the whole though made up of organized parts But this we must not say for then we spoil his Argument and yet he knows that every one who denies an Universal Pastor set over the whole Church must and does say it So that the sum of his Argument is this If you will allow the whole Church to be an organized Body that is to be under the Government of an Universal Pastor then you must own an Universal Pastor but if you will not own this he has nothing to say to you but that you ought in civility to own it to make good his Argument If men will be so perverse as to own particular National Churches to be Organized Bodies and to deny the Universal Church to be thus Organized as we all do then they may own a National Primate and deny an Oecumenical Pastor and if men own the Universal Church to be such an Organized Body they must own an Universal Pastor whether they own Archbishops and Primates or not and therefore Archbishops and Primates might have been left out of this Argument because they signifie nothing in it and consequently the whole Argument is nothing to his design to prove that those who own Archbishops and Primates must own an Universal Pastor Well but he undertakes for us that we will not grant that the Universal Church is an unorganized Body because it lays a necessary Foundation for particular Co-ordinate Churches Congregational or Presbyterian If he had said Episcopal he had said right and we know no inconvenience in this to say that all Episcopal Churches are Co-ordinate since all Bishops by an original Right are equal But besides if the Catholick Church be considered in its largest acceptation and extent comprehending the Militant and Triumphant Parts the Scripture tells us it 's an Organized Body being called a Body of which the Lord Iesus Christ is the living Head. This is purely his own for his Author had more Wit than to say it The whole Church Militant and Triumphant or the Church in Earth and Heaven is but one Church and this one Church is united to Christ the Head of the Church and this proves that the Church on Earth cannot have any other Head as the Principle of Unity but only Christ For the Head of the Church must be the Head of the whole Church as the Head is the Head of the whole Body And therefore the Church on Earth being part of the Church not the whole for the Church in Heaven is the largest and best part of the Body it cannot have a visible Head on Earth because such a Head cannot be the Head of the whole Body for those who say the Bishop of Rome is the Head of the visible Militant Church on Earth yet never pretended that he is the Head of the invisible Triumphant Church in Heaven now the Church on Earth can never have a Head which is not the Head of the Church in Heaven unless we will say that part of a Body as the Church on Earth is may have a Head by it self which is not Head to the other part of the Body which is a thing that never was heard of in the World before that a Head should be Head only to part of the Body and not to the whole when the Body is but one But what does he mean when he says that the Church Militant and Triumphant is an Organized Body What Organization is there in the Church Triumphant They are all indeed united to Christ and so are his Body but there are no different organical Parts in this Body no differing Ranks and Offices that we know of in the Church in Heaven no distinction between Clergy and Laity Prophets and Apostles Pastors and Teachers there for these Offices cease with the use of them and therefore they are not united to Christ in one organical Body which has different Members and Offices in Heaven and therefore thô the Church on Earth consists of such organized Bodies yet it is not their Organization which unites them to Christ for then this would be necessary in Heaven as well as in Eartth for the same one Body and every part of it must be united to Christ in the same manner and by the same kind of Union and if the Union of the Church on Earth does not consist in its Organization to be sure there is no necessity that the whole Church on Earth should be one organized Body to make it the Body of Christ. The Organization of particular Churches is for the Edification and good Government of all the Members of it not immediately for their Union to Christ and therefore if the whole Church may be edified and well governed by the Organization of particular Churches the Church being called the Body of Christ cannot prove that the whole Church on Earth is one organical Body But if particular Churches be organized it 's most natural and fit that the Mother Teeming Church should have the most proportionate Adaptation of Parts A Mother that brings forth organized Children is supposed to be organized her self Nihil dat quod non habet Wherefore all other less comprehensive Churches coming out of the Womb of Mother Church and proved to be organized Bodies it 's naturally necessary that she her self should be homogeneous or of same kind otherwise the Mother must be more monstrous than