after the seventh General Council of Constantinople which expresly condemned the Worship of Images But they say the second Council of Ephesus and the * This Council did not err in condemning the worship of Images seventh General Council Constantinople erred and decreed false Doctrine so say we of the Council of Trent and therefore let another Free and General Council be called to umpire the Controversie between the Church of England and the Council of Trent and if upon a fair tryal by the Scriptures Fathers and Councils such a Council shall condemn the Church of England then I will leave her Communion and own I have been guilty of Heresie and Schism I think no Son of the Church of England need scruple of say as much nor fear to promise to stand to the Determinations of such a Council as will freely and impartially try all Controversies by the ancient Touchstone of †In Ipsâ catholicâ Ecclesiâ magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus creditum est Hoc ita demum fit si sequamur Vnisversitatem Antiquitatem Consentionem Vincent Lirin Cap. 3. Vide etiam Cap. 38. Vniversality Antiquity and Consent This was the Catholick Test of old and ought to be so still and to shew how indifferent I am between the two Churches I heartily beseech Almighty God that She may flourish and prevail which is most willing to undergo and best able to abide this Test The Conclusion HAving now finished the Apology which I undertook to make for the Church of England against those who love to ridicule Her with the English Divisions in Religion and lay an heavy Charge of undue Consequences upon her meerly upon their score I think I cannot answer the Design of my Undertaking better than in concluding with a practical and friendly Address to the Candid READER of what Perswasion soever whether he be a Roman Catholick or Church of England Catholick or a Dissenter from them both I shall first begin with the Roman Catholicks who have been the occasion of writing this Discourse and I humbly beg them to consider That it is not for their Honour to use such Arguments against the Church of England now as the Heathens of old used against Christianity nor for their Advantage to put us upon defending Her in the very same manner as they must be forced to defend the Christian Religion against the Mahumetans who are mightily prepossessed by the multitude of Sects among the Christians against the Truth and Goodness of Christianity it self Nay it is their Interest as much as ours to leave off this way of Arguing against the Church of England because the Atheists and Scepticks and irreligious persons of both Churches argue the very same way against the Truth of the Christian Religion they take advantages from the great number and variety of Sects in Christendom whereof every on a pretends to be the true Church to think that really there is no Religion and therefore methinks all serious and piously disposed persons among the R. Cs. into whose hands this Apology shall fall should so far become my Proselytes as hereafter to forbear this way of Arguing which gratifies the common Enemies of Christianity and concludes as severely against the Vniversal Church as they would have it do against ours Secondly I desire them to consider whether it be prudently done of them to reproach us with our Divisions when they do not know how soon we may have occasion to turn their own Reproaches upon them and do unto them if Christian Charity should not restrain us as they now do unto us They do not know how soon their Vnity of which they boast so much may be broken into Divisions and the Peace which they pretend to have among themselves be turned into a spiritual War. The Spirit of Strife and Contention and of setting up Altar against Altar may for all their present assurance come upon them as sorrow upon a Woman in travail and then whether the Sects which shall arise among them be real or only reputed Heresies and Schisms they will be taken in their own Snare and the full weight of their own Arguments against us will fall upon their own heads Let him that thinketh the standeth saith the Apostle take heed lest the fall and let the Church of Rome which perhaps the R. Cs. may think so secure in her Politicks of Vnion take heed she fall not into pieces and be broken in shivers like a Potters Vessel by him that ruleth with an Iron Rod. They should consider that God can send the Spirit of Luther upon their Monks the Spirit of Savanarola upon their Fryars the Spirit of Herman and Cranmer upon their Prelates the Spirit of Vergerius Contarenus upon their Nuncio's and Legates the Spirit of Cardinal †Vid. Vergerii Annotat in Catal Heret 261 262. Fregosius upon the Conclave the Spirit of * Of Brandenburg Albert †Of Saxony Frederic upon Soveraign Catholick Princes and the Spirit of Marcellus secundus upon the Pope himself They should remember especially the Learned among them from what a slight accidental occasion the Arian Schism began and God who was pleased to suffer an universal Conflagration to arise from such a small Spark can in a moment raise up many Arius's Rome and make the Princess of the Provinces sit solitary and all her Friends become her Enemies Nay he is able as it were by a Voice from Heaven to say unto her people Come out of her lest ye be partakers of her sins †Saltem Petrarchae parcerent Praesertim cum fuerit ex praelatorum numero parumque absuerit ut à Benedicto XII fuerit Cardinalis creatus Homo Italus atque idem ex praecipuis Praelatis unus summâ Eruditione sapientiâ vir quem Papa quem tota Apostolica Sedes quem tota Italia maximi facit atque colit PP Vergerius Annot. in Catal. Haer. fol. 259 260. Petrarch one of her most Eminent Writers in Prose and Verse who was the Pride and Glory of Italy and the Delight of Rome where he received the Laurel Petrarch one of her Celebrated Church-men who narrowly missed a Cardinal's Cap the Learned the Eloquent the Charming Petrarch applied this and many more such Texts unto Her in an * Part of which Epistle is translated and cited by Vergerius Ibid. fol. 259 260. Epistle wherein he Paraphrased the 17th Chapter of the Revelations and how do they know but God may make the people hear and obey the Voice of Petrarch and come out of her in as great numbers beyond the Alps and Apennines as they have done on this side of them The Pectilent Northern Heresie as one called it may soon scale the Mountains and invade the Southern Climates and they themselves do not know how suddenly God may make Province after Province and Nation after Nation fall off and separate from the Church of Rome What
6th and not his Antagonist Clement was duely chosen Pope and ought to be accepted and obeyed in this Realm I never saw the Original but shall set down the Abridgment of it out of Sir R. Cotton's Exact Abridgment of the Records in the following words An Act that Pope Urban was true and lawful Pope and that the Livings of all Cardinals and other Rebels to the said Pope shall be seized in the King's hands and the King to be answered by the Profits thereof and that whosoever within this Realm shall procure or obtain any Provision or other Instrument from any other Pope then the said Urban shall be out of the King's protection Serjeant Rastall hath another Abridgment of this Act somewhat different in one passage but in all the rest to the same effect An. 2 R. 2. c. 7. It was agreed that Urban was duely elected Pope and ought to be obey'd as Head of the Church and that all Benefices and Possessions of Cardinals and other the King's Enemies should be seized And it was enacted Râ—slalâ—'s Statutes Tit. Provision and Praemunire p. 356. 