Ch. 4. p. 236. observes he as well as others comes into the Communion of the Church upon the terms and conditions of Christianity and a failure in the condition must make the effect void The effect of Excommunication is such that it sometimes prohibits Converse among private persons except in such Relations as do not depend upon the Society of the Church and therefore remain intire notwithstanding the Separation from that Society as of Parents and Children Husband and Wife Master and Servant And upon this Account no Subject can by virtue of Excommunication be prohibited Converse with and discharge of all Duty and Respect to his Sovereign because this is that which he owes him by the bond of Allegiance and the Laws of Nature Humane Society and Civil Polity As for the Objection That Excommunicate Persons are not to be Thornd Rt. of the Church p. 238. Vid. Cath. Bal. 110. 111. and p. 20. convers'd with by St. Paul's Rule it is answer'd by all Divines That it ceaseth in such Relations for example of Parents and Children as more Ancient than the Society of the Church which it therefore presupposeth and so is to cease in things necessary to Civil Society which Christianity as it presupposeth so it enforceth and not overthroweth The Church of England always Declar'd against absolutely Condemn'd Oath of Alleg. and utterly Detested Abhorr'd and Abjur'd that Damnable Doctrine and Position as Impious and HERETICAL That Princes who are Excommunicated by the Pope or any other Bishop may be Deposed or Murdered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever Not only those Assertions which directly contradict the Articles Falkner Christ Loyal p. 326. of our Creed but those also which Oppose the Necessary Rules and Precepts of a Holy life which are a Considerable part of the Christian Faith and Doctrine have generally been esteem'd HERETICAL Doctrines in the Church of God In the Council of Constance That Assertion That an ill Governing Id. p. 329. Prince may Lawfully or Meritoriously be kill'd by his Subject or Vassal was condemn'd as erroneous in Faith and Manners and rejected as HERETICAL Those who in Communion with the Church of England embrace Id. p. 322. that True Christian Doctrine which was taught in the Primitive and Apostolical Church are as far from being concern'd in the crime and guilt of Heresy as Loyal Subjects are from being Chargeable with Rebellion Among all the HERESIES this Age has spawn'd there is not Pref. to Vind. Ch. and State of Scot. one more contrary to the whole design of Religion and more destructive of Mankind than that Bloody Opinion of Defending Religion by Arms and forcible Resistance upon the Colour of preserving Religion The Wisdom of this Policy is Earthly Sensual and Devilish Savouring of a Carnal Vnmortifi'd and Vnpatient Mind that cannot bear the Cross nor Trust the Providence of GOD. Have we some that deny the Kings Supremacy and hold it lawful Long 's Char. of Sep. p. 36. to Depose and Murder Kings We owe these Tenets and Practices to the Church of Rome A Protestant Rebel said the Blessed Martyr K. Ch. 1st in the same degree of Rebellion with a Papist hath far more to answer as having more light and it being more expressly against the Religion he professeth whereof it hath hitherto been a Maxim tho it be now taken for Apocryphal Doctrin not to take up Arms against their Prince upon any Pretence whatsoever Our Law-givers piously declare That By the Murder of our Letter about Regul Press p. 45. late Dread Sovereign the Protestant Religion hath receiv'd the greatest Wound and Reproach and the People of England the most insupportable shame that was possible for the Enemies of God and the King to bring upon us 12. Car. 2. c. 30. I do humbly offer to your Lordships deliberate thoughts these Tillotson's Letter to my Ld. Russel in Newgate July 20. 1683. following Considerations concerning the Points of Resistance First that the Christian Religion doth plainly forbid the Resistance of Authority 2ly That tho our Religion be Establisht by Law which your Lordship urges as a difference between our Case and that of the Primitive Christians yet in the same Law which establisheth our Religion it is declar'd That it is not Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms c. Besides that there is a particular Law declaring the Power of the Militia to be solely in the King And that ties the hands of Subjects tho the Law of Nature and the general Rules of Scripture had left us at liberty which I believe they do not because the Government and Peace of Human Society could not well subsist upon these Terms 3ly Your Lordships opinion is contrary to the Declar'd Doctrine of all Protestant Churches and tho some particular Persons have taught otherwise yet they have been contradicted herein and condemn'd for it by the Generality of Protestants and I beg your Lordship to consider how it will agree with an avow'd asserting of the Protestant Religion to go contrary to the General Doctrine of Protestants c. It is so notorious that it needs not