not only loved the wayes of covetousness but ensnared the people in uncleannesses and upon those in the Gospel that made Gods house a house of Merchandize and so a den of thieves So that another ground and reason of mens forsaking and propagating separations from our publick assemblies Covetousness selfe interest I 'le name a 5. Even Idleness and this both spiritual and natural spiritual for because many men will take no paines in the practise of the duties of godliness which might well imploy mens whole lives therefore they fall into nice and new opin ions to imploy their active mindes So spiritual Idleness in things in which they should be imployed makes men curious and curiosity contentious The zeal of practise of humility and patience and self denyal and mortifying the flesh with the affections and lusts and renouncing the world and the other parts of real goodness this zeal grows cold and so that of disputes gets and gathers heat and vigor A lass our good works in this age fall short of the first Christians and then no wonder that our controversies exceeds theirs because we spend not our time in the one which is irksome to flesh and blood and therefore we imploy it in hammering and forging the other Pharaoh understood this well though he applyed it ill when he thought the Israelites proposals of travelling into the wilderness to their divotions was the effect of their idleness and so increast their taskes as the properest way to divert their design and as spiritual Idleness so also natural is often the cause of division For as experience sheweth such men as desert or neglect their secular callings are most apt to run after new teachers and with the widowes that neglected their office of Ministration to be busibodies and in many families the she-zealots neglecting their proper business the guiding of the house have therefore run into conventicles and upon them have seducers acted their designs most leading captive silly women to become duck coyes to whole families besides these there are another sort of Idle persons to that can sit at home lurke by their fire sides when they should be in Gods house and though they have little or nothing to hinder them from attending his ordinance yet any pretence a showr of rain a sore finger an Aking head a thin blast of weather will serve the turn to divert them O that such would remember Hezekiahs example who with in three dayes after he had been sick of a most painful and mortal disease went into the Temple a Esa 38.22 And the woman that on the sabbath resorted to the Synagogue though she had a spirit of infirmity eighteen yeares b Luk. 13.10 â—1 Alass the cause is mens hearts are dead and void of grace and the love of God and his word and so they find little comfort they take no delight in his publick worship and therefore are glad of an excuse David loved Gods tabernacle well For his heart and his flesh rejoyced for the living God c Psa 84.12 Those that tast how sweet the Lord is will desire the sincere milk of this word d 1 Pet. 2.2 3 O thou that art so careless whether ever thou appear in the assemblies of Gods Church in this life thou hast cause to fear thou shall never stand in the congregation of the righteous in the life to come e Psa 1.5 That 's a fifth cause of mens forsakeing or absenting from the assemblies as the manner of many is 6. There is a sixth which I will name because I will miss none and but name it because I have spoken in effect to it before The manner of some is to forsake them upon pretence they can spend their time and serve God as well pray and read good books at home as in the Church of God But God loves the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob f Psal 87.2 David sure being both a prophet and a King could serve God as well in private as any pretenders and he had both a prophet and a Priest with him in his Banishment yet did he for all that long for the publick worship of God bewailed the want of it exceedingly g Psal 84.3 But I have fully shown you before the excellency and acceptableness of publick worship perfoâ—rmed by Godly ministers together with his people in a publick place above any private whatsoever that 's a sufficient consideration to convince them of sin that forsake the assemblies upon this account as the manner of some is Thus have I now both discovered the evident duty of all Christians and their obligation to frequent the publick assemblies in order to the publick worship of God and the sin of those men that either upon pretence of corruptions in the Church though they acknowledg it Orthodox and right in the substantials of religion or of some faults in the ministers life or opinion or gifts or carriage but in truth out of malice or hatred against him or out of pride or curiosity or Idleness or upon pretence they can as well serve God at home do neglect or forsake the publique assemblies Now what remaines but a word of exhortation to all that have an ear to hear what Gods Spirit saith unto the Churches and members of them 1. I beseech you Beloved in the Lord to learn to lay to heart your obligation to attend upon Church Assemblies and beware of those that endeavour the divisions of the Church or to divide and separate you from it It 's the Apostles own earnest exhortation g Rom. 16 17. now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned and avoid them They are no lovers of your souls as they pretend they are no servants of God for your good they are no fit guides for salvation that for things meerly external adiaphorous indifferent matters of meer order or decency separate themselves from the society of a true Church and would have you so to do As if a furious brainsick sailor should upon every occasion of anger or discontent cast himself overboard presuming to be safe enough out of the ship the ordinary road way of Gods saving any soul is in the unity of the Church And that is in a conjunction of them to some visible ordinary congregation according to that h Act. 2.47 the Lord added to the Church such as should be saved but exceruntè nobis they who go out from amongst us because they was never of us as to their hearts I will not presume to judge them as to their final state yet this I 'le say that the Church being the Spouse of Christ and Schism and Heresie being a work of the Flesh an effect of so bad causes as I have shown you fully ranked by the Apostle with fornication and drunkenness and adultery and the like I would not dye in their state for all the
But as it was that solicitous care I had of your present and everlasting Welfare that did at first engage me to Preach upon these subjects so the very same fire burning still in my heart being earnestly desirous the truths herein delivered may not be forgotten by you even while you have use for them this almost irresistibly urged me to enter upon the stage to encounter the harsh Censures I seriously expect for it These Sermons you know together with others upon other texts relating to this subject which to imprint also would swell the book to too great a bulk was preached both in Church and Chappel The design of them was evidently to deal with your Consciences and inform them aright in this present juncture of publick affairs what your Obligation is to your own Pastors and to prevent your Chismatical forsaking the Publick Assemblies to joyn to an Independant Conventicle Pardon me if I mistake it for I believe it cannot as it is circumstantiated consist with the principles of the old sober Presbyterians nor yet with the Modern that have any remains of settled principles concerning Church unity and Church Assemblies in them But having preacht them I easily perceived all my labours utterly lost and useless to many that either would not or could not hear them or else basely without any shew of reason reflected on them Hence I began to desire they might have some way of approving themselves further to the World and especially that they might be exposed with better advantage to your more serious and retired consideration and perusal and if it were possible that they might be known unto and narrowly examined by all under my charge These and other Motives especially knowing that other books of better worth of this or like subjects have never reacht your hands nor in likelyhood ever will do being entertained prevailed and wrought a trembling resolution in me to offer them first to some Christian friends perusal and after to put them upon this publick tryal though at first in composing them I never purposed more than the delivering them vivâ voce to your private audience It is admirable to consider how this perticular national Church suffers by Traduces and Blasphemies on all hands Meet as Christ was crucified betwixt two thieves so on the one side the Papists Anathematize us the Faithful Ministers and Members of the Church of England because we are the most professed enemies to their usurpations Idolatries and superstitions on the other side the separating Members of our Church do hate and maligne us and sometimes saucily and petulantly brand us with Popery and Idolatry and so make us limbs of Anti-christ and therefore no true or faithful Churches of Christ and that meerly for those few innocent indifferent significant ceremonies which we retain and observe for the order and decency of the Worship of God Thus are Christs sheep in the midst of Wolves His Spouse a woman in the Wilderness of wilde Beasts of all sorts this is Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim but both against Juda Herod and Pontius Pilate made friends Pharisees and Sadduces combining and agreeing against Christ But blessed be God so safe is our Church and so warrantable is our standing in it that this Flag of Defiance we can hold out against all Sadduces and Opponents that we have in most of our adversaries confessions those things in the Midst of us that in