That this Church of England had no dependence upon the Authority of the Church of Rome which She might not lawfully throw off and that She does not owe any Subjection to the Bishop of Rome but had just Power without asking his leave or staying for his Consent to Reform Her self And withal that the Church of Rome ought to have Reformed Her self as we have done since there were most necessary Causes for so doing the Communion of that Church being defiled with the profession of those damnable Errors and the practice of those Superstitions and Idolatries which we have done away To this purpose we challenge those of that Communion with the particulars of their Doctrine of Transubstantiation their Sacrifice of the Mass their Service in an unknown Tongue their half Communion their Worship of Images their Adoration of the Host and the rest of those Abominations whereof the Communion of that Church doth in great part Consist We acknowledge that we separated from them in these things when we Reformed our selves but in so doing we were not guilty of Schism from the Church of Rome and that if nothing else were to be said because this Church owes no Subjection to that but withal that the Causes of the Reformation being so necessary as we pretend them to be the Separation of Communion that ensued upon our being and their hating to be Reformed was on our side just and necessary upon that account also and therefore not Schismatical So that our Answer is twofold 1. That the Church of England being by no kind of Right subject to the Roman or any Forreign Bishop had full Power and Authority without asking leave of Forreigners to Reform her self And this we say would have cleared her from the Imputation of Schism if the causes of the Reformation had not been so necessary as indeed they were If before the Reformation there had been no Unlawful conditions of Communion required in the Western Churches and all the fault that could have been found in them had amounted to no more than bare Inconveniences and Imprudence in the manner of their Discipline or in ordering the outward Mode of Worship it had yet been free for the Church of England to have Reformed those lesser faults within her self though no other Church would have done the like And though for such defects remaining in other Churches abroad she ought not to have Separated from their Communion yet she might very justly and Commendably free her self from them at home But if a Forreign Church suppose that of Rome should hereupon have abstained from the Communion of this Church till we had returned to the former Inconvenient though Lawful Rites and Customs that Forreign Church had been guilty of Schism in so doing And if the Church of England not willing to part with her Liberty and to prostitute her Authority to the Usurpation of the See of Rome should have adher'd to her own Reformation she had not been guilty of the breach of Communion following that her Resolution because she had done nothing but what was within the compass of her just Power to do and in which she was not liable to be controuled by any other Church We say with St. Cyprian that the Episcopal Government of the Church ought to be but one spread abroad amongst Bishops many in number but heartily agreeing together But with the same excellent Man we say too that it is Equal that every one of them should have a part of the Flock assigned to him which he is to Govern remembring that he is to give an account of his management to God Which he said in asserting the Freedom of the African Churches from Subjection to the Roman This we think is justly applicable to our Case The Church of England is a National Church once indeed under the Usurpation of the Roman Bishop and at length rescued from that servitude we are at present United together by Common Rules for Government and Worship Consulted upon and agreed unto by the Bishops and Presbyters in Convocation and then made Laws to all the particular Churches of this Kingdom by the Authority of the Soveraign These Laws shew the Reformation of the Church And they do not want any Authority they ought to have for wanting the consent of the Roman Bishop upon whom we have neither Ecclesiastical nor Civil Dependence For if any one single Bishop of the African Church might determin Causes and judge matters of Ecclesiastical cognisance which yet was seldom done in things of moment without the advice of Collegues when the Church had rest from Persecution and this without allowing Appeals to Rome much more may the Bishops of a whose Christian Kingdom confederate together to order Church matters Independently upon the See of Rome especially being required thereunto by their Christian Soveraign to whom they all owe Subjection and Obedience in all things saving their Common Christianity So that if the Causes of the Reformation had not been so weighty as indeed they were yet considering the Authority by which it was effected our Separation from Rome thereupon ensuing was wholly Guiltless on our part it being necessary unless we would submit to the Unjust and Tyrannous Claims of a Forreign Bishop 2. To the charge of Schism laid against us by the Romanist we Answer also that the conditions of Communion required in the Roman Church were many of them Vnlawful to be submitted unto since we could not Communicate with her without professing Doctrines that are plainly