proof that our rigid Dr. Pellings Good old way p. 115. Buchanan Gilby Goodman Sectaries have held it Lawful not only not to Obey wicked Kings whom they call wicked but also to resist them to take Arms against them to have no further regard to them than if they were the most simple subjects within their Realms to Excommunicate them to Depose them to Vn-king them to take their Crowns and Thrones from them and to Banish or Imprison them For according to Buchanan De jure Regni and his whole Tribe the Band being broken between the People and the King he loseth all his Power and Authority which he had by Compact from the people This is Jesuitism with a witness or else we have been Vnjust in Charging this Doctrine upon the Jesuits That the Authority of Supreme Lawful Magistrates is Divine Id. Serm. 30. Jan. 78. p. 13 14. is and ever hath been the plain and honest Doctrine of the Church of England And I should have wonder'd how any wise man should not see it in the Homily against Rebellion but that I do consider that that Homily is a Looking-glass wherein those who have been Traytors cannot but see their own guilt and Deformity and therefore do not care to look at all into it He that lifts up his hand against the Lord 's Anointed strikes Id. p. 9. at the Face of God himself Our Church doth not only teach Non-Resistance as her own Vind. Ans to the Kgs. papers p. 89. Doctrine but which is more effectual as the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and of the Primitive Church If there can be no clear way of reconciling the Terrour menac'd by St. Greg. Nazianzen's Father Bp. of Nazianzum against Julian's Captain of Archers sent to rob and overthrow the Church of Nazianzum
with the Rules of Christian Patience yet perhaps there may be to reconcile it with Loyalty for Julian was a Rebel against his Emperour Constantius So having forfeited all Right of Succession to Constantius by Rebellion and not being elected by the Lawful Army of Constantius he was no other than as Oliver Cromwell had been in England if all the Royal Family and Relations had been extinct So that if it were not done like a Martyr calmly to permit the Wolf to raven as he hoped yet it was no opposition to any Lawful Prince or His Commissioner but an Vsurper and his Elf And for any thing I know prudential and Venial if no more than so if not also laudable And on this ground the Solemn Liturgies us'd openly against him and the Commendations bestow'd on him that Kill'd him tho one of his own Army may be justifi'd not upon the Account meerly of persecuting Christianity had he been a Lawful Prince but for that he was an Vsurper only of the Empire no Lawful Emperour according to the Rules of Imperial Election c. a Meer Oliver Cromwell and Tyrannical Intruder c. The substance of what is said in answer to this Query is this 1. That Christian Princes tho they are liable to Church Censures yet they are not to Temporal Penalties as Deposition Exile Death 2. That the Doctrine of Resisting and Deposing Lawful Princes upon pretence of Excommunication or any other pretence whatsoever is Damnable and Heretical contrary to the Laws of this Realm and contrary to the Doctrine not only of our Church and all Protestants but of Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians 3. That the Crown in Hereditary and Successive Monarchies Faith and Practice of Ch. Eng. man cap. 6. descending from Fathers to Children whether Males or Females is not liable to be Disposed Alienated or Sold nor doth it depend on any Election or Choice of the People 4. That Monarchy hath at least as good a Title to all its Powers Rights and Privileges as any of its Subjects can have to their Honours Properties and Estates and if Subjects lose no Temporal Rights by Excommunication certainly Princes ought not Q. Whether the People are not oblig'd to Communicate with the Establish'd Church if Superiour in Number to any other Communion and more firmly United A. If the Establish'd Religion be Corrupt in Doctrine and Worship as in Popish Countries or Schismatical as in some Protestant Kingdoms and States they ought not to Communicate with them tho' their Numbers be never so great and they never so closely United For if it be sinful to Communicate with a false or Schismatical Church as it certainly is its being establisht can never make it no Sin It is not the great Number of Church Members in any Diocess Apologet Vind. Ch. Eng. p. 37. Province or Patriarchate but the Cause and Nature of the Communion that makes a True Church As I observ'd before it is not the Number of Communicants Id. p. 39. but the Cause or Soundness of Communion that makes a true Church and therefore were there both for Kind and Number ten times as many more Opposite Sects and Communions as there are in this Nation and Bishops at the Heads of them all yet upon Supposition that the Church of England is sound and Apostolical in Doctrine Worship and Discipline that small number adhering to her Communion must be the True Church Nay if all the Bishops of England but