the judgements of all the Reformed Churches as may appear by the Harmony of their confessions are the only undoubted marks and infallible characters of a true Visible Church where ever they are Such are the pure preaching of the Word of God and the Right Administration of the Sacraments And this I made good to you upon that text Acts 2.42 which I trust you will remember Now whoever is once assured that the National Church he lives in and in which he was baptized is a true Visible Church of Christ He can never have just cause while it remains such essentially to separate from it but ought to live and rest with quietness and chearfulness of Spirit in communion thereof For it is every mans duty to profess himself a Christian and to own his Religion publickly and therefore publickly to partake of and frequent the Ordinances and Sacraments of the Gospel in order thereunto but this he cannot do without society and communion with some Church or other Every Christian as such is bound to look upon himself as a member of a Body viz. The Visible Church of Christ but how can he be known to be a member who is not united with the other parts of the Body Hence follows that upon all Christians there lyes an Obligation to engage in a Religious society with others for partaking of the ordinances of the Gospel Now a Christi an being actually joyned in Church society with other Christians is so long bound to maintain society with them till his communion with them becomes sin The separatist must prove that every one sins that keeps in the Communion of the Church of England or else he himself must inevitably lye under the guilt of sin for separation from it there being nothing that can justifie the withdrawing from the society of that Church wherein a Christian was baptized but the unlawfulness of continuing it Nor is it any corruptions that are crept into a Church which still remaines true and and Faithful as to its constitution and Essentials that will make it a Christians duty to withdraw from it or to gather new Churches in and out of it though it be upon pretence of purer administrations Which by the way is all that is pleaded by most of our adversaries against us viz. Some defects or Corruptions in the exercise and administration of Church order and discipline for there is no Church on earth perfectly free from these and as it is proved in these ensuing Sermons especially upon the latter text So is it excellently done by the famous Mr. Norton in his answer to Apollius as I find him quoted by Dr. Edward Stillingfleet in his Irenicum p. 111. That it is Lawful for Christians to joyn with Churches so defective and if it be Lawful to joyn with them it must needs be unlawful to separate from them for how can the God of Love and Vnity endure any rents or Schismes in the Body of Christ and then how dare any one forsake the Communion of that Church whereof they are natural and immediate members if they be not assured that it is either no Church or a false one or that it is unlawful to hold communion with it This is evidently is the Case of our Church in her separation from the Church of Rome the main ground hereof being the sin of Communicating with that Church in her Idolatry and superstition and the impossibility of Communicating with her and not partaking in her sins the practice of her Idolatry being made a necessary condition of her
necks they are properly stiled children of Belial their hellish design is clean contrary to the Text to cause divisions and offences amongst you 2. As it is necessary to prevent divisions that you submit to the same Government so that you walk by the same rule What is that It is either Principal or Subordinate Principal even the Law and the Testimony the sacred Scriptures Subordinate even according to the Scriptures the rules and canons and Customes of the Church without a due respect to both these rules in their right places it is impossible Christians should speak all the same things but there will be divisions among them I dare assert and think it not difficult to maintain by the Scriptures as well as clear reason that there is an obligation upon the members of that Church in which they were born baptised and bred up to submit unto and obey the rules and canons and customes thereof if they be not able to prove them contrary to the Scriptures or the clear light of natural reason in us or at least such conclusions as are properly directly and evidently deduced from them There is much in that argument of the Apostle to confirm the sober-minded herein p 1 Cor. 11. If any man be contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God And in that of our Saviour If the Offender will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican and again he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Do not think I ascribe to the Church any Popish infallibility or call for any blind obedience unto it O no if any of its rules or injunctions appears to be contrary to the Word of God like Nebuchadnezzar's to the three Children to fall down to his Image or Darius his to Daniel not to pray to any other God or the High-Priests to the Apostles not to speak in the name of Jesus then must we answer with them whether must we obey God or man judge ye But then we must not deny our obedience to such Church rules and canons as repugnant to God's Word upon light surmises and slender presumptions this were to speak evil of the things we know not q Jude 10. O no r As I take it this is the excellent Bishop Sanderion in one of his Sermons No worse for that as in the Courts of Civil Justice men are not ordinarily put to prove themselves honest men but the proof lieth on their accusers part and therefore it is sufficient for the acquitting any man in soro externo that there is nothing of moment proved against him it being requisire to the condemning a man that there be a clear and a full evidence against him So in these moral trials when enquiry is made into the lawfulness or sinfulness of our Churches rules and customes and our Governours commands it is sufficient to warrant them if there can be nothing produced from express Scriptures or sound reason against them and to condemn or disobey them upon remote consequences and weak deductions though it be from Scripture-Texts can ne'r be excused of rashness and unrighteousness Sure obedience is an unquestioned duty obey them that have the rule over you saith the Apostle for they watch for your Souls and therefore unless it be manifest that their Lawes and injunctions be against the Word of God all our questions are but carpings and needless stumbling blocks laid in our way by the Troublers of Israel The safest way is obedience which also is absolutely necessary among Christians that they may speak the same things and that there be no divisions among them Then 3. More particularly still to this end that as Christian Brethren ye may speak the same things without divisions it is necessary that ye all joyn in the same form of prayer praise and manner of worshipping God It was David's earnest desire O magnifie the Lord with me Psal 34.3 and let us exalt his Name together And the Holy Ghost in the Acts mentions this Uniformity in the Churches Infancy and time of her first love to be one chief cause of its prospering and inlarging Acts 4.24 The multitude of Believers lifted up their voice in praises with one accord Acts 4.24 The people with one accord gave heed to the things that Philip spake Acts 8.6 And it s a great part of the blessedness of the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 4.10 that the Elders sing with one voice unto the Lord. So doth the Apostle make it his earnest prayer for the Romans Rom. 15.6 that they might be like minded one towards another that with one mind and with one voice they might glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and with one mouth too while men think to glorifie God in several ways and several forms it is scarce intelligible how they can do it in this desirable manner with one mind and with one mouth so many several ways so many several mouths and that can never tend to the glory of God The Apostles expression intimates that like-mindedness unanimity and uniformity are very subservient to the glory of God What an honour is it to the God of Israel when all Israel came in as one man to do him worship when that admirable variety of Gifts and Administrations and Offices that are in his Church do not jar and clash one against another but sustain and mutually supply out of their stores the wants each of other and all conspire together in their several kinds to glorifie God What else is musical harmony but concord in discourse variety in consort it makes the musick full and delightful when there is a well-ordered variety of voices and instruments in it but if all instruments were perfectly well tuned yet if the men could not agree what to play but one would have a nimble Galliard another a frisking Jig another a grave Air and if all of them should be so wilful as without yielding to the rest to scrape on his Tune as loud as he could what a hideous hateful noise may you imagine would such a mess of Musick be no less odious to God and equally grievous to every godly man it is when such Vices as these are heard in the Church of God I am of Paul and I of Cephas 1 Cor. 1.12 and I of Apollo When one Pamphleteer will have the Church governed after this fashion another after that when one Mountebank in Religion will have this way of Worship and form of Prayer another that to the great scandal of the Reformed Religion and the manifest dishonour of God Surely beloved such an Uniformity as of all Christian Members of the same Church to be of one mind and worship God in one place and in one way and form and manner with one accord would be the most beautiful and comely and happiest thing in
