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.
the account of Divisions that he in effect apologized for them and for the goodness and wisdom of God that suffered them for saith he there must be * Ac si diceret ob hoc haereseôn non statim divinitùs eradicantur authores ut probati manifesti siant id est unusquisque quam tenax fidelis fixus Catholicae fidei sit amator appareat Vincent Lirin heresies among you that those who are approved may be made manifest So St. Clement begins his Epistle to the same Church which was written upon the occasion of a great Schism in this manner The Church of God at Rome to the Church of God at Corinth It seems the Church at Corinth rent and torn as it was with intestine Divisions was the Church of God as well as that of Rome in which there were then no Divisions at all St. Peter's next and immediate Successor bewailed the sad Misfortune of the Corinthians but he did not unchurch them for it he told them how it occasioned their venerable and illustrious Name to be evil spoken of but nevertheless he called them the * §. 1. elect of God. And so Constantine the Great in an Epistle which he wrote to the Alexandrians when they were very infamous upon the account of the deadly Feuds and Separations which divided their Communion salutes them in these words †Socrat. H. E. 〈…〉 9. Constantine the Emperor to the Catholick Church of Alexandria Not long after when the Arian Bishops ‖ L. 1. c. 27. conspired against Athanasius to get the Emperor to depose him and his Majesty upon hearing his Cause found their Accusations to be false he wrote a Letter in his behalf to the Alexandrians of which this is the Title * Athan opera vol. 1. p. 779. Constantine the great Emperor to the People of the Catholick Church which is at Alexandria When he wrote this Letter to the People of Alexandria it abounded with Melitians and Arians who had formed themselves into opposite Communions and yet those schismatical opposite Communions were in the judgement of that learned Emperor no Argument against the Alexandrian Church So Constantine junior shortly after his Father's death before he assumed the Title of Augustus directed Letters to the Church of Alexandria in favour of Athanasius with this Superscription †Socrat. H. E. l. 2. c. 3. Constantine Caesar to the People of the Catholick Church of the Alexandrians Notwithstanding all the Sects and Sectaries of Alexandria the Church still remained Catholick in the Communion of the Faithful who retained the ancient Apostolical Doctrine and Discipline These wise Emperors considered that the Tares could not alter the property of the Wheat and therefore tho' there were a World of Hereticks and Schismaticks in Alexandria and all the Regions round about it yet they called the Church a Catholick Church It was every jot as Catholick then as it was before the Melitian and Arian Schisms when the People were of one mind and one Communion for it is not the great number of Church members is any Diocess Province or Patriarchat but the cause and nature of the Communion that makes a true Church Otherwise if Churches must be no longer reputed truly Catholick and good then all the Members which are or ought to be of it are unanimous and communicate together then it must follow that both the Church universal and every particular Member of it long since lost their Catholick nature and were no true Churches in the eyes of God. What for instance became of the Church Catholick after the Council of Ariminum when almost the whole Christian World became Arian except a very * Libellus precum p. 8 9 10 11. Vincent Lirin c. 6. small number of Bishops who stuck to the profession of the Catholick Faith More particularly what became of the Church of Rome when Pope Liberius embraced the Arian Communion and subscribed to the Sentence of the Arian Bishops against Athanasius as †Eccles Ann. T. 3. p. 761 762 763. Baronius acknowledges tho' he endeavours to prove that he never subscribed to the Arian Confession or Heresie Nay what became of it especially upon their Principle when Pope ‖ Vid. Nili Archiepiscop Thessalon de primatu Papae lib. qui est ad calcem Salmas de primatu Papae p. 33 34 35 p. 61. Honorius the 1st fell into the Heresie of the Monothelites for which he was condemned by the 6th General Council and anathematized for it after his death by the 2d Council of Nice which they receive for the 7th General Council Nay if Heresies and Schisms are good Arguments or just matter of Exception against any Church what shall we say to the Church of Rome upon the account of the Novatian and all the other Antipapal Schisms mentioned in the former Chapter Or to go farther back into Antiquity what Apology shall we make for her when * Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 15. Blastus and Florinus a degraded Roman Presbyter raised a great Schism in Rome endeavouring to introduce new Doctrines which †C. 20. Irenaeus confuted in Books written for that purpose Their Doctrines were very absurd as well as inconsistent with the Faith and Tradition of all Churches and yet they drew away many from the Church of Rome and enticed them to embrace their Opinions Nay what shall we do to defend her in the Time of Pope Victor and Zephyrinus when she was infested with the Heresie Euseb H.E. l 5. c 28. which asserted our Lord to be a meer man This damnable Heresie was first taught at Rome by Theodotus no better a man then a Tanner for which he was excommunicated by Pope Victor and afterwards in the Time of his Successor Zephyrinus it came to a perfect Schism when the Hereticks made Natalis the Confessor a Bishop of the Heresie and settled a Maintenance upon him One of the Scholars of Theodotus the Tanner was another Theodotus a Banker a great promoter of the Schism and therefore I cannot but wonder that any Roman Catholick who understands Antiquity should upbraid the Church of England with the Preaching of Mechanicks and Tradesmen when a Tanner and a Banker in the 2d Century were the Ring-leaders of such a pestilent Heresie in the Church of Rome and as an Author of that Time reports impudently took upon them to adulterate the Scriptures and reject the Canon of the primitive Faith. Why should men pretending to Sense and Learning use and Argument that is so easily retorted upon themselves and when it is pursued into all its Consequences makes it impossible for them to defend either the Church Universal or any particular Member thereof What will they say for the primitive Church by way of defence against the Gnostical Heresies if they argue against that as they are wont to argue against the Church of England Or to pass over the Schisms of which I have given some Account in the
