dore of Separatists and Schismaticks who by frustrating this Power render it contemptible and set open the dore to all Impiety and Atheism p. 122. CHAP. IX Of the Necessity of Vnity in point of Government as well as Faith in a National Church upon the account of Civil Policy Such Vnity the Design of all Religion in Reference to Humane Society No Happiness without it Government appointed by God with an Intention to promote this Design and therefore Disobedience a damnable sin p. 149 CHAP. X. A further discovery of the Impolitickness of Disunion in point of Church Government No Domestique Peace to be hoped for without it but perpetual Quarrels under pretence of Religion and Conscience The Rise and Spring of Fears and Jealousies from the several Interests of Dissenters p. 165 CHAP. XI The mischief of Disunion in respect of Foreign Affairs It Weakens any Nation and Exposes them to the Arms of their Enemies Robs them of their Alliances and Confederations Interest and Mutual Support the Foundation of all Leagues Different Churches in the same Nation incline People to Democracy p. 190 CHAP. XII Of Tolleration Some Animadversions upon a Book intituled The Advocate of Conscience Liberty in reference to all Dissenters p. 203 CHAP. XIII A further Examination of the same Author in his particular Plea for the Papists A short View of and Answer to their Boasting to be our Apostles Of their Antiquity Succession Visions Miracles c. Of the Oath of Supremacy Of the Powder Treason or Fifth of November p. 229 CHAP. XIV Of the Difficulty of Vnderstanding the Modes of things sensible much more those of the Intellectual World The Vnreasonableness of Obtruding things not certain as De Fide Of Faith It must be such a Condition of Salvation as All may perform because All have a Title to the Common Salvation The Scriptures the only Rule of this Faith which is the necessary Condition of being saved Of the difference between a Rule and a Guide p. 248 CHAP. XV. Of Episcopacy Proved to be of Divine Institution and the Government appointed over the Church by the Holy Ghost The Testimony of Scripture Of Ignatius the Disciple of the beloved Apostle St. John From the constant Vse and Consent of the Church in all Ages Of Aerius the Reason of his Heresie All Hereticks against Government The Doctrine of Calvin of the necessity of some to determine Differences p. 276 CHAP. XVI Of the Judge of Controversies No Humane Authority the Judge of Faith God only Infallible That part of the Catholique Church which is Militant may Err. The difference between not Erring and the Impossibility of Erring The Rulers of the Church the Interpreters of Scripture In all things not absolutely of the Essence of Faith which nothing can be that is not Evident in Scripture either in plain Words or necessary Consequence All private men Excluded from Interpretation of Scripture p. 302 CHAP. XVII The CONCLVSION p. 317 The Project of PEACE CHAP. I. The INTRODUCTION THEY must certainly have little good Nature and far less Christian Charity who are not most sensibly afflicted for the miserable Distractions the deplorable Differences and unnatural Divisions which are among those who profess the glorious Religion of Christ Jesus That Heart must be more flinty than a Stoick's which does not bleed it self and supply the Eyes with Tears whilst Christians who by the Command of their Great but Meek and Tender Lord ought to be harmless as Doves and innocent as Lambs are transformed by preposterous Zeal and pious Pretences into Wolves and Tygres and with a fierce and savage fury mutually Worry and Devour one another nay even exceed the madness of those Brutes and devest themselves of all Humanity to put on this new Nature as they term it of Religion For Saevis inter se convenit Vrsis The Greenland Bears are kind one to another But to the shame of those who call themselves Christians but are of the Synagogue of Satan that Aboriginal Murderer men are not so modest as to be confined within the limits of making true the Horrid Adage Homo homini Lupus that one man is a Wolf to devour another but they proceed to the utmost extremity of Malice and Madness and become Homo homini Daemon Devils to damn one another not Anthropophagi or Canibals but Psychophagi feeding upon humane souls turning that innocent Wisdom of the Serpent which our Lord commands to preserve our selves into the restless Malice of the Old Serpent to destroy others Souls Bodies and Estates and to infuse the Mortal Poison of Adders which is under their Lips into the Souls of Credulous Men through their Ears and Eyes with the pretext of Piety and true Religion The Glorious Company of Saints and Martyrs now triumphant in Heaven went thither through a Red Sea of Blood but it was their own which was shed by the cruel hands of Heathenish Persecutors who did it ignorantly in Unbelief and with joy it was that they set their seal to the Testimony of Jesus and his Truth in their dearest blood Emptying their Veins that their Souls might be filled with a glorious Immortality But now Christians who all profess one Common Name and Faith think they do not set to their seal to that Truth unless they shed the blood of one another and that most commonly for differences in Opinion for Words Names Fancies and Conjectures at least if we may believe there is no more in the bottom which they conceal than there is in what they pretend openly for the ground of the Quarrel Oh