8. that if any purchased by provision any Benesice or Grace by any other named Pope then of Pope Urban or be obedient to any other Person as Pope he should be out of the King's protection and his Goods seized I should not have brought this Act upon the Stage but that the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion are so apt to miscall our Church a Parliamentary Church and our Religion a Parliamentary Religion only because our Laws confirm and establish the Sanctions of the Church of England as the Imperial Laws and Edicts formerly did the Decrees of general Councils particularly as * The external Bishop of the Church Constantine the Great who sate in the Nicene Council confirmed the Nicene Creed and all other things that were ordained by the Council of Nice when he was but a Catechumenus or Learner of the Christian Religion He said of himself that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ' E 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after his death the Fathers surnamed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Equal to the Apostles and whosoever will take the pains to run over but with a cursory eye the Novels of Justinian the Nomocanons and Basilicks the Capitularia of the old French Spelm. concil vol. 1 and the Laws of our Ancient Saxon Kings will find that our religious Princes since the Reformation have intermedled no more with the Affairs of the Church then Christian Princes formerly did But to return thither where I broke off I desire the Reader to take notice That of 29 or * Onuphrius reckons so many 30 Schisms in the Church of Rome I have taken notice but of nine and that if it were requisite to say more of the Roman Schisms and Differences I could add another Account of Anti Cardinals and Anti-Councils to this short one of the Anti-Popes CHAP. II. Shewing That Schisms and Divisions and the consummation of them in opposite Communions are no good Argument against the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church II. HAving in the former Chapter I hope clearly demonstrated that the universal Church and all the particular Members of it are subject to Heresies and Schisms I proceed in this to shew that they are no Argument against the Trueness or Goodness or Reputation of any Church because what is incident to the whole Church and all the parts of it cannot be a good Argument against any one If the Body may lose an Arm it can be no disparagement to the Hand to have a Finger drop off or if a Tree to which St. Cyprian compares the Catholick Church may have a Bough rent off from its Body it can be no disgrace to a Bough to lose a rotten Branch or to a Branch to lose a rotten Twig If the Hand cannot in reason or prudence upbraid the Foot with the loss of a Toe because it may lose a Finger then certainly nothing ought to be concluded from a common Affection of all Churches to the prejudice or dishonour of this or that particular Church When our Saviour was told of the Galileans whose bloud Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices Suppose ye saith he unto those that told him of it that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish or those eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell think ye that they were sinners above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Our blessed Redeemer teacheth us from these Examples how unreasonable and uncharitable it is to censure particular Persons when the common Misfortunes of Mankind fall upon them For the Galileans who were murdered by Herod at their Devotion were no greater Sinners then other men and those upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell were it seems as good as their Neighbour tho' the Jews were so apt to think and speak hardly of them for their Misfortune contrary to the Doctrine of their own Scriptures which taught them that there is one Event unto all and that no man can know the Love or Hatred of God by all that is before him All things saith the Preacher come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not And as it is with particular men in reference to the common Misfortunes of Mankind so it is with particular Churches in reference to Divisions and Separations which are common Accidents to all Churches good or bad true or false pure or corrupt Catholick or un-Catholick that are called by the Name of Christ They are all alike subject to Divisions and sub Divisions in Religion and therefore those who argue against any Church upon that score treat her in the time of her Calamity as Job's Friends treated him who turned his Misfortunes which might have fallen upon themselves into Arguments against him to prove that he was an Hypocrite and not pure and upright as he pretended to be But in the primitive Times men were not such miserable comforters of Churches afflicted with Divisions Then they were better Logicians and better Christians than to think a Church was not Catholick or in the favour of God because Heresies and Schisms arose in it as appears from the Salutations which St. Paul gave unto the Church of Corinth when it abounded with Heresie Faction and Dissentions as I shewed in the former Chapter In the beginning of both his Epistles he salutes them in this manner Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ unto the Church of God which is at Corinth It was still the Church of God tho' there were Hereticks and factious Parties of men in it nay so far was he in his infallible judgement from unchurching the Flock of Christ there upon
noverit Vae illis iterum poeitentiam agant nec ament gloriam hominum magis quam gloriam Dei. P Vergerius in Annot in Catalogum Haereticorum p. 262. Dissemblers and Indifferents in Italy Spain and Portugal and even in Rome it self If a Mahumetan Pagan or Jew should argue thus against them as they argue against us they must either renounce their own Consequences or sink under the weight of them nay if an Atheist or Infidel of any other kind should take that advantage against Christianity from the Schisms and Divisions of it which they do against the best Church of Christendom the Church of England I appeal to their own Consciences whether they must not deny their own Conclusions or expose and betray the Cause of Christ The Pagans argued so against Christianity in the primitive Times because so many Sects grew up with it and therefore the variety of Heresies and Schisms which have sprung up in England since the Reformation can be no Argument against the Church It is no blemish to her to be in the same condition with the best and purest Churches in the best and purest Times it was so when the Apostles governed the Church and the Spirit of God bid the Christians Try all things and hold fast that which is good Hitherto I have proved that Divisions and Separations can be no good Argument or matter of just reproach against any Church because they are incident to all Churches as I have shewed by a sufficient Enumeration of Particulars and this will farther appear if we consider that they may be Arguments for as well as against a Church and a cause of just praise and commendation of it as well as of just reproach When they are just and reasonable then indeed they are good Arguments against the Church where they arise and give men just cause to reproach it but when they are not just and reasonable but proceed from mistake in those that make them or from worse Causes they they are good Arguments against the dividing Parties and just matter of reproach to them but none at all to the Church Wherefore it argues want of Ingenuity or great weakness of Judgement in men to exclaim against a Church upon the score of Divisions and Separations before they have examined whether the Church or the Separatists are in the fault In Reason and Charity this ought first to be done before either the Church or the Separators or both be condemned but our Adversaries of the Roman Church without any regard to the Case betwixt the Church of England and the Dissenters loudly defame her in all Places with the Dissentions and Separations and object to our People the great difficulty and uncertainty of finding out among so many opposite Churches and Religions which is the right if there be any such and therefore exhort them to take Sanctuary in that Church which is at unity in it self and looks so like the one Catholick Church But God be praised the People of the Church of England are generally better instructed then to be imposed upon with such loose Talk. They understand very well that as Separations from corrupt and impure Churches is a necessary duty so as long as there are Devils to tempt men there will also be unjust Separations from found and Catholick Churches and that therefore Separations