Unity of the CHURCH,

And EXPEDIENCY Of

FORMS OF PRAYER;

Illuftrated in Two

TREATISES

COMPOS'D BY

St. Cyprian the Martyr.

To which is prefix'd,

A large PREFACE, fhewing that

Chriftians of all Denominations, whether Papifts or Proteftants, are oblig'd to heal and compofe the Divifions of Chriftendom, and thereby Reftore to themfelves the Name of the One Catholick and Apoftolick Church. With a PRAYER for the Dead, and a Paraphrafe on the LORD'S-PRAYER;

By the late Pious and Learned Dr. GRABE.

My Dove, my undefiled is ONE, she is the only One of her MOTHER. Sol. Song. vi. 9.

London: Printed for R. FRANCKLIN at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-ftreet, and J. BETTENHAM in Pater-nofter-row. 1719.

THE

PREFACE.

HESE two Treatifes of Unity and the Lord's-Prayer having been publish'd near twenty Years fince, upon a particular Occafion; I was defir'd to republish the fame at this Time, therefore I think my felf obliged to Say Something by way of Introduc

tion.

The Author of them was the blessed Martyr St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage, who lived about Two hundred and fifty Years after Chrift, and had the Honour to lay down his Life, for the Truth of the, Chriftian Religion, under Decius a perfecuting Emperor; and his Memory is very dear to the Chriftian Church, on Account of his excellent Works, whereby he has tranfmitted to Pofterity a full Relation of the Doctrine and Difcipline that prevailed in the Church in that Period of Time when he adorned the See of Carthage.

The Reader will perceive by this excellent Difcourfe of Unity, the great danger of running after new Lights, and with what sharpness this good Man rebukes the Sin of Schifm; In thofe early Times of Chriftianity, it was firmly believed that

a 2

thofe

those who kept not within the Pale of the Chriftian Church, fhould have no Communion with the Saints; and to be shut out from the Assembly of Chriftians, was all one, as to be delivered over to Satan: For this Reason thofe Chriftians who had been fo unfortunate, as to fall into the Devil's Snares and the Cenfures of the Church, fought their Readmiffion to Communion with Tears and Groans, and willingly fubmitted themselves to open Penance, That their Souls might be faved in the Day of the Lord.

It must be confeffed and lamented, that fince the Time wherein this Saint wrote, the Church has been miferably torn into Sects and Parties, and if the fmall Divifions (in comparison of ours) which arofe in the Church of Carthage, was rebuked with fuch fharpnefs by our Author, what Reprehenfions might we not have expected from his judicious Pen? Since his Time, the Eastern and Western Churches have been divided about Matters of no Moment to the Well being of Christianity, and wherein both Sides might have retain'd their own Tenets, without Breach of Chriftian Charity; and the Contention about Matters of indifferency are as great, as if the fame did concern an Article of Faith.

The Divifions that have arisen in the Weftern Church, are still wider and more irreconcileable, and we are fo divided into Sects and Parties, that the Chriftian Name is in great danger of being loft among us We are So far from being at Unity, that we Seem to be void of Love and Charity to each

other.

The Animefities between the Romanists and Reformed; are grown to fo great a height, that each Party denounce a fevere and heavy Doom against the other; fo much have they forgotten the Doctrines of

Meek

Meekness and Charity, which were the Commands of our dying Lord.

It must be owned and confeffed by any ferious and moderate Chriftians, that the Differences about which we make fo great a Noife and Stir in the Western Church, are not wholly chargeable on one Party of Chriftians, the Truth commonly lies between the contending Parties, and we feem to be like Litigants in a Court of Justice about private Rights, where, upon an exact Difquifition of the Cause, both Parties are found to be Blame-worthy.

The Western Church, before the Reformation, had by frequent Additions in Doctrine, Difcipline and Ceremonies, grown to an exceffive Bulk, and it was the Defign of those who were chief in promoting the Reformation, not to depart from that Doctrine and Difcipline which had been delivered to the Saints; But alas! as it happens in other humane Affairs, that we fall from one extreme to another; fo it happen'd in the Church; the Contention was fo fharp,. that we have feparated from each other. I wish our Separation had been like that of Paul and Barnabas, and that we had gone different Ways, only that we might have promoted the Gospel and Kingdom of Chrift, but 'tis too much to be fear'd, that our Separation has had a quite different Effect.

If the Reformers had proceeded only to lop off thofe Superfluous Branches, which hindred the Tree from bearing Fruit, and had caft off only thofe Ceremonies, which were a Burthen to the Chriftian Church, and which caft a Veil upon the Purity of her Doctrine and Difcipline, its Effects would have been Spread over the whole Western Church, and might perhaps have promoted the Union of the Eaftern Church alfo.

But