And for Providential disadvantages as Multiplicity of Business greatness of Temptations Bodily Indispositions For Pitiable Defects of Degrees in Duties Great Latitude on the side of Bliss and all not required to be of the same Size He will Reward Good Things tho' done with Difficulty and Reluctance yea when Pitiably stain'd with impure mixtures Our Judge will shew all this Candor and would have us expect it In Recompencing good Men he will consider the Difficulties and Oppositions And the hazard and cost of their Services And the hardships of Providence allotted to exercise good Men in this Life Of the Condemnation of ill Men. The Fire which is to torment them shall burn up and dissolve the Worldâ— Practical Inferences from the last judgment Quest. THE Seventh Article is That from Gods Right-Hand Jesus Christ shall come to judge both the quick and the dead Is there any Necessity of a Future Judgment Answ. Yes upon many Accounts As 1st For an exact Discrimination to distinguish Persons Numbers of ill Men are Hypocrites or Good only in outward appearance and these pass here for Saints But at the last Day God will make them manifest and put them into Separate Companies Dividing as Christ foretold the Sheep from the Goats Mal. 25. 32. 2. For the clearing of Gods Justice which seems in this World oftentimes to misplace Rewards and Punishments afflicting the Righteous and making Sinners Prosperous and therfore will surly be manifested in allotting more suitable Retributions visibly Rewarding the good and Punishing the wicked afterwards Thus St. Paul told the Thessalonians that their Present Sufferings who were Gods good Servants was a Token and Pledge of Gods Future Rewards on them and of his â—unishments upon their Persecutors The Persecutions and Tribulations you endure are â— manifest Token of the Righteous Judgment â—f God i. e. a token and ingagement that God will hereafter manifest his Righteous Judgment in their Punishment and â—our Reward Seeing it is a Righteous Thing â—ith God to recompence Tribulation to them â—hat trouble you and to you who are troubled â—est with us when the Lord Jesus shall be reâ—ealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels â— Thes. 1. 4 5 6 7. And that Day St. Paul â—alls the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment â—f God when however here they might â—eem connived at God will render to every Man according to his Deeds Rom. 2. 5 6. 3. For Reversing the Error of all Humane Judgments All Humane Courts are â—nder God who is the Supreme Dispenser of Justice and Protector of injured Innoâ—ence And therefore if Humane Courts who are his Substitutes through Corruption â—r Mistake Condemn the Innocent it may â—eseem him whose Care comprehends â—nd whose Justice will do Right to all â—o Reverse the Error and clear them again to all the World. 4. For the support of Religion which â—as no sufficient encouragement without Hope of future Rewards He that comes to God in Religion must believe he is a Rewarder of those that diligently seek him Heb. 11. â— Moses and the Patriarchs served God out of a Respect to the Recompence of a Reward v. 26. And this Reward was not present here but Future in another World. They dyed not having received the Promises but only having seen them afar off confessing themselves here to be Strangers and Pilgrims and to seek a Country in a better place v. 13 14 16. So that they were Religious from an eye to future Judgment and Retributions Quest. From these Reasons it may seem fit and necessary God should have a Future Judgment but are we sure he will have it Answ. Yes he hath given assurance unto all men that he will judge the World by Jesus Christ by raising him from the Dead Act. 17. 31. Quest. How doth this assure it Answ. Both as an Instance of it since thereby he most justly rewarded our Saviour Christ who had done and suffered so much for him in this World. And also as it was Gods owning and irrefragable Testimony to his Doctrine which declares the Future Judgment as a Principal Part of it Quest. When is this Judgment to be Answ. At the end of the World when there shall be no more Days of Labour and Tryal but all of Recompence in Punishment or Reward Quest. If it be so far off men will be the less afraid of it they being very apt to overlook Dangers that lye remote as indeed when any things are far distant to look upon Great ones as little and little ones as none at all And will none be judged till the end of the World Answ. Yes That is only for the General Judgment of all men But every particular Man is sentenced at his Death either to a State of Bliss or Misery Quest. But if a man be condemned in the First Judgment since there is so great a Distance betwixt it and the Second may he not have time to make his Peace and either by doing or suffering something himself or by the Care and Kindness of his Friends offering Sacrifices Prayers or Alms for him get the Sentence reversed and his State alter'd and come off clear at the last Judgment Answ. No Betwixt the Place of Rewards and Punishments in the other World there is an unpassable Gulph fixed so that they who would pass from you to us cannot as Abraham told the Rich Man in Torment There is neither Repentance nor Reconciliation in the Grave When once the Night is come says our Saviour no Man can Work Joh. 9. 