and Divisions in the general can neither make for or against any Church They know very well that Churches like natural Bodies are of different Tempers and Constitutions and that when any of them chances to undergo a separation of Parts the particular nature and constitution of it must be examined before a man can safely conclude whether the blamable Parts went off or remained with the Church In the separation of Gold from the drossie and spurious Parts of Wine from the Lees of Wheat from the Chaff and of the excrementitious Parts from the Chyle and Bloud the base and impure and unprofitable Parts go off and the good and pure and profitable stay behind but in the separation of Wheat from Tares of Flower from the Bran and in all Chymical Separations the good the generous and spiritual Parts go off and the refuse and feculent stay behind I have made use of this familiar Comparison to shew how Separations and Divisions in the general can be no rational Argument for or against any Church until it be known what king of Body that Church was before the Separation sound or corrupt pure or impure Catholick or not Catholick Apostolical or un Apostolical And when this is once stated then it will appear whether the Divisions and Separations which were made from her make for her or against her I say when it is first known what kind of Church a divided Church was before the beginning of the Division then it may be known whether the Division objected against it be an Argument for or against the Trueness Soundness and Purity of it but to argue pro or con from Separations before this is stated is but to talk at Random which it doth not become men of Learning and Ingenuity to do According to this Rule the Divines of England first proved that the Communion of the Roman Church was not pure and Apostolical and thence justified the Separation of the Church of England from it as necessary and on the contrary they have proved that the Communion of the Church of England is pure and Apostolical and thence condemn the Separation of the Dissenters from it as needless They argue à priori against both on the one hand proving that the Wheat went off from the Tares and on the other that the Chaff went off from the Wheat But to argue à posteriori and in general against a Church meerly upon the score of Divisions before we examine the Constitution of the divided Church and state the Case between her and the Dividers doth become no men especially no Church-men but such as having a weak Cause must make use of popular for want of found Arguments and make the best they can of Sophistry when Reason is not on their side CHAP. III. That bare Vnity or want of Schisms and Divisions in Religion are no sound Argument of the Truth Goodness or Reputation of a Church III. HAving shew'd in the second Chapter That Divisions and Separations are no Argument against the Trueness or Reputation of any Church I proceed to shew in this That bare Vnity or want of Divisions is no Argument for the Trueness or Reputation of a Church and this I shall endeavour to demonstrate three ways First By shewing That it is not the Unity but the things in which a Church is united that truly recommend and justifie a Church Secondly That Church-Unity may be the effect of culpable Causes And thirdly That all Churches true or false Catholick or not Catholick are united in themselves and particularly that the Church of England hath more potential and actual Union in it then that of the Church of Rome
First then It is not bare Vnion but the things in which a Church is united that must truly recommend and justifie it to the Christian World and prove it to be the Church of God. This is a self-evident Proposition which all the Churches in the World will admit at first hearing and the very Test by which when Disputes arise they must be content to be tryed For as to this Particular it is just in Ecclesiastical as it is in Civil Law and Government where it is not the Union but the Things or Cause in which men are united that distinguish lawful from unlawful Societies and Meetings otherwise if bare Union and Agreement how strict soever were a Sign of or a good Argument for the true and Catholick Church then Aaron the high Priest at the Head of that Congregation which worshipped the golden Calf was the true Church of the Jews He was their supream and lawful Pastor and they were very unanimous in making the Calf after his direction and in building an Altar before it and in oftering up Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings to use the new phrase in the presence of it They sate down to eat and drink before it and said with one unanimous Acclamation These be thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt I believe there never was a more perfect Union and Agreement in the Church of Rome then among the Communicants of this sinful Congregation nevertheless it was no Schism to divide from them because they united in a sin Their Union was their Crime because the object of it was highly criminal and God was provoked to consume them because they agreed in a thing that was so abominable in his eyes So the Corahites were as firmly united under Corah as the true Church was under Moses and Aaron Two hundred Princes of the Assembly with a great number of People were firmly united together in a Cause wherein they stuck together to the death even till the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and they went down alive into Hell. So likewise the ten Tribes were as firmly united at Bethel as the two were at Hierusalem they had number as well as union to plead but notwithstanding both their number and union they were but a great Schism because they united in Innovations contrary to the will of God. So to pass from the Jews to the Christians there hath been at several times as strict an Union among Hereticks and Schismaticks as among the Catholicks The Novatians in particular were remarkable for their Concord Unity and Unanimity So were the Arians generally all of one Communion and very unanimous against the Homousian Doctrine and yet they were but a great prevailing Schism when they were at the highest and had almost gained the whole Christian World. From these Examples it is plain that in passing judgement upon Churches we are not to look at the Union so much as the Cause in which they are united We are to consider if their Doctrine and Discipline be Apostolical and their terms of Communion truly Catholick and if they be so then their Union in them is holy and laudable and such as makes them true Churches of God. A concurrence of these things is the genuine badge of a * Ad bane it aque for mam probabuntur ab illis Ecclesiis quae licet nullum ex Apostolis vet Apostolicis Autorem suum proserant ut multò posteriores quae denique quotidie instituuntur tamen in câdem fide conspirantes non minùs Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae Tertull. de praescript Haeres truly Catholick and Apostolical Church and if those of the Roman Communion would have us admire their Union and be made Converts by it they must first make it appear to us that they are united in these things Otherwise their Unity instead of being an Argument for their Church is a strong Argument against it to prove that it is but a Conspiracy and an over-grown Schism from the one Catholick and Apostolical Church But secondly Church-unity may be the effect of culpable Causes and by culpable Causes I mean only such as in a great measure make the embracing of any Religion an inspontaneous or unwilling action and these are only two Ignorance and Compulsion when men either are of a Religion which they would not be of if they knew the faults of it or when knowing the faults of it they would certainly forsake it were they not under force but left to their own free choice First then Church-unity may be the effect of Ignorance which was one great cause of the Unity and Agreement of almost all Mankind in Paganism and therefore their ignorance of the Gentiles is called darkness in the New Testament as where our Lord is compared to the Day-spring or Sun-rising which gave light to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death