and to make her glorious in the World when in the mean time Christianity it self has been rendred odious and contemptible Ridente Turce nec dolente Judaeo Turks Jews and Pagans have beheld her flames with pleasure and warmed themselves and said Aha thus we would have it It must not be denied but that Catholick Unity where it is so happy as to be understood acquaints us with something very sacred and venerable of which we cannot be too fond or tender it bears the Image of Divinity and if it were not in it self a most excellent thing the name of it could never be made so specious a pretence It has been often and confidently asserted that all the Dissenters in England have departed from the Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church This lies as a mighty prejudice in the minds of many both against our way Arch-Rebel p. 28. Reply p. 1. and persons too and their common Inference from hence is That we are out of a State of Salvation have no right to any of the Promises of the Gospel that all our Hopes are unwarrantable and groundless Fancies that we are contemners of the Peace and Unity which Christ has bequeathed to his Church and if they will demonstrate that our case is indeed such as they describe it we will not persist in it a day longer for we cannot be so fond of the Inconveniencies of Non-Conformity here as meerly for the sake thereof to purchase to our selves greater Miseries hereafter But that we may evince how void of Reason and Humanity the Sentence which they have past upon us is let us enquire wherein the Catholick Unity and Communion of the Church consists and then try whether none of our Dissenting Congregations be within the Verge of it By this Catholick Unity our Adversaries understand not that which is accidental may be present or absent without the destruction of the Subject which some Churches may have and other True Churches may be without for then it would not serve their purpose which is to conclude all that want this Unity to be in a State of Damnation and indeed it is the truest acceptation of the word to make it signifie Essential Universal Unity Uniformity in accidentals belonging more properly to the common place of order in this sense therefore we shall speak of it that we may come up as close to their thoughts as we can Nothing then belongs to the Catholick Unity of the Church but what belongs to the being of the Church that which makes it a Church makes it one Ens Unum being convertible and nothing can dissolve its Unity which does not destroy its Essence and certainly the being and the state of the Church must not be confounded Many things are required to the due and orderly state and form in which the Church ought to be and appear in the World and which may contribute to her stability beauty and enlargement which suppose her Essence but do not constitute it This Essential Catholick Unity whereof we speak may be distinguished into Political and Moral Political whereby all the True Members of the Church are united unto Christ the Head and that is by true Faith And Moral by which they are United one to another and that is by Christian Love which in some degree always follows the former those that have a mind to it may quarrel with the terms of this distinction but if I may but express my meaning by them I shall not be at all concerned about it 1. The Political Unity is that which does primarily necessarily and immediately constitute that Sacred Society the Church of God which was therefore by the Primitive Christians as well as our first Reformers frequently known by this short definition Catus fidelium the Congregation of the Faithful sometimes the Body of Christ the Temple of God Divin Instit l. 4. c. 13. and such like So Lactantius Ecclesia est verum Templum Dei quod non in parietibus est sed in corde fide hominum qui credunt in eum vocantur fideles The Church is the True Temple of God which does not consist in the bare Walls but in the Hearts and Faith of Men that believe on him and are called Faithful and before him Ignatius in the same sense calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Congregation Ep. ad Trall vid. Isidor Pelus Epist l. 2. Ep. 247. the Assembly of the Saints To the same purpose speak all those Fathers who affirm that the Church was built upon the Faith of Peter not upon his Person or Authority a great Cloud whereof the Illustrious Chamier has collected to our hand proving thereby that our Union with the Church De Oecumen Pont. l. 11. c. 4. is founded in our believing on Christ the True Foundation and Chief Corner Stone nothing therefore can dissolve this Union but what is inconsistent with True Faith in Christ And this agrees fully with the tenour of Holy Scripture which every where lays the Salvation of Men upon their believing Ephes 3.17.4.13 1 Pet. 2.6 Behold I lay in Zion a Chief Corner Stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded By this Faith Men are United to Christ and therefore