is to bee understood Not because it can bee within the compass of common reason to imagine that the same Ceremonies have continued from the time that the Church was persecuted into holes and caves of the Earth to this time in which the question is of setling Christianity by the Law of this Kingdom It were want of common understanding to think that the same could serve But because so few and so innocent as wee use cannot bee condemned without condemning not only Gods whole Church but also Gods antient people who will evidently bee found in the same cause One thing hath been cast forth in barre to all this which wee must not swallow whole unless wee mean to impose upon our selves It is the pretense of complying with the Reformed Churches For it is evident that there are four forms of Reformation extant One according to Luther another according to Calvine the third is that of the Church of England and in the last place though first for time because least known and protected by no Sovereign I name that the Union in Bohemia For wee are to know that the followers of John Husse having sent Deputies to the Council of Basil they accorded to reunite the Nation upon four Articles The chief whereof was the Communion in both kinds They that stood to the accord are to this day called thereupon Calixtini or sub utraque in Latine But another part of those that were at distance thinking themselves betrayed by their Deputies in that accord proceeded to settle themselves in a form of Religion and the service of God by that which they held the pure truth of God in all points that had been disputed The Emperour Ferdinand 1. King of Bohemia having subdued his subjects there that rose with the Protestants in Germany cast a good part of these out of the Country who finding shelter in Polonia and Prussia there planted and propagated their form till the troubles of our time when by the Emperours victory in Bohemia and the late troubles in Poland they seem to bee at a low ebbe though they impute it to the decay of their first discipline They that would reform the Church of England professing already that Reformation which it found best will they not first show us reason why wee are to leave Luther for Calvine For if they mean his form when they talk of conforming us to the reformed Churches because of the Scots Presbyteries they must have better arguments then either the learning or the Christianity of the Scottish Presbyterians will yield to perswade us They say those that framed the Reformation in England being bred under Melancthon among the Lutherans followed them much an end in the order and form which they prescribed But is that any reason for any change before it appear which is in the right I freely profess I find Melancthon the better learned and the more Christian spirit But the Church of England which in divers points differeth from both why should it bee thought to follow either for any reason but as either agrees with the Catholick Church And for that I prefer the Unity of Bohemia before both For they had the rule of Vincentius given them to take their measure by the consent of the Catholick Church and those things which have always and every where been professed and practised in it And had they done nothing but what is justifiable by that Rule I should not blame them for that which I blame in them most But where they agree not with Luther and Calvine wherein do they not agree with the Church of England In particular they sent all over the World to inform themselves of a visible succession of Bishops whose profession was such that they might derive the Ordination of Bishops for their Churches from their hands They took the superstitions of the Greeks to bee such that they could not own it from them In that think they were in the wrong For I doubt not the Greeks would have granted them Ordination only under the profession of the Catholick Church and that had been enough But thinking themselves in a strait of necessity they chose twelve by lots And hearing that the Waldenses lived in Austria under Bishops deriving their succession from the time of Constantine and therefore from the Apostles they sent them thither to bee Ordained protesting against their weakness in going to Mass for fear The protestation was admitted and the persons ordained Bishops Now I take not upon me to maintain the truth of that information concerning the succession of these Bishops whereupon they proceeded But they being reasonably perswaded of it and not knowing how to proceed otherwise through a mistake or an exigent which they could not overcome and setling themselves upon an innocent presumption why should the effect of these Ordinations seem questionable For under these Bishops they have subsisted from that day to this And with what conscience is it demanded for conformity to the Reformation that wee acknowledge them Priests who are ordained against Bishops If wee do not wee shall condemn those Reformed Churches which have no Bishops Is it the fashion that a man quit his cloke because his fellow hath none Or is it any thing else to renounce a good Title because they cannot plead it There was a good expedient in the antient Church to refer things to God which could not bee decided without a breach in the Church Let their zeal against the abuses of the Church of Rome bee counted pardonable with God which caused them to think the Order of Bishops a support of Antichrist when as the Papacy is visibly raised upon the rights of Bishops which it ingrosseth Let the difficulty of procuring Ordinations and having Bishops render them excusable to God Those that are ordained by Presbyters against Bishops on purpose to set up Altar against Altar how can wee count them ordained refusing the concurrence of the Church to their Ordinations They that would tye us to comply with the Reformation are first to show us that the Unity of Bohemia is no part of it And that their Reformation is not to bee preferred either before that of Luther or that of Calvine For can wee acknowledge the Ordinations of Presbyters against their Bishops and not condemn them that sought all over the World for Bishops to ordain them Bishops that the Bishops so ordained might ordain them Presbyters But not only in this prime point of our differences but also in the difference of the Clergy from the people in the three Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the mater of Justification and the Eucharist of Confirmation and Penance of the Festivals and Fasts of the Church and of divers Orders and institutions of less consequence their profession agreeth with the antient Church and the Church of England where it departeth from both Luther and Calvine In the mater of Penance though with much humility they tell the Lutherans roundly they have but one of the
hypocrisie or meer nonsense Others there are that do not think themselves obliged to the unity of Gods Church upon far different Principles There are of our Enthusiasts such as are themselves every one a Church to themselves and by themselves as being above Ordinances and the Communion of the Church provided only for proficients But all Independent Congregations make the same profession and are manifestly grounded upon the same For how can they imagine themselves members of one visible Church who profess that they cannot bee obliged to hold communion with any Congregation but their own And yet with favour the same consequence insuing upon so different pretenses there must bee some supposition common to both upon which both do ground themselves And it is easily visible what that is Both opinions must suppose that a man may bee heir to Christs Kingdom and indowed with Gods Spirit without being or before hee bee a member of Gods Church And the Independents indeed do manifestly profess that knowing themselves and others to bee Gods children and indowed with his Spirit they are in a capacity to joyn in Ecclesiastical Communion with those whom they know to bee such So they become members of a Church being Gods children before without considering how they shall bee members of the Whole Church The others are satisfied that by being members of a State which professeth Christianity they are also members of that one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church which by our Creed wee profess to believe A ground which holdeth accidentally so long as that State constituteth a visible member of the Whole or the Catholick Church But not imaginable to serve the turn when States differ in point of Christianity and may every day appeal to force whether is the true Church and whether the false For is it not manifest that the professions of the Lutherans the Calvinists the Greeks the Abyssines are protected by Sovereign powers as well as the profession of the Church of Rome or the Church of England Is it not manifest that the Powers that profess them maintain them respectively to bee Gods truth Why then do wee dispute any longer which is the true Religion and which is the false if it bee enough for Christians to resolve all the doubt they can have concerning Religion into the command of their Sovereigne only professing Christianity Is it not manifest that Sovereigns do use to punish their Subjects that conform not to their Laws concerning Religion but follow that Religion which is in force under other Sovereignties Is it possible to imagine that Subjects can bee obliged by one and the same will of God to follow contrary Religions under several Sovereigns Or that Sovereigns can bee inabled by one and the same Law of God to punish their Subjects for serving God according to contrarie professions True it is Subjects that suffer in a good cause shall bee gainers thereby gaining Heaven by their losses of this world But what shall become of the Sovereigns that persecute them being in a good cause Or how shall not some of them bee persecuted in a good cause who are persecuted in contrary causes I know not whether this peremptory difficulty was the cause But I am sure recourse hath been had to a more desperate answer that every Subject is bound to profess the Religion of his Sovereign yea though it