and Holyness elsewhere then foregoe our Edification to keep Peace with the Church The Dr hints at general Inconveniences that will follow if people find Fault with their Governours and withdraw from them and to such inconveniences all things in this world are subject and there ought to be the greater care to prevent them but must People bear always still there is nothing left but the name of a Church and their Communion with that be a hindrance to their Communion with Christ besides nothing would more awe both Pastours and People to their duty then if they knew that the soberest and most carefull Christians of their own Salvation would leave their company if they would not mend their manners and this would be a more Universal Benefit to the Church then the inconvenience of now and then one unseasonably withdrawing out of prejudice or finding too much Fault can do hurt to any Congregation 4. When a Church hath neither the exercise nor power of Government The Catholick Church is a Society under the Government of Christ by his Spirit and every particular Church is a part of the Chatholick gathered into a Politicall Body that it may edify and preserve it self which is done by Government and the exercise of Discipline as well as by preaching the word and administring the Sacraments and indeed the latter will be as ineffectual without the former as a Charge at an Assize or Sessions wherein the Laws are recited would be if there were neither presentment nor punishment of Offenders A Church without Power of Government is no Church but a Company of Neighbours that meet sometimes to hear the Word and receive the Sacraments together which Members of several Congregations may do for power of Government is the form of a Church as of a Civil Polity by which only it differeth from a confused accidental conventing or cohabitation of persons now it is no sin to separate from that which is no Church but a Duty as much as it is for every one to be a Member of some visible Church This case is too common with us where Ministers of Parishes are sometimes Deacons at least for a while who have no Ministerial power at all and if Presbyters yet such as pretend to no more then to preach and administer the Sacraments all power of Government as they say belonging to the Bishop and whatever their private Judgment may be of their power of Government we know they neither do nor dare exercise any solemn admonitions or suspension from the Sacrament much less Excommunication or Absolution when this is the case that the Church hath no power to govern her self hath long lost it and is out of hopes to recover it nothing can oblige men to live Members of it though there may be reasons why we should hear and receive with them occasionally as with Brethren If it be said that the Bishop hath a power of Government over all his Diocess I answer this shuts out all the Parish Ministers from Government and makes them but the Bishops Curates and makes all the Parishes cease to be distinct Churches and to become one general Church under a Bishop who is utterly uncapable to manage the charge of such a Congregation be it only to govern and not to preach as some men would have it and so it is still destructive of the end of a Church viz self-edification and preservation but moreover the Bishop himself is subject to the Metropolitane and all causes in his Diocess admit of an appeal to the Arch-Bishops Court so that neither hath the Bishop supream and full power of Governing his Church and therefore neither is the Diocess a Church but a part of the whole province all under the Government of the Arch-Bishop alone the Bishops being but his Deputies and this still makes the Government more impossible and Separation more necessary 5. A 5th just eause of Separation is when men are certainly and constantly debarred of some Principal Ordinances of Christ necessary to their Edification and Communion with Christ The end of a Church is the joynt practice of all the Laws and Ordinances of Christ in their proper seasons It is possible there may not be occasion for the exercise of some of them as Church Censures for a considerable time and it is possible some Ordinances may be carelesly neglected or for some reasons for a time omitted as the Lords Supper This is no cause of withdrawing at least not properly but if there be constant Bars put that any of these Ordinances shall be excluded the Church as the Sacraments are with many Sectaries or that they shall be made unaccessable by sinfull or unnecessary additions alterations interpolations or any other Corruption so that the most conscientious Christians cannot Communicate in them this after a convenient waiting and seeking for redress will justify Separation for the people may not be contented with one part of the Worship of God and the means of their Salvation this is to betray the Gospel and their own Souls nor have Church Governours power to add any thing either essential or circumstantial to the Ordinances of Christ that may hinder the people from Communicating in them and if they have no such authority to enjoyn such things there is no obligation upon the people either to comply with them in obedience or to bear their usurpation by continuing in Union with them If it be pleaded that the Jews never separated from their Church when they could not Communicate in the Sacrifices at the Temple under Idolatrous Kings or when the Passover or other Ordinances were wholly neglected or little used I answer this is not the case of Christian Churches the Jews were one single though large Congregation instituted by Moses to continue till Christ should come who should have power to new moddle the Church as he should think fit they were all tyed to one Altar and one Temple and might Sacrifice no where else they were also obliged to one Priesthood the House of Aaron and therefore in what-place-soever they were they must hold Communion with this people and Priesthood at this Altar and if publick worship was neglected or corrupted they could in no case separate or gather New Congregations or chuse new Priests or build new Altars but must be content with private helps till things were reformed but Christians though of one Nation or City are not obliged to one Congregation indispensably for then men may not move to other Parishes nor to one place of publick worship nor to one Minister or company of Ministers the Christians Church being tyed to no Countrey as the Jews were nor to any particular people nor kindred nor having any promise to be continued to the end in any one place or amongst any one people it hath therefore power to distribute it self into diverse Congregations and consequently again to withdraw from any one of them when there is need 6. Gross infringement of Christian Liberty we are commanded
