which we resolve by God's grace to hold fast This is that which hath been always held and taught by the One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church This is the foundation upon which our Religion is built viz. upon the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone And therefore unless they can shake this Foundation unless they will impeach Christ and his Apostles unless they will charge the whole Church of God with the guilt of Heresie all their attempts and batteries levelled against us will be vain and fruitless The Church of England will still stand like a Rock against which those waves may break themselves whilst she remains unbroken by them Thus you see how impossible it is for our Adversaries to make good their charge against the Church of England and if they cannot doe it we may safely conclude they have not done it and if they neither have nor can doe it then is it a foul aspersion by them unjustly cast upon us For which their unjust uncharitable and unchristian censure I pray God forgive them Having thus secured that Post which was most likely to be attacqued by the Enemy I shall now take the boldness to make a short Sally upon them and take an account of their strength by considering some of the most material Arguments which have been offered by their Champions to make good their charge Arg. 1. Pope Nicholas as I find him cited by Bishop Jewel in the defence of his Apology p. 2. makes short work of it and very magisterially doth at once determine the whole matter For saith he Whoso denieth the privilege and supremacy of the See of Rome hath renounced the Faith and is an Heretick De Major Obed. unam Sanctam Dist 22. Omnes Ans To this I answer 1. If the privilege and supremacy of the See of Rome be an Article of Faith we desire to know in which of the three Creeds or in what part of the Bible we may find it for we would not willingly be wanting in our compliance with any Article of Faith. 2. If this be so then the Council of Chalcedon consisting of 630 Bishops and Reverend Fathers gathered together from all parts of the world was a pack of Hereticks for they gave equal privileges to the See of Constantinople with that of Rome 3. If this be so then Pope Gregory the great and I take him to be altogether as infallible as Pope Nicholas was an Heretick for he calleth him who usurps such an arrogant style the forerunner of Antichrist 4. If subjection to the see of Rome be a necessary part in the Definition of Heresie then all the Christians in the world except those of the Roman Communion are Hereticks for all of them as well as we do unanimously oppose the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome Arg. 2. Their Angelical Doctour and Canonized Saint S. Tho. Aquinas thus argueth 22. q. 11.2.3 When a matter is once determined by the Authority of the Catholick Church if any one shall obstinately gainsay such Determination he is to be reputed an Heretick which Authority saith he doth principally reside in the Pope Ans This Argument is founded upon several false Suppositions viz. 1. That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church which we cannot consent to because we cannot believe that a part is the whole 2. That the Determinations of that Church are obligatory to all other Churches This we cannot agree with him in because Par in parem non habet imperium Equals have no authority over one another 3. That the Authority of the Catholick Church is principally lodged in the Bishop of Rome This we cannot believe because we have no warrant for it either from the Holy Scriptures or from the four first General Councils or from any authentick Antiquity Arg. 3. Protestants are Hereticks because they oppose divers Truths propounded for divine by the visible Church Ans This Argument is also supported by these false Suppositions 1. That to oppose any Truth propounded by the Church is Heresie This we deny We grant indeed that to oppose any Truth howsoever or by whomsoever propounded is an Errour but it cannot be called an Heresie unless it be such a Truth as is an Essential part of the Gospel of Christ 2. That the Doctrines of the Church of Rome which are opposed by Protestants are divine-Truths This we take to be a false Supposition for we do not oppose any Truth much less any divine Truth that is held by them but only such false and new invented Articles as are by them superadded to the Catholick Faith. 3. That whatsoever is propounded by the Church of Rome is propounded by the visible Church This we cannot allow because we know that the Church of Rome is but a part and God knows a corrupted part too of the visible Church Arg. 4. The visible Church is Judge of Controversies and therefore Infallible To oppose her therefore is to oppose God. This Protestants doe and therefore are guilty of Heresie Ans It is here taken for granted 1. That the visible Church is Judge of Controversies 2. That she is Infallible 3. That the Roman Church is this visible Church 4. That to oppose her is to oppose God. All which Suppositions are matters of Dispute between us and yet undetermined and therefore very insufficient grounds to build such a charge upon Arg. 5. Want of Succession of Bishops and Pastours holding always the same Doctrine and of the Forms of Ordaining Bishops and Priests which are in use in the Roman