Fathers they were called Heresies for Heresie is an act of the will not of the reason and is indeed a lye and not a mistake else how could that of Austin go for true Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo indeed Manichanisme Valentinianisme Macedonianisme Mahometisme are truly and properly Heresies For we know that the Authors of them received them not but invented them themselves and so knew what they taught to be a lye but can any man avouch that Arius and Nestorius and others that taught erroneously concerning the Trinity and the person of our Saviour did maliciously invent what they taught and not rather fall upon it by error and mistake Till that be done and upon good evidence we will think no worse of all parties than needs we must and take these Rents in the Church to be at the worst but Schismes upon matter of opinion In which case what we are to do is not a point of any great depth of understanding to discover if so be distemper and partiality do not intervene I do not see that opinionum varietas opinantium unitas are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that men of different opinions in Christian Religion may not hold communion in Sacris and both go to one Church Why may I not go if occasion require to an Arian Church so there be no Arianisme exprest in their Liturgy and were Liturgies and publick Forms of Service so framed as that they admitted not of particular and private fancies but contained only such things as in which all Christians do agree Schismes on opinion were utterly vanished for consider of all the Liturgies that are and ever have been and remove from them whatsoever is scandalous to any party and leave nothing but what all agree on and the evil shall be that the publick Service and Honour of God shall no ways suffer Whereas to load our publick Forms with the private fancies upon which we differ is the most soveraign way to perpetuate Schisme unto the worlds end Prayer Confession Thanksgiving Reading of Scriptures Administration of Sacraments in the plainest and the simplest manner were matter enough to furnish out a sufficient Liturgy though nothing either of private opinion or of Church-Pomp of Garments or prescribed Gestures of Imagery of Musick of matter concerning the Dead of many superfluities which creep into the Church under the name of Order and Decency did interpose it self To charge Churches and Liturgies with things unnecessary was the first beginning of all superstition and when scruple of conscience began to be made or pretended there Schism began to break in if the special Guides and Fathers of the Church would be a little sparing of incumbring Churches with superfluities or not over-rigid either in reviving obsolete Customes or imposing new there would be far less cause of Schism or Superstition and all the inconvenience were likely to ensue would be but this they should in so doing yield a little to the imbecillity of their Inferiours a thing which St. Paul would never have refused to do mean while wheresoever false or suspected opinions are made a piece of Church-Liturgy he that separate is not the Schismatick for it is alike unlawful to make profession of known or suspected falshood as to put in practise unlawful or suspect actions The third thing I named for matter of Schisme was Ambition I mean Episcopal Ambition shewing it self especially in two heads one concerning pluralities of Bishops in divers Seas Aristotle tells us that necessity causeth but small faults but Avarice and Ambition were the Mother of great Crimes Episcopal Ambition hath made this true for no occasion hath produced more frequent more continuous more sanguineous Schismes than this hath done The Sees of Alexandria of Constantinople of Antioch and above all of Rome do abundantly shew thus much and all Ecclesiastical stories witness no less of which the greatest that consists of fanctionating and tumultuating of great and potent Bishops Socrates Apologizing for himself that professing to write an Ecclesiastical story he did oft-times interlace the actions of secular Princes and other civil business tells us that he did this to refresh his Reader who otherwise were in danger to be cloyd by reading so much of the Acts of unquiet and unruly Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which as a man may say they made butter and cheese one of another for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may shew you a cast of my old Office and open you a mystery in Grammar properly signifies to make butter and cheese and because these are not made without much agitation of the milk hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a borrowed and translated signification signifies to do things with much agitation and tumult But that I may a little consider of the two heads I but now specified the first I mentioned was the Prelacies of Bishops in one Sea For the general practice of the Church since the beginning at least since the original of Episcopacy as now it is was never to admit at once more than one Bishop in one Sea and so far in this point have they been careful to preserve unity that they would not have a Bishop in his Sea to have two Cathedral Churches which thing lately brought us a Book out of France De Monomachia Episcoporum written by occasion of the Bishops of Langres who I know not upon what fancy could not be content with one Cathedral Church in his Diocess but would needs have two which to the Author of that work seems to be a kind of Spiritual Polygamy It fell out amongst the Ancients very often sometimes upon occasion of difference in opinions sometimes because of those who were interessed in the choice of Bishops that two and sometimes more were set up and all parties striving to maintain their own Bishop made themselves several Churches several Congregations each refusing to participate with others and many times proceeding to mutual Excommunications this is that which Cyprian calls Erigere Altare contra Altare to this doth he impute the Original of all Church-disorders and if you read him you would think he thought no other Church-tumult to be Schisme but this This perchance may plead some excuse for though in regard of Religion it self it matters not whether there be one or more Bishops in one Diocess for Epiphanius reckoning up the Bishops of Rome makes Peter and Paul the first and St. Augustine acknowledgeth for a time he sate fellow Bishop with his Predecessor though he excused it that he did so being ignorant that the contrary had been decreed by the Council of Nice yet it being a thing very convenient for the peace of the Church to have it so neither doth it any whit savour of their misdemeanor their punishment sleeps not who unncessarily and wantonly go about to infringe it But that other head of Episcopal Ambition concerning Supremacy of Bishops in divers Seas one claiming Supremacy over another as it hath been from
considerable so mainly fail them as not to see the truth in a subject wherein it is the greatest marvel how they could avoid the sight of it Can we without the imputation of great grossness and folly think so poor-spirited persons competent Judges of the questions now on foot betwixt the Churches pardon me I know what temptation drew that note from me The next Schisme which had in it matter of fact is that of the Donatists who were perswaded at least pretended so that it was unlawful to converse or communicate in holy duties with men stained with any notorious sin for howsoever that Austin to specifie only the Thurificati Traditores and Libellatici c. as if he separated only from those whom he found to be such yet by necessary proportion he must referre to all notorious sinners upon this he taught that in all places where good and bad were mixt together there could be no Church by reason of Pollution co-operating a way from sinners which blasted righteous persons which conversed with them and made all unclean on this ground separating himself from all that he list to suspect he gave out that the Church was no where to be found but in him and his Associates as being the only men among whom wicked persons found no shelter and by consequence the only clean and