becomes unfit to live among them the two great parts of the Catholick Church that in Heaven and this on Earth have a Communion in that they are both United to Christ both worship and serve him in those particular ways that are proper for the state they are in and both wait for that compleat Salvation which they shall have at their general meeting besides this we know of no Communion betwixt them viz that either part can be serviceable to each other at present only we that live on earth enjoy the benefit of the Prayers and Examples which they left us who are now in Heaven and of their endeavours to continue the Gospel to us and so we succeed them in the same offices and endeavour to transmit the Knowledge of Christ his Gospel and Ordinances to those that shall succeed us nor can here be any Separation of one of these parts from another without breaking of Christian Religion which is impossible to them that are in Heaven and if any on earth thus separate it is to their own damnation The Catholick Militant Church on Earth hath a Communion in some more particulars for besides their common acknowledgement of Christ and his Gospel and the common love they are to bear to all Christians on earth as their Brethren they are to perform all offices of love which in this their imperfect militant state they are able and may need from one another such as to pray for all to rejoyce in each others welfare to sympathize in each others afflictions to assist by councell charitable relief hospitallity c. and when ever there is occasion to receive each other to their worship as brethren leaving to every one the liberty of their particular rites or opinions and this is so indispensable a duty that no Separation can be lawfull or tolerable in those who separate from the Catholick Church who relinquish the profession of Christ or cast of all love to their Brethren or that will not joyn with them in the worship of God or concern themselves in their common concerns Now for Organized Churches that are associated for the exercise of their Religion and their edification under Government o Pastours and Guides their Communion must be that the Members of every such Church joyn with each other ordinarily and peaceably in the same Acts of Worship and perform all offices of love to each other in some tolerable measure that they be subject to their Governours and that their Governours do conscionably endeavour the edification of the people committed to their charge according to the Laws of Christ which are the general rules of these societies and according to any other particular rules which they shall agree on amongst themselves for their own edification as Circumstances may require and so that both parts Governours and Governed do joyntly promote the edification of the whole Body in Holiness and Peace Separation therefore from these Organized Churches is a Breach of this Political Communion and Order among themselves which is done either by breaking off from the Body to which they belonged as Members which is Separation properly so called or by disturbing the Communion of it or withdrawing from some parts or acts of that Communion though they do not wholly break off from the body such Seperation is in many cases Lawfull in some necessary and a duty and therefore must not be Universally Condemned but the causes of it be inquired into For though all Christians must be Members of Christ and of the Catholick Church under him for the general ends of their Salvation it doth not appear yet that they must be Members of the same Organized Society or that they may not upon just occasions leave those societies they were joyned with and go to others already in being or constitute new ones for their own edification even as in civil government men may not only compose divers Polities or Common-Wealths but may also make new confederacies or divide their Polities into lesser and particular persons may depart from them to others or constitute new ones yea may deny their concurrence with many things done in the society they joyn with and all this without the Crime of Sedition or defection till the causes and ends of such practise prove it so Now to descend to the particular forms of Organized Churches by what hath been said we may easily judge of their Communion and Separation from them And First For the Oecumenicall Church the Political Communion thereof must be that all Christians in the World be subject to the same Governours under Christ and live as Members of the same individual society either as a single Congregation or as of many united into one Separation from this Communion must therefore be either to interrupt the peace and order of this Communion or wholly to forbear joyning with them but such a Catholick unity of the Church under one Government being impracticable and inconsistent with the edification of the Church since it is inlarged and dispersed throughout the world it is needless to dispute about Communion with it or Separation from it All other Churches that exceed the bounds of a single Congregation