the line of Rome this will no way prejudice the Episcopacy of England I hope it was no dishonour to the Holy Jesus that there were some of his Genealogy that had no very good fame in the World it was sufficient that by that line it was made evident our Lord sprung from Judah and it is enough for the Bishops of England to make it evident they sprung from the Apostles and though some of their line were men of impious lives or erroneous opinions that no way lessened their power of propagation nor invalidates the Authority of our succession Thus I have consider'd Schism as a separation from the Bishops and Priests of the Apostolick line and I see no reason to recant this notion And therefore the Appendixer is vastly mistaken pag. 9. when he tells us That if the Parliament did legitimate their Meetings there were an end of the Schism for they might indeed by a Law of Toleration acquit them from all the Temporal penalties of a separation but it would exceed all the Omnipotency of Parliaments to discharge them from the guilt of Schism for they must first compel their Teachers to take Episcopal Orders and bring in all the Conventicles into the communion of the Catholick Church and place them under the Government of their proper Bishops or else they would still be Schismaticks non obstante Statuto Before I conclude I will consider some grand Absurdities that will follow from the denyal of this notion First The profound Fanaticks in England clamour against the whole Hierarchy and will have the whole race of Arch-bishops and Bishops to be Anti-christian Now Sir I 'le appeal to your judgement if this be not blasphemy for then all the holy Bishops that assembled in the first four General Councils that did assert the truth of Christianity against Pagans Jews and Hereticks and those many Bishops of the antient Church that headed the noble Army of Martyrs must be damn'd as limbs of Antichrist Nay I cannot see how to defend Timothy and Titus from being Anti-christian too and if these Propagators of the Christian Faith were Anti-christian where shall we enquire for Christianity Nay this were a sure foundation for Atheism for how can it be reconcil'd to the Providence of a God or the care of Jesus that he should plant a Kingdom upon earth with a promise of his presence and most careful providence and yet to suffer his own Kingdom to be enslav'd under the usurpation of an Anti-christian yoke for sixteen hundred years together if this were true too many wise men would conclude with the fool in the Psalmist That there is no God Secondly If this succession of Bishops and Presbyters be not necessary to preserve our unity with the Catholick Church then the Keys must be thrown away and excommunication is but an idle impertinence for if there be not a certain body or corporation of Christians known by a succession of power and Priesthood from the Apostles how can it be known when a person is cast out of the Church for if the Christian Church be like a Wilderness where every family may pitch their Tent where they please there is no use of Keyes to so wide a desert Thirdly if this succession be not necessary how can any rational man be ever satisfied in the administration of Ministerial Offices as Sacraments and Absolution when there is no certain rule in the world by which he can rationally be assured of the regular Authority of him that ministers To conclude this if this notion of unity be disown'd then every Conventicle is a true Church and every man whom himself or the people fancy inspir'd must be receiv'd for a Prophet and God must lose one of his Titles The God of Order and Confusion must be believ'd to be an Ordinance of Heaven Before I conclude give me leave to reverse the Doctor and make his Front the Rear Sir the phrase may be allow'd for if I mistake not the Author has been a man of War and understands very well the Martial Dialect The Harangue with which the Doctor prefaces his Plea may justly be inverted It was doubtless one of the greatest infelicities that ever befell the whole body of people in these three Nations that when in the year 1662. Religion was so happily setled in Faith Worship and Government according to the pattern of the antient Catholick Church in the first three Centuries and though this Religion was ratified by the very hand of God and the dry bones reviv'd by the Miracle of an unexpected Restitution that yet there should be amongst us so many thousands of such perverse and sullen Tempers as not to be perswaded into the Churches communion neither by Law Reason nor Miracle I cannot discern the Doctors ingenuity in his second Section where he originates the Act of Uniformity in the anger ambition and covetousness of Church-men and allows our Governours not one grain of Prudence or Piety in the composure of that Law He first takes notice of the anger that rested in the bosom of Church-men who had been sufferers Methinks those men who had
