AN Apologetical Vindication OF THE Church of England IN ANSWER To Those who reproach HER WITH THE ENGLISH HERESIES AND SCHISMS Or suspect HER not to be a Catholick Church Upon their Account London Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church yard MDCLXXXVII THE INTRODUCTION EVER since the Dissenters left the Church of England and formed themselves into Separate Churches the Roman Catholicks have not been wanting to take advantage from her sad Misfortune to expose her at home and abroad as a Church that amidst so many monstrous Sects and so many opposite and irreconcileable Communions can have no right to the glorious Title of Catholick nothing really answerable to the true Idaea of a Church nor any pretensions to the Promises of Christ especially those two of preserving his Church against the Powers of Hell and of sending his Spirit of Truth which is but one to guide her into all Truth They endeavour to make the World believe That a Church so over-run with Heresies and Schisms and so shatter'd and torn with intestine Divisions as ours is cannot be a true or good Church nay they will ask us by a figure of Reproach Where they shall find her among such a Crowd of Dissenters And thus using all manner of Artifice on the one hand in setting forth the many Divisions in Religion among us and on the other the great Unity in Doctrine and Worship among themselves they hope to unsettle us yet more and make our People suspect or believe that ours is not a part of the One Catholick and Apostolick Church It is now one of their Common Places to talk of our Schisms and argue from them upon all occasions in diminution of the Church of England They generally begin there when they first attack any of her Sons or Daughters and when ever we engage with them or they with us in a Dispute about the Two Churches we must be content to hear of our Divisions at both Ears Sometimes they seem to lament them sometimes to upbraid us with them and sometimes to dispute down-right upon them but be their Style and Method never so different when they speak or write of the English Heresies and Schisms their common Aim and Design is the same viz. to bring us out of conceit with our Church and perswade us that a Church so full of imbred Divisions in Religion hath not the Characters of Christ's Spouse no Marks of his Favour nor any Similitude with the Catholick Church that heavenly Hierusalem which is as a City that is at peace and unity in it self We are told That it is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation where every man thinks himself as competent a Judge of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and that that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves Your Church saith another hath Unity or not if not then she is not the Church of Christ If she hath why are there so many Sects and Schisms among you Saith another who not long since was one of her Priests What would I have once given to have found such an Union among Protestants nay to have found one County in my own dear Countrey or perhaps one single Family so united a Brotherhood And in another place he professes That he cannot tell how the Church of England is able to find her self in an innumerable Huddle of ten times more Dissenters Dissemblers whereof he himself was many years one and Indifferents than her number is able to make At this rate and to this purpose they are also apt to talk in their private Conversation For where I live the Place rings with their Reflections on the Church of England upon the account of our English Separations and having not heard that any thing is yet published to help the People to defend themselves and the Honour of our Church against them I thought I could not better spend the Christmas Vacation than to write a short Tract on purpose to shew That the English Heresies and Schisms are in reality no diminution to the Honour of the Church of England and that the Consideration of them ought to scandalize no man against her or make us believe that she is in any degree less Catholick and Apostolick than her greatest Admirers take her to be This is the main Design of my present Undertaking and that I may omit nothing of moment which ought to be spoken of such a Subject in such a short Treatise I will proceed in the following Method I. I will shew from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions II. That Schisms and Divisions and the consummation of them in opposite Communions are no good Argument against the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church III. That bare Unity or want of Schisms and Divisions in Religion are no sound Argument for the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church After I have demonstrated these three Propositions I will make enquiry into the true Causes of Schisms and Divisions and more particularly into the Causes of these in England Then I will say something of the Prevention and Cure of them And in the Conclusion make such Addresses to the People of the Roman Communion to the People of the Church of England and to the Dissenters from it as I hope may become a good Christian and the Author of such a peaceful and charitable Discourse as I hope the Reader will find this to be AN Apologetical Vindication OF THE Church of England Chap. I. Shewing from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions 1. I Will shew from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the sad misfortune of Schisms and Divisions and to the consummation of them in opposite Communions This to argue first from Reason is as demonstrable of Ecclesiastical as Civil or Military Societies men being as subject by their own evil Passions and the Temptations of the Devil to mutiny and make Insurrections in Churches as in Camps or Cities or other Fraternities of men Nay it being more for the Interest of Satan and also more easie to divide a Church then a Kingdom or a Camp men are so much the more in danger of being tempted to do the one rather then the other and accordingly we find that Churches are more infected with intestine Divisions then States and Kingdoms and whereas formerly one Emperor was able to quell many Mutinies and Rebellions a succession of Christian Emperors sometimes were not able to quell one Schism Wherefore to pursue my Argument as Christian Armies are subject to Mutinies because they consist of Souldiers which may be tempted to Mutiny and Christian
