the same body even so again whosoever appertain to the visible body of the Church they have also the notes of external profession whereby the world knoweth what they are After the same manner even the several Societies of Christian men unto every of which the name of a Church is given with addition betokening severalty as the Church of Rome Corinth Ephesus England and so the rest must be endued with corespondent general properties belonging unto them as they are publike Christian societies And of such properties common unto all societies Christian it may not be denied that one of the very chiefest is Ecclesiastical Politie Which word I therefore the rather use because the name of Government as commonly men understand it in ordinary speech doth not comprise the largeness of that whereunto in this question it is applied For when we speak of Government what doth the greatest part conceive thereby but only the exercise of superiority peculiar unto Rulers and Guides of others To our purpose therefore the name of Church-Politie will better serve because it containeth both Government and also whatsoever besides belongeth to the ordering of the Church in publike Neither is any thing in this degree more necessary then Church-Politie which is a form of ordering the publike spiritual affairs of the Church of God But we must note that he which affirmeth Speech to be necessary amongst all men throughout the world doth not thereby import that all men must necessarily speak one kind of language Even so the necessity of Politie and Regiment in all Churches may be held without holding any one certain Form to be necessary in them all c. 15. From all which discourse these Conclusions are plainly deducible as touching the preservation of Peace and Charity First that the imputation of Heresie Schism or the like cannot by particular Churches be so charged upon one another as to take from them the reality of being true Christian Churches whilst they hold the foundation And much less that any such imputation from any the sons or members of any Church should be held of avail to take that respect which is due unto her as a Church of Christ and debar her from exercising his authority on earth and that not only for keeping of love and union but for preservation of Christianity it self which is also needful to be upheld by observation of the Rules of Society and Government in the Church as well as in the Commonwealth 16. That to a Church as now the word is applied Polity and Regiment being proper that therefore no sort of persons wanting this power but living under it or any other Christian jurisdiction can assume to themselves the notion of a Church although they should consist of such as were of the order of the Clergy In which condition since the notion of Church could be no otherwise appropriate then to import a Congregation or Assembly it might be given to the Laity also as he avoucheth out of Tertullian 17. And next we may observe what those things be that are to be publikely exercised and wherein the members of each Church are to have communion and which do fall within the Churches authority and cognisance as Instruction Breaking of bread and Prayers that is to say to order and regulate the publike use of Preaching Administration of Sacraments of Prayers or other form of Service or Worship So that when any Church shall think fit to make any new appointment in any thing of these kinds It is not fit as he elswhere saith for those that are members thereof to ask why we hang our judgments on the Churches sleeve and out of stubbornness and disrespect to her authority to go about to perswade men to inconformity by making them believe that obedience to alteration in these things is hazardous or destructive to their salvation Not regarding the difference which ought to be put between things of the one and the other sort in respect of power to change Touching points of Doctrine saith he lib. 3. fol. 110 111. as for example The Vnity of God the Trinity of Persons Salvation by Christ the Resurrection of the body Life everlasting the Judgment to come and such like they have been since the first hour that there was a Church in the world and till the last they must be believed But as for matters of Regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new Articles of Faith and Doctrine no man thiuketh it lawful New Laws of Government what Commonwealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The rule of Faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone immoveable and impossible to be framed or cast anew The Law of outward Order and Politie not so There is no reason in the world wherefore we should esteem it as necessary always to do as always to believe the same things seeing every man knoweth that the matter of Faith is constant the matter contrariwise of Actions daily changeable especially the matter of action belonging unto Church-Politie Neither can I find that men of soundest judgments have any otherwise taught then that Articles of belief and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saved are either expresly set down in the Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to Discipline and outward Politie the Church hath authority to make Canons Laws and Decrees even as we read in the Apostles times it did Which kind of Laws for as much as they are not in themselves necessary to salvation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require 18. So that then we may resolve that as the true essence of a Church as a Church doth depend on the doctrine and profession of the faith of Jesus Christ and the authority from him received so doth the essence and force of Discipline and outward Polity depend on her authority only It