and drinking the same spiritual drink in the holy Communion and therefore all reason that as members of the same Body and servants of the same Family we speak the same things and there be no divisions amongst us Mr. Baxter in his Cure of Divisions urgeth two or three things well in this Topick of the Church as that our union with the Church is a sign of our proportionable union with Christ and our separation from the Church is a sign of our separation from Christ nay that union is not only an accident but of the very Essence of the Church without which it is no Church and without which we can be no members of it Unity being necessary to the very being of the Church and of Christianity and that our union is necessary to our nourishment from and Communion with Christ and his Church but I refer you for these to him See it page 66. whom perhaps some will rather hear than us if we should speak the same words I shall amongst many particulars urge only four things with reference to the Church that shews the need you have to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst you 1. This is the only way to forward the work of God for the building up of the Church which Faction and divisions on the other hand obstructeth so as nothing more You often read in Scripture of edifying the Body of Christ Eph. 4.12 2 Cor. 12.19 and of doing all things to edifilcation The expression is metaphorical taken from material buildings often used by the Apostle with application to the Church of God and the spiritual building thereof 1 Tim. 3.15 for the Church is the House of the Living God and all Christian-members of this Church are as so many stones of this building whereof the house is made up and the bringing in unbelievers into the Church by converting them to the Christian Faith is as the fetching of more stones from the Quarries to be laid in the building Now the building in it self and that is edification is the well and orderly joyning together of Christian men as living stones in truth and love that they speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst them that they may grow together as it were into one entire building to make up a strong and comely house for the Masters use and honour a 1 Pet. 2.9 Indeed there is nothing more conduceth hereunto than Peace Love and Concord Knowledge is very little or nothing but a puff in comparison of Charity in order to Edification b 1 Cor. 8.1 It may swell and look big and make a shew but Charity doth the deed c 1 Cor. 1.10 It lays the stones together and makes them couch close one to another and binds them up with Fillings and Cement to make them hold Hence that wise Master-builder S. Paul that knew well what belongs to this work when he speaks of compacting the Church into a building mentions the edifying of it self in love d Eph. 4.16 Indeed when all the Workmen intend the main business each in his place and office performing their appointed task with chearfulness and good agreement then doth the work go on and the building gets up apace and strongly but when one man draws one way and another another way one will have things done after this fashion another after that one mars what another makes pulls down what another sets up how is it possible while things go thus that ever the building should be brought to any perfection or handsomness and therefore well doth the Apostle joyn these two together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Rom. 14.19 Let us follow after the things that make for peace and things wherewith we may edisie one anot her Where the hearts and tongues of the builders are divided the building will either come to nothing or prove but a Babel of confusion for where envy and strife is there is confusion and every evil work f James 3.16 Strife will make ill work it will build up nothing unless it be Babels walls It is peace and concord that builds up the walls of Jerusalem which as it hath its name from peace so hath it also its perfection from peace and then and not before shall Jerusalem be built as a City that is at unity in it self g Psa 122.3 whe◠they that build Jerusalem are first at unity amongst themselves when they speak the same things and there is no divisions amongst them 2. As this is the way to build the Church so it is the way to preserve in both in peace beauty and safety 1. In peace The concord of Familie is their peace so is amity and concord in the Church whereas the divisions and discords of Christians disturbs their minds and discomposeth the Church Pray for the peace of Jerusalem h Psa 125. saith the Psalmist but by different forms and ways there is a breach of that peace such divisions in the Church are like wars and tumults in the Commonwealth they discompose and set it out of order It was Sir Henry Wotton's excellent saying Disputandi pruritus Scabies Ecclesiae The Itch of Disputing doth cause the Scab of the Church Every Sect finds some little pleasure in scratching by zealous wranglings and disputes for their several Opinions till the blood be ready to follow and at length it proves the bain of peace and charity and love which is the very life and soul of Christian Religion Now is not this or should it not be an effectual Motive to this Unity Unamity and Uniformity How dear should be the Churches peace to every member thereof Dulce nomen pacis the very name of peace sounds sweetly to the ear there is such a mixture of pleasantness and profitableness in it as wrapt the Psalmist into admiration ut prius miraretur quà m ostenderet he admires it himself and rouzeth others to the like admiration i Psa 133.1 Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is Brethren to dwell together in unity some things are pleasing not good as Epicurism and Good-fellowship some things good not pleasing as Fasting and Martyrdom but this both for pleasure it is like the Oyl poured out on Aaron's Head for goodness it is like the Dew on Hermon's Hill which made the Valleys fruitful So good and pleasant it is that nothing can be pleasant without it It is the desire of all hearts the rest of all Nations the end of all Contentions pacem te poscimus omnes nothing more desirable in Families in Kingdoms much more in the Church And therefore lest we violate the Churches peace it concerns us to speak the same things lest there be no peace but divisions amongst us 2. It is the way to preserve the Church in beauty and honour the concord of Christians is their beauty and honour and their divisions and discord is their deformity and shame The Church
same argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely by this methinks we should be warn'd if by no other consideration to let such a spirit of peace and meekness shew it self in our lives and doctrines ut nihil de nobis male loqui sine mendacio possint that they may never have advantage with the same breath to speak both truly and reproachfully against us And to this end to preserve the Churches beauty and honour and to stop the mouth of the Adversary and take away the occasion of scandal letâ—us speak the same things and let there be no divisions amongst us I add 3. This want of Unity Unanimity and Uniformity among those that keep within the pale of the Church gives scandal to those of the Separation See Toleration not to be abused such Schismaticks and Hereticks as are clean gone out and have renounced all kind of communion with us for they must needs think very jollily of themselves and their own singular way when they shall find those very grounds whereon they have raised their Schism to be so stoutly pleaded for and pursued by some that are yet content to hold a kind of communion with us For there are many that will hold those Principles besides which there can be nothing colourably pretended for inconformity in point of Ceremony and Church-Government that will not yet admit of such conclusions naturally issuing thence as will necessary inâ— an utter separation The Separatists Tenents are but the Nonconformists Principles improved and then it is to be feared that the Nonconformist gives the occasion of offence and boasting to the Separatist he lays the foundation for the others division from us and so may happily have a right in that of our Saviour n Mat 18.7 Offences will be for the tryal of the faith and patience of the Saints but vae homini woe to the men without repentance by whom the occasion of those offences comes In all these respects then for the Churches honour and to avoid that scandal that is thereby given to Atheist Papist and Separatist let us speak the same things and let there be no divisions amongst us and as for the Churches beauty and honour so 3. For the safety thereof for divisions 1. Invite and incourage the Churches Enemies 2. They weaken them to resist them 1. They invite and incourage the Enemy as it is noted of the Ancient Brittains their intestine contentions invited the Enemy to conquest Nothing so much hearteneth and advantageth the Enemy abroad as the fractions and dissentions that we have at home Per discordias civiles externi attollunt animas said Livy once of old Rome Whence our Countryman Gildas complained of old of this Island then imbroiled in wars fortis ad civilia bella infirma ad retundenda hostium tela that by how much more her valour and strength was spent upon her self in managing of intestine and domestick broils by so much the more she laid her self open to the outrages and incursions of forreign Enemies commune periculum concordiâ propulsandum saith Tacitus The Churches peace and concord is the Tower of David from whence we may repel our Adversaries whom else we shall by our intestine differences cause to rejoyce If all the members of the Church were but fast joyned together saith Dr. Reynolds †In his excellent Sermon of the peace of the Church vinculo fidei glutine charitatis in the bond and cement of Faith and Love if Governours Teachers and People would