in join him to renounce Christ with his mouth remaining bound all the while to believe in him with his heart and that by this belief hee shall bee saved as a Christian Neither is this position tenable but upon this answer nor doth this answer import any less then the utter renouncing of Christianity I know that in the Records of the antient Church those who only professed to believe Christianity who were called Catecbumeni or Scholars to the Church are sometimes called by the name of Christians But I know withall that they were never counted in the state of Salvation till they had taken upon them the profession of Christianity by being adimtted to the Sacrament of Baptisme I know also that this Baptisme though it was not counted void when it was Ministred in due form yet it was never counted effectual to Salvation but when a man is baptized into the true Faith and that in the Unity of Gods Church For though the names of Haereticks and Schismaticks have been made only Bug-bears to fright children with in this time of our troubles yet so long as Christianity continues those that separate themselves from the Church upon pretenses concerning the substance of Faith shall bee properly counted Haereticks But if the cause concern not the substance of Christianity Schismaticks And therefore Christianity consisting not only in believing or purposing with the heart but also in professing with the mouth first sincerelie then the true Faith and lastly by being baptized hee that professeth himself free to renounce his Christianity as far as the mouth hath effectively renounced it because hee hath effectively drawn back that promise upon condition whereof hee was baptized of professing Christianity to the death And truly if every Christian State bee the Church of God within the territories thereof then cannot all Churches concur to make up that one Visible Church of God which our Creed professeth For there is nothing more evidently true then the saying of Plato that all States are naturally enemies one to another especially those that are borderers And this enmity in our daies consisteth visibly in those differences of Religion upon which the neighbour Sovereignties of Christendom are now at distance It is therefore no way imaginable how all Christian States should concur to make up that one visible Church whereinto by being baptized wee obtain the spiritual and eternal privileges of Christians But that it is the profession of the whole Rule of Christianity that makes any people or State a part of the Visible Church being governed by such rules in the exercise of Gods service as may make it the same Society with that which was once unquestionably Gods Church or part of it For otherwise how should the Visible Church continue one and the same from the first to the second coming of our Lord And here you have the second point of our differences For all our Sects under the title of Gods free grace do maintain that the promises of the Gospel and our right in them depends not upon the truth of mens Christianity As if God were not free enough of his Grace if hee should reserve himself a duty of being served as by Christians upon those whom he tenders life everlasting to upon such terms It is no new thing in England to hear of those who profess that God sees not nor can see any sin in his elect So that in their opinion there is no mortal sin but repentance because that must suppose that a man thought himself out of the state of grace by the sin whereof hee repents I think I am duly informed of a
JUST WEIGHTS AND MEASURES That is The present STATE of RELIGION Weighed in the BALANCE and Measured by the STANDARD of the SANCTUARY According to the Opinion of HERBERT THORNDIKE LONDON Printed by J. M. for J. Martin J. Allestry and T. Dicas and are to be sold at the sign of the Bell in St. Paul's Church-yard 1662. TO ALL Christian Readers I Have heard that in the time of our Late Troubles the Presbyterians were put to nonplus by the Fanatickes demanding of them a ground in the Scripture for a National Church I let pass that mistake of both parties which the term of National involveth For the state of the Question must needs concern that part of the Church which every respective Sovereignty containeth Now one Sovereignty may contain several Nations As there are two in this Kingdom of England But wee need not marvel that they could give no answer to a demand which their own Title allowed them no ground to answer Had they believed the Creed which they thrust out of the Church and that Article of it which professeth one Catholick Church they might have had an answer to it But such a one as would have destroyed the pretense of their Presbyteries For were the Unity of the Church which that Article professeth meerly Invisible with God by Communion in his Spirit the Usurpers of Sovereign Power might make Presbyteries Churches by as good a Title as that by which they make themselves Sovereigns But the Unity which that Article professeth is Visible with that Church which is or ought to bee always one and the same from our Lord and his Apostles by Communion in the Offices of Gods Service especially the Eucharist to distinguish it from Haeresies and Schismes whom the Title of Catholick visibly distinguisheth from the Church That Title the Presbyteries cannot pretend to because it is as visible that their authority is derived from the Long Parliament and their own consent as it is visible that the authority of the Whole Church is derived from our Lord and his Apostles For the Unity of the Church is not derived from Constantine but from our Lord and his Apostles and the Law imposed by them upon all Christians to maintain Communion among themselves upon those terms which the Common Christianity supposed in the said Communion may allow Whereby the Church is Visible by being Catholick It is manifest by what Title and therefore upon what terms Constantine first in the Empire and after him all Christian Powers in their respective Sovereignties doe make Religion a Law to their Subjects For being to bee baptized and made a member of the Church by the act of the Church If all Christians by their Baptisme do consecrate themselves to the service of God in his Church then must hee also by being baptized consecrate the Power of the Empire to the maintenance of that Christianity into which hee was baptized part whereof is the Unity of the Catholick Church And as the effect of this obligation is visible in bringing the World into the Church So is it a visible advantage for the Church that the profession thereof is a Law to Christian States by the rewards and penalties whereby it is inacted For when all are constrained to bee Christians according to the Laws of the Land so much the more will bee Christians according to the Laws of God and of his Church And as it is evident that without such Laws Unity in Religion will not prevail in the World which cannot prevail with the help of them No less manifest is it that without Unity Christianity will soon come to nothing He that considers the decay which a little time of disunion hath visibly made in the Christianity of this Kingdom is past cure by reasoning if he question this consequence This is that Principle which must justifie the Reformation which wee profess by maintaining the due bounds and terms and measure of it This is that which must reunite the parties which hitherto are at distance if wee will have them united to the purpose of saving souls out of satisfaction in the Laws which they are to execute not only to the purpose of publick peace for hope or fear of the rewards and penalties which they are inacted with This is that which must secure the Conscience of the Kingdom that those rewards and penalties will bee allowed as for the service of God at the great day of judgment And how much this concerns the present Case now that Religion is to bee re-established by the Law of the Land it is manifest enough Let the Presbyterians submit to the due terms upon which the Fanaticks may be acknowleged members of this Church as acknowleging the Covenant of Baptisme for the condition of holding the State of Gods Grace and the Recusants shall stand bound to own the Faith of this Church for the Faith of the Catholick Church Let the Laws of this Church bee Ruled by the Laws of the Catholick Church in those times which hee that owneth one Catholick Church from the beginning cannot disown and all shall appear bound to bee of this Church as visibly the same Church with that which was from the beginning For the Church is Visible by the Laws of it And therefore if the Laws bee the same the Church is visibly the same And all that are not of it shall bee evidently liable to such penalties as belong to them that disobey those Laws of their Country which the common Christianity requireth Let no man then marvel that being setled in this opinion upon all the consideration which our long distractions have allowed me time to take I am not afraid to publish this brief view of it referring my self for proof of the particulars to that which I have published heretofore Let it not seem strange that I deliver it some times with that resolution and assurance which seems to admit no contradiction to it For though the Faith of Gods Church bee always the same yet I profess of my self that the Laws of this Church are to bee Ruled by the Laws of the primitive Church with that allowance which the difference of the present time and that state of Christianity which it hath introduced from that which then was may require And by professing this I do really and not only for a formality submit my self to the authority of Superiors as well as to the judgment and censure of every Christian For how far the present times are capable of those Rules which all times are to go by that would bee one and the same Church with that which was from the beginning I take not upon me to judge as belonging to the account of Superiors Nay before I have done you shall see I compromise my Opinion it self and not only my own proceeding according or not contrary to it to the authority of Superiors and to better judgement And therefore let it be lawful to plead for the improving of the Laws of this Church so long
