the Church remain as it ought above the Officers it quits them when they grow evil and unruly and chooses better in their stead and so preserves union Whereas fixed and unmoveable Officers when they do degenerate are the causes of all disturbances and confusions both in Church and State The seventh Rule is For all true Christians and Congregations to take Christ alike for their Head and not to set up visible heads or Ring-leaders to themselves of men no not of the best men For whilst some said we are of Paul others we of Apollos others we of Cephas they were all in this matter carnal and divided both from Christ and among themselves whilst several set up several heads whom they especially owned and after whom they were called Whereas each that believed by the Ministry of Paul or Apollos or Cephas were through the same faith and spirit with them as neer to Christ as themselves were and so were not to set up a fellow member as a Head to the division of the body I say each believer and Communion of Saints hath Christ equally for their Head and so ought not to set up any outward or visible Head for them to joyn to for this is to rend the body in pieces and to work great division and distraction among the faithful And therefore I conceive it is a mistake among some brethren to call the Congregations of Christ by the names of men though godly and eminent and to say Mr. such an ones Church or Mr. such an ones Church and so to put the Church under several Heads which works distinction and division whereas they should rather say the Church of Christ in such or such a place it being wherever it is one Church under one Head and Governor Iesus Christ. And therefore let us know that it is part of the mystery of iniquity for the Church or faithful to have one or moe visible Headâ— to go to not being contented with Christ alone And though this hath been and will be the practice of the carnal Church yet the spiritual Church and people do only own and have recourse to Christ their true and spiritual Head And so they all living as one body and members one of another under one onely Head live all in invincible peace and unity whereas difference of outward Heads and Ringleaders alwayes breeds difference and divisions among Christians The eighth Rule is For the true Church to keep out all error in Doctrine seeing this breeds not onely division but confusion and ruine also in the Church Wherefore the Congregations of Christ must be the more careful and watchful in this matter When some false Apostles taught at Antioch that Except Christians were circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved which was a most dangerous error against Christ and the Gospel the whole Church first at Antioch and presently after at Ierusalem met together to keep it out which accordingly through God they did So that what ever Doctrines are evidently against the Word of truth and Gospel of our salvation the Church is to take care to keep them out as it loves its own peace and unity Now if any say By what means may the Church be able to keep out error I Answer It may certainly keep out Error by these means 1. Let the Church suffer none to teach among them that are not themselves taught of God though they have never so great natural parts and never so much humane learning For when they are the Teachers that are taught of God they will only teach the truth which they have heard and learned from God And the line of every mans teaching must extend no further But when they teach that are not so taught they will in many things vary from the truth as it is in Iesus yea and under a form of sound doctrine will give forth an unsound and false sense to the deceiving of many that are weak and simple and so under pretence of Christ will utter the voice of a stranger and endanger the mis-leading of some sheep for a time 2 Let the faithful examine every thing that is taught by the Word of God and not receive doctrines upon trust from their Teachers who through the reputation of their learning and holiness may easily lead them unawares into error And therefore let the Church compare the present Doctrine Preached and Printed and generally received with the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles which without doubt is sure and certain seeing those holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit And whatever Doctrine shall be found contrary to or different from that Doctrine let them reject it as reprobate silver seeing the Church is to be built upon no other foundation of Doctrine then that of the Prophets and Apostles And though through Gods especial goodness the Doctrine of the Gospel be again revived among us at this present time yet ought we not to sit down content with the present state of things but to search and see if our present Doctrine do not yet err from the Primitive purity and brightness of the Gospel and that in many considerable points and whether some or many corruptions do not yet remain among us to be purged out by the light and truth of the Apostles Doctrine Wherefore to conclude this thing let us know that the Church cannot possibly keep out Error longer then it precisely keeps it self to the bare and naked Word of God and tries all Doctrines of their Teachers by it 3. The Church that it may be able to keep out Errors must desire of God the Spirit which he hath promised that this Spirit of Truth may lead them into the true and spiritual knowledge of the word and understanding of the minde of Christ. For no man can make any right Iudgement of the word he hears of reads without the teaching of the Spirit And by this Anointing as we shall be certainly taught which is Truth so also we shall discern which is Error and that by so clear and true a light that we shall not mistake Wherefore Christians must take heed that they do not think with carnal people that the ability to judge of divine truths and humane and Antichristian errors depends upon humane learning Arts and Sciences for thus it will come to pass that they judging themselves unable to judge of matters of Religion will wholly leave the judgement of them to those whom they conceive after this manner learned whereby they leave open a wide door through which the Teachers may bring in all sorts of Errors upon them But Believers must know that the gift of the Spirit onely without all humane learning is sufficient to teach us perfectly which is Truth and which Error and to make us able to judge of all doctrines of men and Angels and that all humane learning in the world without the Spirit is not able to do this And so