but joyn hand in hand the one to rule with Authority and Meekness the other to teach with wisdom and compassion the third to honour both by humble submission to their judgment and willing obedience to the guidance of their Governours and Pastors then would they cut off all occasion from those that seek occasion and disappoint the expectations of those that do captare tempora impacata inquieta would be fishing in troubled waters The Devil as Optatus speaks is tormented with the peace of Brethren but is quicken'd and put into hopes of success in his attempts against the Church by the mutual ruptures and jealousies that the members thereof foment and cherish amongst themselves as when by Jeroboam's defection Judah and Israel were rent asunder then came Shishak and troubled Jerusalem o 2 Chro. 12.2 and as divisions invite and incourage the Churches Enemies so 2. They weaken her to resist them The unity of Christians is their secondary strength saith Mr. Baxter their primary strength is Christ and the Spirit of Grace which quickneth them and their secondary strength is their union amongst themselves Separation from Christ depriveth men of the first and separation one from another depriveth them of the second evermore vis unita fortior but divisions weaken the Church and dividers are certainly the weakners and destroyers of the Church even Satan is sensible that his Kingdom divided cannot stand and therefore he keeps an admirable unity in the members thereof so that a whole Legion consisting of many thousands of them had but one name one action and one habitation in the man possessed with them Concordiâ res parvae crescunt discordiâ dilabuntur the wall is hollow and loose where the stones stand off one from another and couch not close Now brotherly love and unity is it that bindeth all fast and makes of loose heaps one entire piece Observe the expression in the Text I beseech you Brethren saith the Apostle that there be no divisions amongst you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Like-mindedness you see is the thing that joyneth all together and in the well joyning consisteth the strength of any structure Whence we read of the bond of peace p Eph. 4.3 and the bond of perfectness q Col. 3.14 An expression of the like importance you have r Phil. 1.27 That I may hear of your affairs saith he that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind Christians never stand so fast as when they are of one mind whence there is a Greek word sometimes used in the New Testament as Bishop Saunderson observes Å¿ Bishop Saunderson's Sermons p. 270. viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is commonly translated Confusion and sometimes Tumults neither of which Translations are unfit for the sense but in the Literal Notation it rather imports a kind of unstableness or unsettledness when a thing doth not stand fast but shaketh and tottereth and is in danger of falling And this S. Paul opposeth to peace God is not the Author saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of confusion but of peace Intimating by the very opposition that it is mostly for want of peace that things do not stand fast but are ready to fall into discords and confusion S. James speaks out what S. Paul but intimateth and tells us plainly that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the effect of discord and that contention is
buy Gold too dear Follow peace with all men and holiness saith S. Paul a Heb. 12.14 without which no man shall see the Lord not without which peace but without which holiness no man can see the Lord for the Gender of the Pronoun is not Feminine not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without peace some man may see the Lord having faithfully endeavoured it though he cannot obtain it for that is not his fault but without holiness which if any man want it is his own fault only no man shall see the Lord Our speaking the same things then and being joyned together in the same mind and judgment must have this limitation so far forth as may stand with Christian truth and godliness Now for positive directions To this then joyn in the second place That so the main of truth and godliness be but preserved inviolate Dirrct 2 then must Christians by all means seek Unity Unanimity and Uniformity to speak the same things It 's true the Heathen said truly that nihil minimum in Religione yet we know our Saviour distinguisheth between Mint and Cummin b Mat. 23.23 and the great things of the Law And the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem c Acts 25.28 between things â—ecessary and unnecessary and S. Paul d Rom. 14.1 between meats and drinks and the Kingdom of God and elsewhere between the Foundation and Superstructure e 1 Cor. 3.10 11. Some truths there are which belong adsidem Catholicam others which only pertain ad scientiam Theologicam Some are questiones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Gregory Nazianzen others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some are de side others circa sidem being such perillous superinducements as may bruise and wrench the foundation others praeter fidem in quibus salvâ fide quâ Christiani sumus ignor atur verum as S. Austin speaks f De peccato Origin cap 23 in which we may err or be ignorant believe or suspend without any hazard to the common Faith In one word as Tertullian distinguisheth of sins so may we of opinions some are quotidianae incursionis such as are usually incident to humane frailty and some are dogmat a devoratoria salutis such as proceed from heretical pride or blindness Now though we must as I said before contend earnestly for the Faith the Foundations themselves against Heresies Idolatry or Tyranny or such points as are immediately adjacent to the Foundations yet so long as there is sound agreement in Fundamental Truths and in the simplicity of the Gospel we must deny our own wits and silence our disputes in matters meerly notional or Canons that have little or no necessary influence into Faith or godly living speaking the same things with our Brethren in those matters rather than spend our precious hours in impertinent contentions so as for gain of a small truth to shipwrack a great deal of love and by perplexing our minds with less matters take off our thoughts from more necessary and spiritual imployments It was a wise and seasonable rebuke which the Marriners in a dangerous Tempest gave to a Philosopher who troubled them with an impertinent discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we perish whilst thou triflest So is it sad that it can be truly said of any that whilst they so wrangle about such questions as gender strife those whose poor souls ready happily to sink under the Tempest of Sin and Death cry out like the Man of Macedonia in S. Pauls Vision Come and help us do for want of the plain and compendiary way of Faith Repentance Good Works Spiritual Worship and Evangelical Obedience which should be taught them become a prey to the envious man who while we sleep will be sure to watch and goes about seeking whom he may devour O that we would be wise then by all means to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and in nothing to give offence to the Church of God but rather silence and smother our domestica judicia our private judgments and singular fancies and conceits leaving all small dissentions to Elias quum venerit as the Areopagites did some causes to the hundred year g A Gell. p. 12. c. 7. being stiff and peremptory in none of these things against the quiet of Gods Church but speaking the same things even such things that may make men confess that God is in us of a truth In absoluto ac facili est aeternitas saith S. Hilary excellently God leadeth not his people unto life eternal by knots and inextricable questions by verbal wranglings or contentions Curiositate opus non est we have no need of Curiosity saith Tertul. Our work is to be Christians in practice not Criticks in doubtful Disputations We do but mistake the design of Christianity if we fix our selves in perplexed conceits and humours nay we pervert it if we raise and pursue contentions in the Church saith Mr. Hildersham h Upon John 4.23 This is a mark of ungodly and graceless men such as serve not the Lord Jesus but their own bellies i Rom. 16.17 18. It agrees this with S. Judes description of Seducers in his time k Verses 8 11 12. On the contrary every man that fears God his great care is to love God and keep his Commandments l 1 John 5.2 But as for doubtful things he is of a peaceable disposition in them he is of the number of them that are quiet in the Land m Psal 35.20 He spends not the heat of his zeal about for or against doubtful Opinions alterable Modes Rites and circumstances of Religion they are things too weak to lay much weight upon them being so little serviceable or disserviceable to the very design and frame of Christianity further than as our humility and obedience and meekness and other Christian Graces are exercised and manifested by them Indeed an eager defending or opposing such kind of things is †The design of Christianity by M Fowler to use the similitude of an excellent Person like the Apes blowing at the Gloworm which affords neither light nor heat nay by woful experience we find it very injurious to the very design of Christianity as that which often hardens Atheistically disposed persons when they observe the contentions of Christians about matters of this nature for thereby they often take a measure of their whole Religion and besides an eager concernedness about indifferent things is too ordinarily accompanied with a luke-warm or rather frozen indifferencies concerning the most important points and the Indispensables of Christianity It is too visibly apparent to be denied saith Mr. Page 240. Fowler that those that have such a scalding hot Zeal either for or against things of no certainty and no necessity are many of them as their Predecessors the Pharisees were in the very other Extreme as to not a few of the weightiest matters of Religion wherefore in these things I
