be warranted by the Church and to make his words good he produceth great Credentials from the Pope and many other great Men. This great and learned Prelate in his Exposition of the Catholick Faith c. hath these words We acknowledge a Head established by God Sect. 21. p. 50. to conduct his whole Flock in his paths which Head is the Pope as Successour to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and that the Papal Chair is the common Centre of all Catholick Unity Sect. 1. p. 2. And in another place he promiseth not to meddle with any thing but the Decrees of the Council of Trent because in them the Church hath given her decision upon these matters now in Agitation Which Council was called by the Pope's Authority only and the true sense of all its Decrees by the Bull of Pope Pius IV. reserved to be explained by him alone So that the great noise of the Catholick Church is at last dwindled into the Roman Catholick which we of the Church of England take to be a contradiction in Terminis the same with a particular Universal for they may as well say that the City of Rome is all the World as that the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church Besides this notion of the Catholick Church virtual is altogether new having no foundation either in the Holy Scriptures or in any Primitive and Authentick Antiquity and therefore we can by no means admit of it This is that Church by which and towards which we are charged with the guilt of the horrible sin of Schism And God be thanked it is no worse for from any Criminal Schism in this case I hope we shall without any great difficulty be able to acquit our selves 2. If we consider a Christian Church as it is particular then are we to understand it of a number of Men professing Christianity formed into a Society under lawfull Governours and governed by such Laws and Rules as are not different from but agreeable to the Laws and Rules of the Catholick Church And if any Man or number of Men who are Members of that Society shall without just cause separate themselves from the Communion thereof he or they so doing are certainly guilty of Schism Nor is every occasion which a capricious humour or discontent may suggest to us to be taken as a sufficient ground of Separation Nay though there be something really amiss or at least we are persuaded that there is so in the Doctrine or Discipline of that Church whereof we are Members yet ought we rather to suspect our own Judgments and suppress our own Sentiments than break the unity and peace thereof In a word unless such a particular Church shall make the terms of her Communion such as cannot be complied with without sin I do not know any other just ground of Separation therefrom Thus have I considered the subject of Schism in its greatest latitude And now let us see how far any thing that may be gathered from hence can affect the Church of England 1. If the Church of England hath made no defection from the Catholick Church diffusive i. e. from the One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church which compriseth all Men and all Societies of Men professing Christianity Nor from the Catholick Church representative i. e. the Prelates and Pastours of the Universal Church lawfully assembled in a Council that is truly free and general If she profess no other Doctrine nor exercise any other Discipline than what she hath received from Christ and his Apostles and was constantly profest and exercised by their Successours in the primitive Church If she be willing to submit all matters in difference between Her and any other Sister-Church to be tried by the Holy Scriptures the primitive Fathers and the Decisions of the four first General Councils Then can she not be justly charged with Schism upon that account And that she doth and is willing to doe all this that is here supposed we are ready to make good whenever our Adversaries shall give us the occasion so to doe 2. If their notion of a Church virtually Catholick be altogether new without any foundation either in the Holy Scriptures or in any primitive and authentick Antiquity then the power and privileges which the present Church of Rome challengeth upon that account are mere nullities and consequently the Schism which she chargeth of the Church England with upon that score a mere Chimera which vanisheth of it self If they think to avoid the force of this supposition they must produce some good and authentick Record which as yet hath not been discovered 3. If the Church of Rome be onely a particular Church and no otherwise Catholick than her Neighbours are who profess the same common Christianity If she can have no more power to censure us than we have to censure Her then can she not without great presumption and great injustice charge us with the sin of Schism 'T is true indeed we do not joyn in Communion with her and the reason why we do not I have given in the third Section But it is as true that we hold the Catholick Unity and for the sake of that they themselves will grant that we may lawfully depart from the Unity of any particular Church SECT V. III. Schism is a Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church AS the Act of Schism is Separation and the Subject thereof a Christian Church so the Object in and about which the Separation is made is the Communion of that Church Now there are three great Bonds of Communion viz. Faith Worship and Government and whosoever shall separate either from the Catholick or any particular Church whereof he is a Member in any of these I do not see how he or they so doing can be acquitted from the guilt of Schism unless the corruption in some one or more of these be so great as to render the Communion sinfull to him who knows it SECT VI. I. Of Faith as it is a Bond of Communion BY