is from her power as a Church that they are made of this or that form It is not from any form in them as thus or thus made that her being or power can be thought to depend 19. And therefore surely if the Church have power to alter and change when they are made as well as to make Canons Laws and Decrees it must follow that those that are members of that Church are also tied to obedience Clergy as well as others as he lib 5. fol. 391. urgeth against the Non-conforming Ministers of those times viz. Why oppose they the name of a Minister in this case unto the state of a private man do their Orders exempt them from obedience to Laws That which their office and place requireth is to shew themselves Patterns of reverend subjection not Authors and Masters of contempt towards Ordinances the strength whereof when they seek to weaken they do but in truth discover to the world their own imbecilities which a
by the Bishop of Rome But upon serious excogitation of the whole I was brought to resolve that in the plea and condition of power the Pope now standeth the interposition of his authority would many times rather increase then be effectual to prevent injustice or silence differences whether acted between a Prince and his own Subjects or by one Prince upon another As for example some person or order of Princes subjects misliking their usage appeal to Rome as against injustice and oppression He must then to make his authority known to be useful determine for one party or another as his judgment shall be engaged If for the King then is he but heightned and farther warranted to do the like If for Thomas a Becket or the Barons against him as sometimes in England then are Subjects encouraged towards sedition and civil war another time Again before he can be supposed rightly to interpose between Prince and Prince in the justice of their quarrels they must all of them be brought to be of the same religion and perswasion with himself or else equally averse that he may be impartial Suppose that might be done yet since he may have kindred and relations may he not in that case favor a Nephew a Casar Borgia or the like against him that hath no relation or may he not respect interest and application so as again to favor such an one as King John not only above his Barons but other Princes too upon resignation of his Crown to be held of him and his successors But that was not all for partiality and the like is but that which the Subjects of any Monarch might object against his absolute rule But the great difference and difficulty is that since the absolute Monarch was in all causes and over all persons in his dominions supreme Governor there was hereby a sure way for prevention of civil war and disturbance which being the chief political evil would recompence those sufferings of inferior nature which could but occasionally happen and never be so general Whereas he claiming but Ecclesiastical power only and it being not at all determined or agreed upon what is certainly so or not so for prevention of question thereabouts I saw no possible hope to attain peace by his umpirage if any should say he did exceed his Commission unless he could make himself Judg of that too and so by degrees and in ordine ad spiritualia draw in cognisance of all matters whatsoever When that is done as Constantines Throne will better become him then S. Peters Chair so truly if such an Universal Christian Monarch there were which is not likely to fall to be he there might much good arise by it as to the general increase of Christian peace and profession As for that other way found out by some of that side mentioned by the late Archbishop sect 26. num 11. for advance of his Supremacie namely by setting up again one Emperor over all Christendom to rule in secular matters while himself would rule him and them too in what he would call spiritual with as supereminent splendor as the Sun doth the Moon I apprehend it still ineffectual to peace till those powers be joyned in one person unless the Emperor could indeed be content as I said to change places with him and become so subordinate as not to shine in any act of Moon like power but by the light and leave of this his Sun Could this in any likelihood have been eâ—pected I might happily then have given some credit to those slender probabilities of S. Peters primacie and the Popes succession in the chair In the mean time the usurped exercise of this his Ecclesiastick power where he had no jurisdiction as a power standing insubordinate to the Prince hath begotten that great mistake That there might be a Church in a Church that is one Christian Common-wealth in another 13. But let us hear judicious Mr. Hooker more at large in this business of the Church and in answer to such as would appropriate the notion of Church to those of their own perswasion only lib. 5. fol. 367. Church is a word which Art hath devised thereby to sever and distinguish that society of men which professeth the true Religion from the rest which professeth it not There have been in the world from the very first foundation thereof but three Râ—ligions Paganism which lived in the blindness of corrupted and depraved nature Judaism embracing the Law which reformed Heathenish impiety and taught salvation to be looked for through one whom God in the last days would send and exalt to be Lord of all finally Christian belief which yieldeth obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and acknowledgeth him the Saviour whom God did promise Seeing then that the Church is a name which Art hath given to Professors of true Religion as they which will define a man are to pass by those qualities wherein one man doth excel another and to take only those essential properties whereby