after the seventh General Council of Constantinople which expresly condemned the Worship of Images But they say the second Council of Ephesus and the * This Council did not err in condemning the worship of Images seventh General Council Constantinople erred and decreed false Doctrine so say we of the Council of Trent and therefore let another Free and General Council be called to umpire the Controversie between the Church of England and the Council of Trent and if upon a fair tryal by the Scriptures Fathers and Councils such a Council shall condemn the Church of England then I will leave her Communion and own I have been guilty of Heresie and Schism I think no Son of the Church of England need scruple of say as much nor fear to promise to stand to the Determinations of such a Council as will freely and impartially try all Controversies by the ancient Touchstone of †In Ipsâ catholicâ Ecclesiâ magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus creditum est Hoc ita demum fit si sequamur Vnisversitatem Antiquitatem Consentionem Vincent Lirin Cap. 3. Vide etiam Cap. 38. Vniversality Antiquity and Consent This was the Catholick Test of old and ought to be so still and to shew how indifferent I am between the two Churches I heartily beseech Almighty God that She may flourish and prevail which is most willing to undergo and best able to abide this Test The Conclusion HAving now finished the Apology which I undertook to make for the Church of England against those who love to ridicule Her with the English Divisions in Religion and lay an heavy Charge of undue Consequences upon her meerly upon their score I think I cannot answer the Design of my Undertaking better than in concluding with a practical and friendly Address to the Candid READER of what Perswasion soever whether he be a Roman Catholick or Church of England Catholick or a Dissenter from them both I shall first begin with the Roman Catholicks who have been the occasion of writing this Discourse and I humbly beg them to consider That it is not for their Honour to use such Arguments against the Church of England now as the Heathens of old used against Christianity nor for their Advantage to put us upon defending Her in the very same manner as they must be forced to defend the Christian Religion against the Mahumetans who are mightily prepossessed by the multitude of Sects among the Christians against the Truth and Goodness of Christianity it self Nay it is their Interest as much as ours to leave off this way of Arguing against the Church of England because the Atheists and Scepticks and irreligious persons of both Churches argue the very same way against the Truth of the Christian Religion they take advantages from the great number and variety of Sects in Christendom whereof every on a pretends to be the true Church to think that really there is no Religion and therefore methinks all serious and piously disposed persons among the R. Cs. into whose hands this Apology shall fall should so far become my Proselytes as hereafter to forbear this way of Arguing which gratifies the common Enemies of Christianity and concludes as severely against the Vniversal Church as they would have it do against ours Secondly I desire them to consider whether it be prudently done of them to reproach us with our Divisions when they do not know how soon we may have occasion to turn their own Reproaches upon them and do unto them if Christian Charity should not restrain us as they now do unto us They do not know how soon their Vnity of which they boast so much may be broken into Divisions and the Peace which they pretend to have among themselves be turned into a spiritual War. The Spirit of Strife and Contention and of setting up Altar against Altar may for all their present assurance come upon them as sorrow upon a Woman in travail and then whether the Sects which shall arise among them be real or only reputed Heresies and Schisms they will be taken in their own Snare and the full weight of their own Arguments against us will fall upon their own heads Let him that thinketh the standeth saith the Apostle take heed lest the fall and let the Church of Rome which perhaps the R. Cs. may think so secure in her Politicks of Vnion take heed she fall not into pieces and be broken in shivers like a Potters Vessel by him that ruleth with an Iron Rod. They should consider that God can send the Spirit of Luther upon their Monks the Spirit of Savanarola upon their Fryars the Spirit of Herman and Cranmer upon their Prelates the Spirit of Vergerius Contarenus upon their Nuncio's and Legates the Spirit of Cardinal †Vid. Vergerii Annotat in Catal Heret 261 262. Fregosius upon the Conclave the Spirit of * Of Brandenburg Albert †Of Saxony Frederic upon Soveraign Catholick Princes and the Spirit of Marcellus secundus upon the Pope himself They should remember especially the Learned among them from what a slight accidental occasion the Arian Schism began and God who was pleased to suffer an universal Conflagration to arise from such a small Spark can in a moment raise up many Arius's Rome and make the Princess of the Provinces sit solitary and all her Friends become her Enemies Nay he is able as it were by a Voice from Heaven to say unto her people Come out of her lest ye be partakers of her sins †Saltem Petrarchae parcerent Praesertim cum fuerit ex praelatorum numero parumque absuerit ut à Benedicto XII fuerit Cardinalis creatus Homo Italus atque idem ex praecipuis Praelatis unus summâ Eruditione sapientiâ vir quem Papa quem tota Apostolica Sedes quem tota Italia maximi facit atque colit PP Vergerius Annot. in Catal. Haer. fol. 259 260. Petrarch one of her most Eminent Writers in Prose and Verse who was the Pride and Glory of Italy and the Delight of Rome where he received the Laurel Petrarch one of her Celebrated Church-men who narrowly missed a Cardinal's Cap the Learned the Eloquent the Charming Petrarch applied this and many more such Texts unto Her in an * Part of which Epistle is translated and cited by Vergerius Ibid. fol. 259 260. Epistle wherein he Paraphrased the 17th Chapter of the Revelations and how do they know but God may make the people hear and obey the Voice of Petrarch and come out of her in as great numbers beyond the Alps and Apennines as they have done on this side of them The Pectilent Northern Heresie as one called it may soon scale the Mountains and invade the Southern Climates and they themselves do not know how suddenly God may make Province after Province and Nation after Nation fall off and separate from the Church of Rome What
Cities and Kingdoms to Rebellion because they consist of Subjects that may be tempted to rebel so all Christian Churches are subject to Schisms and Heresies because they consist of Members that may be drawn in to begin and carry on Heresie and Schism The Catholick Church notwithstanding its holiness and all the particular Churches in it are Bodies politick that like other Corporations consist of peaceable and unpeaceable dutiful and undutiful Members and it is really no stranger that a Diotrephes Montanus or Novatus should prove a Schismatick then that Judas should prove a Thief and a Traitor or the lustful Corinthian commit Incest in the Church of God. What hinders that this or that Member of a Church may not become a Schismatick as well as a Murderer Drunkard or Adulterer Is it not consistent with the wisdom of God or the honour and oeconomy of the Catholick or a Catholick Church to leave the Members of it in a capacity to commit Schism Fieri vero haec dominus permittit patitur manent propriae libertatis arbitrio ut probatorum sides integra manifeslâ luce clarescat Cypr. de Vnit Eccles Doth the nature of a true Church require or hath God any where promised to over-rule the free wills of orthodox Christians so that they shall not fall into Schism as well as other sins Hath he either made them impassible as to this single vice or restrain'd the Devil from tempting them to it If he hath let those who upbraid us with our Divisions shew it and if he hath not then it must follow that the Clergy and Laity of all the Churches in the World being left as free to commit Schism as Rebellion or any other wickedness all Churches whatsoever must be subject to the sad misfortune of Heresie and Schism The natural Body is not more subject to Diseases then the Body politick of the Church is subject to Divisions though she have the honour