as it is lawful to plead for the abolishing of the Laws of this Kingdom For as it is manifest that our Ecclesiastical Laws are the Laws of the Kingdom So would I not open my mouth for improving them were it not to make them the Laws of Gods only true Church THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. IF the Church of Rome bee a true Church Reformation is the restoring of that which hath been If the Pope bee Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters the Church of Rome no true Church If no Visible Church then no sin of Schisme Antichrist may bee an Idolater but cannot bee the Head of a Church Though it were Idolatry to worship the Host yet to kneel at the Communion would bee Holy That which the Church of Rome professeth is not Idolatry if it bee a true Church They that separate from the Church of Rome as Idolaters are thereby Schismaticks before God pag. 2 CHAP. II. The supposition of Antichrist and Idolatry prejudicial to the truth The supposition of one Visible Church the ground of Communion as well within the Reformation as in the whole Church What the Romish Missionaries get by the charge of Haeresie and the pretense of Infallibility What we get by the charge of Idolatry and Antichrist Immoderate charges vain on both sides The charge of Schisme on both sides moderate as to the Church The sin of Schisme as to God horrible The Schisme of the Donatists in charging the Catholicks to bee Apostates The sad consequences of that Schisme 8 CHAP. III. They that hold by One Visible Church are to own the consequences of it Nothing to bee changed but upon that ground Wee cannot bee the same Church with that which was otherwise Though that which shall be setled will find advocates Civil Laws of Religion to bee changed till this Rule bee attained The beginning and rise of our differences The present state of them What terms of agreement with the Presbyterians wee ought to allow The Laws of the Primitive Church the Standard of all change Our present Case is â—ot the Case of our Forefathers The Acts of Henry VIII no Acts of our Forefathers in Religion Imperfection of Laws in Religion no imputation to our Forefathers The pretense of tender Consciences is no Rule It serves Papists as well as Puritans 15 CHAP. IV. Erastians can acknowledge no Visible Church founded by God Their opinion inableth Sovereigns to persecute Gods truth by Gods Law Persecuting the truth is the use of a Power which no Sovereign can have If any Sovereign may punish for the Religion which hee professeth then are Subjects bound to renounce Christ if the Sovereign command it No offense but charity in declaring the true ground of reconcilement or punishment Why it ought to bee declared The declaring of it no offense to Superiors 24 CHAP. V. Wee have the same evidence for the Visible Vnity of the Church as for the truth of the Scriptures The Church founded upon the Power of the Keys The Vnity of the Church Visible by the Laws of it The Law which endoweth the Church with consecrated Goods How the Vnity of the Church is signified by the Scriptures How in the Old Testament 29 CHAP. VI. How far the Scriptures are clear to bee understood of themselves Tradition limiteth the sense of the Scripture Difference between the Tradition of Faith and Ritual Traditions The difference between Haeresie and Schisme The dependence of Churches evidenceth the Vnity of the Whole Church The form of this dependence throughout the Roman Empire No exception to bee made to it for the British Church Episcopacy by this form inviolable in all Opinions And the Church a standing Synod The Church Visible by disâ—â—â—ing Hâ—reticks and Schismaticks The breaches that have come to pasâ— evidence the same 35 CHAP. VII Reformation to bee bounded by that wherein the Visible Church agreeth No change without regard to the Rules of the Catholick Church Regular authority in the Church of Rome the means of Vnity absolute of Schismes How wee are visibly one with the only Church of God reforming without the Church of Rome 45 CHAP VIII What means God hath provided private Christians to discern the true Church The duty of all Estates for the Re-uniting of Schism The ground and extent of Secular Power in Church Matters How the conscience of Sovereign Power is discharged maintaining the Church 49 CHAP. IX Difficulty in receiving the Fanaticks into this Church How their Positions destroy the Faith Absolute Predestination to Glory destructive to Christianity Justifying Faith includeth the profession of Christianity The Nature of Faith according to the Scriptures sheweth the same So doth the state of that Question which St. Paul disputeth The conseâ—â— of the Church â—erein with the ground of it The sense of this Church 54 CHAP. X. Why Justifying Faith is not trust in God through Christ Of Justification according to the Council of Trent Of Justification according to Socinus Wherein his Hâ—resie consisteth How the misunderstanding of Satisfaction and Imputation occasioned it Vpon what grounds hee is to bee refuted The helps of Grace granted iâ— consideration of Christs obedienâ—â— And therefore they infer Original Sin by the fall of Adam Wherein the Covenant of Grace consisteth That the state of Grace is forfeited by hainous sin The danger of the contrary Position according to the ground of it 63 CHAP. XI What Law of God it is that may bee fulfilled by a Christian Of doing more then Gods Law requireth Whether our Lord gave a New Law or not Of the Satisfaction and Merit of Christian Works Original Sin is not Adams sin imputed to his Posterity Wherein Original Sin consisteth What Original Righteousness signifieth What good the Vnregenerate are able to do by the Law of Nature 73 CHAP. XII Vpon what terms that which is possible may become future The difference between necessity antecedent and consequent The difference between freedom from necessity and from bondage Freedom from necessity always requireth indetermination not always indifference The Object determineth the Will saving the freedom of it Whence the certainty of future contingencies ariseth How this appears in the Scriptures God no cause of sin according to the Scriptures Concerning the middle knowledg of God 80 CHAP. XIII No absolute Predestination to Glory Predestination to Grace absolute How Glory is the end of Grace In what terms the Faith of the Church standeth as concerning this point 86 CHAP. XIV Duty of a Christian as a Christian and as a Member of the Church How Anabaptists deny the Faith how they are to bee reconciled with the Church Their Error in rebaptizing for want of dipping What concerns Salvation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist How the Elements are consecrated into the body and bloud of Christ according to Gregory Nyssene The consequence hereof in the Errors concerning the Eucharist How the Eucharist a Sacrifice and yet no ground for private Masses The Eucharist not the Sermon the Chief Office of Gods service 91
buried in silence do not weigh by their own Weights nor mete by their own Measures The pretense of Reformation under Edward VI. excuses much defect in the forme of proceeding by the mater which it introduced They might make use of that which had been done to another intent Wee are not to measure their Actions by the Actions of them which were guided by other reasons In fine to maintain other mens Actions is to make our selves Imperfection of Lawes in Religion no imputation to our Forefathers accessory to their sins in doing them The Church of Rome standing to that which they received from their Forefathers stand but to that corruption to which that State of Religion which the Apostles brought in hath degenerated by tract of time That our Forefathers should not at once see or seeing should not at once be able to restore all that was decayed is no Imputation to men not pretending infallibility Why they have not since proceeded to restore the rest I have shewed evident reason in the contrary Factions of Papists and Puritans and the effects of them which our times have seen They themselves profess an imperfection in not restoring of Penance a mater of such consequence that all the judgements of God which wee have suffered may justly bee imputed to it And therefore the necessity of this time requiring a change the introducing of that which never was for the contenting of men instead of restoring that which was and therefore ought to bee will bee the sin of the Nation the declaring of this will bee the discharge of him that is so perswaded As for the Plea of tender Consciences to him that considers The pretense of tender Consciences is no Rule our Case in which it is made it will easily appear to bee a Saddle for all horses A pair of Stirrups to bee lengthned or shortned to all statures For wee are tyed to this supposition The Law is to bee re-established according to which God must bee served by the Church of England for the future And to pretend tenderness of Conscience against the Law of the Church and Kingdom is to proclaim disobedience to all Lawes that are not made by them who allege it For why may not any Law meet with tender consciences if some do And tenderness of conscience is a thing invisible which no Law can take for granted on any side But supposing the Unity of the Church ordained by God to forbear those Lawes which it requireth because tenderness of conscience may bee alleged against them is to offend the whole rather then a part For the same might have been alleged against any Law of Gods Church So there could have been no such thing as a Visible Church if that plea could have served mens turns And why should not a Papist have a tender conscience as well It serves Papists as well as Puritans as a Puritan Why should not the one expect to bee free from the penalties which the Lawes assign to those that refuse them as well as the other to have right to the rewards which they assign to those that imbrace them both professing the same reason though the one only makes a noise with pleading it If it bee said that English Papists are not considerable