Faith here I understand the established Doctrine of the Church that common Christianity which we all profess to own and embrace For it is not every Doctrine that is received and taught in any particular Church that is properly the Bond of Communion but such Doctrine as is or ought to be received by all It is plain and our Adversaries themselves will acknowledge it that we may and ought to differ from particular Churches in some Doctrines Otherwise why do they differ from us from the Greek Church and indeed all other Churches besides their own in many things On this score is it that we cannot receive their new Articles of Faith those additions which are made unto and those alterations which are made in the old and common Christianity by their Council of Trent We believe all that is contained in the Holy Scriptures to be infallibly true all that was ever taught by Christ and his Apostles and their Successours
the Primitive Pastours and Governours of the Church we readily comply with We believe all the Articles contained in those three ancient Creeds viz. that commonly called the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian We are willing to submit to all the Decisions and the Determinations of the four first General Councils and to any Council that is lawfully called and truly free and general We are ready to receive all Traditions that are truly Apostolical and we are willing to embrace any other truth as yet unknown to us whensoever or by whomsoever it shall be duly made out to be so And whilst we this doe we cannot truly be charged to have broken Communion with the Catholick Church nor justly reputed Schismaticks therefrom And as for the Church of Rome she being only a particular Church hath no jurisdiction at all over the Church of England and consequently no more power to censure us than we have to censure her for in this case the rule holds Par in parem non habet imperium Equals have no Authority over one another And therefore for her to impose her new Articles of Faith upon the Church of England and because she refuseth to receive them and joyn Communion with her upon those terms presently cry out Schism Schism is so idle so vain so unaccountable a Clamour as I am perswaded the Learned among them cannot but disapprove it For whilst we hold the Catholick Faith entire and maintain Communion with the One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church therein though we differ from the Church of Rome or any other particular Church in some Doctrines Yet is it impossible that we should be guilty of a Schismatical Separation either from her or them SECT VII II. Of Worship as it is a Bond of Communion BY Worship here I mean Publick Worship and that considered only in its Substantials and Essentials not as it is clothed with particular Modes Rites and Ceremonies Otherwise it can be no Bond of Communion The substantial and essential Parts of Publick Worship I take to be these viz. Prayer reading the Holy Canon interpreting the same and the administration of the blessed Sacraments Now these in divers Churches may be performed in different Manners and with different Rites and Ceremonies and yet those Churches notwithstanding this may still hold Communion with the Catholick Church and consequently be guilty of no Schismatical Separation therefrom nor from one another But if we by Worship understand the established Publick Worship of a particular Church then are we to consider it not as abstracted from but clothed with such Modes Rites and Ceremonies as are thought convenient by that Church And if any one who is a Member of such a Church shall upon any pretended offence taken against any such Modes Rites and Ceremonies separate himself from the Publick Worship I do not see how he can be acquitted from the guilt of Schism And this I take to be the case not only of the Protestant Dissenters from the Church of England as they call themselves but of English Roman Catholicks too For that they did hold actual Communion with us many years together in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and neither then nor ever since did pretend to take any offence at the Substantials of our Worship is very plain and evident And that it was not we that separated from them but they that separated from us is as manifest and therefore it will concern them more than us to clear themselves from the sin of Schism And for this I know no other Plea they can make use of than their obedience to the Universal Pastour of God's Church which Plea is to be considered under the next great Bond of Communion viz. Government SECT VIII III. Of Government as it is a Bond of Communion THat our great and Universal Pastour the Lord Jesus Christ did found and constitute a Church and that he did not leave it without Laws and Rules to be governed by nor without proper Governours invested with Power and Authority to exert and execute those Laws we stedfastly believe But that he ever did delegate all his Power to any One or substitute any One Person to be the Universal Pastour of the Church after him we cannot believe because we have no ground for it either in Scripture or in any primitive and authentick Antiquity And indeed how should we for till the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople began to envy one another's Greatness and to strive for Supremacy which was about 600 years after Christ the Church was never acquainted with any such name or thing as is now claimed And no sooner did it adventure to peep abroad but warning was given against it as Antichristian and that by one of their Popes And when afterwards it was publickly usurped it was condemned by a General Council and they are not yet agreed among themselves where to fix it And therefore they cannot in reason expect that we