Live but were Dead Rev. 3.1 Some that had Defiled their Garments Vers 4. Some Luke-warm and so to be Spewed out of God's Mouth Vers 16. Some that Minded earthly things Phil. 3.19 Some Carnal 1 Cor. 3.4 One that was Incestuous 1 Cor. 5.1 Many if the Apostle's Fear was not vain who had Sinned and not Repented of their Vncleanness Fornication and Lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12.31 Such finally whose God was their Belly and whose End was Destruction Phil. 3.19 And if This be the Complexion of the Primitive Christian Churches who does not see but this Matter is Mixt Matter these Churches even under the Gospel Mixt Churches Who is there I say unless he cannot see Wood for Trees but must see it It is true when the Scripture stiles them Elect Sanctified Justified and the like that which is Divinitùs dictum must be So and some of them must be Such But when the same Scripture says these things of them likewise both must be true and some of them must also be otherwise The Church of Christ while 't is on Earth is must and will be Mixt and the Objection shall be Answered farther in its place And again yet look I pray where do we find any such thing as imports Regeneration to be required of God to the Admittance of Persons unto Membership in the Old Testament so that for want of that Qualification they were not Admitted Nay where do we find any one Man put off on that Account in the New 'T is true that Repentance and Faith and such as is Sound is required of those that come and that as necessary to Remission of their Sins by Baptism But is it of Necessity to Baptism If it be then must the Baptism of those Persons whose Faith and Repentance is unsound be invalid null and no Baptism If a due Subject be not of the Essence of Baptism what is But is there any of our Divines think such Baptism void Is there any will re-Baptize such if they come after to be Savingly Converted And if there be none then let no Man I say until he can prove that Wood is more than Trees or Trees are less than Wood go to impose upon me That which they have Devised but acknowledge that what Christ only hath Appointed must be the Rule of Church-Admission The Truth is That the Matter of Christ's Church or Kingdom upon Earth is made up of Good and Bad is so open in the Scripture so even under Sight and pronounced to be so by the Blessed Mouth of our Lord in several Parallels on purpose that I should not need to write a Book to tell any This but only for the Difficulties that attend it And they are either in respect to the Nature of the Church as called out of the World to a Peculiarity in God which hath caused my chief Labour therefore in the Stating and Explication of our CAUSE in the First Section Or in respect to the Darkness and Sophisticated Notions that are on our Vnderstandings about the same which I have endeavoured to Obviate and Heal in the Second Section now Finished Or in respect to the many Scruples and Objections that are raised and agitated concerning it which are to be Answered and Satisfied and that brings me to the Last Part of my Work which remains now on my Hands in the Section ensuing SECT III. THUS much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating our CAUSE and Confirming it I descend now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Answering Objections But how can an Vnregenerat Man be Admitted Into the Church that is not Of it How can he that is not In Christ be Received as a Member or into his Body How can he that is Out of Covenant be Admitted to Enter Covenant How can a Sealed Pardon be delivered to him whose Faith is not sound and Repentance sincere How can one be a Christian that hath no Grace These Objections and the like which are multiplied do receive their Solution by the Preceding Thread of this Discourse If the Government and Covenant we have been speaking of be understood aright and that the Church is the Number of those directly that be brought under That Government and into That Covenant we see all the way how the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate may be of it and that they who say That Such are only In the Church and not Of it do but mistakingly allude to St. John's Words in this Case We see how the Vnregenerate may be In Christ as they are of his Political Body and as Christ himself says expresly That there are Branches in Him that bring forth no Fruit. We see how the Vnregenerate may Enter into the Covenant of Peculiarity when yet he hath not brought his Soul to a Full Decree and Purpose of Constant and Entire Obedience which is required of him also in the Covenant of Life We see how he may Enter it in the Precise though he does not as he ought to do also in the Complex Consideration thereof We may understand also how that Vniversal Conditional Pardon which God hath passed in the Gospel may be Delivered or Sealed to a Man though a Simon or a Judas as well as to a Philip himself or to a John We see likewise how that a Man who hath not one Spark of that Grace that is Saving may have his Share in the General Grace of God or of the Gospel as well as others The Acute and Profound Mr. Baxter in one of his Books hath these Words You must first believe that Common Grace and Love mentioned Joh. 3.16 2 Cor. 5.19 20 14 15. 