to presume to deny the Church this power which it hath received from him that hath all power in heaven and in earth Neither ought the true Church to suffer this power to be taken from them which they have received from so good a hand but still to use their own Christian meetings though the Powers of the world never so much oppose them as the Apostles and Believers in their time began and as Believers after for 300 years continued notwithstanding the barbarous cruelties of the persecuting Emperours 2. As the Church of the faithful hath power from Christ to meet together so secondly to appoint its own outward orders For the Church whilst it dwels in flesh and bloud uses some external Rites by which it is neither sanctified in soul or body but they are things meerly of outward Order and decency And these things each Church or Communion of Saints may order by it self according to the wisedom of the Spirit so it observe these Rules 1. That they do all things in love seeing all Laws without love are tyranny and so whatsoever is not from and for love is not to be appointed and if it be it is again to be abolished seeing no Text of the Scripture it self if it build not up love is rightly interpreted 2 They are to do all things for peace and all outward Orders in the Church must be to procure and to preserve Peace among the faithful and not to break it They are most unhappy and pernicious Orders that do not only offend a few of Christs little ones which it self is a sad thing but do grieve disquiet and prejudice the peace of the generality of the faithful 3. They must do all things after the wisdom of the Spirit and not after the manner of the world seeing the Church is not to be ordered according to the manner of the world but rather against it as the Apostle saith Be not conformed to this world 4. They must appoint nothing as of necessity For there is no more pestilent doctrine in the Church then to make those things necessary which are not necessary For thus the liberty of faith is extinguished and the consciences of men are ensnared We doubt not but Believers may order any outward things for their own good so they do not impose them necessarily on any as if the observing of them were righteousness and the omission of them sin And so the Church after all its Orders it is to leave indifferent things as it found them that is free and at the liberty of the faithful to observe or not observe as they shall see cause or judge convenient For all these kinde of things are indifferent in their own nature and God regards no more the manner and form and time and circumstances of spiritual duties then the manner and form c. of our eating and drinking and working and marrying and trading for all which it is sufficient if they be done in Christian wisdom and discretion without being tied necessarily to a set and unchangeable form 5. They may perswade their Orders if they see cause by the spirit of love and meekness but must not enforce them upon pain of secular punishment or Church censure as those use to do that make themselves Lords and Tyrants in the Church For these outward things the Church can order onely for the willing but not for the unwilling And so if some Believers shall think good upon just grounds to do otherwise in these outward things then the generality of the Church yet ought the Church to be so far from censuring them that it is to entertain Communion with them notwithstanding any such differences For when Christians are knit to Christ by faith and do receive and walk in his Spirit all other things are indifferent to them to do or not to do to use or not to use at their own freedom And Christ onely being sufficient for all his whatever is besides Christ is a perishing thing and so is so far from being to be imposed that in it self it is not to be valued Now if the Church do appoint any outward Orders these rules it is to observe yea the spiritual Church doth always observe them and never made rules in it self upon other terms then are here set down But on the contrary the carnal Church or Churches of men they especially trouble themselves about these outward things and of these they make Laws and Constitutions yea sin and righteousness and by these things they judge the Church and the members of Christ In such sort that they that will submit to their Rules and impositions shall be the Church of Christ but they that will not shall be reckoned Hereticks and Schismaticks And hereby they declare that they are fallen from the power of godliness to the form and from the substance of Religion to the circumstances inasmuch as they advance empty forms and shadows in the place of righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Spirit And to these we may say with Peter Why tempt ye God in putting such a yoak upon the Disciples and Members of Christ And though this kinde of Church will with these things still be troubling us and biting us by the heel yet in the power and prerogative of the seed of the Woman we will by degrees bruise its head till at last we break it quite in pieces Now one thing more I shall adde touching the Churches power to appoint its own Orders as conceiving it very necessary to be known and that is this That the true Church hath power to appoint these outward Orders not for it self onely but also for its Officers which also are part of it self and it is not to suffer its Officers to frame or impose such on it For the Church is not the Officers but the Officers are the Churches as Paul hath taught us saying to the Church All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas And so the Officers are the Churches and are to be ordered by it in these things but are not to order it And if the Officers of the Church forgetting that they are servants shall presume by themselves to order outward things for the Church without the Church as now is done the Church still remains above the Officers and hath power to interpret change or wholly take away all those things as it sees occasion to wit so far as they are a stumbling block to the weak and a grief to the strong and tend to work division among the faithful Presumptuous Officers are they and know not where Christ hath set them who instead of being ordered by the Church go about to order it and make themselves the Lords of the Church being but the servants of it 3. The true Church hath power to chuse its Officers and if there be cause to reform them or depose them The Church hath power to chuse its own Officers True indeed it is that as in