the Daughters Here he forsakes his Guide again and falls into Nonsense Could he find out a Mother Church which is none of the Daughters a Catholick Church which is distinct from all Particulars this would be a notable Argument indeed to prove the Catholick Church to be organized because particular Churches are but if there be no Teeming Mother Church but what is a particular Church it self if no Church brings forth Churches as a Woman brings forth her Daughters nay if Churches are not brought forth but Christians who are afterwards formed into Church-Societies if all this at best be nothing but Metaphor and Allusion and that without any real likeness and similitude too we may safely allow him such kind of Arguments as these for his organized Catholick Church Well but now these particular Churches are transformed from Daughters into integral Parts of the Mother Catholick Church nay are Daughters and integral Parts too which constitute the Mother and then a Body which is made up of Organized Parts is always it self Organized e. g. in all Animals in a Man the head hand legs c. are each organized for the compleating the totality of that part and therefore are becoming Organs to the whole man and hence the man is an Organized Body Now indeed if the whole Church were such a Body as the natural Body of a Man is and did consist of particular Churches which did as much differ in their nature and use and organization as the head and hand and legs do in the natural Body this were a very notable Argument to prove the whole Church to be an organized Body
vindicate my self I will own my own shame without casting the blame on my dear Mother the Church of England and I suppose it will be sufficient to vindicate my self if I first show him that I have in express words rejected all those Propositions wherein he pretends this Agreement consists Secondly Particularly vindicate those passages he transcribes out of my books and shew his sincerity in quoting and his skill in applying and then his French Popery may shift for it self excepting a word or two of that learned Arch-bishop Petrus de Marca As for the first He himself has collected the Particulars wherein we agree which I shall distinctly examine the Reader may find them p. 15 16. which are these 1. They both make the Catholick Church one visible governed Society Houshold or Kingdom This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and fundamental mistake and a wilful one too for I affirm the contrary in express words in the defence of Dr. Stilling fleet 's unreasonableness of Separation p. 565 566 upon occasion of that Dispute about the constitutive Regent Head of a National Church I expresly assert That the Unity both of the National and Universal Church consists in one Communion That Consent is all that is necessary to unite a Body or Socity in one Communion That their Unity consists only in consent not in any superior Governing Ecclesiastical Power on Earth which binds them together So that I absolutely deny That the Catholick Church is one governed Society with one supreme Government over the whole P. 567. I assert That Christ hath instituted no such constitutive Regent Power of one Bishop over another in his Church and therefore the Union of particular Churches into one must be made by consent not by Superiority of Power P. 564. I affirm That tho a National Church and the Reason is stronger for the Universal Church be one Body yet it is not such a political Body as they describe and cannot be according to its original Constitution which differs from Secular forms of Government which have a supreme governing Power by that Ancient Church-Canon of our Saviours own decreeing It shall not be so among you And thus a National Church as governed by consent may be one Body in an Ecclesiastical tho not in a Civil Political Sense that is by one Communion not by one Supreme governing Power The Dean in Answer to Mr. Baxter who asserts a constitutive Regent Head of the National Church necessary to make it a Church and yet allows That there is one Catholick Visible Church and that all particular Churches as headed by their particular Bishops or Pastors are parts of the Universal Church argues thus If this Doctrine be true and withal it be necessary that every Church must have a constitutive Regent Part as essential to it then it unavoidably follows That there must be a Catholick Visible Head to the Catholick Visible Church and so Mr. B's Constitutive Regent Part of the Church hath done the Pope a wonderful kindness and made a very plausible Plea for his Universal Pastorship Where the Dean proves That a Constitutive Regent Head is not essential to the Notion of a National Church for then it must be essential to the Catholick Church too and then there must be a supreme Pastor or some supreme governing Power over the whole Church which I suppose is to deny that the Catholick Church is one visible governed Society This Argument I defended at large and added p. 576. That to deny a Church can be one