person striving to have his own will and humour doth thereby form a Schism Thus have I shewed the instrumental Causes which the devil uses in sowing Differences and Divisions and making Separations and Schisms in Churches And perhaps of such men acted and inspired by the Devil as much as of the Devils themselves St. Peter is to be understood 1 Ep. 5.8 where he exhorted the Christians to be sober and vigilant because their adversary the devil as a roaring lion walked about seeking whom he might devour whom saith he resist steadfast in the faith If the Devil had so many Instruments of dividing the Catholick Church then methinks it should not seem strange that he hath so many now Nay methinks the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion out of the particular Veneration they have for St. Peter whom the whole Christian World ought to honour should not so delight to upbraid the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms it being evident from this and other Passages in his Catholick Epistle cited in the first Chapter that there were almost as many and altogether as great Division while he governed in the Church as there are now in England and most other Parts of the Christian World. Wherefore all that can justly be concluded upon the Church of England from the English Heresies and Schisms if we consider the instrumental Causes of them is no more then this That there are and have been many ignorant over curious ambitious convetous and contentious men among us which as I shewed before hath been the common Calamity of all Churches and what is common to all Churches at least according to our Logick can be no just matter of reproach against any one I am so confident that there is no Inconsequence in this way of Apologizing for the Church of England that I believe our Adversaries cannot find a better way of Apologizing for the Divisions that have formerly risen or may hereafter arise in the Church of Rome If they were reproached by others as they reproach us they could not but say that the Causes of Divisions are common to all Churches and therefore craving leave to set the Church of England in the midst of all other Churches I desire that Church may cast the first Stone at her which hath remained from the beginning a pure Virgin without Heresie or Schism If there be a Church in any corner of the Earth which is exempted from the common Causes of Divisions or of so happy a Constitution as not to be capable of suffering by them let that Church come forth and reproach the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms but let not the Church of Rome do it which hath so many old Scars to shew and so many and great Rents yet visible in many parts of her Coat as none of her most curious Workmen with all their art and skill will probably ever be able to make up I have said thus much by way of Apology for the Church of England from considering the general Causes of Church Divisions and Separations and shall find yet more to plead for her upon making a more particular Enquiry into the Causes of our English Heresies and Schisms Now in this Enquiry no man that knows the state of Great Britain betwixt the beginning of the great Rebellion and his late Majesty's happy Restauration but must needs look upon the ruine of the Church and State to have been such a Cause of Heresies and Schisms as perhaps never happened before to any Church in the World. Was it any wonder to see Errors and Heresies and Blasphemies abound among us in a Time of such strange Disorder and Confusion when there was no King nor Priest in Israel Can we imagine the Devil should be idle in such an Opportunity Or can our Adversaries imagine that the like would not happen in any other Church or Kingdom of the Roman Religion should God in judgment dissolve the Government of them as he did that of ours I refer the candid Roman-Catholick Reader to Mr Edwards his Gangraena for an Account of the Errors Heresies Blasphemies Sects and Opinions that sprung up in the British Isle In a few years after the Church of England was pulled down and her Liturgy cast out of the Churches and Liberty of Conscience as they called it was set up in its stead He was a Minister of the Presbyterian Party and a mighty Bigot for the Cause and yet he could not but acknowledge that there came in a Deluge of Heresies and Impieties after the removal of the Prelates and I appeal to any man of Ingenuity if it be Reasonable or Christian or Gentile to reproach our Church with Sects that arose among us when she was fast bound in misery and the Iron entred into her Soul. Were not her Pastors driven from their Flocks when the Wolves entred in and all the time she was in the House of Bondage was it not a time of Liberty for every man to do what was good in his own Eyes Nay I desire those that are most petulant in upbraiding us with our Divisions to tell me truly if they do not think that as many and as monstrous Swarms of Errours and Heresies would breed in Spain or Italy as there did in the late Times of Confusion in England if the Divine Providence which God prevent should suffer the same Tragedy to be acted in those Countries that was acted in ours How would Sects verminate any where in Twenty Years of such Confusion Methinks our Adversaries should have the Ingenuity to consider this but since they seem not to do it I hope they cannot find fault with us for putting them in mind of it by way of Apology for our Church There are many other special Causes of our English Divisions which might fall under consideration but for brevity sake I shall mention but one which is this That we have reason to suspect that our Divisions both in the beginning and progress of them may have been influenced from abroad I do not know whether this will pass for mis-representing but some Observations have been made to this purpose And if the Gentlemen of the R. Communion know or believe it to be true I beseech them by our Common Saviour Jesus Christ they would no longer upbraid the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms In Foxis and Firebrands in Ravialac Redivinus p 72. of the 2d Edition fol. 1682. And in several Letters which passed between the Archbishop of Armagh and other eminent persons which may be seen in a late printed Collection of Letters If the Tares which were sowen in the Field of our Church were indeed brought from other Places then I hope they will grant that it is not ingenuous for them of all other Christians to reproach us with them but rather to blame those who sowed them and who transplanted those strange Plants which are not of our heavenly Father's planting into the Vineyard of
