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Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49123	Mr. Hales's treatise of schism examined and censured by Thomas Long ... ; to which are added, Mr. Baxter's arguments for conformity, wherein the most material passages of the treatise of schism are answered.	Long, Thomas, 1621-1707.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Mr. Baxter's arguments for conformity against separation.	1678 (1678)	Wing L2974; ESTC R10056	119,450	354

is in page 218 c. The third thing I noted for matter of Schism was Ambition I mean Episcopal ambition shewing it self in two heads one concerning Plurality of Bishops in the same See another the Superiority of Bishops in divers Sees Aristotle tells us that necessity causeth but small faults but Avarice and Ambition were the mothers of great crimes He instanceth in the Sees of Alexandria Constantinople Antioch and Rome I am glad our Author found no instances of Episcopal ambition nearer home if there had been any in all probability he would have told us of them If he had been a friend to the Episcopal Order he would rather have done as Constantine said he was ready to do with his Bishops make his royal robes a covering for their infirmities than like a Cham discover the nakedness of those Fathers The best of Bishops are but men and so are subject to the like passions and infirmities as other men I have already instanced in the Apostles and other disciples of Christ and certainly it is not christianly done so to aggravate the faults of particular persons as to reflect upon the whole office Besides our Author might have mentioned as many and as dangerous Schisms made by covetous and ambitious Presbyters as by the Bishops Novatus and Novatian Aerius and Arrius Donatus and his fellow Presbyters who assumed the Episcopal power to themselves and shed more bloud and committed more outrages than were done under any instance of Episcopal ambition I will not insist on any foreign comparisons our late Schism at home is so fresh in our memories and the wounds made by it are yet so open that there needs no other Rhetorick than our own experience to teach us that the little finger of the Presbyterians was heavier than the Episcopal loins Let any person sum up together the mischiefs occasioned by the avarice and ambition of Bishops for 500 years together in this Nation of ours and I dare engage to demonstrate that for wickedness in contriving for malice and cruelty in executing for pride and arrogance in usurping for obstinacy and implacableness in continuing and endeavouring still to perpetuate our unparalleled confusions though many Bishops have done wickedly yet our Presbyterians have exceeded them all For let me be informed whether for a Juncto of Presbyters who had often sworn obedience to their lawful Ordinaries as well as allegiance to their Prince to cast off all those sacred obligations and dethroning one incomparable Prince to advance many Tyrants and by covenanting against one Bishop in a Diocess erect 100 or 200 in the same See and expose all to contempt and misery that would not partake with them in their sins whose tender mercies Mr. Hales himself found to be cruel being deprived of that plentiful estate which he enjoyed under the Episcopal Government and reduced to that extremity that he was forced to sell his books for the supply of his necessities let me be informed I pray whether this be not more than any Bishop ever did or could be guilty of Such indignities perjuries usurpations and cruelties against an Equal as these men have acted against their just lawful and excellent Governors both in Church and State I believe have not been acted since Judas betrayed his Master P. 225. Our Author infers from the Scriptures before mentioned That those sayings cut off most certainly all claim to superiority by title of Christianity except men can think that these things were spoken only to poor and private men Nature and Religion agree in this that neither of them hath a hand in this heraldry of Secundum Sub Supra All this comes from composition and agreement of men amongst themselves The first Scripture referred to by our Author is I suppose Gal. 3. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek bond nor free male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus Here is not a word of high nor low in this nor any other Scripture that I can find in our authors sense for the Apostle only shews that as to our acceptance by God in Christ there is no respect of persons but as he had said verse 26. ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus No difference from country relation sex or condition but as the King's Manuscript 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye are all Christs i. e. of his mystical body utcunque alia sunt diversa as Calvin observes the relation of King and subject Parent and child Husband and wife Master and servant notwithstanding Not that these relations are destroyed for then Christian Religion would be of all factions the most intolerable Estius on this place intimates that lest the Galatians should think they got advantages by being in Christ he tells them the Jew if he believed was as good as the Gentile the bond as the free which is therefore first named And if this sense could be applied to this Scripture which our Author gives then might the Quakers use it to defend all their rudeness because there is neither high nor low and the Family of love for all their carnality because there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus The second Scripture is Rom. 12. 