THE CHARACTER OF A SEPARATIST OR Sensuality the Ground OF SEPARATION To which is Added THE PHARISEES LESSON On Matth. IX xiii AND AN EXAMINATION OF Mr. HALES TREATISE of SCHISME By THOMAS LONG B. D. and Prebendary of St. PETER'S EXON I differ from my Brethren in many things of considerable moment yet if I should zealously press my judgment on others so as to disturb the Peace of the Church and separate from my Brethren I should fear I should prove a Fire-brand in Hell for being a Fire brand in the Church I charge you if God should give me up to any factious Church-rending course that you forsake me and follow me not a step Mr. Baxter's Epistle Dedicatory to the Saints Rest LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1677. To the Worshipful Sir THOMAS CARY Kt. RECORDER of the CITY OF EXETER AND JUDGE of the SESSIONS FOR THE COVNTY of DEVON THE Design of this Treatise being to prove that Schisme is a work of the flesh it cannot be improper to submit it to the cognizance of a Magistrate the Peace of the State being equally violated thereby as the unity of the Church and when the Veil of the Temple is rent there usually followeth an Earth-quake through the whole Land Turn tua res agitur the same persons that despise Aaron do affront Moses And indeed in a Church and Kingdom so knit and consolidated as ours are Where the King is through God's good providence a Nursing-father to the Church and not only professeth himself to be of its communion but hath graciously obliged himself by Oath to defend the rights and priviledges thereof and to that end hath established many good Laws not only by Statute but by Canons Ecclesiastical which are also the King's Laws and where the Church on her part as to external peace and order intirely acknowledgeth her dependance on the King as Defender of the faith which she professeth and in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil supreme Moderator and Governor and by the indispensable Laws of God is so obliged to the duty of Allegiance that neither she nor any of her children ever did nor can deny that without denying their own Doctrine and Profession and long and certain experience hath taught us that whoever retained themselves in the communion of the Church did yield due obedience to the King and contrariwise as many as withdrew from the communion of the Church were professed enemies to the King It is impossible I say to conceive how a Schisme should be maintained in such a Church without actual Sedition in the State In this Tertullus the Orator was right when he called the Authors of a new Sect Ring-leaders of Sedition and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very pest for Schisme like the Plague of Leprosie eats into the Walls and Timber of the House and as Optatus observes of the Schisme of the Donatists what Family is there where either the Wife is not withdrawn from her Husband or Children from their Parents or Servants from their Masters And the Divisions of private Families produce publick mischiefs for as a Family which consists of divers persons being divided cannot stand so a Kingdom which consists of divers Families being divided will come to ruine as when the several twists of a Cable which holds the Ship at Anchor is by little Vermin eaten through the ship is exposed to the violence of every wind and storm When the Church loseth a Member the King doth not only lose a subject but gaineth an enemy when either Lay-men make use of schismatical Meetings or Religious men of seditiòus tumults the peace of the Church and State are equally indangered Secondly It cannot be denied that the very act of separation is a bidding * Pertinaciae Schismatis non est alia ratio quam odium fraternum S. August contr Parm. l. 1. c. 4. farewell to all charitable Opinions and amicable conversation towards those from whom the separation is made And when they who first separated from the Church of England did on the very same grounds dissent from the brethren of that separation and withdrew into new Sects they were professed enemies unto all but that Faction to which they adhered For no separation is held justifiable but from such in whose communion the dissenters do apprehend at least that they cannot serve God as they ought but that they should sin in doing as the rules of that communion do require And if so how should they scruple to disobey the King's Laws when they think them contrary to God's Laws or how should they care to be at peace with them who are in their apprehensions enemies to truth Their hatred will rather increase and become implacable and they will call it Zeal how bitter and fierce soever it be For when Men think their opinions and passions warranted by Religion they also think themselves bound by their greatest hopes and fears to prosecute them to the utmost of their power and as the mistaken Disciples did to call for fire from Heaven on all those that dissent from them and that they should do God good service in slaying of them The differences that have been