for want of due abilities and they will find cause I doubt not to prefer the Whole Church before a late Party and abate the Sermon to restore the Eucharist Especially seeing the Law of this Land must be changed to bear out what others have done though it is manifest they never gave any reason for it They will see cause to think that the best Preaching is that which may fit the people for the Eucharist by understanding the Covenant of Baptism and the importance of daily renewing and restoring it by Communion in the Eucharist The other Instance shall be the Psalms that are sung in Cathedral Churches but allowed to be read where there is not company to sing them For it is plain enough what excuses are made and what indeavours used to silence this part of Gods Service and to turn the Psalms which this Church with the Whole Church appointeth for devotion into Lessons of Instruction only Hence all the Plea against the Old Translation with points all the indeavors to crowd in the Psalms in Rhime instead of the Psalter and all use which the Church hath always made of it But did not partiality and faction prevail over that Reason which all Christendom before the Reformation hath always owned there could be no question of using the Psalter of David for an Instrument to tune the devotion of Christian people by transforming the expressions of David unto our Lord Christ in the first place and according to the Figure of Christ to the Whole Church first and then to every particular member of it He that hath learnt this from the Whole Church will never think it reason to put this part of Gods Service to silence whosoever they be that desire or desing it He will rather indeavour to reduce the singing of them into Parish Churches being evidently so much easier then the singing of the Psalms in Rhime But howsoever retain the reading of them by Antiphones and not quench the Spirit of God which breatheth forth that transformation whereof I spake Having thus instanced I will not propose the Ground upon which I maintain that all Reformation is to proceed for the condition of the Conference which I propose I will think it a point of that Forbearance which S. Paul commandeth the Romans not to insist upon those terms which the Authority of the Apostles doth inforce Because I see him not insist upon the Authority of an Apostle with them but having infallibly proved his ground of Justification by Faith alone forbear the consequence of it charging the Romans to hold that indifferent whatsoever his Authority so grounded declareth such yet charging them to forbear those that for all his Authority and Reasons understood it not For I believe verily that his reason and mine is the very same Namely to keep both Parties in the Unity of one Church a Member of the Whole Hoping that by Gods blessing upon the advantages which the communication of the Faithful one with another and with their Clergy affordeth those that are now most keenly set against these little things that are excepted at in the Act of Uniformity may by that condescension which the Interest of Christianity obliges all Parties to come to understand the only Principle of Reformation and Unity both The Authority of the Catholick Church in all things not determined by Gods Law which is only the Gospel under this time of Christianity And I set before them to that purpose the example of the Jews Who for all the Forbearance commanded by S. Paul having stopped their ears at all his charms with the Unity of the Church have forfeited the Faith hitherto irrecoverably For being fully perswaded that without this Principle it is not possible either for this Church or for any part of the Reformation long to subsist Can I fear any less then the utter loss of Religion for my dearest Country and for the dearer Church of God in it CHAP. XXVII How Recusants may or may not be punished as Idolaters IT remains that I say what Penalties this Position makes competent to those that refuse the Reformation thus limited A thing easie for me to do having declared the Ground upon which the refusing of Christianity is punishable Which the Reformation hitherto hath not been able to do The Position of punishing Hereticks capitally is generally decryed by them And yet we see Servetus and Gentilis put to death at Geneva and Bern and others elsewhere If because sentenced for Hereticks by them that put them to death Why should not the Powers that adhere to the Church of Rome execute the Sentence thereof upon those whom they pronounce Hereticks If because so sentenced by the Primitive Church in which we both agree Why owne we not the Primitive Church in the rest as well as in that If because they that gave the Sentence are competent Judges in Religion What remains but that contrary Sentences be executed by the Sword and Religion be no otherwise judged But supposing Religion and the Church and the sense of the Scripture Visible so far as the preserving of Unity requires Christian Powers must both protect Subjects in their Civil as well as natural being though not true Christians and yet punish them for not being true Christians Only if they pretend freedom from Allegiance by Christianity and we know it is false Christianity that so pretends there will be also fit time to declare why they may be capitally punished But those who declare the Pope Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters in the exercise of their Religion have not declared what Penalty is competent to their Idolatry And yet till that be cleared we are in the clouds This difficulty I find my self able to look in the face without ever disputing whether the Papists by their Religion are bound to commit Idolatry or not The Law of Moses indeed seems to shew that by the Law of Nature Idolaters may be put to death for their Idolatry For there is no appearance that the Law of God would have injoyned that which the Law of Nature allows not But the Case is otherwise under Christianity then under the Law of Moses The people of Israel held the Land of Promise upon Condition not to suffer any other God to be worshipped within the Bounds of it but the true God that gave it them upon those terms Therefore they committed a forfeit whensoever they suffered Idolatry in it But the Gospel was preached to the Roman Empire consisting of two Religions of Jews and Gentiles Maintaining the State of the World upon the same terms which it found saving that which if they imbraced the Faith they must voluntarily change When therefore the Soveraign Power of the Empire came to profess the Faith and thereupon an obligation to maintain and propagate it by all means which the Right of Soveraign Power furnishes they could not answer God for the right use of their Power using any other means then the Interest of Christianity allows They might
the Church is no further Visible then it is Catholick ANd thus shall the Church become Visible according to the Will and Ordinance of God which being in decay by the malice of man though not Invisible yet must needs become hard to be seen at least to the purpose of Gods goodness For by the discourse premised it appears why it pleased God to provide that the true Church should be Catholick That is to say that when it was so easie to discern the True Church from all that pretended being indeed Hereticks or Schismaticks the simplest were left without excuse if they made a wrong choice Which if it be true how can it be in the Power of any Church or of the secular Powers that maintain it being bound to continue a Member of the whole Church to introduce that for Reformation which cannot appear to be restored but may seem to be innovated Which how should it be done without owning that ground of Reformation which I have delivered and by consequence those bounds which the said ground inferreth And I do very well believe that none of those who decline Conformity with the Church would have the Face to deny this had they to do with the now Missionaries of the Church of Rome For it would not serve their turn in answer to them to plead that the Pope is Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters having Reason to challenge that God hath founded a Visible Church It would be absolutely necessary to plead though the goodness of God hath instituted a Visible Church yet that by the malice of man it might be and is become Invisible for the difficulty of finding Salvation by it though absolutely Visible because Salvation might always be had in it It is easie for him that would answer them with a good Conscience for Truth and not for Victory to maintain the Church to be Visible so far as the Faith and the Laws thereof continue Visible But that so far as the Faith and Laws thereof may be disguised from that which was from the beginning so far it may and is to be said that the Church which by Gods Ordinance is and ought to be Visible by humane disorder is become Invisible Which being said it follows immediately that as all estates in the Church are obliged in their several qualities to do their utmost that the Church may be Visible the Salvation of all Christians requiring them to Resort to the Communion of the Church which they believe to be Catholick so there is no other way to make it Visible but to restore the Faith and the Laws of the Church that from the beginning made it Visible And therefore no Christian Church or State can have Power to Reform the Church any otherwise then by restoring that Faith and those Laws which the Church may appear to have had from the beginning It would be Sacriledge and Vsurpation upon the Faith which God hath built his Church