to understand it as any one that ever pretended to write upon the Subject In the fifth page we have an aggregate description of the Communion of Saints which we shall particularly examine and apply to the present case the Communion of Saints consists of these things 1. A firm Belief of all the Articles of Faith contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creed and why not in Scripture these Creeds are but of Humane Composition and some things in them want Explanation however so far we are within Communion though hereby the Greek and other Eastern Churches are shut out which the Citizen of Chester has no Commission to do 2. To partake all of the same Table he cannot mean the same individual Table but the same Eucharist in specie so far we are with him still But whether this will not exclude the Papists who by denying the Cup to the Laity have taken away in part the matter of the Eucharist I shall leave to his second thoughts who I believe will not be over-forward in Unchurching them for fear of breaking the Line by which his own Church hangs 3. To join all in the same holy Prayers and Supplications and in giving Thanks he cannot mean that in these Duties we must necessarily use the very same words without the least adding substracting or changing for then he Excommunicates all the World but those of his own perswasion and a great many of them too 4. To be subject and obedient to our Spiritual Rulers and Governours who have derived their Authority from the Apostles by a due Succession in all things pertaining to a Godly Life Decency and Order We are very desirous to give due Honour and Obedience to our Spiritual Governours who derive their Authority from Christ which is more proper than to speak of deriving it from the Apostles for Christ is the only Fountain of Authority and the Streams are derived rather from the Fountain than the Cistern It is observable the Mans Expression is sunk from an uninterrupted Succession to a due Succession to observe the Apostolical precepts in Government and Worship may make it up a due Succession but there 's more required to an uninterrupted one than so Now before he can say we want this Qualification for Communion he must prove that Diocesan Prelates are made our Rulers by a Divine Command A single Person taking upon him to govern some thousands of Congregations by such Rules and Officers as our English Prelacy uses and this by the Nomination of the Civil Magistrate without the Consent of the People or of the Ministers within the Diocess is a Creature we neither find in Scripture nor in Primitive Times and therefore can be no Spiritual Governour of ours by Divine Right let him prove this and he does something but till this be done his whole Book is as insignificant as waste Paper When this Man or any one for him has made it to appear that the Authority of a Diocesan Prelate Dean Lay-Chancellor c. over all in the Diocess is as certain and Sacred as that of Moses and Aaron we will not dare to dispute it for fear of Corah's doom but till this be evinced I hope he will not take it amiss if we be not frighten'd out of our Wits by such misapplyed Passages which we have often heard urged to back the Doctrines of Non-resistance and all those Principles of Slavery some Men have been endeavouring to instil into our Minds but as we see they have no great regard for such alligations themselves when adhering to them would be chargeable and dangerous so we believe they cannot heartily blame us if we despise them too In the last Paragraph of the fifth page we have the Communion of Saints described over again being willing I suppose to make up in the Number what is wanting in Weight and here we are told all those particular Churches who agree with the Primitive Catholick Church in all the Articles of Faith and in the External Visible Worship and Service of God are true Members of the Universal Church and in the Communion of Saints In what Bounds he will fix the Primitive Church we know not certain it is a Century or two made a very considerable change in the features of their Government and Worship but if we must take our measures by those Courches that are truely Primitive we fear not to put our selves to the Tryal That our Congregations have this agreement in Faith none will deny and he has not proved that we differ from them in the Essential or Integral parts of Gods Worship or in any considerable circumstance and that this Divine Worship and Service is Visible and External this Gentleman is but too sensible and 't is a very great Eye-sore to such as he that it is so much more Visible than formerly it has been If we will take his confident and repeated assertions for demonstration we may believe that the Church of England has from the first planting of the Gospel here retained the Apostolical power of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by an uninterrupted Succession of Arch-Bishops and Bishops in a right Line from the Apostles days to this present time but how uncertain this is and how inconsistent with other parts of his Book I suppose has been sufficiently manifested I shall therefore take no farther notice of it especially because that till the true Bounds of Episcopal Power be fixt by Scripture Rules it is as impertinent as uncertain After he has thus delivered himself of his crude and confused apprehensions