a man doth differ from creatures of other kinds So he that will teach what the Church is shall never rightly perform the work whereabout he goeth till in matter of Religion he touch that difference which severeth the Churches religion from theirs who are not of the Church Religion being therefore a matter partly of contemplation partly of action we must define the Church which is a religious society by such differences as do properly explain the essence of such things that is to say by the object or matter whereabout the contemplations and actions of the Church are properly conversant For so all Knowledges and all Vertues are defined Whereupon because the only object which separateth ours from other Religions is Jesus Christ in whom none but the Church doth believe and whom none but the Church doth worship we find that accordingly the Apostles do every where distinguish hereby the Church from Infidels and from Jews accounting them which call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be his Church If we go lower we shall but add unto this certain casual and variable accidents which are not properly of the being but make only for the happier and better being of the Church of God either indeed or in mens opinions and conceits This is the error of all Popish definitions that hitherto have been brought They define not the Church by that which the Church essentially is but by that wherein they imagine their own more perfect then the rest are Touching parts of eminencie and perfection parts likewise of imperfection and defect in the Church of God they are infinite their degrees and differences no way possible to be drawn unto any certain account There is not the least contention and variance but it blemisheth somwhat the unity that ought to be in the Church of Christ which notwithstanding may have not only without loss of essence or breach of concord her manifold varieties in Rites and Ceremonies of Religion but also her
strifes and contentions many times and that about matters of no small importance yea her schisms factions and such other evils whereunto the body of the Church is subject sound and sick remaining both of the same body as long as both parts retain by outward profession that vital substance of Truth which maketh Christian Religion to differ from theirs which acknowledg not our Lord Jesus Christ the blessed Saviour of mankind give no credit to his glorious Gospel and have his Sacraments the seal of eternal life in derision Now the priviledg of the visible Church of God for of that we speak is to be herein like the Ark of Noah for any thing we know to the contrary all without are lost sheep Yet in this was the Ark of Noah priviledged above the Church that whereas none of them which were in the one could perish numbers in the other are cast away because to eternal life our profession is not enough Many things exclude from the Kingdom of God although from the Church they separate not In the Church there arise sundry grievous storms by means whereof whole Kingdoms and Nations professing Christ both have been heretofore and are at this present day divided about Christ During which division and contentions amongst men albeit each part do justifie it self yet the one of necessity must needs erre if there be any contradiction between them be it great or little And what side soever it be that hath the truth the same we must also acknowledg alone to hold with the true Church in that point and consequently reject the other as an enemy in that case fallen away from the true Church Wherefore of hypocrites and dissemblers whose profession at the first was but only from the teeth outward when they afterwards took occasion to oppugn certain principal Articles of Faith the Apostles which defended the truth against them pronounce them gone out from the fellowship of sound and sincere Believers when as yet the Christian religion they had not utterly cast off In like sense and meaning throughout all Ages Heretickâ— have been justly hated as branches cut off from the body of the true Vine yet only so far forth cut off as their Heresies have extended Both Heresie and many other crimes which wholly sever from God do sever from the Church of God in part only The mysterie of Piety saith the Apostle is without peradventure great GOD hath been manifested in the flesh hath been justified in the Spirit hath been seen of Angels hath been preached to Nations hath been believed on in the world hath been taken up into glory The Church a pillar and foundatiou of this truth which no where is known or profess'd but only within the Church and they all of the Church that profess it In the mean while it cannot be denied that many profess this who are not therfore cleered simply from all either faults or errors which maketh separation between us and the Wel-spring of our happiness Idolatry severed of old the Israelites Iniquity those Scribes and Pharisees from God who notwithstanding were a part of the seed of Abraham a part of that very seed which God did himself acknowledg to be his Church The Church of God may therefore contain both them which indeed are not his yet must be reputed his by us that know not their inward thoughts and them whose apparent wickedness testifieth even in the sight of the whole world that God abhorreth them For to this and no other purpose are meant those Parables which our Saviour in the Gospel hath concerning mixture of Vice with Vertue Light with Darkness Truth with Error as well an openly known and seen as a cunningly cloaked mixture That which therefore separateth utterly that which cutteth off clean from the visible Church of Christ is plain Apostacie direct denial utter rejection of the whole Christian faith as far