which the Members of the Natural Body have for each other So that Christian-charity necessarily preserves Christian-unity and Communion and whoever rends and divides the Church is void of this Christian-charity This I have already proved at large in my Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet Defence p. 183. c. both from Scripture and the Ancient Fathers and it were easie to add numerous Quotations more to this purpose This is the principal thing St. Augustine insists on he frequently applies that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. where he shews how unavailable all other Attainments are without Charity Aug. de baptismo l. 1. cap. 9. l. 3. cap. 16. alibi passim to signifie such a Charity as preserves the Peace and Communion of the Church and does every where assert that that man is void of Charity who does not love the Peace and Unity of the Church if then Christian Charity be so necessary a part of Christian Holiness and consists in preserving the Peace and Unity and Communion of the Christian Church whatever other good Qualities Schismaticks may have they want the chief branch of Holiness without which no man shall see God and therefore though a holy man shall never miscarry or fall short of Heaven yet a Schismatick with all his other good Qualities may 3. Since the best men must be saved by Christ and not by their own Righteousness or Merits we must expect to be saved by Christ only in such a way as he himself has appointed It is all free Grace and therefore we must be contented to receive it in such a way as he is pleased to give it He is a Debtor to no man and therefore may well be allowed to make his own terms Heaven is a supernatural State of Happiness which the best Man setting aside the consideration of his many Imperfections and Defects cannot challenge as the Reward of his best Services and therefore God is under no other Obligation to bestow Heaven on any man but his own Promise made to us in Christ Jesus and therefore can be obliged no farther than his own Promise reaches If any hard and pityable Case happens he has the soveraign Power in his own hand and can do as he himself pleases but we must expect no more from him than he has promised The not considering this is apt to confound mens Notions concerning the undertaking of our Saviour and our Redemption by him It runs some men into Socinianism to deny the Satisfaction of Christ and others who cannot be so subtil as to distinguish themselves out of so plain and express an Article of our Faith and therefore do heartily and sincerely believe the Satisfaction of our Saviour that he dyed as a true and proper Sacrifice to expiate our sins and purchase Eternal Life for us yet have no clear Conceptions of the Reason of this which will not well comply with those other Notions they have of God and his natural Obligation not to call it natural Necessity to love and reward good men I do as firmly believe God's Goodness to good men and his Love to true Holiness where-ever he sees it as I do any Article of my Creed but then I consider that Heaven is a supernatural Happiness and not the natural Reward of an earthly Creature as man by Nature is And therefore the best man considered as a Man has no more reason to expect That God as a Reward of his Vertue should translate him from Earth to Heaven than that he should give him wings to flie in the Air and to visit the several Planets all that can be expected from God upon account of the Goodness or Justice of his Nature is to bestow such a Happiness on innocent or deserving Creatures as their Natures were made for that is an earthly Happiness on an earthly Creature which was all that was promised Adam in Paradice an immortal happy Life in this World So that if we consider the State of mankind we shall find that the whole Work of our Redemption is wholly owing to free Grace that is that which was neither due to our Natures nor what we could reasonably expect from God considered only as our Maker Man in Innocence was but an earthly Creature 1 Cor. 15. the first Adam was of the Earth and earthy And an earthly Creature cannot challenge as his natural Birth-right an heavenly and divine state of Life For Flesh and Blood though innocent and pure cannot inherit the Kingdom of God A gross earthly Body cannot ascend into Heaven nor dwell in those pure Regions of Light and therefore such a Creature can no more challenge Heaven as its natural Portion and Inheritance than it can that God should change its Nature and refine an earthy into a spiritual Body If we consider man in his lapsed State he has forfeited even an earthly Immortality and cannot now challenge an immortal Life in this World much less in the next For what natural Reason can there be when we suffer Death as the Punishment of sin for God to raise our dead Bodies out of the Dust again into an immortal Life So that whatever may be the Reward of Vertue in this World an immortal Life after Death cannot be the natural Reward of it for then it could not be in the Evangelical Notion of it the Gift of God or the Purchase of Christ And we may consider farther that as man is now designed for a supernatural state of Happiness in Heaven so much advanced above the original state of humane Nature so there is required a divine Holiness and Vertue to fit and qualifie him for this supernatural Happiness Upon this account our Saviour so earnestly presses the Necessity of the new Birth that we must be born of Water and of the Spirit if we would enter into Heaven For that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Whereby our Saviour signifies to us that we must attain to such a pitch of Goodness as is as much above the original Attainments of an earthly and fleshly Nature as Heaven is above the Earth For that saying of our Saviour That which is born of the flesh is flesh is true in a state of Innocency Innocent flesh is flesh still and therefore we must be born into a diviner State than innocent flesh if we would enter into Heaven that is we must attain to such a divine and spiritual frame of Mind as raises us above this World and prepares us for an Angelical state of Life For there are different degrees of Vertue fitted to the different states of a reasonable Nature Unless we will say that the Vertue of a Man and of an Angel is the same That degree of Vertue which is sufficient to teach a Man to use the good things of this World innocently and happily is not sufficient to raise a Man above the World and to make him contemn all bodily Pleasures and earthly Satisfactions
