THE CASE OF Lay-Communion WITH THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CONSIDERED And the Lawfulness of it shew'd from the Testimony of above an hundred eminent Non-Conformists of several Perswasions Published for the satisfaction of the scrupulous and to prevent the sufferings which such needlesly expose themselves to LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultry 1683. TO THE DISSENTERS FROM THE Church of England Dear Brethren YOU being at this time called upon by Authority to joyn in Communion with the Church and the Laws ordered to be put in Execution against such as refuse it it s both your Duty and Interest to enquire into the grounds upon which you deny Obedience to the Laws Communion with a Church of God and thereby expose our Religion to danger and your selves to suffering In which unless the cause be good the call clear and the end right it cannot bring Peace to your selves or be acceptable to God Not bring Peace to your selves For we cannot suffer joyfully the spoiling of our Goods the confinement of our Persons the ruine of our Families unless Conscience be able truly to say I would have done any thing but sin against God that I might have avoided these sufferings from men Not be acceptable to God to whom all are accountable for what portion he hath instrusted them with of the things of this life and are not to throw away without sufficient reason and who has made it our duty to do what we can without Sin in Obedience to that Authority which he hath set over us as you are told by some in the same condition with your selves To assist persons in this enquiry I have observed that of late several of the Church of England have undertaken the most material points that you do question and have handled them with that Candor and Calmness which becomes their profession and the gravity of the Arguments and which may the better invite those that are willing to be satisfied to peruse and consider them But because Truth and Reason do too often suffer by the prejudices we have against particular persons to remove as much as may be that obstruction I have in this Treatise shewed that these Authors are not alone but have the concurrent Testimony of the most eminent Non-Conformists for them who do generally grant that there is nothing required in the Parochial Communion of the Church of England that can be a sufficient reason for Separation from it The sence of many of these I have here collected and for one hundred I could easily have produced two if the Cause were to go by the Pole so that if Reason or Authority will prevail I hope that yet your satisfaction and recovery to the Communion of the Church is not to be despaired of Which God of his infinite mercy grant for your own and the Churches sake Amen THE CONTENTS THE difference betwixt Ministerial and Lay-Communion pag. 1 The Dissenters grant the Church of England to be a true Church p. 4 That they are not totally to separate from it p. 12 That they are to comply with it as far as lawfully they can p. 16 That defects in Worship if not essential are no just reason for Separation p. 23 That the expectation of better edification is no sufficient reason to with-hold Communion p. 39 The badness of Ministers will not justifie Separation p. 48 The neglect or want of Discipline no sufficient reason to separate p. 59 The opinion which the Nonconformists have of the several practices of those of the Church of England which its Lay-Members are concerned in p. 64 That Forms of Prayer are lawful and do not stint the Spirit ibid. That publick prescribed Forms may lawfully be joyned with p. 66 That the Liturgy or Common-Prayer is for its matter sound and good and for its Form tolerable if not useful p. 69 That kneeling at the Sacrament is not idolatrous nor unlawful and no sufficient reason to separate from that Ordinance p. 71 72 That standing up at the Creed and Gospel is lawful p. 73 The Conclusion ibid. THE NON-CONFORMISTS PLEA FOR Lay-Communion With the CHURCH of ENGLAND THE Christian World is divided into two Ranks Ecclesiastical and Civil usually known by the names of Clergy and Laity Ministers and People The Clergy besides the things essentially belonging to their Office are by the Laws of all well-ordered Churches in the World strictly obliged by Declarations or Subscriptions or both to owne and maintain the Doctrine Discipline and Constitution of the Church into which they are admitted Thus in the Church of England They do subscribe to the truth of the Doctrine more especially contained in the Thirty Nine Articles and declare that they will use the Forms and Rites contained in the Liturgy and promise to submit to the Government in its Orders The design of all which is to preserve the Peace of the Church and the Unity of Christians which doth much depend upon that of its Officers and Teachers But the Laity are under no such Obligations there being no Declarations or Subscriptions required of them nor any thing more than to attend upon and joyn with the Worship practised and allowed in the Church Thus it is in the Church of England as it is acknowledged by a worthy Person to whom when it was objected that many Errours in Doctrine and Life were imposed as Conditions of Communion he replies What is imposed on you as a Condition to your Communion in the Doctrine and Prayers of the Parish-Churches but your actual Communion it self In discoursing therefore about the lawfulness of Communion with a Church the difference betwixt these two must be carefully observed lest the things required only of one Order of Men