4. Now in this Life saith St. Paul is the accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 2. And at the last Day Men shall all be tryed not for what they have done or suffered since they were separate Spirits but for what they did when they were Cloathed with their Bodies giving account for every thing done in the Body 2 Cor. 5. 10. And those deeds are not what others have done for us but what through the Grace of God and the Benifit of their Prayers we have been enabled to do for our selves Every Man shall receive for things done in his Body according to what he hath done saith St. Paul. And every Mans cause of rejoycing must be in himself alone and not in another by passing over his Neighbours Prayers or Merits to him For every man shall bear his own Burden Gal. 6. 4 5. As a just God will not punish one for anothers Sin so neither will he accept one for anothers Well-doing Ezek. 18. 20. Quest. If Sentence is so quickly passed upon them the Souls of good men are not in a deep sleep and insensible State but enter upon Happiness as the Souls of ill men do upon misery as soon as they leave this world Answ. Yes they do so For this day says our Saviour to the Penitent Thief thou shalt be with me in Paradise i. e. in a place of Happiness Luk. 23. 43. And for me to dye is gain saith S. Paul whereas an
them Isaiab represents the Men of Messiab's Age as an Infidel and hard-hearted Generation that would not believe his report but hide their faces from him in the extremity of his affliction Jeremy as having made void God's former covenant and therefore needing a second to be introduced by him Malâ—â—hi as having lost even natural affection between Parents and Children which Elias must go before to restore among them Daniel as persevering under his appearance to sin on and provoke God to that height as would cause him shortly after to cut them off and destroy both the City and the Sanctuary by a most just and terrible judgment Nay so far were the sins of the People from being an hindrance to his coming in the sight of God that as the Prophets plainly declare they were to be the cause and reason of it The coming or anointing of the most holy says Daniel is to make an end of sins or sin-offerings and make reconciliation for iniquity Dan. 9. 24. to offer up his soul an offering for sin to bear the iniquity of us all to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities that through his stripes we may be healed says Isaiah 53. 5 6 8 10. His coming was to be for the expiation of sin to open a fountain to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. And coming thus to expiate and cure sin there is no more reason to stay him beyond the time because sin grows strong than in the increase of a Disease to delay the use of Remedies or stop the coming of the Physician Quest. But doth not God say when he speaks of building up or exalting any â—ation if they do evil in his sight he will repent of the good wherewith he said he would benefit them Jer. 18. 9 10. Ans. Yes and so he doth in all those Promises which he makes upon Mens supposed virtues and on condition of their good carriage But the Promise of Messiah was absolute and intended as appears on no such prospect For God declared he should come among a People full of sin and instead of being deâ—erred by their wickedness should be sent because of it to atone and heal it Besides if only the Fathers sins had stopped his coming their Posterities Repentance would have removed that impediment and have brought him down which they see for above this 1600 Years it has not done Quest. I see the ancient Prophecies declare Jesus to be the Christ by prefixing the exact time of his coming wherein they are so particular and punctual as might suffice in a History of things already passed But I pray before you leave this point of the exactness of time how can the Jews who believe all these Prophecies shut their Eyes against them Ans. The elder Jews who lived before Christ did see them as appears from their general expectation of him about that time and from what the learned Grotius relates of Rabbi Nehumias who living fifty Years before Jesus Christ came declared that within fifty Years Messiah must come because in that time Daniel's Weeks prefixt for