Malefactor before we have heard what he can say for himself and therefore though his flying for it might argue his guiltiness yet we shall patiently hear all that the Separatist can plead for himself and the crime is so great that he knows no ordinary Plea will defend him and therefore he pretends no less than a Commission from Heaven the Authority of God's own Spirit Having the Spirit is the pretence having not the Spirit is the charge sub judice lis est And we have our Saviour's Commission for tryal of any such pretenders though they think themselves exempt from all Ecclesiastical Judicature 1 St. John 4.1 Try the Spirits that is the Teachers and their Doctrines the Reason is For there are many false Prophets gone abroad into the World And if we are to try them there is doubtless a Law and Rule by which to proceed and that is the Word of God which being written by Holy Men as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost so is it able to make the man of God perfect seeing it was confirmed by God's own testimony in sundry Miracles as the Gift of Tongues and Prophecie of dispossessing Devils and healing all Diseases No pretence of revelation can gain equal authority with it unless it bring an equal testimony that is the power of doing Wonders Nobis curiositate non opus est post Christum Tertul. de Praescript c. 8. nec disquisitione post Evangelium Certainly they have not the Spirit in that degree that the Apostles had and therefore we do them no injury to bring them to such an authentick Judge as is the Word of God wherein there is not one sentence to countenance such as separate from any Church of God where the means of Salvation the Word and Sacraments are rightly administred although many corruptions be crept into it By the Example of Christ and his Apostles retaining themselves within the Communion of the Jewish Church notwithstanding their pollutions the error of such as in imitation of the Cathari of old and the Anabaptists now refuse to partake of the Lord's Supper if they see the same administred to such as they suppose wicked Men is for ever confuted and condemned saith * Contr. Anabap Spanhemius To him I add the judgment of ‖ Instit l. 4. c. 1. S. 18. Mr. Calvin If it was the religious care of the Prophets not to alienate themselves from the Church notwithstanding the many and great sins not of a few persons but almost of all the People We do arrogate too much to our selves if we dare presently to withdraw from the unity of the Church because the manners of all that are in it do not satisfie our judgments and are not answerable to their Christian Profession St. John gives us three Rules for tryal of the Spirits 1. By their confessing Christ to be come in the Flesh The 2d By cleaving to the Apostolical Communion v. 6. Whosoever heareth not us is not of God hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error 3ly By mutual love and charity v. 7 8. God is love and he that loveth not knoweth not God These two later testimonies utterly destroy the pretence of Separatists to that Spirit of God which spake by the Apostles for as much as they do act in opposition to it Estius in locum And the Ancients who according to the vulgar Edition do read the first note thus Omnis spiritus qui solvit Jesum that is Sermon of Concision as Dr. Donne paraphraseth it Every spirit that breaks Jesus in pieces and makes Religion serve turnes is not of God in which sense Estius thinks it may also be taken that not only they deny Christ that deny his Humane or Divine Nature or the Doctrine taught by him but such as rent and divide the Church which is his Mystical Body by making Sects and Divisions these have not the Spirit of God but of Autichrist When the Ancient Separatists pretended to extraordinary Operations of the Spirit the Plea was more plausible for the gift of Tongues and Prophecie of Healing c. was not fully ceased But if our Apostle denied it to those ancient Separatists some of which as Thendas and Simon Magus did very strange things lying wonders at least it will be a difficult task for later Separatists to prove that Divine revelations and immediate Inspirations of the Spirit are continued when all the other extraordinary gifts are expired Yet as Grotius observes Jactant se miras habere Inspirationes In locum They still boast of wonderful operations and inspirations of the Holy Ghost But to joyn in issue The gifts of the spirit are twofold either first for the edification of the Church or secondly for the sanctification of the particular members both of these are to be continued in the Church to the end of the World nomen Spiritualis pro eo qui spiritus dono se praedium jactat ad obeundum Prophetiae munus Those for edification of the Church in general are mentioned by the Apostle Ephes 4.8 When Christ escended up on high He gave some Apostles 1 Cor. 14.37 and some Prophets and some Evangelists for the edifying of the body of Christ c. The distinct Offices of the Ministry are those gifts of which all are not capable Are all Apostles saith the Apostle that is in effect All are not Apostles but those that truly succeed the Apostles are to continue successively to the Worlds end till we all come in the unity of the knowledge and faith of the Son of God c. So Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you always How is Christ present but by his Spirit How with his Apostles but in their Successors And this is the import of that phrase used by the Church in the consecration of Ministers Receive the Holy Ghost wherein neither the power of Miracles nor the special grace of the Spirit but only an authority to administer holy things in the Church of God is to be understood And it is strange how they who are most forward to blame the Church for not following precisely the words of Christ in other Institutions can quarrel as her as they do for observing them in this when-as without these words that power cannot be duly and authoritatively derived It is true that the Church not seeing the hearts of Men may confer this authority on unworthy Men but so did Christ who knew all that was in his heart on Judas whose Ministry was authentick though his Person was vile he might be an instrument of saving others himself being a Cast-away If they that separate are partakers of this Holy Calling they are beholding to the ordinary Pastors of the Church for it from whom they now separate and this will but aggravate their guilt If they have a calling extraordinary they ought to evidence it not by an idle pretence to Revelations and Inspirations much less by swelling words of
