Presbyters of another I take leave to inform you that the Stat. 14. of this King cap. 4. has provided that every Person which was not then in holy Orders by Episcopal Ordination or should not be so ordained before a Day prefixt should be utterly disabled and ipso facto depriv'd from all manner of Ecclesiastical Promotions and that none for the future should be admitted to any such Promotion nor should presume to consecrate and administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper unless Episcopally ordained The Penalty indeed is not made to extend to Foreigners of Reformed Churches allowed here but quere whether the Declaration of Disability does not If you say by the Lutheran Church you mean only those religious Societies of Lutherans which are in Sweden and Denmark under Bishops or at least that have Superintendents or Generales ordained and ordaining Episcopally which surely some Lutheran Societies want you may avoid the Consequence as to such and all others of the Reformation which are without Episcopal Orders by denying them to be Christian Churches if you please for then indeed it would not follow from your condemning such Societies that you thereby refuse Communion with a sound Church This brings me to our Churches Sence and Application of this Matter O says it how the Church is divided O how the Cities be cut and mangled O how the Coat of Christ which was without Seam is all to rent and torn O Body mystical of Christ where is that holy Unity out of which whosoever is he is not in Christ If one Member be pulled from another where is the Body If the Body be drawn from the Head where is the Life of the Body We cannot be joined to Christ our Head except we be glued with Concord and Charity to one another For he that is not of this Unity is not of the Church of Christ which is a Congregation or Vnity together not a Division St. Paul saith that as long as Emulation or Envying Contention and Factions or Sects be among us we be carnal and walk according to the fleshly Man And St. James saith If ye have bitter Emulation or Envying and Contention in our Hearts glory not of it for where Contention is there is Vnstedfastness and all evil Deeds And why do we not hear St. Paul which prayeth us whereas he might command us I beseech you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you speak all one Thing and that there be no Dissention among you but that you will be one whole Body of one Mind and of one Opinion in the Truth If his Desire be reasonable and honest why do we not grant it If his Request be for our Profit why do we refuse it And if we list not to hear his Petition of Prayer yet let us hear his Exhortation where he saith I exhort you that you walk a becomes the Vocation in which you be called with all submission and meekness with lenity and softness of Mind bearing one another by Charity studying to keep the Vnity of the Spirit by the Bond of of Peace For there is one Body one Spirit one Faith one Baptism There is saith he but one Body of the which he can be no lively Member that is at variance with the other Members There is one Spirit which joineth and knitteth all Things in one and how can this Spirit reign in us when among our selves we be divided There is but one Frith and how can we then say He is of the Old Faith and he is of the New Faith There is but one Baptism and then shall not all they which be baptized be one Contention causeth Division wherefore it ought not to be among Christians whom one Faith and Baptism joineth in an Unity If all Differences in Opinions be here forbid as cutting Men off from Christ's Body it may be said perhaps that Schism cannot possibly be avoided But what seems intended by the Apostles and by our Church is That notwithstanding such Differences Men should be united in the same Faith by the Bond of Charity which you may call a magical Vnion when Men divide from each other in their Opinions if you please Certain it is neither the Scriptures nor our Church speak of dividing Communions yet there is no doubt but that may be Schism in a divided Communion which is in a joint And whoever want true Christian Charity they are the Schismaticks whether in communion with a Visible Church or withdrawing from it Having shewn what Account the Scriptures and our Church give of Schism it may not be improper to shew in what sence it has been taken by some of the greatest Eminency in our Church I had before shewn how Dr. Stillingfleet had defended our Church against the Imputation of Schism in dividing Communion from the Papists and how the Primitive Fathers ought to be understood when they write of this That Schism did not lie in a voluntary Departure out of any particular Church upon the account of any Thing extrinsecal and accidental Christian Charity to be sure is essential I shall only subjoin the Testimony of Mr. Hooker and if I have these two on my side I shall think my self sufficiently well back'd The Apostle affirmeth plainly saith he of all Men Christian that be they Jews or Gentiles bond or free they are all incorporated into one Company they all make but one Body the Vnity of which visible Body and Church of Christ consisteth in that Vniformity which all several Persons thereunto belonging have by reason of that one Lord whose Servants they all profess themselves that one Faith which they all acknowledg that one Baptism wherewith they are all initiated The Visible Church of Christ is therefore one in outward Profession of those Things which supernaturally appertain to the very Essence of Christianity and are necessarily required in every particular Man Let all the House of Israel know for certain faith Peter that God hath made him both Lord and Christ even this Jesus whom ye have crucified Christians therefore they are not which call not him their Master and Lord. But this extraordinary Person could not think himself obliged in Charity to his own Soul and to deliver himself from the Guilt of the Blood of Dissenters to instruct them in the Necessity of one Communion in Accidentals if they would continue Christians Nay he thought that altho they should be excommunicated yet even that could not cut them off from Christ's Body His Words are these As for the Act of Excommunication it neither shutteth out from the Mystical nor clean from the Visible Church but only from Fellowship with the Visible in Holy Duties But you it seems have considered this Matter better than Mr. Hooker and affirm That every Bishop and Presbyter shuts out of the Catholick Church by Excommunication And this leads me to the Notion of a true or sound Church And surely it was not impertinent
are not impertinent The third which was still under the same Head tho you would divide it was this Whether as in the Primitive Times there was but one Bishop and consequently one Church in a City there are not now as many Churches within the National as there are Bishopricks To which you answer Every Bishoprick is a distinct Episcopal Church Well then how does that agree with the Primitive Rule from which in another place you had occasion to argue And you know to mention no more St. Ignatius who liv'd in the first Century says Every Church has but one Altar and one Bishop with the College of Presbyters and the Deacons which Bishop the People with the Magistrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay and Caesar himself must obey Now except you will make all the Bishops and the Arch-Bishop of York but Pastors to the Metropolitan of Canterbury it may be a Question how that Rule would hold good here And how will this correspond with what you say in the Book you would have your Notions tried by where you say Every particular Bishop is the supreme Governour in his own Diocess When according to this he would be but one of the College of Presbyters And that seems in your own Sence to have been the Heresy or Schism of the Novatians that they would pretend to a Bishop of their own independent upon him whom the Catholicks supposed to have been lawfully possest of the Church And you know in that case Occupancy is adjudg'd to be a good Title But then you say Every Bishop has relation to the whole Christian Church and is to take care of Neighbouring Churches and therefore those Bishops should govern their Churches by mutual Advice and Counsel But suppose they will not any more than one Prince will be governed by the Advice of his Neighbour do not you make Independent Soveraigns of them But admit the Civil Power should not interpose to the uniting of them 4. Would not that which was the fourth Query prove to be not very impertinent Which is Whether it is more absurd that there should be Independent or Presbyterian Churches within the National than that there should be so many Bishopricks But further as the Primitive Fathers made Schism to be in a dividing from the Bishop that is as you will have it were it only upon the account of Accidentals tho St. Ignatius particularly goes upon a Schism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dividing from Truth How even upon the Notion of dividing in Accidentals will he that divides from one Bishop but yet communicates with another be guilty of Schism 5. And then my 5th Supposal which you here admit that the Independents or Presbyterians have among them sufficient Church-Officers and Power as much as clears them from the Imputation of Schism as it does that Bishop and his Flock who will not be impos'd upon by his Neighbouring Bishop but will have Rites and Ceremonies different from the other and with which he expects that all should comply that communicate at his Altar And if it be lawful for him to determine indifferent Circumstances and external Solemnities you know 't is necessary to make them the Terms of Communion 6. Then the 6th Query relates to the Charitableness of your Censure of such honest-minded Men as communicate with them Where you say Indeed you know not what Allowances Christ will make for the Mistakes of well-meaning Men. Tho else-where as I have shewn you deprive them of all the means of Salvation The Queries upon your Supposition that the Independents exclude themselves from Catholick Communion by requiring of their Members a new Covenant no part of the Baptismal Vow I need not take any great pains to re-assert 1. The first was Whether any Obstacle to Catholick-Communion brought in by Men may not be a means of depriving Men of it as well as Covenant or Contract 2. If it may which you do not deny will you not upon this account make our Church more guilty than the Independants Baptism you own is the only thing which admits into the Catholick Church but they require no new Covenant at Baptism ergo they admit into the Church without any clog or hinderance of human Invention Now you who it seems have been better acquainted with