him were to determine But as for the later Jews who lived since our Saviour they turn by all of them by one rule whereby at their pleasure they may turn by any thing that is by not medling at all with them nor suffering any to interpret or collect the time of his coming from them This is the meaning of that severe Anathema which some have noted from the Thalmud Let his puft up Bones burst that shall meddle in computing the periods of times And accordingly the rule of the great Maimonides their second Moses concerning the days of Messiah is to believe surely that he will come and if he prove slow still to expect him and never to fix him any time or so to explain any Texts of Scripture as to infer the time of his appearance from them Quest. That indeed is a clear reason for the plainest words can never convince those that will not read or understand them But besides that the ancient Prophecies prove Jesus to be Christ by prescribing the exact time of his coming you said also that they demonstrate it further by assigning many peculiar and most visible notes whereby he may be demonstratively pointed out from all other Men. What are those peculiar and notable marks whereby they so effectually describe him Ans. They are certain eminent and most observable things belonging to him or to be performed by him which as they were most visible in him so were peculiarly his and never found in any other Man. Quest. What things are those which were so notable in him and peculiarly belonging to him Ans. Not only that he should be born of the lineage of David Isaiah 11. 1 10. and in the city Bethlehem Mic. 5. 2. which especially in conjunction with the exact time before-described are very discovering circumstances to the time when adding the very Family and Place where he should be born that all might know the very Town and Kindred amongst whom in that Year they were to seek for him But more particularly that he should be set off by these signs following Quest. What are they Ans. First That he should be born of a Virgin which was a thing never known before or since and so was sure to point him out demonstratively from all other Men. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son saith God by the Prophet Isaiah and shall call his name Immanuel Isaiah 7. 14. Quest. But the word which is there rendred Virgin say the Jews may signifie only a young Woman denoting her Age not Condition and then this having in it nothing peculiar can be no proof to him Ans. It doth not appear that it signifies any thing else in Scripture but a Virgin the place alledg'd for a laxer sense well admitting that interpretation But if it did it must needs signifie a Virgin that is one that has not known man in this place For not only the Septuagint that were all Jews and lived long before our Saviour translate it Virgin but this conception is here given for a sign or a miraculous thing which would be none at all were it spoken only of a young Woman especially among the Jews whose custom it was most early to contract their Daughters and Marry them as soon as their Age would suffer them When Achaz refused to tempt the Lord in asking a sign the Lord himself says Isaiah shall give you a sign Behold a virgin shall conceive c. verse 12 14. Quest. This shews it was spoken of some Virgin. But yet may it not be understood as the Jews say of some one that only was a Virgin at the time of the Prophet's speaking who before she could lose her Virginity conceive a Son and the Child come to any understanding God would work the deliverance which they desired of him
Business greatness of Temptations Bodily Indispositions For Pitiable Defects of Degrees in Duties Great Latitude on the side of Bliss and all not required to be of the same Size He will Reward Good Things tho' done with Difficulty and Reluctance yea when Pitiably stain'd with impure mixtures Our Judge will shew all this Candor and would have us expect it In Recompencing good Men he will consider the Difficulties and Oppositions And the hazard and cost of their Services And the hardships of Providence allotted to exercise good Men in this Life Of the Condemnation of ill Men. The Fire which is to torment them shall burn up and dissolve the World. Practical Inferences from the last judgment ☞ Through a Mistake there is neither 5th 6th nor 7th Chapters But tho' in the numbering of the Chapters there is this mistake yet there is no omission of matter CHAP. VIII OF the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost is God. What he hath done for our Salvation Of his extraordinary Gifts bestowed on Apostles and Evangelists which were for the Planting and Propagating Christ's Religion 1. The gift of inspiration in Revelations This bestowed upon the Apostles These Revelations they have fully set down in the Holy Scriptures after which we are not to look for any others This Gift of knowing Religion by immediate Revelation necessary only in Apostles and Evangelists And design'd for the Infancy of the Church Other Rules whereby to examine new Lights and Revelations in Religion As try them by the Scriptures Call for their Miracles wherewith God still empower'd men when he sent them to reveal new Things No need of Miracles when men pretend only to revive old and acknowledged Revelations If they shew Miracles for things plainly against Scripture they must work more than were wrought to confirm the Scripture An account of Joel 2. 