should build our Faith upon such an uncertain Foundation or make that a Bond of Communion in the Church which the Church from 600 years and upwards knew nothing of That Government is a Bond of Communion in the Christian Church we acknowledge and that it was never lodged in the hands of any one Person since our Saviour I think is very plain and evident But where then doth it reside This will best be known by considering how it is derived That it was united in the Person of our Blessed Saviour will be acknowledged on all hands and where he left it there we are to look for it Now that he left it with his Apostles and made them equal sharers therein I think is very plain notwithstanding that pretence which is made by our Adversaries that it was lodged in Peter alone a pretence which hath been so often and so miserably baffled and which if it were true would doe them no service that I wonder they are not ashamed to bring it upon the stage any more And that from the Apostles it was derived to their Successours the Bishops and Pastours of God's Church is the received opinion of all Antiquity Episcopatus unus est cujus à singulis in solidum pars tenetur Cypr. de Vnitate Ecclesiae Edit Oxon. p. 108. And that it now lies dispersed among all the Pastours and Bishops of particular Churches unless they be lawfully called and assembled in Synods or Councils under the Power Protection and Assistance of Civil Authority we verily believe This is the notion we have of the visible and external Government of the Catholick Church and as it hath been so if there were occasion for it may it still be made appear to have been the very notion that all the World except those who have submitted to the Usurpation of Rome ever had and still have of it to this day Now the Laws and Rules by which this Government is administred are to be found in the Holy Scriptures in the Usages and Customs of
the Primitive Church and in the Canons and Constitutions of the four first General Councils But if by Government we understand the Government of particular Churches then is it lodged in the Pastours and Governours of those Churches and is to be administred by them according to such Laws and Rules as are agreeable to those of the Catholick Church And in this case it can have no influence from one National Church to another for as such they are equal and Equals have no power over one another But whosoever is a Member of any such Church and refuseth all due obedience to the Pastours and Governours thereof doth thereby contract the guilt of Schism Now whether the Church of England or the Church of Rome by the violation of all these Bonds of Communion have disturbed the Peace of the Christian Church broken the Unity of the Universal and of all particular Churches and thereby incurred the guilt of Schism you may take a prospect in this short parallel which I shall now lay before you 1. As for Faith considered as a Bond of Communion What the Church of England believes and what she is ready and willing to comply with I have told you in the 6th Sect. But the Church of Rome not contented therewith added to the sacred Canon some Apocryphal Books which were never before received either into the Jewish or Christian Canon And as if the revealed Will of God were an imperfect Rule she undertakes to supply the defects of it by groundless Traditions She makes new Creeds witness the Trent Creed and that both without the consent of the present and against the Doctrine and Practice of ancient Churches Now which of these hath violated this Bond of Communion Judge ye 2. As for Worship considered as a Bond of Communion I have given you our Sentiments of it and told you wherein it consists in the 7th Sect. Now how far the Church of Rome hath corrupted that pure Worship of God both by her subtractions and additions I shall briefly acquaint you As for Prayer it must be performed in publick in an unknown tongue which the People understand not So that they must not know what they pray for and consequently cannot with any true devotion say Amen It must be offered to Saints and Angels and not immediately to God who glories to be styled a God hearing Prayers and this we take to be an Act of Religious Worship due to the Creatour only but by them paid to Creatures As for the reading of Holy Scriptures if any portion of them be read in publick it must be in Latin a Language not understood by the People and therefore impossible for them to be instructed by it It is true indeed they sometimes interpret some portion of Scripture by preaching in the Vulgar language but then the People must take all they say upon trust they must not without special leave be allowed the Bible in their own Language no not in private lest with the Noble Bereans they should examine whether those things be so or no. As for the Sacraments they have added five that were never instituted by Christ and taken away half of one of those which they cannot but own was of his Institution i. e. they deprive the Laity of the Cup in the Lord's Supper besides those many Superstitions which they have intermix'd and therewith corrupted the pure and primitive Worship of God. Now let any indifferent Person judge whether they or we have violated this Bond of Communion and consequently which of us may be charged with Schism 3 As for Government considered as a Bond of Communion What our thoughts are of it you may see in the beginning of this Sect. Now how far the Church of Rome doth differ not only from us but from the Catholick Church both ancient and modern and from all other particular Churches in this point will appear if we consider That she usurps a Dominion condemned as Antichristian by one of their own Popes disowned by the whole Church at that time and which we at present cannot own without