he tells Mr. H. he has done it as cleanly as he could and that may be true enough for ought I know but 't is no fault of Mr. H's he could do it no better his Capacity and Employment indeed may be some excuse for his blunders but will by no means lessen the fault of his officious and confident impertinency in medling with things he so little understands We are no way concerned in the Citation of the Fathers brought in against us till he has proved that Episcopacy then was the same thing it is now and that the terms of Communion we scruple were ever imposed by them Ignatius charges the Bishop in his time to take a personal cognizance of every Member of his Church not excepting the very Servants It was the Custom then in every Congregation to receive the Sacrament every Lords day and they never received it nisi ex Antistitis manu but from the Hand of the Bishop What could such Bishops be more than Pastors of single Congregations but I shall forbear dipping into this Argument which has been so copiously managed by Blondel Baxter Owen Clarkson and others It is observable in the passage cited out of Irenaeus the Presbyters are said to have their Succession from the Apostles it seems they were the Apostles Successors as well as Bishops surely then they must have the same power if the Bishops claim the power they have as the Apostles Successors
then must all the Successors of the Apostles have the same power the Rule is known à quatenus ad omne It is plain by this that Apostolical Succession in the sence of those times was not any such fine Aerial Thread as this Man speaks of but Conformity to the Apostles model in Government and Worship and those that best observe that are in the truest sence the Apostles Successors whether the Line has been broke by intervening Hereticks and Schismaticks or no. We all grant that for Persons wilfully to withdraw themselves from such particular Churches as are framed according to Scripture Rules and impose no new or needless terms is to act Schismatically because such wilful Separation when no cause is given cannot be without breach of Charity with our Fellow Christians which is the Scripture Notion of Schism and this Mr. Henry himself grants and calls it Separation for Separation's sake which T.W. might have taken notice of had he designed fair dealing But this is not at all proved to be our case We earnestly desire Episcopacy may be reduced to its proper Sphere that every particular Church may have its Bishop and Presbyters and so power within it self to admonish suspend and reject scandalous Persons we desire the Rules of the Gospel may be carefully lookt into and a Model of Government and Worship taken from thence such as may be likely to answer the great Ends of Church Societies that nothing may be imposed but what is either expresly commanded or has a natural and proper tendency to promote that which is so then would the Worship of God appear like it self rational grave and majestical becoming reasonable Creatures to offer and a Being of perfect Simplicity and Spirituality to receive nor would we as we are accused under pretence of Spirituality reject the natural decorum of an Action in Divine Worship but only lay aside those Formalities that are over and above natural decency which in civil converse are counted foppish and daily grow out of repute betwixt Man and Man and are no where so improper as in the Service of God It is certainly a very odd Custom these Men have taken up against us if they find in any of the Fathers the word Bishop they presently transfer it a Diocesan Prelate if they read of Breaking off from the Communion of the Bishop it must be immediately applyed to the practice of Dissenters in England When alas till the Extent of Power way of coming into Office and Charge terms of Admission c. be proved to be tantamount to what they now are bare words will conclude nothing at all And yet without so much as offering to prove any thing of this T.W. will needs perswade Mr. H. to confess himself a Schismatick and so out of the Catholick Church and possibility of Salvation Though we need not concern our selves to soften or extenuate the fault of Schism no such thing being proved against us yet it may not be amiss to take notice how this eager Man over-shoots himself in these matters he first makes all those Churches Schismatical that do not agree with the Primitive Catholick Church in Faith Worship and Government without adjusting the measures of such Agreement as if every little difference made a Schism which would bear hard upon all the Churches at this day in the World And when he has done this he cuts off all these Schismatical Societies from being parts of the Catholick Church or under a possibility of Salvation It must needs follow from hence that Popish Churches to say nothing of others must be Schismatical for they vary notoriously from the Primitive in Faith Government and Worship as I suppose this Man will grant all those Churches therefore since this Variation were no parts of the Catholick Church that is no Churches at all and by consequence according to him their Bishops must be but Lay-Impostors their Ordinations null and void the Line of Communication broken the Apostolical Power lost and all England in a state of Damnation and all this is the Effect of over-great earnestness to prove the Dissenters Schismaticks