come take heed lest by seeking your selves you have your reward here but do the work of God for God and whilst you act for God live in him and let him be your reward and not the creature And now here in this Dicourse shall you see a better Peace and Agreement then you are striving for though your work also be excellent and glorious even such a Peace and Agreement of which Christ himself is the immediate Author and Prince and which he communicates not to the world but to them he chooses out of the world even the Peace of God in Iesus Christ by the Spirit which hath its foundation in Christ and its influence into each Communion of Saints all the world over And this Peace can no more be brought about by your Sword then by the Magistrates Scepter and therefore take heed lest you now having power in your hands to another purpose should so far forget your selves as to do that your selves which you have condemned in others Therefore suffer the Word only to be both Scepter and Sword in the Kingdom of God and let the true Church remain free in the Freedom which Christ hath conferr'd upon it or else the Lord whose own the Church is will as certainly in his due time take the sword out of your hands as he hath done the Scepter out of the Magistrate's and throw you into one destruction with him But I am perswaded better things of you though I thus speak and even such things as are suitable to the light of the Gospel and to the vertues and graces of Christ and his Spirit which have been hitherto and I hope will yet still be very manifest not only in You Honorable Ones who have the chief Conduct but also in very many of the Councel and Army besides And upon such a gathering together of Gods people and Saints let the world if it please still laugh at that word who can but think he hath some choice and singular work in hand for his own glory The Lord God Almighty hath already done great and wonderful works by you and is yet doing greater if you will continue to beleeve and obey and in all these things he only is to be exalted and not You. For hath not that Day of the Lord of Hosts dawned yea the morning of it is already gone forth Which is upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he is to be brought low and the Lord alone is and must be exalted in this day Now the Lord cause you to dwell and continue in that Church which is the body of Christ and habitation of God and give you peace with those that are reconciled to God by Christ and to one another in Christ by the Spirit in which union and communion I remain Your assured Servant W. D. TO THE READER SUCH are the noises of waters and thundrings and earthquakes among us and so great and continued are our shakings and confusious through hatred and love hopes and fears joyes and sorrows triumphs and indignations that there is no silence in heaven for so much as half an hour Wherefore though I 〈…〉 here touching so sweet and glorious a thing as PEACE and 〈◊〉 â—eclare from the very word or else I had said nothing wherein the true peace of the true Church consists and also how the faithful and Churches may preserve that peace in their Communion with one another which they have in the Son and in the Father yet mens heads and hearts are now so full that it is to be doubted but few will regard it Notwithstanding considering that there is among us an election of grace and a flock of Christ who both know and will hear his voyce at any time I thought good to speak this in their behalf for whose profit all the creatures of God were made in the world and all the gifts of Christ are given in the Church And though I am very conscious of my rudeness of speech in this Discourse as also of my weakness and infirmity in many things having not yet attained to a perfect man and to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ and so dare not say that every jot and tittle here is of the pure river of water of life without any humane mixture yet they that are spiritual and able to judge will own all in it that is of the word and spirit of truth and will not reject silver tryed four or five times because it is not tryed seven times And what is weak and imperfect in it the true Church of Christ for whose dear sake and love I have spoken all this seeing it is as Luther speaks The Queen of Mercy whose very bowels are meer compassions and forgivenesses of sins will easily pass it by and forgive it And as for men haughty and high in their own spirit contemning and disdaining any thing that agrees not to their palate I do as easily despise their censure as they lightly pass it It is enough that I seek the glory of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and the welfare of that Church that is his body and for the rest let me become as vile as the Apostles were made to the world who were counted the filth and off souring of all things or as Mr Baily Rutherford Bastwick Pryn Love or any other of my old enemies in Parliament and City not worth the naming have sought to make me All whom unless God give them repentance to life I cite as once Hierom of Prague did his enemies in the like cause To appear within a few years before the most high and righteous Judge Jesus Christ to answer all that they have done wickedly if not maliciously against his Name Truth Gospel Spirit People and that under the form and pretence of godliness And now well knowing that the more any thing is of Christ the more enmity and opposition it Will meet with from the world and from the worldly Church I commit Christs own word and cause to his own care and protection who lives and reigns for this very purpose to uphold his own despised truth against the glorious but deceitful doctrines of men and to make all his enemies his foot-stool And so waiting in this assured hope if thou love Christ I remain Thine in him VVilliam Dell. The Contents THE Introduction pag. 149 The Gospel propounded is neither 1. Between the Church and the world p. 150 2. Nor between the Spiritual and Carnal children of the Church ibid. 3. But between the faithful or true children of the true Church p. 151 The true Church described p. 152 The true Church of God differs from the Churches of men in 13. particulars from p. 153 to p. 157 How this Church may be known p. 158 How we may be joyned to it p. 159 The Church a great mystery as well as Christ. p. 160 Seven bonds of this Churches Vnity viz.