invaded the Rights and Revenues of the Loyal Clergy should have been content with the publick remission and charity of the Act of Indemnity and not expect a Miracle that the Act of Oblivion should quite destroy the Church-mens memories for these ploughers had ploughed such deep furrows upon the Churches back that it was impossible such impressions should soon wear out The Doves were driven from their nest and their feathers of Gold pluck'd off by those ravening Vultures and they were forc'd in the Psalmists language to lye among the pots And yet after all this they must not so much as reflect upon all those rapines nor express any prudent caution against these Birds of prey but they must presently be accused of having too much gall His next charge is against the Zeal of Church-men to continue some Bishops the repute of Martyrs who had suffer'd for the vigorous inforcing of some of the things now enjoyn'd I observe the Doctor very warily covers the Blood of Charles the First but dares dip his fingers in that of the Bishops and yet I believe the King as well as the Bishop is left out from his Martyrologie Had the Bishops impos'd such Rites and Innovations as had been inconsistent with the reverence of Religion and the nature of Christianity had they urged such Observances which had never been practis'd in the Catholick Church nor required by the Church of England truly then the blood of Arch-bishop Laud should have no Rubrick in my Kalendar for then he had suffered as an evil doer But when those things required were founded upon good reasons of Religion the custom of the antient Church and enjoyn'd by the just Authority of this Nation I think the Arch-bishop who had the hard fate to fall in doing of his duty may in a sober sense be said to suffer for righteousness sake and be allowed the honour of some kind of Martyrdom Sir I do here declare my self an eternal enemy to that Religion which can consecrate Sacriledge hallow Rebellion and sanctifie Rapine and Injustice Nor will I ever have any communion with those men who Canonize the most infamous Traytors and Murderers for Saints and condemn the best King and Bishop in the World for Malefactors I don't see but by the Theorems of this Jewish Divinity Barabbas might have been Sainted and Christ recorded for an Impostor The next accusation brought against Church-men is their desire of filthy Lucre. I confess covetousness is one of the greatest shames of humane Reason and that it is a most absurd impertinence to see Spiritual men to fond upon the things of earth But if that must be called a desire of filthy Lucre when a man perhaps a little too passionately desires and enjoyes his own just Rights and Properties then sure it was the foulest Lucre for those men no invade the Revenues of the Church to which they had no Title neither by the Law of God nor the Statutes of the Nation Sure none but a Pharisee could have overseen so vast a beam in his own eye and taken such great notice of a little spot in his Brothers The Acts of Uniformity and that against Private Meetings are describ'd as Severe and Tragick as if they had been the Edicts of Nero or Dioclesian I do believe had the very same Laws been by the Roman Emperours imposed upon the Catholick Church in the first three hundred years they would have made a Jubilee and have been celebrated by the antient Christians with Hymns and Hallelujahs The Sentiments of these men differ so much from the judgement of the antient Christians as if they were not of the same Religion And Sir you may remember some Ordinances of Parliament that did more bloody execution than all the Laws and Canons Royal of England Sure you have not forgot when Loyalty to our Prince and faithfulness to the establish'd Religion was damn'd for Malignancy and the Loyal Nobility Gentry and Clergy of England were condemn'd to Axes and Halters Plunderings and Sequestrations Prisons and Banishment And yet all these Tragick Scenes must have a silken curtain drawn over them and must be interpreted as expresses of holy zeal and Rigour and Persecution charg'd only upon the Acts of Uniformity and that against Conventicles From pag. 3. to pag. 7. the Doctor labours to assert the great numbers of Non-conformists and insinuates that the prudence of our Governours could never have passed the Act of Uniformity if they had not been mis-informed that the numbers of Non-conformists were very inconsiderable I confess in State Logick number is a weighty argument and in Politicks it must be thought imprudence to disoblige a numerous party who are able to affront their Governours and cast away their cords from them Cum plurimi peccant impunes sunt But whether the establishing parties and divisions by a Law do consist with the Piety of a Christian Prince I shall leave to your Judgement to enquire But I see by the Doctor 's Maxims of Prudence if the World run after the Beast it is but the duty and wisdom of the Kings of the Earth to fall down and worship him and if the Arrian faction be great and popular it is Prudence in Constantius to Arrianize It is worth observing how these men to serve their Interest can quit their old impropriation of the little flock and to make