the ways of Separation than I can pretend to deny my Minor and say that they baptize no Child but of such Parents as were in Church-Covenant with them Having no time to be at present instructed in their way I will admit all this to you and will admit them faulty But then the Question is Whether your Argument will not equally concern our Church For it being put as I do it just after concerning an Adult Person that would be received to Baptism he finds this Rite of Admission instituted by our Church Upon which he scruples 1. Whether the Rite of Admission into this Church being made necessary to his Admission into the Catholick Church the Rite ought not to have been only of Divine Institution 2. Whether the Canon declaring that 't is used as a lawful outward Ceremony and honourable Badg whereby the Infant is dedicated to the Service of him who died upon the Cross there is not according to the common and natural Intendment of the Words as much Efficacy ascribed to this Rite as there is to Baptism it self of which our Church Catechism hath it Wherein I was made a Member of Christ the Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven Wherein seems here of like Signification with whereby and to be so taken by our Church when it says By holy Promises with calling the Name of God to witness we are made lively Members of Christ when we profess his Religion receiving the Sacrament of Baptism Wherefore Quest 1. Whether such a Man may not honstly scruple this 2. Whether it ought to be made a Term of Communion to such an one 3. Whether in such case the enjoying this under a Penalty would not sufficiently answer the end of Church Government without making it a Term of Communion which you suppose necessary in every lawful Injunction But waving this till you know my own Exceptions against the Sign of the Cross which 't is not likely I shall ever have occasion to except against upon my own account or my Childs since I think there can be no Magick in it to affect the Infant You would avoid the Suspition of yielding to the like Accusation against our Church with that which you set up against the Independents by this Distinction That the Independent Church is schismatical in its Constitution for admit this an unlawful and sinful Term of Communion yet say you the Frame and essential Constitution of the Church is not Schismatical But except you yield to me that a matter enjoyn'd tho it be not sinful in its own nature may be so to the Party of whom 't is required and
part of the Catholick Church Is Christ's Body made up only of sound Members Are all that are unsound divided from the Body But if a true Member be of the Body as well as that which is sound do not you by refusing to communicate with any true Member upon your own Principles refuse to be of the Body especially when the only Unsoundness is that it differs by reason of some Accidentals from that Church where you exercise the Acts of Catholick Communion And it might be well to know whether you own that there is any sound Church besides the Church of England with which you can communicate how much soever you talk of Catholick Communion Or at least whether you are not Schismatical in dividing from some true Churches And may not you be charged with denying the very Notion of a Catholick Church and asserting that Christ has not one but twenty or a hundred several Bodies But whereas you affirm that he who divides from one sound Part divides from all is it not rather demonstrable that he who communicates with one sound Part or one true Part communicates with all as being united to Christ's Body As he that touches a Man's Finger touches his Body but it does not follow that one cannot touch his Body unless he touch his Finger But since you are so fond of this Notion give me leave to turn your own Artillery upon you and if you have condemned your self or the Church in which you live of Schism and dividing from Christ's Body you may thank your self If it follows from the Identity of Christ's Body that whoever is divided from any sound Member is divided from the whole being that Member is united to the Body so it must necessarily be if you divide from any true Member unless a true Member is no Member And you your self being sensible of this have taught that 't is absurd to gather a Church out of a Christian Church and divide Neighbour-Christians into distinct Communions Nay you left your self no possible Evasion when you affirmed that the only thing that can give us in particular a Right to the Blessings of the Covenant is that we observe the Conditions of this Covenant and live in Vnity and Communion with all true Christian Churches in the World If therefore there be any true Christian Church with which you refuse to communicate have you not made a good Rod for your own Back The Church of Rome as you own is a true tho a corrupt Church but you I suppose refuse to communicate with this true Church are you not therefore cut off from Christ's Body You will say perhaps you cannot communicate but upon sinful Terms But what 's that to the purpose If this is stil a true Church and Member of Christ's Body you know Christ has but one Body one Spouse one Flock one Church And if we be no Members of this one Church we are not united to Christ The Parts of this Body must be united to each other that they may be united to Christ else it would be as if the Parts of the natural Body should divide from each other and hang together by a magical kind of Vnion with the Soul AndVnion to the Body consists in being united to that part of the Body which is next You have foreclosed your self from saying that you are united in what is essential to its being a Member of Christ's Body and have a participation of the same vital Heat and animal Spirits but think it hard that one Member should be charged with the putrid Sores or Wounds of another and to speak plainly that you forsake it only in its Uncatholick Terms This would come too nigh that very Fanaticism which you deride And you having told us that a Compliance with the Order Government Discipline and Worship as well as the Doctrine of the Catholick Church is absolutely necessary to Catholick Communion 'T is upon your own Grounds necessary to comply with every true part of the Catholick Church in all these as well as with every sound Part. Wherefore might not the Papists beat you into their Church with those Weapons which you have forg'd against others Might not they tell you that you want Christian Charity unless you are united in one Communion with this one Body That you want the chief Branch of Holiness without which none shall see God That all the Blessings of the Gospel are promised to us in a Church-State That the Effects and Application of the Grace Merit and Satisfaction of Christ Jesus is confined to this Body consisting of Members sound and unsound That the Gospel-Covenant is confin'd to the Communion of the Christian Church That to remit Sins is to restore Men to the Peace and Communion of the Church and to retain them is to cast Men out of the Church or keep them under Church-Censures which is a plain Demonstration that Sins are forgiven only in the Communion of the Church But yet further 't is a Question whether you are in Communion even with every Church which requires nothing sinful as a Term of its Communion and is upon that account sound and Orthodox You say indeed you should make no scruple to communicate with the Lutheran Church if it did not require of you the Belief of Consubstantiation Yet certainly you did not attend to your own Grounds when you said so For if that be not in Communion with our Church you know you would be a Schismatick if you communicated with it But that their Church is not in Communion with ours appears upon your own Rule for that the Governors are not in Communion with each other which you make essential to the Communion of particular Churches And for this 't is not necessary to shew that the Governors of each side condemn the others Constitution 'T is enough if the Governors of that Church which you are of do condemn the Constitution of the other or of any part of it You say indeed that our Church is so far from condemning Foreign Reformed Churches for the want of Bishops that it has always lived in Communion with them If this be so then as a Bishop in the same Communion with us might with the leave of English Bishops exercise his Episcopal Office in any Church in England so might a Protestant Minister ordained abroad without Episcopal Ordination But I take it you will not say that he may If he may not this is a condemning with a witness For if any of them have no Orders amongst them where is their regular Church-Society Nay as you believe the Right of Episcopal Government 't is questionable whether you do Divine not deny that such have any proper Church-Officers And further that you may not take the Difference about the Constitution of Churches or the Validity of a particular kind of Ordination to be meerly between the Bishops of our Church and the
uncharitable But to bring Compurgators of such whose Friendships as they are dulce decus meum so they are praesidium too against such fatal Miscarriages would but expose their venerable Names to such Usage as I have met with But be that never so hard for once I will set an Example to a Clergy-man and shew that I can contain my self after all these causeless Calumnies tho you cannot bear to be told of the Truth Wherefore I shall calmly shew I. How groundless both your open and imply'd Accusations are against me II. What cause I had to put you upon explaining your self III. How unsatisfactory your Explanation is in its own Nature So much of your Charge as I am concern'd to answer particularly resolves it self into these general Heads 1. My Want of Love to the Church of England and taking part with Dissenters out of Zeal for their Cause or Vain-Glory 2. That I have a Spite at the whole Order of Clergy-men and disown part of the Power of Bishops 3. That I designed to affront Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Tillotson 4. That I discover a Contempt of all Church-Authority and think the Church it self an insignificant Thing 5. And lastly That I am guilty of Deism and Socinianism And That my Principles tend to undermine Christianity and to the Contempt of all revealed Religion First Article In the first Article you would argue me guilty of Hypocrisy in pretending to be in constant Communion with the Church of England when I want that Love for it which is essential to Union and Communion with it or of a great deal of Vanity in labouring to shew my Wit in the Defence of a Cause which I my self know to stand in need of Wit and Artifice But if it happen that the Church of England is no more concerned in your Censures than perhaps you may think your