one another but not masters and this same doctrine the Apostle Iames preacheth Iam. 3.1 My brethren saith he be not many Masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation it is not fit for brethren who are equal among themselves to make themselves masters over one another Christ also hath spoken again so plainly to this matter Math. 20. that one would wonder that ever the Beast or his image should dare to arrogate to themselves Lordship over the People of God in so clear a light Ye know saith Christ to the twelve that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority over them but it shall not be so amongst you he speaks it peremptorily that some Believers should not exercise dominion and authority over Believers no not the greatest over the least all being fellow servants alike under one Lord. Wherefore they that are puffed up in their hearts against their fellow servants might better think thus with themselves why Christ is our Lord as well as theirs and is as much over us as over them and we are not over our fellow servants nor they under us but both of us are equally under Christ and Christ is equally over us both and so Christ hath given us the same laws he hath given them to wit that we should believe in him and love one another and he expects the same obedience from us as from them and so we are not to command one another but are all alike to be commanded by him It was the evil servant that beat his fellow servants upon hopes of the delay of his Masters coming And this is the fourth bond of the true Churches Vnity Vnity of Lord. Now they break this bond of the Churches Vnity that either make themselves or others Lords over the Church besides Christ and parcel out this one Kingdom of the Son to many Lords to the great dishonour of Christ and dis-union of the Church The Pope was the first that professed himself to be the general Master in the whole Church of God and after the Pope a general Councel took this honour to it self and by degrees this last became as hard yea a harder taskmaster to the Church then the former After when particular Kingdoms fell off from the Pope and his Antichristian Church the mystery of iniquity was not by this means wholly dissolved but only was contracted and brought into a less compass for then the Archbishop made himself general master of the Church in each particular Kingdom as the Pope before had done in all and after the Archbishop rises up a National Assembly as the General Councel after the Pope and each of these in their courses usurp Lordship over the Church of Christ to the sad dissolution of its unity Most evident then it is that during the time of the Apostasie the Church hath been most miserably Lorded even amongst us for the Priest he Lorded it over the People the Arch-deacon over the Priest the Dean over the Arch deacon the Bishop over the Dean and the Arch-bishop over the Bishop under which woful bondage the Church cried out as Isa. 26. O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us And is this bondage of the Church now eased by casting off those strange Lords Yea do not men rather seek to encrease it by setting yet stranger over it whose names are so full of mystery that the common people cannot understand them for now they would have the Classical Presbytery set over the Congregational and the Provincial over the Classical and the National over the Provincial for so it is Voted THAT IT IS LAWFULL AND AGREEABLE TO THE WORD OF GOD THAT THERE BE A SUBORDINATION OF CONGREGATIONAL CLASSICAL PROVINCIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH Now here is mystery and nothing but a certain rising up into the old power under a new name And mark how they prove this subordination of Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies to wit by that Scripture Mat. 18. where it is written If thy brother trespass against thee and will neither hear thy admonition nor councel nor the admonition and councel of other brethren TELL THE CHURCH that is the Congregation of the faithful Now from this place they prove the fore mentioned subordination of Assemblies just as the Pope once proved himself to be above the Emperour to wit because it is written Gen. 1. That God made two great lights the Sun to rule by day and the Moon by night Now if this might be brought about which they design the Church would be so far from being eased of its strange Lords that it should have them exceedingly multiplied for what is a National Assembly but an Archbishop multiplied and what a Provincial Assembly but a Bishop multiplied And a Classical but a Dean and Arch deacon multiplied And thus the former Lords being removed they would in their stead cause the Church to swarm with Classical Provincial and National Lords and would by no means suffer Christs own Kingdom to return to his own Lordship and Dominion And thus whilest they by secular power seek to enforce these Ecclesiastical Lords over the Church they absolutely break in pieces the unity of it even whilst they bear the simple people in hand that they above all other men seek to preserve it seeing the plurality of Lords is alwayes the cause of Schisms and divisions in the Church which can never be one but under one Lord the Lord Jesus Christ. The fifth bond of the true Churches Vnity is ONE FAITH The true Church of God hath but one Faith wrought by one Spirit apprehending the same Christ or the same living and eternal truth of God So that Abraham and Moses and David and all the Prophets and all the Apostles and we who now believe and all that shall believe hereafter all have and do and shall live in the same mystery of faith that is Believers in all Ages do not live their own lives but all live the life of Christ in their own soul and bodies each one receiving equally from Christ the life of Christ which they all live alike in him being one with him as the branches live equally the life of the Vine and one branch lives it not more then another Through faith then every Christian is carryed out of himself and all his own things into Christ whom he apprehends with all his fulness for his own and in this faith all Christians are equal and none hath a better or worse faith then another So that in regard of faith also there is among the true Church unity and equality For all Believers have one and the same faith of the operation of God wrought by the same Spirit which raised up Christ from the dead and that faith which the Spirit works neither sin death nor the devil can possibly prevail against and so the faith of the operation of
