In contradiction to which the Dean's Substitute's Assertion is p. 226. That Excommunication casts a man out of the visible Society of Christ's Church not of this or that particular Church only but of the Whole Christian Church He that is cast out of one Church is thereby cast out of all and separated from the Body of Christ which is but One. And therefore such are out of a state of Salvation As if it had been said in opposition to Mr. Hooker Such as are Excommunicate are shut out clean from the Visible Church yea and from the Mystical Church A Notion that Mr. Hooker considers as held by none but Papists for he immediatly addresseth himself to the Church of Rome thus With what congruity then saith he doth the Church of Rome deny that her enemies whom she holds always for Hereticks do at all appertain to the Church of Christ How exclude they us from being any part of the Church of Christ under the colour and pretence of Heresie when they cannot but grant it possible even for him i. e. the Pope to be as touching his own personal perswasion Heretical who in their opinion not only is of the Church but holdeth the chief place of Authority over the same The like may be said by way of Answer unto our Author Moreover the Learned and Judicious Dr. Field Son of the Church is as full in contradicting what is asserted by our Author For this Dr. of the Church discoursing about the Schismatick says lib. 1. c. 13. That their departure is not such but that notwithstanding their Schisme they are and remain parts of the Church of God Schismaticks notwithstanding their Separation remain still conjoyn'd with the rest of God's people in respect of the profession of the whole saving Truth of God all outward acts of Religion and Divine Worship Power of Order and Holy Sacraments which they by vertue thereof administer and so still are and remain parts of the Church of God The like is asserted of such as are cast out by Excommunication c. 15. But I 'll not enlarge any further having sufficiently evinc'd that the Opinions of this man who treats the Dissenters with so much scorn and contempt are such as were antiently by Queen Elizabeths Protestants exploded as Popish and at this very time I verily believe rejected by the greatest part of the Episcopal Clergy and that the Contest now is not so much between Dissenters and the Church of England as between a few under the name of the Church of England on the one part and the greater number of the Church of England with the Dissenter on the other The former under the notion of running down Dissenters are preparing materials to meet the Papist The other to the end they may the more effectually prevent the Designs of Rome have sent forth their Plea for the Nonconformist finding themselves concern'd to check the Insolence of those who in this day of common Calamity would ruine the conscientious Protestant Dissenter This being so I must beseech the Reader not to misapprehend me in what follows as if I had been speaking reproachfully of the Church of England because I cannot but discover how agreeable the Sentunents of the Deans Substitute about Church-Government are unto those embrac'd by the French Papist That I may the more clearly shew what are the mischievous Tendencies of our Author's Notion about Church-Government I will give in short the most distinct and truest state of the Controversie I can shewing what is granted by sound Protestants and what not What are the Doctrines of the Papists How far the French and Italian Papist agree and wherein they differ and in what respects the Dean's Substitute concurs with the French § 1. All are so far agreed as to conclude That God hath had a Church at all times in every Age of the World We might be very particular in considering the divers Denominations under which the Church falls answerable to the divers capacities of the Members thereof and the divers states in which it is and hath been which I shall at this time pass by § 2. That the Church is but One one Body united to one Head § 3. That this One Church must be considered as the Members thereof are scattered up and down the World c. and as they are joyned together in particular Societies The former is call'd the Church Universal the other a Particular Church The Papists themselves do acknowledge That the Church must be considered as Universal and as Particular though they look'd on the Universal to be such whose whole existence was in Particulars as Universale est unum in multis singularibus Whence it follows That such as are not members of a Particular Church they belong not unto the Catholick Visible Church This very Notion hath been embrac'd by some to wit the Old Independents but of late it hath been generally exploded by Divines of that name they leaving it to entertain such as the Dean's Substitute § 4. That the Church of Christ is under Government There is such a thing as Church-Government Jure divino The Papists both French and Italian The Protestants whether Episcopal Presbyterian Congregational or Anabaptist heartily agree in Thesi about this § 5. The great difference is concerning what that Church-Government is which is of Divine Institution Where 't is seated whether in a Particular or in the Universal Church and whether it be Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical or mixt § 6. The Papists with whom the Doctor 's Substitute doth agree assert That the Universal Church is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Church-Government That all Church-Officers belong to the Universal Church and have an Original Right to govern the whole Universal Church Take the notion as found in the Defence We must saith he consider that all the Apostles had relation to the whole Church and therefore though being finite creatures they could not be every where at a time but betook themselves to different places and planted Churches in several Countreys and did more peculiarly apply themselves to the government of those Churches which they themselves had planted and ordained Bishops to succeed them in their care and charge yet their Original Right and Power in relation to the whole Church did still remain which they might re-assume when they saw occasion for it and which did oblige them to take care as far as possibly they could that the Church of Christ suffer'd no injury by the heresie or evil practises of any of their Colleagues P. 212. § 7. The Protestants excepting some obscure Writers assert particular Churches to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Church-Government among whom there are these differences 1. The Episcopal and Presbyterian differ from the Congregational and Anabaptistical about the extent of particular Churches e. g. the latter concluding that their number must be no more than are capable of personal communion the former contrarily judg That a company of a greater extent may be
A REPLY TO THE DEFENCE OF Dr. Stillingfleet BEING A Counter Plot for Vnion between the Protestants in opposition to the Project of others for Conjunction with the Church of Rome By the Authors Of the Modest and Peaceable Inquiry Of the Reflections i.e. the Country Confor Of the Peaceable Designe Then Abner called to Joab and said shall the sword devour for ever Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end How long shall it be then ere thou bid the people return from following their Brethren LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1681. To the Right Honourable THE EARL of HALLIFAX May it please your Lordship THE Design of these Papers being for the Glory of the King and the Peace of the Church we cannot think it dishonourable for any person of moderate Inclinations and in a capacity to serve so good an end to favour it Your Lordship therefore being at present at the Helme in the Administration of the greatest Affairs will not as we hope receive with any Disdaine this our humble Dedication Not that we concerne your Lordship in our little Contests as the Book is Controversal for we know Themistocles cannot fiddle but he can govern a State but because the Thing Designed is so momentous and concerns Statesmen such as your Lordship is We do intend no further avocation of your Honour from your other Imployment than to look over onely the Preface and the last Half Sheet of the Book wherein you will find a Foundation laid and Materials made ready There is wanting onely the Perfecting skill of some Master builder and then Hands to work We are sensible of the Meanness of such an Offering to so great and judicious a Person and being conscious that the blame which we deserve upon that account is too much for One there are Two of us to bear it Your Lordships humble Servants John Humfrey Stephen Lob. THE PREFACE IT hath pleased God that the hearts of most men at this present juncture or at least their faces are set upon Union of the Protestants and it is absolutely necessary that somewhat be done in order to a firm and lasting one among us Upon this point on all hands we seem to be agreed We must Unite or we must be undone but as for the means of obtaining this end the differences are many Some among the Conformists seem to propose an Execution of the Poenal Laws as a sure way of Uniting us Others as this Author of Dean Stillingfleets Defence c. insist on a Submission to the Bishops of the Universal Church to be the onely foundation of Unity in the Church The Dissenters differ from such as are of these Opinions and in the general assert That if ever an Union be obtained it must be by an Insisting onely on a Few Certain Necessary things as terms of Communion That the utmost severities of the Magistrate will rather fill the minds of the Sufferers with Prejudices against the Dictates of those men whose most powerful Argument is the Sword than Inlighten their Judgments or Dispose their Souls to any sincere Compliances and that the Notion of our Author to wit the Defender of the Dean of Pauls is Schismatical Upon this account it is not a little time is spent in a Representing the several Notions there are about the methods of Uniting