Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

126 4' P m EN D I'X: Numb.VIII. Excommunications, anda daily increafe of Schifms. He that will fee the Examples of Tyranny and rath-Excommunication,let him read join's Epic toDiotrepbe ,and ' the pious Admonitions of Ireneur to ViE,'or: The Examples of Schifms we have in others, not a few ; To which Optams Melees. prudently afcribeth three Caufes, Wrath, Ambition, and Covetoufnefj. ' But howmany fcore Canons, Interdicts and Bloody Wars do prove all this. XXVIII. And hadnot there Vices conquered Common Reafon with Chriffia- nity in fuch men, it were a Wonder that fo unprofitable and caufelefs a thing, as forcing all Chriftians to Unite on the profeti Apprdbaoion and tradice of all the needlefs Things which fuch impofe, and denying theta Communion and Peace on the Terms that Chriff prefcribed, for all his Servants to own and love each other on, Mould be thought a fufficient j:,ftification of aft that Dividing Cruelty of which it bath been guilty. And that Church-Grandees fhould make fuch Schifms, as are yet in Eaft and Weft, and then hate and perfecute the Sufferers as Seidl-ma- ticks : Saith Grotius on Luke 6. 22. Scitum efE Veterum 7udeerum cujas Maimenides meminit, liquis Innocentem a Commtinione arcuerit, ípfum excidere jure Commun,anis .' And Dr. Stillingflees on ArchbilhopLaud, and before him Chtllingwortb, conclude, That if a Church deny Communion to her Members, on thofe Terms that give them Right to Communion with theChurch Univerfal, that Church is guilty of the Schifm. Were it not more Chrillian-like, eafte and fweet, to joyn all in the pra&ice of the Laws of Chrift, by which we thall be judged, with the needful ufe of edifying Order and Circumfances, that all Sizes and Ages of Chriftians might live in Unity and Love, than to cart out all that cannot Unite on Terms fo far beyond meer Chriftianity , as mot Churches on Earth require. When the Volume of Councils and Canons were unknown, and plain Familiar Difci_ pline was ufed in the open Church-Meetings , Chriflians were lefs divided : ( faith Grotius in Luc. 6. 22. [ Apud Cbrifiianos Vetoes prefidente gaidlm Epifeapo & Senioribus, fed Conteis e¢ Cenfeptiente Fratrum multitudine morum judicia exerceban- cur j. If Chriftians be partial hear an impartial Heathen , Ammianus Marcepí: nus , who, fcandalizedwith the murder of Men kill'd in the Church for the E- IeEtion ofPope Damafus , concludeth howwell it would have gone with Chri- ftianity ; if thofe great Roman Prelates, had lived like the poor, humble, in- feriour Bithops : See his words. But if Paul's full Decifion on Romans xq.. will not bring us to neceffary forbearance, nó Plainnefs nor Authority will ferve. Numb.

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