6th and not his Antagonist Clement was duely chosen Pope and ought to be accepted and obeyed in this Realm I never saw the Original but shall set down the Abridgment of it out of Sir R. Cotton's Exact Abridgment of the Records in the following words An Act that Pope Urban was true and lawful Pope and that the Livings of all Cardinals and other Rebels to the said Pope shall be seized in the King's hands and the King to be answered by the Profits thereof and that whosoever within this Realm shall procure or obtain any Provision or other Instrument from any other Pope then the said Urban shall be out of the King's protection Serjeant Rastall hath another Abridgment of this Act somewhat different in one passage but in all the rest to the same effect An. 2 R. 2. c. 7. It was agreed that Urban was duely elected Pope and ought to be obey'd as Head of the Church and that all Benefices and Possessions of Cardinals and other the King's Enemies should be seized And it was enacted Râ—slalâ—'s Statutes Tit. Provision and Praemunire p. 356. 8. that if any purchased by provision any Benesice or Grace by any other named Pope then of Pope Urban or be obedient to any other Person as Pope he should be out of the King's protection and his Goods seized I should not have brought this Act upon the Stage but that the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion are so apt to miscall our Church a Parliamentary Church and our Religion a Parliamentary Religion only because our Laws confirm and establish the Sanctions of the Church of England as the Imperial Laws and Edicts formerly did the Decrees of general Councils particularly as * The external Bishop of the Church Constantine the Great who sate in the Nicene Council confirmed the Nicene Creed and all other things that were ordained by the Council of Nice when he was but a Catechumenus or Learner of the Christian Religion He said of himself that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ' E 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after his death the Fathers surnamed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Equal to the Apostles and whosoever will take the pains to run over but with a cursory eye the Novels of Justinian the Nomocanons and Basilicks the Capitularia of the old French Spelm. concil vol. 1 and the Laws of our Ancient Saxon Kings will find that our religious Princes since the Reformation have intermedled no more with the Affairs of the Church then Christian Princes formerly did But to return thither where I broke off I desire the Reader to take notice That of 29 or * Onuphrius reckons so many 30 Schisms in the Church of Rome I have taken notice but of nine and that if it were requisite to say more of the Roman Schisms and Differences I could add another Account of Anti Cardinals and Anti-Councils to this short one of the Anti-Popes CHAP. II. Shewing That Schisms and Divisions and the consummation of them in opposite Communions are no good Argument against the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church II. HAving in the former Chapter I hope clearly demonstrated that the universal Church and all the particular Members of it are subject to Heresies and Schisms I proceed in this to shew that they are no Argument against the Trueness or Goodness or Reputation of any Church because what is incident to the whole Church and all the parts of it cannot be a good Argument against any one If the Body may lose an Arm it can be no disparagement to the Hand to have a Finger drop off or if a Tree to which St. Cyprian compares the Catholick Church may have a Bough rent off from its Body it can be no disgrace to a Bough to lose a rotten Branch or to a Branch to lose a rotten Twig If the Hand cannot in reason or prudence upbraid the Foot with the loss of a Toe because it may lose a Finger then certainly nothing ought to be concluded from a common Affection of all Churches to the prejudice or dishonour of this or that particular Church When our Saviour was told of the Galileans whose bloud Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices Suppose ye saith he unto those that told him of it that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish or those eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell think ye that they were sinners above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Our blessed Redeemer teacheth us from these Examples how unreasonable and uncharitable it is to censure particular Persons when the common Misfortunes of Mankind fall upon them For the Galileans who were murdered by Herod at their Devotion were no greater Sinners then other men and those upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell were it seems as good as their Neighbour tho' the Jews were so apt to think and speak hardly of them for their Misfortune contrary to the Doctrine of their own Scriptures which taught them that there is one Event unto all and that no man can know the Love or Hatred of God by all that is before him All things saith the Preacher come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not And as it is with particular men in reference to the common Misfortunes of Mankind so it is with particular Churches in reference to Divisions and Separations which are common Accidents to all Churches good or bad true or false pure or corrupt Catholick or un-Catholick that are called by the Name of Christ They are all alike subject to Divisions and sub Divisions in Religion and therefore those who argue against any Church upon that score treat her in the time of her Calamity as Job's Friends treated him who turned his Misfortunes which might have fallen upon themselves into Arguments against him to prove that he was an Hypocrite and not pure and upright as he pretended to be But in the primitive Times men were not such miserable comforters of Churches afflicted with Divisions Then they were better Logicians and better Christians than to think a Church was not Catholick or in the favour of God because Heresies and Schisms arose in it as appears from the Salutations which St. Paul gave unto the Church of Corinth when it abounded with Heresie Faction and Dissentions as I shewed in the former Chapter In the beginning of both his Epistles he salutes them in this manner Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ unto the Church of God which is at Corinth It was still the Church of God tho' there were Hereticks and factious Parties of men in it nay so far was he in his infallible judgement from unchurching the Flock of Christ there upon
Vtreplerentur humano sanguine orationum loca Ruffinus and the Greek Historians out of whom I might have described it it caused a great deal of Bloudshed in Churches so dangerous that the Souls of many on the one side or other must needs have miscarried in it and so scandalous that it gave occasion to a †M. Marcellinus in loco supra citat Pagan Historian to make such Reflections as I wish for the honour of the Roman See and the holy Episcopal Office had never been made It happened in the year 366 and after the death of Pope Zosimus there happened another scandalous and horrible Schism between Boniface and Eulalius in the year 419 which caused such great and dangerous Tumults in the City that Honorius the Emperor who was then at Milan was not without apprehensions what might be the consequence of it and therefore to prevent and all present danger commanded both of them to be put out of Rome To pass over many intermediate Schisms in after Ages there happened many more of a very scandalous nature between contradictory Popes assisted by contradictory Parties and Councils who could not agree about the rightful Pope Thus in the year 891 the Church of Rome was miserably divided between Formosus and Sergius who were both chosen in Rome by different Parties and tho' Formosus prevailed yet Stephen the 6th his next Successor but one abrogated and nulled all his Orders and degraded all whom he had ordained and gave them new Orders In the year 965. there happened a great Schism after the death of John the 12th betwixt Benedict the 5th and Leo the 8th Platina could not determine which was the right Pope but puts them both in his Lives but Onuphrius in his Annotations upon the Life of Benedict and in his Ecclesiastical Chronology faith expresly that Benedict was the Schismatick and Leo the lawful Pope * In anno 965. Tom. 10. Baronius is of the contrary opinion he makes Leo the Antipope and Benedict the Pope and †In Chron. p. 827. Genebrard confesses that their Historians are not agreed which of the two was the rightful Successor to St. Peter's Chair In the year 1080 the whole Peace of Christendom was disturbed by the Schism which happened betwixt Clement the 3d. and Gregory the 7th 8th and Gelasius the 2d and Gelasius dying it continued between Clement and Calixtus the 2d who was chosen in the room of Gelasius The Emperor was for Clement but the Kings of England and France were for Calixtus tho' the English Clergy and People were much divided in their opinions some maintaining the one and some the other and some again that neither Party was duly elected but Calixtus having taken his Rival prisoner by the help of a good Army put an end to that Schism After the death of Adrian the 4th in the year 1159 happended a grievous Schism betwixt * Maximum Ecclesiae Schisma oriri coepit quod xix annls miserabiliter duravis Orton Frising Chron. Lib. 7. Cap. ult Victor the 4th and Alexander the 3d. which for 19. years mightily disturbed the Christian World some of the †Cardinales in seditionem conversi geminâ electione scindunt Vnitatem Radevic Frisingensis L. 2. C. 43. Cardinals chose the one and some the other and after their respective elections both were ordained and sent out ‖ Id. I. 2. C. 50. 51. Circular Letters with contradictory protestations and remonstrances attesting God to the truth of what they said Alexander called God to witness in his Letters that he was chosen by all the Cardinals but three and yet the Cardinals of Victor's Party in a * Radevic Frising L. 2. Cap. 51. publick declaration protest that he was chosen by nine Cardinals The Emperour to put an end to this Schism calls a Council at Pavia and to that end wrote to Alexander and the Cardinals and also to the Tramontan Bishops to meet there The †Id. l. 2. c. 64 65 66 67. Council being met the Emperour made a speech to them to exhort them with Fasting and Prayers to commend the Cause of the Church to God and after seven days discussion of the Controversy between the two Popes they gave sentence in behalf of Victor and the Canons of St. Peter at Rome in a Letter to the Emperor and the Council did assure them that the uncorrupt and better part of the Cardinals were for him whereupon the Emperor ratified and confirmed his Election and by his Edict commanded he should be received as Pope He died after he had sate four years and was succeeded by Paschal the 3d. Callistus the 3d. and Innocent the 3d. all opposite Popes to Alexander the 3d. whom the Roman Writers affirm to have been the true Pope But the most grievous Schism of all the rest was that which began in the year 1378. between Vrban the 6th and Clement the 7th Vrban kept his Seat at Rome but Clement at Avignion and the Germans Hungarians English and part of Italy stood for the former and the French and Spaniards for the latter Vrban created 54 Cardinals and Clement 36. The Schism between these two Popes and their Successors lasted about 50 years or according to * History of Popish c. Mr. Foulis who accounts the Schism of Felix against Eugenius as a part of it because it sprung from it above 70 years during all which time excepting the interval between Clement and Felix the 4th there were two opposite Lines of Succession to St. Peter's Chair till Felix whom the Council of Basil set up against Clement upon the earnest entreaty of the Emperor resigned up all his Interest to the Popedom and left Nicolas the 5th Successor in the Line of Vrban sole soveraign Pontif in the Roman Throne Nay during the time of this Schism there were sometimes three Popes for the Cardinals thinking to end the Schism called a Council at Pisa where they deposed Gregory the 12th one of Vrban's Successors and Benedict the 11th one of Clement's Successors and chose Alexander the 5th who died before he had sate a year Alexander was succeeded by John the 23d who created 16 Cardinals and sate seven months till the Council of Constance perswaded him to recede and become a private man again A man would think that of all Christians in the World a Roman Catholick should be most backward to upbraid the Church of England with Schism considering what frequent and violent Schisms his own Church hath laboured under in former Ages Schisms that have rent the Union and split if not interrupted the Line of Succession in the one Catholick Church and brought it to such a sad condition that the secular Authority has been fain to determine of two or three Popes which was rightfully elected and which not Thus in the Reign of †2 3 Rich. 2. c. 6. A.D. 1378. Rich. the 2d the Parliament of England did declare in an Act for that purpose that Vrban the