to have Christ for her Head yet is she not exempted from having her Peace broken or her Unity divided That is only the priviledge of the Church triumphant where Charity is perfected and therefore to pass from Reason to the History of the Christian Religion we find as many Cautions and Exhortations in the Scriptures against Heresies and Schisms as against any other mortal sin What an excellent Admonition against Schism did St. Paul give the Bishops and Presbyters of Ephesus or rather all the Bishops of Asia Minor assembled at Miletus Take heed saith he unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers For I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears The Apostle knew very well that God in his wisdom thought it not fit to prevent Heresies and Schisms in the most Apostolical Churches by his Almighty power but to suffer them as well as other sins for the manifestation of the good from the bad and that in such a mixture as a Church must be they were necessary to sift the Wheat from the Tares to separate the Gold from the Dross and distinguish those that are sincere stedfast and genuine Sons of any Catholick Church from those that are not Thus in his 1. Ep. to the Church of Corinth which I suppose was a very Apostolical Church he tells them that God thought fit to let Heresies and Divisions arise among them that the faith and constancy of some and instability vanity and hypocrisie of others might be made more evident I hear saith he that when you come together into the Church there are divisions among you and I partly believe it for there must be also heresies or dividing into Sects among you that they which are * Avolent quantum volent paleae levis fidei quocunque afflatu tentationum co purior Massa frumenti in horreâ domini reponetur Tertull de praescript Haer. 3. approved may be made manifest among you So saith St. John of the Antichrists which in his time arose in the Catholick Church They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us And our Blessed Lord who was the Founder of the Church and may be presumed to have best understood the nature of it had no other notion thereof then as of a Body Corporate that was subject like other Societies to the great inconvenience of intestine Divisions and falling into opposite Sects and Schisms It must needs be saith he considering the nature and future estate of the Church that offences come but wo unto the man by whom the offence cometh And in his Sermon on the Mount saith he unto his Disciples Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps-cloathing but inwardly they are ravening wolves And in the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ‖ Memores simus tam dominicarum praenuntiationum quà m Apostolicarum literarum quae nobis faturas haereses praenuntiarunt sugiendas praefinierunt Tertull. ibid. Instruit dominus multos esse venturos sub pellibus ovium rapaces Lupos ibid. he foretold the sad condition of the primitive Church before the destruction of Jerusalem that about that period there should arise false Christs and false Prophets and should shew great signs and wonders and deceive if it were possible the very Elect. This prediction of the Blessed Jesus was fulfilled in the time of the Apostles who were all infallable Guides of the Church for St. Paul in his 2. Ep. to the Thessalonians saith That the mystery of iniquity was then a working and the wicked one to be revealed whose coming was after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceitfulness to bring them that perish to commit unrighteousness because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved So St. Peter in his 2. Ep. general to the Catholick Church tells the Christians That as there were false Prophets in the Church of the Jews so there should be false Teachers among them who should privily bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and that many should follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the truth should be evil spoken of Every one that is versed in Ecclesiastical Story knows that these Apostles mean Simon Magus who was baptiz'd by Philip and the rest of the Ring leaders of the Gnostical Heresies who were all Magicians as well as Hereticks and wrought wonders to prove that Jesus was not the Christ For this Reason they are called * Johannes in Ep. eos maximè Antichristos vocat qui
his Son Jesus Christ In his Epistle to the Philadelphians and Magnesians he complains of the judaizing Christians who went back from Christ to Moses And in his Ep. to the Trallesians and Philadelphians he prays them to abstain from the evil Herbs which Christ did not cultivate because they were not of his heavenly Father's planting alluding to the words of our Lord who said Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Furthermore to shew what kind of Hereticks and Schismaticks there were in those days he calls them * Ep. Ignat. ed. Amst p. 3. Beasts in humane shape †P. 21. Beasts and mad Dogs which ought to be avoided ‖ P. 26. corrupters of the faith who should go into unquenchable fire and * Ad Philadelph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wolves in sheeps cloathing †Ad Trall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wolves that if it were possible would deceive the very Elect. About 10 years after the death of St. Paul there happened a most ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. ep p. t. ungodly and detestable Sedition in the Church of Corinth which occasioned St. Clement Bishop of Rome to write that famous Epistle to them wherein he tells them that the Schism among them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shameful a very shameful thing and unworthy of the name of Christians And in the Pastor of Hermas there are also manifest indications of Faction and Schism among Christians when he wrote * L. 1. Visio 3. First In his Vision of the building of the great Tower upon the Waters where by the Stones that had Clefts and Schisms in them he understands contentious and †Qui autem scissuras habebant hi sunt qui alius adversus alium in cordibus discordiam habent non habent pacem inter se c. quarrelsom Christians who could not agree together nor keep the peace of the Church among themselves but had heart-burnings one against another Secondly By the ‖ Lapides quos vidisli longè projectos à turni currentes in viâ volvi de viâ in loca deserta ii sunt qui crediderunt quidem dubitatione autem suâ reliquerunt viam veram errant autem miseri sunt ingredientes in desertas vias Stones that were seen to roul up and down at a great distance from the Tower he understands the unstable sort of Christians who having left the Church miserably wandred in by-paths and desert ways So in his 8th similitude of the third Book he sets forth four sorts of men in the Church First Those who bring in strange and vain Doctrines into the Church tho' they do not leave the Communion of it Secondly Those who are of an unpeaceable and quarrelsom disposition and make Feuds in the Church tho' they do not proceed as far as Schism Thirdly Those who tho' they keep the right faith yet through Envy and Emulation quarrel with one another about Bishopricks and Places of Dignity in the Church And fourthly Those who apostatize from the faith and separate from the Church * Lib 3. Sim. 8. §. 