raised among us about things indifferent have caused the loss of more of the bloud and spirits of this Nation as well as of true piety than the persecution of all its professed enemies Long have we languished under that issue of bloud which was opened by punctilio's of Religion for our controversies did not concern the fundamentals of Religion but only the dress and garments of external worship and yet how great a matter did a little fire kindle when it was blown from a coal taken from the Altar for they who as the Priests of God should weep between the Porch and the Altar Joel 2.17 and not only by their tears but by their bloud too endeavour to extinguish the flame did as the Priests of Mars scatter fire in every corner of the Temple and warmed themselves at the flames which they had kindled What if the matters contended for were vile and inconsiderable they had the Art to set them off by glorious Names The Cause and Covenant of God the Kingdome and Scepter of Christ and in such a cause they are bound as they think not only to leave but in a literal sense to hate Father and Mother All moderation is lukewarmness and they will be cruel that they may not be accounted cold as the Royal Martyr foretold p. 69. of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many persons do at this day look upon The Covenant as a holy and harmless Instrument for Reformation but who among all the Covenanters was there that did not think himself bound to oppose the King in reforming the Church But I am sure says that Royal Person The right method of reforming the Church cannot consist with that of disturbing the State nor can Religion be justly advanced by depressing
And if mens practises may be judged of by their principles the doctrines that are infused into the spirits of the people at such meetings will sufficiently prove that their designs are seditious For when men do extol their new Discipline as the Kingdom and Scepter of Christ and affirm that all the Scepters of the Earth must bow to it or be broken in pieces that Dominion is founded in grace that wicked men are Usurpers and have forfeited all that they have and it is no more robbery to deprive them of it than for the Israelites to rob the Egyptians when they assert the nullity of former Oaths for obedience to lawful powers by framing New Covenants and imposing on the subjects contrary to the command of their lawful Prince that good intentions may justifie unlawful actions and they may do evil that good may come thereof that Christian liberty doth free the Believing wife from the unbelieving husband the godly child from his ungodly Parents and the faithful servant from his Infidel master When their preaching is of cursing and lyes despising Dominions speaking evil of Dignities vindictive groans against their Brethren complaints of the decay of Religion of oppression of the Godly cursing all Neuters that do not help them against the Lords Anointed or that do their work negligently and withhold their Swords from bloud How spiritual soever such men may be thought the weapons of their warfare are carnal i.e. they are seditious such men are not Ambassadors of the Gospel of Peace but of the Evangelium Armatum every line whereof as Draco's Laws is written in bloud When King Richard the First had taken prisoner a Bishop that was in Arms against him the Pope sends to him to deliver his Son but the King sends the Pope the Bishops Armour and asketh him if that were his Sons coat I would fain know of them that profess themselves the children of Peace if these be the garments of their Ghostly Fathers that begat them The great sorceress Medea perswaded the daughters of Peleus that the way to recover their aged Father to youth and strength was to cut him in pieces and boyl him according to her Art None but a people that have been bewitched could be perswaded that the way to restore our Church to strength and beauty was to divide it into so many seditious Sects And now I suppose that I have given the World and you Honoured Sir sufficient Reason for this address to so eminent a Magistrate seeing they that murmur against the sons of Aaron that they take too much upon them are found to have Rebelled against Moses also and the same persons that renounced communion with the Church of which they were once Members and withdrew into Conventicles cryed out We have no part in David 2 Sam. 20.1 neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse every man to his Tents O Israel As St. Augustine observed of the Donatists Quid est Imperatori cum Ecclesiâ aut quid nobis cum regibus seculi quos nunquam nisi invidos sensit Christianitas August l. 2. ad Peril c. 92. If the Magistrate may punish murther oppression robbery and sedition why may he not restrain such practises as give occasion to all these unless we would have him do what God says he ought not i.e. to bear the sword in vain Clamate si audetis saith St. Augustine puniantur adulteria puniantur homicidia sola Sacrilegia volumus impunita There is great reason