disuse it is no wonder if in such Churches where these Evils are inveterate and Remediless Particular Persons do peaceably provide for their own Edification by joyning themselves unto such Societies as wherein the Rule of the Gospel is more practically attended unto It is taken for granted that the Church is not corrupted by the wicked Persons that are of its Communion nor its Administrations defiled by their Presence and Communication in them nor the Edification of others prejudiced thereby because it hath been so said by some of the Ancients though whether suitably unto the Doctrine of the Apostles or no is very questionable But suppose this should be so yet where wicked Persons are admitted without Distinction or Discrimination unto the Communion of the Church where they are tollerated therein without any procedure with them or against them contrary to express Rules of the Scripture given to that purpose so that those who are really Pious among them can by no means prevail for the Reformation of the whole they may not only without breach of Charity impairing of Faith or Love or without the least suspition of the Guilt of Schism forsake the Communion of such a Congregation to joyn unto another where there is more Care of Piety Purity and Holiness but if they have any Care of their own Edification and a due Care of their Salvation they will understand it to be their Duty so to do And we may a little touch hereon once for all The General End of the Institution of Churches as such is the visible mannagement of the Enmity on the part of the seed of the Woman Christ the Head and the Members of his Body mystical against the Serpent and his Seed In the pursuit of this End God ever had a Church in the world separate from persons openly profane doing the work of the Devil their Father And there is nothing in any Church Constitution which tends unto or is compliant with the mixing and reconciling these distinct seeds whilst they are such and visibly appear so to be And therefore as the Types Prophecies and Promises of the Old Testament did declare that when all things were actually brought unto an Head in Christ Jesus the Churches and all things that belong unto it should be Holy that is visibly so so the Description generally and uniformally given us of the Churches of the New Testament when actually called and erected is that they consisted of Persons called sanctified justified ingrafted into Christ or Saints Believers faithful ones purified and separate unto God Such they professed themselves to be such they were judged to be by them that were concerned in their Communion and as such they ingage themselves to walk in their Conversation By what Authority so great a Change should be now wrought in the Nature and Constitution of Churches that it should be altogether indifferent of what sort of persons they do consist we know not Yea to speak plainly we greatly fear that both the Worship and Worshipers are defiled where open impenitent sinners are freely admitted unto all sacred Administrations without controul And we are sure that as God complaineth that his Sanctuary is polluted when there are brought into it strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh so the true Members of the Church are warned of the Evil and dangers of such defiling mixtures and charged to watch against them We might yet further insist on the great evil it would be in us if we should give a seeming outward Approbation unto those things and their use which we cannot but condemn and desire to have removed out of the Worship of God And moreover there is as we believe an Obligation upon us to give a Testimony unto the Truth about the Worship of God in his Church and not absolutely to hide the Light we have received therein under a Bushel Nor would we render the Reformation of the Church absolutely hopeless by our professed compliance with the Things that ought to be reform'd But what hath been pleaded already is sufficient to manifest that there neither is nor can be a Guilt of Schism charged either on Ministers or People who with-hold themselves from the Communion of that Church or those Churches whereof the things mentioned are made Conditions necessary and indispensible and wherein they must be denyed the Liberty of performing many Duties made necessary unto them by the Command of Jesus Christ. And as the rigid Imposition of unscriptural Conditions of Communion is the principal Cause of all the Schisms and Divisions that are among us so let them be removed and taken out of the way and we doubt not but that among all that sincerely profess the Gospel there may be that peace and such an Agreement obtained as in observance whereof they may all exercise those Duties of Love which the strictest Union doth require These we profess our selves ready for so far as God shall be pleased to help us in the Discharge of our Duty as also to renounce every Principle or Opinion whereof we may be convinced that they are in the least opposite unto or inconsistent with the Royal Law of Love and the due exercise thereof If men will continue to charge accuse or revile us either out of a causeless distast against our persons or Misunderstanding of our Principles and wayes or upon uncertain Reports or meerly prompted thereunto through a vain elation of mind arising from the Distance wherein through their Secular Advantages they look upon us to stand from them as we cannot help it so we shall endeavour not to be greatly moved at it For it is known that this hath been the Lot and Portion of those who have gone before us in the Profession of the Gospel and sincere endeavors to vindicate the Worship of God from the Disorders and Abuses that have been introduced into it and probably will be theirs who shall come after us But the whole of our care is that in godly simplicity and sincerity we may have our conversation in the World not corrupting the Word of God nor using our Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as becomes the Servants of God But perhaps it will yet be pleaded that this is not the whole which we are charged withall For it is said that we do not only withdraw our selves from the communion of the Church of of England but also that we assemble in separate Congregations for the Celebration of the whole Worship of God whereby we evidently make a Division in the Church and contract unto our selves the guilt of Schism For what can there be more required thereunto But what would those who make use of this Objection have us to do would they have us starve our souls by a wilful neglect of the means appointed for their nourishment Or would they have us live in a constant omission of all the Commands of Christ By them or those
interest in his present condition and circumstances And as this being once admitted will give the minds of men an Indifferency as unto the several Religions that are in the world so it will quickly produce in them a Contempt of them all And from an entertainment of or an indifferency of mind about these and the like noysome opinions it is come to pass that the Gospel after a continued Triumph for sixteen hundred years over Hell and the world doth at this day in the midst of Christendome hardly with multitudes maintain the reputation of its truth and Divinity and is by many living in a kind of outward conformity unto the Institutes of Christian Religion despised laughed to scorn But the proud and foolish Atheistical Opiniators of our dayes whose sole design is to fortifie themselves by the darkness of their minds against the charges of their own consciences upon their wicked and debauched conversations do but expose themselves to the scorn of all sober and rational Persons For what are a few obscure and for the most part vitious Renegadoes in comparison of those great wise numerous and sober persons whom the Gospel in its first setting forth in the world by the evidence of its truth and the efficacy of its Power subdued and conquered Are they as learned as the renowned Philosophers of those dayes who advantaged by the endeavours and fruits of all the great Wits of former Ages had advanced solid rational Literature to the greatest height that ever it attained in this world or possibly ever will do so the minds of men having now somthing more excellent and noble to entertain themselves-withall Are they to be equalled in wisdome and experience with those glorious Emperors Senators and Princes who then swayed the Scepters and affairs of the world Can they produce any thing to oppose unto the Gospel that is likely to influence the minds of men in any degree comparably to the Religion of these great learned wise and mighty Personages which having received by their Fathers from dayes immemorial was visibly attended with all Earthly Gloryes and Prosperities which were accounted as the reward of their due observance of it