6 7. The first sort were set forth by withered Rods which were not rotten the second by half withered Rods in which were clefts the third by green Rods in which were clefts and the last by Roads both withered and rotten And tho' our Adversaries could shew of all these sorts that do or did belong to the Church of England it is no new nor extraordinary thing Justin Martyr †Apol. 2. p. 69 70 71. complains grievously of the blasphemous Heresies which to the great prejudice of the Church were taught in his Time. He recites the Names of some of the Founders of them as ‖ Ibid. Simon Menander Marcion * Dial. cum Thyph p. 253. edit Paris 1615. Basilides Saturninus and tells the Emperors that they were but nominal Christians the name of Christian being as common to Sects in Christianity as that of Philosopher was to every absurd Sect in Philosophy And in his Dialogue with Trypho he saith That the being of Sects and Heresies confirm'd their faith the more because they were foretold by our Saviour in his Parable of the Tares and Wheat and where he said False Christs and false Prophets shall arise and beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps-cloathing but inwardly are ravening Wolves Irenaeus towards the latter end of the 2d Century wrote an Account of all the Gnostical Heresies such as that of Simon Menander Cerinthus Carpocrates Saturninus Marcius Marcion the Ebionites Valentimans and Colarbasians and others which in his time infested the Church seducing great numbers with a shew of Perfection and false Miracles especially multitudes of Women and particularly in his own * Irenaeus l. 1 c. 9 Diocess and yet notwithstanding all those that went out after those impute Heresies Irenaeus remained a Catholick and Apostolick Bishop and the Gallican Church a pure Catholick and Apostolick Church Tertullian wrote against the Valentinians and Marcionites and many other Heresies in the beginning of the third Century and because they pretended to Antiquity he wrote a †Di praescriptione â—…licorum Book on purpose to shew that the oldest Heresies were later than Truth The Church at that time was so infested with Heresies that many ‖ Non opritue nos mirari super haereses islas vanâ—è in consideratè plerique hoc ipso scandali â—antur qâ—â—â—l tantiâ—n haereses valyant quare ille sidelssimi prudentiâ—â—ni usitatision in Ecclesiâ in iltam partem transierunt Tertull. ib. 1 2 3. wondred and were scandalized at the number and prevalence of them and that so many eminent men fell and relapsed into them This gave occasion to the Father in the beginning of that Book to tell the Faithful that they were not to take offence nor wonder at the number or quality of those that forsook the Church He bid them remember that Saul was an eminent person before be fell away from God and that good David and gracious and wise Solomon apostatized the one into Adultery and the other into Idolatry and that it was the priviledge only of the Son of God himself to be perfect and impeccable and by consequence it was no Argument for the truth of any Heresie tho' a Bishop or Deacon or Doctor or a holy Widow or Virgin or even a Confessor fell into it because we were not to judge of the Faith by the persons of men but of the persons of men by the Faith. He bid them consider That the Traitor Judas was an Apostle that many of Christ own Disciples forsook him that Phygellus and Hermogenes and Hymenaeus and Philetus forsook Paul and that we should not wonder to see the Church so deserted and suffer after the example of Christ Saith he They went out from us because they were not of us and we should remember the Predictions of Christ and
his Apostles who forewarned us of Wolves in sheeps cloating of false Apostles false Prophets and false Teachers and that Heresies and Offences would come and indeed saith he Heresies are as necessary as Persecutions to prove the Faithful and try who will endure to the end This Apology which the Father made for the sad estate of the primitive Church will I hope serve as well for ours I commend it in all humility to the consideration of the R. C.s. especially to the Minister of Putney who in his late Book seems to take so much pleasure in twitting us and our Mother the Church of England with the English Schisms But to proceed in the History of Heresie and Schism Clemens Alexandrinus makes the like Apology for the Heresies of the same Age. * Seroâ—… 〈…〉 p. 753. He saith They are to Truth as Tares are to Wheat that our Lord foretold they must come and that therefore they must be and to shew what variety there was then in the Christian World he reckons up in one †Strom. l. 7. p. 765 Page about a dozen sorts The Valentinians Marcionites Basilidiams Pâ—ratics Phrygians Encratites Dociles Haematites Cajâ—…ists Ophiants and Entychites which I think sould as ill as Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists and Quakers with which I remember we were reproached not long since in the Colledges of Navarre and Rochell in the former with more Raillery and in the latter with more Zeal Origen in his Book of * §. 13 Prayer lately Printed at Oxford mentions a sort of Hereticks that rejected Baptism and the Lord's Supper who I suppose may pass muster with our Quakers and another sort that hold it †§. 14 superfluous and unprofitable to pray And in his Answer to Celsus he makes occasional mention here and there of most of the Heresies his Time and saith That * Lib 3. p. 119. 〈◊〉 5. p. Celsus who professed to despise and undervalue Christianity because there were so many Sects of Christians must for the same Reason despise and undervalue Philosophy and Medicine for saith he whatsoever is excellent and profitable for men to know they will apply themselves to the study of it from whence will naturally arise divers Questions and divers Opinions and by consequence divers Sects For this Reason saith he there are Sects among the Greeks and Sects among the Jews some understanding the Writing of Mose and the Prophets in one sence and some in another and so Christianity appearing to be †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great and venerable thing not only to men of meaner Parts but to the greatest Wits among the Greeks they set themselves to the study of it and from thence arose Sects some understanding the Scriptures which they all believe in one sence and some in another But yet saith he no man of sense will reject Christianity for that Reason no more then he will reject Medicine or Philosophy for it or despise the holy Books of Moses and the Prophets for the Heresies among the Jews This saith he I think is a sufficient Apology for the Christian Religion concerning which I cannot but think of the admirable Saying of St. Paul There must be Heresies among you that those that are approved may be made manifest And therefore saith he again if the School of Christ must be disgraced for the Sects that have come out of it let the School of Socrates be condemned too because so many opposite Schools of Philosophy arose out of it and let the Philosophy of Plato also suffer the like censure because his Scholar Aristotle differ'd so much and in so many Opinions from him This admirable Apology the Father made for the Church Religion in his Time and let those who urge Celsus his Argument against us consider if it is not as applicable to ours Nay we find by the * Respons ad quaest 5. Answers to certain Questions falsly ascrib'd to Justin Martyr that God was pleas'd to allow Hereticks in the primitive Times to do Miracles which praised be his holy Name