PYthagoras, that old Samian Philo­sopher, who (as Justine Martyr re­cords) was wont to veil and dis­guise his opinions under dark speeches and mysticall symbols, having made Unitie the originall of all things, and the cause of all good that is in the world; the Father takes not his words for his meaning, but under the allegoricall veil of that Unitie discovers an undivided Deitie: [...], saith he in his Cohor­tation to the Grecians. As if that and God were so inseparably linked together, that the thought of man, although suggested but by the dictate of nature, could not possibly part them asunder. In like manner, S. Paul in this chapter exhorting the Ephesians to the endeavour of keeping the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace, after he hath told them, There is but one body, meaning of a Ca­tholick Church howsoever dispersed over the whole earth; But one Spirit, of a God informing [Page 2] and giving life to every member thereof; But one hope of their Christian calling (as if all this Unitie were but to usher in a single Deitie) he concludes all with an [...], There is one God, vers. 6. Yet before he gets up to this, he binds the Ephesians in a bond of union with that triple cord, wherein their whole Christianity was twisted, which could admit of no separation at all, unlesse they would seem to dissolve their profession: There is one Lord, whom Christians obey, and therefore no distraction by service, There is one faith, where­by they believe, and therefore no division by Creeds; There is one baptisme, whereby they get entrance into the Church, and therefore no di­stinction by initiative grace. And these three are more peculiarly [...], that Trinitie of Vni­ties, wherein God, by the ministery of S. Paul, ap­pears to his Church, as it were in the shape of three Angels, as once he did to Abraham and Sarah, to put her in mind of that conjugale foedus, that league of love between her and her husband, whereby she may fructifie and bring forth an I­saac, a child of joy, peace, unity, and concord, wherein may all the earth be blessed. Or, to speak plainly, They are a triple motive to that Christi­an duty enjoyned in my text, a serious endeavour of preventing Schisme, of preserving Peace and Unitie in the Church.

There is a two fold firmament, saith a reve­rend and learned Prelate of our own, [...] ad O [...]ig. Eccl 6. Firmamen­tum Coeli, & firmamentum Ecclesiae; one of hea­ven, and another of the Church here upon earth. [Page 3] Now as we reade in the history of the Creation of two great Luminaries ordained by God for the ornament and benefit of that, so saith he, is the like number appointed for the convenience of this: Sol & Luna, Regnum & Sacerdotium; There the Sunne and the Moon, here the King­dome and the Priesthood. And as for preserving the entire lustre of the Moon is required a conti­nuall influence of light from the Sunne; so like­wise to maintain the Sacerdotall Dignity, a perpe­tuall emanation from the Regall Authority: Nam ubi semel tollebatur sceptrum Iudae, profanabatur & Levi sacerdotium, When once Juda's scepter's de­parted, Levi's Priesthood's presently profaned. And thus farre the parallel holdeth very well. In one thing it faileth, or rather exceedeth, That whereas the Moon repayeth no tribute, nor (for ought we know) conferreth any thing to the or­nament or benefit of the Sunne; here it is other­wise, where the Regal rayes transmitted to the Priesthood reflect on themselves, and (beside that in the end they double the lustre of that glo­rious body from whence they proceeded) con­tract such an influence in the reflection, as condu­ceth much (if not to the being precisely taken, at least) to the happy and well being of the same. Wherefore these two, like Eros and Anteros in the Fables of the Poets, are sick or well both at a time. There is a double cause of their distem­per; Rebellion in the one, and Schisme in the o­ther: which two too often engender, and endea­vour to beget some strange monster, the seed of [Page 4] which must needs be the subversion of Monar­chicall government in the State, Episcopall in the Church. The later of the two, which is Schisme in the Church, is chiefly aym'd at in this place by S. Paul: the prevention of that, the duty in the text, Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There shall be some resemblance between my manner of handling these words, and the thing it self implied in the same. And therefore of them I will make no ominous division, which intend a happy and successefull union. Nor will I deal much with them by themselves, but wind them into my discourse on the former in the second verse. Wherein I shall follow Aquinas his me­thod, who, out of the connexion they have both together, hath well observed foure vices which concurre to the production of Schisme, and foure opposite vertues, whereby it is easily crushed in the wombe, and becomes abortive. The first is Pride, and to that is oppos'd Humilitie, [...], with all humblenesse of mind. The se­cond Anger, and to that is opposed Meeknesse, [...], with meeknesse. The third, Impatience, to that Patience, [...], with long-suffering. The fourth and last is Inordinate zeal, the opposite vertue to which is not expressed, but implied, as he thinketh, in the subsequent words, [...], supporting one another through love. Of all these in their order.

First of Pride.

What S. Hierome said of Hereticks, [...]om in Ho [...] [...]. 5 is very [Page 5] true of Schismaticks, Matrem habent iniquitatis suae superbiam, dum semper altiorase scire jactitant & in Ecclesiae contumeliam debacchantur, They have Pride the mother of their iniquity, while they al­wayes boast of their transcendent knowledge, and rage to the contumelie and reproch of the Church. Which made Irenaeus joyn them toge­ther, Scindentes, & clatos, & sibi placentes, Advers. haer. lib. 4. c. 43. Schis­maticks, proud, and self-pleasing men. These are they, whose private opinions must stand in equi­page with the determinations of Generall Coun­cels, the unanimous consent of Primitive Tradi­tions; nay, the Scripture it self must strike sail to their judgements, and admit of none but their vain glosses, and absurd interpretations. This for the Doctrine. As for Discipline, since they can­not by their double diligence find our Mother the Church so strait laced, as to be restrained to ei­ther precept or president (I mean not in her Epi­scopall Government, which being established, as we suppose, by Divine right, the whole Army of their Presbyteriall arguments will scarce be ever able to move, much lesse to evert; but) in prescri­bing ceremonies, things indifferent in themselves, and wholly left to her pious judgement in a legall Synod to alter, increase, or diminish, according as the different circumstances, incident to her state and condition, may dictate convenient; they feign to themselves a peculiar familiarity with God, as Numa did with his goddesse Egeria, and think the Church is bound to believe them, and, out of a reverend esteem thereof, confine her practice to [Page 6] their prescriptions; not one of which but they all hugge as close as ere Ixion did his Juno in the Fa­ble, being none of the true Juno indeed, no god­desse descended from heaven, but a mere cloud of their depraved fancie and proud conceit.