and must be constituted of many are of the same nature with the Oecumenicall Church though not of the same latitude as to the matter of Communion which must therefore consist in the performance of all offices mutually betwixt Governours and Governed as Members of the same society whether it consists of several Nations as Patriarchial Churches or of the people of one Nation as National Churches or of the people of one Province one Diocess or Classis as Provincial Diocesan or Classical Churches Separation here must be either a disturbing of the peace and order of these Churches or a withdrawing from them as to the political duties due to them such Separation must often be lawfull and warrantable seeing no command of Christs binds men to particular Provinces or Diocesses nor always to continue in the same Finally The Communion of a Parish or Congregation consists in this that Pastours and People mutually perform their respective duties to each other and amongst themselves for their dayly edification Separation from such Congregations is either to interrupt their Government or Concord or to withdraw from them now seeing no man is immutably bound to one Congregation nor any Congregation to one Diocess or any larger combination and all these Churches are subject to corruptions which the Members must oppose and contend against separation from them must not be censured till it be known whether the cause be just or unjust And thus we are come at the last to enquire What are just causes of Separation whereby we may judge also what are not And that we may not speak too generally and confusedly we distinguish betwixt Separation of one Church from another and of particular Members from that Church whereto they did belong As all Churches are bound to Communion among themselves being all Members of the
been all cast out as it was in Scotland the Argument is the same and their People left either desolate or like to be betrayed to Ignorance and Superstition that it were unlawful for these Ministers to Preach to this People in Temporary Assemblies or Congregations till this storm may happily blow over I find no force in the Argument but each Reader must judge for himself CHAP. III. An Answer to the 3d. Argument from the Nature and Sinfulness of Separation THE Dr. spends the whole second part of his Book in Examining as he saith Sect. 1. The Principles of the present Separation and those are of two degrees 1. Of some that hold no Communion with the Church of England lawful 2. Those that hold only occasional Communion with them lawful but not constant and then proceeds to argue against Separation from Churches whose Doctrine and Worship are for substance true and good and to shew many inconveniencies that will arise from such Separation Now though some of the Drs. Answerers have diverted to more general Questions about the Nature of Church Unity Terms of Communion and Causes of Separation and its several degrees and so have given him occasion to follow them yet I judge all this to be wide of our present Question in the sence and apprehension of most Non-Conformists for we are not disputing about much less erecting new Churches The Question only is whether it be Schismatical and Unjustifiable for us to Preach and Exercise all Ministerial Acts to the People in our Circumstances still maintaining all the Peace and Communion we can hoping in Gods due time this Wound of the Church may be healed What further Questions any particular Men have about the Constitution of Churches belongs not to the Cause or Party of the Non-Conformists whose sence he wrongfully ascribes to Mr. A and Mr. B. when they only speak of General Questions about Church Communion and not our particular Case in hand All the Arguments therefore or force of this discourse to our present purpose lieth in this Obj. Separation from Churches granted to be sound in Doctrine and Worship is sinful and in its effects very evil but such Separation he would insinuate is the Non-Conformists Preaching therefore sinful Answ In Answer to this we say 1. That the Non-Conformists do disclaim and are not constrained to own by this their Practise any Principle of Separation 2. We shall shew wherein the great Evil of Separation lieth And 3. That the Dr. hath provided no better Remedy against it then those whom he opposeth 1. The Non-Conformists disclaim Separation for they acknowledge the Parishes of England to be true Churches and the Doctrine and Worship established by Law amongst them to be true and sound they acknowledge themselves Members of those Parishes though wrongfully thrust out and evilly intreated by them They did not Separate themselves nor withdraw from them but first the Ministers were cast out by new devised terms imposed on them and afterwards many of the People were excommunicated and more would have been could the Parish Ministers have had their wills for non-communicating in doubtful if not sinful things They are also ready and desirous to return to a full union with the Parishes when ever the obstacles shall be removed And as they own no separation so their practise doth not constrain them to acknowledge it They hold Communion with the Parishes not only in Faith and Doctrine but also in acts of worship where they think they can lawfully do it and when they are not imployed elsewhere But the Dr. thinks if it be lawful for us to communicate occasionally or sometimes with the Church we are bound to doe it alwayes his reason is because if we be members of the Church and the Church be in such a condition that we can sometimes communicate with it then we must do it upon all occasions or else we separate and become members of a new Church For Answer I say that there are many cases wherein men ought to continue members of a Church i. e. not totally to break off but wait till abuses may be amended and breaches healed and yet it not be their duty to hold constant communion in all