he is the man with them that breaks the Churches peace and so Antichrist-like they have exalted their single uniformity above this seven-fold unity of the Church and so have as much as in them lies made the word of the Spirit void through their carnal that I say no more traditions For a man may break all these seven bonds of the Churches unity and yet be a very good member of their Church if he onely observe their uniformity but if he break this he is a Schismatike and an Heretike and not worthy to live in their account though he live in all the bonds of this true and spiritual unity Wherefore to escape these snares let all believers know assuredly that these seven bonds named by the Apostle which are all spiritual and of God and not one of them carnal or of man are the onely bonds of the true Churches true unity and that whoever of their own minds presume to add to thesâ— are guilty of adding to the word of God themselves being but wretched creatures and so involve themselves in all the curses written in his Book among which death and hell have their place And let us further know that whoever do combine together to make themselves one out of the fore-named unity though they call themselves the Church never so much yet they are but sects and schismes and divisions and factions rent from the true Church of God for such men choose and frame to themselves some singular way of worship form order c. whereby they think they excell other Christians and so cause the simple and ignorant which are the multitude of people to follow them especially having countenance of worldly authority by which means both they and their followers depart from the true unity of the Church For when this seven-fold spiritual unity is neglected Christianity is torn in pieces into as many sects as the world and Devil please till there be no footsteps left either of faith or love So that whatever these men pretend most certain it is that all confedaracies in the Church of outward orders forms rites laws ceremonies disciplines which are necessarily enforced by the secular power seduced by the Ecclesiastical will never hold the Church together but all these are and have proved and will prove rather a wall of partition in the Church then a bond of union and if they seem to work union yet it is no other then the mingling clay and iron together which no pains nor art can perfectly compound For all peace and union in the Church knit by other bonds then are here named is no spiritual union neither will it stand And therefore dear Christians and believers seeing we have seven bonds of unity all of Gods own making to make us one let not diversity of forms and rites which are but sorry things of mans making separate and divide us but seeing each of these bonds are able to make us one how much one should all of them together make us And thus having shewed from the word how all Christians and believers are made one by God the next thing I shall aim at is to shew how they may continue one among themselves in reference to that communion they have with one another whilst they sojourn in this world flowing from the former union that so all darkness and mistakes which now even many believers are grievously inwrapped in may be dispelled and done away and we may live in this pure and perfect union with one another in God making all outward things subservient hereunto and none of them prejudicial And to this purpose I conceive we are 1. To know some things And both otherwise then yet we seem either to know or do them And 2. To do other things And both otherwise then yet we seem either to know or do them 1. To preserve our peace we have in Christ we must be instructed aright in the matter of the Churches GOVERNMENT because the mistake in this thing is so great a cause of controversie and division among us at this day For if the true Church hath its true government without any such forms and laws and power as is now so earnestly contended for there is no reason we should fall out and divide for these things Now the Government of the Church is two fold 1. There is that Government which God exercises immediatly by himself And 2. That Government which he exercises mediately and by the faithfull The first of these that is Gods immediate Government is also two-fold 1. The Government of his speciall providence 2. The Government of his spiritual presence The first sort of Gods immediate Government of his Church is the Government of his special providence and this is a most strange wonderful and glorious Government This was that Government of God over the Church of Israel when he took his own Nation out of the midst of another Nation by temptations signs wonders by a strong hand and a stretched out arm and great terrours when he led them through the red Sea and through the wilderness in paths that were not trodden when he fed them with bread from heaven and water out of the Rocks when he suffered no man to do them wrong but reproved even Kings for their sake and through multitudes of enemies and oppositions led them into the Land of Canaan Thus God led that Church from bondage to liberty from tribulation to quietness from a sordid condition to honour and renown from a strange land to a land of inheritance and from slavery to a Kingdom And this was a glorious Government indeed standing in Gods immediate conduct from heaven far above all humane councels wisdom stratagems or any thing else of mans contriving and acting and this government of God is so far beyond all humane apprehensions that according to this it is said His way is the Sea and his path in the great waters and his footsteps are not known And is not this kinde of Gods government of the spiritual Church of the New Testament every whit as wonderful and glorious as was that of the visible Church of the Old Testament For though the beginning of it was small and low in the world yet did it receive encrease with the encrease of God and was preserved maintained and enlarged in the world notwithstanding all the rage and cruelties of the persecuting Heathen Emperours for three hundred years together and ever since God himself hath taken the conduct of this Church and hath carryed it through difficulties distresses reproaches prisons torments deaths to ease liberty comfort joy salvation glory life happiness and this hath been Gods glorious government of the Church hitherto And at this present time the Church of God wants not this government among all the troubles confusions wars and desolations of the Kingdom but God is now as near his true Church as ever and supports it and comforts it and guides it as a skilful Pilot
acknowledge them for their Pastors And there is no doubt but what Believers met together in the name of Christ do in this matter it is done through the working and approving of God himself And besides this way I see no other how in this great defection of the Clergy the Church may have the true word of God restored to their meetings and assemblies again Now this thing that is so directly cross to the way and working of Antichrist for many Ages together and is so opposite to Fathers Schoolmen Councels Doctors Antiquity Custom and the general practice of the Kingdom cannot be hoped to be accomplished at once but by degrees as the lightnings of the Gospel shall enlighten the world and the Spirit shall be poured forth And therefore in this matter let some begin and the rest follow as this practice shall be cleared up to them from the Scriptures For none are to be forced in this matter if Authority should entertain this truth but the Spirit is to be allowed its own liberty to blow when and where and on whom he listeth Neither ought this to trouble any if all do not presently agree with them it is sufficient if at first a few begin whom others may follow afterwards as God shall perswade them Now as the Church hath power to chuse its Officers so if they prove evil it hath power either 1. To reform them Or 2. To depose them 1. It hath power to reform them if so be that they may be brought to repentance and amendment Yea as all the evils of the Church do commonly first flow from the Officers so the reformation of it is first to begin with them And who shall reform the Officers of the Church but the Church it self Seeing the Officers will be sure to tolerate one another in their Vn-Gospel and Vn Christian courses against the life of Christ and true practice of the word because it is their own case Wherefore seeing the Generality of the present Clergy are arrived to this height of evil that they will not be contented to be servants but will needs make themselves Lords over Christs Flock plotting and striving to procure and maintain their Ecclesiastical state by secular power seeing they have left off to preach Christ and the Gospel and onely preach of state-affairs raging and railing against the most just and necessary proceedings of the Supream Authority of the Kingdom as not sutable to their designs seeing they are daily depraving the sayings and writings of men more righteous then themselves yea and dare cast a veil of their fals Expositions over the very Scriptures to darken them and make them as Sack-cloth to the world that the glory of the Father and the minde of Christ might if it were possible be wholly obscured yea seeing they are become so vile that they had rather Christ himself with his Gospel and true Church should all perish then that they should suffer the least diminution of their power dignity riches dominion and tyranny What remains but that the Societies of Christians should meet together to reform these evil Officers And whereas they are now met to reform the Church it is far more necessary and would be far more profitable for the Congregations of the faithful to meet together to reform them if yet they be capable of reformation which I confess is much to be doubted seeing they sin against so clear a light 2. If the Officers of the Church prove incorrigible the Church hath power to depose them seeing they have no indelible character whatever the Romish Church affirms Wherefore as the true Church hath power to chuse its Ministers and to continue them as long as they remain faithful in their work so also it hath power to remove them if they forsake the truth and power of the Gospel For as in civil Societies not subjected to tyranny Officers that prove evil are moveable by them that made them so likewise the Church hath power to remove if it see cause this spiritual Officer yea the spiritual Officer is so much the more moveable then the civil by how much the more he is intolerable if he be unfaithful for the civil Officer can onely hurt in the things of this life but the spiritual in the things of eternal life Wherefore the Church hath the greatest necessity to remove him and chuse another seeing this salt when it hath lost its savour is good for nothing but to be cast upon the dunghil And to this worthy Mr Tindal a blessed Martyr witnesses saying If they that is the Ministers err from the word then may whosoever God moveth his heart play Paul and correct him and if he will not obey the Scripture then have his brethren Authority by the Scripture to put him down and send him out of Christs Church among the Hereticks which prefer their false doctrines above the true word of Christ. 4. The true Church hath power to call its Councels If the Church of the faithful stand in need of a Councel it may call one if it pleaseth and it hath power so to do and the Councel is not to call and appoint the Church as is now done but the Church is to call and appoint the Councel and the Councel is to have its Authority from the Church and not the Church from it And for the world it can no more call the Councels of the Church then the Church can call the Councels of the world the Councels of the Church and the world being as distinct as the Church and the world themselves are Now I said The Church if it need a Councel may call one because the Church of Believers now seldom needs a Councel seeing all things are so clear in the word of God with which the faithful are so well acquainted There are many other causes why the right Church may very well be without Councels As 1. Because Councels as the manner was were either called or congregated by the Pope a meer Vsurper in the Church or by secular and worldly Princes who advanced themselves to the same power in the Church though upon another account And according to their ends and designs Councels for the most part have been guided and pointed 2. Because they have for the most part been made up of Bishops and Ecclesiastical men who have onely sought the interest and advantage of the Clergie to the prejudice of the body of Christianity by which means they have set up their own Kingdom and tyranny over all other Christians 3. Because being gathered and met they have especially medled with outward rites and Ceremonies and touching these have made binding and coercive laws to the overthrow of Christian liberty and the ensnaring and enslaving mens consciences 4. Because if they have medled with Doctrine they have rather perverted and obscured the clear word of the Gospel then truly explicated and unfolded it 5. Wherein they have done well yet this evil hath always gone