as the same is professedly different from Infidelity Hereticks as touching those points of Doctrine wherein they fail Schismaticks as touching the quarrels for which or the duties wherein they divide themselves from their brethren Loose licentious and wicked persons as touching their several offences and crimes have all forsaken the true Church of God the Church which is sound and sincere in the doctrine that they corrupt the Church that keepeth the bond of unity which they violate the Church which walketh in the ways of righteousness which they transgress the very true Church of Christ they have left howbeit not altogether left nor forsaken simply the Church upon the main foundations whereof they continue built notwithstanding those breaches whereby they are rent from bottom to top asunder And having largely discoursed on the same argument in the beginning of his third Book he proceeds to reprove such as being then members of this Church would annihilate her being truly a Church and claim an independencie because of some corruptions they conceived in her As there are saith he fol. 86. which make the Church of Rome utterly no Church at all by reason of so many grievous errors in their Doctrine so we have them amongst us who under pretence of imagined corruptions in our Discipline do give even as hard a judgment of the Church of England it self And afterwards f. 88. coming to distinguish the visible Church into parts according to their several jurisdictions to the end that authority thereof might be made useful he farther saith For preservation of Christianity there is not any thing more needful then that such as are of the visible Church have mutual felowship and society one with another In which consideration as in the main body of the Sea being one yet within divers precincts hath divers names so the Catholick Church is in like sort divided into a number of distinct societies every of which is termed a Church within it self In this sense the Church is always a visible society of men not an Assembly but a society For although the name of the Church be given unto Christian assemblies although any multitude of Christian men congregated may be termed by the name of a Church yet Assemblies properly are rather things that belong to a Church Men are assembled for performance of publike actions which actions being ended the Assembly dissolveth it self and is no longer in being whereas the Church which was assembled doth no less continue afterwards then before Where but three are and they of the Laity also saith Tertullian yet there is a Church that is to say a Christian Assembly But a Church as now we are to understand it is a Society that is a number of men belonging unto some Christian fellowship the place and limits whereof are certain That wherein they have communion is the publike exercise of such duties as those mentioned in the Apostles Acts Instruction Breaking of bread Prayers As therefore they that are of the mystical body of Christ have those inward graces and vertues whereby they differ from all others which are not of
invincible Remonstrance as to cause all mens judgements to give place their opposition is to be suspected as proceeding from affected singularity or worse 23. For if in those things wherein controversie is whether they be warranted by Scripture or by the Catholick Church as Fathers Councels or the like such as live under any Christian authority should take upon them to be judges they should then usurpe that proper cognisance and power which is peculiar to the Church onely and leave her nothing to doe For since in points fundamentall or fully agreed upon her power reacheth not it must follow that to her alone it belongeth out of that variety of interpretation made of the meaning of the Texts themselves and out of that variety and contradiction which is found amongst Councels Fathers and other Writers to make choice of and give determination for what sort of doctrine or regiment she shall finde either to have been most Catholiquely received or to be grounded upon most Orthodox Principles and soundest reason Which done for men to say the Church hath no power to institute or or take away contrary to the Word of God and then produce no other Texts for condemning her in any particular then what are by others interpreted otherwise and also after the same manner she hath done already doth certainly argue great arrogance and stubbornness of mind in them that would thus apply it although the speech in it self be most true 24. And no lesse then so it is when out of the Sentences of some Councels Fathers or other Writers the doctrine and authority of the Catholike Church is alledged to take off our obedience to that Church under which we live It being none other in points of controversie in Religion then if in Civill suits and debates the parties in contention should appeal from the Laws of that Common wealth to the Verdict of the Civil Law and avouch the Testimony of Vlpian Papinian or the like for the meaning thereof Or to the Law of Nations and then prove there is such a Law and to be just so construed because some men whom they esteem well of have so thought If there be no controversie about the truth or equity of what they propound but all men are found to agree why then it is a sign God did make the discovery to them since he hath thus enabled them to prove it If not how can they think but reasonable even for peace and order sake if not for her own sake that that side and determination which in this controversie agrees with the Church should be preferred to that which is chosen by them And therefore if the Church may devise new Rites and must for Peace sake be obeyed then certainly when she doth not devise any thing