in comparison with English Puritans It is to bee considered how great a part of Christendom is engaged in the cause of English Papists How small a part of the Reformation is engaged in the cause of English Puritans In the mean time it is the Papists that are under the penalties of the Lawes Which Puritans are scandalized that they may not make And certainly no man can truely have a tender conscience in this case but he who for his part labours that neither Papists may have cause to continue Papists nor Puritans to continue Puritans But the conscience of the Kingdom that is our hope of Gods blessing or our fear of his vengeance will bee concerned to the life in it CHAP. IV. Erastians can acknowledg no Visible Church founded by God Their opinion inableth Sovereigns to persecute Gods truth by Gods Law Persecuting the truth is the use of a Power which no Sovereign can have If any Sovereign may punish for the Religion which hee professeth then are Subjects bound to renounce Christ if the Sovereign command it No offense but charity in declaring the true ground of reconcilement or punishment Why it ought to bee declared The declaring of it no offense to Superiors THat which hath been said of Henry the VIII and his Acts Erastians can acknowledg no Visible Church founded by God sheweth That Acts of Parliament cannot bee the Measure of Religion though they should bee the Fense and the Bulwark of it Let me now upon this occasion conjure our Brethren the Presbyterians to lay to heart the unknown danger which this time threatneth the evident mischiefe which it produceth It was a complaint visibly just in the late Usurpers time that while one side was for this Religion another for that they that were for no Religion would prove the strongest side Presbyterians contest with their Prelates who shall give Law to the Church that is who shall bee the Church They are desirous to have authority in point of Fact without and against their Prelates which they will never make out any title to in point of right but from their Prelates They beleeve all the while that the Church is founded by God and all the rights upon which it is founded of Right And yet can find in their hearts to stand wrangling out the time while they grow the greatest party that would have no Church at all and by consequence no Christianity Wee call them Erastians because the disputes of our times have made it evident that if no Excommunication as he pretended then no Church Yet it is not to bee granted that he ever saw through the consequences of his own Position or would have held no Excommunication had he thought it would infer no Church I will not say the learned Selden saw not the consequence For why should I speak of the opinion of a man that was too wise to declare it I am sure he mistook the state of the Question when beginning to declare his opinion in the point of Excommunication for hee never argued for any part of his opinion till hee published his Books de Synedriis hee defined Excommunication to bee a censure inferring a civil penalty For it was evident that all his Adversaries deriving the power of Excommunication from the Apostles must deny any civil effect of Excommunication which they knew it could not have before Constantine This opinion is liable to an objection visible enough For if Their opinion inableth Sovereigns to persecute Gods truth by Gods Law it were true then all Subjects all private Christians would stand bound in conscience to profess that Religion which the Sovereign power enacteth by the Lawes which it giveth Which if it were so in
vain do wee Dispute whether the Papists the Prelatick or the Puritans bee in the right Whatsoever Religion the Law of the Land shall establish shall bee that which God enjoyneth And the Sovereign shall bee able in point of conscience to punish those that refuse it whether right or wrong though it cannot be denyed that as Christendom is at present divided some Subjects must needs bee punished for the right I know but one that hath looked this objection in the face His first Answer was that they that are punished for the right Religion shall bee gainers by their sufferings they shall have their share in the reward of Martyrs This is the Answer that Julian the Apostate made the Christians complaining of their sufferings under him Therefore it is evident that a Christian must not allege it For if he that suffers shall have a Martyrs reward what reward shall he that punisheth have but a Persecutors So a Christian Sovereign for using the power that God gives him shall have a Persecutors reward If it bee said No marvel Because he uses it amiss not because Persecuting the truth is the use of a Power which no Sovereign can have he goes beyond the bounds of it Either God hath enacted the contrary of that which the Sovereign enjoyneth or not If not then is that which the Sovereign enjoyneth contrary to no Law of God And therefore it obligeth the Subject If so then cannot the Sovereign Power enjoyn it And therefore it is extended beyond the bounds of it in that case Again either abusing his power by enacting that Religion which he ought not he obligeth his Subject in conscience to God to profess and to exercise the Religion which he enacteth or not If not then must the Subject for the security of his conscience bee Judge whether the Sovereign abuse his power or not If so then as before wee Dispute about Religion to no purpose For every man is bound to that which the Law of his Country enacteth Nay there will be no reason why Christians under the Turk shall not live as Mahumetans For the quality of a Christian is one and the same in the Subject as in the Sovereign And therefore there can appear no reason why it should give the one the right by the Act of his Will to oblige the will of the other which an undoubted Sovereign a Pagan or a Mahumetan hath not And indeed he hath answered otherwise since Namely That a man is bound to renounce Christ with his mouth if the Sovereign command it For hee shall bee saved by beleeving in him with the heart the same time which is all that his Christianity requireth This Answer is plain English But it comes to this point That a Christian is saved by the inward act of Faith If any Sovereign may punish for the Religion which hee professeth then are Subjects bound to renounce Christ if the Sovereign command it without the outward By beleeving without professing There is another that intended it seems to shew the late Usurper by what right hee might protect both Presbyteries and Congregations dealing with others according to his Interest He supposeth that a Christian being justified by his Faith is at his choise to make himself the member either of an Independent Congregation or of one that shall associate it self into a Presbytery with others Whereupon the Sovereign supposing both of them to bee the Godly party must needs finde himself bound to protect them both He saith not by what right he could punish those for their Religion whom hee took not for the Godly party By what right hee could hinder them in the free profession and exercise of their Religion which indeed is a greater punishment then a Christian neither Haeretick nor Schismatick can bee bound to endure But hee need not tell him by what right hee could exclude them from belonging to the Godly party Those whose Religion cannot stand with Usurpation cannot seem Godly to Usurpers In the mean time as you see this Author stands upon the same ground with his fellow that a Christian is justified by the inward act of Faith without the outward by beleeving without professing Only hee saith by beleeving before hee profess the other though hee profess the contrary of that which he beleeveth But neither of both hath offered to say either that the Will of the Sovereign is by Gods Law the Rule of Religion to the will of the Subject which hee is to answer God by at the day of Judgement Or that Gods Law can allow the Sovereign to punish the Subject for that Religion which it enableth not the Sovereign to oblige his Subject to profess All must come to this point that a Christian is bound to renounce Christ if his Sovereign command it For if a Christian bee bound in conscience to obey whatsoever his Sovereign commandeth in point of Religion then if the Great Turke command his Subjects to renounce Christ they are bound to obey it Which whether it bee not a position for Macchiavellian Atheists that make no more of Christianity then of an expedient to Govern people in peace I leave to all that are capable to judge Thus much for certain he that thinks himself tyed to renounce his Christianity if his Sovereign command him is no longer a Christian As having recalled the Vow of his Baptisme to profess Christ until death And this is that which I conjure our Brethren the Presbyterians to lay to heart That the visible growth of this opinion by their continuing this distance upon trifles threatens to render them that would have no Religion at No offense but charity in declaring the true ground of reconcilement or punishment all the strongest side In this open and stiff opposition of four Religions though not distinguished into four Communions Recusants Prelatickes Puritans and Erastians For I oversee the Fanatiques as swallowed back into the belly of the Presbyterians shall it bee a crime shall it bee an offense for me to say what point of Christianity in my poor opinion reconciles all to unity that admit Gods truth That beleeving two Articles of our Creed One Catholick and Apostolick Church and one Baptism for remission of sins if wee beleeve that they signifie any thing wee are all bound to submit all partialities to that which they signifie Not as if Recusants depending upon a Forain communion and the head of it that shows no inclination to Unity upon terms of Gods truth were likely to take notice of one mans poor opinion concerning the consequences of common principles But because wee are our selves so far chargeable to God for our Schisme with the Church of Rome and the mischiefes of it as wee neglect those consequences And because the Justice of the Kingdom in the penalties of all Recusancy may easily bee rendred visible if wee keep close to them but not possibly otherwise As for those that make the Pope Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters can they