or any acts of publick worship This appears by the instance of the ten Tribes after Jeroboams Apostacy they were still members of the Church of Jerusalem and might not gather any other Church there were many amongst them who held Communion with Judah in Doctrine and Charity but yet could not go up to Jerusalem to all or any of the Feasts or Sacrifices which were there cheif Publick Worship And that they sinned not in forbearing appears because the eminent Prophets Elijah Elisha and their Schollars who were so numerous that Obadiah alone saved an hundred from Jezabels cruelty and they had four Seminaries or Colledges wherein they were bred up these I say lived amongst them and kept private meetings with them but neither went themselves nor required the people to go up to Jerusalem as things then stood Hosea blamed the Priests for laying snares and nets upon Mizpah and Tabor Chap. 5.12 to entrap those who out of zeal did go up to Jerusalem and thereby caused them to be put to death but we do not find that this Prophet or Jonas or Amos who were all sent to the ten Tribes and preached to them where they had opportunity did ever press them to go up to all acts of Publick worship at Jerusalem because they were Members of that Church Again the people of Judah who lived nearer to the Temple and had free access to it when it was open those that were upright whether Priests or private persons went not up to it in the time of Idolatrous Kings when the Publick Worship was corrupted yet they continued members of the Church they frequented the Synagogues or more private meetings at home Malac. 3.16 and waited sometimes many years till Publick abuses should be redressed I know it will be said the case is not the same Idolatry was here set up in Publick and so it is not with us I Answer The question is not about the parrelling the case but the truth of this proposition that where occasional communion is lawful constant is necessary for here we see men continue members of a Church yea the Priests and Levites continued officers in it and the Prophets prophesied in it and so held communion occasionally when they could and in those things they could lawfully but they did not communicate in all things nor at all times nor were bound to it But let us go a little farther after the Captivity the Jews being dispersed through all Countreys there continued and set up their Synagogues and house of prayer where ever they could have leave Those Jews were still members of the Church at Jerusalem and yet did not could not the farre greatest part of them go up thither They therefore held communion in some things as the expounding the Law and prayer but
the Christian Church and should such a thing be necessary our Bondage would be greater and means of edification much less then they were to the Jews who were confin'd to a little countrey and were an intire people among themselves and all tyed to each other by the Bonds of nature as one great Family descending naturally from one man and woman 3. Nor did Christ institute Diocesan Churches viz that all the Christians in some considerable circuit less then a Nation or great province should be one Congregation ruled by one or more Governours immediately There were no such companies or associations of men called converted or formed into Churches by Christ and his Apostles but the first Believers were scattered and independent persons called as God pleased besides such a flock cannot ordinarily meet together know and help each other or repair to their Governours or be acquainted with them as they ought nor can the Governours know teach and feed them and when we have once exceeded the bounds of a regular assembly to make up one Church of many Towns of a whole County or more we may by the same reason extend it without end to a whole Province a whole Nation or Empire and so make the duties of Pastours and People impossible and the ends of the Church impossible to be attained which is contrary to the nature of it 4. A Parochial or Congregational Church is the only Organical Church directly and immediately appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ For thus the Apostles collected the Believers in every City and place where they had preached into one Church or Society ordaining them Elders in every Church Acts 14. ver 23. If these Churches were companies of Believers in several Cities and Towns as the History in the 13 and 14 Chap. shews and the Apostles ordained them Elders in every Church then they did constitute them several Congregations and no common Governours over them all nor have we any command to do so when the Churches should be increased into multitudes of Members It must be remembred that the whole Church in Heaven and Earth is one Common-wealth because of its Union to Christ and the same general end of that Union in like manner every particular Church being but a part of the whole must unite only to attain the special ends of the whole Church with more ease and convenience and therefore they must be no more then the same Governours may exercise a true pastoral care over and as may perform the Offices of Brethren ordinarily to each other and also may assemble together in one place ordinarily for the worship of God and their mutual edification To what purpose is the name of a Church or Society to serve Christ together and edify each other when the persons are so numerous or so distant that they cannot possibly perform these offices such combinations are useless yea burthens and snares Even our opposites confess this viz that the first Churches and those for 200 years after Christ at least were but several Congregations which when the number of Christians were multiplyed they say were called Diocesses be it so yet what warrant had they to keep the Christians of one city or place to one Congregation and one Pastour personall or collective when the number was so increased that the ends of that