observed at all or not in their true meaning and signification by those who deny it as to give some few instances of it The love of God as our Redeemer and Saviour who gave his own Son for our Ransom to die for our sins and to make atonement and expiation by his Blood is very different from the love of God as our Creator and Benefactor nay as our Redeemer by Covenant Promise and Power it is a more transporting and sensible Passion and the peculiar Worship of the Gospel which those cannot give to God who deny the expiation of Christ's death The Worship of a God Incarnate a God in our nature and likeness a God who is our Saviour Mediator and Advocate through his own Blood vastly differs from the Worship of a pure infinite eternal Spirit or from the Worship of an exalted Creature And this is the peculiar Worship of the Lord's Supper that great and venerable Mystery of our Religion which is a thin and empty Ceremony without it To pray to God in the Name and Mediation of Christ and in vertue of his Sacrifice vastly differs from a natural hope and trust in God's mercy or in his bare promise or in the Power and Interest of a great Favourite though appointed to be our Mediator not in vertue of his Sacrifice but by Royal Favour Not but that God's Promise of Pardon and acceptance confirmed to us by such a powerful Favourite whom God himself hath appointed to be our Advocate may give us sufficient security that God will hear and answer our Prayers but this assurance is of a different nature from the vertue of a Sacrifice and affects our minds in a different manner and excites different Passions and very different acts of Devotion and makes our Worship differ as much as a Mediator by Sacrifice does from a Mediator by Interest and Power As for the other parts of Religion which concern our Conversation with men or the Government of our own Appetites and Passions there seems to be some new instances or new degrees of Vertue which have a necessary dependance on the Sacrifice of Christ's death as the example or reason of them As that high degree of brotherly love which Christ requires of us as the Badg of our Discipleship to love one another as he hath loved us to forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us all Acts of kindness and charity to our poor Brethren as knowing the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he were rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty may be rich the force and prevalency of which example and of which reason I think is greatly abated by denying the expiation of Christ's death However I think it is very plain that the true principle of Gospel-obedience that which makes all our actions in a strict and proper sence Christian Graces and Vertues has a necessary respect to the expiation of Christ's death We must cheerfully obey the Will of God not only considered as our Creator but as a Redeemer we must give up our selves to Christ as the purchase of his Blood for we are not our own but bought with a price and therefore must glorifie God both with our Bodies and with our Spirits which are God's we must yield our selves willing Captives to the conquering and constraining Power of his Love the Love of Christ constrains us for we thus judg that if Christ dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for us that we who live might not henceforth live unto our selves but unto him who dyed for us If Christ did not redeem and purchase us by his Blood all this signifies nothing it is all but Phrase and Metaphor and Allusion which cannot form a principle of Action And yet the Apostles of Christ do not so much insist on the Authority of God as our Maker and Governor as on his purchase as Redeemer on the love of our dying Lord who is our Priest our Sacrifice and Mediator and were it possible to obey the Gospel without any regard to the redemption of Christ and that stupendious love of God in it it were not true Evangelical obedience no more than it is obedience to God to do what he commands for some private end and reason of our own without any regard to his Authority and Government So that whether the Doctrine of the atonement and satisfaction of Christ's death be true or false it is certainly fundamental either way either a fundamental Article of Faith or a fundamental Error because it alters Foundations and changes the whole frame of Christian Religion If Christ have made atonement and expiation for our sins Christianity is one thing if he have not it is quite another thing as different as it is possible which I think is a plain argument that the expiation of Christ's Blood is a fundamental or foundation Doctrine since the whole Fabrick of Christian Religion as it is taught in the Gospel is built on it 2. There is one consideration more which will confirm this that the atonement and expiation of Christ's death is a fundamental Doctrine because the Blood of Christ that is the expiation of his Blood is the peculiar object of justifying Faith now certainly that must be fundamental which is essential to justifying Faith Salvation or Justification by Christ being the sum of