her Neighbours hearts Have we some that talk of being Godded with God and Christed with Christ and having the root of the matter in them St. Bonaventure says of St. Francis that he was wholly swallowed up in God And Hugh Paulin de Cressay in his Preface to S ta Sophia talks of being closed in the Midhead of God and being oned with him Have we some who by seeking God in Prayer pretend to receive immediate resolution of all their doubts and direction in all difficult cases Orlandinus says of Ignatius and his Followers that in matters of debate they were wont to joyn in Prayer to God and after that what Opinion the most were of that they resolved to put in practice as being the mind of God Have we some that slight the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and talk of immediate impulses of the Spirit to which they ought rather to attend that talk of such a state of perfection in which they cannot sin of living above Ordinances and Duties The Fratricelli did the same things and so did the Disciples of one Almarinus a Student in Paris who taught that the Government of Christ according to the Gospel is expired and now the Church is to be governed by the spirit The Word and Sacraments are to cease and all Men to be saved by immediate operations of the Spirit without outward exercises Doubtless the Enthusiasts that called themselves the Family of love and held that God would behold no iniquity in his People took their Principles from some in the Church of Rome who hold that nothing is sinful that is acted upon a principle of love be it Fornication or Adultery that prescribed the means to attain supernatural irradiations from God which are to be received in the pure fund of the Soul so that they may have a real and experimental perception of the Divine presence in the depth and center of the spirit And when the doing or not doing an external work is proposed either of which is lawful they must hearken to the immediate impulses of the spirit within them and It is the great perfection of a Christian say the Jesuits in their spiritual exercises printed A. D. 1574. to keep himself indifferent to do what God shall reveal to him and not to determine himself to do what God hath already revealed and taught in his Holy Gospel And yet all these pretend and so did Mahomet too that the spirit did reveal all these Doctrines and practices to them But it was the same spirit that wrought in Simon Magus and the Gnosticks that sought the ruine of the Gospel and to that end disposed them to all error and uncleanness As for the good Spirit of God that holy meek obedient humble Spirit it is clear as the Apostle says they have it not Excellent is the discourse of Mr. Calvin against all such Popish and fanatick pretenders Instit l. 1. c. 9. to which I refer having given the Reader a former account But I suppose all that separate have not entertained such loose Principles Some plead only for a greater purity of Ordinances and dare not pretend to extraordinary inspirations of the spirit except it be in the gift of prayer which whatever the Ministers may know to the contrary the People do generally believe and no care is taken to undeceive them but upon this false supposition is that great clamor raised of limiting and quenching the spirit and depriving the People of God of the benefit of their Ministers gifts by injoyning them the use of a Liturgy for the silencing of which I desire it may be considered that if God have given the spirit of Prayer to any particular Men it may much more be presumed that he hath given it to the Governors of his Church agreeing together in those things Matth. 18.19 which are fit to be desired of God for the publick welfare of his Church and therefore the Scripture tells us that in the exercise of such gifts the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. 14.32 that God may not appear to be the author of confusion but of peace in all his Churches Nor can any reason be given why the Church that is to guide us in Doctrine as all do agree should not also lead us in our Devotion and publick Prayer which is a part of our Doctrine And unless the Objectors have more extraordinary impulses of the spirit in prayer than the Confessors and Martyrs in the Church of God have had for 1500. Years together I see no reason why we should exchange a well composed Liturgy by which they were always contented to Worship God in publick for a Licence to pray ex tempore Doubtless the harmony of all the Churches of God in the matter and manner of making our supplications would be a special means to make them effectual if that may not be had yet we that joyn with the Church in Doctrine and other parts of Divine Worship ought not to dissent in this To obey is better than Sacrifice this very act of obeying our spiritual Pastors Quanto obedientiores sumus praepositis nostris tanto obediet Deus Orationibus nostris will add Incense to our Sacrifices for as Eusebius Emissenus says By how much the more obedient we are to our Governors in the Church so much the more ready will God be to hear our Prayers Aug. ad Monachos Hom. 3. One petition of an obedient Person is sooner granted than a thousand of those that are disobedient Luther said that he had rather obey than work miracles it is certainly more to the edification of the Church in humility and obedience to invocate God in the publick Prayers of the Church than by a use of the most excellent gifts to draw the People 1 Cor. 14.5 first to admiration of mens persons then to division and separation as it often happeneth Sure we are God promised his spirit and blessing to his Church and we may be as sure he will not give them to those that despise his Church Let us suppose that some private Minister may have immediate inspirations how can he assure his hearers of it or what particular promise is there of a blessing to such more than to them that pray by the ordinary assistance of the spirit The Prayers of Cornelius and other devout Christians were doubtless more acceptable to God than the Prayers of some that had extraordinary gifts 1 Cor. 14.17 which as the Apostle intimates were not used to edification It is an excellent observation of Mr. Hooker Ecclesiastical Polity l. 5. S. 10. If every Man should follow what he imagineth the spirit to reveal to him or to some other of whom he hath an high esteem nothing but confusion would ensue under pretence of being guided by the Spirit The gifts and graces whereof do so naturally tend all to common peace that where such singularity is they whose hearts it possesseth ought
Loyalty which is one of the chiefest ingredients and ornaments of true Religion for next to Fear God is Honour the King and yet no Artillery Yard did ever discipline more Men for War nor any Magazine furnish them with keener Weapons than the Tongues and Pens of some Disciplinarians have done Thirdly I would willingly be informed what company of persons in any Age did openly separate from an Established Church wherein they might serve God without sinning by communicating with it and did not also trouble and disturb the State The multitude cannot look through the Vizor and see how they are acted by the ambition and covetousness of a few male-contents who under a seeming Zeal for the Truth have real designs against peace and do expose the Temporal and Eternal welfare of their followers for the accomplishing of their own ungodly Lusts not unlike the Ape that burnt the Cats foot in the fire to pluck out her beloved Nuts Fourthly Nor can it be otherwise thought but that Schismatical persons among us do drive Seditious designs if it be considered that there is no pious duty or laudable exercise of piety and devotion but it may be done more solemnly in the publick Assemblies than in any private Conventicles whatsoever * Non licet â—â—de sepaâ—are ubi â—â—iect in belius â—mmutaâ—â—g Aug. â—â—ontra â—â—resc l. 2. â— 28 〈◊〉 230. of â—chism And what Reason can there be as Mr. Hales says why they should do that secretly and suspiciously which they may do warrantably in the publick Congregations except they are afraid their Devotions will be less acceptable when they serve God with Reverence as well as with godly Fear It is beyond question that there may be such corruptions in Doctrine and such Idolatrous practices required in Worship as may justifie a Separation but neither of these can be pretended against our Church The Covenanters indeed did pretend a necessity of reforming our Doctrine but to