A SERMON Touching SCHISME Lately Preached at St. Maries in CAMBRIDGE By RI WATSON Fellow of GONVILE and CAjUS Colledge ROMANES 16. 17 18. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the people Printed by ROGER DANIEL Printer to the Universitie of Cambridge 1642. And are to be sold by William Graves Book-seller in the Regent-walk To the Worll my very worthy friend and much honoured Patron Mr. RICHARD CAMDEN Sir SAint Augustine and divers reverend Fathers of the Primitive Church because there were many hereticks in their time writ themselves and advised others of competent ability to write against Heresie We have alike reason in these our dayes and if the mouthes of our grave Ecclesiasticall Worthies could breath through the iniquity of the times might from them too assuredly have alike encouragement to preach against Schisme My apprehension hereof first incited me to a rationall discussion which at length concluded in this resolution That my silence how inconsiderable soever should not intitle me to the least interest in betraying the Church to either of her two homebred prevalent enemies Blind Ignorance or Obstinate Malice The successe which my endeavours herein found by this Academicall performance if my friends tongues translated aright the language of their hearts being as beyond its desert so I truly and ingenuously confesse beyond likewise either my expectation or hope could be but a mean if any incentive to this my farther publication of it whereby it may meet with a different character from that which their charitable impression at first afforded it For I 'll not go about so to captivate the judgements of my candid auditours as to chain them to their first conceiv'd opinion I know the eye is a lamp which often lights the understanding to the discovery of some errours formerly lost in the labyrinth of the eare Things approv'd when heard may undergo a contrary most just because more deliberate censure in the reading What motives soever I had such it may be as imposed rather a kind of necessity then gave me satisfaction I desire to conceal The reason of my dedication to your self my many and great Collegiate obligations engaging the choycest of my future endeavours in a higher discharge needs runne no hazard of your various conjecture being my desire to imploy it as a thankfull acknowledgement of your first Christian grace vouchsafed me at the Font seconded by your pious most carefull performance of that charge the Church there gave you of my non-age and still continued by your most frequent ample accumulation of favours which shall hereafter upon the emergence of any farther occasion be most duly commemorated by Your ever-obliged servant and dutifull Godsonne RI WATSON Ephes. chap. 4. vers. 2 3. With all humblenesse of mind and meeknesse with long-suffering forbearing one another in love Endeavouring to keep the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace PYthagoras that old Samian Philosopher who as Justine Martyr records was wont to veil and disguise his opinions under dark speeches and mysticall symbols having made Unitie the originall of all things and the cause of all good that is in the world the Father takes not his words for his meaning but under the allegoricall veil of that Unitie discovers an undivided Deitie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith he in his Cohortation to the Grecians As if that and God were so inseparably linked together that the thought of man although suggested but by the dictate of nature could not possibly part them asunder In like manner S. Paul in this chapter exhorting the Ephesians to the endeavour of keeping the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace after he hath told them There is but one body meaning of a Catholick Church howsoever dispersed over the whole earth But one Spirit of a God informing and giving life to every member thereof But one hope of their Christian calling as if all this Unitie were but to usher in a single Deitie he concludes all with an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} There is one God vers. 6. Yet before he gets up to this he binds the Ephesians in a bond of union with that triple cord wherein their whole Christianity was twisted which could admit of no separation at all unlesse they would seem to dissolve their profession There is one Lord whom Christians obey and therefore no distraction by service There is one faith whereby they believe and therefore no division by Creeds There is one baptisme whereby they get entrance into the Church and therefore no distinction by initiative grace And these three are more peculiarly {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that Trinitie of Vnities wherein God by the ministery of S. Paul appears to his Church as it were in the shape of three Angels as once he did to Abraham and Sarah to put her in mind of that conjugale foedus that league of love