contrary to Gods Word nor without doing several things that are clearly and particularly forbidden by it And since it is not in the Power of any Man or Church to dispense with our Obligations to the Laws of God we could not be obliged to preserve Communion with the Bishop of Rome and his Adherents upon those Terms But because Catholick Communion ought to be preserved they ought to have put away those Scandals from amongst themselves which since they have not done though the Separation is equal on both sides yet the Schism is not ours but theirs only And therefore we farther say that if the Corruptions of the Roman Church which God forbid should ever come to be establisht in this Church of England again by the same Authority that has abolisht them it were not only Lawful but a necessary Duty to separate from the Communion of this Church in that Case We have that Reverence of Church Authority and of the Supreme Magistrate that we will submit to their Determinations in all things wherein God has left us to our own Liberty But if they Command us to do things contrary to his Determination and to take that liberty which he has not given us we must remember that we are to obey God rather than Man We have that sense also of the mischief of Divisions and Separations and of the Duty of maintaining Church-Communion that if the Laws of God be but observed we are not only ready to comply
we are now taught Authority must not so much as meddle with them To this purpose we are told of the Pattern in the Mount of Strange Fire that was not Commanded and of the Unlawfulness of adding to or diminishing from the Law of Moses As if these places of Scripture made all impositions concerning the Order of Divine Worship as Unlawful as the express Word of God shews so many particular practices of the Roman Church in her Worship to be But leaving these attempts of theirs to be examined in the more particular Controversies Who sees not what a wide difference there is in the particular management and application of this general Proposition that we must not Communicate with any Church in Impurity between the Church of England against the Papists and between the Dissenters against the Church of England For we are secure against all just accusation from the Church of Rome if this one Proposition be true That it is not in the Power of any Church to dispense with the Laws of God or to absolve us from our Obligation to keep them But the Dissenters cannot avoid the Justice of our charge against them unless this proposition be true also That the Church hath no Authority in things of an Indifferent Nature to prescribe such in Divine Service as shall be thought most agreeable to the general Rules of Reason and Scripture and most Sutable to the great ends of Chrstianity Now if what we say in these things will hang well together that is if the former Proposition be true and if the Truth thereof shall not hinder the latter from being false then with very good Reason may we pretend that it was necessary for us to Separate from Rome for greater purity or for the avoiding of Sin But the Dissenters will have no just ground from our example to pretend the same in their Separation from the Church of England And I think the Difference is plainly enough confess'd by those of the Separation that hold occasional Communion with our Church to be Lawful that is who think it Lawful to Communicate actually with us upon occasion though they are all the while Members of Separate Churches For if our Communion is polluted with Sinful conditions how comes it to pass that this occasional Communion as they call it should be more Lawful then Constant Communion Unless they will say it is Lawful sometimes to break Gods Commandments but not Lawful to do it ordinarily But I know they will not say so And therefore when they say that they cannot without Sin become Members of our Churches though without Sin they can sometimes join in our Publick Worship they seem to suppose that the way of Worship in the Separate meetings is more perfect than ours in respect of those things which do not fall under any particular Law of God but may be ordered better or worse as Men are more or less prudent or as they take greater or less heed to the general Rules of Reason and Scripture concerning things Indifferent And withal that there is so much more gravity Decency Simplicity and Tendency to Edification in the outward mode of their Worship that it would be a Sin to let it fall or in practise to prefer ours before it But by this I think any body may see what a Difference there is between what we and these Men mean by the same pretence of refusing to Communicate where it cannot be done without Sin For our meaning is that there are such conditions of Communion in the Church of Rome that as the Case stands it would be a Wickedness to Communicate with her at any time But they mean no such thing against us since without Scruple they can sometimes Communicate with us only they suppose they have set up a more perfect Communion and they do not forsake our Communion as Unlawful in it self but they think it their Duty to prefer a better before it So that in this pretence for Separation these Men do not understand purity in opposition to Sin or breaking any of Gods Commandments but purity in opposition to a less Convenient or Prudent ordering of the outward mode of Worship That is