ever liv'd in the world were expresly against him Leg. 12. Tab. Separatim nemo habessit Deos neve novos neve advenas nisi publice adscitos privatim colunto constrâ—…cta à Patribus delubra habento Ritus Familiae Patriaeque servanto So that I know no Patron either Christian or Heathen the Gentleman has to appeal to unless it be his own scattered Party or some of his Friends the New Whigg Atheists And as for their Judgment and Approbation much good may it do him I know no Man of ours that envies his happiness There is a wonderful vein of Argument not to say Discretion in his management of T. W.'s Honours pag. 7. If he supposes any weakness in himself he does not pretend to be infallible Suppose he makes but a slip in style which he hopes a Friend will pardon the performance must necessarily be all vicious But on the contrary if he allows a Dissenter the least grain of Christian temper humility or consideration so as not to be totally divested of all three it is enough to saint him he needs trouble himself no further for his condition is very hopeful and cannot be desperate pag. 8. But above all the Address to the Sceptic does most afflict him especially that T. W. should suppose any Sceptic to be obstinate pag. 9. Now for my part I cannot perceive that ever he supposed any such thing his words are these If thou be Sceptical a slighter of our Religion obstinate and perverse a despiser and reviler of the Clergy By which it is plain T. W. intended four several Characters of those who are Enemies to the Church now there is no necessity that they should all be united in the same person but if they are all found among the members of the same Faction as certainly they are it is abundantly sufficient to acquit the Alderman However the witty Vindicator by changing Sceptical into Sceptic and putting obstinate to it takes care to make Nonsense where otherwise it is not to be found This being a part of the Ingenuity of these Gentlemen to make Faults where they cannot find them and to raise Blunders out of their own imagination and then confute them which surely is the worst tho' one of the easiest ways of arguing that a man can chuse He is mightily offended with the Alderman for making the Ninth Article of the Apostles Creed the Standard whereby to discover Schism as if it were a most heinous Crime no less than declining the Authority of Scripture to make use of it The profession of that Creed has been the badge and symbol of all orthodox Christians for many past Centuries which certainly it would not have been if they had not all believed it to be agreeable to the Scriprure And unless these Gentlemen have a mind to extinguish all the former sentiments of the Christian Church that they may the better impose upon the World what ever Notions they please I know no reason why it should now be laid aside 'T is plain T. W. never intended to rival the Scripture with this Article for he goes on immediately to explain it by the sacred Text tho in this Case he cannot be so happy as to please our peevish Author He quarrels with him likewise about the Origination of the Catholic Church and is angry that he does not date it from the Creation of Angels or from the Beginning of the Jewish Church As if the Gentleman had never heard of the distinctions betwixt the Church Visible and Mystical Jewish and Christian or some body or other had put it into his head that the Angels are Christian it being the Catholic Church under that denomination only that T. W. spoke of When our Saviour uttered those words Mat. 16.18 Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church I desire to know of the Vindicator whether he did not speak of the Church de futuro and as yet unbuilt And when St. Luke says And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved whether he did not speak of it as already begun so that the Christian Church must have its beginning betwixt the time of that first saying to St. Peter and that other in St. Luke If the Gentleman will try his Chronology and assign us the year and day we shall gladly hear him but if he will still derive its Epocha from the Creation of Angels we are ready to assert the contrary In the mean time he ought to be a little sparing in his Reflections upon T. W. for if he were a Dunce and a Blockhead or a ridiculous Trifler for this account of the Origination of the Catholic Christian Church both * Probantibus actis Apostolorum descensum Spiritus Sancti quam Scripturam qui non recipiunt nec Spiritus Sancti esse possunt Qui necdum Spiritum possint agnoscere discentibus missum sed nec ecclesiam defendere qui quando quibus incunabulis institutum est Hoc corpus probare non habent Tertull. de Prae. cap. 22. Tertullian and St. Jerome †Acta Apostolorum nudam quidem sonare videntur Historiam nascentis Ecclesiae infantiam â—…xere Hieron Ep. 103. not to say our Saviour and St. Luke must equally be comprehended in the same charge Nay the Vindicator himself grants in the