Church is a certain mark of Heresie But Protestants want all these things Therefore c. Ans We deny the Major For 1. Nothing but want of Truth and holding Errour can make or prove a Man or Church to be Heretical 2. Because it is not a Succession of Persons but of Doctrine that can secure a Church from Heresie And to such a Succession there are two things necessary 1. That there be an agreement with the Apostles Doctrine 2. That there be an uninterrupted conveyance of it down to them who challenge it Both which we have Arg. 6. Protestants have forsaken a Church confessedly very ancient and besides which there could be demonstrated no other visible Church of Christ upon earth Therefore c. Ans To this I answer 1. That against God and Truth there lies no prescription and therefore it is great wisedom to forsake ancient Errours for more ancient Truths 2. That there are many other visible Churches of Christ upon earth besides the Roman These are the most material Arguments I have yet met with by which our Adversaries have attempted to make good their charge of Heresie against us and how rotten a foundation these are to build such a mighty Superstructure upon I shall now leave to the impartial Reader to judge And because I design brevity and am unwilling to draw out this discourse to too great a length I shall now hasten to a conclusion The CONCLUSION IN this Discourse I have laid down such a Notion of Heresie as is generally received and owned by our Adversaries themselves and by that have strictly examined the Charge which they bring against us and I hope have made it very plain and manifest That the imputation of Heresie to the Church of England is a soul aspersion and cannot without great injustice be cast upon Her. Which is the only thing I have undertaken to make good in this short Treatise I am heartily sorry that there should be any occasion for a Discourse of this nature I am a great lover of Peace and Truth and do greatly abhor both Schism and Heresie by the former of which the Church's peace is disturbed and her Members crumbled into parties and factions and by the latter of which her Truth is fullied her Doctrine perverted and the whole frame of Religion put out of order And therefore I do earnestly pray as my dear Mother the Church of England hath taught me that all those who have erred and are deceived may be brought into the way of truth and that Unity Peace and Concord may flourish in all Nations I have no pleasure in strife and debates and if I were not commanded to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints should be very unwillingly drawn to engage in them But when I meet with a loud and ungrounded clamour branding those who embrace and endeavour to hold fast the holy Catholick Faith with the odious names of Schismaticks and Hereticks I cannot forbear according to my poor ability to stand up in the defence of injured Innocency and abused Truth This is that which I did design and have attempted to doe in both the Parts of this discourse and if our Adversaries be angry with me for it I cannot help it nor am I much concerned at it But if through weakness or inadvertency I have failed in my design or not defended the Church of England so well as I ought and as one more able might have done from those foul Aspersions which have been so unjustly cast upon her I humbly beg her pardon and do freely submit both my self and undertaking to her censure well knowing that she is an indulgent Mother and will put a favourable construction upon what was well meant I shall conclude all with a passionate intreaty and earnest request both to those of the Roman and those of our own Communion that they would all devoutly joyn with me in this humble and hearty prayer to Almighty God From all Sedition privy Conspiracy and Rebellion from all false Doctrine Heresie and Schism from hardness of Heart and contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS SOme Queries to Protestants Answered And an Explanation of Roman Catholick's Belief in Four Great Points considered 1. Concerning their Church 2. Their Worship 3. Justification 4. Civil Government Also lately printed A Seasonable Prospect for the View and Consideration of Christians Being a brief Representation of the Lives and Conversations of Infidels and Heathens as to Religion and Morality in our Age. Together with some Reflexions thereupon in Relation to us who profess Christianity Written by a Gentleman Both Printed for Luke Meredith at the King 's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard
substance now that it was before the Reformation then it is plain that by our Reformation we made no Separation from the Church we only laid aside the corruptions i. e. those unsound and unwholsome additions which the Church of Rome had made to the ancient Structure of Christ's Religion and when those were removed the Church which was by them obscured appeared again in her primitive Lustre and Beauty Now if the Church be the same still it will necessarily follow that we who are of that Church do now hold the same Communion in all the Substantials and Essentials of Religion with all other Christian Churches that we did before For as to all the Essentials of a Church we hold the same Faith the same Worship and the same Government now that we did before the Reformation and which now is and always hath been owned by the Catholick Church in all Ages And if so then can we not possibly be guilty of any Schismatical Separation 2. Schism is a Separation from a Christian Church i. e. from such a Society between which and us there is or ought to be a Religious Union and Conjunction That we cannot upon that score be justly charged with any Schismatical Separation either from the Catholick or any particular Christian Church I hope is sufficiently made out in the 4th Sect. of this Discourse to which I refer the Reader being unwilling either to give him or my self an unnecessary trouble 3. Schism is a Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church in Faith Worship and Government considered as Bonds of Communion And here we are roundly charged by the Church of Rome with a Schismatical Separation from her and a manifest breach of all these great Bonds of Communion But having in the beginning of this Sect. I hope sufficiently vindicated the Church of England from any Schismatical Separation from the Catholick or any other Christian Church in her Reformation and cleared her innocency as to the breach of any of these great Bonds of Communion in the 5th 6th 7th and 8th Sections I shall not need to say any more of it here There is only one thing which as yet I have taken no notice of and with which they often twit us viz. The Derivation of our Orders from them Mr. Harding in his answer to Bishop Jewel's Apology doth mightily triumph in this telling us That a Church cannot subsist without lawfull Pastours and Governours that there can be none such without lawfull Ordination by imposition of hands that we neither have nor ever had any such but from the Church of Rome that those who received that power from her becoming Schismaticks and Hereticks by their Separation from her forfeited that power and could not convey it to others that therefore we have now no such thing as lawfull Priests and Bishops among us without which we cannot be a Church that herein we have broken the great Bond of Communion viz. Government by departing from that Church from which ours had its Being and therefore cannot be excused from the sin of Schism To this B. Jewel hath given a long learned and full answer to which I shall refer the Reader He may find it in the second part of the defence of the Apology of the Church of England Chap. 5. Division 1. But to shew you in how empty and insignificant a show this mighty triumph ends I shall here offer some few things to consideration 1. That the conferring of Orders giveth no Power or Jurisdiction to him or them by whom they are conferred over him or them on whom they are conferred For do we not know that the Bishop of Rome is always consecrated by the Bishop of Hostia and yet I hope they will not say that the Bishop of Hostia is therefore above the Bishop of Rome 2. Let it be granted that we derive our Orders from the Church of Rome not as from the Fountain or Original of Orders but as from the conduct or means of conveyance I would ask this question do they believe their Orders to be good and valid or not If not why do they presume to exercise those high and holy Functions to which they are admitted thereby If they do then our Orders must be good and valid too and we have as good right as they have to that Succession which they so much boast of 3. That the Bishops and Pastours of the Church of England are true and rightfull Successours to those that have been before them being elected consecrated confirmed and admitted in as an effectual a manner as they were If their Predecessours were deceived in any thing they succeed them in Place but not in Errour For though they were indeed their Predecessours in Office yet were they not the Rulers and Standards of their Faith. And it cannot be denyed but that a Succession in Faith and Doctrine is far more considerable than a Succession of Persons and that God be thanked we are able to make good from the pure and uncorrupted Fountain In Doctrine therefore we succeed the Church of Rome as the Day succeedeth the Night as the Light succeedeth Darkness and as Truth succeedeth Errour 4. That those Bishops and Pastours who have once been duly elected consecrated confirmed and admitted in and to those sacred Functions do not by departing from the Errours and Superstitions of any other Church though it be that from which they received their Orders lose the power that was thereby committed to them but are still in a capacity to convey the same unto others 5. That the Bishops and Pastours of the Church of England being legally possessed of having duly exerted and constantly and regularly exercised this power the Orders conferred by them by virtue thereof are to all intents and purposes good and valid and consequently our Church cannot be said to want true and lawfull Pastours and Governours 6. That though the Church of England in her Reformation have cast off the Usurpations and laid aside the corruptions of the Church of Rome yet hath she not thereby broken any Bond of Communion with the Christian Church and therefore cannot justly be charged with the guilt of Schism For whilst she holds fast those three great Bonds of Communion viz. Faith Worship and Government in all the substantial and essential Parts thereof the guilt of that horrid Schism which hath so much bruised and wounded rent and torn the Church of God can never be laid at her door These things I thought good to offer to consideration and when they are seriously and deliberately weighed I do not doubt but that the ingenuous Reader will so well improve them as to satisfie himself and others that all this mighty triumph is no more than a vain and empty show 4. Schism is a voluntary and causeless Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church i. e. When men have full liberty to make their own choice having no force nor constraint put upon their inclinations nor any cause or