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
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
p. 416. perverted all Phrygia Cappadocia and Cilicia and afterwards their corrupt Doctrine went Westward as far as Constantinople it self The Novatian Schism began in Rome it self and was so called from Novatus whom the Greek Writers confound with Novatianus a Presbyter of that Church He * Euseb l. 6. c. 43. taught that it was not lawful to admit those who had fallen in the Decian Persecution upon their repentance to communion with the Faithful and getting himself ordained Bishop in a sinister manner he drove many under that pretence from the Church and then there was Bishop against Bishop Church against Church and Altar against Altar even at Rome it self Neither Cartwright nor Travers nor any other Presbyter of the Church of England did ever do her so much mischief as Novatus did the Church of Rome The Schism which he raised lasted 200 years and had not Cornelius been well assisted by the Catholick Bishops not only in Italy but over all the Christian World this pestilent Schism under the pretence of greater Purity would soon have driven him out of Rome The Schism of the Donatists first began in Carthage and they were so called from Donatus Casensis the Head of the Party which first erected Altar against Altar in that metropolitical City setting up Majorinus against Cecilian who was rightfully ordained Bishop of that Church Of all the Schisms upon record this was one of the most unreasonable dishonourable stubborn impudent and bloudy as will appear from this short Account thereof First It was very unreasonable because it was made by a Party which had nothing to object against the Doctrine Discipline or Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Carthage but only against the Canonical Incapacity of Cecilian to be Bishop of it as one who was a traditor and worshipper of Idols in the Dioclesian Persecution which notwithstanding appear'd upon many Tryals to have been a malicious Accusation nothing of this having been laid to his charge when he was elected and ordained Secondly It was a most dishonourable and shameful Schism as having been begun and carried on by a rich proud and insolent * Lucilla Woman who was obnoxious to the Rod of Cecilian and corrupted Secundus the Primate of Numidia and many other African Bishops into a Faction against him together with those sacrilegious Presbyters whom Cecilian had called to account for the Plate and other Goods of the Church which had been committed to their Trust in the time of the Persecution Thirdly It was a most stubborn and prevalent Schism which would not yield nor submit to the Autority of the Emperor the Sentence of two †Romanun Arelatense Councils the Determination of the Proconsul of Africa nor the Judgement of the universal Church On the contrary the more it was condemned it grew the more insolent and powerful and oppressed not only the Church of Carthage where it first began but made almost the whole Church of Africa revolt Fourthly It was a most impudent Schism the Schismaticks esteeming themselves as the only pure People of the World and the Catholicks as Pagans and Idolaters plundering their Churches burning their Altars as polluted and treading their holy Sacraments which they found upon them under their feet They also denied them Christian Burial and re-baptized and re-confirmed as many of them as revolted to them and truly so general was the Revolt in all Parts of Africa that the Catholick Communions looked more like Conventicles then the Catholick Church Lastly It was a most bloudy and cruel Schism as appears by the Feats of the * So called quod circum cellas vagantur August T. 7. p. 76. G. T. 8. p. 334. M. T. 8.335 D. E. Circellians or Circumcellians whom the Donatists called Agonistici because they fought for them and destroyed the Catholicks in a most barbarous manner For they were the †Habebant Donatistae per omnes penè Ecclesias suas perditum hominum genus perversum ac violentum velut sub professione continentium ambulantes qui Circumcelliones dicebantur erant ingenti numero à turbâ per omnes ferè Africanas regiones constituti qui malis imbuti doctoribus audacia superbiâ termeritate illicitâ nec suis nec alienis aliquando parcebant contra jus fasque in causis interdicentes hominibus nisi obedissent damnis gravissimis caedibus afficiebant armati diversis telis bacchantes per agros villasque ad sanguinis effusionem accedere non metuentes intoberabiles persecutiones unitati Ecclesie compacti faciebant ipsisque sacerdotibus Catholicis ministris aggressiones nocturnas atque diurnas direptionesque rerum omnium vi inserebant Nam multos dei servos caedibus debilitaverunt Possidonius in vit August Vid. August Ep. 48. 50. De Haeresibus ad Quod-vult-deum Ep. 68. Contra Crescon l. 3. Enarrat in Ps 10. Zealots of the Faction who thought they did God good service in making havock of the Catholicks nay they were such furious Enthusiasts that when they had none to kill as St. Aug. saith they would kill themselves They laid wait for the Catholicks in the ways and murdered both the Clergy and the People they took them out of their Houses by force to kill them they beat them to death with Clubs poured Lime and Vinegar into their Eyes plundered and burnt their Houses and murdered Bishops and Priests at the very Altar and marched about day and night doing these horrible Exploits under the conduct of Donatist Bishops and Priests Nay the whole Sect was all Cruelty and Pride for a Catholick no sooner turned Donatist but he alter'd his temper and became impatient furious haughty and contentious and indeed the many Massacres and Devastations the whole Party committed shews they delighted in Cruelty and Bloud Such was the Schism of the Donatists and it deserves to be well considered by those who are apt to make uncharitable Reflections upon the Church of England or have a mean opinion of her Communion upon the account of the English Schisms The Arian Schism first began in Alexandria and had its Name from Arius a Presbyter of that Church At the first broaching of his Heresie he was opposed by Alexander his Bishop and part of the Clergy and People adhering to the Bishop and part siding with Arius from this small spark saith * Lib. 1. c. 6. Socrates came such a fire as made a Conflagration in the universal Church First It enflamed the Churches of Aegypt Lybia and the upper Thebais and from thence was blown into all the other Churches when as †De vit Constant l. 2. c. 62. Eusebius writes one might have seen not only Bishops contending with one another but the People rent into Factions some inclining to this Party and some to that and when the Pagans also took advantage from those Divisions of the Christians to expose Christianity in their Theatres and turn it into ridicule This sad estate of the
