malice Charity is not envious but envy raigns particularly in division where each party respects the obligation of their proper Interests Charity is not insolent nor puffed up with Glory whereas Division is fierce proud and insupportable It inspires those who possess it with a desire to abase and oppress others if it be possible that they may raise up themselves and Rule without Competitor Charity seeks not its own ends is not dispiteful and thinks no evil These ill qualities are the true Characters of Division in which it hath no other end than the advancement of its own party to the detriment of all others Charity rejoyces not in injustice but altogether in the truth Division oppresses the truth and is never pleased but with unrighteousness and violence Charity endures believes hopes and bears all things Division causes suspicions and jealousies to arise gives ill interpretations to actions and even to the most innocent words and drives us into passion and impatience into murmuring and extravagances And to draw the last Line to this parallel God grant that as Charity never fails but is maintained in the very ruine of all that which is most Glorious and most firm in Society so on the other side by the rule of contraries that we may quickly see this unhappy Division utterly decay and cease by a perfect uniting of all Christians CHAP. IV. The Third Effect of this Division That it makes Men Irreligious and causes Atheisme IN all Divisions which tear in pieces Kingdomes and Monarchies each side at the first does boast by their Manifestoes and Declarations that they took not up Armes but for the Publick Good and for maintaining the Crown and Authority of the Prince And although those Parties be so contrary and averse that their Swords are drawn and in a readiness to decide their quarrel yet both of them have the confidence to alledge in their Vindication the Justice of their cause and interest of their Soveraign whilst in the end all tend to the utter subversion of the State and total change of the Government And it will many times happen in these contests that the most mutinous and most sedicious do make themselves Masters of Soveraign Authority So is it ordinarily seen that in the division of Opinions in Religion every one protests that no other Argument or Interest perswades him to follow the Religion that he embraces but the real love of truth and desire of his Salvation All those who would be the promoters and spreaders of some new Opinion show an extraordinary Devotion and Zeal at the beginning But by little and little all that degenerates and all the overtures which Division makes serve but as so many doors by which at last Impiety Irreligion and Atheisme do slip in 'T is amidst these differences that we commonly see some new Religion thrust in it self among us which differs but very little from the disclaiming of all Religion Just so was it by means of the divers Sects which heretofore sprang up in the Church that the Doctrin of Mahomet has taken such footing in the World Every one knows how wide the Division of the Eastern and Western Churches was at that time And I do not believe but that the great diversity of Judgments and Religions which we see at present in Christianity hath been the cause of this coldness and want of Devotion amongst us in what we call Christian Society Insomuch that Piety and Religion seem only to be left in full Authority amongst Women and the Vulgar This Evil arises from hence that the greatest part of Men either cannot or will not give themselves the trouble of searching into these different Opinions to determine which they might close with so they choose rather to believe nothing absolutely than to be always in suspence about what they ought to believe As the great diversity of Medicines which are prescribed to a Patient do very often make him refuse all thinking it better to resign up all to venture at once rather than stand so long about making his choice of the Remedies which are proposed to him Some go towards it but with such a kind of negligence and natural sloath that makes them apprehend a great deal of trouble in it And these esteem it better to suspend all manner of action than undertake any thing that requires so much care and intensness of thought concerning it These are like lazy Souldiers who suffer themselves to be kill'd rather than they 'l couragiously take up their Armes and stand to their own defence Or those who out of a desperate Fury thrust a Dagger into their own Breasts for fear least their Enemy is pressing upon them to do it There are others who dare not venture upon this tryal through the distrust which they have of themselves and of their own power They do not feel themselves strong enough to sustain such a weight nor able to break through all those difficulties which they meet with This obliges some blindly to follow the first that is presented them and suffer themselves to be led by those who pretend to have skill herein Supposing they are in a good condition if they put themselves under the conduct of their Leaders And others stand Newters not daring to adhear to any Party out of a Distrust which they have of all such as offer themselves to them And this it is that causes Irreligion and Atheisme Yet are there some whose Fault is not neglect of examining these different Questions but the true Reason of it is because they are not indeed capable of it Such are all Pesants and Mechanicks and others who know nothing more than what belongs to their employments and who being taken out of that are as if they were in an unknown Country where they are ignorant both of the wayes and Language It puts