self to be in the Doctrine of its Articles or Homiles And that it gives you no warrant to call the Dissenters Schismaticks and such as are deprived of the Influences of the Divine Spirit while they scruple Conformity My taxing you with want of Charity towards Dissenters will be as far from the suspicion of such a Zeal for them as implies a Dis-esteem of our Church or such a Defence of their Cause as may be imputed to Wantonness or Vanity that it may be more like the Act of that Samaritan who took care of the poor Man who had been most barbarously used by Thieves and could meet with no pity from the Priest and the Levite who past by on the other side Whatever you think of this Matter I am bold to affirm that our Church no-where warrants your Assertions either in its Articles Homilies or Canons Indeed in the Canons of King James the Authority of which as to us Lay-men I need not here enquire into I find Schismatici mentioned in some of the Titles but not in any of the Canons to be sure by no means applied in your manner But then you tell me No Man who had any kindness for the Church with which he pretends to hold Communion would make such a vile Insinuation as if profest Atheists were admitted to Communion But certainly there may be a profest Atheist tho he doth not profess himself so at the time of his communicating for want of that Euphemia which one cannot greatly offend against by one single Word of no ill signification I am sure you of all Men have no reason to press hard upon me in this Particular Third Article That I may be depriv'd of the Patronage of two such great Luminaries of our Church as Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Tillotson you tax me with a Design of affronting Dr. S. and dealing with the other great Man at the same rate Secret Things belong to God but I am sure you could have no Revelation from above of any such Design nor can any thing that I have said look that way Assure your self I cited the Words against the absolute Necessity of Church-Communion whence you ground your Reflection in the same Sence as I receive them which is in their utmost Latitude but by no means as if they would set aside all Government in the Church But you are certainly guilty of the Affront against them if you think there is any harm in the Quotations or as if I expose their Failings thereby I will not here return upon you That you never spare any Man's Reputation to serve your Design c. which would come as properly from me as it did from you But when you were upon such Authorities you would have done well to have reconciled your self to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sence of Schism which if his Judgment be valuable in competition with Dr. Sherlock's lies not in a voluntary Departure out of any particular Church but the true Catholick Church And the Reason which he gives for it is the Ground which I go upon If you will teach me my Catechism better in this Point I am very ready to learn Fourth Article The fourth Article has many in the Belly of it for under the supposed Contempt of Church-Authority are in your Sence contained 1. The thinking the Church it self an insignificant Thing and that no causeless Separation from it can be a Schism 2. A despising the Evangelical Priesthood as you call it 3. The looking upon the Sacraments as very indifferent Ceremonies 1. In the first you as is usual with you would take advantage of your own Confusion in blending together the Notion of the Catholick and of a particular Church For tho one may think that it signifies not much or is not one's Duty to communicate with every particular sound Church yet it is no doubt always his Duty to communicate actually or in Inclination with the Church of Christ in that which essentially constitutes it his Church Nay and there may be a Schismatical Separation even upon the account of lesser Matters But my Question is Whether there may not be a Separation causeless in the Nature of the Thing occasioning it tho not in relation to the Party's Conscience who scruples it and that without Schism But as Dr. Stillingfleet rightly distinguishes between what is necessary to Salvation and what is necessary to the Government of the Church my receiving his Sence has sufficiently anticipated and removed this Imputation unless you will fix it upon him too 2. But for the second If by an Evangelical Priesthood you mean such as is necessary to offer up Sacrifices for us I know of no such upon Earth by the Gospel-Institution 3. For the third which may take in what may seem omitted on the foregoing Head I desire to be inform'd what one Passage has faln from me which looks like an excusing the Contempt or Neglect of the Sacraments or of them to whom ordinarily it belongs to administer them Yet methinks you do not duly consider that a Thing may be one's Duty by virtue of a positive Command and
justify the Pertinency of my Questions to you and shew II. What Cause I had to put you upon explaining your self concerning the Notions of Church-Communion My apparent Design being to do this you have no reason to blame me for not giving you your own Words with that dependance and connection in which the whole Strength of the Discourse consists for had that been never so well laid together I ought to believe it to proceed upon some false Ground as being contrary to those Notions which must be antecedent to the Belief of all revealed Religion You know one who thinks himself not concern'd what Consequences are charged upon his Hypothesis so that he prove it positively true Perhaps you may may be as confident of yours as he was of his 'T was enough for me to oblige you to speak plainly what your Notion was I must confess I did suspect it of D lism which indeed you overthrow in that Book to which you refer me for my Satisfaction but would establish one much weaker and with less shew of Reason That which made me suspect your Principle to be that way was Your asserting the absolute Necessity for every Man who lives here as he would be a Member of Christ's Body to communicate with the National Church because of its being a sound part of the Catholick Church To which end you held 1. That 't is as necessary for every Man to communicate with some particular visible sound Church as to be a Christian 2. That the only visible way God has of forming a Church is by granting a Church-Covenant which is the Divine Charter whereon the Church is founded and investing some Persons with Power and Authority to receive others according to the Terms and Conditions of the Covenant and by such Covenant-Rites and Forms of Admission as he is pleased to institute which under the Gospel is Baptism is under the Law it was Circumcision 3. That no Man can be a Member of the Church or in Covenant with God who is not visibly admitted into God's Covenant by Bapptism 4. That which makes any thing in a strict Sence an Act of Church-Communion is that it is performed in the Fellowship of the Apostles or in Communion with the Bishops and Ministers of the Church supposes that we ought to communicate with a sound Church whether it has Authority over us or no which wants no more to expose it than to retort some of your own Words For your way of arguing is as if a Man should say there is a divine Law to obey Civil Magistrates Therefore into whatever Government you come whether as Ambassador from a Foreign Prince or otherwise you are bound to live according to the Laws of that Government in every respect as much as a Native And for Foreigners to enjoy several Immunities from Taxes and the like is contrary to the Fundamental Laws of Government But you are positive that Obedience to the Church of England is a Duty incumbent on those which are or ought to live in Obedience to this particular Church That is they who ought to live in Obedience ought to live in Obedience which is a greater Blunder surely than my speaking only of Power and Censures when I was talking of Communion For surely the submitting to the Churches Terms of Communion is submitting to its Power Well however this Submission you say may be called a Part of the Divine Covenant Which gives me occasion to mind you of what our Homilies say about Obedience to Human Laws God hath appointed his Laws whereby his Pleasure is to be honoured His pleasure is also that all Mens Laws not being contrary unto his Laws shall be obeyed and kept as good and necessary for every Common-Weal but not as Things wherein principally his Honour resteth And all Civil and Man's Laws either be or should be made to bring Men the better to keep God's Laws that consequently or following God should be the better honoured by them Howbeit the Scribes and Pharisees were not content that their Laws should be no higher esteemed than other positive and Civil Laws nor would not have them called by the Name of Temporal Laws but Holy Traditions and would have them esteemed not only for a right and true worshipping of God as God's Laws be indeed but also for the most high honouring of God to which the Commandments of God should give place St. Paul speaking of those who scrupled eating some Meats upon their apprehension that they were unclean which he tells them was a causless Scruple in the Nature of the Thing tho not as to their Consciences assures them that He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of Faith for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin If you will say this was spoke where there was no humane Law to determine its Indifference I desire you to consider whether such an Answer savours not of that Pharisaism which our Church condemns But certain it is if active Obedience in the Matter which one scruples which is Submission to the Power of the Church be or may be called Part of the Divine Covenant which unites us to God and to each other there can be no Suspension of Communion because of doubt but he is out of God's Covenant and must be damn'd continuing so who does not actually conform to those very Things which he conscienciously scruples nay and the Church may excommunicate him while he is under this Doubt For you know who teaches us that it is impossible that a Church which is not Schismatical in its Terms that is as seems there meant which imposes nothing in it self contrary to God's Law can excommunicate schismatically Indeed the Excommunication according to that Notion does but declare the State he was in before for by not actually obeying that part of the Divine Covenant the Man was depriv'd of all other possible Means of Salvation agreeably to which the Defender of Dr. Stillingfleet says When our Saviour so expresly asserts Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven If by binding and loosing we will understand putting out or receiving into the Church which that Author plainly doth but immediatly before it makes the Communion of the Church absolutely necessary to Salvation This shews that my Consequence was rightly inferr'd when I argued That if Submission to the Power and Censures of the Church be part of the Divine Covenant then as he who is not admitted into this Church is no Member of the Catholick and has no Right to any of the Benefits of being a Member of Christ's Body so it is with every one who is excluded by Church-Censures tho excommunicated for a slight Contempt or Neglect nay for a wrongful Cause Your Answer to this is of one who lives in England and renounces Communion