themselves formidable will appear as the Syrians that cover the Land But this Popish Argument of Number is never urg'd but upon design for it is confess'd Multitude is no infallible argument of truth for Anti-christ will out poll us He complains that there is a vast number of Atheistical livers that seldom or never resort to Publick worship and yet these escape the Indictments of Law Censures of the Church but all the arrows are made ready against the servants of the Living God Whether the Title of the Servants of God which these men appropriate to themselves be not a Presumption I shall leave to be examin'd by Omniscience But I am sure they are guilty of some actions of so bad a tincture that may make the World justly suspect they wear the Livery of another Master But if there be a remisness of Government in England or a connivance to Atheâ—istical Separatists it is our complaint and lamentation as well as theirs The Doctor in the same Section makes the number of the Atheists in England not inferiour to the Non-conformists And then by the late insinuation their number will likewise plead for Toleration and it will not be prudence to molest them And where there are many Sectaries it is no wonder there should be as many Atheists You know Sir it was remarqued by a very observing Gentleman That there were more Atheists in the Seven Provinces than in the rest of Christendom we must now except England and he gives us this reason for his conjecture That there were so many Religions that there were great numbers of men that
Congregations may retain Imposition of hands as a mockery of Ordination yet the imposing of Lay-hands have no more power to confer Priesthood than I to have to constitute a Judge of Oyer and Terminer Mr. Hales makes Schism and Sedition of a very resembling nature He tells us That Sedition is a Lay Schism and Schism is an Ecclesiastical Sedition Now 't is true it would be a great Sedition to set up a Prince of the Blood in opposition to our Soveraign who by long and Legal Investiture hath been possessed of Regal Supremacy But it would be Sedition of a deeper dye to renounce all Allegiance to our Prince and to cast off the whole Royal Line and to set up a Forreigner or one who had no alliance to the Royal Blood Thus if to set up one Bishop in opposition to another though both be of the same Apostolick succession if this be a Schism and a great disorder then sure for our Sectaries to cast off all the Bishops and Priests of the Catholick Church and to set up such Teachers and Governours who have no relation to the Sacerdotal Line this must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the outmost and most Schismatical separation from the Catholick Church But Mr. Hales proceeds and gives us a distinction of Schism There is a Schism where only one part is the Schismatick for where the occasion is necessary there not he that separates but he that is the cause of the Separation is the Schismatick This shall be allowed to be Orthodox too and when our Non-conformists can demonstrate that it is necessary for them to separate from the Church of England we will take off the Indictment and absolve them from Schism But they must prove this necessity from weightier Topicks than Fringe and Lace They must make it evident that they cannot communicate with us without manifest dishonour to God affront to Jesus and his holy Religion and evident hazard of their salvation But this can never be prov'd but from the New Gospel of private Conscience for I am sure the Church of England is so happily constituted that there is no Law nor Canon in the four Evangelists or in the Apostolick Acts or Epistles that will justifie a separation from it much less vote it to be necessary Secondly Our Author tells us That there is a Schism in which both parties are the Schismaticks for where the occasion of Separation is unnecessary neither side can be excused from the guilt of Schism An instance of this he gives us in that great division between the Eastern and WesternChurches about the Observation of Easter I confess I can make no Defence for the Churches of the East or West for that uncharitable division upon the account of a different Ceremony for sure the several parts of the Catholick Church might have enjoy'd their peculiar Rites and usages and yet preserv'd an entire peace and universal communion I am of St. Austin's mind Totum hoc genus liberas habet observationes nec Disciplina ulla est in his melior gravi prudentique Christiano quam ut eo modo agat quo agere viderit Ecclesiam ad quamcunque forte devenerit But how this Instance of the Paschal Schism should be improv'd to serve the Interest of our English Sectaries I can no way discern He that can from hence extract a Plea for our Non-conformists must have greater skill in Theological Chymistry than I dare pretend to For though this unhappy controversie occasioned a breach of charity and communion yet here was no departure from the Catholick Church on either side nor any violation of Order and Government for the Christians of the