is always most busie to sow his Tares amongst the best Wheat But that which is most to our purpose here to observe is that the same method which the Orthodox Christians then made use of for the Confutation and Conviction of Hereticks and Schismaticks we still appeal to by bringing them to the touchstone of Scripture and next to that the most Orthodox and Catholick Tradition Whereas how short and easie a decision to all debates might have been fetcht hence had they had the same apprehension of the Authority and Esficacy thereof by referring all Controversies depending to the determination of the Roman Church the Mother and Mistris of all and to that infallible conduct setled therein but not one word of that only when they make their appeals to her after the express Word of God it is in common with many other Churches especially those of Apostolical foundation as in Tertullian Irenoeus St. Augustin c. where they have to deal with such persons 3. The pretence of the most absolute Authority in the one part and the extortion of the most implicite Belief and blind Obedience in the other among them have not been able to secure themselves from considerable dissentions and Divisions in opinion and practice If these have not broke out ordinarily into the most open Schisms and Heresies the stop is more due to the craft and policy whereby they oft compromise the matter between both parties or to that outward force and violence which restrains them rather than to any opinion which they themselves have of this ready means of ending all disputes We find in the fiercest debates among them how little heed is given to this infallible cure farther than interest or necessity inclines them There may be a way of preventing controversies which destroys all Religion and makes way for Atheism in such a case I need not enquire where the advantage lies 4. We may answer most of those mischiefs had their rise from the ruines of the Church of England when that was violently assaulted and broken its Authority despised its Constitutions vilified its Order defaced its faithful Adherents persecuted then Faction and Disorder strange Doctrines Phrensical Opinions and all manner of looseness in Principles and Practices came in like a torrent and overspread the Land which before skulkt in corners and were little taken notice of The Restitution of the Church hath in great measure put a stop to their progress I knwo not of any Sect which hath started up since that time But almost every year before brought forth several If her pains and care have not yet been so successfully prevalent as to recover and restore all that have gone astray she hath not been wanting in her endeavours towards it which have reduced many and it is no little time nor easie task to repair the Ruines of such long Confusions and Desolations 5. We owe a great part of these Calamities to the same persons who now charge them upon us for beside the influence which their Agents Principles and Examples had in contriving and promoting those unnatural Commotions and Rebellions in the State which I am not now concerned to examine let matter of fact determine that as it hath been found more or less plain Thus far we have abundant evidence that several of their Emissaries have herded with the chief of our Dissenters and if some of the grossest Sects were not framed among them first as seems very probable yet most of them have been much fomented and strengthened by them and they have been oft found acting their parts under that disguise and have employed on all occasions their interest to shelter and protect them according to the known maxime of their Policy that the readiest way of effecting our ruine was by increasing and fomenting our Divisions here they have found their greatest harvest For when mens minds are unsetled and they grown giddy with being long turned about by every new wind of Doctrine and are weary of tumbling and tossing from one Party to another they will easily catch hold of any fancied support and be sooner betrayed to yield themselves Captives to the delusory hopes of rest and settlement amongst them 6. To all which may be added much of that irreverence and contempt of Persons and things Sacred which have made way for the forementioned sad Calamities amongst us are mostly due to their Oppressions Insolencies or Delusions When the People had so long groaned under their tyrannical yoke and intolerable burdens and found themselves so oft cheated by their manifest impostures no marvel if they be over-fearful of what they had suffered so much from and afterwards too suspicious of being deluded again and be soon tempted to transgress due measure in the use of their liberty being just recovered from extreme slavery though so many years have passed since as will hardly admit of a tolerable excuse Yet better experience and longer consideration we hope in time may teach them to distinguish between the certain Interests of true Religion and the hypocritical wiles of worldly Crast and Policy and so to think a due respect and Obsequiousness to those who sincerely manage the former necessary to preserve them from being imposed on by the latter and prevent their falling into the like miscarriages which they observe in others And that Apostolical Government good Order wholsom Discipline sound Doctrine and Uniform Devotion may no longer suffer under the false but most odious charge of Popery and that they who have under God been most instrumental in reforming and defending the Church from the real and gross Corruptions thereof may not still be oppressed with the unreasonable clamour of a meer invidious name which they that use most know very little what