this day have not mentioned any one Article that needed it but while the Covenant was warm upon their Spirits they required that all persons admitted into any Benefice should subscribe our Articles having first read them publickly and professed their consent to them as long as the House of Lords had the Power of admission committed to them and even now in cool bloud all parties that have any thing of Sobriety do make the Doctrine of the Church of England the Standard by which they authorize their own And if the present Dissenters were Christians indeed the great and uncontroverted Fundamentals of Religion wherein they agree with us in judgment might reconcile their affections in those lesser things wherein they differ Opinionum diversitas Opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hales of Schism p. 215. How unreasonable and irreligious a thing it is to contend for Ceremonies to the neglect of the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith is I hope satisfactorily evinced in another discourse hereunto annexed Fifthly I shall therefore propose another Argument to prove that Schism as it is now practised among us is inseparable from Sedition because if men did dissent purely upon the account of Judgment and Conscience they would dissent soberly and peaceably and as the Nonconformists in Mr. Balls days joyn with us in somethings which they cannot but allow though they refused to communicate in other things which they suspected and concerning those things also they would in all humility and meekness seek satisfaction and distrust their own Opinions which they find to be contrary to the judgment of their Superiours whom they cannot but acknowledge to be very learned and good men For as Erasmus on Romans 14. Dignitatis ratio poscit ut imperitior peritiori obtemperet We owe so much to the Authority and wisdom of our Superiours that in things doubtful and suspected and he instanceth in things far more obnoxious than our Ceremonies they who have less knowledge ought to obey him that hath more and he gives this reason because if it be a crime of Arrogance to despise the Superstition of the weak and of him that erreth in Simplicity of how much more intolerable Arrogance is it if he that is more weak in Faith and Knowledge do judge and condemn them that are better than himself according to the vulgar rule of unlearned persons who judge all unjust which themselves do not practise and the Apostle tells such that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink i. e. the spirit and temper of the Gospel consists not in being solicitous about such things which are left to our Christian liberty but about the promoting of righteousness and peace Ro. 14.17 and joy in the Holy Ghost which are indispensably injoyned so that sober and conscientious Dissenters would rather according to the Will of God suffer patiently for well-doing than studiously promote discord and division and all those evils which the Apostle says do accompany it I cannot forbear to commend that excellent advice of S. Augustine to such persons Epistle 56. If thou art questioned saith he concerning points of subtilty and controversies tell them thou knowest not what to Answers because thy Learning lyeth not that way if thou art urged to declare what thou knowest and wherein thy learning lyeth Responde to nosse quomodo sine istis homo possit esse beatus Answer thou I have learned how a man may be happy without the understanding of such points And Mr. Hales observed that when scruples of Conscience began to be made or pretended then Schisms began to break in Treatise of Schism p. 217. And now let any indifferent man judge concerning such as instead of dissenting peaceably and seeking satisfaction meekly in such punctilio's of the nature of which they may be safely ignorant and as the Jews say of some of their questions refer the resolution of them until Elias come do not only renounce all Communion in the established Worship but contrary to the known Laws of God and the King disturb the publick peace rail at their Brethren defame and resist their Superiors are deaf to all arguments and will not be perswaded when they are over-convinced but instead of patiently enduring what is not in their power to amend as S. Augustine adviseth do with equal pride and impatience attempt the casting off of all Government whether such are men of tender Consciences or of carnal and by consequence of Seditious principles Sixthly Which will yet more evidently appear if it be considered that Schisms are ordinarily contrived and abetted by discontented and ambitious persons whose seditious and Traiterous designs against the State do want the Midwifry of Schism to give them Birth and Maturity The Vow at Hebron was a means to form an Army against David 2 Sam. 15.7 and Come see my zeal the Motto of Jehu's standard 2 Kings 10.16 which drew many after them who went in the simplicity of their hearts to their own destruction
only to desert but to create a scorn and contempt of it now and by erecting a Babel of confusion seek to down with Sion down with it to the ground I have only this query to demand of such Whether if they did well in communicating with us themselves they do not ill in withdrawing others from our Communion I believe it is their own judgment as well as mine that if they might be dispensed with as to the renouncing the Covenant Reordination Assent and Consent the Surplice and the Cross they might then conform to our Liturgy and Discipline and few of them would scruple to conform as publick Ministers in all other things Why then do those very Men some of which have published as much to the World and the most part are convinced in Judgment and Conscience that they themselves might thus conform why do they so industriously seduce the People from their duty of communicating in their several Parishes with their own Ministers seeing that none of them are concerned in the things which are scrupled at in order to the conformity of publick Ministers They are not troubled with Covenant Reordination c. nor with any thing that hath so much as a colour of justifying a Separation I am heartily sorry that any Persons have so intangled themselves in Nets of their own weaving that they cannot without loss of their reputation disingage themselves but that loss is not so great as the mischief will be if they shall insnare others and seek to salve their own reputation by the hazard of the salvation of others Consider therefore I beseech you where the blame and guilt will lye if on your principles and practices the People whom you have separated from the Church of England wherein they might serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear shall within a short time forsake your Assemblies also and unite themselves to other Teachers and Conventicles in which they think whether right or wrong they may serve God in purer Ordinances and at last to live without and above Ordinances if these Delusions do spring from your Principles and practices as undoubtedly they do Is not the guilt of all these Confusions imputable to you and may not the loss of those Souls be required at your hands If therefore in some private respects there be a Vae si non a woe unto you if you preach not there may be in respect of the publick a Vae infinitely greater if Men shall still go on in the way of Kain and run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perish in the gain-saying of Core It is not the spot of a Servant of God but an indelible brand which the Spirit