he never suffered any Heretick or Schismatick since the Reformation to do among us But if he had we could have made the same defence which that Author and St. Cyprian did viz. that Miracles alone as †Prophetare daemonia excludere virtates magnas in terris facere sublimis utique resest admirabilis non tamen Cyprian de unit Eccles edit Oxon T. p. 144. splendid gifts as they are are no demonstration of the Truth for Christ hath declared that many will say unto him in the day of Judgement Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then he will reply unto them I know ye not depart from me ye that work iniquity So saith St. Paul Tho' I speak with the tongue of men and Angels and tho' I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all mysteries and tho' I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no charity I am nothing The like Apology St. Austin made against the pretended Miracles of the Donatists I hear saith he that Pontius doth Miracles and that when Donatus Magnus pray'd God answered him by a voice from Heaven but God hath cautioned me against those ‖ Contra istos Mirabiliarios cautum me fecit Deus Aug. Expos in Evang Joh. tract 13. Miracle-mongers who make Divisions saying False Christs and false Prophets shall arise and shall shew signs and wonders to deceive if it were possible the very Elect but take ye heed behold I have foretold you all these things And when his Disciples told him with joy that the Devils were subject to them in his Name saith he Rejoyce not in this that the Devils are subject unto you but that your Names are written in Heaven Wherefore my Brethren let no man deceive you he that works miracles and doth not keep unity is nothing Towards the latter end of the 4th Century Epiphanius in three Books wrote an Account of all the Heresies that had been in the Church till that time and they amount in number to * Sancti Epiphanii respons ad Epist Acacii Pauli fourscore such a world of Tares grew up with the Wheat from the first sowing of the Word St. Augustine hath given a compendious Account of all these Heresies out of Epiphanius and some more of his own Time in a Discourse ad Quod-vult-Deum But setting aside all the rest I shall only take notice of the Montanists Novatians Donatists and Arians which did so much mischief to the universal Church of God and all the particular Members thereof The Montanists pretended to Prophecy and divine Inspiration and tho' they were †Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 15 16 18 19. resisted by many brave Bishops and many learned men wrote against them yet they spread their Infection far and near and ‖ Epiphan vol. 1.
have offered up himself a propitiatory sacrifice before he was offered upon the Cross In a word the Contradictions involved in it are almost innumerable by which it equally choaks the learned and unlearned and as it hath made so it will for ever make Dissenters in great abundance and no man nor any Church can ever want a just pretence of dividing from the Church of Rome as long as it is an Article of her Faith. These two Principles without naming any more naturally tend to making of Divisions after Divisions among them notwithstanding all the actual Union of which they boast But the Church of England hath no such dividing Principles theoretical or practical in her Constitution nothing is required to Communion with her but what is primitive and Apostolical and how much soever she hath been or is broken and divided yet her Communion is truly Catholick and tends to Peace and Coalescence and even now her Wounds are closing apace and ready to heal of themselves And as the Church of England hath more potential Union in her then that of Rome so hath she more actual Union too for her Clergy and People have no such fierce and bitter Contentions among them as there are betwixt the Irish Remonstrants and Anti-Remonstrants the Molinists and Jansenists as well as Thomists and Scotists and Jesuites some of which opposite Parties will not communicate with one another And as for the Difference among them concerning the Judge of Controversies and whether the Pope be subject or superior to a general Council it tends naturally and by due rational consequence to the dissolution of their Communion and who knows but we may live to see the Comedy of Basil acted over again and one part of the Roman Church declaring for a general Council and the other for the Pope Nay I may say that at this present the Clergy of the Church of England have been and are united to Admiration and Envy and better then the Clergy often happened to be in the ancient Catholick Church Had our Bishops ever such Broils among them as happened betwixt the Bishops of the Eastern and Western Churches about no greater a Matter then the keeping of Easter And between Cpyrian and Dionysius and Firmilian three Metropolitans and their Adherents on the on side and the Bishop of Rome and his on the other about re-Baptization when they made no bones of * Vid. â—â— Firmiliani contra Ep. Stephani in cyprian edit Rigalt p. 143. taxing the Pope with Inhumanity Insolence and Folly Or had we ever reason to take up that Complaint against them which †H. E. l. 3. â— 1 Eusebius made against the Bishops of the Catholick Church before the Dioclesian Persecution That they were as it were at War among themselves and wounded one another with words as with Darts and Spears nay that they dashed and split like capital Vessels one upon another striving for preheminence and enlarging the bounds of their Diocesses which causes great Factions among the People Or to descend to more particular Instances Was there ever such a tragical Quarrel between any of our Archbishops or Bishops since the Reformation as happened between Theophilus Patriarch of Alexandria and John Chrysostom Patriarch of Constantinople Epiphanius who sided with Theophilus and Chrysostom ‖ Socrat. l. 6. c. .14 cursed one another * Socrat. l. 16. c. 17. much Bloud was s hed on both sides and the Cathedral Church of Constantinople with the Senate-house were burnt in the Quarrel down to the ground Sozom. l. 8. c. 21. Sozomen protests he was ashamed to tell many things which happened in this Quarrel lest Infidels should come to the knowledge of them and saith †An. 400. n. 31. Baronius going to tell the Story of it I shall now describe a cursed Persecution not of Pagans against Christians or of Hereticks against Catholicks or of wicked against good men but what is monstrous and prodigious of Saints and holy men one against another to proceed Did the Bishops of England since the Reformation ever accuse one another in written Libels before the King as the Å¿tar; Sozom. l. 1. c. 17. Bishop in the Nicene Council did before the Emperor Or is there now any occasion of using against them the words which †Vit. Nazianz. â—â—aeâ—ixa operibus Nazianz. Gâ—aeâ—è â—…tis Paris 1630. Nazianzen spoke in a Council of Constantinople which went about to depose him It is a shame my fellow-Pastors of Christ's Flock and not befitting you to fall to war among your selves while you are to teach others peace and perswade them to live in unity To conclude How many such sharp Contentions have happened among our Bishops as we read happened between Paul and Barnabas Acts 15. 