for granted as I had reason that you went herein upon the Authority of the Church-Officers I ask'd Whether this would not put the Being of our Church upon an hazardous Issue and oblige your self to prove that 't was a true Church before the Reformation Which surely is no remote Consequence from the Supposition that the Church-Power was lodged with them of the Church of Rome before in opposition to which our Church was erected and out of which it was gathered But then you say to my second Query upon this That there was not the same Necessity for private Christians reforming from an Antichristian Church to usurp the Ministry as there is for a Lay-man in an Heathen Nation But you do not observe that the Force of this lies in the Supposition that the Power was lodg'd with the Popish Clergy upon which account the Acts of the Reformed Ministry in opposition to them would be but like the Acts of Lay-men And you know who has asserted That Recourse ought to be had to the Intention of the Church-Governors Ecclesiastical Power being their Gift And this does oblige all to a strict dependance on the supreme visible Power so as to leave no Place for Appeal concerning the Practice of such Government And they are the most certain as well as the most competent Judges of their own Intentions But should we have recourse to such Church-Governours pray do you think they would say you have Power of keeping up a Form of Church-Government in opposition to theirs or that your Officers are better than Lay-men To put this home to you I shall here subjoin a Passage of your own Should a Company of private Christians on their own choice separate themselves from their Bishops and unite into a Church-Society this were a Church-Faction and Schism and all they did were null and void Here you must admit that a Minister Episcopally ordained may possibly join with them in this Separation from the Bishop or else you will allow of what will overthrow your Assertion as to Separation even from the most sound Church Wherefore this being admitted and it being laid generally shew me if you can wherein this differs from Mr. D. at least how Separation from Papists or from whatever unlawful Terms of Communion can upon your Hypothesis be freed from Schism You assure us you do not charge our Dissenters with Schism from the Invalidity of their Orders but from their causless and sinful Separation And tho they have true Orders and are true Churches but yet divide Christian Communion by separating from any sound Part of the Christian Church they are Schismaticks nay if it were only in separating from each other Wherefore since Separation and ordinarily refusing to communicate where one never did but as you suppose ought come to the same thing you cannot blame me if I represent your Notion to be That where there are several Churches within a Nation which here you admit of whether one of these Churches has Authority over the Members of the other or no yet he who refuses to communicate with any one of these is a Schismatick And so you make it in relation to Churches in several Nations If this be your meaning as I take it to be then you have no reason to cry out of Mis-representation and blending together Things of a different Nature when I ask Query 4. Whether from the Supposition that there is to be but one Church-Covenant throughout the Catholick Church that there cannot be one true Church within another And that the Nature of Catholick Communion is such that one ought to be ready to communicate with any sound Church from which one is not hindred by reason of the Distance of Place It does not follow Here you stop me before you make an Answer as if I did not fairly to take every one of these Propositions for yours or in tacking together some Things not very consistent with each other Because you had in some place asserted that there could be but one Church in one Place therefore it seems not only our Dissenters but also Foreigners living here are without any Church Tho to avoid the Force of my Questions now you would admit that the Dissenters may have sufficient Church-Officers and Power but however that they are Schismaticks if it were only for dividing from each other You had said further that nothing can justify the Distinction of Christians into several Churches but only such a Distance of Place as makes it necessary and expedient to put them under the Conduct and Government of several Bishops What that Distance of Place is which makes this necessary and expedient you are not pleased to inform us But nothing it seems but Distance can with you justify a Distinction of Churches be the Terms never so unlawful which is but the same in effect with what you had said elsewhere as that 't is absurd to gather a Church out of a Church of baptized Christians Nay further here is more wholesom Doctrine which is That no Distinction of Churches is justifiable but under Bishops Yet alas you do not dispute against the Dissenters Form of Church-Government or deny their being rightly invested with Church-Power no not you But it lies not upon me to reconcile you to your self nor can you deny the having said a Thing in one place because of the contrary in another The only Proposition which you can seem to deny with any colour is That one ought to be ready to communicate with any sound Church from which one is not hindred by distance of Place But surely 't is full enough to this purpose that The Exercise of true Christian Communion in a particular Church is nothing else but the Exercise of Catholick Communion in a particular Church which the Necessity of Affairs requires since all the Christians in the World cannot meet together for Acts of Worship But there is nothing in all these Acts of Communion which does more peculiarly unite us to such a particular Church than to the whole Church Again To be in Communion with the Church signifies to be a Member of it and that not of any particular Church as distinguish'd from the whole Catholick Church but to be a Member of the one Body of Christ and of every sound Part of it Wherefore as a Man is a Member of every sound Church sure he may communicate with any sound Church if Distance do not hinder nay the refusing Communion in such Case is the very Schism which you all along declaim against Having thus fix'd upon you every one of these Propositions for the first of them I cannot believe that you will yet deny I shall consider with you what follows Wherefore I still assert Either that the French Protestants have no Church here but are Schismaticks in not communicating with ours Or that ours is guilty of Schism in making the Terms of Communion so streight that
it is not the Duty of every one tho a licensed Stranger to communicate with this Church Now to avoid the Question here you have a pretty Notion whereby you would make French Protestants to have no Church calling them an Ecclesiastical Colony belonging to the Church abroad But all Church-Power being exercised amongst themselves here you have no more ground to call them an Ecclesiastical Colony in respect of the French Church than you may call ours so in respect of any other to which we might have formerly belonged especially since they cannot meet with the Mother-Church in France for Acts of Worship and therefore have your own allowed Distinction from that But if these refuse to communicate with our Church you make Schismaticks of them only excuse them as being exempted from the Jurisdiction of this Church But this you condemn as being contrary to the Practice of the Primitive Church and besides consider not what you said to Mr. Humphreys his Project nor your charging the Dissenters with Schism for not communicating with each other notwithstanding that one cannot pretend Jurisdiction over the other and so must be in the same case with those that are priviledged or exempted Wherefore the French Protestants are beholden to you for a good Lift. But taking it for granted that 't is the Duty of these French Protestants to communicate with our Church when ever they are required you take no notice of the Consequence from your Tenent which is that they ought notwithstanding an Exemption for else it follows that our Church is too streight in its Terms of Communion And you cannot surely but remember where we are taught That Vnion to the Body consists in Vnion to that Part which is next 2. But I ask'd you further Whether it does not follow from the Obligation to communicate or to be ready to communicate with any true Church where Distance does not hinder that a Member of the Church of England is not obliged to constant Communion with that Church but may occasionally communicate with the French Church nay with Dissenters too if he believes that any of their Congregations is a true Member of the Catholick Church Here I lie under your sore displeasure for turning your own Artillery upon you And you think No Man in his Wits ever understood this Question in any other Sence than that whatever Church I can occasionally communicate with I am also bound to communicate constantly with whenever such Reasons as are necessary to determine my Communion to a particular Church make it my Duty so to do And a very doughty Question this is for surely 't is beyond dispute that whatever necessarily determines my Communion to a particular sound Church makes constant Communion with it my Duty and is no more than that what makes it my Duty makes it my Duty But the Question is Whether any thing necessarily determines my Communion to a particular Church and what it is And thus I might leave you upon your Mistake of the Question But I think 't is demonstrable from what you your self say that the Place does not determine my Communion with a sound Church no not so much as ordinarily You distinguish between a State of Communion and Acts of Communion But unless a Man tho he has sufficient Opportunities may be in a State of Communion without any actual Communion I know not what is meant by saying No Act of Communion more peculiarly unites us to any particular Church than to the whole Christian Church and that 't is no Interruption of our Communion with the Church of England to communicate actually with any Church that