cannot be divided from his Body which is the Church St. Paul calls the Church of God the House or Family of God and how a Man comes to be a Member of that Noble Family we are told Eph. 2.18 by the Spirit i. e. working of Faith we have access unto the Father and are no more Strangers and Forreigners but Fellow-Citizens of the Saints Gal. 6.10 and of the Houshold of God and therefore this Houshold of God is elsewhere called the Houshold of Faith In short nothing is more evident than that the Apostles received Men and Women into the Visible Church by Baptism upon the Profession of their Faith in Christ and thereby invested them in all the Sacred Priviledges of the New Covenant which belong only to the Church of God This Excellent Grace of Faith from whence our Union with Christ and his Body the Church doth flow is a very comprehensive thing it includes our solemn and hearty Choice of the Eternal God as our chiefest Happiness and hereby all the True Members of the Church are United in the Love and Service of One God and so distinguished from the Pagan World and in an humble affiance in One Mediator in whose hand alone they are brought back unto God and hereby are distinguished from Mahometans and those that call themselves Deists they are also United in the gracious Influences of One blessed Spirit and hereby are distinguished from all impenitent sensual persons who have grieved and quenched that Spirit And they are hereby United in One Rule of Faith Worship and Obedience not that they all understand this Rule alike or are fully conformed unto it but in this they agree that they all take it for their Rule
but divide and separate from each other this we will grant is a very great Fault but yet if they Communicate in such things as make one Church their Quarrels and Divisions may hurt themselves but cannot destroy the Unity of the Church for the Church is one Body not meerly by the Agreement of Christians among themselves but by the Institution of Christ who has made all those that profess the same Faith and are united in the same Sacraments to belong to the same Body to be his own Body And therefore Christians are never Exhorted to be One Body for that they are if they be Christians as the Apostle expresly asserts but they are exhorted to live in Unity and Concord because they are One Body Eph. 4.1 2 3. And in the 25th Page Those who profess the true Faith of Christ without any corrupt Mixtures are Sound and Orthodox Churches other Churches are more or less pure according to the various Corruptions of their Faith And thus it is with respect to the Christian Sacraments and Worship too I hope this will be acknowledged very pertinent to our purpose but if we desire it he will yet speak more plainly for when his Adversary had said Succession of Doctrine without Succession of Office is a poor Plea He answers I must needs tell him it is a much better Plea than Succession of Doctrine for I am sure P. 53. there is not a safe Communion where there is not a Succession of Apostolical Doctrine but whether the want of a Succession of Bishops will in all Cases unchurch admits of a greater Dispute I am sure true Faith in Christ with a true Gospel Conversation will save Men and some Learned Romanists defend the old Definition of the Church Jo. Laun. Ep. Vol. 8. Ep. 13. that it is Coetus Fidelium the Company of the Faithful and will not admit Bishops or Pastors into the desinition of a Church I have e'en tired my self with these Quotations not for the sake of our Cause but out of Civility to the Citizen of Chester and Men of his Temper that by taking up a false Idea of Catholick Unity to the Exclusion of all those that have not Diocesan Episcopacy are animated by it to the greatest Severities against them concluding that those who shut themselves out of the Catholick Church are well enough served if they be cast out of Civil Saciety and denied the common Rights and Privileges of Mankind Let us now examine this Gentieman's Notions about the Unity of the Church which may give us a little diversion in our Journey He charges the Vindicator with mis-reporting his Description of Unity Reply p. 16. omitting that which was necessary to be added and if he did so he was very much to blame But let us turn to the places and try whether it be so or no. Those words out of which we must draw his Notion of Unity are these Though there be a Multiplication of Churches by the encrease of Believers yet no variation they are all one with that Church first mentioned in Jerusalem and all One with one another being all United into one Spiritual Society or Body under One head Jesus Christ Arch-Rebei p. 2. and are in all things the same with that first Church United in One Baptism and in One Faith all partake at the same Table and so all United in the visible external Worship and Service of God This Account of the Unity of the Church the Vindic thus Contract All Churches are One as United into One Body Vindic. p. 16. whereof