and his and are under a political oeconomy of the same nature and he that understood it very well said That Satan was not divided against Satan because if he were his kingdom could not stand But it hath stood firm and undivided ever since it was first formed before the sensible Creation it was never yet shaken with intestine Divisions there was never two or three opposite Soveraigns at one time in that cursed Hierarchy nor two or three Pretenders to the Chair of Lucifer And therefore I hope bare Unity or want of Divisions will never hereafter pass among considering men for a mark of a truly Catholick Church And as it is among Spirits so 't is among men The worst Fraternities have sometimes the firmest Union as we of this Nation very well remember the Time when those of the great Rebellion boasted that God had united the Hearts of his People in his Cause as one Man nevertheless those pretended People of God whose Hearts and Hands were so united that we could not break their Bonds of Union asunder were no better then a Band of Rebels and their Cause downright Rebellion against God and the best of Princes tho' they acted in it as if they had been all informed with one common Soul. The like hath often happened in Ecclesiastical Societies The Samaritans who had neither Sadduces nor Pharisees nor Essenes nor Herodians nor Cabalists nor Carraites among them for that Reason had a firmer Union among themselves then the Church of the Jews had and yet they were not the true Church So among the ancient Christians the Novatians lived in perfect Peace and Unity among themselves when there were many Feuds and Contentions among the Catholicks Which shews that bare Unity is not a good Test whereby to try Churches or if it were I am confident the Church of England upon a fair tryal would carry the Garland from the Roman and appear to be the more Catholick Church Could there be found any fit and indifferent Judge between them I durst as far as I am concerned put the merit of the Controversie between us and the R. Cs. upon this single point of Union and would engage to render my self a Proselyte if their Church carried the Cause Perhaps they may think his a very bold Challenge because of the great number of Sectaries that have gone out from us but then they are to consider that as the Protestants which in several Parts of Europe under several Denominations have gone out from them are now nothing unto them so neither are the Congregational Sects which went off from us any thing or of any account to us But take our Church and theirs as they are precisely in themselves without any regard to their respective Separations and I am very confident for all their boastings of Union that the Church of England will be found to have both more potential and actual Union in it then the Church of Rome For first as to potential Union however the Church of Rome is actually united it hath the seeds of Division in its Bowels and as Rebeckah once had different Nations so has she different Churches struggling in her Womb. The Principle of the Pope's Supremacy is it self sufficient were there no more to cause continual Feuds and Factions in the Popedom and * In his excellent Tracts De causis dissentionum in Ecclesiis de primatu Papae ad calcem Salmasii de primatu Papae Nilus Bishop of Thessalonica did most judiciously assign it for the cause of all the Divisions that then tore the Catholick Church into pieces the Bishops of Christendom not being able to endure the Usurpation nor other Churches contrary to their fundamental Liberty to be Subjects to the Roman Church The exercise of this usurped Power of the Pope's being the supream ordinary of the Universal Church is that which makes the Roman Bishops themselves sigh and murmur in private and say with Spalatensis where they can say it safely Frater noster ille est Collega Coepiscopus nobiscum and however they conceal their Resentments as the Spanish Prelates did before the Council of Trent yet they are willing upon the first opportunity to assert their Apostolical Equality and like the English Prelates at the time of the Reformation will be glad when they can do it with a prospect of success to cast off the Yoke which makes Christendom groan and which neither they nor their Predecessor were able to bear Let but Christian Princes say the word and then we shall see what the Bishops will do or let there be but a free and general Council indeed and then let us see if the Pope shall not be told in both ears That the Church Universal is a great Colledge and the Government of it Aristocratical that the Episcopat is one but that it is divided among all Bishops whereof every one hath his share that the Apostles received equal Power and Authority from the same Masters that the Bishops were their Successors and that the other Bishops receive their Authority no more from the Successor of St. Peter then he doth from them but that all receive it alike from Jesus Christ When it shall be safe the Bishops of the Roman Church will talk and write as much to this purpose as ever the English Divines did who in asserting this Doctrine follow the Example of their Ancestors before the