And yet whereas there was a Conspiracy of all those persons and this influenced by the craft of infernal Powers and managed with all that wisdome subtlety power and cruelty that the nature of man is capable to exercise on purpose to oppose the Gospel and keep it from taking Root in the world yet by the glorious evidence of its divine extract and original wherewith it is accompanied by the efficacy and power which God gave the Doctrine of it in and over the minds of men all mannaged by the spiritual weapons of its Preachers which were mighty through God to the pulling down of those strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the knowledge of God it prevailed against them all and subdued the world unto an acknowledgment of its truth with the divine power and authority of its Author Certainly there is nothing more contemptible than that the Indulgence of some inconsiderable Persons unto their lusts and vices who are void of all those excellencies in notion and practise which have already been triumphed over by the Gospel when set up in competition with it or opposition unto it should be once imagined to bring it into question or to cast any disreputation upon it But to treat of these things is not our present design we have only mentioned them occasionally in the account which it was necessary we should give concerning our Love to all men in general with the grounds we proceed upon in the exercise of it CHAP. III. Nature of the Catholick Church The first and principal Object of Christian Love Differences among the Members of this Church of what nature and how to be managed Of the Church Catholick as visibly professing The extent of it or who belongs unto it Of Vnion and Love in this Church-state of the Church of England with respect hereunto Of particular Churches Their institution Corruption of that Institution Of Churches Diocesan c. Of separation from corrupt particular Churches The just Causes thereof c. IN the second sort of Mankind before mentioned consists the visible Kingdome of Christ in this woâ—ld This being grounded in his Death and Resurrection and conspicuously settled by his sending of the Holy Ghost after his Ascension he hath ever since preserved in the world against all the contrivances of Satan or oppositions of the Gates of Hell and will do so unto the consummation of all things For he â—â—â—st reign until all his enemies are made his Footsâ—ool Towards these on all accounts our Love ought to be intense and fervent as that which is the immediate Bond of our Relation unto them and Union with them And this Kingdome or Church of Christ on the earth may be and is generally by all considered under a threefold notion 1. First as therein and among the Members of it is comprized that real living and spiritual body of his which is firstly peculiarly and properly the Catholick Church militant in this world These are his Elect Redeemed justified and sanctified ones who are savingly united unto their Head by the same quickning and sanctifying Spirit dwelling in him in all fulness and communicated unto them by him aâ—cording to his Promise This is that Catholick Church which we profess to believe which being hid from the eyes of men and absolutely invisible in its Mystical Form or spiritual saving Relation unto the Lord Christ and its Unity with him is yet more or less alwayes visible by that Profession of Faith in him and obedience unto him which it maketh in the world and is alwayes obliged so to do For With the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And this Church we believe to be so disposed over the whole world that where-ever there are any Societies or Numbers of men who ordinarily profess the Gospel and subjection to the Kingly Rule of Christ thereby with an hope of eternal blessedness by his Mediation we no way doubt but that there are among them some who really belong thereunto In and by them doth the Lord Christ continually fulfil and accomplish the Promise of his Presence by his Spirit with them that believe in his name who are thereby Interested in all the Priviledges of the Gospel and Authorized unto the Administration and Participation of all the Holy Ordinances thereof And were it not that we ought not to boast our selves against others Especially such as have not had the Spiritual Advantages that the Inhabitants of these Nations have been intrusted withal and who have been exposed unto more violent Temptations than they we should not fear to say that among those of all sorts who in these Nations hold the Head there is probably according unto a Judgment to be made by the fruits of that
unto the Enjoyment of Himself For that is the Rule of his sending and continuing of it whereon he enjoyned the Apostle Paul to stay in such places where he had much People whom he would have to be converted He would not continue from Generation to Generation to scatter his Pearls where there were none but rending Swine nor send Fishers unto waters wherein he knew there were nothing but Serpents and Vipers It is true the Gospel as preached unto many is only a Testimony against them leaving them without excuse and proves unto them a Savour of Death unto Death But the first direct and principal Design of the Dispensation of it being the Conversion of Souls and their eternal salvation it will not probably be continued in any Place nor is so where this Design is not pursued nor accomplished towards any Neither will God make use of it any where meerly for the Aggravation of Mens Sins and Condemnation nor would his so doing consist with the Honour of the Gospel its self or the Glory of that Love and Grace which it professeth to declare Where it is indeed openly rejected there that shall be the Condemnation of Men but where it finds any admittance there is hath somewhat of its genuine and proper work to effect And the Gospel is esteemed to be in all Places dispensed and admitted where the Scripture being received as the word of God Men are from the Light Truth and Doctrine contained therein by any means so far instructed as to take upon them the profession of subjecting their Souls to Jesus Christ and of observing the Religious Duties by him prescribed in opposition to all false Religions in the World Amongst all these the Foundations of saving Faith are at this day preserved For they universally receive the whole Canonical Scripture and acknowledge it to be the word of God on such motives as prevail with them to do so sincerely Herein they give a tacit consent unto the whole Truth contained in it for they receive it as from God without exception or limitation And this they cannot do without a General Renunciation of all the falsities and Evils that it doth condemn Where these things concur men will not believe nor practise any thing in Religion but what they think God requires of them and will accept from them And we find it also in the Event that all the Persons spoken of where-ever they are do universally profess that they believe in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in his only and Eternal Son They all look also for Salvation by him and profess obedience unto him believing that God raised him from the Dead They believe in like manner that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son with many other sacred Truths of the same importance as also that without Holiness no Man shall see God However therefore they are differenced and divided among themselves however they are mutually esteemed Hereticks and Schismaticks however through the Subtlety of Satan they are excited and provoked to Curse and Persecute one another with wonderful Folly and by an open contradiction unto other Principles which they profess yet are they all Subjects of the Visible Kingdom of Christ and belong all of them to the Catholik Church making profession of the name of Christ in the World in which there is Salvation to be obtained and out of which there is none We take not any consideration at present of that absurd foolish and uncharitable Error which would confine the Catholick Church of Christ unto a particular Church of one single Denomination or indeed rather unto a combination of some Persons in an outward mode of Religious Rule and Worship where of the Scripture is as silent as of things that never were nor ever shall be Yea we look upon it as intollerable Presumption and the utmost height of Vncharitableness for any to judge that the constant Profession of the name of Christ made by Multitudes of Christians with the lasting miseries and frequent Martyrdomes which for his sake they undergo should turn unto no advantage either of the Glory of God or their own Eternal Blessedness because in some things they differ from them Yet such is the Judgment of those of the Church of Rome and so are they bound to judge by the fundamental Princiciples and Laws of their Church Communion But