the Gospel whatever is essential to justifying Faith is certainly a fundamental Doctrine of Christianity if there be any such thing as Fundamentals Repentance in its full Extent and Latitude as it includes not only a sorrow for our past sins but the reformation of our lives and an actual obedience to all the Laws of the Gospel is a necessary condition of our Pardon and Justification or necessarily required in those whom God will justifie But Repentance and a new Life cannot justifie us No Religion that ever was in the World taught men certainly to expect Pardon of sin meerly upon their Repentance And it is plain that mankind never did for both Heathens and Jews thought the expiation of Sacrifices as necessary and more prevalent than meer Repentance to obtain their Pardon And the reason why God hath appointed us no Sacrifice but a broken heart or the living Sacrifice of an obedient Soul and Body to offer to him is because he has provided an expiatory Sacrifice himself hath given his own Son to be a Sacrifice for us and the Pardon of our sins is every where attributed to the death of Christ as the meritorious Cause But then as Christ hath dyed for our sins and redeemed us with his Blood and God for Christ's sake will pardon and justifie all repenting sinners so we must consider that meer repentance can no more apply or appropiate the Sacrifice and Expiation of Christ's death to us for our Pardon than it can justifie us without a Sacrifice That is the peculiar Office of Faith in Christ or Faith in his Blood as
dying Cause like the works and doublings of a Hare when she is near run down to lose the Scent For this is the constant Artifice of these men when they are no longer able to defend their Cause to start aside and by one Art or other to loose their first Question in some new Dispute Thus Mr. B. tells us for a Conclusion I intend God willing hereafter to let the Matters of meer Conformity comparatively alone and farther to examine this fundamental Difference seeing it is evident that now Satan's design is to call the French Popery by the name of the Protestant Religion Answer to Dr. Sherlock p. 230. and the Protestant Religion of the true Church of England by the name of Non-conformity and Schism and to deceive the simple by a noise against the refusers of Episcopacy Liturgy and Ceremonies but that noise shall no more divert me from opposing the Foundations of Popery And I mightily commend the prudence of Mr. Baxter's Resolution for it is an easier matter to pull down a man of Clouts of his own setting up then to uphold such a decayed and ruinous Cause But I am resolved not to lose the Cause thus and therefore shall beat a little backward till we find it again and shall 1. mind my Readers of the occasion of that Discourse of Church-Unity and Communion 2. Give a brief Account of the Doctrine of the defence in those Points and consider their Cavils and Exceptions against it and those perverse senses they put upon my words to form them into a Cassandrian design § 1. I shall mind my Readers of the occasion of that Discourse concerning Church-Unity and Communion whereby they may the better judge of the Nature and Tendancy of it Now there were two things I apparently designed in it 1. To shew how vain all those projects were of uniting Churches without curing their Separation such as Mr. Humphrey's is of making all separate Churches parts of the National Church by vertue of an Act of Parliament under the King as the Accidental Head of such an Accidental Church For if the Church must be but one and the Unity of this one Church consists in one Communion it is impossible in the nature of the thing for all the power in the World to make so many separate Churches one Church The supreme Power may grant equal Liberties and Priviledges in the Common-wealth to all these separate Churches but it can no more make them one than it can make Contradictions to be true the sin and evil of Separation still remains the removal of which is the only thing that makes Union so desirable and if an Act of Parliament could do this I confess the Proposal would be considerable If the evil and sinfulness of Separation consisted only in disobedience to humane Laws I should think it a barbarous thing to make any Laws which shall ensnare men in so great a guilt And it is impossible in such an Age as this which is distracted with so many different and contrary Perswasions to make any Laws about Religion which will meet with an universal compliance But if the evil of Separation consists in dividing the unity of the Church which no Laws can cure but those which cure Separation Mr. Humphrey's uniting Law can give no ease and security to the Souls and Consciences of men whatever it may do to their Liberties and Estates And I take the Souls of men to be of greater concernement than their Bodies and Estates and therefore should challenge the principal regard from consciencious men in their Projects of Union 2. Another design of that Discourse of Church-Unity and Communion was to give us the most plain and easie Notion of Schism and Separation which Mr. B. and some other late Writers have industriously endeavoured to confound that no body might know what it is Now if there be but one Catholick Church all the World over then every Separation is a Schism on one side or other for where there are two separate Churches one if not both must be schismatical because there is but one Church And if the Unity of this Church consists in one Communion which exacts a joynt discharge of all the Duties of a Church-relation in hearing and praying and receiving the Lord's Supper c. together then to forsake the Church and meet in private Conventicles in distinct and opposite Communions for Religious Worship is Separation and when it is causeless is a Schism as I particularly proved in the