Christ is the Head having the same Baptism the same Faith and the same Eucharist Now what has he omitted that belonged to this description of Unity why he should have added They are all One with that Church first mentioned at Jerusalem but that he left out and he should have added They are all one with one another and again They are in all things the same with that first Church but he omitted both these A very dangerous Omission But pray what do all these three Sentences amount to more than this single Assertion the Catholick Church is One Not one of them answers the Question wherein it is One it is no explanation of the Unity of the Church to say it is all One with the Primitive Church and all One with it self and the same with that first Church still the Question is wherein is the Church One wherein does the Unity of all true Churches consist For to say they are One because they are One and because they are the same and all One with one another is a most vain and ridiculous Tautology which the Vindicator was so civil as to pass by only fixing upon those words that tell us wherein they are One even as united into One Body under One Head having the same Baptism Faith and Eucharist and so united in the Worship of God the other Phrases barely assert the Unity these describe and explain it But this Gentleman knows not when he is well dealt with but will force us to expose him whether we will or no. The Vindicator having thus Collected out of his words a description of Unity as consisting in the same Lord and in the same Baptism Faith and Eucharist agrees to it with this Explanation that is the same for Substance for it does not appear that they all agreed in the Primitive Times in the same Circumstances and infers from hence that there may be Catholick Unity without Diocesan Episcopacy and Ceremonies neither of which he put into his Description The Gentleman's reply to this is very remarkable for thus it goes It is plain all that he drives at here is that there may be a true Church-Unity without Episcopacy which Doctrine is a meer Innovation c. But why did he not then insert the Unity of Episcopacy in his Description If he left it out it was not to be expected the Vindication should foist it in for him as he now would do himself but it is too late and to add it now is not a Defence of his former Paper but an Amendment rather such as it is but indeed rejected by the most Judicious of the Episcopal Writers as has been already evinced to which I will here add one citation more that I may either recover him out of his frenzy or leave him inexcusable 't is the Learned Author of The Summary of the late Controversies betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome P. 123. He very well distinguishes between External Ecclesiastical Communion and the Unity of the Church and says The Unity of the Catholick Church consists in One Faith and Worship and Charity that indeed such external Communion when occasion offers shews that we are all Disciples of the same common Lord and Saviour and own each other for Brethren But the Church may be the One Body of Christ without being One Ecclesiastical Body under One Governing Head which 't is impossible
the Body We cannot be joined to Christ our Head except we be glued with Concord and Charity one to another for he that is not of this Unity is not of the Church of Christ which is a Congregation or Unity together not a Division St. Paul saith that as long as Emulation or Envying Contention and Factions or Sects be amongst us we be carnal and walk according to the Fleshly Man And St. James saith if ye have bitter emulation or envying or contention in your hearts glory not of it for where contention is there is unstedfastness and all evil deeds c. Nothing is more evident than that the thing declaimed against in this Homily is Schism what else signifie the words cut and mangled divided rent and torn And as plain it is that this rending and tearing and cutting and mangling the Body of Christ is done by contention by the violation of concord and charity without which we cannot be joined to the Head nor one to another it is true it mentions Factions and Sects He speaks of contentious Sects but there may be Factions amongst those of the same external Communion and there are many Sects too in the Church of Rome where the external Communion is the same and so there were formerly amongst the Jews and at this day in the Church of England some are Arminians others Calvinists in points of Doctrine But both the Title of the Homily and the express words and general scope of it make the Rents and Schism in the Coat of Christ to consist principally in the want of Concord and Charity in Emulation envying and heart contentions Which I hope will justifie Mr H. from the censure of having advanced a wild and novel doctrine Now let us examine the Consequences which this Gentleman has drawn out of this Definition First of all From hence it will follow that he that was