is in Communion with it And yet a Member as a Member is in constant Communion Perhaps indeed if the Communion of Churches is suppos'd to be upon the Catholick essential Terms actual Communion with a Church which is in Communion with this is no Interruption or Suspension of Communion with this But admit now that the French Church which you say is in Communion with ours would be ready if required to hold communion with us in every Point wherein we may seem to differ but yet should keep up their separate Meetings or Assemblies and an English Protestant believing that he may receive most Benefit from their Preachers should never actually communicate with our Church but always with that would he be in a State of Communion with our Church or no And tho the Civil Power has made a Distinction of Parishes and some other Places appointed or allowed by its Laws in one of which it requires the Sacraments to be received at such and such times If they receive not in any of these Places will the receiving with the French Church justify them and free them from the danger of being excommunicated as Schismaticks If it will not as you must acknowledg then either the French Church is not in communion with us whereas you say they are in communion with us or else communicating with a Church in communion with ours is not a Communion with our Church Nay and you say that according to the Laws of Catholick Communion nothing but Distance of Place can suspend our Obligation to actual Communion But if I may communicate with the French Church as being in communion with us then the Place does not determine even my ordinary presential or actual Communion to ours nor does it yet appear what does But you offer at it when you tell us 't is separate Power and Jurisdiction which determines this Matter but separate Communion would be Schismatical But still what Jurisdiction can there be to oblige me contrary to the Terms of Catholick Communion which according to your own concession will suffer me to wander Is it the Civil Power as it unites us under a National Church Pray remember how you run Mr. Humphreys down upon the Supposition that the Civil Power should take off the Obligation to Episcopal Communion Is it the Divine Right Pray consider Mr. D. again and then you may think your self beholden to me for bringing your Notions under the Protection of so ingenious a Person In the mean while be pleased to shew wherein you differ from him when you suppose you have found a National Church antecedent to any Human Authority For this is either as you make the Union of the Bishops to be the National Church or the Union of the Clergy and Laity together If you make it to consist in the Union of the Bishops then certainly to make that antecedent to Human Authority you must betake your self to D lism at least you have not yet invented any other way who a working Head may do Wonders If the Union be of Clergy and Laity together then it is by Consent which is Humane Contract or Agreement and is the same with Humane Law by you exploded And Consent you say is all that is necessary to unite a Body or Society in one Communion But then this
straggle into a Church which is not in Communion with our Bishops This Confinement to one Bishop you must say upon your grounds would be contrary to the Nature of Catholick Communion but we have your Authority for it that the other is not Yet it seems if Presbytery should have the Advantage of Authority they who refuse Communion with the National Church upon pretence of purer Ordinances and the Belief that Episcopacy is the Ordinance of God must be as bad as Murderers and Adulterers that is very Schismaticks And judg you whether 't would not be a barbarous Thing to make any Laws which shall ensnare Men in so great a Guilt But here you take notice of a Passage or two in my Preface The one That perhaps it is no Absurdity to suppose that Men may as well continue Members of the National Church notwithstanding their breaking many positive Laws made for the outward management and ordering of it tho not fundamental and necessary to its Being as he who incurs the Penalty of any Statute of the Realm about Civil Affairs may however be a sound Member of the State if he keep from Treason or other Capital Crimes This you answer by a begging and indeed mistaking the Question and will have it of a Schismatical Separation which you elswhere express by renouncing Communion And this you may compare to Treason and Rebellion in the State if you think fit But the Church is not much beholden to you for making that in which Conformity is expected fundamental and necessary to its Being And when you compare a Man that communicates sometimes with one true Church sometimes with another to a Man that joins sometimes with his Prince's Forces and sometimes with his Enemies the Comparison is either very impertinent or very uncharitable in supposing that a Church which differs from this in what is really accidental how essential soever you make it is Antichristian or an Enemy to Christ which surely no true Church is yet I must confess herein you agree with your self when you say There may be a true Church which is no Catholick Church that is no true part of the Catholick Church I add Nay possibly that there should be several Religious Assemblies living by different Customs and Rules and yet continuing Members of the National Church is not more inconsistent than that particular Places should have their particular Customs and By-Laws distinct from the Common-Law of the Land without making a distinct Government This you condemn without vouchsafing it a fair Hearing as nibling at that Healing Project for which you think you have sufficiently exposed Mr. Humphreys But I shall chuse the Protection of the great Protestant Champion Mr. Chillingworth and if you are resolved to wound him through my Side I will bear the Brunt of it as well as I can To reduce Christians to Unity there are but two Ways that may be conceived probable The one by taking away Diversity of Opinions touching Matters of Religion the other by shewing that the Diversity of Opinions which is among the several Sects of Christians ought to be no Hinderance to their Unity in Communion The first he looks on as not likely without a Miracle What then remains says he but that the other way must be taken and Christians must be taught to set an higher value upon those high Points of Faith and Obedience wherein they agree than upon Matters of less moment wherein they differ and understand that Agreement in those ought to be more effectual to join them in one Communion than their Difference in other Things of less moment to divide them When I say One Communion I mean in a common Profession of those Articles of Faith wherein all consent a joint Worship of God after such a way as all esteem lawful and a mutual Performance of all those Works of Charity which Christians owe one unto another And to such a Communion what better Inducement could be thought of than to demonstrate that what was universally believed of all Christians if it were joined with a Love of Truth and holy Obedience was sufficient to bring Men to Heaven For why should Men be more rigid than God Why should any Error exclude any Man from the Churches Communion which will not deprive him of eternal Salvation To the same Sence is the Passage I had in that Preface cited out of Dr. Tillotson's Sermon and you may as well ask him as me Is the Catholick Church then and Communion of Saints no part of our Creed Your Notion of Communion is a new Article But to re-assert what I had observed of your managing the Charge of Schism I had said People might not well understand what it is unless it be taken to lie wholly in want of Charity And in the Errata to avoid the Cavil of its being common such as we have for all Mankind I had added the Epithete of Christian I say further to my thinking as St. Paul speaks of it He supposes a continuance still of the same Body and ascribes it to Christians continuing such nay and communicating with each other And this you were not able to deny nay you well know that not only the Thing but the very Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had by that Apostle been applied to such Hence you would argue That I will not allow causless Separation from a sound Part of the Catholick Church to be Schism but place Schism wholly in want of Charity But 't is obvious that I do it no more than the Apostle himself does But besides it induces the Belief that Schism is not such a Crime as you imagine For if the Corinthians were Schismaticks whilst they continued in Communion with each other and yet were particular Members of Christ's Body then Schism does not cut off from Christ's Body nor do you rightly apply the Addition of Apostate Christian Further by what Authority do you apply that to a refusing Communion with any sound Church whatever upon your supposed Notion of Catholick Communion from a Text which mentions no other Schism but what was between them who liv'd in the same Communion And still beyond all this it seems demonstrable from the Text that the Causa formalis or that which constitutes Schism is not Separation tho it be causless unless it be accompanied with want of Charity For since there may be Schism where there is no Separation of Communion then it must be something which consists with joint Communion and find out something besides Want of Charity if you can The Apostle's Notion of Schism we have seen but I wonder by what Authority you affirm'd That Schism is nothing else but a Breach of Christian Communion and that where the Vnity of the Church is broken by distinct and opposite Communions there is the full Nature of Schism and where this is not there is either no Schism or only a partial Schism which is like a great