us to be Ineffectual the one Party misliking the Proposals made by the Other But surely this is not the way to heal our breaches or put an end to the Warme and Indecent Contests that have been among us For which Reason though my principal aime is for Union yet will not I presume on any thing proposed by us I will onely acquaint the Reader with the Nature of the Ancient Constitution of our Government in Relation to Ecclesiastical Affairs and thereby shew what will most effectually conduce to Unite us in a way the least novel and most consistent with our Civil Establishment The which I can no sooner compass but I shall be capacitated to demonstrate to the World That the Principles of the Dissenter are very much adapted for concord not onely among themselves but with the moderate Episcoparians and very advantagious to the State in which they live The Ancient Constitution of our Government about Matters Ecclesiastical is very excellently describ'd in the Necessary Doctrine and Erudition of a Christian man composed by several Bishops and other great Doctors and approved by Authority in the days of Henry the 8th In this Judicious Tractate 't is manifest 1. That Church Government is Jure Divino 2. That to the Constituting such a Church Government those Church Officers onely are necessary who are mention'd in the New Testament 3. That in the New Testament there is mention made of no other Church Officers but Priests and Deacons That no other Government is of Divine Right but what is under the Conduct of Bishops or Priests i. e. Elders is evident in that the New Testament mentioneth no other Governours as Ecclesiastical but the Bishops or Elders whence that Government whose Constitution is such as that it becomes a Government on no other account than that the Governours are of humane make that Government cannot formally considered be of Divine Right 't is but Humane though circa Sacra 4. That Bishops or Priests the sole Governours of the Church are of one and the same Order their Power the same their work the same which is to preach the Word Administer Sacraments and Exercise Discipline All this I collect from what is asserted in the aforesaid Necessary Erudition about the Sacrament of Orders where 't is said That Bishops or Priests and Deacons are the onely Orders mention'd in the New Testament And of these two ORDERS onely that is to say Priests and Deacons Scripture maketh express mention That all others were afterward added by the Church That the Duty and Office of the Bishop Priest or Elder consisteth in true Preaching and Teaching the word of God unto the People in Dispensing and Ministring the Sacraments of Christ in Losing and Assoiling from sin such persons as be sorry and truly Penitent for the same and EXCOMMUNICATING such as BE GUILTY IN MANIFEST CRIMES and WILL NOT BE REFORMED OTHERWISE and finally in Praying for the Whole Church of Christ and specially for the flock committed unto ' em Thus the Order of a Bishop or Priest is one and the same whose Office is not onely to Preach and Administer Sacraments but moreover to exercise Discipline namely in Losing and Assoiling from sin such persons as be sorry and truly Penitent and in Excommunicating the Obstinately Vitious As much as if it had been said that Church Government and the Office of a Bishop or Elder is of Divine Right The Office of the Deacons in the Primitive Church was partly in Ministring Meat and Drink and other Necessaries to the poor people found of the Church partly also
Realm to the fixing the desired Firm and lasting Union among all sorts of sound Protestants These Assemblies once established as so many Compleat Particular Churches whose Pastors have full Power for the Administring all Ordinances and the exercising Discipline over those who do freely and of choice submit thereunto may notwithstanding lesser Differences be considered as United unto one another in that they Profess the same Faith Preach the same Word and Administer the same Sacraments For the Proof hereof consult the Necessary Erudition where t is said That the Unity of the Holy Church of Christ is not divided by Distance of Place nor by Diversity of Traditions and Ceremonies diversesly observed in divers Churches for good Order of the same And though in Traditions Opinions and Policies there was some Diversity among them i.e. the Churches of Corinth of Ephese c. likewise as the Church of England Spain Italy Pole be not separate from the Unity but be one Church in God notwithstanding that among them there is great distance of Place Diversity of Traditions not in all things Unity of Opinions Alteration in Rites Ceremonies and Ordinances or Estimation of the same such Diversity in Opinions and other outward Manners and Customes of Policy doth not dissolve and break the Unity which is in One God One Faith One Doctrine of Christ and his Sacraments preserv'd and kept in these several Churches without any Superiority or Preheminence that one Church by Gods Law may or ought to Challenge over another Thus Particular Parochial or Congregational Churches may be United in One God One Faith One Doctrine of Christ and his Sacraments even where there is some difference between them in lesser matters What though in one Parish there is a Liturgy in another a Directory shall this hinder Union Don't even the Papists themselves acknowledge that the Church of England was very closely United even among themselves notwithstanding the several different Offices there were in use among us in the times of Popery One Office after the use of Sarum another after the use of York of Bangor c. and yet all United Moreover what more common than to observe many little differences in Civil Corporations even where they are all United in one head A consideration sufficient to evince the Union of Parochial Churches to be Possible notwithstanding some Remaining Differences in Customs c. In these Kingdoms there are a multitude of Particular Corporations and little Policies whose Customs and modes of Government within themselves are very Different The particular Laws by which they are govern'd as a Particular Body Corporate are of as many different kinds as there are Cities Towns or Parishes but yet All United in that they swear Alleigance to his Majesty and submit themselves to the General Laws of the Land The different Customs of different places do not in the least break the Union of the Nation And why may it not be so in the Church What Reason can there be given why the Union of many a Civil Society or Association may be notwithstanding the different Customes are among them but the Union of many Particular-Parochial-Churches cannot be unless they all agree in every little thing Methinks it is as Reasonable to plead for a destroying the Particular Customes and Charters of Burroughs Corporations and Cities as the only way to Union in the Civil Government as 't is to assert That nothing but an Uniformity among every Parochial or Congregational Church can Unite us in the Ecclesiastical What though there are some differences among Parochial Churches as to their Customes and modes of Worship so long as they agree in One Faith One Lord One Baptism So long as they all Profess the same Faith Preach the same Word Administer the same Sacraments and submit unto the same Civil Government So long as they all Swear Allegiance to to their Prince and Subscribe any Test to assure the World they are sound Protestants the which being so what hinders a firm and lasting Union Certainly This is enough to shew that their Union if no more is as much as that between One City and another One Corporation and another and that their differences are no greater if so great than those between one City and another The which being so An Altering the Present Laws about Conformity and an Establishing such New ones as shall be Judged necessary by our Governours for the defence and safety of a Parochial or Congregational Church-Discipline as well as for the Regulating his Majesties Officers Circa Sacra will Unite us and put an end to that Horrid sin of Schism that hath these many years abounded in the midst of us Let the Dissenters be permitted to Embrace the Laws and Customes of their Fore-fathers in the Apostles days about Church-Discipline and the Mode of Worship and they are Relieved the which may be done without any Injury to the Conscience of any sound Protestant of the Episcopal Perswasion I say 2. This cannot but satisfie any moderate Episcoparian who may if he please firmly abide by those Ceremonies he now doth He may still Read the same Prayers among such as are of his own Opinion He may wear the same Vestments and address himself to his Majesties Officer the Lord Bishop as unto his Ordinary for Councel and Advice And if his Ordinary or Diocesan be an Elder for that is left to the Supream Magistrate to appoint he may look on him though in truth as such he being only the Kings Officer Circa Sacra as a Bishop who is of an Order Superiour to that of a Presbyter and so exercise Disciplene as he Receives Encouragement from him If there be any entring on the Ministry who think a Diocesane Episcopacy to be Jure Divino and is called unto a Parish or Congregation of the same Judgment This Candidate may if the Kings Officer be an Elder and of the same mind with him apply himself unto him as unto his Diocesane and receive Orders from him and do all things as now unless our Governours Judge meet to make any Alteration as to the use of some Ceremonies Only let none be by Law compelled to do so Let those that are so weak as to think a Diocesane Episcopacy to be of Divine Right enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences the which being attended but with the vouchsafing the like Liberty unto others I know not why they may not be satisfied We are not for the Pulling down Lord Bishops nor for an Alienating Church Lands If it seem good to our Governours to continue them we only desire that the Nature of their Office be declared to be no other than what it was Antiently in this Kingdom which is That they are meerly the Kings Creatures That all they do must be in the Kings Name and by vertue of a Commission receiv'd from him That as such they are only the Kings Magistrates that act Circa Sacra That their work is only to see that the Bishops or Presbyters