never truly admitted into the Christian Church may be guilty of Schism if he be called a Christian But before we can tell whether there be any absurdity in this we must desire him to explain himself and tell us what he means by a true admission into the Christian Church If by admission he means Baptism and by true admission Baptism after the form and mode prescribed by his Church I doubt not there are many may be justly called Christians that were never so admitted and if he will take upon him to assert that none can be guilty of Schism but who have been admitted according to their Canons he will fairly acquit a great number of Dissenters from that crime who though they have been Baptized yet not altogether according to their Rubrick As for Mr. H's Words they are plain enough Schism in the Scriptural Sence is only the fault of professed Christians and all professed Christians are visible Members of the Catholick Church 2. That Hereticks in fundamentals are no Schismaticks for Mr. H. sapposes that where there is a Schism both parties must agree in the Fundamentals of Religion Yes he does suppose so and very justly for those that deny fundamental Truths are without the Christian Faith without the Unity of the Church and where there is no such Union there can be no Schism which always supposes a previous Union As Treason always supposes that a Man be a Subject of the King and Member of the Common wealth If a Man never received the Fundamentals of Christianity he never was a Member of Christ's Body and therefore never a capable subject of that Christian Love and Brotherly kindness the violation whereof is the thing in Scripture called Schism if he has formerly professed the Faith and afterwards renounced it he has by so doing dissolved that principal Fundamental Union with the Christian Church upon which Brotherly Love is built and therefore after such Apostacy cannot be formally guilty of the breach of Christian Charity because he is indeed no Christian and so no capable Subject of such Charity and can no more properly be called a Schismatick than a Stone or Tree can be called blind or any other thing in which there is no capacity of Sight And if the Gentleman do not like this Notion he may if he pleases write a Book to convince the Grand Signior and the Great Mogul and Cham of Tartary See the Review p. 8. that they are all Schismaticks as were their Fathers Jannes and Jambres the Egyptian Sorcerers before them But he adds This is as much as to say the greater the fault the lesser the crime By no means for what if Hereticks be not Shismaticks are they therefore innocent Creatures What if Traytors Murderers Adulterers be not Schismaticks are they therefore Saints Heresie in Fundamentals is a greater crime than bare Schism and the less is merged in the greater And it seems very strange that the same Gentleman who but a line or two before thinks it absurd to call those Schismaticks who were never truely admitted into the Church should think it also absurd not to call those Schismaticks that either never embraced the Christian Faith or have since renounced it 3. The third inference is According to this Definition Alienation of Affection is Schism but Division or Alienation of Communion is not Here he ought to have told us what he means by Division or Alienation of Communion Communion with the same God and the same Mediator and in the same Essentials of Faith and Worship is necessary to the Being of Christianity and an Alienation here is something worse than Schism if he mean personal Communion in the Worship of God in the same place and after the same Mode 't is impossible this should be undivided if by Alienation of Communion be means withdrawing from that particular Church of which we have been members and joyning with another 't is no more but what is allowed to all upon the removal of their Habitations and may be lawful on many other accounts but if it be done without some good reason it is sinful if it be done out of Uncharitableness towards the Church we leave it is Schism now if he would be as plain with us as we desire to be with him there might be hopes of bringing the matter to some issue But the last Inference is most remarkable both for Phrase and Sence and I would desire the Author to review it No one can charge another with Schism except he be able to look into his Heart it is impossible to know according to this Description that People are Schismaticks if they profess themselves to be in Charity except we should enquire into the Secrets of their Hearts and on the contrary People may be the greatest Schismaticks under the outward Profession of Charity and yet no Body can accuse them with it But pray why is this last Sentence said to be on the contrary to the former it 's impossible to know that People are Schismaticks if they profess themselves to be in Charity and on the contrary People may
