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and Bear for mentioning it? And then you go on, like a Man in a Trance, firft to clear your Party of the Charge of Arminianifm, by telling us, That Perfons of great Eminence had affested the Doctrine of Univerfal Redemption; without telling who thefe Persons are that you mean, nor in what Senfe they understand it; tho' you fay, They were fuch as were perfecuted with Banishments, and Imprisonments, and with Death it felf. And as if this Doctrine of Univerfal Redemption, and that in the unfoundest Senfe of it, were the only, or the main Error that is commonly branded with the name of Arminian. But you have no reafon to expect, that I fhould now divert into the Arminian Controverfies with you, which is fo foreign to our prefent Bufinefs. And then to clear your felves from the Charge of Romish Doctrines, you tell us, How unfeasonable and unexcufable the Charge is at this time of the day, when your Clergy in a very eminent manner, have fo lately demonftrated the Falsehood of it to all the World; and by their Books and Sermons, have laid Popery in gafping Agonies before them. As if there were no Popif Doctrines preach'd by any of the Church of England, because there are fome that have declar'd againft them: The good and eminent Service that feveral of your Learned and Reverend Church-men have done, in defending any of the found Doctrines of the Reformation, against the Church of Rome, we acknowledge with Thanks both to God and to them. But,

1. These are not the only Men that have appear'd both in Pulpit and Prefs, against the Errors and Idolatries of that Church, tho' these indeed have had the fairest Publick Advantages to do it.

2. Tho' many of the Orthodox Doctrines of the Reformation, have been ftrenuously and zealously defended by fome, yet this doth not prove, that there are no Articles of Doctrine commonly taught

in the Church of England, that favour too much of the Degeneracy of that Apoftate Church, but which I fhall not now particularly mention, left you upbraid me again with bringing new Questions into the Controverfic.

Whatever the Conformists (fome few of them, you should have faid) have to their eternal bonour done, in oppofing the most violent Attempts of Popery: In whofe Politick Interest very many of the Inferior Clergy are justly fufpected to be, is known to all that obferve any thing of Publick Motions and Measures.

P.103,104,&c.

But when you so unjustly, and falfly, upbraid us once and again, with the Cordials that were adminifter'd to it by other bands, who to their eternal Confufion did offer up their Incenfe to it, and with the most fervile. Offices were labouring to fupport it. This fhews us but the Rancor of your own Spleen, and how fretting an Acid your Spirit of Charity is become. This is your is xpauen, and fo pleafant a Diversion to you, to chew it over and over, that you can't have done with it." To which I have already reply'd, and fhall now only tell you, how ill it doth become you, to accufe thofe of a Bad Defign, who did but give thanks to an Enemy for delivering them out of the hands of their cruel Oppreffors and Perfecutors. And as for that Stuff you have gather'd, as you fay, out of certain Letters from French Proteftant Refugees in Germany, which I confefs I have not yet feen, I might answer you with the Judgment of the Foreign Divines both from Geneva and several other parts, fent in Letters to the Bishops of the Church of England in Queen Elizabeth's time, where they gave their Judgment on the matters in Contro verfie between us, and declare, "They could hardly "fufpect, that thofe of the Church of England should be guilty of things fo clear befides all Office of Bishops;

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Fudgms of For.
Divines, P. 4.

Ibid. p. 14.

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"And particularly as for Miniftring Veftments, If Surplice, Corner-Cap "and Tippet, have been Badges of Ido"laters in the very act of their Idolatry, "What have the Preachers of Chriftian ་་ Liberty, and the open Rebukers of all Superftition, to do with the Dregs of the Romish "Beast? And therefore (fpeaking to thofe that then complain'd of these things) "we think, faid they, that je Should boldly oppone your felves to all Power that will, or dare, extol it felf, not only against God, but to the "burdening of the Confeiences of the Faithful, further "than God bath burdened them by his "own word. In the Liturgy of England,

Ibid. p. 15.