betraying the Liberty of the Church That by virtue of this Usurped Power she imposeth unreasonable and unlawfull conditions of Communion and for non-compliance therewith excommunicates not only the Church of England but as some will tell you three parts of the Christian World besides Now if the Church of Rome by setting up and exercising this Exorbitant Power hath broken this Bond of Communion then who is chargeable with the Schism judge ye SECT IX IV. Schism is a voluntary and causeless Separation from the Communion of a Christian Church THese are the two conditions of Schism it must be voluntary and causeless and from these two conditions it receives its greatest aggravation and becomes a sin of the deepest dye and greatest guilt 1. It must be a Voluntary Separation I call it Voluntary to distinguish sin from punishment Schism from excommunication for though by the latter a man be cast out of the Church and made no member thereof yet strictly speaking he is thereby separated from the Church and doth not separate himself 'T is true that every sin is a voluntary act in the sinner but doth that excuse him or rather doth it not aggravate his guilt If a man be separated from the communion of the Church by some pressing necessity this may be his misfortune and not his fault Or if a man be under a constraint and have a force put upon him if he be frighted with threats and menaces or wheadled with promises and allurements if his fears and hopes those two prevalent passions in man be raised to that height as to darken his understanding and overpower his will these circumstances may extenuate though they cannot altogether excuse his guilt But when a man doeth an evil action not by chance but of choice not by force but by inclination not rashly and inconsiderately but deliberately and advisedly this makes his sin to be exceeding sinfull For thereby the Schismatick puts himself out of the ordinary way and means of salvation divideth the body of Christ despiseth and condemneth the Church of God and breaketh the bond of peace which ought to be kept intire and inviolate And therefore do I make this a Condition of Schism because if we can suppose a Separation from the communion of the Church to be involuntary it will not deserve that name SECT X. II. It must be a Causeless Separation c. THAT Schism in it self is a great and grievous sin and in its consequences extremely mischievous to the Church of God and to the Schismatick himself is agreed on all hands But how much greater must the sin needs be when thereby all this guilt is contracted and all this mischief done without any cause i. e. without any sufficient cause Now a Separation may be considered either as it relates to the Catholick or Particular Churches And then a Separation from the Catholick Church taken in the most comprehensive
well distinguish it not the Universal though we take in the Churches of her subordination or correspondence This truth we might make good by authority if our very senses did not save us the labour 2. No particular Church to say nothing of the Universal since the Apostolick times can have power to make a fundamental point of Faith It may explain or declare it cannot create Articles 3. Onely an Errour against a point of Faith is Heresie 4. Those Points wherein we differ from Romanists are they which only the Church of Rome hath made fundamental and of Faith. 5. The Reformed therefore being by that Church illegally condemned for those Points are not Hereticks This I take to be a fair discharge for the Church of England from that foul aspersion which hath been cast upon her by the Church of Rome But Bishop Bramhal chargeth them more home and particularly in five Articles more and lays the sin at their door 1. The Church of Rome usurps an higher place and power in the Body Ecclesiastical than of right is due unto her 2. Se separateth both by her Doctrines and Censures three parts of the Christian World from her Communion and as much as in her lies from the Communion of Christ 3. She rebelleth against general Councils 4. She breaks or takes away all the lines of Apostolical Succession except her own and appropriates all Original Jurisdiction to her self 5. She challenges a temporal power over Princes either directly or indirectly which draws Sedition and Rebellion after it and is no small aggravation of their Schism These are the things we charge them with if they can truly plead not guilty thereunto then are we criminal But if they cannot if these things be really true then are they causally guilty of that Schism with which they would charge us and the whole weight with all the dreadfull consequences thereof will lie at their doors and be an heavy burthen upon them SECT XIV The Conclusion THat there is and for a long time hath been a great and grievous Schism in the Church and that those who have been guilty of it have miserably rent and torn and even eaten out the Bowels of their common Mother What considering Person can be ignorant and who can know it without tears of pity and prayers to God for the restoration of the Church's Peace and Unity This would much better become us than disputing about it and this I declare should have been my Province had not the daily and loud Clamours of the guilty Party so unjustly assaulted the Church of England and forced me from my Privacy to undertake this necessary and just Defence of my dear Mother It hath for a long time been matter of debate and a ball of contention where the cause of the Schism was to be sound The Church of Rome with great confidence and assurance hath laid it at the door of the Church of England and that Church upon better grounds hath charged the Church of Rome with it I pray God open both their and our Eyes that we may all see and know the things that