East observ'd the Canons and Customs of the Eastern Church and submitted themselves to the Government and Ministery of those Bishops and Priests in whose Jurisdiction they liv'd and so likewise in the West vice versa And would our Non-conformists learn but so much Order and Obedience there were an end of the Schism Thus I have consider'd the Theorems of our Admir'd Author and I find no mischief in them but there are still behind such a Train of consequences as in my opinion are of very evil insinuation and do no way merit to be reckon'd among his Golden Remains I cannot approve of his severe Censure upon the Antient Church upon the account of the Paschal difference for he interprets that Breach to be a just judgement of God But then Sir mark the Provocation because sayes he that through sloth and blind obedience men examin'd not the things which they were taught but like Beasts of Burden patiently couch'd down and indifferently underwent whatever their Superiours laid upon them I abhorr the Barbarity of rifling Sepulchres or disturbing the Ashes of the Dead But I wish our ingenious Author had invented some kinder Emblems for the Antient Christians than Ass and Camel For though they were so humble and peaceable as quietly to submit to the Orders of their Spiritual Governours yet they were not so tame as to truckle to an Idol though commanded to couch by Imperial Injunctions I will never plead for a brutish inadvertency or a blind and unchristian obedience to our Superiours The Church provides by a Canon that all Christians should once be Catechumeni instructed in the plain Fundamentals of Faith and Piety and therefore it is not intended that men should be impos'd upon in matters that concern their common salvation and there is great reason that in things of that moment men should be cautious and inquisitive But I believe that Apostolick Canon Let all things be done in Decency and Order hath left a great scope to the wisdom of our Superiours to order the publick Administrations of Religion And in institutions of this nature the people being secured of all the pure necessaries to salvation I don't think they are oblig'd to any further examination their greatest duty in this case is a quiet submission The Gentile Christians of Antioch knew themselves to be free'd from all Jewish or Levitical Observances but yet when the Council at Jerusalem for prudential Reasons and considerations enjoyn'd them the Abstinence from Blood and things offered to Idols we don't read that they enquir'd any further but quietly obeyed that Canon and yet I hope those primitive Christians deserv'd a better name and character than Beasts of Burden in matters of this nature I cannot yet discern the guilt or irreligion of a blind obedience I could wish that all Christians would keep the common Faith and practise the plain Rules of Christian Religion and these things being preserv'd entire I see no mischief if in other things we should leave our Superiours to govern and submit even with blind obedience and not trouble our selves and the World with nice and scrupulous examinations Blind or unexamining obedience to our Superiours with those limitations I have stated would so much assure the peace and order of the Church that if it were not a vertue yet I am sure it
it would be happy if all Christians would quietly enjoy their Differences of Opinion and be so far of one mind as to go up together to the Temple to pray and communicate with the Catholick Church in Sacris The Church of England retains no Sacraments but those which have the manifest Authority of Divine Institution All the Prayers of this Church are immediately directed to the Eternal God and all presented in the Name of Jesus We Petition for nothing but what the Religion of Jesus allows us to supplicate And therefore I see no reason why all the People of this Nation who are not Atheists and Anti-christian should not communicate with us in those confessed Services of Prayers Praises and Sacramentals And this is all that is required by that Tyrannical Act of Uniformity And therefore that great Popular Orator in his late Harangue to the House of Lords has imposed a Fallacy upon us For he passionately complains against the Law for devesting the People of their Properties only because they cannot agree with Church-men in some uncertain Opinions of Religion I hope it will not amount to Scandalum Magnatum to say that this is meer Sophistry For our Laws prosecute no man for difference of Opinion no so far from this that the very Act against Conventicles allows our Dissenters not only their different Opinions but the quiet use and enjoyment of their several Religions in their own Families nay it granted them a further Favour and Liberty that they might receive four or five more of the same dissenting Brotherhood to make the exercise more full and satisfying Here was nothing prohibited but noise and multitude But they might notwithstanding that Law have peaceably enjoyed their different Opinions and Property too that great Fundamental of State Religion