the Ministers and depending more on their knowledge then his own shall draw his sword against whomsoever they shall perswade him What higher honour doth he attain to in all this then to become their Executioner Yea if he punish amiss he may prove a very murderer Pilate in this case may be a sea-mark to all the Magistrates in the world who following the councel and judgement of the High Priests put the Son of God himself to death as if he had been the son of perdition Which I say may serve for a sufficient warning to the end of the world to all Magistrates that they confide not on the judgement of the Clergy but that they be sure themselves in what they do 2. The putting power into the Magistrates hands to suppress error by the sword gives him full opportunity to destroy and slay the true children of God if at any time he shall mistake and judge them Heretikes For what power men ignorantly allow a godly Magistrate against true Heretikes the same power will all Magistrates arrogate to themselves as their just due against all those that differ from themselves in matters of Religion though their judgement who so differ from them be never so true And thus the Magistrate who is a most fallible Judge in these things instead of tares may pluck up the wheat and kill the faithful instead of Heretikes at his own pleasure till he have destroyed all the faithful in the land Wherefore let all Christians take heed how they favour the Magistrates with this power to punish those whom he judges Heretiks for if he shall change his minde as he easily may seeing he is but a man or if another shall succeed him of another minde that very Sword may be sheathed in their own bowels which now they draw forth against other mens 3. When the Magistrate assumes power to himself to suppress error this makes Ministers negligent in studying the Scriptures the Magistrate doing that by force which they ought to do by the word and so saves them their labour For when once the Ministers shall have so far interessed themselves in the Magistrate as to procure him to call for the Goaler and Executioner against whomsoever shall oppose their Doctrine they will then need no great pains to study the word that they may be able to convince the gainsayers and perswade the rebellious seeing the Magistrates sword at all adventure is to defend their Doctrine and all the objections against it either from reason or Scripture the hangman is to answer And so the Pastors having their work as they conceive thus done for them to their hands do commonly betake themselves to ease and idleness and to the prosecution and injoyment of worldly things and grow careless and negligent of the Scripture and word of God whereupon error steals in apace upon the Teachers themselves whereby by degrees they corrupt and seduce very many And thus whilst the Magistrate thinks to chase out error before him one way he lets it in behinde him seven wayes 4. This takes men off from the certain means to destroy errors which is the word and leads them to that which can never destroy it which is the sword of the Magistrate and so the Devil here in hath a notable Stratagem For he fears not all the Swords and Halters and Weapons and Prisons in the world to destroy error withall but as securely contemns all these things as Leviathan a Bulrush and yet doth earnestly stir up the world to use these things against him and his errors as the only meanes to subdue him Whereas the only thing he fears is the word of God which is that mighty power than can binde the Devil and destroy his Kingdom and break down all his strong holds of errors and Heresie and he is in no sort able to stand out against the power thereof Wherefore in his great cunning he causes men to lay aside this that is able to prevail against him and to go to the sword of the Magistrate which will do him no harm And thus the sword of the Magistrate presuming to lift it self up against Error instead of the word of God is so far from destroying Error that it upholds it and strengthens Satans Kingdom whilst it seems to destroy it By these things it appears how great an Error and evil it is for any to attribute to the Magistrate or for the Magistrate to assume to himself power to suppress Error by the sword If any shall yet demand Whether the Magistrate can do nothing at all towards the suppressing of Errors I answer This he may do he may and ought and if he be a godly man he will countenance and encourage faithful Ministers that are called of God and anointed by the Spirit to this work of the Gospel and having done this he need not trouble himself any farther for the word preached will do all the rest And let it not be doubted but if the truth of God do enter the Lists against Error it will be infinitely able to prevail of it self alone without calling in any power or borrowing any weapons from the world The ninth Rule is By no means to inforce Vniformity in the outward orders and discipline of the Church For such Vniformity hath been in all ages not only the hinderance but the very break neck of the Churches peace and unity Now because this is so vehemently and strongly urged by the unskilful builders of this age I shall the more fully acquaint the Reader with the State of this business from the very beginning of the Gospel and show when this part of the mystery of iniquity first invaded the Church of God Most manifest it is that the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were only intent about the Doctrine of Salvation and so accordingly preached and pressed nothing but faith in Christ and love to all the Saints as being the only necessary things which Christians were to regard And for all outward Rites and Ceremonies and forms wherein Christ had made them free they commanded them to stand fast in that liberty And so they gave no heed nor regard to the observation of dayes and times neither bound the Church to any Ceremonies or Rites except those necessary things mentioned Act. 15. to wit things strangled and blood which was then ordained by the holy spirit not without urgent and necessary cause For when the murdering and blood of Infants was commonly laid to the charge of Christians by the Heathens they had no other Argument to help themselves but their own Law by which they were commanded to abstain from the blood of common Beasts much more from the blood of innocent men And therefore that Law seemeth to be given by the holy Spirit and also for the same end to be continued in the Church so long as the cause thereof that is the persecutions of the heathen Gentiles continued And besides these we reade of no other Ceremonies or
