the Visible Church as Members of the Invisible will be thereby strengthened in their self-flattery and good opinion they have of themselves touching their good and safe condition when there is no such matter And when they find the good opinion they have of themselves thus strengthened by the publick judgment of the Church concurring with them therein they will be under the greater temptation and in so much the greater danger of resting securely in that unsafe condition to the great hazard of their Souls We know or have abundant reason to suspect that many that have but a Form of Godliness are Laodicean like less apt to suspect the goodness of their own condition before God than they that are truly sincere How much less will they suspect it and how much more will they be confirmed in the good opinion of themselves tho false when they have the publick judgment of the Church to back them in it and that after inspection has been made into their lives and signs of their Conversion approved of As the manner is of those that go that way Of this danger and of this great inconvenience some of the New England Divines grew sensible after they had made trial of that way a great while For in their answer to Mr. Davenports Apologetical Preface pa. 43 44. they express themselves in these words Indeed when men confound these two and do the Visible Church Interest unto such conditions and qualifications as are reputed enough to Salvation this may tend to harden men and to make them conceit that if once they be but got into the Church they are sure of heaven when as alas it may be they are far from it But now there is no such danger does arise from mens being owned Visible Church Members from their professing to believe the Christian Religion and from their Covenanting to endeavour to live according to it Such Profession and such Covenanting does indeed give ground of hope to the Church that such will not be so regardless of their own Salvation as not to be willing to learn their duty and to endeavour to do it that they may be saved But yet such hope of the Church concerning their good performance for the future does not minister any occasion of confidence in such men that they have already performed what is necessary to their Salvation as a receiving them into the Church and unto Communion as having in the publick judgment of the Church already performed it would do This act of the Church in receiving them into Communion in her external priviledges in hope of their improving them to the saving of their Souls gives them no ground of confidence of the safety and goodness of their condition thereby further than they are careful to make their Calling and Election sure by using all diligence in improving the opportunity and means of doing so by their being in the Church Men are too prone to lay too great a stress upon their being received into the Visible Church and Communion tho the Church hath past no judgment thereby of their being of the Invisible Church how much more would they do so in case it had St. Paul was sensible I doubt not how prone many Christians are to lay too much stress meerly upon their being of the Church and partakers in the external Communion thereof For which cause he cautioned the Christians against flattering themselves with an opinion of their safe condition upon that account and laboured to possess them with a sense of the danger they were in for all that if they should rest therein without growing better and better thereby 1 Cor. 10. I would not saith he that ye should be ignorant brethren how that all our Fathers were baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink and yet with many of them God was not well pleased but overthrew them in the Wilderness And he told them that these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted Then enumerated their miscarriages and what befel them thereupon and further told them that these things hapned to them for Examples or Types to us and were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Thereby giving them to understand that tho they were baptized and received into the Church and did participate of the same spiritual meat and drink in the Sacrament with the best in the Church yet if they did not take warning by the miscarriages of those that had been of the Church and of the Communion of it as well as they to avoid the like they might perish as well as the other did for all their Communion in the Church 5. Another reason against refusing all such Communion in the Visible Church who are not judged to be of the Church as Invisible is taken from the danger of such a practice in another respect and that is the danger of mistaking the good for bad and of refusing the sincere Christians under the Notion of Carnal and Unregenerate There is so little visible difference between what many of the same persons were a little before they had saving grace and what they are when they have it only in the lowest degree that men would be in great danger of mistaking if they should make a judgment of their spiritual state under such Circumstances And the difficulty of not mistaking in this case will be still increased when that very little of true grace which is in some men is greatly obscured by the courseness of their natural temper and disposition Besides the prejudice which some good men have against others upon account of some difference in Opinion will not suffer them to discern true grace in some of them in whom it is and perhaps in some good degree too This Age hath furnished us with too many instances of this nature The like may be said in respect of the narrowness of spirit and severity of many by reason of which many of those in whom God himself finds saving grace would be refused Communion with the Church for want of it if that opinion should generally obtain that none should be admitted into the Visible Church ar to its Communion but upon the reputation of their being of the Church as Invisible Some do understand the danger of rooting up the Wheat if the Tares should be gathered from among it to lie in the danger of mistaking the Wheat for the Tares if the one should be attempted to be gathered from the other And if this should be the reason why our Saviour would have them both to grow together till the Harvest it would be pat to what I have said on this reason But if it be not as I am apt to think it is not yet then it so much the more confirms that to be our Savious meaning which I have suggested elsewhere for I do not