they mean by it only that it denotes somewhat favoured by them of whom they have deservedly an ill opinion The case hath been too like exemplified in another Instance especially of late years in which many Hypocrites have so scandalously abused the most solemn pretences to Sanctity and Devotion for a covering or continuance to the most horrid Oppressions Schisms and Rebellions that they have emboldened profane men to scorn and send out open Defiances against the very appearance of Religion and possibly tempted others serious and hearty lovers of iâ—s cause to be too modest and shamefaced in its defence yet we hope unfeigned Piety will be always justified of its Children Sutably truly Catholick Principles and Observances may vindicate themselves though gross Errors and Imposâ—ures have long passed under that disguise Notwithstanding ordinary People not always the best distinguishers and who are often hurried from one extreme to another do not redily discern one from the other but having found themselves once cheated be a long time over-jealous of a like design upon them VI. From the Premises duly considered will I hope in the close be inferred the strongest motive and Obligation upon all among us heartily to embrace and steadily to persevere in the
of God the Honour of his Religion the Edification of his Church the Propagation of his Truth and the peculiar Promise of his Presence and Blessing require a solemn publick exercise of all Religious Worship in united Congregations so hereby we most sensibly prove and secure our unity therein Whoever then needlesly separates himself from this Church or refuses to joyn in Communion with its Members so far as it is in his power where he may without violence to any Doctrine or Precept of Christ such a one divides himself from his Body and so from all the Promises that we know of the Sacred and comfortable Influences of that one Head and one Spirit 4. In the Vnity of Discipline whereby every Act of any particular Church conformable to the Institutions of our Saviour and the universally received practice of his Church stands confirmed as an Act of the whole Church Particularly whoever is admitted into it accordingly by Baptism in one place is to be accounted a member of the Church Catholick and received into its Communion where-ever he comes it no evidence appear of his exclusion by any after regular Censure Likewise into whatever Office or Ministration any are orderly admitted in one part thereof in the same are they to be acknowledged in all others though without that particular Jurisdiction which they had in their own But whosoever lies under any Censure in one Church he is to be supposed under the same in all others and not to be received into Communion till the Sentence be reversed by the same Power or a still higher and greater Authority according to the Fifth Canon of the Council of Nice and the design of their form'd and communicatory Letters without which none were to pass from one Church to another Thus every Church is accountable to its Neighbour Churches and so to the whole Church for its Actions that one may not do what the other undoes without any regard to this Unity which would lead to the confusion and distraction of all Wherefore to put an end to such differences when risen or obviate any growing mischief thereby and to receive Appeals from persons who think themselves aggrieved or injured by their own Bishop or Church a Council of all Bishops in each Province is appointed twice in the year by the same Canon and in many others But there was no mention then of any farther or higher Appeal Thus an amicable correspondence and intimate communication was maintained between the Neighbour Churches and their Governours and by them with others removed at a greater distance throughout the world These need no long proof but may be taken as generally granted the main dispute will lie in the particular application of the two last Now to prevent as much as may be all difficulties about them it may be added to the third of Vnity of Worship that it will be very convenient if not absolutely necessary in any setled established Church that there be some set Forms of publick Ministrations without which it is hard for any to know before hand what they joyn with especially for strangers But then these Forms should be as plain and simple as possible with as little pretence as can be of any danger to the known Will and Word of God For no Obligation whatsoever can tie me to communicate with another in that which he forbids and it will be a great temptation to more than suspect this danger when mens private opinions or fanciful transports are mingled with them which have little shew of Scripture or the general practice of the Church in all Ages to justifie them The readiest way I know of to prevent that hazard after all other care about the matters contained is to endeavour that these Offices be as near alike in all places as can well be yet every difference in Judgment when no violence is offered to the Foundation of Catholick Faith and Unity must not break this Communion according to that profession of St. Cyprian Judging no man nor excluding him from the right of Communion if he think otherwise where the dispute was thought of no mean concern especially in this cause Which St. Augustin oft alledges against the Donatists that boasted so much of St. Cyprians judgment against his declared practice To the same purpose may be applied the treatment of St. Polycarp in Rome by Anicetus the Bishop though they differed about the time of the celebration of Easter and in other points which could not be agreed between them yet this last not only invited the