former Chapter how can they by their way of arguing maintain the Church of Antioch to have been Catholick in the Time of Paulus Samosatensis who revived the Heresie of Theodotus and taught that Christ by nature was no more then a meer man For this Reason he held Communion with the Followers of Artemon the Author of this damnable Heresie teaching that Christ was from the Earth and damning the Hymns which used to be sung in Churches to his honour as novel Composures and letting his Followers chant forth Hymns to his own praise in the Church and tell the People that he was an Angel sent from God. Was there ever such an heretical and blasphemous Archbishop in the Church of England since the Reformation as this But if there had been more then one such the Church of England nevertheless would have been a truly Catholick Church as this of Antioch then was in the judgement of the Council that deposed Paul. For in that excellent * Euseb H.E. l. 7. c 30. Epistle which the Council wrote to the Bishops and Presbyters of the whole Catholick Church under Heaven they tell them after a long recital of Paul's Impieties that they were necessitated to depose him and ordain another in his stead over the Catholick Church I might also ask them upon their way of treating the Church of England upon the score of the English Heresies and Schisms what they can say for the Church of Constantinople in the Time of Macedonius and Nestorius who were both Patriarchs of that Church and both fell into Heresie and Schism When a Bishop and much more a Patriarch leads the Flock into by-paths the Schism is more deplorable but yet it is not the Apostasie and Secession of one or two or more Bishops if that should happen that can destroy the Catholick and Apostolick nature of any Provincial Patriarchal or National Church For as I observed before it is not the number of Communicants but the cause or soundness of Communion that makes a true Church and therefore were there both for kind and number ten times as many more opposite Sects and Communions as there are in this Nation and Bishops at the Heads of them all yet upon supposition that the Church of England is sound and Apostolical in Doctrine Worship and Discipline that * Vna est pars in quâ sunt multi Episcopi sed ubi sunt multi illic sacra fides Christi violata est ubi verò paucissimi sunt fides Christi vindicatur Libell precum p 9 12 13. small number adhering to her Communion must be the true Church Nay if all the Bishops of England but one should fall away from the Church of England that †Non dubitandum est paucos Episcopos esle pretiosos merito consessionis inviolabilis sidei multos vero nullifieri merito haereseos in causâ religiouis sacrae fidei non numerus numero comparandus est sed pura illa Apostolica fides probata exiliis probata cruciatibus licet unlus Multorum infidelitatibus praeponenda est ibid. one Bishop and the Flock adhering to him would be the true Church of England and as true and Catholick a Church as if there were not one Dissenter in the Land. The learned Papists know this very well and therefore I wonder that men pretending to Letters and Ingenuity should argue against the Church of England from the English Heresies and Schisms Furthermore if this be a good way of arguing against Churches then the Church of the Jews was twice involved in the consequences of it once by the Schism of Corah and then by that of Jeroboam who set up a Priesthood and Altar a Bethel in opposition to that of Jerusalem and by the separation out off ten Tribes in twelve from the true Church of God. Nay if this modish way of arguing be true then the separation of th Church of England and other National Churches from that of Rome are as strong Arguments against it as the Sects and Schisms among us are against the Church of England There is no difference in the Case because they say that all the Protestant Churches are schismatical for falling off from them as we say the Congregational Churches are for falling off from ours and if ours indeed is not a Catholick Church but apparently under God's displeasure because forsooth they can tell us of the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists and Quakers then we may by just consequence say as much of theirs because we can tell them of the Waldenses Albigenses and Wiccliffians of old and of late of the Lutherans Calvinists and Church of England-men who are all Separatists from the Communion of Rome As those we repute Schismaticks sprang out of our Church and Communion so those whom they repute Schismaticks sprang out of theirs and therefore would not any man wonder that they should so far forget themselves as to use such Arguments against the Church of England and make such Reflections upon it as may be easily retorted upon themselves to overthrow their own Pretensions to Catholicism and weaken the Cause and Reputation of their Church The Church of Rome say they is the Catholick Church and the Church which Christ left upon Earth and the Church of England hath separated from it and therefore say we in their loose way of discoursing the separation of the Church of England is a good Argument against the Goodness and Reputation of that Church which Christ left upon Earth Nay say they Christ can have but one Church upon Earth and we believe none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholick Church but then say we a world of Heresies and Schisms have been bred in that one Church the Catholick Church of Rome and therefore it is long since this one Church of Christ was one or a true and good Church Your Church say the two late Converts to us hath Vnity 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 Now not to provoke such Gentlemen to * A Net for the Fishers of Men p. 111. paint and rip up the Sores of Protestancy your Church may a Turk say to them hath Unity or not if not then she is not the Church of Christ if she hath why are there so many Sects among you You say you are the one Catholick Church but what shall we do to find it in such and buddle of Dissenters as are in the Empire France Great Britain Sweden Denmark and other Northern Countreys and of * Ex to ordine scilicet Cardinalium sunt quatuor aut quinque quorum nomina possum proferre si vellem quibus reverâ probetur nostra doctrina saltem magna ex parte Romana exosa sit Sed vae illis cum filius Dei enunciaverit fore ut is qui nôrit voluntatem Domini non fecâ—…it vapulet pluribus quam qui non