good opinion of them and of the innocency and goodness of their intention in what they desire and seek Whereas the other tends to exasperate and provoke and to beget an ill opinion of them and a jealousie of their designs in the minds of those from whom they expect ease and relief in what is mattet of grievance to them And that which does that is no good way of obtaining from them Solomon's wise advice is If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences Eccles 10.4 QUERY XIII WHerein may Catholick Church Communion consist And how and by what means is it best preserved To clear our way in this Inquiry it will be convenient to take notice of the difference that is between the Vnion of the Catholick Church and the Communion of it The Union of the Catholick Church consists in the same Relation which all the Members of that one Body bear to Christ the Head of it and to one another as fellow-members But the Communion of this spiritual Corporation consists in a mutual performance of those Christian Duties and Offices to which they are engaged by virtue of that relation By that Relation in which their Union consists they come to have a greater interest in one another than they had before their incorporation into that body and by it they come under new duties to one another to which they were not obliged before But their Communion consists much in a mutual discharge of those duties towards one another and in an improvement of that interest for the benefit of one another and the good of the whole by their mutual intercourse in spiritual affairs The Union of the whole which is made by one Baptism or the Baptismal Covenant respects the being of the Church But Catholick Communion respects its well-being by its increase in wisdom goodness and comfort There is indeed a Catholick Church Vnity by Communion as well as there is another which comes by Relation but this Unity of Communion slows from that which is made by a Relation common to the whole Having thus briefly considered how Catholick Communion differs from Catholick Union I shall now proceed to shew a little more particularly wherein or in what Catholick Commumunion doth consist And we may best know what it is and wherein it doth consist by the account we have of it as practised in the Catholick Church when it first became Christian And this account we have in these words Acts 2.42 And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers By which description we see it consisted in their consent and agreement in three things Faith Worship Fellowship 1. In their agreeing in the same Faith they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine that is in the belief of it in attendance to it and practice of it From the same faith being common to all Christians it is called the common faith Tit. 1.4 the one faith Eph. 4.5 and their agreement in it is stiled Vnity in the faith Eph. 4.13 2. In their agreement in the same Worship breaking of bread and prayers This Catholick Church in its beginning is said to have continued with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Acts 1.14 And on the day of Penticost they were all with one accord in one place when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them And when their number so increased that they could not all perform this Publick Worship together in one place but in several distinct Assemblies called particular Churches yet their agreement in the same Worship made their Communion in it but one Communion tho performed in several Assemblies For altho these Assemblies be never so far distant from one another yet so long as they all agree in the same Worship the distance of place can no more hinder their Communion from being one than their being baptized in several distant places can hinder the Relation to one another contracted thereby from being one when it is common to all the Members We account all those to be of the Communion of the Church of Rome at the same time and in the same acts in which they hold their Local Commumunion in several distant Nations so long as they all agree in the same corrupt Worship And there is the same reason for the Unity of the Communion in Worship of all Orthodox Assemblies in all Nations So that I take this for an unquestionable truth That it is mens agreement in the same Principles of Communion be they good or bad that makes their Communion but one tho the particular acts of it are performed by them in many thousand distant places And now it is by the Union of Relation by the Baptismal Covenant and the Unity of Communion by agreement in the Principles of the Worship wherein they have Communion that all Orthodox Christians make one great House or Temple of God in the world in which he is openly worshipped and publickly acknowledged to be what he is the one only true God Father Son and Holy Ghost in opposition to all false Gods Ephes 2.21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. This is that house which is called Christs own house Heb. 3.6 and that House of God over which Christ is said to be High Priest Heb. 10.21 And particular Churches in reference to this one house are but as several Apartments in it which all together make up one great house of God And in this house of his God dwells and therein manifesteth himself to his People after a more special manner than he does to the world 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be my people Here Almighty God meets with them and communes with them and receives their addresses and here he entertains them with the fatness of his house the Ordinances of the Gospel and the benign influences and comfortable presence of his Spirit in the use of them In this way the whole Church in their several Assemblies have Communion with their Head Christ Jesus and one with another by partaking in common of the spiritual benefits communicated by the Lord and in assisting in common in the Worship Adoration and Thanksgiving which the Church renders him for the glory and transcendent perfections of his nature and being and returns him for all the blessings and benefits they receive from him And the more all Christians are agreed in their worshipping of God and in their Communion with him the more they honour him and the more they please him and make themselves the more capable of receiving all good things from him in the greater abundance If the agreement but of two of them touching any thing they shall ask hath his promise of granting it Mat. 18.19 what might not be expected from him
it for which cause they say we should not use it in receiving the Sacrament least we seem to sympolize with them therein In Answer to this several things are to be considered As 1. That tho' the Church of Rome doth strictly enjoyn kneeling at the Elevation of the Host yet in the Act of Receiving it is not required by any Cannon or Constitution of theirs Dr. John Burges of great Note in his time in his Treatise touching the Lawfulness of receiving the Sacrament kneeling or in his Defence of the three Innocent Ceremonies Chap. 21. pag. 67. and pag. 479. of his Rejoynder as he is recited for I have not his Book hath these words With us the Bishops or Ministers Communicate kneeling as well as the People But with the Papists the Pope when himself performeth the Office receiveth sitting as being a Type of Christ the Mass Priests receive standing by the Canon of the Mass For confirmation of all which he cites several Authors He denies not but that the People receive kneeling and says that the Priest did so too untill the Doctrine of Transubstantiation begot the Canon for his standing But he denies that kneeling in the very time of receiving was ever in the Church of Rome any Rite of or for Adoration of the Sacrament it self and says never any Pope enjon'd it nor is there any direction in the Mass for it The Reverend Dr. Stilliigfleet hath asserted much to the same effect in his Unreasonableness of Separation Pag. 15. 