or do not receive it in the love thereof by whomsoever it be spoken to the God of Truth thou must answer for it in the Great Day of Judgment It was wont to be a Rule of Peace amongst Divines that let but Dissenters keep their Opinions to themselves or to their Families or make them Rules for their own private practises only and who will then molest or contradict them This Liberty of Conscience is freely granted to every man to worship God himself or with his Family according to his Conscience i. e. in such a way and manner as his Conscience his Judging Faculty judgeth most acceptable * Vide Bishop Sanderson's seventh Sermon ad populum pag. 384. But if any man will go publish his Opinion to intangle the Consciences of others and seek to draw Disciples to himself and make a Party and cause divisions and dissentions amongst his Majesties Subjects and so trouble the Publick State and distract it to restrain such or punish them is no sin in the Magistrate no Tyranny over the Consciences of men no Persecution or Oppression ‖ Vide Ashdon's Epistle before his book called Tolerationâ—d sapproved c but it is his duty thus to keep men from infecting his Subjects Souls with Errours or Heresies †Vide Mr. Calamy's Sermon before the Lords Decemb 25 1644. p. 38 But now as the matter goes this great Evil seems to be unavoidable and like a most violent Torrent to bear all before it Blasphemers Schismaticks Hereticks and Idolaters think themselves loose and unfettered to our teeth they say it they may now live as they list they may publish their Erronious Opinions and intangle others Consciences and draw Disciples and make Parties and cause divisions and dissentions such as we may justly fear will never be hereafter healed by any ordinary means It were sad if we had no way left us to resist these Publick Annoyances but blessed be God it is not so this Remedy we have freedom to profess and publish Gods pure Word which is strong and will prevail a 1 Esdras 4 3â— For my part I am no Enemy unto men but only to their Errours and if I may be believed in this Infidel yet credulous Age I have no inward rancour or ill-will to a Presbyterian but love the moderate and sober with all my heart and do conceive him the best of Sects though fouly too blame in laying a Foundation for others that are intolerable to build upon and countenancing them when his own Interest seems to require it Nor would I if possibly I can avoid it exasperate him in the least but have purposely avoided all tart sarcastical Exprobations as much as I could except the matter in hand required naturally a sharp reproof Passion seldom advantageth Truth the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God The nature and evil of Schism have been by many excellent Authors largely and irrefragably opened and manifested yet may these following Sermons especially in this present juncture of Publick Affairs add some further light thereunto at least by way of Genuine Consequence For if mens Obligation to their own Pastors and the sinfulness of forsaking the Publick Assemblies upon mens modern pretences be once cleared where the Schism is and at whose door it lies will easily appear to any intelligent man Hence am I apt to think the Truths here delivered for so I really think them will be disgustful to this gain-saying and rebellious Generation Nor need we think it strange that men should account us their Enemies for their sakes for telling them the truth Thus do we but sip of that Cup our Saviour and his Prophets and Apostles drunk of and we are but sprinkled with that Baptism that they were baptized withal But this we may think strange that these Truths should be so unsavoury unto them in whose mouths they were once thought sound and indisputable nay that those who will not allow any thing no not a pin or a nail the least circumstance in Divine Worship without an express Scripture for it and who cannot I suppose contradict the Doctrines here pressed and proved out of the Scriptures nay who themselves when time was did urge them as seriously and vigorously as we now can do should now when they are put in mind of them set their brains upon the Rack to invent new Pleas and Apologies grounds only in their own fancies to elude them Let but any sober forreign Divine or Divines of the Reformed Churches that are uninterested in the Cause consider well the Constitution of our Church and compare what hath been formerly said by the best Presbyterian Guides against Toleration as they are well and faithfully represented by Mr. Ashdon in his Treatise of Toleration disapproved and as they are handsomely applied to our present case in the Book of Toleration not to be abused I say let any impartial Judge compare these with what is said in pretence of Answer and I think he could not but be astonished with the evident discovery of a love of contradiction in the greatest Pretenders to Love and Godliness the World hath ever had For what can be more light and frivolous in any rational men then to think to pass over such weighty considerations as are in those Books offered with such slight of hand as only to answer that none can know the Nonconformists minds better than themselves that when they inveighed against Toleration they never meant that themselves should not be tolerated that now the Kings Indulgence or permission of their Separate Meetings frees them from the imputation of Schism that the intruding Ministers come only as Assistants to the Parish-Minister and so offers no violation to the peoples obligation to him And lastly that their Meeting-places are in the nature of Chappels of Ease This seems to be as like the Womans looking at her Apron-Strings as we use to say to find an Excuse when put hard to it as possible can be imagined What will not men do to uphold a Party they have Espoused Well may they plead for Christian Liberty unweariedly that cannot do without this Liberty to say and unsay and say what they list Now as I think these Novel Pleas for Private Affemblies in opposition to Publick meetings must of themselves necessarily fall before the sound Doctrines delivered in these Sermons so do I conceive them so ungrounded in holy Scripture and so inconsistent with sound Reason and the experience of any ordinary Christian that they deserve no serious Confutation But yet because Mr Baxter a man to whom for some of his Works I bear a very great reverence hath in his Sacrilegious Desertion of the Holy Ministry laid these particulars down as being satisfactory to himself and offers them to others for satisfaction of their Consciences and answering our Objections against them I humbly conceive this Reverend Person hath herein written not like himself and as if he had repented of any good he had done
our peoples into sides and parties they set our people a cockloft in rebellion against us they do in a few dayes annul all that we have done in many years towards the bringing our people into a way of order and obedience they fill the peoples mouths with insultations against their Pastors they set them in a posture of defiance against us they render it most difficult for us either to keep an amicable Correspondence with our people or procure our tithes and just maintenance from them they enslave us to their humors for if we displease or reprove them in the least or deny them any Common courtesie presently they tell us they can go to these separate meetings and be welcome and so many mischiefes hereof we daily feel that I may justly Conclude this with that which our Adversaries hate even an c. for they certainly Unhinge the Government both of the whole Church and of every particular Parish But perhaps these Chappels of ease are for the peoples ease or profit if they be it is just as Jeroboams Dan and Bethel was * 1 Kings 12 28.29 for them he intended as Chappels of ease to the people Saying it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem but his meaning was least the people going up to do sacrifice there should turn again to their Lord Rehoboam * Vers. 27. He pretended the peoples accommodation and ease as a cloak to cover his own diffidence and cursed policy Just the like plea is used by some for these Chappels of ease the Parishes are too large it is too much for them to go to the Church for then perhaps in time we might bring them back again to their just duties and obedience or if you will they are such Chappels of ease as Samaria was to Jerusalem * See Mr. Joseph Meed Diatribae pag. 205. Nehe 13.28 Manasse brother to Jaddo the High priest of the returned Jewes had married the daughter of Sanballat then governor of Samaria and for this he was expelled Jerusalem by Nehemiah and therefore he fled to Sanballat his father in law and after his example many other of the Jewes of the best ranks having married strange wives likewise and loath to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertained them and made his son in Law Manasse their Priest for whose greater reputation and State when Alexander the great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Gerizim where his son in Law exercised the office of the High Priest Now this became an occasion of a Continual Schisme for those that were discontented or excommunicated at Jerusalem presently betook themselves to Samaria and just so do our people in the same case to these new licensed Chappels of ease and the Samaritan preachers thereof which whether it be a schisme and a breach of the Unity of the Catholick Church I leave to those to judg who have read how ill the Bishops in the primitive Churches resented it when other their fellow Bishops received those they had excommunicated into their