former Chapter how can they by their way of arguing maintain the Church of Antioch to have been Catholick in the Time of Paulus Samosatensis who revived the Heresie of Theodotus and taught that Christ by nature was no more then a meer man For this Reason he held Communion with the Followers of Artemon the Author of this damnable Heresie teaching that Christ was from the Earth and damning the Hymns which used to be sung in Churches to his honour as novel Composures and letting his Followers chant forth Hymns to his own praise in the Church and tell the People that he was an Angel sent from God. Was there ever such an heretical and blasphemous Archbishop in the Church of England since the Reformation as this But if there had been more then one such the Church of England nevertheless would have been a truly Catholick Church as this of Antioch then was in the judgement of the Council that deposed Paul. For in that excellent * Euseb H.E. l. 7. c 30. Epistle which the Council wrote to the Bishops and Presbyters of the whole Catholick Church under Heaven they tell them after a long recital of Paul's Impieties that they were necessitated to depose him and ordain another in his stead over the Catholick Church I might also ask them upon their way of treating the Church of England upon the score of the English Heresies and Schisms what they can say for the Church of Constantinople in the Time of Macedonius and Nestorius who were both Patriarchs of that Church and both fell into Heresie and Schism When a Bishop and much more a Patriarch leads the Flock into by-paths the Schism is more deplorable but yet it is not the Apostasie and Secession of one or two or more Bishops if that should happen that can destroy the Catholick and Apostolick nature of any Provincial Patriarchal or National Church For as I observed before it is not the number of Communicants but the cause or soundness of Communion that makes a true Church and therefore were there both for kind and number ten times as many more opposite Sects and Communions as there are in this Nation and Bishops at the Heads of them all yet upon supposition that the Church of England is sound and Apostolical in Doctrine Worship and Discipline that * Vna est pars in quâ sunt multi Episcopi sed ubi sunt multi illic sacra fides Christi violata est ubi verò paucissimi sunt fides Christi vindicatur Libell precum p 9 12 13. small number adhering to her Communion must be the true Church Nay if all the Bishops of England but one should fall away from the Church of England that †Non dubitandum est paucos Episcopos esle pretiosos merito consessionis inviolabilis sidei multos vero nullifieri merito haereseos in causâ religiouis sacrae fidei non numerus numero comparandus est sed pura illa Apostolica fides probata exiliis probata cruciatibus licet unlus Multorum infidelitatibus praeponenda est ibid. one Bishop and the Flock adhering to him would be the true Church of England and as true and Catholick a Church as if there were not one Dissenter in the Land. The learned Papists know this very well and therefore I wonder that men pretending to Letters and Ingenuity should argue against the Church of England from the English Heresies and Schisms Furthermore if this be a good way of arguing against Churches then the Church of the Jews was twice involved in the consequences of it once by the Schism of Corah and then by that of Jeroboam who set up a Priesthood and Altar a Bethel in opposition to that of Jerusalem and by the separation out off ten Tribes in twelve from the true Church of God. Nay if this modish way of arguing be true then the separation of th Church of England and other National Churches from that of Rome are as strong Arguments against it as the Sects and Schisms among us are against the Church of England There is no difference in the Case because they say that all the Protestant Churches are schismatical for falling off from them as we say the Congregational Churches are for falling off from ours and if ours indeed is not a Catholick Church but apparently under God's displeasure because forsooth they can tell us of the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists and Quakers then we may by just consequence say as much of theirs because we can tell them of the Waldenses Albigenses and Wiccliffians of old and of late of the Lutherans Calvinists and Church of England-men who are all Separatists from the Communion of Rome As those we repute Schismaticks sprang out of our Church and Communion so those whom they repute Schismaticks sprang out of theirs and therefore would not any man wonder that they should so far forget themselves as to use such Arguments against the Church of England and make such Reflections upon it as may be easily retorted upon themselves to overthrow their own Pretensions to Catholicism and weaken the Cause and Reputation of their Church The Church of Rome say they is the Catholick Church and the Church which Christ left upon Earth and the Church of England hath separated from it and therefore say we in their loose way of discoursing the separation of the Church of England is a good Argument against the Goodness and Reputation of that Church which Christ left upon Earth Nay say they Christ can have but one Church upon Earth and we believe none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholick Church but then say we a world of Heresies and Schisms have been bred in that one Church the Catholick Church of Rome and therefore it is long since this one Church of Christ was one or a true and good Church Your Church say the two late Converts to us hath Vnity or not if not then she is not the Church of Christ if she hath why are there so many Sects and Schisms among you Now not to provoke such Gentlemen to * A Net for the Fishers of Men p. 111. paint and rip up the Sores of Protestancy your Church may a Turk say to them hath Unity or not if not then she is not the Church of Christ if she hath why are there so many Sects among you You say you are the one Catholick Church but what shall we do to find it in such and buddle of Dissenters as are in the Empire France Great Britain Sweden Denmark and other Northern Countreys and of * Ex to ordine scilicet Cardinalium sunt quatuor aut quinque quorum nomina possum proferre si vellem quibus reverâ probetur nostra doctrina saltem magna ex parte Romana exosa sit Sed vae illis cum filius Dei enunciaverit fore ut is qui nôrit voluntatem Domini non fecâ—…it vapulet pluribus quam qui non
and his and are under a political oeconomy of the same nature and he that understood it very well said That Satan was not divided against Satan because if he were his kingdom could not stand But it hath stood firm and undivided ever since it was first formed before the sensible Creation it was never yet shaken with intestine Divisions there was never two or three opposite Soveraigns at one time in that cursed Hierarchy nor two or three Pretenders to the Chair of Lucifer And therefore I hope bare Unity or want of Divisions will never hereafter pass among considering men for a mark of a truly Catholick Church And as it is among Spirits so 't is among men The worst Fraternities have sometimes the firmest Union as we of this Nation very well remember the Time when those of the great Rebellion boasted that God had united the Hearts of his People in his Cause as one Man nevertheless those pretended People of God whose Hearts and Hands were so united that we could not break their Bonds of Union asunder were no better then a Band of Rebels and their Cause downright Rebellion against God and the best of Princes tho' they acted in it as if they had been all informed with one common Soul. The like hath often happened in Ecclesiastical Societies The Samaritans who had neither Sadduces nor Pharisees nor Essenes nor Herodians nor Cabalists nor Carraites among them for that Reason had a firmer Union among themselves then the Church of the Jews had and yet they were not the true Church So among the ancient Christians the Novatians lived in perfect Peace and Unity among themselves when there were many Feuds and Contentions among the Catholicks Which shews that bare Unity is not a good Test whereby to try Churches or if it were I am confident the Church of England upon a fair tryal would carry the Garland from the Roman and appear to be the more Catholick Church Could there be found any fit and indifferent Judge between them I durst as far as I am concerned put the merit of the Controversie between us and the R. Cs. upon this single point of Union and would engage to render my self a Proselyte if their Church carried the Cause Perhaps they may think his a very bold Challenge because of the great number of Sectaries that have gone out from us but then they are to consider that as the Protestants which in several Parts of Europe under several Denominations have gone out from them are now nothing unto them so neither are the Congregational Sects which went off from us any thing or of any account to us But take our Church and theirs as they are precisely in themselves without any regard to their respective Separations and I am very confident for all their boastings of Union that the Church of England will be found to have both more potential and actual Union in it then the Church of Rome For first as to potential Union however the Church of Rome is actually united it hath the seeds of Division in its Bowels and as Rebeckah once had different Nations so has she different Churches struggling in her Womb. The Principle of the Pope's Supremacy is it self sufficient were there no more to cause continual Feuds and Factions in the Popedom and * In his excellent Tracts De causis dissentionum in Ecclesiis de primatu Papae ad calcem Salmasii de primatu Papae Nilus Bishop of Thessalonica did most judiciously assign it for the cause of all the Divisions that then tore the Catholick Church into pieces the Bishops of Christendom