Whole Church that renders any thing Infallible Now it is true every Christian hath the Judgment of discretion in the choice of Religion in point of fact That is to say supposing the division or rather the divisions that are on foot in the Church But in point of Right it ought to bee otherwise God having provided the Unity of the Church on purpose that simple Christians might not bee put to so hard a choice For when the Catholick Church was so Visibly distinct from all Sects that a Sectary would have been laughed at had hee called his own Church the Catholick Church of that City Willfully must hee perish that should forsake that Church which hee could not mistake But in our case what avails it to allege the Title of Catholick while the ground of the Title remains disputable Especially the division between the Greek and Latine Church having rendred it almost insignificant afore And the number of Protestants as I said of Nestorians rendring it questionable where the signification will light Seeing therefore that the malice of man by dividing the The duty of all estates for the re-uniting of Schisme Church rendreth it Invisible as hard to bee seen though not Invisible as not possible to bee seen What remaineth but that all publick persons and whosoever is interessed in the divisions of the Church understand and consider what account they owe for the Souls that must needs miscarry by the divisions which they maintain wheu they need not For how shall hee bee clear that professes not a desire of condescending to all that which truth will allow on either side for the advantage of peace on both sides And seeing neither side can make peace without the consent of both but either may have truth alone What remaineth but that all Reformation bee confined within those bounds which the Faith and the Law of the Catholick Church fixeth For though they that profess and intend to Reforme by that Rule may fail in applying their Rule to some matters Though seeing what the Rule requires they may bee fain to abate of it because the Body which they intend to regulate is not capable of the strict Rule Yet it is a reasonable ground of confidence for a single heart that the right Rule is expresly professed to bee intended For though in all divisions the parties acknowledging One Visible Church must needs hold the one the other Schismaticks unless they will bear the blame of the division themselves Yet is there no appearance in reason that God will take them for Schismaticks that follow so fair a profession in general though it may not come to effect in some particular And this is the only way to provide a clear discharge for the The ground and extent of Secular Power in Church maters Secular Power that is Sovereign in establishing such a Reformation by Law to the people of it and enacting the same with such priviledges and penalties as Christianity either alloweth or requireth For it is manifest from the premises that the Church by Gods Law is Judge in the matter of all Lawes according to which Religion is to be enacted by any Sovereign Yet is the Sovereign Power Judge also of their Judgment as not only it self a Member of the Whole Church and Heir to all right which the Unity thereof intitleth any Christian to but as Protector of the Church and of the Faith and Lawes of it That is as Protector of all Subjects within the Church of the respective Dominions in all right which the Law of the Church in the Dominion thereof setleth And therefore bound to judge whether that which the Church either of the respective Dominion or united with the same shall determine bee such as the Uuity of the Whole Church either alloweth or requireth or not For it is onely the Sovereign Power that can enact it for a Law upon all the Subjects thereof to the effect of Secular priviledges or penalties And seeing the Faith and Communion of the Church is the inheritance of the Secular Power that is Christian It is manifest that hee is trusted for his Subjects in matter of Religion to no purpose if hee bee to trust the Church at large in the matter of his Office And yet Gods Law having provided the Church to limit all matters questionable upon the constitution of the Church It is also manifest that all Secular Power is to suppose the Faith of the Church as always the same from the beginning And the Lawes in being as acts of the same authority which was founded by God in the Whole Church from the beginning before any Secular Power was Christian Which if it protect not why is it Christian I say it is bound to acceâ—t them for such in case it appear not by the Faith and the Lawes of the Whole Church that they are otherwise And in that case though the Secular Power be Judge for it self yet the Church and the Law of the Church is the Rule by which it is to judge As for that which present necessity requireth â—o be restored or setled a new for the Church respective to every Sovereignty It is also maniâ—est that the Secular Power both may and ought to see the Church under it to do their Office Knowing that it is their Office as to preserve the Faith which is always the same So to maintain Unity by suiting the Laws which are to be with those which have been from the beginning Whereof common reason in all publick Powers is a competent Judge I need say nothing that Secular Powers may and are to see that under pretense of Ecclesiastical Power or Jurisdiction their own rights bee not invaded having said That the power of the Church produceth no Secular effect But as the enacting of the Church Lawes with Secular priviledges and penalties is onely the effect of Secular Power So is it accountable to God alone for the use of it And as the Unity of the whole Church must needs bee concerned How the Conscience of Sovâ—reign Power 〈…〉 in the Lawes of the Church respective to this or that Sovereignty So is it not possible that any Sovereign should bee Judge in the concernments of those that are not his Subjects The divisions of Christendome which I alleged afore make full evidence for this For what need further dispute about Religion were Subjects as Subjects by Gods Law bound to stand to the will of their Sovereigns in that which concerns them as Christians This shews how much Sovereigns are concerned for their discharge to God to seek the peace of Christendome For if as at present it cannot bee had upon just terms it is not the opinion of this or that Divine It is not the opinion of any person whatsoever not acting in a quality capable by the constitution of the Church to oblige the Church respective to the Sovereign Much less is it his personal skill in matters of Religion though as great as any mans that
enableth Recusants to take the Oath of Supremacy pretense of the pre-eminence of his Church in Ecclesiastical matters hath given this Crown just occasion to declare it self Supreme Head or Supreme Governour for the kingdom of heaven is not in word but in power as St. Paul saith in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil But the capacity of several senses in words that signifie humane matters capable of so great a Latitude by their nature seemeth to have Produced out of this Act a Sect of Erastians very dangerous to Christianity As immediately denying any Ordinance of God for the Visible Unity of his Church which is an Article of our Creed but by consequence shewing all how they may enjoy the benefit of Civil Law in a State that professes Christianity without beleeving any more of Christianity then they please This capacity was restrained in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign by her Injunctions by the Articles of Religion by an Act of Parliament not to signisie the abolishing or the disclaiming of Ecclesiastical power in part or in whole And to such effect that it is acknowledged now in books written on purpose by one party of Recusants that they may freely take the Oath of Supremacy saving the scruple that may remain of offending those Recusants who think that they may not take it And I can by no means marvel at it For they who do openly profess that unlimited obedience to the Pope in Ecclesiastical maters which hee requireth how can they swearing the Oath of Supremacy bee thought to abjâ—â—e his Ecclesiastical power in England the words of the Oath being restrained by Law to disclaim only the Temporal effect of it But it is manifest that not only the unlimited power of the Pope What further ambiguity that Oath involveth but all authority of a General Council of the Western Churches whereof the Pope is and ought to bee the chief member according to the premises may justly seem to bee disclaimed by other words of the same Oath And that Whereas the Pope usurped not only upon the Crown but upon the Clergy of this Kingdom all those Usurpations are by the Act of Resumption under Hâ—nry the VIII invested in the Crown So that when the Oath declares to maintain all Rights and Pre-eminences annexed to the Crown you may understand that maintenance which a Subject owes his Sovereign against those that pretend to force his claims from him But you may also understand that maintenance which a Divine owes the Truth in asserting the Title of the Crown to all rights vested in it Which hee that believes that some rights of the Church are invested in the Crown ought not to undertake Though as a Subject for preserving the State of his King and Country hee bee tyed to maintain all the claims of the Crown against all the enemies of it Now if an Oath required by the Sovereign Power bear two What scanâ—al the takiâ—g of it in the true sense ministreth senses in the proper signification of the Words which is more ordinary then it is believed the Subject may undergo it in that sense which truth and right warranteth And so in regard the Pope not content with his Regular authority in the Church pretends Temporal power in disposing of the Dominiâ—nâ— which hee disclaims Communion with besides absolute power in materâ— of Religion it is lawful to swear