which though One Assembly at first they were to encrease into Many as they are now at this Day making up that one Church Insimae Speciei which can admit of no other under it but only several Congregations as Parts of it that can themselves be no Political Societies upon that Account These Men it must be confessed therefore do destroy the Parish Pastor and Church and their Opinion is to be opposed by us all Conformist and Non-Conformist espâ—cially when they take upon them to deliver the Judgment of the Church of England which in her Declaration of the Work or Office with which She Charges the Minister at his Ordination as well as otherwise does say enough for the Confutation of these Men. There are others then more temperate who hold thus only That Christ having instituted a Superiority and Inferiority in the Ministry and the Apostles and Evangelists ceasing in regard to the Extraordinary Part of their Office the sixed Bishop succâ—eds in thâ— Ordinary Part of it But as thâ— Elders or Pastors in Scripture-time had a Power conferred on them by their Ordination which they continued over their Congregations notwithstanding the over-ruling Authority of the Apostles and did exercise it when they interposed not or were prâ—sent with them So is the Superintendency of the Bishops their Successors now but Cumulative and not Destructive of the Government which the Minister hath over his Parish by vertue of Christ's Institution And these Men by such soft Words do quite turn the Edge of this Argument Of Those who hold Episcopacy to be only of Humane Right there are some that are ready to acknowledge and approve of it as Prudent and of Ecclesiastical Institution when they will in no wise endure it to be obtruded on us as Apostolical or of Divine Right for this Reason more especially because then it can never be alter'd whatsoever Occasion there be for it There are Others that though they cannot but acknowledge the Antiquity of Bishops as of Ecclesiastical Right yet are they not willing to receive them if they could help it but only being Establish't by the Supreme Power they submit to thâ—m And the Truth is so long as all Power Ecclesiastical or Civil which is but Human is subordinate to the Supreme Magistrate it is the King's Authority must be their chiefest Hold who if He please may put into their Hands the Executive Part of that Power Circa Sacra which belongs to Princes making it Coercive so far as He will and no Body I know could deny Obedience to them upon that Account when if they challenge any from the Authority of Christ there are many will be apt to think they owe them none Now to draw up to the Argument or this First Ground of the Separatist I must say first That true it is there are some by their Opinion Quantum in se do destroy the Pastoral Office of the Parish Minister but These are not to be accounted the Church of England or the Law but Innovators whosoever they be I must say then next That suppose we were mistaken and the Church and Law did or does Establish such an Episcopacy as this the Authority of Law in this Case and Church too is or were of no Force because the Authority of Christ must take place A Pastor and People Associated for carrying on the Worship of God and a Christian Life is a Church of Christ's Institution Such Associations are our Parishes Such Pastors also have Power though the Exercise be obstructed and they may exert it if they will and venture the Issue Such Churches I say again have nothing wanting in the Essentials of true Churches and to Separate from them therefore without other Cause is Schism For Answer to the latter Ground which is the old stated Ground of Donatist and Brownist I have prepared this ensuing Discourse That our Churches are True Churches in opposition to or Answer of the first Ground Argument or Objection it hath been I must confess but the fresh Work of another Person and in such a piece of Impartiality and Self-denyal as is in my Opinion very engaging to the Church of England if She could acknowledge it for he hath removed all their just Offence and the Substance of it I think I have set down in this little Only I must add thus much more yet in his behalf That whereas the Dispute between him and his chief Opposer lies in this Point Whether it be lawful to Communicate with the Parish Assemblies as by Law required I must say That the Question thus proposed includes a Fallacy in it which is the Fallacy plurium Interrogationum as we call it The only Enquiry should be Whether we may go to Church the Law requiring it The word As As by Law required includes I say another or farther Interrogation which is not needful to be Answered and therefore is Fallacious which I put in as a Suppletory to what that worthy good Man hath omitted The Law requires that we go to our Parish Church whether as to a Part only of the Diocesan or as to a True Particular Church agreeable to Christ's Appointment is a Matter of Contention which is Needless and may be Endless It is enough that it is lawful for us to go to Church There is this Difference between the Law of Man and God's That when our Obedience to Him must not only be in the Matter but in the Manner of his Commands to be accâ—ptable to Him If the thing which the Law of Man requires be but in the Matter done and may be done there is no more comes into Examination That our Churches are True Churches in answer of or opposition to the Second Ground I do make the Work de Industria of these Sheets that is I do make it My Work because indeed it can never be that Worthier Man 's seeing the Way he hath gone hitherto which because Common they call Orthodox will never make any Work of it For let us try If we Answer hereunto That the Church of Christ does indeed consist only of the Sound Bâ—liever or Regenerate Persons but the Church as Visible that is which appears the Church in Man's Account consists of the Vnregenerate also Or Those that are Members really and in the Sight of God are only Regenerate Believers but those are Members in our Esteem that profess themselves to be such Christians as the Regenerate tho' they be not the Argument then will come to this The Church as visible to use here for once the common Term in the common Sense is a number of Profâ—ssors This Profession must be of a Regenerate Saving Faith and of no less that we may believe the Professor to be such as is sit Matter for Christ's Church according to our Protestant Divines But in our Parish Churches there is no such Profession Therefore They are no True Churches This I say is the old and constant Foundation of the Separatist and who is there that goes the
