their Faith their Religion nor the guidance of their manners to an Authority which is subject to errour but only to the Word of God which is an infallible Authority Upon this ground the Bishop of Condom hath reason to condemn the Synod of Charenton for having taxed the Judgement of the Independants with Errour which consists as sayes the Synod in what they teach that every Church ought to be governed by its own laws without any dependance upon any in matters Ecclesiastical and without any obligation to acknowledge the authority of Synods for its governance and conduct THEN a little after this same Synod decides that this Sect is as prejudicial to the State as to the Church that it opens a door to all sorts of Irregularities and extravagancies that it takes away all the means of bringing any remedy to them and that if it had field-room enough it would form to it self as many Religions as Parishes or particular Assemblies THESE last words sayes the Bishop discover that it is principally in matters of Faith that the Synod would establish dependancy since the greatest inconvenience that he takes notice of into which the faithful people of God would fall by independancy is that they would frame as many Religions as Parishes then says he of necessity according to the Doctrine of that Synod each Church and by a stronger reason each particular must depend as to what respects faith upon a supreme Authority which resides in some Assembly or in some body to which Authority all the faithful people of God ought to submit their Judgement THIS Bishop could take notice of nothing more unreasonable and more extravagant in our Synods than to oblige a private person to submit himself in matters of Faith to the Judgment of an Assembly whose decisions are not the Word of God that is to say not infallible 'T IS true that pre-supposing all Supreme Authority in the Church whether in the Protestant or Romish is subject to errour the Government of the Adversaries of Rome of Independants or other Protestants is equally justifiable when they refuse to pay submission to the Authority of Rome since that it is incomparably more defective than that which the Protestants set up in their Churches BUT on the other side if it be true that upon this ground the Government of the Independants is more justifiable and more reasonable than that of other Protestants who blindly submit themselves to a Tribunal subject to errour and whose conduct and gonance is beyond all comparison further off from Reason than is that of the Papists for pre-supposing that the Authority of Rome is infallible the submission which the people pay to that supreme Authority is so much the more reasonable as that of the Protestants is the less when they submit to a supreme Authority which they themselves believe is subject to errour IN short the Bishop of Condom hath great reason to be sure that the Protestants are mightily beside the Cushion and to blame for condemning the Infallibility of Rome so long as the Incontestability and indisputableness which they invest their supreme Authority withal carries the same Obligation along with it to obedience and submission A great Divine of ours who relates the Judgement of the Protestants hereupon libr. 1. cap. 8. de Clavibus expresses himself in these words Hujus ligamenti quo Pastores Ecelesiae constringunt peccatores tanta est vis certitudo ut Christus pronunciet si quid ligaverint pastores in terris id fore ligâ—tum in coelo id est Deum Ratum habiturum hanc ligationem potest fieri aliquando ut ligatio sit injusta vult tamen Christus eam ratam esse non enim fas est homini qui injuste excommunicatus est invaaere sacram Coenam invitis Pastoribus irrumpere in communionem Ecclesiae IS not that to tell us that a man excommunicated unjustly is as much obliged to submit himself to the excommunication pronounced against him by an Authority which hath erred as when it is given by an Authority which hath not erred And is not that to tell us that in every way whither justly or unjustly a person delivered to Satan as is the general opinion of all Protestants excepting my Father that to deliver to Satan and to excommunicate are one and the same thing ought not to dispute oâ—â— resist that Authority which hath delivered him up to that evil Spirit To conclude is not that to speak in the Language of the Canon Si papa distinct 40 which will by no means permit a person cast thus to the Devil although against all right and justice by the Authority of the Pope to resist that supreme Authority THE Bishop likewise hath no less good Reason to be sure that the conjunction of all the parts of Romish Church in one body would be unreasonable if they were not cimented by infallibility and to divest it of its Infallibility is to break it in pieces is to cast every of its least parts into Independancy and to give liberty to every of them to govern themselves according to their own mode and way and to do their business by themselves BUT here we should observe as we go along that of two depths of Satan the Ecclesiastical Power and Infallibility the first is a Lie an Imposture and a cheat but that presupposing that it is not a cheat but a thing that is good and true and the use of which is necessary in the Church Infallibility is naturally and reasonably a consequence of it And in truth our Reformers have placed Incontestability in the room of Infallibility But it is true also that if Infallibility