should be thought to belong to all It 's observed by one That the original of all our mischiefs sprung from mens confounding the terms of Ministerial Conformity with those of Lay-Communion with the Parochial Assemblies there being much more required of Ministers than of the People private persons having much less to say for themselves in absenting from the Publick Worship of God though performed by the Liturgy than the Pastor hath for not taking Oaths c. Certainly if this difference was but observed and the Case of Lay-Communion truly stated and understood the people would not be far more averse to Communion with the Parish-Churches than the Non-Conforming Ministers are as one complains and whatsoever they might think of the Conformity of Ministers because of the previous terms required of them they would judge what is required of the people to be lawful as some of them do And as the Ministers by bringing their Case to the Peoples may see Communion then to be lawful and find themselves obliged to maintain it in a private capacity so the People by perceiving their Case not to be that of the Ministers but widely different from it would be induced to hold Communion with the Church
maimed in Discipline So D r T. Goodwin Whereas now in some of the Parishes of this Kingdom there are many Godly Men that do constantly give themselves up to the Worship of God in publick c. These notwithstanding their mixture and want of Discipline I never thought for my part but that they were true Churches of Christ and Sister Churches and so ought to be acknowledged So that if Discipline be not essential to a true Church and a true Church is not to be separated from as has been proved above then the want of Discipline is no sufficient reason for Separation Secondly This they further prove by an induction of particulars This way Mr. Blake proceeds in Discipline was neglected in the Church of Israel yet none of the Prophets or men of God ever made attempt of getting up purer select Churches or made separation from that which was in this sort faulty All was not right in the exercise of Discipline in the Churches planted by the Apostles some are censured as foully faulty c. yet nothing heard by way of advice for any to make Separation nor any one instance of a Separatist given To come lower we are told by a learned person that the Helvetian or Switzerland Churches claim to be Churches and have the Notes Word and Sacraments though the order of Discipline be not settled among them and I am not he that shall blot out their name To come nearer home it was so in the late times when this was wanting as was acknowledged and of which Mr. Vines saith we know rather the name than the thing And if we shall look into the several Church-Assemblies amongst the Dissenters we shall find that there are many Preachers without full pastoral charge as it is acknowleded and that have little authority over their flocks in this kind that have not so much as the name of Discipline amongst them And so they have little reason to justifie themselves in a Separation by such an argument that will as well wound themselves as those they bend it against and they that do so are guilty of Sin So Mr. Baxter Many that observe the pollution of the Church by the great neglect of holy Discipline avoid this error by turning to a sinful Separation I shall conclude this with that grave advice of Dr. Owen 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 spatious Field for Wisdom Patience Love and prudent Zeal to exercise themselves And it is a most erverse imagination that Separation is the only cure for Church disorders If this advice be good in one case it is so in another and if it were well understood and faithfully followed this argument would be of little or no force 2. I shall shew how little this plea of the Defective Discipline reaches the case It s granted that there is such a Power and Authority of Ecclesiastical Discipline resident in the Church of England that if open and scandalous persons are not cast out the fault is in the Governours for the Law takes order they shall be as D r Bryan saith And the power of suspension put thereby into the Ministers hands is so evident that after D r Collins had proved it from the Rubricks Canons c. he concludes its plain that the judgment and practice of the Church of England in all times ever since it was a Church hath been to suspend some from the Table of the Lord. So that if there be defects through some past and present obstructions in the exercise of Discipline yet cannot the Church properly stand charged with them as is acknowledged or whatever may be charged upon the Church there can be no sufficient cause from a defect remisness or corruption therein for a Separation from it This was the constant judgment of the old Non-Conformists which I shall transcribe from a grave Author Those saith he that for many Years together during the Reign of the three last Princes denied to come up to a full Conformity to this Church had a low opinion of the Discipline then exercised of which they have left behind them large evidences yet how tender were they of the Churches honour to keep Christians in Communion how zealous were they against Separation as may appear in the labours of M r Parker M r Paget M r Ball. M r Brightman laid us low enough when he did not only parallel us with luke-warm Laodicea but made that Church the Type and we the Antitype by reason of our Discipline yet how zealous is he against Separation from these Assemblers and breaks out in these words Therefore their error is wicked and