no otherwise than as they are reputed Members of the Invisible upon this Reason which is therefore to be look't on as the Stating and all the Stating he has of the Point because they become Members by their Voluntary Covenanting by Baptism It is a Contradiction For their Voluntary Covenanting by Baptism is in the common Account Professing themselves Members of the Church Invisible I am very sensible that this Notion of a Visible Member which he opposes as the Independent Notion is the Notion of our Protestants in general and when he hath said so much to Confute it in the Independent he must not go back upon his Knowledge that the Presbyterian and the Church of England as well as the Congregationalist agree in the same Nay so long as he but uses the Term Visible and tells us That the Vnregenerate are Members of the Church only as Visible or only Visible Members the Cause is given up for to be a Visible Member and no more is to be a. Member of Christ in the Account of Men when they are not so in the Sight of God which is That they who oppose us would have according to the received Opinion even of all sorts of Protestant Divines as I said but now As for this Author then and Mr. Blake I see no Foot-steps leading them out of this Difficulty having had no Inckling of any Difference between God's Government over all Mankind for Eternal Life and that Kingdom which He set up over the Jews and committed to the Messiah to be spread over all Nations by the Gospel as subservient to that End and consequently between the Condition necessary to bring Men into a State of Salvation according to the Covenant of Grace and That which serves to make Men Subjects to this Voluntary Government or Kingdom and capable of Entring the Covenant belonging thereunto as Means to the Other and so to distinguish of a Saving Faith and One Short of it accordingly I do much less remember in these Authors any thing of Solidity about the Measure or Stint of that Faith which does Entitle to Baptism and not to Justisication If a Faith less than Saving do suffice to give this Right it must be known to what Degree that Faith must come to have this Virtue and what That is which gives it But I should never have found Light in their Books about the General Grace of God from whence that Virtue springs and whereupon it is certainly founded Or of that Degree which specifies this Faith which is short of Saving and yet gives Right upon the Account thereof to Admission I let thus much be yet but a Riddle till the Book be read over and that all of it for the Notion is not compleat till you come to the very End Whosoever will let him take the Water of Life freely I do not forget that all Men know but in part and I am conscious how little I know in respect of Others and that there is like to be a great deal wanting in my Papers and perhaps something of Inconsistency too as in these Worthy Persons especially in offering some Variety for Men to choose where if I stuck to One thing they could not have it And I do therefore give the like Liberty to Others to open those Defects with all my Heart if it be to the same End of helping Them and compleating the Notion It is but little a Man can do with his single Strength It is but little Light that any sow usually at first which must grow up by the blowing of Others That which I sow I know can but be a Seed so small as the Mustard-seed which yet if it be look't to watered and cultivated by other Hands may spread into a Tree for the Time to come to gather Fruit of it In the mean while I will give warning That no Body make this Discourse a Pretext for Impiety in the neglect either of his Exhortation of Others or of his Care to his own Soul in sitting themselves for Baptism or the Supper if they come to them That a Man repent of all his Sins and dedicate himself unto God in sincere Obedience or entire measured by Grace and particularly the more solemnly when he comes to these Sacraments is his unquestionable Duty And for as much as this is the usual Theme of our Practical Books and Sermons I do declare by these Presents my Approbation of such Labours and that there is nothing in this Discourse to be understood to the contrary but rather to press the same thing upon all Persons as ever they expect to have the Remission of their Sins and obtain Salvation Nevertheless in regard that it is Sathan's Policy to make Holiness and Peace oftentimes to become Stumbling-Blocks one to the Other while some Men by secking the Purity of the Church do themselves take and more often give occasion to others to break the Peace of It it is the Endeavour of these Sheets to let Men understand That though such Lessons are well taught and urged on all that come yet is it their Duty still to come and of the Church to receive those that come And if such be Admitted that come not as they ought when yet they ought to come it is not for any upon that Account to Separate from Vs We are indeed to take heed we be not levened by any one's Sin and to Admonish the Guilty if it be not casting Pearl before Swine and to tell the Church if a Brother be refractory But our Communion with evil Men does not maculate any says St. Austin by partaking of the Sacrament with them unless we joyn in or consent to their Deeds In the Threshing of the Wheat the Corn parts from the Chaff but Both of them keep the same Floor And however the Devil would be setting Holiness and Peace at distance it is our part to keep to both not willingly letting One intrench upon the Other And such Doctrine is to be taught and to be so tempered as most conduces to make them Meet I shall not therefore be concerned much at those Men who will be apt to say That my Larger Way will bring in too many into the Church and confound the World with it For besides that this is a Mistake so long as a Christian and a Pagan are not confounded and it is not the Vngodly but the more tender Godly that would stick at what they are put to profess supposing them once willing to come in I am not sensible of any such great Hurt in this when according to the Prophecies of Scripture it is the Glory of the Church under the Gospel that the Kingdoms of the World do become the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Seek ye Me says God and seek not Bethel That Publick Worship which God hath Instituted for Himself as the only True God in opposition to Idols and False Worship is a Means which we are to use in order that we may Live for This hath
the Promise of Life annexed to it Seek ye Me and ye shall Live Amos 5.4 5 6.2 Chron. 15.2 Exod. 20.24 Matth. 18.20 That the Ordinances therefore in general and one with another are appointed to be the Means of Grace I think a Man should believe as his Creed And why any good Men that will consider should be moved at our Inviting All and Letting in the Willing having first heard and received the Gospel unto the Participation of these External Appointments so long as we press upon them the Necessity of the same Faith and Repentance that the most strictest Ministers do for the obtaining the Spiritual Benefits thereof I apprehend no such Cause as they For here is Holiness and here is Peace joyned together Neither am I taken off with that worn-out Arguing That because the Sacraments are not Administred as the Word without the Church unto Heathens to convert such to the Faith therefore they cannot tend within the Church to any Vnregen rate Member's Edification Joh. 3.14 15. Joh. 4.22 It is a more Generous Spirit methinks St. Paul shews when the Corinthians seem to value themselves upon their External Christianity without Care of a Holy Life I would not have you ignorant says he that all our Fathers were Baptized in the Cloud and passed through the Sea and eat of the same Spiritual Meat and drank of the same Spiritual Drink But with many of them God was not well pleased The Apostle appears here to make but very little of the admitting Men unto Baptism and the Supper when he makes no more of their Coming to it than the Israelites passing through the Sea and eating of the Mannah and drinking of the Rock which things yet he declares to be Symbolical or Types even of the Blood of Christ as our Sacraments He could hardly have had a Heart