Comment on the former entituled The English Pope Printed at London in the same Year 1643 and he will tell us That after Con had undertook the managing of the Affairs matters began to grow to some Agreement The King Required saith he such a Dispensation from the then Pope as that his Catholique Subjects might resort to the Protestant Churches and to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Fidelity and that the Pope's Jurisdiction here should be declared to be but of Humane Right And so far had the Pope consented that whatever did concern the King therein should have been really performed so far as other Catholick Princes usually enjoy and expect as their due And so far as the Bishops were to be Independent both from King and Pope there was no fear of breach on the Pope's part So that upon the point the Pope was to content himself amongst us in England with a Priority instead of a Superiority over other Bishops and with a Primacy instead of a Supremacy in these Parts of Christendom which I conceive no man of Learning and Sobriety would have grudged to grant him It was also condescended to in the name of the Pope that Marriage might be permitted to Priests that the Communion might be administred sub utraque specie and that the Liturgy might be officiated in the English Tongue And though the Author adds not long after that it was to be suspected That so far as the Inferiour Clergy and the People were concerned the after performance was to be left to the Popes discretion yet this was but his own Suspicion without ground at all And to obtain a Reconciliation upon these advantages the Archbishop had all the reason in the world to do as he did in ordering the Lords-Table to be placed where the Altar stood and making the accustomed Reverence in all approaches towards it and accesses to it In beautifying and adorning Churches and celebrating the Divine Service with all due Selemnities in taking care that all offensive and exasperating passages should be expunged out of such Books as were brought to the Press and for reducing the extravagancy of some Opinions to an evener temper His Majesty had the like Reason also for Tolerating lawful Recreations on Sundays and Holydays But the Doctor goes on If you would know how far they had proceeded towards this happy Reconciliation the Popes Nuncio will assure us thus That the Universities Bishops and Divines of this Realm did daily embrace Catholick Opinions though they professed not so much with Pen or Mouth for fear of the Puritans For example They hold that the Church of Rome is a true Church That the Pope is Superiour to all Bishops That to him it appertains to call General Councils That 't is lawful to pray for the Souls of the departed That Altars ought to be erected of Stone In sum That they believe all that is taught by the Church but not by the Court of Rome Another of their Authors tells us as was elsewhere noted That those amongst us of greatest Worth Learning and Authority began to love Temper and Moderation That their Doctrines began to be altered in many things for which their Progenitors forsook the Visible Church of Christ As for example The Pope not Antichrist Prayers for the Dead Limbus Patrum Pictures That the Church hath Authority in determining Controversies of Faith and to interpret Scriptures about Free-will Predestination Universal Grace That all our Works are not Sins Merit of good Works Inherent Justice Faith alone doth justifie Charity to be preferr'd before Knowledg the Authority of Traditions Commandments possible to be kept That in Exposition of the Scripture they are by Canon bound to follow the Fathers And that the once fearful names of Priests and Altars are used willingly in their Talk and Writings In which compliances so far forth as they speak the Truth saies Heylin for in some points through the Ignorance of the One and the Malice of the Other they are much mistaken there is scarce any thing which may not very well consist with the established though for a time discontinued Doctrine of the Church of England The Articles whereof as the same Jesuit hath observed seem patient or ambitious rather of some sense wherein they may seem Catholick And such a sense is put upon them by him that calls himself Franciscus â Sancta Clara as before was said So far Heylir Thus to carry on this Recenciling Design all the care imaginable must be taken to humour the Papist not only by prosecuting the Puritan with the greatest severity but the Pope must not any longer be stigmatized with the name of Antichrist all exasperating passages in any Book brought to the Press must be expung'd not one word of the Gunpowder-Treason for said Baker the Bishop of London's chaplain We are not now so angry with the Papists as we were twenty years ago and that there was no need to exasperate them and therefore the Book concerning the Gunpowder-Treason must by no means be reprinted the Divine Service must be in some respects altered that whereas the Reformers in Queen Elizabeth's time had a greater kindness for the Pope than those in H. 8. and Ed. 6. manifested by expunging a clause against the Pope viz. From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities Good Lord deliver us Even so in imitation Archbishop Land changes some phrases in the Book of Prayers for the fifth of November So far a Church of England Dr. To which I might add several other instances but I wish there had not been the woful occasion of insisting on so much By this time the Reader may see cause to suspect at least the Deans Substitute who in the Defence of the Dr. gives us the scheme of the old Grotian model so much esteemed by the Archbishop Laud who in his walking towards Rome kept most exactly thereunto But notwithstanding this caution must be had that we reproach not all the Church of England as if they had been such as this Author for I do verily believe there are very few this day in England among the Conforming Clergy who will approve of this mans notion but probably may judg themselves as much concerned to oppose it as any among the Dissenters I 'm sure Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury and Usher Primate of Ireland were persons of quite another principle and temper And not only Abbot and Usher but if we may judg of a Queen Elizabeth Protestant by the Writings of the famous Hooker and Dr. Field we may be sure that this man to say nothing of the Dean hath notwithstanding the great talk of the glory of the first Reformation forsaken the notion the old church of England had of the church and of such as are judged Schismatical falling in with the French Papacy about Church-Government as I will evince in the next Section SECT II. The Deans Substitutes agreement with the Papists about Schism even when he differs from the
Church of England detected His notion about the Government of the Catholick Church the same with that of the French Papist THAT our Author entertains notions about the nature of the Visible Church and of the Schismatical very different from what the old Queen Elizabeth Protestants did will appear with the greatest conviction to such as will but consult the famous Mr. Hooker and Dr. Field who do most expresly contradict what is asserted in the Dean's Defence The Dean's Defender doth extremely insist on the Unity of the Universal Church as what doth consist in more than in the Unity of the Faith though in combination of those other graces of Love and Charity and Peace to wit in an external communion Take his own words in answer to a supposed objection P. 183. But though Faith alone is not sufficient to Christian Unity yet Faith in combination with those other graces of Love and Charity and Peace make a firm and lasting union This I readily grant saith he but yet must add this one thing That Christian love and charity and peace in the language of the New Testament and of the ancient Fathers when they signifie Christian Unity signifie also one communion that is the unity of a Body and Society which is external and visible and doth not only signifie the union of souls and affections but the union of an external and visible communion P. 184. By the union of an external and visible communion he means the living in Christian communion and fellowship with each other that is a worshipping God together after one and the same external and visible manner P. 248. Moreover he adds That such as separate themselves from the external communion of any particular Church that is part of the Universal do separate themselves from the Universal visible Church All Schismaticks in his opinion cut themselves off from the visible Catholick Church even as all such as are excommunicated are cut off This is the notion of the Deans Substitute which is as agreeable to the sense of the Papist as 't is in it self grosly absurd and different from the doctrine of sound Church of England Protestants That 't is agreeable to the sense of the Papists you 'l find in a Conference between Dr. Peter Gunning and Dr. Pierson with two Disputants of the Romish Profession All Schismaticks say the Romish Disputants are out of the Church and quite separate from it as a part cut off is separate from the body Schismatick is a term contradistinct to Catholick No Schismaticks can be true members of the Catholick church for Schism as they define it is a voluntary separation of one part from the whole true visible church of Christ The correspondency that there is between the Author of the Deans Defence and those Papists about the formal reason of Schism is as much as if the Defender had fetcht his Definitition of Schism out of their Writings which notion as embrac'd by one that professes himself a Protestant is as grosly absurd as 't is contrary unto Protestant principles I say such a notion entertain'd by a professed Protestant is grosly