Barbarous Christianity Oh Heathenish Impiety In the importunate Croud of such mournful thoughts and considerations of former Experience of our late Shipwrack and fear of future Events which the Noisy Tempest that seemed to threaten our Crazy and bruised Vessel suggested to my mind my Soul was overwhelmed with Grief and fear and ready to sink into Dispair both at the remembrance of the past and the terrible Consequences of that Inevitable Ruin which Truth it self has pronounced against a house and a Kingdom divided within and therefore against themselves and distracted by Intestin Discords THE prophetique Caution of the Apostle came presently into my mind Gal. 5.15 But if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another I saw me thought with Horror the too plain truth of it in those once Golden Candlesticks Vid. Mr. Smiths Travels to the Seven Churches of Asia the Seven Churches of Asia who by their Discords were laid in ashes and are the habitations of Owls and Dragons or far worse Inhabitants the sordid Worshippers of that Great Imposter Mahomet I could not stand upon the Brink of such an amasing Precipice without extreme Horror nor see the Cause so Evident without a dreadful apprehension of the Tragical Issue Which made me break out into the Passionate Wish of the afflicted Jeremy Oh that my Head were Waters Jer. 9.1 2. and mine
than their Charity and whose Zeal was much too heavy for their Judgment either not considering or not caring what must be the necessary consequences of these sparks of Dissention set their Lungs to work as well as their Wits to blow them up into a Flame pretending to the Vnwary that that Fire which was indeed of their own kindling was the only Gospel Light and that which by its future Effects has proved it self a Portentous Comet was the Day star from on high which was sent to visit them to lead them to Eternal Light under the Glorious Sun of Righteousness Had it burnt like the kind and wondrous lambent flame in Moses his bush without consuming it we might have been induced to believe that God was in the Fire But alas it was too ravenous to permit us to continue in that belief and the World has found by dear Experience that it was of the Extraction of that Fire St. James describes unto us Jam. 3.6.8 Behold says he how great a matter a little Fire kindleth and the Tongue is a Fire a World of Iniquity it sets on fire the whole Course of Nature and it is set on fire of Hell being an untamable little Animal an unruly Evil full of deadly Poison Especially when therewith we bless God even the Father and curse Men who are made after the similitude of God HOWEVER to justifie their Division and Dislike they did indeavour with might and main to pull down Babylon as they call'd not only Rome but the Reformation that being the odious name of whatever displeases them because it was not model'd according to that Platform which they therefore fancied because it was of their own devising Discourses full of Gall and Wormwood instead of Meekness and Humility flew like lightning from their Pens as well as Invectives and bitter Reproaches from their Mouths And to make some shew that they were not without Reason a new Frame of Church Government wholy unpresidented and never before practiced was minted at Geneva This glistering Medal as the coursest Medals will do when they come first off the Mint shone with such a dazeling lustre in the Eyes of those who Coïn'd it as the silver shrines of Diana did in the Opinion of Demetrius and presently I will not say positively for the same Reasons it gain'd as many and as tumultuous Worshippers who like the wild Ephesians cri'd up this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Thunderbolt newly dropt from the Clouds with as much Ernestness and as little Reason Where some crïed one thing Acts 19.32 and some another for the Assembly was confused as it always happens where any thing is managed by Tumult and Passion and the greater part knew not wherefore they were come together but some there were who did and they who did not yet were made believe they were as good as the best Yet was not even this Glorious and thorough Reformation though new run and cast so pure and perfect from all the dross of Superstition and Corruption but that some of quicker sight and sounder Judgment among themselves espied some Babylonish rust upon it and straight they began after the Example of Presbytery to make use of their Christian Liberty and to separate likewise the Pure from the Vile THUS was the Unfortunate Ichabod of Presbytery born amongst us with the Death of his Mother and the Dismal overthrow of the Holy Church 1 Sam. 4. The Glory departed from our Israel the Ark was lost and there was a great slaughter among the People Then arose whole swarms of Sects or rather Insects in Religion with guilded Wings but Scorpions Tayls painted Bodies but still poisonous Stings and as if Beelzebub the God of Flies and Ekron had been let loose among us nothing was heard but the confused buzzing of these differing Opinions who all pretended to gather Honey for the Hive but were in truth Sacrilegious Robbers agreeing in nothing but their mutual hatred and common design against the Church of England whose utter Extirpation was the mark of their United Conspiracy in order afterwards every one to Establish themselves not only upon hers but the Ruine of their differing Confederates THESE have been and I