they do not understand the same thing by Separating from the Communion of a Church for greater purity that we understand by it Nor can they urge that pretence for Separation from us as we do urge it against the Church of Rome And consequently our Reason of Separating from that Church for greater purity does not hold to justify their Separation from us Upon consideration of the whole matter I hope the Papists will find no Protestant of our Church easy and silly enough to be deluded by such Superficial Colours as these are You see say they what is become of leaving the Communion of the Church for greater purity The Protestants at first forsook the Catholick i. e. Roman Church for greater purity And do not the Presbyterians forsake the Church of England for greater purity And so do the Independents set up their Congregations for greater purity And the Anabaptists for the same reason depart from them And the Quakers from them All And there is no end of breaking Communion upon such pretences as these are which are as good against your selves as they are against us And therefore you may choose whether you will return to the Church from which you first brake away under pretence of Reformation or whether you will follow your Principle till you are Refined into Quakers or it may be into a more absurd and mad sort of People than the Quakers themselves are It is a lamentable thing to see Men of Common understanding couzened by such Palpable Fallacies as these are though it is not to be wondred at that the Agents of the Roman Church make the best use of them they can since a Foul Cause must be beholden to such Artifices as these to blanch it over But I pray might there not be such Corruptions in your Church that we with good Reason might pretend it necessary to forsake your Communion for one that was purer and yet there may be none in ours to give any Man Just Cause to leave us upon that pretence Is it impossible that it should ever be just and necessary to depart from the Communion of a Church upon the account of her Corruptions because every Man that has a mouth and can speak may say if he please that he Separates for greater purity though there be no reasonable Cause to say so Or does it follow that because our Dissenters are mistaken in Believing that we have given them sufficient cause to deal by us as we have done by you that is to forsake our Communion for greater purity as we have forsaken yours upon the same account that therefore we also must needs proceed upon mistakes in so doing What if some of them are Erroneously perswaded that they ought not to submit to Human Orders in the performance of Gods Worship if
to require nothing in the Communion of Christians but what is agreeable to Gods Word and Lawful to be done And on the other side that in such things we ought to do what is Commanded and by no means to run into a Separate Communion Upon these principles we departed from Rome and stick where we are and I trust that through the Grace of God we shall neither go back to Rome nor run after the Separation there being no need either of the former to preserve Vnity or of the later to avoid Tyranny To draw to a conclusion of this matter The main Reason of our Separation from Rome was this that we could not continue in her Communion without doing things that God hath plainly forbidden The Reformation of our Church was at first effected by and hath all along stood upon Good and Just Authority She does not only hold forth all necessary means of Salvation but she requires nothing to be done in her Communion that is contrary to Gods Word And therefore we hold our selves bound under the pain of Schism to continue in her Communion Now I do not understand how upon these principles Men must run into Endless Separations unless it be impossible for us whatever we pretend to know who are our Lawful Governours and to know what God hath Commanded and what he hath Forbidden us to do And I must confess if these things be Impossible to be known 't is a Foolish thing for any Man to trouble his Conscience with Cases of Communion and Separation As for the Dissenters to omit the Independents whose Churches are in their very Constitution inconsistent with Submitting to a Common Authority in matters of Worship they have forsaken us for nothing but because the Forms of our Worship or our two or three Ceremonies in it are not Commanded in Gods Word and because in things left otherwise to our Liberty we are determined by the Authority of our Superiors Or because these things might be better ordered and because the Communion which they have taken upon them to set up in Opposition to the Church of England is purer than ours though ours be a Lawful Communion Now these principles do indeed tend to Endless Separations unless these Men could tell us either how we could be United in one Communion though all of us believed it Vnlawful to Obey a Competent Authority that should presume to determin any Indifferent things relating to Gods Worship or what particular Communion that is from which it would be Vnlawful to Separate even upon this principle That there is no Obligation to Communion where there is any thing possible to be mended in the outward mode of Gods Worship In a Word they that Separate upon Just and Necessary cause as the Church of England hath done from the Church of Rome and stop there are not to be charged