without a constitutive Regent Head infers one of these two things 1. Either that many particular Churches cannot associate into one for the joynt Exercise of Discipline and Government which overthrows the very Notion of Catholick Unity and Communion Or 2. That there is and must be a power in the Church superior to the Episcopal Power which naturally sets up a Pope above Bishops Thus much for my agreement with them that the Catholick Church is one visible governed Society that is which has a supreme Power over the whole and if our Author by this time does not begin to Colour I will e'en Blush for him But by this the Reader will perceive what a hopeful Cause this Author has undertaken to prove my Agreement with the Church of Rome about the Supremacy either of the Pope or General Council when I absolutely deny that there is or ought to be any such Superior Authority and Jurisdiction over the whole Church But to proceed 2. He says They both pitch upon the Episcopal Government as distributed into the several Subordinations of combined Churches as what is by Divine Institution made the Government of the Church A combination of Diocesan Churches to make up one Provincial whose Bishops are in Subordination to their Metropolitan a combination of Provincial Churches to make up a National and the Metropolitans in Subordination to the Primate a combination of National Churches to make up a Patriarchal and the Primates in Subordination to the Patriarch and a confederacy of Patriarchal to make up one Oecumenical and every Patriarch in Subordination to the Oecumenical Bishop or chief Patriarch This is an Agreement with a Witness and if he can prove this as he says he has done of which more presently we will never dispute more with them about Church-Government let us then consider the several steps and Gradations of Church-Authority which at last centers in an Universal Bishop 1. The Subordination of Parochial Presbyters who are combined and united under the Government of a Diocesan Bishop Thus far we agree with him and acknowledg a direct Superiority of Bishops over their respective Presbyters but we go not one step farther with him 2. A combination of Diocesan Churches to make up one Provincial whose Bishops are in Subordination to their Metropolitan Such a Combination I allow of but the Subordination I deny to be the original Form of Church Associations and this one word Subordination which he has here thrust in discovers the whole Trick and spoils our Agreement quite I assert these Combinations are for Communion not for Government and therefore there is no Subordination required to such an Union he will have these Combinations to be not meerly for Communion but for Government and that indeed requires a Subordination but these two Notions do as vastly differ as a friendly Association for mutual Advice and Counsel and a Subjection to a Superior Authority And that I have not altered my Opinion but that this was always my judgment in the case I shall now show and I need to that purpose only transcribe a Page or Two out of the Defence p 577 c. It is evident from the Testimony of the earliest Ages of the Church that first the Apostles and then the Bishops as their Successors were the Supreme Governours of the Church who had no higher Order or Power over them And therefore Tertullian calls the Bishop Summus Sacerdos or the chief and
human Capacity may mistake and Err and so did St Peter but not fundamentally yet as Supream Head in his Catholick Capacity quatenus in Cathedra Catholica comparative to all inferior subordinate Pastors he hath a kind of Infallibility which is a Power intrusted in him by the Catholick Church to pass a final Iudgment of Determination in all Causes and Controversies to be a Ne plus ultra to all Appeals and Litigations in the Church So that in the first place he is not infallible in his human Capacity and yet he founds his Infallibility on his Wisdom Holiness and Justice which are human and personal Perfections In his publick Capacity he would have him Infallible in the Chair but yet it is but a comparative Infallibility which is none at all Then his Infallibility is not an Infallibility in judging but a Power to make a final Determination whether it be right or wrong and any Man might have this Power as well as the Pope especially since he is not entrusted with this Power by Christ but by the Catholick Church that is too only by the Church of Rome for no other Church entrusts him with it and thus he quits all Divine Claims to Infallibility and the Pope is no more Infallible than the Church can make him by entrusting him with a final decision of Controversies at all Adventures And therefore he adds We are not bound to believe his Iudgment is infallibly true but are to subscribe to it as the last because we can have no further and higher Appeal on Earth That is we must subscribe to it whether we believe it true or not which is an admirable sort of Infallibility Thus he says the English Clergy Subscribe the 39 Articles not