I have read of Socrates, That when the Oracle of Apollo had pronounc'd him the wisest of men, though his reverence was such to his god, that he would not plainly give him the lye, yet was his modestie likewise such, and mean conceit of his own worth, that he would not take it in terminis to himself: and therefore indifferently to preserve both, he gave this reason of Apollo's Oracle, Quòd hoc esset una omnis sapientia, non arbitrari se scire quod nesciat, Because this was the onely wis­dome (and to this he could lay a most just claim) not to suppose he knew that, whereof he was ig­norant. I wish these men were of Socrates his mind; or if not of his, because an Heathen, of de­vout Anselm's, Lib. D [...] Simi­l [...]. c. 98. whose speech it was, Quanto am­pliùs quis superbiâ involvitur, tanto lucem veritatis minùs intuetur, The more a man is involv'd in pride and self-conceit, the lesse he beholdeth the light of truth: Or if not of his, because a Bishop, at least of our blessed Apostle S. Paul's, 1. Cor. 8. If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he know­eth nothing yet as he ought to know. Surely then they would humble themselves and become obe­dient, Con [...]it. Mo­nastic [...]. 19. laying the same ground to theirs as S. Basil did to the obedience of his cloyster man, A per­swasion of a possibility to learn from their Superi­our, [...], the knowledge of [Page 7] piety and sanctity, [...]. [...], not asking the reason, but performing the duty of the command. For, as Origen saith of the Ecclesiasticall observations of his time, In Numer. c. 4 Hom. 5. Some such there are as must necessari­ly be practised by all, though the reason of their injunction be not clear to all. He instanceth in two: Kneeling and turning to the East in prayer: Nam quòd genua flectimus orantes, &c. For why we bend our knees in prayer, and turn from all corners of heaven to the East, non facilè cuiquam puto ratione compertum, I think not any one can ea­sily render a reason: De Spir. S. c. 27. [...], &c. (though for the later S. Basil was of another mind, taking one out of Scripture, which recordeth that Paradise was planted in the East, and that we by that posture signifie we have respect to return to our old countrey:) Yet if they cannot be so satisfied, but a reason they must have, they should require it [...], that is, decently and with due reverence, I make no question but they would have their an­swer. But if they will take no rationall answer, the Church is then enforced to put them as hard a scruple in their own practice, and may justly si­lence them in our Saviours words to the too too inquisitive Scribes and Elders, Mark 11. [...], I tell you not by what authority I do these things. Lastly therefore (to conclude with the Father) they should not onely [...], be asking the question, and hearing what may be answered to the same; but [...] too, be instructed thereby, and for the future satisfied. Which rule if it were duly pra­ctised [Page 8] by all our homebred schismatical Sectaries, I make no question but their irrationall prejudice against the present Discipline would soon be re­moved, the desired union of the Church restored, and many seditious practises in the State happily prevented. Modest and reasonable Examinati­on, &c. chap. 5 For as Doctour Covell, who had to deal with these men, writeth very well, That which in different opinions maketh contentions to cease, is when men are perswaded of their betters that they are not easily deceived, and of themselves that they may and do easily erre. And thus much concerning Pride, the leading vice in the production of Schisme, and Humility, the vertue opposed by S. Paul, [...], with all humblenesse of mind.

The second is Anger, to which Meeknesse is op­posed by the Apostle, [...], with meek­nesse.

Lactantius saith, Anger is one of the three Fu­ries which the Poets feigned. De Ver. Cult. c. 19. De Regno & Reg. In [...]t [...]. l. 4. tu. 10. Patricius tells us that Discord which attends it is Alecto by name, and gives us the morall of it: Haec est discrepantia ac contentio illa, &c. This is that discord and con­tention, by which the Ancient Poets thought all things in the world to be dissolv'd and destroyed. It is such a Furie as frights a man out of himself, and takes violent possession of the soul, putting all the faculties upon hot service: the understanding upon a misguided apprehension of every word and action, how generall soever, as maliciously intended to injure his particular person, or crosse his opinion: the will upon a tyrannicall resoluti­on [Page 9] of revenge, to be terminated, if possible, no o­therwhere then in the conceived Authours de­struction. And this, for the most part, the tongue must be the Herald to proclaim, his own hands sometimes the instruments to execute. If that cannot be, then, as Saint Chrysostome saith, [...]. [...], There's most dead­ly feud, and warre without end.

Now what a convenient subject for Schisme is this? What bond of peace is like to hold him and the Church together? the Unity whereof, Aqui­nas tells us, 22. q 39. a. [...]. c. consists in the connexion or commu­nication of the members one with another (and this Gordian knot his fury will not afford him the patience at leisure to untie; but the least thwarting word that proceeds out of another mans mouth puts a sword in his hand to cut it in pieces) or in the order of all the members to one head, which if it dispose not of all according to his ambitious desires, we know then what noxi­ous fumes the heat of his passion presently sends up to disturb the severall operations thereof, what solicitations presently ensue tending to a perfidi­ous revolt, which discovers it self either in sediti­ous tumults, and seditious fames (which two differ no more then as brother and sister, masculine and feminine, whereas if they once become incestuous and engender together, prodigious is their off­spring, which can be christened with no better name then downright rebellion) or else in the in­considerate deniall of due and necessary nourish­ment to that chief part, the starving of which must [Page 10] needs be accompanied with the finall dissolution of all. For, alas, arms and legs will have much ado to perswade the soul to confine her self to their corrupt and rotten habitations, when once they have forced her out of her marble tower the head. She hath a better mind to be mounting up­wards, to seek there [...], an habitation not made with hands, nay and [...] too, an habitation never yet, not ever like to be, pull'd down and ruin'd by any such Schismaticall rebel­lious hands, [...], eternall in the heavens.