2. How or after what manner soever kneeling has been abused by the Papists to bad purposes yet the abuse of a thing otherwise lawful in it self does not make the Vse of it unlawful when separated from that abuse Kneeling is abused by the Papists in their Prayers to the Virgin Mary and other Saints but this does not make the Vse of kneeling unlawful in our Prayers to Almighty God 3. Our receiving the Sacrament kneeling in complyance with Publick Order and Authority can be no appearance or cause of Suspicion of Bread-Worship because the same Authority which requires our kneeling therein has declared in the Rubrick at the end of the Office of Communion That no Adoration is thereby intended or ought to de done to the Bread and Wine or to any Corporal Presence of Christs Natural Flesh and Blood but is intended and meant for a signification and grateful Acknowledgement of the benesits of Christ therein given By this we see all appearance and suspicion of requiring kneeling in order to any Bread-Worship is quite taken away 4. Standing is a Gesture of Adoration as well as kneeling Mark xi 25. and yet the Dissenters do not think it Vnlawful for that reason to receive the Sacrament standing And if its being a Gesture of Adoration be no just exception against the Vse of it in receiving the Sacrament then the Adoration supposed or implyed in the Gesture of kneeling can be no just exception against the Vse of that Gesture neither in the performance of the same Duty 5. Kneeling its being a Gesture of Adoration is so far from making the Vse of it unlawful in receiving the Sacrament as that it is the great reason why it is not unlawful but fit and convenient For no good Christian will deny but that it highly becomes us inwardly to Adore our Blessed Saviour in the Act of receiving the Bread and Wine for his wonderful love in dying for us and for giving his Flesh for the Life of the world and if so then it cannot be incongruous or unfit to express and signifie this internal Act of Adoration by another that is external for we are to Worship and Glorifie him both in our Bodies and our Spirits And now me thinks no man atho understands and considers these things should be able to think it Vnlawful to kneel in receiving the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Blessed Saviour THE CONTENTS OR THE Heads of Enquiry Query I. WHat is the true Notion of the Vniversal Church as visible Pag. 3 Query II. What is it which prepares or qualifies persons for that relation to God in Christ which makes them visible members of his Church 6. Query III. What may that be by which People are made visible Church-members 9 Query IV. How and when is the Covenant between God and men entred into by which people are externally united to Christ and visibly made members of his Church 13 Query V. How can Infants become visible Church-members by Covenanting with God since they seem naturally uncapable of doing such a thing 19 Query VI. Whether in the baptising of Children that method of proceeding be not most proper by which the Children are most directly made to enter into Covenant with God by their Parents 38 Query VII For what reason is Church-membership said to be invisible as well as visible in some and yet but only as visible in others and from whence doth this difference arise 41 Query VIII Whether men are no otherwise members of the Church as visible then as they are reputed members of the Church as invisible 53 Query IX Whether God hath granted any right to Church-priviledges to those who are only of the Church as visible but not as invisible 123 Query X. Why and for what reason may it be conceived does Almighty God own and and allow others to be of the Church as visible than only such as are of the Church as invisible 173 Query XI What is it that makes the difference between the Vniversal Church as visible and particular Churches And what makes the difference between one particular Church and another 207 Query XII Whether from the reason of the Extent and Latitude of visible Church-membership and Communion which has been discoursed of the great usefulness of a National Settlement or Constitution for the publick Emercise of the Worship of God in all parts of a Nation professing Christianity may not fairly be infer'd and concluded 225 Query XIII Wherein may Catholick-Church Communion consist And how and by what means is it best preserv'd 265 Query XIV What is the nature of Schism 300 Query XV. Supposing things touching visible Church-membership and Communion to be as they have been represented in our former Enquiries Yet how do they tend to lessen our Church-divisions 349 ERRATA THe Running Titles of the Book mistaken Pag. 22. l. 23. dele since p. 31. l. 1. after all add these p. 39. l. 27. for properly r. property p. 48. l. 5. f. whom r. when l. 25. dele also p. 54. l. 15. f. mans r. mens p. 57. l. 16. f. man r. men p. 61. l. 12. f. taken r. broken p. 62. l. 2. f. in r. on p. 118. l. 8. f. qualifies r. qaalified p. 195. l. 2. f. bein r. being p. 335. l. 19. f. Rule r. Cure CATHOLICISM OR Several Enquiries touching the Nature and Extent of Visible Church-Membership and Communion c. NOTIONS narrower than those which will hold Scripture-measure concerning the Church and what it
that have aggravated their crime in not observing the Covenant consented to by their Fore-fathers unless they their Posterity had been obliged by their Fore-fathers consenting to it Thirdly God calls those Children of Idolatrous Jews his Children whom they Sacrificed to their Idols and says they were born unto him Ezek. 16.20 21. 23.37 And upon what account were they so but by being the Children of Parents in Covenant with God tho now they had violated it and by being farther brought into Covenant with God by their Parents Circumcising them It seems that Covenant which had obliged the Parents to be Gods obliged those that were born of them to be so likewise and much more were they thus obliged when their Parents had brought them into Covenant with God by Circumcising them Tho such Parents had forfeited their Covenant interest in God yet they had not by that by which they did so made void Gods Covenant right to them and their Children but that they were still under an Obligation to him to be his Upon which account it is as it is probable that God is called the God of some men when yet they have been very bad as we may see 1 King 15.3 2 King 16.2 2 Chron. 28.5 36.5.12 Fourthly It was the Parents that Circumcised their Children of eight days old and not the Children themselves and yet these Children were as firmly obliged by it when grown to be men as if they had then Circumcised themselves I testifie again to every man that is Circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law saith St. Paul Gal. 5.3 And if they were obliged by what their Parents did in Circumcising them to perform the duty on their part whenever they were capable of it we may well conceive that by what their Parents did in entring them into Covenant by Circumcising them they were invested with the benefit promised on Gods part until they devested themselves of it by their actual and wilful transgressing the Covenant in not becoming a People unto God in correspondence to his Promise of being a God unto them And the truth is according to Scripture account little Children which were devoted to the Service of God by their Parents and designed to be trained up to it were by a favourable construction reputed to be doers of that Service while but little Children which they could not actually perform until they were past their Child-hood This is plain and express in one case and by purity of reason must be allowed in other under like circumstances The Children of the Koathites of a month old were said to keep the charge of the Sanctuary because they were designed and devoted for it by their Parents then tho they could not actually perform that Service until they attained unto more years Numb 3.27 28. These are the Families of the Koathites in the number of all the Males from a month old and upwards were