upon and upon the Laws which either the Apostles have delivered to the Church or inabled the Church to deliver to posterity to introduce any thing else for the Reformation of the Church Which seeing it must needs bind over the Church and Kingdom to the wrath of God as either destructive or at least prejudicial to the Salvation of the People must needs bind over him that hath this opinion to the same if upon so just an occasion he should forbear to publish and to plead it as he may without offense And therefore I take leave to blame all those who declare in behalf of this Church that it departeth and separateth it self from the Church of Rome For seeing it hath been granted in and by this Church ever since the Reformation that there is and always was Salvation to be had in the Church of Rome as a true Church though corrupted I am very confident that no Church can separate from the Church of Rome but they must make themselves thereby Schismaticks before God though before the Church they cannot be condemned for such because the Church of Rome the Authority whereof must needs be ingredient into the Sentence cannot oblige any Body to stand to the Authority which it so abuseth For if God have tied all Churches to Communion with all Churches how should it not be Schism to profess Separation from a true Church And it is every whit as easie to say that we intend only to Reform our selves and that the Separation hath come to pass by the rigour of the Church of Rome Excommunicating those that Reform themselves without her leave CHAP. V. How far this Rule is owned by this Church HEre it will perhaps be demanded whether or no the Law of this Land make this the Rule of the Reformation which we Profess And my Answer is that in effect and by consequence it doth For by maintaining the three Creeds to be part of the Service wherewith we glorifie God by Professing the Catholick Faith and by maintaining the four Councils whereby both the Faith and the then Canons of the whole Church are established it doth in effect maintain the Primitive Church not only till that time but beyond it For seeing it is evident that the fifth and sixth Councils are but appendances of the Fourth tending only to maintain and inforce the decree of it how can it be doubted that the Article of this Church receiving all Councils that have decreed according to the Word of God receiveth and inacteth those which tend only to inforce the Fourth which it owneth for decreeing that Faith which the Word of God teacheth Besides the prayers for the prosperity of the Catholick Church whereby we prove our selves no Schismaticks to the See of Rome when we repay the Curses of it with our prayers Besides that Injunction of Edward the VI which obligeth all Preachers to expound the Scripture according to the Consent of the Ancient Fathers Which as no man can say why it should not be in force So had it been in force we need not have come to the question now on foot And indeed it is in effect that which I demand For it will be found that the Consent of the Fathers is not to be had but in the common Faith and in those Laws which the whole Church either enjoyned or allowed particular Churches So that to expound the Scriptures according to the Consent of the Fathers is to expound them within those bounds and to trouble the heads of Christian people with nothing that is without the same As if their Salvation could be concerned all being safe within those bounds Here I must take notice that the reason why the Church Catholick is to be held may be miskenned if it be extended to all that is called Christians and not limited to that which maintaining the Faith violateth not the Vnity of the Primitive Church If the profession of Christ and Christianity were enough to make men members of the Catholick Church why should not Socinians and Anabaptists belong
A DISCOVRSE OF THE FORBEARANCE OR THE PENALTIES Which a Due REFORMATION REQUIRES BY H. THORNDIKE One of the Prebends of Westminster Church LONDON Printed by J. M. for James Collins at the Kings-Head in Westminster-Hall 1670. THE PREFACE ARistotle and Experience teacheth us that no Positive Law can provide for all the Cases that may arise upon the Terms of it Religion indeed in General is a Moral Vertue But the true Religion that bringeth Salvation is a Positive Constitution of Gods Grace requiring the Condition of Christianity to qualifie for the Promise of life everlasting But upon several Terms heretofore under the Law of Nature and Moses and now under the Christian Faith The Church of Christ in all Ages hath been constrained to provide new Decrees and seek new Laws for the quenching of new Heresies and Schisms They that ever hoped to do that by an Act of Comprehension which the Act of Uniformity hath not done would have proved themselves deceitful Workers They would have made many Breaches by stopping of One. That which I am able to propound I confess is rather possible than probable For were it so far advanced as to be inacted for a Law of the Kingdom I should never believe that it would take effect unless the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church might be received to give Bounds to all emergent Disputes No more then I can believe that the Reformation will ever prevail after one Breach in Germany after another since in the United Provinces and these last here amongst us unless we unite our selves upon the same Principle Whether I have said enough to prove it well grounded or not I must refer that to Judgment But he that excuses me not in such an innocent Proposition as this How would he have Almighty God to excuse me if having attained this Resolution I should not declare the Consequence of it in our present Case Especially considering the Duty which the Law of the Land justly and necessarily imposes upon all of my Order to Reduce Recusants to Church For there are now two sorts of Recusants And those that are bound to reduce them must do it upon such Reasons that by reducing the one sort they drive not the other sort from Church Let them that have more skill then I shew how it can be done without imploying my Principle I that am resolved it can by no other means be done must declare my Resolution though I were to suffer for it Which from a Christian Kingdom I cannot do One thing I have adventured upon my own Head Granting that the Government of the Church was Regular till after the sixth General Council And so that the the Acts of the Church before that time are effects of it But that is not to say that the Corruption of the Church which we Protest against and Reform began not till that time Religion began to be corrupted earlier in some and later in other Points But this Corruption had not the force of Law till after that time And especially till the Vsurpation of the See of Rome It is enough that there is difference Visible in any Point between that which was from the beginning according to the Scriptures and that which was when the Reformation was attempted That which can be made out hereof will serve to cramp both sorts of Recusants That which cannot should be no cause of difference He that reduces the sense of the Scripture within the Faith and the Laws of the whole Church warrants the Penalties of Recusants Let the Laws do their Office and make it a Disgrace to be out of the Church And then we may expect to see the Blessing of God upon his own Ordinance But without restoring Discipline without Canons and Laws to restore it without the Office of the Synods in providing those Canons let no man think that temporal Penalties will serve to do the business For though there can be no reason sufficient for violating the Vnity of the Church yet if the dissatisfaction that hath caused it resolve into a defect of the Laws it can no more be ended without redressing the Laws then a Disease can be cured without taking away the Cause of it Errata PAg. 10. lin 13. r. Prophesies sent since the Ground o Salvation was declared is p. 17. l. 5. the Church read this Church p. 20. l. 27. the Article of this Church r. the Law of this Kingdom p. 22. l. 3. Christians r. Christian p. 25. l. 27. decay r. decays p. 36. l. 1. or to be believed to r. to be believed or to p. 42. l. 29. Laws r. Law p. 63. l. 20. the best r. their best p. 99. l. 28. Churches r. Church p. 109. l. 28. making r. and making p. 113. l. 5. Christs r. Christ p. 121. l. 12. which r. of whom p. 125. l. 21. to come to r. come to p. 151. l. 17. Idolaters r. Idolatry p 153. l. 18. Invocations r. Invocation p. 263. l. 16. these r. those OF THE FORBEARANCE OR PENALTIES Which a due Reformation requires CHAP. I. The Case in which forbearance is pretended for weak Consciences IT is a long time that the forbearance due to tender Consciences hath been alledged for the means to restore Unity in this Church And certainly were the Case stated in which S. Paul prescribed it to the Church of Rome that so it might be drawn into Consequence in our Case the Scripture must needs produce that which would be of advantage for Peace without prejudice to Truth But when the bare Phrase of Scripture is tossed up and down in the discourse of them that care not to understand either the Reason upon which it is grounded or the Effect to which it sorteth no marvel to see the decay of Religion proceed from the abuse of the Scripture We need not the Heresies of the Primitive Times even the abominable Villanies of the Gnosticks to tell us what irreligious pretenses may be set forth in Scripture Phrase Our own Fanaticks would furnish sport enough with the fooleries which they pretend as from Gods Spirit because they can deliver their non-sense in the Phrase of Scripture could such irreligious madness move any thing but the compassion and lamentation of Christians It is enough for my purpose that unless the Precept of the Apostle be limited to that consequence which the reason of the Case will produce the two-edged Sword of the holy Scripture may prove an edge tool to cut their shins with who take upon them and have not the skill to handle it For the state of the Case to which S. Paul speaks I will say no more at present but this That he prescribeth only to the Church of Rome at that time when the care was not to loose the Jews by winning the Gentiles to be Christians There could then be no question of establishing a National Church by the Law of a Kingdom which Church and which Kingdom shall by that Law reform that which it protesteth