not being able to endure the Usurpation nor other Churches contrary to their fundamental Liberty to be Subjects to the Roman Church The exercise of this usurped Power of the Pope's being the supream ordinary of the Universal Church is that which makes the Roman Bishops themselves sigh and murmur in private and say with Spalatensis where they can say it safely Frater noster ille est Collega Coepiscopus nobiscum and however they conceal their Resentments as the Spanish Prelates did before the Council of Trent yet they are willing upon the first opportunity to assert their Apostolical Equality and like the English Prelates at the time of the Reformation will be glad when they can do it with a prospect of success to cast off the Yoke which makes Christendom groan and which neither they nor their Predecessor were able to bear Let but Christian Princes say the word and then we shall see what the Bishops will do or let there be but a free and general Council indeed and then let us see if the Pope shall not be told in both ears That the Church Universal is a great Colledge and the Government of it Aristocratical that the Episcopat is one but that it is divided among all Bishops whereof every one hath his share that the Apostles received equal Power and Authority from the same Masters that the Bishops were their Successors and that the other Bishops receive their Authority no more from the Successor of St. Peter then he doth from them but that all receive it alike from Jesus Christ When it shall be safe the Bishops of the Roman Church will talk and write as much to this purpose as ever the English Divines did who in asserting this Doctrine follow the Example of their Ancestors before the Reformation I mean the Saxon Bishops one of whom in his Advice to his Clergy speaks thus * Ge sceolon eac Æ¿itan þat eoÆ¿re hades syndan þa aesteran hadar aester urum hadum and us þa nystan gelice þa biscopas syndan ongeÆ¿rixle þara Apostola on þaere haligþa gesomnunge sÆ¿a syndan þa maesse preostas on þam geprixle â—pister þegna þa Bâ—scâ—opas Aapones and þa maesse preostas Æ¿one had his suna Spelm. Concil uol 1. p. 586. Ye ought to know that your Order is next after and next to ours for as the Bishops are in the place and stead of the Apostles over the holy Church so are the Priests in the place of the Disciples The Bishops are of the Order of Aaron and the Priests have the Order of his Sons This Doctrine in all likelihood will one day revive against the Soveraign Pontif for the Spirit of the Archbishop of Granata will for ever be upon the learned Prelates who like Elastick Bodies under pressure are under a constant inclination to recover their liberty and will recover it as soon as they can The next dividing Principle in the Church of Rome is The Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is a Doctrine more full of Contradictions then perhaps any other which Men or Angles can invent It is contrary to all the Senses and Reason of Man to the plain and obvious sense of those very words upon which it is grounded to the Belief of the ancient Catholick Church to the Principles of almost all Sciences It multiplies the hypostatical Union it makes Christ to
abstain from Pollutions of Idols from fornications from things strangled and from blood To him the Apostles and Elders and the whole Church consented and said it seemeth good to the holy Ghost and to us and yet the Authority of this infallible and unanimous Council did not quite put an end to the Controversie for as it appears out of several of St. Paul's Epistles and more especially out of that to the Galatians some * Ad Magnesios ad Philadelph Epistles of St Ignatius there were those afterwards who taught the Gentile Christians Judaism and commanded them to be circumcised and keep the Jewish Law. So I need not relate how the oecumenical Council of Nice tho' backed with the Authority of the Emperor was not able to extinguish the Arian Schism nor make the Arians acquiesce in its Determinations And to multiply no more Instances the learned R. Cs. know very well how far the Christian World was from submitting to the second Nicene Council which they call the seventh general Council in its Determinations for Image-worship Quite contrary the Northern and Western Bishops unanimously opposed that Council and its Doctrine and in another †Concilium Franco surtes A. D. 79◠Council wherein about 300 of them met together they condemned it and its Decree for Image-worship and proscribed it out of the number of general Councils and the Church of England at the Time was so far from acquiescing in its Determinations that her Pastors received that Decree for worshipping of Images with great indignation and contempt But then tho' it appears from these Examples that general Councils are not infallible Remedies for Heresies and Schisms yet it must be acknowledged that they are very good ones and the best that can be had when they are truly * Cum dicunt Concilium Catholicum aut universale hoc intelligunt ut in eo debeant adesse viri pii docti prudentes ex omnibus nationibus P. P. Vergerius in secretar pontific Act. primâ general and †Cum dicunt Liberum volunt ut liceat tum publicis tum privatis personis sub fide publici salvi conductûs praesliti venire stare discedere quoties illis libitum fuerit ante omnia ut liberè sine ullo metu aut impedimento loqui liceat suamque sententiam dicere in ipso Concilio ibid. free And therefore as Nilus of Thessalonica proposed a free and general Council as the best Expedient for ending all Differences between the Greek and Latin Church above 300 years ago so I hope I may without offence propose it now as the most hopeful Remedy to heal all Differences between the Church of England and the Church of Rome It would be an Enterprize worthy of the Greatness and holy Character of the Pope dispensing with the Pontifical Oaths to use his Interest among Christian Princes for the procuring of a free and general Council wherein * Statuerunt etiam quod amnes definitiones conclusiones articulorum de quibus suerit disputatum sierie debeant ex divinâ sacrâ Scripturâ doctrinà que antiquorum patrum ibid. Scripturae eloquia aliter atque aliter alius atque alius interpretatur aliter nameque illam Novatianus aliter Photinus aliter Sabellius aliter Donatus exponit aliter Arius Eunomius Macedonius aliter Apollinaris Priscillianus aliter Jovinianus Pelagius Caelestinus aliter postremo Nestorius atque idcirco multùm necesse est propter tantos tam varii erroris ansractus ut Prophetice Apostolicae interpretationis linea secundum Ecclesiastici Catholici sensûs normam dirigatur Vincent Lirinens adversus haeres cap. 2. the holy Scriptures and the Writings of the ancient Fathers should be laid open and the Differences of the two Churches fairly tryed by them as the Difference between Nestorius and his Antagonists was tryed in the third general Council The Differences happened in the following manner Nestorius Patriarch of Constantinople openly taught that it was not lawful to call the Virgin Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of God. This alarmed Cyrill of Alexandria and many other Bishops who suspected that Nestorius had a design under the covert of that Assertion to bring into the Church the Doctrine of Paulus Samosatensis and Photinus who asserted that Christ was a meer man. Upon these Suspicions they stoutly opposed Nestorius and his Adherents for their new Opinion and the Contention grew so high that the Emperor was fain to call a Council at Ephesus to compose it and the Bishops being met together after some previous Altercation at last thought it the most Catholick blessed and desirable way of determining the Controversie to produce the Opinions of the holy Fathers who had been Martyrs or Confessors for the Faith or at least had continued in the true profession of it unto the end of their lives Upon this were brought into the Council the Writings of St. Peter Patriarch of Alexandria St. Athanasius St. Theophilus St. Basil St. Gregory of Nazianzum Gregorius Nyssenus St. Cyprian St. Ambrose and St. Foelix and St. Julius Bishops of the Imperial City of Rome with the Writings of other Fathers all which being examined it did appear that Nestorius was an Innovator and that Cyril was in the right who said that the ancient Fathers used to call the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God. I have taken this short account of the manner in which the Council of Ephesus proceeded against Nestorius because it is proposed by †Quod ne praesumptione magis nostrâ quà m autoritate Ecclesiasticâ promere videremur exemplum adhibuimus Sancti Concilii quod ante triennium fermè in Asiâ apud Ephesum celebratum est Viris clarissemis Basso Antiochoque consulibus Vbi cum sanciendis sidei regulis disceptaretur ne qua illic forsitan prophana novitas in modum perfidiae Ariminiensis obreperet universis Sacerdotibus qui illo ducenti sere numero convenerant hoc Cacholicissimum faelicissimum atque optimum factu visum est ut in medium sanctorum patrum sententiae proferrentur c. Vincent Lirin adversus haeres cap. 42. Vincentius Lirinensis as the best method of ending Controversies in Religion and I am perswaded if the same Apostolical course was taken in a General Council now the Differences between the Church of Rome and the Churches that dissent from it would come to an happy Conclusion and by God's Blessing make them all unite into one Communion and become one Catholick and Apostolical Church I know very well that the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion are apt to tell us that the Council of Trent was a Free and General Council but we know the contrary that it was neither Free nor General or if it were why may not the Church be represented anew in another Free and General Council as She was represented in the Council of Chalcedon shortly after the second Council of Ephesus and in the second Council of Nice within thirty years