absurd for it exposeth him to the triumph of the Roman-catholicks it being impossible that the Papists notwithstanding their Schismatical Impositions should be esteemed Schismatical by our Author For all such as are Schismatical are saith he cut off from the visible Catholick Church of which the Church of Rome is acknowledged to be a true part although from it these men as they are Protestants separate and so cut themselves off from the Catholick visible Church for such as separate from any true part of the Catholick church according unto him do cut themselves off from the Catholick church and are Schismaticks Take a view then of the admirable abilities of our Auther who must be considered to assert either that the Church of Rome is Schismatical or not If not Schismatical the church of England must be so or otherwise there may be a separation from the external communion of a particular Church that is a part of the Universal without being guilty of Schism or of separating from the Catholick church But if the Church of Rome be Schismatical 't is either cut off from the visible Catholick church or not if not then Schism consists not in a separating from the visible Catholick church that is a man may be a Schismatick and yet a member of the catholick church a thing that our Author denies But if the church of Rome be cut off from the visible Catholick church then the distressed Papist is in as sad a condition as the Dissenter he is cut off from the church of Christ and must be either damn'd or saved by another Name than that of Jesus Christ If the latter then farewell Christian Religion If the former Where shall we find any part of the Universal Church beside the Church of England All the Protestants beyond the Sea are in the same state with the Dissenter at home The Church of Rome and all such as are in Subjection to that See are cut off from the Visible Catholick Church and it may be all the Eastern Churches in the World too that is the Catholick Visible Church is confin'd within the Pale of the Church of England Pure Prelatical Donatism with a witness Where will not Considence when the attendant of Ignorance lead men Moreover This Notion as 't is grosly absurd in like manner 't is most contrary to the old Protestant Principles Consult Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity lib. 3. and you 'll find nothing more fully asserted than That the Visible Church of Jesus Christ is therefore One in outward Profession of those things which supernaturally appertain to the very essence of Christianity and are necessarily required in every particular Christian man But we speak now of the Visible Church whose Children are signed with this mark One Lord one Faith one Baptifm In whomsoever these things are the Church doth acknowledg them for her Children So far Hooker But you will it may be object That such as are Schismatical or Excommunicate may acknowledge One Lord hold One Faith and receive One Baptism And shall such be consider'd as Members of the Visible Church Take Mr. Hooker's own words for an Answer If by external Profession they be Christians then are they of the Visible Church of Christ and Christians by external Profession are they all whose mark of Recognizance hath in it those things which we have mentioned yea although they be impious Idolaters wicked Hereticks Persons Excommunicable yea and cast out for notorious Improbity Thus 't is evident that Mr. Hooker entertain'd apprehensions quite contrary to those of our Author yea and Mr. Hooker doth consider the very Notion asserted by our Author to be Popish which he doth as such most excellently expose As for the Act of Excommunication saith he it neither shuts out from the Mystical nor clean from the Visible but only from the Fellowship with the Visible in holy Duties
Universal Church are in the number of French Papists Thus Cassander yea and Grotius as to Church-Government were for a French Papacy Whether the Dean's Substitute be or be not I 'le leave to the impartial censure of the judicious Râ—â—der who is desired to consider his notion as compared with that of the Parisians 1. The Dean's Substitute doth suggest That the Universal Church is the first Seat of Government 't is a political organiz'd Body in which there is a Pars Imperans Subdita the Bishops in their Colledg being the Governours or Pars Imperans and all others of the Universal Church the subdite part It may be our Author to gratifie the Dean will deny the Universal Church to be a political organiz'd body as indeed he doth but 't is even when he 's resolv'd to assert That the Universal church is the Seat of Government and Discipline as if there could be any Government in any Society without a governing and governed parts But so it is as a National even so the Universal church with him is not a political body that is 't is not such a body unto whose constitution a pars Imperans and subdita is necessary even when its constitution is such that it cannot be but there must be in it some Governours and other Governed Therâ— is not a Regent part in the Catholick Church but there is a Governing part that is there are Governours viz. the Catholick Bishops in their Colledg who are the Governours of the Catholick church Thus our Learned Gentleman in one place endeavouring to fetch the Dean off from that difficulty Mr. Humphreys had driven him unto concerning the constitutive Regent part of the church of England as National doth say The Dean answers in my poor opinion with great judgment and consideration We deny any necessity of such a constitutive Regent part For though a National church be one body yet it is not such a political body as Mr. B. describes i. e. there is no such Government as cannot be without a Pars Regens Subdita p. 562. And yet he grants That Church-Governours united and governing by consent are the pars Imperans and christian peoplo in obedience to the Laws of our Saviour submitting to such government are the pars subdita p. 565. All which is true saith he without a Constitutive Regent Head i. e. There is a Governing part or a pars Regens or to speak English a Constitutive Regent part or Head without a Constitutive Regent Head The like is asserted of the Universal Church namely That it is a Church governed by the Colledge of Bishops which Colledge of Bishops are the Pars Imperans though not the constitutive Regent part For we must allow him to wallow in his contradictions But a Governing part there is in the Universal Church which Governing part is compos'd of Bishops II. The Governours of the Universal Church are Catholick Bishops in Council who though they are equals and as such have no Superiority over one another p. 213. yet the Colledge or these Bishops assembled have Authority and command over any of its collegues that is every single Bishop is under the Authority and command of this Foreign Council III. The Catholick Church is One when it is not rent and divided but united and coupled by the cement of Bishops who stick câ—ose together p. 596. The result of all is That the Catholick Church of Christ being one Visible Political Body it is a compleatly Organiz'd body on Earth hath its Governing and Governed parts The Visible Governing part being a Terrestrial Numerical Head though collective viz. A Colledge of Bishops a General Council A Notion that doth not only subvert the present constitution of the Church of England that thinks not it self accountable to any such Forreign Power but moreover in it self as grosly absurd as 't is suited to the French the Cassandrian or the Grotian Model leading us all to Unite with all the other parts of the Catholick Church by rendring an unwarrantable Obedience unto such a Governing Power as is seldom in being and when so as dangerous and of as destructive a tendency to the Government of Jesus Christ as that of the Italian Papacy But whether our Author had a clear prospect of this Intreague when at first he was put on it I 'll not venture to determine it being sufficient that I have fully proved That the New-Modell'd Episcopacy of this Gentleman is the same with that of the French which is as inconsistent with the old-establish'd Episcopacy of our Church as is the Italian Papacy For if our Author may safely exceed the bounds of those Laws that do with the greatest Severity forbid our Appeal to any Forreign Power by addressing himself unto a Forreign Colledge Why may not another presume to make his Appeal to the Court of Rome What Reason can be given for the One which will not prove cogent for the Other especially to such who living where they have constant experiences of the excellency of a Monarchical Government in the State may be easily induced to conclude Monarchy as admirable in the Church and then farewel Impossibilities viz. General Councils a Roman Monarch in the Church being much more desirable Having thus given a true state of the Controversie whereby we find our Author to agree exactly with the French Papist about Gâ—vernment asserting the Universal Church as such to be a Governed Body in which there is a Governour and the Governed 't will be requisite that as I have shewn what are some of the Absurdities which flow from it that I do moreover evince it to be in it self unsound and false That this may the more clearly and with the greater conviction be performed I will be so just as to do our Author all the right imaginable by taking notice what he seems to assert and what he 's resolv'd to deny and accordingly proceed to the strictest disquisition after the Truth Our Author asserts That the Universal Church as such is the Seat of Government 't is a Body under Government as much as if it had been said There must be in it a Governing and a Governed part It being impossible that Government should be without Order which Order is secundum sub Supra Wherever there is Government there must be a Superiour part Governing and an Inferiour Governed There must be Dominus Subditus This our Author seems to grant when he doth to this Assertion of the Government of the Universal Church add his thoughts about the Governours thereof which he saies are the Universal Bishops assembled in Council But alrhough this is what our Author doth assert he doth notwithstanding resolutely deny the Universal Church to be a Political Body what he saith of a National that he asserts of the Universal Church both which are Govern'd Societies but neither a Political Body p. 564 565. All which is to fetch off the Dean from Mr. Humphrey's and Mr. B's unanswerable Queries