So the Apostle of the Gentiles told them It was their duty to shew forth the Praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light and truly their spiritual darkness was so great that God did in some measure excuse their gross error in thinking that the Godhead could be like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by Art or man's device Tho' men who were worthy and absurd Idaea's of him yet as the Apostle told the Athenians The times of their former ignorance God winked at but then commanded all the Gentiles every where at their utmost peril to repent There never was a more strict and general Union among the Jews or Christians then there was among the Greeks For Paganism was become the Catholick Religion or Superstition as Catholick signifies universal and was spread far and wide upon the Earth and yet as the Apologetical Writers replied to the Greeks when they argued from the extent of their Religion and the consent of Mankind in it their great agreement in Idolatry was the effect of their Ignorance as plainly appeared from the preaching of the Gospel upon which they forsook those dumb Idols unto which they were carried even as they were led and turned from their former Vanities and Superstition unto the living God. They worshipped the Gods and observed their impure Rites because they knew no better but when their Understandings came to be well informed then they made a new and manly choice such as proceeded from all the Principles of humane Actions and plainly shewed that Ignorance had hitherto been the Mother of their Idol-devotion and by consequence that the choice of their former Religion wanted a sufficient measure of knowledge to make it a rational and truly willing choice I wish those who pride themselves so much in the Unity of the Roman Catholicks would consider how far the Sons and Daughters of the Church of England may use this Plea in their own defence against their so much celebrated Union It is certain that upon the Preaching and Writing of the
AN Apologetical Vindication OF THE Church of England IN ANSWER To Those who reproach HER WITH THE ENGLISH HERESIES AND SCHISMS Or suspect HER not to be a Catholick Church Upon their Account London Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church yard MDCLXXXVII THE INTRODUCTION EVER since the Dissenters left the Church of England and formed themselves into Separate Churches the Roman Catholicks have not been wanting to take advantage from her sad Misfortune to expose her at home and abroad as a Church that amidst so many monstrous Sects and so many opposite and irreconcileable Communions can have no right to the glorious Title of Catholick nothing really answerable to the true Idaea of a Church nor any pretensions to the Promises of Christ especially those two of preserving his Church against the Powers of Hell and of sending his Spirit of Truth which is but one to guide her into all Truth They endeavour to make the World believe That a Church so over-run with Heresies and Schisms and so shatter'd and torn with intestine Divisions as ours is cannot be a true or good Church nay they will ask us by a figure of Reproach Where they shall find her among such a Crowd of Dissenters And thus using all manner of Artifice on the one hand in setting forth the many Divisions in Religion among us and on the other the great Unity in Doctrine and Worship among themselves they hope to unsettle us yet more and make our People suspect or believe that ours is not a part of the One Catholick and Apostolick Church It is now one of their Common Places to talk of our Schisms and argue from them upon all occasions in diminution of the Church of England They generally begin there when they first attack any of her Sons or Daughters and when ever we engage with them or they with us in a Dispute about the Two Churches we must be content to hear of our Divisions at both Ears Sometimes they seem to lament them sometimes to upbraid us with them and sometimes to dispute down-right upon them but be their Style and Method never so different when they speak or write of the English Heresies and Schisms their common Aim and Design is the same viz. to bring us out of conceit with our Church and perswade us that a Church so full of imbred Divisions in Religion hath not the Characters of Christ's Spouse no Marks of his Favour nor any Similitude with the Catholick Church that heavenly Hierusalem which is as a City that is at peace and unity in it self We are told That it is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation where every man thinks himself as competent a Judge of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and that that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves Your Church saith another hath Unity or not if not then she is not the Church of Christ If she hath why are there so many Sects and Schisms among you Saith another who not long since was one of her Priests What would I have once given to have found such an Union among Protestants nay to have found one County in my own dear Countrey or perhaps one single Family so united a Brotherhood And in another place he professes That he cannot tell how the Church of England is able to find her self in an innumerable Huddle of ten times more Dissenters Dissemblers whereof he himself was many years one and Indifferents than her number is able to make At this rate and to this purpose they are also apt to talk in their private Conversation For where I live the Place rings with their Reflections on the Church of England upon the account of our English Separations and having not heard that any thing is yet published to help the People to defend themselves and the Honour of our Church against them I thought I could not better spend the Christmas Vacation than to write a short Tract on purpose to shew That the English Heresies and Schisms are in reality no diminution to the Honour of the Church of England and that the Consideration of them ought to scandalize no man against her or make us believe that she is in any degree less Catholick and Apostolick than her greatest Admirers take her to be This is the main Design of my present Undertaking and that I may omit nothing of moment which ought to be spoken of such a Subject in such a short Treatise I will proceed in the following Method I. I will shew from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions II. That Schisms and Divisions and the consummation of them in opposite Communions are no good Argument against the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church III. That bare Unity or want of Schisms and Divisions in Religion are no sound Argument for the Truth or Goodness or Reputation of a Church After I have demonstrated these three Propositions I will make enquiry into the true Causes of Schisms and Divisions and more particularly into the Causes of these in England Then I will say something of the Prevention and Cure of them And in the Conclusion make such Addresses to the People of the Roman Communion to the People of the Church of England and to the Dissenters from it as I hope may become a good Christian and the Author of such a peaceful and charitable Discourse as I hope the Reader will find this to be AN Apologetical Vindication OF THE Church of England Chap. I. Shewing from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions 1. I Will shew from Reason and the History of the Christian Religion that all Churches are subject to the sad misfortune of Schisms and Divisions and to the consummation of them in opposite Communions This to argue first from Reason is as demonstrable of Ecclesiastical as Civil or Military Societies men being as subject by their own evil Passions and the Temptations of the Devil to mutiny and make Insurrections in Churches as in Camps or Cities or other Fraternities of men Nay it being more for the Interest of Satan and also more easie to divide a Church then a Kingdom or a Camp men are so much the more in danger of being tempted to do the one rather then the other and accordingly we find that Churches are more infected with intestine Divisions then States and Kingdoms and whereas formerly one Emperor was able to quell many Mutinies and Rebellions a succession of Christian Emperors sometimes were not able to quell one Schism Wherefore to pursue my Argument as Christian Armies are subject to Mutinies because they consist of Souldiers which may be tempted to Mutiny and Christian