unpolluted company and therefore the only Church Against this Saint Augustine laid down this Conclusion Vnitatem Ecclesiae per totum mundum dispersae praeceptam non esse disserendam which is indeed the whole summe of that Father's disputation against the Donatists Now in one part of this Controversie one thing is very remarkable The truth was there where it was by meer chance and might have been on either side the reason brought by either party notwithstanding for though it were De facto false that pars Donati shut up in Africk was the only Orthodox party yet it might be true notwithstanding any thing St. Augustine brings to confute it and on the contrary though it were de facto true that the part of Christians dispersed over the whole earth were Orthodox yet it might have been false notwithstanding any thing Saint Augustine brings to confirm it For where or amongst whom or how many the Church shall be or is is a thing indifferent it may be in any number more or less it may be in any Place Countrey or Nation it may be in all and for ought I know it may be in none without the prejudice to the definition of a Church or the truth of the Gospel North or South many or few dispersed in many Places or confined to one None of these do either prove or disprove a Church Now this Schisme and likewise that former to a wise man that well understands the matter in Controversie may afford perchance matter of pity to see men so strangely distracted upon fancy but of doubt or trouble what to do it can yield none for though in this Schisme the Donatist be the Schismatick and in the former both parties be equally engaged in the Schisme yet you may safely upon your occasions communicate with either if so be you flatter neither in their Schisme For why might not it be lawful to go to Church with the Donatist or to celebrate Easter with the Quartodeciman if occasion so require since neither Nature nor Religion nor Reason doth suggest any thing of moment to the contrary For in all publick Meetings pretending holiness so there be nothing done but what true Devotion and Piety brook why may not I be present in them and use communion with them Nay what if those to whom the execution of the publick service is committed do something either unseemly or suspicious or peradventure unlawful what if the garments they wear be censured nay indeed be suspicious what if the gesture or adoration to be used to the Altars as now we have learned to speak What if the Homilist have Preached or delivered any Doctrine of the Truth of which we are not well perswaded a thing which very often falls out yet for all this we may not separate except we be constrained personally to bear part in them our selves The Priests under Ely had so ill demeaned themselves about the dayly sacrifices that the Scripture tells us they made them to stink yet the People refused not to come to the Tabernacle nor to bring their Sacrifice to the Priest for in those Schismes which concern fact nothing can be a just cause of refusing of Communion but only to require the execution of some unlawful or suspected act for not only in reason but in Religion too that Maxime admits of no release Cautissimi cujusque Praeceptum quod dubitas ne feceris Long it was ere the Church fell upon Schisme upon this occasion though of late it hath had very many for until the second Council of Nice in which irreconcileable Superstition and Ignorance did conspire I say until the Rout did set up Image-worship there was not any remarkable Schisme upon just occasion of fact all the rest of Schismes of that kind were but wantons this was truly serious in this the Schismatical party was the Synod it self and such as conspired with it for or concerning the use of Images in Sacrifices First it is acknowledged by all that it is a thing unnecessary Secondly it is by most suspected Thirdly it is by many held utterly unlawful can then the enjoyning of such a thing be ought else but abuse or can the refusal of Communion here be thought any other thing than duty Here or upon the like occasion to separate may peradventure bring personal trouble or danger against which it concerns any honest man to have pectus Praeparatum further harm it cannot do so that in these cases you cannot be to seek what to think or what you have to do Come we then to consider a little of the second sort of Schisme arising upon occasion of variety of opinion It hath been the common disease of Christians from the beginning not to content themselves with that measure of faith which God and Scriptures have expresly afforded us but out of a vain desire to know more than is revealed they have attempted to devise things of which we have no light neither from Reason nor Revelation neither have they rested here but upon pretence of Church-authority which is none or Tradition which for the most part is but feigned they have peremptorily concluded and confidently imposed upon others a necessity of entertaining conclusions of that nature and to strengthen themselves have broken out into Divisions and Factions opposing man to man Synod to Synod till the peace of the Church vanished without all possibility of recall hence arose those ancient and many separations amongst Christians occasioned by Arianisme Eutychianisme Nestorianisme Photinianisme Sabellianisme and many more both ancient and in our own time all which indeed are but names of Schisme howsoever in the common language of the
a truth but in the Church who formerly had with too much facility admitted a conclusion so justly subject to exception And let this suffice for our third part Now because it is apparent that the end of this our Apostles admonition is to give the Church a Caveat how she behave her self in handling of Scripture give me leave a little in stead of the use of such doctrines as I have formerly laid down to shew you as far as my conceit can stretch what course any man may take to save himself from offering violence unto Scripture and reasonably settle himself any pretended obscurity of the text whatsoever notwithstanding For which purpose the diligent observing of two rules shall be throughly available First The litteral plain and uncontroversable meaning of Scripture without any addition or supply by way of interpretation is that alone which for ground of faith we are necessarily bound to accept except it be there where the holy Ghost himself treads us out another way I take not this to be any peculiar conceit of mine but that unto which our Church stands necessarily bound When we receded from the Church of Rome one motive was because she added unto Scripture her glosses as Canonical to supply what the plain text of Scripture could not yield If in place of hers we set up our own glosses thus to do were nothing else but to pull down Baal and set up an ephod to run round and meet the Church of Rome again in the same point in which at first we left her But the plain evident and demonstrative ground of this rule is this That authority which doth warrant our faith unto us must every way be free from all possibility of errour For let us but once admit of this that there is any possibility that any one point of faith should not be true if it be once granted that I may be deceived in what I have believed how can I be assured that in the end I shall not be deceived If the Author of faith may alter or if the evidence and assurance that he hath left us be not pregnant and impossible to be defeated there is necessarily opened an inlet to doubtfulness and wavering which the nature of faith excludes That faith therefore may stand unshaken two things are of necessity to concur First That the Author of it be such a one as can by no means be deceived and this can be none but God Secondly That the words and text of this Author upon whom we ground must admit of no ambiguity no uncertainty of interpretation If the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall provide himself to battel If the words admit a double sense and I follow one who can assure me that that which I follow is the truth For infallibility either in judgment or interpretation or whatsoever is annext neither to the See of any Bishop nor to the Fathers nor to the Councels