First then It is not bare Vnion but the things in which a Church is united that must truly recommend and justifie it to the Christian World and prove it to be the Church of God. This is a self-evident Proposition which all the Churches in the World will admit at first hearing and the very Test by which when Disputes arise they must be content to be tryed For as to this Particular it is just in Ecclesiastical as it is in Civil Law and Government where it is not the Union but the Things or Cause in which men are united that distinguish lawful from unlawful Societies and Meetings otherwise if bare Union and Agreement how strict soever were a Sign of or a good Argument for the true and Catholick Church then Aaron the high Priest at the Head of that Congregation which worshipped the golden Calf was the true Church of the Jews He was their supream and lawful Pastor and they were very unanimous in making the Calf after his direction and in building an Altar before it and in oftering up Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings to use the new phrase in the presence of it They sate down to eat and drink before it and said with one unanimous Acclamation These be thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt I believe there never was a more perfect Union and Agreement in the Church of Rome then among the Communicants of this sinful Congregation nevertheless it was no Schism to divide from them because they united in a sin Their Union was their Crime because the object of it was highly criminal and God was provoked to consume them because they agreed in a thing that was so abominable in his eyes So the Corahites were as firmly united under Corah as the true Church was under Moses and Aaron Two hundred Princes of the Assembly with a great number of People were firmly united together in a Cause wherein they stuck together to the death even till the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and they went down alive into Hell. So likewise the ten Tribes were as firmly united at Bethel as the two were at Hierusalem they had number as well as union to plead but notwithstanding both their number and union they were but a great Schism because they united in Innovations contrary to the will of God. So to pass from the Jews to the Christians there hath been at several times as strict an Union among Hereticks and Schismaticks as among the Catholicks The Novatians in particular were remarkable for their Concord Unity and Unanimity So were the Arians generally all of one Communion and very unanimous against the Homousian Doctrine and yet they were but a great prevailing Schism when they were at the highest and had almost gained the whole Christian World. From these Examples it is plain that in passing judgement upon Churches we are not to look at the Union so much as the Cause in which they are united We are to consider if their Doctrine and Discipline be Apostolical and their terms of Communion truly Catholick and if they be so then their Union in them is holy and laudable and such as makes them true Churches of God. A concurrence of these things is the genuine badge of a * Ad bane it aque for mam probabuntur ab illis Ecclesiis quae licet nullum ex Apostolis vet Apostolicis Autorem suum proserant ut multò posteriores quae denique quotidie instituuntur tamen in câdem fide conspirantes non minùs Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae Tertull. de praescript Haeres truly Catholick and Apostolical Church and if those of the Roman Communion would have us admire their Union and be made Converts by it they must first make it appear to us that they are united in these things Otherwise their Unity instead of being an Argument for their Church is a strong Argument against it to prove that it is but a Conspiracy and an over-grown Schism from the one Catholick and Apostolical Church But secondly Church-unity may be the effect of culpable Causes and by culpable Causes I mean only such as in a great measure make the embracing of any Religion an inspontaneous or unwilling action and these are only two Ignorance and Compulsion when men either are of a Religion which they would not be of if they knew the faults of it or when knowing the faults of it they would certainly forsake it were they not under force but left to their own free choice First then Church-unity may be the effect of Ignorance which was one great cause of the Unity and Agreement of almost all Mankind in Paganism and therefore their ignorance of the Gentiles is called darkness in the New Testament as where our Lord is compared to the Day-spring or Sun-rising which gave light to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death So the Apostle of the Gentiles told them It was their duty to shew forth the Praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light and truly their spiritual darkness was so great that God did in some measure excuse their gross error in thinking that the Godhead could be like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by Art or man's device Tho' men who were worthy and absurd Idaea's of him yet as the Apostle told the Athenians The times of their former ignorance God winked at but then commanded all the Gentiles every where at their utmost peril to repent There never was a more strict and general Union among the Jews or Christians then there was among the Greeks For Paganism was become the Catholick Religion or Superstition as Catholick signifies universal and was spread far and wide upon the Earth and yet as the Apologetical Writers replied to the Greeks when they argued from the extent of their Religion and the consent of Mankind in it their great agreement in Idolatry was the effect of their Ignorance as plainly appeared from the preaching of the Gospel upon which they forsook those dumb Idols unto which they were carried even as they were led and turned from their former Vanities and Superstition unto the living God. They worshipped the Gods and observed their impure Rites because they knew no better but when their Understandings came to be well informed then they made a new and manly choice such as proceeded from all the Principles of humane Actions and plainly shewed that Ignorance had hitherto been the Mother of their Idol-devotion and by consequence that the choice of their former Religion wanted a sufficient measure of knowledge to make it a rational and truly willing choice I wish those who pride themselves so much in the Unity of the Roman Catholicks would consider how far the Sons and Daughters of the Church of England may use this Plea in their own defence against their so much celebrated Union It is certain that upon the Preaching and Writing of the