belong unto our Peace that laying aside all rancour and animosity we may at last joyn hearts and hands to promote Truth and Holiness and study nothing more than to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace For my own part I have so great an abhorrence for the sin of Schism that I do seriously profess if I were convinced that the Church of England were guilty of the Schism I would rather chuse to suffer any thing elsewhere than continue in it but God be thanked I am otherwise perswaded and so well satisfied therein that as I have lived so I hope I shall die in the Communion of that Church But alas Perfect Peace and Unity are too great Blessings to be hoped for in this sinfull World they may be Objects of our Prayers but hardly of our Hopes However if we are what we pretend to be i. e. humble and obedient Christians it would well become us in our several Stations to observe the Apostle's Rule which bids us Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. v. 14. Now the God of Peace who brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Bloud of the Everlasting Covenant make us all perfect in all good Works to doe his Will working in us that which is pleasant in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be praise for ever and ever Amen Heb. 13. v. 20 21. FINIS A VINDICATION OF THE Church of England From the foul Aspersions of Schism and Heresie Unjustly cast upon Her by The Church of Rome PART II. After the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Acts 24.14 LONDON Printed by J. H. for Luke Meredith at the King's Head at the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII A VINDICATION OF THE Church of England c. The INTRODUCTION HEresie is a crime of so crimson a dye so heinous in it self and of so dangerous and destructive consequence both to the Heretick himself and to others that without great plain and pregnant proof to charge any Christian or Society of Christians therewith doth evidently betray a rash censorious malicious and unchristian temper in them that doe it I cannot but wonder therefore that the Church of Rome upon so light and insufficient grounds should be so liberal in bestowing this Character upon the Church of England and those of her Communion De corrupt artib Ludovicus Vives one of their own Men did long since complain of this saying Haeresis nomen rebus levissimis impingitur c. The name of Heresie is laid upon every light matter so would the Scotists deal with the Thomists if the custome of the Schools had not made the name so familiar It is a good caution and worthy to be attended to which Alphonsus de Castro De Haeres l. 1. c. 7. p. 79. another of their own Doctors gives in this case Idcirco fit c. Therefore it happeneth that they who so rashly pronounce and call every thing Heresie not considering what or whereof they speak are often smitten with their own dart and fall into the same pit which they themselves had digged for others For this I should rather call Heresie to advance the Writings of Men unto the same degree of honour with the Word of God which they do who think it altogether as impious to dissent from them as from the Scriptures of God. We freely confess with St. Austin Errare possumus We may mistake and be in an errour but we as fully resolve with that holy Father Haeretici esse nolumus We will never be guilty of Heresie We have too great an abhorrence for it and are too well acquainted with the mischief of it to run our selves
Ibid. n. 3. ad calcem Augustine in Ps 49. for it telling us that by Church we are to understand the faithfull people dispersed through the whole world Though none of these will perhaps pass for an exact Definition Aug. ad Quodvult Deum Epist 2. if examined according to the strict rules thereof nor it may be were ever intended as such for as for St. Aug. he freely confesseth That to express by a regular Definition what Heresie is or what thing it is that makes an Heretick in his judgment is either impossible or very difficult yet may they pass for good Descriptions whence we may learn what notion they had of Heresie in those days and what it was that in their judgment did make a man an Heretick From St. Aug. we may learn that there are three things necessary to make up an Heresie 1. To believe such things as are not believed by the Catholick Church 2. To broach those false and new opinions and thereby endeavour to make a party for some secular advantage especially for the sake of ones own glory and grandeur 3. To defend those false and new opinions with obstinacy From their own Angelical Doctour we may learn that there are four things necessary to make a man an Heretick 1. He must be one that professeth the true Faith. 2. He must corrupt the Doctrines of that Faith. 3. He must dissent from some known established Article of the Faith. 4. His dissent must be maintained with obstinacy From their Navar. Doctour we may learn that there are three things necessary to make an Heretick 1. He must be one that is baptized i. e. admitted into the membership of Christ's Church and who by himself or others or both hath made profession of the holy Catholick Faith. 2. He must be one that hath embraced some false and new opinions which are contrary to that Holy Catholick Faith. 3. He must be one that doth believe and maintain those false and new opinions with obstinacy From their Trent Catechism we may learn who may properly be called an Heretick 1. He must be one that doth neglect and despise the Authority of the Church 2. The Authority which is neglected or despised by him must be the Authority of the Catholick Church diffusive Ecclesia est populus fidelis per universum orbem dispersus are the words of that Catechism quoted out of St. Augustine in Ps 49. 