eight thousand and six hundred keeping the charge of the Sanctuary And the contrary practice of Parents was accompanied with a contrary event in their Children If they did not devote their Children to the Service of God by Circumcising them when they should their Children were reputed breakers of the Covenant whereas their Parents properly were so by neglecting to fulfil the terms of it on their Childrens behalf The Vncircumcised Man-child whose flesh of his fore-skin is not Circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his People he hath broken my Covenant Gen. 17.14 And thus were the little Children of Proselytes also made parties in Gods Covenant by their Fathers taking hold of it and by entering their Male-Children with themselves into it by Circumcision Exod. 12.48 Nor is it at all unreasonable that the Children should be obliged by what their Parents did to that end in their Minority so long as it was in nothing but what the Children ought then to have obliged themselves to if they had been capable to have done so and which in duty they ought to oblige themselves to when come to years of discretion if their Parents had not done it for them before Parents as Parents have so great an Interest and Propriety in their Children and so great Authority over them and Power of disposing of them that what they oblige them to by their act and deed will and command in their Minority they ought in duty to observe and do if the things be not unreasonable in themselves nor countermanded by God as having a greater Interest in them and Authority over them than their Parents had This is so reasonable as that we see God himself approves of it and has founded his own Institution upon it of obliging little Children by Covenanting with him by the act and deed of their Parents If a man by his Will and Testament oblige his Son and Heir to any thing which is fair and reasonable it is a dishonourable thing among men for such a Child to esteem himself not obliged thereby to do it If it be but a mans Covenant or Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disannulleth it saith S. Paul Gal. 3.15 And thus we see how little Children become obliged in Covenant with God and visible Members of his Church by the act and deed of their Parents on their behalf both before the Law of Moses and under it Let us now consider whether the little Children of Christians under the New Testament be not brought into Covenant with God and made Members of the visible Church by the act and deed of their Parents as well and as much as others had been in times of the Old Testament It cannot be denied but that Christian-Parents have as great a Propriety in and as much Authority over their Children now as ever Parents had under the Law And if so they must needs be in the same capacity of obliging their little Children by their act and deed on their behalf in any thing that is for their benefit as they were Nor is it less the duty of Children now to be obliged by what their Parents do in their Minority on their behalf for their benefit than it was then Honour thy Father and thy Mother is of as much force to Children now as ever it was in Old Testament times These things are clearly seen by the light of nature And now we deny not but that it is as much the duty of Parents now to seek the good of their Children by doing that for them in their Minority which tends to their benefit as ever it was heretofore All things being supposed it must be granted that Parents are in as good a capacity to oblige their little Children to God in Covenant now by what they may do on their behalf in their Minority as ever Parents were heretofore They may dedicate and devote them to God and his Service by Baptism now as well as Parents could by Circumcision heretofore And Baptism does as much oblige the Baptized in Covenant with
whether in bringing their Children to be Baptized they do not intend thereby to dedicate them to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to engage them as much as in them lies to be Gods faithful Servants and to believe and live according to the Doctrine and Precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ or somewhat to that effect And whether likewise such Answers from the Parents should not be expected as are most suitable to such demands And further it would be considered Whether Infants can be so well or so directly and properly obliged to God in Covenanting with him in Baptism by what Sponsors which are not their Parents then do to oblige them as they may by what their Parents themselves may do to that end And the reason of this proposal or question is this If the Childrens being obliged to do that when they come to Age which Parents obliged them to in their Baptism does depend upon their Parents properly in them and authority over them as is supposed it does from what has been formerly argued then they cannot be so properly obliged by what other Sponsors do in their behalf at their Baptism which have no such property in them or authority over them It is true indeed Parents are not wholly unconcerned in entering their Children into Covenant with God by Baptism when yet Sponsors act in the Parents stead For it is the Parents that cause their Children to be Baptized and what the Sponsors act is by the Parents procurement and upon these accounts it is interpretatively their act But yet Parents immediately and in their own persons acting the part of entering their Children into Covenant seems more proper and better to answer the nature of the things Sponsors may be more useful in case Parents of Children to be Baptized are dead as possibly it might be the case of some Children whose Parents were Martyr'd in the Primitive times from which perhaps that usage in the Church took its first rise There are other cases in which Sponsors or Pro-parents may be useful and necessary but hardly so as to exclude Parents from their proper work But I speak of these things with submission to those of better judgment and more authority having only offered them to consideration QUERY VII FOr what reason is Church-Membership said to be Invisible as well as Visible in some and yet but only as Visible in others And from whence does this difference arise This difference proceeds from the difference there is between Visible and Invisible Christianity and from the different Union between Christ the Head and his Members which is caused thereby By invisible Christianity I mean those inward acts and affections of soul by which men abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good which are wrought by a serious assent of the mind unto the truth of the doctrine and great motives of the Gospel by which they are convinced of the necessity of repentance and holy living in order to their escaping everlasting misery and becoming eternally happy By visible Christianity I mean external and visible acts of Religion in reference both to God and men such as is the profession of the God that made the World to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to be his Son and the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith and such other acts as consist in an external performance of the external acts of worship due to this God and Saviour and in acts of Justice and Charity towards men and in sobriety of behaviour in reference to a mans self Now by the internal and invisible Christianity forementioned in conjunction with that which is external the Covenant entred into in Baptism is so