with the consequence of their practice who Separate without such Causes as the Dissenters do from our Church And if they have proceeded farther than they are able to justify themselves by the principles of our Reformation they must Answer for it themselves 2. The principles of our Reformation do not obstruct our Communion with any true Church of Christ abroad where there are no Unlawful Terms of Communion But so do the principles of the Dissenters Separation By the same reason that our Governours determin one Common order of Worship and Discipline for the Churches over which they have Authority The Governours of other Churches also may determin in these things according to their Prudence for the People subject to their Authority And we who blame the Church of Rome for interposing her Authority amongst us with whom she has no more Right to meddle than any other Forreign Church has must in all things that come within the Liberty of Christians leave other Churches that are as Independent upon Vs as we are upon Rome to their Authority and Liberty And this is what our Church has expresly declared In these our doings we condemn not other Nations nor prescribe any thing but to our own People only for we think it convenient that every Country should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of Gods Honor and Glory and to the reducing of the People to a most Perfect and Godly living without Error or Superstition and that they should put away other things which from time to time they perceive to be most abused as in Mens Ordinances it often chanceth diversly in divers Countries In pursuance of which excellent and truly Catholick Declaration I would not only Communicate with Foreign Churches who differ from us in nothing but matters of From and Ceremony but if I were amongst them I should observe their Establish'd Modes and Forms of Worship and though I thought our own way at home worthy upon all the accounts of Order and Decency and Tendency to Edification to be preferred before theirs yet I should not only conform to their way but Religiously abstain from creating any prejudice against it in the minds of Christian People in those places and rather do all that Honestly I could to bring those to a favourable Opinion of it who were prejudiced against it This is that Rule which St. Austin thought should take place not only in respect of those Orders which were Establish'd by Synods of Bishops but in respect also of those Customs which had crept into particular Churches though it was hard to tell why or how they came in In things of this Nature saith he there is one most wholesom Rule to be observed That wherever we see any of them obtain which are neither contrary to Faith nor good Manners and have some tendency to Edification we should not only abstain from finding fault with them but Commend and Practise them our selves And yet he complains in this very Epistle of the multitude of Ceremonious Observations in which particular Churches differed from one another and wishes that a Reformation were made by Authority Thus in the foregoing Epistle speaking of the different observations of divers places for Instance that some fast upon the Saturday and some do not c. and of all other things of this kind which are to be accounted Indifferent Nothing says he does more become the Gravity and Prudence of a Christian then to do after the manner of that Church into which he shall happen to come Then he relates St. Ambrose his celebrated Answer to Monica about things of this sort When I am at Rome I Fast on the Saturday when I am here at Milan I do not Fast And so when thou comest into any Church observe its Customs if thou wouldest neither give just Cause of Offence nor take Offence without Cause This advice St. Austin magnified highly and the more he thought of it the better he liked it For says he I have often with great sorrow considered how the minds of Weak Christians have been disturbed by the
Quarrelsom humour and Superstitious Niceness of some of the Brethren who upon very slight grounds of Reasoning or being addicted to their own Customs at home or fond of what they have observed abroad raise such Wrangling Disputes about things that cannot be clearly Determined either by the Authority of Holy Scripture or the Vniversal Tradition of the Church Catholick or by the Consideration of what is best for Reformation of Life that they seem to reckon nothing well done but what they do themselves I shall add no more but that plain Rule he gives elsewhere to this purpose As to things in which the Scripture defines nothing certain one way or the other the Custom of the Church and the Decrees of our Ancestors are to be held for Law Now by this and much more that might be produced we may see what the true Notion of that Liberty was which the Ancient Church allowed in matters of Indifference Not that there was no Rule in the particular Churches for the Ordering and Regulating of things of this sort For we find the Bishops did use their Authority in these things over their charges as St. Ambrose's Words to St. Austin's Mother about the forementioned case do plainly imply Resist not thy Bishop in this matter but what he does that do thou without any Scruple or Dispute And besides those particular Customs the Variety and Multitude of which St. Austin complains of there were the Determinations of Episcopal Synods