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
Church restored and many seditious practises in the State happily prevented For as Doctour Covell who had to deal with these men writeth very well That which in different opinions maketh contentions to cease is when men are perswaded of their betters that they are not easily deceived and of themselves that they may and do easily erre And thus much concerning Pride the leading vice in the production of Schisme and Humility the vertue opposed by S. Paul {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with all humblenesse of mind The second is Anger to which Meeknesse is opposed by the Apostle {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with meeknesse Lactantius saith Anger is one of the three Furies which the Poets feigned Patricius tells us that Discord which attends it is Alecto by name and gives us the morall of it Haec est discrepantia ac contentio illa c. This is that discord and contention by which the Ancient Poets thought all things in the world to be dissolv'd and destroyed It is such a Furie as frights a man out of himself and takes violent possession of the soul putting all the faculties upon hot service the understanding upon a misguided apprehension of every word and action how generall soever as maliciously intended to injure his particular person or crosse his opinion the will upon a tyrannicall resolution of revenge to be terminated if possible no otherwhere then in the conceived Authours destruction And this for the most part the tongue must be the Herald to proclaim his own hands sometimes the instruments to execute If that cannot be then as Saint Chrysostome saith {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} There 's most deadly feud and warre without end Now what a convenient subject for Schisme is this What bond of peace is like to hold him and the Church together the Unity whereof Aquinas tells us consists in the connexion or communication of the members one with another and this Gordian knot his fury will not afford him the patience at leisure to untie but the least thwarting word that proceeds out of another mans mouth puts a sword in his hand to cut it in pieces or in the order of all the members to one head which if it dispose not of all according to his ambitious desires we know then what noxious fumes the heat of his passion presently sends up to disturb the severall operations thereof what solicitations presently ensue tending to a perfidious revolt which discovers it self either in seditious tumults and seditious fames which two differ no more then as brother and sister masculine and feminine whereas if they once become incestuous and engender together prodigious is their off-spring which can be christened with no better name then downright rebellion or else in the inconsiderate deniall of due and necessary nourishment to that chief part the starving of which must needs be accompanied with the finall dissolution of all For alas arms and legs will have much ado to perswade the soul to confine her self to their corrupt and rotten habitations when once they have forced her out of her marble tower the head She hath a better mind to be mounting upwards to seek there {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an habitation not made with hands nay and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} too an habitation never yet not ever like to be pull'd down and ruin'd by any such Schismaticall rebellious hands {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} eternall in the heavens Now let a man consider with himself when he is thus transported with passion when his reason hath taken her flight what a competent judge he is of any enormity committed by the Church which might move him to forsake the communion of it Mala lex peccati indignatio est saith Saint Ambrose Indignation or wrath is but a bad law to reform sinne by Perturbat animum it raiseth a cloud of dust in the mind which may sooner put out then clear the eye-sight Me thinks a man in this case is as it were turn'd inside outward so that whatsoever malice and rancour lyeth at the heart whatsoever prejudice possesseth the brain what ignorance soever might occasion both is now exposed to the view of the world but in the mean time his eagle eyes wherewith he should spie what is done abroad are cloth'd in mists involv'd in darknesse Which darknesse may be best dispell'd by a beam of that Sunne which S. Paul the good Intelligence moveth to him or him to that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with meeknesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} it is S. Chrysostomes similitude As a beam of the Sunne appearing soon chaseth darknesse so a good and meek man soon turneth trouble and contention into peace and quietnesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} he makes musick of them so that then if ever Empedocles his opinion may passe for currant The soul 's an harmony Si commotionis hujus quae ira dicitur impetus retundatur omnes hominum contentiones malae sopientur saith Lactantius And so I passe to the third productive of Schisme Impatience which hath its opposite vertue set down by S. Paul {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} with long-suffering And this is a vice of an ancient house being that whereby the father of evil came to have his first claim to the kingdome of darknesse Insomuch as Tertullian disdaineth he tells us to propound this Quaere Whether the Angel of perdition were first possessed of Sinne or Impatience or whether he hatched them not both of an egge and cherished them in his bosome Palam cùm sit impatientiam cum malitia aut malitiam ab impatientia esse auspicatam To be sure he hath brought it up to his hand ever since and imployed it as his chief and choicest instrument to disturb the peace and quiet of the Church Whereby as by anger he first puts us out of possession of our souls for Patience is our tenure saith he that gave them us In your patience possesse ye your souls Luke 21. and then out of possession of the Church too which is easily done that being no other then a spirituall building made up of our souls cemented with love {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} so Saint Chrysostome Now that which makes men become so impatient is their tender conscience as they call it which cannot brook the least touch of Authority commanding that which in their opinion inclineth any way to innovation in the Church I said In their opinion for well it were if they made not that the mistresse of their judgements if they confin'd not themselves to that as the touchstone whereby to trie the Antiquity of all the Church-Constitutions They may find a farre better if they please in S. Austines 119th Epistle to Januarius where he saith Omnia talia quae neque sanctarum Scripturarum autoritatibus