28 29. Which seems to foretell the commonness of Revelations among Christians The first Inspirations were not only in Doctrinal Points but also in Devotions And about Temporal matters Subservient to this Gift of Revelations was the Gift of discerning Spirits This done afterwards by ordinary Rules And the Gift of utterance and boldness Their minds not influenced by this constantly and at all Times But ordinarily they were and especially when they had most need of it 2. Of the Gift of Miracles Miracles a Proof of Divine Revelation How discernible from Lying Wonders by the Doctrines built on them By their ends and usefulness and being wrought on needful Occasions Of the miraculous Gift of healing Diseases This sometimes by annointing with Oyl And Prayers Of casting out Devils and other Miracles Of delivering to Satan what it was and why so call'd Of Joy in Tribulations and what was extraordinary in that of the Apostles To the working these Miracles there was always required Faith in him that wrought them And sometimes Faith in him that received them 3. of the Gift of Strange Tongues The ends of this And of the Gift of Interpreting such Strange Tongues What is meant by the Holy Ghost being a Comforter The Sin against the Holy Ghost is a Sin against these extraordinary Gifts Why Blasphemy against him more irremisable than against the Father or the Son. Extraordinary Gifts no mark of a justified State. Of Offices appointed by the Holy Ghost Some of these Temporary others to continue through all Times the present Officers ordaining Successors of the Holy Ghost's ordinary Graces By these we may know he dwells in us Our care required towards these Of Preventing Grace in outward advantages and inward good motions Directions how we are to endeavour after saving Graces in six Particulars How God gives them though we are thus to acquire them The Holy Ghost works also in us Spiritual Joys and Comforts This he doth not in all the minds he sanctifies because some are unfit for them through intrinsick impediments But they are with-held from none through his Arbitrary withdrawing which some count Spiritual Desertion CHAP. IX OF the Holy Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints No assurance of Salvation by Christ but in his Church This Church Holy. And Catholick Admission into it by Baptism when regularly perform'd in any one valid in all Churches Excommunication is so too This Church is one Body by external visible unity Of the Communion of Saints in this Church Of their visible Union in Faith or Doctrine And in Prayers and Devotion Of communicating in Publick Prayers A Sin to separate without just cause Imposing Sins or Errours as Conditions of Communion is a just cause Not Lawful to separate for Things indifferent Nor for better means of edification Just to separate from a Church that doth not impose her Corruptions when her Errors in Faith overthrow the Foundation That is when she ceases to own the one true God. Or denys Jesus to be the Christ or Salvation by his Merits and Mediation Owning Jesus to be the Christ implies owning the Articles of the Apostles Creed which contains all Fundamentals Whilst any Churches hold to this Creed which is the Foundation Errors in other things do not unchurch them But such Erroneous are in a worse state than Orthodox Christians Nor is her Communion to be deserted meerly for such Errors tho' very gross if she doth not impose them Just to separate from a Church of a corrupt Worship when sinful things pollute her Publick Offices Or when good Devotions are put up in a strange Language not for Rites and Customs about indifferent matters Nor just to separate for scandalous Members where a Churches constitution is faultless Nor tho' it neglect Discipline which should reform them Of keeping Fellowship with the Apostles by submitting to our lawful Bishops their Successors Christians to communicate in Affections in Alms and Temporal good Things CHAP. X. OF the Forgiveness of Sins What Sin is Of wilful sins Of sins of Ignorance Surreption Passion Forgiveness of sin is the Release of its Punishment When Eternal Punishments are remitted Present and Temporal are often exacted