into several branches they have put a stop to their conquests and had no further thought than to maintain themselvs both those whom they have forsaken and such as have forsaken them And it is not only from the ill example of this division that strangers to the Faith are driven from it They are led thereunto by the very intrigues and stratagems of the Christians who are so separated and divided among themselves Their Division creates such animosity one against the other that they do their utmost endeavour to hinder those who have an earnest desire to embrace Christianity from entring into any other Christian communion but their own There are others who go further for they hold it as a true Maxime That it is better for a Jew or Mahometan to persist in his old Errour than to thrust himself into some of the Christian Societies which they disapprove So that as it is impossible for Iron equally drawn between two Loadstones to move either towards the one or the other So these different solicitations which Christians make to draw Infidels to them leaves them in a neutral state not knowing which side they should take nor to which they should determine their Judgments CHAP. VI. The Fifth Effect of this Division Trouble in Church and State THe Evil of this Division is not limited only to particular persons but all Societies as well Ecclesiastical as Civil have too great a feeling of it For we dayly see strange Tempests happen in both which had no other cause for the forming of them than this sad disunion And has not the Church much reason to complain that those who are called her Children should tear out her Bowels That she can expect nothing but death even from those to whom she hath given life Since they to whom she continually administers the sacred Milk of her pure Doctrine and of her wholsome Instructions do give her so many grievous wounds as they form Sects in her In multiplying they dismember Her and each striving to draw her to their side at last nothing is seen to remain but her mangled and broken pieces And what is more these deplorable Reliques of the Church have likewise been so miserably handled that she is no longer to be known insomuch that they might rather be taken for the parts of some mishapen Monster than for the Members of the Divine Spouse of Jesus Christ washed in the Blood of her dear Lord and clothed with the Sacred Robe of his Righteousness But that I may not be thought to aggravate these things and raise them with an Hyperbole Let us but consider the present face of the Church Is it not true that we shall have much ado to meet any one of these Societies which call themselves a Church and attribute the truth solely to themselves where these ill Characters are not to be seen First a certain high conceited Opinion of the Principles they have embraced which creates in them a blind perswasion without examining it and whereof not any solid reason can be given Birth Education Worldly Interests and other engagements of this nature together with a kind of negligence and a fear of being accounted inconstant and unsetled if they should turn to another party These things I say have ordinarily a greater influence for the establishment of them in their Religion than Reason and Conscience have All which is followed by a certain obstinacy not to call it self-conceitedness in maintaining their belief at any rate whatsoever There are those who many times do hazard on this occasion all that they hold dearest in the World even to their very lives which passes in every One of these Societies for an exquisit Zeal and an examplary devotion Nor is there any one of these Sects which has not a Catalogue of its Confessors and that cannot produce its Roll of Martyrs But how many are there of these Martyrs who if they had been demanded to give a reason of the Doctrine for which they made so much constancy appear would have been gravelled and have little to answer to the least argument that might have been proposed to them Many times false Opinions are maintained with as much heat as the True Also Illusions and Impostures do make as strong Impression upon our Spirits as real Objâ—cts Now this obstinacy draws after it an extreme aversion to all other Religions and even to all other Christian Societies It either accuses them of blindness or of stupidity or of malice 'T is nothing else say they but fleshly interest that seems a Foundation of their Doctrine They reproach them that their Opinions are altogether destructive to true Piety that they hurry Men into Superstition and to Idolatry or else to Libertinisme or Atheisme And some there are who are pointed out by others as if they were frightful Monsters In a word any protestation or any declaration which they make that it is the Doctrine they loath and not the Persons who take it up That it is the Error they detest but that they have charity and compassion for such as are misled is enough with them Which yet shall never make me believe But that the precedent qualities are accompanied with a great Animosity of Spirit against those who are not of the same Opinion For how can we sincerely love those whom we look upon as Enemies to God and Disciples of Satan whose Lot and Portion is Hell where they shall be made a Prey to the Devils Are there not likewise very dreadful Examples in what manner they have reciprocally treated one another in those places where they are mingled together The weak employ such armes as are most convenient against their Adversaries which are injuries and reproaches the powerful straight pass to action there is no craft nor subtilty no violence nor cruelty which these People sâ—t not a work utterly to exterminate such as follow a different profession from theirs The Roman Catholick persecutes the Protestant in those places where he is strongest The Protestant he requites him where he has the Power and Authority in his own hands And amongst Protestants those who are of different Opinions are not treated more favourably Heretofore the Christians complained much that the Pagans would force them to sacrifice to their Gods and quit their Religion Tertul. Apolog. 28. They grounded not their complaint on any other Reason than this that Religion as they affirmed ought to be an act of a pure and free Mind But now a days Christians do the same thing towards Christians We have seen times where tortures and the cruelest punishments have been used by Christians for afflicting other Christians and for no other cause but their not being of the same judgments and perswasions And now after this who can take it ill that I have no more represented the Church as the Ship which the Son of God conveyeth safe amidst the stormes wherewith she is continually battered But to the lamentable wracks of a Vessel dasht in pieces not by
