so no Action whatsoever can be justly lyable to Censure that is either founded on that motive or even tends to that design But it is very unreasonable to find fault with him that shall change his Sentiments of Religion and consequently make an open Profession of it provided that he acts directly upon truly Christian Motives according to a real apprehension of the Truth and a serious Conviction of the Conscience The only thing that in this Case is liable to Censure being a base compliance with the thoughts of other Men or a change of the True Religion upon false inducements since neither God nor Man can be secure of his Fidelity whom Interest can bribe to act against his Conscience It is therefore no small Satisfaction unto me and I believe also to the rest of all your Friends that being well acquainted with your former Conversation we believe your sincerity in all that you have done and that no Temporal advantage the too common spur of mean and fickle Spirits could ever incline your thoughts to entertain a Notion but as you were perswaded of and confided in its Truth So that either the want of a due Consideration in respect of your Motives to believe or some great mistake in your Notion of Religion and that as well in respect of the Faith which you deserted as of that which you embrace have ever appeared to me as the reason of your Change that you should quit those Principles wherein you were Bred for such as upon enquiry can never appear unto you either so Rational or so Christian As it is the duty of every Christian therefore to endeavour the satisfaction of his offended Brother and to rectifie those Errors that have seduc'd him from the Faith so I think my self obliged by the special tyes of Friendship to be peculiarly concerned in your Restitution and not only to discover to you the Sophistry of those Arguments that have imposed upon you but also to explain those Truths wherewith you seem unacquainted For if the account be true which I have had of your Desertion your Motives to leave the Church of England and Embrace the Communion of the Church of Rome were these A desire to live more truly in the Communion of the Catholick Church and to become more Orthodox in your Faith and Worship If then I can make it evident that you were mistaken in both these great Proposals and that a contrary event in both is the sure result of this your undertaking It will be reasonable to expect your Repentance for what you have done and a Reconciliation to that Mother whom you have forsaken § 1. How the first of these Proposals could ever influence your Practice is a very hard thing to be imagined or why you should phansie now that you are more in the Communion of the Catholick Church than you were among us before your Change is really a Conceit that I cannot find the ground of Since the common imposition by the Name of Catholick must be too slight to move a Man of Learning When the Name of Roman Catholick is but an usurpt Title that carries little less than a contradiction in the terms I know indeed there is an Error in the Notion of Church-Government that is too prevalent with many Christians and may possibly seduce them from the Truth of their Religion to submit unto those Laws that can't oblige them And that is That the Government of the Catholick Church on Earth is Originally Monarchical and consequently that the Unity thereof consists in the due subjection of all the Members unto the Dominion of one Universal Bishop So that no Man can be a Christian or in the Communion of the Catholick Church but he that will submit unto the Pope's Authority But in Truth it is fully evident from the Scriptures from the Constitution of the Church and from the practice of all Christians in the Primitive Ages that the Government of the Church on Earth is Aristocratical and that the Unity thereof doth eminently consist in the Communion of all its Members So that every Person that makes Profession of the Christian Faith and lives in the Communion of any particular Church or Society of Christians he is certainly in the Communion of the Catholick Church of Christ and according to the sincerity of his Profession he hath an undoubted Right unto all her Promises For first the Scriptures do expresly tell us that Christ Selected not one alone but twelve Apostles and that he gave them all but one Commission jointly as well as made them by it all equal in Authority That he was so far from constituting one as his Vicar upon Earth with an Absolute Dominion over all his Brethren that he forbad such Ambition as disagreeable with his Laws and Ordained Humility to be their way of Government Ye know saith he Mat. XX. 25. that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them But it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant Intimating clearly that Ecclesiastical Authority is not like the Dominion of the Gentils which was altogether managed in a Despotical way of Government But as he himself was a pattern of Humility and submitted unto Death for the good of his People so their joint Power should consist in serving others without any pretence unto a Temporal Dominion St. Paul therefore most evidently refers the building of the Body of Christ which is certainly the Catholick Church not to any one but unto the Apostles in the plural number Ephes iv 11 12. and although he was himself the last of all that Order being as he saith 1 Cor. xv 8 9. the least of the Apostles as one that was born out of due time Yet he assures the Galatians Galat. ii 7. that in point of Authority in the Church of Christ he was inferior unto no Man in that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto him as that of the Circumcision was to Peter And consequently then St. Peter's Principality if he had any was limited to the Jews that were Converted to the Faith and not extended to the Gentils over whom he ne're presided So that in this pretence of a Succession from the Prince of the Apostles the Pope can have no claim to a Jurisdiction in our Countries except he can derive our Pedigree from those of the Circumcision But to manifest more clearly that the Church of Rome is not the whole Tree or Body of Christians no nor so much as the Root thereof St. Paul not only reckons her among the Branches Rom. xi 17. but doth expresly admonish her not to usurp Dominion as if he were suspicious of her future greatness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do not boast against or rather do not insult over the Branches But if thou