What is the Time of Relaxing these Punishments Remission of all Sins but Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost And wilful Apostacy from Christianity Wilful sins forgiven when we Repent and forgive others Sins of Ignorance and inadvertence upon our Charity to others This forgiveness outwardly dispensed in Baptism The Eucharist And Sacerdotal Absolution The Power of the Keys lies in Retaining as well as Absolving which ought to beget a just dread of Excommunication What is meant by our Forgiving sins What use we are to make of the Forgiveness of Sins CHAP. XI OF the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting The Resurrection not meerly of our Spirits from sin but of our Bodies from the Grave This to be brought about by the Almighty Power of God. The Perfections of Glorified Bodies viz. Immortality Spirituality and Glory The Bodies of the Wicked Immortal And exquisitely sensible Some Inferences from the Resurrection of our Bodies Good Souls carried straight-way into a
and exacted more than can possibly or at least ordinarily be performed Or labour under some other cloudy and afflicting Error or distemper of mind which hinders a most comfortable Religion and peaceful Piety from creating any Joy or Comfort in them Quest. But when there are none of these intrinsick impediments to interpose betwixt his Joy and them doth not he sometimes Arbitrarily and without any provocation withdraw himself and hide his Face as if he were displeased with them Which withdrawing is oft given as the cause of many Good mens Grief and Dejection and is what some call Spiritual Desertion Answ. At this rate indeed all Spiritual Comfort must needs be most variable and uncertain as depending not on any Constancy of good and comfortable Dispositions in themselves but on the Arbitrariness of such unprovoked withdrawings to try Experiments upon Men. But this I think is all humane invention the Scripture on the contrary teaching us that when Sinners purify their hearts and draw nigh to him God doth not withdraw himself and shrink away but draws nigh to them Jam. 4. 8. It is an imputation on this good Spirit not at all agreeing with his inclination which is to be an immutable lover of goodness and of good men to be unalterably pleased with them whilst they do what is pleasing to him and to delight in having them take pleasure and joy in him It seems very opposite to his Office and Undertaking For his Work and Office as I have shewn is to engender Peace and Comfort as well as Goodness in the hearts of his Servants And since that is his business he will be as constant in pursuing it and no more withdraw his Comforts than he doth his Graces from them without being justly provoked thereto by some act of their own Nay on the contrary when their own melancholly humours or mispersuasions have intercepted his joyful presence from good men he is ready with the light of his Countenance to break thro' that darkness and in great pity very often restores that Comfort to their minds which their own errour or distemper had driven from it So that these arbitrary and unprovoked desertions whether in Grace or Comforts as they have no foundation in Scripture but there meet with opposition so are they not suitable to the Holy and good Spirit 's natural Genius or his Undertaking and Office He always loves and delights in good men and never voluntarily withdraws himself but is always driven from them CHAP. IX Of the Holy Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints The Contents No assurance of Salvation by Christ but in his Church This Church Holy. And Catholick Admission into it by Baptism when regularly perform'd in any one valid in all Churches Excommunication is so too This Church is one Body by external visible unity Of the Communion of Saints in this Church Of their visible union in Faith or Doctrine And in Prayâ—rs and Devotion Of communicating in Publick Prayers A Sin to separate without just cause Imposing Sins or Errours as Conditions of Communion is a just cause Not Lawful to separate for Things indifferent Nor for better means of edification Just to separate from a Church that doth not impose her Corruptions when her Errors in Faith overthrow the Foundation That is when she ceases to own the one true God. Or denys Jesus to be the Christ or Salvation by his Merits and Mediation Owning Jesus to be the Christ implies owning the Articles of the Apostles Creed which contains all Fundamentals Whilst any Churches hold to this Creed which is the Foundation Errors in other things do not unchurch them But such Erroneous are in a worse state than Orthodox Christians Nor is her Communion to be deserted meerly for such Errors tho' very gross if she doth not impose them Just to separate from a Church of a corrupt Worship when