blasphemous who so forsake the Church as if Christ were altogether banished thence Having thus far considered what opinion the graver sort of the Non-Conformists have of Communion with a Church and what rules they do lay down about it and shew'd that according to those rules Separation from the Church is unlawful I shall close all with the last advice given by a Reverend Person to his Parishioners in a Farewel Sermon in these words Take heed of extreams It is the ordinary Temptation in a time of differences to think we cannot run too far from them we differ from and so whilst we decline one Rock we split upon another Remember the old Non-Conformists were equal Enemies to Superstition and Separation Maintain I beseech you sober Principles such as these are that every defective Ministry is not a false Ministry that sinful super-additions do not nullifie Divine institutions that sinful defects in Ordinances do not hinder the saving effects of them That there is a difference betwixt directing a Worship prescribing things simply evil and manifestly idolatrous and directing about Worship things doubtfully good being injoyned but the unquestionable substance of Worship being maintained This latter doth not justifie Separation And that the supposed corruptions in the Church of England are of that nature as do not affect the substance of it nor are such but what may be safely communicated in I shall now proceed to shew from them 3. I shall consider what opinion the eminent Non-Conformists have had of the several practices in the Church of England that are injoyned upon those that hold Lay-Communion with it which respect Forms Gestures Time c. In general they acknowledge that they are things
not oblige This M r Tombs hath undertaken to shew 1. Because this gesture seems not to have been of choice used by Christ. 2. Because S t Paul omits the gesture which he would not have done if it had been binding 3. He mentions the night and calls it the Lords Supper and if the time be not necessary much less the gesture 4. If the gesture doth oblige then Christians must use the self same that Christ used 3. It is granted that the nature of the ordinance doth not forbid kneeling So M r Bains kneeling is not unbeseeming a Feaster when our joy must be mingled with reverent trembling So M r Baxter The nature of the ordinance is mixed And if it be lawful to take a pardon from the King upon our knees I know not what can make it unlawful to take a sealed pardon from Christ by his Ambassador upon our Knee Hence M r Bayley reckons it as an error of some Independents that they accounted sitting necessary as a rite significant of fellowship with Christ and a part of our imitation of him and for both these reasons declared it necessary to keep on their hats at the time of participation 4. It is granted not to be idolatrous So M r Bains Kneeling is neither an occasion nor by participation Idolatry kneeling never bred Bread-worship And our doctrine of the Sacrament known to all the world doth free us from suspicion of adoration in it To these M r Tombs adds 1. that the Papists adore not the bread at putting into their mouths but at the elevation It being inconsistent with their principles to worship that which is not above them 2. That the worship of God not directed to a creature but before it as an occasional object of adoration to God is not Idolatry 3. That yet in the Church of England the Elements are not occasionally so but the benefits of Christ in the Lords Supper and 4. Kneeling is not to the Bread but as the signification of an humble and grateful mind as he shews from the Rubrick 5 thly Those that do account it inconvenient yet account it not to be unlawful Thus M r Cartwright Kneeling in receiving the Sacrament being incommodious in its own nature and made far more incommodious by Popish superstition is not therefore so to be rejected that we should abstain from the Sacrament if we cannot otherwise be partakers of it because the thing is not in its own nature unlawful So it s said of the old Nonconformists Kneeling at the Sacrament was disliked by all but yet thought tolerable and that it might be submitted to by some of the most learned From all which we may conclude with Mr. Vines that the posture being a circumstance of action as well as the time and place is not of the Free-hold of the ordinance and with Mr. Baxter that those that think they must not receive kneeling think erroneously As for standing up at the Creed c. Mr. Baxter saith his judgement is for it where it is required and where not doing it would be divisive and scandalous Nay elsewhere he saith that t is a convenient praising gesture c. Thus I have considered the most material points in which the Lay-members of the Church of England are concern'd and shew'd that the lawfulness of the things injoyned upon such is declared and justified by the suffrage and judgement of as eminent Nonconformists as have lived in the several ages since that unhappy controversie was first set on foot amongst us And now what remains but that every one concerned set himself seriously and impartially to consider it and it becomes such so to do when they go against the stream of the most experienced writers of their own party who might pretend to understand the case as well if not better than any that were conversant in it It becomes such when they bury that under the condemnation of false worship which the Lord the author of all truth doth allow in his service When they forsake the prayers of the Congregation and depart from the Table of the Lord and break