of God hath fixed on Jeroboam that he made Israel to sin In our Polemical Debates with the Church of Rome it hath been our unhappiness that as soon as we have beaten them out of one strong hold they have fled to another from their Universality and constancy in the received faith to the Spirit of Infallibility annexed to the Succession of their Popes either personally or in Cathedrâ with his Conclave or in a Council when these were shattered they retreat to their invisible Fort of Traditions but when all these have by the Canon of Scripture and Apostolical Men been so levelled to the ground that scarce one stone is left upon another we see the Grandeur and Temporal Principality of the Court of Rome is at the bottom which the Sword of the Spirit and the Weapons of Christianity in the hands of Men are not able to remove It is even so in our Controversies with Separatists when their pretences of Idolatrous Worship and Antichristian Government and Superstitious Rites an imperfect Liturgy and scandalous Communicants have been confuted they retreat to other pretences of having purer Ordinances of preserving their Christian Liberty and freedom of Conscience which admit of nothing to be imposed as to the Worship of God but what is expressed in his Word when the weakness of these are discovered there is something still at the bottom viz. They would be uppermost they cannot forgo their reputation of extraordinary knowledge and Zeal for God which alone can bear them out in their former actions and make the People still believe that what they did was according to Conscience and not upon design and interest The contrary whereof will by this Discourse appear to be the ground of all Separations from any Church so duly constituted as our Church of England is If it be objected there are great sins amongst us we grant it and do not only importune God for his Names sake to pardon our iniquities for they are great but wish for more assistance for amending of them we are unwilling to recriminate as the Prophet Oded did 2 Chron. 28.9 10. Are there not with you even with you also sins against the Lord your God I shall rather commend to you that ancient Arabian Proverb Deus altissimus aspicit tegit Vicinus vero nilvidet tamen nil nisi naevos crepat The most high God sees all our iniquities and he covers them all we that see nothing in comparison are always blaming and troubling our Neighbours If the Contagion of sin hath invaded the Multitude St. Augustine the severe mercy of Divine Discipline is necessary to cure us but the counsel and enterprise of separation is both vain and pernicious yea sacrilegious because such are the effects of Pride and wickedness as that they do ever trouble the good which are weak more than chastise the stubborn which are wicked None of us can be ignorant of the prejudices and animosities that are raised by such practices in the generality of the people of what perswasion soever Your Disciples do ipso facto censure them from whom they separate as profane carnal cruel and unconscionable Men. They again do suppose that some among you are discontented and implacable proud and ambitious and such as deserve that black character which St. Paul hath given 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 verses c. And by these contests we weaken our selves harden and animate our grand enemies and give them great advantages against us Let us therefore rather follow the things that make for peace and wherewith we may edify one another for we cannot but know after so long and sad experience as we have had that these things will be bitterness in the latter end endeavour to deserve that character which St. Augustine gives of a peaceable man Quisquis vel quod potest arguendo corrigit vel quod corrigere non potest salvo pacis vinculo excludit vel quod salvo pacis vinculo excludere non potest equitate improbat firmitate supportat hic pacificus est Ad Parmen l. 2. c. 1. And again The things which are evil displease all good Men and they hinder and suppress them as much as they may but when they may not they endure and grieve for them and for peace's
sake laudably tolerate what they do not think laudable but damnable nor do they forsake the Field of Christ because of the Weeds nor his Floor for the Chaff nor the great House of God because of some less honourable Vessels that are therein If I seem to contend too earnestly and rebuke too sharply it was not my nature or indignation but the subject that prompted me to it Some Grounds will produce Briers and Thorns though the Husbandman use his utmost care to prevent them The good Samaritan used Wine as well as Oyl on the Man that was casually wounded going from Jerusalem to Jericho And when the Prince of Peace dealt with the seducing and sacrilegious Pharisees that lay in wait to divert poor souls and would neither enter into the way of peace nor suffer them that were entring to go therein he acts like a Boanerges and denounceth Hell and Damnation Matth. 23.33 from which the good Lord deliver us all Amen THE PICTURE and CHARACTER OF A SEPARATIST Shewing That Sensuality is the Ground OF SEPARATION St. Jude v 19. These are they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit GOD threatneth the Watchmen of Israel that if they saw the Sword come Ezek. 33 6. and they did not blow the Trumpet that the People might be warned if the Sword came and took away any person from among them though he were taken away in his iniquity yet his blood should be required at the Watchman's hands Our Saviour likewise informs us that they who see the Wolf coming Joh. 10.13 and leave the Sheep to be caught or scattered by him are Hirelings and no good Shepherds for such should give their lives for the Sheep Now there is no Sword so dreadful as that two-edged Sword of Division and Error that destroys Bodies and Souls no Wolves so ravenous as those that prey upon Christ's Flock and should those whom God hath made his Watchmen and Shepherds not warn the People of the approach of such they might justly hear what as yet hath been unjustly spoken of too many that they are Thieves and Robbers and dumb Dogs For as much then as we know by sad experience what St. Paul foretold by a Spirit of Prophecie Acts 20.29 that grievous Wolves should enter into the Church of God not sparing the Flock and doth plainly describe them to be certain Men that should arise among our selves speaking perverse things i.e. false and forced Doctrines to draw away Disciples after them we should be unaccountably defective in our duty to God and in our love to those Souls which Christ purchased with his Bloud not to acquaint them with their present danger Vnum signum habetis quare non manetis in uno Ovili August ad plebem and exhort them to contain themselves within the Fold of their great Shepherd who bought them and hath provided green Pastures and set his own mark upon them and teach them how to know and avoid those Wolves which for the most part put on sheeps clothing that with the less suspicion they may prey upon the Sheep This I have thought fit to premise because the iniquity of some Men who cannot indure sound Doctrine may exact an Apology for a Discourse of this nature Our Apostle in this Epistle exhibiteth the effigies of a Separatist and in this little Tablet of the Text I shall present to your view both the Picture and the Character of such Men. The Picture of King Charles the First was by an ingenious hand pourtrayed in such Lines as did contain in express words the whole Book of the Psalmes so that