them to a stand as though they had neither sense nor Motion They make all their Devotion and all the Service which they should pay to God to consist in the well observing these outward actions of Religion in which they have been trained up Witness the poor Christians of Muscovia all whose Religion is no more than just a showing to those who desire to be informed of their belief the Image of some Saint which they carry about with them And others also who think that if they know but how to make the sign of the Cross aright may pass for very good Christians Therefore if instead of puzelling our selves about so many questions and controversies we would study to bring back the Christian Doctrin to its true Principles which are but few in number and easy for all sorts of Persons to comprehend it would be the ready way to make true Christians who would know what is really essential in their Doctrine and so would quickly be brought to a true piety and to the fear of God which is the only design of Christian Religion Here it may also be added that this great diversity of
have reason to separate our selves from those who did depart from them But seeing that this sacred Word is contented to give us for this purpose certain general Precepts For St. Paul plainly tells us that These things must be done with Order and Decency Liberty is given without doubt to Christians to dispose of these according as they shall think convenient having regard to the circumstances of Places of Times and of Persons in keeping always within the Bounds of Decency and Order For besides that the Scripture has thus declared it self hereupon The nature of the thing seems palpably to lead us to the same There is no Body who does not put a great difference between that which is essential to a thing and that which is meerly accidental All acknowledg it is on the preservation of the first that the subsistence of its subject does absolutely depend that it can be very well maintained without the second and that also more conveniently Likewise that we should act quite otherwise for the first than we should for the other So to preserve health or to recover it though we strictly observe the Diet which is obsolutely requisite we can freely and without prejudice change the Relishes and Tinctures which we give to the Fod and to the Medicines This being once well setled every one sees how unreasonable a thing it would be to separate about the occasion of any difference which might happen in outward matters and accidentals to Religion should there be any Schisme in the Church concerning the Order which is to be amongst its Governours Must this Holy Union be broken because some would have the Church be governed by Bishops and others would have an equality amongst its Pastors Must we because of some diversity in the Habits of those who officiate in the Church break the knot which should tye all Christians together Is it just that for the Ornaments of the Temples the postures wherein private Persons should be during the acts of Devotion and other such Ceremonies the peace of the Church should be ruined and the Unity of its Members Has not the Primitive Church made it well appear that there was no such matter of scruple when it freely changed the practice according as the times and occasions required it Did not Tertullian one of its principal Doctors teach us that the Rule of Faith continuing firm and constant other things which regard the Discipline do sometimes suffer alterations and changes Were the Temples always set out in this magnificence which they are in at present among Christians Were Fastings always after the same manner observed Were the Garments of Ministers of the Church always in the sâ—me mode Have they at all times and in all places received the holy Eucharist after the same fashion as to their outward Gestures Has there not always been great diversity in the practice of these things and can we not still be able to suffer it without being forced to separate and dismember the Church as we do at this present time I confess that in certain Ceremonies some things may fall out to be practiseâ— which would directly oppose to the Fundamental Points of Religion But it would be easy to give a Remedy to this Evil following the Order which I shall propose We should in this case look back to the very Precept it self upon which we should all agree together For if we all accord in what concerns the Doctrine we shall find no great difficulty to accord or at least to maintain a charitable judgment in the use of the Ceremony If we were once but well Reunited together in the Opinions which we should have of the Doctrine I am assured that we should bear with one another in things which are not of that importance If we joyned in the main essential matters the necessaries would not easily separate us Behold then how this happy means of Peace must be ordered It is by establishing immediately with great care the bounds which are to be given to these two things That is First that a right distinction be made between what serves for the outward conduct of the Actions of true Believers and the essence and internal concern of a good Christian Next that we labour and seek out by all the ways imaginable how we may be Reunited in what respects the essence of Christianity But for that which respects the outward Government and the Ceremonies of the Church some liberty should be given to the particular Societies of Christians Herin regard must be had to the difference of Places and Climates where they dwell which often create more disgust to one sort of Government than to another Also there should be considered the diversity