men ought to fear least they should meet with Judgment without Mercy who have shewed no Mercy Had we ever entertained a thought uncharitable to such a Prodigie of insolence had we ever excluded any sort of Christians absolutely from an interest in the Love of God or Grace of Jesus Christ or hopes of Salvation because they do not or will not comply with those ways and terms of outward Church Communion which we approve of we should judg our selves as highly criminal in want of Christian Love as any can desire to have us esteemed so to be It is then the universal Collective Body of them that profess the Gospel throughout the world which we own as the Catholick Church of Christ. How far the Errors in Judgment or miscarriages in sacred worship which any of them have superadded unto the Foundations of Truth which they do profess may be of so pernicious a nature as to hinder them from an Interest in the Covenant of God and so prejudice their Eternal Salvation God only knows But those Notices which we have concerning the Nature and will of God in the Scripture as also of the Love Care and Compassion of Jesus Christ with the Ends of his Mediation do perswade us to believe that where Men in sincerity do improve the Abilities and Means of the Knowledg of Divine Truth where with they are intrusted endeavouring withall to answer their Light and Convictions with a suitable Obedience there are but few Errors of the Mind of so malignant a nature as absolutely to exclude such Persons from an Interest in Eternal Mercy And we doubt not but that men out of a Zeal to the Glory of God real or pretended have imprisoned banished killed burned others for such Errors as it hath been the Glory of God to pardon in them and which he hath done accordingly But this we must grant and do that those whose Lives and Conversations are no way influenced by the Power of the Gospel so as to be brought to some Conformity thereunto or who under the Covert of a Christian Profession do give themselves up unto Idolatry and Persecution of the true Worshipers of God are no otherwise to be esteemed but as Enemies to the Cross of Christ. For as without Holiness no Man shall see God so no Idolater or Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him With respect unto these things we look upon the Church of England or the Generality of the Nation professing Christian Religion measuring them by the Doctrine that hath been preached unto them and received by them
the Church in neither of the former notions is capable of such administrations Some therefore rested in particular Assemblies or such Societies who did or might meet together under the guidance and inspection of their own Elders Overseers Guides or Bishops And hereunto they added the occasional meetings of those Elders and others to advise and determine in common about the especial necessities of any particular Church or the general concernments of more of them as the matter might require These in name and some kind of resemblance are continued throughout the World in Parochial Assemblies Others suppose a particular Church to be such a one as is now called Diocesan though that name in its first use and application to Church Affairs was of a larger extent than what it is now applyed unto for it was of old the name of a Patriarchal Church And herein the sole Rule Guidance and Authoritative inspection of many perhaps a multitude of particular Churches assembling for sacred Worship and the Administration of Gospel Ordinances distinctly is committed unto one man whom in contradistinction from others they call the Bishop For the joyning of others with him or their subordination unto him in the exercise of Jurisdiction hinders not but that the sole Ecclesiastical Power of the Diocess may be thought to reside in him alone For those others do either act in his name or by power derived from him or have no pretence unto any Authority meerly Ecclesiastical however in common use what they exercised may be so termed But the nature of such Churches with the Rule and Discipline exercised in them and over them is too well known to be here insisted on Some rest not here but unto these Diocesan adde Metropolitical Churches which also are esteemed particular Churches though it be uncertain by what warrant or on what grounds In these one person hath in some kind of Resemblance a respect unto and over the Diocesan Bishops like that which they have over the Ministers of Particular Assemblies But these things being animated and regulated by certain Arbitrary Rules and Canons or Civil Laws of the Nations the due bounds and extent of their power cannot be taken from any Nature or Constitution peculiar unto them And therefore are there where-ever they are admitted various Degrees in their Elevation But how much or little the Gospel is concerned in these things is easie for any one to judge Neither is it by wise men pretended to be so any further than that as they suppose it hath left such things to be ordered by humane wisdome for an expediency unto some certain ends One or more of these Metropolitical Churches have been required in latter Ages to constitute a Church National Though the truth is that Apellation had originally another occasion whereunto the invention of these Metropolitical Churches was accommodated For it arose not from any respect unto Ecclesiastical Order or Rule but unto the supream Political Power whereunto the Inhabitants of such a Nation as gives Denomination to the Church are Civilly subject Hence that which was Provincial at the first Erection of this Fabrick which was in the Romish Empire whilst the whole was under the power of one Monarch became National when the several Provinces were turned into Kingdomes with absolute Soveraign power among themselves wholly independent of any other And he who in his own Person and Authority would erect an Ecclesiastical Image of that demolished Empire will allow of such Provincial Churches as have a dependance upon himself but cares not to hear of such National Churches as in their first notion include a Soveraign Power unto all intents and purposes within themselves So the Church of England became National in the dayes of King Henry the Eighth which before was but Provincial Moreover the consent of many had prevailed that there should be Patriarchal Churches comprehending under their Inspection and Jurisdiction many of these Metropolitical and Provincial Churches And these also were looked on as Particular for from their first invention there having been four or five of them no one of them could be imagined to comprize the Catholick Church although those who presided in them according to the pride and vanity of the declining Ages of the Church stiled themselves Oecumenical and Catholick Things being carried thus far about the Fifth and Sixth Century of years after Christ One owned as Principal or chief of this latter sort set up for a Church denominated Papal from a Title he had appropriated unto himself For by Artifices innumerable he ceased not from endeavouring to subject all those other Churches and their Rulers unto himself And by the advantage of his Pre-eminence over the other Patriarks as theirs over Metropolitans and so downwards whereby all Christians were imagined to be comprized within the Precincts of some of them he fell into a claim of a Soveraignty over the whole Body of Christianity and every particular member thereunto belonging This he could have had no pretence for but that he thought them cast into such an Order as that he might possess them on the same grounds on which that Order it self was framed For had not Diocesan Metropolitical and Patriarchal Churches made way for it the thought of a Church Papal comprehensive of all believers had never befallen the minds of mind For it is known that the prodigious Empire which the Pope claimed and had obtained over Christianity was an emergency of the contests that fell out among the Leaders of the greater sorts of Churches about the Rights Titles and Pre-eminences among themselves with some other occasional and intestine Distempers Only he had one singular advantage for the promotion of his Pretense and desire For whereas this whole contiguation of Churchts into all these Storyes in the top whereof he emerged and lifted up himself was nothing but an accommodation of the Church and its Affairs unto the Government of the Roman Empire or the setting up of an Ecclesiastical Image and Representation of its Secular Power and Rule the centring therein of all subordinate Powers and Orders in one Monarch inclined the minds of men to comply with his Design as very reasonable Hence the principal Plea for that Power over the whole Church which at present he claims lyes in this that the Government of it ought to be Monarchial And therein consists a chief part of the mystery of this whole work that whereas this Fabrick of Church Rule was erected in imitation of and complyance with the Roman Empire that he could never effect his Soveraignty whilst that Empire stood in its strength and union under the command of one or more Emperours by consent yet when that Empire was destroyed and the Provinces thereof became parcelled out unto several Nations who erected absolute independent Soveraignties among themselves he was able by the Reputation he had before obtained so to improve all emergencies and advantages as to gather all these new Kingdomes into one Religious