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 And you must believe your Interest in this that is that God hath by Christ made to All and to You an Act of Oblivion and free Deed of Gift that you shall have Christ and Pardon and Eternal Life if you will believingly accept the Gift and not finally â—â—ject it And the Belief of This even of this Common Love and Grace must first perswade your Hearts accordingly to accept the Offer and then you have a Special Interest Life of Faith pag. 152. Mark here There is the General Grace of God and a Particular Interest in that General Grace the Belief whereof is the orderly way to a Special Interest that is to the putting a Man upon the Performance of the Condition that he may have Interest in the Benefit Let me ask then Whether the Confirming and stirring up this Belief of a Man's Particular Interest in God's General Grace is not to be endeavoured in order to this End the getting the Special Interest And if it be how shall the Word Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are Ordinances that do indeed directly and immediately nothing else howsoever People may mistake but Declare Seal and Confirm the Particular Interest of every Man in this General Grace of the New-Testament and so are delivered to all alike
THE AXE LAID to the ROOT OF Separation OR THE Churches Cause Against It. By the Author who wrote in the late Times for Free Admission to the Lord's Supper So those Servants went out into the High-ways and gathered together as many as they found both Good and Bad and the Wedding was furnished with Guests Matth. 22.10 LONDON Printed by John Leake for the Author MDCLXXXV TO THE MOST REVEREND The Present ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBVRY May it please Your Grace I Do not Dedicate this Book to You for any Interest I have In You or for any Preferment I seek From You who may say as the Woman with whom the Prophet sojourned I have nothing to be spoken for to the King I dwell among my own People being One that Conform Not as a Minister but go to Church as a Parishioner and Study to be quiet But I lay these Sheets at the Feet of the Church by Handing them to Your Grace in regard to the Orb You are placed in and in respect to the Subject I have undertaken I do likewise Present it to Your Grace as One I understand that do Love and will Find a Time to Read notwithstanding the Multiplicity and Weight of Your Affairs being not Lifted up with Greatness or Delighted so much in the Sun-shine even of the Court as in Retiring to the Shade of Your Books at Home Who are One consequently that is like to Read the Book and make Your Own Judgment of it and if You find any thing in it serviceable to God are in Place to Move and Promote it as if the Attempt be amiss can by Your proper Instruction appoint some sit Person to Reprove and Answer it that the Publick receive no Detriment by it I must confess I am of the Opinion That the Notion and Doctrine Of and Concerning the Church and Churches of Christ upon Earth which is generally received as Orthodox is not consistent with our Publick Practice and the Being of our Mixt Churches and could not therefore when Time was Declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent to all things in the Liturgy because I must then have both prevented this Book and consented to Some Thing in Point of Doctrine and Vse which will be nam'd in its Place as by a Consequence unavoidable to me does give up the Field to the Separatist And when if I may speak a Consequential Truth I am One that have become herein a kind of Martyr in my loss of all Emolument within the Church for my Resolution and Endeavour of maintaining the Churches Cause so that there does appear something Meritorious in my Nonconformity though nothing at all in My Self what if I Revive a late Motion made to Your Grace That You will hearken to those Papers of mine Entituled Three Steps in order to the obtaining my Liberty to Preach which being desired for Occasional Sermons only without Benefice Dignity Living or Lecture I have in my Third Step brought the Matter to this Issue That if You will concede to me but what any Bishop may do by Law and impune also by the Canons I may have Your License for the Vse of my Ministry and yet keep my Own Conscience in the Case Your Grace's Humble Servant The Author The PREFACE READER I Am sensible under what Prejudice I am like to write and how much more would be imputed to it if some Other served the CAVSE I do Truth and Interest went both to One Service Truth did his Master's Work in good earnest Interest labour'd only to please The Master finding his Businâ—ss done and not regarding by Whom kept Interest and turn'd Truth out of Door Were I Ambitious to conciliate to me the Favor of our present Masters of the Age I might set my self on the Magnifying the Church of England in the Excellency of her Constitution of her Reformation and Glory or I might chase some the like Task But when the Advantage I seek is not my Own but That of the Publick I shall leave such Work to Those that think to gâ—t any thing by it My Business which is of other Vse is to make good our Churches which consist of whole Parishes and Nations that is our Mixt Churches to be Churches for all that as are warrantable from the Holy Scriptures that the Vnderstanding