concerning things not Determined in Scripture which he does not complain of But their Liberty consisted in this that the Rules of this sort establisht in the Communion of any Church were not imposed upon Foreign Churches and Catholick Communion was not broken upon the account of different Rites and Customs For though St. Austin was sorry to see the minds of some Weak Christians troubled about Questions of this kind yet I do not find that he had any occasion given him to complain that Communion was broken upon these accounts as before his time it had been by Pope Victors rashness in presuming to Excommunicate the Asiatick Bishops for observing Easter upon the fourteenth of March had not Irenaeus and other Wise and Moderate persons seasonably interposed To apply all this to the matter in hand Since the Church of Rome has made such things conditions of Communion with her as are in St. Austin's phrase contrary to Faith and Good Manners our Separation from her upon this account does not at all hinder us from Communicating with any true Church in the World that does not bar us out by Unlawful Terms of Communion For in things that God hath left at Liberty this Church persumes not to interpose her Authority abroad nor refuses the Communion of those Churches whose Customs and Observations are different from ours meerly because they are different Nay let the Church of Rome her self make an end of Imposing False Doctrines and Wicked Practices and there will be an end of our Separation from her Let her give over Commanding things that God hath Forbidden and makeing Articles of Faith of things that are not revealed but are indeed contrary to Sense and Reason and she may for us use her Authority at home in things Indifferent and though she be guilty of great Abuses even in this kind which need a Reformation yet I for my part should not break Communion with her for these things if she would throughly Purge her self from the other In the mean time we are of one Communion with all Foreign Churches that presume not to change the Faith nor to contradict the Laws of God and this we should demonstrate by actual Communion with them if we had occasion to go abroad amongst them But this makes our case very Different from that of the Dissenters who Separate from the Church For so long as they withdraw from our Communion for the sake of Ecclesiastical Order that are not contrary to Gods Word and Separate from us upon this principle that every thing is Unlawful in Gods Worship which is not Commanded in Scripture but enjoined by our Superiors only they must not upon those principles have Communicated with any Church in the Primitive times when there were far more Vncommanded Rites and Vsages Establish'd for the regulating of Worship than now there are in our Church And upon these principles they must not Communicate with any Reformed Churches abroad since how different so ever the External Mode of their Worship may be from ours yet some they all have and that consisting of Rules not Determined by Gods Word but by the Law or Custom of Man To New England they must not go hoping to find a Communion there Lawful to be embraced upon these principles The Nonconformists to our Liturgy and Discipline that are there will stand to their own censures concerning Worship and Discipline and will make out by their Church Authority such as it is what they cannot shew Chapter and Verse for Our Separatists if they go thither shall find no other use of their Liberty allowed there but Conformity and Compliance with that way of Worship and Government which there obtains It is a plain case that they who Separate from our Church upon the account of Unommanded Rites and Practices in Gods Worship are something more obliged by this principle to avoid Communion with all Foreign Churches if Rules for Customs concerning things Indifferent are to be found amongst them all as most certainly such Rules more or fewer all of them have For in the former case our Separatists are disobedient to their proper Governours and Pastors whose Authority over them is some thing more clear and indisputable than that of the Governours of other Churches where they might happen to go And therefore if they will not in things of this Nature be Determined by an Authority at home there is less reason to believe their Consciences will suffer them to be Determined therein by one abroad I conclude therefore that though our Reformation leaves usfree to Communicate with all Churches abroad that do not require Sinful Terms of Communion as the Church of Rome does yet the Separation of the Dissenters from us proceeds upon grounds destructive of Communion with any Church in the World Indeed I believe most of our Dissenters would Communicate with several Reformed Churches abroad but in so doing they must depart from the principles upon which they Separate at home unless they can find a Reformed Church which exerciseth no Authority in Forms of Prayer nor in any Indifferent things for the external Regulation of Publick Worship But where such a Church is to be found I am yet to be informed And thus much concerning those Differences of the Case that are Consequent upon the Difference in point of Authority and of Terms of Communion 3. I come now to consider the last Plea I propounded which I confessed was not only Common to both sides but which also may be as truly alledged on