3. He must be one that holdeth and defendeth wicked opinions in despight and defiance of that Authority 4. He must hold and defend those wicked opinions with a wilfull and obstinate mind Thus far may we learn the nature of Heresie from these Authorities which are such as I suppose our Adversaries will not disown and if upon any of these severally or all of them joyntly they think fit to implead us we are ready to join issue with them and if by any of these they can make it appear that we are guilty we do solemnly promise that by God's grace assisting us we will repent and amend and I would willingly hope that they would be so ingenuous on their parts as to doe the same But before we proceed any farther let us see what is more to be learn'd of the nature of Heresie out of the Holy Scriptures St. Paul writing to the Church of Corinth tells them that there must be Heresies among them 1 Cor. 11.19 that they which are approved may be made manifest The rise of which Heresies is intimated in the verse immediately preceding V. 18. where he saith For first of all when ye come together in the Church I hear that there are dissensions among you c. Dissension is the first and greatest evil being the Source and Original of all others for from thence proceed strifes debates envyings evil-speaking and all manner of contention by means whereof the Unity of the Church is broken her peace disturbed and her Members crumbled into parties and factions Then doth every party set up for it self and for the sake of its own glory and grandeur endeavours to inlarge its bounds by alluring others to joyn with it This it can never hope effectually to accomplish without having something new to present them with and therefore all Heads are at work to forge and foment some new and plausible though false opinion which being once broached must obstinately be defended and so commenceth Heresie Thus we see the rise and original of Heresie the dangerous and destructive consequence whereof the same Apostle acquaints us with who in his Epistle to the Church of Galatia reckoneth Heresies among the works of the Flesh and tells us Gal. 5.19 20 21. that they who doe such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. And on this account is it that St. Peter gives them that dreadfull Epithet calling them damnable Heresies For saith he 2 Pet. 2.1 There were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction From this Text it is plain that the Introducers of Heresie and the Ringleaders of Hereticks are false Teachers and these false Teachers in the time of the Gospel are compared to false Prophets in the time of the Law. To know therefore and rightly understand who those false Prophets were and what they did to deserve that title may possibly afford us some light by which to discover those false Teachers who privily bring in these damnable Heresies and not onely so but in some measure also acquaint us with the nature of those Crimes He who by signs and lying wonders sought to turn away the People from the way Deut. 13.1 2 c. which the Lord their God had commanded them to walk in or perswade them to pay their Religious Service and Worship to any other Being but onely the true God was thereby known to be a false Prophet not to be attended to but severely punished Whosoever shall presume to speak a word in the Name of God Deut. 18.20 which God hath not commanded him to speak or shall speak in the Name of other Gods the same is a false Prophet and by the sentence of Almighty God adjudged to death Those who come unto you in sheeps clothing Matth. 7.15 1 Tim 4.2 but inwardly are ravening Wolves Who speak lies in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron 2 Tim. 3.5 Who have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof They are false Prophets and to be rejected by us Those who cause divisions and offences Rom. 16.17 18. contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the simple These are false Prophets or false Teachers and ought to be marked and avoided by us Thus have I given you a short Character of
have been very dangerous For it is impossible Heb. 6.4 5 6. that they who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost And have tasted of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come If they fall away that they should be renewed again by repentance seeing they crucifie again to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame These Instances do plainly discover to us that before conviction though men be in errour yea though it be a dangerous and fundamental errour and industriously propagated by them yet may their case be pityable But when they are better informed or at least have means sufficient for their better information if after this they still remain stubborn and contumacious in their errour and persist in the defence and propagation thereof this their obstinacy will alter the nature of their crime and render their condition very dangerous if not desperate 1 John 3.20 21. For if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things But if our heart condemn us not then have we boldness toward God saith the Apostle John. And Blessed is he who condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 saith St. Paul. SECT X. The Church of England acquitted from the guilt of Heresie THIS notion of Heresie which hath been laid down and explained in the foregoing Sections being not only Ours but Theirs also being supported by so great and eminent Authorities as that of St. Aug. of their own Angelical Doctour and canonized Saint St. Tho. Aquinas of their great Martin Navarrus and of the most authentick Authority of their own Church at this day the Council of Trent in its Catechism ad Parochos Our Adversaries can have no colourable pretence to except against it And if it be admitted we are