We have with a great deal of Patience examined T. W's Notions of the Church of Communion and Unity and whether there be any thing observable in them besides Ignorance Confusion and Contradiction is left to the Judgment of the Reader That which remains is to view the Remarks he has made upon Mr. H's Book The Instance of Eldad and Medad was never designed to run of all four but thus far 't is to the purpose as it proves that God has not limited his People in Religious Actions so nicely to the publick places as some would pretend and that even good Men are apt too severely to censure such actions when managed out of the usual Method before they fully understand the reason of the thing and that meek and humble Men like Moses who are more concerned for the Substance than Circumstances of Religion would not deny the Church the advantage of those Gifts which God has bestowed upon Men even though the exercise of them might seem to derogate from their own Grandeur those general Inferences naturally follow from the place and the application of them is not improper as this Man fancies whatever the Office of this Man was to be yet doubtless this Act of prophecying was of a Sacred rather than a Civil nature and though under that Oeconomy the Priests were principally engaged in the Ceremonial part of Worship yet in the Moral part the Prophets often bore a share which was discovering the mind of God to the People and pressing them to Obedience and it is to this rather than the Priestly Office that a Gospel Minister succeeds If these Men demand we should give as signal proof of our Authority to the Bishops as Eldad and Medad could to Moses I hope we may expect that the Bishops should give as signal proof of their Authority as Moses could do but if extraordinary Commission need not be pretended in the one case we suppose there 's as little need of it in the other and we are ready to give satisfaction to all the World of the ordinary Warrant which consists in suitable Qualifications enquired into and approved by such as the Scripture calls Bishops Upon Mr. H's bare mentioning of the Worshippers of the Diana of their own opinion T. W. charges him with saucy Language but Mr. H. needs not come to this Man to learn how to speak the reflection Mr. H. made was general that there are such cannot be denied and let it fall where 't is due but why must this of Necessity be spoke of the Bishops such an invidious innuendo in the last Reign might have cost a Man dear of which Mr. Baxter is a memorable Instance But T.W. will answer for the Bishops and they are certainly very happy in such an Advocate that if the Punctilio's of Opinion do not cause a separate Communion they will not censure that for
preserve the Unity and Charity pleaded for and now let all Mankind judge whether Mr. H's Comment does any way abate the force of the Apostles Exhortation to Unity or rather whether it does not greatly promote the same by censuring and exposing those Practices that are destructive thereof Nay this very man in the next Paragraph page 12. confesses that the Apostle aimed not at all different Opinions in meer Notions and Speculations which is the very same assertion he has treated so scurrilously in Mr. H. he says the Apostle meant only those different Opinions that break Communion but how come different Opinions to have that effect but by being made Conditions of Communion and must not the fault then lye upon those that make them so For had that been forborn the Communion might have been preserved entire still as has been before shewed He derides Mr. H. for not knowing that a perfect Conjunction in the Catholick Church and Communion of Saints is required of all those that are to come to a World of Everlasting Perfection And all the sober part of Mankind will deride him for so confus'd and gross an Assertion for if that be true then must none be saved who are imperfect in Faith or in their partaking of the Lords Supper or imperfect in Prayers and in obedience to Ecclesiastical Rulers in all things pertaining to a godly Life page 5. parag 3. for these things make up the Communion of Saints as he himself tells us and then 't is time for T. W. to look about him for I fear the last would exclude him though he could pretend Perfection in all the rest He acknowledges the Corinthians were accused of that which Mr. H. calls Schism for admiring one Minister above another But why of that which Mr. H. calls Schism does not the Apostle himself call it so as positively as Mr. H. but it was not convenient to own that because he had told us that diversity of Communion was the formalis Ratio of Schism and if so the Corinthians could not be charged with it either therefore the Apostle falsly accused the Corinthians or this mans Notion of Schism is false and here we hold the point and have brought it to a fair Issue if this man has a mind to quarrel with St. Paul he may take his course but he may do well to consider he engages himself against the Spirit of God and who ever contended with his Maker and prospered He accuses Mr. H. of scandalizing St. Paul in saying he preferred Soul Salvation before his own Credit but I am assured St. Paul would not take this for a Scandal for he was ever willing to sacrifice his Name and Reputation to the blessed Interest of Christ and the Gospel I wish this man were chargeable with