AN Apologetical Vindication OF THE Church of England IN ANSWER To Those who reproach HER WITH THE ENGLISH HERESIES AND SCHISMS Or suspect HER not to be a Catholick Church Upon their Account London Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church yard MDCLXXXVII THE INTRODUCTION EVER since the Dissenters left the Church of England and formed themselves into Separate Churches the Roman Catholicks have not been wanting to take advantage from her sad Misfortune to expose her at home and abroad as a Church that amidst so many monstrous Sects and so many opposite and irreconcileable Communions can have no right to the glorious Title of Catholick nothing really answerable to the true Idaea of a Church nor any pretensions to the Promises of Christ especially those two of preserving his Church against the Powers of Hell and of sending his Spirit of Truth which is but one to guide her into all Truth They endeavour to make the World believe That a Church so over-run with Heresies and Schisms and so shatter'd and torn with intestine Divisions as ours is cannot be a true or good Church nay they will ask us by a figure of Reproach Where they shall find her among such a Crowd of Dissenters And thus using all manner of Artifice on the one hand in setting forth the many Divisions in Religion among us and on the other the great Unity in Doctrine and Worship among themselves they hope to unsettle us yet more and make our People suspect or believe that ours is not a part of the One Catholick and Apostolick Church It is now one of their Common Places to talk of our Schisms and argue from them upon all occasions in diminution of the Church of England They generally begin there when they first attack any of her Sons or Daughters and when ever we engage with them or they with us in a Dispute about the Two Churches we must be content to hear of our Divisions at both Ears Sometimes they seem to lament them sometimes to upbraid us with them and sometimes to dispute down-right upon them but be their Style and Method never so different when they speak or write of the English Heresies and Schisms their common Aim and Design is the same viz. to bring us out of conceit with our Church and perswade us that a Church so full of imbred Divisions in Religion hath not the Characters of Christ's Spouse no Marks of his Favour nor any Similitude with the Catholick Church that heavenly Hierusalem which is as a City that is at peace and unity in it self We are told That it is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation where every man thinks himself as competent a Judge of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and that that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves Your Church saith another hath Unity or not if not then she is not the Church of Christ If she hath why are there so many Sects and Schisms among you Saith another who not long since was one of her Priests What would I have once given to have found such an Union among Protestants nay to have found one County in my own dear Countrey or perhaps one single Family so united a Brotherhood And in another place he professes That he cannot tell how the Church of England is able to find her self in an innumerable Huddle of ten times more Dissenters Dissemblers whereof he himself was many years one and Indifferents than her number is able to make At this rate and to this purpose they are also apt to talk in their private Conversation For where I live the Place rings with their Reflections on the Church of England upon the account of our English Separations and having not heard that any thing is yet published to help the People to defend themselves and the Honour of our Church against them I thought I could not better spend the Christmas Vacation than to write a short Tract on purpose to shew That the English Heresies and Schisms are in reality no diminution to the Honour of the Church of England and that the Consideration of them ought to scandalize no man against her or make us believe that she is in any degree less Catholick and Apostolick than her greatest Admirers take her to be This is the main Design of my present Undertaking and that I may omit nothing of moment which ought to be spoken of such a Subject in such a short Treatise I will proceed in the following Method I. I will shew from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions II. That Schisms and Divisions and the consummation of them in opposite Communions are no good Argument against the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church III. That bare Unity or want of Schisms and Divisions in Religion are no sound Argument for the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church After I have demonstrated these three Propositions I will make enquiry into the true Causes of Schisms and Divisions and more particularly into the Causes of these in England Then I will say something of the Prevention and Cure of them And in the Conclusion make such Addresses to the People of the Roman Communion to the People of the Church of England and to the Dissenters from it as I hope may become a good Christian and the Author of such a peaceful and charitable Discourse as I hope the Reader will find this to be AN Apologetical Vindication OF THE Church of England Chap. I. Shewing from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions 1. I Will shew from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the sad misfortune of Schisms and Divisions and to the consummation of them in opposite Communions This to argue first from Reason is as demonstrable of Ecclesiastical as Civil or Military Societies men being as subject by their own evil Passions and the Temptations of the Devil to mutiny and make Insurrections in Churches as in Camps or Cities or other Fraternities of men Nay it being more for the Interest of Satan and also more easie to divide a Church then a Kingdom or a Camp men are so much the more in danger of being tempted to do the one rather then the other and accordingly we find that Churches are more infected with intestine Divisions then States and Kingdoms and whereas formerly one Emperor was able to quell many Mutinies and Rebellions a succession of Christian Emperors sometimes were not able to quell one Schism Wherefore to pursue my Argument as Christian Armies are subject to Mutinies because they consist of Souldiers which may be tempted to Mutiny and Christian
we find him complaining in the 1st Chapter That all they in Asia had turned away from him especially Phygellus and Hermogenes In the 2d Chapter he warns him against Hymenaeus and Philetus who had overthrown the faith of some teaching that the resurrection was past And in the last we find him complaining of Demas and Alexander the Copper-smith for resisting his Apostolical Authority and doing of him much mischief and so dangerous a Schismatick he was that he did Timothy beware of him and pray'd God to reward him according to his works When he wrote to Titus Hereticks were so common in the Church that he said unto him An Heretick after the first and second admonition reject And in his Ep. to the Hebrews we find that there were many among the Primitive Christians who fell back into Judaism and embraced Gnosticism not only after they were illuminated or baptized but after they were made partakers by Baptism of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Powers of the World to come They apostatized maliciously and out of spite to Christ forsook the Church for as the Apostle observed they did despite unto Spirit of Grace counting the bloud of the Covenant an unholy thing whereby they put him that shed it to open shame and as it were crucified him afresh I have already observed out of the 2d Ep. of St. Peter what dangerous and damnable Heresies there were in his time I refer the gentle R.C. Reader to the 2d Chap. of his 2d Ep. and to the Ep. of St. Jude for a full description of them and then will entreat him to tell me if this Church of England in the midst of all the Dissenters and their widest Doctrines be in any worse condition then the most primitive Catholick Church I desire him also to accompany me to the * Johannes vero in Apocalypsi Idolothyta edentes slupra committentes jubetur castigare Tertull. in praescript Haeret. 33. Revelation of St. John and there I will shew him a Synagogue of Satan in the apostolical Church of Smyrna and in that of Sardis those who held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and the doctrine of Balaam teaching that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication The like there were in the Church of Thyatira whom the Spirit sets forth under the name of Jezabel And in the church of Ephesus the mother-Church of them all there were numbers of counterfeit Apostles which said they were Apostles and were not but upon tryal were found lyars These were all Apostolical Churches and therefore it is a wonder to me that any man should think it fair and reasonable to reproach the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms or to think it jusitisiable to forsake or undervalue her Communion upon that account The Church Catholick to this time and all the Catholick Churches in it were governed by the apostles who undoubtedly had the personal gift of Infallibility or by their Disciples and immediate Successors upon whom the Spirit of God was visible in many * Euseb H. E. l. 3. c. 38. miraculous gifts and who were chosen to be Bishops by the particular ‖ Clement Epad Corinth ed. Oxon. 42. designation of the Holy Ghost I say the whole Church then and every part of it was God's House and God's Building and God's Temple which was built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner Stone and yet we find that God's Husbandry abounded then with Tares and that his Building in almost all the Apartments of it was shaken into pieces by Divisions even whilst those Husbandmen and Architects were alive who were Labourers with God and had the Spirit of God without which no man searcheth the deep things of God. The Church with all the Powers which Christ lest unto it was not able to secure it self from Heresies and Schisms and an innumerable huddle of Dissenters as is evident from St. John who in his general Ep. to the Church Catholick bids the Faithful try the Spirits before they believed them because many false Prophets were gone out into the World. And if it were so in the green Tree what must it be in the dry If Churches water'd and planted by the Apostles and Apostolick men who wrought Miracles were so infested with Divisions can we expect that Churches planted and governed by their Successors at this distance should be exempted from them But let us go on to examine the Apostolick Age and the Ages nearest unto it and then we shall find that the former Times were not better then these For in the Church of Jerusalem which was the Mother of all Churches and the Church wherein St. Peter made his first Sermon this primogenial Church which for * Euseb E. H. l. 4. c. 5. 15 Successions was governed by the ‖ Euseb E. H. l. ◠◠c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Kindred of our Lord continued no longer †Euseb E. H. l. 4. c. 22. undeflowred with Heresie and Schism then she was under the inspection of James our Lord's Brother who was her first Bishop For when he died Simeon the Son of Cleophas was chosen to succeed him because he was our Lord's Cousin-german by the Mothers side But * Euseb H. E. l. 4. c. 22. Thebuthis being offended because he was not chosen Bishop in this vacancy began to corrupt the Church which hitherto had remained a pure Virgin with vain Doctrines which he took from the seven Sects of which that of Simon surnamed Magus was one who divided the Unity of the Church saith Hegesippus by strange adulterous Doctrines against God and Christ No Bishop ever suffer'd more by Sectaries then this good old Simeon did in those Times for without any regard to his pray hairs who was sixscore years old ‖ Euseb E. H. l. 3. c. 33. they accused him before Atticus Proconsul of Syria under Trajan for being a Christian and descended of the Royal Family of David and so procured him after many Torments to be put to death St. Ignatius who was St. John's Scholar and Bishop of the Church of Antioch wrote Epistles to several Churches and in that to the Church of Smyrna we find that there were Hereticks among them who would not believe that Jesus Christ had a true and real Body and upon that account abstained from the holy Eucharist and the Prayers of the Church This Sect as unreasonable as it was was one of the first which the Devil sowed in the field of the Church St. John alluded to it in the beginning of his first Ep. general where he saith That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes and which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with