then that the Ministers of the Gospel should apply themselves to the Ministers of the Laws Israel will never prevail against her enemies except Moses's hand be lifted up as well as Aaron's those Royal Oaks must support our feeble Vines or they will be trod under foot by unreasonable Men. You are Custodes utriusque tabulae under God and the King Defenders of our Faith as well as our Laws Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes But who shall protect them that should protect us against the obloquies and strivings of an unruly People even that God who having set Joshua over the murmuring Israelites assured him Joshua 1.5 6. As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Be strong and of a good courage And now if ever our Magistrates ought to be Men of courage as well as fearing God when the execution of the Laws is termed persecution and such as will not tamely permit their Religion and Liberties to be invaded are accounted enemies to the Godly Party Chap. 4. of tumults But as the Royal Martyr observed Nothing doth more portend Gods displeasure against a Nation than when he suffers the confluence and clamours of the Vulgar to pass all boundaries of Laws and reverence to Authority I say not this Honoured Sir to provoke you to greater activity for the publick welfare who have not onely done more and better than others but have prevailed beyond expectation I onely pay a grateful acknowledgment for what you have already done and exhibit a Noble example to others of one who prefers the publick Peace above his private interest and doth his duty to God and the King with as much resolution as others neglect or oppose it and if there were but five such Magistrates in a County they would through God's blessing redeem an unworthy Nation from those flames which threaten a Conflagration like that of Sodom and Gomorrha I cannot omit Great Sir your constant respects to men of my Profession without respect of Persons you love a Clergy-man eo nomine not only the worthy Dignitaries of our Church but I may say it in a better sense than a great Lawyer was wont to say you love a poor Clergy-man with all your heart and have deservedly acquired among us the Title of Deliciae Cleri the Clergies delight And now it is time to beg your pardon for this and many other Troubles by which I have trespassed upon your Patience beseeching God to preserve the Peace of our Jerusalem and that You and yours may Prosper as you Love it I am Sir Your Humblest Servant Tho. Long. Exon April 1677. THE PICTURE AND CHARACTER OF A SEPARATIST SHEWING That Sensuality is the Ground OF SEPARATION Vt nihil aequè arguit Ingenium Spiritûs Christi ac studium conservandae socictatis unionis in quo charitas elucet Sic etiam nullum est evidentius argumentum pravitatis humani ingenii unde etiam inter carnis opera contentiones nominantur quà m tumultuandi rixandi studium Cameron de Ecclesiâ Cap. de Schismate I differ from my Brethren in many things of considerable moment yet if I should zealously press my judgment on others so as to disturb the Peace of the Church and separate from my Brethren I should fear I should prove a Fire-brand in Hell for being a Fire brand in the Church I charge you if God should give me up to any factious Church-rending course that you
forsake me and follow me not a step Mr. Baxter's Epistle Dedicatory to the Saints Rest LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1677. IMPRIMATUR Tho. Tomkyns R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Gilberto Divina Providentia Archi-Ep Cant. à Sac. Dom. Sept. 27. 1673. The Picture of Schismaticks as Mr. Calvin calls it in the Margent and describes it in the 4th Book of his Institutions Ch. 1. Section 16th ALthough this Temptation of refusing to Communicate with others because we judge them wicked may sometime invade good Men through an inconsiderate zeal for Holiness yet we shall find that this too great morosity doth arise rather from pride and disdain and a false opinion of Sanctity than from true Piety or an endeavour after it Wherefore they that are more audacious than others to make Separation from the Church and are as Standard-bearers they for the most part have no other reason than that by the contempt of all they may shew themselves better than others Wherefore Augustine says well and prudently Whereas the good frame and manner of Ecclesiastical Discipline ought especially to respect the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace which the Apostle commands to be mutually preserved by long-suffering and which not being preserved the application of Medicine is not only superfluous but dangerous and so can never produce the effect of a Medicine They are wicked Children who not so much through hatred of other Men's iniquities as by a love of their own contentions do affect either to withdraw or at least to divide the weak People whom they have insnared by the reputation of their Names These are swollen with pride furious in their perversness treacherous in calumnies turbulent