new by way of addition nor so much as retain what was before taken as scandalous in things that were ancient I do not see any invincible reason no nor reason at all for Schisme or separation 25. And as for that power of mitigation what the general and literal rigour of Ecclesiasticall Laws hath set down as he spake it in justification of what was by the then Civill Magistrate or a power from her dispensed with in the cases of Plurality Non-residence and the like so it may also truly inform us that if for the further enabling men in the study of Divinity and consequently in the gift of preaching nay even for their temporal maintenance sake these general Laws and Rules of the Church were dispensed with while the same was still remaining and in power Much more may men now out of the rule of justice and charity both to themselves and others think themselves dispensed with the omission of some Rites and Ceremonies and of reading the Service Book when as not a dispensation alone but a strict injunction against the use of them is by the like soveraign power apparantly made and that Church also whose Laws they were hath neither force or being Charity I say both publike and private when as both preaching it self and the maintenance to rise thereby have so necessary a dependance on the forbearance of them If Preachers that had other places to live on and preach in might out of particular favour to them or some other person whose Chaplains they were be thus dispensed with as we know they were and that they then readily enough made use of it may we not conclude that both the rule of Charity to ones self and of generall charity to others that may reap good by their Doctrine will excuse them in a time when their own maintenance and the exercise of preaching doth wholly rely upon their obedience in this kinde So that seem the thing never so strange and new either in respect of addition or substraction to what was formerly done and established it is not by those that are Members and do live within the jurisdiction thereof to be disobeyed as out of scandal at alteration the Church having power as well to substract as to institute And therefore he saith lib. 5. fol. 196. All things cannot be of ancient continuance which are expedient and needfull for the ordering of spiritual affairs But the Church being a body which dieth not hath alwayes power as occasion requireth no lesse to ordain that which never was then to ratifie what hath been before To prescribe the order of doing all things is a peculiar prerogative which wisdome hath as Queen or Soveraign Commandress over other vertues This in every several mans actions of common life appertaineth unto Morall in publike and politick secular affairs unto civill Wisedom In like manner to devise any certain form for the outward administration of publique duties in the service of God or things belonging thereunto and to find out the most convenient rule for that use is a point of wisedome Ecclesiasticall It is not for a man which doth know or should know what order is and what peaceable government requireth to ask why we should hang our judgement upon the Churches sleeve and why in matters of Order more then in matters of Doctrine The Church hath Authority to establish that for an Order at one time which at another time it may abolish and in both do well Then which nothing could in my opinion have been spoken more pointing to Peace and silencing of disputes in our present alterations and to the satisfaction of such as think that those forms of Prayer and administration of Sacraments Ordination and other publike Rites and Ceremonies may not by a succeeding Church and Power therein be lawfully taken away like as they were by a former established 26. And that specially if to those that have the oversight of these things there shall seem to be superstition incident to the use of them through some over-value and mistake which through frequent use might be cast towards them as though they were indeed Fundamentals of themselves Superstition saith he lib. 5. fol. 191. such as that of the
same respect and obedience which was by the Law of God due to their Governor in chief So that he that shall read their Stories and observe the legality of their entrance will not beleeve as I said that Bishop Andrews in what he said against such as Nimrod did ever intend that such like Usurpations as might by some be attributed to those should ever take from any that respect and subjection which did belong to the Lords annointed and Head of the Church 50. Afterwards the Bishop shews how Constantine and his Successors held those Trumpets for a Thousand years after Christ and then one of them saith he fol 113. by what means we all know was let go by them or gotten away and carried to Rome But that getting hath hitherto been holden a plain usurping and an usurping noâ— upon the Congregation but upon Princes and their Rights and that they in their own wrong suffered it to be wrung from them And why Because not to Aaron but to Moses it was said Et erunt tibi To draw to an end it was then gotten away and with some a do it was recovered not long since and what you may please to remember there was not long since a Clergy in place that was wholly ad oppositum and would never have yeelded ought Nothing they would do and in eye of Law without them nothing could then be done they had incroached the power of Assembling into their own hands How then how shall we do for an Assembly then Erunt tibi was a good Text it must needs be meant of the Prince He had this power and to him of right it belonged This was then good Divinity and what Writer is there extant of those times but it may may be turned to in him And was it good divinity then and is it