to make use of their Assemblies in all Acts of Religion unto our Edification as occasion shall require But where the Authority of Christ in the things of sacred worship doth intervene all other considerations must be discarded and a compliance therewith will secure us from all irregular Events It must be acknowledged that many of these Churches have wofully degenerated and that any of them may so do both from their Primitive Institution and also the sole Rule of their worship And this they may do and have done in such various Degrees and ways as necessarily requires a great variety in our Judgments concerning them and our Communion with them The whole Christian world gives us Instances hereof at this Day yea we have it confirmed unto us in what is recorded concerning sundry Churches mentioned in the Scripture its self They were newly planted by the Apostles themselves and had Rules given by them to attend unto for their Direction And besides they were obliged in all Emergencies to enquire after and receive those Command and Directions which they were inabled infallibly to give unto them And yet notwithstanding these great Advantages we fâ—nd that sundry of them were suddenly fallen into siâ—ful neglects disorders and miscarriages both in Doctrine Discipline and worship Some of these were reproved and reformed by the Great Apostle in his Epistles written unto them for that End And some of them were rebuked and threatned by the Lord Christ himself immediately from Heaven That in process of Time they have increased in their Degeneracy waxing worse and worse their present state and Condition in the world or the Remembrance of them which are now not at all with the severe dealings of God with them in his Holy wise Providence do sufficiently manifest Yea some of them though yet continuing under other Forms and shapes have by their Superstition false worship and Express Idolatry joyned with wickedness of Life and Persecution of the true worshipers of Christ as also by casting themselves into a new worldly Constitution utterly forreign unto what is appointed in the Gospel abandoned their Interest in the State and Rights of Churches of Christ. So are sundry faithful Citties become Harlots and where Righteousness inhabited there dwells Persâ—câ—ting Murderers Such Churches were planted of Christ wholly noble vines but are degenerated into those that are bitter and wild Whatever our Judgment may be concerning the Personal condition of the Members of such apostatized Churches or of any of them all Communion with them as they would be esteemed the Seat of Gospel Ordinances and in their pretended Administrations of them is unlawful for us and it is our indispensible Duty to separate from them For whatever Indifferency many may be growing into in matter of outward worship which ariseth from ignorance of the Respect that is between the Grace and Institutions of Christ as that from an Apprehension that all internal Religion consists in Moral Honesty only yet we know not any other way whereby we may approve our selves faithful in our Profession but in the Observance of all whatever Christ hath commanded and to abstain from what he condemns For both our Faith and Love whatever we pretend will be found vain if we endeavour not to keep his Commandments Such was the state of things in the Church of Israel of old after the Defection uâ—der Jeroboam It was no more a true Church nor any Church at all by vertue of positive Institution For they had neither Priests nor Sacrifices nor any Ordinances of Publiâ—k worship that God approved of Hence it was the Duty of all that feared God in the Ten Tribes not to joyn with the Leaders and Body of the People in their worship as also to observe those Sacred Institutions of the Law which were forbidden by them in the Order that they should not go up to Jerusalem but attend unto all their Sacred Solemnities in the Places where the Calves were set up Accordingly many of the most Zealous Professors among them with the Priests and Levites and with a great Multitude of the People openly seperated from the Rest and joyned themselves unto Judah in the worship of God continued therein Others amongst them secretly in the worst of times preserved themselves from the Abominations of the whole People In like manner under the new Testament when some have deserved the Title of Babylon because of their Idolatry false worship and Persecution we are commanded to come out from among them in an open visible professed Seperation that we be not Partakers of their Sins and Plagues But this Judgment we are not to make nor do make concerning any but such as among whom Idolatry spreads its self over the Face of all their Solemn Assemblies and who joyn thereunto the Persecution of them who desire to worship God in Spirit and in Truth The Constitution of such Churches as to their being acceptable Assemblies of worshipers before God is lost and dissolved Neither is it Lawful for any Disciple of Christ to partake with them in their Sacred Administrations For so to do is plainly to disowne the Authority of Christ or to set up that of wicked and Corrupt men above it Yet all this hinders not but that there may in such Apostatical Churches remain a profession of the fundamental Truths of the Gospel And by vertue hereof as they maintain the interest of Christ's visible Kingdome in the world so we no way doubt but that there may be many amongst them who by a saving faith in the Truths they do profess do really belong to the Mistical Church of Christ. An instituted Church therefore may by the Crimes and wickedness of its Rulers and the generality of its Members and their Idolatrous Administrations in holy things utterly destroy their Instituted Estate and yet not presently all of them cease to belong unto the Kingdome of Christ. For we cannot say that those things which will certainly annul Church Administrations and render them abominable will absolutely destroy the salvation of all individual persons who partake in them and many may secretly preserve themselves from being defiled with such abominations So in the height of the Degeneracy and Apostacy of the Israelitish Church there were seven thousand who kept themselves pure from Baalish Idolatry of whom none were known to Elijah And therefore did God still continue a respect unto them as his people because of those secret ones and because the Token of his Covenant was yet in their flesh affording unto them an extraordinary Ministry by his Prophets when the ordinary by Priests and Levites was utterly ceased This we are to hope concerning every place where there is any Profession made of the Name of Christ seeing it was the Passion of Elijah which caused him to oversee so great a Remnant as God had left unto himself in the Kingdome of Israel And from his example we may learn that good men may somtimes be more
severe in their censures for God than he will be for himself Moreover such as were baptized in those Churches were not baptized into them as particular Churches nor initiated into them thereby But the Relation which ensued unto them thereon was unto the Catholick Church visible together with a seperation from the Infidel world lying wholly in darkness and evil by a dedication unto the Name of Christ. Upon a personal avowment of that Faith whereinto they were baptized they became compleat Members of that Church Whatever state they are hereby admitted into whatever benefit or priviledge they are personally interested in they lose them not by the miscarriage of that particular Church whereunto they do relate Yea losing the whole advantage of an Instituted Church-state they may still retain whatever belongs unto their Faith and Profession Were Baptisme only an Initiation into a Particular Church upon the failure of that Church Baptism as to all its benefits and Priviledges must cease also We do therefore own that amongst those whose Assemblies are rejected by Christ because of their false worship and wickedness there may be persons truly belonging to the Mystical Church of God and that also by their Profession are a portion of his Visible Kingdome in the World How far they do consent unto the Abominations of the Churches whereunto they do belong how far they have Light against them how far they do bewaile them how