Sober Godly of our Brethren may be satisfied to joyn with and separate no longer from our Publick Congregations upon that Account To do this is a Matter of deeper Thoughts than most are aware of and till this Work be done as it ought unto which I can but contribute my Mite and then call in further Aid from others it will but fare with us in all our Endeavours after the Peace and Prosperity of the Church of God in this Nation as with them that have raised a fair Structure and sumptuous Building and then lose it in point of Law by mistaking the Ground upon which they set it That this is the Root of the Difference between Vs and Those that dâ—part from the Publick there are none but must see that have Eyes in their Head And I for my part must say moreover That having had long occasion to reflect on the Subject I could never but apprehend that the Notion which our Protestant Divines generally entertain of the Church is so narrow that unless we can lengthen our Cords and strengthen our Stakes we shall be driven out of our Tents There are Two Foundations upon which the Separatist that best understands his own Cause will lay it The One regards the Minister of the Parish the Other the People or Matter of the Church That which regards the Minister is this The Church of England consists of so many Diocesses and the Parishes are but Parts of the Diocess The Bishop is sole Pastor and the Minister but the Curate of the Bishop It follows that the Minister being no Pastor and the Church no whole or true Church this is the First Ground of Separation That which regards the People is this The Parish Churches consist of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate ex Institutione Humana The Church of Christ ex Intentione Ordinantis consists of the Regenerate only Here are two Ordinations inconsistent The Matter of these Churches inconsistent And this is the Second Ground of Separation In short Our Ministers say they are not true Pastors nor our People true Flocks according to Christ's Institution and therefore they must Separate from our Congregations and gather Others For Answer to the former Ground let us know that Diocesan Episcopacy may be considered as some hold it to be of Divine or as others hold it to be of Human Institution Of those that hold it to be of Divine Right there are some and such as are of our late Chief Men that do indeed assert the Diocesan Bishop to be the only Bishop or Pastor of Christ's Appointment to whom the Keys are committed as succeeding the Apostles and consequently that the Diocesan Churches are the only Churches
common way hath indeed Answered it to the Satisfaction of any the most Impartial among them As for Profession of Infants what is that for Signification to us whether the Baptized be Regenerate or not And what Profession is there besides at least ordinarily but coming together in the Publick Congregation If the Churches of Christ's Ordination I must say it again be a Number only of such Persons as do profess their Faith Repentance Regeneration so credibly or in some such manner as the Minister and Church do receive them thereupon as Men endowed with the Grace supposed to be professed and our Mixt Churches be not in good earnest a Number of such Professors then is there here inconsistent Matter Our Principle is One thing our Practice is Another If you deny the Assumption and will still affirm Our Members are such Professors you will prevail with the Opponent no more than One whom they count will say any thing which will but root them so much the deeper in their Conviction They will tell you They stand on your Bottom and make their Practice comport with it who admit none into their Society but such as indeed make a Profession that is credibly Significant of the thing professed and upon that or such only receive them to be Members They make our Principle and their Practice accord but we stand on the same Bottom and our Vniversal Practice is otherwise and yet maintain our Mixt Churches And what then must we do to make them Good Why As these Men by keeping to our Principle do forsake our Practice so we to avoid their Practice must try our Principle Whether it may not be enlarged to that Practice which is common and cannot but take place where Kingdoms become Christian the Particular Congregations whereof will be acknowledged for all that by Others if not by thâ—se Men to be Churches of Jesus Chriâ—t I know indeed how mean and unfit a Person I am to become a Master-Builder especially when I am to lay another Foundation than That which is laid by the common Doctrine of our Protestants and much more when I am to lay it in Opposition to One particularly unto whom I do not think My Self worthy to be as a Labourer and carry his Bricks after him From whom nevertheless I shall expect a more sincere and candid Consideration of what is offered than from Others It is now about One or Two and Thirty Years that I have had for Recollection for so long it is since I Printed Three Books about Free Admission to the Sacrament Vpon coming out of the Third Piece I received from Mr. Blake a grave Presbyterian a Letter signifying to me his Approbation of the Second Section of that Book with Exceptions to all the Rest When on the contrary I heard from the Reverend Mr. Baxter who