performed that by it a man is internally and invisibly united to Christ and consequently to all those who are invisibly one with him But visible Christianity alone is but an external performance of the Covenant entred into in Baptism and this amounts to no more than an external and visible Union with Christ and with his Church as visible By this much then we may understand wherein the difference between visible and invisible Church membership lies and from whence it doth arise Now that the internal Christianity which consists in an internal change in the faculties of the soul to wit in their apprehension inclination motions and operations in reference to their various objects of good and evil does produce or obtain an internal and invisible Union of men with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ will appear if we consider these things 1. This internal Renovation of soul contains in it an Union with God by adhesion for by it a man doth with his heart and soul and out of judgment and choice cleave unto the Lord which in the sence of Scripture is a being joyned to him He that is joyned or he that cleaveth unto the Lord is one spirit for it is rendred by both words 1 Cor. 6.17 And for a man firmly and resolvedly to adhere and stick to the Lord and to the interest of his honour and glory in the world in worshipping loving and obeying him and in placing his affiance in him as his only God and Saviour come what will which is his cleaving to him is such a moral Vnion with God as the nature of man is capable of 2. This internal Renovation worketh an invisible Union with God by a participation of the divine nature as the Apostle phraseth it 2 Pet. 1.4 By which participation men are morally united to God For they are thereby renewed to the Image of God in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness and so are made one Spirit or one in spirit with Him according to that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit or of one spirit For so far as such an one is partaker of the Divine nature by Renovation he judgeth of good and evil as God judgeth and loves and hates and designs the same things that he doth 3. By this Renovation of the Inner man men come to have the same Spirit of God and of Christ to reside and dwell in them by which their Vnion with the Father and the Son is compleated The holy Spirit first prepares them as living Temples or an Habitation for himself to dwell in by renewing them in a less degree and then comes and takes up his abode and dwells in them by affording them a more constant and more plentiful influence and assistance And the same Spirit dwelling both in Christ and in them the Vnion between them becomes more intimous and more entire Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 As the Union of all the members of a natural body is not made so much by their contiguity or close joyning as by being all animated by one and the same spirit which is in all the parts so it is
in the Union of the Head and Members of the Mystical Body Christ and the Church and every particular Member of it for they are united by the quickening power and influence of the same Spirit which abides both in the head and all the members By what hath been said touching the Invisible Vnion between Christ and his Church as Invisible it will be easie to discern whence and for what reason it is that many who are really Members of the Church as Vible are yet no more but such and not at all of the Church as Invisible And it is for want of such an inward change of the mind and will and all the affections of the soul in reference to sin and duty good and evil as is made by a vigorous assent of the mind to the great truths of the Gospel and the mighty motives of it and by a serious and frequent consideration of them and how a man 's own self is concerned in them in point of happiness or misery according as he yields up himself to be governed by them or refuses to do so I do not deny but that such who are Members of the Church but only as it is Visible may yet in some sort really assent unto the truth of what the Gospel reveals touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of Sinners yea touching the necessity of Repentance in order to the obtaining the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life by his sufferings I doubt not but that these may in some sort believe and undissemblingly profess to believe otherwise concerning the Christian doctrine than profess'd Infidels do tho not so seriously and effectually as the truly Regenerate We cannot say they properly dissemble whom they profess to believe the Christian doctrine or Articles of the Christian faith We cannot say their words are knowingly contrary to the sentiment of their minds and thoughts in such a profession We see by experience that some Sea-faring men otherwise vicious in their lives yet when taken Captive by Infidels will endure any hardship rather than be drawn to say they do not believe the Christian doctrine which is a good evidence that they do in some sence really believe it tho perhaps not so effectually as the truly Regenerate do There were many in our Saviours days of whom the Scripture says that they did believe in Christ whose faith yet was not powerful enough to Regenerate them And such was Simon Magus also and such were those who as St. James supposed had faith and yet not justified by it it Being alone and but a dead faith and such faith is the faith as may justly be feared of many at this day who are Christians by profession and of the Visible Church Nay farther I do not deny but that this faith of theirs in conjunction with some external motives may produce a form of Godliness so that they may do most of the external acts of Religion which Regenerate men do They may enter into Covenant with God in Baptism and worship him only and in the name of Christ They may openly own the Articles of the Christian faith and with zeal dispute for them They may frequent the Ordinances of publick worship such as Prayer hearing the Word and the Lords Supper and may observe the Lords day They may be free from gross and scandalous sins do many acts of justice in their dealing with men and give Alms also They may be thus outwardly Righteous and externally Religious and yet be unrenewed as touching the inward man They may for all this be full of Envy Malice Hatred and Revengeful thoughts of Emulation Wrath and Pride of Ambition Covetousness and Inordinate affection which are sins of that sort which the Apostle calls works of the flesh and such as exclude men out of the Kingdom of Heaven And while they remain thus unrenew'd in their minds and wills what ever faith or repentings they may otherwise have or whatever their outward performances may be yet they fall short of being of the Invisible Church for want of that inward renovation that invisibly unites men to Christ But yet tho this external Christianity fore-mentioned will not make men Members of the Church Invisible yet it will evidence and declare them to be of the Church as visible and continue them in it For it is in some sort tho but partial indeed an external performance of the Covenant of Baptism by which they had their first enterance into the Visible Church and by which their external relation to God in a religious sence was first constituted It is in respect of external Christianity that such are said to be in Christ who yet are but unfruitful branches John 15. devoid of that fruit which is called the fruit of the