The Church doth not put the souls of men upon the Rack or command an exact consent to all her Publick Articles but indulges a difference of Opinion it only provides for the Beauty Order and Solemnity of Publick Worship by enjoyning all the Christians of this Kingdom to communicate with us in those common Sacra that all sober Christians acknowledge to be of universal obligation But here your Doctor would Rejoyn that it is as far from Cornwall to Berwick as from Berwick to Cornwall and demand a Reason why we do not exercise as much charity to others as we expect to our selves or why we should not with as much Reason be obliged to communicate with their Assemblies as to expect them to be present at ours For our Author was so kind to Dissenters as he tells us He sees no Reason why we should not mix with those divided Assemblies where there was nothing done but what True Piety and Devotion would brook If I may credit my own conscience I have a very serious love and veneration for all True Piety and Devotion But I am resolved to have no communion with Conventicles and will faithfully acquaint you with my Reasons for that Resolve First My ears are not fitted for the unintelligible Rapsodies of Enthusiastick Divinity Nothing impresses upon me but what my Reason and Judgement can give a sober account of And I am sure there are many Assemblies in England called Religious Meetings whose chiefest Devotions consist in nothing but Froth and Groans to borrow an odd phrase from our Author Secondly I will appeal from our Author to Mr. Hales who towards the end of this Tract gives us a very Orthodox Definition of a Conventicle A Conventicle is a Congregation of Schismaticks or all Meetings upon unnecessary separation and concludes that it is not lawful no not for Prayer for Hearing for Conference or for any other Religious Office whatsoever for the People to Assemble otherwise than by Publick Order is allowed Now since I can enjoy a communion with the Catholick Church and all the advantages of Christianity without going to a Conventicle I think it were neither Piety nor Devotion for me to communicate with those Congregations which our Author grants to be unlawful Assemblies Had I lived in the dayes of Dioclefian I would have been a member of the Ecclesia Subterranea and have assembled with the Catholick Christians in Caves and Grotto's which necessity had consecrated into Holy Places But since it is my happy Lot to live in that Age and Kingdom where Christianity may be confessed above ground since a just Authority hath opened our Churches seeing I may offer all the Publick Devotions that God requires in those Solemn Places which the Law appoints Since I can at the same time be both Devout towards God and Obedient to my Governours I resolve I will have no communion with those Assemblies which the Law of the Nation and the Canons of the Church make irregular Sir I assure you it adds some cheerfulness to my Publick Devotions that I can at the same time both give unto God the things that are God's and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Thirdly I resolve I will never be a member of our separate Congregations because in them I cannot be assured of my compleat communion with the Catholick Church or the advantages of a Regular Priesthood I question not but God may pardon without the Absolution of a Priest and give a man possession of eternal life without the seal or title of a Sacrament but salvation is a matter of such vast importance that I would never adventure it upon extraordinary Methods in concerns of Religion and everlasting interest I love to enjoy all the security that God hath given to mankind In that great Schism of Israel some of the most sober and considering Jews were not satisfied with their communion in that new Church of Israel though it was established by the Law of Jeroboam but returned to worship at Jerusalem yet the Tribes of Israel retain'd the same Creed with those of Judah and the Calves of Dan and Bethel were not design'd for Idols but set up in imitation of the Cherubims in the Temple but these wise men were dissatisfied because their Priests were not of the Aaronical Line and had no other Consecration or Authority but what was deriv'd from the Patents of Jeroboam and they could not be assured that God would accept their Oblations from the hands of those men who had no Regular Priesthood Now there is great Reason to believe that there should be as much order in the Kingdom of Jesus as there was in the Jewish Polity and therefore I am assur'd both by Reason and Sacred Oracles that there is an Evangelical Priesthood that hath succeeded that of Aaron That there is a peculiar Order of men who have receiv'd this Priestly Authority by a Regular Ordination from the Apostles Successors And I esteem these men according to St. Paul's Injunction as the Stewards of the manifold Mysteries of God and the Ministers of Reconciliation and therefore without an inevitable necessity I will never live without the advantage and satisfaction of their Ministerial Authority St.