to the Church dispersed over the face of the whole earth Again the Eastern Christians that are thought to come from Nestorius the Southern Christians under Prester John that maintain the memory of Dioscorus and condemn the fourth Council of Chalcedon cannot be admitted to be Catholicks by any man that owneth the four Councils But in regard it appeareth not that they owne the Heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches though they owne the memory of their persons and in regard there is cause enough to presume that they would with all their hearts be reunited to the Church did not the See of Rome refuse all terms of Re-union that include not the infinite power which it challengeth they cannot be included within the Catholick Church without reserving a liberty to exclude them whensoever in point of Faith it shall appear that they owne the Heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches As for the Canons of the Church it was never neceslary to the maintenance of Communion that the same Customs should be held in all parts of the Church It was only necessary that several Customs should be held by the same Authority Which is to say That the same Authority instituted several Customs which they thought to be for the best in several times and in several places For so they might be changed by the same Authority and yet Unity remain Whereas questioning the Authority by questioning whether the Acts of it be agreeable to Gods Law or not how should Unity be maintained This is the Reason of that which I said even now that the Fathers do not agree in any thing but in the Faith and the Laws of the Church For it is manifest that they could not have agreed in the Laws of the Church if any had excepted against any thing used in any part of the Church as if Gods Law had been infringed by it Seeing therefore it is manifest that there are certain Canons and Customs known to have been the Canons and Customs of the Primitive Church owned by this Church it followeth of necessity that nothing can be disowned by this Church as contrary to Gods Law which holdeth by the Primitive Church So it is not my intent to say that the Canons and Customs of the Primitive Church ought to be in force And that there is no other means to restore Unity in the Church But that nothing can cause a Breach in the Church that hath Authority from the Primitive Church And that nothing can have Authority in the present Church that infringeth the Authority of the Primitive Church as if Gods Law were destroyed by any Act of it Further there are two points in the Title and Cause of the late War Episcopacy and Sacriledge wherein the Cause of the Crown hath been so united to the Cause both of this and of the Catholick Church that I may well say that to disowne the same Cause in other points alike Primitive and Catholick would be to deny the Conclusion admitting the Premises Or to keep divers weights and measures in the same Budget The Plea for Episcopacy and for Consecrate Goods hath made out so much evidence for it self that it hath helped to recover the Laws of the Kingdom And shall not the Laws of the Kingdom so recovered maintain the same Plea in all other things For the Visible Unity of the Catholick Church as it never subsisted but in the consent of Bishops so was it never maintained but out of Consecrate Goods CHAP. VI. What Errours have followed because it is not so expresly BUt I do freely acknowledge that though this Church hath many Obligations to owne this Principle for their Rule yet it is not formally and expresly inacted by those Laws of the Land whereby Religion and the Rights of the Church are established For I do further claim that the want of inacting and inforcing it and driving it home to the true Consequence in every point is the Cause and Sourse not only of the disorders which divers pitiful plaisters have been tendred to cure But of all disorders imperfections and decays of Religion which have succeeded upon the Reformation having been made without limiting those bounds And that the present disorders in Religion are the Symptoms of a common disease which all men are offended with but cannot be cured without recourse to the Unity of the Catholick Church and the terms of it wherein that health of Christianity consisteth which all division impeacheth I do therefore freely acknowledge that I find two positions to be the sourse of all those Excentrical Opinions in Religion which caused that Confusion upon the issue of the War that helped to make way for his Majesties happy Return The first is that there is no Condition for the Covenant of Grace That there is no Contract in it but a meer Promise The second is that there is no such thing as a Visible Church instituted by God But that men are first Children of God by Faith then members of a Church of free choice Of these Positions the one necessarily dependeth upon the other For the Faith of the whole Church from the beginning requires Baptism to Salvation And therefore includeth it in that Faith which alone justifieth And by consequence requires that justifying Faith cannot be understood without that Profession of Faith which a man maketh at his Baptism And this will necessarily infer a Church therefore Visible because Catholick For it is agreed upon by the whole Church that Baptism in Heresie or Schism That is when a man gives up himself to the Communion of Hereticks or Schismaticks by receiving Baptism from them though it may be true Baptism and not to be repeated being given in the form of the Church yet is not available to Salvation making him accessory to Heresie or Schism that is so Baptized Now it is not my intent to say that these two Positions were expresly and formally professed by Companies distinguishing themselves from others by Ecclesiastical Communion in the Profession Which is the true signification of an Heresie in the eye of the Church But the Positions I maintain to be Heresies in so much that if there were such Companies they must of necessity be taken for Heresies in the account of the Church And my Reason is clear For it is acknowledged by the whole Church clearly delivered by our Lord in the Gospel that the taking up of his Cross is a necessary condition to Salvation Now since our Lord gave Commission to his Apostles to Baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost it is evident that ever since we take up Christs Cross when we undertake at our Baptism to lay down our lives rather then deny the Faith of Christ or transgress his Commandments And since this Promise is not available unless it be deposited with the true Church it cannot be available to him that continueth not in the true Church that may exact the Promise deposited with it If any man ask whom I can charge
can have Power to introduce any thing for Reformation in the Church but that which the Consent of the Whole Church either injoyneth or alloweth Not as if the least Tittle of Scripture were not enough to warrant that which it injoyneth to be the Reformation of the Church But whereas the sense of the Scripture is that which remains questionable not the Authority of it that nothing can be the true sense of the Scripture which the Consent of the Whole Church contradicteth And therefore that though there be an appearance of truth in such a sense yet it is not for a Christian Kingdom to inact it for Law till it be duely debated And that being done it will infallibly appear in all which in most things appeareth already that the Consent of the Whole Church cannot contradict the true sense of the Scripture And that it is nothing else but not knowing the one or the other that makes it seem otherwise If the Scripture it self is not nor can be owned for Gods Word but by the Consent of Gods people from the beginning attesting the Motives of Faith related in the Scripture to have been infallibly done by submitting to the Faith which they inforce Then must the same Consent be of force to assure common reason that the Faith and the Laws wherein the whole Church agrees came from the Authority setled by God not by any Consent of all Christians to fall from that which they Profess And therefore though a Kingdom may force the Subjects thereof to call that Reformation which they inact yet they can never make it Reformation in that sense which the Salvation of Christians requires if it be not within these bounds It may be called Reformation to signifie a New form but it can never be Reformation to signifie that form which should be unless it signifie the form that hath been in Gods Church For that being One and the same from the first to the second Coming of Christ can authorize no other form then that which it may appear to have had from the beginning CHAP. IX That it