and endeavour an Universal Compliance with it and are distinguished hereby from all that reject this Law and set up any other in opposition to it This Faith likewise Unites them in One Baptism not that they all agree in the External Wasâ—â—â—â— and Modes of Administration but in that which the Apostle Peter makes to 〈◊〉 Substance of it not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 2.21 when a Mans Conscience returns a consenting Answer to the Gospel Proposals and by a solemn Self-dedication becomes Sacred to God he has then the Substance of that Ordinance This is the True Catholick Unity described in the 4th of Ephes 5 6. There is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called in one Hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and the Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all 2. The Moral Unity by which the Members are knit one to another is that of Love This is the Unity of the Spirit which is to be held in the bond of Peace and will always flow from the other by a kind of Spiritual Sympathy and Sensation but it must be acknowledged this admits of various degrees and is subject to sinful Declensions Emulation Passion Interest Misunderstanding of Persons and Things may very much weaken the Bond of Amity but it must be habitually in every True Christian and he that has no brotherly kindness for those that appear to him True Believers can never know that he has passed from Death to Life Mistakes and Weakness may create Jealousie and too great Distances even amongst great and good Men. Paul and Barnabas from different apprehensions about the management of their Work proceed to a parting one from another And too many Brethren that have all the same Father and are all bound for the same home cannot forbear falling out by the way The Corruption of Nature both fullies mens Graces that they do not shine forth so clearly as otherwise they would and also darkens their sight that they cannot so well discern the Virtues of each other and where the Eye is dim and the Object clouded too no wonder if misapprehensions and uncharitable surmises arise and men mistake one another for Enemies and fall a quarrelling when perhaps a true Light would let them see they are all Friends But certainly as far as Believers understand one another they have Christian Affection one for another and if they knew more of the Truth of each others Christianity their Mutual Love would be greatly encreased And a shyness in some tempers and unwillingness to converse more freely and often together keep up mens prejudices and hinder their desired Union and yet they have still a fervent Love for the Church in general though their Affections be misplaced as to particular persons This Brotherly-kindness where it is prevalent will oblige the Members to have the same care one for another not envying but rejoycing at each others Heath Beauty and Improvement it would make them sensible of each others use ulness and service they would not think any part superfluous or tye it up from performing its duty towards the good of the whole the Eye would not say to the Hand I have no need of thee This would not permit them to reproach and despise each other for their blemishes and deformities but oblige them to cover the same with the greatest candour and civility and to bestow more abundant honour upon those parts that may be thought less honourable This is that great Law of Love which the King of the Church has given to all his Disciples as the Bond of Peace amongst themselves and the great Characteristick by which they shall be distinguished from others John 13.35 By this shall all men know that they are Christ's Disciples if they love one another Where the Soul is wholly destitute of this all pretences of Love to God or Faith in Christ are false and vain 1 John 4.20 For he that loves not his Brother whom he has seen how can he love God whom he has not seen And true Faith will work by Love I know this Account of Catholick Unity as consisting in Faith and Love will not meet with general approbation Many will reject it as to spiritual who have placed their hopes of Salvation in being of such a Party and in a Zealous Observation of the Rites and Ceremonies of that Communion in which they are these are too sensless to be argued with That can suppose the Son of God would be incarnate and crucified only to teach men a particular kind of dress and fashionable gestures and a form of words c. whilst their Souls are under the dominion of sin and they have not learned to live soberly righteously and godly in an Evil World Many will censure it as too narrow excluding from the Church all formal and insincere pretenders to Christianity but I suppose when we understand one another we shall not much differ about this it is certain in Foro Dei none but true Disciples are true Church-Members but in Foro Ecclesiae all that seem to be so must be so accounted When we say such a one is a Member of the Visible Church we mean he is visibly a Member of the Church that is he appears so to