Reformation I mean the Saxon Bishops one of whom in his Advice to his Clergy speaks thus * Ge sceolon eac Æ¿itan þat eoÆ¿re hades syndan þa aesteran hadar aester urum hadum and us þa nystan gelice þa biscopas syndan ongeÆ¿rixle þara Apostola on þaere haligþa gesomnunge sÆ¿a syndan þa maesse preostas on þam geprixle â—pister þegna þa Bâ—scâ—opas Aapones and þa maesse preostas Æ¿one had his suna Spelm. Concil uol 1. p. 586. Ye ought to know that your Order is next after and next to ours for as the Bishops are in the place and stead of the Apostles over the holy Church so are the Priests in the place of the Disciples The Bishops are of the Order of Aaron and the Priests have the Order of his Sons This Doctrine in all likelihood will one day revive against the Soveraign Pontif for the Spirit of the Archbishop of Granata will for ever be upon the learned Prelates who like Elastick Bodies under pressure are under a constant inclination to recover their liberty and will recover it as soon as they can The next dividing Principle in the Church of Rome is The Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is a Doctrine more full of Contradictions then perhaps any other which Men or Angles can invent It is contrary to all the Senses and Reason of Man to the plain and obvious sense of those very words upon which it is grounded to the Belief of the ancient Catholick Church to the Principles of almost all Sciences It multiplies the hypostatical Union it makes Christ to
Cities and Kingdoms to Rebellion because they consist of Subjects that may be tempted to rebel so all Christian Churches are subject to Schisms and Heresies because they consist of Members that may be drawn in to begin and carry on Heresie and Schism The Catholick Church notwithstanding its holiness and all the particular Churches in it are Bodies politick that like other Corporations consist of peaceable and unpeaceable dutiful and undutiful Members and it is really no stranger that a Diotrephes Montanus or Novatus should prove a Schismatick then that Judas should prove a Thief and a Traitor or the lustful Corinthian commit Incest in the Church of God. What hinders that this or that Member of a Church may not become a Schismatick as well as a Murderer Drunkard or Adulterer Is it not consistent with the wisdom of God or the honour and oeconomy of the Catholick or a Catholick Church to leave the Members of it in a capacity to commit Schism Fieri vero haec dominus permittit patitur manent propriae libertatis arbitrio ut probatorum sides integra manifeslâ luce clarescat Cypr. de Vnit Eccles Doth the nature of a true Church require or hath God any where promised to over-rule the free wills of orthodox Christians so that they shall not fall into Schism as well as other sins Hath he either made them impassible as to this single vice or restrain'd the Devil from tempting them to it If he hath let those who upbraid us with our Divisions shew it and if he hath not then it must follow that the Clergy and Laity of all the Churches in the World being left as free to commit Schism as Rebellion or any other wickedness all Churches whatsoever must be subject to the sad misfortune of Heresie and Schism The natural Body is not more subject to Diseases then the Body politick of the Church is subject to Divisions though she have the honour to have Christ for her Head yet is she not exempted from having her Peace broken or her Unity divided That is only the priviledge of the Church triumphant where Charity is perfected and therefore to pass from Reason to the History of the Christian Religion we find as many Cautions and Exhortations in the Scriptures against Heresies and Schisms as against any other mortal sin What an excellent Admonition against Schism did St. Paul give the Bishops and Presbyters of Ephesus or rather all the Bishops of Asia Minor assembled at Miletus Take heed saith he unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers For I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears The Apostle knew very well that God in his wisdom thought it not fit to prevent Heresies and Schisms in the most Apostolical Churches by his Almighty power but to suffer them as well as other sins for the manifestation of the good from the bad and that in such a mixture as a Church must be they were necessary to sift the Wheat from the Tares to separate the Gold from the Dross and distinguish those that are sincere stedfast and genuine Sons of any Catholick Church from those that are not Thus in his 1. Ep. to the Church of Corinth which I suppose was a very Apostolical Church he tells them that God thought fit to let Heresies and Divisions arise among them that the faith and constancy of some and instability vanity and hypocrisie of others might be made more evident I hear saith he that when you come together into the Church there are divisions among you and I partly believe it for there must be also heresies or dividing into Sects among you that they which are * Avolent quantum volent paleae levis fidei quocunque afflatu tentationum co purior Massa frumenti in horreâ domini reponetur Tertull de praescript Haer. 3. approved may be