in seditions using a shadow of rigid severity lest it should appear that they want the light of truth And those things which are commanded in the Scripture to be done with all moderation for the correction of the faults of our Brethren the sincerity of Love and unity of Peace being still preserved they make use of for the Sacrilege of Schisme and an occasion of Separation Wherefore to good and peaceable Men he gives this Counsel That they mercifully correct what they may and patiently bear with what they cannot amend and in love bewail and lament until God do amend and correct all or at the Harvest do root out the Weeds and winnow the Chaff With these Weapons all good Men study to arm themselves lest while they seem stout and resolute Champions of Holiness they revolt from the Kingdom of God which is the only Kingdom of Righteousness For because God hath chosen to have the Communion of his Church observed in this external society He who through hatred of the wicked shall violate the Symbol of that Society doth enter into that Path wherein a falling from the Communion of Saints is most obvious 1. Let them consider therefore That in a great Multitude there may be many truly holy and innocent in the eyes of God whom they cannot discern 2ly That of them that seem diseased there are many that are not in love or well pleased with their Vices but being now and then awakened by a serious fear of God do endeavour after greater integrity 3ly That we ought not to judge of Men by one fact seeing that the most holy sometime fall most grievously 4ly That it is of more moment to unite the Church as well by the Ministry of the Word as by the administration of the Holy Mysteries than that by the fault of a few all those blessings should be frustrated 5ly Let them consider that in estimating of the Church the Judgment of God is to be preferred to the judgment of Man TO THE BRETHREN OF THE SEPARATION IT was not long since that the Sins of Rebellion and Sacrilege were so successful that they did not only cast off their old names but commenced Vertues and it was dangerous to discourse whether there were such sins or no Prosperous wickedness hath never wanted its Apologists who know how to call evil good and good evil The case is almost the same concerning the Sin of Schisme and Separation And now men question whether there be any such thing as the Church of England because they make no question of separating from it But St. Paul assures us that there was a Church at Corinth that there was envying and strife and divisions among them and that they were but carnal Gospellers that were the Authors of such disorders Yet theirs were but venial in respect of ours which I know not whether I may call Mortal or Immortal discords for when we hoped that the chief Authors being laid in their Graves their practices would have been buried with them and that we who had laboured in the fire of Contention and suffered under the dismal effects of it for Twenty Years together would have trembled at every spark of it Behold how like the Infelix lolium like Wormwood and Hemlock the Seeds of Dissention are grown up in every Furrow of the Field and those sparks are blown up into such Flames as have seized if not upon all yet upon the most eminent Houses of God in the Land The Corinthians were but Children in this work they wrangled about their Ministers as Boys about their Masters who was the best Teacher among them Apollos who as the Scholiast observes was their first Bishop had a considerable Party and if they did rob Peter it was to cloath Paul but with us nothing will serve but a total extirpation of the Bishops and Pastors of the Church to raise a Presbytery upon their ruines And yet Men will not be perswaded there is any such sin as Schisme in the Land or at least think themselves much injured if it be imputed to them If Men would dissent peaceably and according to the Apostles rule Rom. 14.22 Hast thou faith that is an opinion of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of Rites and Customes in the Church have it to thy self before God not propagate their private Opinions to the disturbance of the publick peace they might deserve that indulgence which his most Gracious Majesty hath allowed them but when they shall practically condemn themselves and pragmatically misguide others in opposing those things which themselves have allowed the Apostle accounts them unhappy men as having the brand of Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visibly upon them by continuing obstinately in that error which themselves as well as the Churches of God have exploded As for the separated Ministers the more learned and sober of them did frequent our Assemblies joyn with us in our Liturgies and Communion though in the quality of lay Men and I cannot doubt but that they were well assured that it was their duty so to do and to encourage others to the publick worship of God so celebrated If it was their duty to frequent it then it cannot be their duty but their sin not