Now let a man consider with himself, when he is thus transported with passion, when his reason hath taken her flight, what a competent judge he is of any enormity committed by the Church, which might move him to forsake the communi­on of it. Offic. l. 1. c. 21. Mala lex peccati indignatio est, saith Saint Ambrose. Indignation or wrath is but a bad law to reform sinne by. Perturbat animum, it raiseth a cloud of dust in the mind, which may sooner put out then clear the eye-sight. Me thinks a man in this case is as it were turn'd inside outward, so that whatsoever malice and rancour lyeth at the heart, whatsoever prejudice possesseth the brain, what ignorance soever might occasion both, is now ex­posed to the view of the world; but in the mean time his eagle eyes, wherewith he should spie what is done abroad, are cloth'd in mists, involv'd in darknesse. Which darknesse may be best dis­pell'd by a beam of that Sunne which S. Paul, the good Intelligence, [...] ▪ moveth to him, or him to that, [...], with meeknesse. [...], [Page 11] it is S. Chrysostomes similitude; As a beam of the Sunne appearing soon chaseth darknesse, so a good and meek man soon turneth trouble and contention into peace and quietnesse. [...], he makes musick of them; so that then, if ever, Empedocles his opinion may passe for currant, The soul's an harmony. Si commotionis hujus, quae ira dicitur, impetus retundatur, omnes ho­minum contentiones malae sopientur, saith Lactantius. Lib. De Ver. Cult. c. 5.

And so I passe to the third productive of Schisme, Impatience, which hath its opposite ver­tue set down by S. Paul, [...], with long­suffering.

And this is a vice of an ancient house, being that whereby the father of evil came to have his first claim to the kingdome of darknesse. Inso­much as Tertullian disdaineth, Lib. De Pa­tient. he tells us, to pro­pound this Quaere, Whether the Angel of perdi­tion were first possessed of Sinne or Impatience? or whether he hatched them not both of an egge, and cherished them in his bosome. Palam cùm sit impatientiam cum malitia, aut malitiam ab impatien­tia esse auspicatam. To be sure he hath brought it up to his hand ever since, and imployed it as his chief and choicest instrument to disturb the peace and quiet of the Church. Whereby, as by anger, he first puts us out of possession of our souls (for Patience is our tenure, saith he that gave them us. In your patience possesse ye your souls, Luke 21.) and then out of possession of the Church too, which is easily done; that being no other then a spirituall building made up of our souls cemented with [Page 12] love, [...]: so Saint Chrysostome.

Now that which makes men become so impa­tient is their tender conscience (as they call it) which cannot brook the least touch of Authority commanding that, which, in their opinion, incli­neth any way to innovation in the Church. I said, In their opinion; for well it were if they made not that the mistresse of their judgements, if they con­fin'd not themselves to that as the touchstone whereby to trie the Antiquity of all the Church-Constitutions. They may find a farre better, if they please, in S. Austines 119 ^th. Epistle to Janu­arius, where he saith, Omnia talia, quae neque san­ctarum Scripturarum autoritatibus continentur, &c. All such things as are not conteined in the autho­rity of sacred Scriptures, nor found decreed in the Councels of Bishops, nor confirmed by the practice of the Catholick Church, ubi facultas tri­buitur, sine ulla dubitatione resecanda existimo, When power should be given, he thought all without doubt to be cut off and rejected. For the first of these, they like it very well, if themselves may be the onely interpreters. And herein their errour is the same with that which the Father otherwhere discovered among some of his time. l [...]b. De F [...]d. & Op [...]. Errant homi­nes non servantes modum; & cùm in unam partem procliviter ire coeperint, non respiciunt Divinae au­toritatis alia testimonia, quibus possint ab illa inten­tione revocari, & in ea quae ex utris (que) temperata est veritate ac moderatione consistere: Men, saith he, erre, keeping no mean, and when they begin to be [Page 13] propense toward one part never regard other te­stimonies of Divine authority, whereby they may be recall'd from that inclination, and fix them­selves in that truth and moderation which is made up by the due temperature of both. When they come to the second, they are so farre from admit­ting their Canons, as instead of that they cry down their functions, scoff at their titles, account­ing them Ecclesiasticall solecismes, Ep. Dedic. Ia­cob. 6. Reg. Scot. ante Dial. De Iure Regni apud Sco [...]o [...]s. as Buchanan their forefather did those honourable phrases of Majestie, Highnesse, and Lordship, soloecism [...]s & barbarismos aulicos, mere solecismes and barba­rismes of the Court. Tell them of the third, which was the practice of the Catholick Church, then all their Theologicall knowledge is nothing but Platonicall remembrance, extending no far­ther then their own memory, or the monuments of some few Reformed Divines, such, it may be, as were rather Deformers, Authours of Schisme, and renouncers of our Ecclesiasticall Discipline in the first Reformation.

And this their impatience, when it hath made a Panicall flesh-quake at their hearts, breaks out at their mouthes, like a storm which scatters the true Church of Christ, that chaff as they call it, so that it had better endured the fire. For I think I may use the words of S. Austine against the letters of Petilian the Donatist, changing Evangelium into Ecclesia. Quae mitiùs pertulit saevientium Regum flammas, quàm vestras patitur linguas: The Church better endured the flames of Tyrants, then the tongues of Schismaticks. Nam illis incen­dentibus [Page 14] unitas mansit; vobis loquentibus manere non potuit, For while they burned, unity remain­ed; but while these rail, the Church must needs be divided.