us and we are obliged to think so of him till he discovers the contrary but whether he be really so or no God only knows And most will condemn this Notion as too large and general including even those that have not a Regular Ministry amongst them nor are joyned to any particular Congregation duly organized And here indeed the main difficulty we have to encounter is about the Unity of the Ministry and how far that is essential to the Unity of the Catholick Church And I freely grant every True Member of the Church of Christ will give great deference to the Ministerial Office and whoever they be that will presume to ridicule the Function and despise its just Powers cannot in reason be thought to have the Faith and Charity of the Gospel But there must be a great difference made betwixt contemning the Ministry and questioning the Rights of this or that particular person to the Office or scrupling the Term oâ— Made of his Administrations or preferring another before him whose Qualifications and Conduct are more answerable to the great Ends of that Office But though I do verily believe it is essential to Catholick Church Unity that every Member love and honour the Ministerial Function yet I dare by no means affirm it to be equally necessary that every Person be under the Conduct of a Regular and duely called Ministry this indeed is requisite to the flourishing State of the Church and all are obliged to pray for it and endeavour it in their several Spheres of Activity but it is not absolutely Necessary to the Being of the
it plainly speaks of that Extraordinary Mission of the Apostles to the Gentile World by them as Men infallibly inspired for that End were the great Doctrines of the Gospel delivered and the perpetual Rule of Faith laid down this they must by no means have presumed to do had they not been sent of God and yet without such a Gospel the World had never believed on Christ and this Apostolical Doctrine is still the great Instrument by which God converts Souls sometimes by reading of it themselves sometimes by hearing it from others whether duely ordained or no sometimes by bringing it to their Remembrance when they are neither reading nor hearing it though the usual way is by the Preaching of a faithful Ordained Ministry but to say that it is never done by other means cannot be proved by Scripture and is evidently contradicted by Experience I cannot but have a great value for the Judgment of Monsieur Claude in this particular and shall therefore transcribe his words in that learned Treatise before mentioned Histor Def. Part 4. p. 54. viz. It is the Church that produces the Ordinary Ministry and not the Ordinary Ministry that produces the Church The Church was the fruit of the Extraordinary Ministry of the Apostles and Evangelists That Ministry of theirs produc'd it at first and not only produc'd it but it has always made use of that means or that source for its Subsistence and we may truly say That it yet produces it and that it will produce it unto the End of the World For it is the Faith that makes and always will make the Church and it is the Ministry of the Apostles that makes and always will make the Faith It is their Voice that calls Christians together at this day it is their word that essembles them and their teaching that unites them It is certain that the Ministry of the Apostles was singular that is to say only tyed to their Persons without Succession without Communication or Propagation but it ought not to be thought that it was also transitory as that of other Men for it is perpetual in the Church Death has not shut their Mouths as it has others they speak they instruct they incessantly spread abroad Faith and Holiness among the Souls of Christians and there is not another Fountain from whence those Virtues can descend but from them If any demand of us what is the perpetual Voice that we ascribe unto them We answer That it is the Doctrine of the New Testament where they have set down all the Efficacy of their Ministry and the whole virtue of that Word which gave a Being to the Church there is their true Chair and Apostolick See there is the Center of Christian Unity there it is that they incessantly call Men and joyn them into a Society But as to the ordinary Ministry we cannot say the same thing of them it is not their Voice as distinct from that of the Apostles that begets the Faith that assembles Christians into a Society or that produces the Church They are no more but meer Dispensers of the words of the Apostles or external Instruments to make us the better understand their Voice to speak properly it is not the Voice of the ordinary Pastors that produces Faith where it was not before it is the word of the Apostles themselves They are no more but those External Guides that God has established in the Church to lead Men to the Scripture and even such Guides as cannot hinder us from going thither of our selves if we will Therefore there is a great difference