off society and communion with the Churches of Christ c. when they expose Religion to contempt and the truth of God to reproach by the rents and divisions in the Church as M r Ball doth represent it It becomes them when our division gratifieth the Papists and greatly hazardeth the Protestant Religion and by it we may lose all which the several parties contend about as Mr. Baxter hath proved It becomes them when the Church of England is the bulwark of the Protestant Religion amongst us at home and that according to the noted saying of Mr. Egerton The withdrawing totally from it would more effectually introduce Popery than all the works of Bellarmine It becomes them when this is the Bulwark of it abroad and all the reformed Churches in the world have a venture in this Bottom which if compar'd to a Fleet the Church of England must be acknowledged to be the Admiral And if it go ill with this Church so as that miscarry there is none of the Churches of Christ this day under Heaven but are like to feel it as M r Brinsley discourses Lastly It becomes them when divisions and separations draw down the displeasure of God and lay us open to his Judgements Therefore Dr. Bryan after he hath largely insisted upon the Argument and the present case amongst us doth thus apply himself O that I could prevail with you to lay sadly to heart the greatness of the sin of divisions and the grievousness of the punishment threatned against it and hath been executed for it and that the Leaders and encouragers of private Christians to make this sinful separation would read oft and me ditate upon S t Jude's Epistle to v. 20. and that the multitudes that are willing to be led by them would follow the prescription of the means here to preserve or recover themselves from this seduction v. 20 21. And that both would leave off their reviling the Government Ecclesiastical and the Ministers that conform and submissively behave themselves by the example of Michael c. I shall conclude the whole with the peaceable and pious advice of Mr. Bains Let every man walk within the compass of his Calling Whatsoever lyeth not in us to reform it shall be our zeal and piety to tolerate and with patience to forbear especially in things of this nature which concern not so much the outward Communion with God or man essentially required in a visible state as the due ordering of business in the said Communion wherein there be many superfluities and defects silvâ tamen Ecclesiâ yea and such a Church notwithstanding as wherein the best and truest Members circumstances considered may have more cause to rejoyce than to grieve ERRATA PAG. 5. l. 25. r. soundness p. 7.
which men's minds have been corrupted I find in whatsoever they differ one from another yet in this they agree That it 's unlawful to hear in publick which I am perswaded is one constant design of Satan in the variety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits amongst us Let us therefore be the more aware of whatsoever tends that way Of this Opinion also is M r Tombs though he continued an Anabaptist who has writ a whole Book to defend the Hearing of the present Ministers of England and toward the Close of the Work hath given forty additional Reasons for it and in opposition to those he writes against doth affirm Sure if the Church be called Mount Sion from the preaching of the Gospel the Assemblies of England may be called Sion Christ's Candlesticks and Garden as well as any Christians in the World I shall conclude this with what M r Robinson saith in this Case viz. For my self thus I believe with my heart before God and profess with my tongue and have before the World that I have one and the same Faith Spirit Baptism and Lord which I had in the Church of England and none other that I esteem so many in that Church of what state or Order soever as are truly Partakers of that Faith as I account thousands to be for my Christian Brethren and my self a Fellow-member with them of that one Mystical Body of Christ scattered far and wide throughout the World that I have always in spirit and affection all Christian Fellowship and Communion with them and am most ready in all outward Actions and Exercises of Religion lawful and lawfully done to express the same And withal that I am perswaded the hearing of the Word of God there preached in the manner and upon the grounds formerly mentioned both lawful and upon occasion necessary for me and all true Christians withdrawing from that Hierarchical Order of Church-Government and Ministry and the uniting in the Order and Ordinances instituted by Christ. Thus far He. From what hath been said upon this Head we may observe that though these Reverend Persons do go upon different Reasons according to the Principles they espouse though they agree not in the Constitution of Churches c. yet they all agree that the Parochial Churches are or may be as I have observed before true Churches of Christ that Communion with such Churches is lawful and that we are to go as far as we can toward Communion with them Though they differ about the Notion of Hearing as whether it be an Act of Communion and about the Call of those they hear yet they all agree in the lawfulness of it And therefore to separate wholly in this Ordinance and from the Parochial Churches as no Churches are equally condemned by all 3. They hold that they are not to separate from a Church for unlawful things if the things accounted unlawful are not of so heinous a nature as to unchurch a Church and affect the Vitals of Religion or are not imposed as necessary terms of Communion 1. If