Now let them make use of S. Pauls remedie, walking worthy of their Christian vocation, [...], with long-suffering, or patience. [...], saith Antiochus one of the lesser Fathers, Hom. 110. In long­suffering the Lord doth inhabit, but the devil in im­patience. He therefore that would have the Spirit of God dwell within him, must himself keep the unity of that Spirit, and continue with patience within the pale of the Church. [...], Ep ad Poly­ [...]p. Episc. S [...]in. saith Blessed Ignatius; Lest any of you be found a desertour or run-away from the Church. Let Ba­ptisme be your armour, Faith your helmet, Love your spear; but [...], Patience capape, your whole armour of defence. He must not sepa­rate himself with Korah, and tell Moses and Aa­ron they take too much upon them, or make themselves Princes over the people. He must not murmure at Moses his stay in the Mount, and in the mean time cast in his eare-ring to the making up of a calf; that is, He must not envy the leaders of the Church their free accesse to Kings and Princes, those gods upon earth, Dixi enim, Dii estis, and that in their mounts, their erected Thrones and stately Palaces, and in the mean time contribute any trifling principle (which it may be some Presbyteriall Divine hung at his eare at the last Exercise) towards the making up of a new [Page 15] imaginary Discipline in the Church. Nay, I'll go farther with him: If the Church should set up a calf of her own (as God forbid) that is, be so farre corrupted, as to command the practice of idola­trous worship, that's not sufficient to justifie Schisme, or make good his desertion. Here's room still to make use of his passive obedience, though I advise not his active. He may, he must here suffer the punishment, whatsoever it is, to be inflicted for the omission, and be guilty of no commission at all. (Not that I would hereby stop the mouth of any reverend Prelate, Priest, or Dea­con, entrusted by God with the souls of the peo­ple, whose then unseasonable exemplary silence may be interpreted by the ignorant at least conni­vence, if not encouragement to communicate in the sinne. I think him bound to rebuke the same by what authority soever countenanced.) But if his conscience yet be so farre mistaken, as to per­swade him, That his not renouncing of an exter­nall communion in things either indifferent or commendable, implies a guilt of positive commu­nion in those corruptions which are absolutely sinfull, I pity his case, he is like a serpent between the shadow of the ash and the fire: but let me tell him, It is cooler being in one then the other, and therefore he must be a little more subtil then with her to skip into the heat of contention, the fire of Schisme. Veneric Ver­cellens. ut pu­tatur lib. De Unit. Eccles. conserv. p. [...]. Flagitium Schismatis constat gra­vius esse quàm scelus idololatriae; It is manifest that the haynousnesse of Schisme is farre greater then the wickednesse of idolatry, saith an ancient Au­thour [Page 16] in his Tractate concerning the Unity of the Church; and he draws his reason from the dif­ference of punishments allotted in Scripture, to I­dolatry the sword; to Schisme, the strange opening of the earth and swallowing up Korah with his contentious company. And thus much likewise concerning the third productive of Schisme, toge­ther with its contrary vertue set down by S. Paul, [...], with long-suffering.

The fourth and last is Inordinate zeal, the oppo­site vertue to which is not named, but implied in these words, [...], supporting one another through love.

And now we are got under the torrid zone of unruly passion, and illimited ambition: among such a nation, as he that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly must be a cohabitant with de­vouring fire and dwell with everlasting burnings, contrary to that the Prophet Esay promiseth, E­say 33. [...], saith S. Paul in his fourth Chapter to the Galatians. It is a good thing in­deed to be zealously affected, but it must be [...], in a good matter. And not onely so, for the same Apostle bears record of some who had the best of zeals, Zelum Dei, the zeal of God, and yet in them too there was somewhat wanting; they had it, Rom. 10. 2. not secundùm scientiam, not according to knowledge. I will take a step into S. Austines path, and adde a third possible defect, and that's in the qualification or condition of the persons, ac­cording to which he observeth zeal to admit of a directly opposite specification in bonitate & mali­tia: [Page 17] and therefore he commends it as good in Da­vid the King, Lib. 20. De Civ. Dei▪ 12. who saith of himself, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up; but on the other side con­demnes it as bad and misbeseeming the Com­mons, an ignorant multitude (the arm of whose discretion and judgement was not able to wield a weapon of that size) when it is said of them, Zelus occupavit plebem ineruditam, Zeal hath possessed an unlearned people.

But to take it a while in its pure naturals, with­out those severall circumstances and different li­mitations, I reade it defin'd as abstracted in it self, Desideriū vehemens, quo quis incitatur ea tollere, Gerson, part. 3. De Consol. Theolog. l. 3. quae rei sibi dilectae videntur adversa, An earnest desire to take away such things as seem opposite to that which he loveth. Now as there is nothing which should so swell up our souls with joy and delight, nor lodge in any corner of our hearts, as the love of God; so can our zeal be imployed about no­thing so well as the utter abolishing of that which either gives him a direct affront, and that's Idola­try; or stops the free current of our service and due devotion, by intermixing the muddy inven­tions of weak brains, and vain curiosities, and that's Superstition.

But this zeal, as good as it is, must be attended by three handmaids, to bear up his train, which according to Gerson are Benevolentia, Discretio, & Constantia; else, saith he, it is like a two-edged sword in the hand of a mad-man, aut fulmini sine obice pervaganti, or like that kind of lightning, which makes way through all, and will admit of [Page 18] no opposition. Upon the first of the three our A­postle seemeth chiefly to reflect, the absence thereof being that which chiefly causeth the breach of union, the disturbance of the peace and quiet of the Church.