the choice of the House and thus and no otherwise doth a Minster differ from other Christians as Paul saith Let a man so esteem of us as of the Ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God But Antichrist he hath cast out the simplicity of Christian people and brought Sects into the Church dividing it into Clergy and Laity and this distinction they have made visible by their garments disguising their Clergy in their habit from other Christians that they might appear holier then they and of another order from them And this distinction hath proved a Seminary of implacable discord and heart-burning in the Church For hereupon the Clergy have prefer'â— themselves above others Christians and have exercised authority and coercive power and domination and very tyranny over them and have made themselves their Lords and given them Laws rules forms orders after their own mindes and agreeable to their own advantages and would not so much as suffer them to judge whether they were agreeable to the word of God or no as if other Christians were their Subjects Slaves Vassals yea very dogs And hence again the Laity as they called them have envied and maligned them and hated and opposed them and as they could get power have been subduing them and have looked upon them as men of a dâ—fferent sect and interest from themselves whose prosperity was their ruine and whose power was their inslaving and all this was to the making void Christian brotherhood and communion Wherefore the right Church to preserve in it the peace of Christ must admit of no such distinction of Laity and Clergy but all Christians must equally remain it it Kings Priests and Prophets unto God The fifth Rule is To keep equality in the Curch and that both between Christians and Churches for this also is an excellent way to preserve peace 1. To keep equality between Christians For though according to our first Nativity whereby we are born of men there is great inequality some being born high some low some honourable some mean some Kings some Subjects c. yet according to our new or second birth whereby we are born of God there is exact equality for here are none better or worse higher or lower but all have the same faith hope love the same God Christ Spirit the same divine nature the same precious promises the same incorruptible Crown and inheritance of Saints in light And therefore saith Paul speaking of this true Church There is neither Iew nor Greek nor bond nor free nor male nor female but all are one in Christ Iesus Indeed in the world and before men I say again there is distinction of persons and inequality but in Christs Kingdom and before God all Believers aae equal and this equality preserves peace But when in this Kingdom some will be advancing themselves above others like Diotrephes that would have the preheminence and some will be striving to sit at the right hand and some at the left whilst they leave others to sit at the footstool this is that which breeds difference among the very Disciples who envied Zebedees children for such a desire And therefore Christ to preserve peace forbad Lordship in his Church and commanded service and tells them that the nature of his Kingdom is not to place men one over another but one under another and that the greatest must be the least the greatest in the way of the spirit must be the least in the way of the flesh 2. As equality among Christians is to be kept for the preserving of peace so also among Churches For all Churches are equal as well as all Christians and there is no Church can set it self before or above another all being sisters of one Mother beams of one Sun branches of one Vine streams of one Fountain members of one Body branches of one golden Candlestick and so all equal in all things Wherefore there may and ought to be a consociation of Churches but no subordination which makes void at once both equality and unity And so that Church or those Churches that will set themselves above other Churches that are their equals as the Classical above the Congregational c. they are the breakers of Christian peace and unity and the unskilful vote of the Assembly for the subordination of Churches was not a way to make peace but to mar peace in the Church of God Moreover no Church can be subjected to another but Christ who is present in it and is King and Lawgiver is subjected too which no true Church will either require or allow For if the true Church will not subject the Word of God which they have received to any men or Angels but will judge all by it and will suffer none to judge it much less will they subject Christ the Lord of all to any other power or authority for so they should dishonor and disanul their Head Where two or three are met in Christs name Christ himself is among them and the Head of them and so they can submit to no body else seeing Christ hath made no greater nor surer promise of his presence to any body then to them The sixth Rule is To keep the Officers of the Church in subordination to the whole Church or community and not to suffer them to get head over it seeing the very nature of ruling the Church is not Dominion but Service We reade Act. 11.2 that when Peter had preached in the house of Cornelius a Gentile or Heathen the Church of the circumcision to whom Peter was Minister contended with him that he went in to men uncircumcised and did eate with them for as yet they knew not that the Gentiles were to be called And Peter waâ— fain to give an account to them of the whole matter and to shew them that he was warned of God in a Vision to do so c. And this was a sign that Peter was a servant of the Church and in subordination to it and no Lord over it And after vers 22. when the Church at Ierusalem heard that the Grecians at Antioch had received the Gospel they sent Barnabas to Antioch to forward and perfect the Work And also the Church at Antioch sent forth Paul and Barnabas to the work of the Ministry in divers Towns and Countries All which are an evident sign that the Church was above the Officers and not the Officers above the Church Now this also will preserve peace in the Church to keep the Officers in their proper place and to let them remain as servants in the Church which Christ hath commanded and not to let them grow up to be Lords and Masters which Christ knowing the evil and inconvenience thereof hath forbidden For if the Officers get above the Church though they be never so good they are masterful and troublesome and though never so bad yet will they get a party in the Church for themseves and so work disturbance but if