to have spoken thus if his Thoughts had been cast in the Mould as many of our good Men's now are I will add Had the Apostles been so strict about admitting Persons to Baptism in their Days as they were after when they kept Men so long upon Tryal as Catechumens upon peculiar Reasons then and had look't on Baptism as so great and chief Work of the Ministry and Exercise of the Keys wherein so singular Care was to be taken I wonder that this Zealous Doctor of the Gentiles should profess himself to be no more concern'd about it when he tells us how few some Three or Four or so were all that he ever Baptized and that God sent him Not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel Not but I fear God and reverence his Institutions and the Panting and Breathings of the Hearts of good Men after more pure Communion even on Earth hath been to me of deep Consideration But we must not for all that make the same Conditions unto Coming into the Church as unto the Getting into Heaven In actione Coenae Dominicae non debemus says Cyprian attendere quid aliqui ante nos faciendum putaverint sed quid ille qui ante omnes est prior fecerit faciendum mandaverit In these Actions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper we are not to attend what some before us have thought fit to be dome but what He who is before all hath Himself first done and commanded us to do The Author THE Cause of our Mixt Churches AGAINST SEPARATION SECT I. IT is in vain to write Books for the Satisfaction of People concerning the Lawfulness of the Liturgy and Ceremonies and coming to Church To think of Terms for Von and Concord or to endeavour any the like good things which many Considerate Ministers about London have lately done if the Churches unto which We Go and would Bring Others cannot be maintained to be True Churches or Churches agreeable to the Institution of Christ It is This is the First Stone to be Laid It is This is the Cause must be made Good For the doing hereof I shall offer some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating or Building it Vp some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Confirming it some things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Refutation of Objections And the Discourse shall contain Three Sections To begin with the First The Building Vp our Cause in This and to fetch the Matter from the Bottom I must lay my Thoughts together in these Theses and Method following As God made all things so is He universal Governour of his Creatures The Government of God over his Creatures that are Reasonable must be a Moral Government requiring Obedience from them upon Motives of Reward and Punishment The Insirument of this Government must be his Law The Law of God is either the Law of Nature or his Revealed and Positive Laws The Government of God is likewise double Natural or Conventional The Natural Government of God over Men and Women which He hath by Right of Creation is over all the World as they are particular Persons giving them the Law of Nature to live by that they may please Him and be saved This Law of Nature is either the Law of Innocent or Lapsed Nature The Law of Innocent Nature is that perfect Rule of Righteousness that was writ in Adam's Heart when created requiring him to preserve his Innocency and Integraty upon Pain of Death and it is called the Law of Works The Law of Lapsed Nature is the same Law with mitigation requiring the same Duty but not as the Condition of Life accepting of the imperfect Service of Man according to his present State so long as it is performed in Sincerity of Heart towards God and this is called the Law of Grace As Man in Innocency had the Notices of the most Holy God and his Duty writ in his Heart or could gather it from the Light of his Reason being to live perfectly in that State So must the World after Man's Fall and the Loss of his Innocency have some the like Notices implanted there or arising naturally from the Exercise of his Faculties That God is Good and Merciful and will not punish him if he Repent but consider him according to his frail Condition and consequently that he must now have no Government at all over him for Life and Salvation or else that he must be under another Law than that of Innocency or under other Conditions in obeying it for else must every Man on the Earth everlastingly perish Upon what Account or upon what Ground or Foundation the Righteousness of God could stand in dealing with Man when faln by another Law than that at first implanted in him in Innocency was a Mystery hidden from the Foundation of the World and not revealed but darkly till the Times of the Gospel But the Belief that God was Good and would pardon the Sinner upon his Repentance though they could not tell how or upon what ground it was the way of Reconciliation through Christ being beyond the Ken of all Human Understanding was general in the World
Profession of no less than True Grace or a Regenerate Faith be the Rule of Admission to the Church and Sacraments I do not see in the First place but we must all give up the Cause of our Mixed Churches Parochial or National to the Separatist They who require such a Profession in the Adult as necessary to give Right to Church Communion and do indeed understand themselves will say It must be a Profession de praesenti Serious Intelligent Resolved with whatsoever else is needful to make it Credibly Significant of the Thing they profess so that the Person Professing must be indeed Regenerate to be able to Make it and the Persons that Receive him must look on him as Regenerate upon his Making it And what more can be imagined for the yielding to the Congregationalist his whole Foundation It is true that some will persist and say The Independent does require yet more than this Profession they require also a Church-Covenant But this is in good earnest to Impose upon them The Judicious among them will avouch That let but a Man make his Profession of the Baptismal Covenant and his Profession be only thus qualified which Mr. Baxter in his Books still insists upon and there is nothing Besides but what on necessity does arise upon a Man's joyning meerly in Society is or can be required of any It is this Profession individuated into a Particular Congregation is all they do and will stand upon even so understood so qualified so explained But now such a Profession as this will they all say is incompatible with our Parochial National Churches There are none can make a Profession of what they have not There are but few here and there who are Regenerate and consent Indeed to the Covenant in the Sense as the Baptismal Covenant is understood There are but Few that are Elect in comparison of the Multitude of others And seeing there are none but these Few as I say are able to make such a Profession it is They who ought and must be Gathered out of the rest into their Select Congregations And what can be offered with more Reason if this indeed were Christ's Rule of Communion I must for my part protest therefore as one that loves to be plain and single-hearted I see not in good earnest but either we must come Off from this Rule or we must come Over to their Gathered Congregations In the Second place This Opinion does not only fundamentally Yield but Betray our Cause by a Defence that will stand us in no stead It defends our Parochial Churches upon a Supposition of what it Would have not upon