betwixt these two sorts of Ministers the one preceded the Church the other follows it the one has an independent and sovereign Authority with Infallibility on its side the other is exposed to Vices Disorders Errors and humane Weaknesses inferior to and depending on the Church And indeed to affirm that no Man can be truly converted but by a Regular Ministry would involve the Minds of Men in endless Perplexities A Man must know all those things that belong to the due mission of the Preacher and must be assured that all those met in the person by whose Ministry he was helped to believe before he can know that he has true Faith this would keep persons in a dark and uncomfortable state all their days especially if a Line of uninterrupted Succession be necessary to a true Mission for then a Man must be able to prove that the Bishop that ordained his Converter was ordained by another Bishop and that by another and so up to the Apostles which because no man in the World can be morally assured of it is impossible for any Man to know that he has true Faith This is an insuperable difficulty on the one hand And on the other those Persons that know they have true Faith by the powerful effects of it upon their Hearts and Lives must conclude from hence that their Preachers were duely ordained and called otherwise they could nor have been instrumental in their Conversion and yet this would not be true for doubtless there are many honest Souls that fear God and work Righteousness amongst those Sects that have no Regular Ministry amongst them So that this Assertion would rob many Souls of the comfort of a true Faith because of the uncertainty of their Ministers Mission and it would confirm others in an irregular and unauthorized Ministry because of the cerainty of their Faith I hope by this time I may venture to conclude That the essential Unity of the Church consists in Gospel-Faith and Love hereby Men are made Saints and unired to Christ and Members of the Catholick Church Did I think the Chester Gentleman would not yet take it I would be so civil to him as to and some more Testimonies That of Clemens Alexandranus is apposite enough The ancient Catholick Church is but one only Church Strom. l. 7. and assembles in the Unity of one only Faith by the Will of one only God and Ministration of one only Lord all those who were before Predestanted to be just having known them before the Foundation of the World In Cant. Hom. 1. In Maten 16. De Ar◠Patr. l. 1. c. 3 In Psal 35. De coronà indilitis So likewise Origen The Church is the Society of the Saints and else where The Church which God builds consists in those who are upright and full of those Thoughts Words and Actions which lead to Blessedness St. Amtrose tells us The Assembly of the Righteous is God's Tabernacle and that the Saints are the Members of Jesus Christ Terrullian says Where there are Three there is a Church though they be Laicks for every one lives by his own Faith S. In Job c. 26. Jerome speaks to the same purpose saying The Church which is the Assembly of all Saints is the Pillar and Ground of Truth because she has in Jesus Christ an Eternal firmness In Cant. Hom. 1. and elsewhere The Church
the whole Christian Church should be and therefore a Church that divides it self from that Ecclesiastical Body to which it did once belong if it have just and necessary Reasons for what it does is wholly blameless nay commendable for it if it have not it sins according to the Nature and Aggravation of the Crime but still may be a Member of the Catholick Church and still enjoy all the Privileges of the Catholick Church the Communion of Saints and Promises of Everlasting Life which shews how the Holy Catholick Church in the Creed may be One Norwithstanding all those Divisions of Christendom which are caused by the Quarrels of Bishops and Disputes about Ecclesiastical Canons and Jurisdiction Thus have these Learned and Sober Gentlemen made up those defects which the Lord Verulam complained of in his day Advance of Learning l. 9. p. 472 473. he sets down amongst the Deficients and recommends us a wholesome and profitable work a Treatise touching his degrees of Unity in the City of God and he tells us It exceedingly imports the Peace of the Church to define what and of what Latitude those points are which discorporate Men from the Body of the Church and cast them out and quite Casheir them from the Communion and Fellowship of the Faithful The bounds of Christian Community are set down one Faith one Baptism and not one Rite one Opinion the Coat of our Saviour was entire without Seam but the Garment of the Church was of divers Colours In the mean time it is very likely he that makes mention of Peace shall receive that answer Jehu gave to the Messengers Is it Peace Jehu What hast thou to do with Peace Turn and follow me Peace is not the matter that many seek after but parties and siding To conclude this point Dr. Stilling-fleet Irenic p. 121. God will one