Reformers People came off in shoals from the Church of Rome in all Places where the Reformation was taught Whole Kingdoms revolted as one man to the astonishment of the Beholders on both sides and I believe no one man in the World St. Paul excepted ever made so many Proselytes as Luther the Protevangelist of the Reformation in Germany did which is no small presumption that their former adhesion to the Roman Communion was the effect of involuntary Ignorance which is not consistent with a truly free and rational choice I am the more confirmed in this opinion when I consider that in Countreys where there is the free exercise of both Religions the number of Proselytes from the Roman Religion to the Reformed is daily much greater then from the Reformed to the Roman particularly in France notwithstanding all the progressive Discouragements which came like Wave after Wave upon the Protestants for every Proselyte Popery got from the Reformed Church it perhaps gained ten from Popery while it was lawful for it to receive Converts and I appeal to the Consciences of the R. Cs. whether in all likelihood there would not soon be as many Protestants in Italy or Spain as there were in France if there were allowed the like measure of Knowledge and Liberty in those Kingdoms as there was in this Let the Spaniards and Italians have but the free use of the Scriptures which is their Christian Birth-right give them but the Translations which Cyprian de Valera made of the Bible in one Language and * He was Abbat of the Monastery of St. Michael de Lemo of the Order of St. Benedict and his Translation of the Bible in Italian was Printed in the year 1477. when Sixtus Quartus was Pope Nicolaus de Malhermis and †He translated the New Testament from the Original into Italian and it was Printed at Antwerp in 1538. and dedicated to St. Hercules Conzaga Cardinal of Mantua and the Dedication or Preface is almost nothing else but a Panegyrick of the Scriptures but this and all his other Works were prohibited in that Index of prohibited Books which P. P. Vergerius put forth with Annotations and which was the first of that kind Antonio Brucioli both their own men made in the other before the Reformation and if upon the free use of these Bibles and the Preaching of such men as Cyprian and Savanorola and allowance to their Bishops to act according to the Powers of their Apostolical Function there do not arise a sudden and mighty Episcopal Reformation in both those Kingdoms then I would acknowledge that the Unity in the Roman Church is perfectly Apostolical and that the secession of ours from the Church of Rome is an Apostasie from the one Catholick Church It is very well known what ‖ Sleidan Commentar l. 15 in An. 1543. Herman Archbishop of Cohen Duditius Bishop of Five Churches and the two * Sleidan Comment l. 21. in An. 1548. Hist Council of Trent l. 2. Meum etiam Germanum fratrem Baptistam Vergerium Polae Episcopum ob Paraphrafin in Psalmum 119. scriptum condemnant P.P. Vergerius Annot. in Catal. Heret p. 263. 119. seriptum condemnant P. P. Vergerius Annot. in Catal. Heret p. 263. Vergerii Brothers of immortal memory not to mention other Bishops did in the Time of the Reformation nay Posterity knows very well how far the Spanish Bishops in the Council of †Hist Council of Trent l. 7. Trent maintained the divine Right of Episcopacy in spight of the Legates and that Bishops derived their Authority immediately from Jesus Christ and not from the Pope And no man that is acquainted with History can doubt that if the Bishops of the Roman Communion might maintain this Doctrine safely they would maintain it freely and openly and so wrest the Keys out of the Pope's hand They would if they durst let his Holiness know that they are his * Non est nostri Romani Papae non est tanta majestas ut terrere debeat ficta est illa temporalis sastuosa majestas usurpata est nulla est Frater noster ille est Collega Comminister Antonius de Dominis in Consilio Profectionis §. 13. Fellows and Collegues and co-Boishops as St. Cyprian called Pope Stephen but they are quiet and peaceable because they are under Compulsion By which I understand such a mighty degree of penal Force and Violence as ordinarily speaking will compel men to comply with corrupt Churches against the Dictates of their own Understandings as extremity of ill Weather will constrain a Master of a Ship with great reluctance to cast his Cargo over-Board to save his own life and the lives of his men And when such great Exigences force men to do any thing which otherwise they would not do they are said to do it unwillingly and to act against their Judgements and Inclinations and particularly when for fear of ruining and exterminating Penalties which humanely speaking are intolerable men conform to any Religion which otherwise they would disown tho' as to outward Conformity and Communion they are of it yet they are not for it in their hearts I confess me ought to endure any thing rather then conform to any Religion which they believe to be false or subscribe to any Confession which they believe not to be true but yet we see the frailty of humane Nature is such that extream Severity will make them comply against their wills with a Religion they certainly know and firmly believe to be false Thus Plato for fear of the Fate of his Master Socrates continued in the profession of Polytheism against the Dictates of his own Conscience He knew there was but one true God the Creator of all things but he durst not stand up for him but sore against his will frequented the Temples of the false Gods. So tho' Cicero knew the Vanity of the popular Gods as he called them in opposition to the one great God yet he went to their Temples with the People and said That their Ancestors Religion was nevertheless to be had in Reverence and retained Reipublicae gratiâ that is in effect to say A man ought not to dissent from it for fear he should lose his Skin So the * Cum iram regis metuunt cum non dignantur pro Christo filio Dei exilium perpeti rescindunt quod piè vindicaverant suscipiunt quod ut impium damnaverant Episcopi plus iram regis terreni timuerunt quà m Christum verum Deum sempiternum regem Catholick Bishops in the Time of the Arian Controversie for fear condemned the Faith against their own Consciences which they had publickly asserted before Even good old †Sed ipse Osius accersitus ad Constantium regem minisque perterritus metuens ne senex dives exilium pateretur dat manus impietati post tot annos praevaricatur in fidem Libell precum Osius who had so long stood Champion
