The Laudians: mere Catholick Christians

From Bramhall's address 'To the Christian Reader' (at the outset of a work rejecting a Roman apologist's contention that the Church of England was schismatical and not part of the Church Catholic), a characteristically Laudian statement combining gratitude for the Church of England with an expression of what it is to be - to use a term from Richard Baxter much more appropriate for a Laudian than for Baxter - "a Catholick Christian". Also present is the generosity of the Laudian desire for the re-union of Christendom. And finally, there is the Laudian rejection of any notion that confessional precision and absolute doctrinal uniformity are more important than the Church's peace.

No man can justly blame me for honouring my spiritual mother the Church of England; in whose womb I was conceived, at whose breasts I was nourished, and in whose bosom I hope to die. Bees, by the instinct of nature, do love their hives, and birds their nests ...

My desire hath been to have truth for my chiefest friend, and no enemy but error. If I have had any bias, it hath been desire of peace, which our common Saviour left as a legacy to His Church; that I might live to see the re-union of Christendom, for which I shall always bow the "knees of my heart" to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not impossible but that this desire of unity may have produced some unwilling error of love, but certainly I am most free from the wilful love of error. In questions of an inferior nature Christ regards a charitable intention much more than a right opinion ...

And seeing my adherence is firmer to the infallible Rule of Faith, that is, the Holy Scriptures interpreted by the Catholic Church, than to mine own private judgment or opinions; although I should unwittingly fall into an error, yet this cordial submission is an implicit retractation thereof, and I am confident will be so accepted by the Father of Mercies, both from me and all others who seriously and sincerely do seek after peace and truth.

From The Works of The Most Reverend Father in God, John Bramhall, Volume II.

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