of their Politique Government which may imprint some stamps of its Character upon that of the Church Lastly We should likewise have in consideration what these Societies may have practised hitherto with success in this respect and leave them the entire disposal thereof after having represented to them what shall be judged more prositable and more commodious for them This diversity must not alter the peace of the Church It is not just that agreeing together in the essential Points we should break the bonds of our amity for things which are not essential How many Brothers are there who although they be of different employments yet for all this leave not off their living together as Brothers and making up one and the same Family I would therefore have an accomodation made herein according to the Customes and Practices of the Places in which they live That in all parts where they should inhabit and sojourn they might be subject to the Community of Christians which should be there established without condemning or blaming other Customes That we should rather believe charitably that every one has followed herein the Order which has been supposed to be most convenient and most requisite to Salvation seeing that still the Principal which is comprehended in few Articles continues firm Thus St. Paul was accustomed to do 1 Cor. 10.33 Endeavouring to please and accommodate all matters without seeking after particular conveniencies but only the Salvation of many And when he saw any who would be contentious in these things He only answered them thus 1 Cor. 11.16 We have no such Custome Showing that it argues a contentious spirit and an enemy to the Peace of the Church to be unwilling to follow Order and Custome in things of this nature We should always six here that we ought not barely upon account of humane Institutions to separate one from another seeing we break with those who embrace the same Doctrine which we do clearly taught us in the Word of God under pretence that they have not the same practice with us in the outward part of Religion CHAP. V. The Fourth meanes To distinguish between that which the Scripture proposes to us to believe as Doctrine of Salvation and that which it delivers to us as Histories of things which have
they might substitute another in its roome Thus by their subtilty they Arm the Secular Power against those who would promote Doctrines perchance were innocent or better Founded than theirs CHAP. II. That there has never yet been made a true distinction in Christian Religion of what is really Essential and Fundamental and what is not ALthough the minds of those who have embraced Christianity may be diversly disposed yet they all agree in this one Point that there are certain Doctrines in Religion which are Essential and Fundamental and others likewise of less importance They all acknowledge that there are some from which they cannot depart without doing a manifest prejudice to Religion and to the Salvation of Souls and that there are also others to which they may adhere without wounding their consciences But there could never yet any Boundaries be agreed upon which should be established for the right setling all People in their proper and natural Limits Every one would make his own Opinion pass for Fundamental and absolutely necessary to Salvation Whereas had we but well distinguished betwixt these two sorts of Doctrines had we but laid good Foundations to keep these Tenets hereafter from being confused this Evil of which we complain might easily be remedied and all Parties might be Re-united as I undertake to make appear to You in the Third Part of this Treatise In the mean time who does not evidently see that for want of knowing rightly how to distinguish between these two sorts of Doctrines the greatest part of the Divisions which are amongst Christians is observed to arise How many questions are there as unprofitable as curious which have made a separation in Men's Judgments How many persons without ever having exammed or understood them have sided some with one and some with the other only that they might not be suspected to be without Religion without Devotion and without Knowledg How many Disputes likewise are there which have no other Foundation than certain different terms and expressions whilst all agree in the substances and make all their quarrels but about words 'T is certain that would they examine the Foundation of their Contentions without passion and without prejudice they would be ashamed for having lost so much time and exprest so much heat about a thing which merited it not Every one knows how many disputes the subject of Grace hath caused amongst the Roman Catholicks 'T is well known with what ardour the Defenders of an Irrespective Science which they attribute to God have maintained their Doctrine against those who establish an Absolute Decree This is that which has formed two Parties amongst their Doctors This Difference has continued and is renewed in our time betwixt the Jansenists and the Jesuits although under other terms There is no person ignorant unto what a degree of Division they have come about this business and the strange consequences which are apprehended from it In the mean time how a new Doctor who hath caused the Memoires of Grace to be printed maintains that all the difference is but only in words He undertakes to put an end to it by showing that they all agree in the Foundations and are all in the same mind with St. Augustin Fulgentius St. Thomas Aquinas all the School men and the Council of Trent If it be so who will not suspect that the like thing may not possibly have happened in many other points