now no longer so Was the King but licenced for a while to hold â—his power till another Clergy were in and must he then be deprived of it again Was it then usurped from Princes and are now Princes usurpers of it themselves And is this all the difference in matter of the Assemblies and calling of them that there must be onely a change and that instead of a Forreign they shall have a Domestical and instead of one many and no remedy now but one of these two they mnst needs admit of Is this now become good Divinity Nay I trust if Erunt tibi were once true it is so still and if Tibi were then Moses it is so still â—hat we will be better advised and not thus go against our selves and let truth be no longer truth then it will serve our turns And this calls to my mind the like dealing of a sort of men not long since here among us A while they plied Prince and Parliament with Admonitions Supplications Motions and Petitions And in them it was their duty their right to frame all things to their new invented plot And this so long as any hope blew out of that coast But when that way they saw it would not be then took they up a new Tenet â—traight They needed neither Magistrate nor Trumpet they The godly among the people might do it of themselves for confusion to the wise and mighty the poor and simple must take this work in hand and so by this means the Trumpet prove their right in the end and so come by devolution to Demetrius and the Crafts-men Now if not for the love of the truth yet for very shame of these shifting absurdities let these phantasies be abandoned and that which Gods own mouth hath here spoken let it be for once and for ever true That which once we truly held and maintained for truth let us do so still that we be not like evil Servants judged Ex ore propris out of their own mouthes Let me not overweary you let this rather suffice 1. We have done as our Saviour Christ willed us resorted to the Law and found what is written the Grant of this power to Moses to call the Congregation 2. We have followed Moses's advise enquired of the days before us even from one end of heaven to another and found the practise of this Grant in Moses's Successors and the Congregation so by them called It remaineth that as God by his Law hath taken this order and his people in former ages have kept this order that we do so too that we say as God saith Erunt tibi this Power pertaineth to Moses And that neither with Core we say Non veniemus nor with Demetrius run together of our selves and think to carry it away with crying Great is Diana But as we see the power is of God so truly to acknowledg it and dutifully to yield it that so they whose it is may quietly hold it and laudably use it to his glory that gave it and their good for whom it was given Which God Almighty grant c. I have the more largely made recital of this Sermon because all along it is so express in cleering of most of those objections which are now made Now as it was then in answer to the Recusants and Nonconformists of those times in which respect I fear that what is let down towards the end thereof touching stubbornness in conformity towards the chief Magistrate in matters of Reformation when it shall be by him thought necessary will but too neerly condemn some amongst us with apostacie and tergiversation from their first principles and that ex ore proprio as he saith because they do now deny him the exercise of that power which hitherto themselves and the most eminent of their party have maintained to be their due For he sheweth that since the Church hath her Wars to fight and her Laws to make as well as the Civil State that therefore it is as necessary there should be a continual power to call and preside in all Assemblies made to that purpose in the Church as well as in the State That these Trumpers are to be of one peece Vnus juris That this power is from God immediately derived unto one without first setling it into any body collective at all And therefore truly if a whole National Church can claim no Church power no one party or separate Order therein can although they should be as eminent as Aaron himself No both powers are delivered to Moses not for his time onely but as he had it as the chief Magistrate so to succeed to such as should be chief Magistrates amongst the people of God as a Jus Regale to him that should be Rex in Jeshrune although in strict propriety he be no more King then Moses was And then he censures such as would in regard of their separate order sain have had a separate power It may be saith he if we communicate with flesh and blood we may think it more convenient as some do that God had delivered Moses and Aaron either of them one But when we see Gods Will by Gods
Reader forborn quotations of many other famous men in our Church concurring in the same judgement and made most particular choice of Mr. Hooker and Bishop Andrews as men generally held most famous and Orthodox in their generations the one in the time of Queen Elizabeth and the other since even in the time of our late King They were then and are still for ought I know held to be the great Defenders of this Churches authority and that of the â—hief Magistrate therein against the then Recusants and Nonconformists and I hope their credit is not so lost but that their authority and yet arguments will remain of the same force still to keep us from all inclinations either to Schism or Sedition that we do not thereby give the world too just occasion to say we are indeed fallen from our Principles through some sinister prejudice or partial conceit of our own 54 To direct and encourage in this constancy let us revert to thse grounds and reasons before laid down let us consider that since the maintenance of