nor to the Church nor to any created power whatsoever This doctrine of the literal sense was never grievous or prejudicial to any but onely to those who were inwardly conscious that their positions were not sufficiently grounded When Cardinal Cajetan in the days of our grandfathers had forsaken that vein of postilling and allegorising on Scripture which for a long time had prevailed in the Church and betaken himself unto the literal sense it was a thing so distasteful unto the Church of Rome that he was forc'd to find out many shifts and make many apologies for himself The truth is as it will appear to him that reads his writings this sticking close to the literal sense was that alone which made him to shake many of those tenets upon which the Church of Rome and the Reformed Churches differ But when the importunity of the Reformers and the great credit of Calvin's writings in that kind had forced the Divines of Rome to level their interpretations by the same line when they saw that no pains no subtlety of wit was strong enough to defeat the literal evidence of Scripture it drave them on those desperate shelves on which at this day they stick to call in question as far as they durst the credit of the Hebrew text and countenance against it a corrupt translation to adde Traditions unto Scripture and to make the Churches interpretation so pretended to be above exception As for that restriction which is usually added to this Rule that the literal sense is to be taken if no absurdity follow though I acknowledge it to be sound and good yet my advise is that we entertain it warily St. Basil thought the precept of Christ to the rich man in the Gospel Go sell all that thou hast and give unto the poor to be spoken as a command universally and eternally binding all Christians without exception And making this objection how possibly such a life could be amongst Christians since where all are sellers none could be buyers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ask not me the sense of my Lords commands He that gave the Law can provide to give it possibility of being kept without any absurdity at all Which speech howsoever we may suppose the occasion of it to be mistaken yet it is of excellent use to repress our boldness whereby many times under pretence of some inconvenience we hinder Scripture from that latitude of sense of which it is naturally capable You know the story of the Roman Captain in Gellius and what he told the Ship-wright that chose rather to interpret then to execute his Lords command Corrumpi atque dissolvi omne imperantis officium si quis ad id quod facere jussus est non obsequio debito sed consilio non desiderato respondeat It will certainly in the end prove safer for us to entertain Gods commandments obsequio debito then to interpret them acumine non desiderato Those other ways of interpretation whether it be by allegorising or allusion or whatsoever the best that can be said of them is that which S. Basil hath pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We acount of them as of trim elegant and witty speeches but we refuse to accept of them as of undoubted truths And though of some part of these that may be said which one said of his own work Quod ad usum lusi quod ad molestiam laboravi in respect of any profit comes by them they are but sport but in respect of the pains taken in making of them they are labour and travel yet much of them is of excellent use in private either to raise our affections or to spend our meditations or so it be with modesty to practise our gifts of wit to the honour of him that gave them For if we absolutely condemn these interpretations then must we condemn a great part of antiquity who are very much conversant in this kind of interpreting For the most partial for antiquity cannot chuse but see and
from all imputation of unnecessary rigour and his Justice from seeming Injustice and Incongruity and on the other side it is a noble resolution so to humble our selves under the hand of Almighty God as that we can with patience hear yea think it an honour that so base creatures as our selves should become the instruments of the glory of so great a Majesty whether it be by eternal life or by eternal death though for no other reason but for Gods good will and pleasures sake The Authours of these conceits might both freely if peaceably speak their minds and both singularly profit the Church for since it is impossible where Scripture is ambiguous that all conceits should run alike it remains that we seek out a way not so much to establish an unity of opinion in the minds of all which I take to be a thing likewise impossible as to provide that multiplicity of conceit trouble not the Churches peace A better way my conceit cannot reach unto then that we would be willing to think that these things which with some shew of probability we deduce from Scripture are at the best but our Opinions for this peremptory manner of setting down our own conclusions under this high commanding form of necessary truths is generally one of the greatest causes which keeps the Churches this day so far asunder when as a gracious receiving of each other by mutual forbearance in this kind might peradventure in time bring them nearer together This peradventure may some man say may content us in case of opinion indifferent out of which no great inconvenience by necessary and evident proof is concluded but what Recipe have we for him that is fallen into some known and desperate Heresie Even the same with the former And therefore anciently Heretical and Orthodox Christians many times even in publick holy exercise converst together without offence It 's noted in the Ecclesiastick stories that the Arrians and Right Beleivers so communicated together in holy Prayers that you could not distinguish them till they came to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gloria Patri which the Arrians used with some difference from other Christians But those were times quorum lectionem habemus virtutem non habemus we read of them in our books but we have lost the practise of their patience Some prejudice was done unto the Church by those who first began to intermingle with publick Ecclesiastical duties things respective unto private conceits For those Christian offices in the Church ought as much as possibly they may be common unto all and not to descend to the differences of particular opinions Severity against and separation from Heretical companies took its beginning from the Hereticks themselves and if we search the stories we shall find that the Church did not at their first arising thrust them from her themselves went out and as for severity that which the Donatists sometimes spake in their own defence Illam esse veram Ecclesiam quae persecutionem patitur non quae facit She was the true Church not which raised but which suffered persecution was de facto true for a great space For when Heresies and Schisms first arose in the Church all kinds of violence were used by the erring Factions but the Church seem'd not for a long time to have known any use of a Sword but onely of a Buckler and when she began to use the Sword some of her best and cheifest Captains much misliked it The first Law in this kind that ever was made was Enacted by Theodosius against the Donatists but with this restraint that it should extend against none but onely such as were tumultuous and till that time they were not so much as touch'd with any mulct though but pecuniary till that shameful outrage committed against Bishop Maximian whom they beat down with bats and clubs even as he stood at the Altar So that not so much the errour of the Donatists as their Riots and Mutinies were by Imperial Laws restrained That the Church had afterward good reason to think that she ought to be salubrior quam dulcior that sometimes there was more mercy in punishing then forbearing there can no doubt be made St. Austin a man of as mild and gentle spirit as ever bare rule in the Church having according to his natural sweetness of disposition earnestly written against violent and sharp dealing with Hereticks being taught by experience did afterward retract and confess an excellent use