I should begin with this, but I must first give you a brief character of such persons as are fittest to be imployed in this businesse. S. Austine grants them, Expos. in E­vang. Ioan. Tractat. 10. whosoever they are, a large commission, Fac quicquid potes, Do what thou canst. But what? presently set fire on the Church? No. Frigidum fundit, he casts cold water to allay this heat. Do it, but still pro persona, quam portas, onely accord­ing to that person which thou bearest. No me­chanick put his profane hand to the pulling down of that most sacred and ever venerable Episcopall function. Tractet fabrilia. No women vent their impiety and ignorance in slandering it as an Anti­christian Prelacie. Let them be silent as in, so of, or concerning the Church too. It was S. Pauls ad­vice, Discant in silentio, not that they should teach but learn in silence. Nay, non patiar, saith he; I suffer not a woman to teach, 1. Tim. 2. 12. And this argues the irrationall licentious practice of our times, wherein either sex and any profession crowds in a finger to the moulding of the design'd Reformation; and this, if not with publick tole­ration, if not without some contradiction, I am sure not with a due peremptory penall prohibiti­on. Nay, they must be Leaders in the case, and teach the very Captains themselves of the Church militant their severall postures, prescribe them a [Page 19] form to muster their men. I have read of the Am­bassadours of the Sarmatae, That attending Valen­tinian the Emperour of the West, and telling him, being basely clad, that they were prime men of that nation, he fell into such a passion for warring with so base a people, that he dyed suddenly. In like manner, I think, if Religion in these dayes did but view the Grandees of Schisme in their mechanick habits, and seriously consider with what a ragged Regiment of ignorance and impu­dence she hath had so long a continued encounter; she would out of indignation desert us, and leave her golden crown to be at all adventure usurped either by insolent profanenesse, or blind A­theisme. But to leave these Bedlams at length to be well lashed by their own too impetuous spi­rits, and to be as good as my word, I think we are bound by the doctrine of our Church to surren­der the first place of composing differences, and zealous reforming what abuses soever are crept into it, to him whom we acknowledge her head, and that's the King. And good reason too: For that is true as well in Church as State, which Sa­lust in Tacitus suggested to Livia, Annil. lib. 1. Eam conditionem esse imperandi, ut non aliter ratio constet, quàm si u­ni reddatur. Or more properly that which fol­lowes soon after, Non aliud discordantis patri [...]e, (We'll make it Ecclesiae) remedium esse, quàm ut ab uno regeretur. Whom, as the Anointed of the Lord, howsoever we acknowledge to have a more then ordinary influence and speciall assistance of the Spirit of God; yet being not bound (so farre [Page 20] as we know) to take away infallibility from the Chair, and chain it to the Throne, nor to give it a Crown instead of a Mitre; we find it most con­sonant to reason, and correspondent to the perpe­tuall practice of the Primitive times, as also to that of all such Christian Churches, as still retein the true ancient doctrine and discipline, that he as­sume to him the counsel of his Bishops and Cler­gie, who, if so qualified as their places require, may be presumed the fittest men to moderate zeal, to compose all different opinions, and to pick truth out of partiality. Not to trouble you with various quotations out of severall Fathers, I will onely fetch you one from the head, and that's Blessed Ignatius, who speaks to our purpose, in asserting, Ep. 2. Ad Trallian. That whosoever doth any thing without the Bishop and his Presbyterie, [...], such an one hath his consci­ence defiled, and is worse then an infidel. But lest you should think the Prince in this case a priviledg'd person, he otherwhere inverts our order, and hath his [...], Fp. 6. Ad Philadelph. Let Caesar himself be ruled by the perswasion of his Bishop. Now the for­mer of these seems to be grounded upon S. Pauls rule, who would have zeal to be regulated accord­ing to knowledge. For, to speak the truth, if the Clergie be once excluded this businesse, and Lay­men (who by reason of their severall avocations are for the most part forced to take up their The­ologicall principles I wish I could say but at the second or third hand) must have the perpetuall pa­tent of this concurrent judiciall imployment; if [Page 21] ignorance chance to incorporate with authority, and both grow up strong and stout in time, it may well be feared in the future age Divinity must be fetched within the sphere of their apprehensions, conjur'd within the circle of some politick law, and the maintainers of what truth soever (if either mistaken by them, or not taken at all, as being too profound and out of their reach) may chance to be dashed out of all their preferment by the seem­ing force of some old decrepit statute, if not blown away by the violent breath of some zea­lous Patriot, and Lay ill-affected Arbiter.

And thus much shall serve to have been spoken of the persons, whom I conceive the fittest to handle zeal, and to reform any exorbitancie of the Church.

As touching the three attendants thereof, which I had out of Gerson; the first of them was Benevo­lentia, which I'll interpret good will or Christian charity towards our brethren. And this should be shewed either in preserving their credits, or bear­ing with their perverse manners, Supportantes in­vicem, supporting one another, ut alter alterius mo­res fer at licet rusticos, licèt asperos, licèt petulantes, &c. Corn. à Lapid. Chilling [...]. saith one on the place. Or lastly in admitting a charitable judgement of their errours, though untrue, as much more pleasing to Almighty God then a true judgement, if it be uncharitable. Whereof how farre short come the writing and preaching zelots of these our dayes? whom I have often observed (as in their pamphlets, so likewise in their pulpit invectives) to gain ground on popu­lar [Page 22] minds, and to give a little life to those deform­ed pictures they make of such men as to whose doctrines they will not conform themselves, that they obliquely draw a dark shadow of their im­pure conversations; and no diversity of opinion but must be attended by some notable irregularity in manners. I confesse those men upon whom this is justly charged (if any such there are) as they cannot expect to be any where excused, so much lesse to have an advocate in this sacred place. But I pray God themselves be blamelesse that blame others. Indeed those men at whom they glance, have not got the trick to do it in the dark, but too ingenuously think the world will be as charitably affected to them, as they are to the world. This I'll say, which I confidently presume, That were they not so bated and worried for their opinions, which they think in their conscience they may well justifie, and thereby driven as to a desperate neglect of their studies, so likewise to a lesse strict guard of their lives, they would be somewhat more regular in their actions, which upon serious recollection and pious meditation it is likely in their reasons they condemne and vilifie.