boast or insult thus thou bearest not the root but the root thee Ib. v. 18. And lastly to shew the World farther that it was but a particular Church and not the Catholick to whom he wrote that Epistle to the Romans he threatens her v. 22. with being cut off or totally destroyed if she continueth not in the Goodness of God Whereas Christ hath expresly promist to his Universal Church that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her Mat. xvi 18. If any Man shall urge against me that the Church to whom our Saviour made this promise must be founded on St. Peter as the Text expresses it and consequently it can be no other but the Church of Rome who claims all her Rights and Priviledges from him I answer 1 st That the whole Church of Christ may be said in some Sense to have been built upon St. Peter in that he was the first of the Apostles that Preacht the Gospel after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them and it is obvious that by his Sermon so many were Converted to the Faith that a Church was founded thereby at Jerusalem and this being the first Fruits of the Christian Religion the whole Building might properly be represented by it and so that Promise of our Saviour doth not respect the Church of Rome whatsoever her pretences are but the whole Society or Body of Christians 2 dly That St. Augustine in Expounding of that Text tells us that by the Rock Christ meant himself and not St. Peter And also that St. Peter is not to be understood in that place and many other in the Scripture as a single Person but as fully representing the whole Society or Body of Christians to whom the Promises were made and all those Favours given For Christ's Question in that place was evidently proposed to all the Disciples and so the Answer to it appears in the name of all and whatever gift or promise was thus made to one is to be understood as having a respect to all Since it is evident that there is no one particular Benefit or Power granted by our Saviour unto St. Peter but what the rest of the Apostles as the Fathers have observed had an equal Right to and as great a Concern in And if we consult our Ecclesiastical Records we shall find this Commission to be Executed thus and although St. Paul tells us that the care of all the Churches came upon him daily 2 Cor. xi 28. yet both in planting of the Church and in Governing it being planted no one single Person presided over all but they acted all alike as Members of a Society And when they were called away by God to be rewarded for their Labours they left the same Form of Government with the Bishops their Successors who maintained it constantly for several Ages following And whenever any Dispute or Controversie arose among them that was destructive to their Faith or Discipline as it was observed among the Apostles themselves before they took care for to decide it in a Synod or Assembly And we never find that any single Person under the pretence either of being Infallible or of having a Supream Power over all the rest did undertake for to determine what was thus Disputed but the Decree of the whole Church was required to decide it as the regular Act of the whole Society Some of the Bishops being still assembled in a Synod or Council and the rest submitting unto their determinations Thus their Unity was maintained in the matters of greatest moment and by their Literae Formatae or circular Epistles in all the things of smaller consequence and so they preserved themselves entire as one Society or Body of Christians not by any Superiority of one over the rest but by the right hand of fellowship from one to another And each of them was so perswaded of the Unity of the Catholick Church which was thus preserved that whosoever was excluded from the Communion of any one particular Church he was adjudged as cut off from the Communion of the whole And could not be received into another Congregation until he was reconciled unto that Church which he offended So that the Catholick Church of Christ cannot be confined to any Country nor yet limited or restrained to one peculiar Governour but it contains the whole Body or Society of Christians even all that are Baptized into the Covenant of Grace And as every particular Church is at Unity in her self by the submission or agreement of all her Members under one Governour so is the Unity of the Catholick Church maintained by the agreement or correspondence of those Governours whereby they do compose one Catholick Society And therefore it is well observed that there can be no more necessity of an Universal Bishop to establish and maintain this Unity in the Church than there is of an Universal Monarch to keep Peace and Commerce in the World Since agreement among the Bishops is as sufficient to the one as correspondence among Princes is unto the other And as there cannot possibly be more than one Catholick Church because it contains all Christians and consequently all particular Churches whatsoever So no one particular Society of Christians let its extent be never so great or Members numerous can justly lay a claim unto that Title Nor on the other hand can any particular Church cease to be a Member of this Catholick as long as she continues Christian that is as long as she retaineth the Holy Scriptures as the word of God and expounds their meaning by Catholick Tradition And consequently then no Society of Christians can be denied this priviledge or any other Right and Claim which the Catholick Church pretends to until they do renounce the Faith and cease to be Christians and so are no longer Members of the Body of Christ That the Church of Rome therefore is the Catholick Church upon account either of its Authority or comprehension is no more a Truth than that a part is the whole the terms being equally evident and therefore as plain in the conclusion And if the Church of Rome is but a particular Church and so a Member only of the Catholick The Church of England also must have an equal claim unto the same Right and Title while no one can deny that she is Christian And therefore she cannot lose her Property in the Promises of her Saviour till she quits that Christianity whereon they are founded Whence it evidently follows that all the Members of the Church of England are equally qualified for all Priviledges in Religion and all Advantages in respect of the Catholick Church which any Member of the Church of Rome can have a just claim or reason to pretend to § 2. This is a Truth of so much Evidence that all the Antient Christians even in the Church of Rome believed it otherwise their Decree against Re-baptizing Hereticks made by Pope Cornâ—lius and confirmed after by