far they repent of them what God will bear withall in them we know not nor are called to judge Our Love is to be towards them as persons relating unto Jesus Christ in the capacity mentioned but all Communion with them in the Acts of false Worship is forbidden unto us By vertue also of that Relation which they still continue unto Christ and his Church as believers they have Power and are warranted as it is their Duty to reform themselves and to joyn together anew in Church Order for the due celebration of Gospel Ordinances unto the Glory of Christ and their own edification For it is fond to imagine that by the sins of others any Disciples of Christ in any place of the world should be deprived of a Right to perform their Duty towards him when it is discovered unto them And these are our thoughts concerning such Churches as are openly and visibly Apostatical Again There are Corruptions that may befall or enter into Churches that are not of so heinous a nature as those before insisted on Especially if as it often falls out the whole Lump be not leavened if the whole Body be not infected but only some Part or Parts of it which others more sound do resist and give their Testimony against And these may have none of the pernicious consequences before mentioned Thus many Errours in Doctrines Disorders and Miscarriages in sacred Administrations irregular walking in conversation with neglect or abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches which yet may be so far from evacuating their Church state as that they give no sufficient Warrant unto any person immediately to leave their Communion or to seperate from them The Instances that may be given of the failings of some of the Primitive Churches in all these things with the consideration of the Apostolical Directions given unto them on such Occasions render this Assertion evident and incontroulable Nor do we in the least approve of their practise if any such there be that are considerable who upon every failing in these things in any Church think themselves sufficiently warranted immediately of their own minds to depart from its Communion Much more do we condemn them who suffer themselves in these things to be guided by their own surmises and misapprehensions For such there may be as make their own hasty conceptions to be the Rule of all Church Administrations and Communion who unless they are in all things pleased can be quiet no where Wherefore when any Church whereof a man is by his own consent antecedently a Member doth fall in part or in whole from any of those Truths which it hath professed or when it is overtaken with a neglect of Discipline or irregularities in its administration such a one is to consider that he is placed in his present state by divine Providence that he may orderly therein endeavour to put a stop unto such Defections and to exercise his charity Love and Forbearance towards the persons of them whose Miscarriages at present he cannot Remedy In such cases there is a large and spacious Field for Wisdom Patience Love and prudent Zeal to exercise themselves And it is a most perverse Imagination that Separation is the only cure for Church-disorders All the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit bestowed on Church-Members to be exercised in their several stations at such a season all Instructions given for their due improvement unto the good of the whole the Nature Rules and Laws of all Societies declare that all other Remedies possible and lawful are to be attempted before a Church be finally deserted But these Rules are to be observed provided alwayes that it be judged unlawful for any Persons either for the sake of Peace or Order or Concord or on any other consideration to join actually in any thing that is sinful or to profess any Opinion which is contrary to Sound Doctrine or the form of wholesome words which we are bound to hold fast on all Emergencies And farther if we may suppose as sure enough we may that such a Church so corrupted shall obstinately persist in its Errors Miscarriages Neglects and Mal-administrations that it shall refuse to be warned or admonished or being so by any means shall wilfully reject and despise all Intruction that it will not bear with them that are yet sound in it whether Elders or Members in peaceable Endeavors to reduce it unto the order of the Gospel but shall rather hurt persecute and seek their trouble for so doing whereby their Edification comes continually to be obstructed and their Souls to be hazarded through the loss of Truth and Peace we no way doubt but that it is lawful for such persons to withdraw themselves from the Communion of such Churches and that without any apprehension that they have absolutely lost their Church-state or are totally rejected by Jesus Christ. For the means appointed unto any end are to be measured and regulated according unto their usefulness unto that end Aud let mens present Apprehensions be what they will it will one day appear that the end of all Church-Order Rule Communion and Administrations is not the Grandeur or secular Advantages of some few not outward Peace and Quietness unto whose preservation the Civil Power is ordained but the Edification of the Souls of men in Faith Love and Gospel-Obedience Where therefore these things are so disposed of and mannaged as that they do not regularly further and promote that End but rather obstruct it if they will not be reduced unto their due Order and Tendency
in the world ordered at first by persons fallible and who in many things were actually deceived should so continue in their purity and holiness from Age to Age as to stand in need of no Reformation or Amendment Well will it be if it prove so at the great Day of Visitation In the mean time it becomes the Guides of all the Churches in the world to take care that there do not such Decays of Truth Holiness and Purity in Worship fall out under their hand in the Churches wherein they preside as that for them they should be rejected by our Lord Jesus Christ as he threatens to deal with those who are guilty of such defections For the state of the Generality of Churches is such at this day in the world as he who thinks them not to stand in need of any Reformation may justly be looked on as a part of their sinful Degeneracy We are not ignorant what is usually pleaded in Barr unto all endeavours after Church-Reformation For they say if upon the Clamours of a few humorous discontented Persons whom nothing will please and who perhaps are not agreed among themselves a Reformation must instantly be made or attempted there will be nothing stable firm or sacred left in the Church Things once well established are not to be called into question upon every ones Exceptions And these things are vehemently pleaded and urged to the exclusion of all thoughts of changing any thing though evidently for the better But long continued complaints and Petitions of Multitudes whose Sincerity hath received as great an attestation as Humane Nature or Christian Religion can give it may be deserve not to be so despised However the Jealousie which Churches and their Rulers ought to have over themselves their state and condition and the presence of the Glory of Christ amongst them or its departure from them especially considering the fearful example of the Defection and Apostacy of many Churches which is continually before their Eyes seems to require a readiness in them on every Intimation or Remembrance to search into their state and condition and to redress what they find amiss For suppose they should be in the Right and blameless as to those Orders and Constitutions wherein others dissent from them yet there may be such Defects and Declensions in Doctrine Holiness and the Fruits of them in the world as the most strict observation of outward Order will neither countenance nor compensate For to think to preserve a Church by Outward Order when its internal Principles of Faith and Holiness are decayed is but to do like him who endeavouring to set a Dead Body upright but failing in his Attempt concluded that there was somewhat wanting within Another Principle of the same importance and applied unto the same purpose is that the people are neither able nor fit to judge for themselves but ought in all things to give themselves up unto the conduct of their Guides and to rest satisfied in what they purpose and prescribe unto them The imbibing of this Apprehension which is exceedingly well suited to be made a Covering to the Pride and Ignorance of those unto whose Interests it is accommodated makes them impatient of hearing any thing concerning the Liberty of Christians in common to judge of what is their Duty what they are to do and what they are not to do in things Sacred and Religious Only it is acknowledged there is so much Ingenuity in the management of this Principle and its