his Son Jesus Christ In his Epistle to the Philadelphians and Magnesians he complains of the judaizing Christians who went back from Christ to Moses And in his Ep. to the Trallesians and Philadelphians he prays them to abstain from the evil Herbs which Christ did not cultivate because they were not of his heavenly Father's planting alluding to the words of our Lord who said Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Furthermore to shew what kind of Hereticks and Schismaticks there were in those days he calls them * Ep. Ignat. ed. Amst p. 3. Beasts in humane shape †P. 21. Beasts and mad Dogs which ought to be avoided ‖ P. 26. corrupters of the faith who should go into unquenchable fire and * Ad Philadelph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wolves in sheeps cloathing †Ad Trall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wolves that if it were possible would deceive the very Elect. About 10 years after the death of St. Paul there happened a most ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. ep p. t. ungodly and detestable Sedition in the Church of Corinth which occasioned St. Clement Bishop of Rome to write that famous Epistle to them wherein he tells them that the Schism among them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shameful a very shameful thing and unworthy of the name of Christians And in the Pastor of Hermas there are also manifest indications of Faction and Schism among Christians when he wrote * L. 1. Visio 3. First In his Vision of the building of the great Tower upon the Waters where by the Stones that had Clefts and Schisms in them he understands contentious and †Qui autem scissuras habebant hi sunt qui alius adversus alium in cordibus discordiam habent non habent pacem inter se c. quarrelsom Christians who could not agree together nor keep the peace of the Church among themselves but had heart-burnings one against another Secondly By the ‖ Lapides quos vidisli longè projectos à turni currentes in viâ volvi de viâ in loca deserta ii sunt qui crediderunt quidem dubitatione autem suâ reliquerunt viam veram errant autem miseri sunt ingredientes in desertas vias Stones that were seen to roul up and down at a great distance from the Tower he understands the unstable sort of Christians who having left the Church miserably wandred in by-paths and desert ways So in his 8th similitude of the third Book he sets forth four sorts of men in the Church First Those who bring in strange and vain Doctrines into the Church tho' they do not leave the Communion of it Secondly Those who are of an unpeaceable and quarrelsom disposition and make Feuds in the Church tho' they do not proceed as far as Schism Thirdly Those who tho' they keep the right faith yet through Envy and Emulation quarrel with one another about Bishopricks and Places of Dignity in the Church And fourthly Those who apostatize from the faith and separate from the Church * Lib 3. Sim. 8. §. 6 7. The first sort were set forth by withered Rods which were not rotten the second by half withered Rods in which were clefts the third by green Rods in which were clefts and the last by Roads both withered and rotten And tho' our Adversaries could shew of all these sorts that do or did belong to the Church of England it is no new nor extraordinary thing Justin Martyr †Apol. 2. p. 69 70 71. complains grievously of the blasphemous Heresies which to the great prejudice of the Church were taught in his Time. He recites the Names of some of the Founders of them as ‖ Ibid. Simon Menander Marcion * Dial. cum Thyph p. 253. edit Paris 1615. Basilides Saturninus and tells the Emperors that they were but nominal Christians the name of Christian being as common to Sects in Christianity as that of Philosopher was to every absurd Sect in Philosophy And in his Dialogue with Trypho he saith That the being of Sects and Heresies confirm'd their faith the more because they were foretold by our Saviour in his Parable of the Tares and Wheat and where he said False Christs and false Prophets shall arise and beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps-cloathing but inwardly are ravening Wolves Irenaeus towards the latter end of the 2d Century wrote an Account of all the Gnostical Heresies such as that of Simon Menander Cerinthus Carpocrates Saturninus Marcius Marcion the Ebionites Valentimans and Colarbasians and others which in his time infested the Church seducing great numbers with a shew of Perfection and false Miracles especially multitudes of Women and particularly in his own * Irenaeus l. 1 c. 9 Diocess and yet notwithstanding all those that went out after those impute Heresies Irenaeus remained a Catholick and Apostolick Bishop and the Gallican Church a pure Catholick and Apostolick Church Tertullian wrote against the Valentinians and Marcionites and many other Heresies in the beginning of the third Century and because they pretended to Antiquity he wrote a †Di praescriptione â—…licorum Book on purpose to shew that the oldest Heresies were later than Truth The Church at that time was so infested with Heresies that many ‖ Non opritue nos mirari super haereses islas vanâ—è in consideratè plerique hoc ipso scandali â—antur qâ—â—â—l tantiâ—n haereses valyant quare ille sidelssimi prudentiâ—â—ni usitatision in Ecclesiâ in iltam partem transierunt Tertull. ib. 1 2 3. wondred and were scandalized at the number and prevalence of them and that so many eminent men fell and relapsed into them This gave occasion to the Father in the beginning of that Book to tell the Faithful that they were not to take offence nor wonder at the number or quality of those that forsook the Church He bid them remember that Saul was an eminent person before be fell away from God and that good David and gracious and wise Solomon apostatized the one into Adultery and the other into Idolatry and that it was the priviledge only of the Son of God himself to be perfect and impeccable and by consequence it was no Argument for the truth of any Heresie tho' a Bishop or Deacon or Doctor or a holy Widow or Virgin or even a Confessor fell into it because we were not to judge of the Faith by the persons of men but of the persons of men by the Faith. He bid them consider That the Traitor Judas was an Apostle that many of Christ own Disciples forsook him that Phygellus and Hermogenes and Hymenaeus and Philetus forsook Paul and that we should not wonder to see the Church so deserted and suffer after the example of Christ Saith he They went out from us because they were not of us and we should remember the Predictions of Christ and
p. 416. perverted all Phrygia Cappadocia and Cilicia and afterwards their corrupt Doctrine went Westward as far as Constantinople it self The Novatian Schism began in Rome it self and was so called from Novatus whom the Greek Writers confound with Novatianus a Presbyter of that Church He * Euseb l. 6. c. 43. taught that it was not lawful to admit those who had fallen in the Decian Persecution upon their repentance to communion with the Faithful and getting himself ordained Bishop in a sinister manner he drove many under that pretence from the Church and then there was Bishop against Bishop Church against Church and Altar against Altar even at Rome it self Neither Cartwright nor Travers nor any other Presbyter of the Church of England did ever do her so much mischief as Novatus did the Church of Rome The Schism which he raised lasted 200 years and had not Cornelius been well assisted by the Catholick Bishops not only in Italy but over all the Christian World this pestilent Schism under the pretence of greater Purity would soon have driven him out of Rome The Schism of the Donatists first began in Carthage and they were so called from Donatus Casensis the Head of the Party which first erected Altar against Altar in that metropolitical City setting up Majorinus against Cecilian who was rightfully ordained Bishop of that Church Of all the Schisms upon record this was one of the most unreasonable dishonourable stubborn impudent and bloudy as will appear from this short Account thereof First It was very unreasonable because it was made by a Party which had nothing to object against the Doctrine Discipline or Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Carthage but only against the Canonical Incapacity of Cecilian to be Bishop of it as one who was a traditor and worshipper of Idols in the Dioclesian Persecution which notwithstanding appear'd upon many Tryals to have been a malicious Accusation nothing of this having been laid to his charge when he was elected and ordained Secondly It was a most dishonourable and shameful Schism as having been begun and carried on by a rich proud and insolent * Lucilla Woman who was obnoxious to the Rod of Cecilian and corrupted Secundus the Primate of Numidia and many other African Bishops into a Faction against him together with those sacrilegious Presbyters whom Cecilian had called to account for the Plate and other Goods of the Church which had been committed to their Trust in the time of the Persecution Thirdly It was a most stubborn and prevalent Schism which would not yield nor submit to the Autority of the Emperor the Sentence of two †Romanun Arelatense Councils the Determination of the Proconsul of Africa nor the Judgement of the universal Church On the contrary the more it was condemned it grew the more insolent and powerful and oppressed not only the Church of Carthage where it first began but made almost the whole Church of Africa revolt Fourthly It was a most impudent Schism the Schismaticks esteeming themselves as the only pure People of the World and the Catholicks as Pagans and Idolaters plundering their Churches burning their Altars as polluted and treading their holy Sacraments which they found upon them under their feet They also denied them Christian Burial and re-baptized and re-confirmed as many of them as revolted to them and truly so general was the Revolt in all Parts of Africa that the Catholick Communions looked more like Conventicles then the Catholick Church Lastly It was a most bloudy and cruel Schism as appears by the Feats of the * So called quod circum cellas vagantur August T. 7. p. 76. G. T. 8. p. 334. M. T. 8.335 D. E. Circellians or Circumcellians whom the Donatists called Agonistici because they fought for them and destroyed the Catholicks in a most barbarous manner For they were the †Habebant Donatistae per omnes penè Ecclesias suas perditum hominum genus perversum ac violentum velut sub professione continentium ambulantes qui Circumcelliones dicebantur erant ingenti numero à turbâ per omnes ferè Africanas regiones constituti qui malis imbuti doctoribus audacia superbiâ termeritate illicitâ nec suis nec alienis aliquando parcebant contra jus fasque in causis interdicentes hominibus nisi obedissent damnis gravissimis caedibus afficiebant armati diversis telis bacchantes per agros villasque ad sanguinis effusionem accedere non metuentes intoberabiles persecutiones unitati Ecclesie compacti faciebant ipsisque sacerdotibus Catholicis ministris aggressiones nocturnas atque diurnas direptionesque rerum omnium vi inserebant Nam multos dei servos caedibus debilitaverunt Possidonius in vit August Vid. August Ep. 48. 50. De Haeresibus ad Quod-vult-deum Ep. 68. Contra Crescon l. 3. Enarrat in Ps 10. Zealots of the Faction who thought they did God good service in making havock of the Catholicks nay they were such furious Enthusiasts that when they had none to kill as St. Aug. saith they would kill themselves They laid wait for the Catholicks in the ways and murdered both the Clergy and the People they took them out of their Houses by force to kill them they beat them to death with Clubs poured Lime and Vinegar into their Eyes plundered and burnt their Houses and murdered Bishops and Priests at the very Altar and marched about day and night doing these horrible Exploits under the conduct of Donatist Bishops and Priests Nay the whole Sect was all Cruelty and Pride for a Catholick no sooner turned Donatist but he alter'd his temper and became impatient furious haughty and contentious and indeed the many Massacres and Devastations the whole Party committed shews they delighted in Cruelty and Bloud Such was the Schism of the Donatists and it deserves to be well considered by those who are apt to make uncharitable Reflections upon the Church of England or have a mean opinion of her Communion upon the account of the English Schisms The Arian Schism first began in Alexandria and had its Name from Arius a Presbyter of that Church At the first broaching of his Heresie he was opposed by Alexander his Bishop and part of the Clergy and People adhering to the Bishop and part siding with Arius from this small spark saith * Lib. 1. c. 6. Socrates came such a fire as made a Conflagration in the universal Church First It enflamed the Churches of Aegypt Lybia and the upper Thebais and from thence was blown into all the other Churches when as †De vit Constant l. 2. c. 62. Eusebius writes one might have seen not only Bishops contending with one another but the People rent into Factions some inclining to this Party and some to that and when the Pagans also took advantage from those Divisions of the Christians to expose Christianity in their Theatres and turn it into ridicule This sad estate of the