approved the rest but excepted at that Section Mr. Blake having found it necessary in regard to some Dispute wherein he was engaged concerning Baptism to enlarge the received Notion of the Church I had in that Section contributed what present Aid I could toward strengthening his Opinion Mr. Baxter upon his first taking notice of the Notion in Mr. Blake did shew a very good Will to it in his Book of Infant-Baptism using as I remember some such Words That there was more Worth in a Leaf or two of Mr. Blake than in all Mr. Tombs's Works By which Words Mr. Blake being encouraged advanced in his Notion But Mr. Baxter having considered farther of it and finding that it would not go being against the Stream which appeared to him more especially from the Learned Gataker's Book de Infantili Baptismo comes out against him in Answer to his Books and to That little of Mine with such a Torrent of Argument and Authority that Mr. Blake I believe could never recover it For my part I conceived Mr. Baxter too hard for me to Cope with and Mr. Blake being dead there was none to take up his Cause The Truth is Mr. Blake had much to say and a great many Scriptures appeared apt to militate for him But he had not digested his Notion and no Man shall ever be able to Make Good any Point which be cannot first State He maintained That a Dogmatical Faith was sufficient to enter a Man in Covenant with God and so to Entitle him to the Ordinances But being pressed with the Authority of the Assembly and the Fathers That the Profession of a Justifying Faith is required to Baptism he grants it and accounts that Nothing to him who never denyed it This Concession was an irrecoverable Contradiction If a Faith less than Saving serves to give Title to a Man himself to be Baptized then a Profession of one less than Saving must suffice for his Admission The Church or Pastor cannot require that a Man should profess any more to their Receiving him than That which gives himself Title to be Baptized It fared the like with that Learned and most Ingenious Gentleman Sir William Morice who appearing by the Title of his Book in the First Edition to defend the same Point with Mr. Blake was discoursed from One by Letter with all the Difficulties he could bring to the end he should obviate them and extricate Vs out of them But he finding it indeed beyond his Ability did wisely by interpreting the Term Dogmatical Faith and making it to signifie a Profession of a Saving One decline the Task and so glided himself off into the Stream of the Common Opinion There have been of late Two Persons of sober Judgment both Citizens who were of the Congregational way but brought off from it upon this same Conception That the Church is to be laid Wider than they thought before and is used They wrote each of them upon the Subject with Approbation of some Persons of Note in the Church and the latest Book is Entituled Catholicisme which I name particularly because there are many things considerable in it to the Asserting our Cause and Answering some Objections I have not touched Nevertheless it does fall out with this Author as with Those before-named who having not compleated his Thoughts does at the very Beginning when he is about stating the Matter destroy it For making this Query What may That be by which People are made Visible Members and giving the Resolution That it is a Mutual Covenanting between God and Them and understanding by this Covenant the Covenant of Grance or Covenant of Life without any Distinction or Apprehensions about it but as others have It is plain that no Man can Covenant on his Part in the manner he expresses it but he is a Regenerate Man and so shall not the Church consist of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate as we would have it but of the Regenerate only or of Those only who are Visibly such which subverts our Opinion When accordingly in his Eighth Query he endeavours to disprove the Tenent of the Independents That Men are Members of the Church as Visible
the Promise of Life annexed to it Seek ye Me and ye shall Live Amos 5.4 5 6.2 Chron. 15.2 Exod. 20.24 Matth. 18.20 That the Ordinances therefore in general and one with another are appointed to be the Means of Grace I think a Man should believe as his Creed And why any good Men that will consider should be moved at our Inviting All and Letting in the Willing having first heard and received the Gospel unto the Participation of these External Appointments so long as we press upon them the Necessity of the same Faith and Repentance that the most strictest Ministers do for the obtaining the Spiritual Benefits thereof I apprehend no such Cause as they For here is Holiness and here is Peace joyned together Neither am I taken off with that worn-out Arguing That because the Sacraments are not Administred as the Word without the Church unto Heathens to convert such to the Faith therefore they cannot tend within the Church to any Vnregen rate Member's Edification Joh. 3.14 15. Joh. 4.22 It is a more Generous Spirit methinks St. Paul shews when the Corinthians seem to value themselves upon their External Christianity without Care of a Holy Life I would not have you ignorant says he that all our Fathers were Baptized in the Cloud and passed through the Sea and eat of the same