cannot be done without the Synods of this Church ANd therefore it being granted on both sides that the Soveraign Power of Christian Kingdoms and States proceeding duely obligeth the Subjects to submit to the Reformation of the Church and cannot exact Legal Penalties of them which refuse upon any other Terms I do except in the second place that it ought to proceed in all Reformation by and upon the Authority of this Church That is of the Synods For what doth the whole Church agree in so Visibly as in this That the Authority which God hath instituted in his Church should give Laws to his Church And how can a Christian Kingdom promise themselves Gods blessing upon such Acts as they have no Power nor Right from God to do For granting there is such a thing as a Catholick Church it is not possible that any Christian Kingdom which must be a part of it should have Power to inact any thing Prejudicial much less destructive to the Whole to the Visible Being which is the Visible Communion of it And therefore the Faith and the Laws of the whole being the Condition under which the parts are to communicate no Christian Kingdom can have Power from God to give New Laws in Religion to the Subjects thereof which the Church of the Kingdom warranteth not to be according to the Laws of the whole Church If any thing may appear to have been in force in the Primitive Church and by the abuse of succeeding times to have become void I do not deny that the Secular Power may Reform the Church by restoring it though the Church should refuse their Consent to it The reason is because the Church would be without help if there were no Lawful way to restore the decays of it Which we agree have come to pass without the consent of them that are chargeable for the decay of it Now the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church are the Birth-right of all Christians Purchased by undertaking to Profess one Catholick Church at their Baptism And Christian Powers are to protect their Christian Subjects in their Birth-right And the Authority of the present Church is not seen in the Faith and the Laws of the Whole Church For it is meer matter of Fact what they are The evidence whereof praeexistent to the Authority of the present Church cannot be understood to require or to presuppose it And therefore the Authority of the Church cannot be violated by reducing the Faith and the Laws of the Primitive Church into force Nevertheless in regard that which is decayed can seldom be restored without determining new Bounds which the present state of the Church requires It is manifestly the Office of the Church to determine the same Nor can it be done by Christian Powers of this World without assuming to themselves that Authority in which they are to maintain the Church For though Soveraign Power hath Soveraign Right in all Causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical yet is it capable of no Ecclesiastical Power or Right But is to maintain those that have it by the Laws of the Church in the use of it If any thing were done at the Reformation setting aside the Synods of this Church which I am here neither to deny nor to acknowledge it must be justified upon this Account that they refused the Authority of the Whole Church in authorizing the Reformation of this Church If any thing now may appear to be demanded upon the same Account let the Authority of the Synods be passed by for their punishment if they hinder the Reformation of the Church by refusing it But that cannot appear till it may appear First that the matter demanded ought to have the force of Law in the Church having been of force and since decayed by the injury of time or corruption of men Secondly that it is of such weight that Religion is like to have more advantage by restoring it then the Vnity of the Church shall suffer by violating the Regular Authority of the Church What thanks I shall have of my LL. the Bishops for this I know not For I deny that they themselves can have any Authority in the Case that shall not be confined within the same bounds But it is not possible for him that is the most jealous of the Rights of the Crown in Church-matters to say what danger there can be to this Crown in securing the Conscience of the Kingdom by the Authority of the Church For the acknowledging of those Bounds which the Authority of the Church is confined to as well in respect of Soveraign Power in the Dominions whereof it subsisteth as of the rest of the Church leaveth no Plea for it to Vsurp either upon the Crown or upon the Christian Subjects of it And all this I claim by S. Paul where he commandeth all Christians to abide in that state in which they are called
Conscience should be pretended when the question is whether to turn Christian or not Is it possible that there should be such a doubt in that point that a man to whom the Reason why he ought to be a Christian is sufficiently proposed can be said to be under a light that convinceth him not Which if it be true then is there nothing in Christianity which there is not a sufficient light to convict that man of to whose Office it belongs Otherwise it could not being to his Office not being able to discern the Obligation of it It is therefore a horrible reproach to Christianity to say that any doubting Conscience is not under a light sufficient to resolve it Scruples of Conscience there may be which may eternally have recourse and that no disparagement to the Faith Because the Faith provides a Resolution that they who have scruples in Conscience are bound in Conscience to lay them aside Nay to act positively against them But he that says that being a Christian he is not under a light sufficient to clear him in any doubt of Conscience says that the Faith obligeth him to sin Whereas it is not the Faith but the want of it which obligeth not the erring Conscience to sin but intangleth him so that he must sin if the obligation of acting fall out before the errour be removed Suppose the Jews convict by the Epistle to the Romans that Salvation comes only by Faith and not by the Law also And you suppose them under a light that neither the Law nor any Ordinance then standing by virtue of the Law could oblige But suppose them in love with themselves and with their Ancestors and to have such an Opinion of Salvation intailed upon them and their issue by the Law as to think that they could not have it by God that gave the Law if the Gentiles might have it as well as themselves and they might very well for consequence of Reason though very ill for their own account oversee the light they were under Suppose we now those that make this Plea not to believe one Catholick Church and one Baptism for the remission of sins But had rather gratifie the Socinians and deny that any Christian can be obliged to any thing that appears not to his own Reason out of Canonical Scripture Then imagine he should gratifie the Papist if he should grant that Catholick Communion always made the Catholick Church Suppose them not to believe that the Faith which only saveth includeth Baptism in the Catholick Church And that this Church is not Reformed unless it be restored to the same form I say supposing them possest with such prejudices as these and marvel not to see them eternally doubting whether or no it be lawful for them to obey the Laws which this Church and Kingdom is able to make Nay to see them break out into Schism as all Parties now seem to do rather then obey them when they shall be out of hope to give their own Law to the Kingdom Never forecasting how it may appear to continue a Church when they have given such Laws to it CHAP. XIV That it is not Forbearance to allow their Orders I Suppose they who make this Plea will not grant that they are in any errour so near the Foundation as these which I name Nor do I think that those Christian Jews at Rome that doubted of transgressing the Law when they knew that Salvation comes only by Faith did deny the Foundation of Faith For as long as they lived in the Church they were in the way to learn and understand how both were true Neither will I say that any of those who desire Forbearance for the weak are in any errour destructive to the Foundation of Faith and the hope of Salvation till they break out into Conventicles When that is done I am thenceforth bound to charge them with all the Error which the Title of their Schism can signifie And therefore I charge them with Hypocrisie when they pretend to Forbearance because they are weak and yet break out into Conventieles when they do so then they can be counted no more the weak among Christians then those Jews which S. Paul will have to be forborn as the weak among Christians supposing them to have renounced the Faith afterwards rather then continue in the Church And therefore the Plea of weak Consciences cannot be allowed those that ingage in Conventicles They have cut themselves off from it by leaving the Church Let them return and then make the best of it As to them the Church is under a new Precept of S. Paul which says A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition avoid Knowing that such a one is out of the way and sinneth being condemned by himself Titus III. 10 11. Because saith S. Hierom after S. Cyprian Whereas other sinners are put out of the Church by those that manage the Keys of the Church Hereticks and Schismaticks put themselves out of the Church Therefore Titus that is all Titus his flock are to avoid them for Excommunicate persons who do Excommunicate themselves As for those that continue in the Church though with a pretense of giving such Laws