of wholesome severity in the Church Yet could I wish that it might be said of the Church which was sometimes observed of Augustus In nullius unquam suorum nccem duravit He had been angry with and severely punish'd many of his kin but he could never endure to cut any of them off by death But this I must request you to take onely as my private wish and not as a censure if any thing have been done to the contrary When Absolom was up in arms against his Father it was necessary for David to take order to curb him and pull him on his knees yet we see how careful he was he should not die and how lamentably he bewail'd him in his death what cause was it that drove David into this extreme passion Was it doubt of Heir to the Kingdom that could not be for Solomon was now born to whom the promise of the Kingdom was made Was it the strength of natural affection I somewhat doubt of it three years together was Absolom in banishment and David did not very eagerly desire to see him The Scripture indeed notes that the King long'd for him yet in this longing was there not any such fierceness of passion for Absolom saw not the Kings face for two years more after his return from banishment to Hierusalem What then might be the cause of his strength of passion and commiseration in the King I perswade my self it was the fear of his sons final miscarriage and reprobation which made the King secure of the mercies of God unto himself to wish he had died in his stead that so he might have gain'd for his ungracious child some time of repentance The Church who is the common Mother of us all when her Absoloms her unnatural sons do lift up their hands and pens against her must so use means to repress them that she forget not that they are the sons of her womb and be compassionate over them as David was over Absolom loth to unsheath either sword but most of all the Temporal for this were to send them quick dispatch to Hell And here I may not pass by that singular moderation of this Church of ours which she hath most Christianly exprest towards her adversaries of Rome here at home in her bosom above all the reformed Churches I have read of For out of desire to make the breach seem no greater then indeed it is and to hold eommunion and Christian fellowship with her so far as we possibly can we have
frigido corpore his body was now grown pale and meagre and cold but yet his heart burnt with unlawful desires Again they are sins of quick and easie dispatch they are done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil notes in a moment of time without labour of body without care of mind One wanton look makes us guilty of Adultery one angry conceit guilty of Murder one covetous conceit guilty of Robbery Whatsoever is outwardly committed either with difficulty of circumstance or labour of body or danger of Law that is inwardly committed in the soul without any trouble at all Thirdly consider but the strength of your thoughts and you will see there is great reason to keep them low for there was no man yet that ever was foil'd but by them and not by the outward acting of sin For the outward action is but the Cortex the bark of the sin but the very body and substance of sin is the wicked thought Beware of men saith our Saviour when he gave his Apostles counsel how to provide for their safety in times of outward danger but if you will provide against inward dangers we shall not need to beware of men or of any outward force whatsoever Let every man beware of himself for in this case every man is his own greatest enemy To draw then to a conclusion That sins of thoughts prevail not against us our way is by a jealous care first to prevent them and to this hath the greatest part of my discourse hitherto tended Secondly if we have suffered them to gain a little ground upon us let us betimes take the reins into our own hands and pull them back again and cast out our Adversary whil'st he is yet weak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom such are the souls of holy men their recovery is so quick that they may seem to have risen before they fell It is a great sign of spiritual life in us to be quickly sensible of the first track and footing of sin For as bodies of the best and purest complexion have their senses quickest so that soul which soonest perceives the first scent of sin is of the divinest temper Our Books tell us that Dionysius the Tyrant was grown so gross and fat that though men thrust bodkins into him he could not feel it Beloved there is a sinner like unto this Dionysius David tells us of him when he describes unto us a sinner whose heart is fat as brawn That we fall not therefore into that like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stupidity and senselesness our way is to catch those young Foxes and strangle them in the nest Nolo sinas cogitationem crescere saith St. Hierom suffer not your thoughts to increase and gather strength upon you For as the man that touches onely at hot iron and stays not on it burns not his hand so the first glances of evil thoughts harm us not the harm is if by consent though never so little you stay upon them To be free from all on-set of evil thoughts is a matter impossible whil'st we have these hearts of flesh Ille laudatur qui ut coeperit cogitare sordida statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram petra autem est Christus That man is praise-worthy who assoon as any unclean thought any child of Babylon is born in his heart straight-way strangles it in the birth and dashes it against the rock which Rock is Christ. Thus c. A SERMON On JOHN xiv 27. Peace I leave unto you My peace I give unto you THis portion of Scripture Beloved contains a Legacy which our Saviour gave to his Apostles and in them to all that are his when he was about to take his leave of the world The less shall I need seriously to commend it to your considerations or to take much pains in wooing your attention The words of dying men though neither the speeches or the persons concern us at all yet they usually move us much we hear them with a kind of Religion and we suffer them to take impression in us With what affection then would this speech deserve to be heard delivered by a Person the worthiest among the sons of women and concerning you near yea very near as near as your own souls concern ye as being the Saviour of them and now breathing his last and spending the little remainder of his breath in gracious promises and comforts concerning the whole state and weal of your souls And yet to raise your attention a little higher Such things as we are made present possessours of though they be of meaner value we prize higher then things of better worth if we live onely in expectation if we have onely a promise of them Now this last most excellent and comfortable Sermon of our Saviour though in it are many special arguments of his Love many Gifts and Legacies bestowed on his Church yet were they almost all assured unto his Disciples but by way of Promise onely this everlasting gift of Peace of which alone they are made the present possessours that as at his coming into the world he brought Peace with him for at his Birth there was peace throughout the whole world so now at his departure he might leave peace again unto the world though after another manner And this order of disposition seems to be observed not without peculiar reason It seems that all other blessings the Apostles might be without yea that Grand and Mother blessing the miraculous coming of the Comforter they did for a time expect but this blessing of peace they might not they could not want It is transcendent to all other blessings and reciprocal with a Christian man it flowes essentially from the very substantial Principles of our profession Seneca that saw something as it were in a dream concerning a wise man could tell us Securitas proprium bonum sapientis Inward and solid peace is a good appropriated to a wise man We that know Christianity alone to be truly wisdom know likewise that once a true Christian then truly peaceful and no true peace but in the true Christian. Yea it hath pleased God to characterize himself his Kingdom and his Servants by this term of peace as by a stamp and seal to be known by He styles himself the King and Father of peace his Kingdom the Kingdom of peace his Servants the Sons of peace the fruits of his Kingdom love and peace and joy in the holy Ghost The Church therefore anciently that by this as by a badge she might be known whom she served every where throughout the publick Form of Divine Service interlaced this comfortable manner of salutation Peace be with you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom When the Bishop came into the Church or Temple he came like Noah's Dove into the Ark with an Olive branch of peace in his mouth and his first words were Peace be with you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he began his