that they believe them as they commonly say to be true and Orthodox but because they be the last Resolutions of the Church of England in those Points they sit down satisfied to subscribe them as Instrumenta pacis unitatis but indeed Maxime emcolumenti by which what he means cannot guess but am very much of his Mind that upon the same ground were there no other reason of Subscriptions they may subscribe to the Council of Trent But this is a Scandal on the Clergy of the Church of England we subscribe to the Truth of the Doctrines and for my part I would not subscribe did I not think them true and this is false with reference to the Church of Rome which Anathematizes all Persons who do not own and acknowledge and believe all the Articles of the Council of Trent However Infallibility is at a low ebb in the Church of Rome when they can exact Submissions and Subscriptions onely upon Protestant Principles who pretend to no Infallibility at all I have examined this Argument a little more at large to make him sensible how dangerous a thing it is to write after an Independent Copy for had any man intended to have burlesqued Infallibility as possibly his Author from whom he Transcribes did he could not have done it more effectually than by such Principles as these 6. His sixth Argument in Catholick Hierarchy the seventh for he has dropt one from the Nature of the Church which he made an Introduction of and there it has been considered is that this Catholick Headship is inseparable from an Ecclesiastical Body made up of subordinate Pastors and Churches may be abundantly evidenced from these following enumerated Church necessities The necessity 1. Of a Catholick judgment of Schism 2. Of a Catholick interpretation of Scriptures 3. Of a Catholick determination of Ceremonies for order and decency 4. For a Catholick composure of Forms of Prayer 5. For a Catholick Canonization of Saints 6. A Catholick Call and Convention of Councils Oecumenic Which are Word for Word the Argument of the Independent Author I shall briefly consider them all 1. The necessity of a Catholick judgment of Schism i. e. that there should be some Judges who are Schismaticks for otherwise 1. Patriarchal or National Churches may be Schismatical and no competent remedy found for the said Schism 2. There can be no determination of a Schism from the Catholick Church nor any proportionate punishment of it For a Patriarch or National Primate cannot be judicially proceeded against but by an Oecumenic Pastor which I think is the same with the first for a National Schism must be a Schism from the Catholick Church or none since National Churches among us depend on no foreign Patriarchs 3. Because superiour Churches are to judge the inferiour no particular Church has an absolute definitive Power in it self but there lies an Appeal against it to the Catholick Church and Pastor Which instead of proving that there is such a Catholick Pastor supposes that there is one for else there can lie no Appeal to him 4. That particular Churches will never agree about Schism but the very disputes about Schism will make Schisms without end Now suppose a man should turn the Tables and prove by this Argument that there is no Catholick Pastor nor Catholick Judge of Schism because there are and always have been Schisms in the Christian Church which it is impossible there should be did the Church know of such a Catholic Judge For how could there be any such dispute about Schism if there were such a Judge If you say that it is the not owning such a Judge which makes the Schisms That may be true but it is true also that it is a sign the Christian World does not know of any such Judge for if they did they would own him and put an end to their Schisms If it be necessary there should be such a Catholick Judge of Schism I am sure it is necessary he should be known or else as Experience testifies the disputes about such a Judge will make more Schisms than such an unknown and disputable Judge can ever end Now since there either is no such Catholick Judge of Schism or he is not sufficiently know to all Christians methinks it proves that there is no need of such a Catholick Judge of Schism for there is as much need â—e should be known in order to put an end to Schisms as that there should be such a Judge and if the necessity of ending Schisms proves that there should be such a Judge I am sure the continuance of Schisms proves as plainly that he is not known because he cannot end them It is ridiculous to imagine that there should be any such thing as Schism were there a known Oecumenical Pastor and Judge and it is as ridiculous to prove that there is such a Judge from the necessity of such a Judge to end Schisms when it is demonstrable from the continuance of these Schisms that the Christian World knows of no such Judge And it is very strange that Christ should appoint such a Judge and not take care that he should be known Good Arguments must convince Schismaticks in this World and Christ will judge them in