that hee ought to have no manner of power in this Kingdom as things stand tiâ—l hee depart from claims so unjust But there is appearance that the misunderstanding of it hath produced an Opinion destructive to one Article of the Creed to the being of any Visible Church as founded by God And besides it is not possible that all they who are called to this Oath by Law can ever bee able to distinguish that sense wherein they ought from that wherein they ought not to take it And therefore of necessity the Law gives great offense and that offense is the sin of the Kingdom and calls for Gods vengeance upon it Which though all are involved in yet in the other world the account will lye upon them that may change it and do not Now it is manifest that all Recusants believe not the Popes That this Oatâ— ought to bee inlarged to all pretenses in Religiâ—n that abridge Allegiance Temporal Power nor think themselves bound to execute such Acts as the Bull of Pius quintus against Queen Elizabeth Those that do not how should they bee liable to capital punishment which the Law in some cases inflicts For how should they bee taken for the enemies of their Country otherwise On the contrary I have shewed by the Troubles of Franckford in the beginning of the Reformation that there was then the same difference of opinion amongst them that held with the Reformation about obedience to Sovereigns obeying the Church of Rome And that the same difference of opinion was the cause of the late Troubles appeareth by the aspersion of Popery upon his late Majesty alleged to justifie the War against him Whereby it appeareth that they of that opinion do undergo the Oathes of Supremacy and Allegiance as provided only against the See of Rome and the claims of it Thinking themselves enabled notwithstanding the same to limit their Allegiance to that which their Religion shall allow And therefore there is great Reason why the Kingdom should enact a new Oath extending the Original Allegiance of all Subjects to all cases in which experience hath shewed or reason may foresee that Religion may bee pretended to abridge the Obligation of Allegiance This I am encouraged here to declare by the late Act of the Kingdom of Scotland establishing for the future the form of an Oath whereby the obligation of Allegiance iâ— extended to the renouncing not only of any claim for the See of Rome but of all pretenses whatsoever whether upon the account of Religion or of civil Right of abridging the obligation of it For though I neither maintain nor find fault with the terms which it useth yet the agreement and the difference between the case of both Kingdoms as it evidenceth to all the necessity so it determineth to them that are to understand the State of both the agreement and the difference of that which ought to bee provided And seeing it is the true consequence of the common Christianity that enables the Kingdom to do this because supposing as it doth the State of this World it cannot extend to the altering of it there is great reason why a Divine should bee allowed to say it not entring upon other considerations wherein Religion is not concerned For in the next place to the bringing in of a new Provision the conscience of the Kingdom is best discharged the Scandals that may bee occasioned removed the wrath of God prevented or appeased by the secular Powers allowing these interpretations to pass without contradiction that may enable all estates to depose it
interest in one anothers body which cannot bee dissolved but by death Therefore it is celebrated with the Eucharist that they who mary with the resolution of Christians may bee enabled by the Spirit of God which the Sacrament promiseth to perform the same The charge of Superstition upon the Church of Rome is to The Superstitions of the Church of Rome bee justified by many particulars in tendring those things to God for his service wherein his service consisteth not In the first place the multiplying of Masses for the quick and for the dead without any pretense of the concurrence of a Congregation to the action much less of any Communion At this rate it matters not much in what language it is performed seeing there is no mans devotion required to assist the Priest in it The like is seen in the Vows of Pilgrimages and in the visiting of divers Churches for the gaining of Indulgences For had men nothing else in mind then that Service which is acceptable to God in all places why should they think themselves more acceptable to God for the travel which they undergo that they may perform it far from home whereby they forgo that opportunity for it which they know without bettering the mind which were it as it might bee would find means to better it self every where But there appears in it a carnal affection to the Memories of Saints out of a carnal affection to the things of thiâ— world wherein carnal men hope to bee assisted by the Saints in recompense of their voluntary devotions though Christianity allows them not the confidence to seek them at Gods hands The same is to bee said of an innumerable number of things that Monastical Orders observe nay of the overvaluing of the estate it self of continence or retirement from the world Which being no part of Christianity but a help and an opportunity for that wherein it consisteth satisfieth outside Christians with that which Pagans can do the outward work without that inward disposition which only Christianity formeth All these and many more observations which they set innocent Christians on work about must needs speak them superstitious notwithstanding that there is always in them a pretense of serving God according to Christianity For the more straw and chaff the less grain and where the intention of the mind is spent upon the shell of Christianity there can it not have strength to bring the kernel of it to ripeness The Ceremonies wherewith they overcharge the publick service of the Church are of the same nature For they that understand not the meaning of them and therefore distinguish them not from the Office which God accepteth must needs put that to the account of his service which is but the means to procure it But what shall wee say to them who think they oblige us The Superstitions of the Puritans when they allow the people to kneel to lift up their eyes and to hold up their hands at their Prayers Do they not think they oblige Almighty God in serving him without any other sign of reverence It is not possible that they should stand upon it to the disquiet of the Church if they did not Did they not take it for the service of God that the same Houses should bee Common and Holy Stables and Churches the same Vessels Chalices and drinking Cups the same Tables Altars and dining Bords it is not possible that they should trouble the Church about it as they do But it is plain enough that they serve him without reverence or devotion because they think so To these men all set times of fasting all the estate of continence all obedience to Superiors all works of Mortification and Penance stand suspected for Superstitious They would not think themselves far enough from the Papists if they should do the good works of Christians For fear of private Masses the Eucharist must bee celebrated thrice a year And wee must have the Opus operatum of a Sermon in exchange for the Opus operatum of a Mass But this is not reforming of Religion It is stocking up the Vineyard of the Church instead of Pruning it I need not say what is Reformation and at what point it stands The distance from the extreams makes the mean visible The truth is there will bee necessarily superstition in all Religions so long as the Church hath chaff and corn in it For they that are sensible of that obligation to God which they are not willing to discharge will always discharge themselves to God upon that which they are content to do for his service but which hee is not content with because it signifieth not the obedience of the inward man which hee requireth Not that there must needs bee Superstition in using things indifferent of themselves much less in using such as in reason may serve to advance attention and devotion in Gods Service But because as there may bee Superstition in using them So there is Superstition in thinking that by forbearing them a man does God service But to think Schisme acceptable to God rather then use them is without doubt as great superstition as any the Church of Rome teacheth Having shewed why the Church of Rome cannot bee charged Why the Pope cannot bee Antichrist with Idolatry I may from thence infer that the Pope cannot bee Antichrist I do not grant that either St. Paul in the second Chapter of his second Epistle to the Thessalonians or St. John in the Apocalypse speaks any thing of Antichrist But hee that exalts himself above all that is called God as St. Paul speaketh there must bee one that should make himself God according to the Idolatry of the Pagans And the fornication which the Whore of Babylon in the Apocalypse makes the Nations drunk with is necessarily the same Idolatry Therefore if the Pope teach no such Idolatry hee cannot prove Antichrist either by St. John or St. Paul The Fathers have thought that both of them prophesie of such a one as shall indeed bee a false Christ if ever there shall bee such a one Because hee shall impose a new Religion as from God upon all whom hee shall seduce But St. Johns Catholick Epistles where Antichrist is mentioned do not signifie that any such is to come And therefore wee are not tied to their opinion in the interpretation of a Prophesie which is no mater of Faith But though the Pope bee not Antichrist nor the Papists Idolaters How it is just to Reforme without the See of Rome yet I conceive I have shewed sufficient reason why this Kingdom and Church of England might and ought to Reform Religion without and against the consent of the Church of Rome supposing that which seems to bee manifest by all that hath followed that the Church of Rome would never have condescended to any such change And the Unity of the Church determining the measure and the bounds of Reformation they must needs be the same indeed as they