former to Communion with him but also-to celebrate the sacred Eucharist in this Church as the words are generally interpreted which St. Irenaeus not long after urges strongly against Victor who was hastening to excommunicate the Asian Churches for the same difference contrary to his Predecessors practice As to the Fourth of Vnity of Discipline if Unity of Government in all parts be not indispensably necessary to it yet it will be so far as not to abrogate or invade the positive Institutions of our Saviour himself herein and be more than convenient that it be as conformable as it is in our power to make it in one place to what it is in another It seems horribly presumptuous violently to thrust out of the Church that Government under the influence of which Christianity hath been conveyed and preserved from the Age of the Apostles in the most distant places upon pretence of erecting a new better Scheme or model of our own or because of the intricate use of one or two terms in Scripture when the Church was in its first formation though against the plain current of it in other places and the uninterrupted tradition of the whole Church A Church indeed must be more or less perfect according to its Government for suitable will be the Exercise and Authority of its Discipline What allowance may be made for those who desire to come as near as they can to the Primitive Pattern though it be not in their power to reach it in many considerable points I am not now to dispute But most inexcusable and highly obnoxious are they that by extreme violence and usurpation endeavour to destroy what they found regularly established to their hands III. But we are here most concerned with the bold claims of the Romanists amidst their most obvious Defections who have made it the principal Band of Unity in the Catholick Church to be subject to the See of Rome and the pretended Vicar of Christ therein as the Universal Head and Monarch of the Church this they have determined as de fide and put into their very Creed and excluded all that do not expresly own it But against this as a great breach of Christian Unity we have many just exceptions and been always ready to prove them so 1. In that no evidence from Scripture appears of any such Authority conferred upon him or them But many strong
A DISCOURSE Concerning the UNITY OF THE CATHOLICK CHURCH Maintained in the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard and F. Gardner at the White-Horse in Ludgate street 1684. THE CONTENTS THe divisions of Christendom are much to be lamented the effects of them being exceeding evil Page 1. Christ made all needful provisions against such Dissentions amongst Christians p. 2. To this end he established a Spiritual Society or Church on Earth p. 3. This Church with the Unity of it the Romish-Church appropriateth to it self p. 3. This Controversie betwixt that Church and Ours may be stated and decided by the consideration of the following Heads of discourse I. There are certain Principles in which the Romanists and we agree p. 4. As 1. Christ always bad and always will have a Church on Earth 'till the world ends p. 4. 2. This Church is a distinct Society in it self p. 4. 3. This Church must be visible p. 5. 4. Within the bounds of this Church we have the only hope of safety here aud hereafter whilst our hope is grounded on Gods ordinary Evangelical Methods p. 5. 5. This Church is but one p. 6. II. In this one Christian Church there are certain bands of Catholick-Unity As 1. Unity iu Belief and Profession p. 6. 2. In Charity p. 7. 3. In Worship p. 7. 4. In Discipline p. 8. 5. In Set-forms in some sort of Publick Worship p. 10. III The Romanists have unjustly made Subjection to the See of Rome and to the pretended Vicar of Christ in it the Pope as the Universal Head and Monarch of the Christian Church the Principal Band of Catholick-Unity p. 11 12. For first for this Papal-Power there is no Evidence in Scripture but there are strong intimations of the contrary p. 12. Secondly There is silence concerning it amongst the most antient and best Fathers of the Church p. 13. Thirdly History shews us by what evil steps the Romish Church arrived at this greatness As 1. by usurpation on the Rights of other Churches p. 13. 2. By weakening the Power of Temporal Princes p. 16. 3. By abusing their ill-gotten Power iu making it instrumental to the introducing and promoting of certain strange and erroneous Doctrines p. 17. IV. There was a necessity of a Reformation in the Romish-Church and our Church was reformed regularly and with maintenance of the bounds of Catholick-Unity p. 19. For 1. our Reformation was managed with the concurrence and encouragement of the Supreme Power p. 19. 2. With the Advice and deliberation of the Clergy Assembled in Convocation p. 20. 3. With just respect to the Antient Christian Church p. 21. Both as to 1. Doctrine p. 21. 2. Government p. 22. 3. Worship p. 23. 