Bishops made them Substitutes under them to help them which they called Priests and kept the name of Bishops to themselves But out of the Deacons sprang all the Mischief For through their hands went all things they ministred unto the Clergy they ministred unto the Poor they were in favour with great and small And when the Bishops Office began to have rest and be Honourable then the Deacons through Favour and Gifts climbed up thereunto as lightly as he that hath the old Abbots Treasure succeedeth with us And by the means of their practice and acquaintance in the world they were more subtle and worldly wise than the old Bishops and less learned in Gods word as our Prelates are when they come from Stewardships in Gentlemens Houses and from surveying of great mens Lands c. Then while they that had the Plow by the tail looked back the Plow went awry Faith waxed feeble and faint Love waxed cold the Scripture waxed dark Christ was no more seen He was in the Mount with Moses and therefore the Bishops would have a God upon the earth whom they might see and thereupon they began to dispute who should be greatest So far Mr. Tyndal in his Practice of Popish Prelates 3. The Malady and Disease of those times with their Causes were no sooner understood but several Worthy Persons applied themselves to a diligent search after the most proper Remedy and found that a Reformation must begin among the Clergy that all things must be reduc'd to the Apostolical Institution Discipline must be strictly exercised the which could not with effect be accomplished but by bringing all things to the first Institution For which reason Mr. Tyndall makes his enquiry after those Officers the Apostles ordain'd in Christs Church and what their Offices were concerning which take Mr. Tyndal's own sense in his discourse of the Practice of Popish Prelates Wherefore the Apostles saith he following and obeying the Rule Doctrine and Commandment of our Saviour Jesus Christ ordained in his Kingdom and Congregation Two Officers One called after the Greek word Bishop in English an Overseer which same was called Priest after the Greek Elder in English because of his Age Discretion and sadness for he was as nigh as could be always an Elderly man And this Overseer hath put his hands unto the Plow of Gods Word and sed Christs Flock and tended them only without looking unto any other business in the world Another Officer they chose and called him Deacon after the Greek a Minister in English to minister the alms of the people unto the poor and needy For in the Congregation of Christ love maketh every mans gifts and goods common unto the necessity of his neighbour Wherefore the love of God being yet hot in the hearts of men the rich that had the substance of this worlds goods brought of their abundance great plenty unto the sustentation of the poor and delivered it unto the hands of the Deacons Mr. Tyndall judg'd that according to the Apostolical Institution there were no other Officers in the Church but Elders and Deacons The Elders being of the same Office and Order with the Bishops they being two names belonging to one and the same person There is saith he Presbuteros called an Elder by Birth which same called immediately a Bishop or Overseer to declare what Persons are meant they were called Elders because of their Age Gravity c. and Bishops and Overseers by reason of their Offices And all that were called Elders or Priests if they so will were called Bishops also though they have divided the names now which thing thou mayest evidently see by the first Chap. of Titus and the 20th of the Acts Those Overseers which we now call Bishops after the Greek word were alway biding in one place to Govern the Congregation there Tyndal of the word Elder But Deacons were Overseers of the Poor and crept not into Orders till the Church grew Rich. Tyndal was not alone in this opinion it being also the sense of Famous Lambert and Dr. Barns who strenuously defended and at the last sealed this Truth with their blood One of the Articles for which they were burnt being about the Order of Priesthood I 'le give you in the first place Lambert's own answer to the ninth Article as I find it in Acts and Mon. Vol. 2. As touching Priesthood saith Lambert in the Primitive Church when virtue bare as ancient Doctors do deem and Scripture in mine opinion recordeth the same the most room there were no more Officers in the Church of God than Bishops and Deacons that is to say Ministers as witnesseth beside Scripture full apertly Hierome in his Commentaries upon the Epistles of Paul whereas he saith That those that we call Priests were all one and no other but Bishops and the Bishops none other but Priests men ancient both in Age and Learning so near as they could be chosen Neither were they institute and chosen as they be now-adays with small regard of a Bishop or his Officer only apposing them if they can coâ—â—â—e a Collect but they were chosen not only of the Bishop but also with the consent of the people among whom they should have their living as sheweth Saint Cyprian and the people as he saith ought to have power to chuse their priests that be men of good Learning of good and honest report but alack for pity such Elections are now banished and new fashions brought in which if we should confer with the form of the Election shewed of Christ by his Apostle Paul we should find no small diversity but all turned upside down To conclude I say the Order or state of Priests and Deacons was ordained by God but Subdeacons and Conjurers otherwise called Exorcistae or Acolitae which we call Benet and Collect were instituted by the invention of men and this you may find in the Law Dist 21. and other places where it is written Subdiaconatus tempore Apostâ—lorum non fuit sacer Subdeaconship in the time of the Apostles was no holy Order Dr. Barns in like manner had the same objected against him in the Articles for which he was burned I 'le give you the Article and his own sentiments concerning it as Mr. Fox relates in a Discourse set forth with Mr. Tyndal and John Frith's Works Article 6. I will never believe nor yet I can never believe that one man may be by the Law of Ood a Bishop of two or three Cities yea of an whole Countrey for it is contrary to Saint Paul which saith I have left thee behind to set in every City a Bishop And if you find in one place of Scripture that they be called Episcopi you shall find in many that they be called Presbyteri I was brought before my Lord Cardinal into his Gallery and there he read all my Articles till he came to this and there he stopped and said That this touched him and therefore he asked me if I thought it wrong
wait a while but at length humbly desire a Parochial Discipline instead of which they fall under the lash of new Impositions unto which they could not Conscienciously conform hence many Learned Judâ—â—â—us Godly and Faithful Ministers are cast out even at such a time when the Church had but a company of Illiterate Fellows to officiate in Publick From whence proceedeth the First Sâ—paratiâ—n as appears from what the old Smith said in his Answer to the Bishop of London's charge where you will find that although they separated from the Church because their faithful Ministers were turn'd out yet they even then made it manifest That they left not the Liturgy because it contain'd Forms of Prayer for they made use of a Form at their Separate Meeting Take Smith's words in a part of the Register Indeed as you said even now for Preaching and ministring the Sacraments so long as we might have the Word freely Preached and the Sacraments administred without the preferring of Idolatrous gear about it we never assembled together in Houses But when it came to this point that all our Preachers were displaced by your Law that would not subscribe to your Apparel and your Law so that we could not hear none of them in any Church by the space of seven or eight weeks except Father Coverdale of whom we have a good opinion and yet God knows the man was so fearful that he durst not be known unto us where he Preached though we sought it at his house And then were we troubled and commanded to your Courts from day to day for not coming to your Parish-Churches Then we bethought us what were best to do and we remembred that there was a Congregation of us in this City in Queen Marys days and a Congreagation at Geneva which used a Book and Order of Preaching Ministring of the Sacraments and Discipline most agreeable to the Word of God which Book is allowed by that Godly and Well-learned man Mr. Calvin and the Preachers there which Book and Order we now hold And if you can reprove this Book or any thing that we hold by the Word of God we will yield to you and do open Penance at Paul's Cross if not we will stand to it by the Grace of God Thus no Parochial Discipline being admitted but those who desir'd it being Ejected even at such a time when those who remain'd in Publick for the most part were Illiterate and Vicious the Separation begun The Ejection of the Godly Now Conformists the Sensuality of the remaining Clergy was a great Cause of the first Separation and not without great Reason For it being as essential to every true Gospel-Minister that he Govern the Church of which he is a Pastor as that he teaches and instructs it the taking from 'em so essential a part of their Office which by woful experience has been of a very ill tendency could not but occasion the Old Nonconformists to manifest their dislike to such proceedings and refuse the giving in an Assent and Consent thereunto for which Refusal they being Ejected the