5. This Church is but one. It is an article of our faith, expressed in our Creed, to believe it so. For there be many members, yet but one body. One Spirit quickening all; one Lord, and one God, and Father of all; Head over all; one faith; one baptism; one hope of our calling in all, as the Apostle argues, Eph. iv. 4, 5, 6, 7, &c.

II. Now we are to inquire what are the chief bands of unity in the Church, which make, keep, and evidence it to be one; how we may secure ourselves within this garden enclosed, this spring shut up, this fountain sealed, as the ancients usually apply that, Cant. iv. 12. to this one enclosure of the Church.

1. This appears in the unity of belief, not only inwardly, but in the outward profession of the same faith which was once delivered to the saints, and hath been generally preserved and continued down throughout all ages of the Church. In testimony whereof the most eminent bishops upon their first consecration, sent to their brethren confessions of their faith.

2. In the unity of charity,* and affection as fellow-members one of another, as well as of the same head; that if one suffer all the rest suffer with it; and if one rejoice, all rejoice with it. Having an intimate fellow-feeling of all the good or evil which befalls any joined in so near a relation, beyond the compassion of ordinary humanity, whereby we are bound not only to pray for, but by all offices of kindness, and most intimate affection, especially to assist and relieve each other in the same household of faith. So that by our personal consecration all our labours and estates are in some measure devoted to the honour of God, the service of his Church, and the necessities of any of its members.

*Tertullian de proscript. Hæret. c. 20. p. 209. Sic omnes primæ, et Apostolicæ, dum una omnes probant unitatem. Dum est communicatio Pacis, et appellatio Fraternitatis, contesseratio Hospitalitatis, quæ jura non alia ratio regit, quam ejusdem Sacramenti una traditio.

S. August. adv. literas Petiliani, t. 7. p. 132. [Paris, 1837, vol. 9. 1. ii. col. 426. B.] Charitas Christiana nisi in unitate Ecclesiæ non potest custodiri. Et Ibid. p. 473. de Bapt. adv. Donatist. 1. 6. [Paris, 1837, vol. 9. 1. vi. col. 300. C.] Etiamsi Christi Baptismum usque ad Sacramenti celebrationem perceperunt, tamen vitam æternam nisi per Charitatis unitatem non consequuntur. Et Ibid. de unitate Ecclesiæ, c. 2. p. 510. [Paris, 1837, vol. 9. 1. i col. 538.] Ecclesia Corpus Christi est, [sicut Apostolus dicit pro corpore ejus quæ est Ecclesia] unde utique manifestum est eum, qui non est in membris Christi, Christianam salutem habere non posse, membra autem Christi per unitatis charitatem sibi copulantur, et per eandem capiti suo cohærent, quod est Christus Jesus.

3. In the unity of worship, whereby we are obliged not only to offer up the same worship for substance, but also in the outward act to join, and communicate with each other therein, to present the same prayers and praises, to celebrate together the same sacraments, to hear the same instructions, to frequent the same religious assemblies as much as possible; that we may "with one mind, and with one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. xv. 6. For as the command of God, the honour of his religion, the edification of his Church, the propagation of his truth, and the peculiar promise of his presence and blessing, require a solemn public exercise of all religious worship in united congregations; so hereby we must sensibly prove and secure our unity therein.* Whoever then needlessly separates himself from this Church, or refuses to join in communion with its members, so far as it is in his power, where he may, without violence to any doctrine or precept of Christ, such a one divides himself from his body, and so from all the promises that we know of the sacred and comfortable influences of that one Head and one Spirit.

4. In the unity of discipline,† whereby every act of any

*S. Augustin. adv. literas Petiliani, t. 7. p. 124. [Paris, 1837, vol. 9. 1. ii. col. 414. A.] Huic Ecclesiæ, quæ per totam terram diffunditur, quisquis non communicat, vides cui non communicat.