4. Rites p. 25. In such sort that Our Reformed Church is a sound part of the Catholick Church p. 27. V. The Objectiens of the Romanists against our Church and the Reformation of it are not valid Object 1. Concerning our rejecting Doctrines of the Church determined by Councils Answered p. 31 c. Object 2. Concerning Reformation by means of a general Council Answered p. 35. Object 3. Concerning the personal miscarriages of some engaged in the Reformation Answered p. 39. Object 4. Concerning our want of due Discipline Answered p. 39. Object 5. Concerning the Heresies and Schisms which have sprung up since the Reformation and as they pretend out of it p. 43. Answered p. 44. VI. From the Premisses a Conclusion is drawn shewing the Obligation which the People of England are under to embrace and continue in the Communion of our Church p. 49 c. THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLICK CHURCH Maintained in the Church of ENGLAND WHosoever with an impartial eye and a truly religious concern for the Honour of God the Credit of the Gospel and the Salvation of men looks into the estate of Christendom he will scarce find any greater cause of sorrowful Reflections than from the many Divisions and Animosities which have distracted and separated its parts These have opened the mouths and whet the tongues of profest enemies to reviling Invectives and profane Scoffs against our Blessed Lord himself and his holy Religion and stifled the first thoughts of admitting the most convincing Truths to a debate among Jews Turks or Pagans and stopt their ears against the wisest Charms To no one cause can we more reasonably impute the small progress which Christianity hath made in the World for a thousand years past The same contests have as pernicious influence at home upon the Faith or manners of those within the Pale of the Church Men are hereby too soon tempted into some degrees of Scepticism about very material Points of Christian Doctrine in which they observe so many to differ among themselves Others are the more easily seduced to seek and make much of all Arguments whereby to bafle or weaken the clearest evidences for their conviction and they seldom continue long in the same persuasion with those with whom they will not maintain the same Communion Thus Schisms have generally ended in Heresies As mischievous are the effects of these Distractions upon the manners of Christians There are many vitious and disorderly passions such as Anger Wrath Hatred Revenge Pride Censoriousness c. which take Sanctuary therein and under that shelter put in their claim for the height of Christian Graces and the most holy zeal for God and his Cause Every where they break or loosen the Discipline of the Church which should guard its children from doing amiss or restore them after it when the last and most capital punishment of being thrust out of its Communion is like to be little dreaded where many voluntarily desert it with the highest pretences of better advantage elsewhere Now though this matter of fact confirmed by woful experience be a subject too sad for a long meditation or passionate enlargement yet is it no more than what might have been foreseen without a Spirit of Prophesie to follow from the corrupt nature and depraved estate of mankind not otherwise rectified Wherefore we must suppose that our ever blessed Saviour in the Foundations of his holy Institution made all needful provision to prevent these fatal miscariages By the sufficient Revelation of all Fundamental Articles of Belief By the as full Declaration of all the necessary precepts of good life By inculcating frequently and pressing most emphatically those commands concerning Love Peace Unity Good Order Humility Meekness Patience c. directly opposed to those contentions in every Page of the New Testament These it may suffice but to name It will soon be granted after the best provision of Rules and most convincing Arguments and Motives to strengthen them that there will be need of some Government to encourage all in their performance to restrain some from offering violence to them and to provide for many emergencies Our Blessed Lord and Master therefore for the better security of his Truth and the safer conduct of those
which adhere to it establish'd a Society or Church in the World which he purchased with the most inestimable price dignified with the highest Priviledges encouraged with the largest Promises back'd with the most ample Authority and will always defend with the strongest Guard against all Power or Policy on Earth or under the Earth so that as he hath told us the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it But now where this Church is to be found and what are the measures of our Obligation to it hath been a long and great debate especially between us and the Romanists In most of their late Controversial Books they have seemed ready to wave disputes about particular points in hopes of greater advantage which they promise themselves from this venerable name and that bold though most false and presumptuous claim which they lay to the thing it self even exclusive to all others which will appear from the true but short and plain state of the case between us the chief design of this attempt Now that we may not charge them nor they us falsly or rashly I. It may be convenient first to lay down some Principles concerning this Church in which they and we seem mostly agreed though all our Writers express not themselves alike clearly herein II. To propound the chief Bands of Unity within this Church III. To mark out the most obvious Defections from them by the Romanists IV. To shew the Reformation in the Church of England proceeded and was framed with all due regard to the preservation of them V. To clear it of the most common Objections VI. To consider the strong obligations from hence upon all sorts of Dissenters among us to embrace and continue in its Communion I. The former will soon be dispatcht which I reduce to the following particulars 1. That our Blessed Saviour always had and always will have a Church in the World in which his Doctrine hath been and shall be so far profest and his Sacraments so effectually administred that they who rightly improve them may not want necessary supplies for their present spiritual life or future hopes of Salvation though the extent of the Church as to its boundaries and the perfection of it in degrees may be vastly different at one