if hee refuse it The Curate indeed stands excused by the Law as to his Superiours and to the Church But what will the Law what will the Church what will the Curate say for themselves at the great judgement of God if it appear that a soul perishes by this defect in the Law according to the which hee ministers his Office And a Recusant in this case may say with truth that those abuses which I have taxed the Church of Rome for allowing it commandeth not That hee may possibly meet with one that is not tainted with those novelties of Doctrine But will deal faithfully with his soul in that exigent And therefore may hope that he sinneth not in continuing a Recusant out of hope for that help in this point which hee cannot expect by conforming And therefore that his sin not being visible to him in this point the penalties of Recusancy at least in this regard are inflicted without cause A Supplication for a full debate of all maters in difference Had I not proceeded thus far in setting forth what the justifying of the Reformation which wee profess will require I had not set forth the ground of that most humble supplication which I advance upon it together with a most earnest adjuration if it bee lawful for Inferiors in any case possible to adjure their Superiors to and of all Estates whom the forming of the Laws of Religion in this Kingdom may any way concern by the bowels of Gods mercies in Christ by the bitter passion of his Cross by the merit of his sufferings by that â—hope of salvation which they furnish all Christians with And if the good of this World bee of any consideration after so high concernments by the hope of his Majesties long and prosperous Reign over us by the blessing of his return by the peace which wee enjoy through the same not to think the restoring of Religion by the Laws of this Kingdom the work of one sitting of Parliament or Synod Not to think that a work of that consequence and difficulty can bee concluded and made up by any Laws that may presently bee provided by any humane wisdom Not to think the Laws presently provided so fixed for eternity that further endeavours for the perfecting of so great a work should bee thought derogatory to the authority of Law In fine according to that which I said in the beginning to think the Laws that may presently bee provided ambulatory and provisional till all possible means shall have been tried to put so great a work beyond all imputation of any visible offense Not thinking any pains a burthen that may shew reasonable hope of a good issue to so high a purpose For as there is just cause to think that there remains very much means to bee imployed with such a hope So the time now seems proper now that there is appearance of the restoring of the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Land for imploying the same For the means to bee imployed will consist in a just and full debate of reason upon principles agreed upon between the parties tending to reduce them unto agreement in such things as remain in difference This debate may well seem dangerous to peace not supposing any authority to govern it within the due bounds and to direct it unto the due purpose But supposing as wee must needs suppose all parties liable to that authority which the Law of the Land authorizes because that is acknowledged by all parties neither can the Secular Power allow thsoe whom it owns for Governors of the Church less then to govern and direct all dispute tending to satisfie all that question the Ecclesiastical Law of the Kingdom Nor need they desire more for a reasonable ground of hope for good success There can bee no ground to expect that they who openly profess the Laws of Religion to bee the sins of them that make them can think their duties discharged to God by being instrumental in the executing of them to the intent to them that make them They must needs think themselves bound in conscience to deprave and to pervert the effect of them to their own intent in an infinity of particulars which no diligence of Government can prevent or meet with But when upon full and just debate it shall appear that a change is refused them meerly because they can shew no sufficient reason for it upon those grounds which the common Christianity obliges the parties to acknowledge condescending to all that they can shew such reason for how can it bee imagined that any prejudice or engagement that may bee so honourably quitted will prevail above God and their Country to a defiance of them that carry not the Sword in vain I consess I can hope for no good end of any such Dispute The ground of resolution the being of the Catholick Church the first and chief point of the debate without supposing that sense of the Article concerning one Catholick Church which hath carried me through this discourse for the Principle upon which all mater in debate is to bee tried Nor can I take it for a supposition which they do admit of themselves But I suppose first that the misunderstanding of that which it demandeth being once cleared the truth of it will bee so evident by that reason which must satisfie for the truth of the common Christianity that all shall bee convinced of it by that which they allege for themselves as being the consequence of their own allegations Then I suppose further that it is the first point to bee tried as that which in effect contains more then half the trial of all the rest Which had it been agreed upon might have prevented all breaches And without agreeing upon it leaves all Dispute in Religion endless and without hope of conviction or satisfaction on this side or on that It is not indeed to bee expected that Recusants will ever become a party to such an action though no way concerned in conscience not to own those whom their Sovereign appointeth for Governors of such a debate Not because there would bee any appearance that thereby they should own them for their Superiors But because wee find them not disposed to own the obligation of their Christianity requiring them to concur to it upon those terms to bee more antient then any obligation of their spiritual Superiors to the contrary For if the Unity of the Church take place before the authority of any Superiors provided for the maintenance of it then is every Christian obliged to the due ground and terms of it before the authority of Superiors And therefore cannot refuse them tendered by a part though refused by a greater part And therefore cannot refuse that trial which is the due means to bring them to light though his Superiors refuse it And therefore their refusal can bee no bar to the effect of the action once grounded upon a supposition inforcing the trial by the Scriptures expounded by
the consent of the Church That is within those bounds wherein the agreement thereof may appear For the setling of those terms upon which the Fanaticks are either to bee disowned by the Presbyterians or owned by this Church As it must proceed upon that supposition so it will render their Recusancy as concerning all the consequence of that issue visibly punishable in those that refuse to give or take satisfaction upon so just terms And the consequence of the same supposition in bounding that which is questionable in the Laws of this Church to the justifying of the Reformation which it pretendeth will leave it without excuse in other maters For the bounds of that distance which wee are to hold with the Church of Rome being the subject of distance among our selves As it is not possible to determine them but upon that supposition So they will oblige all Christians to that penalty which the Laws of a Christian Kingdom are able to inflict upon those that disobey them being made by virtue of the common Christianity As for my self it shall bee a great pleasure to me to compromise all that I have said either of the Faith or Laws of the Church to the issue of such a trial For there is no reason why I should think it a disparagment to my age not to have seen the due consequence of such a principle in so many maters of so doubtful dispute better then such a number of Divines or either side as must bee imployed in such a debate can make it to appear to those whose authority must conduct and govern it That one principle remaining firme which this Church can never disown if it weigh always by the same Wâ—ights and meâ—e by the same Measures it shall bee much pleasure to me to see any mistake of mine in the consequence of it brought to light having a good hope to God that so innocent an inquiry upon so just a principle in a cause so difficult and so concerning will serve to excuse any such mistake in his presence The same will serve to difference the liberty which I use in publishing this from the licentiousness of those who band themselves against the Lawes of their Country they are sure without those terms for submission to them upon which themselves cannot deny that they shall bee the Laws of Gods Church in it Especially seeing I compromise as many hours of study as much follicitude of thought as due a course of inquiry into the grounds of the mater in question as the most of my quality can have imployed to the like purpose since the beginning of our troubles And seeing this liberty must bee my plea at the great judgment of God for any thing wherein I may have ministred mine Office according to that measure which those Laws will inforce in which the best of my own private judgement requires an amendment The consequence of the same in Uniting the Reformed Churches And the acknowledgement of this Principle puts an end to another motion concerning the uniting of all Reformed Churches of all that are called Protestants against the Church of Rome whether this trial proposed come to an issue or not For it is manifest that before the issue of such a trial with them as among our selves all union with them upon account of Religion is but mutual toleration providing that no breach succeed or that none bee made wider then presently it is by the disclaiming of Communion between the parties And that is to bee referred to the wisdom of Superiors the terms which wee our selves ought to insist upon