wherein to our misfortune different Opinions have made a separation and division I place in the rank of Questions which are not essential and fundamental in Religion such as are made about the business of the Government of the Church and the Ceremonies instituted for ruling the exteriour part of its Worship For how much stir has been made concerning those things which have no other ground than the general Rule proposed by St. Paul namely That all things be done with Order and Decency in the Church 'T is sufficient thersore that in these Matters we have always before our eyes that which may advance the Glory of God and edifie his Church For indeed we may dress in a different manner the proper means for obtaining so good an end The use and application of this general Rule might be left to the Liberty of each particular Church to do what they should judg most expedient according to the Circumstances of the Place times dispositions of Mens Spirits and such like They should only take heed of introducing in these things some practice which might be directly opposite to any of the essential and fundamental Doctrines Some require that the Teachers of the Church should be equal and others would have a Superiority and Inferiority amongst them Some are for an outward Pomp in the Church and others would have a great plainness Some believe that the Ornaments of the Places of Devotion breed a respect to the exercise and others think that the meanness of the place takes off the thoughts of the faithful from material carnal things to lift them upward to those which are Coelestial and Divine Some love Musick and the sound of melodious Instruments in Divine Service and others say that it disturbs the mind and carries away the devotion which should be fixt in those Holy places Some are of Opinion that the Riches of the Ministry their Train and outward Pomp gains them the veneration of the People who are apt otherwise to despise them Others judg that the poverty and simplicity of the Ministers of the Church does better accord with the Genius of the Gospel and produce more saving effects in the minds of Men than all Worldly splendour It is in these kinds of Questions and Differences that I shall let you see we should bear one with another for I hold that there may happen occasions where one of these practices may be most expedient and most edifying and others or that which is opposite to it may likewise prove of very great benefit always provided that order and decency be preserved Thus must there be a mutual Toleration amongst Christians and a charitable and brotherly support one towards another CHAP. III. That Men have departed from the true Fundamentals of Christian Religion to take up others which have nothing of Solidity in them and which put these Divisions amongst Them 'T Is a general Opinion amongst all Christians that it is from God alone that we must receive the Articles of our Faith and the Rule of our Actions They agree also in this that it is in his Word contain'd in the Old and New Testament that those two things are compriz'd and that it is from thence as from two Fountains that they must be drawn down to us The Councils themselves namely those which are called General and to which some Christians do attribute as much authority and infallibility as to the Holy Scriptures confirm this truth For they have never undertaken to decide any point of Religion but by the Holy Scriptures They have concluded that
they ought to ascend up thither for establishing of any Doctrine which must have power and authority amongst Christians And yet have we departed insensibly from this principle We have quitted this saving Tenet by attributing to Man that which is not due but to God alone We have made such Doctrines as are meerly humane to pass crowded amongst those which are handed down to us from God Just as they put off false Money by making it glister as much as may be and then mixing it amongst such as is currant Coin that it may not be suspected This is it that has given scope to contentions and afterwards been the grand cause of Division Some have been of Opinion that whatsoever specious pretences and whatsoever plausible names have been given to the decisions of the most famous Assemblies are all this while but Humane Sentiments which ought to be examined before they are received They say that they are but particular Men who have proposed their Opinions in these Assemblies That many times in these occasions 't is the credit readiness of wit eloquence or some force of argument more specious than solid which makes these Opinions pass for Articles of Faith That those particular Persons who compose these Assemblies may be mistaken notwithstanding all their Lights and Knowledge That by consequence a Company of them how numerous soever they be are subject to defects and to the errours of the Members whereof they are composed Lastly That the very diversity which is sometimes sound in the decisions made by them justifies enough their Opinion and makes us see that all these decisions are subject to tryal Others who are of a different sence maintain that without the decisions of the Councils we should have but an imperfect Rule of our Belief That the Holy Scripture does not comprehend all that which is taught us in the Church That there are also many things in the Holy Scriptures that have need of explaining and interpretation That on these occasions there is none to whom we can have better recourse than to the Church to whom God has promised the ordinary conduct of his Spirit That the Church cannot make her Voice be better understood and declare to us her sence in a fashion more