well distinguish it not the Universal though we take in the Churches of her subordination or correspondence This truth we might make good by authority if our very senses did not save us the labour 2. No particular Church to say nothing of the Universal since the Apostolick times can have power to make a fundamental point of Faith It may explain or declare it cannot create Articles 3. Onely an Errour against a point of Faith is Heresie 4. Those Points wherein we differ from Romanists are they which only the Church of Rome hath made fundamental and of Faith. 5. The Reformed therefore being by that Church illegally condemned for those Points are not Hereticks This I take to be a fair discharge for the Church of England from that foul aspersion which hath been cast upon her by the Church of Rome But Bishop Bramhal chargeth them more home and particularly in five Articles more and lays the sin at their door 1. The Church of Rome usurps an higher place and power in the Body Ecclesiastical than of right is due unto her 2. Se separateth both by her Doctrines and Censures three parts of the Christian World from her Communion and as much as in her lies from the Communion of Christ 3. She rebelleth against general Councils 4. She breaks or takes away all the lines of Apostolical Succession except her own and appropriates all Original Jurisdiction to her self 5. She challenges a temporal power over Princes either directly or indirectly which draws Sedition and Rebellion after it and is no small aggravation of their Schism These are the things we charge them with if they can truly plead not guilty thereunto then are we criminal But if they cannot if these things be really true then are they causally guilty of that Schism with which they would charge us and the whole weight with all the dreadfull consequences thereof will lie at their doors and be an heavy burthen upon them SECT XIV The Conclusion THat there is and for a long time hath been a great and grievous Schism in the Church and that those who have been guilty of it have miserably rent and torn and even eaten out the Bowels of their common Mother What considering Person can be ignorant and who can know it without tears of pity and prayers to God for the restoration of the Church's Peace and Unity This would much better become us than disputing about it and this I declare should have been my Province had not the daily and loud Clamours of the guilty Party so unjustly assaulted the Church of England and forced me from my Privacy to undertake this necessary and just Defence of my dear Mother It hath for a long time been matter of debate and a ball of contention where the cause of the Schism was to be sound The Church of Rome with great confidence and assurance hath laid it at the door of the Church of England and that Church upon better grounds hath charged the Church of Rome with it I pray God open both their and our Eyes that we may all see and know the things that belong unto our Peace that laying aside all rancour and animosity we may at last joyn hearts and hands to promote Truth and Holiness and study nothing more than to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace For my own part I have so great an abhorrence for the sin of Schism that I do seriously profess if I were convinced that the Church of England were guilty of the Schism I would rather chuse to suffer any thing elsewhere than continue in it but God be thanked I am otherwise perswaded and so well satisfied therein that as I have lived so I hope I shall die in the Communion of that Church But alas Perfect Peace and Unity are too great Blessings to be hoped for in this sinfull World they may be Objects of our Prayers but hardly of our Hopes However if we are what we pretend to be i. e. humble and obedient Christians it would well become us in our several Stations to observe the Apostle's Rule which bids us Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. v. 14. Now the God of Peace who brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Bloud of the Everlasting Covenant make us all perfect in all good Works to doe his Will working in us that which is pleasant in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be praise for ever and ever Amen Heb. 13. v. 20 21. FINIS A VINDICATION OF THE Church of England From the foul Aspersions of Schism and Heresie Unjustly cast upon Her by The Church of Rome PART II. After the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Acts 24.14 LONDON Printed by J. H. for Luke Meredith at the King's Head at the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII A VINDICATION OF THE Church of England c. The INTRODUCTION HEresie is a crime of so crimson a dye so heinous in it self and of so dangerous and