no grosser Scandals than these It is very unfairly insinuated That Mr. H. thinks it as great a Crime to silence him as it would have been to have silenc'd the Apostles He is far from making any such Comparison but it will be found criminal enough to silence the least of Christs faithful Ministers for what is done to them he takes as done to himself and for him to say Mr. H. is no Minister is purely precarious and shall be granted the first hour that he has proved it and he cannot reasonably expect we should acknowledge it before Mr. H. in his little Book has this Expression It appears That narrow-spiritedness which confines Religion and the Church to one way and party whatever it is to the condemning of others that differ from us in little things is the bane of the Christian-Church a Sentence to which all those will subscribe who either understand or wish well to the common Interest of Christianity what fault then will T. W find with it He tells us Religion is the Bond of Unity that is to say where there is no true practical Religion there can be no real Church Unity Is not this the meaning If it be it will turn abundance of our fierce Contenders for the Ceremonies out of doors He asks Did you ever know a Religion without Bounds and Rules for all of that Religion to be confined to even to a Punctilio Sir we know no Religion but what 's contained in the Word of God nor any necessary Bounds and Rules but what are there laid down and we find none there obliging to exact Uniformity in your Ceremonies nay on the contrary we find Rules laid down for mutual forbearance in such things and for denying our selves in what we might lawfully do when the doing of it would offend tender Consciences and if we must suspend our own Act and Freedom for fear of such Offence it can never be lawful for us to force our Practice upon others and whoever do so observe not the Rules nor confine themselves within the Bounds Religion has fixed but are convicted by the Word of God of schismaticating Practices how eager soever they may be to fasten the brand upon others If this mans way of living had not made him more conversant with L'Estrange's Observators than with the Sacred Scriptures he would never talk at such an odd rate concerning the Rules and Bounds of Religion as he does He enquires whether They of our Conventicling Communion have not Rules of their own making by which they are distinguished and confined To give him a plain Answer We utterly disclaim making any Terms of Communion but what Christ has made we desire no more but a credible Profession of Faith and Holiness in order to admission to the most solemn Ordinances we require no Oaths Subscriptions Declarations of assent and consent to Canons and Homilies and Liturgies of humane Composure and if there be any thing that distinguishes from other Parties it is the Gospel Simplicity of our Worship and the absence of those little Toys others value themselves so much upon and as protesting for Scripture Sufficiency in Matters of Doctrine distinguishes Protestants from Papists so in Matters of Government and Worship it distinguishes us from you and thus by leaving the Bounds of Church Communion as wide and large as Christ has left them we escape the reproach and guilt of that Narrow-spiritedness which would retrench the same and yet after all are far from thinking all true Religion and Christianity and Salvation confined to those of our Perswasion Now comes our Citizen to cast in our Teeth all the Irregularities and Distractions of the Civil Wars the old thread-bare Cant which has been a rare pretence for all those Brutal Excesses that have been acted upon us for these many years wherein has been the most horrid Misrepresentation of matters of Fact that were ever advanced in the same Age wherein the things were done The true causes of that War are so well known to all the World and have of late met with so publick and Authentick a vindication that they need not my Apology All our Historians even those that are most devoted to the Court
own for the pride and perverseness of men shall not make the Faith of Christ of none effect That prevalency of the Gospel which he speaks of in Primitive times we believe and adore that divine Energy that appeared therein making its way through so formidable an opposition as it every where met with and next to the Power of God which is to be accounted the principal cause we cannot but ascribe this wonderful success to the sanctity of the Preachers and the spirituality and simplicity of their Doctrine and Worship for we find it has made but a slow progress in the World since men upon pretence of adoring it have encumbred it with needless Ceremonies and committed the management thereof to men who many of them had little to recommend them to the service besides a vehement Zeal for these Religious Impertinencies But though the Apostles did propagate the Gospel far and wide yet that they did actually Preach it to all Nations is a thing we never heard of before T. W. told us so and we must have better evidence before we believe it Whether the seven Churches in Asia had seven Bishops presiding over them neither more nor less is a thing that no way affects the present Controversie nor can any thing be concluded from thence in favour of our English Prelacy till the Power of those Bishops the extent of their