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A45675 The Minster of Cirencester's address to the dissenters of his parish occasion'd by the death of their preacher : together with the answer that was made thereto and his reply to that answer : to which is prefixed a letter relating thereto from the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester. Harrison, Joseph. 1698 (1698) Wing H899; ESTC R28524 45,184 52

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is all Mens Worship of God and that he that will not communicate with faulty Worship must renounce Communion with all the World and all with him Mr. Calvin assigns two Marks of the visible Church the Word of God truly preached and Sacraments administred according to Christ's Institution and saith That altho' there be many Faults and Corruptions in such a Church yet as long as it retains those Marks Separation from it is not justifiable nay altho' some of those Faults be about Preaching the Word and Administrations of Sacraments for saith he all Truths are not of equal Moment but as long as the Doctrine according to Godliness and the true Vse of the Sacraments is kept up Men ought not to separate upon lesser Differences but they ought to seek the amending what is amiss continuing in the Communion of the Church and without disturbing the Peace and Order of it I had not I own the Opportunity of consulting every one of these Authors but I have given you their sence and very words upon the unquestionable Authority of those two Reverend Bishops of our Church the present Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Chichester The former whereof in his Vnreasonableness of Separation hath with great Evidence proved that all the Old Non-conformists did think themselves bound in Conscience to communicate with the Church of England and did look upon Separation from it to be a sin notwithstanding the Corruptions they supposed to be in it And the latter in his Case of Lay-Communion produces the concurrent Testimony of the most eminent Non-conformists that there is nothing required in the Parochial Communion of the Church of England that can be a sufficient reason for Separation from it and though he has collected the sence of a great many yet you may believe him when he tells you that for One Hundred he could easily have produced Two if the Cause were to go by the Poll. These Reverend Authors do not put their Readers off with only telling 'em that the Learned observe and some Authors say so and so but they quote Book and Page and which therefore if you have a Mind to be further satisfied you your Selves may consult Those Non-conforming Ministers might probably be under such Prior Engagements or dislike some things so far that they could not satisfie themselves in making the Declarations and Subscrpitions which are required of Ministers in order to preserve the Peace of the Church and the unity of Christians which does so much depend upon that of its Officers and Teachers But there being no Declarations or Subscriptions required of the People nor any thing more than to attend upon and joyn in the Worship practised and allowed in the Church they according to the Doctrine of those Gentlemen ought not to separate To which I shall not need to add any more than that remarkable Annotation of the Reverend Mr. Pool upon Luke 2.41 One thing says He there is observable The Pharisees and Scribes and Priests had in those days much corrupted the Worship of God by their Traditions yet they retained the Substance of Gods Institution We find both our Saviour and his Disciples and other people of God not wholly forsaking the Jewish Church because of its Corruptions Yet we cannot think they joyned with them in any thing of their Will-Worship from whence we may learn a tenderness as to a total Separation from a Church and the Lawfulness of attending divine Ministrations though attended with Vsages which we approve not provided there be no Idolatry in the Service And the Truth of it is if Separation be justifiable upon the Score of some small whether real or fancied Errors which may be in any Church then Communion must not be held with any part of Christ's Church if not with ours for she is certainly as free from Error as any Church in the whole World and the living in her Communion like Members of so Holy an Institution as safe a way to Salvation as any I know in the world And I so firmly believe what I say in this matter that I challenge all her Adversaries to Compare ours and other Churches with the word of God and the Primitive Church and if they cannot produce one that is freer from Error in Doctrine and Worship than she is or comes nearer to the Primitive Pattern nay if amongst all Competitions and contending Sects among us there is not one to be found that delivers the Truths of the Gospel with greater purity and sincerity That doth teach a Religion more holy and useful that lays greater stress upon a pure Mind and a blameless and undefiled Life that doth give more forcible Arguments for Vertue or more powerful Disswasives from Vice the● I hope you will have better thoughts both of her and my Invitation of you into her Communion and be convinced that you have no just grounds to continue in your Separation upon Pretences of Impurity in her or greater Purity elsewhere But I would have you speak out Is Communion with us sinful or is it not If you say it is you say it without Proof you therein contradict the Opinion of the most eminent of the old Presbyterians you oppose your selves to the Opinion and Practice of the most candid and most honest among those now alive who do not wholly separate themselves from our Communion and if your own Teaches will be true to their real Sentiments I dare be confident they will not say so nay you do herein condemn your own Practice of occasionally joyning with us now and unless you will declare you were then mistaken in your Judgments you make your selves guilty of base Hypocrisie in constantly joyning with us when the Penalties of the Law were inflicted upon those that refused it If you say that Communion with us is not sinful and that therefore you may occasionally joyn with us then let the Assembly of Divines draw the Consequence who say that to separate from those Churches ordinarily and visibly with whom occasionally you may joyn without sin seemeth to be a most unjust Separation That which you quote for One I have shewed to be no Command for you to leave our Church nor can you make it any way applicable thereto till you have proved that there is something taught or practised in our Church which is as bad as the unclean thing there spoken of But did I or ever any Man else say that it was Schism to obey God rather than Man And therefore what need he put me to prove it But that is not your Case my Brethren you causelessly and willfully separate from a sound part of Christ's Church and if that is not Schism I will yield up the cause for ever But let us more particularly examine this mans Notion of Schism and see whether even according thereto you be not guilty of it ANSWER I know Schism properly signifies a Cutting in two a disagreeing in M●●●● a Division in the Church of Christ consisting