his ordinary proceedings concerning his Elect exempts things from that mutability and change to which he made them subject in the day of their Creation All things come alike to all saith the Wise-man There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Which speech is true in regard of those humane casualties from which the good Christian is no more exempted then the honest Pagan But it is a maxim of eternal truth and the joynt conspiracy of Heaven and Hell shall never be able to infringe it That all things work for the good of them that sear God Though sometime the meek-spirited men be turned out of house and home and the godly man have not a place whereon to rest his head By this then it appears that the title of Christian men unto temporal blessings is not out of any Divine Right giving undoubted assurance but onely of common equity and congruity by which it pleaseth God usually to crown honest counsels with good success As then this claim is uncertain so hath not the desire of Christians to intermeddle with secular business been scandalous to our profession Iulian the Emperour in an Epistle of his to the Bostrenses taxing certain seditious Christians tells them directly that their tumult sprang not out of any probable reason but meerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But onely because he had made it unlawful for them to sit as Judges between man and man to interpose themselves in matters of Wills to interpret other mens possessions to their own uses to make division of all things unto themselves That much of this might be probable I will not easily deny He that shall look into the Acts of Christians as they are recorded by more indifferent Writers shall easily perceive that all that were Christians were not Saints But this is the testimony of an Enemy Yea but have not our Freinds taken up the same complaint Doubtless if it had been the voice and approbation of the Bridegroom that Secular State and Authority had belonged to the Church either of due or of necessity the freinds of the Bridegroom hearing it would have rejoyced at it but it is found they have much sorrowed at it St. Hilary much offended with the opinion that even Orthodox Bishops of his time had taken up that it was a thing very necessary for the Church to lay hold on the temporal sword in a Tract of his against Auxentius the Arrian Bishop of Millain thus plainly bespeaks them Ac primum miserari libet nostrae aetatis laborem And first of all I must needs pity the labour of our Age and bewail the fond opinions of the present times by which men suppose the arm of flesh can much advantage God and strive to defend by secular ambition the Church of Christ. I beseech you Bishops you that take your selves so to be whose authority in preaching of the Gospel did the Apostles use By the help of what powers preach'd they Christ and turn'd almost all Nations from Idols to God Took they unto themselves any honour out of Princes Palaces who after their stripes amidst their chains in prison sung praises unto God Did St. Paul when he was made a spectacle in the Theatre summon together the Churches of Christ by the Edicts and Writs of Kings 'T is likely he had the safe conduct of Nero or Vespasian or Decius through whose hate unto us the confession of the faith grew more famous Those men who maintain'd themselves with their own hands and industry whose solemn Meetings were in Parlours and secret Closets who travelled through Villages and Towns and whose Countreys by Sea and Land in spite of the prohibition of Kings and Councils 'T is to be thought that these had the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Did not the power of God sufficiently manifest it self above man's hate when by so much the more Christ was preach'd â—y how much he was forbidden to be taught But now which is a greif to think dust and earths approbation gives countenance to the Sacred Faith whil'st means are made to joyn ambitious Titles to the Name of Christ Christ hath lost the reputation of self-sufficiency The Church now terrifies with Exile and Prisons and constrains men to beleive her who was wont to find no place but in Prisons and Banishment She depends upon the good acceptation of her favourites who was wont to be hallowed in the fear of her Persecutours she now puts Preists to flight who was formerly propagated by fugitive Preists She glories that she is beloved of the world who could never have been Christ's except the world had hated her What shall we answer to this complaint Our enemies are apt to traduce the good things in us our freinds to flatter our vice and imbecillity But when our freinds and enemies do both joyntly consent to lay open our shame to whose judgment shall we appeal or whether shall we flie Whether Even to thee O Lord Christ but not as to a Judge too well we know thy sentence Thou hast sent us messengers of peace but we like Hierusalem thy ancient Love have not understood the things belonging to our peace O Lord let us know them in this our day let them no longer be hidden from our eyes Look down O Lord upon thy poor dismembred Church rent and torn with discords and even ready to sink Why should the Neutral or Atheist any longer confirm himself in his Irreligion by reasons drawn from our dissentions Or why should any greedy minded worldling prophecie unto himself the ruines of thy Sanctuary or hope one day to dip his foot in the bloud of thy Church We will hope O Lord for what hinders that notwithstanding all supposed impossibilities thou wilt one day in mercy look down upon thy Sion and grant a gracious enterveiw of freinds so long divided Thou that wroughtest that Great Reconciliation between God and Man is thine arm waxen shorter Was it possible to reconcile God to Man To reconcile Man to Man is it impossible Be with those we beseech thee to whom the presecution of Church Controversies is committed and like a good Lazarus drop one cooling drop into their Tongues and Pens too too much exasperated each against other And if it be thy determinate will and counsel that this abomination of desolation standing where it ought not continue unto the end accomplish thou with speed the number of thine Elect and hasten the coming of thy Son our Saviour that he may himself in person sit and judge and give an end to our controversies since it stands not with any humane possibility Direct thy Church O Lord in all her petitions for peace teach her wherein her peace consists and warn her from the world and bring her home to thee that all those that love thy peace may