scientiam not according to knowledge I will take a step into S. Austines path and adde a third possible defect and that 's in the qualification or condition of the persons according to which he observeth zeal to admit of a directly opposite specification in bonitate malitia and therefore he commends it as good in David the King who saith of himself The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up but on the other side condemnes it as bad and misbeseeming the Commons an ignorant multitude the arm of whose discretion and judgement was not able to wield a weapon of that size when it is said of them Zelus occupavit plebem ineruditam Zeal hath possessed an unlearned people But to take it a while in its pure naturals without those severall circumstances and different limitations I reade it defin'd as abstracted in it self DesideriuÌ„ vehemens quo quis incitatur ea tollere quae rei sibi dilectae videntur adversa An earnest desire to take away such things as seem opposite to that which he loveth Now as there is nothing which should so swell up our souls with joy and delight nor lodge in any corner of our hearts as the love of God so can our zeal be imployed about nothing so well as the utter abolishing of that which either gives him a direct affront and that 's Idolatry or stops the free current of our service and due devotion by intermixing the muddy inventions of weak brains and vain curiosities and that 's Superstition But this zeal as good as it is must be attended by three handmaids to bear up his train which according to Gerson are Benevolentia Discretio Constantia else saith he it is like a two-edged sword in the hand of a mad-man aut fulmini sine obice pervaganti or like that kind of lightning which makes way through all and will admit of no opposition Upon the first of the three our Apostle seemeth chiefly to reflect the absence thereof being that which chiefly causeth the breach of union the disturbance of the peace and quiet of the Church I should begin with this but I must first give you a brief character of such persons as are fittest to be imployed in this businesse S. Austine grants them whosoever they are a large commission Fac quicquid potes Do what thou canst. But what presently set fire on the Church No Frigidum fundit he casts cold water to allay this heat Do it but still pro persona quam portas onely according to that person which thou bearest No mechanick put his profane hand to the pulling down of that most sacred and ever venerable Episcopall function Tractet fabrilia No women vent their impiety and ignorance in slandering it as an Antichristian Prelacie Let them be silent as in so of or concerning the Church too It was S. Pauls advice Discant in silentio not that they should teach but learn in silence Nay non patiar saith he I suffer not a woman to teach 1. Tim. 2. 12. And this argues the irrationall licentious practice of our times wherein either sex and any profession crowds in a finger to the moulding of the design'd Reformation and this if not with publick toleration if not without some contradiction I am sure not with a due peremptory penall prohibition Nay they must be Leaders in the case and teach the very Captains themselves of the Church militant their severall postures prescribe them a form to muster their men I have read of the Ambassadours of the Sarmatae That attending Valentinian the Emperour of the West and telling him being basely clad that they were prime men of that nation he fell into such a passion for warring with so base a people that he dyed suddenly In like manner I think if Religion in these dayes did but view the Grandees of Schisme in their mechanick habits and seriously consider with what a ragged Regiment of ignorance and impudence she hath had so long a continued encounter she would out of indignation desert us and leave her golden crown to be at all adventure usurped either by insolent profanenesse or blind Atheisme But to leave these Bedlams at length to be well lashed by their own too impetuous spirits and to be as good as my word I think we are bound by the doctrine of our Church to surrender the first place of composing differences and zealous reforming what abuses soever are crept into it to him whom we acknowledge her head and that 's the King And good reason too For that is true as well in Church as State which Salust in Tacitus suggested to Livia Eam conditionem esse imperandi ut non aliter ratio constet quà m si uni reddatur Or more properly that which followes soon after Non aliud discordantis patriâ—e We 'll make it Ecclesiae remedium esse quà m ut ab uno regeretur Whom as the Anointed of the Lord howsoever we acknowledge to have a more then ordinary influence and speciall assistance of the Spirit of God yet being not bound so farre as we know to take away infallibility from the Chair and chain it to the Throne nor to give it a Crown instead of a Mitre we find it most consonant to reason and correspondent to the perpetuall practice of the Primitive times as also to that of all such Christian Churches as still retein the true ancient doctrine and discipline that he assume to him the counsel of his Bishops and Clergie who if so qualified as their places require may be presumed the fittest men to moderate zeal to compose all different opinions and to pick truth out of partiality Not to trouble you with various quotations out of severall Fathers I will onely fetch you one from the head and that 's Blessed Ignatius who speaks to our purpose in asserting That whosoever doth any thing without the Bishop and his Presbyterie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} such an one hath his conscience defiled and is worse then an infidel But lest you should think the Prince in this case a priviledg'd person he otherwhere inverts our order and hath his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Let Caesar himself be ruled by the perswasion of his Bishop Now the former of these seems to be grounded upon S. Pauls rule who would have zeal to be regulated according to knowledge For to speak the truth if the Clergie be once excluded this businesse and Lay-men who by reason of their severall avocations are for the most part forced to take up their Theologicall principles I wish I could say but at the second or third hand must have the perpetuall patent of this concurrent judiciall imployment if ignorance chance to incorporate with authority and both grow up strong and stout in time it may well be feared in the future age Divinity must be fetched within the sphere of their apprehensions conjur'd within the circle of some politick law and