multitude of such as remain'd being Illiterate yea and Vicious in their Conversations the more sober People withdrew from the Publick and run after the Ejected The Scandals of the Clergy having had no inconsiderable influence on the Separation For which consult the Learned Dr. Burnet who saith In the Sponsions made by the Priests they bind themselves to teach the People committed to their charge to banish away all erroneous Doctrines and to use both publick and private Monitions and Exhortations as well to the sick as to the whole within their Cures as need shall require and as occasion shall be given Such as remember that they have plighted their Faith for this to God will feel the Pastoral Charge to be a load indeed and so be far enough from relinquishing it or hiring it out to a loose or ignorant Mercenary These are the blemishes and Scandals that lye on our Church brought on it partly by the corruption of some Simoniacal Patrons but chiefly by the Negligence of some and the Faultiness of other Clergy-men Which could never have lost so much ground in the Nation upon such trifling accounts as are the contests since raised about Ceremonies if it were not that the People by such palpable faults in the Persons and behaviour of some Church-men have been possessed with prejudices first against them and then upon their account against the whole Church So that these corrupt Church-men are not only to answer to God for all those Souls within their charge that have perished through their neglect but in a great degree for all the mischief of the Schism among us to the nourishing whereof they have given so great and palpable occasion The importance of those things made me judge they deserved this Digression Having been thus large in removing the Mistakes the Dr's Substitute seem'd to lye under let the Sober Reader judge Whether 't is any way probable that the Jesuits had an hand in the first Separation or whether the pretence about Spiritual Prayer was any ground of their Separation that is Whether they were against a Form of Prayer crying down the English Liturgy with a Design of setting up Free and Spritual Prayer in its stead SECT II. The Designs of the Jesuit against a Prelatical Episcopacy found to be none Some Differences between the first Reformers and our Author A Letter of Sir Francis Knolles to the Lord Treasurer Cecil out of which 't is prov'd That there is a Difference between some old Queen Elizabeths Bishops and the Dean c. The Author's Pretences about Antiquity confuted out of Bishop Jewel HIS Reply to what I offer'd to the Dean's second Argument falls now under Consideration The Dean in representing the Dissenter to the great Disadvantage of the Party insinuates as if their opposing Prelatical Episcopacy had been the most effectual way to cast reproach on the first Reformers and to introduce Popery In Answer unto this I did First prove 1. That it was not the Principle nor the Interest of the Jesuit to destroy Episcopacy A Truth the Dean's Substitute doth not deny 2. That the Reputation of the first Reformation is not in the least blasted by the Dissenter which I evinc'd with so much Demonstration that the whole that is returned by way of Answer is His not believing some of those persons on whose Testimony I insisted though he gives no Reason for his Unbelief His proving what I granted and his Extravagant Interpreting an Argument brought to evince That 't was not the Jesuits Interest to destroy a Prelatical Episcopal Constitution to be an admirable Address to the Lords and Commons to pull down Bishops and divide their Lands All which is done partly in his Preface and partly in the first Chapter of his great Book to shew himself an excellent Methodist But the whole is so little to the purpose that if he had not given an occasion to
's no Impartial Reader can believe that Mr. B. intended the Dr. in that lewd Character as he is pleased to call it and it is a rare faculty this Author hath of misrepresenting the words of other men and to put his sense upon them as he lists and then brazen it out I will add withall that it seems a little strange that Mr. B. that hath courage enough to libel Church and State as this Author often says and to cast dirt upon the Church and Church-men as 't is in his next page should be afraid to apply to the Dr. any part of that Character which he thought did belong to him The Gentleman proceeds in the same page But suppose he meant this of such Substitutes as had neither the Candor nor Learning of the Dr. I reckon a man may fall many degrees short of the Dr. and yet not deserve such a character or be unworthy of Mr. B 's notice Sir the question is not Whether a person may not fall many degrees short of the Dr. and yet not deserve that Character but whether a person may not fall so far beneath him as to deserve it and yet officiously substitute himself in the place of the Learned Doctor and whether such an one may not be unworthy of Mr. B's notice Our Author adds p. 4. As for the former i. e. Candour I confess a very great proportion of that is necessary for any man that will treat Mr. B. with any tolerable Civility when in all his late Writings he casts so much dirt upon the Church and Churchmen And this Author will not allow the Dean himself any great share of that though he has very sparingly considering the frequent provocations and very decently and modestly considering the occasions he takes for it rebuked that hussing Disputant To this I answer That Mr. B. hath reproved the faults of Churchmen in words pretty plain and sharp I do easily acknowledge and so have some regular Sons of the Church done also See Englands faithful Reprover and Monitor and a Book called Ichabod But that he hath thrown dirt upon them unless speaking truth be casting dirt I shall not easily grant and I am of opinion if this Author and some others had lived in the days of the old Prophets yea and of the Son of God himself and had heard their Sermons and Discourses they would have said That they Defamed the Governors of the Church and Libelled the State That a great deal of candour is necessary for those that will treat such as reprove them with Civility I do easily concede yea and a great deal of Humility Self-denial Tenderness of Conscience and the fear of God too But all this is no more than their Duty and if they had any considerable measure or degree of these Virtues they would find no great difficulty in treating such as reprove them with Respect and Kindness As to what concerns the Learned Doctor I have always esteemed him and do to this day a person of Candour but good men are sometimes transported and do such things as are inconsistent with the habitual Temper and Constitution of their own Mindes And I hope the excellent Dr. suffered some such kind of Transport when he replied to Mr. B. in his late Book That the Dr. did very sparingly decently and modestly rebuke Mr. B. which this Author calls a hussing Disputant I shall grant also if the Doctor 's rebukes be compared with this Authors For he hath observed no Laws of Modesty Decency or Decorum therein but after a most profuse and scornful manner hath reproached and despised him to his own greater Infamy and Reproach For Mr. B's Reputation for Learning and Judgment is too firmly established in the minds of Impartial and Unbiassed men that all that he can say to abate it will be but throwing water on a rock that will return and dash himself In the same page he addes As for the latter i. e. Learning I acknowledg my self such a Substitute as may not compare with the Doctor This I think bating the Texts of Scripture which he quotes is one of the truest passages in all his Book and I have a Veneration for truth and will not speak any thing to the disadvantage of it but let the Author have the honour of having spoke it once at least in a Book of six or seven hundred Pages Page the 5th he says I shall begin with the Reflecter who writes himself a Conformist Minister in the Country and this is the only thing considerable in it that it is the testimony of one of our own Church against the Dean of St. Pauls and for his adversaries And for that reason Mr. B. at the end of his Answers refers his Readers to him that those may receive that from a Conformist which he will not receive from such an one as he And then he addes But what is this to the purpose If there be some such Conformists among us now as there were in 1643 who raised a Church-War and then pulled down Church and State to set up a Presbyterian Party and such a Conformist our Reflecter is who vindicates Mr. B's Parochial Episcopacy which is but a new name for Presbytery as I have proved in the following Treatise To which I answer I had thought our Author had begun with the Reflecter some time since but peradventure what he hath hitherunto said hath been only like the slight velitations of the Avant-guards of an Army he intends now to fall to down-right blows Be it so 't is to be hoped the Reflecter may survive his most powerful Impressions and the rudest of his Assaults For though he talks like one of the Sons of Anak for ought that I can see be performs as little and something less than other men that do only but talk But to proceed to the matter I will assure him that the Countrey-Conformist gives no testimony against the Dean of St. Pauls or for his Adversaries but out of the Love and Zeal that he hath for Peace The Church of God in this Nation is broken into pieces Ephraim is against Manassâ—h and Manasseh against Ephraim and this I dare say is indeed matter of sad Meditation for I know him very well to the Countrey-Conformist who hath no other Controversie with the Reverend and Learned Doctor than on the behalf of Peace As to what our Author says concerning those Conformists that raised a War in 1643. and pulled down Church and State to set up a Presbyterian parity the Countrey Conformist hath nothing to say unless it be to assure him That as he had nothing to do in that so he never intends to have any thing to do in another He is no admirer of that which this Gentleman calls a Presbyterian Parity he very well likes of Diccesan Episcopacy provided their Diocesses be no bigger than they were in the first two hundred years yea than they were in the third and fourth Centuries in most parts of the