be a pure cheat the other is a pure and absolute tyranny and it is less reasonable in not being a natural consequence of Ecclesiastical power incontestability is a thousand times worse than Infallibity except it be in one thing and that is that it hath not been of so long a Duration 'T IS here no doubt wherein the illuminations of humane Reason were not so great to our first Reformers as to the generation of men in this Age For as those soresaw in it that a submission of so many Princes and people who differed in Customes Laws and Languages to an Authority subject to errour was not only unreasonable but also impossible to prevent the revolt both of Kings and people they with a great deal of Justice invested it with Infallibility AND 't is here too that the Bishop of Condom triumphs over us and has great reason for it on his side when he reproaches us that we have been deficient in our Politicks in not erecting among us an infallible Tribunal and that we are much to blame for obliging the faithful people of God with so much rigour and severity to submit to a tribunal subject to errour but those of Rome are not so for they oblige their people to submit to one that is infallible BUT the Independants as they are led by
THE CONFORMITY OF THE Discipline and Government Of those who are commonly called INDEPENDANTS To that of the ANCIENT PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS By Dr. Lewis Du Moulin sometime History Professor of Oxford Qui repertâ veritate aliquid ulterius discutit mendacium quaerit Valentinianus Martianus LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway 1680. THE TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CHap. 1. Of prejudices in General and of the force of the objections commonly urged against the Tenets and principles of Nestorius to serve by way of Introduction to the prejudices that are formed against the Independants Pag. 1. Chap. 2. The advantages of the Congregational may above any other Establishment of the Church beside That it is the most reasonable and that all others have insuperable inconveniences p. 3. Chap. 3. That upon the Ground of this Hypothesis that every supreme Authority either in the Popish or the Presbyterian Church is subject to ernour Monsieur de Condom hath reason to approve of the Congregational may and the independancy of particular Churches on any other Authority than that of Jesus Christ in his word p. 8. Chap. 4. That the design of the Congregational Churches is most holy and most reasonable when they labour to retain a conformity of Faith with the other reformed Churches but take the liberty to differ from them in matter of discipline Of the Veneration they have for Calvin and for the Churches which follow his Doctrine and discipline p. 12. Chap. 5. That the Congregational Churches do most rationally establish the Authority of Synods and Pastors and the nature of the Church p. 14. Chap. 6. An Answer to those who say that the Congregational way is incompatible with the Civil Power and that it deprives the Magistrate of the right he hath to the Government of the Church that it is introductory of Irreligion Ignorance and Schism in the Church p. 16. Chap. 7. That the Congregational way has been practised in all Ages of the World p. 23. Chap. 8. Of the great Benefit and Advantage that comes from the Establishment of the Congregational way in the World p. 34. Chap. 9. That the most Judicious Divines of France and other places without thinking of it do naturally fall into the Hypotheses of the Congregational Churches Of the Judgment which ought to be made of their Confession of Faith of their discipline and conduct p. 38. Chap. 10. Of the Wise and Prudent carriage of the Independants and of their way to get further off the Church of Rome than any other and to condemn all the wayes of Reconciliation with it and the Churches that hold any Communion with Rome That the indeavour to come near it is damnable and pernicious as is sufficiently seen in the present posture of the affairs of England p. 43. Chap. 11. A continuance of the same matter concerning the wise carriage of those Churches that are for their way Congregational when they condemn all manner of speaking like to Rome and all practises that do any whit savour of theirs and the six Maxims on which the Pope and his Church are founded a Confirmation of that by a History taken out of the Life of Joseph Hall p. 47. Chap. 12. An Apology for the Author of the Conformity of the congregational Churches with that of the Antient Primitive Christians That a disinteressed person such as he is is the most fit to write about these matters Of the Obligation he hath to the Bishop of Condom for the light he hath given him p. 53. Chap. 13. The Explication of one difficulty which runs throughout the whole precedent discourse p. 58. Chap. 14. Remarks upon the Fault that some may find in the Title of this discourse p. 60. Chap. Ult. An Answer to those who accuse the Independants for being the Authors of the late Civil Wars in England and particularly for having had an immediate hand in the death of KING CHARLES the first p. 68. THE CONFORMITY OF THE GOVERNMENT Of those who are commonly called INDEPENDANTS With that of the ANCIENT PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS CHAP. I. Of prejudices in General and of the force of the Objections commonly urged against the Tenets and Principles of Nestorius to serve by way of Introduction to the prejudices that are formed against the Independants 'T IS above fifty years since some learned and judicious Persons as well of the Gown as others have now brought to light an important and necessary truth which the strength of prejudice and a General and Opinionative blindness that hath lasted for more than this thousand years hath kept under a Bushel 'T is that of Nestorius which the eminent Authority of Cyril has made to pass during all that time and even from the third Oecumenical Councel for an absolute lie and with which all the learned both the general and particular Councils all the Fathers and all the new Doctors of both Communions have been so successively prepossessed that they have thought it nearly concerned their honour not only to deny it but even to be continually throwing their Anathema's at the head of the poor Nestorius whom they have made to pass for an abominable Heretick although at the bottome Nestorius was he of the two who was by far the more Orthodox and the honester man and on the other hand Cyril was the Heretick For it is with the Authority of Cyrillus as with that eminent Authority of the Church of Rome to which Monsieur Aâ—â—auld would have all men fixed and with which he thought to overwhelm and undo Monsieur Claude NOT to make any Application of this History to what has happened to my self in particular as to the necessary truths I have promulged and advanced I will content my self with fixing to one which is like to that of Nestorius 't is that about those who are called Independants who though they will not yield in exactness of living or in holiness of Doctrine to any of the Protestants in Europe for they are led more than other Christians by the Spirit of Jesus Christ which is a Spirit of meekness moderation and of a sound mind and they are farthest off from the spirit of malignity and Persecution and their Doctrine hath more of conformity with that of the Apostles and the Primitive Christians than any of the others and though to conclude their confession of Faith is the most Nervous and sinewy the most Orthodox and coutched up in terms so strong and powerful that of all pieces which yet have appeared in the World fince the Writings of the Apostles it is the most full and perfect Yet have they had the unhappiness to be loaded with injuries by our Synods and by those of our Divines who are the most eminent in learning and of a life and piety the most exemplary and that too in a manner altogether inhumane and barbarous so far as that Monsieur Amyâ—auld calls them Fools Enthusiasts and such as are infamous in their lives Monsieur D' Aille the Father says of them that it
is a pernicious Sect which from the very foundation overthrows the Empires and Governments of the World and others have no better opinion of them imputing to them practises contrary to truth as to receive into their Communion the most loose disordered and impious persons though on the contrary their fault if it be one is just at the other extremity not to receive neither into their Society nor their Communion any but such in whom they probably find the marks of regeneration and that beside their greatest Crime is to condemn the practise of Churches as Popish and Tyrannical when by a right pretended to be divine and by vertue of the power of the Keyes and of that of binding and loosing they erect a Tribunal or a National Ecclesiastical power independent and distinct from that of the Magistrate though otherwise they approve of the Government of our Churches of France according to the principles of those who establish it upon a natural right and upon a considerate discipline in a manner absolutely like to the civil and politick For it is upon this ground of natural right of confederation of Arbitrary Discipline and purely humane which may and ought to be changed and altered according to times and places it is upon this ground I say that the Discipline of the Reformed Churches of France is established and founded as the last Article of their Discipline says it in the very express terms CHAP. II. The Advantage of the Congregational way above any other establishment of the Church beside That it is the most reasonable and that oll others have insuperable inconveniencies THIS Congregational way hath incredible advantages over and above all the other establishments of Religion which most commonly are of the same extent as the civil State of every Territory but beyond all this way introduces into all the Churches which conform to it or at least into a great many of those Churches a Reformation in Doctrine in Discipline and in manner of Government wholly Apostolical it being impossible that of a hundred Congregations or particular Churches which should differ one from another in Faith and in the way of Government otherwise Independant each on the other or on the Synods but that there should be some or other which does retain this Apostolical holiness whereas it is not any wayes possible as we have seen by experience since the time of Constantine the Great but that one national Church of the same extent as the civil State or as the Empire or Dominion of a Prince must needs have many defects errours and apparent disorders not only in Discipline but also in Doctrine for these following Reasons 1. We must consider a National Church either in the manner as it was established by Constantine Theodostus and Justinian of as great an extent