hath been done may be done again and upon supposition this should happen I would fain know of from the Roman Communion would be a good Argument against the Trueness or Goodness of the Church of Rome Wherefore methinks is point of Prudence they should not take up Arguments against us which they do not know how soon we may have occasion to retort upon themselves They should remember that they cannot secure their Church against Contigencies that are common to all Churches and that to flesh should glory in the presence of God who sometimes chooses the weak things of the World to confound the mighty and things that are not to bring to nought things that are It is his Prerogative to do whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and Earth and who knows his Counsels who knows what secrets of Providence are in the Wombs of their Causes ready for the birth In the next place I address my self to our dissenting Brethren whose Divisions and Separations from the Church of England and from one another are now become popular and plausible Arguments in the mouths of the R. Cs. to unsettle weaker judgments among us and bring them over to theirs which they call the one Catholick Church I beseech them therefore by the Sacred Names of Vnity and Charity to consider ho'w different the Church of England and her Children now appear from what they mis-apprehended them to be Great numbers of them took up an Aversion to the Church because they thought her Popish in her Constitution and her Children especially the Clergy Popish in their Affections but now seeing by Experience how much they were mistaken methinks they should be willing to make Reparation methinks the sense of their former mistake should help to overcome their present prejudice and make them willing to be better informed and bring their old Scruples with Minds desirous of satisfaction to the Test to see if indeed they are such as will justifie their separation from a Church which they acknowledge to be Orthodox in her Doctrine and which they could never yet prove enjoyned any one thing in her Worship which God and forbidden or to have forbidden any thing in it which he had enjoyned Is not this the time for them to peruse the Books that have been lately written with the greatest Candor and meekness for their better Information And doth not the Zeal which they have always professed against Popery oblige them to have a good opinion of her Divines who have all along been contending earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Doth not God by the Voice of his Providence call upon them as plainly as if it were by a Voice from Heaven to consider whither their Divisions tend and should not the serious consideration of the dismal Effects that may follow upon them if they continue in them make them doubly afraid of the sinfulness of Schism What a dreadful account will they have to make at the Day of Judgment if it should then appear that the Church gave them no just occasion to separate from her They must then answer to God for all the direful Consequences of their Separation and therefore it concerns them all to look upon her whom they have pierced it concerns them all as they would not die in so fatal a Mistake and be responsable for the downfal of the Church to examine impartially if the Communion of the Church of England be not truly Catholick and whether she is not such a Church as hath fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ If she be such a Church as the Divines of all reformed Churches abroad will tell them she is then they must be guilty of Schism which is a separation without a just cause from the Church as a Church without any regard unto the State. For Schism or Separation without a just cause is a pure spiritual Crime and was reckoned a damnable Sin before the Church Christian was united to the Empire as also in those unhappy Intervals of Persecution when the Church and Empire were dis-united again For example it was a damnable Sin when St. Paul charged the Ephesians to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace because there was but one God and one Lord and one Faith and one Baptism and one Body of Christ It was a damnable Sin when he told the Corinthians That we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body and that as the natural body was made one by the union of many members in it so also was the body meaning the Body politick of Christ It was a damnable Sin when St. Ignatius taught the Churches That nothing should be done without the leave of the Bishop or in opposition to him and that that was only a valid Eucharist which was administred by him or by one licensed and appointed by him and that makers of Schism could not inherit the Kingdom of God. It was a damnable Sin when St. Cyprian called private Meetings in opposition to the publick Conventicles of the Devil and said that private Altars were no Altars and that if a Schismatick should die for Christ he could be no Martyr nor have any right to the Crown of Martyrdom for which he alledges the words of the Apostle Tho' I give my body to be burned and have not charity it prositeth nothing Dionysius Alexandrinus in his Ep. to the Arch-Schismatick Novatus writes unto him in this manner If thou wast constraind as thou saist against thy will to separate from the Church thou oughtest to declare the same by returning willingly to it again Thou shouldst have suffered any thing rather then rend the Church of God neither is that Martyrdom which a man shall suffer for refusing to rend the Church less glorious then that which Christians daily suffer for denying to sacrifice unto Devils Yea in my judgement it is a more glorious sort of Martyrdom for in the one a man suffers Martyrdom only for his own Soul but in the other for the Vniversal Church Wherefore perswade the Brethren or constrain them to return to Vnion such a meritorious act would be greater then the crime of seducing them and thou wouldest be more commended for that then ever thou wert censured for this However if thou canst not perswade the rebellious and disobedient to return to the Church at least save thine own soul by embracing Peace and Vnity thy self So great a Sin did the ancient Fathers account Schism before the happy union of the Church and Empire when the Meetings of the Schismaticks were as much tolerated by the State as the Meeting of the Catholicks and upon the same Principle Donatism and Arianism were counted as damnable Schism every jot under the Reigns of those Emperors who granted toleration to them as under the Reigns of those who made Laws against them Nay all the Laws which Constantius and Valens made in favour of Arianism and for the establishment of it did not alter its
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
