more conscientious sort who in regard of those many promises by Christ made no his Church had been at first won to be of their fellowship and communion as the only means to their salvation it was taken as a punishment of the highest import And however that the then Church for want of Judiciary power as aforesaid could not punish otherwise yet since it became all that were named by the name of Christ to depart from iniquity and to have their conversation such as becomed Saints and to walk worthy that vocation wherewith they were called in which respect we shall find the name of Disciples Believers Saints Church and Christians indifferently used to signifie those that made profession of Christs name It therefore became them who were to be as lights on a hill and to see that others light did so shine before men that they seeing their good works might glorifie that God in whose obedience they did it to be very sensible and tender of permitting any thing scandalous in the eye of the world to be acted or countenanced by any of their profession In reference to which gracious promises of Salvation Illumination Assistance and the like made by Christ to his Church and of that degree of sanctity wherewith those of this profession stood eminent above the rest of the world or of that City or place where they lived it is no wonder if we find that this notion of Church was still used even after the time that the publick Authority of the Country came also to be of the same belief especially considering that it was more then three hundred years after Christs birth before any Emperor at all was of that profession from which they quickly again fell and that during the said time and a good while after the more considerable and perhaps the major part of the Empire it self besides what was done in other Countries more heathenish continued still Infidels Towards whose conversion and for the greater honor of their Master and his doctrine as they desired to become worthy Disciples by the example of their holy lives so dâ—d they withall still keep up as far as might be a communion with one another therein as well as a separation from others that were not of the same belief But yet we shall never find in Scripture or Author of antiquity that was not prejudiced by particular adherence to some party that these notions of Church or Saints were used to separate Christians from Christians so as to accompt others especially their fellow-subjects that publickly professed faith and obedience to Christ to be yet none of his Church until such time as the whole Church through the goodness of God being rid of the fear of much harm from such as for Christs sake were their common enemy some separate parts thereof began in a strange requital to seek out enemies amongst themselves Ambition pride interest and passion causing men to forget those prime precepts of humility meekness patience brotherly love and the like wherewith Christianity stood at first adorned and whereby they as out of a common principle of love to Christ and his honor as well as to one another according to the true intent of Religion were piously and unanimously guided and now to prosecute that course which should at once hazard the honor and good of both Christ and his whole Church through their strife to advance some particular Sect above the rest and themselves in it As if Christs Disciples and followers must not now be called such in regard of their faith in him as formerly was used but out of belief in and for following them rather in things circumstantial or by themselves called fundamental the more to countenance that breach of Charity which must thence ensue hereby shewing that we have not as the true elect of God and beloved put on bowels of mercies kindnesses humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering so as to forbear one another and forgive one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave us But have neglected to put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness and to let the peace of God rule in our hearts to the which we are also called into one body even this body and communion of a Church Col. 3. 12 c. It being indeed impossible for any but such elect as these to escape those deceits and snares which each particular Sect as in Christs name will be ready to lay before us saying Lo here is Christ and lo there is Christ on purpose to affright us from confidence in that Name whereby alone under heaven we can be saved as if salvation were not to be found in being a Member of the Catholick Church or any part of it as Christian but in that secret Chamber or that desert Assembly which is now separately named and owned by themselves 6. This is that great misery under which Christendom hath of late been so much troubled as well through that ambitious humor of universal rule and dominion whereby those of the Roman party out of opinion of Eminencie Succession or the like would advance their Head to be Head of the whole Church even where his jurisdiction reacheth not As of others also who in any particular Church are ready to make a separation of themselves as though in regard of any extraordinary degree of sincerity of worship or sanctity of life by them professed above others the antient notion of Church could now again be appropriate to them without notice of their Brethren of the same Religion and those in Authority and perhaps more in number