at one view you might behold the form of his Body and the Image of his Divine Soul You have in this Text First the Picture or external Lineaments of a Separatist for the better resembling whereof if I use some dark colours as shades to represent his proper complexion and features I shall borrow them from the Scriptures or unquestionable Artists by whose help I hope to strike the Original to the life so that I shall not be troubled as he that had drawn a Cock to drive away all living Cocks from it lest they should disgrace his work but rather invite them all to use it as a Glass to see their Faces and correct their imperfections by it Nor shall I need for the information of others to write under the Hieroglyphick These are they c. 2ly I shall give you a Character of the Genius or internal disposition of a Separatist and that First Ex ore suo for his word is Spiritualis having the Spirit 2ly From the Apostle who had the gift to discern spirits and he affixeth the word Animalis Sensual having not the Spirit First of the Picture to which the Relative in the Text doth only point us and therefore I shall be inforced to imitate a piece of Art to bring it into the Text. There was a French Nobleman that had the Heads of his Children so graved and painted on one Table that by the help of a Glass they reflected the countenance of their Father on another I shall in like manner collect the several Heads and qualities described in the Context which with very little Art will so reflect the picture of a Separatist on the Text that he that runs may read These are they c. The Romish Artists who have very good skill in painting will describe a Separatist in the form of an English Bishop such as Cranmer or Ridley who left the Communion of the Papacy and retained no resemblance of his Fatherhood the Pope or of that Step-mother the Church of Rome Separation is indeed such a deformed and illegitimate birth that it is never acknowledged by its own Parents but laid at other Mens Doors And it concerns us to enquire who are the peccant Parties that we may clear our selves from the charge and imputation First then we say that we have no otherwise separated from the Church of Rome than that Church hath separated from the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostolical Government and Worship If there be any thing truly ancient and Catholick in that Church the same is still legible in every part of our constitution we have forsaken the corruptions and innovations which of later Years invaded that Church and the time manner and methods by which strange Doctrines and practices like Hay and Stuble were laid on the ancient Foundation so that the whole Building is become another Babel for confusion and corruption have been particularly discovered The superfluous and unsound additions are the only things that we have left Bishop Jewel's Apology And for the truth of this we have appealed to the suffrages of the Fathers of the first Six Hundred Years whom that Church doth yet admit of as authentick Witnesses to be our Compurgators Great corruptions there were in that Church before the convening of the Council of Trent which was near the time of our Reformation
vanity an apt and fluent cadency of words and canting expressions but by the demonstration of the Spirit and power sutable to the pretence that is by the gift of Tongues and Miracles not by praying extempore only but in a strange tongue too as the Apostles could for so we are to understand that in 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the Spirit which was Singulare linguarum Donum in a strange Language but then the Apostle would pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with his understanding but to the understanding of the hearers which many Separatists do not When the Spirit gave the Apostles the gift of utterance they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not talk confidently or impertinently but uttered words of truth and soberness in short and Divine Apothegmes as when Isaiah's Lips were touched with a Coal from the Altar Isay 6.6 he had Linguam cruditam so Christ assisting his Apostles Acts 2.4 gave them not Os only but sapientiam also a Mouth and Wisdome such as their Enemies could not resist Luk. 21.15 or gain-say in their interpretation of the mysteries of the Kingdome of God Now that they have a more legitimate calling to the office or greater abilities to perform it will be easily confuted because they generally disclaim that ordination which from the Apostles hath been successively derived to us by the constant order of Bishops and this being the ordinary lawful calling the blessing of God attends the Administration of Holy things by them and no other so that although they should be inferior in external Gifts and Learning to them that do separate the contrary whereof is notoriously known yet the blessing of God is appropriated to the Ministry of those whom he hath sent and commissioned thereunto And therefore they cannot in the second place with the least probability pretend to a greater measure of the sanctifying graces of the Spirit notwithstanding their talk of the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost It is true that he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 not essentially the same spirit with the Lord but mystically by the influence of that spirit which renders him humble and holy meek and gentle loving and obedient which graces of the spirit being eminently in Christ are in some good measure communicated to all his sanctified Members Eph 4.16 that are united to his Body which graces whether they do abound most in Separatists or those that contain themselves in the Communion of Apostolical Churches will appear anon In the mean time we shall prosecute our Enquiry whether they that separate have any such extraordinary inspirations and revelations of the Spirit as they pretend unto For certain it is that generally Separatists of all perswasions do boast of some such extraordinary influences which yet keep them at as great a distance among themselves as from the true Church of God let them therefore agree which of them have these effects from the true Spirit of God In the mean time we shall make it appear that none of them can have any such Operations Each Faction proclaiming the other to be Sine ratione Philosophos sine visione Prophetas sine missione Apostolos sine instructione didascalos And first Papists ought to have the precedence who challenge more than a double portion of such Revelations They chain the spirit of infallibility to the Pope's Chair so that whatever he pronounceth ex Cathedrâ in matters of Faith must be received with equal authority and credit as if it had been evidently commanded by the written Word Yea though it should differ from some plain Doctrines therein delivered for so do many of the Trent Articles as Purgatory and Prayers to Saints and Angels and Transubstantiation which either owe their original to pretended Revelations or at least have no better proof for the confirmation of them But certainly the Infallible Spirit cannot contradict it self and when St. Peter says one thing and his pretended Successors affirm the contrary when Nicolas the 4th defines contrary to Pope John the 22th they were not both infallible If such a Church can justly claim any spirit it is the spirit of contradiction as when it owns the Revelation of St. Bridget that the Virgin Mary was not conceived in Original Sin and the Revelation of St. Catharine that she was and institutes