day convince men that the Union of the Church lies more in the Unity of Faith and Affection than in the Uniformity of doubtful Rites and Ceremonies since the Unity of the Church consists in the true Catholick Faith and Christian Affection whereby Men are knit to Christ the Head and to one another None are out of the Unity of the Church but those that are destitute of these fundamental Graces and to affirm this of Protestant Dissenters in general is a piece of Diabolism which the Gospel abhors and Humanity it self will be ashamed of We must first prove that Men are without Faith before we can prove that they are without the Church and not with the Papists condemn them as void of Faith because out of the external Communion of their Church It is a very foolish and misleading method to prove our interest in the Faith by our interest in the Church as if we must first know the true Church and that we are in it before we can know the true Faith or that it is in us this way of arguing has been always condemned by Protestant Writers The Scripture Test for the trial of our Faith is a serious endeavour to perfect Holiness in the fear of God to be careful to maintain good works c. And indeed nothing but gross Heresie and known constant Immoralities can warrant us in saying that any who profess to be Christians are destitute of the Faith and whether Dissenters in England do not generally shew as much of the fear of God both in their Fumilies and common Conversation as their Neighbours must be left to the Consciences of all observing Men here and the righteous judgment of God hereafter And I hope they may modestly justifie their pretensions to Christian Love and Charity too I am sure their quiet and peaceable behaviour under so many years severe Persecution will plead more strongly for them than for those by whom they suffered such things all the World will take notice how unable those Gentlemen were to bear a very small share of those Severities themselves which they had for a long time so liberally inflicted upon others I am far from the thoughts of charging these things upon the Episcopal Party in general or even the Clergy themselves but all the Nation will bear witness 't is too true concerning those Bishops and others that were formerly most uneasie and troublesom to their Dissenting Brethren How odd a thing was it for this Gentleman to begin his Book with Panegyricks upon Peace when the avowed design is to justifie all those Violations thereof that have been the scandal of the Protestant Religion He tells us of a blessed Legacy left us by our dying Redeemer and why then should we not be suffered to enjoy it I am sure we should have been glad to have lived in the obscurest places and circumstances where we might have enjoyed that Sacred Bequest but there were a Generation of Men amongst us who having spent their own Legacies would needs deprive us of ours unless we would surrender the dearer Peace of our own minds I am afraid it is the conscienciousness of their former guilt that makes many of them so very suspicious and jealous of Dissenters as they are they can hardly believe that we have any Charity for them because they know how little they have discovered towards us And thus the remembrance of what is past pushes them on to farther abuses instead of producing fruits meet for Repentance whereas I do verily believe the generality of Dissenters can heartily forgive all that 's past and would be glad to see any ground of hope that the same men would not greedily embrace the first opportunity of acting over again their former excesses CHAP. II. Of Obedience to our Governours Spiritual and Civil That the Jurisdiction of our English Bishops is not Jure Divino but Presbyters have as much Power by the Law of God as they An Answer to the Gentleman's Allegations out of Antiquity The Judgment of the Fathers and Councils and School-men and our first Reformers and the Divines of the Transmarine Churches I Hope we have safely passed the Ordeal of Catholick Unity we now proceed to defend our selves from the dreadful Accusation of Disobedience to Superiors for though our Non-Conformity should not utterly exclude us from the Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church yet if it involve us in the guilt of Sedition contempt of our Lawful Governours and disobedience to their just Commands our Cause would be bad enough and we could by no means justifie it before God or the World The Indictment charges upon us a twofold Disobedience First Disobedience to our Spiritual Governours the Bishops And secondly To the Civil Magistrate likewise but we do verily believe our selves to be innocent and desire an impartial hearing of our just Defence which will proceed in this Method 1. We plead that Bishops have no Power by the Law of God but what Presbyters have as well as they 2. That the whole Jurisdiction of our English Bishops and Power of their Canons is derived from the Civil Magistrate and Laws