time and in one place from another This many Prophesies in the Old Testament and Promises from our Saviour in the New give abundant ground for our Faith to rely upon and the experience of all Ages hitherto hath confirmed 2. That this Chruch is a distinct Society within it self furnished with sufficient Authority in some to Govern and Obligation in others to be Subject necessary to every Society which the power of the Keys given by our Lord to receive in or shut out and the exercise of Discipline from Divine Precept and Scripture Examples evince beyond all exception But then this Ecclesiastical Power in whomsoever placed or strained to what height soever can never extend to vacate or change the express Institutions of Christ or take away our Obligation to his revealed Truth and direct Commands In case of any competition the Apostles defence may be ours We must obey God rather than men And St. Pauls profession We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth And again If we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel c. let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8 3. This Church must be visible as every Society is more or less whose parts are so and whose Profession must be so Our entrance into it is in a visible manner by Baptismal Initiation Our obliged Communion with it is in diverse outward sensible Acts which the representation of it by a Body or Building might prove More clearly it is likened to a City on a Hill which cannot be hid Mat. 5. 14. Set up as the Light of the world an Ensign to the Gentiles which all Nations should flee unto or else it would witness against them wherein its Followers should take Sanctuary and find a Refuge 4. Within these Boundaries we have the only hopes of safety here and happiness hereafter What God may do by his supereminent unaccountable power in an extraordinary case is presumption for us but to inquire into Out of this Ark there is no prospect given to us of any escape from the Universal Deluge All the spiritual Promises concerning this life or a better are made to this Church the Members of his Body who is the Head Therefore the Apostles preach to Jews and Gentiles the necessity of receiving this Character Seeing there is no other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved as St. Peter attests Acts 4. 12. 5. This Church is but one It is an Article of our Faith exprest in our Creed to believe it so For there be many members yet but one body One Spirit quickning all One Lord and Head over all One God and Father of all one Faith one Baptism one Hope of our Calling in all as the Apostle argues Eph. 4. 4 5 6 7 c. II. Now we are to enquire what are the chief Bands of Unity in the Church which make keep and evidence it to be one How we may secure our selves within this Garden enclosed this Spring shut up this Fountain sealed as the Ancients usually apply that Cant. 4. 12 to this one Enclosure of the Church 1. This appears in the Vnity of Belief not only inwardly but in the outward profession of the same Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and hath been generally preserved and continued down throughout all Ages of the Church In testimony whereof the most eminent Bishops upon their first Consecration sent to their Brethren Confessions of their Faith 2. In the Vnity of Charity and Affection as Fellow members one of another as well as of the same Head that if one suffer all the rest suffer with it and if one rejoyce all rejoyce with it Having an intimate Fellow-feeling of all the Good or Evil which befals any joyn'd in so near a Relation beyond the compassion of ordinary Humanity whereby we are bound not only to pray for but by all offices of kindness and most intimate Affection especially to assist and relieve each other in the same Houshold of Faith So that by our Personal Consecration all our Labours and Estates are in some measure devoted to the Honour of God the Service of his Church and the Necessities of any of its Members 3. In the Vnity of Worship whereby we are obliged not only to offer up the same Worship for substance but also in the outward Act to joyn and communicate with each other therein to present the same Prayers and Praises to celebrate together the same Sacraments to hear the same Instructions to frequent the same Religious Assemblies as much as possible that we may with one mind and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15. 6. For as the Command
thereof and nothing is more opposite to their Principles and Practices who have formally excluded all other Christians and Churches from any share therein not only those in the West that have deservedly cast off that power which they had unjustly arrogated and tyrannically exercised but also the Greeks and others in the East that never owned any subjection to them But most securely may the Church of England glory in true Catholicism which to all her other privileges and advantages that she may boast of above almost any other Church still maintains and evidences the greatest charity to others of any that I know in the world makes no other inclosures than those which God himself hath made not assuming any Authority to command yea or to pass hasty judgment upon any but only to provide for her own the best she can and with such tender regard to common Christianity and the Rights of all other Churches that she seems designedly to have chalkt out the way of restoring the most desirable fruits of Christian Unity throughout the whole Church and we should have been sensible of considerable effects by it had other Churches pursued like methods That Church sure is most Catholick that makes provision for the most Catholick