between her and her husband whereby she may fructifie and bring forth an Isaac a child of joy peace unity and concord wherein may all the earth be blessed Or to speak plainly They are a triple motive to that Christian duty enjoyned in my text a serious endeavour of preventing Schisme of preserving Peace and Unitie in the Church There is a two fold firmament saith a reverend and learned Prelate of our own Firmamentum Coeli firmamentum Ecclesiae one of heaven and another of the Church here upon earth Now as we reade in the history of the Creation of two great Luminaries ordained by God for the ornament and benefit of that so saith he is the like number appointed for the convenience of this Sol Luna Regnum Sacerdotium There the Sunne and the Moon here the Kingdome and the Priesthood And as for preserving the entire lustre of the Moon is required a continuall influence of light from the Sunne so likewise to maintain the Sacerdotall Dignity a perpetuall emanation from the Regall Authority Nam ubi semel tollebatur sceptrum Iudae profanabatur Levi sacerdotium When once Juda's scepter 's departed Levi's Priesthood 's presently profaned And thus farre the parallel holdeth very well In one thing it faileth or rather exceedeth That whereas the Moon repayeth no tribute nor for ought we know conferreth any thing to the ornament or benefit of the Sunne here it is otherwise where the Regal rayes transmitted to the Priesthood reflect on themselves and beside that in the end they double the lustre of that glorious body from whence they proceeded contract such an influence in the reflection as conduceth much if not to the being precisely taken at least to the happy and well being of the same Wherefore these two like Eros and Anteros in
with others to a generall union of wills and affection For Pax hoc in loco est voluntatum unio saith Catharinus on the place And therefore S. Cyprian renders it well satis agentes as if it would sufficiently busie and take up no lesse then the whole man to do it to the purpose Secondly {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Endeavouring to keep For it is not sufficient to search it out with some pains when we are at a losse for it but we must keep it with the like when once we have found it Nec sufficit eam quaerere saith S. Hierome nisi inventam fugientémque omni studio persequamur It is with this great part of the kingdome of grace as our most reverend and pious Prelate worthily terms this Unity of the Spirit as it is with civil states and dominions Iisdem artibus quibus parta sunt facilè retinentur Labour in getting and no lesse labour and endeavour in keeping Thirdly {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the unity of the Spirit Nor is it every spirit that will serve the turn for there are many that keep the unity of a spirit to a contrary purpose Such were those Prophets whom Ezekiel speaks of foolish prophets against whom he denounceth a wo Vae prophetis qui ambulant post spiritum suum Wo to those prophets who walk after a spirit of their own And they keep it in the bond of peace too For as Plato said of injustice That without justice it could not stand the like say I of Schisme and Division It is impossible for it to subsist without union S. Hilarie thought that term too good for it and call'd it by a worse name Combination because that unity is in faith and subjection but Combination is consortiuÌ„ factionis consenting in faction It must therefore be no unity of any such spirit but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with an emphasis on the article of that Spirit indeed The fruit whereof is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance a goodly train of Christian vertues Gal. 5. 22. That Spirit which before it came down to the Church upon earth had concurred to the like good mysterious work above in heaven making an exact Unity of the blessed Trinity For as S. Austine saith Societas est quodammodo Patris Filii ipse Spiritus Sanctus We have two other presidents for this godly union from the two other persons of the Blessed Trinity From God the Father first in mans creation who made him one to the intent that we all knowing we came from one should love as one Vt dum cognoscerent se ab uno esse omnes se quasi unum amarent saith the Master of the Sentences From God the Sonne next in mans redemption who as S. Hierome observes would not suffer when the Priesthood was entirely in one but under two Annas and Caiaphas Vt religionis corum scissum monstraret errorem That he might shew their errour of Schisme in Religion Fourthly {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the bond of peace First in peace Men are commonly very observant and carefull of preserving the least relique left them by a deceased beloved friend especially if he bestowed it on them with his own hand about the time of his departure Our Saviour our Christ deserveth surely as much at our hands as to have his peace carefully kept by all such as pretend the preserving any the least memoriall of him it being the last legacy he left to his Church {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} B. Mountague tells us S. Basil calls it his farewell gift I 'm sure he calls it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a largesse dropt froÌ„ a higher world worth the keeping Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you John 14. 