Communion And now Reader do but Consider that not one of these pretences but they serve the turnes of all Sects one as well as other Independents Anabaptists and Quakers as well as the better sort of non-Conformists all alike and so they are by Mr. Baxter lovingly coupled together as brethren and indeed to them all these pleas are equally subservient Consider but this and then I submit all that is said both here and in the Sermons to this equal and impartial censure and as I freely give leave thou should reject whatever is tart or sarcastical above what the nature of the thing requires or whatever to thy more Sound judgment shall appear false and untrue so do I only request of thee this favour to which even thy self interest obligeth thee that is to believe me wherever thou seest reason or Scripture for what I say Consider all and the Lord give thee understanding in all things THE OBLIGATION OF CONSCIENCE Not to forsake PUBLICK ASSEMBLIES Hebrewes 10.25 Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is BEfore I close with my Text give me leave to shew you in a few words what great reasons I have to make choice of it for the subject of my present discourse These are three My duty Your necessity and all Our comfort 1. My duty in respect of the Church of God as a Member but especially as a Minister thereof As a Member for it is every Christians duty to inform himself by the best meanes he can how it fareth with the Church of God but especially to take notice of and be affected with the State of that particular Church whereof he is an immediate member Men are most what too inquisitive of news behold this is the news we should inquire after When Gods people were in battel against the Philistines and had the Ark of God with them in the Camp it is said a 1 Sam 4.13 that old Eli sate upon a seat in the way side watching and hearkning how Gods people sped and the reason is given for his heart trembled for the Ark of God therefore he sate watching that he might hear what became of it So when there came one to David out of the Camp of Israel b 2 Sam 1.3.4 David was very inquisitive how it fared with the Lords host How went the matter saith he I pray thee tell me The like you see in Nehemiah c Neh. 1.2 so soon as Hanani came to him the first question he asked him was concerning the state of Gods people that dwelt at Jerusalem though he wanted nothing himself being a Courtier in great place and favour with that mighty King yet could he not but inquire of and be affected with the state of Gods people Nay Moses being in the height of honour in Pharoahs Court did not onely inquire but went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens d Exodus 2.11 All these examples teach us that it is our duty as to inform our selves about so to consider the burdens of Gods Church and be affected with the miseries thereof and every one in our several places to have a care of the cause of Religion in the world and especially we ought continually to inportune the Lord in behalf thereof and never forget it in our prayers to God Ye that have escaped the sword e Jeremiah 51.50 Stand not still remenber the Lord afar off and let Jerusalem come into your mind Ye that are the Lords remembrancers saith the Prophet Esay f Isaia 62.67 keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Jerusalem is like to become a reproach an hissing to the world more and more if things go on as they do but we therefore that are the Lords Solicitors and Remembrancers as all the
men may foolishly imagine that they can do well enough with the private use of the words though they injoy not the publick and can pray well enough by themselves though they have no society with the general and publick devotions Yet is it sure on the contrary that there is no such promise made to the private as to the publick Nay none at all to the private if the publick be neglected or contemned Such a woeful thing it is for men to do themselves the greatest injury that can be to deprive themselves of Gods presence by forsakeing the assemblies of his people upon this ground Gods people complained of the effect of the rage and fury of their enemies t Psal 47 7â— They razed the sanctuary to the ground defiled the dwelling place of Gods name and burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the land And Jeremiah in his Lamentations u Lam. 1.4 The waies of Zion lament because no man cometh to the solemn feasts all her gates are desolate And hence the sentence of excomunication hath ever by religious soules been accounted the greatest of punishments as casting them out of Gods presence and giving them up to Satan x 2 Cor. 5.5 so sottish are they that willfully excommunicate themselves by forsakeing the assemblies It is like a mans being outlawed in matters of civil Government by which he is deprived of all the benefits and protection belonging to a subject of the realm Just so doth this censure put them out of the priviledges of Christians and our of Gods protection for a time so as to be reckoned as strangers or forraâ—ners as heathens and publicans y Matt. 18.17 The sin of these men will best be discovered if we pass from this eighth proposition to the second General in the Text. 2. The Apostles taxation of some for this sin of forsaking the Assemblies and so putting themselves in a way of apostacy or falling back from or wavering in the profession of the true faith for so the Text runs not forsaking the Assembling your selves together as the manner of some is So then in the Apostles judgment those some whoever they be are blame worthy and are to be reproved and sharply rebuked what motives soever they may have for forsaking the publick Assemblies of the true Church they cannot forsake them and be innocent it is an act that cannot be acceptable unto God not forsaking the Assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is As there are diverse persons that forsake the assemblies So are their motives to forsake them different some give â—ne account thereof and some another all blame worthy Let us but consider and weigh the Apollogies and motives of some of them 1. The manner of some is to forsake the assemblies upon pretence of some corruptions in them It is holyness and purity these men pretend to in a high measure and therefore they forsake our assemblies because as they affirm they are unholy being mixt assemblies consisting of both good and bad a vide Robinsons and Cant books a miscellany Multitudes of the seed of woman and of the Serpent and much more they inveigh and rail bitterly against them and thence inferr a necessity of separation from them z Heb. 12.14 but that this is a most corrupt and unsound inference will appear if we consider 1. That the purest Church on earth is not free perfectly free from all corruptions The spouse of Christ is comly yet black It becomes Christs Church to be as true so humble far from arrogating perfection For any Church on this side heaven to say that she is absolute and neither wants nor abounds were the voice of Laodicea or Tyrus in the Prophet As there is no Element which is not through many mixtures departed from its first simplicity so is there no Church that breatheth in so pure an air but it may justly complain of some thick and unwholsome evaporations of sin and error in it Was not the Church typed by Noahs Ark wherein was unclear as well as clean beasts doth not Christ compare it to a feiled wherein grows both tares and wheat promiscuously until the harvest a Mat. 13.12 to a great house wherein are vessels of Gold and Silver and of Brass earth and clay b 2 Tim. 2.20 to a sheep fould wherin are foulded both sheep and Goats c Matt. 25 32. to a company of Virgins all invited by an external call to the Wedding whereof some were foolish some wise d Mat 25.1 to an orchard or vineyard e Esai 61.1 wherein all are not fruitful trees that bring forth their fruit in due season But on some God bestowes digging and dunging unto them and fencing them which cumber the ground and are good for nothing but to be cast into the fire To a vine in which are some branches that onely bear leaves of profession or at the best but sowre grapes Nay sometimes in a true Church even the chiefest members for eminency and Authority are corrupted sometimes the prime Governours of a Church as the chief Priests and Elders in our Saviours time may be great enemies of real goodness Nay to come closer to our selves 2. We must acknowledge that even in our Church and the Assemblies thereof there is such general decay of that first love and primitive piety which consisted chiefly in Humility Mortification Obedience and good works and such a general increase of all filthy and abominable sins and those too frequently uncensured unrereproved that there is just cause for any Godly man to fear least God be about to take away his tabernacle from amongst us and remove our candlestick and go far off from our sanctuary f Ezek. 8.6 3. It is undoubted that when a pious Christian considers these things he ought to be deeply affected with them and neither communicate with a whole Church in any corruptions that are evident corruptions in it nor yet pertake in the sins of any the particular members thereof but observing his brothers prophanness his duty is to admonish him and to bewail his sin and do what lies in him to bring him to a reformation thereof This is the right course but 4. This is no ground at all for him to separate from the Church or to forsake the Assembly there of it is of Mr. Hildershams Doctrines agreable to the ninteenth Article of the Church of England and that those Assemblies that injoy the word and Doctrine of Salvation though they may have many corruptions remaining in them yet they are to be acknowledged true Churches of God and such as none of the faithful may make separation from because 1. There was never Church on earth free from corruptions either in the whole or in its perticular assemblies and yet never did the Saints of God forsake them upon that account Never was there Church from the beginning of the world to this day from one side of the Earth to