ready to joyn issue with them and contented to stand or fall by it The point in difference between us is briefly this Whether the guilt of Heresie according to this Notion be justly or unjustly charged upon the Church of England by the Church of Rome To acquit the Church of England is my task at present in order whereunto I shall take a review of what hath been said and as briefly as may be apply it to our present case 1. If it cannot be proved that the Church of England doth receive believe or teach any other Doctrine than what hath been received believed and taught by the Catholick Church nor broach any new Opinions thereby to divide the Church for any secular advantage to her self nor obstinately defend any false Opinions Then by St. Austin's rule before quoted she cannot be justly charged with Heresie But none of all this ever was or can be proved against her And therefore according to this Rule she is unjustly taxed with Heresie by the Church of Rome 2. If it cannot be made appear that the Church of England doth corrupt the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints nor teach any Doctrine contrary thereunto nor dissent from any known established Article thereof nor obstinately maintain any such dissent therefrom Then by the rule of their own Angelical Doctour she ought not to be charged with Heresie But none of all this ever was or can be made appear against her Therefore by this Rule she ought not to be charged with Heresie by the Church of Rome 3. If it cannot be made manifest by any publick Act or Record owned as Authentick by the Church of England that she hath renounced or forsaken that Faith into which she was baptized and of which she once made profession nor embraced any false and new Opinions which are contrary thereunto nor doth obstinately believe and maintain any such false and new Opinions Then by the Rule of their Navar. Doctour she cannot be justly charged with the guilt of Heresie But none of all this ever was or can be made manifest against her Therefore by this Rule she is unjustly charged with the guilt of Heresie by the Church of Rome 4. If it cannot be proved that the Church of England either doth or ever did neglect and despise the Authority of the holy Catholick Church or doth embrace and hold any wicked Opinions in despight and defiance of that Authority or with a wilfull and obstinate mind defend and maintain any such wicked Opinions Then by the judgment of the Council of Trent in their Catechism ad Parochos she ought not to be held guilty of Heresie But none of all this ever was or can be proved against her Therefore by the Judgment of that Council she ought not to be held guilty of Heresie 5. If there be not pregnant proof that the Church of England hath embraced some Opinions which are contrary to or at least not agreeable with that Faith and common Christianity which was taught by Christ and his Apostles or hath laid a new foundation i. e. made something to be Religion and an Article of Faith which really is not so being not built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets or doth openly teach any Fundamental Errours in Religion thereby to seduce and withdraw people from fundamental Truth and Holiness or doth stubbornly maintain and defend a fundamental Errour in Religion against repeated Admonitions and clear Convictions Then can she not if this Notion of Heresie be true be justly burdened with the guilt thereof But there is not nor indeed can be any pregnant proof of any thing of all this against her Therefore according to this Notion of Heresie she cannot be justly charged with the guilt thereof I am well aware that the Minor Proposition in all these will stiffly be denied by our Adversaries they will with great boldness and confidence tell the world that all this and more hath been and still may be proved against the Church of England But God be thanked though this may soon be said it can never be proved That they frequently call us Hereticks and both do and have all along endeavoured to represent us as such to the world we very well know and if they were allowed to be Judges it would go very hard with us we should not be able to acquit our selves at their Bar. But this we think to be a very unreasonable thing that they being Parties should be Judges too and therefore we appeal from them And if they ask whither we do appeal I answer we appeal to the Holy Scriptures to the primitive Fathers and to the four first General Councils But because this may seem to be either too tedious or too troublesome a way of trial I have made choice of one more short and easie I have here laid down a Notion of Heresie which is agreed upon both by them and us and therefore unexceptionable by this we are willing to be tried and by this to stand or fall I do not say in any of these Propositions that
upon that rock We are well satisfied how dangerous and destructive Heresie is It withdraws men from the way of Truth and makes them enemies and blasphemers of it Gal 5.20 21. It excludes men from the Kingdom of God and makes them become men of corrupt minds 2 Tim. 3.8 and reprobate concerning the Faith. Nor is it only hurtfull to those that are guilty of it but to others also For It doth grievously disturb and trouble the peace of God's Church by stirring up strife contention emulation and division among the members thereof It seduceth unwary Souls and betrays them to their own ruine and destruction It weakens the authority of Holy Scriptures and deprives men of the profit and advantage thereof by perverting sometimes the sense and sometimes the letter of those Sacred Writings In a word it makes the Christian Religion to be evil spoken of among those who are without Bishop Jewel gives us a short but full description of it Defens Apolog c. part 