society could not be attained 't is the best construction we can make of the proceedings of those antient Churches in this ease that out of desire to keep up the unity of those Congregations which the Apostles planted in great Cities they still obliged all that were afterwards converted in those Cities to be Members of the same Congregation and then the converts in the Villages about And lastly all the Christians that were within the civil jurisdiction of those Cities whether it was lesser or greater provinces or whole Countreys till they made government impossible to themselves and to the edification of the People and made way at last for Primates Patriarks and the Pope and turned the spiritual government of Christ by his Ministers and Word into a civil government of their own maintaining what they had gotten by their own Cannons and the Laws of Princes and why must we not take warning by them now if the Churches appointed by Christ are only the Congregations of such Christians that can ordinarily meet together and with their Pastours for the proper ends of a Church it follows that they must judge for themselves what Congregation and how large or small is for their own edification it is their own choice and consent that makes them Members of the Catholick Church and this Congregation is but a part of that to prosecute the same ends therefore it is their business and concern to frame their own society also these Congregations have the sole right of chusing their own Pastours admitting their own Members and altogether of governing themselves else they have not the power of a Church but are a company of Christians subject by right or wrong to those that exercise this power over and amongst them it also follows that Congregations cannot be justly compelled to combine or unite into larger associations as Diocesses Provinces Nations or the like for the ends of civil governours for this alters the nature and design of a Church and is a great dishonour to Christ that he must not Reign among his people but as men please but if several Congregations do associate for mutual help and strength into smaller or greater Congregations as Classes Diocesses Provinces or even all that are of one Nation yet they must unite but as formerly the Cities of Achajah or at present the United Netherlands for great and common cases and for generall defence leaving the self preserving and governing power intire to every Congregation and they also are to be judges how far 't is for the good and edification of the Church to inlarge or contract such associations how long to continue them and when to break them off for those associated assemblies govern only by assent and have not other authority over particular Congregations farther then as they approve of it we may illustrate this by the civil governments of the world There was at first but one Family and but a small one all mankind was made of one blood to dwell on all the face of the Earth Acts 17. ver 26. was there any obligation when they were multiplyed that they should still continue in one Family or was it consistent with the ends of Family Government other Families had the same intire authority within themselves as the first had and authority to sever themselves from the first when that was too numerous and they a sufficient number to make distinct families again when families were multiplyed were they obliged to live all in one Country and to continue in one civil society what then must have become of all the other parts of the earth which they were commanded to replenish and possess Gen. 1.28
Catholick Church of Christ though gathered into smaller bodies for their own conveniency and this Communion consisteth in acknowledging each other as Brethren in performing brotherly offices of Love and Kindness and especially in admitting each other to their worship upon occasions so Sepetation betwixt Churches is a Breach of this Communion when one Church disowneth another to be a Church of Christ excludes them from her Ordinances and from all Offices of Christian Love This is just when 't is upon great and just causes such whereupon we refuse Communion with the Papists and Socinians if upon lighter causes it is Unlawfull and a great breach of Charity yet not to be aggravated as an unpardonable sin or as that which deserves more animadversion then those sins which destroy all Religion and Humane Society seeing men may be good Christians in Doctrine and practise good Subjects and good Neighbours though they conceived such a mistaken opinion concerning another Church but this is not the Separation I shall insist on the causes that make this just will make the other just also but all the causes that make Separation from a particular Congregation just will not reach our Comunion with other Churches or concern our Separation from them We shall therefore enquire for what causes Members of a Church may Lawfully separate from it i. e. contend for the reformation of the Church and if they cannot attain it withdraw from and either joyn to other Churches or make new ones themselves And to clear this point let us always Remember that the Church is a Common-Wealth United to Christ as the Head First and but secondarily to each other Faith and Obedience to God in Christ with the Salvation of their own Souls is the end why men become Christians and give up themselves to Christ and next they give up themselves to the Church as a Society that profess to design the same end and to have given up themselves to the same Lord and therefore they hope and intend by the Friendship of this Church to be assisted and furthered towards the attaining of their great ends if therefore the Church prove otherwise i. e. to be no help but an hindrance to their serving of Christ and furthering their Salvation Separation from it is not contrary to their Obligation as Christians they are still Members of Christ yea may and ought to seek