a Supposition of What is It would have us Bâ—ptize our Children upon Profession of the Parents as in Covenant with them and whâ—n they come of Age themselves to be Confirmed upon their Own which should be thâ—n such a one But as this Use of Confirmation cannot be evidently proved in Scripture nor Aâ—y at all perhaps since the Extraordâ—nary Gifts of the Holy Ghost by the Laying on of Hands are ceased So is it more apparent that our Infants are Baptized in our Parish Churches upon the Child 's Own Profession and not the Parents The Godfathers Make Profession in their Names And how an Infant can Make a Profession which is Vnderstanding Serious and Credibly Significant that it Is or Does what it Professes or how any other can make such a Profession de praesenti for Children in their Names there are none who will Speak plain but must say they cannot apprehend And who can yet say That such a Profession as is supposed is required by the Bishops of the Confirmed or lookt after as any such Test of Christianity in our Days In the Third place The Going this way hath cast a vile Slander on the Catholick National Parochial Churches as if They were but a Company of Hypocrites mixt with a few of the Elect and Regenerate among them It is their Submission only to this Rule makes the Vnregenerate to be Hypocrites A Man were no Hypocrite to come to Church and joyn with the Congregation for Conversion But if he must Profess that he is Converted before his Coming and he be Not then is he made a Liar a Dissemblâ—r and Hypocrite indeed If it were not ordinary in the Mouths of Divines but the Language only of Two or Three that speak thus it would be a most hateful opprobrious kind of speaking to call every Vnregenerate Christian and Hypocrite I will not be one therefore that chuse to Speak or Vnderstand thus that the Church consists of the Regenerate and Hypocrites but of the Converted and those that are in the Way to it In the Fourth place This Rule unless it be stated after the Congregational manner will not answer the End unto which it is designed A Profession is not required as a Duty for it Self but for the Admitters that supposing none may be of the Church but the Regenerate this Profession of Regeneration does make the Party to be reputed to be Such whether he be or not and consequently to be Admitted Now it is not sufficient to this end that a Profession be Credible only or Credibly Significant only of that which is Professed unless it be Credited I cannot report a Story for True let it be never so credible unless I my self do Credit it It is but a Lie else In like manner although a Man's Profession be never so Credible yet if it be not more than Credible that is unless it be also Credited the Church cannot account or Repute the Professor to be what he professes because our Account and Repute of things must be according to what we Think or else our Account and Repute is a Lie In us as their Profession is In them that are Hypocrites You will say It is our Duty when they Profess to Believe them unless we can Disprove them I Answer It is true yet if the Church does not Believe them they cannot Account them Regenerate and receive them for Such as they do not think them whether they ought or no. And unto This there is nothing to be Answered substantially but by the Congregational Men who will say That they leave not this Business on the Judgment of the Single Minister but on the Whole Society and they require the Profession to be such as gives the Major Part Satisfaction So that it is upon a Profession Credited and upon a Real Belief of Man's being what he Professes that he is Admâ—tted And this is to make something of the Rule in earnest For to what purpose should there be any Proâ—ession at all if it be less than what is Satisfactory as to the End of it Especially considering that upon Profession of the Party it is not the Pastor only but the Whole Society is concern'd to receive him as a Bâ—other and which requires Offices from thâ—m in that Relation Blame not this Prâ—â—eding then of Tyranny If this be the Rule hâ—re is nothing
THE AXE LAID to the ROOT OF Separation OR THE Churches Cause Against It. By the Author who wrote in the late Times for Free Admission to the Lord's Supper So those Servants went out into the High-ways and gathered together as many as they found both Good and Bad and the Wedding was furnished with Guests Matth. 22.10 LONDON Printed by John Leake for the Author MDCLXXXV TO THE MOST REVEREND The Present ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBVRY May it please Your Grace I Do not Dedicate this Book to You for any Interest I have In You or for any Preferment I seek From You who may say as the Woman with whom the Prophet sojourned I have nothing to be spoken for to the King I dwell among my own People being One that Conform Not as a Minister but go to Church as a Parishioner and Study to be quiet But I lay these Sheets at the Feet of the Church by Handing them to Your Grace in regard to the Orb You are placed in and in respect to the Subject I have undertaken I do likewise Present it to Your Grace as One I understand that do Love and will Find a Time to Read notwithstanding the Multiplicity and Weight of Your Affairs being not Lifted up with Greatness or Delighted so much in the Sun-shine even of the Court as in Retiring to the Shade of Your Books at Home Who are One consequently that is like to Read the Book and make Your Own Judgment of it and if You find any thing in it serviceable to God are in Place to Move and Promote it as if the Attempt be amiss can by Your proper Instruction appoint some sit Person to Reprove and Answer it that the Publick receive no Detriment by it I must confess I am of the Opinion That the Notion and Doctrine Of and Concerning the Church and Churches of Christ upon Earth which is generally received as Orthodox is not consistent with our Publick Practice and the Being of our Mixt Churches and could not therefore when Time was Declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent to all things in the Liturgy because I must then have both prevented this Book and consented to Some Thing in Point of Doctrine and Vse which will be nam'd in its Place as by a Consequence unavoidable to me does give up the Field to the Separatist And when if I may speak a Consequential Truth I am One that have become herein a kind of Martyr in my loss of all Emolument within the Church for my Resolution and Endeavour of maintaining the Churches Cause so that there does appear something Meritorious in my Nonconformity though nothing at all in My Self what if I Revive a late Motion made to Your Grace That You will hearken to those Papers of mine Entituled Three Steps in order to the obtaining my Liberty to Preach which being desired for Occasional Sermons only without Benefice Dignity Living or Lecture I have in my Third Step brought the Matter to this Issue That if You will concede to me but what any Bishop may do by Law and impune also by the Canons I may have Your License for the Vse of my Ministry and yet keep my Own Conscience in the Case Your Grace's Humble Servant The Author The PREFACE READER I Am sensible under what Prejudice I am like to write and how much more would be imputed to it if some Other served the CAVSE I do Truth and Interest went both to One Service Truth did his Master's Work in good earnest Interest labour'd only to please The