Cities and Kingdoms to Rebellion because they consist of Subjects that may be tempted to rebel so all Christian Churches are subject to Schisms and Heresies because they consist of Members that may be drawn in to begin and carry on Heresie and Schism The Catholick Church notwithstanding its holiness and all the particular Churches in it are Bodies politick that like other Corporations consist of peaceable and unpeaceable dutiful and undutiful Members and it is really no stranger that a Diotrephes Montanus or Novatus should prove a Schismatick then that Judas should prove a Thief and a Traitor or the lustful Corinthian commit Incest in the Church of God. What hinders that this or that Member of a Church may not become a Schismatick as well as a Murderer Drunkard or Adulterer Is it not consistent with the wisdom of God or the honour and oeconomy of the Catholick or a Catholick Church to leave the Members of it in a capacity to commit Schism Fieri vero haec dominus permittit patitur manent propriae libertatis arbitrio ut probatorum sides integra manifeslâ luce clarescat Cypr. de Vnit Eccles Doth the nature of a true Church require or hath God any where promised to over-rule the free wills of orthodox Christians so that they shall not fall into Schism as well as other sins Hath he either made them impassible as to this single vice or restrain'd the Devil from tempting them to it If he hath let those who upbraid us with our Divisions shew it and if he hath not then it must follow that the Clergy and Laity of all the Churches in the World being left as free to commit Schism as Rebellion or any other wickedness all Churches whatsoever must be subject to the sad misfortune of Heresie and Schism The natural Body is not more subject to Diseases then the Body politick of the Church is subject to Divisions though she have the honour to have Christ for her Head yet is she not exempted from having her Peace broken or her Unity divided That is only the priviledge of the Church triumphant where Charity is perfected and therefore to pass from Reason to the History of the Christian Religion we find as many Cautions and Exhortations in the Scriptures against Heresies and Schisms as against any other mortal sin What an excellent Admonition against Schism did St. Paul give the Bishops and Presbyters of Ephesus or rather all the Bishops of Asia Minor assembled at Miletus Take heed saith he unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers For I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears The Apostle knew very well that God in his wisdom thought it not fit to prevent Heresies and Schisms in the most Apostolical Churches by his Almighty power but to suffer them as well as other sins for the manifestation of the good from the bad and that in such a mixture as a Church must be they were necessary to sift the Wheat from the Tares to separate the Gold from the Dross and distinguish those that are sincere stedfast and genuine Sons of any Catholick Church from those that are not Thus in his 1. Ep. to the Church of Corinth which I suppose was a very Apostolical Church he tells them that God thought fit to let Heresies and Divisions arise among them that the faith and constancy of some and instability vanity and hypocrisie of others might be made more evident I hear saith he that when you come together into the Church there are divisions among you and I partly believe it for there must be also heresies or dividing into Sects among you that they which are * Avolent quantum volent paleae levis fidei quocunque afflatu tentationum co purior Massa frumenti in horreâ domini reponetur Tertull de praescript Haer. 3. approved may be made manifest among you So saith St. John of the Antichrists which in his time arose in the Catholick Church They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us And our Blessed Lord who was the Founder of the Church and may be presumed to have best understood the nature of it had no other notion thereof then as of a Body Corporate that was subject like other Societies to the great inconvenience of intestine Divisions and falling into opposite Sects and Schisms It must needs be saith he considering the nature and future estate of the Church that offences come but wo unto the man by whom the offence cometh And in his Sermon on the Mount saith he unto his Disciples Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps-cloathing but inwardly they are ravening wolves And in the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ‖ Memores simus tam dominicarum praenuntiationum quà m Apostolicarum literarum quae nobis faturas haereses praenuntiarunt sugiendas praefinierunt Tertull. ibid. Instruit dominus multos esse venturos sub pellibus ovium rapaces Lupos ibid. he foretold the sad condition of the primitive Church before the destruction of Jerusalem that about that period there should arise false Christs and false Prophets and should shew great signs and wonders and deceive if it were possible the very Elect. This prediction of the Blessed Jesus was fulfilled in the time of the Apostles who were all infallable Guides of the Church for St. Paul in his 2. Ep. to the Thessalonians saith That the mystery of iniquity was then a working and the wicked one to be revealed whose coming was after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceitfulness to bring them that perish to commit unrighteousness because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved So St. Peter in his 2. Ep. general to the Catholick Church tells the Christians That as there were false Prophets in the Church of the Jews so there should be false Teachers among them who should privily bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and that many should follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the truth should be evil spoken of Every one that is versed in Ecclesiastical Story knows that these Apostles mean Simon Magus who was baptiz'd by Philip and the rest of the Ring leaders of the Gnostical Heresies who were all Magicians as well as Hereticks and wrought wonders to prove that Jesus was not the Christ For this Reason they are called * Johannes in Ep. eos maximè Antichristos vocat qui
his Apostles who forewarned us of Wolves in sheeps cloating of false Apostles false Prophets and false Teachers and that Heresies and Offences would come and indeed saith he Heresies are as necessary as Persecutions to prove the Faithful and try who will endure to the end This Apology which the Father made for the sad estate of the primitive Church will I hope serve as well for ours I commend it in all humility to the consideration of the R. C.s. especially to the Minister of Putney who in his late Book seems to take so much pleasure in twitting us and our Mother the Church of England with the English Schisms But to proceed in the History of Heresie and Schism Clemens Alexandrinus makes the like Apology for the Heresies of the same Age. * Seroâ—… 〈…〉 p. 753. He saith They are to Truth as Tares are to Wheat that our Lord foretold they must come and that therefore they must be and to shew what variety there was then in the Christian World he reckons up in one †Strom. l. 7. p. 765 Page about a dozen sorts The Valentinians Marcionites Basilidiams Pâ—ratics Phrygians Encratites Dociles Haematites Cajâ—…ists Ophiants and Entychites which I think sould as ill as Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists and Quakers with which I remember we were reproached not long since in the Colledges of Navarre and Rochell in the former with more Raillery and in the latter with more Zeal Origen in his Book of * §. 13 Prayer lately Printed at Oxford mentions a sort of Hereticks that rejected Baptism and the Lord's Supper who I suppose may pass muster with our Quakers and another sort that hold it †§. 