Catholick Church drew tears from the eyes of Constantine and moved him to call the Council of Nice to compose this Difference and another not much less about a matter of far less moment which had risen between the Eastern and Western Churches about no greater matter then the observation of Easter day The unanimous Decree of the Council against Arius and his Doctrine backed with the Autority of the Emperor did for the present silence the Arian Controversies but his Son Constantius turning Arian it broke out with more fury then formerly and caused so much Sedition and Bloudshed in Christian Cities especially about the * Socrat. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 6 7 11 12 13 16 28. choice of Bishops and so many Subdivisions in opinions among the Arians themselves that one may well wonder how ever Christendom came to be at peace and unity again Then not only Bishops were divided against Bishops but Councils contradicted Councils Then were made at several Times and Places no less than nine Forms of Confession most of them differing from one another and all from the Nicene Creed Nay then not only the Arians were divided among themselves but the Orthodox about the manner of receiving the convert Arians into Communion †Faustin Marcell lib. precum ad imper Val. Theodos Arcad. Socrat l. 3. c. 9. Lucifer and his Party standing upon stricter terms then the rest I have given this short Account of the Arian Schism to shew how not onlyh this and that Church but the whole Catholick Church may at one time labour under Schism And upon making particular enquiry into particular Churches we shall find how in many of them there was Bishop against Bishop Altar against Altar and Communion against Communion which made Julian the Emperor scoptically say That the Son of Mary had now verified his own Saying that he came not to send Peace upon the Earth but a Sword. At Alexandria there were two opposite Churches owning two opposite Bishops the Orthodox who still adhered to Athanasius present or absent and the Arians who received Gregory and George and the rest that were put in his Place At Antioch there were at one time three opposite Churches one of the Arians of which Euzoius was Bishop one of converted Arians of which Meletius was Bishop and one of those who never sell into Arianism of which Paulinus was Bishop and yet the divided state of Christendom at this time was no offence or wonder to a wise Pagan I mean the Philosopher Themistius who in a * Socrat. H E. l. 4. c. 32. Speech which he spoke to the Emperor Valens to perswade him to moderate his cruel Persecution of the Orthodox told his Majesty That he ought not to admire at the disagreement of Opinions among the Christians which was but small if compared with the multitude and confusion of Opinions among the Greeks among whom there were above 300 different Sects Nay he pray'd him to consider that the most excellent and useful Arts had never arrived to such perfection but by difference of judgement and strife among the Artists themselves nay that Philosophy the Mother of all good Arts had risen from small beginnings to such a height of perfection by differences among learned men At Constantinople and in many other Cities there were formed Churches of Arians and Novatians under their respective Bishops opposite to one another and both in opposition to the true Catholick Church From this toleration of separate and opposite Churches arose many †Socrat. H. E. l. 6. c. 22. Differences ‖ Id. l. 5. c. 13. Tumults Quarrels and Bloundshed as when the Arians assembled in the Piazz's of Constantinople by night and from thence went through the Streets of the City singing alternative Hymns against those who believed three to be one Power Chrysostom the Catholick Bishop fearing lest the People might be drawn from the Church by such Hymns appoints some of the Catholicks in opposition to the Arians to go about singing nocturnal Hymns against their Opinions upon which the * Socrat. l. 6. c. 8. two Parties meeting one another and being more willing to fight then to sing they fell to violence and in the Conflict many on both sides were wounded and some slain Nay in Rome it self which now boasts so much of its Unity under one Head in Rome the pretended Center of Christendom there have been as shameful wide and violent Schisms as any were ever in the Christian World Schisms * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. E. H. l. 4. c. 29. not upon the account of any pretended Heresie or dislike of Ceremonies nor consisting in a separation of the Clergy and People from the Bishop but Schisms of a more dangerous and scandalous nature betwixt Rival Popes and their Parties when there were several Pretenders to the Chair of St. Peter and some adhered to this Pope and some to that Thus in the Reign of Valentinian upon the death of Pope Liberius the Clergy and People of Rome were divided in the choice of a Bishop to succeed him The holy part of the People which adhered to Liberius in his Banishment against the perjured and usurping Pope Felix being convened by Vrsinus Amantius and Lupus chose †Alias Ursicinas Vrsinus but the perjured part of the Clergy which broke the solemn Oath they had made not to choose a Bishop during the Banishment of Liberius and that part of the People which adhered to them chose Damasus Bishop who was one of those who broke his faith with Liberius Ursinus was ordain'd Bishop by Paul of Tibur and Damasus was ordained by others in the Lateran Church and part of the Clergy and People adhered to one and part or the other with very great Animosities on both sides Where was the Unity of the Roman Communion when the Roman Church had two opposite Popes and the People were divided into two separate Chruches under them Damasus indeed prevailed not by the merits of his Cause or that he had the better claim but by bribing the Courtiers and great men of Rome and intrigueing with the ‖ He was called Matronarum Auriscalpius Matrons of the City and so procuring the Banishment of Vrsinus who was chosen by the faithful and holy part of the People which suffer'd their bloud to be shed for him and the justice of his Cause and after his Banishment owned themselves to be his Flock and refused communion with Damasus believing him to be the rightful Pope Damasus from the first was so enraged against them that he hired the Rabble to outrage them they made a great slaughter of them for three days together at the Temple of Julius then in the Church of Sicininus called also the Church of Liberius * Vid Marcellini hist l. 27. c. 3. where they killed an hundred and sixty and wounded very many more whereof a great part died of their Wounds But all this did not deter them from meeting
the account of Divisions that he in effect apologized for them and for the goodness and wisdom of God that suffered them for saith he there must be * Ac si diceret ob hoc haereseôn non statim divinitùs eradicantur authores ut probati manifesti siant id est unusquisque quam tenax fidelis fixus Catholicae fidei sit amator appareat Vincent Lirin heresies among you that those who are approved may be made manifest So St. Clement begins his Epistle to the same Church which was written upon the occasion of a great Schism in this manner The Church of God at Rome to the Church of God at Corinth It seems the Church at Corinth rent and torn as it was with intestine Divisions was the Church of God as well as that of Rome in which there were then no Divisions at all St. Peter's next and immediate Successor bewailed the sad Misfortune of the Corinthians but he did not unchurch them for it he told them how it occasioned their venerable and illustrious Name to be evil spoken of but nevertheless he called them the * §. 1. elect of God. And so Constantine the Great in an Epistle which he wrote to the Alexandrians when they were very infamous upon the account of the deadly Feuds and Separations which divided their Communion salutes them in these words †Socrat. H. E. 〈…〉 9. Constantine the Emperor to the Catholick Church of Alexandria Not long after when the Arian Bishops ‖ L. 1. c. 27. conspired against Athanasius to get the Emperor to depose him and his Majesty upon hearing his Cause found their Accusations to be false he wrote a Letter in his behalf to the Alexandrians of which this is the Title * Athan opera vol. 1. p. 779. Constantine the great Emperor to the People of the Catholick Church which is at Alexandria When he wrote this Letter to the People of Alexandria it abounded with Melitians and Arians who had formed themselves into opposite Communions and yet those schismatical opposite Communions were in the judgement of that learned Emperor no Argument against the Alexandrian Church So Constantine junior shortly after his Father's death before he assumed the Title of Augustus directed Letters to the Church of Alexandria in favour of Athanasius with this Superscription †Socrat. H. E. l. 2. c. 3. Constantine Caesar to the People of the Catholick Church of the Alexandrians Notwithstanding all the Sects and Sectaries of Alexandria the Church still remained Catholick in the Communion of the Faithful who retained the ancient Apostolical Doctrine and Discipline These wise Emperors considered that the Tares could not alter the property of the Wheat and therefore tho' there were a World of Hereticks and Schismaticks in Alexandria and all the Regions round about it yet they called the Church a Catholick Church It was every jot as Catholick then as it was before the Melitian and Arian Schisms when the People were of one mind and one Communion for it is not the great number of Church members is any Diocess Province or Patriarchat but the cause and nature of the Communion that makes a true Church Otherwise if Churches must be no longer reputed truly Catholick and good then all the Members which are or ought to be of it are unanimous and communicate together then it must follow that both the Church universal and every particular Member of it long since lost their Catholick nature and were no true Churches in the eyes of God. What for