10. In giving honour let every one prefer another before himself which place is so far from licensing any Christians to deny honour to those Superiors to whom it is due and strictly injoyned in the next chapter that it obligeth them to give it to equals and inferiors as S. Bernard says The first degree of Christian humility is Inferiorem se exhibere Aequali secundus Aequalem se exhibere Inferiori tertius Inferiorem se exhibere Inferiori in all which the giving honour to our Superiors is not mentioned being a duty that nature it self doth teach The Assembly gives a right sense of this Scripture Christian humility teacheth us not only not to prefer our selves above our equals nor to equal our selves to our betters but in some cases to equal our selves to our Inferiors So that we need not think these things were spoken to poor private men but were to be the common duties of all Christians without prejudice to their particular relations all which Christianity provides for S. Paul instructs Timothy as the Servant of the Lord to be gentle to all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that opposed themselves But withal he incourageth him to teach and to command to rebuke and reprove to see that no man did despise him and leaves to him the government and care of the Church of God at Ephesus Where there is true Christianity there will be as much humility and meekness in the hearts and lives of Kings and Princes Bishops and Priests as of the meanest Peasant And therefore the Monks of Bangor were not advised amiss That they should know whether Austin that was sent by Gregory the Great to be an Arch-Bishop was a servant of God or no if he did meekly salute them and

strictly enjoyned by the word of God cannot be dispensed with by scruples about the lawfulness of rites and ceremonies in the external worship of God And I may safely add 4. That if honest and well meaning men shall so far indulge to such scruples as to live in disobedience to the Laws and constitutions of their Superiors their Superiors may justly punish them for so doing or the frame of their Government will soon be turned off its hinges And Governors not being able to discern the hearts of men may equally animadvert upon all refractory persons or they must let all go unpunished and if they should resolve on this later farewell all Government And seeing the wisdom of Man cannot prevent it it is better that a few mistaken Innocents should be punished than the peace and foundation of a Church or Nation be overturned Melius pereat unus quàm unitas Better is a private inconvenience than a publick mischief This is a foundation necessary to the settlement of all humane Laws and Constitutions Thus in matters of common right and interest when the several Courts of a Nation have established and published rules and orders for the appearances and proceedings of Persons litigant they who omit the time or mistake the right methods of pleading and thereupon suffer damage though as to the merits of their cause they be severely dealt with yet the proceedings of the Law are right and justifiable because it is more for the publick peace and establishment that some persons should sustain loss for their unwilling neglects and errors than that all wilful Offenders should go unpunished and publick Orders of Court be contemned and disobeyed And this Rule holds much stronger in such Ecclesiastical cases as are now under our consideration because the controversie is not here between private persons but between Superiors and Subjects If therefore one or more private Persons purely on mistake and after humble and serious inquiry for satisfaction though I think few sober persons using such means can remain unsatisfied in so plain a case Whether Scruples concerning ancient and innocent rites in the external Worship of God can justifie disobedience to the constitutions of lawful Governors should still judge contrary to their Governors who impose such things as lawful and convenient to be unlawful and superstitious and thereupon refuse to appear at their Courts and be ordered by them It is agreeable to the Laws of all Societies that such Persons should not go unpunished If a Child or Servant shall neglect to obey his Father or Master because he hath some Scruples against his commands I think such Father or Master may without Scruple correct that Child or Servant or within a short time they will become incorrigible And the Case is almost the same as if the debauched part of the Nation who are morally vicious should pretend scruples of conscience against such Laws of the Land as restrain their enormities suppose of Sabbath-breaking and neglecting the Publick