World acknowledge to be so without the Popes Canonization and the use she makes of Saints needs no Canonization which is only to bless God for them and to excite our selves to an imitation of their Vertues not to build Temples and Altars to them or to Worship them with religious Honours as our Mediators and Advocates This Canonization of Saints was a strange kind of Argument from a pretended Independent and it is such an Argument as I thought at this time of day a Romanist himself would have been ashamed of For pray what Authority has the Church to Canonize Saints and who gave her this Authority Such Consecrations and Canonizations indeed were in practice in Pagan Rome and Tertullian sufficiently scorns them for it He tells us that there was an ancient Decree that the Emperor should not Consecrate any God without the approbation of the Senate for the Emperor in those days was the Pontifex Maximus or the Oecumenick Priest. This the Father says was to make Divinity depend upon human Votes and unless the God pleases Men he shall not be a God how applicable this is to the Canonization of Saints let our Author judge and tell me whether there were any such practice known in the Christian Church in Tertullian's days To Canonize a Saint to be sure is to Vote him into Heaven and if the Oecumenick Pastor has this Authority he is somewhat more than the Head of the visible Church on Earth for his Power extends to the invisible Church too 5ly The necessity of a Catholick composure of Church Prayers i. e. That the same Liturgie should be used in all Christian Churches which never was practised in former Ages and no need it should be We prefer a Liturgie before private and extempore Prayers we think it most Uniform that a National Church should use the same Liturgie but if every Bishop who is the Supream Governour of his own Church should have a Liturgie of his own I see no hurt in it if it be a true Christian Liturgie and neither corrupt the Christian Faith nor Worship When he can give me one wise reason why the whole Christian World must use the same Liturgie and that there must of necessity be an Oecumenick Pastor to compose this Liturgie I will consider it farther His harangue about our charging Dissenters with Schism does not relate to this matter For setting aside the Civil Authority whereby our Liturgie is confirmed their Schism does not consist in using another Liturgie for they use none but in separating from the Communion of their Bishop who has Authority to appoint what Liturgie shall be used in his Church For the Liturgie being agreed on in Convocation makes it an Act of the Church confirmed by the Authority and Consent of all the Bishops besides the concurrent Votes and Suffrages of the inferior Clergy And if every particular Bishop have Authority to appoint what Form of Prayer shall be used in his Church all the Bishops of England may agree in the same Liturgie and those who deny obedience to their Bishops and separate from them upon such accounts are guilty of Schism But where there is no such subjection and obedience owing as there is none between particular Bishops and distinct National Churches they may make Liturgies and Forms of Prayer for themselves and are accountable to no Body else for it 6thly His last necessity for an Oecumenick Pastor is for calling convening and dissolving Oecumenical Councils Now if there be no such absolute necessity of Oecumenical Councils if they may and have been called by Emperors if they may meet together of themselves by Mutual Agreement then there is no necessity of an Oecumenical Pastor for this purpose But such an Assembly he says must be a Church Assembly or else it can claim no Power in the Church and all Church Assemblies are of right convened by the Pastor of the said Church in which it is as in a Diocess the Clergy is convened by the Authoritative Call of the Bishop This is the force of his whole Argument wherein there are two things supposed which we desire him to prove 1. That an Oecumenical Council is not for Mutual Advice but for direct Acts of Authority and Government 2. That a Council receives its Authority from an Authoritative Call when he has proved these two Propositions his Argument may deserve a new Consideration AN ANSWER To SECTION II. CONCERNING The Agreement between the Two Churches about some of their Imposed Terms of Communion their Ministry Ceremonies and Image-Worship 1. The MINISTRY HAving answered all their Pretences of Agreement between the Church of England and the Church of Rome concerning one Supream Oecumenical Pastor what remains will give me no great trouble and I shall give my self and my Readers no more than needs must 1. The first Agreement is about the Ministry unto which all are required to submit which is the same with that of Roman-Catholicks and maintained by the same Arguments that is concerning the Divine Institution of Bishops and subject Presbyters Now this charge we own that we do acknowledge the Divine Right of Episcopacy and that Presbyters by