destructive consequence both to the Heretick himself and to others that without great plain and pregnant proof to charge any Christian or Society of Christians therewith doth evidently betray a rash censorious malicious and unchristian temper in them that doe it I cannot but wonder therefore that the Church of Rome upon so light and insufficient grounds should be so liberal in bestowing this Character upon the Church of England and those of her Communion De corrupt artib Ludovicus Vives one of their own Men did long since complain of this saying Haeresis nomen rebus levissimis impingitur c. The name of Heresie is laid upon every light matter so would the Scotists deal with the Thomists if the custome of the Schools had not made the name so familiar It is a good caution and worthy to be attended to which Alphonsus de Castro De Haeres l. 1. c. 7. p. 79. another of their own Doctors gives in this case Idcirco fit c. Therefore it happeneth that they who so rashly pronounce and call every thing Heresie not considering what or whereof they speak are often smitten with their own dart and fall into the same pit which they themselves had digged for others For this I should rather call Heresie to advance the Writings of Men unto the same degree of honour with the Word of God which they do who think it altogether as impious to dissent from them as from the Scriptures of God. We freely confess with St. Austin Errare possumus We may mistake and be in an errour but we as fully resolve with that holy Father Haeretici esse nolumus We will never be guilty of Heresie We have too great an abhorrence for it and are too well acquainted with the mischief of it to run our selves
false Prophets out of the Holy Scriptures to whom St. Peter compares false Teachers in the time of the Gospel And by this you may easily discern them for if you find any at this day so teaching and so doing as they then taught and did you ought to mark them for false Teachers and such whose business it is to deceive you and privily bring in damnable Heresies But there is once place of Scripture more in which we have a more particular account of the Nature of Heresie and from which we may more plainly learn what it is that makes an Heretick And that is in St. Paul's Epistle to Titus where he gives him this direction Tit. 3.10 11. A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject Knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself In this place St. Paul directs Titus and not onely him but all the Governours of the Church how to deal with Hereticks and instructs both them and us what Heresie is and what it is that makes an Heretick Hereticks are to be dealt with in this manner 1. They are to be admonished i. e. they are by the Governours of the Church to be warned to forsake that or those errours which they have espoused For that they are in an Errour is implyed otherwise there would be no occasion for an admonition 2. That admonition is to be repeated i. e. they are to be admonished a first and second time 3. If they continue obstinate after the first and second admonition they are to be rejected i. e. the Censure of the Church is to pass upon them and they are thereby to be cast out of the Society of Christians and avoided lest others should be infected by them What Heresie is or what it is that makes an Heretick he likewise teacheth us when he describes the Heretical man he here speaks of 1. A man that is an Heretick is one that is subverted i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that is gone astray who hath turned aside from the right path forsaken and corrupted the true faith Thus their own Lyra understands it saying Lyra in loc A man that is an Heretick is one who having received the Catholick Faith doth afterwards corrupt it Gl. Ord. apud Lyr. And with him the ordinary Gloss agreeth telling us he is an Heretick who by the words of the Law opposeth the Law it self and puts his own sense thereupon that by the Authority thereof he may strengthen himself in the naughtiness of his own mind 2. A man that is an Heretick is one that sinneth i. e. one that sinneth knowingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Int. Gl. Or as the word imports one who is fallen from the way of Truth and hath embraced the way of Errour violently opposing the one and as obstinately defending the other 3. A man that is an Heretick is one that is condemned of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that Faith which he once received and owned as true he now opposeth and condemneth as false saith Lyra in Loc. Or because he commendeth Errour and reproacheth Truth saith Gl. Ord. Having thus considered both the importance of the word and the nature of the thing I am treating of I shall now adventure to lay down this short but full and comprehensive Definition of it Heresie is an Errour in the Foundation of Religion openly taught and obstinately defended I call Heresie an Errour in Religion to distinguish it from Philosophical Errours for those according to the strict Ecclesiastical notion of the word cannot fall under that Head. As also to difference it from Schism for though Schism be an Errour yet is it not properly an Errour in the Faith It concerns not the Doctrine but Discipline of the Church i. e. Manners Order and Government I call it an Errour in the Foundation