Worship which yet I think the Nonconformists would not judge to be a tolerable plea. I have insisted so long on this argument not only because our Author mentioneth it so often and ever makes it a ground for separation telling us that Not only in Reason but in Religion too this Maxime admits of no release Cautissimi cujusque praeceptum quod dubitas nè feceris but often insinuates them to be guilty of Schism that do require any suspected thing as you may see p. 194. and p. 218. After this Pipe all the Factions do dance The Presbyterians in their Commissioners Papers suggest it frequently whether Ecclesiastical constitutions concerning things which are or may become matter of dispute and opposition are to be allowed And John Owen for the Independents would have some warrant from Scripture for every thing that is required in the Worship of God But minding my Reader of Dr. Owen's concessions before mentioned to which I shall only add the confessions of the Presbyterians who from the beginning opposed our Rites and Ceremonies not as unlawful but only as inconvenient as Mr. Cartwright did in his second Reply p. 262. and therefore perswaded Ministers rather to wear the Garments required by Law than cease their Ministry And in his Evangelical Harmony on Luke 22. à versu 14. ad 19. saith That kneeling in receiving the Sacrament being incommodious in its own nature and made more incommodious by Popish superstition is not so to be rejected that for the sake thereof we should abstain from the Sacrament His words are these Geniculatio in participatione suâ naturâ incommoda superstitione pontificiâ longè facta est incommodior Nec tamen propterea ita rejicienda ut ejus nomine à Sacramento abstineamus si ejus caeteroquin participes esse nequimus quia res suâ naturâ non est purè illicita because the thing is not in its own nature utterly unlawful From whence we may conclude that such things as are not purely unlawful in their own nature though they are incommodiously applied and have been grosly abused by Popish superstition are not a sufficient cause to hinder our participation of Divine Ordinances And yet to what mischievous ends is this forlorn scruple of receiving that blessed Sacrament on our Knees made use of by Fanatick Persons as a Bar against the receiving of it at all though it be a posture sanctified by the Son of God when in the days of his being in the flesh he offered up Prayers to God and hath been used by all sober Christians in their publick and private Devotions and therefore most agreeable to that Solemn Office wherein we cannot with sufficient humility and reverence receive at the hands of God such an ineffable blessing nor worthily express our humble acknowledgment of thankfulness to God And in the act of receiving besides our secret supplication to God to pardon and absolve us from all our sins for Christ's sake we joyn with the Minister to pray that the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for us may preserve our Bodies and Souls to Eternal life though the Church hath used as plain and effectual a mean to prevent our being scandalized and scrupled at it by declaring in the Rubrick that no adoration is intended or ought to be done either to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or to any corporal presence of Christ's natural flesh and bloud for the Sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all Christians And that it was intended for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy receivers and for avoiding such disorder and profanation in the holy Communion as might otherwise ensue as the wisdom of Men can invent yet the outcry of Superstition Will-worship and Idolizing the Creatures of Bread and Wine is kept up and

hunger justified the Disciples of Christ for plucking and rubbing the ears of Corn on the Sabbath dayes And hunger justified David and those that were with him for entring into the house of God and eating the shew-bread which was not lawful for him to eat nor for them which were with him but only for the Priests And the Priests in the Temple were blameless for prophaning the Sabbath day Now if things before accidentally evil may by this much Necessity become lawful and a duty then may the commands of Magistrates or Pastors and the Unity of the Church and the avoiding of contention and offence and other evils be also sufficient to warrant us in obeying even in inconvenient Circumstantials of the worship of God that otherwise could not be justified § 18. Reas 12. Lastly consider how much God hath expressed himself in his word to be pleased in the Obedience of believers Not only in their Obedience to Christ immediately but also to him in his officers 1 Sam. 15. 22. Behold to obey is better than Sacrifice c. Col. 3. 20 22. Children obey your Parents in all things that is all lawful things for this is well-pleasing to the Lord Servants Obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh c. And Obedience to Pastors is as much commanded 1. Thes 5. 12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly c. Heb. 13. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account c. So Verse 7. 