being secured by the express profession of that Principle whereof they are all but the consequences Wee are to stand to Luthers appeal to a Council that should judge by the Scriptures alone limiting the interpretation of the Scriptures as the Rule to judge by to the consent of the Church as the evidence for the bounds of it Had this limitation been expressed in their proceedings at home as it cannot bee said ever to have been disclaimed in their proceedings abroad with Calvinists there had been sufficient ground for preventing not only the particular breach between them but the general breach with the Church of Rome There had been no cause why both parties of Reformed and Catholick might not have continued one Church both Reformed and Catholick Since so great distances are come to pass As it is in vain to expect an union without agreeing first upon the Principle of it So it will not bee safe to maintain Communion upon toleration of differences on foot without protestation for that Principle which must maintain our own Christianity leaving them to themselves and to God in all maters of difference If this Union bee demanded upon the account of common defense against the Powers which own the Church of Rome which seems to bee the inâ—ent of those that would try the cause of Religion by the sword The same protestation will bear out all Christian Powers in point of conscience The interest of their good and the good of their Subjects being provided for by their wisedom For the maters in difference being acknowledged by securing the principle upon which they are to bee decided It will always be in their power to joyn for the maintenance of those Laws whereby the Reformation is setled in their respective Sovereignties Without undertaking for the justice of any Laws but those which each Sovereignty is to answer for because it makes them And the effect of this reservation will bee of great consequence to the retaining of that Christianity which is left us For this limitation will exclude all Power of joyning for the maintenance of Subjects in attempting the Reformation of Religion or the maintenance of the same by force against the Will of their Sovereigns The oversight of which provision in actions of State imputed to the supposition of Religion when they might as well have been intitled to causes of Civil Right hath had a very visible hand in the troubles which we have seen And is the more carefully to bee avoided for the future because the pretense is upon all occasions so studiously advanced by those that have been active in the same I have maintained the lawfulness of having Images in An instance in the having of Images in Churches Churches Now considering the distance between lawful and necessary I find it not amiss to declare by this instance upon what terms the Rule which I have proposed of reducing all customs of this Church to that estate in which wee find them practised during the primitive times of the Catholick Church may bee serviceable to the purpose of Unity amongst our selves For there is so little mention of Images in Churches during neer four hundred years after Christ for increase of devotion for instruction of the unlearned or for the ornament of Churches that it may well bee demanded as for the consequence of that Rule that the use of them though lawful may
they bee members of Gods Church That is setting aside their Baptism and the Covenant which is solemnly inacted by it between God and each soul And though I do refer my self to the wisdom of Superiors in what form this reconciliation bee solemnized yet I must express my opinion thus far that there can bee none so fit as that which the wisdom of the Catholick Church from the beginning hath alwaies frequented By granting them the blessing of the Church with Imposition of hands renouncing for their part their several Sects and Errors That is by the praiers of the Church for the Spirit of God to rest upon them who have barred their baptism from giving it by opposing the peace of the Church which now they retire unto For how shall the Unity of the Church bee secured but by declaring them who violate the same accursed of God Nor let it bee thought that our Sectaries of their own accord retiring themselves unto the Communion of this Church it will bee requisite for the Church to admit them without taking notice of any thing that hath passed For neither is it to bee presumed that they who have made their own wills their Law for so many years will so much as profess conformitie to the Rule of the Church And if they did profess it there is no reason to think that they should stand to it having a dispensation dormant of the Spirit to stand to their profession as the interest of their faction shall require So their coming to Church would bee only an advantage for them to infect others And how should that Communion bee counted a Church which intertains Haereticks as Haereticks and Schismaticks as Schismaticks that is without renouncing positions destructive to the Faith without obliging themselves for the future to hold Unity with the Church Certainly there is no just answer for this if the Church of Rome should object it for the reason why they refuse to hold communion with us Certainly St. Augustine when hee was charged by the Donatists that the Church received their Apostates without rebaptizing them and in their respective Orders could have had no answer if he had not had this That the Church received them not as Donatists but as converted from being Donatists they not refusing to profess so much Certainly it may bee and perhaps is justifiable for the Secular Power to grant them the exercise of their Religion in private places of their own providing under such moderate penalties as the disobeying of the Laws of a mans Country might require For persecution to death for that cause the whole Reformation condemneth in the Church of Rome And I conceive there is no reason for that which will not condemn persecution to banishment But this would require the like moderation to bee extended to Recusants of the Church of Rome True it is in mine opinion those Papists that think themselves tied by the Bull of Pius V. against Queen Elizabeth or that they may bee tied by the like Acts of his Successors against hers are justly liable to the utmost of penalties as professed enemies to their Country But besides that it is manifest that all Papists are not of that opinion which the said Bull presupposeth The State may easier be secured of Papists against all such power in the Pope then of our Sectaries against that dispensation to their Allegiance which the pretense of Gods Spirit may import when they please And whereas it is manifest that many Papists hold against those equivocations and reservations which destroy all confidence of the Sovereign in his Subjects allegiance How shall a State bee secured against that infamous falsehood of the late Usurper in any man that pretends Gods Spirit upon his terms which I mentioned afore Besides the Recusants being for the most part of the good Families of the Nation will take it for a part of their Nobility freely to profess themselves in their Religion if they understand themselves whereas the Sectaries being people of mean qualitie for the most part cannot bee presumed to stand upon their reputation so much So if they cannot bee tolerated in the exercise of their Religion it must bee provided upon what terms they may bee received by the Church And by that which hath been said it may appear what my opinion will require of the Presbyterians for the condition of reconciling our selves into one Church again Namely in the first place their submission to the Act or Decree or Order according to which the Sectaries ought to bee tied to renounce the damnable positions which they have notoriously set on foot For if they should refuse this what reason could bee alleged why they should bee counted Strangers to that infection which they will not exclude As for the other Article of the Creed concerning one Visible Church it is evident that they cannot belong to that Church supposing the Premises For it is evident that there was a time when the whole Church was governed by Bishops and that not against Gods Law for then there had remained no Church And therefore for them to break the Unity of the Church upon pretense of governing this Church by Presbyters is to break Unity unless a part may give Law to the whole which who so do are for so doing Schismaticks And the Church of Rome would have due cause to cast us off for Schismaticks if wee should admit this pretense But this is a point the knowledg whereof cannot belong to the substance of Christianity for the reason alleged before And therefore I do not think the Church tied to exact the express profession of it or the disclaiming of the error that is opposite to it On the other side the Church maintaining the Ordinations of Presbyters alone to bee meer nullities in themselves can never own their Ordinations without renouncing the Catholick Church yet may it consent in the persons upon their consent to the order which shall bee established for the future And indeed what can they challenge by the meer consent of certain Presbyters which the Ministers of Congregations may not pretend to by the consent of their respective Congregations And yet I suppose both parties are agreed not to own them in that Power which the celebration of the Eucharist importeth Let any man that is capable to judge of such maters think upon the madness of the Lancashire Presbyterians without prejudice Of whom I am duly informed that they caused those who were ordained only Deacons in the Church of England to do the office of Presbyters which they had no title to in celebrating the Eucharist And tell me what reason there can bee excluding the Ordinations of the Congregations to admit the usurpations of the Presbyterians As for the form and solemnity in which the consent of the Church to their Ordinations shall bee celebrateed therein I refer my self to the wisdom of Superiors Thinking it would bee a great impertinence in the Presbyterians if finding a necessity of submitting