to the Church as no man knows how soon they may unchurch it let them make their best of it But being grounded at least upon a pretense of weakness there can be no question made but some errour must be granted for the ground of this weakness Let themselves at their leisure assign what errour they will acknowledge if they like not that which I have assigned Only let them shew the world that is the Legislative Power of this Kingdom what errour it is that they have hitherto had which being avoided for the future all those difficulties will cease which this Discourse pretendeth cannot be met with but by bounding the Reformation within the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church In the mean time let me go on to shew that those who were Ordained in and for the late Schism composed by the Laws at his Majesties Return by Presbyters against their Bishops cannot claim by virtue of it to be owned for Presbyters Or in the terms of the Ancient Church to be received in their own Orders A thing which there can no question be made in by any body that understands what the Church or what a Schism signifies And it is marvel how they that would be thought to allow Episcopacy should question it To acknowledge the Authority of giving Orders in the Bishops according to the Laws by which we both maintain this Church to be Reformed and yet to allow those that are made Presbyters by those Bishops not to Ordain others but to Minister the Office of their Order according to the Reformation setled in this Church I say to allow them to Ordain others to Minister their Office by other Laws not only without but against the consent of the Bishops from whom they have their
Regeneration be altered in the Liturgy and Rubricks of it For this point is an instance how easily the substance of Faith necessary to Salvation may be questioned or abated or renounced by a Clause of such an Act. I grant it is clearly S. Pauls Opinion S. Peters Opinion our Lord Christs Opinion the Opinion of Gods whole Church Be it the Opinion of those whose Opinion is our Faith But he that would have it no more then Opinion must teach us a new Faith No Remission of Sins but by Baptism Entring us into the Covenant of Grace which the Vow of Baptism inacteth Entring us into the Church into which the Sacrament of Baptism introduceth Abate the Covenant which the Sacrament of Baptism inacteth and how shall a Christian be regenerate Abate the mention of it in the Service and where will be the Faith which this Church with the Whole Church hitherto professeth Shew me any Christian that ever questioned it till it was questioned what was to be Reformed in the Church and let it be abated Could Pelagius have questioned it his Heresie had not so easily been quelled He that travelled all the Church from Britain to Jerusalem had he found any Church any received Doctor of any Church that durst maintain Salvation due by the Covenant of Grace to any man that dyes unbaptized he had made the Church more work then he did No Baptism no Original sin no Cure for Original sin but Baptism no Salvation without the Cure They that think to confute Anabaptists abating this point of Faith no marvel if they make Anabaptists when they make men think that the Church hath no better Reason to confute them with then they will use Some perhaps that are not so well taught as they should be may think it unagreeable with Christianity that Salvation should depend upon a Bodily act as the washing of Baptism and that in the Power not of him that is Baptized but of the Church or of him that is to minister in behalf of the Church But S. Peter hath answered this Objection by distinguishing two things in Baptism 1 Pet. III. 21. the one the washing of the Body which saves not The other the Answer that is made out of a good Conscience to the Examination tendered him that is Baptized whether he will undertake Christianity or not And this saves if S. Peter say true And what account can any Christian give himself to ground the hope of his Salvation upon but 〈◊〉 Christianity which the Gospel tendreth which Baptism inacteth Or what can be necessary to Salvation if the ground of the hope thereof be not This is that one ground which overthroweth both those Heresies in which I said all the erroneous Doctrines of that Confusion which we have seen do resolve The Profession which we make at our Baptism is the Condition on our part upon which the Promise of the Covenant of Grace becomes due on Gods part The Profession so made nothing can defeat the hope of a Christian but the transgressing of it Being transgressed nothing can repair this hope but the restoring of it All Arts to disguise this Faith all over the Scripture signifie nothing but the hope of Salvation without living the life of Christians I will hope whatsoever Fanaticks or Atheists would have that there was never any intent to demand so great an Apostasie from the Faith to be inacted by a Law of the Kingdom I will hope much more that had it been demanded it would have been rejected with that indignation which so great Apostasie deserveth But I am glad and give God hearty thanks that I have lived to the day when I may and do testifie to my Country and to the Church of God in it that he who should demand of them to renounce this point must demand of them to unchurch themselves and to be for the future that which the See of Rome would have us to be CHAP. XVIII Conference for Satisfaction is Forbearance BUt is there then no effect of S. Pauls precept in our Case Can we break the Unity of the Church without breading the Charity of Christians Or can particular Christians be tyed to forbear one another and Christian Powers not be tied to cause both to do the same Here is indeed the Hinge upon which the truth turns and resolves all questions and clears all difficulties which must and will intangle the World in confusion upon the account of Christianity till it be owned Christian Powers may constrain their Subjects that profess Christianity to be Christians and punish them if they be not But they must protect them for their Subjects though they be not The reason of this hath not been declared by the Reformation though they have just cause to complain and do as they have cause complain of the See of Rome for authorizing capital Penalties upon Hereticks Under that name they comprize also Schismaticks And Schismaticks in their language as also in the language of all that claim the Authority of the Church signifies all that maintain Communion apart though the Cause make the Crime before God But if S. Paul have Reason when he commands every Christian to continue in the Estate in which he was called to be a Christian then can no mans Life or Estate become forfeit for not being a Christian And much less for not being Orthodox but an Heretick If the Life or Estates of Subjects should Eschete to the Soveraign for not being Christians that temporal Dominion of Soveraigns must be founded upon the Grace they have to be Christians All such Right S. Paul disclaims and discharges But shall Soveraign Power that is Christian be therefore disabled to give Law to Subjects professing Christianity That is our Case the whole Kingdom professing Christianity though the Whole cannot so properly be said to profess the Reformation For the Reformation setled by Law we see is refused as well by those that separate from it for a Reformation of their own as by those that adhere to the See of Rome Shall the Soveraign then lose the Right that all Christian Soveraigns have of giving Law to their Subjects in point of Religion because he is a Christian Or shall the Subject by being a Christian stand obliged to the Laws of his Soveraign commanding him to stand to the Christianity which he professeth Suppose the Christianity commanded to be Visible before Christian Powers command it and you inable their Laws to oblige their Subjects Not supposing it you cannot say how the Laws of Soveraign Powers should oblige Christian Subjects seeing the Papacy as well as the Reformation maintained by Christian Soveraigns For by the same Reason for which the Subjects of those Powers that maintain the Reformation are tied to their Laws by the same Reason should the Subjects of those that maintain the Papacy be obliged to obey the Laws by which they maintain it There can be no Reason for a difference if that which they maintain be not Visible before the