next Paragraph that the Apostles and Disciples were the Church without either Jews or Angels And therefore if T. W. were a Fool for passing them by I hope the Gentleman will not disdain to bear him company He is mightily troubled pag. 11. about the admission of Church-Members that it cannot be done barely upon their profession of Faith without complying with some significant Rites that are alien to Scripture-Rules If he had but told us plainly what he had meant I could have given a more direct Answer in the mean time let him know that we decline the Charge The Disciples and Believers submitted to the authority of the Apostles in things indifferent And if our English Dissenters would be as just to their Successors according to the rules and examples recorded in Scripture no body would require more from ' em As for the saying of the Bishop of Worcester which I suppose he durst not quote because he was conscious to himself that it was nothing to his purpose it concerns the Papists only and for what belongs to us I refer him to many other excellent sayings of the aforesaid Bishop in his Unreasonableness of Separation In the next paragraph he complains that Christianity does not make a greater progress in the world and immediately charges the failure upon needless ceremonies and want of worth in the managers Now whether this be so or not he may easily try if he will either send Mr. H. or go himself for I do not question but he will allow both to be exceedingly well qualified and give a call to the unconverted Let 'em try the Emperor of China or the Cham of
talk of Lewd and Extravagan Caresses between Ambitious Princes and Aspiring Churchmen Vind. p. 28. while those of his own Party are extant and may be seen Though it should be granted That Ceremonies have no Moral Goodness in them as he says is acknowledged p 28. yet Decency has which we think will not easily be preserv'd without them and that it is fit they should be chosen and impos'd by the Authority and Wisdom of Superiours For if otherwise Religious Offices were to be perform'd according to the Opinion and Will of every Rude and Phantastical Person we see by the Practice of Conventicles where that Liberty is taken how awkardly they would be manag'd to the great Scandal and Offence of the more Ingenious and Sober People Nor is it easilie to be imagined That God Almighty should be better pleas'd with the Rudeness of their Worship than with the Decency of ours Especially considering That besides the Practice of the Church in all Ages we have the Injunction of the Apostle That all things be done decently and are to Worship God with our Bodies as well as with our Souls which are God's As to the Ceremonies of our Church in particular they are so few and easie that he must certainly be a Man of more than ordinary Peevishness or less than ordinary Sence that can take 'em for Incumbrances upon the Worship of God The Vindicator himself upon Second Thoughts will not under pretence of Spirituality Vind. p. 38. reject the Natural Decorum of an Action in the Worship of God which I am very glad to hear And if he will but do One Thing more viz. allow the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation to be fitter Judges of that Decorum than every mean and half-witted Pastor there would be very little more requir'd from him I am confident when this is done that people will be better reconcil'd to our Ceremonies than to suffer themselves to be Excommunicated and Damn'd for not complying with them as the Vindicator talks page 28. In the mean time if any Man be so stiff and peevish or malicious against the Church as to deprave her Ceremonies and so far despises her Jurisdiction and Government that he will not vouchssafe an Appearance to the most Legal Summons nor yield to the most Reasonable and Just Monitions in that Case she does pursue our Saviour's Rule He that neglects to hear the Church we think ought to be reckon'd as an Heathen Man and a Publican or in the Language of the UNITED MINISTERS When all due Means for the reducing him prove ineffectual Heads of Agreement Tit. 3. Sect. 4. he having hereby cut himself off from the Church's Communion the Church may justly esteem and declare it self discharg'd of any further Inspection over him And in this practice the mildest Protestant Churches agree with us Eccles Dis of the Reform Churches of France transl into Eng. 1642. The Reformed Churches of France having us'd a Coercive Power over their inferiour Members Those that should stir up Strife or Contention to disâ—…oyn or break the Vnion of their Church concerning some Point of their Doctrine or Discipline or about the Method Matter or Stile of the Catechism though of Humane Composition or the Administration of the Sacraments Publick Prayers c. shall be censur'd as Rebellious Persons And in case they will not renounce their Errors then they are to be cut off from the Church If the Pastor or Elder do it he shall presently be