Application that it is seldom extended by any beyond their own Concernments For whereas the Church of Rome hath no way to maintain its self in its Doctrine and Essential Parts of its Constitution but by an implicit Faith and Obedience in its Subâ—ects seeing the animating Principles of its Profession will endure no kind of impartial Test or Trial they extend it unto all things as well in Matters of Faith as of Worship and Discipline But those who are secure that the Faith which they profess will endure an examination by the Scripture as being founded therein and thence educed they will allow unto the people at least a Judgment of discerning Truth from Falshood to be exercised about the Doctrines which they teach But as for the things which concern the Worship of God and Rule of the Church wherein they have an especial Interest and Concern there they betake themselves for relief unto this Principle Now as there is more Honesty and Safety in this latter way than in the former so it cannot be denied but that there is less of ingenuity and self-consistency For if you will allow the people to make a judgment in and about any thing that is Sacred or Religious you will never know how to hit a Joint aright to make a separation among such things so as to say with any pretence of Reason about these things they may judge for themselves but not about those And it is a little too open to say that they may exercise a Judgment about what God hath appointed but none about what we appoint our selves But without offence be it spoken this Apprehension in its whole Latitude and under its restrictions is so weak and ridiculous that it must be thought to proceed from an excess of prejudice if any man of Learning should undertake to patronize it Those who speak in these things out of Custom and Interest without a due examination of the Grounds and Reasons of what they affirm or deny as many do are of no consideration And it is not amiss for them to keep their distance and stand upon their Guard lest many of those whom they exclude from judging for themselves should be found more compeâ—ent Judges in those Matters than themselves And let Churches and Church-Rulers do what they please every man at last will be determined in what is meet for him to do by his own Reason and Judgment Churches may inform the minds of men they cannot enforce them And if those that adhere unto any Church do not do so because they judge that it is their duty and best for them so to do they therein differ not much from an Herd of Creatures that are called by another name And yet a secret Apprehension in some that the Disposal of the Concernments of the Worship of God is so left and confined unto themselves as that nothing is left unto the people but the Glory of Obedience without any sedulous enquiry after what is their own duty with respect unto that account which every one must give of himself unto God doth greatly influence them into the neglects insisted on And when any of the people come to know their own Liberty and Duty in these things as they cannot but know it if at all they apply their minds unto the consideration of them they are ready to be alienated from those who will neither permit them to judge for themselves nor are able to answer for them if they should be misled For if the
utterly cease and become disused Hence Members of the same Church began to converse together as men only or at the best Civil Neighbours and if at all as Christians yet not with respect unto that especial relation unto a particular Church wherein their usefulness as Members of the same Organical Body is required Hence some persons looking on these things as intollerable and not only obstructive of their Edification but destructive unto all really useful Church-Communion we ought not to wonder if they have thought meet to provide otherwise for themselves Not that we approve of every departure or withdrawing from the Communion of Churches where things continue under such disorders but only shew what it is that occasioneth many so to do For as there may sometimes be just cause hereof and persons in so doing may mannage what they do according unto Scripture-Rule so we doubt not but that some may rashly and precipitately without due attendance unto all the Duties which in such Undertakings are required of them without that Charity and Forbearance which no Circumstances can absolve them from make themselves guilty of a blameable separation And these are some of those things which we look upon as the General Causes or Occasions of all the Schismes and Divisions that are at this day found among Professors of the Gospel Whether the guilt of them will not much cleave unto them by whom they are kept on foot and maintained is worth your enquiry For so doth it befall our Humane Nature apt to be deceived and imposed on by various Pretences and Prejudices that those are oftentimes highly guilty themselves of those miscarriages whose chiefest satisfaction and glory consists in charging them on others However if these things do not absolutely justifie any in a Secession from the Churches where unto they did relate yet they render the matter so highly questionable and the things themselves are so burdensome unto the minds of many as that Divisions will thereon undoubtedly ensue And when it is so fallen out to design and contrive the reduction of all unto outward Vnity and Concord by forcing them who on such occasions have dissented and withdrawn themselves from the Communion of any Church without endeavouring the removal of these Occasions of their so doing and the Reformation of those abuses which have given cause thereunto is severe if not unjust But when the Lord Jesus Christ in his Care towards his Churches and watchfulness over them shall be pleased to remove these and the like stumbling-Blocks out of the way there will we hope be a full return unto Gospel-Unity and Peace among them that serve and worship him on the Earth In this state of things where-ever it be found it is no wonder if the Weaknesses Ignorance Prejudices and Temptations of men do interpose themselves unto the encrease and heightning of those Divisions whose Springs and Occasions lye elswhere When none of these Provocations were given them yet we know there was enough in Professors themselves to bring forth the bitter fruit of Differences and Schisms even in the dayes of the Apostles How much more may we fear the like fruits and effects from the like Principles and corrupt affections Now the Occasions of drawing them forth are more Temptations unto them greater Directions against them less evident and powerful and all sense of Ecclesiastical Authority through its abuse and male-administration is if not lost and ruined yet much weakned and impaired But from the darkness of the minds of men and their unmortified affections as the best know but in part nor are they perfectly sanctified it is that they are apt to take offence one at another and thereon to judge and censure each other temerariously and which is worst of all every one to make his own understanding and perswasion thereon the Rule of Truth and Worship unto others All such wayes and courses are against us in the matter of Love and Union all tending to make and increase Divisions among us And the Evil that is in them we might here declare but that it falls frequently under the chastisement of other hands Neither indeed can it well meet with too much severity of reproof Only it were desireable that those by whom such reproofs are mannaged would take care not to give advantages of Retortion or self-justification unto them that are reproved by them But this they do unavoydably whilst they seem to make their own Judgments and Practises the sole Rule and measure of what they approve or disallow In what complyes with them there is nothing perverse and in what differs from them there is nothing sincere And on this foundation whilst they reprove censuring rash-judging and reproaching of others with pride self-conceitedness false Opinions irregular practices in Church worship or any other concerns of Religion backbiting easiness in taking up false reports with the like evils as they deserve severely to be rebuked those reproved by them are apt to think that they see the guilt of many of the crimes charged on themselves in them by whom they are reproved So on all hands things gendor unto farther strife whilst every Party being conscious unto their own sincerity according unto the Rule of their present Light which is the only measure they can take of it are ready to impeach the sincerity of them by whom they suppose themselves causlesly traduced and condemned This evil therefore is to be diligently watched against by all that love Unity Truth Holiness or Peace And seeing there are Rules and Precepts given us in the Scripture to this purpose it may not be unmeet to call over some of them One Rule of this nature and import is that we should all of us study to be quiet and to do our own business in things Civil and Sacred Who will harm men who will be offended with them whilst they are no otherwise busied in the world And if any attempt to do them evil what need have they to be troubled thereat Duty and Innocency will give peace to a worthy soul in the midst of all storms and whatever may befall it Now will any one deny or can they but that it is the duty and ought to be the business of every man to seek his own edification and the saving of his soul Deny this unto any man and you put your self in the place of God to him and make him more miserable than a Beast And this which no man can forbid no man can otherwise do than according to that Light and knowledg of the will of God which he hath received If this therefore be so attended to as that we do not thereby break in upon the concerns of others nor disturb them in what is theirs but be carryed on quietly and peaceably with an evidence in what we do that it is meerly our own personal duty that we are in the pursuance of all cause of offence will be taken away For if any will yet be offended