One should fall away from the Church of England that One Bishop and the flock adhering to him would be the True Church of England and as True and Catholick a Church as if there were not one Dissenter in the Land Ans to several Capt. Quer. p. 12. Id. p. 16. Truth is to be follow'd with a Few if there are but Few the follow it but thou shalt not follow a Multitude to do evil Truth is the same and changeth not whether they be Few or Many that profess it and our Religion stands not in a Multitude of Pretenders but in a Holy Doctrine and a Holy Practice whicâ— all ought to follow even when the most do not He who denies that the Major part of the Guides of the Reflect on Hist part of Ch. Gov. pt 5. p. 96. Jewish Church err'd must also deny Christ since by such Church Authority he was rejected He who will determine the Prince to Judge alwaies with the Majority of Church Guides obligeth him in Elijah's time to establish Baalism and at other times Calf-Worship If truth be alwaies on the side of the greatest Number Blackhalls Serm. p. 6. which was the True Church in Abraham's time when he was of a Religion by himself Was it in his small family or amongst the Idolatrous Nations that dwelt round about him or which was the True Church in all that long tract of time from Moses to our Saviour was it not Confin'd to a very small spot of Land even when it was at its largest extent And that again Contracted to a much less compass in Elijah's time when there were not in ten of the Tribes of Israel above 7000 men who had not bow'd the Knee to the Image of BAAL 1 Kings 19. 18. Again if that be alwaies the True Church which is the Largest Id. ibid. time was when the Arian Hereticks were the true Christian Church and the Orthodox Professors of Christianity who were but a very few in Number in Comparison with them were Consequently miserably deluded and rank Hereticks In the Text we are told that many of our Lord's Disciples Id. p. 5. probably not fewer than 5000 went away from him at once and as far as appears by the History there were only 12 that remain'd with him a very small number in comparison with the great Multitude that went away and yet there can be no doubt but that these were the True Church and that they which went Vind. pr. Ch. p. 151. The Protestant Religion vindicated from the charge of Singularity and Novelty in a Sermon preached before the King at Whitehall by Dr. Tillotson April 2 1680. away were Schismaticks Multitude may render a Sect Formidable but 't is but a poor Argument of Right Suppose we were by much the Fewer So hath the Church of God often been without any the least prejudice of the Truth of their Religion What think we of the Church in Abraham's Time which for ought we know was confin'd to one family and one small Kingdom that of Melchisedeck King of Salem What think we of it in Moses's Time when it was confin'd to one People wandering in a Wilderness What of it in Elijah's Time when besides the Two Tribes that worshiped in Jerusalem there were in the other Ten but Seven Thousand that had not bow'd the Knee to Baal What in our Saviour's Time when the whole Church consisted of Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples and some few followers besides How would Bellarmin
being Traiterous and paying Homage to an Usurper doth annul the Right and Title of the Lawful Prince The Church of England Bishops are guilty of no Schism from the Church of Rome their order is undoubted and their Succession Reform Justify'd p. 29. uninterrupted and so their Title and Authority is as firm and unquestionable as any upon earth and they must be Schismaticks before God and the Catholick Church that do not submit to them and joyn in their Communion in all Lawful things If we look over the ancient Canons of the Church we shall find two things very plain in them 1 That the Notion of a Church was the same with that of a Mischief Separ p. 29. Can. Nic. Can. 6. 15. 16. Constan c. 6. Chalced. 17 20 26. Antioch c. 2. Codex Eccl. Affric c. 53. c. 55. Conc. Gang. c. 6. Conc. Constan c. 6. Conc. Carthag c. 10 11. St. Cypri Ep. 40. 42. Theod. Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 22. 1. 2. c. 24. c. 17. Vincent c. 16. Diocess or such a Number of Christians as were under the Inspection of a Bishop Or 2ly That those Presbyters who rejected the Authority of their Bishop or affected Separate Meetings where no fault could be found with the Doctrine of a Church were condemn'd of Schism So the followers of Eustathius Sebastenus who withdrew from the publick Congregations on pretence of greater Sanctity and Purity in Paphlagonia were condemn'd by the Council at Gangrae So were those who Separated from their Bishops tho' otherwise never so Orthodox by the Council at Constantinople and the Council at Carthage wherein before S. Cyprian had so justly Complain'd of the Schism of Felicissimus and his Brethren who on pretence of some disorders in the Church of Carthage had withdrawn to the Mountains and there laid the foundation of the Novatian Schism But when