of Religion to distinguish it from Errours in the less considerable parts of Religion For in speculative points such as are matters of Controversie or mere School-niceties relating to times or places or other Circumstances of Religion not being plainly delivered in the word of God nor can be proved thereby Men may safely differ in their opinions without incurring the Guilt of Heresie I say this Errour must be openly taught because though men may be Hereticks by espousing some fundamental Errour and tenaciously holding the same Yet so long as they keep their opinion to themselves and do not endeavour to infect others therewith they are no Hereticks in the Eye of the Church The Church can take no cognizance of their thoughts nor pass any Judgment upon them In this case they stand accountable onely to God and their own Consciences Lastly I say that this Errour must be defended with obstinacy to distinguish it from bare Errour For though a man be as all men are subject to be in an Errour yet if he be willing to be instructed and upon better information to relinquish his Errour he cannot be said to be an Heretick Having thus stated the notion of Heresie I shall now proceed to consider how far it is appliable to the Church of England and for this purpose I shall take the Definition in pieces and consider each part severally 1. Heresie is an Errour in Religion 2. It is an Errour in the foundation of Religion 3. This Fundamental Errour must be openly taught 4. It must be obstinately maintained SECT II. I. Heresie is an Errour in Religion THAT every Heresie is an Errour and an Errour in Religion will be owned by all but that every Errour or every Errour in Religion is Heresie must not be granted for Errour and Heresie are not terms convertible It will be necessary therefore to explain this part of the Definition i. e. to see what it is we stand charged with before we go about to discharge our selves of it By Religion here Jude v. 3. I understand that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and for the maintenance of which we are commanded earnestly to contend or that common Christianity which we have received from Christ and his Apostles which we all do or ought to profess and defend And by Errour here I understand an Opinion which is contrary to or at least not agreeable with that Faith and common Christianity Every Errour supposeth a Rule and an aberration from that Rule for what is Errour but a wandring out of the right way mistaking one thing for another esteeming that false which is really true or that true which is really false Heresie therefore being an Errour in Religion must be a going astray from that Rule which the Author of our Religion hath given us to walk by Now who is the Author of our Religion but he who is styled the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 viz. Jesus Christ the righteous And what standing Rule hath he left us to go by John 5.39 2 Tim. 3.14 15 16
17. but only the holy Scriptures These we are told are able to make us wise unto salvation and to make the man of God perfect And what can we desire more Heresie therefore must be such an Errour in Religion as is against the truth of God's word being neither contained therein nor to be proved thereby And whosoever is guilty of such an Errour and proceedeth openly to teach and obstinately to defend the same the whole guilt of Heresie and all the mischievous consequences thereof will lie at his door And now let us see how far this first part of the Definition doth affect the Church of England Doth she not embrace the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Is it not that which she doth so earnestly contend for doth she not profess that common Christianity which she hath received from Christ and his Apostles doth she not own Jesus Christ to be the authour and finisher of her Faith and the holy Scripture to be the rule of her Religion Doth she teach any Doctrine that is not agreeable to the Word of God or profess any Errour that is contrary to the Truth thereof If she do let her Adversaries implead her and if she cannot defend her self she will be so far from being obstinate that she will readily own her fault and by God's assisting grace repent and reform But if they cannot justly charge her with any of these things let them for shame forbear their ungrounded clamour against her as an Heretical Church The Innocency of the Church of England in this point will manifestly appear if we consider what she doth publickly profess and teach her Children to believe in her Articles of Religion 1. She doth declare her Belief Art. 6. That the holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation 2. That whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation 3. That the three Creeds viz. The Nicene Art. 8. the Athanasian and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought thoroughly to be received and believed because they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture And after such a Declaration as this with what face can the Church of Rome charge her with the guilt of Heresie The Church of England indeed is so modest as not to challenge to her self an Infallibility as that of Rome unwarrantably doth She is willing to acknowledge that she may err but she as firmly resolves that she will never be obstinate in an