corruptions yet so long as God continues his word and doctrine of Salvation to a people and in their assemblies it is evident he dwells among them and hath not forsaken them should men make themselves wiser or purer then God himself to forsake those assemblies which God hath not forsaken till God hath forsaken a Church sure no man may forsake it So shall any man pretend to be holier and to hate corruptions more than the Lord the holy one of Israel Now you may see Gods promise to dwell among and not forsake his Church where the word and true worship of God continues c Leu 26.11.12 I will set my tabernacle among you that is my Solemn worship whereof the tabernacle was a principal part and my Soul shall not abhor you and I will walk among you and I will be your God and you shall be my people In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel a Psal 76. in Salem is his Tabernable and his dwelling place in Sion Object Put may not this Church may some say be guilty of such sins and corruptions as deserve that God should forsake it and for which God in his word hath threatned that he will forsake it although he hath hitherto dwelt therein True Ans but that is no sufficient warrant for any to separate from it till it undoubtedly appear that God hath indeed forsaken it and put in execution what he hath justly threatned against it Though adultery either in Man or Wife give just cause of separation he bond of wedlock being broken by it yet till a Bill of divorcement do pass between them they remain still Man and Wife notwithstanding that sin So that the woman whom her Husband had wronged is called his Wife b Mat. 2.15 Esau had justly deserved to lose the prerogative of his birth right and superiority over his Brother when he had despised and sold it c Gen. 25.34 and God had by his decree said of them the elder shall serve the younger d Gen. 25.23 And Saul deserved to be deprived of his Kingdome yea God had said that he had rejected him e 1 Sam. 13.14 and 15 23 26 28. yet till God saw it good to put his decree and oracle in execution and actually to depose the one from his birth right and the other from his Kingdome Jacob acknowledged Esau his Lord and Superior f Gen. 32.4 5. and David Saul g 1 Sam. 24.7 9. So though a Church may be unworthy before God of the name of Christs Church for the many corruptions that are in it and the Lords threatnings are gone out against it yet till God put this threat in execution and actually take away his Tabernacle and worship from iâ— it is still to be acknowledged and reverenced as the Church of Christ and not to be forsaken by the members thereof 3. Who is it that dare forsake and separate from these assemblies where men may be assured to find and attain to salvation Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life Accounting this a sufficient reason why they might not leave him h Joh 6.68 but men may be sure to find and attain to salvation in such assemblies where the ministry of the word and the Doctrine of Salvation is continued and purely delivered For the word and Doctrine of Christ is called Salvation i Heb. 2.3 It is the ordinary means appointed by God to bring men to Salvation k Rom. 1.16 It is the incorruptable seed at one time or other effectual in all Gods Elect that do injoy it l 1 Cor. 1.21 it is the ingrafted word m James 1.21 which is able to save our souls Thus far Mr. Hildersham All the enemies of our Church cannot deny but that both many have been and are still saved in the bosome thereof Nor can the malice of those Chams that desire to espy the nakedness of their Mother and glories to discover them shew one foundamental error with us not one Heresie whatsoever how dare they then forsake our assemblies as their manner is What though some others of your fellow members be guilty of sins and errors is that any prejudice to your salvation if you partake not with them but rather reprove them and preserve the true Faith and religion inviolate in your selves although they by walking unworthy of their callings and neglecting the conditions of the promises do forfeit their part in the blessed priviledges thereof and the things promised Yet shall the promises be made good to you if you be sound members of the Church Nor shall it prove any prejudice to your salvation that you are mixed with the wicked in it if you be not partakers of their sins n Mat. 3.12 The wheat shall be gathered into the Lords Garner and the Chaff shall be cast into the fire Hence the Apostle o Rom. 3 3. What if some did not believe shall their unbeleif make the Faith of God of no effect sure it cannot and therefore being there is no Church on earth free from all corruptions no not in its Chiefest members being that Saints in their several ages did not forsake the Church because of corruptions in them being our Saviour hath left us his own practice for an incomparable example being God himself forsakes not such Churches and Salvation may be had in them and the prophaneness of the ungodly is no prejudice to the Salvation of the godly members of the Church Then surely it is a sin in separating from our Church assemblies upon the pretence of some Corruptions in them Who however they usurp the Title of Saints and Godly and Puritanes and Christ Kingdome and Spiritual and the like yet S. Jude p markes them with a black coal Thâ—se be they who separate themselves saith hâ— sensual having not the Spirit Our Christian duty is to mourn for and shew out dislike unto what evil we see in the Church or in our fellow members So did the Faithful before the captivity q Ezek. 9.4 so did Christ r Luke 19.41 We must wait upon God who will in his due time cast his gold into the furnace and purifie it seven times will file off the rust and come with his fan in his hand and separate the wheat from the tares at the day of particular and general judgment * Aug. contra parmon lib. 3. Admonendi sunt pii ut arripiant quod possunt quod non possunt patientèr ferant ut cum dilectione gemant lugeant donec aut emendet Deus corrigat aut in messe eradicet zizanio paleam ventilis But we may not separate our selves from or forsake the assemblies thereof on this pretence as the manner of some is 2. The manner of some is to forsake our assemblies upon pretence they dislike the Pastors and Ministers thereof Some this or other is a miss in their own minister and therefore
thou must answer for it and be judged by it at the last day That for the first motive for this forsaking the assemblies which you see is groundlesse the prejudice men have to their Pastor concerning his life Obj. 2. Concerning his opinion For so will some say would you have us bound to hear him who is popishly affected or the next door strict in the Law too canonical nay we fear superstitious and so may mix the childrens bread with poyson and mislead us out of the right way is it not dangerous to hear him Answ To this I oppose these considerations was not Elias Jeremy John Baptist Saint Paul and our blessed Saviour who spake as never man spake accounted pestilent fellows ring leaders of Sects troublers of State Deceivers of the people how should these instances warn you of slandering your Pastor causelesly or concluding him erronious upon the malicious hear sayes or surmises of those that are not able to judge of the doctrine whether it be of God or no. Yet suppose he be erronious then must you consider of what Nature his error is for though all truths be pretious yet are truths of different natures some essential fundamental points de Fide of the faith once delivered to the Saints some circumstantial ceremonial indifferent some are perspicuously revealed in the Scriptures wherein errors are damnable some are more darkly revealed of which wise and holy men in all ages have doubted now if it be onely in circumstantial and less necessary truths wherein you dislike your Pastors opinions then must not this difference of opinion beget in you any heart burning or alienation of affection though you do discentire think diversly yet ought you not discordare disagree they that unwillingly differ in judgment ought yet to be one in heart The Spirit of God is promised to lead all his chosen into all necessary truths but not to all less essential disscâ—ntions have in all ages been between great Clerks and holy Saints contentions have even through Satans crast been cherished in the Church they are apt to disagree on earth that shall meet in the same heaven What remaines then but that love be still kept on foot and we all endeavour to avoid bitterness of contention about these things to follow the truth in love As in building Solomons Temple there was no noise heard of Ax or hammer f 2 Kings 6.7 So in the spiritual building of the Church we should not let any sound of contention be heard among us such is the duty of both Pastor and people especially it is the peoples duty to be so a ware of Satans stratagems which is to divide them from their Pastor if it be possible as not to entertain any needless jealousies or evil surmisings judge cautiously of your minister if possible Search the Scriptures as the Bereans did to see if what he delivers be agreeable to Gods word and if you find of a truth that he and you differ in opinion in things less necessary and material your care must be to pare the Apple and leave the worm and that which is eaten by it take the good and leave the bad which directions being sound and wholesome if they be observed it will naturally follow that this is no sufficient ground neither for any to leave our Church assemblies for any prejudice men have against their Pastors opinion Obj. 3 The third prejudice is against their