also both they and their Bishops are liable to the same Censure 4. That the external Union of the Catholick Church consists in their Union to and with the Bishops thereof that is with a General Council See pag. 595. where he makes Catholick Communion to consist in two things 1. In the Agreement and Concord of the Bishops of the Catholick Church among themselves 2. In the Communion of particular Churches and Christians with each other And he adds That Catholick Communion is no arbitrary thing but essential to the Church and whoever violates it by an unreasonable Dissent he is a Schismatick whoever he be and no Member of the Catholick Church pag. 601. 5. That Metrapolitan Patriarchal Churches are of Divine Appointment as much as any other Churches must govern their Churches by such Laws as are advised by a General Council or by the Bishops of the Church Universal For although they be not founded on any express Divine Law yet they are warranted by our obligations to Catholick Unity p. 293. And for my part I am not able to see any reason why the same obligations to Unity may not warrant one Papal Church as well as three or four Patriarchal Churches in all the Christian world For the Papists think it the most effectual way to preserve Unity and for ought that I know they may think as wisely as this Gentleman I envy neither him nor them the pleasure of their Dreams but I hope there are but few Church-of England-men that do think the same thoughts with him these were the thoughts of Hugo Grotius whom Bishop Bramhal commends and defends Unitas antistuis optimum est adversus Schisma remedium quod Christus monstravit Experientia comprobavit Vid. Annot. In consultat de Religione ad Art Sept. I have quoted the words of this Author and I am not conscious to my self that I have perverted them or made any ill deductions from them and if it be his design to unite all Pretestants in the Decrees of General Councils and in the Intervals of Councils in the Pope or three or four Patriarchs who are to govern according to their Canons I do assure him that I prefer Mr. Humfry's design far before it For I am of opinion 't is a more Christian Design to untie Protestants together and among themselves than to unite them with the Papists Mr. Humfry's Design I will transcribe from his Book that those that shall read these few Sheets may compare it with that of our Author Archbishop Usher hath left us his Model for an Accommodation And it hath been upon the hearts generally of all moderate persons that a reduction of such a Government into our Church as was in the Primitive Times when there was a Consessus Presbyterorum joyn'd with the Bishop in all his Acts of Ordination and Jurisdiction were the way and only effectual way to our true Happiness and Reformation Unto which if one thing more might be added that is If the Common-Prayer might be new cast it being fit that such a vessel for the Sanctuary should be all of pure Gold so as the whole of it were composed of Scripture-Phrase altogether leaving nothing at all liable any more to exception unless the Imposition of a Form only which I doubt not but is also justifiable by Scripture-Instances as well as sound Reason it might go near to put an end to all Dissention among the Sober and Peaceable of the Nation It is this I know is apt to recur into the Imaginations of good men and forasmuch as there was lately two Bills prepared for Comprehension or Uniting the Pootestants and for Indulgence or repealing the Penal Statutes I shall not I hope incur any blame if I apprehend that such men who are most considerate and intent upon the Interest of God in what they seek do or did look upon either of such Bills as no other than an English Interim preparative to this higher Concord and Union of the Bishop with his Presbyters according to the Primitive Pattern mentioned assoon as more mellow Opportunity and well-advised Piety should administer unto such farther Perâ—ection Nevertheless in regard there is no Uniting of a Nation can be supposed by any Model but such as is of Human Contrivance and there are multitudes of Holy and Learned Men in this Kingdom that do believe the way of their Gathered Congregations is after a higher Pattern than this of Primitive Episcopacy it self if there were any hope of the return of it it is manifest that there is no Society which is National in England could be formed on these terms because these Congregational-men can never recede from that which is of Divine Appointment for the sake of any Antiquity whatsoever They do hold Particular Churches to be of Christ's Institution and Diocesan of Ecclesiastical Consent only and under the Notion of Divine Right it is Sin to them to submit to any Bishop There is another Notion then that must be advanced to take in these good Men of This Way as well as those of the Parochial and Diocesan Way into one Political Body for the making up the National Church of England whereof the King is Head as I have been speaking and that is by an Act of Parliament Legitimating these Meetings of the Nonconformists so as to become thereby immediately Parts of the Church as National no less than Parochial Assemblies It was a good thing in the House of Commons that they were about to free many Innocent Men from the danger of the Penal Statutes but the making such Meetings to be Legal is a Design of another Nature of a far greater nobler and vast Importance See page 28 29 30 31. To which add what he says pag. 36. ' If these Separate Assemblies were made Legal the Schism presently in reference to the National Church were at an end Schism in a Separation from that Church whereof we ought or are bound to be Members If the Supreme Authority then loose our Obligation to the Parish-Meeting so that we are bound no longer the Iniquity upon that account is not to be found and the Schism gone It is one Act of Parliament would give a full Answer to all mens Arguments Mr. H.'s design may be easily gathered from these words which I have thus largely transcribed and should our Superiors favour and promote it it would restore peace and quiet to a Church and State almost broken to pieces by divisions animosities fears and jealousies By this means the sons of the Church might enjoy their Dignities Preferments and Livings and believe their Government and Discipline to be of Divine right and exercise it on all that are of the same apprehension and judgment The Separate Congregations may enjoy their own opinions concerning their own Government and Churches and all might live together in love and every one sit under his vine and fig-tree and none make him afraid A closer union I do easily grant were desirable but I am
said of particular persons I say of Churches Optimus est qui minimis urgetur vitiis He is the best man that hath least faults and there are none without them Those are the best Churches which have the least of defects and imperfections such as are without fault are not to be found out of Heaven And as among men the strong must bear the Infirmities of the weak so among Churches the strongest and most perfect must bear the Weakness and Infirmities of those that are more defective and imperfect If our Author should say that those that I plead for and call Churches are no Churches but acompany of Schismatical Conventicles I answer I am of opinion that they are as truly Churches and parts of this National Church or may be easily so made as the Churches of France Holland Geneva Switzerland c. are of the Universal But if our Author shall please to cut them off from the Catholique as I think according to his own Doctrine he must do I shall permit him the liberty for I know not how to hinder it to cut off these from the National Church having no mind at this time to debate the Justice of his Sentence Only I will beg leave to tell him that I can by no means believe that what he doth on Earth will be ratified in Heaven or that God will damn all that he gives up to the Devil If what hath been said doth not satisfie our Gentleman give me leave to suppose him a Minister of the Reformed Church in France be it at Charenton Caen Saumur or where you please and let me suppose that some Gentlemen of the Roman Catholick Religion address themselves to him after this manner Sir We pity your state and condition and have a kindness for you for though you be an Heretick you are one of human race the King our Master will have but one Religion in his Kingdom and you must comply with him or else you are undone your Estate your Liberty and peradventure your Life must all be sacrificed to him for he is resolved and peremptory in that resolution all must serve God the same way or they must bear the punishment of refusing it Here are the Subscriptions that are made by the Catholick Clergy do but set your hand to them and you 're safe and may share with them in the Preferments of the Church To this our Author answers Gentlemen I bear an honour to our Puissant and Invincible Monarch and am very ready to obey all his just commands but in this particular I pray you have me excused God is a King superiour to our Prince and must be obeyed before him I fear His Majesties Displeasure and Vengeance but I am much more afraid of that of God the one may hang or break me upon the wheel but the other will damn me for evermore I beseech you therefore interpose with his Majesty on the behalf of me and my Brethren that we may have the same liberty of worshipping God as for many years past we have enjoyed under him and his Royal Predecessors We vow all Duty and Allegiance to his Person and Government we will defend them with our Lives and Fortunes and we have nothing so dear to us unless it be our Consciences which we are not willing to sacrifice for his just Honour and Advantage The Subscription you propose I cannot make without the offence of God