for the preservation of outward Order And whatever Arbitrariness may be supposed in making a judgment upon the Rule of the Word or in the Application of its rule unto the present Case it must abide in some or other And who shall be thought more meet or able to make a right determination thereon than those whose Duty it is and who have the advantage to be acquainted with all Circumstances belonging to the Case proposed Besides there is the Judgment of the Church or the Congregation it self which is greatly to be regarded Even in the Church of England a suspension of any from the Lords Supper is allowed unto the Curate upon the Offence of the Congregation which is a sufficient evidence that a Judgment in this Case is owned to be their due For none can take Offence but upon a Judgment of the Matter at which he is offended nor in this case without a right to determine that some Offences ought to debar Persons from a participation of the holy Ordinances as also what those Offences are This therefore is to be considered as an Aid and Assistance unto Ministers in the discharge of their Duty It is the Church into whose communion persons are to be admitted And although it be no way necessary that determinations in this Case should be always made by Suffrage or a Plurality of Votes in the Body of the Church yet if the Sense or Mind of the Congregation may be known or is so upon the Enquiry that ought to be made unto that purpose that any persons are unmeet for their communion it is not convenient they should be received nor will their Admission in this case be of any advantage to themselves or the Church The Light of Reason and the Fundamental constitutive Principles of all Free Societies such as the Church is ascribe this Liberty unto it and the Primitive Church practised accordingly So also is the judgment and Desire of the Congregation to be considered in the admission of any if they are made known to the Guides of it For it is expected from them they should confirm their Love unto them without dissimulation as Members of the same Body and therefore in their approbation of what is done their Rulers have Light and Encouragement in their own Duty Besides there is appointed and ought to be preserved a communion among Churches themselves By virtue hereof they are not only to make use of mutual Aid Advice and Counsel antecedently unto a actings of Importance but each particular Church is upon just demand to give an account unto other Churches of what they do in the Administration of the Ordinances of the Gospel among them and if in any thing it hath mistaken or miscarried to rectifie them upon their Advice and Judgment And it were easie to manifest how through these Means and Advantages the Edification of the Church and the Liberty of Christians is sufficiently secured in that discharge of Duty which is required in the Pastors of the Churches about the Admission of persons unto a Participation of holy ordinances in them 5. This Duty therefore must either be wholly neglected which will unavoidably tend to the corrupting and debauching of all Churches and in the end unto their Ruine or it must be attended unto by each particular Church under the conduct of their Guides and Rulers or some others must take it upon themselves What hath been the issue of a Supposal that it may be discharged in the latter way is too well known to be insisted on For whilst those who undertake the Exercise of Church-Power are such as do not dispense the Word or preach it unto them towards whom it is to be exercised but are strangers unto their spiritual state and all the Circumstances of it whilst they have no way to act or exercise their presumed Authority but by Citations Processes Informations and Penalties according to the manner of Secular Courts of Judicature in Causes Civil and Criminal and whilst the Administration of it is committed unto men utterly unacquainted with and inconcerned in the Discipline of the Gospel or the preservation of the Church of Christ in Purity and Order and whilst herein many the most or all of them who are so employed have thereby outward Emoluments and Advantages which they do principally regard the due and proper care of the right Order of the Churches unto the Glory of Christ and their own Edification is utterly omitted and lost It is true many think this the only decent useful and expedient way for the Government of the Church and think it wondrous unreasonable that others will not submit thereunto and acquiesce therein But what would they have us do or what is it that they would perswade us unto Is it that this kind of Rule in and over the Church hath Institution given it in the Scripture or countenance from Apostolieal Practice Both they and we know that no pretence of any such Plea can be made Is it that the first Churches after the Apostles or the Primitive Church did find such a kind of Rule to be necessary and therefore erected it among themselves There is nothing more remote from Truth Would they perswade us that as Ministers of the Gospel and such as have or may have the care of particular Churches committed unto us that we have no such concernment in these things but what we may solemnly renounce and leave them wholly to the mannagement of others We are not able to believe them The Charge that is given unto us the Account that will be required of us the nature of the Office we are called unto continually testifie other things unto us Wherefore we dare not voluntarily engage into the neglect or omission of this Duty which Christ requireth at our hands and of whose neglect we see so many sad Consequents and Effects The Lord Christ we know hath the same Thoughts and makes the same Judgment of his Churches as he did of old when he made a solemn Revelation and Declaration of them And then we find that he charged the Failings Neglects and Miscarriages of the Churches principally upon the Angels or Ministers of them And we would not willingly by our neglect render our selves obnoxious unto his Displeasure nor betray the Churches whereunto we do relate unto his just indignation for their declension from the Purity of his Institutions and the vigour of that Faith and Love which they had professed We should moreover by the Conformity required of us and according to the Terms on which it is proposed engage our selves against the exercise of our Ministerial Office and Power with respect unto them who are already Members of Particular Churches For this we carry along with us that by Conforming we voluntarily consent unto the whole state of Conformity and unto all that we are to do or not to do by the Law thereof Now it is not to be expected that all who are duly initiated or joyned unto any Church