another Society wherein they may attain those great ends it is true men are bound to bear with many things amiss in a Church because there will be always some things amiss in one kind or other and also for publick peace least by unseasonable reforming some lesser things amiss or withdrawing from the Church while there is any reasonable hope of amendment they should make things worse yet when they cannot worship Christ aright or can have no tolerable edification in the Church the end of the Church Society is destroyed and Separation from it become necessary and the peace of a Church is subordinate to the great end of a Church viz that Religion may be preserved and promoted among them but when this is not intended but betrayed peace then is no duty but a conspiracy against Christ and the good of his Church Even as in civil Government the end being the good of the whole Society so long as that end is tollerably pursued in the preservation of publick justice and honesty many things must be born with rather then to endanger the whole by unseasonable endeavours to mend lesser things but when the publick good is not minded or those conditions broken upon which men did associate and there is no hope of redress in this case peace and quietness is to betray the Government The causes therefore which make Seperation Lawfull are in generall when men cannot worship Christ aright in the chief parts of his worship or edify their own Souls in the Church whereto they are joyned and when there is no reasonable hope of the redress of these things Particular causes are such as these 1. When a Church is idolatrous for now it forsakes Christ the Head for whose sake and service we became Members of the Church and therefore must now forsake it for him what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the Living God c. ver 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing c. 2. When any known sin is made the condition of Communion i. e. when a man shall not be admitted or continued to be a Member of the Church unless he approve some errour in Doctrine corruption in worship or himself commit some sin in practise or at least consent to it in the Church For also this destroys the end of a Church which is to edify us in Faith and Obedience whereas here something against Faith or Obedience is to be the very entrance into the Church Upon these 2 cases all agree that Separation is Lawfull and necessary and they both hold strongly against the Church of Rome for she is manifestly idolatrous and imposes both False Doctrines Superstitious Worship and wicked practises upon all her Members nor will it serve to say that that Church denies her worship to be idolatrous or the Terms of her Communion to be sinfull but she must clearly prove it from Scripture which is the Law of a Church and that to the capacity of every Christian concerned for if there be any reasonable grounds to suspect the Terms imposed to be Unlawfull a Christian cannot with safe Conscience submit to them till he is satisfied to the contrary and the Church having no Authority from Christ to impose any doubtfull much less sinfull Terms of Communion in this case the Church is guilty of the breach and not those who refuse to joyn with her or withdraw from her 3. When there is no tolerable means of edification in the Church though no evil is imposed upon the Members As when the teachers are Hereticall in the chief points that concern our Salvation or so contentious and such railers at any that differ from them that they cannot be heard with peace and composure For this cause the Dutch both Ministers and People and the then Prince of Orange also forsook their Parishes because their Arminian Preachers spent so much time railing on the Calvinists that they could neither hear them with profit nor bear them with Patience Also when Ministers are grosly ignorant and unable to explain the necessary Doctrines of Salvation to the People or when they do not or will not ordinarily preach to them or endeavour their instruction or when their Lives are greatly contrary to Religion and Godliness or when the People are almost all corrupt in Doctrines or wicked manners and will not be reformed For all these cases are directly contrary to the ends of a Church and we must rather forsake the Church that we may be edified in Faith
esteem the Impositions of the Church of England to be of so high a Nature as the Corruptions of Rome and that they should break off all Communion from them But if the ejected Ministers have still aright to their people and the people to them and both are bound to oppose in their places the Uniformity imposed with such Circumstances as it is and as they maintain it will not at all follow that from occasional Brotherly Communion they must become constant Members of the Parishes and be content with their Communion 3. The Dr. frequently hints Authority and Government to which we must be subject and therefore if they eject Ministers they must become Lay-men and not Preach In this he speaks sometimes of the Authority of the Church and sometimes of the Civil Magistrate Answ And because this is a snare to many mens Consciences We answer freely 1. That the Authority of the Church of England as a Church hath no Obligation on the Consciences of Non-Conformists any further then prudence and peace doth direct them for the Bishops Deans c. which are the Rulers of it supposing them Lawful yet being no way chosen by the People or Inferiour Clergy can have no Lawful Ecclesiastical Authority over this Church especially being alwaies protested against by a considerable part of the Ministers and People nor can the Lyturgy or any thing else they impose oblige the Ministers and People being not advized with in such Impositions nor heard speak for themselves Two Thousand Ministers as Orthodox diligent learned and every way considerable as their Opposites and pleading for no other things then many such