Nor doth this their uncharitable zeal extend it self onely to some few particular persons, but en­circleth no lesse then the whole Church, them­selves exempted: upon which, instead of praising God for the first happy conversion of this nation to Christian Religion; for that, wherein they think themselves have the onely interest, an after-Reformation from blind superstition; they daily [Page 23] cast the foul-mouth'd calumny and undeserved aspersion of Pelagianisme, and whatsoever other wretched heresie they find condemned by the Catholick Church in her sacred Records, and ve­nerable Antiquity, which they neither search nor care for but when it may furnish them with a few bare names, such as they may cast like dirt in the face of those worthy men, who drop better Di­vinity in their daily discourse with every crumb that falls from their tables, then these men do in their large distributions of the bread of the Word, as they too often emphatically causlesly term it. So that what Palemon proudly professed of learning, they arrogantly conceit of Religion. Qui secum natas, secúm (que) interituras affirmare au­debat literas: They think it all shipped in one bot­tome, and that's the rotten one of their own fra­ming. The ground of which is a strange assurance they challenge to themselves of a more then ordi­nary peculiar assistance of the Spirit, outstripping S. Paul (though an Apostle, and none of the meanest neither) who went no farther then his Puto autem, I think also I have the Spirit of God. 1. Cor. 7. 40. For howsoever A Lapide out of S. Austines 37. Tractate upon S. John, will have this [...] non dubitantis esse, sed asseverantis & increPantis: I rather think (under correction) it argues S. Pauls modestie, who would not Magisterially professe it, and ring nothing but reprobation in the ears of them that would not readily acknowledge it. I judge none, yet I suspect some instead of having that Holy Spirit, [...], that leading and [Page 24] true Spirit, [...]. 6. A [...] Philadelph. have [...], a deceit­full spirit, seducing the people, as S. Ignatlus said of the false prophets and Apostles of old. But what­soever spirit they have, this their confidence in­flames their zeal, and puts them upon those vio­lent (but most impotent) expressions of Let us Preach down, Pray down, nay sometimes they'll venture at Dispute down too whatsoever is got a­bove their intellectuals, when indeed they do no­thing but talk down all: when alas they are not so forward in the two former, but they are twice as backward in the last; in all having a self-deniall, as they call it, that is indeed a deniall of all what themselves should be, I mean discursive and ratio­nall as men, learned as scholars, and (which is worth all) truly devout as Christians. Whereas in their prayers they have oftentimes most unchari­ble, if not schismaticall Devotion, bold ignorance in their Sermons, and, instead of solid reasons, a few new-invented canting distinctions in all their disputations, calculated for the climate of their exotike Divinity, and endeavoured to be obtru­ded upon our Church in the place of better, such as might safely be selected out of the School, or de medio montium, as Peter Lombard speaketh, S [...]nt. l. 2. [...] 16. meaning the ancient Fathers and reverend Anti­quity. So that what Alexander Borgia was wont to say of the expedition of the French into Na­ples, That they came with chaulk in their hands to mark out their lodgings, and not with weapons to fight for them, may be said of these men in their great undertaking and zealous promoting a new refor­mation. [Page 25] They mark out their conclusions where­on they may rest, without producing any rationall premises which may force an assent.

If I have digressed a little too farre from my text, I may the rather presume of a pardon, having been in the pursuit of such men as usually runne a great deal farther from theirs, and of whom, for all my hast, I have much ado to get perfect sight. I was moved thereto by the equity of the cause, heretofore (as I thought) injur'd by the silence of some worthy men, whose eminent abilities might have better encouraged them to have been as well speaking abettours of truth, as their abundant cha­rity made them silent affectours of unseasonable peace.

I passe now to the second attendant of zeal, and that's Discretion. Which, if we look at the pro­priety of the word, according to those different significations that it frequently admits of, implies a distinct separation of one thing from another, an exact view and judgement of the same. For cerni­mus animo, videmus naturâ, aspicimus ex improviso, said Fronto, who pretended to be an indifferent arbiter and equall dispencer of dues to words. And Quotcunque Senatus creverit for judicaverit, De [...]. it is thought the Romane Oratour said, that per­petuall Dictatour of the Latine tongue. And in­deed whether cerno be not [...] a little metamor­phiz'd, discerno [...] I desire the Criticks at their leisure to inform us. No Discretion thus taken disables those person or dealing with zeal, whose weak capacities are overcast with such a [Page 26] cloud of ignorance as intercepteth their view, and blunteth the point of the brightest ray their un­derstanding sends forth to discover any errour of the Church. As also those whose judgements, howsoever mounted higher, and raised above this misty region, are seated upon such a dangerous precipice, that their first conception, their first ap­prehension, fixeth not there, but rowls down to their mouthes, and breaks forth in a clamourous storm of passion, if it fall not lower to their arms and hands, and vent it self thence in a bloudy ty­rannicall persecution. For the first of which there is none of us all but may find a shelter, Tulingua, ego aurium sum Dominus. But if it once come to the second, as if they were following the sent of a fresh victory, Nec temperari facilè nec reprimi po­test stricti ensis ira, the last step of their power is the first of their mercy. S. Austine sets them a better rule, proposeth himself as a better presi­dent, Faciat certè quod me non fecisse succensuit, Epist. 111. said he of a Bishop, to whom he had written an harsh epistle, but received an answer in more bitter lan­guage. So these men, who when time serves can sufficiently complain of hard usage, and brand the due Ecclesiasticall Censure of obstinate Schisme (I may say Heresie) with that scandalous undeserved name Persecution, should do well to mete out their own words with the measure of indifference, and when themselves come to be a­ctours, putting judgement or discretion in one s [...]ale, and power in the other, make even weight without a grain of affection depressing either. Di­vide, [Page 27] & impera, you know who said it, and we have too many that follow that counsel in the worst sense, who might, if they pleased, make use of it in a better. Let them use this [...], this mo­derate discretion, this judicious division; ità di­vidant, & tum imperent: Let them thus divide, and then let them talk of taking the dominion and command of the Church. But if they will rashly huddle up all together, and not admitting the least check of a sedate judgement, publish onely the impetuous dictates of their indiscreet and too pre­cipitant fancie, either yielding nothing, or suffering a licentious practice of all things; we must put them in mind of that State Maxime, which is too often made good by the ruine of a Church, Corn. Tacit. A [...]nal. l. 1. Peri­culosa severitas, flagitiosa largitio, seu nihil militi, seu omnia concederentur in ancipiti republica; I will english it thus, Dangerous is that severity, impi­ous that bounty, where to a Christian militant ei­ther all things are granted, or nothing permitted in the doubtfull and distracted condition of a Church.