defence from St. Cyprian Defence p. 24◠and St. Augustin this was the ancient Notion of Schism But if there be more than one Church and one Communion if the Catholick Church consist of all the separate Churches all the World over Answer to Dr. Sherlock p. 132. as Mr. Baxter asserts I would gladly know what Schism and Separation is which hath so ill a Character in Scripture and which the ancient Fathers so vehemently declaim against as one of the greatest Impieties such a wickedness as Martyrdom it self cannot expiate For if there be not one Church but a great many Churches of distinct and separate Communions those Christians who forsake one Church and form themselves into a new Church society cannot be said to divide the Church but to multiply it they become a distinct Church by themselves and if they retain all the Essentials of Christian Faith and Worship are as good and sound a part of the Catholick Church as that particular Church is from which they separate For when there is no obligation upon Christians to live in one Communion what should hinder them if they please from dividing into many If there be more Churches and Communions than one he who forsakes one Church and joyns in Communion with another cannot be said to go or to be out of the Church but only to remove from one Church to another and yet this was the ancient Character of a Schismatick that he was Extra Ecclesiam foris one who is out of the Church without doors Cypr. de imitate and is said de ecclesia recedere to go out of the Church But according to this Notion it is impossible for a man to go out of the Church unless he forsake the Communion of all the Churches in the World Nay if Church-unity does not consis tin one Communion he may do that too as Mr. B. says the Seekers do and yet while they believe in Christ continue members of the Catholick Church Take away the Notion of one Communion and there are but two things that I can think of whereon to found the charge of Schism and Separation Either 1. on a private Contract and Covenant between the Pastor and Members of a particular Church or 2. on the Authority of the Magistrate who enjoyns us to communicate with such a Church But now I observe first that the Notion of Schism was antecedent to both these The ancient Church knew no other Church-covenant but Baptism which obliges us
to Catholick Communion and had no Christian Magistrates for three hundred years to enforce or enjoyn any Communion And yet the Church never had a greater sence of the evil of Schism in any Age and therefore did believe Schism to be a very evil thing without any regard to private Contracts or humane Authority 2. To break our Promise and Covenant is a great evil but it is not in its own nature Schism unless there be something else to make it so besides breach of promise To disobey our Governors in lawful things is a very great evil but it is not in it self the evil of Schism but of disobedience to lawful Authority These do greatly aggravate the sin of Schism when men are guilty of it but it cannot make that to be Schism which is not and yet there is no such sin and can be no such sin as Schism if there be not one Church but men may divide into as many distinct and separate Churches as they please for if any man should say that Separation is sinful when there is no just cause or reason for Separation this supposes that there are necessary reasons against Separation when there are no just reasons for it and I would gladly hear what those reasons are against Separation when you have destroyed the Notion of one Catholick Communion But I have discoursed at large the use of this Notion of Catholick Communion in the Disputes of Schism and Separation in the defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation ch 5. p. 231. and thither I refer my Reader Now I shall hence briefly observe two things with reference to my present design 1. That the whole force of my reasoning aginst Separation in the defence of Dr. Stillingfleet depends on the Doctrine of one Catholick Communion and therefore I was not at all concerned to assert one visible unifying Church-Power under Christ Answer to Dr. Sherlock p. 181. over all the Catholick Church as Mr. B. calls it I no where throughout my Book oppose Separation upon the Principles of an universal unifying Church-Power but only on the Principles of Catholick Communion and therefore neither having any where asserted any such thing nor having any reason to do so in the service of the Cause I undertook especially having asserted the quite contrary as in due time will appear the Reader may easily perceive how injuriously my Adversaries have distorted my words to give some colour and pretence to their Calumnies 2. I observe farther That supposing there had some dubious passages about an universal Church-Power slipt from my Pen the confuting such a fancy as that is by no means a confutation of the Defence If the doctrine of one Catholick Communion hold good as it will certainly do whatever becomes of Catholick Church-Power it confounds all their little Excuses and Apologies for Separation and they are as very Schismaticks as ever the Novatians or Donatists were Here the Controversie began about the sinfulness of Separation very angry they were and gave a great many hard words to that excellent Person who warned them of the danger and evil of it many Books have been written about it and now they are charged as high as ever and are ferreted out of their Retreats and see the very foundations of their Cause rooted up all on a sudden they grow tame and gentle and patiently hear themselves proved Schismaticks without saying a word for themselves being more concerned it seems to oppose a French Popery which sometimes by what figure I know not they call a Cassandrian design than to vindicate their own dear selves from