gifts alass will some say our Minister though he be good and orthodox yet is hê a very mean preacher he is no Body for gifts where such or such come in comparisons His knowledge shallow how can he inlighten us he is no Orator how can he work on our affections or perswade us what good can we expect from his dry sapless weak Sermons or why should we be bound to hear him when we may have better by whom we may profit more to this I oppose these considerations Answ 1. There may be in Ministers great difference of gifts without any in equality at all for which the one should be preferred before the other For he who is inferior to him thou admires in one kind may excell in another perhaps in a kind more useful and benefical The gifts of God to his Church are dispenced in a marvellous great variety so that there are scarce any two ministers but they differ in their gifts g Cor. 12.14 There are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit In the Body natural the eye seeth better but the tongue uttereth better if the whole body were eye what would it do for a tongue Saint Paul had more learning and knowledge h 1 Cor. 11. being at Lystra stiled for his utterance Mercury or chief speaker i Acts 14.11 yet was not of that excellent presence as other Apostles were Barnabas in comforting the afflicted excelled him being therefore stiled the son of Consolation k Acts. 4.36 John Baptist was excellent in terrifying secure sinners l Luk. 12.17 he came in the spirit and power of Elias but our Saviour was milder not breaking the bruised reed nor quenching the smoking flax m Mat. 12.20 In liklyhood Peter did in some gifts excell the rest to whom Christ gave in special charge to feed his Lambs n Joh. 21.15 Yet in powerful reproving of sin and denouncing Gods judgments James and John excelled him being therefore styled Boanerges Sons of thunder so in the great diversity of his gifts that is amongst ministers yet each of them excelleth in their kind one may have deeper matter another a more eloquent mouth one may be sweeter in comfort another more powerful in reproof one may be graceful in pulpit another in private conference one may be excellent in interpreting to increase knowledge another in application to breed good affections in men o 1 Cor. 12.8 To one is given a word of wisdome by the Spirit to another the utterance of knowledge by the same Spirit one may excel in this gift another in that none in all Now 2. Consider this is the Lords doing for the beauty and benefit of his Church their different education dilligence or industry is not all the cause of this diversity of gifts though it be one Gods gift being now to be acquired in the use of these means whence St. Pauls injunction to Timothy p Tim. 4. â—3 give attendance to reading c. But it comes chiefly from Gods free disposition who distributed to every man severally as he will q 1 Cor. 12.11 And this 3. Makes much for Gods glory and the benefit and beauty of his Church For Gods glory for the greatness of his wisdom and freedome of his grace shineth in this difference perspicuously and for the Churches beauty and benefit for flowers of divers bigness for colour and smell do adorn a feild exceedingly with it's party coloured coat difference of voice base treble tenor and counter tenor and difserence of strings in an
their office to watch over their souls unwearyedly to spend and to be spent to win them to Christ And so in spiritual regeneration as in natural regeneration it is love that begets Children unto Christ And on the other hand the people should be as careful of love to their Ministers Saint Paul records of the Galatians k Gal. 4.15 That they would have pluckt out their very eyes to have given them unto him far short of the Galatians are those that muzzle the mouths of the oxen that should tread out the corne That abridge the hire of the labourer and withhold the Churches right The Galatians was willing to forsake the dearest things they had in the world their very eyes if not their life for the Gospels sake and its ministry l Gal. 6.6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things So I say consider what love is commanded by God from Ministers to their people and people to their Ministers But on the other hand see from whence all variance betwiâ—â— them comes even from the Devils craft and malice for no way hath he more effectual to hinder the efficacy of the word then this His five thousand years experience hath taught him that it is to little purpose to mutter a syllable directly against Gods word he sees no likelyhood to beget in Christians especially in Protestants adirect hatred of the word as such His policy then directs him to work obliquely to distil into mens hearts a hatred of their Ministers so to make them set at naught the word they preach This is the devils craft Now consider lastly how unreasonable this is what is the matter Is there some petty quarrel betwixt you wipe it of are there some occasions of disaffections look it be not causless as for the most part they are Do they reprove your sins drunkenness or sacriledge or perjury or rebellions or prophanations of Gods day or the like Alass they would not do it but in love to your souls they would have your good will and gladly be beloved of you if they durst forbear to please you but necessity lies upon them to cry a loud and not to spare to tell Judah of her sins and Israel of her abominations should you not then rather love then hate them for this and say let the righteous smite me and it shall be a kindness for faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful m Prov. 27.6 All these considerations do bid you shake off anger envy and despight by all means not to entertain the least seed thereof No evil reports no Idle accusations against your Pastor n 1 Tim. 5 19 But rather to pray for them to God to deliver them from unreasonable men o 2 Thes 3.1 And as St. Paul speakes of Epaphroditus to receive them in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation p Phil. 2.29 Laying a side all malice and guile and evil speaking as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby and then I dare say you will find no cause of forsaking the publick assemblies of the Church for your Pastors sake which was the second grand motive we propounded to consider why men are willful to forsake our Church assemblies as the manner of some is Besides these two grand occasions of forsaking the assemblies there be others we need not speak so largely of because being but named they cannot but be abhorred and being seen they discover their own nakedness such are these following 1. Some forsake the assemblies and separate themselves from us out of mear Ignorance takeing offence at many things in our assemblies causelesly or without any weighty reason they do not and are not able to distinguish between the essentials and circumstantials in Religion and so look upon any supposed mistake in the latter with detestation proper only to the perversion of the former and thence violate charity and break communion with those that hold the same faith with them These eager Spirits having a zeal without knowledg blow up minute differences with lasting contentions They raise disputes about a pin or a nail of the Temple that even endangers the whole fabrick they set the same value upon the leaves and bark of the tree as upon the fruit it self they make ado a bout a nail or tile of the house as if it were of the same concernment with a pillar or a beam they look upon that as simply evil which is onely so in some respects as it is wrong circumstantiated or which is onely not perfect in all degrees whereas did but men deliberately prize that which they oppose and proportion their displeasure to the just weight thereof their contentions would soon be calmed and never become quarrells with the Church of God Nay indeed in many it is meer sottish Ignorance that is the cause of their forsakeing the assemblies of the Church of God they was never grounded in the first principles of the Oracles of God and especially they would never learn their obligation to the Church they was baptized in to hold communion with it Perhaps these men will say they would fain do right and go the right way but they would never hearken to their right guides but gave their ears first to seducers being a little too much affected with that shew of piety they saw in them they put themselves wholy upon their directions and examples and so are carried hoodwinckt or blindfold into Schisms and damnable errors Thousands there be that have separated themselves that are meer Ignorants silly women especially that was alwaies learning but never came to the knowledg of the truth having better affections than principles whom because they would not receive the truth in the love thereof God hath given up to strong delusions to believe lies and so in some that 's one cause of their forsakeing the assemblies meer Ignorance 2. This Ignorance is oftentimes proud or conceited So that 's another cause damnable pride The wisest of men arraignes this vice as the ring-leader of divisions q Prov. 13.10 Onely by pride cometh contention Indeed there are few sins unto which pride is not either a parent or nurse but above all Schism and Heresie hath its immediate discent from it having so many lineaments and features of this deformed mother See some of these heads very largely and learnedly discoursed of by the author of the whole duty of Man in the causes of the Decayes of Christianity to whom I here acknowledg my self much indebted as sufficiently attests its extraction It is pride that makes some men dislike whatsoever is not of their own invention or whatever is imposed by their superiours or whatever others have a hand in whom they contemn or hate be it never so good or true or what is contrary to that they have formerly maintained and they are