Ministers have pleaded for from the beginning of our Reformation are not therefore bound in Conscience to submit to the Wills of the Bishops because they prevailed with the Civil Power to establish their Opinion 2. The Civil Magistrate hath Power to maintain and protect the Church and to see that she doth her Duty but to impose forms of Worship on her without the advice and against the consent of those who are most concern'd He hath no power given him of God much less to infringe her Priviledges and Liberties to rend away her Pastors at pleasure or to impose whom he please on her and the like And where there is no Authority to command that command cannot oblige to obedience Indeed where small things are enjoyned that are not sinful men may obey if prudential Reasons lead them to it But if small things will usher in great ones and obedience will make way for more imposition It was the Apostles Judgment in a like case concerning the practise of the Jewish Ceremonies that such Imposers should be resisted Gal. 2.11 12. Should our King of himself impose a Tax of a Farthing Pole would not many suspect it might if peaceably paid make way for greater Taxes and so undermine their Liberties in Parliament Why should not men be as jealous of the Liberties and Priuiledges of the Church which concern the Honour of Christ and their own Souls good especially knowing that the Western Church was ruined and defaced by the Pope meerly by yielding and patient bearing of gradual Impositions and encroachments in the better sort and the worser sort complying and crying for Obedience to the Authority of the Church and Governours Serm. p. 19. 4. The Dr. saith that we confess the case of the people is very different from that of the Ministers and therefore that they run into Schism in hearing us though we for some Sinister ends will not tell them of their errour Answ Interest and passion will not suffer men to speak of such things as they are concerned in without uncharitable and un-scholer like reflections sometimes which I will pity rather then retort And to the thing we answer That the Peoples case is indeed much different from the Ministers as to Active Conformity i. e. They are not to Assent or Consent to all in the Service Book nor to subscribe as the Ministers must in order to their holding Communion but passively the people are concerned as far as the Ministers i. e. They are to suffer all these things Their Ministers to be cast out and all Impositions which they and their Fathers groaned under to be enjoyned with the greatest rigour and not shew their dislike of any of them upon pain of being accounted Schismaticks according to the 27 Canon So that the people are as much wronged and imposed on in their Capacities as the Ministers are in theirs We grant that the People may hear and see those things done in Divine Service and so may Ministers also as private men which conscientious Ministers ought not to be active in As our Saviour was present at the Temple Worship though there were many Superstitions mixed by the Priests in those days but what men may do in some cases they are not obliged to do in all cases and people cannot be obliged to suffer any sinfull or doubtfull things in the worship they joyn in unless there be some great reason why they may not forsake that worship Now the Non-Conformists affirm that the people are obliged in their capacities to endeavour reformation of things amiss in the Church and to own that Reformation they had obtained and to withstand the unjust intolerable imposition of the last uniformity as much as the Ministers are to do all these in their places And therefore as it is no Schism for the Ministers to preach so neither is it any for the people to hear That we may plainly express the sence of the Non-Conformists in this point and that the Dr may no more mistake their Principles and so labour in vain to convince them They say as Harnbeck adviseth the Cabornist in reference to the Lutherans That good and peaceable men of each party should love each other and hold as much Brotherly Communion together as may be but no more to endeavour any publick Reconciliation or Union which the Heads and Leaders of the party have so often frustrated and opposed till God will give them a more Moderate Spirit and some fit reason may incline them to Union The Question betwixt them and the Dr plainly is 1. Whether a multitude of Ministers being turned out of the Church to her great and apparent damage without so much as alledging any Crime against them but only imposing new things on them on purpose to ensnare them whether these Ministers are bound to lay down their Ministry and live private and not rather to assert their own and the Churches Rights 2. Whether the People thus wrongfully deprived of their Ministers and imposed upon also against their own Judgments and Conscience in matters of Divine worship whether they are bound to submit to the Intruders and Imposers and not rather to joyn with their injured Ministers in asserting their own priviledges The Dr's candour is too great to deny that the reason of Scripture and the practise of the best antiquity before the Churches lost their