which would have wrought the same effect and been less subject to censure but it is not now in integr◠to look back and rectifie what is amiss without much disparagement They must therefore go forward and for the countenance of their action do the best they may leaving the events to God There hath been an overture made to His Majesty by Du Moulin the Minister at Paris of a General Confession to be composed by this Synod for all the Reformed Churches a Form whereof is by His Majesties Order privately conceived by some select persons in the Synod which when it is perfected it will be then sent to His Majesty to be by him governed as shall seem best to His Wisdom either by suffering the same to go no farther or if he approve thereof with such change and alteration therein as he shall think fit to recommend the same publickly to the Synod and by consequence to the several Churches which have their Deputies there Du Moulin doth recommend further a project of mutual toleration betwixt the Calvinists and Lutherans which doth ill suit with our present business of suppressing the Arminians and therefore I believe it will not be thought fit to make mention thereof in the Synod Our English Divines have from the first time of Mr. Balcanquall's arrival there admitted him to their Consultations and now they joyn likewise in Suffrage and in the distribution of the divers parts of the business as those who all make but one College I do not find by what I hear from Dort or what I observed here that Mr. Balcanquall doth give any just subject for the report which is raised of undecencie in apparrel but on the contrary that in all respects he gives much satisfaction Doctour Goad was well received at the Synod as one who can better go through this laboursom business than the Dean of Worcester was able to do by reason of his languishing indisposition The Dean went from Dort towards England the Eighth of this present but I doubt he is not yet arrived there by reason of the contrariety of the Winds For conclusion I will tell your Grace that which is no news unto you that I have ended the last year with the most angry message and begun this with the most agreeable that I ever yet delivered this State And as the former was interpreted by those who best understood the nature of those Provinces for the greatest of all their present Calamities so this later doth give them heart and life again and as they may go on without arriere-pense in the course wherewith His Majesty hath so well and so constantly aided them by his countenance so my hope is that His Majesty will in time reap more assuredly the fruits of these mutations in that he is pleased to use Patience until they be better ripened Thus I most humbly take leave from the Haghe this 14. of Ianuary 1618. Your Graces most humbly to be commanded Dudley Carleton POSTSCRIPT I do hear even now of a bitter writing the Remonstrants have presented to the Synod in answer of Bogermannus for his sharp exit wherein they for a conclusion do optare Synodo meliorem mentem Lord Bishop of Landaff to Sir Dudley Carleton Embassadour at the Haghe Febr. 8. 1618. Right Honourable my very good Lord BY my long silence in that particular whereof your Lordship wrote last to us in general you may perceive how unwilling I am to write thereof Unto your Lordship have I written nothing till now which some of my Colleagues think strange though I suppose they do believe me upon my word I should not as yet have written hereof but that I think my self bound to give an account to your Lordship of these things not only in respect of mine affection to your Lordship but in respect also of the place which you carry When we were to give up our sentence to the second Article having first thought of certain Theses we parted our labour so that each one had his part of the Theses to confirm When all was conferred together it was found that Dr. D. and Dr. W. had proceeded so far in declaring their parts that the rest could not follow them whereupon we were at a stand for a time They perceiving that neither my self nor the rest of my fellows could approve that which they had set down took occasion of divers conferences which did rather set us farther asunder yet this was private among our selves They held that the Redemption of Christ and the Grace thereof was general to all without exception which being put I could not see why we should not grant general grace in the largest sence that the Remonstrants would have it Their answer was that it was so far to be granted and we were to yield so much to them Upon this there was some difference I took it neither to be a Truth of the Scripture nor the Doctrine of the Church of England and they thought it was both After some time and discourses spent I told them that there was a necessity of our agreement if we could not agree in all things we must come to such Points wherein all may agree and willed them to give me liberty to remove the things wherein we could not agree that we might all agree in the rest To this they yielded and so we agreed in some things After this we received your Lordship's Letters for which all without exception thought our selves much beholding to your Lordship We sent your Lordship an answer in common which I suppose your Lordship sent to my Lord's Grace for there the question in controversie is set down Whether the Grace of Redemption is general to all men in the World without exception or to be Restrained only to the Church I know there be some Bishops in England that are of opinion that it is general without exception to all men but I never thought that their Opinions were the Doctrine of the Church of England Dr. W. when in private conference we have occasion to speak of these things being driven by some evidences of Scripture which prove that wheresoever the Grace of Redemption goeth there goeth also remission of sins So that if he admit the grace of Redemption common to all he must admit also that all men have remission of sins To avoid this deviseth a word to express the generality thus not Redemptio but Redimibilitas and not Reconciliatio but Reconciliabilitas Which devising of Words makes me more to suspect the Doctrine for I think a devised School term should not determine a Truth in Divinity I told him if this Opinion be granted we must have new terms to express it for the old will not serve He answereth that it is good and fit to make new terms as this word was devised in the Council of Nice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as it seemeth he could be well contented that new words were devised in this Synod to receive this Doctrine As where the
90. Christian Omnipotency Philip. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ that enableth or that strengthneth me p. 114. Luke 18. 1. And he spake a Parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint p. 131. My kingdom is not of this World John 18.36 Iesus answered my kingdom is not of this world If my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Iews c. p. 146. 1 Sam. 24.5 And it came to pass afterward that Davids heart smote him because he had cut off Sauls Skirt p. 161. John 14.27 Peace I leave unto you My peace I give unto you p. 177. The profit of godliness 1 Tim. 14.8 But Godliness is profitable unto all things p. 193. A Second Sermon on the same Text. p. 214. Iacobs Vow Gen. 28.20 And Iacob vowed a vow saying If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go and give me bread to eat and rayment to put on c. p. 228. Dixi Custodiam Psal. 36.1 I said or resolved I will take heed to my ways p. 244. MISCELLANIES p. 257. Letters concerning the Synod of Dort A Catalogue of some Books Printed for and sold by Robert Pawlet at the Bible in Chancery-Lane near Fleetstreet EPiscopacy as established by Law in England not prejudicial to Regal Power written by the special command of the late King by R. Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincolne The Whole Duty of Man laid down in a plain and familiar way for the use of All but especially the meanest Reader Necessary for all Families with private Devotions for several Occasions The Gentleman 's Calling Written by the Author of The Whole Duty of Man The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety Or an Impartial Survey of the Ruines of Christian Religion Undermin'd by Unchristian Practice By the Author of The Whole Duty of Man A Scholastical History of the Canon of the Holy Scripture Or the Certain and Indubitate books thereof as they are received in the Church of England By Dr. Cosin Lord Bishop of Durham Divine Breathings or a Pious Soul thirsting after Christ in an hundred excellent Meditations Hugo Grotius de Robus Belgicis Or the Annals and History of the Low-Countrey Wars in English wherein is manifested that the United Netherlands are indebted for the glory of their Conquests to the Valour of the English A Treatise of the English Particles shewing much of the variety of their significations and uses in English and how to render them into Latin according to the propriety and elegancy of that language with a Praxis upon the same By William Walker