Wound in the Arm which does not sever it from the Body 'T is not every Quarrel or Contention agreeably to your Notion you might add tho it be such as the Apostle calls Schism which makes a Schism but the Breach of Christian Communion Let me desire you to consider whether by departing from the Scripture-Account of this misled perhaps by the Disputes of some of the Ancients thundring against each other you will not enter at least into the Confines of Donatism You say of those Hereticks They confined the Church of Christ to Africa and to their own Communion Mr. Chillingworth gives us a fuller Account wherein their Heresy lay in these Words That upon a vain Pretence of the Corruption of the Church they separated themselves from the Communion of other Parts of the Church and that they required it as a necessary Condition to make a Man a Member of the Church that he should be of their Communion and divide himself from all other Communions from which they were divided It seems according to them to use your Words Tho a Church retained the Purity of the Faith and Worship and was so far true yet it was not every way sound and Orthodox nor a Catholick Church unless it observ'd those Conditions of Catholick Communion which were two 1. That it must be in Communion with theirs 2. That it must divide from all other Communions from which they are divided 1. For the first you teach us that The visible Vnion of all Churches in and to Christ consists in their visible Communion with each other and Communion with a particular Church which is it self in Catholick Communion is as necessary as Communion with the Catholick Church Whoever lives in England and renounces Communion with the Church of England is a Schismatick from the Catholick Church And if occasionally we communicate with some other sound Part of the Catholick Church in the same Communion we may do it without Schism so this be as owning our selves Members But an ordinary withdrawing upon a profest Dislike you make as destructive of a State of Communion as a formal Renunciation Wherefore as you hold that we are bound to maintain Communion with all sound Parts of the Catholick Church and that in other Matters besides the Agreement in all the Articles of Faith and Essentials of Worship it does follow that it must be in those very Matters which distinguish one Communion from another And the National Church being that sound Part wherewith every Christian here is to communicate herein you have found out a Root Fountain and Principle of Vnion or Beginning of the Catholick Church to which all particular Churches are or ought to be united and by virtue of this Catholick Vnity are one Catholick Church If it be ask'd What 't is which brings one with safety to this Beginning of the Catholick Church 'T is not humane Law as it has plac'd us under such a Government and Discipline and which makes the only Distinction of Churches you allow of but the Principles of Catholick Communion against which whatever Church offends you will not yield it to be sound and Orthodox And you assure us We have nothing else to do but to judg whether that part of the Church wherein we live be so sound and Orthodox that we may communicate with it according to the Principles of Catholick Communion If it be we are bound to communicate with it under peril of Schism from the Catholick Church if we do not And consequently whatever Church refuses our Communion 't is not sound and Orthodox or any part of the Catholick Church as not retaining the true Principles of Catholick Communion Thus far Donatus might have gone taking it for granted that his Church was the Beginning of the Catholick Church 2. This first Point being setled 't is no wonder if it be likewise required that we must divide from the Communion of all that are divided from this sound part of the Catholick Church And methinks Donatus himself might argue That 't is evident the pretended Catholicks understand not the true Principles of Catholicism for if they did they would never proffer a Composition with us and yield that the surviving Bishop should govern these which are now distinct Communions They must own either that they are not any part of Christ's Body or else that we are not for 't is impossible that two Churches which are not in Communion with each other can both belong to the same Body And therefore the Obligation to Catholick Communion does equally oblige us to renounce the Communion of Schismaticks You in effect justify Donatus his Terms of Communion and when you say Their Churches were in all Things like the Catholick Churches excepting Catholick Communion you as good as tell us he only mistook the Church which he should have made the Beginning of the Catholick Church If he had been with St. Austin he had been no Heretick for refusing to receive Hereticks into the Church without Re-baptization and damning all that were of a Communion divided from his or that would not consent to have them excommunicated who without proof had been accused of being Traditors But as you teach us that that Church is not sound which keeps not to the Principles of Catholick Communion Mr. Chillingworth shews wherein they swerv'd from that sound Principle The Condition of their Communion says he was both unnecessary and unlawful to be required and therefore the exacting of it was directly opposite to the Churches Catholicism For ought yet appears Donatus and you are pretty well agreed in the Notion of Catholick Communion and of the Breach of this Unity wherein we are taught that the full Nature of Schism lies He with you confin'd the Influences of the Holy Spirit to this Vnity Yet whether he would have intreagu'd this Business of Church-Communion as you have done I cannot tell All the Sence which I can gather out of your Notion as the Leaf-Gold is spread out is this That to be a Member of the Christian Church and in a State of Communion with it 't is not enough to be admitted into the Church by Baptism nor to exercise any Acts of Communion with a particular Church unless it be in Communion with every sound part of the Christian Church and that so as to own your self for a Member of every such sound Church And tho you do own your self a Member as perhaps every one will that agrees in Essentials yet if you ordinarily withdraw from that sound Church where you are which must always be the only sound Church on the Place upon any profest Dislike or communicate with them that are of a divided and consequently a Schismatical Communion you forfeit your Membership even tho that other Church has nothing sinful in its Communion Which in one place you think enough to make any Church sound and Orthodox whereas in others
slight as not worth your Notice And therefore 't is not likely that the Homiles should be any more regarded Yet however it may not be amiss to mind you of what our Homilies teach us of a sound or true Church The Passage before cited proves that a particular Company or Congregation of God's People is the Church in proper speaking And then for the Catholick visible Church we have its Definition or Description in these words The true Church is an Universal Congregation or Fellowship of God's Faithful elect People built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus himself being the Head Corner-Stone And it has always three Rules or Marks whereby it is known 1. Pure and sound Doctrine 2. The Sacraments ministred according to Christ's Holy Institution And 3. The right use of Ecclesiastical Discipline These Notes tho ascribed to all in general are manifestly to be applied respectively to select Congregations or Fellowships of Christians For 't is not possible that all can be joyned in actual Communion But in these things they are to be ready to communicate with each other as if they were one entire Body in the first without any Limitation in the two last as the Church says of the Sacraments in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same And to prevent all affected Ignorance of our Churches Sense in this particular it assures us that Christ makes Intercession not only for himself and his Apostles but indifferently for all them that believe in him through their Words that is to wit for his whole Church I leave it to you run to the Parallel between what the Church teaches and what you would impose on us in this matter I shall not repeat the Particulars but shall only observe upon your Notion of Discipline 1. That according to you the Power of the Keys is absolute in Church-men's Hands from whose Power of binding and loosing you infer that Church-Communion is absolutely necessary to Salvation Whereas our Church says Christ ordained the Authority of the Keys to excommunicate notorious Sinners and to absolve them that are truly penitent 2. And secondly Whereas you affirm That every profess'd Christian who is received into the Church by Baptism is a Church-Member and all Church-Members have a common Right to Church-Priviledges That teaches otherwise Why says it cryed the Deacon in the Primitive Church if any be holy let him draw near Why did they celebrate these Mysteries the Quire-door being shut Why were the publick Penitents and Learners in Religion commanded to avoid Was it not because this Table received no unholy unclean or sinful Guests And this it enforces from the Example of our Blessed Saviour and the conforming Practice of the Primitive Church in these words According to this Example of our Saviour Christ in the Primitive Church which was most holy and godly and in the which due Discipline with Severity was used against the wicked open Offenders were not suffered once to enter into the House of the Lord nor admitted to Common-Prayer and the use of the holy Sacraments with other true Christians untill they had done open Penance before the whole Church Here I might well leave you to bethink your self of returning into the Bosom of our Church after you have divided from the Unity of its Doctrine And I might advise you to have a care of contending too eagerly in the maintaining your own Opinions for fear of running into the Formality of that which you take such pains to fright others from Tho it may be a good way to convert Schismaticks to convince them of the Errour of their Ways yet even that may be done schismatically at least the causless Imputation of it may return upon the forward Censurer But lest you should think I say this to avoid the notice of my shameful Baffle in the Story of Pope Victor which you will have to be a feigned Case told me by some body Be it known to you that the Authority which I had next at hand was a late learned Chronologist who has these words Romanae Ecclesiae Episcopus fuit Victor qui ab Anno Christi 192 sedit Annos 10 in Concilio statuit ut Pascha semper die Dominicâ celebrarètur atque adèo èxcommunicavit omnes Episcopos Ecclesias in Asiâ quae eâdem die Pascha non celebrabant Here I might as well think that the Bishop pronounc'd the Sentence of Excommunication in Council as he alone is said statuere what was done by common Consent and so we know Rex statuit is often used The Excommunication you contend to have been only his own Act not the Act of the Council And you cite Eusebius which calls that which I should take for an Exemplification of the Act of the Council his Letter I am sure Socrates his Expression of this favours me when he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sent them the Sentence of Excommunication And the matter having been agreed on in a Council at Rome where he presided 't is certainly most probable that this was not of his own Head Nor is it in the least any Argument against me that other Bishops in Communion with him resented it ill Being those other Bishops Irenaeus particularly were not at that Council For as Eusebius himself shews as Victor presided at Rome Irenaeus did in France So that those of the same Communion were only such as agreed in that Doctrine of the account of time about which I shall not dispute whether Arithmetick was concern'd or no Yet I find it a long while since by an old Emperour called Questio temporis non Fidei But I find not in Eusebius that Irenaeus prevented this from taking effect as you affirm for the Sentence was actually pronounc'd as both Eusebius and Socrates inform us But when retracted or whether at all appears not But be it as you contend that this was only the Act of a Schismatical Bishop how comes it to pass that his Church was not concerned in this St. Cyprian says Qui cum Episcopo non sunt in Ecclesiâ non sunt And St. Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both agree that there 's no being in the Church or in Christ unless they side with their Bishop And a Gentleman whose Authority I hope you will not except against says of St. Cyprian He makes all Bishops equal to have the whole Power in Solidum to be absolute Judges of their own Acts and be accountable to none but God Nay you your self have told us that it is essential to the Communion of particular Churches that their Governours should be in Communion with each other Wherefore the Asian and Latine Churches were in a State of Separation and the Laity of one side or other were necessitated to communicate in a Schism This Sir may supersede my enquiry into your Niceties upon a Case of your own making But