Master finding his Businâ—ss done and not regarding by Whom kept Interest and turn'd Truth out of Door Were I Ambitious to conciliate to me the Favor of our present Masters of the Age I might set my self on the Magnifying the Church of England in the Excellency of her Constitution of her Reformation and Glory or I might chase some the like Task But when the Advantage I seek is not my Own but That of the Publick I shall leave such Work to Those that think to gâ—t any thing by it My Business which is of other Vse is to make good our Churches which consist of whole Parishes and Nations that is our Mixt Churches to be Churches for all that as are warrantable from the Holy Scriptures that the Vnderstanding Sober Godly of our Brethren may be satisfied to joyn with and separate no longer from our Publick Congregations upon that Account To do this is a Matter of deeper Thoughts than most are aware of and till this Work be done as it ought unto which I can but contribute my Mite and then call in further Aid from others it will but fare with us in all our Endeavours after the Peace and Prosperity of the Church of God in this Nation as with them that have raised a fair Structure and sumptuous Building and then lose it in point of Law by mistaking the Ground upon which they set it That this is the Root of the Difference between Vs and Those that dâ—part from the Publick there are none but must see that have Eyes in their Head And I for my part must say moreover That having had long occasion to reflect on the Subject I could never but apprehend that the Notion which our Protestant Divines generally entertain of the Church is so narrow that unless we can lengthen our Cords and strengthen our Stakes we shall be driven out of our Tents There are Two Foundations upon which the Separatist that best understands his own Cause will lay it The One regards the Minister of the Parish the Other the People or Matter of the Church That which regards the Minister is this The Church of England consists of so many Diocesses and the Parishes are but Parts of the Diocess The Bishop is sole Pastor and the Minister but the Curate of the Bishop It follows that the Minister being no Pastor and the Church no whole or true Church this is the First Ground of Separation That which regards the People is this The Parish Churches consist of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate ex Institutione Humana The Church of Christ ex Intentione Ordinantis consists of the Regenerate only Here are two Ordinations inconsistent The Matter of these Churches inconsistent And this is the Second Ground of Separation In short Our Ministers say they are not true Pastors nor our People true Flocks according to Christ's Institution and therefore they must Separate from our Congregations and gather Others For Answer to the former Ground let us know that Diocesan Episcopacy may be considered as some hold it to be of Divine or as others hold it to be of Human Institution Of those that hold it to be of Divine Right there are some and such as are of our late Chief Men that do indeed assert the Diocesan Bishop to be the only Bishop or Pastor of Christ's Appointment to whom the Keys are committed as succeeding the Apostles and consequently that the Diocesan Churches are the only Churches
common way hath indeed Answered it to the Satisfaction of any the most Impartial among them As for Profession of Infants what is that for Signification to us whether the Baptized be Regenerate or not And what Profession is there besides at least ordinarily but coming together in the Publick Congregation If the Churches of Christ's Ordination I must say it again be a Number only of such Persons as do profess their Faith Repentance Regeneration so credibly or in some such manner as the Minister and Church do receive them thereupon as Men endowed with the Grace supposed to be professed and our Mixt Churches be not in good earnest a Number of such Professors then is there here inconsistent Matter Our Principle is One thing our Practice is Another If you deny the Assumption and will still affirm Our Members are such Professors you will prevail with the Opponent no more than One whom they count will say any thing which will but root them so much the deeper in their Conviction They will tell you They stand on your Bottom and make their Practice comport with it who admit none into their Society but such as indeed make a Profession that is credibly Significant of the thing professed and upon that or such only receive them to be Members They make our Principle and their Practice accord but we stand on the same Bottom and our Vniversal Practice is otherwise and yet maintain our Mixt Churches And what then must we do to make them Good Why As these Men by keeping to our Principle do forsake our Practice so we to avoid their Practice must try our Principle Whether it may not be enlarged to that Practice which is common and cannot but take place where Kingdoms become Christian the Particular Congregations whereof will be acknowledged for all that by Others if not by thâ—se Men to be Churches of Jesus Chriâ—t I know indeed how mean and unfit a Person I am to become a Master-Builder especially when I am to lay another Foundation than That which is laid by the common Doctrine of our Protestants and much more when I am to lay it in Opposition to One particularly unto whom I do not think My Self worthy to be as a Labourer and carry his Bricks after him From whom nevertheless I shall expect a more sincere and candid Consideration of what is offered than from Others It is now about One or Two and Thirty Years that I have had for Recollection for so long it is since I Printed Three Books about Free Admission to the Sacrament Vpon coming out of the Third Piece I received from Mr. Blake a grave Presbyterian a Letter signifying to me his Approbation of the Second Section of that Book with Exceptions to all the Rest When on the contrary I heard from the Reverend Mr. Baxter who approved the rest but excepted at that Section Mr. Blake having found it necessary in regard to some Dispute wherein he was engaged concerning Baptism to enlarge the received Notion of the Church I had in that Section contributed what present Aid I could toward strengthening his Opinion Mr. Baxter upon his first taking notice of the Notion in Mr. Blake did shew a very good Will to it in his Book of Infant-Baptism using as I remember some such Words That there was more Worth in a Leaf or two of Mr. Blake than in all Mr. Tombs's Works By which Words Mr. Blake being encouraged advanced in his Notion But Mr. Baxter having considered farther of it and finding that it would not go being against the Stream which appeared to him more especially from the Learned Gataker's Book de Infantili Baptismo comes out against him in Answer to his Books and to That little of Mine with such a Torrent of Argument and Authority that Mr. Blake I believe could never recover it For my part I conceived Mr. Baxter too hard for me to Cope with and Mr. Blake being dead there was none to take up his Cause The Truth is Mr. Blake had much to say and a great many Scriptures appeared apt to militate for him But he had not digested his Notion and no Man shall ever be able to Make Good any Point which be cannot first State He maintained That a Dogmatical Faith was sufficient to enter a Man in Covenant with God and so to Entitle him to