sinful things pollute her Publick Offices Or when good Devotions are put up in a strange Language Not for Rites and Customs about indifferent Matters Nor just to separate for scandalous Members where a Churches constitution is faultless Nor tho' it neglect Discipline which should reform them Of keeping Fellowship with the Apostles by submitting to our lawful Bishops their Successors Christians to communicate in Affections in Alms and Temporal good Things Quest. WHat is the Ninth Article in the Creed Answ. The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints Quest. Is there no assurance of Salvation by Christ but in his Church Answ. No for Baptism whereby we are made members of the Church is compared to Noah's Ark whereinto all were to enter that would not perish with the World 1 Pet. 3. 20 21. Christ is represented to us as the Head of his Church and the Saviour of the body Eph. 5. 23. And God daily added to the Church such as should be saved saith St. Luke Act. 2. 47. In the Church all good men have a sure claim to God's favour by Promises and Compacts which ingage him in Faithfulness But out of it they stand to courtesie and can build at best only on presumptions and uncovenanted mercies the Covenant which God seals with us respecting his Church and being proposed and ratified in the Word which it preaches and in the Sacraments which it dispences Quest. Must not this make all careful to be Members of this Body and keep in Commâ—nion with Christ's Church who profess Christianity Answ. Most certainly as without which by their Religion there is not only a want of the set means and opportunities but also of all express Contracts and Promises of Salvation Our Saviour Christ has appointed not only the Christian Religion which all are to believe and practise but the Christian Church too wherein they are to profess that Faith and Communicate as Members And the same Baptism that lists us Professors of his Religion makes us Members of his Church also Quest. Why is the Church called Holy Answ. Because it is a Body of men that is Holy that is separated from the rest of the World and dedicated to Aâ—mighty God. Ye are a chosen Generation an Holy Nation a Peculiar People 1 Pet. 2. 9. And because whatever they prove in reality their Religion is a Profession of Holiness as their Baptismal Vow which is made at their entrance on Christianity sufficiently declares To the Church at Corinth called to be Saints 1 Cor. 1. 2. Quest. Why is it called Catholick Answ. To shew its Universality and that it is not confined to one Nation or Place as the Jewish Church was And the Catholick Church notes the whole Body of Christians diffused through all places and enduring through all times The Church is also call'd Catholick in relation to the Faith it holds which ought to be the same in all Places And in this sense particular Churches are sometimes stiled Catholick meaning thereby that they are Orthodox and live in the Faith and Communion of the Catholick Church not of any Heretical Combinations Quest.
and prejudicial as well as Criminal and inexcusable carelesness for Men so sloathfully and irreligiously to neglect the daily opportunities of Publick Prayers as God knows the generality do yea though under this neglect they do serve God at home and have Prayers daily in their own Families Quest. You speak of Communicating in Prayers tho' there be no Sermon Answ. Yes for certainly no man that comes to Church to serve God if he understand what that is can come more for Sermons than for Prayers sake 'T is for Prayers principally that we are to come to the House of God for my House is the House of Prayer says God Isa. 56. 7. and Mat. 21. 13. In these it is that God's Worship doth chiefly consist And by these especially the Saints of all Times and Places thought to worship God. And these above all our other Services our Mediator is careful to offer up to God from us that which he is represented as presenting at the Golden Altar from the Publick Assemblies being the Prayers of the Saints Rev. 8. 3 4. And therefore it shews a very untaught and ignorant as well as an Irreligious and Prophane Objector to pretend he will not go to Church because there is nothing but Prayers for that is one of the chief things for which he should go thither and the very Life and Spirit of our Service and Performance there Quest. But if we are bound thus not only to Unity of Doctrine but likewise to preserve Unity of Publick Worship and Communion what shall we think of Schism that is rending and dividing the Church either the whole Church or that part where we live and thereby makeing two Churches out of one Is it a Sin to Erect new Churches and separate in these Acts of Prayers and Sacraments from the Body of a Church or Nation Answ. Yes most certainly and a very great one except there be a just Cause of Separation For so at Corinth St. Paul told them whilst one was for Paul and another for Apollos and there were Divisions among them they were Carnal and walked as men 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. And at Rome he bids them mark those who cause Divisions and Offences and not adhere and associate with but avoid them Rom. 16. 