Pope Stephen must contradict the Principles of the Christian Religion and deny Salvation unto Penitent Believers For if no Man can be a Christian but he that is in the Communion of the Catholick Church and Baptism is not Sacramental nor Beneficial to Salvation where the Person is excluded from the Society of Cristians Such Baptism then must be necessary to Salvation as doth make a Man a Christian and a Member of that Society If any Person therefore that is Baptized by one whom you call Heretick and with whose Church you will not Communicate be notwithstanding this so much a Christian as that he is to be Baptized no more but if he shall change his Religion and become a Convert to the Church of Rome they will receive him into their Communion but never permit him to be Baptized again I say then this is a fair Concession from themselves that they Believe that he was a Christian and consequently a Member of the Body of Christ before he was actually of their Communion For the Scripture tells us that every Branch although it is unfruitful yet it abideth in the Vine until it is cut off viz. by an Apostacie from the Faith nor can any new Branch be grafted in but by that Sacrament of Baptism which Christ ordained for it And therefore it is evident that those Antient Fathers did not believe that all Men were Apostates who differed from them in Opinion as to Religion but acknowledged that they were still Christians though Erroneous and therefore would not repeat their Baptism which was compleat before but received them Charitably by the Imposition of Hands Which is a sufficient Evidence that the Catholick Church of Christ is more extensive than the Church of Rome and that a Christian may be a Member of the one although he is not actually in the Communion of the other And therefore it is observable even at this day that in the Administration of Baptism in the Church of Rome no Man is obliged by his Baptismal Vow to believe their own Articles or Constitutions but only to Profess the Christian Faith as it is in common with all other Christians and which is not sufficient in a state of Maturity to qualifie any Person to be of their Communion And consequently then those Articles are not necessary in order to be a Christian although the proper Standard of the Church of Rome But a Man may be a Member of the Catholick Church that is not precisely one of her Communion There is a Famous Act Recorded of the Donatists in Africa that is exactly parallel with our present case They being scarce a National or particular Church but rather a broken part or fraction of one yet positively decreed themselves to be the Catholick Church of Christ and in a Synod of their own party formally Excommunicated all other Christians that would not submit unto their determinations But certainly no Rational Man will say that that Decree so made was True and Authentick or that all the Christian Church was obliged to submit unto it and to be concluded by it because it was boldly delivered as a Truth and confidently asserted with over-great assurance by a company of Men that called themselves a Council But rather on the contary such an Act is to be derided and the Censure laught at as contrary to Reason and all Humane Constitutions which leave all Persons in their perfect Liberty until by themselves it is submitted And therefore St. Augustine's Argument against them is as fully unanswerable in respect of us who make the same Plea against the Church of Rome For if you confess that I am a Christian although I am no Papist you declare then that the Christian Faith is openly profest without the Communion of the Church of Rome And whosoever will endeavour to reduce the Catholick Church to such a narrow compass must be Guilty of the Schism that is occasioned by it in excluding so many Christians from the Communion of Saints § 3. But that the Church of Rome might render it self more a particular Church and less the Catholick if possible than any other is she hath of late years streightned her own extent extreamly by setting such new limits and restraints on her Communion as former Ages never heard of nor the Catholick Church ever prescribed or exacted Thus Purgatory was far from being an Article of Faith and necessary to Salvation in the days of St. Augustine Or the Worshiping of Images from being a Duty in Religion before the second Council of Nice So that without believing things that are incredible viz. Transubstantiation the Infallibility of the Pope c. And doing things that are unpracticable viz. Worshiping the Host and the Virgin Mary c. no Man can be admitted now into her Communion but a Man that is a real and most faithful Christian that believeth in and conformeth himself to the Holy Scriptures and also doth expound them in hard places according to the Faith and Practice of the Primitive Christians Yet notwithstanding all this he is excluded by her as being an Inâ—idel and as far as in her lyeth is deprived of the common Benefits and the Priviledges of a Christian Whereas the Church which you Deserted is evidently in this Case conformable to the Catholick in that any faithful Christian of any other particular Communion if he doth believe the Scriptures and understand them in the Sense of the Universal Church as it is delivered by the four General Councils which you must also own to be the Catholick Faith if your Opinion differs not from that of Athanasius If this Man I say doth make it his business to live up unto those Rules he is freely admitted into her Communion and may publickly enjoy all the common Rights and Benefits of a Christian without any other Injunction or Imposition on his Conscience For none of her Articles are propounded with Anathema's nor is there so much as a bar from her Communion inflicted on those Persons that do not Subscribe them but as their Title shews us they were composed for Peace for the avoiding of diversity of Opinions and for the Establishing of consent touching True Religion For the never did believe that any Society on Earth as the Church of Rome asserts it of her self had power either to alter or to add unto the Faith or to contradict the Institution of our Saviour and the practice of the Primitive Christians with a bold tamen or non obstante to them or ever to impose now Articles of Faith upon the People as absolutely necessary unto their Salvation which the Primitive Christians for some hundreds of years were never known to have thought or heard of So that according to your own Notion if to be Catholick is to be of no Party nor Faction in Religious Matters but a Christian in full latitude and in respect of the Church in general since every Member of the Universal Church must adjoin