B. D. School-master of Grantburn with a Table newly added The Royal Grammar commonly called Lillies Grammar explained opening the meaning of the Rules with great plainness to the understanding of Children of the meanest capacity with choice observations on the same from the best Authors By W. Walker B. D. Author of the Treatise of English Particles A Catalogue of the names of all the Parliaments or reputed Parliaments from the year 1640. A Narrative of some Passages in or relating to the Long Parliament by a person of Honour Sober Inspections into the Long Parliament By Iames Howel Esquire Dr. Sprackling against the Chymists Nemâ—sius's Nature of Man in English By G. Withers Gent. Inconveniences of Toleration A Letter about Comprehension A Collection of Canons Articles and Injunctions of the Church of England By Anthony Sparrow Lord Bishop of Exon. The Bishop of Exons Caution to his Diocese against false doctrines delivered in a Sermon at his Primary Visitation The form of Consecration of a Church or Chappel and of the place of Christian Burial by Bishop Andrews A Thanksgiving Sermon preach'd before the King by I. Dolhen D. D. Dean of Westminster and Clerk of the Closet Bishop Brownrigs Sermon on the Gunpowder Treason A Letter to a Person of Quality concerning the Fines received by the Church at its Restauration wherein by the Instance of one the richest Cathedrals a fair guess may be made at the receits and disbursments of all the rest A Narrative or Journal of the Proceedings of the Lord Holles and the Lord Coventry Ambassadors Plenipotentiaries for the Treaty at Breda Written by a person of Quality concerned in that Ambassie A Narrative of the Burning of London 1666 with an account of the losses and a most remarkable Parallel between it and MOSCO both as to the Plague and Fire Lluellyns three Sermons on the Kings Murder A Collection of the Rules and Orders now used in Chancery Iter Lucitanicum Or the Portugal Voyage with what memorable passages interven'd at the Shipping and in the Transportation of her Sacred Majesty Katherine Queen of Great Britain from Lisbon to England By Dr. Samuel Hynde All sorts of Law Books A TRACT CONCERNING SCHISME AND SCHISMATICKS WHEREIN Is briefly discovered The Original Causes of all Schism HEresie and Schism as they are commonly used are two Theological scar-crows with which they who use to uphold a party in Religion use to fright away such as making inquiry into it are ready to relinquish and oppose it if it appear either erroneous or suspitious for as Plutarch reports a Painter who having unskilfully painted a Cock chased away all Cocks and Hens that so the imperfection of his Art might appear by comparison with Nature so men willing for ends to admit of no fancy but their own endeavour to hinder an inquiry into it by way of comparison of somewhat with it peradventure truer that so the deformity of their own might not appear but howsoever in the common manage Heresie and Schisme are but ridiculous terms yet the things in themselves are of very considerable moment the one offending against Truth the other against Charity and therefore both deadly when they are not by imputation but indeed It is then a matter of no small importance truly to descry the nature of them and they on the contrary strengthen themselves who through the iniquity of men and times are injuriously charged with them Schisme for of Heresie we shall not now treat except it be by accident and that by occasion of a general mistake spread through all the writings of the Ancients in which their names are familiarly confounded Schisme I say upon the very sound of the word imports Division Division is not but where Communion is or ought to be Now Communion is the strength and ground of all Society whether Sacred or Civil whosoever therefore they be that offend against the common society and friendliness of men if it be in civil occasions are guilty of Sedition and Rebellion if it be by reason of Ecclesiastical difference they are guilty of Schisme So that Schisme is an Ecclesiastical Sedition as Sedition is a lay Schism yet the great benefits of Communion notwithstanding in regard of divers distempers men are subject to Dissention and Dis-union are often necessary For when either false
or uncertain Conclusions are obtruded for truth and Acts either unlawful or ministring just scruple are required of us to be perform'd in these cases consent were conspiracy and open contestation is not faction or Schisme but due Christian animosity For the opening therefore of the nature of Schisme something may be added by way of difference to distinguish it from necessary Separation and that is that the cause upon which Division is attempted proceed not from Passion or from Distemper or from Ambition or Avarice or such other ends as humane folly is apt to pursue but from well weighed and necessary reasons and that when all other means having been tryed nothing will serve to save us from guilt of Conscience but open separation so that Schisme if we would define it is nothing else but an unnecessary separation of Christians from that part of the visible Church of which they were once members Now As in Mutinies and civil Dissentions there are two Attendants in ordinary belonging unto them one the choice of one Elector or Guide in place of the general or ordinary Governor to rule and Guide the other the appointing of some publick place or Randezvous where publick Meetings must be celebrated So in Church-dissentions and quarrels two appurtenances there are which serve to make Schisme compleat First in the choice of a Bishop in opposition to the former a thing very frequent amongst the Ancients and which many times was the cause and effect of Schisme Secondly the erecting of a new Church and Oratory for the dividing parts to meet-in publickly For till this be done the Schisme is but yet in the womb In that late famous Controversie in Holland De Praedestinatione auxiliis as long as the disagreeing parties went no further than Disputes and Pen-combates the Schisme was all that while unhatch'd but as soon as one party swept an old Cloyster and by a pretty Art suddenly made it a Church by putting a new Pulpit in it for the separating party there to meet now what before was a Controversie became a formal Schisme To know no more than this if you take it to be true had been enough to direct how you are to judge and what to think of Schisme and Schismaticks yet because of the Ancients by whom many are more affrighted than hurt much is said and many fearful dooms pronounced in this case We will descend a little to consider of Schism as it were by way of Story and that partly further to open that which we have said in general by instancing in particulars and partly to disabuse those who reverencing Antiquity more then needs have suffered themselves to be scared with imputation of Schisme above due measure for what the Ancients spake by way of censure of Schisme in general is most true for they saw and it is no great matter to see so much that unadvised and open fancy to break the knot of union betwixt man and man especially amongst Christians upon whom above all other kind of men the tye of love and Communion doth most especially rest was a crime hardly pardonable and that nothing absolves men from the guilt of it but true and unpretended conscience yet when they came to pronounce of Schisme in particular whether it was because of their own interest or that they saw not the Truth or for what other cause God only doth know their judgements many times to speak most gently were justly to be suspected Which that you may see we will range all Schisme into two ranks First is a Schisme in which only one party is the Schismatick for where cause of Schisme is necessary there not he that separates but he that is the cause of seperation is the Schismaticks Secondly there is a Schisme in which both parties are the Schismaticks for where the occasion of separation is unncessary neither side can be excused from the guilt of Schisme But you will ask Who shall be the judge what is necessary Indeed it is a question which hath been often made but I think scarcely ever truly answered not because it is