the Corruptions are such as do not unchurch a Church or affect the vital parts of Religion So saith M r Tombs Not every not many Corruptions of some kind do un-church there being many in Faith Worship and Conversation in the Churches of Corinth and some of the Seven Churches of Asia who yet were Golden Candlesticks amidst whom Christ did walk But such general avowed unrepented of errours in Faith as overthrow the foundation of Christian Faith to wit Christ the only Mediator betwixt God and man and salvation by him Corruptions of Worship by Idolatry in Life by evil manners as are utterly inconsistent with Christianity till which in whole or in part they are not unchurched For till then the Corruptions are tolerable and so afford no just reason to dissolve the Church or to depart from it So M r Brinsley Suppose some just grievances may be found among us yet are they tolerable If so then is Separation on this ground intolerable unwarrantable in as much as it ought not to be but upon a very great and weighty cause and that when there is no remedy So M r Noyes Private Brethren may not separate from Churches or Church-Ordinances which are not fundamentally defective neither in Doctrine or Manners Heresy or Prophaness To all which add the Testimony of D r Owen and M r Cotton The former asserts That many errours in Doctrine disorders in sacred Administrations irregular walking in Conversation with neglect and abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches and yet not evacuate their Church-state or give sufficient warrant to leave their Communion and separate from them The latter saith Vnless you find in the Church Blasphemy or Idolatry or Persecution that is such as is intolerable there is no just ground of separation This is universally own'd But if any one should yet continue unconvinced let him but peruse the Catalogue of the faults of nine Churches in Scripture collected by M r Baxter and I perswade my self he will think the Conclusion inferr'd from it to be just and reasonable Observe saith he that no one member is in all these Scriptures or any other commanded to come out and separate from any of all these Churches as if their Communion in Worship were unlawful And therefore before you separate from any as judging Communion with them unlawful be sure that you bring greater reasons for it than any of these recited were 2. They are not to separate if the Corruptions are not so made the Conditions of Communion that they must necessarily and unavoidably communicate in them M r Vines speaks plainly to both of these The Church may be corrupted many ways in Doctrine Ordinances Worship c. And there are degrees of this Corruption the Doctrine in some remote Points the Worship in some Rituals of mans invention or custom How many Churches do we find thus corrupted and yet no Separation of Christ from the Jewish Church nor any Commandment to the Godly of Corinth c. to separate I must in such a Case avoid the Corruption hold the Communion But if Corruptions invade the Fundamentals the foundation of Doctrine is destroyed the Worship is become idolatrous and what is above all if the Church impose such Laws of her Communion as there is a necessity of doing or approving things unlawful in that Case Come out of Babylon The Churches of Protestants so separated from Rome But if the things be not of so heinous a nature nor thus strictly required then Communion with a Church under defects is lawful and may be a Duty So saith M r Corbet in the name of the present Non-Conformists We hold not our selves obliged to forsake a true Church as no Church for the corruptions and disorders found therein or to separate from its Worship for the tolerable faults thereof while our personal profession
be stinted and prescribed he can have no assurance but that some errours in matter and form will be committed So M r Ball One man is of opinion that a prescribed Form is better than another another that a prescribed Form is unlawful c. In these cases if the least errour do stain the Prayers to others that they may not lawfully joyn together with whom shall the faithful joyn at all Is not this to fill the Conscience with scruples and the Church with rents Such as these must if they will be true to their own Principles renounce Communion with all the World and be like those that M r Baxter tell us he knows that never Communicate with any Church nor ever publickly hear or pray or Worship God at all because they think all your ways which he directs to M r Bagshaw and other Non-Conformists of Worship to be bad With this there can be no continuance in any Communion so much M r Burroughs doth maintain There would be no continuance in Church-fellowship if this a separation from a Church for corruptions in it were admitted for what Church is so pure and hath all things so comfortable but within a while another Church will be more pure and some things will be more comfortable there Upon the mischievous consequence of this did M r R. Allein ground his last advice to his Parishioners Destroy not saith he all Communion by seeking after a purer Church than in this imperfect estate we shall ever attain According to this principle no Communion at all if not in all where shall we rest In all society something will offend With this lastly there can be no Order Union or Peace in the Church so M r Bains a Person of great experience This seeking the Peace of Sion reproveth such as make a seression or departure from the Church of God our visible Assemblies either upon dislike of some disorders in administration Ecclesiastical