39. and between Paul and Peter Gal. 2.11 where we read that because Peter was to be blamed he withstood him to his very face Had the Clergy and People of our Communion been long or often exercised by such Broils as these the R. Cs. would have had a fair pretence to reproach us with want of Unity but the God of Union be praised for it we have no such Feuds and Contentions among us but quite contrary are as fast cemented among our selves in Love and Union as I believe any Church of the like extent ever was in the World. CHAP. IV. An Enquiry into the True Causes of Schisms and Divisions HAving shewed from several Arguments in the foregoing Chapter That bare Vnity or want of Divisions is no Argument for the Trueness or Reputation of a Church I shall for the farther advantage of my Plea proceed in this to make enquiry into the Causes of Divisions and Schisms and more particularly into the Causes of these in England with which the Christians Roman Communion are pleased so to upbraid our Church Now in this enquiry into the Causes of Divisions and Schisms I should very much forget both the ancient Jewish and Christian Theology if I did not in the first place name the Devil by whom we are not to understand any single evil Spirit but the whole society of apostate Angels who are most malicious and implacable Enemies of God and of Man for God's sake and of the Church above all other Societies of Men. This Doctrine we have not only from the Scriptures of the Old and New. Testament but from the most ancient primitive Christian Writers who as it were with one voice ascribe unto the Devil Idolatry Persecution Heresie and Schism He is meant by the Enemy in our Saviour's Parable who took his opportunity while men slept to sowe Tares in the Field of the Church And accordingly St. Paul who was not ignorant of his devices calls Heresies the doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 saith he The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter days some shall depart from the truth giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils And in Ephes 6.12 saith he Put on the whole armour of God that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil for we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickednesses or wicked spirits in high places All these are several expressions for that society of apostate Spirits which make up the kingdom of darkness as is plain from the 1 st and 2d Verses of the 11 th Chapter of the same Epistle where he saith Ye were dead in trespasses and sins wherein you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience who cannot be perswaded to believe the Gospel Wherefore the Combates for which Christians are to fortifie themselves are not only against humane Enemies but the powers of darkness the whole society of Devils who were the Gods of the Gentile World. They are always plotting and contriving against the Church and when they cannot hurt it with Idolatry Polytheism or Persecutions then they strive to get Altar set up against Altar in it and distract it with Heresie and Schism Accordingly St. Ignatius in his Ep. to the Ephesians calls Heresies and false Doctrines Herbs or Plants of the Devil 's planting and tells them in the same Epistle That to meet often together and receive the holy Eucharist in peace and concord was the only way to weaken the powers of Satan and prevent the ruine and destruction he would otherwise bring upon them by Division and to convince them how malicious and vigilant an enemy he is to the Church he tells them That there were three Mysteries of the Christian Religion which were kept from his knowledge The Virginity of Mary her bringing forth or the Nativity of her Son and the Death of our Lord. Had Satan come to the knowledge of these Mysteries unless God had chained him and his evil angels up they would have made ill use of them against the great design of man's Redemption and accordingly many learned men have given his for one Reason of the obscurity of the Prophecies and why God was pleased so artificially to conceal many things in them lest Satan coming to the knowledge of them should endeavour to prevent or obstruct the fulfilling of them or enervate the certainty and demonstration of them after they were fulfilled Thus Justin Martyr in his first commonly called the second Apology observes That he did before-hand to the best of his skill teach and institute many things among the Pagans which had some semblance with the future Mysteries of the Christian Religion that so when they came to pass they might not seem such divine and wonderful Mysteries as indeed they are The like is observed by * Tertâ—ll depâ—â—â— script Haeres 〈◊〉 40. Tertullian after him and made out by many particular Instances to which I remit the curious Reader which shews That he hath a great and active spite against the Church of God more especially against such parts of it as are pure in Doctrine or Worship to sow Heresies and Schisms among them and divide the unity of their Communion And therefore the same St. Ignatius in his Ep. to the Trallesians bids them beware of Separations and Divisions as of the Snares of the Devil and in his Ep. to the Philadelphians he prays them in his wonted phrase to abstain from the evil Herbs which Christ never cultivated because they were not of his heavenly Father's planting meaning the Weeds of false Doctrines which Satan had sowed among them and which he saith did not only cause different Parties among them but a perfect separation of many from the Church So Justin * P. 403. Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho ascribes all the impious and blasphemous Doctrines which were then taught in the Name of Christ to the Inspirations of the unclean spirit of the Devil and accordingly when St. Polycarp met Marcion the Heretick he told him He knew him to be the eldest Son of the Devil as being a man who was acted with diabolical Impulse and Inspirations and Tertullian in the Book above-cited saith expresly That the Devil is the Author of Heresie as well as Idolatry The like is observed by St. Cyprian and Theodoret who ascribe all Heresies to the invention and artifice of the Devil and all the Histories of Heresies and Schisms in Ecclesiastical Writers are still ushered in with prefatory Complaints of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the envious and wicked Devil whose business hath been from the beginning to deceive and molest the Church of God. Nay the purer any Church is in Doctrine and Worship the more we may be sure he will stickle against it and endeavour to weaken and disgrace it by intestine Divisions and perswade the dividing Parties to form themselves into opposite Schisms Indeed where Churches are already corrupted in Doctrine and Worship and firmly adhere to those Corruptions 't is his interest to let them alone and not to hazard the Reformation of them by stirring up Contentions and Divisions in them but in Churches where the Doctrine and Worship are kept pure and Apostolical by the care and vigilance of the Pastors in Churches where the Scriptures are openly taught and read and the whole Worship of God but more especially the holy Sacraments are duly administred by lawful Ministers and the Communion of Saints carefully maintained In such pure and Apostolical Churches as these he hath no other game to play but to get them as far as he can extirpated by Persecutions or where that fails to make Mutinies and Divisions and Schisms in them and so to weaken the common Interest of the whole by dividing it into parts Where he cannot unite the Members of a Church