Spiritual Meat and drank of the same Spiritual Drink But with many of them God was not well pleased The Apostle appears here to make but very little of the admitting Men unto Baptism and the Supper when he makes no more of their Coming to it than the Israelites passing through the Sea and eating of the Mannah and drinking of the Rock which things yet he declares to be Symbolical or Types even of the Blood of Christ as our Sacraments He could hardly have had a Heart to have spoken thus if his Thoughts had been cast in the Mould as many of our good Men's now are I will add Had the Apostles been so strict about admitting Persons to Baptism in their Days as they were after when they kept Men so long upon Tryal as Catechumens upon peculiar Reasons then and had look't on Baptism as so great and chief Work of the Ministry and Exercise of the Keys wherein so singular Care was to be taken I wonder that this Zealous Doctor of the Gentiles should profess himself to be no more concern'd about it when he tells us how few some Three or Four or so were all that he ever Baptized and that God sent him Not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel Not but I fear God and reverence his Institutions and the Panting and Breathings of the Hearts of good Men after more pure Communion even on Earth hath been to me of deep Consideration But we must not for all that make the same Conditions unto Coming into the Church as unto the Getting into Heaven In actione Coenae Dominicae non debemus says Cyprian attendere quid aliqui ante nos faciendum putaverint sed quid ille qui ante omnes est prior fecerit faciendum mandaverit In these Actions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper we are not to attend what some before us have thought fit to be dome but what He who is before all hath Himself first done and commanded us to do The Author THE Cause of our Mixt Churches AGAINST SEPARATION SECT I. IT is in vain to write Books for the Satisfaction of People concerning the Lawfulness of the Liturgy and Ceremonies and coming to Church To think of Terms for Von and Concord or to endeavour any the like good things which many Considerate Ministers about London have lately done if the Churches unto which We Go and would Bring Others cannot be maintained to be True Churches or Churches agreeable to the Institution of Christ It is This is the First Stone to be Laid It is This is the Cause must be made Good For the doing hereof I shall offer some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating or Building it Vp some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Confirming it some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Refutation of Objections And the Discourse shall contain Three Sections To begin with the First The Building Vp our Cause in This and to fetch the Matter from the Bottom I must lay my Thoughts together in these Theses and Method following As God made all things so is He universal Governour of his Creatures The Government of God over his Creatures that are Reasonable must be a Moral Government requiring Obedience from them upon Motives of Reward and Punishment The Insirument of this Government must be his Law The Law of God is either the Law of Nature or his Revealed and Positive Laws The Government of God is likewise double Natural or Conventional The Natural Government of God over Men and Women which He hath by Right of Creation is over all the World as they are particular Persons giving them the Law of Nature to live by that they may please Him and be saved This Law of Nature is either the Law of Innocent or Lapsed Nature The Law of Innocent Nature is that perfect Rule of Righteousness that was writ in Adam's Heart when created requiring him to preserve his Innocency and Integraty upon Pain of Death and it is called the Law of Works The Law of Lapsed Nature is the same Law with mitigation requiring the same Duty but not as the Condition of Life accepting of the imperfect Service of Man according to his present State so long as it is performed in Sincerity of Heart towards God and this is called the Law of Grace As Man in Innocency had the Notices of the most Holy God and his Duty writ in his Heart or could gather it from the Light of his Reason being to live perfectly in that State So must the World after Man's Fall and the Loss of his Innocency have some the like Notices implanted there or arising naturally from the Exercise of his Faculties That God is Good and Merciful and will not punish him if he Repent but consider him according to his frail Condition and consequently that he must now have no Government at all over him for Life and Salvation or else that he must be under another Law than that of Innocency or under other Conditions in obeying it for else must every Man on the Earth everlastingly perish Upon what Account or upon what Ground or Foundation the Righteousness of God could stand in dealing with Man when faln by another Law than that at first implanted in him in Innocency was a Mystery hidden from the Foundation of the World and not revealed but darkly till the Times of the Gospel But the Belief that God was Good and would pardon the Sinner upon his Repentance though they could not tell how or upon what ground it was the way of Reconciliation through Christ being beyond the Ken of all Human Understanding was general in the World