instance became of the Church Catholick after the Council of Ariminum when almost the whole Christian World became Arian except a very * Libellus precum p. 8 9 10 11. Vincent Lirin c. 6. small number of Bishops who stuck to the profession of the Catholick Faith More particularly what became of the Church of Rome when Pope Liberius embraced the Arian Communion and subscribed to the Sentence of the Arian Bishops against Athanasius as †Eccles Ann. T. 3. p. 761 762 763. Baronius acknowledges tho' he endeavours to prove that he never subscribed to the Arian Confession or Heresie Nay what became of it especially upon their Principle when Pope ‖ Vid. Nili Archiepiscop Thessalon de primatu Papae lib. qui est ad calcem Salmas de primatu Papae p. 33 34 35 p. 61. Honorius the 1st fell into the Heresie of the Monothelites for which he was condemned by the 6th General Council and anathematized for it after his death by the 2d Council of Nice which they receive for the 7th General Council Nay if Heresies and Schisms are good Arguments or just matter of Exception against any Church what shall we say to the Church of Rome upon the account of the Novatian and all the other Antipapal Schisms mentioned in the former Chapter Or to go farther back into Antiquity what Apology shall we make for her when * Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 15. Blastus and Florinus a degraded Roman Presbyter raised a great Schism in Rome endeavouring to introduce new Doctrines which †C. 20. Irenaeus confuted in Books written for that purpose Their Doctrines were very absurd as well as inconsistent with the Faith and Tradition of all Churches and yet they drew away many from the Church of Rome and enticed them to embrace their Opinions Nay what shall we do to defend her in the Time of Pope Victor and Zephyrinus when she was infested with the Heresie Euseb H.E. l 5. c 28. which asserted our Lord to be a meer man This damnable Heresie was first taught at Rome by Theodotus no better a man then a Tanner for which he was excommunicated by Pope Victor and afterwards in the Time of his Successor Zephyrinus it came to a perfect Schism when the Hereticks made Natalis the Confessor a Bishop of the Heresie and settled a Maintenance upon him One of the Scholars of Theodotus the Tanner was another Theodotus a Banker a great promoter of the Schism and therefore I cannot but wonder that any Roman Catholick who understands Antiquity should upbraid the Church of England with the Preaching of Mechanicks and Tradesmen when a Tanner and a Banker in the 2d Century were the Ring-leaders of such a pestilent Heresie in the Church of Rome and as an Author of that Time reports impudently took upon them to adulterate the Scriptures and reject the Canon of the primitive Faith. Why should men pretending to Sense and Learning use and Argument that is so easily retorted upon themselves and when it is pursued into all its Consequences makes it impossible for them to defend either the Church Universal or any particular Member thereof What will they say for the primitive Church by way of defence against the Gnostical Heresies if they argue against that as they are wont to argue against the Church of England Or to pass over the Schisms of which I have given some Account in the
Reformers People came off in shoals from the Church of Rome in all Places where the Reformation was taught Whole Kingdoms revolted as one man to the astonishment of the Beholders on both sides and I believe no one man in the World St. Paul excepted ever made so many Proselytes as Luther the Protevangelist of the Reformation in Germany did which is no small presumption that their former adhesion to the Roman Communion was the effect of involuntary Ignorance which is not consistent with a truly free and rational choice I am the more confirmed in this opinion when I consider that in Countreys where there is the free exercise of both Religions the number of Proselytes from the Roman Religion to the Reformed is daily much greater then from the Reformed to the Roman particularly in France notwithstanding all the progressive Discouragements which came like Wave after Wave upon the Protestants for every Proselyte Popery got from the Reformed Church it perhaps gained ten from Popery while it was lawful for it to receive Converts and I appeal to the Consciences of the R. Cs. whether in all likelihood there would not soon be as many Protestants in Italy or Spain as there were in France if there were allowed the like measure of Knowledge and Liberty in those Kingdoms as there was in this Let the Spaniards and Italians have but the free use of the Scriptures which is their Christian Birth-right give them but the Translations which Cyprian de Valera made of the Bible in one Language and * He was Abbat of the Monastery of St. Michael de Lemo of the Order of St. Benedict and his Translation of the Bible in Italian was Printed in the year 1477. when Sixtus Quartus was Pope Nicolaus de Malhermis and †He translated the New Testament from the Original into Italian and it was Printed at Antwerp in 1538. and dedicated to St. Hercules Conzaga Cardinal of Mantua and the Dedication or Preface is almost nothing else but a Panegyrick of the Scriptures but this and all his other Works were prohibited in that Index of prohibited Books which P. P. Vergerius put forth with Annotations and which was the first of that kind Antonio Brucioli both their own men made in the other before the Reformation and if upon the free use of these Bibles and the Preaching of such men as Cyprian and Savanorola and allowance to their Bishops to act according to the Powers of their Apostolical Function there do not arise a sudden and mighty Episcopal Reformation in both those Kingdoms then I would acknowledge that the Unity in the Roman Church is perfectly Apostolical and that the secession of ours from the Church of Rome is an Apostasie from the one Catholick Church It is very well known what ‖ Sleidan Commentar l. 15 in An. 1543. Herman Archbishop of Cohen Duditius Bishop of Five Churches and the two * Sleidan Comment l. 21. in An. 1548. Hist Council of Trent l. 2. Meum etiam Germanum fratrem Baptistam Vergerium Polae Episcopum ob Paraphrafin in Psalmum 119. scriptum condemnant P.P. Vergerius Annot. in Catal. Heret p. 263. 119. seriptum condemnant P. P. Vergerius Annot. in Catal. Heret p. 263. Vergerii Brothers of immortal memory not to mention other Bishops did in the Time of the Reformation nay Posterity knows very well how far the Spanish Bishops in the Council of †Hist Council of Trent l. 7. Trent maintained the divine Right of Episcopacy in spight of the Legates and that Bishops derived their Authority immediately from Jesus Christ and not from the Pope And no man that is acquainted with History can doubt that if the Bishops of the Roman Communion might maintain this Doctrine safely they would maintain it freely and openly and so wrest the Keys out of the Pope's hand They would if they durst let his Holiness know that they are his * Non est nostri Romani Papae non est tanta majestas ut terrere debeat ficta est illa temporalis sastuosa majestas usurpata est nulla est Frater noster ille est Collega Comminister Antonius de Dominis in Consilio Profectionis §. 13. Fellows and Collegues and co-Boishops as St. Cyprian called Pope Stephen but they are quiet and peaceable because they are under Compulsion By which I understand such a mighty degree of penal Force and Violence as ordinarily speaking will compel men to comply with corrupt Churches against the Dictates of their own Understandings as extremity of ill Weather will constrain a Master of a Ship with great reluctance to cast his Cargo over-Board to save his own life and the lives of his men And when such great Exigences force men to do any thing which otherwise they would not do they are said to do it unwillingly and to act against their Judgements and Inclinations and particularly when for fear of ruining and exterminating Penalties which humanely speaking are intolerable men conform to any Religion which otherwise they would disown tho' as to outward Conformity and Communion they are of it yet they are not for it in their hearts I confess me ought to endure any thing rather then conform to any Religion which they believe to be false or subscribe to any Confession which they believe not to be true but yet we see the frailty of humane Nature is such that extream Severity will make them comply against their wills with a Religion they certainly know and firmly believe to be false Thus Plato for fear of the Fate of his Master Socrates continued in the profession of Polytheism against the Dictates of his own Conscience He knew there was but one true God the Creator of all things but he durst not stand up for him but sore against his will frequented the Temples of the false Gods. So tho' Cicero knew the Vanity of the popular Gods as he called them in opposition to the one great God yet he went to their Temples with the People and said That their Ancestors Religion was nevertheless to be had in Reverence and retained Reipublicae gratiâ that is in effect to say A man ought not to dissent from it for fear he should lose his Skin So the * Cum iram regis metuunt cum non dignantur pro Christo filio Dei exilium perpeti rescindunt quod piè vindicaverant suscipiunt quod ut impium damnaverant Episcopi plus iram regis terreni timuerunt quà m Christum verum Deum sempiternum regem Catholick Bishops in the Time of the Arian Controversie for fear condemned the Faith against their own Consciences which they had publickly asserted before Even good old †Sed ipse Osius accersitus ad Constantium regem minisque perterritus metuens ne senex dives exilium pateretur dat manus impietati post tot annos praevaricatur in fidem Libell precum Osius who had so long stood Champion