made manifest among you So saith St. John of the Antichrists which in his time arose in the Catholick Church They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us And our Blessed Lord who was the Founder of the Church and may be presumed to have best understood the nature of it had no other notion thereof then as of a Body Corporate that was subject like other Societies to the great inconvenience of intestine Divisions and falling into opposite Sects and Schisms It must needs be saith he considering the nature and future estate of the Church that offences come but wo unto the man by whom the offence cometh And in his Sermon on the Mount saith he unto his Disciples Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps-cloathing but inwardly they are ravening wolves And in the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ‖ Memores simus tam dominicarum praenuntiationum quà m Apostolicarum literarum quae nobis faturas haereses praenuntiarunt sugiendas praefinierunt Tertull. ibid. Instruit dominus multos esse venturos sub pellibus ovium rapaces Lupos ibid. he foretold the sad condition of the primitive Church before the destruction of Jerusalem that about that period there should arise false Christs and false Prophets and should shew great signs and wonders and deceive if it were possible the very Elect. This prediction of the Blessed Jesus was fulfilled in the time of the Apostles who were all infallable Guides of the Church for St. Paul in his 2. Ep. to the Thessalonians saith That the mystery of iniquity was then a working and the wicked one to be revealed whose coming was after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceitfulness to bring them that perish to commit unrighteousness because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved So St. Peter in his 2. Ep. general to the Catholick Church tells the Christians That as there were false Prophets in the Church of the Jews so there should be false Teachers among them who should privily bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and that many should follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the truth should be evil spoken of Every one that is versed in Ecclesiastical Story knows that these Apostles mean Simon Magus who was baptiz'd by Philip and the rest of the Ring leaders of the Gnostical Heresies who were all Magicians as well as Hereticks and wrought wonders to prove that Jesus was not the Christ For this Reason they are called * Johannes in Ep. eos maximè Antichristos vocat qui
the least to the greatest give heed unto him as the great power of God Though he renounced the Devil at his Baptism yet he kept fast hold of his Soul by this evil Affection which was the gall of bitterness that poisoned his mind the bond of iniquity whereby Satan held him when he made him the first of his Apostles the first of those very Antichrists who in that Age of Miracles came after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders to deceive if it were possible the very Elect. The fourth sort of Instruments which Satan employs in making Divisions and Schisms are covetous men who love to be at the Head of a Sect or Party because it is the ready way to get a good Maintenance and become rich There were such as these in the Apostles days as is plain from that notable passage 1 Tim. 6.5 where he mentions perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is Godliness and from such saith he withdraw thy self for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out There were such men as these in the Church of Corinth who made Parties among the People for their own ends which gave the Apostle occasion to rebuke them in words to this effect * 2. ep cap. II. ver 19 20 As wise as you think your selves to be you do with pleasure bear with fools nay ye suffer worse then fools for you love men that bring you into bondage you love men that devour you and take Presents of you nay you love them best that insult over you and as it were smite you on the face So St. Jude tells us That the Gnostical Hereticks ran greedily after the Error of Balaam for reward And in the Apostle's Epistle to Titus we find him forewarning him of certain unruly and vain talkers and deceivers whose mouths saith he must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucres sake So †2 Mand. 12.2 St. Hermas who was St. Paul's Scholar and wrote not long after him speaks of false Spirits in his Time who received Reward for their Divination and if they do not receive saith he they do not continue long to prophesie So ‖ Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 18. Montanus the Heretick and false Prophet after he had gathered a great concourse of People together at the Place which he called the New Jerusalem he appointed Collectors of Money who under the Name of Offerings took Gifts and Presents of the People and his pretended Prophetesses took not only Gold and Silver but fine Cloaths by way of Present nay saith Apollonius those who are called Prophets among the Montanists take Money not only of the rich but of the poor and Orphans and Widows and therefore saith he either let them deny that their