The unreasonableness of separation, or, An impartial account of the history, nature, and pleas of the present separation from the communion of the Church of England to which, several late letters are annexed, of eminent Protestant divines abroad, concerning the nature of our differences, and the way to compose them / by Edward Stillingfleet ...
About this Item
Title
The unreasonableness of separation, or, An impartial account of the history, nature, and pleas of the present separation from the communion of the Church of England to which, several late letters are annexed, of eminent Protestant divines abroad, concerning the nature of our differences, and the way to compose them / by Edward Stillingfleet ...
Author
Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.
Publication
London :: Printed by T.N. for Henry Mortlock ...,
1681.
Rights/Permissions
To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
Subject terms
Church of England -- History.
Schism.
Dissenters, Religious -- England.
Cite this Item
"The unreasonableness of separation, or, An impartial account of the history, nature, and pleas of the present separation from the communion of the Church of England to which, several late letters are annexed, of eminent Protestant divines abroad, concerning the nature of our differences, and the way to compose them / by Edward Stillingfleet ..." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A61632.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 6, 2024.
Pages
descriptionPage 224
Sect. 2. As to the Second, Dr. O. answers, that it
is so clear and evident in matter of fact, and so neces∣sary
from the nature of the thing, that the Churches
planted by the Apostles were limited to Congregations,
that many wise men, wholly unconcerned in our Con∣troversies,
do take it for a thing to be granted by all
without dispute. And for this two Testimonies are
alleged, of Iustice Hobart, and Father Paul; but
neither of them speaks to the point. All that Chief
Iustice Hobart saith is, That the Primitive Church in
its greatest Purity, was but voluntary Congregations
of Believers submitting themselves to the Apostles, and
after to other Pastours. Methinks Dr. O. should have
left this Testimony to his Friend L. du Moulin, it
signifies so very little to the purpose; or rather, quite
overthrows his Hypothesis; as appears by these two
Arguments. (1.) Those voluntary Congregations over
which the Apostles were set, were no limited Congre∣gations
of any one particular Church; but those Con∣gregations
over whom the Apostles were set, are those
of which Iustice Hobart speaks. And therefore it is
plain he spake of all the Churches which were under
the care of the Apostles, which he calls voluntary
Congregations. (2.) Those voluntary Congregations
over whom the Apostles appointed Pastours after their
decease, were no particular Congregations in one City;
but those of whom Iustice Hobart speaks, were such;
for he saith, they first submitted to the Apostles, and
after to other Pastours. But Iustice Hobart could not
be such a stranger to Antiquity to believe that the
Christians in the Age after the Apostles amounted but
to one Congregation in a City. And therefore, if he
consults Iustice Hobart's honour or his own, I advise
him to let it alone for the future. As to the Testimony
descriptionPage 225
of Father Paul, it onely concerns the Democratical
Government of the Church, and I wonder how it came
into this place; I shall therefore consider it in its due
season.