noverit Vae illis iterum poeitentiam agant nec ament gloriam hominum magis quam gloriam Dei. P Vergerius in Annot in Catalogum Haereticorum p. 262. Dissemblers and Indifferents in Italy Spain and Portugal and even in Rome it self If a Mahumetan Pagan or Jew should argue thus against them as they argue against us they must either renounce their own Consequences or sink under the weight of them nay if an Atheist or Infidel of any other kind should take that advantage against Christianity from the Schisms and Divisions of it which they do against the best Church of Christendom the Church of England I appeal to their own Consciences whether they must not deny their own Conclusions or expose and betray the Cause of Christ The Pagans argued so against Christianity in the primitive Times because so many Sects grew up with it and therefore the variety of Heresies and Schisms which have sprung up in England since the Reformation can be no Argument against the Church It is no blemish to her to be in the same condition with the best and purest Churches in the best and purest Times it was so when the Apostles governed the Church and the Spirit of God bid the Christians Try all things and hold fast that which is good Hitherto I have proved that Divisions and Separations can be no good Argument or matter of just reproach against any Church because they are incident to all Churches as I have shewed by a sufficient Enumeration of Particulars and this will farther appear if we consider that they may be Arguments for as well as against a Church and a cause of just praise and commendation of it as well as of just reproach When they are just and reasonable then indeed they are good Arguments against the Church where they arise and give men just cause to reproach it but when they are not just and reasonable but proceed from mistake in those that make them or from worse Causes they they are good Arguments against the dividing Parties and just matter of reproach to them but none at all to the Church Wherefore it argues want of Ingenuity or great weakness of Judgement in men to exclaim against a Church upon the score of Divisions and Separations before they have examined whether the Church or the Separatists are in the fault In Reason and Charity this ought first to be done before either the Church or the Separators or both be condemned but our Adversaries of the Roman Church without any regard to the Case betwixt the Church of England and the Dissenters loudly defame her in all Places with the Dissentions and Separations and object to our People the great difficulty and uncertainty of finding out among so many opposite Churches and Religions which is the right if there be any such and therefore exhort them to take Sanctuary in that Church which is at unity in it self and looks so like the one Catholick Church But God be praised the People of the Church of England are generally better instructed then to be imposed upon with such loose Talk. They understand very well that as Separations from corrupt and impure Churches is a necessary duty so as long as there are Devils to tempt men there will also be unjust Separations from found and Catholick Churches and that therefore Separations and Divisions in the general can neither make for or against any Church They know very well that Churches like natural Bodies are of different Tempers and Constitutions and that when any of them chances to undergo a separation of Parts the particular nature and constitution of it must be examined before a man can safely conclude whether the blamable Parts went off or remained with the Church In the separation of Gold from the drossie and spurious Parts of Wine from the Lees of Wheat from the Chaff and of the excrementitious Parts from the Chyle and Bloud the base and impure and unprofitable Parts go off and the good and pure and profitable stay behind but in the separation of Wheat from Tares of Flower from the Bran and in all Chymical Separations the good the generous and spiritual Parts go off and the refuse and feculent stay behind I have made use of this familiar Comparison to shew how Separations and Divisions in the general can be no rational Argument for or against any Church until it be known what king of Body that Church was before the Separation sound or corrupt pure or impure Catholick or not Catholick Apostolical or un Apostolical And when this is once stated then it will appear whether the Divisions and Separations which were made from her make for her or against her I say when it is first known what kind of Church a divided Church was before the beginning of the Division then it may be known whether the Division objected against it be an Argument for or against the Trueness Soundness and Purity of it but to argue pro or con from Separations before this is stated is but to talk at Random which it doth not become men of Learning and Ingenuity to do According to this Rule the Divines of England first proved that the Communion of the Roman Church was not pure and Apostolical and thence justified the Separation of the Church of England from it as necessary and on the contrary they have proved that the Communion of the Church of England is pure and Apostolical and thence condemn the Separation of the Dissenters from it as needless They argue à priori against both on the one hand proving that the Wheat went off from the Tares and on the other that the Chaff went off from the Wheat But to argue à posteriori and in general against a Church meerly upon the score of Divisions before we examine the Constitution of the divided Church and state the Case between her and the Dividers doth become no men especially no Church-men but such as having a weak Cause must make use of popular for want of found Arguments and make the best they can of Sophistry when Reason is not on their side CHAP. III. That bare Vnity or want of Schisms and Divisions in Religion are no sound Argument of the Truth Goodness or Reputation of a Church III. HAving shew'd in the second Chapter That Divisions and Separations are no Argument against the Trueness or Reputation of any Church I proceed to shew in this That bare Vnity or want of Divisions is no Argument for the Trueness or Reputation of a Church and this I shall endeavour to demonstrate three ways First By shewing That it is not the Unity but the things in which a Church is united that truly recommend and justifie a Church Secondly That Church-Unity may be the effect of culpable Causes And thirdly That all Churches true or false Catholick or not Catholick are united in themselves and particularly that the Church of England hath more potential and actual Union in it then that of the Church of Rome