false Doctrine was imposed on Churches as by the Arian Bishops at Antioch then the people were excused in their Separation So at Rome when Felix was made Bishop and at Sirmium when Photinus publish'd his Heresie but I do not remember one instance in Antiquity wherein Separation from Orthodox Bishops and setting up Meetings without their Authority and against their consent was acquitted from the Sin of Schism The substance of what is contain'd in the Answer to this Query amounts to this viz. 1. That K. Edward's Bishops were True and Canonical Bishops And the Popish Bishops in Q. Mary's days Intruders 2. That those that adhered to K. Edward's Bishops in Queen Mary's days altho' depriv'd were the True Church and Consequently those that forsook their Communion were the Schismaticks Q. Whether a Particular Church suppose the Roman being Schismatical yet keeping possession of all the Churches may be said to Separate A. Yes For Private Meetings in such a case commence Churches Hales and the Churches become Conventicles according to the Definition given of a Conventicle above viz. That a Conventicle is nothing else but a Congregation of Schismaticks If Rome has by the many Additions c. err'd she may be said Ans to Reason and Authority p. 66. to have left and gone from or be separated from that First Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church without making an open Schism or Schismatical Separation So far then as any Church now in being shall depart from the Doctrine of the Ancient Catholick Church and profess great and many errors and broach new Doctrines unknown to the Primitive Churches and lay mighty stresses upon them so as to make them necessary for Communion here and to Salvation hereafter such a Church may be said to Depart or Separate it self from that Ancient One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church It is true That they who first desert and forsake the Communion Bramhal Just Vind. p. 10. of their Christian Brethren are Schismaticks but there is a Moral Defection as well as a Local In a word he that forsakes the Assemblies of Catholick Christians is a Schismatick not he that goes not to a Church for where-ever Christians tho' in a Den or Cave of the Earth worship God in the Unity of the Church there is the Church of God Q. Are the Dissenters Schismaticks A. Yes doubtless For they not only set up separate Meetings in opposition to Bishops but renounce all Episcopal Authority and Usurp the Power of Ordination which did always belong to the Order of Bishops As for the Government of the Church we are assur'd partly Letter concerning the necessity of Regulat the Press p. 18. from Scripture and partly from the Earliest Antiquity That the Order of Bishops and Metropolitans rests upon Apostolical Institution Both Timothy and Titus in the judgment of the most Learned Presbyterians were Superiour to the rest of the Clergy within their Districts at least in Jurisdiction if not Order The Bishop presided over a City and the adjacent Villages Id. p. 19 and Territories where a Temporal Magistrate was likewise plac'd As the Metropolis of every Province had its Proconsul in the State so it had its Archbishop or Metropolitan in the Church And when the Government of Patriarchs prevail'd it was form'd after the same Model either in Imitation of the Vicars or Lieutenants that presided over a Diocess composed of several Provinces or at least in Imitation of the Praetorian Prefects that had several Dioceses under their Jurisdiction All those that set up Altar against Altar and hold Separate Saywel of Vnity p. 318. Congregations contrary to the Law of this Church are to be held as Schismaticks and were condemn'd for such by the ancient General and Particular Councils and all the Catholick Fathers and Martyrs and thought not sit to be receiv'd into Christian Communion or accounted lively members of the Catholick Church As 't is a high crime to Affront a Judge duly Commissionated Id. 395. so it is no less than Rebellion for an able Lawyer without a Commission to assume to himself the Office and Authority of a Judge And why it should be in Temporal Judges and not in Spiritual appointed by God as the Bishops are in the opinion of this Lord Chief Justice Hales I cannot see I am sure 't was ever thought so by all sober Christians till our unhappy Rebellion nurs'd People up in Schism and Disobedience Were it Episcopacy but an Human Ordinance of yesterday Thorndike prim Gov. of Chs. p. 197. establish'd by due course of right let me be bold to say that if Aerius withdrew his Submission to it he must come within Epiphanius's list of Hereticks not understanding an Heretick in St. Augustin's sense to be none but he that will not believe some point of Doctrine necessary as the means of Salvation to be believ'd but according to the latitude of the Word taking all to be Hereticks that make Sects and Assemble themselves a part besides the Church of God Lawfully Settled As for Episcopal Ordination that was accounted as necessary in the primitive Church to