love and charity and the preservation of mankind by peace have so necessary a dependence upon submision to the Authority of that Church where we live and since the Glory Service and Worship of God here on earth hath again so near a relation unto this preservation of mankind by peace that therefore in these and thingâ— of the like nature which are not of such express divine Precept as to be demonstrable out of the Word of God or are not fundamental to our salvation there should no opposition be made to the disturbance of the peace of â—he Church but to that very end all to submit to the determination of those that have chief power therein Let not the crafts or designs of other men lead us to dâ—quiet so as to think that in things of this nature and where controversies and differences do daily arise between Church and Church Christian and Christian our salvation should be endangered while we incline to that side that maintains Charity by submitting our selves to those that have the rule over us To this end I shall here record that remarkable speech of Dr. Vsher late Primate of Armagh That in these Propositions which without all controversie are universally received in the whole Christian World so much truth is contained as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man to everlasting salvation Neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as walk according to this rule neither overthrowing that which they builded by superinducing any damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise violating their holy Faith with a leud and wicked conversation peace shall be upon them and upon the Israel of God This as it was alleadged by Dr. Potter in his Treatise called Charity mistaken for that the Church of Rome did make all things fundamental which she held and thereupon excluded all from salvation that were not of her communion so is it by Mr. Chillingworth in his Reply fol 20. held for as great and good a truth and as necessary for these miserable times as can be uttered For if it should stand with men in the point of salvation according to that censure which each Church or sect therein doth put upon all that differ or descent from them then could no one Christian hope for Heaven insomuch as he must necessarily be a member of some Church or other which in matters of Doctrine or Discipline if not both is by some other Churches held so far Heretical or Schâ—smatical as to exclude all of that communion from hope of salvation which thing the Papists do hold concerning all Protestants in general and many of the Protestants hold of them again and do also pass their sentence as hardly of one another But our comfort is that we shall at the last day be judged by him who knows our hearts and whether we have not sought and followed his Truth according to the uâ—most of the ability he gave us and not left to the sentence of such as out of pride prejudice or other interest are so ready to put an over-value upon their own Tenets and become both Parties and Judges 55. Corcerning those aspersions of Heresie and Schism which are now so frequently thrown by one party upon another I have in the general observed that where the names and notions themselves are ofâ—nest repeated and most stood upon there the Arguments used for confutation are the less or less weighty It faring in some mens discourses and writings about controversies as with women in their scolding where she that can call Whore lowdest and oftenest is coâ—ceived to have got the better of it So usually there is nothing to be perceived but a design cast towards disparagement when the imputation of those Ecclesiastical railing terms are used towards any without any remonsâ—rance or proof wherein their ill consists or how their Opponents are justly to be charged with them 56. As â—or Heresie I do not see why any Christian mans case should be held desperate that in things not fundamental cannot bring his judgement to assent to that of anothers always provided that it proceed not from or be encreased through discontent pride or â—ffected singularity and that he hold it peaceably to himself not seeking to disturbe the peace of the Church by publication thereof to others for then it plainly shews that some of those other coâ—râ—pâ— Principles had a hand in the entertainment as well as in the divulging of iâ— And then iâ— will come to pass â—hat that which would as in it self and aâ—â—onsidered aâ— matter of speculation have been an error in judgement onely being now infused into others so as to induce action and separation will argue pravity in the will and turn into Schism which I do look upon as a sin not to be at any time or in any Persons otherwise excusable then when the foundation of Faith or good manners cannot be otherwise preserved And because in all dissenting parties that live under any Christian Authority the name of Schismatick is by either side cast on the other I do hold it for a maxime â—hat that party iâ— onely free that conforms to the Rule set down by him that iâ— Head of that place and all the rest Schiâ—maticks Even as in State differences all parties that hold not with the Sovereign Power are to be called this or that Faction whâ—n as the other is not to be called a Faction or Party but rather to be looked upon as the whole because united to the Head â—7 And therefore truly if men could be once brought to put a greater rate upon thingâ— fundamental and a less upon superstructures considering that the not holding to â—â—â— one bringâ— on the loss of Heaven and the too strict holding to the other brings on the loss of Charity and thereby shrewdly endanger the other also besides that quiet we should imutually reap in the exercise of Religion we should preserve