suspended from his Charge and Imployment and be proceeded against at the next Ecclesiastical Synod If he teaches False Doctrine and persists after Admonition If he is not obedient to the Admonition of the Consistory or Convicted of Heresie Schism or Rebellion against Ecclesiastical Order he is to be depos'd If he thrusts himself into the Ministry where there is pure preaching already and will not deâ—…it when warn'd of it he is to be quite cut off and proceeded against as the Synod shall think fit And the same Course is to be taken with all his Followers And at the End of that Book we are told That this Order and Discipline had been resolv'd and concluded on by no less than Twenty Seven National Synods from 1559 to 1637 c. Now if these Reformed Churches of France were not to be Censur'd as Uncharitable for the Establishment and Exercise of this Discipline I know no Reason why ours should lie under that imputation In the next Paragraph he finds fault with T. W's Notion of of the Communion of Saints but gives none of his own whether for fear lest he should mistake or lest his own Party should be condemn'd by it I shall not now enquire It is certainly a nice Point for Separatists to manage It being hard for those that neither Pray with nor receive the Sacraments nor live under the Government of any Church to Demonstrate plainly how they hold Communion with all as this Vindicator confidently pretends However though he could establish nothing himself yet that he may do something towards finding fault with T. W. he proceeds to examine his aggregate description of the Communion of Saints which he tells you consists of these things First A firm belief of all the Articles of Faith contain'd in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creeds Now this mightily offends him 1st Because it was not said in Scripture as if he that believes those Creeds did not believe Scripture Those Creeds tho of human composition Symbolum Apost exigi coepit ubi variae Haereses in Ecclesiam irruperant Voss de tribus Symb. Dis 1. c. 14. yet are according to Scripture and contain the Faith into which Christians are Baptized They are the Symbola wherein the Orthodox of all Countreys agree and whereby they have distinguished themselves in several Ages from those Hereticks which did not assent to them The two former have been generally received and admitted into the Liturgies of the Eastern and Western Churches and therefore it is strange how the Vindicator can suppose that the Greek and other Eastern Churches are shut out by this condition of Communion 'T is true in the Article of the Procession they objected against the Latins the addition of Filioque in the Nicene or Constantinopolitan Creed and perhaps not untruly considering that in the old Ordo Romanus published by Hittorpius wherein that Creed is ordered to be used in both Languages these words tho in the Latine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui ex patre filioque procedit qui cum patre filio simul adoratur Hittorp Ord. Rom. de Div. Offic. p. 39. Ed. Col. 1568. Vide Voss de tribus 9. symbol Diss 3 c. 20. c. yet are omitted in the Greek But nevertheless they us'd the Creed and from them it came Originally into the Latine Church And as to that which we receive under the Name of Athanasius those among the Greeks who thought it to be his had always a very great veneration
for it But in some Greek Copies the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are left out So that upon the whole matter the Eastern Churches have no quarrel against either of those * Combefis ad Man Calec not 59. Creeds All their contention with the Western in this case is about the true Reading of them †Symbolum fidei quod ipsi profitentur idem est atque illud quod Latini in Missa recitant Differunt in eo à Latinis quod ipsi de Spir. Sancto dicunt qui ex Patre procedit Latini qui ex Patre filioque procedit id cum Graeci non negent idem cum Latinis dicere existimandi sunt Leo All. de Cons l. 3. c. 10. Sect. 1. And therefore unless he had been more particular about that this first Branch of T. W's description may stand and yet neither the Greek or any Eastern Church be excluded Secondly To partake of the same Table 't is true T. W. did not mean the same individual Table as the Gentleman rightly supposes and yet he meant somthing more than barely the same Eucharist in Specie Hereticks and Schismaticks may deliver the same Eucharist in Specie and yet he that Communicates with either is not thereby in the Communion of the Saints Thirdly To joyn all in the same Holy Prayers and Supplications and giving of Thanks T. W. does not hereby Excommunicate all the rest of the World For although the Forms of Holy Prayer c. are different in several Countreys yet people joyning with the Church where they live in its Holy Devotions do answer this Branch of the Description and those Christians who refuse and separate from them are certainly Schismaticks Fourthly To