spirit which consists of those internal qualifications described in Gal. 5.22 23. And their being in Christ signifies an external Vnion between them which is made by external Christianity And in such an external respect the whole multitude of the Children of Israel who did not violate the bond of the Covenant between God and them by running into Idolatry were said to cleave unto the Lord which is another word which signifies their being Joyned or United to him which can be understood but of an external Union by external Religion in reference to many of them at least Thus in Deut. 4.3 4. it is said All the men that followed Baal-peor the Lord thy God hath destroy'd them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Where we see their continuing to worship the God of Israel in the use of his Ordinances without following Baal-peor as some others did is called their cleaving unto God And by that they continued their relation unto God uninterrupted But of this I shall have occasion to say more in the next inquiry Thus we see that it is visible Christianity that makes men to be of the Visible Church and Invisible Christianity which makes them to be of the Church as Invisible Those that have visible Christianity are thereby differenced from the Infidel and Idolatrous World on the one hand and by their having no more they are differenced from the Invisible Church on the other and thereby set in a middle state between both and that is in the Visible Church QUERY VIII WHether men are no otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are Reputed Members of the Church as Invisible Those of the Congregational way whether called Independents or Anabaptists have been wont strongly to adhere to the Negative of this question That men are not otherwise Members of the Church as Visible than as they are reputed of the Church as Invisible And it is upon the authority of this Hypothesis that they refuse to admit any to Church-Communion but such in whom in their judgment are found evidences or signs of Invisible Church-Membership or saving Grace That none but such have right to
hunger when at the same time they made themselves guilty of intemperance and excess one is hungry another is drunk despise ye the Church of God and shame them which have not These also were such unworthy Acts as Christians by common grace may easily keep themselves from being guilty of the like Now all these outward Acts of unworthiness proceeded from their not rightly discerning the Lords Body as we may well conceive either as not understanding the nature of the Ordinance or as not being duly affected with what was represented and commemorated by it And therefore for remedy for time to come he puts them upon examining themselves concerning the apprehensions the sense and affection which Christians ought to have touching those things when they go to the Table of the Lord. I shall not proceed to shew how each of these external Acts of unworthy communicating proceeded from their not discerning the Lords Body which yet might easily be done Upon the whole matter I think we may conclude that if men by examination find themselves in a capacity and disposition to answer our Lords end in this his institution by eating and drinking at his Table in a grateful remembrance of him that then they are not altogether unfit and unworthy to be Communicants of it For men receive the Sacrament worthily or unworthily according as they do or do not thereby answer the end and design of it in remembring our blessed Saviour QUERY X. WHy and for what reason may it be conceived does Almighty God own and allow others to be of the Church as Visible than only such as are of the Church as Invisible There are several things offer themselves to our consideration which seem to render it fit and reasonable and well-becoming the wisdom and goodness of God that it should be so and such as render it highly useful and beneficial unto men As 1. Because it tends more abundantly to increase the number of Invisible Church Members than it would if none should be admitted into the Visible Church until they were of the Invisible or worthily reputed to be so That it has this tendency needs no better proof than the Experience the Church of God has had of the happy effect of this way and method of converting men above what has been produced in the other way Experience has made it manifest that abundant more thorow and sound conversions in men have been made in the Visible Church than out of it and after they have been baptized than before More in the Church of God have been made good and that by means of their being in it than have been made so before they were admitted into it How rarely have any thorow and sound conversions been wrought in men while out of the Church since Miracles ceased How seldom do we see or hear of any Jews or profest Infidels become really holy and good men tho they live among Christians and where they have the opportunity of hearing the Gospel if they had any mind to it When as thanks be to God we have known or heard of multitudes of Conversions of this nature that have been wrought in men after they have been in the Church If the Apostles in their time did by vertue of their Ministry convert many so as of bad to make them really holy and good before they were received into the Church Yet as their Calling was extraordinary so was their Ministry by which those Conversions were wrought their Mission and Doctrine being attested to come from heaven by multitudes of miraculous operations and marvelous gifts And therefore those Conversions which were wrought by such extraordinary means must be looked upon as extraordinary Conversions And to argue from things extraordinarily done to a necessity of having the like done in ordinary cases and under ordinary means is so absurd and such a piece of unreasonableness as those we call Seekers are guilty of who can find as they think no true Churches extant or visible because not called by men qualified with like extraordinary gifts as those or many of those in the Apostles days were by whom Churches were then gathered And indeed had not the means by which the Apostles converted those whom they did convert been extraordinary it would have been in a manner impossible for them to have succeeded in their undertaking as they did considering that they were to convert them from other Religions in which they had been educated and brought up and which they had received from their Fathers and Fore-fathers unto a new Religion the Christian Religion which was so greatly different from theirs as it was especially from that of Paganism from which most of their Conversions probably were made But when the Apostles had in this extraordinary way gathered our Saviour a Church all over the known World and settled particular Churches it was not necessary as the Event shews that this extraordinary way of converting men should be continued For when by this extraordinary means of converting men way was made for converting them in an ordinary way then that which was extratraordinary ceased Like as the giving the Israelites Manna from heaven ceased when they came into Canaan and had opportunity of being supplied with food in an ordinary way And from that time forward there have been but few Conversions made in those without the Church but most of those that have been made in bringing men to the power of godliness have been made upon those within the Visible Church For tho God is pleased I doubt not to plant true