Law maintain it I suppose it will not be though a good Plea at the day of Judgment for a Subject to say that he was either Protestant or Papist because his Soveraign was so Now Christianity can be Visible by no other means but because it is the Visible Profession of the Visible Church If it become Invisible by differences betwixt Parties it must be in Soveraign Powers to bring the Parties to tryal Provided that there be no tryal but by the Visible Church This is the Forbearance that may be extended by Pastors and may be required by the Soveraign in our Case For the present dissension shews that the Reformation was well begun indeed but not perfected Does not the World know that there was an Act in force for nominating Commissaries to Reform the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Kingdom I am not to say why this Act took no effect I think I have said it when I have observed the rise of the Puritan Party and the seeds of the late War sowed in the beginning of Recusancy But I am to say it could not have taken good effect without taking in the Principle which I maintain What could be more just and discreet then to appoint Commissaries in equal number of Bishops Divines Civil and Common Lawyers But what could have had force but that which had been done to restore and maintain the Faith and Laws of the Primitive Church There are very great Reasons why those that desire to serve the Church should be satisfied in all that this Exception will allow There can be no Reason why more should be allowed To bring them into dispute with their Pastors is to put the Authority of the Church to compromise To compromise any Law of the Kingdom to dispute of Divines upon this Principle is no more then to oblige either Popish or Fanatick Recusants either to stand to the Result or to suffer Penalties competent to their disobedience and the hazard which the Publick Peace runneth when the Peace of Religion is disturbed If that which hath been pretended be all that is intended That some small things are scrupled Let the Legislative Power be satisfied that the preservation of Religion and of the Authority of the Church in which the preservation of Religion consisteth is only sought The Interest of the Parties to give and to receive mutual satisfaction is so great that if there can be ever hope of Peace by dispute this is the time and ours the Case wherein to hope for it CHAP. XIX Probability of recovering the Presbyterians FOr I cannot have so hard an opinion of men whose zeal for the advancement of Discipline in the Church I have always esteemed as to think them resolved to ruine the Common Christianity without hope of doing their own business seeing this to be the unavoidable consequence of holding up the difference on foot rather then taking up with so much of their own Pretensions as the State of the Catholick Church will allow Let them consider in the first place the Recusancy of the Fanaticks as well as those of the Church of Rome What hope their Principles can give them either to make their Recusancy punishable by the Law of the Land or to reduce them by convicting them of that sense of the Scripture which they only allow themselves to convict them with I set aside for the present those Prophesies of Daniel and the Revelation by which they pretend the Pope to be Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters For I must argue in due place that the Recusancy of the Papist cannot be punishable by Law upon this Account But how will they either reduce the Recusancy of the Papist by those punishments which the Recusancy of the Fanaticks must suffer or give the Kingdom God and the World a Reason for the why not which the best of them is here challenged to undertake Then let them consider the wantonness of these times and the wits of them that think it good sport to call in question the foundation of Christianity upon the belief of Original sin by introducing the praeexistence of Souls That think it but sport to make ready their studies in Divinity for the Pulpit by Episcopius his Works denying Original sin both name and thing and making the Faith of the Holy Trinity unnecessary to Salvation Or rather by the Works of the Socinians collected and united together in Holland on purpose to prepare us for the same Apostasie to Socinianism which they are in so much danger of there Let them consider what hope they have to make the Vniversities good Presbyterians that have sowed the seeds of this danger in them by the dissatisfaction they had of their Doctrine when they were in Possession there Then let them tell me what we shall say to the Papists to perswade them to come to Church when as they shall say that they cannot be secured that their Curate is no Socinian or Origenist For the Arminian Congregations in Holland having admitted the Socinians into their Communion and the Canon of the Church making all Socinians in the eye of the Church that Communicate with Socinians how shall they be secured against those that take their Doctrine from the Socinians Or from them who communicate with Socinians Besides let them but remember the time when they had the Ball at their Foot an Ordinance of Parliament for setting up their Presbyteries And how much they gained upon the People whom they had disordered out of all Ecclesiastical Government when they came to be at what they would be at I think they will be at so great despair of reducing the World to their intent having nothing in the Law of the Land to favour it that they will think that they have cause to thank God of a good opportunity to bring them off from an ingagement in which they are like to gain so little by hazarding the common Christianity As for the Clergy of this Church I suppose there is none of them so little a Christian as to repute it a loss to the Party to see their Adversaries capable of that trust in the Church and those rewards of it which they have suffered for themselves For if the necessity of the Kingdom hath required an Act of Oblivion much more must the necessity of Religion which cannot be attained without a cordial conspiring of those that are to manage it inforce a mixture of Interest And that being considered let any man tell me how that can be made but by a Third in which all are alike Interessed That is by owning the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church whereby the Papist is either reduced or left punishable as the Fanatick CHAP. XX. The Cure by repairing the Revenue of the Church BUt all this is but a Cure for the Symptom Should such a Conference take effect the Cause of the disease would remain intire For the Cause of our Divisions is not these differences which are too inconsiderable to produce so incomparable a
Jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts under the Jurisdiction of the Laws of the Land and those Courts that minister the same This Interest espouseth the Opinion which voids the Article of our Creed that professes One Catholick Church making Excommunication and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction founded by our Lord Christ a meer Imposture declareth it uncapable of any Sacriledge to be committed in the using of it In the mean time the Clergy whose Interest is no ways concerned in the Scandals which the Ecclesiastical Courts may give Further then as they are hindred by the said Courts to cure their Scandals by the due Use of their own Office do suffer not only the Scandals which are done under colour of their Patents But even the affronts of the Ecclesiastical Courts themselves Receiving Appeals from the Censure of their Bishops upon the Clergy For a few examples serving the Bishops not to imploy that Jurisdiction which is so easily affronted it must be acknowledged that the debauches of the Clergy are come to that height that till they be Reformed Reformation is not duely pretended against the See of Rome CHAP. XXII The ground of the proper Interest of the Church BUt perhaps there be those that are perswaded by the Leviathan that a Church is nothing else but a Christian Common-wealth And that the Civil Power thereof which is Soveraign hath full Right to injoyn whatsoever it please for the Christian Religion exacting what Penalties it please of Recusants There be others besides the Leviathan that have maintained some branches of the same Opinion but he is the only man that hath looked the whole Question in the Face with this Answer I will but relate the Issue which his own Resolution hath driven him to and leave him to Judgment For having objected to himself in his Latine Book de Cive that which is obvious to all Understandings That then a Christian may be justly punished for his Christianity He answers that it is no inconvenience that he should Because by suffering he purchases an abundant reward I know not whether any man told him or whether himself took notice that this was the answer of Julian the Apostate making himself sport with the complaints of the Christians That they were beholding to him for the Kingdom of Heaven which they gained by suffering his Persecutions But that it was not for the credit of his doctrine to bring Christian Princes into the predicament of Julian the Apostate And therefore upon second thoughts his Leviathan answers That a Subject is bound to obey all that his Soveraign commands in Religion whether he be Christian or not Insomuch that if he command him to renounce Christ he is bound to do it with his mouth and shall be saved believing in him with his heart nevertheless This answer shews the necessary issue of this Opinion That he who holds it if he be as bad as his word is as necessarily an Apostate as Julian the Apostate The hope of Salvation and the Right of Communion with the Church lyes not only in the heart which believes to righteousness but in the mouth which professeth to Salvation The Profession which is made at our Baptism is a Condition without which it cannot be had It is the taking up of Christs Cross which the Gospel requireth He that declares himself free in any Case whatsoever to renounce Christs though he hath not done it hath declared himself free of the Bond which he entred into at his Baptism And as he is no more a Christian to God no more should he be to the Church If further he say As the Propositions first maintained and afterwards recanted by his late Disciple at Cambridge do import That there is no difference between good and bad before Civil Power that is Soveraign inact it Then must it be said further that he is properly an Atheist For if God govern not the World if he reward not the good if he punish not the bad though man do not pardon me God and all good Christians if I repeat Blasphemy that it may never more be repeated then is he not God Particularly if Civil Power can oblige a man to say or