And thus much of Discretion, zeals second handmaid.

The third is Constancy. And of this but a word.

And some may think a word superfluous too, considering the firm immovable resolution of our obstinate zelots, who will part with all, their obe­dience to the Civil and Ecclesiasticall Magistrate, their charity due to their Christian brethren, ra­ther then one whit of their fancie and fond opini­on. Therein following too near at the heels their [Page 28] valiant Captain Reformer Knox, who resolutely, but rebelliously, writ to the Queen Regent of Scots in the behalf of himself and the Holy Bre­thren, That without the Reformation which they desi­red, they would never be subject to any mortall man. And Martin Luther, how eminent soever, I. Armin. Declar. Sent. ad D. D. Or­din. Holland. & [...]. was in this case a little too obstinate, when being upon his death-bed requested by Philip Melanchthon to draw near a concord as touching the difference a­bout the Eucharist, utterly refus'd it, íd (que) hanc ob causam, sicuti illum dixisse aiunt, nè ex eo tota doctri­na in dubium vocaretur; and that for this cause, lest his whole doctrine should be brought into question. These zelots, as if they were the ora­cles of the world, or at least in some speciall man­ner inspired (as indeed they p [...]etend) do in effect thrust the Pope out of his Magisteriall Chair of Infallibility, to the end that they may sit in it themselves. But alas this pertinacious adherence to ungrounded principles is but the feigned model of constancy, the foundation whereof must be right reason, no fond opinion, quae non aliud quàm rationis vana imago & umbra, Lips. De Con­stant. li. 1. c. 5. saith one; the ground­work humility, the main pillar impartiall integri­ty, and the whole prospect towards the even plains and champian of truth, without the least loop-hole to any by-respect or sinister intention.

Now as obstinacy is to be declined on one hand, so must likewise levity on the other. Where­in howsoever they conceit themselves to have but little if any interest at all, yet if we pull off that false vizard wherein their zeal too often perso­nates, [Page 29] (I mean their pretence of Scriptures autho­rity for all their new started Divinity) we shall find it otherwise, and that they at their pleasure can fix on the same an unparallel'd non-presiden­tiall interpretation to usher in any new devis'd o­pinion. Nor is this caution onely personall, but best befits such synods or convents as assume to themselves a power of Religion, of drawing up a form of any Ecclesiasticall Reformation. For (not to flatter our selves nor them) if they sometimes will be enacting or articling, at others, without due consideration, repealing and nullifying, every man cannot make a weather-cock of his consci­ence, to be blown about through all the rumbes of Religions card by the confused violent blasts of such successive dissonant assemblies.

And thus at length have I done with that last productive of Schisme, Inordinate zeal, the oppo­site vertue to which is not named, but implied in these words, [...], supporting one another through love.

If I should now enter on the duty by it self, and draw it off from the lees of my former discourse, I might find matter sufficient to double the time allotted for this businesse. I will give you onely a touch of the chief observables, and so conclude.

The first shall be from the first word thereof, [...], endeavouring. Which shews how one unity is prerequired to the inducement or conser­vation of the other. First a conjunction of every mans powers and faculties in himself, composing one individuall inclination; and then a concurring [Page 30] with others to a generall union of wills and affe­ction. (For Pax hoc in loco est voluntatum unio, saith Catharinus on the place.) And therefore S. Cy­prian renders it well, satis agentes, as if it would sufficiently busie, and take up no lesse then the whole man to do it to the purpose.

Secondly, [...], Endeavouring to keep. For it is not sufficient to search it out with some pains when we are at a losse for it, but we must keep it with the like when once we have found it. Nec sufficit eam quaerere, Ad Res [...]. M [...]nach. saith S. Hierome, nisi in­ventam fugientém (que) omni studio persequamur. It is with this great part of the kingdome of grace, as our most reverend and pious Prelate worthily terms this Unity of the Spirit, as it is with civil states and dominions, Iisdem artibus, quibus parta sunt, facilè retinentur. Labour in getting, and no lesse labour and endeavour in keeping.