the Ordinances But being pressed with the Authority of the Assembly and the Fathers That the Profession of a Justifying Faith is required to Baptism he grants it and accounts that Nothing to him who never denyed it This Concession was an irrecoverable Contradiction If a Faith less than Saving serves to give Title to a Man himself to be Baptized then a Profession of one less than Saving must suffice for his Admission The Church or Pastor cannot require that a Man should profess any more to their Receiving him than That which gives himself Title to be Baptized It fared the like with that Learned and most Ingenious Gentleman Sir William Morice who appearing by the Title of his Book in the First Edition to defend the same Point with Mr. Blake was discoursed from One by Letter with all the Difficulties he could bring to the end he should obviate them and extricate Vs out of them But he finding it indeed beyond his Ability did wisely by interpreting the Term Dogmatical Faith and making it to signifie a Profession of a Saving One decline the Task and so glided himself off into the Stream of the Common Opinion There have been of late Two Persons of sober Judgment both Citizens who were of the Congregational way but brought off from it upon this same Conception That the Church is to be laid Wider than they thought before and is used They wrote each of them upon the Subject with Approbation of some Persons of Note in the Church and the latest Book is Entituled Catholicisme which I name particularly because there are many things considerable in it to the Asserting our Cause and Answering some Objections I have not touched Nevertheless it does fall out with this Author as with Those before-named who having not compleated his Thoughts does at the very Beginning when he is about stating the Matter destroy it For making this Query What may That be by which People are made Visible Members and giving the Resolution That it is a Mutual Covenanting between God and Them and understanding by this Covenant the Covenant of Grance or Covenant of Life without any Distinction or Apprehensions about it but as others have It is plain that no Man can Covenant on his Part in the manner he expresses it but he is a Regenerate Man and so shall not the Church consist of the Regenerate and Vnregenerate as we would have it but of the Regenerate only or of Those only who are Visibly such which subverts our Opinion When accordingly in his Eighth Query he endeavours to disprove the Tenent of the Independents That Men are Members of the Church as Visible
Live but were Dead Rev. 3.1 Some that had Defiled their Garments Vers 4. Some Luke-warm and so to be Spewed out of God's Mouth Vers 16. Some that Minded earthly things Phil. 3.19 Some Carnal 1 Cor. 3.4 One that was Incestuous 1 Cor. 5.1 Many if the Apostle's Fear was not vain who had Sinned and not Repented of their Vncleanness Fornication and Lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12.31 Such finally whose God was their Belly and whose End was Destruction Phil. 3.19 And if This be the Complexion of the Primitive Christian Churches who does not see but this Matter is Mixt Matter these Churches even under the Gospel Mixt Churches Who is there I say unless he cannot see Wood for Trees but must see it It is true when the Scripture stiles them Elect Sanctified Justified and the like that which is Divinitùs dictum must be So and some of them must be Such But when the same Scripture says these things of them likewise both must be true and some of them must also be otherwise The Church of Christ while 't is on Earth is must and will be Mixt and the Objection shall be Answered farther in its place And again yet look I pray where do we find any such thing as imports Regeneration to be required of God to the Admittance of Persons unto Membership in the Old Testament so that for want of that Qualification they were not Admitted Nay where do we find any one Man put off on that Account in the New 'T is true that Repentance and Faith and such as is Sound is required of those that come and that as necessary to Remission of their Sins by Baptism But is it of Necessity to Baptism If it be then must the Baptism of those Persons whose Faith and Repentance is unsound be invalid null and no Baptism If a due Subject be not of the Essence of Baptism what is But is there any of our Divines think such Baptism void Is there any will re-Baptize such if they come after to be Savingly Converted And if there be none then let no Man I say until he can prove that Wood is more than Trees or Trees are less than Wood go to impose upon me That which they have Devised but acknowledge that what Christ only hath Appointed must be the Rule of Church-Admission The Truth is That the Matter of Christ's Church or Kingdom upon Earth is made up of Good and Bad is so open in the Scripture so even under Sight and pronounced to be so by the Blessed Mouth of our Lord in several Parallels on purpose that I should not need to write a Book to tell any This but only for the Difficulties that attend it And they are either in respect to the Nature of the Church as called out of the World to a Peculiarity in God which hath caused my chief Labour therefore in the Stating and Explication of our CAUSE in the First Section Or in respect to the Darkness and Sophisticated Notions that are on our Vnderstandings about the same which I have endeavoured to Obviate and Heal in the Second Section now Finished Or in respect to the many Scruples and Objections that are raised and agitated concerning it which are to be Answered and Satisfied and that brings me to the Last Part of my Work which remains now on my Hands in the Section ensuing SECT III. THUS much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating our CAUSE and Confirming it I descend now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Answering Objections But how can an Vnregenerat Man be Admitted Into the Church that is not Of it How can he that is not In Christ be Received as a Member or into his Body How can he that is Out of Covenant be Admitted to Enter Covenant How can a Sealed Pardon be delivered to him whose Faith is not sound and Repentance sincere How can one be a Christian that hath no Grace These Objections and the like which are multiplied do receive their Solution by the Preceding Thread of this Discourse If the Government and Covenant we have been speaking of be understood aright and that the Church is the Number of those directly that be brought under That Government and into That Covenant we see all the way how the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate may be of it and that they who say That Such are only In the Church and not Of it do but mistakingly allude to St. John's Words in this Case We see how the Vnregenerate may be In Christ as they are of his Political Body and as Christ himself says expresly That there are Branches in Him that bring forth no Fruit. We see how the Vnregenerate may Enter into the Covenant of Peculiarity when yet he hath not brought his Soul to a Full Decree and Purpose of Constant and Entire Obedience which is required of him also in the Covenant of Life We see how he may Enter it in the Precise though he does not as he ought to do also in the Complex Consideration thereof We may understand also how that Vniversal Conditional Pardon which God hath passed in the Gospel may be Delivered or Sealed to a Man though a Simon or a Judas as well as to a Philip himself or to a John We see likewise how that a Man who hath not one Spark of that Grace that is Saving may have his Share in the General Grace of God or of the Gospel as well as others The Acute and Profound Mr. Baxter in one of his Books hath these Words You must first believe that Common Grace and Love mentioned Joh. 3.16 2 Cor. 5.19 20 14 15. 