the same which you suppose Victor 's to have been you say was the Case of St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius and some other Bishops in those Days who separated from each other as Mr. Chillingworth has it of them Divers times it hath happen'd as in the Case of St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius that particular Men and particular Churches have upon an overvalued Difference either renounced Communion mutually or one of them separated from the other Herein you agree with that great Champion that however they maintained Communion with the Catholick Church Yet how that is possible upon your grounds I cannot imagine But it seems poor Tertullian and his Followers were not worth your Pity and you would not vouchsafe them a taste of your Skill I should think upon your own Principles since two Churches which are not in Communion with each other cannot both belong to the same Body or the one Catholick Church that the Bishops with their Followers on the one side or other were extra Ecclesiam foris The Contradiction which I charged you with about occasional and constant Communion you would avoid by affirming that you no-where assert that the Communion of the Church does not make us Members of any particular Church you having added as such These Words I find elsewhere explained by as distinguish'd from the Vniversal Church And a little before you had said that this Membership may extend to the remotest Part of the World if the Body whereof we are Members reach so far This I think comes up to what I urg'd which I find no reason to retract I had produced Mr. Chillingworth to prove that it may happen that one is not obliged so much as sometimes to communicate with a sound Part of the Catholick Church because you live where there is such an one And this because such a sound Church may impose upon you the Belief of some Error not destructive of the Faith or some unnecessary Conditions of Communion if not unlawful And you Sarcastically call me a subtil Arguer for calling such a Church sound as if it might not however be sound in its Vitals and such an one as our Homilies would call a true Church Surely you do not consider what Advantage you give Dissenters in this But however a Man of your Parts knows how to bring himself off in any case And methinks 't is a wonderful Instance of your Art that what Mr. Chillingworth says in opposition to the Necessity of communicating with a corrupt Church having all the Face of Authority and that however Christ may have a visible true Church on Earth a Company of Men professing so much as was necessary to Salvation should be turned into his meaning a formed and visible Church-Society and pleading for the corrupt Church when he was justifying the Separation of private Christians When I had said that if our Church required Conformity to its Rites and Ceremonies as necessary to Salvation it could not blame Men for dividing from it you say The Church could and would blame Men in such case and whether you do not put the Church in Christ's stead may be worth a Thought The last Passage in my Letters which you thought worth your Notice was this He who tells us or he says nothing that the Divine Spirit confines his Influences to the Vnity of the Church in such Conformity not only makes such Conformity necessary to Salvation but imputes to the Church the Damnation of many thousands of Souls who might expect to be saved upon other Terms I am persuaded that there are very few of our Orthodox Clergy that will not concur with me in this and think that whoever makes such Conformity necessary to Salvation and will affirm that our Church warrants him in so doing brings the greatest Reproach upon it and gives the greatest Advantage to Separation imaginable and therefore will be far from thinking that he encourages the Dissenters in their Non-communion with us who removes so great a Bar to an entire Communion Before the Book of Common-Prayer there is a Declaration the Authority of which I hope you will not dispute which is That some Ceremonies are retained in our Church for a Discipline and Order which upon just Causes may be altered and changed and therefore are not to be esteemed equal with God's Laws Where I take it the Reason why they are not to be esteemed equal with God's Laws is not meerly because of their Mutability for God's own positive Laws have been changed but because they are enjoined only for Discipline and Order some Determination of which may be necessary to Government tho not to Christianity This I conceive may be a good Warrant for the above-mentioned Remark To serve which as you did that of the Divine Covenant you would have it spoke in relation to those that live elsewhere in any part of the World But as to them who live here to whom the Subject Matter related you do own that Subjection to Church-Authority in all lawful Things that is such Conformity is necessary to the Vnity of the Church and necessary to Salvation Tho some may not know what Idea to form of the Church of England distinct from other sound Churches but as incorporated with the State and relying on a Civil Sanction you cautiously confine this Question to Church-Authority Wherefore admitting that our Bishops have possession of the Churches by a Right antecedent to any Humane Authority and consequently may exercise Episcopal Jurisdiction within their respective Diocesses without any such Authority What will you say to that Statute which enacts That all Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm or any of the King's Dominions consecrated and at this present time taken and reputed for Archbishops and Bishops may by Authority of this present Parliament and not by virtue of any Provision or other Foreign Authority c. keep enjoy and retain their Archbishopricks and Bishopricks in as large and ample manner as if they had been promoted elected confirmed and consecrated according to the due Course of the Laws of this Realm Was this impertinent or presumptuous But as that very Act permits them to minister use and exercise all and every Thing and Things pertaining to 〈◊〉 Office or Order of an Archbishop and Bishop Quere Whether our Saviour himself did not set the utmost Bounds of their Power when having commissioned his Apostles to teach all Nations baptizing them he adds as it were by way of necessary Caution teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you How extensive soever the Civil Power is it may be a Question from hence What Right they who claim to be lawful Successors to the Apostles have to command Things not forbid by Christ without being tied up to his positive Institutions And how comes it to pass that they who are entred into Christ's Church by Baptism and continue in the Profession of his pure Religion
should be Schismaticks and cut off from his Body meerly for disobeying Additions the Authority of which they soberly dispute You say in one part of your Answer to me That whatever Variety and Difference in the Rules of Worship is consistent with one Communion may be granted when the Prudence of Governours sees it fit and expedient Where as you condemn such Indulgence as is inconsistent with one Communion it may be thought to be equally conclusive against the Imposition of any Thing inconsistent with one Communion or the great Law of Catholick Communion And when you confess that the Government of the Church since the Apostles Days was never so entirely in the Bishop's Breast that what he did should be thought the Act of the Church any further than he complied with those Laws by which the Church was to be governed You having likewise set aside the Civil Authority and admitted that Dissenters have sufficient Church-Power amongst them I again ask How they can be Schismaticks for dividing from the Bishops upon the account of suspected Rites and Ceremonies which they believe not to agree with those Laws by which the Charch was to be governed as being greatly prejudicial to if not inconsistent with one Communion And I would willingly be satisfied how you can bring within the foregoing Rules what you assert but within three Pages where having held that there was no Schism between the Latin and Asian Churches yet you will have it that private Christians at Rome could not receive the Asians into the Communion of the Church without the Bishop's Authority But to word this Matter according to your Hypothesis Tho Conformity to the Church of England that is Obedience to the Church-Governours the Bishops is not essential to the Vnity of the Catholick Church yet it is for all that live here I should have been contented to have the Controversy confin'd to Persons living here but that you tempt me further You say indeed That Christians who live under the Government and Jurisdiction of other Churches may and do preserve the Vnity of the Church without Conformity to the Church of England But pray can they preserve the Unity of the Church without Catholick Communion to which as you have told us a Compliance with the Order Government Discipline and Worship as well as the Doctrine of the Catholick Church is absolutely necessary And then All the Churches of the World are but one Church or one Society and have the same Right or Obligation of them to communicate with each other as Opportunity serves in all those Duties