Thirdly, [...], the unity of the Spirit. Nor is it every spirit that will serve the turn: for there are many that keep the unity of a spirit to a contrary purpose. Such were those Pro­phets whom Ezekiel speaks of, Ezek. 13. 3. foolish prophets, against whom he denounceth a wo. Vae prophetis qui ambulant post spiritum suum, Wo to those pro­phets who walk after a spirit of their own. And they keep it in the bond of peace too. For as Plato said of injustice, That without justice it could not stand; the like say I of Schisme and Division, It is impossible for it to subsist without union. S. Hi­larie thought that term too good for it, Enar. in ps. 140. and call'd it by a worse name, Combination, because that unity [Page 31] is in faith and subjection, but Combination is con­sortiū factionis, consenting in faction. It must there­fore be no unity of any such spirit, but [...], with an emphasis on the article, of that Spirit in­deed. The fruit whereof is love, joy, peace, long­suffering, gentlenesse, goodnesse, faith, meeknesse, temperance, a goodly train of Christian vertues, Gal. 5. 22. That Spirit which before it came down to the Church upon earth had concurred to the like good mysterious work above in heaven, ma­king an exact Unity of the blessed Trinity. For as S. Austine saith, De Verb. Dom in Evang. Matt. Serm. 11. Societas est quodammodo Patris & Filii ipse Spiritus Sanctus. We have two other presidents for this godly union from the two o­ther persons of the Blessed Trinity. From God the Father first in mans creation, who made him one, to the intent that we all knowing we came from one, should love as one. Vt dum cognoscerent se ab uno esse omnes se quasi unum amarent, saith the Master of the Sentences. From God the Sonne next in mans redemption, com. in E­ [...]ech. who (as S. Hierome ob­serves) would not suffer when the Priesthood was entirely in one, but under two, Annas and Caia­phas, Vt religionis corum scissum monstraret erro­rem, That he might shew their errour of Schisme in Religion.

Fourthly, [...], in the bond of peace. First in peace. Men are commonly very observant and carefull of preserving the least re­lique left them by a deceased beloved friend, espe­cially if he bestowed it on them with his own hand about the time of his departure. Our Savi­our [Page 32] our Christ deserveth surely as much at our hands as to have his peace carefully kept by all such as pretend the preserving any the least memoriall of him, it being the last legacy he left to his Church; [...], Apparat. 2. B. Mountague tells us S. Basil calls it, his farewell gift; I'm sure he calls it [...], a largesse dropt frō a higher world, worth the keep­ing. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, John 14. 27. He gave them peace, promis'd them knowledge, but that was to be sent after his ascen­sion. The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, shall teach you all things. As if peace and love were to have the precedence, the first place in the heart of man. The onely order observed in heaven, where the first place or degree is given to the Angels of love, which are termed Seraphin; the next to the Angels of light, which are termed Cherubin. First love, and then illumi­nation. But our Enthusiasts invert the order. They will have first light, and that of revelation; then love, and that but to such as will come off to their own faction.

Secondly, In loc. In the bond of peace. S. Anselme saith, This bond of peace is an externall profession of peace and concord, which is quasi vinculum & nexus interioris unitatis Spiritûs. I like it well if he means a united conformity and conjunction in the outward service of God. You know when we go about to bind up things close together, we usually lay them in the same posture, not some doubled, others at length, but all having a due correspon­dence one to another. And thus it is in Ecclesia fa­sciculo. [Page 33] If in our outward religious performance and worship of God, some be kneeling, others standing, a third sort, in a worse posture by farre, uncivilly sitting; it will be a hard matter to bind them so close together, but some will drop out of the bundle of the Church. I will use another familiar similitude with your leave: When we bind up a bundle, we lay not the parcels at any great distance, but as close and near one another as may be. And therefore if we be at a distance one frō another, come not to serve our God together, but while there is a Congregation in the Church, there's a Conventicle in a chamber, a Meeting in a barn, and a Ring too it may be in the fields or woods; it's a hard matter to bind al these together, the bond I fear wil be somewhat too short, and we had need have a little to spare to make a knot that it may be the surer. Prolog. ad Tract. 1. De Doctr. Chi [...]st. For Charitas nodo Vnitatis a­stringit, saith S. Austine, It is the knot that does it: If Unity have no knot it is easily dissolved. There­fore the Ancient English (who were better united as in their affections, Camden Re [...] so likewise in their devout Congregations) called this holy service of God most significantly Eanfastnes, as being the one­ly fast binder of the members of the Church, Religiosae vinculum pacis, the onely bond of a Re­ligious peace.

S. Chrysostome observeth three things that unty this knot, [...] unbind this bond of Unity in the Church. [...], The love of riches. The love of rule and sup [...]riority. The love of glory, that is popularity. I need not shew you how [Page 34] all these have conspir'd together to unty out knot of Christian charity, produc'd an unhappy Schisme in the Church. The case is clear. What else mean those whispers of some grand plotting, and a strange mysterious working to commit sa­criledge, to rob the Church of her poore patri­mony, if not that which God himself hath given her, at least that wherein many ages since his Saints and Servants out of their ture working pie­ty have enstated her? What else those loud aspi­ring cries of Down with Episcopacy? Vp with a Presbyteriall Superintendency? What lastly means that truly mounting-Lecture-Language, and most irreligious Pulpit imposture, whereby too many, when they have once drawn the yielding hearts of weak people into those open and unfenced for­tresses of their ears, there chain them to their own motions. Thus leading captive to their own vain­glorious (though but low-descended) spirits not onely silly women, but men too laden with sinnes, and led away with divers lusts?

It is time for me now to have done with my text, and ease you of your trouble. I will onely out of charity adde a triple rule for those either mali­tious or mistaken souls, against whom my whole discourse hath been intended, whereby they may be happily reduced, and with them the Unity of the Spirit restored. And that's, in brief, first by Reason rightly weighed; Secondly, by Scripture rightly interpreted; Thirdly, by the Constituti­ons and Canons of the Church to that purpose rightly assembled. To which three if they deny [Page 35] to submit, much good do them with S. Austines character, in whose opinion they are no other then mad-men, infidels and Schismaticks. For saith he,