27. He gave them peace promis'd them knowledge but that was to be sent after his ascension The Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name shall teach you all things As if peace and love were to have the precedence the first place in the heart of man The onely order observed in heaven where the first place or degree is given to the Angels of love which are termed Seraphin the next to the Angels of light which are termed Cherubin First love and then illumination But our Enthusiasts invert the order They will have first light and that of revelation then love and that but to such as will come off to their own faction Secondly In the bond of peace S. Anselme saith This bond of peace is an externall profession of peace and concord which is quasi vinculum nexus interioris unitatis Spiritûs I like it well if he means a united conformity and conjunction in the outward service of God You know when we go about to bind up things close together we usually lay them in the same posture not some doubled others at length but all having a due correspondence one to another And thus it is in Ecclesia fasciculo If in our outward religious performance and worship of God some be kneeling others standing a third sort in a worse posture by farre uncivilly sitting it will be a hard matter to bind them so close together but some will drop out of the bundle of the Church I will use another familiar similitude with your leave When we bind up a bundle we lay not the parcels at any great distance but as close and near one another as may be And therefore if we be at a distance one froÌ„ another come not to serve our God together but while there is a Congregation in the Church there 's a Conventicle in a chamber a Meeting in a barn and a Ring too it may be in the fields or woods it 's a hard matter to bind al these together the bond I fear wil be somewhat too short and we had need have a little to spare to make a knot that it may be the surer For Charitas nodo Vnitatis astringit saith S. Austine It is the knot that does it If Unity have no knot it is easily dissolved Therefore the Ancient English who were better united as in their affections so likewise in their devout Congregations called this holy service of God most significantly Eanfastnes as being the onely fast binder of the members of the Church Religiosae vinculum pacis the onely bond of a Religious peace S. Chrysostome observeth three things that unty this knot unbind this bond of Unity in the Church {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The love of riches The love of rule and supâ—riority The love of glory that is popularity I need not shew you how all these have conspir'd together to unty out knot of Christian charity produc'd an unhappy Schisme in the Church The case is clear What else mean those whispers of some grand plotting and a strange mysterious working to commit sacriledge to rob the Church of her poore patrimony if not that which God himself hath given her at least that wherein many ages since his Saints and Servants out of their ture working piety have enstated her What else those loud aspiring cries of Down with Episcopacy Vp with a Presbyteriall Superintendency What lastly means that truly mounting-Lecture-Language and most irreligious Pulpit imposture whereby too many when they have once drawn the yielding hearts of weak people into those open and unfenced fortresses of their ears there chain them to their own motions Thus leading captive to their own vain-glorious though but low-descended spirits not onely silly women but men too laden with sinnes and led away with divers lusts It is time for me now to have done with my text and ease you of your trouble I will onely out of charity adde a triple rule for those either malitious or mistaken souls against whom my whole discourse hath been intended whereby they may be happily reduced and with them the Unity of the Spirit restored And that 's in brief first by Reason rightly weighed Secondly by Scripture rightly interpreted Thirdly by the Constitutions and Canons of the Church to that purpose rightly assembled To which three if they deny to submit much good do them with S. Austines character in whose opinion they are no other then mad-men infidels and Schismaticks For saith he Contra rationem nemo sobrius contra Scripturas nemo Christianus contra Ecclesiam nemo pacisicus senserit {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 〈…〉 ad Oâ—ig Eccl 6. â—om in Hoâ—â— 5 Advers. haer. lib. 4. c. 43. Lib. Dâ— Similâ— c. 98. Conâ—â—it Monasticâ— 19. In Numer c. 4 Hom. 5. De Spir. S. c. 27. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. Modest and reasonable Examination c. chap. 5 De Ver. cult. c. 19. De Regno Reg. Inâ—tâ—â— l. 4. tu 10. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 22. q 39. a. â— c. Offic. l. 1. c. 21. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Lib. De Ver. cult. c. 5. Lib. De Patient lâ—b. De Fâ—d Opâ—â— Ep. Dedic. Iacob 6. Reg. Scot ante Dial. De Iure Regni apud Scoâ—oâ—s Hom. 110. Ep ad Polyâ—â—p Episc. Sâ—â—in Veneric Vercellens ut putatur lib. De Unit. Eccles. conserv p. â— Rom. 10. 2. Lib. 20. De Civ. Dei 12. Gerson part 3. De Consol. Theolog. l. 3. Expos. in Evang. Ioan. Tractat. 10. Annil lib. 1. Ep. 2. Ad Trallian Fp. 6. Ad Philadelph Corn à Lapid. Chillingâ— 1. Cor. 7. 40. â—â— 6. Aâ— Philadelph Sâ—nt l. 2. 〈◊〉 16. De 〈◊〉 Epist. 111. Corn Tacit. Aâ—nal l. 1. I. Armin. Declar. Sent. ad D. D. Ordin. Holland 〈◊〉 Lips De Constant li 1. c. 5. Ad Resâ—â— Mâ—nach Ezek. 13. 3. Enar. in ps. 140. De Verb. Dom in Evang. Matt. Serm. 11. com in Eâ—ech Apparat. 2. In loc. Prolog. ad Tract. 1. De Doctr. Chiâ—st Camden Reâ—â— {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} â—ib 4. De Trâ—n â— 6.
continentur c. All such things as are not conteined in the authority of sacred Scriptures nor found decreed in the Councels of Bishops nor confirmed by the practice of the Catholick Church ubi facultas tribuitur sine ulla dubitatione resecanda existimo When power should be given he thought all without doubt to be cut off and rejected For the first of these they like it very well if themselves may be the onely interpreters And herein their errour is the same with that which the Father otherwhere discovered among some of his time Errant homines non servantes modum cùm in unam partem procliviter ire coeperint non respiciunt Divinae autoritatis alia testimonia quibus possint ab illa intentione revocari in ea quae ex utrisque temperata est veritate ac moderatione consistere Men saith he erre keeping no mean and when they begin to be propense toward one part never regard other testimonies of Divine authority whereby they may be recall'd from that inclination and fix themselves in that truth and moderation which is made up by the due temperature of both When they come to the second they are so farre from admitting their Canons as instead of that they cry down their functions scoff at their titles accounting them Ecclesiasticall solecismes as Buchanan their forefather did those honourable phrases of Majestie Highnesse and Lordship soloecismâ—s barbarismos aulicos mere solecismes and barbarismes of the Court Tell them of the third which was the practice of the Catholick Church then all their Theologicall knowledge is nothing but Platonicall remembrance extending no farther then their own memory or the monuments of some few Reformed Divines such it may be as were rather Deformers Authours of Schisme and renouncers of our Ecclesiasticall Discipline in the first Reformation And this their impatience when it hath made a Panicall flesh-quake at their hearts breaks out at their mouthes like a storm which scatters the true Church of Christ that chaff as they call it so that it had better endured the fire For I think I may use the words of S. Austine against the letters of Petilian the Donatist changing Evangelium into Ecclesia Quae mitiùs pertulit saevientium Regum flammas quà m vestras patitur linguas The Church better endured the flames of Tyrants then the tongues of Schismaticks Nam illis incendentibus unitas mansit vobis loquentibus manere non potuit For while they burned unity remained but while these rail the Church must needs be divided Now let them make use of S. Pauls remedie walking worthy of their Christian vocation {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with long-suffering or patience {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith Antiochus one of the lesser Fathers In long-suffering the Lord doth inhabit but the devil in impatience He therefore that would have the Spirit of God dwell within him must himself keep the unity of that Spirit and continue with patience within the pale of the Church {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith Blessed Ignatius Lest any of you be found a desertour or run-away from the Church Let Baptisme be your armour Faith your helmet Love your spear but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Patience capape your whole armour of defence He must not separate himself with Korah and tell Moses and Aaron they take too much upon them or make themselves Princes over the people He must not murmure at Moses his stay in the Mount and in the mean time cast in his eare-ring to the making up of a calf that is He must not envy the leaders of the Church their free accesse to Kings and Princes those gods upon earth