or disallowed Forms and manner of procuring things which the Communion of Saints for full complement and perfection requireth This is not in my conceit so much to reform as to deform to massacre the Body and divide the Head c. and will end in the dissolution of all Church-Communion if it be followed as is notoriously evident in the case of M r R. Williams of New England that for the sake of greater purity separated so long that he owned no Church nor Ordinances of God in the World and at his motion the people that were in Communion with him dissolved themselves as we have the account from thence This therefore is one of the Doctrines we are to avoid according to the prudent advice in a Book above-cited Doctrines crying up purity to the ruine of unity reject for the Gospel calls for unity as well as purity Fifthly They argue that to separate upon such an account is not at all warranted in Scripture Thus M r Cawdrey It is no duty of Christs imposing no priviledge of his purchasing either to deprive a mans self of his Ordinances for other mens sins or to set up a new Church in opposition to a true Church as no Church rightly constituted for want of some reformation in lighter matters Saith Mr. Blake We read not of Separation in this way for the sake of abuses and corruptions approved nor any presidents to go before us in it we read a heavy brand laid upon it Jude 19. These be they who separate themselves sensual not having the Spirit So the Congregations in New-England declare The faithful in the Church of Corinth wherein were many unworthy persons and practices are never commanded to absent themselves from the Sacrament because of the same therefore the godly in like causes are not presently to separate It should rather have been infer'd are not to separate for so much must be concluded from the premises if any thing at all This is accordingly infer'd by Mr. Noyes For Brethren to separate from Churches and Church-Ordinances which are not fundamentally defective neither in Doctrine or Manners in Heresy or Prophaneness is contrary to the Doctrine and Practice both of Christ and his Apostles Unto whom I shall add the testimony of Mr. Tombs Separation from a Church somewhat erroneous or corrupt in Worship or Conversation c. is utterly dissonant from any of the rules or examples which either of old the Prophets or holy men or Christ and his Apostles have prescribed is for the most part the fault of Pride or bitter Zeal and tends to strife and confusion and every evil work Sixthly They argue that there is no necessity for Separation for the sake of such corruptions because a Person may Communicate in the Worship without partaking in those corruptions It was the opinion of the Presbyterian Brethren at the Savoy-Conference that not only the hearing but the reading a defective Liturgy was lawful to him that by violence is necessitated to offer up that or none And if there was a possibility of thus separating the substance from the circumstantial defects in the Ministerial use of such Worship much more may this be supposed to be done by those that only attend upon it and are not obliged by any act of their own to give an explicite consent to all and every thing used in it 1. This separation of the good from the bad in Divine Worship they grant possible So Mr. Ball If some things humane be mixed with Divine a sound Christian must separate the one from the other and not cast away what is of God as a nullity fruitless unprofitable defiled because somewhat of men is annexed unto them In the Body we can distinguish betwixt the substance and the sickness which cleaveth unto it betwixt the substance of a part or member and some bunch or swelling which is a deformity but destroyeth not the nature of that part or member c. So M r Calamy It s one thing to keep our selves pure from pollution another to gather Churches out of Churches 2. They grant that what is faulty and a sin in Worship is no sin to us when we do not consent to it So M r Corbet My partaking in any Divine Worship which is holy and good for the matter and allowable or passable in the mode for the main doth not involve me in the blame of some sinful defects therein to which I consent not and which I cannot redress So another Reverend Person in his Farewel Sermon While all necessary fundamental Truth is publickly professed and maintained in a Church is taught and held forth in publick Assemblies and the corruptions there though great yet are not such as make the Worship cease to be Gods Worship nor of necessity to be swallowed down if one would communicate in that Worship while any Christian that is watchful over his own heart and carriage as all ought ever to be may partake in the
means which are most edifying It s answered by a Reverend Person They may say at all times when they have nothing to outweigh their own edification So that edification may be outweighed and then it can be no standing and sufficient reason So M r Burroughs declares in this case Men must consider not only what the thing is in its own nature but what it is to them how it stands in reference to their relations It is not enough to say the thing is in it self better but is it better in all the references I have and it hath Is it better in regard of others in regard of the publick for the helping me in all my relations may it not help one way and hinder many ways Of the same opinion is M r Baxter Many things saith he must concur and especially a respect to the publick good to know which is the best So that edification is not to be judged of alone our own improvement