authentique than when she is represented and as it were united in these Solemn Assemblies They are perswaded that when such an Assembly is lawfully gathered it does of Right enjoy an Infallibility equal to that of the Holy Scripture that it is God himself who speaks as much in one as the other In the mean time both one and the other agree in this point that the Scripture is infallible that it is the foundation of the truth and the soveraign Rule of all Holiness The latter also pretend that although they plead in favour of the authority and infallibility of the Church they find argument enough in the Scriptures for maintaining their doctrine and confounding of Errour But let us for the present lay by this controversy of the Authority of the Church and return back to that principle which all agree upon It may be we may draw Rules and Directions enough from thence so that we shall not be obliged to enter upon this other Dispute which shall be more particularly examined in the third Part of this Treatise Let us therefore only hear what Tertullian says upon this Subject Apolog. Chap. 47. Where giving a Reason of the Divisions which he saw in his time about Christian Religion He says that Those who have separated themselves from the Communion of the Church have in the doing it violated their faith to Jesus Christ For he it is that hath taught us the rule of truth which he caused to be delivered to us by those holy Men who had the happiness to hear his Word and receive his divine Instructions That all which is not conformable to that Rule has been invented by new Doctors who came not till after those Blessed Disciples of the Son of God In this manner hath this worthy Man ascended up to the very Fountain Head of this Evil and discovered the Original of those miserable Divisions And St. Augustin in that remarkable passage against Maximin the Arrian Let us lay aside said he all prejudices which we may conceive I from the Council of Nice and thou from that of Arimini Let us both one and the other be guided by the Authority of the Holy Scripture which is no partial witness but is as well common to one as to the other Therefore as when a Man hath once given way to some dangerous Principle what care soever he takes to avoid the ill consequences therof he is sure to fall insensibly upon them Likewise whatsoever corrective may be brought for the taking away from the Antimony its malignant qualities there shall nevertheless break forth some ill effects of it So this Doctrine being once setled that Men must be consulted and followed concerning the Articles of Faith we do give them by little and little an Authority which appertains only to him who is truth it self The consequence of which is that we become in a condition of acquiescing blindly on whatsoever the Caprichio's of Men can invent in matters of Religion Every one believes himself to have as much right herein as his Companion Every one endeavours to make his particular Opinions pass for essential truths Every one condemns as Heretiques and as People out of the way of Salvation all those who do not submit themselves absolutely to their Rule In brief every one maintains that there is no true Church but that which receives the Opinions which he has promoted to whom alone belongs the Right of Governing all that which concerns Religion And although many make a difficulty of attributing insallibility to the Church nevertheless they hold that they ought to submit to these decisions at least if they themselves cannot pass for Deciders All which has much contributed to the forming of Division and to the fomenting it after it is kindled CHAP. IV. That the dislike which has been had at the simplicity of Christian Religion has been an occasion that Men have given it a different aspect from that which it had in its beginning I Do not believe that there is any Christian who will not agree with me that Christianity was never more pure more Holy and more proper to induce its Professors to Vertue than in its Birth That was a time wherein the saving Principles of the Gospel were only received from the mouth of the Son of God and from those holy Men whom he had inspired This was the true Golden Age of the Church abounding in Saints in Confessors and in Martyrs And I believe that this truth will also be granted me that then at that time when Christian Religion was so pure and exempt from Errour its Doctrine was also most simple and most naked It was free from all those subtil questions which some caused to be statted up in the succeding
Ages It was not subjected to the burthensome observation of so many Ceremonies which are as strange habits and ornaments wherewith it has been since cloathed There are to be found amongst us two sorts of Persons which have much contributed to this Evil. The first are those subtil Spirits who besides their own natural wit are still more refined in the Schools of the Philosophers The second are such as are pleased at some showe and appearance who have not yet been able to quit the inclinations which the World has inspired them with for these outward things and who cannot forbear the having some esteem for the pomp of the Jewish and Pagan Ceremonies The first sort have thought that Christian Religion would be much more considered if it should contain many Misteries which were obscure and difficult to comprehend Judging that as plainness causes contempt obscurity would gain it respect and veneration They have formed difficulties upon all the points of Religion to exercise their wits on and to show their skill and learning which they bring with them from the Schools They have caused doubts to arise from the