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Ibid. p. 30. fays Calvin, "I fee there were many "tolerable foolish things; by these words I mean, that "there was not the Purity which was to be defir'd. Thefe Vices, tho they could not at the first day be amended, it was lawful to begin with fuch Rudiments, but so, "that it behoved the Learned, Grave and Godly Minifters of Chrift to enterprize farther, and to fet forth "fomething more filed from Rust, and purer

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not tell what they mean, which fo greatly delight in the 46 Leavings of Popish Dregs. And that the Foreign Minifters of greatest Note are of the fame Judgment ftill, I fhall only add what Monfieur Claude has in a Letter to the Bishop of London (as 'tis thought)" I am perfwaded (fays he) you will not take it amifs if I tell you, that you ought on your part t to contribute to the Union of the Church, without looking to any fide. All that which Sweetness, and Cbarity, and Condefcention, and Prudence, require of you, that you may have nothing to accufe you before God, "and that you may draw his Bleffing upon you. There "is a Complaint, that my Lords the Bishops are very "Zealous to profecute Men by Penal Laws, as if they "were Enemies. There is a Complaint, that your Go66 vernment

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vernment over the Minifters, is just the fame with "that of the Bishops of the Church of Rome. There is a Complaint, that you will give Orders to none, but to thofe that will declare upon Oath, that Epif copacy is Jure Divino, which is to make racks for Confcience. There is a Complaint, that when you do not reor dain the Priefts that come over to you from Rome, you do reordain them that come from the "Churches of France and Holland. There is a Com" plaint, that the Bishops have a ftrange Stiffness for Jome Ceremonies that are Offenfive, and yet they fight for them as pro aris & focis. For God's fake, “ my Lord, labour to take away all these Causes of Complaint, if they be true, to difcover their Falsehood, if they be forged, And let all Chriftian Europe know, ແ that there is nothing which the Glory of God, and the Love of his Church call for, which you are not ready to grant. For give me leave to tell you, that it is not enough for your Fuftification, to prove that your Ministry is lawful, and that it is evil to separate from you; you must farther make appear, that you give no caufe nor colour for Separation, but on the conແ trary, you do all you can to avoid it. This is the general Senfe of the Foreign Proteftants, whatever Idea's fome of them may have conceiv'd, at that diftance, of things that they could not be competent Judges of.

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But now to return to your Argument: As far as we agree with you in Doctrine, i. e. the eftablished Publick Doctrine of the Church of England and that, I think, is as far as you agree with one another, fo far are we as much One, and in Communion with you, as you are with your felves. If Communion in Faith and Doctrine then, be any part of Chriftian Communion, as it was ever, till now, thought to be, we are fo far no more Schifmaticks than your felves. But yet that Unity in Faith, or Communion in Doctrine, is fufficient to juftifie

Polhil. Dife. of Schifm, P. 54, 556

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a Separation in fome other refpects, wherein Communion is necessary or lawful, and as far as it is fo, is what I never affirm'd. There may be a Caufelefs, and fo far Schfmatical Separation in other refpecs, tho' it be no damnable Schifm; For that which is but a breach of Order and Ecclefiaftical Caron, is not damnable, that is, doth not cut. Perfons off from the Communion of the Catholick Church, nor from Christ the Head, while they are found in the Faith. As Mr. Polbill rightly obferves, "Schifmatical Separation, fays he, is ordinarily, if not always, attended with fome Error; as the Novatians, Do"natifts, Luciferians, and all others, had their propria Dogmata, their corrupt Doctrines. But as for the Non conformists, adds he, what new Doctrine do they bring? What Error do they propagate? What "deadly Poyfon is under their Lips? Those are the most CL dangerous Schifmaticks, that depart from the pure ic Dorinc of the Church. And doth it not concern you, to confider how far Pelagianifm hath not only crept into, but fpread it felf in your Church? And whether it be not from among your felves, that Socinianifm and Deifm is rifen up, and found entertainment too, with fome of the Dignify'd Ones of your Communion? Prove it if you can, that thofe of the Presbyterial way, against whom you fo bitterly inveigh, are not as conformable to the established Doctrine of the Church of England, in all the Neceffary Articles of Faith, as the most Orthodox of your felves are. So that in this respect, wherein the Vital Union of the Church doth primarily confift, we are not Schifmaticks.

Tage 107.

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But it seems the Unity of Faith is a matter of very little moment with you in this cafe. The thing in debate, you fay, is this, Whether they that went out from us, are fill with us; or whether we are both of the fame Parti

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