a Holy-day to celebrate her conception upon such a fabulous contradicted relation Yet not only the observation of days the Canonization of Saints the foundation of many Orders in that Church as of the Jesuits by Ignatius the Franciscans Benedictines and others but even Articles of Faith have had their rise from such pretensions If any of our Sectaries that pretend to inspiration are willing to know their Fathers or to find out a Church with which they may hold Communion now that they are departed from us I think the very worst among them may find a Founder and Foundation in no meaner Church than the Church of Rome And did the Pope of Rome use the same Methods as the Church of England to disclaim and discountenance all fanatick Factions and manifest their folly to all Men it would appear that there are more Sects and they as erroneous in Doctrine and vicious in their Lives as any in England or Amsterdam but as long as they own his Supremacy and serve the interest of his Court it is not much considered what becomes of the Gospel and the Church of God It were easie to run a Parallel betwixt our Sectarie and such as have been or still are in the Church of Rome who run beyond the Line of the greatest Separatists that are among us Have we some that deny the King's Supremacy and hold it lawful to depose and murder Kings See Fowlis lives c. We owe these Tenets and practices to the Church of Rome Have we some that will shew no respect to their Superior St. Ignatius would not move his Hat to the Magistrates Have we some that play fast and loose with Oaths of Allegiance and enter into holy Leagues and contrive Massacres of their Brethren this we owe to the Church of Rome Have we some that condemn our Church as carnal and Antichristian The Beguini so had they such as called their Church the Whore of Babylon that they were all carnal and blind and their Fraternity only the true Church in which Salvation was to be had Have we some that despise humane learning and make ignorance the Mother of Devotion so had the Church of Rome as St. Gregory says of St. Bennet that he hated Learning yet was knowingly ignorant and wisely unlearned Have we some that can discern the precious from the vile and tell who are the Elect and who Reprobate Philip Nereus and St. Catharine had the faculty to smell Souls and tell as perfectly which was clean and which unclean as Noah could judge of the Creatures that came into the Ark and Juliana could discover the thoughts of
to suspect it the more in as much as if it did come from God and should for that cause prevail with others the same God which revealeth it to them would also give them power of confirming it to others either with miraculous operation or with strong invincible remonstrance of sound reason such as whereby it might appear that God would have all Mens judgments give place unto it whereas now the Error and insufficiency of their arguments makes it a strong presumption against them that God hath not moved their hearts to think such things as he hath not inabled them to prove But instead of God's approving the conceits of such Men by miraculous testimonies he hath by little less than a Miracle confuted them by suffering those Pretenders who by the exercise of such gifts have disturbed the Peace and Unity of the Church to fall into manifest impieties for do not such in many of the Factions despise the Word of God and follow rather their own delusions Do not such contemn the Prayer which our blessed Saviour taught us as if they had more of the Spirit than he Do not such pretend to more of the spirit than all the Churches of God who explode these pretences Have not notorious sinners deluded the People of God in all Ages by such dangerous suggestions Were not the Pharisees excellent at it and the Messalians of whom Theodoret tells us that they gave themselves wholly to Prayer and had strange raptures and visions But the Church judged them to be Hereticks for despising their Communion and neglecting other Ordinances and this censure it appears they did deserve for Flamianus a Bishop of Antioch prevailed with one of their number called Adelphius to discover some of their mysteries to this effect They held that all Men brought an evil spirit into the World with them which could not be cast out but by Prayer which being done the good spirit takes possession and restifies his presence both by inward and visible signs and then they need no Sacraments nor Scriptures nor Sermons but only to attend their Prayers but at last it appeared that many of them were possessed by the Devil who made these revelations to them So true is that of St. Augustine Dum sequuntur homines proprium sensum mox delabuntur ad Daemonem We have had sad instances in these later Ages Of Basilides a most implacable Tyrant Swinckfield an Antiscripturist Hacket a Blasphemer Dame Oliver a Witch and many others led by the same spirit who were in their several times and places greatly admired for this as they call it inspired gift of Prayer And it is the righteous judgment of God that when Men despising the ordinary means and methods of obtaining grace and salvation in his Church do turn aside to ways of their own choosing he doth give them up to be punished by their own delusions and having departed first from the unity next they fall from the faith and then fall into unreasonable and damnable opinions and practices such as may affright us all from having any Man's person in admiration for such gifts as these for these Reasons the Church of God to secure the publick worship of God from the prophanations of such presumptuous Men hath in all Ages used a prescript form of Prayer which no doubt saith Mr. Hooker proceeded from God Li. 5. S. 25. and ought by us to be acknowledged a work of his singular care and providence that the Church ever held a form of Common-prayer though not evermore the same yet for the most part retaining the same analogy so that if the Liturgies of all the ancient Churches were compared it might be perceived that they had all one original and that they never used the extemporal dictates of any Man's wit in Churches well setled but publick forms wherein all might joyn with one heart and mouth Rom. 15.6 to glorifie God And for these Reasons most sober Men have wished that all the Churches of God might joyn in one Liturgy And this if any would be to pray in the Holy Ghost To which the Apostle exhorts us as to a duty in the like manner as to build up our selves in our most holy faith and keeping our selves in the love of God all which being gifts of God are to be obtained and improved by the use of those means which God hath appointed for that end viz. reading hearing and meditating in his Word attending to the matter forms and phrases consecrated in the Scriptures for the spirit doth collaborantem adjuvare help the infirmities of the industrious diligent and humble Christian not of the careless and presumptuous sinner Two ways doth the Spirit assist us first in the matter of our Devotions Rom. 8.26 27. directing us to pray for spiritual things that we ask such things as be agreeable to the will of God that is to his revealed will 2ly The spirit assists us as to the manner of praying that we ask in faith and go to God as our Father in and by Christ v. 15. this is to cry Abba Father The spirit excites holy affections by consideration of the precious promises of God in whose favour is life and in whose Presence there are joys for evermore and thus to pray for spiritual things in a spiritual manner in faith