that have an External Right to them be Denyed to any one the fuller Definition of General Grace before laid down duly also considered who upon an Assent to the Truth of the Gospel doth desire Admission upon this Account or to this End If there be any Reason for their Refusal otherwise well and good but it must be left to themselves to make further Application as to their Special Interest only by way of Consequence and Deduction according to their Evidence of having or not having performed the Condition required to the Benefits of Remission and Salvation It is Objected in the Cure of Church-Divisions 1. This Doctrine confounds the Catechumens with the Christians Answ It is true that the Primitive Church after the Apostles in the Times of the Ten Persecutions were very strict in their Admitting Members and so had their Catechumeni which continued upon the good Use of that Custom for a long Season And Albaspinaeus as I remember does tell us a good Reason they had for it in regard of the Danger they then were in in case of any False Brother upon which Account we find the Disciples at first so shy of Paul Act. 9.26 who might at that time betray the whole Church and her Sacred Mysteries to the Persecutor Besides the horrid Scandal to those both Within and Without in the Case of the Lapsi This Reason being now ceased God be blessed and the Command of Christ with the First Times of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles being the Rule and Examples which we are to follow in our Practice this Objection I must say is for the Times before Constantine but is now out of date The Practice of the Apostles we find otherwise the Practice of the Church now we know otherwise There was Reason after the Apostle's Time for this Strictness but the Rule was not so at first What Would you like that the People of our Mixt Churches should be held but as Catechumens and when any are grown to be Sound Christians the Independent should Gather them into Their Congregations Our Times continue no such Custom Infant-Baptism alone confounds this Objection 2. This Doctrine makes the Church consist of such as are no Christians Of such as take Christ for their Teacher and not their King Answ Of Such or most Such as are no Regenerate Christians It was the Belief of their Creeds among the Antients made them Christians and there is none of us believe Christ to be a Teacher but he believes Him also a Priest and a King I understand not this dividing Christ's Offices He that comes in but to the Conventional Government of Christ and submits to the Institutions of it takes Him for his King Nay he that takes Christ for his Teacher takes Him Therein also to be his Ruler that is to be led by Him And I say the Vnregenerate takes Christ to be his Ruler so far as to joyn in his Ordinances and so far as he takes Him the Minister cannot Refuse him If he takes Him so far as to Obey Him farther it is his Duty and his Salvation depends upon it But if no farther so far as any will take Him or come in to Him it is the General Grace of God and Christ that must and that will warrant his Admission against all that gainsay it 3. They therefore that hold this the dividing Christ's Offices introduce a New Christianity Answ And they that savor it not retain but the Old 4. And a New sort of Baptism Answ No good Sir but another Profession than That which by an unavoidable Consequence must else bring us all to Separation It is true that the Tradition of Baptism is Sacred and it is a Benefit not to be lost that it hath delivered down what Christianity is by our Christening But Infant-Baptism is a part of that Tradition if the Fathers be not out And I hope that we may know what Christianity is by engaging our Children to it as well as by our making them de praesenti to Profess it If the Child be made to answer Polliceor and that in the Sense which respects both Parts of the Covenant as hath been intimated it will be all one with an Abrenuncio as for that The Church her self which for the Antient Forms sake retains the Words in her Baptism does recal them in effect by rendring this Interpretation in her Catechism 5. This large Doctrine destroys the Special Love of Christ's Members Answ By no means We are to Receive all that are Willing We know not how Far they are Willing If they be Willing to come in thus Far they may be Such for ought we know as are willing Altogether And as Charity Hopeth all things as well as Believeth all things we are to judge the best of them and behave our selves to them accordingly Besides it is too narrow a thing for Brotherly Love to sit down in the Comforts only of my Brethren's Mutual Faith and not be at the Pains for their Conversion 6. Hence it will follow that the Church must be constituted of Two sorts of Professors and so be Two Churches Answ There is one thing I must remember while I think of it which else may work a great deal of Prejudice to my CAUSE It must be acknowledged that our Divines generally do make Profession to be That which gives Right Coram Ecclesia to the Ordinances and Membership and Truth of Grace say the most Coram Deo Now whil'st I seem to lay another Ground which is Willingness or Consent upon Belief of the Gospel upon the