the charge of Schism Some possibly may think them very mortified and self-denying men others will be tempted to suspect some other Cause But Mr. B. is resolved that noise shall not divert him from opposing the foundations of Popery the plain meaning of which is this He finds it troublesom to write in a Cause where he is likely to find some pert young Doctors to answer him and therefore is resolved for the future to dispute by himself where he is secure of the victory unless Richard and Baxter should happen to quarrel he having now Printed a Book in Quarto of 230 pages as a Preparatory to a fuller Treatise I suppose he means a fourth Folio he telling us that he has writ three already § 2. I come now to give a plain and brief account of the Doctrine of the Defence concerning one Catholick Church and one Catholick Communion which my Adversaries have so industriously misrepresented that it is necessary to set it in a new Light In the third Chapter I proved at large Defence ch 3. p. 137. c. that Christ has but one Church which is his Body and Spouse which we call the Catholick Church and I do not find any of my Adversaries hardy enough to deny the name of one Catholick Church though it will appear in due time that they deny the thing That the Church is but one I proved from the express Testimony of Scripture and the ancient Fathers and by this unanswerable Argument Ib. p. 151. c. that the Christian Church is not a new Church but the old Jewish-Church reformed and spiritualized by the Laws and Institutions of Christ Christianity being nothing else but mystical Judaism The believing Jews continue still united to their own Root and the believing Gentiles are grafted on the Jewish Root and become one Church with them as St. Paul discourses Rom. 11.17 18 24. The middle Wall of Partition was broken down and the Gentiles received into the Church of God which was no longer to be confined within the bounds of Jury nor to the carnal Seed and Posterity of Abraham but to spread it self over all the World and therefore since the Christian Church is not a new Church but built upon the old foundations of the Jewish Church enlarged and Christianized it must continue as much one as ever the Jewish Church was I observed also from St. Cyprian whose words I had cited at large that the Catholick Church Ib. p. 144. though it consist of all particular Churches which are contained in it yet is not a meer arbitrary Combination and Confederacy of particular Churches but is the root and fountain of Unity and in order of nature antecedent to particular Churches as the Sun is before its Beams and the Root before its Branches and the Fountain before the Rivers that flow from it that particular Churches are made by the encrease and propagation of the Catholick Church not the Catholick Church by the propagation of particular Churches Here Mr. Lob gives us the first taste of his great understanding and skill in Controversie and what a formidable Adversary he is like to prove He says I assert Reply to the Defence p. 10. that the universal Church is in order of nature antecedent to particular Churches he should have said Catholick for that was my word but then he had lost his
the Saviour of the Body and that he has redeemed his Church with his own Blood which confines the Effects and Application of his Grace and Merit and Satisfaction to his own Body which is the Church But besides this we may consider That the Jewish Church was Typical of the Christian Church nay indeed that it is the same Church still only enlarged and Chrystianized for the Christian Church is built upon the foundations not only of the Apostles but Prophets and Jews and Gentiles are united into one Church by breaking down the middle wall of partition and engrafting the Gentiles upon the same Root and Stock with them as I discoursed at large in the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet Now we know the Mosaick Covenant was made with the Children of Israel as a Nation whom God had chosen for himself of the Seed and Posterity of Abraham Natural Jews had no Title to this Covenant till they were circumcised and incorporated into the Body of Israel considered as in Covenant with God of which Circumcision was the Sign and Seal and no strangers were admitted to these priviledges of the Covenant till they were engrafted into the Body of Israel by Circumcision and became one People with them So that the Mosaick Covenant which was but the Christian Covenant in Types and Figures was confined to a particular Nation or Body of men and to all those who were incorporated into the same Body with them now it is plain that the Christian Church is incorporated into the Body of Israel and therefore the Apostles call the Christians the true Israel of God and all the Names of Israel are given to the Christian Church A chosen Generation a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 an holy Nation a peculiar People So that the Christian Church is a Nation and People peculiar to God and chosen by him out of the rest of the World as the Jews formerly were that is united to God and to each other in the same Covenant and therefore as the Mosaical Covenant was confined to the Body of Israel that no Strangers or Aliens had any right to it so is the Gospel Covenant confined to the Communion of the Christian Church And therefore Christ is said to give himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tit. 14. as it is in St. Peter which is one of the Names of Israel as they were a Nation a peculiar Body and Society of men separated from the rest of the World 3. To confirm this we may consider that it is not enough that Christ has died for us and purchased the Pardon of our sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit unless this Pardon and Grace be applyed to us in such ways as he has