the Peace and quiet of the Nation and not from any Scripture or Religious Rules And were these Prohibitions only temporary or occasional suited unto such Emergencies as may give countenance unto their necessity there might be a proportionable compliance with them But whereas they respect all times alike it is no doubt incumbent on them who act any thing contrary unto such Prohibitions to secure their own Consciences that they no way interfere with the Intention and End of the Law by giving the least countenance or occasion unto civil disturbances and others also by their peaceable deportment in all they do But whereas they have received a Talent from the Lord Christ to trade withal have accepted of his Terms and engaged into his Service without any condition of exception in case of such Prohibitions it is not possible they should satisfie their Consciences in desisting from their work on such Occurrences any farther than in what they must yield unto outward force and necessity It is pretended by some that if such a Legal Prohibition were given unto all the Ministers of the Gopel it would not be obligatory unto them For if it should be so esteemed it were in the power of any Supream Magistrate lawfully to forbid the whole work of Preaching the Gospel unto his Subjects which is contrary to the Grant made by God the Father unto Jesus Christ that all Nations should be his Inheritance and the Commission he gave thereon unto his Apostles to teach all Nations and to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven But it being some only that are concerned in this Prohibition it is their duty for Peace sake to acquiesce in the will of their Superiors therein whilst there are others sufficient to carry on the same work That Peace is or may be secur'd on other Terms hath been already declared But that one mans Liberty to attend unto his Duty and his doing it accordingly should excuse another from that which is personally incumbent on himself is a matter not easily apprehended nor can be readily digested Besides what is pretended of the sufficient number of Preachers without any contribution of aid from the Non-conformists is indeed but pretended For if all that are found in the Faith gifted and called to the work of the Ministry in these Nations were equally encouraged unto and in their work yet would they not be able to answer the necessities of the Souls of men requiring an attendance unto it in a due measure and manner And those who have exercised themselves unto compassionate thoughts towards the multitudes of poor Sinners in these Nations will not be otherwise minded Wherefore these things being premised we shall shut up these Discourses with a brief Answer unto the foregoing Objection which was the occasion of them And we say 1. That Schism being the Name of a Sin or somewhat that is evil it can in no Circumstances be any maes Duty But we have manifested as satisfactorily unto our own Consciences so we hope unto the minds of unprejudiced persons that in our present condition our Assemblies for the Worship of God are our express Duty and so can have no Affinity with any sin or evil And those who intend to charge us with Schisme in or for our Assemblies must first prove them not to be our Duty 2. Notwithstanding them or any thing by us performed in them we do preserve our communion entire with the Church of England that is all the visible Professors of the Gospel in this Nation as it is a part of the Catholick Church in the Unity of the Faith owned therein provided it be not measured by the present Opinions of some who have evidently departed from it Our Non-admittance of the present Government and Discipline of the Church as apprehended National and as it is in the hands of meerly Ecclesiastical persons or such as are pretended so to be we have accounted for before But we are One with the whole Body of the Professors of the Protestant Religion in a publick avowment of the same Faith 3. Into Particular Churches we neither are nor can be admitted but on those terms and conditions which not only we may justly but which we are bound in a way of Duty to refuse And this also hath been pleaded before Besides no man is so obliged unto communion with any Particular or Parochial Church in this Nation but that it is in his own power at any time to relinquish it and to secure himself also from all Laws which may respect that communion by the removal of his Habitation It is therefore evident that we never had any relation unto any Parochial Church but what is Civil and Arbitrary a relinquishment whereof is practised at pleasure every day by all sorts of men Continuing therefore in the constant Profession of the same Faith with all other Protestants in the Nation and the whole Body thereof as united in the Profession of it under one Civil or Political Head and having antecedently no Evangelical Obligation upon us unto Local communion in the same Ordinances of Worship numerically with any particular or Parochial Church and being prohibited from any such communion by the Terms Conditions and Customes indispensibly annexed unto it by the Laws of the Land and the Church which are not lawful for us to observe being Christs Freemen It being moreover our duty to assemble our selves in Societies for the Celebration of the Worship of God in Christ as that which is expresly commanded we are abundantly satisfied that however we may be censured judged or condemned by men in and for what we do yet that he doth both accept us here and will acquit us hereafter whom we serve and seek in all things to obey Wherefore we are not convinced that any Principle or practice which we own or allow is in any thing contrary to that Love Peace and Unity which the Lord Christ requireth to be kept and preserved among his Disciples or those that profess Faith in him and Obedience unto him according to the Gospel We know not any thing in them but what is consistent and compliant with that Evangelical Vnion which ought to be in and among the Churches of Christ the terms whereof we are ready to hold and observe even with them that in sundry things differ from us as we shall endeavour also to exercise all Duties of the same Love Peaceableness and Gentleness towards them by whom we are hated and reviled FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. line 21. read from him p. 5. l. 9. r. train of l. 12. for seriousness r. fierceness p. 16 l. 26. for security r. severity l. 33 of it add which we have hitherto professed p. 19. l 23. r. searcher p. 31. l. 23. r. 18. p. 32. l. 29 r. principles p. 38. l. 9. r. Church state p. 49. l. 1. r. in this p. 66. l. 4. r. lost us p. 87. l. 19. for particularities r. particular Rites p 98. l. 12. for this r. their p. 100 l 10 for according r. avoiding p. 116. l. 2. r. could p. 130. 17. r. Ascadius p. 152. l. 20. for your r. their p. 155. l. 6. r. gender p. 156. l. 16. r. occasions p. 159. l. 12. r. this p. 167. l. 21. r. their 186. l. 2. for erected r. enacted p. 190. l. 28. r. Easter was p. 198. l. 13. r. indeseazable p. 202. l. 20. r. expressed Judges 5. 15. 2 Sam. 19. 41 42 43. 2 Sam. 16. 4. 2 Chron. 20. 23. Heyl. Hist of Presb. Phil. 2. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 10. Heb. 12. 14. Rom. 11. 13. Ephes. 2. 12 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. Acts 12. Mark 16. 15. 16. 1 Thess. 2. 16. Luk. â— 18. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 1 2 3. Ch. 4. 18. Rom. 8. 8. Heb. 11. 6. Joh. 3. 15 36. Gal. 5. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. Act. 4. 12 1 Cor. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 29 30. Rom. 10. 13 14 15 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Rom. 10 10. Ephes â— 26 27. 1 Joh. 3 16. Rom. 14. 3. John 15. 18 19 25. Ps. 35. 19 Acts. 18. 9 10 11. Mat. 24. 14. 2 Cor. 2. 16. Jam. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 14. Rev. 21. 8. 1 Joh. 3. 15. Act. 14 23. Chap. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Act. 15. 2 Phil. 1. 1. Rev. 2. 3. Mat. 28. 20. John 15. 10 14. 2 Chron. 11. Chap. 13. 1 Kings 12. Chap. 13. Rev. 18. 4. Ephes. 4. 3 4. John 17. 21 22. Eph. 5. 30 2 Pet. 1. 4 Gen. 5 2. 3 1 Cor. 12 12 13. Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19 Rom. 14. 5. Phil. 3. 15 1 Cor. 10. 12. 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 15 16. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Mat. 28. 19 20. Ephes. 4. 8 9 10 11 12 13. John 17. 20 21 22. 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 16. Heb. 13. 27. Rev. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Acts 20. 18 19 20 21 31. Lnk. 22. 24 25. 26. 2 Thes. 2. 1 Cor. 12. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. 1 Cor. 1. 11. Chap. 3. 3. 1 Thess. 4. 11. Mat. 6. 1. 2. Luke 6. 37. Rom. 14. 3. 4. 10. Jam. 4. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. Rom. 12 3. 1 Cor. 8. 1. 2 Cor. 10 12. 1 Cor. 3. 18. Mat. 28. 19 20. Gal. 6. 1. â—ct 6. 4. Sâ—crat Hâ—st lib. 5. Acts 15. 1 Cor. 11. 23. 3. Joh. 9 10. Ro. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15. He. 5. 12 13 14. 1 Tim. 2. 1. Acts 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Act. 6. 4. Acts 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Heb. 5. 17. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Acts 9. 26 27 28. Ro. 14. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 1 6 7. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Mat. 16. 18. Mat. 18. 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rev. 2 2. Lev. 19. 17. 1 Joh. 2. 9 10. â— 15. 1 Cor. 5. 6 9 10. 2 Thess. 3. 6. Isa. 26. 2. Ezek. 43. 12. Chap. 44. 9. Levit. 11. 44. Rom. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 1 2. Chap. 12. 13. Phil 1. 4 Col. 2. 11. 2 Tim. 2. 22. Ezek 44. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 6. Heb. 12. 15 16.