also in like manner as formerly the notion of Church was understood in opposition to those that were meer Heathens 7. The truth is that Christian societies may well be distinguished from Professors of other Religions by this peculiar appellation their Religion being indeed the Religion even as their God is apparently the God For where they in discovery of their meer humane extraction or wors are in their precepts wholly regardful of their own outward glory pomp and estimation and that according to humane fancie and opinion when we are by voice from heaven taught that strict conjunction which is between Glory to God in the highest and Peace on earth and good will towards men Their Deities stand manifestly on their Sacrifices professing greatest love to such as are most zealous in them or such like kind of adoration Ours pronounce Charity the end of the Law and prefer Mercy before Sacrifice and to encourage men thereto our Saviour personateth the hungry blind naked imprisoned and promiseth even the reward of Heaven to such as should most express their love and duty to him that way 8. And thereupon again as true it is that particular Churches cannot seclude one another from being members of that Catholick body while they acknowledged the same Common head much less can such as live within the authority or are members of any Christian Church or society
claim any jurisdiction apart or make separation therefrom upon allegation of any extraordinary sanctity or neerer degree of imploiment in Religious affairs for this were to overthrow the main scope of the Church before set down And therefore since humane preservation and Peace is the end of Religious as well as Civil associations it will therefore follow that as each State hath its rule entire and absolute for the better preservation of concord and order so must each Christian State or Church much more have the like in as much as those precepts and directions leading thereunto are much more apparently within their Commission their duty and charge being to perfect and consummate that by a religious tie unto which natural perfection could not reach 9. And hereby it comes to pass that what was vertue or vice in a bare Philosophical accompt is now called righteousness or sin And so these Politick societies which upon the former light of natural reason took upon them the guidance of humane actions and were called Kingdoms and Commonwealths when they come to acknowledg subjection to this higher direction and rule are usually called Churches also And thereupon those that were formerly called Schismaticks in respect of separation or stubbornness to Ecclesiastick authority are now to be esteemed seditious and Rebels also if they do in any such thing disobey or oppose him that hath both these authorities conjoined For very hard it would seem if the same terms of separation should still be kept up against Christian Princes and Rulers as was formerly and they allowed no more honor and power being Christians then while they were Pagans But we will now proceed to shew what hath been the sense of the Church of England herein according to the doctrine of those that were eminent in it 10. As those of the Roman party had no doubt a design of stretching the Papal jurisdiction even in temporals by their engrossment of all spiritual power as Catholick head so hath it been always censured by ours as an unjust usurpation Therefore we shall find that the late Archbishop in his Answer to the Jesuite all along to disprove that claim of Universal head of the whole Church and sect 25. num 12. sheweth That after the conversion of the Emperors the Bishops of Rome themselves were still elected or confirmed by them without any title of Universal head until that John Patriarch of Constantinople having been countenanced in that title by Mauritius the Emperor who came afterward to be deposed and murthered by Phocas Phocas conferred on Boniface the third that very honor which two of his Predecessors had declaimed against as monstrous and blasphemous if not Antichristian And as he thus defends the power and jurisdiction of particular Churches and the chief Magistrate in them against the Pope so doth he defend the power and supremacie of this Magistrate over all that live within the same jurisdiction And therefore sect 26. num 9. doth set it down for a great and undoubted Rule given by Optatus That wheresoever there is a Church there the Church is in the Commonwealth not the Commonwealth in the Church and so also the Church was in the Roman Empire The truth is that at first and while some smaller parcels of the Roman Empire only were Christians then these being only of the Church might it be said to be in the Commonwealth first as being but a part and next but a subordinate part of the whole Empire or those that had jurisdictions therein But after that the Government it self became Christian then was there no question to be rightly made which was in which that is whether the Church in the Commonwealth or that in the Church For that both were one and both to be conceived included under that name of highest honor the name of Church importing as well our relation to God as to one another Whereupon also since for some Ages the authority of the Roman Empire did extend it self in a manner over all Nations that were Christian it might well come to pass that amongst the Writers of those times the Roman and Catholick Church