wish I could say they were not at present the sad natural and necessary Effects of breaking the Unity of Government in the outward Administration of the Service of God which crumbles a glorious Church into the Epicurean Atoms of Faction and Confusion till at last there remains little of it besides the Name and most certainly they who have once shaken hands with this Vnity must of necessity in a short time take their leave of Charity for these are the Twins of true Religion which live and dye together and when these are gone the tongues of Men and Angels the Faith of Miracles and the flaming Zeal of Martyrs are but sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbals they may make a little jingling noise of Religion but it is to be feared the louder they are the more Empty of the soul and substance of true Piety and Christianity So that those who do believe that Charity is so of the Essence of Religion as good Works are of Faith without which the one is as dead and vain as the other will easily be convinced both by Reason and Experience of the absolute Necessity that there is of Vnity in Point of Government to preserve that Charity alive since without this Vnity of Government to determine and give a Period to the Differences of several Opinions which shall be obtruded as Matters of Faith all Religion presently degenerates into vain and endless Disputes these produce Divisions Factions and Parties those run immediately into separation of Communion that leads men headlong to Animosities and Hatred and Hatred always ends in Confusion and every evil Work as St. James has well inform'd us Jam. 3.17 For says he the Wisdom which is from above is peaceable as well as pure full of Mercy and good Fruits and the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace and all other Wisdom which banishes Charity with a pretence of Establishing Piety is Sensual Carnal Devilish Excellent recommendations of Reformation carried on without Nay against this Charity and Unity in the Goverment of a National Church CHAP. VIII THUS we see that Unity in Point of Government as well as Faith is absolutely necessary in a National Church to preserve it in Peace and Charity and that is in plain Terms to render it truly Christian and a part of the Catholique Church which we all profess to believe as an Article of our Faith We shall see in the next place how necessary this Vnity in point of Government is to maintain Christian Discipline in the World and how without it that great Power of the Keys which Christ gave to his Apostles and their Successors for the Government of his Church becomes impracticable and of no Use or Authority for suppressing Vice or Encouraging true Piety
of a Society into one common Body of which Unity is the Soul and whatsoever be the Cause of this Disunion the Effect is always an Alienation of Affections among those who differ one from another Now as there is nothing that makes so close a Vnion in the minds of Men as their concurrence in the same thoughts Judgment and Sentiments about any Matters especially those of Religion So there is nothing that makes so great and Irreconcilable Distances between People as their being and owning themselves of differing Judgments and Opinions For Religion is like a Common Centre in which all the Lines of mutual Kindness meet and are United together in an indivisible Point And we do more passionately love those who resemble us in our thoughts than in our outward Lineaments and Proportions and have a natural Aversion for those who are unlike us in our Thoughts And the reason is because this Discord robs us of the pleasure of Life which is Society and where the entertainment consists in mutual Jarrs and endless Disputings continual Contradictions of which all men are impatient the Conversation must needs be disagreeable for who ever contradicts another supposes himself more wise and the other foolish and where the knowledg of these differences is manifest even in their silent Interviews it defeats them of all the pleasure of Converse and Society and makes men uneasie in the very Company of those who are neither beloved by them nor love them as all men believe of those who oppose them and differ from them in their Judgments So that it is not to be expected they should be ready to do those good Offices one for another in order to the Common Good of the Society but rather all the Mischiefs and Injuries which they can as Enemies as all esteem those who are not United to them by Love and Kindness and how happy any Society is like to prove that is thus disjoynted in it self is not difficult to conjecture BUT these Animosities are extreamly heightened in regard there is always something more than bare Opinion in the Difference and that it is impossible totally to separate Interest from Religion and that therefore no man can look upon another as directly invading the one without obliquely designing against the other and what ever Passion men may have for their Religion they are inseparably married to their Interest the thred of that is twisted with the Stamina Vitae being indeed esteemed Essential both to the being well-being of the Body For it is not in Religion as it is in Philosophical Contests where how eager soever men may appear to defend a Paradox yet they are not Solicitous whether it be true or false for what matters it between two hot Combatants whether there be any Land in the Moon or not Since though