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 And you must believe your Interest in this that is that God hath by Christ made to All and to You an Act of Oblivion and free Deed of Gift that you shall have Christ and Pardon and Eternal Life if you will believingly accept the Gift and not finally â—â—ject it And the Belief of This even of this Common Love and Grace must first perswade your Hearts accordingly to accept the Offer and then you have a Special Interest Life of Faith pag. 152. Mark here There is the General Grace of God and a Particular Interest in that General Grace the Belief whereof is the orderly way to a Special Interest that is to the putting a Man upon the Performance of the Condition that he may have Interest in the Benefit Let me ask then Whether the Confirming and stirring up this Belief of a Man's Particular Interest in God's General Grace is not to be endeavoured in order to this End the getting the Special Interest And if it be how shall the Word Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are Ordinances that do indeed directly and immediately nothing else howsoever People may mistake but Declare Seal and Confirm the Particular Interest of every Man in this General Grace of the New-Testament and so are delivered to all alike
that have an External Right to them be Denyed to any one the fuller Definition of General Grace before laid down duly also considered who upon an Assent to the Truth of the Gospel doth desire Admission upon this Account or to this End If there be any Reason for their Refusal otherwise well and good but it must be left to themselves to make further Application as to their Special Interest only by way of Consequence and Deduction according to their Evidence of having or not having performed the Condition required to the Benefits of Remission and Salvation It is Objected in the Cure of Church-Divisions 1. This Doctrine confounds the Catechumens with the Christians Answ It is true that the Primitive Church after the Apostles in the Times of the Ten Persecutions were very strict in their Admitting Members and so had their Catechumeni which continued upon the good Use of that Custom for a long Season And Albaspinaeus as I remember does tell us a good Reason they had for it in regard of the Danger they then were in in case of any False Brother upon which Account we find the Disciples at first so shy of Paul Act. 9.26 who might at that time betray the whole Church and her Sacred Mysteries to the Persecutor Besides the horrid Scandal to those both Within and Without in the Case of the Lapsi This Reason being now ceased God be blessed and the Command of Christ with the First Times of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles being the Rule and Examples which we are to follow in our Practice this Objection I must say is for the Times before Constantine but is now out of date The Practice of the Apostles we find otherwise the Practice of the Church now we know otherwise There was Reason after the Apostle's Time for this Strictness but the Rule was not so at first What Would you like that the People of our Mixt Churches should be held but as Catechumens and when any are grown to be Sound Christians the Independent should Gather them into Their Congregations Our Times continue no such Custom Infant-Baptism alone confounds this Objection 2. This Doctrine makes the Church consist of such as are no Christians Of such as take Christ for their Teacher and not their King Answ Of Such or most Such as are no Regenerate Christians It was the Belief of their Creeds among the Antients made them Christians and there is none of us believe Christ to be a Teacher but he believes Him also a Priest and a King I understand not this dividing Christ's Offices He that comes in but to the Conventional Government of Christ and submits to the Institutions of it takes Him for his King Nay he that takes Christ for his Teacher takes Him Therein also to be his Ruler that is to be led by Him And I say the Vnregenerate takes Christ to be his Ruler so far as to joyn in his Ordinances and so far as he takes Him the Minister cannot Refuse him If he takes Him so far as to Obey Him farther it is his Duty and his Salvation depends upon it But if no farther so far as any will take Him or come in to Him it is the General Grace of God and Christ that must and that will warrant his Admission against all that gainsay it 3. They therefore that hold this the dividing Christ's Offices introduce a New Christianity Answ And they that savor it not retain but the Old 4. And a New sort of Baptism Answ No good Sir but another Profession than That which by an unavoidable Consequence must else bring us all to Separation It is true that the Tradition of Baptism is Sacred and it is a Benefit not to be lost that it hath delivered down what Christianity is by our Christening But Infant-Baptism is a part of that Tradition if the Fathers be not out And I hope that we may know what Christianity is by engaging our Children to it as well as by our making them de praesenti to Profess it If the Child be made to answer Polliceor and that in the Sense which respects both Parts of the Covenant as hath been intimated it will be all one with an Abrenuncio as for that The Church her self which for the Antient Forms sake retains the Words in her Baptism does recal them in effect by rendring this Interpretation in her Catechism 5. This large Doctrine destroys the Special Love of Christ's Members Answ By no means We are to Receive all that are Willing We know not how Far they are Willing If they be Willing to come in thus Far they may be Such for ought we know as are willing Altogether And as Charity Hopeth all things as well as Believeth all things we are to judge the best of them and behave our selves to them accordingly Besides it is too narrow a thing for Brotherly Love to sit down in the Comforts only of my Brethren's Mutual Faith and not be at the Pains for their Conversion 6. Hence it will follow that the Church must be constituted of Two sorts of Professors and so be Two Churches Answ There is one thing I must remember while I think of it which else may work a great deal of Prejudice to my CAUSE It must be acknowledged that our Divines generally do make Profession to be That which gives Right Coram Ecclesia to the Ordinances and Membership and Truth of Grace say the most Coram Deo Now whil'st I seem to lay another Ground which is Willingness or Consent upon Belief of the Gospel upon the Account of General Grace both Coram Deo and Ecclesia I must declare that This is or shall be accounted by me to be Profession I say That when a Man comes and offers himself to joyn or joyns with the Church in her Service this is Profession If any will not let me call This Profession then I must say It is Not Profession but This Consent or Willingness upon Receiving the Word that is the Rule of Admission If they will then I say It is My Profession is the Rule and not Theirs which is a Profession of no less than Regeneration Not but that a Man who believes the Gospel and comes in may make what Profession of Grace he Can and Will as he hath occasion without Making or Marring the Constitution of the Church The Church is Constituted of the Willing of those that Offer Themselves These are Regenerate and Vnregenerate according to Christ's Intendment in several of his Parables This Church moreover I must say is Catholick One and Entire after Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesiae and after Augustine The Objection then of Two Churches upon the Diversity of Professions that being not our Rule is built upon the Sand tho' the Church Political and Mystical be not indeed the same There are more Objections with greater Variety in the Book called Right to Sacraments And the Sum of most of them I take it comes to This. The whole Church have