24. 1 Tim. 5. 17 c. § 19. As the General Commission to a Parent or Master or Magistrate to Govern their inferior relations doth authorize them to many particular acts belonging to their office that were never named in their commission so your general command to obey them obligeth you to obey them in the said particulars And so it is also betwixt the Pastors and the flock in matters belonging to the office of a Pastor § 20. If a Child shall ask a Parent Where doth Gods word allow you to command me to learn this Catechism or read this Divines writings or repeat this Sermon or write it c. doth not the question deserve to be answered with the rod The General Commission for Parents to Govern their children is sufficient So if a Schoolmaster command his Scholars to come to such a place to School and to take their places in such an Order and to learn such books and do such exercises c. the General Commission that he hath to teach and Govern them will allow him to do all this Though it will not allow him to set his Scholars to any Artifice or Manual Operation alien to his profession So if a Minister determine of the variable Circumstances of worship as what place the people shall come to and at what time to be Catechized examined instructed c. what Translation or Version of Psalms to use what Utensils to make use of about Gods service or such like he is warranted for this by his General Commission And if he miss it in the manner by choosing inconvenient circumstances or by unnecessary determination of points that should rather be left undetermined to liberty though this be his own sin it will not excuse the people from obedience unless the error of his directions be so great as would frustrate the Ordinance it self or do more harm than our disobedience would do which in Circumstantials is rarely found By long experience I am assured that practical religion will afford both to Church State and Conscience more certain and more solid peace than contending disputers with all their pretences of Orthodoxness and zeal against errors for the truth will ever bring or did ever attain to Wherefore let us consider in the next place The Mischief of Separation The mischief of Separation lies not in the bare error of judgment but in the unchristian and Church-dissolving division and alienation which thence followeth contrary to that humility and love which is the visible character of Christians and to that Oneness which is still in Scripture ascribed to the visible Church Alas that pride and ignorance should have such power among believers that men cannot be of several judgments in lesser points but they must needs be of several Churches God will make us value peace and union a little more before we shall taste of the perfect everlasting peace and union yea before we shall see the blessing of union in the Church Wounding is a dividing healing is a re-uniting a Building is of many stones or pieces orderly conjoyned a Church is an aggregation of individuals an association of Believers what then is it to demolish but to separate and disjoyn and what is it to dissolve Churches but to break their association to reduce them to individuals to cut them into shreds As for the differences in way of Government between the moderate Presbyterians Independants Episcopal and Erastian I make no doubt but if mens spirits stood not at a greater distance than their principles they would quickly be united But of all the four sorts there are some that run so high in their principles that they run out of the hearing of peace or truth For Anabaptism and Antinomianism God spake effectually against them by those wondrous Monsters in New-England but wonders are over-lookt where the heart is hardned and God intends to get his justice a name The fearful dolusions that God hath formerly given them over to and the horrid confusion which they have introduced where they have sprung hath spoken fully against both these later Sects The weeping eyes the bleeding sides the lacerated members of these Churches the reproach of the Gospel the disappointed Reformation the hideous doctrines and unheard of wickedness that hath followed them the contemned ordinances the reproached slandered and ejected Ministers the weak that are scandalized the Professors apostatized the wicked hardned and the open enemies of the Gospel that now insult all these do describe them more plainly to England than words can do and cry loud in the ears of God and man What will be the Answer time will shew but from Rev. 2. 14 15 16 c. we may probably conjecture He that is not a Son of peace is not a Son of God All other sins destroy the Church consequentially but division and Separation demolish it directly Building the Church is but an orderly joyning of the materials and what then is disjoyning but pulling down Many doctrial differences must be tolerated in a Church and why but for unity and peace therefore disunion and separation is utterly intolerable Believe not those to be the Churches friends that would cure and reform her by cutting her throat Those that say no truth must be concealed for peace have usually as little of the one as