Diocesses the quality of their Under-Officers the Modes of their Worship and Terms of Communion be proved the same with ours or liable to the same exceptions We have no prejudice against Episcopacy name or thing provided it be reduced to the Primitive Standard He must not think to run us down with a bare word We find mention made of Presbyters in Scripture he would think it irrational from hence to assert Scotch Presbytery to be Jure Divino the name will signifie little in the debate till the true bounds and limits of the Office so named be stated and adjusted I will not take upon me to contradict those Learned men that think the Angels there mentioned were Bishops but to say it is plain by the word Angel they were so is a wonderful Argument indeed as if Bishop and Angel were convertible terms And so the two young men that came to rescue Lot out from the Sodomites were Bishops and the glorious Messengers that brought to Mary and Elizabeth the joyful tydings of our Saviour's approaching Birth were Bishops it 's plain they were so by the name Angel the Scriptures give them and if this hold good there will be a great many more Bishops in Heaven than Chrysostom expected to find there He tells us though there was a multiplication or plurality of Churches in those times by the encrease of Believers yet no variation I am glad to hear that the encrease of Believers will make it necessary to multiply Churches and why does it so but because the encrease of Church-members may be so great as makes them uncapable of ordinarily meeting together to worship God therefore a Church in the primitive sense must consist of no more than could ordinarily so meet and that every Church had its Bishop is evident for without the governing part it cannot be a distinct Political Society but if the model of our Episcopal Churches be right which are made up of some hundreds of Congregations and Millions of Persons that cannot be known to the Bishop or one to another if this I say be allowable I see not how the encrease of Believers can be a sufficient cause for the multiplying of Churches But what does he mean in saying in these multiplied Churches there was no variation was there no variety at all in any circumstance of worship That 's gratis dictum and the contrary may be proved even in the Apostles times Whence was that scuffle betwixt the believing Jews and Gentiles about Jewish Ceremonies Acts 15. What need was there of that Apostolical Synod and of all those precepts against imposing upon or condemning one another upon the account of different Sentiments If he means there was no variation from the Scripture Rules tho we are afraid that will scarce hold yet we wish it had been so still We have a Notion of Church Unity laid down p. 2. in which we freely concur with him i. e. That all Churches are one as united into one Body whereof Christ is Head having the same Baptism the same Faith and the same Eucharist that is the same for substance for it that they all agreed in the Primitive times in the same Circumstances such a Unity we hold and doubt not but in our Congregations this Unity may be found They are made up of visible Christians such as in the Judgment of Charity are united to Christ by Faith we have the same Baptism with the Apostolical Churches for Substance and come as near in circumstances as we can to the Rule leaving out the innovations of latter and more corrupt times we hold the same Doctrines of Faith and the same Eucharist and after the Apostolical Mode as far as by their Writings appears and thus far we are the same with them in the External Worship and Service of God and the same with all other true Churches as far as they are the same with the Apostolical and differ from them no farther than upon a serious Enquiry we find they differ from these We expect T. W. should stand to this Description of Church Unity he has here given us and if he does we can easily make it appear he has ruin'd his whole Book and Cause for if this be the true proper Unity of Churches then there may be true Church Unity without the uniting of many particular Churches Ministers and People into one Diocesan Church under the Jurisdiction of a Prelate and his Officers then there may be true Church Unity without a necessary observation of the same Parochial Precincts I do not speak against the conveniency of such a thing but only observe that it is not de Essentiâ Unitatis according to this Mans definition and there may be true Church Unity without an absolute Uniformity in the same Modes and Circumstances of Worship and consequently a Man may plead to the Jurisdiction of a Diocesan Prelate may step over Parish Bounds and may worship God without the Ceremonies used in England and yet be free from the guilt of Schism for if none of these things be Essential to the Churches Unity they may be omitted and that preserved entire notwithstanding Touching the continuance of the Church of God upon Earth we have no Controversie with him we believe it will be till Christs second coming but whereas he affirms that the power wherewith our Saviour vested the Apostles was not to cease or expire with them we think a Man of Sence would have distinguish'd betwixt the extraordinary power which was properly Apostolical and that ordinary Pastoral power which was eminently comprehended in the other as to the former we do not