Prophets take Money which we will prove by an hundred Testimonies or else let them deny that they are true Prophets because they take Gifts So I shewed in the first Chapter that Natalis the Confessor was hired with Money to be a Bishop of that schism in Rome which taught that Christ was a meer man saith the Historian of him Being tempted with the Bait of Primacy among those of that Sect and of filthy Lucre which is the destruction of many men he was scourged all night long by the holy Angels and rose betimes in the morning and having put on Sackcloath and Ashes he went in great hast and with tears in his eyes cast himself down before Zephyrinus the Bishop and fell down not only before the feet of the Clergy but of the Laity also and after much entreaty and shewing the Stripes which he had received when he was a Confessor he was admitted into the Communion of the Church Before he was beaten by the Angels our Lord frequently admonished him of his Sin by Visions in his Sleep being unwilling that a Confessor for Christianity should perish in Heresie and Schism but the love of Preheminence and Money so bewitched him that he was fain to use severer Methods with him and give him a Thorn in the Flesh before he would repent He was constrained to lash him out of the Circle in which he stood enchanted by the Devil and as it were by force and violence break the double Chain of Ambition and Convetousness with which he had bound himself to Satan and save him by a Miracle as great as his Sin. The last sort of men by which the Devil propagates and promotes Divisions and Schisms are contentious and litigious men as it is written by the Apostle If any man be contentious we have no such custom nor the Churches of God. I confess there is a contentious Disposition which is the effect of Ambition and so is co-incident with the third particular Cause which I assigned of Heresie and Schism but then there is a contentious Disposition of another sort which proceeds from a sophistical disputatious Humour and a little sort of pride in men that makes them love to oppose and contradict every thing for contradictions sake This contentious Humour is most visible in men who are hot and cholerick and it naturally puts them upon Controversies and Disputes and maintaining Paradoxes and calling received Doctrines into question and opposing things that are established and rather then sit down and be quiet it will be opposite to it self and be against that for which it was before This restless unquiet sort of Spirit hath bred much mischief in all Societies but especially in the Church of God. It seems to me to have been the Temper of the Elder Arius who as the * Socrat. l. I. c. 5. Historian tells us was expert in Logical Subtilties and †Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of a contentious humour opposed his Bishop discoursing a little too curiously about the mystery of the holy Trinity If this litigious humour at any time happen to be for the Truth it is not out of love to Truth but with a design to oppose others as we read of some who preached the Gospel not out of good intent but meerly to oppose the Apostle Some indeed saith he preach Christ of meer envy and strife and some also of good will the one preach Christ of contention not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds but the other of love knowing I am set for the defence of the Gospel To conclude this litigious Humour is expressed in Greek by a word which signifies the love of Contention because it is the delight and pleasure of contentious men to be of a Party and live in the dust of Controversie they are no longer easie and happy than they are engaged in some Quarrel And therefore saith they are engaged in some Quarrel And therefore saith Theophylact on Galat. 5.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All Heresie proceeds from the love of Contention and the contentious
and over-inquisitive men who trusting too much to their own Understanding love as the Apostle speaks to intrude into things which they have not seen and are vainly puffed up with their fleshly Mind †De praescript Haeres § 14. Tertullian in his Tract against the Heresies of his Time complains grievously of these men who were always moving nice and curious Questions about things which it was better to be ignorant of then to know and who as his phrase imports loved to exercise the ‖ Quantumlibet quaer as tractes omnem libidinem curiositatis essundas whole lust of their Curiosity about doubtful and obscure things Their Curiosity as he complains was above their Faith and their vain-glorious affectation of being counted learned and witty above the care of their Souls and therefore they must search the Scriptures to find out new Doctrines and Opinions and if they cannot find them there they will be sure to bring them thither tho' never heard of before and never so contrary to the unanimous Tradition of all the Apostolical Churches These men he complains of for the great Adulterators of Scripture and of such as they were the Apostle is to be understood 1 Tim. 1.4 I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other Doctrine neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister Questions rather then godly Edifying which is in the Faith. So in Chap. 6.3 4. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness he is conceited knowing nothing but doting about questions and disputes about words whereof cometh envy strife railings and surmisings So in his 2d Ep. 2.23 saith he unto him Avoid foolish and unlearned questions knowing that they gender strife And so in his Ep. to Titus Chap. 2.9 Avoid foolish questions and Genealogies and contentions for these are unprofitable and vain and a man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject These over-curious and too inquisitive Wits who hunt after new Discoveries and rack their Inventions as well as the Scriptures to publish some new thing are well disposed by temper for Heresie They think indeed they know something but really they know nothing as they ought to know when they begin to despise the Simplicity of the Christian Religion and the Doctrine and Tradition of the Elders and by the wantonness of their Wits and Understandings give occasion to Satan who observes all mens Tempers to tempt them into Heresie and Schism * Longum est universa ipsus opera commemorare quibus profecto summis Aedificatoribus Ecclestae par esse potuisset nisi profanâ illâ haereticae curlositatis libidine novum nescio quid invenisset quo cunctos labores suos velut cujusdam Leprae admixtione soedaret cap. 16. Vincentius Lirinensis observes that Apollinaris fell into Heresie through this lust of Curiosity and that †Tantus ac talis dum gratiâ dei insolentiûs abatitur dum ingenio suo nimium indulger sibique satis credit cum parvi pendit antiquam Christiane religionis simplicitatem dum se plus cunctis sapere praesumit dum Ecclesiaticas traditiones verterum magisteria contemnens quaedam Scripturarum capitula novo more interpretatur meruit ut de se quoque Ecclesia dei diceret Si surrexerit in medio tui propbeta Origen also through too great a confidence in his own Parts and too much fondness and indulgence for his own Notions of the greatest Doctor the Church ever had became plainly such a one to whom one might justly apply those words of Moses Si surrexerit in medio tui propheta If there arise among you a Prophet saying let us go after other Gods thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul The next sort of Instruments which the Devil makes use of in inventing and propagating Hercsie and Schism are ambitious and aspiring men who would fain be Governours in the Church and sit in the Thrones of the Apostles and when they cannot compass their Designs then out of Envy and Revenge they strive to turn all things topsie-turvy and bring confusion upon the Church Such as these was Diotrephes who loved to have the preeminence He would fain have had St. John's Chair and to that end raised Sedition against him prating against him with malicious words and perswading the Church not to receive him Such also was Thebuthis the first Heretick and Schismatick in the Church of Jerusalem as I have shewed in the first Chapter Such also were Montanus Novatus Arius Natalis the Confessor and almost all the famous Heresiarchs in the ancient Church Such also was Melitius a Bishop of Aegypt who being deposed from his Bishoprick for denying the Faith and sacrificing unto Daemons in the Dioclesian Persecution became the Head of that which from him took the Name of the Melitian Heresie and Schism He loaded Achilles his Superior who deposed him with all manner of Calumnies and Reproaches as also his Successors Peter and Alexander who ratified the Deprivation of him and conspired with Arius against the latter that he might be revenged on the Church For Pride and Ambition is the Mother of Envy Revenge and Discontent it was the original Sin of the Devil and when he meets with proud men after his own image his work is half done and it will cost him but little trouble to tempt them to break the Peace and divide the Unity of Churches whereof they are Members So an ancient * Responsâ—ad orthodox quaest 〈…〉 Author in Answer to this Question Whether it is just to damn Hereticks who do their best Endeavours to know the Truth and cannot Saith he It is manifest that all Heresies arise from a vain affectation of Glory and study of opposition in the Authors and Ring leaders of them and therefore the Apostle calls them grievous Wolves And saith St. Chrysostom in his first Homily upon the first Epistle to Timothy Because they do not love their Brethren they envy those that have a good Report and from this Envy proceeds a desire to be above them and to rule and from this desire to rule come Heresies So saith Theophylact on Galat. 5. The desire of Ruling is the Mother of all Heresies And saith another * Isidorus Pelusiota p. 441. ancient Writer From affectation of Government and getting above others which are two domineering Passions I think most Heresies arise for those who do not love to be in the rank of Subjects sow new Doctrines that they may be Chief of a new Sect. And indeed this was the temper of Simon Magus the first Heretick and false Apostle he affected to be a great man and to have the People from