in pernicious Doctrines and Practices he will labour hard to dissolve them by pernicious Schisms where he cannot unite them against Truth he will strive to divide them against Charity and where they will not agree he will make them if he can differ to their own destruction And therefore considering him as the principal Cause of Divisions all that can be concluded upon that Consideration against any particular Church is only this That the Members of it are subject like the Members of all other Churches to be deceived and drawn away by the Devil and if upon special enquiry it be found that she is pure and Apostolical in her Doctrine Worship and Discipline all that can then be concluded is no more then this That the Devil is become her particular Enemy and hath a particular spite against her upon the account of her Excellence and Worth. This is the worst Consequence that can be drawn from Divisions and Separations against such a Church as ours and we are willing to admit it we are willing to acknowledge that the Devil hates the Church of England more then many Churches and if those that object our Divisions to us
and over-inquisitive men who trusting too much to their own Understanding love as the Apostle speaks to intrude into things which they have not seen and are vainly puffed up with their fleshly Mind †De praescript Haeres § 14. Tertullian in his Tract against the Heresies of his Time complains grievously of these men who were always moving nice and curious Questions about things which it was better to be ignorant of then to know and who as his phrase imports loved to exercise the ‖ Quantumlibet quaer as tractes omnem libidinem curiositatis essundas whole lust of their Curiosity about doubtful and obscure things Their Curiosity as he complains was above their Faith and their vain-glorious affectation of being counted learned and witty above the care of their Souls and therefore they must search the Scriptures to find out new Doctrines and Opinions and if they cannot find them there they will be sure to bring them thither tho' never heard of before and never so contrary to the unanimous Tradition of all the Apostolical Churches These men he complains of for the great Adulterators of Scripture and of such as they were the Apostle is to be understood 1 Tim. 1.4 I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other Doctrine neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister Questions rather then godly Edifying which is in the Faith. So in Chap. 6.3 4. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness he is conceited knowing nothing but doting about questions and disputes about words whereof cometh envy strife railings and surmisings So in his 2d Ep. 2.23 saith he unto him Avoid foolish and unlearned questions knowing that they gender strife And so in his Ep. to Titus Chap. 2.9 Avoid foolish questions and Genealogies and contentions for these are unprofitable and vain and a man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject These over-curious and too inquisitive Wits who hunt after new Discoveries and rack their Inventions as well as the Scriptures to publish some new thing are well disposed by temper for Heresie They think indeed they know something but really they know nothing as they ought to know when they begin to despise the Simplicity of the Christian Religion and the Doctrine and Tradition of the Elders and by the wantonness of their Wits and Understandings give occasion to Satan who observes all mens Tempers to tempt them into Heresie and Schism * Longum est universa ipsus opera commemorare quibus profecto summis Aedificatoribus Ecclestae par esse potuisset nisi profanâ illâ haereticae curlositatis libidine novum nescio quid invenisset quo cunctos labores suos velut cujusdam Leprae admixtione soedaret cap. 16. Vincentius Lirinensis observes that Apollinaris fell into Heresie through this lust of Curiosity and that †Tantus ac talis dum gratiâ dei insolentiûs abatitur dum ingenio suo nimium indulger sibique satis credit cum parvi pendit antiquam Christiane religionis simplicitatem dum se plus cunctis sapere praesumit dum Ecclesiaticas traditiones verterum magisteria contemnens quaedam Scripturarum capitula novo more interpretatur meruit ut de se quoque Ecclesia dei diceret Si surrexerit in medio tui propbeta Origen also through too great a confidence in his own Parts and too much fondness and indulgence for his own Notions of the greatest Doctor the Church ever had became plainly such a one to whom one might justly apply those words of Moses Si surrexerit in medio tui propheta If there arise among you a Prophet saying let us go after other Gods thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul The next sort of Instruments which the Devil makes use of in inventing and propagating Hercsie and Schism are ambitious and aspiring men who would fain be Governours in the Church and sit in the Thrones of the Apostles and when they cannot compass their Designs then out of Envy and Revenge they strive to turn all things topsie-turvy and bring confusion upon the Church Such as these was Diotrephes who loved to have the preeminence He would fain have had St. John's Chair and to that end raised Sedition against him prating against him with malicious words and perswading the Church not to receive him Such also was Thebuthis the first Heretick and Schismatick in the Church of Jerusalem as I have shewed in the first Chapter Such also were Montanus Novatus Arius Natalis the Confessor and almost all the famous Heresiarchs in the ancient Church Such also was Melitius a Bishop of Aegypt who being deposed from his Bishoprick for denying the Faith and sacrificing unto Daemons in the Dioclesian Persecution became the Head of that which from him took the Name of the Melitian Heresie and Schism He loaded Achilles his Superior who deposed him with all manner of Calumnies and Reproaches as also his Successors Peter and Alexander who ratified the Deprivation of him and conspired with Arius against the latter that he might be revenged on the Church For Pride and Ambition is the Mother of Envy Revenge and Discontent it was the original Sin of the Devil and when he meets with proud men after his own image his work is half done and it will cost him but little trouble to tempt them to break the Peace and divide the Unity of Churches whereof they are Members So an ancient * Responsâ—ad orthodox quaest 〈…〉 Author in Answer to this Question Whether it is just to damn Hereticks who do their best Endeavours to know the Truth and cannot Saith he It is manifest that all Heresies arise from a vain affectation of Glory and study of opposition in the Authors and Ring leaders of them and therefore the Apostle calls them grievous Wolves And saith St. Chrysostom in his first Homily upon the first Epistle to Timothy Because they do not love their Brethren they envy those that have a good Report and from this Envy proceeds a desire to be above them and to rule and from this desire to rule come Heresies So saith Theophylact on Galat. 5. The desire of Ruling is the Mother of all Heresies And saith another * Isidorus Pelusiota p. 441. ancient Writer From affectation of Government and getting above others which are two domineering Passions I think most Heresies arise for those who do not love to be in the rank of Subjects sow new Doctrines that they may be Chief of a new Sect. And indeed this was the temper of Simon Magus the first Heretick and false Apostle he affected to be a great man and to have the People from