appointed For it will not suffice that we make Christ our own by a fanciful Application of his Merits to our selves which would quickly overturn the Church and make the Institutions of our Saviour very useless things as we see this conceit has in a great measure done already but we must receive Christ and all his Blessings as he is pleased to bestow them Now that the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are by the Institution of our Saviour the ordinary Conveyances and Ministries of Grace has been the universal Belief of the Christian Church in all Ages in Baptism we receive the Remission of our sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit and therefore we are said to be baptized for the Remission of sins and to be born of Water and of the Spirit and we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration 3 Titus 5. and the renewal of the holy Ghost In the Lord's Supper Christ gives himself to us as the Bread of Life See Dr. Sherlock's practical Discourse of religious Assemblies part 2. which is the daily Food and Nourishment of our Souls of which the Manna in the Wilderness was but a Type The Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communion of the Blood of Christ that Blood which was shed for the remission of Sins and the Bread which we break is the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 That is in this holy Sacrament all the Merits of Christ's Death and Sufferings are made over to worthy Communicants Here we receive the fresh Supplies of the holy Spirit Ch. 12 13. and therefore are said to drink into one Spirit but I need not insist on the proof of that which no body denies who has any Reverence for our Saviours Institutions and does not think them meer empty Shadows and insignificant Ceremonies If then our Saviour has appointed these holy Sacraments as the Means and Conveyances of Grace and these Sacraments are ineffectual to those who do not live in the Unity and Communion of the Christian Church then we cannot ordinarily expect the Application of Christ's Merits to us or the Vertue of his Death and Passion out of Catholick Communion And yet this was as generally acknowledged by the ancient Fathers as the other as I have already shown St. Cyprian would not acknowledg that Schismaticks had any Sacraments no more than that they had any Church St. Austin acknowledged that they had Sacraments but inutiliter their Schism made the Sacraments ineffectual to attain the end for which they were instituted and indeed the very Nature of the Sacraments will easily satisfie us that it must be so Baptism is the Sacrament of Pardon and Forgiveness of our Regeneration and new Birth by the holy Spirit but it is the Sacrament also of our initiation and incorporation into the Christian Church And upon this very account our sins are forgiven in Baptism and the holy Spirit is bestowed on us because it makes us the Members of Christ's Body that is of his Church to whom the Forgiveness of sins and the Gift of the holy Spirit is promised and therefore those who are baptized in a Schism and are no sooner made the Members of Christ's Church but do immediately divide and separate themselves from its Communion if they do receive remission of their Sins and the Gift of the Spirit in the instant wherein they are baptized as St. Austin supposes they may yet do immediately forfeit it again by their Schism For the same Sacrament must have its entire effect or none at all Incorporation into the Christian Church and forgiveness of sins are inseparably united in Baptism as God's and man's part is in the same Covenant Incorporation into the Christian Church which is signified represented and compleated in Baptism is our part of the Covenant our choice and resolution and actual undertaking of Christianity which is done by a Profession of our Faith in Christ and subjection to him and by uniting our selves to the Society and Fellowship of his Church by such a sacred Right as he has appointed for
Schism yet a Schism is a great and damning sin and the less the Cause is the greater is the Sin For the guilt of Schism and Disobedience is not estimated from the intrinsick value of the thing in which they disobey and for which they separate but according to the Nature of Schism and Disobedience 3. But the sting of all is in the Tail He says That to take that for a part of our Religion which God hath not made a part thereof is sinful How much more so is the making it a Term of Communion Which few words contain several very absurd and contradictory Propositions and the Foundation of all is ridiculously false the Absurdities are notorious 1. That it is worse to make such uncommanded things Terms of Communion than parts of Worship and yet the only reason Mr. Lob and his Friends do or can assign why they are unlawful Terms of Communion is because they imagine them to be made parts of Worship for if they be not parts of Worship what is the evil of them Why should men separate for the Surplice or Cross in Baptism c. When there is no evil in these things The only evil they charge them with being only this that we make new Sacraments and new parts of Worship by humane Authority 2. This supposes that that may be a part of Worship which is not a Term of Communion Otherwise it can be neither better nor worse to make any thing a part of Worship and a term of Communion But this is a new Notion which I believe mankind was not instructed in before to make that no term of Communion which we make a part of Worship which signifies to live in Christian Communion together without an obligation to communicate in all parts of Christian Worship 3. What can be more ridiculously absurd and false than the Foundation of all this that the terms of Communion are more sacred than the Worship of God That it is a less Crime to make a new part of