have offered up himself a propitiatory sacrifice before he was offered upon the Cross In a word the Contradictions involved in it are almost innumerable by which it equally choaks the learned and unlearned and as it hath made so it will for ever make Dissenters in great abundance and no man nor any Church can ever want a just pretence of dividing from the Church of Rome as long as it is an Article of her Faith. These two Principles without naming any more naturally tend to making of Divisions after Divisions among them notwithstanding all the actual Union of which they boast But the Church of England hath no such dividing Principles theoretical or practical in her Constitution nothing is required to Communion with her but what is primitive and Apostolical and how much soever she hath been or is broken and divided yet her Communion is truly Catholick and tends to Peace and Coalescence and even now her Wounds are closing apace and ready to heal of themselves And as the Church of England hath more potential Union in her then that of Rome so hath she more actual Union too for her Clergy and People have no such fierce and bitter Contentions among them as there are betwixt the Irish Remonstrants and Anti-Remonstrants the Molinists and Jansenists as well as Thomists and Scotists and Jesuites some of which opposite Parties will not communicate with one another And as for the Difference among them concerning the Judge of Controversies and whether the Pope be subject or superior to a general Council it tends naturally and by due rational consequence to the dissolution of their Communion and who knows but we may live to see the Comedy of Basil acted over again and one part of the Roman Church declaring for a general Council and the other for the Pope Nay I may say that at this present the Clergy of the Church of England have been and are united to Admiration and Envy and better then the Clergy often happened to be in the ancient Catholick Church Had our Bishops ever such Broils among them as happened betwixt the Bishops of the Eastern and Western Churches about no greater a Matter then the keeping of Easter And between Cpyrian and Dionysius and Firmilian three Metropolitans and their Adherents on the on side and the Bishop of Rome and his on the other about re-Baptization when they made no bones of * Vid. â—â— Firmiliani contra Ep. Stephani in cyprian edit Rigalt p. 143. taxing the Pope with Inhumanity Insolence and Folly Or had we ever reason to take up that Complaint against them which †H. E. l. 3. â— 1 Eusebius made against the Bishops of the Catholick Church before the Dioclesian Persecution That they were as it were at War among themselves and wounded one another with words as with Darts and Spears nay that they dashed and split like capital Vessels one upon another striving for preheminence and enlarging the bounds of their Diocesses which causes great Factions among the People Or to descend to more particular Instances Was there ever such a tragical Quarrel between any of our Archbishops or Bishops since the Reformation as happened between Theophilus Patriarch of Alexandria and John Chrysostom Patriarch of Constantinople Epiphanius who sided with Theophilus and Chrysostom ‖ Socrat. l. 6. c. .14 cursed one another * Socrat. l. 16. c. 17. much Bloud was s hed on both sides and the Cathedral Church of Constantinople with the Senate-house were burnt in the Quarrel down to the ground Sozom. l. 8. c. 21. Sozomen protests he was ashamed to tell many things which happened in this Quarrel lest Infidels should come to the knowledge of them and saith †An. 400. n. 31. Baronius going to tell the Story of it I shall now describe a cursed Persecution not of Pagans against Christians or of Hereticks against Catholicks or of wicked against good men but what is monstrous and prodigious of Saints and holy men one against another to proceed Did the Bishops of England since the Reformation ever accuse one another in written Libels before the King as the Å¿tar; Sozom. l. 1. c. 17. Bishop in the Nicene Council did before the Emperor Or is there now any occasion of using against them the words which †Vit. Nazianz. â—â—aeâ—ixa operibus Nazianz. Gâ—aeâ—è â—…tis Paris 1630. Nazianzen spoke in a Council of Constantinople which went about to depose him It is a shame my fellow-Pastors of Christ's Flock and not befitting you to fall to war among your selves while you are to teach others peace and perswade them to live in unity To conclude How many such sharp Contentions have happened among our Bishops as we read happened between Paul and Barnabas Acts 15. 39. and between Paul and Peter Gal. 2.11 where we read that because Peter was to be blamed he withstood him to his very face Had the Clergy and People of our Communion been long or often exercised by such Broils as these the R. Cs. would have had a fair pretence to reproach us with want of Unity but the God of Union be praised for it we have no such Feuds and Contentions among us but quite contrary are as fast cemented among our selves in Love and Union as I believe any Church of the like extent ever was in the World. CHAP. IV. An Enquiry into the True Causes of Schisms and Divisions HAving shewed from several Arguments in the foregoing Chapter That bare Vnity or want of Divisions is no Argument for the Trueness or Reputation of a Church I shall for the farther advantage of my Plea proceed in this to make enquiry into the Causes of Divisions and Schisms and more particularly into the Causes of these in England with which the Christians Roman Communion are pleased so to upbraid our Church Now in this enquiry into the Causes of Divisions and Schisms I should very much forget both the ancient Jewish and Christian Theology if I did not in the first place name the Devil by whom we are not to understand any single evil Spirit but the whole society of apostate Angels who are most malicious and implacable Enemies of God and of Man for God's sake and of the Church above all other Societies of Men. This Doctrine we have not only from the Scriptures of the Old and New. Testament but from the most ancient primitive Christian Writers who as it were with one voice ascribe unto the Devil Idolatry Persecution Heresie and Schism He is meant by the Enemy in our Saviour's Parable who took his opportunity while men slept to sowe Tares in the Field of the Church And accordingly St. Paul who was not ignorant of his devices calls Heresies the doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 saith he The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter days some shall depart from the truth giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils And in Ephes 6.12 saith he Put on the whole armour of God that ye
the least to the greatest give heed unto him as the great power of God Though he renounced the Devil at his Baptism yet he kept fast hold of his Soul by this evil Affection which was the gall of bitterness that poisoned his mind the bond of iniquity whereby Satan held him when he made him the first of his Apostles the first of those very Antichrists who in that Age of Miracles came after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders to deceive if it were possible the very Elect. The fourth sort of Instruments which Satan employs in making Divisions and Schisms are covetous men who love to be at the Head of a Sect or Party because it is the ready way to get a good Maintenance and become rich There were such as these in the Apostles days as is plain from that notable passage 1 Tim. 6.5 where he mentions perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is Godliness and from such saith he withdraw thy self for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out There were such men as these in the Church of Corinth who made Parties among the People for their own ends which gave the Apostle occasion to rebuke them in words to this effect * 2. ep cap. II. ver 19 20 As wise as you think your selves to be you do with pleasure bear with fools nay ye suffer worse then fools for you love men that bring you into bondage you love men that devour you and take Presents of you nay you love them best that insult over you and as it were smite you on the face So St. Jude tells us That the Gnostical Hereticks ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for reward And in the Apostle's Epistle to Titus we find him forewarning him of certain unruly and vain talkers and deceivers whose mouths saith he must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucres sake So †2 Mand. 12.2 St. Hermas who was St. Paul's Scholar and wrote not long after him speaks of false Spirits in his Time who received Reward for their Divination and if they do not receive saith he they do not continue long to prophesie So ‖ Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 18. Montanus the Heretick and false Prophet after he had gathered a great concourse of People together at the Place which he called the New Jerusalem he appointed Collectors of Money who under the Name of Offerings took Gifts and Presents of the People and his pretended Prophetesses took not only Gold and Silver but fine Cloaths by way of Present nay saith Apollonius those who are called Prophets among the Montanists take Money not only of the rich but of the poor and Orphans and Widows and therefore saith he either let them deny that their Prophets take Money which we will prove by an hundred Testimonies or else let them deny that they are true Prophets because they take Gifts So I shewed in the first Chapter that Natalis the Confessor was hired with Money to be a Bishop of that schism in Rome which taught that Christ was a meer man saith the Historian of him Being tempted with the Bait of Primacy among those of that Sect and of filthy Lucre which is the destruction of many men he was scourged all night long by the holy Angels and rose betimes in the morning and having put on Sackcloath and Ashes he went in great hast and with tears in his eyes cast himself down before Zephyrinus the Bishop and fell down not only before the feet of the Clergy but of the Laity also and after much entreaty and shewing the Stripes which he had received when he was a Confessor he was admitted into the Communion of the Church Before he was beaten by the Angels our Lord frequently admonished him of his Sin by Visions in his Sleep being unwilling that a Confessor for Christianity should perish in Heresie and Schism but the love of Preheminence and Money so bewitched him that he was fain to use severer Methods with him and give him a Thorn in the Flesh before he would repent He was constrained to lash him out of the Circle in which he stood enchanted by the Devil and as it were by force and violence break the double Chain of Ambition and Convetousness with which he had bound himself to Satan and save him by a Miracle as great as his Sin. The last sort of men by which the Devil propagates and promotes Divisions and Schisms are contentious and litigious men as it is written by the Apostle If any man be contentious we have no such custom nor the Churches of God. I confess there is a contentious Disposition which is the effect of Ambition and so is co-incident with the third particular Cause which I assigned of Heresie and Schism but then there is a contentious Disposition of another sort which proceeds from a sophistical disputatious Humour and a little sort of pride in men that makes them love to oppose and contradict every thing for contradictions sake This contentious Humour is most visible in men who are hot and cholerick and it naturally puts them upon Controversies and Disputes and maintaining Paradoxes and calling received Doctrines into question and opposing things that are established and rather then sit down and be quiet it will be opposite to it self and be against that for which it was before This restless unquiet sort of Spirit hath bred much mischief in all Societies but especially in the Church of God. It seems to me to have been the Temper of the Elder Arius who as the * Socrat. l. I. c. 5. Historian tells us was expert in Logical Subtilties and †Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of a contentious humour opposed his Bishop discoursing a little too curiously about the mystery of the holy Trinity If this litigious humour at any time happen to be for the Truth it is not out of love to Truth but with a design to oppose others as we read of some who preached the Gospel not out of good intent but meerly to oppose the Apostle Some indeed saith he preach Christ of meer envy and strife and some also of good will the one preach Christ of contention not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds but the other of love knowing I am set for the defence of the Gospel To conclude this litigious Humour is expressed in Greek by a word which signifies the love of Contention because it is the delight and pleasure of contentious men to be of a Party and live in the dust of Controversie they are no longer easie and happy than they are engaged in some Quarrel And therefore saith they are engaged in some Quarrel And therefore saith Theophylact on Galat. 5.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All Heresie proceeds from the love of Contention and the contentious