and fervency is to pray in the Holy Ghost let the form be what it will for being thus composed according to the spirits own directory that is the Word of God here is no limiting of the spirit but a conforming to it and if the manner of our Prayers be such as the spirit also directs in humility and faith in fervency and charity such a short petition as that of the Publican shall avail more than all the long prayers and loud congratulations of the Pharisees I doubt not but those Primitive Christians who did in the Congregation cast themselves prostrate through the apprehensions of the Divine Majesty and answered the Collects of the Church with an Amen like a clap of Thunder did pray in the spirit And so did St. Augustine with the Congregation in his days St. August confess How much did I weep saith he in the melodious Hymns and Songs of the Church being mightily moved by the consent of Voices which flowing through my Ears conveyed thy truth into my Heart and stirred up pious affections till the tears flowed down The holy People lay prostrate in the Church being prepared to dye with their Bishop thy Servant my Mother also thine Handmaid being eminent for her watching and prayers did live upon her Devotion and we that were cold and dull were excited and comforted by the influence of thy holy spirit Here was humility and unity faith and fervency watchfulness and perseverance and these are the best signs of the spirit of prayer but when Men ask such things as are not consistent with the will of God when they ask things to be consumed by their lusts when they
conform to them but choose rather to lose all they have how Devout they are in their Prayers Powerful in their Preaching Holy in their Lives How hard a task is it to Undeceive such People who are verily perswaded that all that hath been told them is true and having never doubted and inquired into the truth of them have continued in their prejudices against the one and in Communion with the other and as they believe are greatly edified in knowledge and grace and as St. Paul acting zealously according to his knowledge and Conscience before his Conversion thought verily Acts 26.9 that he ought to do all those things against the Name of Jesus of Nazareth and that he did God good service in it Now what is the most probable means to convert such a one Should any of the Apostles have gone to Saul and upbraided him with hypocrisie and dissimulation Saul was guilty of no such thing he acted according to his knowledge and Conscience and such a Method would have confirmed him in his present perswasion that he acted for and they against the truth The same Method therefore that our Saviour used in Saul's conversion is the most probable for the undeceiving of such prejudiced Persons To convince them It is Jesus whom they persecute that the Pharisees under whom they were educated made Religion only a Cloak to hide their gross impieties that their preciseness about Ceremonies and tithing Mint Annise and Cummin was but a pretence to blind Men from charging them with the neglect of the weightier matters of the Law and there needs no other help to discover false Teachers than that of our Saviour by their fruits ye shall know them for as when we see a Wolf though in Sheeps clothing begin to scatter and worrey the Flock we may conclude him to be a Wolf so when we see Men live in Envy and Malice and to be the Authors of Confusion and every Evil thing we may conclude they have not the Spirit which they pretend to And as for the Multitude Christ instructs them in plain and easie Precepts of Repentance faith and new obedience and vindicates the Law of God from the gross and false interpretations of the Pharisees who notwithstanding the good Opinion that the People had of them were indeed grand Hypocrites proud censorious malicious And therefore they ought to shake off that heavy Yoke that was imposed upon their Consciences and to be of a meek and teachable Spirit to search the Scriptures and consider what was written in the Law and the Prophets of doing justly loving mercy Micah 6.8 and walking humbly with God To these our Saviour recalls the deceived People Matth. 5. in that most Heavenly Sermon on the Mount and that great Commandment of loving the Lord our God with all our Heart Matth. 22.37 and with all our Soul and with all our Mind and in the other which is like unto it to love our Neighbours as our selves and doing to all Men as we would they should do unto us on which Golden Rule hang all the Law and the Prophets I doubt not but as among the Pharisees of old so among the Papists and other Sectaries now there are many chief Leaders that know themselves to be in Error and that if they should acquaint the People with their own convictions they should retain very few Proselytes and therefore it was and is their constant care to keep the People under ignorance and prejudice still either wholly to deny the use of the Scriptures and other good works or so to wrest the one and defame the other that it is almost the same thing as if they were wholly denyed to them We read in the 2d of Sam. 15. how Absalom under pretence of a Vow and with fair speeches stole the hearts of the People and led them into Rebellion against his own Father he carries out at once Two Hundred Men from Jerusalem who as the Text says went in the simplicity of their hearts not knowing any thing Cameron doth excuse such Persons as are unawares seduced by the instance of one that unwittingly marries his own Sister which though it be really Incest yet relatè in respect that he did it ignorantly it is not so to him unless he continues in it after full information How far they were excusable from Rebellion and Separation that ingaged in the first unhappy Wars is by this time known to most of them But as they were rank Rebels that continued with Absalom when they saw him to be guided by the Counsel of Achitophel to form Armies and fight pitcht Battails against his Father David whom he so pursued that v. 30. you find David and the Men that were with him going up to the Mount Olivet bare-footed and weeping in which distress Shimei perpetually curseth him v. 7. Come out thou bloody Man and thou Man of Belial Ch. 16.7 and v. 13. cast dust and stones at him So they that having been Spectators and for the most part Agents or Patients in the horrid effects of our late most unhappy Divisions which were begun on pretence of reforming Church-affairs and introducing a better Discipline shall again ingage in the like Divisions and foment Discord and Separation which St. James tells us as well as our own experience will bring in confusion and every evil thing are Separatists in the highest degree Besides the generality of the People who are now separated were reconciled to the Communion of our Church which was done either upon good information and sound knowledge of the lawfulness of holding Communion with us or in a way of dissimulation and hypocrisie If upon the account of a right information then they sin in the Separation that is now made If upon the consideration of other vile ends and secular motives they were hypocrites in so doing and such in all probability they continue still It was undoubtedly their duty before they departed to have consulted with those spiritual Guides under whose Ministry they were for the resolution of their doubts and trial of the Grounds of their intended Separation which being wholly neglected it argues at least great rashness and supine negligence and consequently that Sensuality and not Piety was the ground of their Separation And as the Religion of some Men is framed according to their Natural constitutions and continual education so bodily Distempers and accidental infirmities and afflictions have a great influence to the perswasions of others Thus a discontented spirit disappointment of hopes decay of Trade a Sedentary calling and labouring in the Fire may raise such melancholy fancies and so strongly imprint them on the Spirits of Men as to make them really believe absurd and impossible things as if they were real truths for Melancholy is of the nature of Wine if sends up hot and flatulent Vapours into the Brain and there creates strange Imaginations and inableth Men with confident and eloquent Language to express their fancies and this temper