17. And this he spoke of Schism whilst it was only an imperfect Birth not gone on to open Separation but only to such unquiet practices and making of Parties as would shortly end therein For so under all the Corinthian Sidings and Divisions he declares that they came together still in the same Church and met to partake in the same Worship yea and Supper of our Lord 1 Cor. 11. 18 20. Quest. What is a just Cause of Separation Answ. A Necessity of sinning if we joyn with them Which always is when some sinful things are imposed by any Society of Christians as 〈◊〉 Conditions of their Communion We are to maintain the Churches Peace only so far as lyes in us but we have no Power or Liberty to sin for it The Church it self is called Holy and therefore we must not think to shew our selves its true Members by acting unholily When without sinning we cannot continue with them the voice of the Scripture is come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing 2 Cor. 6. 17. Quest. And when doth a Church impose such sinful things Answ. When it will not allow us to be of its Communion without Believing or Professing Errors of Faith or committing sins in Practice As the Church of Rome doth by casting all out of its Communion who will not believe that Churches Infallibility and Transubstantiation which are Errors in Faith nor Adore the Host Worship Images Pray to Saints and An-Angels and the like which are sins in Practice Quest. It is no breach of Church-Unity then nor Act of sin to separate from such Imposers of unlawful things Answ. No but an adhering to Christ and his Apostles and the Universal Church of all Ages who disclaim these Corruptions In these Particulars the imposing Church separates her self from Christ and the Catholick Church and therefore we keep the Unity of the Catholick Church in adhering to it against her who makes 〈◊〉 upstart Combination and proves a Schismatical Divider Quest. If there is no just Cause of Separating but when we must needs commit some sin in joyning with a Church then it is never just to Separate for things indifferent Answ. No because they lawfully may be done and have no sin in them For all sin is the transgression of a Law 1 Joh. 3. 4. and therefore there can be no sin in indifferent things since they would be no longer indifferent but unlawful if there were any Law against them We are to keep Peace as much as lyes in us and indifferent things certainly do since they are no where forbidden to us Nay in these things a good Christian should be easie not only in submitting to Church-Laws but in complying with Innocent Church-Customs St. Paul thinking it Argument sufficient in a little Case to say we have no such Custome nor the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11. 16. Quest. Is it unjust also to Separate from a Church on pretence the Establish'd Means there are less Edifying Answ. Yes for the Means were less Edifying in the Assemblies at Corinth Many spoke confusedly at once which was not a doing Things to edifying 1 Cor. 14. 26 27. And many spoke in strange Tongues which could not Edifie their Hearers because they did not understand them v. 16 17. But under this less Edifying State it was not lawful to divide Whilst there are Divisions among you are you not Carnal 1 Cor. 3. 3. All Christians must seek to Edifie the Church as well as themselves and the Church is Edified by Unity and Peace Follow after the things which make for Peace for with them we must Edifie one another Rom. 14. 19. Quest. I see there is a just Cause of Separation when a Church imposes any Sins or Errors as Conditions of her Communion But what if a Church that is Defiled with these is yet so Moderate as not to impose them may she not for all that be so far corrupted with them that on account thereof all Good Men who would take due care of their own Souls ought to leave her Communion Answ. Yes if she errs so foully in Faith as to overthrow or go off from the Foundation Or if her Corruptions have so overspread and poison'd all the necessary Parts of her Worship that there is no joyning in her Prayers and Sacraments without joyning in the Corruptions too that are Embodied with them In these cases be ye Separate saith the Scripture and touch not the unclean thing 2 Cor. 6. 17. and come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Rev. 18. 4. Quest. One Case you say is in Errors of Faith which overthrow the