and my Conscience And I must beg his Majesties Pardon if I chuse to obey the God of Heaven before his Vicegerent here on earth The Catholick Gentlemen replies His Majesty is willing and resolved to put an end to all Differences and Controversies in Religion he is weary of those eternal Squabbles that are managed by Divines of different perswasions The Temple of Janus shall be shut he will have no more Religious Wars among his Subjects To grant you the Liberty of serving God after your own Way is not a method of ending Differences but of perpetuating them For when you are pleased others may succeed to you and under pretence of Conscience carry on Differences as high as ever Let our Author answer the Argument of these Catholick Messieurs and I do humbly conceive I may be able from his own words to answer that of the Doctor if it be not sufficiently done already but let him not misunderstand or pervert my words I do not affirm that the Impositions in the Church of England and those of the Church of Rome are equally wicked burdensome and offensive all that I say is they are both unlawful in the judgment of those that do refuse them and the Arguments against relaxing those Impositions or granting Liberty to those that do refuse them are the same and must receive the same Answers Pag. 9. The Conformist had said That he hoped our Governours would distinguish between those that subvert the Christian Faith and those that err in small things Our Gentleman answers Thus our Governours have distinguished already and yet it hath not put an end to our Controversies nor is he the Conformist sure that once more distinguishing will do it To which I reply That when and where our Governours have made this distinction I confess the Countrey Conformist is as ignorant as our Author will needs have him in the Constitution of our Church p. 10. What particular persons may have done I do not enquire but what the Governours of our Church have done They have determined the conditions of Communion and upon what terms the Clergy may minister at the Altar but where by any publick act they have distinguished between the great essentials of the Christian Religion which must be believed and lesser errors that may be tolerated I do not know and cannot find If this Gentleman thinks that all things imposed as conditions of Communion either upon Laity or Clergy in England are of the essence of Christianity and that all who have other apprehensions concerning them are damnable Hereticks let him enjoy his Faith to himself I am not like to become his proselyte nor I think many others P. 10. Our Author proceeds Will not the excluded parties cry as loud for Liberty of Conscience and complain of persecution as they do now Either these are good arguments or they are not If they be they will hold good in all cases that men must not suffer for their consciences but be allowed the free exercise of their Religion according to their own persuasions If they be not let them leave off the pretences of scruples and tender consciences with that liberty and freedom in exercising their Religion which they challenge as their natural birthright and demand no more of that than what the merit of their Cause requires In this discourse there are more strange things than one 1. He declares that if those arguments that are brought for free exercise of Religion from scruple and tenderness of Conscience be good they must be good in all cases The meaning is this One
Church which he himself takes to be such a Union But he cannot tell he says p. 561. why it is Accidental to the Church of Christ to be National any more then to be Universal or Patriarchal and Metropolitical any more then Universal but when I tell him that the Body of Christ which is his Church may subsist though there were never a Patriarch or Metropolitan in the Earth I hope he can see if he will how the consideration of the Church as Patriarchal or Metropolitical and so National must be Accidental to it And as for Christs command of planting Churches p. 16. in the whole world and so in Nations and Cities and Towns requiring Unity and Communion every where among Christians it may warrant the Combinations of Patriarchal Metropolitical National Diocesan and Parochial Churches to this end if he please provided only that these forms be held Accidental forms according to humane prudence and not the Essential form of the Church of Christ according to divine institution To the question whether a National Church be Political he offers something p. 562. and says the Dean in his Opinion hath answered with great Judgment in his denying any necessity of a Constitutive Regent part to be Essential to a National Church But I will make it appear that either the Dean or his Defender do speak here with little Judgment It is the Notion this Author hath proposed to publick consideration that the Bishops in every Nation are to Govern the Church by consent that is as Colleagues per litteras formatas when they convene not and when they do by their Canons in a Convocation This he makes throughout his Book to be of Christs appointment holding Episcopacy to be Jure Divino with others of his party If this then be true this Author hath found out a Constitutive Regent part yea an Ecclesiastical Constitutive Regent part of the Church in every Nation where there are Christians and Bishops And when he hath found out a Head for the Doctor how can he thus applaud the Doctors answer that denies the Church to have one or sayes there is no necessity of any When he does prove it to be a Church Political and the Doctors answer includes a denyal of it to be so how comes this man to be so full of reverence here with these words in his mouth To this the Dean answers in my poor Opinion with great Judgment and Consideration It is with great Judgment indeed is it not that the Dean hath given up the Cause of the Bishops And with great Judgment is it not that this man hath assumed the Prerogative of the King to their Colledge Let him take heed least he bring himself into question Many Churches Associated for mutual help and concord are a Church only in a loose sense but those that are constituted of one Regent and subdite part are Churches in a Political proper sense It is no body Political without one common Governour Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical Thus says Mr. Baxter p. 563. Unto which says this Author Herein does his strength p. 564. consist Answ I acknowledge it does and what hath he to weaken it I will Transcribe what he says If we deny this that though a National Church be one body yet it is not such a Political body as he describes which differs from secular forms of Government by that ancient Canon of our Saviour It shall not be so among you the controversie may be at an end and a National Church may be one body in an Ecclesiastical though not in a Civil Political sense This is the help the Dean must expect from his Defender and if the Doctor be not ashamed of his own answer for this desense sake I know not what should put any man to shame This man tells me in his Preface he will interpose between the Dean and shame in this Controversie Upon this account therefore I will take leave to tell him that he does here manifestly betray a raw ignorance which ought to shame him He understands the term Political to be Commensurate with Civil as if a Government Ecclesiastical could not be Political as well as a Government Civil that is as if a Church could not be Political as well as other Societies He does yet discover the same more then by words for he hath found out a Head for the Church which is Aristocratical and yet thinks the Church cannot be Political unless it have some Head that is Personal or as if a Head Collective were not One Head as vvell as one that is Monarchical This man vvho hath interposed betvveen shame and the Doctor must take shame upon him seeing he calls upon me to do my part honestly in the same place I say this man hath found an Ecclesiastical Constitutive Head of the Church and that of Christs own Institution if he understands what he drives at and yet he and the Doctor will not allow the Church of England to be Political I will advise him to consult with Bishop Gunning and the excellently learned and yet humble Mr. Dodwell who are living seeing he hath not taken his Notions from Bramhal or any other who are dead as I conjecture that he may be instructed better before we hear any more from him Mr. Baxter indeed understands himself throughly and tells us Association of Churches for Concord gratia Unitatis are no proper Churches But an United Colledg of Bishops for government gratia Regiminis is a formal Ecclesiastical Head about which was the Original Question And this this bold and herein but half informed Author who will interpose between shame and the Doctor doth not understand neither and as soon as he hath read this will he own the shame he hath taken upon him Above all is there any man unless so forward a one would ever have produced that saying of our Saviour If shall not be so among you for the proving a National Church to have no Head or that the Churches of Christ must not therefore be Political I shall not be blamed I hope therefore if I say now again what I said to the Doctor That if this man be not ashamed for himself and the Doctor I must be ashamed for them both If we deny this says he the Controversie were at an end Well but when it cannot be denyed we must look farther P. 565. We grant says he a National Church is a Political Society for Government by consent without Superiority is Government I grant too Church Governours united and governing by consent are the Pars Imperans and the people submitting to such Government in obedience to the Commands of our Saviour are the Pars Subdita and all this is true without a constitutive Kegent Head I Answer if he grants or rather asserts thus much a Government by consent understanding by it the Episcopal Colledg or Cyprians One Episcopacy as the Governing part and the People by the Law of Christ subdite to it then hath he found