saving grace in some in their early days by the benefit of godly Education yet there are very many others who having been received into the Church by Baptism in their Infancy have little or nothing more than a form of godliness if so much found in them when grown up But among these there are many who in time are brought on or converted to the Power of Godliness by means of their being in the Church and under those Ordinances of God there administred by which he is wont to work saving grace in men This is Gods ordinary way of Conversion since that which was extraordinary ceased And ever since that time almost all the Conversions that have been made in men to a saving Christian faith and to a faithful practice and the Power of Christianity have been made upon persons baptized and within the Church And altho the Conversion of men to Christianity by the Ministry of the Apostles was extraordinary because wrought in an extraordinary way and by extraordinary means as I have shewed yet we have great reason to think that those Conversions or many of them that proved effectual at last were but only beginnings and preparatory to a second and thorow Conversion of them while they were yet without the visible Church and were carried quite through and made effectual after they were brought into the Church by Baptism And the manner of the Apostles writing to the Christians after
house is done by their Confederation and Covenant as the Cement by which the Christians were united and combined in one particular Church fitly framed together as the phrase is Ephes 2. But St. Peter is not here speaking to any one particular Church as such when he says ye are built up a spiritual house but to the strangers scattered abroad throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bethynia as appears Chap. 1.1 And no one surely can think that these Christians thus scattered and at this distance could become one particular Church by such a mutual Confederation as these hold necessary for the forming a particular Church And if not it must be by vertue of somewhat else than such a particular Church Covenant as these dissenting Brethren thought to find here by which Christians in so many distant parts of the world as aforesaid were built up one spiritual house And that doubtless must be the same thing by which all Christians in the world become one spiritual house of God for so they are For when Christ is said to be High Priest over the house of God Heb. 10.21 And to be faithful as a Sen over his own house Heb. 3.6 House in these places cannot signifie less than the Universal Christian Church who are called the houshold of faith And how do all these Christians become the house of God but by being joyned and devoted to him by the Baptismal Covenant and thereby to one another among whom he dwells and is Worshipped as in his holy Temple For by this they all become one body which is but another Metaphor under which to express the same thing Ephes 2.21 22. 1 Cor. 12.13 It is the same thing which makes persons Members of the Church Universal that qualifies them for particular Church Membership and that is the Baptismal Covenant And to make any other Covenant besides this so necessary to qualifie men for particular Church Membership and Communion as to make this of Gods own appointment insufficient for that end is a great impeachment of it and contains in it such consequences as the Abetters of it would be ashamed to countenance if they were aware of it For so long as it is asserted to be of divine appointment the formal cause of a particular Church and essential to its being and is made the Condition of Communion when God has no where appointed or required it so long it may be charged with these evils 1. With a teaching for Doctrine the Commandments of men a piece of vain Worship condemned by our Saviour Mat. 15.9 which is the same thing with adding to Gods Word or a saying he saith when he hath not said it 2. It is in some sort and in part a making void the Command or Institution of God that men might establish their own Tradition For whereas the Baptismal Covenant qualifies men for particular Church Membership by bringing them into the Universal Church this Opinion denies the Baptismal Covenant to be sufficient to this end and sets up this other confederating in its room 3. It contains in it the Unchurching of all those Gospel Churches that are or ever have been in the world that have not been thus united by Church Covenanting For to say this is the Form of a particular Church or the formal cause of it is in effect to say that none are really Churches without it for Matter and Form are essential to the being of Churches as well as they are of other things Now to Unchurch all Churches that have not been thus confederate is a great thing indeed if we consider how few years it is since such Covenanting was heard of in any Christian Church in the world and by how inconsiderable a number of Congregations it has been used since it has been heard of These things considered it is matter of a very venturous and daring nature As for the other part of our Enquiry touching that which makes the difference between one particular Church and another we may conceive of it thus 1. It consists partly in that which does distinguish one Town from another or one great Neighbourhood from another and that is the bounds of Habitation And this distinction is as well convenient yea necessary for Ecclesiastical Order and peaceable Government as it is for Civil and does as well accommodate the ends of the one as of the other and without this a peaceable and orderly Government in the whole Church would be impracticable even as it would be in an Universal Empire And thus the Churches planted by the Apostles are differenced and distinguished one from another that at Rome from that at Corinth and that at Ephesus from that at Philippi yea that at Cenchrea from that at Corinth which yet bordered upon Corinth and so of the rest And indeed that difference which is made between Church and Church by Vicinity of Neighbourhood and Cohabitation does best answer the ends of particular Church Association such as is assembling together for Publick Worship and mutual assistances in all Christian offices of Brotherly love and friendship But this alone does not constitute Christians dwelling together in the same place a particular Christian Church tho by their being of the Church Universal they are as fit matter qualified for it But 2. That which does constitute such to be a particular Church as that signifies a company of Christians in Local Communion in Divine Worship consisting in the participation of Gospel Ordinances is the placing over them one or more Church-Officers to minister to them therein By which Officers as well as by the place where they dwell and where they assemble for Worship they are distinguished from other like Churches under the Conduct of other Church-Officers of the same kind For by such their joynt Local Communion in the Worship administred by their spiritual Guide or Pastor they are united with him and among themselves as one Worshipping Congregation by which Union also they are distinguished from other particular Churches as other particular Churches in like manner are from them Those of the Independent Church-way do indeed hold particular Churches as such to be Antecedent to any Church-Officers over them Which is the reason which Dr. Owen in his Inquiry concerning Churches does alledge to prove the Power of the Keys to be given to the Church And to prove particular Churches to be Antecedent to Church Officers he quotes Acts 14.23 where it is said of Paul and Barnabas And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church c. As for this proof of his Assertion I shall consider it by and by but shall first examine and try what is in the Assertion it self which I am inclined to think will be found full of mistake and that the contrary will be found true viz. that the Evangelical Ministry is and always has been Antecedent to the existence of Christian Churches and indeed an instrumental cause of their being And this is true not only of particular Churches but also