might be taken as equivalent and alike which to use now is an absurd contradiction as implying a particular-universal for none other it is to call any man a Roman Catholick At the time the Emperor of Rome had the soveraignty or government of any Christian State then and there had the Pope or chief Bishop of Rome the like soveraignty in ordering of the affairs of that Church if the said Emperor so thought fit and to depart from that obedience or communion was then as I conceive not Schism alone but Sedition also But in case any that are neither within the Popes own territory nor jurisdiction but in the proper jurisdiction of some other Prince who yields only a voluntary conformity in doctrine and discipline to that Sea as Spain and France and other free Princes now do then are they that make alteration against the liking of that Prince or Power under whom they live not Schismaticks against the Pope of Rome but against him and if he approve of their doctrine they are neither Schismaticks nor Seditious As was the case of our Henry the Eight and those his Subjects of the Church of England which followed him and for ought I know was the case of Luther also in respect of his subjection to the Duke of Saxony 11 For it is to be considered that where the Jurisdiction doth divide and become independent there doth the notion of Church divide also as was to be seen in the Church of the Jews after they fell into two distinct Governments to wit that of Judah and that of Israel In which case although they had still but one divine Law and prescript form of Worship to live by yet the Government of each Kingdom being unsubordinate they were each of them reckoned as a Church apart and the good or ill Government of each of them attributed to none but the peculiar King thereof even as proceeding from his proper observance or breach of the Law And although the Primitive Churches in Saint Johns time had not yet any absolute Jurisdiction yet since what they had was independent we shall find that those Reproofs and Admonitions which were in the Apocalyps given to the seven Churches are directed to their several Angels or Heads apart without any hint or notice of subordination to any other Catholick Head or Curate save of CHRIST himself 12. I must confess that as the earnest desire and aim I have always had towards the silencing of disputes and civil commotions in Kingdoms hath made me the more earnest and studious in pressing the power and authority of each Prince so for common-peace sake again amongst Kings themselves and for taking off those irregularities and oppressions which each of them by this power might inflict on their Subjects I have many times entertained the thoughts of admittance of some such power like that claimed
strifes and contentions many times and that about matters of no small importance yea her schisms factions and such other evils whereunto the body of the Church is subject sound and sick remaining both of the same body as long as both parts retain by outward profession that vital substance of Truth which maketh Christian Religion to differ from theirs which acknowledg not our Lord Jesus Christ the blessed Saviour of mankind give no credit to his glorious Gospel and have his Sacraments the seal of eternal life in derision Now the priviledg of the visible Church of God for of that we speak is to be herein like the Ark of Noah for any thing we know to the contrary all without are lost sheep Yet in this was the Ark of Noah priviledged above the Church that whereas none of them which were in the one could perish numbers in the other are cast away because to eternal life our profession is not enough Many things exclude from the Kingdom of God although from the Church they separate not In the Church there arise sundry grievous storms by means whereof whole Kingdoms and Nations professing Christ both have been heretofore and are at this present day divided about Christ During which division and contentions amongst men albeit each part do justifie it self yet the one of necessity must needs erre if there be any contradiction between them be it great or little And what side soever it be that hath the truth the same we must also acknowledg alone to hold with the true Church in that point and consequently reject the other as an enemy in that case fallen away from the true Church Wherefore of hypocrites and dissemblers whose profession at the first was but only from the teeth outward when they afterwards took occasion to oppugn certain principal Articles of Faith the Apostles which defended the truth against them pronounce them gone out from the fellowship of sound and sincere Believers when as yet the Christian religion they had not utterly cast off In like sense and meaning throughout all Ages Heretickâ— have been justly hated as branches cut off from the body of the true Vine yet only so far forth cut off as their Heresies have extended Both Heresie and many other crimes which wholly sever from God do sever from the Church of God in part only The mysterie of Piety saith the Apostle is without peradventure great GOD hath been manifested in the flesh hath been justified in the Spirit hath been seen of Angels hath been preached to Nations hath been believed on in the world hath been taken up into glory The Church a pillar and foundatiou of this truth which no where is known or profess'd but only within the Church and they all of