separation of one thing from another an exact view and judgement of the same For cernimus animo videmus naturâ aspicimus ex improviso said Fronto who pretended to be an indifferent arbiter and equall dispencer of dues to words And Quotcunque Senatus creverit for judicaverit it is thought the Romane Oratour said that perpetuall Dictatour of the Latine tongue And indeed whether cerno be not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a little metamorphiz'd discerno {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I desire the Criticks at their leisure to inform us No Discretion thus taken disables those person or dealing with zeal whose weak capacities are overcast with such a cloud of ignorance as intercepteth their view and blunteth the point of the brightest ray their understanding sends forth to discover any errour of the Church As also those whose judgements howsoever mounted higher and raised above this misty region are seated upon such a dangerous precipice that their first conception their first apprehension fixeth not there but rowls down to their mouthes and breaks forth in a clamourous storm of passion if it fall not lower to their arms and hands and vent it self thence in a bloudy tyrannicall persecution For the first of which there is none of us all but may find a shelter Tulingua ego aurium sum Dominus But if it once come to the second as if they were following the sent of a fresh victory Nec temperari facilè nec reprimi potest stricti ensis ira the last step of their power is the first of their mercy S. Austine sets them a better rule proposeth himself as a better president Faciat certè quod me non fecisse succensuit said he of a Bishop to whom he had written an harsh epistle but received an answer in more bitter language So these men who when time serves can sufficiently complain of hard usage and brand the due Ecclesiasticall Censure of obstinate Schisme I may say Heresie with that scandalous undeserved name Persecution should do well to mete out their own words with the measure of indifference and when themselves come to be actours putting judgement or discretion in one sâ—ale and power in the other make even weight without a grain of affection depressing either Divide impera you know who said it and we have too many that follow that counsel in the worst sense who might if they pleased make use of it in a better Let them use this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this moderate discretion this judicious division ità dividant tum imperent Let them thus divide and then let them talk of taking the dominion and command of the Church But if they will rashly huddle up all together and not admitting the least check of a sedate judgement publish onely the impetuous dictates of their indiscreet and too precipitant fancie either yielding nothing or suffering a licentious practice of all things we must put them in mind of that State Maxime which is too often made good by the ruine of a Church Periculosa severitas flagitiosa largitio seu nihil militi seu omnia concederentur in ancipiti republica I will english it thus Dangerous is that severity impious that bounty where to a Christian militant either all things are granted or nothing permitted in the doubtfull and distracted condition of a Church And thus much of Discretion zeals second handmaid The third is Constancy And of this but a word And some may think a word superfluous too considering the firm immovable resolution of our obstinate zelots who will part with all their obedience to the Civil and Ecclesiasticall Magistrate their charity due to their Christian brethren rather then one whit of their fancie and fond opinion Therein following too near at the heels their valiant Captain Reformer Knox who resolutely but rebelliously writ to the Queen Regent of Scots in the behalf of himself and the Holy Brethren That without the Reformation which they desired they would never be subject to any mortall man And Martin Luther how eminent soever was in this case a little too obstinate when being upon his death-bed requested by Philip Melanchthon to draw near a concord as touching the difference about the Eucharist utterly refus'd it Ãdque hanc ob causam sicuti illum dixisse aiunt nè ex eo tota doctrina in dubium vocaretur and that for this cause lest his whole doctrine should be brought into question These zelots as if they were the oracles of the world or at least in some speciall manner inspired as indeed they pâ—etend do in effect thrust the Pope out of his Magisteriall Chair of Infallibility to the end that they may sit in it themselves But alas this pertinacious adherence to ungrounded principles is but the feigned model of constancy the foundation whereof must be right reason no fond opinion quae non aliud quà m rationis vana imago umbra saith one the ground-work humility the main pillar impartiall integrity and the whole prospect towards the even plains and champian of truth without the least loop-hole to any by-respect or sinister intention Now as obstinacy is to be declined on one hand so must likewise levity on the other Wherein howsoever they conceit themselves to have but little if any interest at all yet if we pull off that false vizard wherein their zeal too often personates I mean their pretence of Scriptures authority for all their new started Divinity we shall find it otherwise and that they at their pleasure can fix on the same an unparallel'd non-presidentiall interpretation to usher in any new devis'd opinion Nor is this caution onely personall but best befits such synods or convents as assume to themselves a power of Religion of drawing up a form of any Ecclesiasticall Reformation For not to flatter our selves nor them if they sometimes will be enacting or articling at others without due consideration repealing and nullifying every man cannot make a weather-cock of his conscience to be blown about through all the rumbes of Religions card by the confused violent blasts of such successive dissonant assemblies And thus at length have I done with that last productive of Schisme 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 If I should now enter on the duty by it self and draw it off from the lees of my former discourse I might find matter sufficient to double the time allotted for this businesse I will give you onely a touch of the chief observables and so conclude The first shall be from the first word thereof {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} endeavouring Which shews how one unity is prerequired to the inducement or conservation of the other First a conjunction of every mans powers and faculties in himself composing one individuall inclination and then a concurring
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.