not in the Passover or Sacrifices which were their Sacraments and the greatest ties of their Society and all this only for their Civil convenience because they were seated in other Countries and by reason of Trade or other occasions were loath to remove to Jewry if this will excuse them why may not other Cases arise where one part of a people may not think fit to break off from a Church wholly and yet not be bound to all acts of Communion or worship with it and such a case we have frequently in Ecclesiastical history when the people of some great City as Rome Antioch Alexandria c. differ'd about choosing a Bishop Suppose the better and sounder part chose a fit and worthy Person and the bigger and worse part chose a Person unsound in Doctrine or scandalons in Life and him they will have thrusting out the fiter Person and his People also if they will adhere to him what should be done in this case I know it was usual neither to Pray nor hear together though some of them might happen to be in the same Prison and in the same Room but this without doubt was Schism on both sides Should the better yield to the worse and quit their Election So they should betray Religion and their own Souls should they quite break off and forsake the others resolving never to have more to do with them So they should betray the others to utter ruine and the Church by degrees to destruction The good Wheat continually-leaving the Tares among whom yet it is very likely some good Wheat may be scattered it remains then that they keep to their Priviledge and adhere to him whom they have chosen and yet not dissert them who would cast them out but communicate with them as Brethren especially in such common Duties as do not contain a plain acknowledgment of their undue and Schismatical practise and so wait till Providence may find means to make up the Breach That this is our case shall be shewed in the last Chapter The Dr's other reason is grounded from Phil. 3.16 The sum of his arguing from that Text is this Men are to do all things Lawfull to maintain the Unity of the Church where they live therefore whatsoever is Lawfull for them to Communicate in sometimes they must do it always Answ Lawfull is either simply and absolutely so or Lawfull in those Circumstannces as the Apostle distinguisheth betwixt lawful and expedient 1 Cor. 6.12 i. e. lawful in it self or lawful in this or that case If every man be bound to do all that is simply and absolutely lawful to preserve the peace of the Church then he may be many times bound to yield to turbulent and irregular persons in unreasonable demands and impositions but if a man be bound only to do those things which are lawful in the present Circumstances then the Argument is of no force for it will be said they that held but occasional and partial Communion go as far as they judge lawful i e. expedient and fit in their Case and Circumstances and so they shall not be bound to constant and full Communion 2. The great sin and mischief of Separation lieth in judging and condemning others as no Churches having no Ministry no Sacraments and so not being in the ordinary way of Salvation not having Christs presence amongst them This indeed deserveth all the aggravations which the Dr. cites out of Mr. B. Sect. 24. and I am perswaded he intended no more and this was the meaning of the Old Non Conformists Severe reprehensions of the Brownists viz. that they dishonoured Christ reproached his Servants his gifts and Graces in them and slandered the footsteps of his anointed This indeed tends to the Subversion of the Church to expose it to the contempt of the world destroys all charity and brotherly Communion and is a great presumption for who shall dare to judge when Christ hath forsaken a People who shall profess his Name and keep up his Worship for substance according to his word though they do or are supposed to fail in Circumstances or lesser parts of their Duty And if the Fathers mentioned by the Dr. intended any other Separation by their high invectives against it as it is probable they did not at least those pious peaceable men Cyprian and Augustine when they said Schism is as bad as Idolatry c. we may say by their leave that they shew'd more zeal for themselves and their own Interest then for the honour of Christ and the peace of his Church Mr. Hales tract of Schism saith Heresie and Schism are the Theological Scare-Crows wherewith Men fright Children and men commonly use against all that differ from them when they cannot prove such a Crime against them and again he saith the Donatists might have been in the right for any thing that Augustine said against them and if he had extended it to Cyprian and Cornelius writings against the Navatians he might perhaps not have exceeded the Truth We do acknowledge all Un-necessary Separation from a Church is a sin let the ground be what it will the errour of Conscience in him who thinks it a duty will not make it a duty it doth impair Love it layeth the Church open to her Enemies reproaches and to endless contentions within her self but it is not such a sin as some men labour to make it to maintain their own greatness as if it would excuse men for the neglect of their Salvation or make them amends for the loss of Heaven that they have been scrupelously fearful of running into Schism Let the Church take care as Mr. Hales adviseth that the Terms of her Communion be no other then the Scripture will justifie and do concern all Christians and if any other be added let them be temporary and removed when inconveniencies arise greater then the Reasons for imposing them or equal to them Let the Ministers labour in publick and private with soft words and good Reasons to satisfie the People in all their doubts about things relating to the Church and if after all this some few as they will not be many are so far dissatisfied as that they they think they ought to withdraw let them withdraw provided they do not reproach and condemn the Church they depart from and let them nevertheless be owned as Brethren This certainly becomes the Gospel and will make more for the peace of the Church and send more towards reducing of those that separate then all corrections and hard words against Schism And thus did the Primitive Christians towards the Novatians for though some zealous of their own authority speak sharply against them yet they were not troubled in Constantine's time the Bishops of theirs sate in the Councel of Nice they had their publick Churches one in Constantinople when it was the Imperial Seat to which the people generally resorted when Macedonius was Bishop and when their Church was commanded to be pull'd down and they not to