the Church that profess it In the mean while it cannot be denied that many profess this who are not therfore cleered simply from all either faults or errors which maketh separation between us and the Wel-spring of our happiness Idolatry severed of old the Israelites Iniquity those Scribes and Pharisees from God who notwithstanding were a part of the seed of Abraham a part of that very seed which God did himself acknowledg to be his Church The Church of God may therefore contain both them which indeed are not his yet must be reputed his by us that know not their inward thoughts and them whose apparent wickedness testifieth even in the sight of the whole world that God abhorreth them For to this and no other purpose are meant those Parables which our Saviour in the Gospel hath concerning mixture of Vice with Vertue Light with Darkness Truth with Error as well an openly known and seen as a cunningly cloaked mixture That which therefore separateth utterly that which cutteth off clean from the visible Church of Christ is plain Apostacie direct denial utter rejection of the whole Christian faith as far as the same is professedly different from Infidelity Hereticks as touching those points of Doctrine wherein they fail Schismaticks as touching the quarrels for which or the duties wherein they divide themselves from their brethren Loose licentious and wicked persons as touching their several offences and crimes have all forsaken the true Church of God the Church which is sound and sincere in the doctrine that they corrupt the Church that keepeth the bond of unity which they violate the Church which walketh in the ways of righteousness which they transgress the very true Church of Christ they have left howbeit not altogether left nor forsaken simply the Church upon the main foundations whereof they continue built notwithstanding those breaches whereby they are rent from bottom to top asunder And having largely discoursed on the same argument in the beginning of his third Book he proceeds to reprove such as being then members of this Church would annihilate her being truly a Church and claim an independencie because of some corruptions they conceived in her As there are saith he fol. 86. which make the Church of Rome utterly no Church at all by reason of so many grievous errors in their Doctrine so we have them amongst us who under pretence of imagined corruptions in our Discipline do give even as hard a judgment of the Church of England it self And afterwards f. 88. coming to distinguish the visible Church into parts according to their several jurisdictions to the end that authority thereof might be made useful he farther saith For preservation of Christianity there is not any thing more needful then that such as are of the visible Church have mutual felowship and society one with another In which consideration as in the main body of the Sea being one yet within divers precincts hath divers names so the Catholick Church is in like sort divided into a number of distinct societies every of which is termed a Church within it self In this sense the Church is always a visible society of men not an Assembly but a society For although the name of the Church be given unto Christian assemblies although any multitude of Christian men congregated may be termed by the name of a Church yet Assemblies properly are rather things that belong to a Church Men are assembled for performance of publike actions which actions being ended the Assembly dissolveth it self and is no longer in being whereas the Church which was assembled doth no less continue afterwards then before Where but three are and they of the Laity also saith Tertullian yet there is a Church that is to say a Christian Assembly But a Church as now we are to understand it is a Society that is a number of men belonging unto some Christian fellowship the place and limits whereof are certain That wherein they have communion is the publike exercise of such duties as those mentioned in the Apostles Acts Instruction Breaking of bread Prayers As therefore they that are of the mystical body of Christ have those inward graces and vertues whereby they differ from all others which are not of
the same body even so again whosoever appertain to the visible body of the Church they have also the notes of external profession whereby the world knoweth what they are After the same manner even the several Societies of Christian men unto every of which the name of a Church is given with addition betokening severalty as the Church of Rome Corinth Ephesus England and so the rest must be endued with corespondent general properties belonging unto them as they are publike Christian societies And of such properties common unto all societies Christian it may not be denied that one of the very chiefest is Ecclesiastical Politie Which word I therefore the rather use because the name of Government as commonly men understand it in ordinary speech doth not comprise the largeness of that whereunto in this question it is applied For when we speak of Government what doth the greatest part conceive thereby but only the exercise of superiority peculiar unto Rulers and Guides of others To our purpose therefore the name of Church-Politie will better serve because it containeth both Government and also whatsoever besides belongeth to the ordering of the Church in publike Neither is any thing in this degree more necessary