the Institution of their Office are subject to Bishops and if the Roman-Catholicks own this we agree with them in it and so we will in any thing else that is true and think it no injury to our cause for we do not think our selves bound to renounce what is true only that we may differ from Roman-Catholicks and yet the mischief is that in despight of his Title and design he will not suffer us to agree with them here but endeavour to prove that we do not agree with them Thus he tells us 1. Touching the difference there is between a Bishop and a Presbyter as amongst the Papists some held that they were of the same order differing only in degree and others that they were of distinct Orders so among our Clergy I perceive our Author has a mind to be a Protestant at last by his crying our Clergy there were some who in King James the First days asserted that Bishops and Presbyters were of the same Order but now it is carried for their being of two distinct Orders but what is this to the Agreement of the two Churches that there are Divines in each Church which differ about this Point If neither Church have determined this then they agree onely in not determining it but if it were the Currant Doctrine in the Council of Basil that Bishops and Priests are of the same Order and it be the avowed Doctrine of the Church of England that Bishops are a distinct and superior Order then I think the two Churches do not agree about this Point And our Author himself takes care to prove that we are not agreed For the Romanists he says do not so much stick to the Divine Right of the Episcopal Order as to hold that without a Violation of the Divine Law a Presbyter cannot
And whether they do right or wrong in this their own Consciences must judg in this world and God will judg in the next This is all that can be said or done in such a broken and divided state of the Church as we now see While nothing was called Heresie but the denial of some plain and acknowledged Article of the Christian Faith while there was no dispute who were Hereticks the power of deposing Hereticks was sacred and venerable and had its just authority and effect but since what is Heresie is the Controversie and the world is divided about it tho the power remains still the exercise of it grows very contemptible when a Church first coyns new Articles of Faith and then Excommunicates Censures Deposes those for Hereticks who will not believe them 4ly We are come now to the last Point wherein he says we agree viz. To give to one Bishop a Primacy for the better preserving Catholick Union and also a Superior power of Appeals and exercising some peculiar acts of Discipline under the regulation of Ecclesiastical Canons Now all this indeed I do assert and yet we are very far from agreeing in this matter For though they made no more of the Pope than a meer Primate which I doubt is not good doctrine in Rome yet there is as much difference between our Primates as there is between a National and Oecumenical Primate and consequently as much difference between our Appeals as between Appeals to Rome and to the Archbishop of Canterbury as between Appeals to the Primate of a National Church and Appeals to foreign Bishops I know he disputes very learnedly that such an Oecumenical combination of Churches and an Oecumenical Primate is more for the preservation of Cathol Unity than a National Church or Primate but this he knew I denied and therefore should not have said that I agree with them in it and who has the best reason on their side shall be examined presently By this time I suppose the Reader is satisfied how far we agree in these things I having in express words denied every thing which he has affirmed in these very Books to which he has appealed which I think is no great sign of agreement 2. It is time now to vindicate those passages which he quotes out of my Book and on which he founds this pretence of agreement between us and to do this effectually and plainly I must as I go along briefly explain some of my Principles which our Author either did not understand or did wilfully misrepresent All the sayings he has picked up and brought together from one end of the Book to t'other relate to one of these two Principles The Unity of the Church which is one Communion or the Unity of the Episcopacy 1. As for the first of these The Unity of the Church the whole mystery of it is no more but this That the whole Christian Church by the Institution of our Saviour is but one Church and this one Church is one Communion that is one Body and Society whereof all Christians are members and wherein they have a right to communicate in all Christian Priviledges and have both a right and obligation to Communicate in all Christian Duties This our Author puts in the second place tho it ought to be the first as being the Foundation of all That all Christians and Christian Churches in the world are one Body Society or Church and this is called Catholick Communion for they being all one Body they Communicate with each other