things which are most easy In a word they have changed the Christian School into a School of Branglings and Disputes Which heretofore caused a certain Person to say that the Philosophers had been the Patriarches of the Heretiques The other Spirits who are for having some show in Religion fancy that if the Christian Church were but reduced into the simplicity which it had in its first rise it would have but a few Followers They see that Men naturally do love that which pleases the Senses and which conveys devotion into the heart by the Eyes and Eares It is from this notion that all these several different Ceremonies are crept in amongst us which we see practised among Christians They have retained Jewdaisme nay more they have brought in such Paganisme as they have deemed most proper to imprint by outward objects some inward Motives to Devotion and Zeal They have imagined that they could with profit make use of those things which the others abused They have supposed that that was the way to sanctifie the profane Vessels of the Egiptians and bring back that to its true use which nourished the Pagan Superstition In the mean time how specious soever the Reasons and Pretences are which one and the other alledg in their own favour These are they who have given the first stroke to the Peace and Union of the Church For if at first they had religiously kept themselves to the small number of Rules which the Gospel prescribes us they had never soparated into so many Sects as have been formed concerning such questions as the curiosity of Men has caused to be raised Jesus Christ tells us that his Yoke is easy to bear He invites all even to the very little Children to believe in Him which he would not have done if the Faith had certainly brought with it all those abstruce Rules and Misteries which are proposed to us now The Holy Scriprures do present but very few Doctrines in comparison of the Exhortations to Vertue which are there made us And the Gospel is not given us but that we should believe that Jesus is the Messias and that in believing it we may have life through his Name John 20. To be lawfully Baptized It is sufficient to believe from the Heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Acts 8. Saint Paul reduces all his preaching to this only Point That Jesus Christ is the Messias foretold by the Prophets that he was to be crucified and rise again from the dead Acts 17. The same reports that the extent of his knowledg is to know Jesus Christ and Him Crucified The Epistle to the Hebrews requires not more of him that would approach neer to God but the knowledg of two things that there is one God and that he is the Rewarder of those who seek after Him And St. James makes pure Religion and blameless before God to consist in visiting the Widow and Fatherless in their afflictions and in keeping themselves from being defiled by this World As if they would have said that the Principal design of Religion is to bend all ones study to Sanctity to Purity and to Charity The Creed of the Apostles contains whatsoever is Essential in the Rules of Christian Religion And what that teaches us is sufficient for the Consolation of our Souls and to induce us to a holy Life Let us but examine all the Apologies of the first Christians written on purpose to discover their Opinions in Religion They justifie all that which I assert They comprehend but a very few Articles of Faith as concerning the existence of God the Incarnation of our Lord his Birth Life Death and Resurrection Hence it is that they have defended themselves from the accusations which were brought against them that they have resisted the strongest temptations and sustained with courage the most violent Persecutions If they had continued in that course and had not consulted the Schools of Plato and Aristotle concerning the Rules of Religion there had been no change made then had there been no separation in Christianity If the wit of Man had not been ambitious to mix his own with the Divine Oracles the Church would have still been in its innocency and in its purity Such are all these new Opinions which being destitute of the evidence of truth have separated Mens Spirits and caused this unhappy Division And as to this matter of Ceremonies and of the outward show of the Church If they had considered them as simple Ornaments which are nothing of the Essence of Religion If they had not multiplyed them to so vast a number If herein they had kept up themselves to the simplicity of their practice in the Primitive Church They had had no occasion for any contests concerning these things and every one might have easily found wherewithall to be satisfied But since they have without measure increased the number of Ceremonies So that they have not left Christians the Liberty of making the least step in Religion without upholding it by some Ceremony They have put things to a tryal Every one has pretended to have a right to speak his sence thereof which has made many to separate and given occasion of Division CHAP. V. That many do make use of Religion to serve their particular Interests and the advantages of a temporrl Life THe greatest Evil which Reigns in Society is that a right distinction has never been made between the solid and true goods and those which have no foundation but in the imagination of Man We often prefer a Worldly interest before all the advantages of the Soul and the hopes of that which is to come Sometimes also after a most wicked and detestable manner there are those who make Religion and an appearance of Devotion serve for the obtaining or preserving some temporal and passing good Insomuch that as it is