as the Roman Empire in which the State Ecclesiastical was regulated after the Model of the Civil State where the Bishop of a City or place whose extent was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was parallel to the Defensor Civitatis or to the Dux The Archbishop or the Metropolitan of the Province was parallel to the Praeses or Proconsul and Corrector The Diocesan the Primate or the Patriarch who was also the Hexarch in the time of the Calcedonian Council was parallel to the Legat of the Emperour or Vicarius where the Praetorium was and where there was in the Ecclesiastical State a subordination of Courts and Tribunals as in the Civil State for that was the Errour of the Antients to adjust the Ecclesiastical Government to the Civil instead of practising the quite contrary according to the judicious maxim of a wise Italian Politician Bisogna accomodare la ragione di Stato alla Religione non la Religione alla rag one di Stato Or we must consider the National Church when the Pastors are in an equality of rank and dignity but with subordination to Provincial or National Assemblies Consistories Colloquies and Synods Now in either manner of establishment where there is observed in all things an uniformity of Doctrine and of Discipline and which is pressed by the same rigorous severities in the State Ecclesiastical as the Laws are in the Civil in either manner I say even when the Magistrate favours the true Worshippers of Jesus Christ there happens Errours and disorders innumerable which never would be found in the establishment of the Congregational way as when the Bishop or a small number of Pastors has the whole management and supervision of affairs and where it is impossible but that Heresie Ambition Envy Politick regards temporal interest the Spirit of Pride and Grandeur and Factions should reign among them and that these Errours and disorders should so easily be visible and taken notice of as in a particular composed of one or two Pastors and of a small number of People This is what has been observed by the Historians Socrates and Sozomen and by the Fathers Gregory Nazianzen sayes that he had never seen Synods to produce any good effects but that they had rather increased Heresie then stifled and suppress'd it Martyn the Bishop of Tours had no better opinion of them All the Synods especially the Oecumenical had been Shire halls houses of confusion or even Aceldama's if the Emperours or their Commissaries had not thrown water upon the fire which they had kindled Yet they could not always so hinder but that these two great evils of Synods and Bishops the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did transport them to the very extremities of tyranny and cruelty insomuch that Dioscorus who was President in the second Council of Ephesus over four hundred persons was so moved with rage and passion against Flavian Bishop of Antioch that he rose up from his seat and killed him with blows and kicks and also trampled upon his body after he was dead 'T is remarkable that the Canons full of piety and pure Doctrine were never made in Numerous and Oecumenical Synods but in those that were private and composed of a few persons such as was that of Orenge where we read these words that deserve to be writ in Gold Tales nos amat Deus quales futuri sumus ipsius dono non quales sumus nostro merito having in it only the first Nicene Council which hath produced us this most Nervous confession concerning the blessed Trinity I add that in the Establishment of a National Church which observes in a large extent of Dominion the same uniformity of Religion as of Polity it is neither goodness nor truth neither sincerity nor a well-form'd design that acts but it is hazard worldly interrest power and the greatest number which is oftentimes the most erroncous and the will of one single Person invested with an absolute power which is most commonly taken up by Flatterers and Counsellors who are animated with other motives than those of Conscience or who how good soever and sincere otherwise are not illuminated
Omnipotentiam non credunt 'T IS true they are accused for depriving the Magistrate from the same Authority and Soveraign Intendence over the Ecclesiastical State as over that of the Civil But notwithstanding they do sufficiently satisfy all reasonable and considerate persons of this in the four and twentieth Chapter of their Confession Beside those who condemn that collaterality of Governments and of Tribunals the one Ecclesiastical and the other Civil in one and the same territory and who believe that it comes from the forge of Antichrist and that it hath introduced Popery into the world do not trouble themselves about resolving the difficulty nor about assigning to each his Lawes his Courts his Officers his Soveraign and the measure of his Power and Authority I add that as the force and efficacy of Laws does not consist in whither they are Ecclesiastical or Civil nor in their goodness justice and truth but in the will of him or those who sit at the Helm of Affairs the Congregational Churches must of necessity acknowledg the force of all those Laws whither for the Ecclesiastical or the Civil State only they affirm that as the Magistrate is not Infallible he may possibly abuse his right and orr either in the publication or the execution of his Laws of what Nature soever they be and as they are not obliged to obey all Civil Laws no more are they