for the sake of which Christian Churches are instituted as the Members of a particular Church are There are some other Passages in my third Letter which perhaps might want to have something said to them but I shall only refer the Whole with what I have here wrote to your second and cooler Thoughts But I must confess I wonder how I escap'd unrebuk'd when I observ'd that you your self made a sufficient Excuse for some even causless Separation And if the Sinfulness of Separation lies in not observing your Terms of Catholick Communion the Dissenters would think themselves pretty sake under Mr. Chillingworth's Defence against the Papists not only when he affirms That the Gospel of Christ is the whole Covenant between God and Man nor when he blames the Papists for making Salvation depend on Things casual and in the Power of Man to confer or not to confer But if it were only because of the Obscurity and Doubtfulness if not Inconsistency of the Grounds whence the Obligation to constant Communion with the Church is inferr'd for he thought it Demonstration that nothing is necessary to be believed but what is plainly revealed Now Sir I take leave to tell you that I have faithfully followed you in all your subtil Windings I am sure I have nowhere perverted your Discourses how much soever I may have mistaken them And 't is no easy matter to take his Sence rightly who is inconsistent with himself It has not been the least nor perhaps the least pertinent part of my Task to fix your own Principles upon you some of which need no other Exposure but to be set in their proper Light where like the Cadmoean Issue they may be left to destroy each other If you forget in one place what serv'd your purpose in another or go to prove too little or too much for what possibly might be your general Scope and Design I hope you will for the future be more cautious of condemning Men for Dishonesty in arguing upon what they find By this time 't is likely I may in a double Sence have tir'd your Patience which you value your self upon I must confess the Substance of what lies in Dispute between us might be brought into a much narrower Compass But perhaps it was no more than requisite to put several Questions to you to prevent all colourable Evasion that one might take up what might be artfully slipt over upon another And certainly any one that observes what Skill you use in the management of this Controversy will think that many Things which might have seem'd superfluous were but necessary to oblige you to speak out Thus when I had ask'd Whether a Man has a Right to be of a particular Church as he is a Christian that is as I then thought and still do a true Member of the Catholick Church I should not have added Or becomes a Christian only as received into a particular Church were it not that I wrote to one who seems to think no Man can be a true Member of the Catholick Church before he has been actually receiv'd into some particular Church But you taking no notice of the last Branch of the Question wonder I should ask you Whether a Man has a Right to be of a particular Church as he is a Christian when you say The whole Design of your Tract is to prove that every Christian by being so is a Member of the Catholick Church and has a Right to communicate with all sound Parts of the Catholick Church and bound to communicate with that Part of it in which he lives Now 't is odds but it may be as evident upon this your whole Design that every particular Church is bound to receive every Christian as such into its Communion without imposing any Terms but meer Christianity as that a Christian must communicate with that sound Part where he lives even in other Terms Yet here you speak not one Word to the Question how a Man becomes a Christian whether it be only as received into a particular Church Indeed you had said in your Resolutions which I thought you might have either justified or retracted That no Man can be in Covenant with God or a Member of his Church who is not at least visibly admitted which must be by some particular Church and surely no Man can be
a Church by refusing to communicate with any Church in her Liturgies and Worship What tho according to Mr. Chillingworth's Rule 't is possible to be a Member of the Church without actual Communion You say 'T is as necessary actually to communicate with some Church or other as 't is to be a Christian Wherefore it seems those Protestants in Popish Countries who did actually communicate with no Church had not what essentially constituted them Christians You will say that you make allowance for Cases of Necessity when Communion cannot be had but upon sinful Terms But surely 't is absolutely necessary to be a Christian Nay in that very Book which you refer me to for your Thoughts at large you assert from your own and the Popish Notion of the Power of the Keys that the Communion of the Church is absolutely necessary to Salvation Wherefore methinks many of your Expressions would make no improper Sound out of a Papist's Mouth We are the Visible or National Church your Division from us is Schism and Separation from the Church and every Separation is a Schism on one side or other Nay you renounce our Communion for to withdraw your selves from ordinary Communion with the Church in which you live into distinct and separate Societies for Worship is to renounce their Communion And he who disputes the Authority or destroys the Vnity of the Church renounces his Membership and Communion with it Besides 't is enough that 't is a Separation and gathering a Church out of a Church which did before consist of baptized Christians Ye are Schismaticks in dividing your selves from the Body of Christians and all your Prayers and Sacraments are not Acts of Christian Communion but a Schismatical Combination You may pretend that if you do not divide upon the account of sinful Terms yet you do it for greater Edification and purer Ordinances And that at least 't is very doubtful whether the Church on Earth has power of clogging God's Ordinances with such Rites as shall be made Terms and Conditions of receiving them Well 't is no matter for all this Doubt and divide from us and be damn'd It 's pleasant that you should pretend Edification to break the Vnity of the Church Be assured that the Influences of the Divine Spirit are confined to this Vnity What Allowances Christ will make for the Mistakes of well-meaning Men who divide the Communion of the Church I cannot determine but his Mercies in such a Case are uncovenanted and such an one is no Member of the Invisible Church that we do or can know of And if he separate from the Visible Church tho upon the account of sinful Terms the Thread of this Reasoning affords him no Clue to lead him to the Gate of Life For having no visible Church that he knows of with which to communicate or by Misfortune being depriv'd of the Opportunity he was thereby denied the ordinary Means of Salvation And it may be said in your Words I do not now speak of the invisible Operations of the Divine Spirit Truly Sir to my thinking either I have rightly represented your Agreement here or Words are to be governed by some Authority which you have not yet produced The half Answer which you suppose already given to the Question with which I closed my second Letter had I doubt not its due Consideration where-ever 't was met with But the Question was this Whether if the Nature of Catholick Communion requires a readiness to communicate with any sound Church and yet a Church obliges us to communicate with that alone exclusive of other sound Churches while Distance does not hinder the occasional and frequent Communion with others is not that Church guilty of Schism in such an Injunction contrary to the Nature of Catholick Communion Your Answer is That no Church can be supposed to forbid Communion with any Church which is in Communion with her But 't is its Duty to forbid Communion with Schismatical Conventicles Which is as much as to say that the French the Greek Church or any other that is not in Communion with our Church is a Schismatical Conventicle And such you observe that I am pleased to call sound Churches wherein you intimate That no Church which is not in Communion with ours that is not ready actually to communicate in all its Accidentals can be sound and Orthodox But then the frequent Communion with another Church being in the Question what provision does your Answer make for so much as the ordinary Communion which you call constant with the National Church But then you having admitted that Dissenters have proper Church-Officers and Power what Answer will you make to what follows Or at least is it not impossible that he who communicates sometimes with one true Church sometimes with another can be a Schismatick or any more than an Offender against a positive Humane Law You say indeed he is an Offender against the Vnity of the Church and the Evangelical Laws of Catholick Communion but you have not yet been pleased to produce those Evangelical Laws which oblige Men upon the pain of Damnation consequent upon Schism to communicate with the Church-Officers allowed of by the Civil Power rejecting others as Schismatical tho admitted to have the same Evangelical Institution Indeed you look upon it as self-evident That where-ever there is a Church establish'd by Publick Authority if there be nothing sinful in its Constitution and Worship we are bound to communicate with that Church and to reject the Communion of all other Parties and Sects of Christians for the Advantage always lies on the side of Authority But how this is made out by any thing you say I cannot find In my Judgment you afford no other Notion of Catholick Communion but as an Agreement and Readiness to communicate in Accidentals as well as Essentials with any sound Church be it National or otherwise Indeed you suppose Dissenters to have no sound Church for want of a National Establishment but then you make no manner of provision for so much as the ordinary actual Communion in any Episcopal Church where one lives if so be that one communicates actually with any other Church which is in Communion with that But if it should happen that the true Notion of Catholick Communion consists only in a Communion in Essentials and being united by the Christian Bond of Charity notwithstanding Separations for lesser Matters then by the same reason I may communicate with any sound Church and nothing but Humane Law can restrain me which by your own Confession can neither make nor cure a Schism And indeed what should hinder but that Humane Law may as well confine me to the Communion of the Bishop of the Diocess where I live which you know were but according to the old Rule of One Altar one Bishop as well as to give me a Latitude for any Diocess provided I do not