swear that which he means not there remains not that Ground for Civil Society which the Heathen themselves whom nevertheless S. Paul truly calls Atheists maintained For what Ground for Civil trust if there be no Law before Civil trust to punish the falsifying of it Let him that considers this Consequence necessary upon all Opinions that distinguish not the matter of Ecclesiastical Law consequent to the State and Constitution of the Church from the Force it hath to be a Law of the Kingdom by the Act of the Kingdom I say let him answer in Conscience whether those Laws by which the Rights of the Crown Usurped by the See of Rome are Resumed into it did proceed upon this Opinion or not For my part I remember very well a solemn Protestation which one of them makes that the intent was not to innovate any thing in Religion by vindicating the Rights of the Crown And therefore do infer that none of them can be understood to extinguish the Rights of Religion concurrent with the Rights of the Crown in Church-matters which it doth not distinguish Knowing how difficult it is to distinguish between them As not knowing that ever the ground upon which they are to be distinguished was delivered till now But there is an Act of the V. of Q. Elizabeth by which that abatement in the sense of the Supremacy of the Crown in Church-matters which had been declared by her Injunctions from the beginning of her Raign to prevent misconstructions was made a Law of the Land This Act because it undertaketh not to limit the Supremacy by distinguishing the Interest of the Crown from the Interest of the Church for the difficulty of satisfying all Consciences gives the Subject leave to declare the sense in which he takes that Oath reserving to himself that which Religion requires a Christian to reserve for the Church Which was not the sense of them that believed no Catholick Church no Visible Right of it And by vertue of this Declaration it is that my self have undertaken to declare that limitation which the Catholick Church requireth For how many Prelates and Divines of this Church King James of excellent Memory in particular have done the same But it is no other then that which the Canons of K. James declare when they describe this Supremacy to be the same which the Godly Kings of Gods Ancient People which the Roman Emperors of the Primitive times before that corruption came in which we Protest against did exercise Here have you the due bounds of this Supremacy setled by Law upon the true ground of it For it is manifest that it cannot be derived from the Rights of the Kings of Gods Ancient People alone Because there could be no Catholick Church before the calling of the Gentiles But the Empire imbracing the Faith when the Church
have confiscated Estates where they might have taken away lives But that would have made the meekness which Christianity pretendeth to appear that Hypocrisie of our Sects Who are always humble always for Toleration till they get the Power into their own hands To shut up the Temples of Idols and to forbid Sacrifices was no more then to suppress that Sacriledge which the light and Law of Nature discovereth If any of the Imperial Laws make it death to sacrifice it is to be understood upon presumption that those Sacrifices were Inquiries into the life of the Prince or of their enemies To constrain them to be Christians by Penalties had been to make them counterfeit Christians Besides the Nations that bordered upon the Empire were all Idolaters And Christianity pretended to convert them as well as the Empire If the Emperors had punished their Subjects being Gentiles for being Idolaters must not the Neighbour Nations have persecuted the Christians their Subjects for being Christians The reason of the difference between the Law and the Gospel in this behalf is that which S. Austin giveth why the Law of Moses voids the Marriages of Jews with Gentiles Whereas S. Paul advises those that â—…ned Christians being married to Idolaters to continue in Wedlock with them desiring it S. Austins reason is this That the Law tendring only temporal promises expresly which Gentiles as well as Jews might did injoy in this world thought it too hard a temptation to trust a Jew in Wedlock with a Gentile by whâ—… he might be in danger to be seduced to prosperous Idolatry Whereas Christianity upon the advantage of the world to come assured by the Preaching of our Lord and his Apostles challengeth all other Religions as unable to resist it when it is performed as well as professed So that to suffer Idolaters in conversing with Christians was but the allowing of opportunity for the converting of Idolaters I think I have cause to make this an argument ad hominem that our Sectaries themselves cannot nor do require the Penalty of Idolatry by Moses Law upon Papists They that remember the time when the late Q. Mother of Royal memory came over do know what infusions the Pulpits then made into the minds of the people of the curse of God hanging upon the Nation for His Majesties Marriage The pretense was wholly upon the Law of Moses Which as I have shewed is not to the purpose among Christians But indeed those prognostications were no other then the Prophesies of the Devils Oracles among the Gentiles Foretelling the mischiefs which they intended or desired to do themselves This being a sufficient reason why the same pretense is not now on foot because it cannot be plausible after so dear experience of the mischief it tends to I think I am to take advantage of it in behalf of Truth and Justice That no Party can pretend the Penalty of Moses Law to lye in our Case Supposing not granting the Papists to be Idolaters according to Moses Law And is not the Case the same between the Reformation and the See of Rome At least it is so if the Reformation be that which it pretendeth For then the advantage must needs be so Visible that to allow conversation between the Professions that are at such distance is but to allow the means of bringing all Popish Recusants to Church when the Reformation is that which it pretendeth I grant that it falls out to be otherwise in our experience For they that are converted to the See of Rome at this time are converted by this miscarriage that they venture themselves into dispute with those which they are not able to deal with But the miscarriage is accidental Because of the Divisions within our selves arising from hence that our Reformation owneth not the Bounds which it requireth For by this means the Clergy of this Church is in contempt with their Flock and private Christians venture themselves into dispute with Recusants that is with their Priests without trusting their Pastors or acquainting them with what they do Which if they did do in due time such occasions would be opportunities of reducing Recusants to Church Besides to pursue the Idolatry of the See of Rome supposing not granting that so it is what would it be but to draw the Sword on both sides to try the quarrel of Religion with And therefore Soveraign Powers cannot give God account that they use the Right he gives them over Papists their Subjects pursuing them to the Penalty of Moses Law as Idolaters There is another reason for the same that appears now and then in the disputes of them that maintain the Religion of the See of Rome to be Idolaters For they have many times found themselves obliged to grant that their Idolatry is another kind of Idolatry then that which is prohibited and punished with death by the Law of Moses And if so it must be another kind of Penalty that belongs to it Now I suppose S. Paul says true that Covetousness is Idolatry and that there be those that make their Belly their God And whosoever understands the difference between the Old and the New Testament will allow that S. Hierom understood it Who in his Commentaries upon the Prophets makes all that they the Prophets say against the Idolatry of the ten Tribes to belong to the Heresies and Schisms of Christians and all Hereticks and Schismaticks to be Idolaters in the mystical sense of the Old Testament under the New Which is no more then our Lord says of the Samaritans That they worshipped they knew not what At such time when it was well enough known that the Samaritans were no Idolaters worshipping the only true God of Israel For certainly though all Superstition be not Idolatry yet all Idolatry is Superstition Because the chief of Superstitions is Idolatry All Superstitions stand upon the same ground as Idolatry and aim at the same mark Man is sensible by that Conscience which the light of Nature creates that one true God is to be worshipped And that as himself shall require not as his Creature is willing to allow And being therefore sensible that Concupiscence allows him not that Service which Conscience requires they are willing to pay him in Coin of their own stamping Usurping the Prerogative of his Soveraignty even in that whereby they pretend to pay their Allegiance Is there any other sourse of Idolatry but this For is it not reasonable to think that men can satisfie themselves and put off the Gods they have made themselves with that which the jealous God the true God will not be served with And therefore Religion teaches that Idolatry is the Worship of the Devil Not only because he teaches it But because he holds the Opinion of a God by corresponding with Idolaters in their Idolatries And what is all Superstition but redeeming the Service of God in Spirit and Truth by the service of our Bodies or Estates which may be done when the inward