Iniquity of the Father The Soul that sinneth it shall die In Rom. 9. it is said of Jacob and Esau That while they were Yet unborn God said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated which though it be spoken I believe of their Posterity and in regard to their Temporal Inheritance yet does it carry methinks a Figure in it of something farther to wit That the Eternal State of Children while Infants depends not on the Condition of the Parents which was here the Same to Both but on God's Free Election Above all if the Salvation of Children depends on the Faith and State of the Parent as this is comfortable Doctrine to the Sound Believer whose Infants therefore must be Saved so must it follow That all the Children of the Vnregenerate though their Parents be Christians and bring them to Baptism must be inevitably damn'd Which is a Consequence too hard upon the Church and harder in it self than can be borne Let the Case here of Adam alone be set by I must note farther How through want of the same Distinction insisted on and Application of the Light of it to our CAVSE some Worthy Men who have gone before me have Faltered in it It is not for any one to tell us of a Faith short of Saving called by them Dogmatical that suffices to Enter Covenant with God while they think of no other Covenant but That which gives Pardon and Life upon a Faith that is Saving and None else Whereas let the Government of God and Covenants thereof be distinguished and then shall the Distinguishing of Faith also suit with it For when there is no Faith less than Saving sufficient for a Man to Enter into the Covenant of Life it being a Contradiction to think we should Live by a Faith that is less than Saving yet did a Faith call it Dogmatical or what you will which consists in the Owning of the only true God and his Worship in opposition to all false Gods and false Worship which Faith may be separate from Sincere Obedience suffice to the General Body of Israel for their Entring that Covenant for This was the Main of it which God made with them When He took them by the Hand to lead them out of the Lard of Aegypt Let any prove That the Faith of the Whole Body of Israel could come to any More Besides This that Faith alone and That only which lies in an Assent could say Amen to the Curses which making a Man obnoxious to the Minatory Part of the Covenant must put him in Covenant Conditionally in regard also to the Promissory Part with it And the Truth is a Faith of Assent a Belief of a God and that his Word is True does lay an Obligation on the Conscience which none can have that Believe not And though a Resolution of doing what may escape the Threat be Another thing called Consent than that bare Obligation yet so long as the Obligation it self is laid thereby whether a Dogmatical Faith goes not farther into the Covenanting Act than some Men are aware I commit to their farther Consideration And as for the Covenant whereof I am speaking which I have said was a Political Covenant between God and Them as King and Subject Lord and People and such an Owning Him as a Dogmatical Faith suffices to was the main Substance and Intendment of it as their departing to Idolatry was the Chief if not Only Breach of it as I have also noted I do take it to be that Covenant which was repeated often by their good Rulers In the Time of Asa a great Confluence of Persons are summoned together and it is said They Covenanted to seek the Lord with all their Heart 2 Chron. 15.12 15. If by this Covenanting we understand a Resolution of Vniversal Obedience according to the Covenant for Salvation I cannot see well how this could be said of such a Mixed Multitude But if it be understood of a Refreshing the Covenant mention'd and a Seeking the Lord in opposition mainly to Idolatry as indeed it must be so understood comparing Vers 8.16 then may we apprehend likewise how These Men the most of Them might have a Faith less than Saving and yet secundum quid do This from their Hearts And Jehoiada made a Covenant between the Lord and the King and People That they should be the Lord's People and between the King and the People 2 King 11.17 What was the Covenant between King and People but a kind of Oath of Allegiance to him in opposition to Athaliah's Faction And what was the Covenant between the Lord and Them but the like higher Allegiance to Him as their Supreme Lord in opposition to Baal as appears in the next Verse Here is a Covenant we see unto Which nothing but the want of a Dogmatical Faith could be a Bar and nothing requisite to Enter it but the believing that God was the only True God And as for that Qualification it is most certain that the Israelites had it in the Whole Body of them when they first Covenanted this Covenant with God as their King in the Time of Moses who were under such a Conviction at the Appearing of God himself to them as never had any the like under the whole Cope of Heaven so that neither Man nor Woman nor Child that were capable of Seeing and Believing could be under Vnbelief Yet can I not think that many of them had Saving Faith whose Carkasses all of them save Two or Three fell afterwards in the Wilderness Let me come now then from this Church in the Wilderness to the Christian Church under the Gospel into Which Men are Entred by Baptism And what is here the Covenant of Christianity The Words of Christ's Institution are these only Go Baptize in the Name of the Father Son and the Holy Ghost Which Words undoubtedly do import thus much to wit An Owning the Blessed Trinity to be that Only True God whom the Jews owned in their Covenant before And what Else but the Consequences of it who can say Unto This now such a Faith which is Dogmatical does appear absolutely necessary and was therefore required of the Eunuch I believe Christ to be the Son of God But if the Church by her Additions to Baptism hath made more Qualification necessary to them than Christ to his Institution so that no Adult Person whose Faith is less than Saving can without a Lie make these Responses what shall I say but that She may Diminish what She hath Added and hath Power over her own Additions to Change them or Interpret them and delare That She understands them in a Covenant Construction The last Objection as to this Doctrine in hand is the innumerable Testimonies of Modern and Antient Divines that Are and May be cited for the received Opinion against What I have proposed Unto Which I have also some Little to say I remember well that Austine hath one Book which especially touches the Point It is