14 superfluous and unprofitable to pray And in his Answer to Celsus he makes occasional mention here and there of most of the Heresies his Time and saith That * Lib 3. p. 119. 〈◊〉 5. p. Celsus who professed to despise and undervalue Christianity because there were so many Sects of Christians must for the same Reason despise and undervalue Philosophy and Medicine for saith he whatsoever is excellent and profitable for men to know they will apply themselves to the study of it from whence will naturally arise divers Questions and divers Opinions and by consequence divers Sects For this Reason saith he there are Sects among the Greeks and Sects among the Jews some understanding the Writing of Mose and the Prophets in one sence and some in another and so Christianity appearing to be †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great and venerable thing not only to men of meaner Parts but to the greatest Wits among the Greeks they set themselves to the study of it and from thence arose Sects some understanding the Scriptures which they all believe in one sence and some in another But yet saith he no man of sense will reject Christianity for that Reason no more then he will reject Medicine or Philosophy for it or despise the holy Books of Moses and the Prophets for the Heresies among the Jews This saith he I think is a sufficient Apology for the Christian Religion concerning which I cannot but think of the admirable Saying of St. Paul There must be Heresies among you that those that are approved may be made manifest And therefore saith he again if the School of Christ must be disgraced for the Sects that have come out of it let the School of Socrates be condemned too because so many opposite Schools of Philosophy arose out of it and let the Philosophy of Plato also suffer the like censure because his Scholar Aristotle differ'd so much and in so many Opinions from him This admirable Apology the Father made for the Church Religion in his Time and let those who urge Celsus his Argument against us consider if it is not as applicable to ours Nay we find by the * Respons ad quaest 5. Answers to certain Questions falsly ascrib'd to Justin Martyr that God was pleas'd to allow Hereticks in the primitive Times to do Miracles which praised be his holy Name he never suffered any Heretick or Schismatick since the Reformation to do among us But if he had we could have made the same defence which that Author and St. Cyprian did viz. that Miracles alone as †Prophetare daemonia excludere virtates magnas in terris facere sublimis utique resest admirabilis non tamen Cyprian de unit Eccles edit Oxon T. p. 144. splendid gifts as they are are no demonstration of the Truth for Christ hath declared that many will say unto him in the day of Judgement Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then he will reply unto them I know ye not depart from me ye that work iniquity So saith St. Paul Tho' I speak with the tongue of men and Angels and tho' I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all mysteries and tho' I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no charity I am nothing The like Apology St. Austin made against the pretended Miracles of the Donatists I hear saith he that Pontius doth Miracles and that when Donatus Magnus pray'd God answered him by a voice from Heaven but God hath cautioned me against those ‖ Contra istos Mirabiliarios cautum me fecit Deus Aug. Expos in Evang Joh. tract 13. Miracle-mongers who make Divisions saying False Christs and false Prophets shall arise and shall shew signs and wonders to deceive if it were possible the very Elect but take ye heed behold I have foretold you all these things And when his Disciples told him with joy that the Devils were subject to them in his Name saith he Rejoyce not in this that the Devils are subject unto you but that your Names are written in Heaven Wherefore my Brethren let no man deceive you he that works miracles and doth not keep unity is nothing Towards the latter end of the 4th Century Epiphanius in three Books wrote an Account of all the Heresies that had been in the Church till that time and they amount in number to * Sancti Epiphanii respons ad Epist Acacii Pauli fourscore such a world of Tares grew up with the Wheat from the first sowing of the Word St. Augustine hath given a compendious Account of all these Heresies out of Epiphanius and some more of his own Time in a Discourse ad Quod-vult-Deum But setting aside all the rest I shall only take notice of the Montanists Novatians Donatists and Arians which did so much mischief to the universal Church of God and all the particular Members thereof The Montanists pretended to Prophecy and divine Inspiration and tho' they were †Euseb H. E. l. 5. c. 15 16 18 19. resisted by many brave Bishops and many learned men wrote against them yet they spread their Infection far and near and ‖ Epiphan vol. 1.
may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil for we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickednesses or wicked spirits in high places All these are several expressions for that society of apostate Spirits which make up the kingdom of darkness as is plain from the 1 st and 2d Verses of the 11 th Chapter of the same Epistle where he saith Ye were dead in trespasses and sins wherein you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience who cannot be perswaded to believe the Gospel Wherefore the Combates for which Christians are to fortifie themselves are not only against humane Enemies but the powers of darkness the whole society of Devils who were the Gods of the Gentile World. They are always plotting and contriving against the Church and when they cannot hurt it with Idolatry Polytheism or Persecutions then they strive to get Altar set up against Altar in it and distract it with Heresie and Schism Accordingly St. Ignatius in his Ep. to the Ephesians calls Heresies and false Doctrines Herbs or Plants of the Devil 's planting and tells them in the same Epistle That to meet often together and receive the holy Eucharist in peace and concord was the only way to weaken the powers of Satan and prevent the ruine and destruction he would otherwise bring upon them by Division and to convince them how malicious and vigilant an enemy he is to the Church he tells them That there were three Mysteries of the Christian Religion which were kept from his knowledge The Virginity of Mary her bringing forth or the Nativity of her Son and the Death of our Lord. Had Satan come to the knowledge of these Mysteries unless God had chained him and his evil angels up they would have made ill use of them against the great design of man's Redemption and accordingly many learned men have given his for one Reason of the obscurity of the Prophecies and why God was pleased so artificially to conceal many things in them lest Satan coming to the knowledge of them should endeavour to prevent or obstruct the fulfilling of them or enervate the certainty and demonstration of them after they were fulfilled Thus Justin Martyr in his first commonly called the second Apology observes That he did before-hand to the best of his skill teach and institute many things among the Pagans which had some semblance with the future Mysteries of the Christian Religion that so when they came to pass they might not seem such divine and wonderful Mysteries as indeed they are The like is observed by * Tertâ—ll depâ—â—â— script Haeres 〈◊〉 40. Tertullian after him and made out by many particular Instances to which I remit the curious Reader which shews That he hath a great and active spite against the Church of God more especially against such parts of it as are pure in Doctrine or Worship to sow Heresies and Schisms among them and divide the unity of their Communion And therefore the same St. Ignatius in his Ep. to the Trallesians bids them beware of Separations and Divisions as of the Snares of the Devil and in his Ep. to the Philadelphians he prays them in his wonted phrase to abstain from the evil Herbs which Christ never cultivated because they were not of his heavenly Father's planting meaning the Weeds of false Doctrines which Satan had sowed among them and which he saith did not only cause different Parties among them but a perfect separation of many from the Church So Justin * P. 403. Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho ascribes all the impious and blasphemous Doctrines which were then taught in the Name of Christ to the Inspirations of the unclean spirit of the Devil and accordingly when St. Polycarp met Marcion the Heretick he told him He knew him to be the eldest Son of the Devil as being a man who was acted with diabolical Impulse and Inspirations and Tertullian in the Book above-cited saith expresly That the Devil is the Author of Heresie as well as Idolatry The like is observed by St. Cyprian and Theodoret who ascribe all Heresies to the invention and artifice of the Devil and all the Histories of Heresies and Schisms in Ecclesiastical Writers are still ushered in with prefatory Complaints of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the envious and wicked Devil whose business hath been from the beginning to deceive and molest the Church of God. Nay the purer any Church is in Doctrine and Worship the more we may be sure he will stickle against it and endeavour to weaken and disgrace it by intestine Divisions and perswade the dividing Parties to form themselves into opposite Schisms Indeed where Churches are already corrupted in Doctrine and Worship and firmly adhere to those Corruptions 't is his interest to let them alone and not to hazard the Reformation of them by stirring up Contentions and Divisions in them but in Churches where the Doctrine and Worship are kept pure and Apostolical by the care and vigilance of the Pastors in Churches where the Scriptures are openly taught and read and the whole Worship of God but more especially the holy Sacraments are duly administred by lawful Ministers and the Communion of Saints carefully maintained In such pure and Apostolical Churches as these he hath no other game to play but to get them as far as he can extirpated by Persecutions or where that fails to make Mutinies and Divisions and Schisms in them and so to weaken the common Interest of the whole by dividing it into parts Where he cannot unite the Members of a Church in pernicious Doctrines and Practices he will labour hard to dissolve them by pernicious Schisms where he cannot unite them against Truth he will strive to divide them against Charity and where they will not agree he will make them if he can differ to their own destruction And therefore considering him as the principal Cause of Divisions all that can be concluded upon that Consideration against any particular Church is only this That the Members of it are subject like the Members of all other Churches to be deceived and drawn away by the Devil and if upon special enquiry it be found that she is pure and Apostolical in her Doctrine Worship and Discipline all that can then be concluded is no more then this That the Devil is become her particular Enemy and hath a particular spite against her upon the account of her Excellence and Worth. This is the worst Consequence that can be drawn from Divisions and Separations against such a Church as ours and we are willing to admit it we are willing to acknowledge that the Devil hates the Church of England more then many Churches and if those that object our Divisions to us
please very much more then the Church of Rome We are willing to look upon the many Heresies and Schisms among us as the effects of his Revenge against her for the damage he hath sustained by her as * Videns ille idola derelicta per nimiùm credentium populum sedes suas as templa deserta excogitaverit novam fraudem ut sub ipso Christiani nominis titulo fallat incautos hereses invenit schismata quibus subverteret sidem veritatem corrumperet scinderet unitatem Cyprian de Vnit Eccles St. Cyprian thought the Heresies and Schisms of his Time were purposely invented by him to be revenged of the Christian Religion for destroying his Worship among the Gentiles All this we are willing to admit upon the Theory that ariseth from considering the first Cause of Divisions and Separations and let those who love to reproach the Church of England with the English Divisions Religion make the best of it they can But then to proceed farther in this Enquiry After we have found out the principal we must look after the instrumental Causes of Divisions and Separations and they according to the Ancients who spoke what they knew to be true by long Experience and Observation were ignorant over-curious ambitious covetous and contentious men These are the proper Instruments by which the Devil acts in broaching false Doctrines and making Divisions and Separations He is a sagacious Spirit and can find out the weak and blind side of every man where he will be sure to ply him with Darts of Temptation as a skilful General will be sure to attack the weakest part of the Wall or that part of it which is least defended when he storms a Town The first Instrument then by which Satan works in making Schisms and Divisions are ignorant men or men ignorant in the Scriptures whose Ignorance makes them confident and think they understand the Scriptures when for want of knowing the received sence of them they do not This St. Chrysostom complains of in one of his Sermons * Hom. 37 T. 5. p. 245. Saith he The ignorance of the Scriptures is a dangerous Precipice and a deep Gulf of destruction and a great betrayer of mens Salvation It is that which hath brought forth Heresies and which turns all things upside down So in his †T. 3. p. 1. Preface to St. Paul's Ep. to the Romans saith he A thousand Evils come from ignorance of the Scriptures and the manifold sorts of Heresies have sprung from thence To this purpose speaks a more ancient Author in Answer to this Query Why God if he was able to do it did not root out all Errors and Heresies ‖ Author respons ad Orthodoxos in resp ad 1. Quaest Saith he When God abrogated Judaism he introduced the New instead of the Old Testament and if all those who embrace Christianity do not agree in thier Opinions but some believe right and some otherwise this is not the fault of God nor to be ascribed to any defect of care or power in him but the fault of their own carelessness and negligence nor ought any man to be offended at the small number of orthodox Christians because it is written That many are called but few chosen and that streight and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it It is observable that these ancient Fathers did not lay the blame of Heresies and Schisms upon the free and common use of the Scriptures but upon the careless and negligent reading of them and to ignorant mens presuming they understood them when they did not The fault was not in the Scriptures but in those who through ignorance abused them the Scriptures were always common in all Churches and Languages and I dare say boldly saith * De praescript Heret § 39. Tertullian That the Scriptures are so contrived by the will of God that they should afford occasion for Heresies because I read that there must be Heresies and Heresies cannot be without the Scriptures What I have observed out of these ancient Fathers is no more in effect then what St. Peter observed of the Epistles of St. Paul which are one great part of the Scriptures Saith he Account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation even as our beloved Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you as also in all his Epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction The Scriptures it seems suffered very much by unlearned men in the Time of St. Peter and yet he did not order them to be kept from the People neither in the Church of Rome nor any other Churches He knew that they were holy true just and good and were designed by God for publick use and benefit and if ignorant men by the instigation of the Devil and their own natural Enthusiasm did misuse them and draw false Doctrines from them it was at their own peril and the fault was in their own giddiness and presumption and not in the Word of God. They should have only meddled with the plain Passages of them which contain all things necessary to Salvation and not with those which are hard to be understood No! if they had