errour and therefore cannot be justly burdened with the guilt of Heresie SECT III. II. Heresie is an Errour in the Foundation of Religion THE Church of God is said to be built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2.20 Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone Where by the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets St. Lyr. in loc Paul means as their own Lyra informs us the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets the one foretelling and the other preaching Christ Jesus And the same Apostle tells us That 1 Cor. 3.10 As a wise Master Builder he had laid the foundation i. e. saith Lyra the Faith of Christ and none other which Faith worketh by love And in another place he saith 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God stands sure i.e. saith Lyra Fides Resurrectionis the Faith or Doctrine of the Resurrection These Scriptures will help us to explain what we mean by the foundation of Religion in this part of the Definition viz. some principal and fundamental point or points of Faith or as their own angelical Doctour styles them Th. Aq. 22. qu. 11. art 2. c. some Article or Articles of Faith or some Doctrines which necessarily follow therefrom And by an Errour in this Foundation I understand not only a dissenting therefrom but also a making of something to be Religion or an Article of Faith which really is not so And whether we be guilty of such an Errour I leave to the impartial Reader to judge when he hath carefully perused these Papers That the Church of England is not guilty of any such Errour methinks is very plain For she doth publickly declare Art. 6. That whatsoever is not read in the holy Scriptures which contain the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets and the Faith or common Christianity which was once delivered to the Saints nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation She also receiveth the three ancient Creeds Art. 8. and teacheth her Children to receive and believe every Article therein And whilst she doth this with what colour can the Church of Rome brand her with Heresie or charge her with an Errour in the foundation of Religion A general charge without any particular instances will not doe to such an one this general answer may suffice and when our Adversaries think fit to descend to particulars they may be further considered SECT IV. III. This fundamental Errour must be openly taught THE Church cannot and therefore doth not pretend to take cognizance of the thoughts of mens hearts that is the sole prerogative of Almighty God who is the searcher of hearts and trier of reins By the law of God a false Prophet or dreamer of dreams was to be slain but then he must be such an one as had endeavoured thereby to seduce the people from the worship of the true God Deut. 13.1 2 3 c. And our Saviour tells us of some who should be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven i. e. should have no place in the Church but be cast out of it as rotten and unsound members And that we may not be ignorant what sort of men these are he describes them to us telling us They are those who break his commandments and teach men so Matt. 5.19 And St. Peter tells us of some who should privily bring in Damnable Heresies and these he calls False Teachers 2 Pet. 2.1 And St. Pauls tells us of some who caused divisions and offences in the Church whom he warns us to avoid but how shall we shun them unless we know them He therefore gives us their character telling us they are such as by good words and fair speeches deceive the simple Rom. 16 17 18. These instances may sufficiently justifie this expression and shew you that it is not without cause that I have given it a place in the Desinition of Heresie For though a man have not only a kindness for some heretical opinions or fundamental errours but do heartily espouse and embrace them yet so long as he keeps all this lockt up in the cabinet of his own breast he is not censurable for it nor can any one without great rashness pronounce him an
occasion given to justifie their Separation then may they be truly said to act voluntarily and without cause And if this be our case we must confess our selves guilty of Schism but if not then are we unjustly charged with it That our recession from the Church of Rome was not a voluntary act in us but a necessity upon us occasioned by force and violence constraint and compulsion is plain and evident We did not attempt a Separation but only desire a Reformation that so we might walk together in the House of God as friends If they would have hearkned to us and removed those errours and abuses those Superstitions and corruptions that tyranny and usurpation which they had introduced into the Faith Worship and Government of Christ's Church we had still peaceably continued in Communion with them But so far were they from hearkning to these our just desires that instead thereof we were menaced with fire and fagot with imprisonment with confiscation of our Estates with all kind of sufferings and even death it self if we refused to comply with their Corruptions and innovations And therefore we may truly say with the Learned Causaubon Causaub ad Peron Non fugimus sed fugamur We did not run away from them but were driven away by them But yet notwithstanding all this force and