Worship than a new term of Communion That the purity of the divine Worship is not of that Moment and Consequence as the conditions of Union between Christians and yet the only reason why Christians are to unite into one Body is to worship God together Methinks this should make our new Projectors careful what they do and make Mr. H. seriously reflect upon what he has done who has proposed such new materials for Union as were never known in the Christian Church before 11. His next Argument to vindicate themselves from Schism is made up as he says Reply p. 80. of Dr. Stillingfleet's own Rule compared with his Substitutes notion but the Application and Conclusion which is the only thing considerable is his own Dr. Stillingfleet's Rule is that Separation is lawful in case men make things indifferent necessary to Salvation and divide the Church upon that account But the Church of England according to my notion makes indifferent things necessary to Salvation Ergo we may yea we must separate or 't is our duty and therefore not our sin to separate i.e. we are no Schismaticks Wonderful subtil The Dean's Rule I own and will stand to that if men make indifferent things necessary to Salvation and divide the Church upon that account we may lawfully separate from them where the Dean makes two things necessary to justifie a Separation 1. That they make indifferent things necessary to Salvation that is that they assert the very doing of such a thing to be necessary to Salvation as the false Apostles asserted Circumcision was But yet 2. This of it self is not sufficient to justifie a Separation unless these men divide the Church upon this account This Mr. Lob thought fit to leave out of his Argument because it would have spoiled his Argument to have put it in The bare asserting indifferent things to be necessary to Salvation if they do not divide the Church upon it will not justifie a Separation This many believing Jews did They thought Circumcision and the Observation of the Law of Moses necessary to Salvation and yet St. Paul commands Jews and Gentiles to receive each other and to maintain one Communion and St. Paul himself complyed sometimes with them to avoid any scandal But when some false Apostles did not only assert the necessity of such things to Salvation but would impose this upon all Christians or break Communion with them when they separated from the Church it was very lawful to separate from them And therefore we must correct Mr. Lob's Major Proposition thus From such as make indifferent things necessary to Salvation and divide the Church upon that account we must separate This is Dr. Stillingfleets Let us now consider his Minor Proposition which he says is mine But the Church of England makes indifferent things necessary to Salvation This is the Dr's Substitutes notion God forbid My notion I never had such a thought in my life Well! But if Mr. Lob can prove this against me I know no help for it I 'le make my Defence as well as I can But let us hear what he says He attempts two or three ways to prove this but blunders in each the first way is this Ibid. That which is necessary to our Communion with the Catholick Church is according to his Doctrine necessary to Salvation Now this I deny Communion with the Catholick Church is necessary to Salvation but whatever may be necessary to our Communion with the Catholick Church is not therefore in its own nature necessary to Salvation It may be necessary in order to Catholick Communion to comply with many inconvenient though not sinful terms of Communion and all wise and good men have thought themselves bound to do so when there is no other Remedy does it hence follow then that these good men account these inconvenient things necessary to Salvation But to proceed But indifferent things says Mr. Lob are necessary to our Communion with the Church of England which is one with the Communion with the Catholick Church in that according to him they are made necessary to our Communion with the Church of England which is one with the Communion with the Catholick Church according to his constant judgment Ergo I confess what he means by this I cannot well understand I suppose it may be this That I make Communion with the Catholick Church and consequently with the Church of England as a sound and orthodox part of the Catholick Church to be necessary to Salvation But the observation of some indifferent things is de facto necessary to the Communion of the Church of England because the Church enjoyns the Observation of some indifferent things Ergo indifferent things are made necessary to Salvation Now 1. I would only ask Mr. Lob in his ear whether his own Conscience don't tell him that he has prevaricated here whether he has not used that term Necessary to Salvation in different senses on purpose to abuse the Dean and
his Substitute together and to impose upon his ignorant Proselytes By making indifferent things necessary to Salvation the Dean plainly meant that they taught that those things which were indeed indifferent though not acknowledged so by them had such a natural and moral or instituted vertue and efficacy to our Salvation that without observing of them no man can be saved that they are necessary to Salvation as any other necessary and essential part or duty of Religion is the neglect of which meerly upon account of such a neglect will damn us Now does the Dean does his Substitute does the Church of England teach indifferent things to be necessary in this sence to have an immediate and direct influence upon our Salvation Can any man in his wits who owns these things to be indifferent in the same breath assert them to be necessary in this sense And therefore Mr. Lob's Argument is a ridiculous Sophism or as Mr. H. speaks has four terms in it For necessary to Salvation in the Major Proposition