of the Universal Church as Christian which yet in order of nature is Antecedent to particular Churches The gathering of Christ a Christian Church in the world at first was the effect of the Apostolical Ministry and the Ministry of their assistants The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ being the chief corner stone Eph. 2.20 and the Foundation is Antecedent to the Superstructure All the additions that have been since made to the Visible Church have been by the Ministerial Office by letting all the particular Members of that addition into it by Baptism And when men are ordained Ministers of the Gospel they are not ordained Ministers of this or that particular Church but Ministers of Christ to the Church in general Let no man glory in men for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas all are yours and ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 22. Paul Apollos and Cephas were theirs in common with others not theirs appropriately And their being sent or called to be Ministers to this ot that particular Church is but the application of their general capacity to particular use and exercise to wit that of Ministration to such a people in particular And this Ministerial Power they bring with them to the Church or People among whom they are placed but do not receive it from them And it is by virtue of their Ministry and Ministration that a particular Body of people can act or perform any Publick Acts of Communion peculiar to a Church as such And therefore as they cannot act as a Church without such a Ministry so neither can they properly be a Church without it The first thing St. Paul mentions Ephes 4.11.12 for which our Saviour Christ gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers was for the perfecting of the Saints or for the joyning them together or for the making them up or for the compacting or knitting them together For thus variously is that word rendred by Expositors but all to the same sense For it is for the knitting them and holding them together as one body in their several Publick Assemblies for Worship and Edification And indeed a Church is so called from several Christians assembling together for Publick Worship their Union wherein is made by their joynt concurrence with their Spiritual Pastor in his Ministration for which end and purpose such Officers are given and appointed by Christ as the words of St. Paul now alledged shew And now as for the Text alledged by the Doctor in which Paul and Barnabas are said to have ordained Elders in every Church Acts 14.23 this does not prove the Churches there spoken of to be such Antecedently to any Ministerial Act or Power by which they became such For they had been made Churches in some sort by the planting of Paul and Barnabas who also as Church Officers ministred to them while they were among them For this ordaining Elders in every Church by Paul and Barnabas was done in their return to the places where they had preached the Gospel and made Disciples before and they returned to them to confirm them and to ordain Elders among them as appears by the two precedent verses compared with the Text it self Besides St. Luke did not write this History till after the Apostles had thus ordained Elders in the Churches mentioned by him so that they were indeed Churches then when he wrote those words and it was proper for him to stile them so tho it should be supposed they had been none before they had Elders ordained in them So that this Text can be no proof of that for which the Doctor doth alledge it QUERY XII WHether from the reason of the extent and Latitude of Visible Church-Membership and Communion which has been discoursed of the great usefulness of a National settlement or Constitution for the publick exercise of the Worship of God in all parts of a Nation professing Christianity may not fairly be inferred and concluded Now the reason why Visible Church-Membership Communion are better in respect of their due extensiveness than they would be if the terms and conditions of enjoying those Priviledges were limited and restrained to the same terms which the enjoyment of Invisible Church Membership and Communion are is this viz. because these Priviledges under such an extent and latitude tend more to the propagation of the Christian Religion and the increase of the number of those who shall be saved than they would or could do if they were limitted and restrained to the same terms and conditions of enjoyment as Invisible Church Membership and Communion are This hath been shew'd in our tenth Inquiry And it is for the same reason that it is better that the exercise of Gods Publick Worship should be set up in all parts of a Nation professing Christianity by a National Authority and that all such Professors should be thereby obliged to frequent it than it is to leave all such to their own liberty to promote and frequent it or to forbear and neglect to do so as the way called Independency does For the National way tends more to propagate and promote the knowledge and practice of Christian Religion and the Salvation of Souls than the Congregational way does and therefore must needs be abundantly better That it does so is too apparent to be denied by any that have but common reason when these things following are but duly considered 1. Better provision is made by a publick establishment for the instruction of such a Nation in the way of Salvation than can reasonably be expected without it Unless provision were made by publick Authority for the maintenance of a Gospel Ministry in all parts of a Nation there would certainly be a greater want of a publick Ministry in many places of it than by reason of such a publick provision there is Would people think we of themselves in all places of a Nation provide a better maintainance for the Ministry of the Gospel among them if left wholly to themselves than there is made by publick Authority If they would how comes it to pass that those places are generally worst supplied with Ministers where the Publick has made least provision for their maintainance And generally where there is the greatest failure in this there is the least face of Religion and greatest hazard of mens Souls Where there is no Vision the people perish saith Solomon Prov. 29.18 And the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge saith the Prophet Hos 4.6 2. If the people should be all left to themselves to chuse what Ministers they please without any publick approbation and allowance of some appointed by publick Authority to judg of their fitness many would be in danger of chusing men of erronious Principles and such as would corrupt the minds of men The consequence of which would be great opposition and contention between the Orthodox and the Erronious and making of Parties and endless strife to the destruction