be Subject and Obedient to our Spiritual Rulers and Governors who have derived their Authority from the Apostles by a due Succession in all things pertaining to godly Life Decency and Order He cannot except against this They are desirous to give due Honour and Obedience to their Spiritual Governors who derive their Authority from Christ but still he endeavours to justifie their Separation upon two accounts Vind. p. 32. First Because he thinks the Bishop ought not to Govern so many Congregations nor by such Rules and Officers as they do Neither Secondly By the nomination of the Civil Magistrate without the consent of the People or the Ministers within the Diocess and while he does so he is a Creature not to be found either in Scripture or in the Primitive Times and therefore can be no Spiritual Governor of theirs by Divine Right As to the Government of so many Congregations we think it not Essential to the Office of a Bishop It being not the greatness of the City he lives in or the extent of his Diocess or the Number of Congregations but the Ordination that makes him a Bishop We acknowledg with St. Ep. ad Evagr. Jerome that the poor Bishop of Eugubium had the same Order and Authority with him of Rome and that he of Tanis was equal in that respect to him of Alexandria Soz. l. 2. c. 14. and that Milles the Martyr in Sozomen who had never a Christian within his Diocess Ibid. l. 7. c. 19. was as truly a Bishop as he who had all Scythia under his care On the other hand to persuade us that the great Extent of a Bishops Diocess does make void his Office will be a task I am afraid too difficult for our Author to manage We have no such Doctrine in Sc ipture And this conceit as it is beyond the malice so it is below the Sence of all Hereticks and Schismaticks in former Times And if it were true the Apostles themselves must have been the greatest Usurpers They having a larger extent of Jurisdiction even according to this Author than any of their Successors But this Argument has been so Copiously and so lately managed by Doctor Maurice in his Learned Defence of Diocesan Episcopacy that I shall only need to refer the Reader thither Secondly As for the Officers used by our English Prelacy we think them such as are extreamly useful in order to the more regular and easy management of the Episcopal Charge The Chancellor is a Person well learned in the Canon and Civil Laws and consequently able to judg or assist the Bishop in his Judicial Proceedings Nor is it any great exception against him in my Opinion that he is a Layman while there is no Necessity for him Personally to perform any of those things which belong only to the Clergy Lyndew de Constit q. incontin Dec. Rural vid plura de judiciis c. 1. Dec. Rural The Dean Rural is a Temporary Officer under the Archbishop or Bishop ad aliquod ministerium exeâ—…cendum Constitutus Cujus Officium est in Causis ecclesiasticis citationes ei transmissas exequi cujus sigillum in talibus erit auctenticum The Rules they go by are the Canon and Civil Laws where the Laws and Canons of our own Kingdom have not expresly directed The Authority they have is from the Bishop and the Law So that he who disobeys them in the just and legal Exercise of their Authority disobeys both How Sacred and Certain that Authority is I wish these Gentlemen may consider And if it were purely a matter of Choice yet methinks Church-Affairs are more likely to be well manag'd under our English Prelacy by such Officers and Rulers than after the Independent Fashion by the Sudden and Arbitrary Determination of every Mean and Ordinary Pastâ—…r perhaps in a Consistory of Clowns who must Pole for that Truth and Equity which they do not understand And if either the Pastor or any body else happens to be wiser than the rest so as to judge right have Power to over-rule his Sence and Arguments either by Votes or Tumult Neither Thirdly Do we think the Consent of the People or of the Ministers of the Diocess Essential to thâ—… Office of a Bishop Our Saviour Constituted his Apostles without it We have no Command in Scripture for any such Consent The Practice of the Primitive Times was various and therefore we think it a Matter left wholly to the Discretion of the Church Matthias and Justus seem to be appointed by the People as well as the Apostles Acts 1.15 c. But the Apostleship was not determined by that Election but by the Lot which fell upon Matthias For Justus who was equally Sharer with him in that Act of the People was thereby no more an Apostle than he was before And perhaps the same way of Chusing by Lots might be us'd by St. John as Mr. Dodwell conjectures but was never Diss Cyp. p. 12. probably in Use after the Apostles Days though if it had been Necessary we cannot believe it would have been omitted in the following Ages The Seven Deacons we read were Elected by the People but receiv'd their Authorities and Office from the Apostles by imposition of Hands And these are I believe all