Account of General Grace both Coram Deo and Ecclesia I must declare that This is or shall be accounted by me to be Profession I say That when a Man comes and offers himself to joyn or joyns with the Church in her Service this is Profession If any will not let me call This Profession then I must say It is Not Profession but This Consent or Willingness upon Receiving the Word that is the Rule of Admission If they will then I say It is My Profession is the Rule and not Theirs which is a Profession of no less than Regeneration Not but that a Man who believes the Gospel and comes in may make what Profession of Grace he Can and Will as he hath occasion without Making or Marring the Constitution of the Church The Church is Constituted of the Willing of those that Offer Themselves These are Regenerate and Vnregenerate according to Christ's Intendment in several of his Parables This Church moreover I must say is Catholick One and Entire after Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesiae and after Augustine The Objection then of Two Churches upon the Diversity of Professions that being not our Rule is built upon the Sand tho' the Church Political and Mystical be not indeed the same There are more Objections with greater Variety in the Book called Right to Sacraments And the Sum of most of them I take it comes to This. The whole Church have
Reason And this must ordinarily needs be for the Good of the Wheat But when there is a Willingness upon the Gospel Preached and there be no such Reason to hinder I am for gain-saying no Bodies Admission Whatsoever Passages there be then in the Fathers or Other Men that run in an higher Strain than This comes to they are to be Reduced I will account to this Model or to be seasoned with the same Interpretation I will Conclude yet with One Authority which seems to me to incline to my Cause with Declination from the common Opinion Our British Divines in the Synod of Dort upon the Fifth Article De Perseverantia Sanctorum have these Theses Quihusdam non Electis conceditur quaedam Illuminatio Supernaturalis cujus virtute intelligunt ea quae in Verbo Dei annunciantur essa vera iisdemque assensum praebent minime simulatum To some Persons not Elect God does afford a certain Supernatural Illumination by vertue whereof they understand those things which are declared in the Word of God to be true and do give an Assent to them not counterfeit In iisdem ex hac Cognitione Fide oritur affectuum quaedam mutatio morum aliqualis emendatio Out of such a Knowledge and Faith as this in the same Persons does there arise some kind of Change in their Affections and Amendment of their Lives Ex his initialibus etiam per externa Obedientiae opera testatis sumuntur Charitatis judicio sumi debent pro Credentibus Justificatis Sanctificatis From these Initials or this beginning Work upon such are they and ought they to be held for Believers Justified Sanctified who never come up to a State of Saving Grace that from the Falling-away of such the Perseverance of the truly Godly should be impugned as they proceed in their next Theses which concern not this Argument From these Positions now I note That when the common Opinion of the Protestants is That no less than a Saving Faith and Repentance or Regeneration is necessary to Membership and Baptism here appears in these Divines something that is Singular who do make a Work of Common Grace upon People that is less than Saving to be the Ground of our Holding them to be Such as Those are who are the most Qualified Members The Common Opinion will have Persons make a Profession of a Saving Faith or Regenerating Grace and it must be of no less than Such and then we are to reckon them in the Judgment of Charity to Be what they Profess unless we have Proof to the contrary This is our ordinary Judgment of Charity and so Men are Visible Members as they speak upon a Lie or upon a Ground that is False But these Judicious Divines will have us reckon Men Believers Saints Justified Sanctified upon an Initial Work of Grace that is Short of Saving and This is a Judgment of Charity upon a Ground that is True The Call of the Gospel is Vniversal Those Persons that will Come in so Far as they Will are to be Received The End why they are Called is That they should all come in Fully as the Elect do The Whole Number for That Part sake as come in So have these Denominations as being in the way to obtain the same End This is that Judgment of Charity these Divines would Establish and it is not upon a Falshood as the Other is There are Two or Three things nevertheless that are lacking in their Judgment One is When an Initial Faith Repentance or Grace short of Saving is made by them a Ground sufficient in Charity to Receive Men Into the Church and To Baptism so long as it suffices to Denominate Men so as qualifies them for Members They should hold the same Grace a Ground Sufficient also for their Own Coming Another is Whereas they make an Initial Work of Faith and Repentance to be Sufficient for their Reception in the Judgment of Charity They should hold it to be So in the Judgment of Verity upon the Vniversal Grace of the Gospel The Third and Chief thing wanting is to tell If a Work of Grace on the Soul short of Saving be able indeed to give a Man Right to Membership and