a point of great depth or difficulty truly to assoil it but because the true solution of it carries fire in the tail of it for it bringeth with it a piece of Doctrine which is seldom pleasing to Superiors to you for the present this shall suffice If so be you be animo defaecato if you have cleared your self from â—roath and growns if neither sloth nor fear nor ambition nor any tempting spirit of that nature abuse you for these and such as these are the true impediments why both that and other questions of the like danger are not truly answer'd if all this be and yet you know not how to frame your resolution and settle your self for that doubt I will say no more of you than was said of Papias St. Iohn's own Scholar Your abilities are not so good as I presumed But to go on with what I intended and from that that diverted me that you may the better judg of the nature of Schisms by their occasions you shall find that all Schisms have crept into the Church by one of these three wayes either upon matter of Fact or upon matter of Opinion or point of Ambition for the first I call that matter of fact when something is required to be done by us which either we know or strongly suspect to be unlawful so the first notable Schisme of which we read in the Church contained in it matter of fact for it being upon error taken for necessary that an Easter must be kept and upon worse than error if I may so speak for it was no less than a point of Judaism forced upon the Church upon worse than error I say thought further necessary that the ground of the time for keeping of that Feast must be the rule left by Moses to the Iews there arose a stout question Whether we were to celebrate with the Iews on the fourteenth Moon or the Sunday following This matter though most unnecessary most vain yet caused as great a combustion as ever was in the Church the West separating and refusing Communion with the East for many years together In this fantastical hurry I cannot see but all the world were Schismaticks neither can any thing excuse them from that imputation excepting only this that we charitably suppose that all parties did what they did out of conscience a thing which befel them through the ignorance of their Guides for I will not say through their malice and that through the just judgment of God because through sloth and blind obedience men examined not the things which they were taught but like beasts of burthen patiently couch'd down indifferently underwent whatsoever their Superiors laid upon them By the way by this we may plainly see the danger of our appeal to Antiquity for resolution in controverted points of Faith and how small relief we are to expect from thence for if the
time to time a great trespass against the Churches Peace so it is now the final ruine of it The East and West through the fury of the two prime Bishops being irremediably separated without all hope of Reconcilement And besides all this mischief it is founded on a vice contrary to all Christian humility without which no man shall see his Saviour for they do but abuse themselves and others that would perswade us that Bishops by Christs institution have any superiority over other men further than of Reverence or that any Bishop is Superiour to another further than positive order agreed upon amongst Christians hath prescribed for we have believed him that hath told us that in Jesus Christ there is neither high nor low and that in giving honour every man should be ready to prefer another before himself which saying cuts off all claim certainly of Superiority by title of Christianity except men think that these things were spoken only to poor and private men Nature and Religion agree in this that neither of them hath an hand in this Heraldry of Secundum sub supra All this comes from the Composition Agreement of men amongst themselves wherefore this abuse of Christianity to make it Lacquey to Ambition is a vice for which I have no extraordinary name of Ignominy and an ordinary I will not give it lest you should take so transcendent a vice to be but trivial Now concerning Schisme arising upon these heads you cannot be for behaviour much to seek for you may safely communicate with all parties as occasion shall call you and the Schismaticks here are all those who are head of the faction together with all those who foment it for private and indifferent persons they may be spectators of these contentious as securely in regard of any peril of Conscience for of danger in Purse or Person I keep no account as at a Cock-fight where Serpents fight who cares who hath the better the best wish is that both may perish in the fight And for Conventicles of the nature of which we desire to be informed thus much in general evidently appears that all Meetings upon an unnecessary separation are to be so stiled so that in sense a Conventicle is nothing else but a Congregation of Schismaticks yet time hath taken leave sometimes to fix this name upon good and honest Meetings and that perchance not altogether without good reason for without publick Religious Meetings thus it fares First it hath been at all times confessed necessary that God requires not only inward and private Devotion when men either in their hearts and Closets or within their private walls pray praise confess and acknowledge but he further requires all those things to be done in publick by troops and shoales of men and from hence have proceeded publick Temples Altars forms of service appointed times and the like which are required for open Assemblies yet whilst men were truly pious all Meetings of men for mutual help of piety and devotion wheresoever and by whomsoever celebrated were permitted without exception But when it was espyed that ill-affected persons abused private Meetings whether Religious or Civil to evil ends Religiousness to cross impiety as appears in the Ethnick Elusinia and Bacchanalia and Christian Meetings under the Pagan Princes when for fear they durst not come together in open view were charged with foul imputations as by the report of Christians themselves plainly appears and civil Meetings many times under pretence of friendly and neighbourly visits sheltered treasonable attempts against Princes and Common-weals Hence both Church and State joyned and joyntly gave order for Forms Times Places of publick Meetings whether for Religious or Civil ends And all other Meetings whatsoever besides those of which both Time and Place are limited They censured for Routs and Riots and unlawful Assemblies in the State and in the Church for Conventicles So that it is not lawful no not for prayer for hearing for Conference for any other Religious Office whatsoever for people to assemble otherwise than by publick Order is allowed neither may we complain of this in times of corruption for why should men desire to do that suspiciously in private which warrantably may be performed in publick But in times of manifest corruptions and persecutions wherein Religious assembling is dangerous private Meetings howsoever besides publick order are not only lawful but they are of necessity and duty else how shall we excuse Meetings of Christians for publick Service in time of danger and persecutions and of our selves in Queen Maries dayes And how will those of the Roman Church amongst us put off the imputation of Conventicling who are known amongst us privately to assemble for Religious exercises against all established order both in State and Church For indeed all pious Assemblies in times of persecution and corruptions howsoever practised are indeed or rather alone the lawful Congregations and publick Assemblies though according to form of Law are indeed nothing else but Riots and Conventicles if they be stained with corruption and superstition FINIS In Psal. 28. Hom. 1. in Mat. L. 3 Epist. 106. Faâ—er Schol. in Thucyd. Plin. Arist. Rhet. 2. Nicephorus Thucyd. De Genesi ad literam Livie Seneca Isidorus Pelusiota 2 Pet 1. 20. Ausâ—nius in monosyl * St. Paul's Cross. Here Charity may be sometimes and many times is mistaken a Vide Basil 313. B. C. (a) 18 Levit. (b) in Lib. de Repudiis (c) in Iudicum cap. 1. Matth. c. 4. (d) de Conjugio * Zepper de Lege Mosaic l. 4. c. 9.