Opinions begets a strange prejudice in certain Spirits For there are many who would make us believe that truth is so evident and perceivable by all where it is reveal'd that it shines as the Sun which dims the light of all the other Stars Wherefore they conclude that if Christian Religion contains those saving truths that came from God were brought down from Heaven to Earth and attended with Glory and Miracles it would immediately obscure with its splendour all seeming truths which strive to have a counterfeit Luster to resemble it When therefore they see that every one of these different Opinions upholds it self by such probable Reasons that many are staggered at the consideration of them They cannot be perswaded that this Gold is to be found in the Earth because it does not immediately discover them its glistering light And as they cannot conceive that it is fit for them to remain one moment in suspence of separating truth from falshood and errour they forsake both one and the other to secure themselves from the danger of being forced to a new change those Persons would certainly refuse to take a Sum of Money if offered them out of a distrust that they should not know the Coines and that they should not discern false Money from good whence we may judge how great the prejudice is which this Division brings to Mens Salvation An unhappy design that under the pretence of an exact search for the truth destroys the principal effect of Christian Religion which is the Salvation and comfort of Souls CHAP. V. The Fourth Effect of Division That it keeps back all those who are without and breeds in them a dislike of Christian Religion THe preaching of the Gospel being as it were a publick Proclamation to invite Men to list themselves under the Ensigns of Jesus Christ It is undeniable that whatsoever obstructs this Holy Summons is contrary to the intent and purpose of the Gospel and troubles the establishment of the Eternal Raign of the Son of God And this same is one of the principal effects of the Division of Christians Those who are without the bounds of Christianity as Turks Jews and Pagans may justly reproach us with the want of a true understanding amongst our selves Resolve how to settle will they say your different Opinions before you go about to perswade us to follow you First unite your selves together and then we will consider whether or no we shall unite with you And since unity and verity are inseparable How in this great difference of your Opinions shall we be assured that you will propound the truth to us And certainly there can be no greater scandal to our Religion in the sight of those without than this deplorable Division The Sieur dela Boulaye Chap. 18. In his Voyages to the Levant saith That the Turks perceiving this vitious excess of strife and multitude of Divisions amongst Christians have confirmed themselves by this means in their own way and think God to be the Author of them 'T is by reason of this that St. Paul says Rom. 2. That the Name of God is despised because of us among the Gentiles And yet the bad lives and extravagances of particular Persons do not bring so much Prejudice to Christian Religion as the Dividents of Opinions in its Doctrine Of the first it may be said that these are but the faults of certain Persons whose profession is not answerable to their Religion That that may be innocent though they are criminal who pretend to follow it But when the evil is in the Opinions It may be thought that the defect is in the Doctrine it self So that they have some Reasons to offer their Objections against it and to suspect the Truth of the whole Therefore if it be the purity of the Doctrine rather than the deportment of particular persons that must draw us to one communion without all question that which results from this Doctrine will make a greater impression upon Mens spirits than that which only regards the manners of some few Men. 'T is generally observed that things are not maintained but by the aide of that which first contributed to their production The same influences of the Heavens which made those Seeds sprout up that the Earth has been intrusted with serve likewise to raise the Plants to their perfections Therefore some ambitious and unsteady brains have taken occasion by the Division of Christians to give birth to a Sect which hath utterly departed from the Fundamental Principles of Christianity For it was by the means of this Disunion that a new Religion hath been formed and a false Prophet substituted in the room of the Eternal Son of God who alone inspired all the true Prophets It is not to be wondred such Divisions continuing in the Church if these poor misled Souls remain confirmed in their Opinions And since that which first alienated them from us still remains the aversion which they have to our misteries remains likewise So long as the Roman Armies were well united that their Commanders held a perfect understanding amongst themselves and their Souldiers were kept in a true obedience and submission to their Orders Other Nations endeavoured to procure their amity with great eagerness They esteemed it a great Glory to enter into alliance with this People and many have made no difficulty to receive their Yoke to whose Dominion they thought all others ought to submit But so soon as misunderstandings happen'd between their Generals and Souldiers and revolts in the Subjects Other States despised their Alliance and took up Armes against them plainly seeing that they were not invincible since they were subject to Division Just so our disunion makes us an object of the contempt and aversion of all other people After this can we think it strange that so many Exhortations Sermons and Writings which have pass'd continually amongst Christians should make so few Proselites In the Apostles time one Sermon alone converted many Thousands of Infidels to the Faith At the end of St. Peter's Sermon Three Thousand Souls by Baptism ranged themselvs under the Standard of the Cross Act. 2 It was also at this time that all Christians dwelt together with one common accord and had all but one heart and one Soul At this present we drive back by our Divisions those whom we invite by our Exhortations But if it should be objected that the Church makes now great progress in the Indies I dare say with pardon for my Opinion that these poor people have not yet attained to the knowledg of our divisions and that if they should understand them their Zeal would quickly wax cold and all these conquests would be of no long continuance When the Protestants first separated from the Communion of the Church of Rome so long as they kept an Uniformity in their Opinions they made marvellous progress the Union which was amongst them drew a great part of Europe to their profession But so soon as they divided themselves
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