Idem. Ep. 50. ad Bonifacium, t. 2. p. 230. [Paris, 1837, vol. 2. col. 994.] Ecclesia Catholica sola est corpus Christi, cujus ille caput est Salvator Corporis sui. Extra hoc corpus neminem vivificat Spiritus Sanctus, quia, sicut ipse dicit Apostolus, Charitas Dei diffusa est in Cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum qui datus est nobis : non est autem particeps Divinæ Charitatis, qui hostis est Unitatis. Et de Bapt. adv. Donatist. 1. 3. c. 16. t. 7. p. 409. [Paris, 1837, vol. 9. 1. 3. col. 209. C.] Ipsa est enim charitas quam non habent, qui ab Ecclesiæ Catholicæ communione præcisi sunt, &c. Non autem habet Dei charitatem, qui non diligit Ecclesiæ Unitatem.

S. Cyprian. de Unitate Ecclesiæ, p. 113. [Paris, 1726, p. 198.] Inexpiabilis, et gravis culpa discordiæ nec passione purgatur. Esse Martyr non potest qui in Ecclesia non est: ad regnum pervenire non potest, qui eam quæ regnatura est, derelinquit.

+ Tertullian. Apolog. c. 39. Corpus sumus de conscientia religionis et disciplinæ unitate et spei fœdere. Clerus ad D. Cyprian. Ep. 30. Ox. Ed. p. 56. [1682.] Idem enim omnes credimur operati, in quo deprehendimur eadem omnes censuræ, et disciplinæ consensione sociati.

Ita etiam argumentatur idem Clerus Rom. adv. Marcionem excommunicatum a Patre suo, et ab iis non receptum, in S. Epiphanio, Her. 42. 1. 1. t. 3. p. 303. Par. Edit. οὐ δυνάμεθα ἄνευ τῆς ἐπιτροπῆς τοῦ πατρός σου τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, μία γάρ ἐστιν ἡ πίστις καὶ μία ἡ ὁμόνοια, &c.

Synesius Epist. 58. p. 203 Lutetiæ Par. 1640. de censura in Andronicum, Thoantem, et eorum consortes, εἰ δέ τις ὡς μικροπολῖτιν ἀποσκυβαλίσει

particular Church conformable to the institutions of our Saviour, and the universally received practice of his Church, stands confirmed as an act of the whole Church. Particularly, whoever is admitted into it accordingly by baptism in one place, is to be accounted a member of the Church Catholic, and received into its communion wherever he comes, if no evidence appear of his exclusion by any after regular censure. Likewise into whatever office or ministration any are orderly admitted in one part thereof, in the same are they to be acknowledged in all others, though without that particular jurisdiction which they had in their own. But whoever lies under any censure in one church he is to be supposed under the same in all others, and not to be received into communion till the sentence be reversed by the same power, or a still higher and greater authority, according to the fifth canon of the Council of Nice, and the design of their formed and communicatory letters, without which none were to pass from one church to another. Thus every church is accountable to its neighbour churches, and so to the whole Church for its actions, that one may not do what the other undoes, without any regard to this unity, which would lead to the confusion and distraction of all. Wherefore, to put an end to such differences when risen, or obviate any growing mischief thereby, and to receive appeals from persons who think themselves aggrieved, or injured by their own bishop or church, a council of all bishops in each province is appointed twice in the year by the same canon, and in many others. But there was no mention then of any farther or higher appeal.* Thus an amicable correspondence and intimate communication was maintained between the neighbour churches, and their governors, and by them with others removed at a greater distance throughout the world.

These need no long proof, but may be taken as generally τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ δέξεται τοὺς ἀποκερύκτους αὐτῆς, [ὡς ἀνάγκη τῇ πενῆτι πείθεσθαι ἔστω] σχίσας τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἣν μίαν ὁ Χριστὸς εἶναι βούλεται.

* S. Cyprian. ad Antonianum, p. 112. Ox. Ed. [1682.] Cum sit a Christo una Ecclesia per totum mundum in multa membra divisa, item Episcopatus unus Episcoporum multorum concordi numerositate diffusus. Et Ep. 36. p. 71. [1682] Omnes enim nos decet pro Corpore totius Ecclesiæ, cujus per varias quasque provincias membra digesta sunt, excubare.