Dixi enim Dii estis and that in their mounts their erected Thrones and stately Palaces and in the mean time contribute any trifling principle which it may be some Presbyteriall Divine hung at his eare at the last Exercise towards the making up of a new imaginary Discipline in the Church Nay I 'll go farther with him If the Church should set up a calf of her own as God forbid that is be so farre corrupted as to command the practice of idolatrous worship that 's not sufficient to justifie Schisme or make good his desertion Here 's room still to make use of his passive obedience though I advise not his active He may he must here suffer the punishment whatsoever it is to be inflicted for the omission and be guilty of no commission at all Not that I would hereby stop the mouth of any reverend Prelate Priest or Deacon entrusted by God with the souls of the people whose then unseasonable exemplary silence may be interpreted by the ignorant at least connivence if not encouragement to communicate in the sinne I think him bound to rebuke the same by what authority soever countenanced But if his conscience yet be so farre mistaken as to perswade him That his not renouncing of an externall communion in things either indifferent or commendable implies a guilt of positive communion in those corruptions which are absolutely sinfull I pity his case he is like a serpent between the shadow of the ash and the fire but let me tell him It is cooler being in one then the other and therefore he must be a little more subtil then with her to skip into the heat of contention the fire of Schisme Flagitium Schismatis constat gravius esse quà m scelus idololatriae It is manifest that the haynousnesse of Schisme is farre greater then the wickednesse of idolatry saith an ancient Authour in his Tractate concerning the Unity of the Church and he draws his reason from the difference of punishments allotted in Scripture to Idolatry the sword to Schisme the strange opening of the earth and swallowing up Korah with his contentious company And thus much likewise concerning the third productive of Schisme together with its contrary vertue set down by S. Paul {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with long-suffering The fourth and last is Inordinate zeal the opposite vertue to which is not named but implied in these words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} supporting one another through love And now we are got under the torrid zone of unruly passion and illimited ambition among such a nation as he that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly must be a cohabitant with devouring fire and dwell with everlasting burnings contrary to that the Prophet Esay promiseth Esay 33. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith S. Paul in his fourth Chapter to the Galatians It is a good thing indeed to be zealously affected but it must be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in a good matter And not onely so for the same Apostle bears record of some who had the best of zeals Zelum Dei the zeal of God and yet in them too there was somewhat wanting they had it not secundùm
the Fables of the Poets are sick or well both at a time There is a double cause of their distemper Rebellion in the one and Schisme in the other which two too often engender and endeavour to beget some strange monster the seed of which must needs be the subversion of Monarchicall government in the State Episcopall in the Church The later of the two which is Schisme in the Church is chiefly aym'd at in this place by S. Paul the prevention of that the duty in the text Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace There shall be some resemblance between my manner of handling these words and the thing it self implied in the same And therefore of them I will make no ominous division which intend a happy and successefull union Nor will I deal much with them by themselves but wind them into my discourse on the former in the second verse Wherein I shall follow Aquinas his method who out of the connexion they have both together hath well observed foure vices which concurre to the production of Schisme and foure opposite vertues whereby it is easily crushed in the wombe and becomes abortive The first is Pride and to that is oppos'd Humilitie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with all humblenesse of mind The second Anger and to that is opposed Meeknesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with meeknesse The third Impatience to that Patience {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with long-suffering The fourth and last is Inordinate zeal the opposite vertue to which is not expressed but implied as he thinketh in the subsequent words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} supporting one another through love Of all these in their order First of Pride What S. Hierome said of Hereticks is very true of Schismaticks Matrem habent iniquitatis suae superbiam dum semper altiorase scire jactitant in Ecclesiae contumeliam debacchantur They have Pride the mother of their iniquity while they alwayes boast of their transcendent knowledge and rage to the contumelie and reproch of the Church Which made Irenaeus joyn them together Scindentes clatos sibi placentes Schismaticks proud and self-pleasing men These are they whose private opinions must stand in equipage with the determinations of Generall Councels the unanimous consent of Primitive Traditions nay the Scripture it self must strike sail to their judgements and admit of none but their vain glosses and absurd interpretations This for the Doctrine As for Discipline since they cannot by their double diligence find our Mother the Church so strait laced as to be restrained to either precept or president I mean not in her Episcopall Government which being established as we suppose by Divine right the whole Army of their Presbyteriall arguments will scarce be ever able to move much lesse to evert but in prescribing ceremonies things indifferent in themselves and wholly left to her pious judgement in a legall Synod to alter increase or diminish according as the different circumstances incident to her state and condition may dictate convenient they feign to themselves a peculiar familiarity with God as Numa did with his goddesse Egeria and think the Church is bound to believe them and out of a reverend esteem thereof confine her practice to their prescriptions not one of which but they all hugge as close as ere Ixion did his Juno in the Fable being none of the true Juno indeed no goddesse descended from heaven but a mere cloud of their depraved fancie and proud conceit I have read of Socrates That when the Oracle of Apollo had pronounc'd him the wisest of men though his reverence was such to his god that he would not plainly give him the lye yet was his modestie likewise such and mean conceit of his own worth that he would not take it in terminis to himself and therefore indifferently to preserve both he gave this reason of Apollo's Oracle Quòd hoc esset una omnis sapientia non arbitrari se scire quod nesciat Because this was the onely wisdome and to this he could lay a most just claim not to suppose he knew that whereof he was ignorant I wish these men were of Socrates his mind or if not of his because an Heathen of devout Anselm's whose speech it was Quanto ampliùs quis superbiâ involvitur tanto lucem veritatis minùs intuetur The more a man is involv'd in pride and self-conceit the lesse he beholdeth the light of truth Or if not of his because a Bishop at least of our blessed Apostle S. Paul's 1. Cor. 8. If any man think that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know Surely then they would humble themselves and become obedient laying the same ground to theirs as S. Basil did to the obedience of his cloyster man A perswasion of a possibility to learn from their Superiour {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the knowledge of piety and sanctity {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not asking the reason but performing the duty of the command For as Origen saith of the Ecclesiasticall observations of his time Some such there are as must necessarily be practised by all though the reason of their injunction be not clear to all He instanceth in two Kneeling and turning to the East in prayer Nam quòd genua flectimus orantes c. For why we bend our knees in prayer and turn from all corners of heaven to the East non facilè cuiquam puto ratione compertum I think not any one can easily render a reason though for the later S. Basil was of another mind taking one out of Scripture which recordeth that Paradise was planted in the East and that we by that posture signifie we have respect to return to our old countrey Yet if they cannot be so satisfied but a reason they must have they should require it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is decently and with due reverence I make no question but they would have their answer But if they will take no rationall answer the Church is then enforced to put them as hard a scruple in their own practice and may justly silence them in our Saviours words to the too too inquisitive Scribes and Elders Mark 11. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I tell you not by what authority I do these things Lastly therefore to conclude with the Father they should not onely {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} be asking the question and hearing what may be answered to the same but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} too be instructed thereby and for the future satisfied Which rule if it were duly practised by all our homebred schismatical Sectaries I make no question but their irrationall prejudice against the present Discipline would soon be removed the desired union of the