Communion Peace and Unity and which imposes no other terms or conditions of it but those most universally received throughout all Ages in all places and by almost all Christians which may soon decide the competition whether the Church of England more truly vindicates to her self a part of the Catholick Church or they of Rome arrogate to themselves the whole Or which are the Schismaticks from it they which exclude none whom they own no power over but invite all to them and joyn with any in what is good and agreeable to the Institutions of our common Lord or they who shut out all but those who will subject themselves to their usurpt Authority and most unjustifiable Impositions Father the term Catholick is sometimes taken for Orthodox and so the Catholick Church interpreted for that which holds the Catholick Faith opposed to heretical Opinions and Doctrines as well as to Schismatical Separations In this sense the Church of England hath as good a claim in the Catholick Church as any whatever Receiving all the Artiticles of Christian Faith delivered in Scripture and received in the Primitive Ages for more than five hundred years No Principles having been so formally declared then and for some time after as the Catholick Faith of all Christians and as such necessary to be own'd which she rejects whatever private opinions there might be then among some eminent Doctors of the Church in which they oft differed one from the other or although there might be some observances then generally received which she thinks her self not bound to retain But ill will this Character agree to the Romanists who have added so many new dangerous Articles to the common Faith of Christians not only beside the original Rule which they cannot but own with us but too often against it and the professed belief of the first and best Ages of the Church Wherefore we reject not these innovations meerly from negative arguments because not sufficiently proved and yet that way of arguing hath been always allowed in the Fundamentals of Faith which must be grounded upon express Divine Authority and Testimony But we lay the greatest stress of our aversations to them upon that direct opposition which we undertake to prove most of them have to the common Faith and revealed Will of God which they and we both own And surely that Church in this acceptaion is most Catholick that relies on such Catholick Principles and refers all others to be examined by this touchstone V. But in the fifth place some Objections lie in our way fit to be answered Object 1. They urge against us that we reject several Doctrines since formally determined in the Church by the known and received Authority thereof in Councils more general or particular which they pretend were believed through all Ages but then established when they came first to be called in question Answ We are not much concerned in the first part of the objection though very many exceptions might come in especially as to the formality and regularity of those Councils but as to the latter part in which the main stress lies here we never refused a fair trial thereof 1. From Scripture against which no Authority Civil or Ecclesiastical in single persons or the greatest Assemblies no time or custome of whatever date can prescribe This hath been ever received till of late as the perfect and intire Rule of all necessary doctrines of Faith and practice of which abundant Testimonies may be seen in most Protestant Writers 2. We appeal also to the Primitive and best Ages of Christianity which either knew nothing of these Additions that we can find or sometimes give as express declarations against them as could be expected at this distance But to take off much of the strangeness of so harsh an imputation at first sight wherewith we charge a great part of the Church for a considerable time and that they and we may be less scandaliz'd at the first mention of these defections 3. We may consider the various Cautions in the New Testament against corrupt Doctrines and Manners which at the least in general are foretold would creep into the Church if some of them we now charge be not particularly described therein 4. We may compare matter of fact with the experience of the like degeneracy of the Jewish Church in various instances so nearly resembling these as nothing more and from the same plea of Oral Tradition yet against as clear evidence and as emphatical promises to preserve them from Apostacy as any particular Church at least can now pretend to 5. We may consult the tendency of lapst mankind In the best how weak it is and apt to be imposed on In others how prone to corrupt and distort the best Institutions cast a mist before the cleareâ—t discoveries and offer violence unto the strongest convictions to shelter their vices and promote their unwarrantable interests especially in times of ease plenty and outward prosperity In which we may compare common experience in lesser Societies which however wisely directed at first regularly founded and strongly guarded on all sides without a very careful Inspection and sometimes vigorus opposition so many corruptions will creep in as to need frequent reformations to reduce them back to their primitive Constitution And although an especial providence be concerned for the guard and conduct of Gods Church yet neither Scripture or experience warrant us to expect its happy Influence by miracles now for the effecting of that which may be accomplished by the use of ordinary and regular means of his own appointment 6. We may reflect upon the particular Ages of the Church which we charge especially with these desections from about the eighth Century to the Reformation