1. chap. 7. divis 2. p. 43. when he tells us Heresie is a forsaking of salvation a renouncing of God's grace a departing from the body and spirit of Christ These are our Sentiments of the sin of Heresie and if our Adversaries can draw a Character more black we solemnly promise and seriously declare that so far as it is true we are ready to joyn with them And after all this can any one suspect that we should be in love with Heresie But whether we be or no it matters not so long as the Church of Rome which thinks her self infallible is pleased to charge us therewith to fix that title upon us and as such to represent us to the World. How justly or unjustly rather this foul aspersion is cast upon us will be enquired into in the following discourse the design of the Authour therein being to vindicate the Church of England therefrom which if he shall be so happy as to doe then will it appear that the Church of Rome was mightily mistaken in her Censure and that will be no small flaw in her Infallibility but if upon a fair and full debate it shall plainly appear that they who so rashly pronounce and call us Hereticks be themselves the guilty persons then will it highly concern them if they have any care of their Souls to consider how deeply they are wounded with their own dart and how low they are fallen into that Pit which they had digged for us that so by a true and timely repentance they may rise again SECT I. Of Heresie IN order to a right stating of the true and genuine Notion of Heresie it will be requisite to consider both the Importance of the Name and the Nature of the Thing The word Heresie is a Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and admits of many and those different significations as Scapula informs us out of several Authours To reckon them all up would wast too much time and paper and conduce but little to the design in hand I shall therefore onely mention three 1. I find it sometimes rendered conquering or subduing thus it is used by Herodot and Thucyd. in whom we meet with these expressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to subdue a City In Epit. Basilii and thus it is used by Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not overcome us 2. It is sometimes rendered Election or Option as appears by these expressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make choice of friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I choose my way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to choose a Judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erring in the very choice of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Election or Creation of an Emperour In Epist ad Galat. And thus St. Hier. useth it where he saith Heresie in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Election because every one chooseth to himself that discipline which he thinks best 3. Sometimes it denotes a Sect or sort of men who having espoused an opinion different from the received opinion of all others do tenaciously hold the same Thus is the word usually taken by Philosophers and Divines Galen meeting with some of his own profession who both in their opinions and practice dissered from him and the whole body of Physicians at that time yet used some method and did not altogether swerve from the rules of Art calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Methodical Heresie And finding others who observed no method nor pretended to understand the reason of things or the natural causes of Distempers but practised by some receipts which they had got and which by use and experience they had found in some cases to be very advantagious and therefore boldly though blindly went on in so doing this he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Emperical Heresie or the Heresie of Quacks and Empericks in that profession And in this sense we find the word used by Ecclesiastical Writers who by Heresie do generally understand an Opinion which is not agreeable to the Orthodox Faith and whosoever doth espouse such an Opinion boldly teaching and obstinately defending the same is by them always reputed an Heretick Thus have I shown you the importance of the Word and in what sense it is used by Ecclesiastical Writers and now I come to consider the nature of the thing imported thereby which we may partly learn from such as have written upon that Subject but best from the Holy Scriptures When Men entertain Opinions contrary to those which the Catholick Church holds and believes That is Heresie saith St. Augustine Aug. contra Faust And whosoever Aug. de Definit for the sake of any temporal profit and especially for the advancement of his own Glory and Grandeur doth forge and follow false and new Opinions he is an Heretick saith the same Holy Father And whosoever doth obstinately defend that new Errour which he hath embraced Idem ibid. he is an Heretick Heresie is a kind of Infidelity Th. Aq. 22. qu. 11. art 1. c. belonging to them who profess the Faith of Christ and corrupt the Doctrines thereof saith their Angelical Doctour Heresie is conversant about those things which are of Faith Idem ibid. art 2. c. viz. the Articles of Faith and such things as follow upon them and consists in an obstinate dissent therefrom saith the same Doctour He that obstinately believes what is contrary to the holy Catholick Faith In Enchirid c. 11. p. 141. n. 2. is an Heretick if he be baptized saith their Navar. Doctour Whosoever neglecting the authority of the Church Catech. ad Parochos part 1. in expos art 9. Symbol p. 76. n. 2. doth defend wicked opinions with a wilfull and obstinate mind is to be called an Heretick saith the Trent Catechism And what we are to understand by the name of Church the same Catechism afterwards informs us and quotes St.