signifies very differently from necessary to Salvation in the Minor Proposition and thus the Dean and his Substitute are reconciled But 2. How shall I bring my self off for though I do not assert a direct necessity of indifferent things to Salvation yet I bring in a necessity at a back Door and necessity is necessity and if it be a damning necessity it is no matter of what kind and nature the necessity be I make Communion with the Church of England necessary to Salvation and indifferent observances are necessary to the Communion of the Church of England and therefore are themselves necessary to Salvation But yet I doubt not to make it appear that though the Church of England does require the observance of such indifferent things from all in her Communion yet she makes these things in no sense necessary to Salvation For 1. In many cases she does not charge the bare not observing such indifferent Rites with any guilt and therefore is far enough from making them necessary to Salvation Such indifferent things are not enjoyned for their own sake but for the sake of publick Order and Decency and therefore when they can be neglected without publick Scandal and Offence without a contempt of the Government without the guilt of Schism and Separation it is no fault nor accounted such by the Church And yet did she enjoyn these things as necessary to Salvation they would equally oblige in all times and in all cases without exception 2. Though Schism be a damning sin yet the imposition of such indifferent things is no necessary cause of a Schismatical Separation Men may communicate in all or in most parts of Christian Worship with the Church of England without assenting to such unscriptural Impositions or yielding any active obedience to them and I suppose Mr. Lob will confess that there is a very material difference between an active and passive Obedience in doubtful cases The terms of Lay-Communion are as easie as ever they were in any setled and constituted Church as for publick Forms of Prayer I must except them out of the number of indifferent things for they have at least equal Authority and are infinitely more expedient not to say necessary for publick Worship than their ex tempore Prayers And then what is there required of a private Christian to do to qualifie him for Church-Communion if he does not like the Surplice he does not wear it himself and let the Minister look to that What hurt is it to Parents or their Children to submit to the Authority of the Church in using the sign of the Cross in Baptism They only offer their Children to be baptized if the Minister does something more than what they think necessary and expedient let the Church look to that which enjoyns it Private Christians who have not Authority to alter publick Constitutions are not concerned in that So that there is but one Ceremony wherein they are required to be active and that is receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper kneeling which men thus peaceably disposed may easily be satisfied in the lawfulness and fitness of and till they can be satisfied may more innocently abstain from the Lord's Table and joyn in all other parts of Christian Worship than they can separate from the Church So that these indifferent things can be no just cause for any private Christians to separate and if notwithstanding they do separate and are damned for it they must not charge these innocent Ceremonies with their Damnation And as for those who cannot conform as Ministers they may and most of them own they can conform as Lay-men and therefore these Ceremonies are no cause of their Separation 3. Suppose men do take occasion from the Disputes and Quarrels about indifferent things to separate from the Church and be damned for it yet they are not damned for not observing such indifferent Customs though that may be the remote occasion of it but for their pride and self-conceit for their disobedience to their Superiors for their dividing the unity of the Church and disturbing the peace of it Suppose two men should be so well employed as to play at push-pin and should quarrel and fight and one should be killed and the other hanged would you say this man was hanged for playing at push-pin Thus it is here it is not the occasion which peevish 〈◊〉 take to divide the Church which must be charged with their Damnation but their Pride their Faction their Obstinacy their Disobedience and ungovernable temper of mind which takes such small occasions to divide and disturb the Church If Mr. Lob does not think this enough in answer to his Argument I think he is a little unreasonable III. Our Author has another device still to prove from my own Concessions that Dissenters are not Schismaticks He says that Dr. Gunning and Dr. Pearson now two learned and reverend Prelates whose bare Authority I confess is more considerable to me than all our Author's Arguments in a Conference with the Papists Reply p. 82. assert That a Superiors unjust casting out of the Church is Schismatical And this I heartily assent to But according to my notion the Church of England is guilty of such impositions and does unjustly excommunicate Dissenters This I utterly deny But let us hear how Mr. Lob proves it 1. He says That the Impositions are sinful is evident in that indifferent things as has been proved are made necessary to Salvation But I presume the Reader will see that this has not been proved yet and therefore it is not evident I will only ask our Author whether these reverend Bishops by unjust Excommunications mean excommunicating those who refuse to submit to the just Authority of their Superiors in indifferent things If they don't as it is evident they don't he only abuses them and his Readers by their Authority 2. That the Church of England excommunicates unjustly he says is very demonstrable even in that