Worship or some grand profaneness in our Members so are they not raised without such thoughts in the hearts of those that do separate from us as Mr. Newcomen observed in his Sermon at St. Pauls Febr. 8. 1646. p. 40. Who are they that brand their Brethren with the title of Proud Time-servers Prelatical Tyrannical Antichristian but such as separate Who will say that they are of the same opinion in Fundamentals and that their differences are but in minutioribus but Why do they in matters of lesser moment transgress the Apostles rule Why do they not keep their opinions private and have their faith to themselves before God Why do they upon so small differences withdraw from Communion with us and gather themselves into distinct and separate Churches This is certainly a pharisaical leaven that ferments and imbitters our spirits and though the effects of it may be hid for a time yet on every heat and agitation it spreads through the whole lump and swells Men with Pride and an unsociable sowrness of Spirit And though the things wherein we differ seem to be but small and have a shew of piety yet the consequences are so notoriously and really evil that the most zealous pretences for the Discipline of Christ are too narrow a Plaister to cover or cure the festred rancor and malice towards his members Ceremonies are no fit matter to exercise our zeal and contention but obedience and charity Yet as the Ordinances and Rites that were retained by the believing Jews and Gentiles were still a Wall of separation between them and the Apostle calls it the enmity Eph. 2.15 so is it with us The Jews and Samaritans differed chiefly about the place wherein they ought to Worship upon which there grew a mortal hatred between them so as that there was no commerce between them they would not salute one another Nec monstrare vias eadem nisi Sacra colenti and it was accounted all one to be a Samaritan and to have a Devil So when once Men swerve from the center and basis of charity there is no consistency but Men fall first to vain jangling and that increaseth to more ungodliness for where bitter envying or as the original word is zeal is there is confusion and every evil thing Behold saith St. James how great a matter a little fire kindleth if Men snatch a Coal from the Altar it is blown up and down by popular breath until it be raised into a flame and hath this property at least of the fire of the Sanctuary that the busie Levites will not permit it to go out I know it will be troublesome to others for it is a terror to my self to recount what cataracts and inundations of blood our Church-divisions that at first as the Prophets Cloud were but as a hand-breadth have rained down upon the whole Land I shall give it you therefore in a Foreign instance namely of the Donatists in Africa who because Cecilian their Bishop had admitted some to his Communion whom they accused for Traditors first withdrew from the Church which as they pretended ought to consist of such only as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy and without blemish and because they had read in the Canticles that Christ caused his Flock to rest sub meridie they concluded that their Party in the South of Africa was that Flock and hereupon they are very industrious to gather Congregations and pick up one of a Family and two or three of a Village which as Optatus observes were generally of the weaker sort Aut exivit Vxor resedit Maritus c. The Wife is withdrawn from her Husband the Son or Daughter from their Parents And my * Optatus Author sets down the Method which those Seducers used Cai Sei or Caia Seia bonus homo sed traditor libera animam tuam Thou good Man or good Woman thou art among Idolaters and Superstitious persons thou hast good affections but they are not rightly placed come out of Babylon and deliver thy Soul When they had thus increased their Party they built Basilicas non necessarias more Churches than were necessary and their Sermons were generally Satyrs against the Catholicks and though they were frequently confuted in private disputations and condemned by many Synods at home and several Councils abroad and divers Edicts of the Emperors yet never would they acquiesce or be reconciled but vexed the Churches of Africa for more than a Hundred Years increasing their Numbers and subdividing into Factions as the Primianists and Maximianists the Rogatians and Callidians Luciferians and Circumcellians and all of them Donatists and the Circumcellians were a Generation of Zealots so fierce and implacable that Domitian himself did not use more cruelty in shedding Christians bloud nor Julian who was in Rempublicam Christianam ingeniose nequam could ever contrive more mischievous Instruments to destroy Christianity withall than these Donatists were and therefore he countenanced them against the Catholicks And when at last their grievances and the grounds of the Schisme came to be inquired into in the Conference of Carthage they could object nothing against the Catholicks but what here the Pharisees did against Christ Why eateth your Master with Publicans and Sinners And can any Christian Spirit think that this Plea for a Levitical Ceremony will justifie such barbarous cruelties and bloody Sacrifices before him who hath said I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice For let it be considered that we live in a Church which is established on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone a Church wherein nothing is forbidden which the Word of God commands nor any thing commanded which that forbids a Church whose Constitutions are truly Ancient and Apostolical for which it is envied by her Adversaries though blamed by those that should be her Friends In a word a Church wherein we may be as holy devout and charitable as flesh and bloud will permit us This Church is protected by a Gracious King setled on the Throne of his Fathers by many miracles of Providence ready to gratifie the just desires of all good Men. And what sufficient reason can be given to disturb the peace of such a Church or to disobey the commands of such a King for the preservation of peace and unity under whom all things are lawful except libertas pereundi a licence to undo our selves and others That there are some such imperfections in the Church as discontented Persons may quarrel at is no strange thing and if causless and frivolous objections may be a ground for Separation there can never be a firm peace in any Church seeing that ignorance and interest Tanta est imperitiae morositas ut vel in rebus probatissimis habeat semper quid reprehendat Cal. and malice will still prevail in the hearts of some Men but that such things may be tolerated and submitted to rather than to destroy the foundations of peace and