damnable nature in the judgement of the Catholicks neither indeed is the obliquity of Schism alterable by humane Laws and Constitutions as being a transgression of a divine positive Law which God hath made for the preservation of the Body politick of his Church to which Schism is as destructive in its nature as Rebellion is to the State. The being and well-being of the Church are incompatible with it and it is not only evil because God hath forbid it but God hath forbid it because he knew it was evil and pernicious in its nature to his one Catholick Church The Roman Catholicks themselves will joyn with us in this Principle and acknowledge this Doctrine to be true and if our Dissenters are either afraid or convinced of the truth of it it concerns them as they tender their own Salvation to enquire into the nature of their respective Separations whether they the Schisms or no They all profess great tenderness of Conscience and they will but act according to their pretensions to be very scrupulous in embracing those Communions which if they be not yet look so like Schism Methinks they should be as much afraid of sinning one way as another methinks their Consciences should boggle as much at a suspected Communion as at a suspected Ceremony and be very much afraid of making damnable Separations as they will assuredly do if the Church of England from which they do or shall separate be a true and sound Member of Christ I entreat them for the sake of their own Souls to set the Terror of this Consequence before their eyes especially I desire those among them to consider it who by their occasional Communion as they call it with the Church of England have declared to all the World that they think if such a Church to which men may joyn themselves without sin Shall the expectation of a little temporary Preferment or the fear of a little temporal Punishment bring them to Church and perhaps to the highest act of Communion in it and shall not the fear of Damnation and the foresight of the dismal Events which are like to happen upon their Separations not make them do the same If it be sinful to communicate with the Church of England in her Ordinances why did they ever do it And if it be not why do they not do it always according to the Doctrine of the Apostle who beseeched the Corinthians by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that they should all speak the same thing and be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and judgement that there should be no Schisms nor Divisions among them I beseech our dissenting Brethren by the same saving Name and for the sake of the Gospel for which they pretend to have so much zeal not to divide Christ any longer among us nor grieve the holy Spirit of Union by their causless Separations but to return to the Fold from which they have wandred as lost Sheep that so we may become one Fold under one Shepherd and one Building framed together into an holy Temple unto the Lord. They know there is nothing wanting to any Christian man's Salvation in the Church of England they may be as holy and unblamable in the Communion of it as the most holy Saint or Martyr if it be not their own fault and certainly Jacob would rejoyce and Israel would be glad may I dare say there would be joy among the very Angels in Heaven to see them return to their Mother whom they have forsaken and compass her Altars in Sincerity and Truth This would be the way for them to atone for their former Mascarriages and undo all the Injuries they have formerly done the Church which upon their Return would be beautiful as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem and terrible as an Army with Banners and provoke her Adversaries who now insuit over her Divisions to confess that she is the very Beauty of Holiness and that God was in us and among us of a truth In the last place I address my self to my Brethren of the Church of England for whose Satisfaction I have written this Apology That seeing how Heresies Divisions and Schisms have been incident to the best Churches in the best and purest Ages the Age of the Apostles and the Age next unto them they should neither be offended nor discouraged to see so many Altars erected in this little Isle all opposite to one another and to the Church I have shewed them that her condition is neither new nor singular and that as many and great Divisions have been made from the Churches of Jerusalem Antioch Alexandria Constantinople Rome Carthage and all the famous Churches in the World. Nay I have shewed more particularly of the Church of Rome that very shameful and scandalous Schisms have formerly arisen in her and that not withstanding her pretended present Union the Church of England in the midst of all the English Divisions hath more potential and actual Union then she I have had good success in private with a shorter Discourse of this nature in confirming of some who began to have mean and despicable thoughts of the Church of England upon the score of our English Schisms and to suspect whether or no the were a true and good Church They were made believe of all Churches she was most deserted by God and that he seemed to have very little savour for her and then while they were casting about for Reasons why God should seem as they were taught to have so little care of her it was easily suggested that he was displeased at her and left her to her self because she had left the Church of Rome And as I have known some so I have heard of others who have been just so affected and it is for curing such Fears and Suspicions where they are and preventing them where they are not that I have made this Apology which I hope my Brethren will accept as a Work well intended with all its imperfections and defects I know it is but a very indifferent Performance in comparison to what others have done and are a doing but such as it is I offer it with all submission to the whole Houshold of God in the Church of England which as it now stands without any farther emendation is I verily believe as sound and pure a Church both for Doctrine and Worship as ever was established in any Province or Nation of the World I heartily thank Almighty God by whose good providence I have been bred up in her Communion and am called to the great Honour of being one of her Priests and I beseech him of his infinite goodness to give all her Clergy and People Grace to live up strictly to her Principles to her Principles of Piety towards God of Loyalty to the King of Justice and Charity to others and of Temperance and Sobriety towards themselves I am sure it must be ours and not her fault if we be not the best Christians the best Subjects and the best Friends and Neighbours in the Worlds and I shall confirm my own Opinion of her with the Testimony which a late * S. L. J. great and good and learned Man gave of her in his last Will and Testament saith he I do declare That by the grace of God I die a Christian in the Communion of the Church of England as it is now established by God's Providence and the Laws in force I do believe this Church to be a true and sound Member of Christ's Catholick Church which he hath purchased with his Bloud Cloath her O Lord with a strict and examplary Holiness in her Priests and People and maintain her in her Truths Peace and Patrimony unto the Worlds end Amen FINIS