in this one Body in all the Duties and Priviledges of it and what advantage he can make make of this I cannot yet guess unless he thinks that the very name Catholick being one of Bellarmin's Notes of the Church Catholick Communion must signifie the Communion of the Catholick Church of Rome My Adversaries hearing this word Communion presently concluded that I placed the Unity of the Church in some meer transient acts of Communion and disputed very earnestly against it as well they might But this mistake I rectified in my Vindication and showed them that one Communion signifies one Body and Society in which all the Members communicate with each other which I explain'd by this familiar comparison Suppose the whole World were one Family or one Kingdom in which every particular man according to his rank and station enjoys equal privileges in this case the necessity of Affairs would require that men should live in distinct houses and distinct Countries as now they do all the World over But yet if every man enjoyed the same Liberty and Priviledges wherever he went as he does now in his own House and Country the whole World would be but one House and Family or Universal Kingdom and whosoever should resolve to live by himself and not receive any others into his Family nor allow them the liberty of his House would be guilty of making a Schism in this great Family of the World And what Nations soever should deny the Rights and Priviledges of natural Subjects to the Inhabitants of other Countries would make a Schism and rent it self from this Universal Kingdom I added Thus it is here The Church of Christ is but one Body one Church one Houshold and Family one Kingdom These words our Author sets in the Front and thinks to make something of them for seeing all know that to make the whole World one Universal Kingdom it 's necessary that it be subjected under one governing Head it unavoidably follows that unless in the Catholick Church there be one Supreme Governing Head it cannot be like to an Universal Kingdom an organized politick Body Very right Had I compared the Catholick Church to an Universal Kingdom with respect to Government the consequence had been good but comparing it only with respect to Communion the consequence is ridiculous and yet this was all I intended in the Comparison as appears from the Application of it And therefore though the necessity of Affairs requires that Neighbour Christians combine themselves into particular Churches particular Congregations as the world is divided into particular Families and Kingdoms which shows that I no more subject the Church to one Governing-head than I do the World to one Universal Monarch now it is divided into particular Kingdoms yet every Christian by virtue of his Christianity hath the same Right and Priviledg and the same Obligation to Communion as occasion serves with all the Churches in the World that he has with that particular Church wherein he lives wherever he removes his dwelling whatever Church he goes to he is still in the same Family the same Kingdom and the same Church Now whether this be a good Consequence that because I make the whole Christian Church one Family and Kingdom with respect to Christian Communion that is that all true Christians have a right to Communion in all true Christian Churches in the World therefore I subject the whole Christian Church to one Supreme Governing
Head on Earth for with respect to Christ who is the true and only Head of his Church we will allow it to be one Kingdom and Family in this sense I say let any man judge of this who understands Consequences If our Author did not see this the Reader may judg of his understanding if he did he may judg of his honesty And thus his foundation is gone and then all the superstructure is but a Castle in the Air For if the Universal Church be not one Organized politick body as according to my Principles it is not then it cannot be subjected to one governing Head neither to the Pope nor a General Council His third charge is that I make somewhat more necessary to Catholick Communion than an Agreement in the same Faith the same Rules of Worship and right Administration of the Sacraments that is Catholick Communion is our union in one body and communicating in this one body is the exercise of Catholick Communion which those who do not if there be not a just and necessary cause for it are Schismaticks for all that whatever their Faith and Worship be and Schism is a damning sin But how does this make any thing more necessary to Catholick Communion than the same Faith the same Worship the same Sacraments These are all the Catholick terms of Catholick Communion but if these do not unite us into one body we are not united for all that Not that any thing else is wanting to make this union but because through the lusts and vices and passions of men an union does not follow upon it but he was sensible that Catholick Communion alone would not do his business would not prove the necessity of one Supreme governing-head