violence if we had not sufficient cause to justifie our recession we must still be criminal Eusch l. 6. c. 44. for we are of opinion with Dionysius Alex. in his Epistle to Novatus That any thing must rather be born than that we should rend asunder the Church of God. But alas we had too great cause for what we did The Church of Rome had corrupted the Faith of God's Church with her unwarrantable additions and alterations The primitive beauty and purity of God's Worship she had defaced with Superstitions That goodly and well compacted structure of Government which had been erected and established in the Church of God she had quite demolished and instead thereof had erected an unheard of tyrannical Government unknown to the Primitive Church and condemned by all other Churches ever since it appeared in the World. In a word she had made the terms of her Communion such as could not be complied with without sin and when it is sin to communicate it cannot be sin to separate Thus much I hope may suffice to satisfie any indifferent and unprejudic'd Reader that the recession of the Church of England from that of Rome in her Reformation was neither owing to a dividing humour nor without just cause And therefore she is unjustly charged with the guilt of Schism by the Church of Rome upon that account 5. Schism is a voluntary and causeless Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church of which we are Members i. e. which hath a Jurisdiction over us and to which we owe Subjection and Obedience Schism imports a breach of Unity a dividing of that Body which before was but one it implies the casting off of a lawfull Jurisdiction to which we were obliged to yield Subjection and Obedience Now if we neither are nor ever were of right Subjects of that Church if we neither are nor ever were such parts of that Body as are to depend upon the Head of it then can we not justly be charged with breaking the Unity of that Church or dividing of that Body because that Church or that Body doth still remain the same it was notwithstanding our recession therefrom And if it neither hath nor ever had any lawfull Jurisdiction over us then we neither do nor ever did owe any subjection or obedience thereunto and therefore cannot without great injustice be charged with a Schismatical Separation therefrom To prove this Negative would require a much longer Discourse than is now designed and therefore at present I shall only say that this we insist upon That the Church of England neither is nor ever was by any divine Authority bound to be in obedience to the Church of Rome And whenever they please to make their claim we are ready to defend our selves against it In the mean time till they make this good they have no reason to brand us as hitherto they have unjustly done with the odious Names of Schismaticks and Hereticks Thus have I taken a review of the several parts of the Definition which if it be allowed will fairly acquit the Church of England from the guilt of Schism And now let us see whether the Church of Rome can so well discharge her self of it SECT XIII The Church of Rome guilty of that Shism with which they charge the Church of England IT is a rule generally allowed that the Cause makes the Schism If the Church gives cause of Separation there is the Schism if not the cause of Schism is in the Separatist So that where the cause is found there the charge of Schism resteth If therefore the Church of Rome hath given just cause of Separation from her then is she causally guilty of that Schism and I am afraid will hardly be able to acquit her self from being so of almost all other Schisms in the Church Their ingenuous Cassander confesseth Cass de Offic. boni viri c. that the Roman Church is not a little changed from her ancient beauty and brightness and that she is deformed with many diseases and vicious distempers And being thus sick Bernh de vita solit St. Bernhard undertakes to be her Physician and prescribes her a Diet which he tells us must be profitable though unpleasing i. e. she ought to be reproved and a Reformation required And if thereupon an offence be taken Bernh ad Hug. de Sancto vict Epist 77. the same Saint Bernhard shall acquaint you where the scandal will rest When saults are taxed and scandal grows thereupon He is the cause of the scandal who did that which was worthy to be reproved not he that reproved the ill doer And that the Church of Rome hath given occasion both to the reproof and scandal let their own President in the Council of Trent inform you Who saith Orat. praes Concil Trident Sess 11. That the Depravation and Corruption of Discipline and Manners in the Church of Rome was in a great measure the Cause and Original of all those Schisms and Heresies which then troubled the Church But that it may appear that I have a desire to deal fairly and friendly with them I shall here present them with a Copy of their Charge and give them time to plead to it The Charge was long since drawn up by two great men of our Church viz. Bishop Hall and Bishop Bramhal and never yet pleaded to that I know much less cleared Bishop Hall in a little Book intituled The Old Religion dedicated to his Diocess of Exeter chap. 4. lays down their Charge in these five particulars 1. Nothing can be more plain than that the Roman is a particular Church as the Fathers of Basil