is not to determine us in our actions and especially not with respect to Church-Communion for then other reasons do give Law to it and over-rule it This we see those that dissent from the Church in other things agree with her in And they give several reasons and arguments for it First If we were sure we could not profit yet we must come to do homage to God and shew reverence to his Ordinance This is M r Hildersham's opinion Secondly The leaving a Church for better edification is built upon a false and dangerous principle which is that we must always chuse the best So M r Burroughs To hold what in its self best must be chosen and done not weighing circumstances or references is a dividing principle And afterward he saith a Christian without comparing one thing with another will hack and hew and disturb himself and others in the ways of Religion I believe some of you have known those who whatsoever they have conceived to be better than other they have presently followed with all eagerness never considering circumstances references or consequences but the thing is good it must be done yet being wearied with this they have after grown loose in as great an excess the other way Thirdly This principle of better edification if followed would bring in confusion So M r Hildersham This factious disposition of the hearers of Gods Word hath in all ages been the cause of much confusion in the Church of God and greatly hindred the fruit of the Gospel of Christ. This saith M r Brinsley the moderate Author of the late Irenicum M r Burroughs will by no means allow but condemns as the direct way to bring in all kind of disorder and confusion into the Church and I think none who are judicious but will therein subscribe to him It will not be amiss to transcribe his own words It is in it self a better thing to enjoy a Ministry of the most eminent gifts and graces than one of lower but if this should be made a rule that a man who is under a Pastor who is faithful and in some good measure gifted upon another mans coming into the Country that is more eminent he should forsake his Pastor and join to the other and if after this still a more eminent man comes he should leave the former and join to him and by the same Law a Pastor who hath a good People yet if others be more likely to receive more good he may leave his own People and go to them what confusion and disorder would there be continually in the Church This is condemned also by the New England Ministers This M r Cawdrey doth expose If a man may lawfully separate from a true Church c. only with a good mind to serve God in Church-institutions true or conceited by his own light all the Secretaries and Separists Donatists Brownists in the World may be justified This saith another speaking of hearing for this reason is a Church-destroying Principle sure if one member be not fixed then not another nor another c. and then not the Pastor nor Teacher and so farewel Churches Fourthly This will be endless So M r Burroughs Men must not separate from a Church though there be corruptions in it to gather into a new Church which may be more pure and in some respects more comfortable First Because we never find the Saints in Scripture separating or raising Churches in such a case And Secondly There would be no continuance in Church-fellowship if this were admitted for what Church is so pure and hath all things so comfortable but within a while another Church will be more pure and some things will be more comfortable there And he concludes with this prudent maxim The general peace of the Church should be more regarded than some comfortable accommodations to our selves So M r Baxter What if twenty Ministers be one abler than another in their several degrees doth it follow that only the ablest of all these may be joyned with because that all the rest do worse And yet this must be if edification be always to be consulted and is to determine us in our choice of Ministers Churches and Ordinances Fifthly They say edification doth not depend so much upon the external administration of Worship as Gods Blessing and that we are not to break the Order Peace and Union of the Church for the sake of it The former is asserted by M r Hildersham It s our sin and shame and is just cause of humbling to us if we cannot profit by the meanest Minister God hath sent The power of the Ministry dependeth not on the excellency of the Teachers gift but Gods blessing The latter is maintained by M r Vines It s said order in an Army kills no Body yet without it the Army is but a rout neither able to offend or defend So haply order in the Church converts no body yet without it I see not how the Church can attain her end or preserve themselves in begetting or breeding up Souls to God Therefore is the advice of Mr. Baxter Do not think to prosper by breaking over the hedge under pretence of any right of Holiness so of edification whatsoever following any party that would draw you to Separation The mischief of which is represented by Dr. Tuckney Experience saith he hath taught us that the Church of God hath been poorly edifyed by those who have daubed up their Babel with untempered mortar c. when the Church is rent by Schisms and Factions and one Congregation is turned into many Conventicles falsely now called Churches this doth diminish weaken and ruine Lastly When they do grant that edification may serve to guide us and that we may hear where we can most profit it s with such limitations and cautions as these it must be seldom in a great case without offence and contempt Thus Mr. Hildersham I dare