there be they have no Mannors nor Lordships there and if there be not they are never the poorer of a Farthing BUT in the Quarrels of Religion there is always a Meum and Tuum and Men suspect not without good Reason that the difference of Opinion is but the Colour or Pretext it is Interest that is the first Mover and the Ultimate Design and this prevents all hope of Reconciliation till one party do either voluntarily or by constraint relinquish their pretences to the others Right for he who will invade the Possession of what another enjoys by endeavouring to be a Disseisor becomes an Enemy And there are few who arrive to that height of self-denial to hate themselves that they may love their Enemies or to expose themselves to the Inconveniences of cold Nakedness and Hunger which Nature abhors that they may feed and cloth their Enemies nor does Charity command it for though that Compassionate Grace look abroad for Objects of Pity yet she always begins her Work at home nor is any man obliged to pray for or love his Enemies so as not to provide for his own Family 1 Tim. 5.8 and by Charity to deny the Faith and be worse than an Infidel Such Saints are Martyrs of the Greek Calends And no person can Esteem such as endeavour to devest him either of Power Authority Estate or Possession Honor or Profit but as his particular Enemy and an Enemy to God and Religion which commands that no man should invade anothers Right in that great Command Thou shalt not Covet Now where there are several distinct Churches in the same Nation there being both Power and Maintenance annexed to the Office of the Clergy they will necessarily incroach one upon another and because what the one gains the other must loose the contrariety of Interests will widen the Difference between them even to the utmost Extremity of Hatred and Animosity and whilst every Church will labour to agrandize it self both in Riches and Power by lessening the Esteem Honour Power and Revenues of the other it will become a quarrel of Interest as well as Religion and let any person if he can Justifie a Principle that by maintaining Domestique Quarrels must be ruinous to Society and all the Peace and Happiness of the present state of Life under the fair pretence of Religion LET Dissenters tell us what they please and if their dislike of the Government in the Church is purely upon the account of Religion former Experience has made the World sufficiently sensible that the Dignity Power and Revenues of the Church were the greatest Crimes of the Government And that they who could not approve of those Honors Titles and Estates in Bishops and the dignified Clergy could yet very well digest both their Power and Revenues when they came by the Sacrilegious hands of Vsurping Powers to be conferr'd on themselves AND as these Quarrels will be most certain so they will be Endless and Eternal for admit once of many Forms of Church Government in the same Nation and no sooner shall one be uppermost but the Envy of the others and their fear lest they should be crush't or overshadowed by it will make all the lesser Churches conspire for their common Security and Interest to undermine and overthrow it And when they have by that joynt confederation Effected that then will the most Powerful of the Victorious Party step and Exalt it self into the Place and Power of the former which will procure it the Hatred of all the rest who will not fail by the same Arts and Methods to dismount that and Establish themselves by which means there will be no end of Factions Quarrels and Ambitions striving who shall be the Uppermost All this while Religion will be the Pretence but the State shall really suffer and it being as impossible to separate them as to punish the Christian and not the Man it must be under all the most violent Agitations and Tempests and at last suffer most certain Shipwrack THIS was the true state of our Case in England during our late Revolutions the Church and Religion were made to lead the Dance but according
inexcusable by their own Judgment And if we do not prove the present Government Lawful and of Gods appintment both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Phillida solus habeto And till they have proved themselves Lawful Powers and the present Government Unlawful let them be obedient to its Decrees and Determinations as those Laws respect the good of the Civil Society if they will not as they respect the Religious CHAP. X. HAVING proceeded thus far in shewing the Design of the Outward Government of the Church to have a Political Respect as well as Temporal Laws to the happiness and well-being of Humane Society as well as a Religious Respect to future Felicity and that therefore upon this double account our Obedience is due to the Ecclesiastîcal Laws as well as the Temporal to which yet no Dissenters will own Disobedience to be Lawful because without Laws no Living and for the same reason therefore Obedience to both is a necessary part of Religion in the next place let us see how necessary therefore this Vnity in point of Government in the Church is upon this Political account in order to the happiness of the Society which is the End of all Laws and all Religion in this present state of Life AND this I conceive cannot better be done than by shewing the dangerous influence which Disunion in point of Government in the Church has upon the Civil Affairs of any Nation As true Religion makes men