the Sacraments unto what Degree then it must come If it be Initial only and yet not Saving how much Grace is it how much Faith how much Repentance is it that will serve Are we able to set any Stint until we come to Saving I Answer Yes We have Pitcht the Measure we have Fixt the Point Such a Work of Initial Grace or of Faith such an Initial Faith or so much Faith as brings the Man up to be Willing is it This is the Measure this is the Degree It is the Answer to the Question Wilt thou be Baptized in this Faith I say These words of Answer I Will gives a Man Right both to Come and to be Admitted Let me say it over in other words It is a Faith receiving the Doctrine of the Gospel and Advancing to the Degree as makes a Man Willing to come Into the Society of Christians and so own Christ our King for there are some may Believe and yet not be Willing to Own Christianity Joh. 12.42 43. as some may Believe and be Willing to Come in and yet their Faith be Short of Saving Jam. 2.18 26. that is Fides Dogmatica I may say Consensu Formata upon the Account of General Grace as the Fundamentum Juris does give Title to Church Communion Neither do I think but that These so much acknowledg'd Excelling Divines would themselves have also proceeded Thus Far if they had understood This Bottom and that their Matter led them to it I know they that lay Another Rule do honestly intend the Purity of the Church But either This Rule shall be Backt by a Law and then it will be a Strainer in Shew but instead of Keeping the Church pure it will but Strain the Tender and Scrupulous the Careless and Vnconcern'd will Prosess any thing that is Imposed as I have observed before in its Place Or it shall have no Power but that of the Word and Conscience as in the Primitive Times and I must then suggest this That where One went to Heaven when the Church was Pure there are Twenty a Thousand since it was Enlarged and Corrupt England might have been a Pagan Kingdom to this Day if they that Planted in it the Christian Religion had stood in good earnest upon these Terms and pressed them as the Congregationalists do And were the Rule indeed Christ's what a horrible deal of Guilt must there lie on the Ministers since Constantine's Time unto whom Christ committed the Keys of his House to Let In none but Subjects qualified according to That Rule and they Let in whole Parishes Kingdoms Countries into it Alas that none but those of the Novatian Donatist Brownist Sects should have delivered their own Souls You complain that the Bad Come In but I would fain know whether you think any were ever the Better that have Kept Out And now what remains but that The Spirit says Come and the Bride says Come and whosoever will let him Come If Men will come Quite Home to a Saving Faith Sound Repentance and the Love of God above All it is That which they should Do and in so Doing they shall be Partakers of the Saving Benefits of the Gospel Church and Covenant If they will come no Farther than to Submit to the External Administration of the Ordinances they are yet to be Received so Far as they Will come and in the Vse of the Means we are to expect they should be brought Farther even to Effectual Conversion and Salvation Deo Gloria mihi Condonatio J. H. Reader THere happening this Leaf to remain vacant I will fill it up with a Letter which I had but just now from a Private Christian to whom I Communicated several of these Sheets before the Last was wrought off at the Press he being a Man who hath considered these Things and of known Integrity to the Church whose Letter also will have its Use Or else I confess I should have chose rather to have left it for the Bookseller to have fill'd with a Catalogue of Books The Author SIR YOV were not mistaken in thinking as You told me That this Book would agree with my Sentiments touching the Latitude of the Church It seems to me to have much in it not to be found elsewhere and that Matter momentous striking at the Root of our Divisions about Church-Communion You have well observed That God is never behind hand with Men in a Willingness to any thing that tends to their Salvation and therefore the Church must not be so And indeed there is so great Advantage by Coming into the Church given to Men Thereunto that I wonder any should oppose it The Word is nigh them in their Mouth and in their Heart There is no Part of the Christian Church where every Member that comes to the Vse of Reason does not learn the chief Doctrines of Christianity contain'd in the Creed without Book which have a mighty force to bring Men to Repentance and an Holy Life And as this is so great Advantage to Them so it is no Means to corrupt the Church so long as the Discipline of Christ is observed which you take care of I know no other Book that hath given me so clear an Vnderstanding of the Church and Kingdom of God and Christ together with the Covenant of Allegiance proper to it That hath proposed the Rule which you have particularly recited p. 75. and 140. for Admitting his Subjects into the same That hath laid this Rule on its right Foundation which is the General Grace of the Gospel so exactly defined to the End p. 16. to 21. That hath carried the Cause through all its Difficulties at you have done This is the Opinion of Your Engaged Friend Thomas Seymor