obliged to obey all Laws Ecclesiastical they affirm also that as the Empire of Jesus Christ in matters of Religion is not over the bodies but over the hearts of men the Magistrate who is the Protector and Defender of the visible Church of Jesus Christ in his Territories sins extremely when he makes Laws and Ordinances that do violence to the bodies of his Subjects and that take from them that liberty which every man ought to have in the choice of his Religion and in the manner of serving God BUT that crime which is imposed on them supposing it to be one is incomparably less than that of Presbyterian Churches all which follow the establishment and the practise of Calvin who set up in Geneva an Ecclesiastical Tribunal Independant and distinct from that of the Magistrate insomuch that a learned man named Monsieur Jurieu has writ a large Book wherein he endeavours to prove that the Soveraign Magistrate considered as such has not any jurisdiction nor Intendence over the Collected Churches in his Dominions and that he hath no other right than that of Inspection and considered as a Christian and one of his principal Members wherein Monsieur Jurieu is more Independant than the Independants themselves and he does not afford so much Authority to the Magistrate over the Churches that are collected within his Territories and Dominions as the Independants do THE Independant Churches and their Pastors are very wide from these thoughts and practises For the Authority of every Congregation being as that of every Family what liberty soever it has to govern it self according to its own way and humour it is not neither in right nor in power nor even in will to set up a Tribunal distinct from and Independent on that of the Magistrate AFTER all a Prince who should endeavour to establish an Arbitrary Power in his Kingdom that should depend only upon God and his Sword might imagine he should be less hindred by several thousands of Independant Congregations not only on him and on his Courts but also the one Independant on the other than by one entire body of all those Churches which should set up by their deputies an Ecclesiastical Tribunal distinct from and Independant on the Civil For the strengeh of all those Independant Congregations would be like that of several threads which may easily be broke one after another whereas the strength of all those Churches joyned in one body would be like to that of all those threads twisted together which it would be almost if not absolutely impossible to break or to undo but by the same way that Alexander took to break the Gordian-knot AS the Independent Churches do come the nearest to those of the Apostles so likewise they are further off than any of the other reformed Churches from that thought and practise which has accomplished the Mystery of Inquity which is nothing else but the Empire of the Clergy and so consequently That of the Pope in the Empire of the secular Powers under the Mask and Disguise of Religion and Ecclesiastical power AS to the Objection that is made against them that in case there should be no other Ecclesiastical Establishment in a Kingdom than theirs the three fourths of the Inhabitants would live in great negligence and a gross Ignorance of Religion To that they say that their way does not exempt Pastors from attending upon the Office of their Ministry at all times and places both within and without their particular Congregations and to take the same pains as the Presbyterian Ministers do for what repects the preaching of the word in the most publick places also they do very much approve that the Magistrate should erect Academies and Colledges assign Tithes and Revenues and Temples establish persons to be imployed in the instruction of people in publick to invite them to it and to excite the Ignorant to frequent the Schools and the Lectures of the Professors of Arts and Sciences where they should go for the love of vertue and knowledge without being constrained AS to the crime of Schism which is imposed on them as their being seperate from all the visible Churches of Jesus Christ in the same manner as the Donatists the Novatians and the Luciferians did 't is a false Accu sation Those who accuse them of Schism do not understand the nature of Schism 1. 'T IS not Schism when a particular Church separates from another Church as the Church of Luther from that of Calvin nor the Protestants from the Papists nor even one particular reformed Church from some other with which it made before but one body of a Church But true Schism is formed among the Members of one and the same particular Church as was that of Corinth 2. 'T IS not Schism when a number of Hereticks separate from the Orthodox party of a particular Church to make a Congregation apart to the end they may profess their heresie with greater liberty but it is an Apostasie and an abandoning and forsaking of the Orthodox faith or Church of Jesus Christ which is Catholick and visible and upon this ground the Church of Rome is not a Schismatical but an Apostate Church although it be one for the first reason because that what ingagement or tye soever all its Members have to one head however they are not all agreed together Schism properly is when the Members of one Church are at variance as were those of the Church of Corinth and upon that account there is alwayes a Schism in the Romish Church 3. THERE is no Schism among several particular Churches that