had a mind to understand the difficult Places of them they should have consulted the Apostles or those whom the Apostles set over them about the Apostolical Doctrine or Tradition and if they did not but as ignorant men are apt to do would precipitate themselves into Errors and make Doctrines to themselves which the Church never taught that was their own fault and could not without very much harm to Christianity supersede the use of the Word of God. God in his great wisdom intended it for the common Rule or Canon of the ancient Catholick Faith and if unlearned men will be so head strong and Enthusiastical as not to try their Conceptions by it but it by their private Conceptions it nevertheless remains a Standard and Rule and no less then their Souls must be the price for their Heresies and Schisms The Devil understands this very well and therefore being a subtil and cunning Spirit he is never wanting to tempt Sciolists and men that want true Learning especially those who are by nature powerfully enclined to Enthusiasm to wrest the Scriptures * Sequamur universitatem antiquitatem consentionem Vincent Lirin adversus Haeres c. 3. against the consent of universal Antiquity to their own admired Notions and that being done it is no difficult matter to perswade them to set up for Teachers altho' they have really need that one teach them again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and are such as have need of Milk and not of strong Meat The second sort of Instruments by which Satan works are over-curious
person striving to have his own will and humour doth thereby form a Schism Thus have I shewed the instrumental Causes which the devil uses in sowing Differences and Divisions and making Separations and Schisms in Churches And perhaps of such men acted and inspired by the Devil as much as of the Devils themselves St. Peter is to be understood 1 Ep. 5.8 where he exhorted the Christians to be sober and vigilant because their adversary the devil as a roaring lion walked about seeking whom he might devour whom saith he resist steadfast in the faith If the Devil had so many Instruments of dividing the Catholick Church then methinks it should not seem strange that he hath so many now Nay methinks the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion out of the particular Veneration they have for St. Peter whom the whole Christian World ought to honour should not so delight to upbraid the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms it being evident from this and other Passages in his Catholick Epistle cited in the first Chapter that there were almost as many and altogether as great Division while he governed in the Church as there are now in England and most other Parts of the Christian World. Wherefore all that can justly be concluded upon the Church of England from the English Heresies and Schisms if we consider the instrumental Causes of them is no more then this That there are and have been many ignorant over curious ambitious convetous and contentious men among us which as I shewed before hath been the common Calamity of all Churches and what is common to all Churches at least according to our Logick can be no just matter of reproach against any one I am so confident that there is no Inconsequence in this way of Apologizing for the Church of England that I believe our Adversaries cannot find a better way of Apologizing for the Divisions that have formerly risen or may hereafter arise in the Church of Rome If they were reproached by others as they reproach us they could not but say that the Causes of Divisions are common to all Churches and therefore craving leave to set the Church of England in the midst of all other Churches I desire that Church may cast the first Stone at her which hath remained from the beginning a pure Virgin without Heresie or Schism If there be a Church in any corner of the Earth which is exempted from the common Causes of Divisions or of so happy a Constitution as not to be capable of suffering by them let that Church come forth and reproach the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms but let not the Church of Rome do it which hath so many old Scars to shew and so many and great Rents yet visible in many parts of her Coat as none of her most curious Workmen with all their art and skill will probably ever be able to make up I have said thus much by way of Apology for the Church of England from considering the general Causes of Church Divisions and Separations and shall find yet more to plead for her upon making a more particular Enquiry into the Causes of our English Heresies and Schisms Now in this Enquiry no man that knows the state of Great Britain betwixt the beginning of the great Rebellion and his late Majesty's happy Restauration but must needs look upon the ruine of the Church and State to have been such a Cause of Heresies and Schisms as perhaps never happened before to any Church in the World. Was it any wonder to see Errors and Heresies and Blasphemies abound among us in a Time of such strange Disorder and Confusion when there was no King nor Priest in Israel Can we imagine the Devil should be idle in such an Opportunity Or can our Adversaries imagine that the like would not happen in any other Church or Kingdom of the Roman Religion should God in judgment dissolve the Government of them as he did that of ours I refer the candid Roman-Catholick Reader to Mr Edwards his Gangraena for an Account of the Errors Heresies Blasphemies Sects and Opinions that sprung up in the British Isle In a few years after the Church of England was pulled down and her Liturgy cast out of the Churches and Liberty of Conscience as they called it was set up in its stead He was a Minister of the Presbyterian Party and a mighty Bigot for the Cause and yet he could not but acknowledge that there came in a Deluge of Heresies and Impieties after the removal of the Prelates and I appeal to any man of Ingenuity if it be Reasonable or Christian or Gentile to reproach our Church with Sects that arose among us when she was fast bound in misery and the Iron entred into her Soul. Were not her Pastors driven from their Flocks when the Wolves entred in and all the time she was in the House of Bondage was it not a time of Liberty for every man to do what was good in his own Eyes Nay I desire those that are most petulant in upbraiding us with our Divisions to tell me truly if they do not think that as many and as monstrous Swarms of Errours and Heresies would breed in Spain or Italy as there did in the late Times of Confusion in England if the Divine Providence which God prevent should suffer the same Tragedy to be acted in those Countries that was acted in ours How would Sects verminate any where in Twenty Years of such Confusion Methinks our Adversaries should have the Ingenuity to consider this but since they seem not to do it I hope they cannot find fault with us for putting them in mind of it by way of Apology for our Church There are many other special Causes of our English Divisions which might fall under consideration but for brevity sake I shall mention but one which is this That we have reason to suspect that our Divisions both in the beginning and progress of them may have been influenced from abroad I do not know whether this will pass for mis-representing but some Observations have been made to this purpose And if the Gentlemen of the R. Communion know or believe it to be true I beseech them by our Common Saviour Jesus Christ they would no longer upbraid the Church of England with the English Heresies and Schisms In Foxis and Firebrands in Ravialac Redivinus p 72. of the 2d Edition fol. 1682. And in several Letters which passed between the Archbishop of Armagh and other eminent persons which may be seen in a late printed Collection of Letters If the Tares which were sowen in the Field of our Church were indeed brought from other Places then I hope they will grant that it is not ingenuous for them of all other Christians to reproach us with them but rather to blame those who sowed them and who transplanted those strange Plants which are not of our heavenly Father's planting into the Vineyard of