blemish to the Church to receive them as they departed in company of their Leaders For their Salvation is provided for when the Bar is removed The experience of our Case makes this considerable At His Majesties Return it was inacted that such Usurpers as were possessed of dead Places should hold without inquiring whether Ordained or not Whereby it might seem to them that found no fault with their own Title that the Law of the Kingdom owned their Ordinations to be good But without cause For the Kingdom being then under that Force which was not as yet removed a thing manifest enough The Church not being yet restored the retaining of them which I am neither to justifie nor to blame was nothing but the induring of that Force upon Part rather then call in question the Whole But hereupon they that had got this colour for their Possession were not like to disowne that Ordination which the Law of the Land had seemed thus far to owne So the way was paved for the Schism on foot by refusing the Act of Uniformity when they were imployed without reconciling themselves to the Church by foregoing their Schism Some may think that I abate more then this for their sakes when I allow them Satisfaction by Conference yea and Laws to be changed for their satisfaction if just cause may appear But it is no more then I would allow Popish Recusants to justifie the Penalties that will be always necessary because they prefer the Authority of the See of Rome forbidding all Treaty of Religion without it before the common Christianity requiring Reformation in the Christianity of the Kingdom For do not they deserve those Penalties who refuse to assist their Country in a work so concerning the common Salvation upon just terms This I am sure supposing satisfaction there can be no difficulty in departing from Vsurped Ordinations and from the Schism grounded upon the same And therefore it is only the solemnity of Renouncing that is abated and the Irregularity that is pardoned And that by the example of the first Great Council in the Case of the Meletians And that because they renounce not the Catholick Church but acknowledge a National Church Which they cannot acknowledge upon due grounds but they must acknowledge the Catholick Church And therefore I say not the same of the Independents Who are Banded into a Profession destructive to it upon a Covenant For that Covenant is it that must be expresly and formally renounced before they can be capable of Communion with the Church And much more of Orders To grant them Communion otherwise is to make the Church guilty of their Schism which it alloweth And so to give Popish Recusants a just cause to refuse Communion with it As for other Sects of Antinomians Anabaptists and the like When any man knows upon what Grounds they Excommunicate themselves and how far they are Banded into Sects it will then be no difficult thing to say how they are to be Reconciled so as their Schisms and Heresies may be duely Renounced A thing which must be considered in those that were Presbyterians before they broke into Conventicles For since that came to pass who shall warrant that they have been guided by none but such as have Presbyterian Orders Or that they stand now to that Religion which the Rebellion once made Law to the Kingdom Which if they do not who shall warrant or how shall the Church be satisfied that they do depart from their Schisms with their Leaders And indeed the Independents though they be Banded into a Sect by a Covenant yet if once they be disbanded who shall answer for them that they will follow their Leaders And all this by virtue of the Sacriledge whereby they all betray the Authority of the Church and with it the Christian Faith to the Will of their People to debauch them into the same Schism with themselves Which if it be considered perhaps it will appear that the Forbearance which I have granted can for this reason extend no further then to the Persons of those that deserted their Churches rather then submit to the Act of Uniformity Nor shall it trouble me if my Opinion be found to come to no more For the Opinions of private persons are to content themselves with declaring what may be Leaving them that are concerned to judge what is But as for the way of Reconciling those which shall be converted to the Church in that the Apostolical Wisdom of the Primitive Catholick Church is of necessity to take place For Schism or Heresie being the Bar to the effect of Baptism which is the Gift of the Holy Ghost And the renouncing of it being the removing of that Bar It follows that all that shall return are to be reconciled by Confirmation as always they were reconciled to the Primitive Catholick Church This were easier done could it be presumed that all would follow their Leaders But if that cannot be presumed if they must be reconciled one by one yet is that no more than the work of an Episcopal Visitation from Parish to Parish A thing practised and usual in the Church after the building of parish-Parish-Churches in the worst of those times in which the Canons which I have commended took place But now as for Quakers we are no more to reckon them among Christians then the Gnosticks and Manichees of Old then the Mahumetans at present For they do openly owne the Dictate of their own Spirits to be as much the Word of God as the Scriptures And that is as much as serves to create all such new Sects as acknowledging the Scriptures so far as they please introduce the pretenses of their own Revelations where they think fit For when the private Spirit is equalled with Gods Word the last Dictate as in mens last Wills must of necessity take place Only this difference That whereas Gnosticks Manichees Mahumetans followed or do follow their Leaders Spirit Quakers follow every one their own And therefore are the more contemptible and the more reducible whensoever a course shall be established Certainly did they see that they cannot be reconciled but as so many Renegades they would bethink themselves before they went on in their madness Especially did the Law set before them that this their Position is not reconcileable to Civil Trust Always obliging them to the most desperate Acts of Treason and violence to their Country that they can imagine their own Spirit to dictate Upon which account it cannot be beyond the merit of their madness that they are made servi poenae by Law as the Roman Laws call it That is that they are transported to work in the Plantations For they that take upon them to impose upon their Country that the Offices of common Civility are Acts of Idolatry What is not to be expected from their madness who as the Case is dare pretend that it ought to be Law to all Christians But since the Law is to provide for such People it is manifest that it is to provide that they may not fail of the trust which the Church and Kingdom enters into with those whom they receive to Communion but that they must fail of the Civil Trust of Subjects That is that their Testimonies be not receivable in Law that they be disabled to sue at Law that they be disabled to make Wills or to get by Wills or any thing else within the effect of Civil Trust And this must also be the Penalty of the Leviathan and all that have or may follow him either into Apostasie or Atheism For they who declare themselves at freedom to forswear the Christian Faith can never be held by any bond of Civil Trust It must also be the Penalty of all Sects that may relapse after they may have been reconciled At least in that Proportion which that part of the Faith which their respective Sect denieth holds to the whole Profession of Christianity which Apostacy and Atheism destroy at once For it may be a Question why the Kingdom should be counted a Christian Kingdom if the Laws of it set not some mark of Infamy or Disgrace upon the enemies of Christianity according to the Rate of their Enmity Which only the inforcing of Excommunication by the Laws can do FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by James Collins at the Kings-Head in Westminster-Hall A Blow at Modern Sadducism in some Philosophical Considerations about Witchcraft To which is added The Relation of the Famed Disturbance by the Drummer in the House of M. Mompesson With some Reflections on Drollery and Atheism Plus ultra or the Progress and Advancement of Knowledge since the days of Aristotle Octavo A Loyal Tear drop'd on the Vault of our late Martyr'd Soveraign in an Anniversary Sermon on the day of his Murther Quarto All three by Jos Glanvill A. M. and Rector of Bath The Triumphs of Rome over Despised Protestancy Written by Bishop Hall Octavo A Sermon preached before the Peers Octob. 10. 1666. being the Fast-day for the late Fire By Seth Lord Bishop of Oxon. Quarto The Practice of Serious Godliness Affectionately recommended and directed in some Religious Counsels of a Pious Mother to her dear Daughters 12º A Discourse of Subterranean Treasure By a Member of the Royal Society 12º The General Assembly A Sermon by Francis Fullwood D. D. Quarto Forty Sermons by Anthony Farindon B. B. Fol. Rea's Flora Ceres Pomona Fol. Episcopacy Apostolical or a Consent of the Forreign Churches to the Discipline of the Church of England Written by Bishop Moreton and published with a long Preface by Henry Yelverton Baronet Octavo A Discourse of the Use of Reason in the Assairs of Religion against the present Opinions of the Sects of this Age. Quarto A Private Conference between a RICH ALDERMAN and a poor Country Vicar made publick wherein is discoursed the Obligation of Oaths which have been imposed on the Subjects of England with other matters relating to the present State of Affairs