the best Subjects steddy in their Loyalty and Allegiance Faithful in their Trusts and Services industrious to promote the Common Good obedient to their Superiors kind to their Equals and humble to their Inferiors and always Religious observers of the Laws of God and Man So False Opinions when entertain'd for true Religion ever render Men the Worst And if there were nothing more in it yet would it be the great Interest of Princes to endeavour to propagate Christian Religion in its greatest Purity and to discountenance Errors Heresies Sects and Schisms as the best Expedient to secure themselves and Establish their Thrones upon the immoveable Basis and sure Foundation of the good Conscience of their Subjects For this surpasses all the Obligations of Laws all the Powers of Arms and all the Arts of Policy Laws without Conscience are like Sampsons green Wit hs which armed Interest and successful Ambition attended on with Fiery Zeal Jud. 16.9 will break to pieces as a thred of Tow when it touches the Flame The most Powerful Arms have no intail of Victory and though the Sword be a very good Guard for the Sceptre yet if the Sceptre turns into a Sword a thousand Instances will shew that it lays a slippery Foundation for a Crown which always stands most firm when set upon the Head of Princes by Love and Affection and not by the trembling hand of Fear The deepest Politicians are sometimes Men shallow and fordable subject to be deceived and their Counsels like Achitophels may be defeated and turned into Folly But Religion were it Universally practised Princes might disband those Auxiliary Succours of the Crown together with their Fears that raise them and might send their Jealousies those Envious Tormentors both of Crowns and Cottagers into perpetual Banishment For that teaches to smother Treason in the thought Eccles 10.20 and prevents the Necessity of Axes and Scaffolds Curse not the King not in thy thought is God's Command which they will not Transgress to gain the Empire of the World and lose their Souls Innocence is their Profession Peace their Study Integrity the joy of their Lives the delight of their Minds and the pleasure of their Deaths Not all the storms of Afflictions not all the shining Glories of the Vniverse can tempt them to throw off the White Mantle of unstained Innocence that Ermine of Religion Not all the tempting withcrafts of Dominion Riches Honour or Advantage can prevail with them to do the least Injury wilfully to their poorest Neighbour much less then to those Sacred Persons who are Gods on Earth and the true Christian if it were put to his choice had rather sit with Job cloathed with Ashes Miseries and Integrity upon the Dunghil of Poverty than be lifted from thence by the hand of Injustice or Violence to sit among Princes and wear the Dreaded Imperial Purple THIS is the happy Temper of Religion which teaches the Prince that Excellent Moderation to be so far from treading upon the Necks of his Subjects that he will not tread upon the Heels of their Properties or their Priviledges and in all his Laws to study their Interest as his own This teaches Subjects to study to be Quiet 1 Thess 4.11 and in stead of making Seditions Mutinies or Rebellions to make Devout and continual Supplications Prayers Intercessions 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. and giving of Thanks for Kings and all that are in Authority that so they may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty For this they are taught is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Nor will they venture to cut off the least Skirt of Prerogative the lawful Inheritance of their Prince to inlarge their own or take one Jewel out of his Crown to Adorn or Inrich themselves withall They will not Deplume the Royal Eagle of his to Feather their own Nests The thirst of Ambition which cannot be quenched with any thing but the Illustrious Blood of Soveraigns is an absolute Stranger to their very thoughts and they will rather sacrifice their own Lives and Fortunes than see his in Danger All their Desires are confined to a little here and their Ambition aspires lawfully after no other Crown but that of a Glorious Immortality Now to the obtaining of any tollerable Degrees of this Happy State as there is one God one Faith one Baptism so it is absolutely Necessary that in one Nation there be one Form of Government in the Church as well as State And that if it be not possible that all People should be of one Mind as to matters of Opinion yet that they should be of one Mind as to Obedience to Government in Church and State which is matter of Faith And it is but highly Reasonable that private Opinion should confine it self to private Breasts its proper Sphere and not be permitted to walk abroad to affront Authority and the publique Peace Interest and Happiness of a whole Nation no more than particular Gain is suffered to undo the Publick Stock DIFFERENCE in Opinion may well be Tollerated and indeed cannot be avoided but yet were men managed by Modesty though not Religion there need be no Mischief from it But to publish Private Opinion for Publique and necessary Truth and to endeavour to impose it upon others and upon Authority it self is a practice of the most pernicious Usurpation and Consequence in any Government For this Opposition of Opinions naturally produces a Disunion of Mind absolutely Destructive of Government which is to Unite all the Members