whether the Pope or a General Council over the whole Church and therefore he insinuates that I make something else the necessary terms of Catholick Communion besides the true Christian Faith Worship and Sacraments and what should that be do you think but subjection to one Supreme Head which you shall see how learnedly he proves For he adds 4. That what is further necessary to Catholik Communion is a Catholick Government namely the Episcopal Now all these words I have used upon one occasion or other but there is no such proposition as this in all my Book I do allow Episcopacy to be an Apostolical Institution and the truly Ancient and Catholick Government of the Church of which more hereafter but yet in this very book I prove industriously and at large that in case of necessity when Bishops cannot be had a Church may be a truly Catholick Church and such as we may and ought to communicate with without Bishops in vindication of some foreign reformed Churches who have none and therefore I do not make Episcopacy so absolutely necessary to Catholick Communion as to unchurch all Churches which have it not But the Remainder of his quotations referring to the Unity of the Episcopacy I must briefly explain what my Notion is about it and truly I have proceeded all along upon St. Cyprian's Principles and he must answer for it if he have misled me S. Cyprian taught me that there is one Episcopacy part of which every Bishop holds with full authority and power where by one Episcopacy St. Cyprian understands one Bishoprick that is the Universal Church which as it is but one Church is but one Bishoprick also it being all under the Government of the Episcopal power But then this Bishoprick is divided into parts into particular Diocesses and every Bishop has a part of this Universal Bishoprick which he has in solidum that is he has his part to govern with the fulness and plenitude of the Episcopal power without any Superior authority or jurisdiction over him This I take to be the plainest and easiest interpretation of St. Cyprian's words for though all learned men have agreed in the same sense yet the Phrase has a little puzled them for if by one Episcopacy we understand one Episcopal office and power tho' the sense will be the same yet the expression is very obscure for how can every Bishop have but part of the Episcopal office in Solidum that is part of the office and the whole power But if by one Episcopacy we understand one Bishoprick and the universal Church may as properly be called one Bishoprick as one Church and one Sheepfold then it is all plain that there is but one Bishoprick of which every Bishop has part in which he exercises the whole Episcopal authority and power Another Principle of St. Cyprian's is that this one Episcopacy or one Bishoprick is preserved one by the concord and agreement of Bishops for if the Bishops disagree who have the Supreme government of their own Churches this must of necessity divide the Bishoprick and the Church but this one Bishoprick is spread over the World by the consenting multitude of many Bishops which as I observed he calls the Unity and Peace of the Episcopacy And for the same reason Optatus calls it the Episcopal College and Bishops are called Collegues And St. Cyprian tells us The-Catholick Church is not rent nor divided but united and coupled by the cement of Bishops who stick close together Another Principle is That no Bishop nor Colledg of Bishops have a direct authority or jurisdiction over their Collegues to compel them to submit to their decrees and definitions against their own Judgment and Conscience That none of them pretended to be Bishops of Bishops which he abhors as a Tyrannical Usurpation as we see in his Preface to the Council of Carthage Another Principle is That since there is but one Episcopacy or Bishoprick every Bishop besides the Supreme Government of his own particular Diocess has such a relation to the whole Church that he is to take care as much as in him lies to see that no part of the Church suffer by the Heresies or Schisms of their Bishops which is the reason as I observed before St. Cyprian gives Why there are so many Bishops in the Christian Church That if any of our Colledg i. e. any Bishop should endeavour to broach any new Heresie or to tear and spoil thâ— Flock of Christ the rest may come in to their help and like good and merciful Pastors gather again the Sheep of Christ into their Fold These are the Principles I learnt from St. Cyprian and if our Author can find a supreme Head of the Universal Church whether Pope or General Council in this Scheme I am sure St. Cyprian could not who disowns any such superior Authority to Bishops Let us then now return to our Author who observes that I assert That all the Bishops of the Church are but one also which a little differs from one Bishops being all invested with the same Power and Authority to govern the Church for which I quoted St. Cyprian tho he thinks fit to leave him out That as St. Cyprian tells us there is but