then Church-Politie which is a form of ordering the publike spiritual affairs of the Church of God But we must note that he which affirmeth Speech to be necessary amongst all men throughout the world doth not thereby import that all men must necessarily speak one kind of language Even so the necessity of Politie and Regiment in all Churches may be held without holding any one certain Form to be necessary in them all c. 15. From all which discourse these Conclusions are plainly deducible as touching the preservation of Peace and Charity First that the imputation of Heresie Schism or the like cannot by particular Churches be so charged upon one another as to take from them the reality of being true Christian Churches whilst they hold the foundation And much less that any such imputation from any the sons or members of any Church should be held of avail to take that respect which is due unto her as a Church of Christ and debar her from exercising his authority on earth and that not only for keeping of love and union but for preservation of Christianity it self which is also needful to be upheld by observation of the Rules of Society and Government in the Church as well as in the Commonwealth 16. That to a Church as now the word is applied Polity and Regiment being proper that therefore no sort of persons wanting this power but living under it or any other Christian jurisdiction can assume to themselves the notion of a Church although they should consist of such as were of the order of the Clergy In which condition since the notion of Church could be no otherwise appropriate then to import a Congregation or Assembly it might be given to the Laity also as he avoucheth out of Tertullian 17. And next we may observe what those things be that are to be publikely exercised and wherein the members of each Church are to have communion and which do fall within the Churches authority and cognisance as Instruction Breaking of bread and Prayers that is to say to order and regulate the publike use of Preaching Administration of Sacraments of Prayers or other form of Service or Worship So that when any Church shall think fit to make any new appointment in any thing of these kinds It is not fit as he elswhere saith for those that are members thereof to ask why we hang our judgments on the Churches sleeve and out of stubbornness and disrespect to her authority to go about to perswade men to inconformity by making them believe that obedience to alteration in these things is hazardous or destructive to their salvation Not regarding the difference which ought to be put between things of the one and the other sort in respect of power to change Touching points of Doctrine saith he lib. 3. fol. 110 111. as for example The Vnity of God the Trinity of Persons Salvation by Christ the Resurrection of the body Life everlasting the Judgment to come and such like they have been since the first hour that there was a Church in the world and till the last they must be believed But as for matters of Regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new Articles of Faith and Doctrine no man thiuketh it lawful New Laws of Government what Commonwealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The rule of Faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone immoveable and impossible to be framed or cast anew The Law of outward Order and Politie not so There is no reason in the world wherefore we should esteem it as necessary always to do as always to believe the same things seeing every man knoweth that the matter of Faith is constant the matter contrariwise of Actions daily changeable especially the matter of action belonging unto Church-Politie Neither can I find that men of soundest judgments have any otherwise taught then that Articles of belief and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saved are either expresly set down in the Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to Discipline and outward Politie the Church hath authority to make Canons Laws and Decrees even as we read in the Apostles times it did Which kind of Laws for as much as they are not in themselves necessary to salvation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require 18. So that then we may resolve that as the true essence of a Church as a Church doth depend on the doctrine and profession of the faith of Jesus Christ and the authority from him received so doth the essence and force of Discipline and outward Polity depend on her authority only It is from her power as a Church that they are made of this or that form It is not from any form in them as thus or thus made that her being or power can be thought to depend 19. And therefore surely if the Church have power to alter and change when they are made as well as to make Canons Laws and Decrees it must follow that those that are members of that Church are also tied to obedience Clergy as well as others as he lib 5. fol. 391. urgeth against the Non-conforming Ministers of those times viz. Why oppose they the name of a Minister in this case unto the state of a private man do their Orders exempt them from obedience to Laws That which their office and place requireth is to shew themselves Patterns of reverend subjection not Authors and Masters of contempt towards Ordinances the strength whereof when they seek to weaken they do but in truth discover to the world their own imbecilities which a