S. August. de unitate Ecclesiæ, c. 12. t. 7. p. 534. [Paris, 1688, vol. ix. p. 361. E.] Neque enim quia et in orbe terrarum plerumque Regna dividuntur, ideo Christiana Unitas dividitur, cum in utraque parte Catholica inveniatur Ecclesia.

granted; the main dispute will lie in the particular application of the two last.

Now to prevent as much as may be all difficulties about them, it may be added to the third of unity of worship, that it will be very convenient, if not absolutely necessary in any settled established church, that there be some set forms of public ministrations, without which it is hard for any to know before hand what they join with, especially for strangers.

But then these forms should be as plain and simple as possible, with as little pretence as can be of any danger to the known will and word of God; for no obligation whatsoever can tie me to communicate with another in that which he forbids; and it will be a great temptation to more than suspect this danger, when men's private opinions or fanciful transports are mingled with them, which have little shew of Scripture, or the general practice of the Church in all ages to justify them.

The readiest way I know of to prevent that hazard, after all other care about the matters contained, is to endeavour that these offices be as near alike in all places as can well be; yet every difference in judgment, when no violence is offered to the foundation of Catholic faith and unity, must not break this communion, according to that profession of St. Cyprian,* judging no man, nor excluding him from the right of communion, if he think otherwise: where the dispute was thought of no mean concern, especially in this cause. Which St. Augustinet oft alleges against the Donatists, that boasted so much of St. Cyprian's judgment against his declared practice. To the same purpose may be applied the treatment of St. Polycarp in Rome by Anicetus the bishop, though they differed about the time of the celebration of Easter, and in other points which could not be agreed between them; yet this last not only invited the former to communion with him, but also to celebrate the sacred Eucharist in his Church, as the words are generally interpreted; which St. Irenæus not long after urges strongly against Victor, who was hastening to excommunicate the Asian churches for the same difference, contrary to his predecessor's practice.

As to the fourth of unity of discipline, if unity of government

*P 229. Ox. Ed. in Concil. Carthaginensi de baptizandis Hæreticis. Neminem judicantes aut a jure communionis, si diversum senserit,

amoventes.

De Bapt. adv. Donat. 1. 2. t. 7. p. 391, et sæpe ibid.
Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. 5. c. 26.

in all parts be not indispensably necessary to it, yet it will be so far, as not to abrogate or invade the positive institutions of our Saviour himself herein, and be more than convenient, that it be as conformable as it is in our power to make it in one place, to what it is in another. It seems horribly presumptuous, violently to thrust out of the Church that government, under the influence of which Christianity hath been conveyed, and preserved from the age of the Apostles in the most distant places, upon pretence of erecting a new better scheme or model of our own, or because of the intricate use of one or two terms in Scripture, when the Church was in its first formation, though against the plain current of it in other places, and the uninterrupted tradition of the whole Church. A church indeed must be more or less perfect, according to its government, for suitable will be the exercise and authority of its discipline. What allowance may be made for those who desire to come as near as they can to the primitive pattern, though it be not in their power to reach it in many considerable points, I am not now to dispute. But most inexcusable and highly obnoxious are they, that by extreme violence and usurpation endeavour to destroy what they found regularly established to their hands.

III. But we are here most concerned with the bold claims of the Romanists amidst their most obvious defections, who have made it the principal band of unity in the Catholic Church, to be subject to the See of Rome, and the pretended vicar of Christ therein, as the universal head and monarch of the Church. This they have determined as de fide, and put into their very creed, and excluded all that do not expressly own it.

But against this, as a great breach of Christian unity, we have many just exceptions, and been always ready to prove them so. *

1. In that no evidence from Scripture appears of any such authority conferred upon him or them; but many strong intimations of the contrary. The places usually alleged to make good their claim are so far fetched, and so little to their purpose, that they contain alone a strong presumption against them, and their own authors sometimes speak of them with great distrust. Here, if any where sure, we may safely argue without daring to

Bishop Carleton, of three-fold jurisdiction. Dr. Barrow's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy.