trade not with the man of sin in the depths of Satan to take away the tenth at least of them as well as from them Quest Wherein doth the matter of a Reformed Church and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel differ Resp Matter is that of which a thing is made and doth exist 2. Visible Saints are the matter of all true Churches of God 3. Being visibly in covenant with God hath ever been the critical Badge of visible Saints All those and those only are to be esteemed and used as visible Saints and Gods peculiar that God hath made a promise of himself unto and taken into covenant with himself 4. The terms upon which God hath made over himself to mankind are very various He promised himself upon one condition to man in the state of innocency upon another to him when faln upon a third to Abraham c. upon a fourth to Moses c. upon a fifth to those adult persons that lived under the Gospel and upon a sixth to their children respectively during their minority 5. The difference betwixt the matter of the Church and Churches of God at one time and at another is grounded upon his various administration of his covenant or his promising and applying himself to mankind upon various terms and conditions 6. Upon this account the matter of a Reformed Church and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel do differ For 1. Before Christ came in the flesh God had freely tyed himself to his people by an external Covenant of grace or promise of himself unto them 2. In the beginning of the Gospel God altered that and made a new Will Testament or Covenant 3. The whole world thereupon was as it were dissolved and void of visible Saints both Jews and Gentiles were for a time deserted by God for he was not visibly obliged to mankind in that pinch of time none of those that were his peculiar people before could now challenge a particular Interest in him by vertue of his ancient Promise to Abraham though often confirmed in a solemn manner now indefinitely in force during that Dispensation or untill they do personally accept of the new covenant or Gods promise of himself upon new conditions Mar. 1. 4. The world lying in this miserable condition God tendered himself again unto it in his new Instrument or covenant of Peace and Reconciliation by the publike Ministry of John the Baptist Christ and his Apostles and their assistants and successors 5. Many Adult persons did thereupon accept of him accordingly 6. All Adult persons that accepted of him accordingly together with their children were restored to their visible Interest in God again or vested with an Interest in God by vertue of his free grant promise or covenant which as before only and solely gives a right unto himself and to the glorious things of the Gospel 7. Those visible Saints were the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel 8. Most of those visible Saints did visibly apostatize from their acceptance of God upon those new Terms 9. To those visible Saints so apostatized God still tendered himself by his Ministers but upon higher terms Apoc. 2. 3. 10. All and only those Adult persons that accepted of him accordingly together with their children having alwayes been legally in them and one with them by the fundamental Laws of God were confirmed in or restored to their visible Interest in God again 11. All and only those visible Saints are the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel So that the difference betwixt the matter of Reformed Churches and the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel lies mainly in these two points Conclu 1. Adult persons who were the first and greatest part of the matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel were not under the new Gospel-covenant during their minority But adult persons who also were and are the first and major part of the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel either were interested in the new covenant during their Infancy or rejected together with their parents for their non-improvement of the means of Grace ordained by Christ Conclu 2. Adult persons who are the first and greatest part of the matter of Reformed Churches under the Gospel or the body and Representative of it are both more extensive and more intensive in the performance of the conditions of the new covenant then the Adult matter of the first planted Churches under the Gospel was Object But our Antiministerialists say that none can be in Covenant with God during their minority Resp It may be so It s very probable that they do hold that babes can have no interest in God by promise c. and if so it is the fountain of all their visible extravagancies and is it self fed by these and other hellish atheistical and antichristian opinions and principles of darkness 1. That they may make the light within them their Suprema Lex 2. That God cannot make a Law without mans consent 3. That to esteem of and use any one as legally in another is unjust and illegal 4. That Infants are utterly uncapable of free grace c. Object Our Antiministerialists are so far from requiring more of Adult persons who are the only matter of their Churches Sensu praedicto than was required of adult persons that were the matter of the first constituted Churches under the Gospel inclusively that they do not require so much Resp Through-conformity to the Gospel is not consistent e ther with their principles or designs 2. Christ hath not sent them either to plant his Churches or reform them and therefore it is no wonder if they go not the way to either 3. They are so far from being Primi perturbatae collapsaeque Ecclesiae restauratores mensuraque reliquorum that their practice is no President nor their work no Rule to Reforming Ministers in the least 4. What ever may be said de regulis regulatis Christs seven Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia are the Supreme Regula regulans of all Church-reformation under the Gospel 5. In those Epistles such matter of Reformed Churches of Christ is required as is before mentioned Quest What difference is there betwixt the form of a Reformed Church and the form of the first planted Churches under the Gospel Resp A Form is an internal cause by which a thing is what it is 2. The mutual consent and agreement of visible Saints to walk towards God and one another respectively according to the Rules of Gods Word is the form of all the true Churches of God 3. God according to the good pleasure of his Will and the variety of his Saints conditions did successively give several Rules of Church-communion 4. The difference that there is betwixt the form of the Church and Churches of God at one time and at another is grounded upon that variety of Divine Dispensation 5. Upon this account there is a difference
ΕΠΙΔΙΩΡΘΟΣΙΣ OR A modest Enquiry into the Nature and State of CHURCHES In Order to their Through-REFORMATION By THOMAS BOYER Minister at Rempston in Nottinghamshire TIT. 1.5 For this cause left I thee at Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting and ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee LONDON Printed by R. W. for Nathaniel Ekins at the Gun in Pauls Church-yard and for Stephen Lincoln in Leicester 1659. To all that wish well to SION Brethren IT being no less necessary to circumstantiate than it is to substantiate our Duty As the Word of God is assistant to us in the one so the works of God are in the other By vertue of this Constellation many have discovered most glorious things How it hath illuminated our English Orb is obvious to every eye It is long since by this means some saw that it was high time for Reformation to be in fashion And the spirits of Gods people have been working this way many a year but the largest contributions towards this work have issued out of the Treasury of those laborious Bees that have returned richly laden from the Wars These have laid us a right foundation and shewed us the Pattern of a compleat Superstructure It s our Interest to build accordingly though many do not Here 's my Mite which I must confess is but very little more than a Breviat of other mens voluminous Essaies but paradventure it may be accepted if not blessed by the Lord and not prejudicial if not beneficial unto you It aims if heart deceive not at his Glory and your good My desire is that it may hit the white If moreover it be as sharp arrows in the heart of the Kings enemies I intreat them not to be offended for corruption had better be let out than gangrenate No more at present but that I am An unworthy servant of Christs for your sakes THOMAS BOYER ΕπιδιοÏθωσις OR A modest Enquiry into the Nature and State of Churches in Order to their Through-Reformation Qu. WHat condition is England visibly in Resp England is visibly in a state of Lukewarmness She is neither hot nor cold She so partakes of both that she cannot be said to be either She is both Gradu remisso and neither Gradu intenso We are a little Christian and a little Heathen or worse a little Protestant and a little Papist or Mahometan Our hearts are stil divided we give God something and our lusts something We fear the Lord and serve our Idols so that our fear of God is equivalent to none at all We are still like Redwald King of the East Saxons the first Prince of this Nation that was baptized In the same place we worship God and set up an Altar Our spirits lie like that Haven Acts 27.12 towards the Southwest and Northwest two opposite points We are half good half bad or Mungrels and Hermaphrodites in Religion There is so much of Luke-warmness in the Nation and almost in every Town and Family if ex ungue leonem that it may thence receive its denomination The spirit of England is not so much a spirit of Opposition to as of Obstruction of the work of Reformation through the deadness unweldiness thereof It s grown so stiff that its much ado to get it go any further on in the work though its pitty hot love should be so soon and sadly cold but usually men when they have compassed their own ends are willing to give themselves a Quietus est and a Writ of ease and to have the infinite Mercies of God totally unanswered and his Glory to himself to vindicate It would rejoyce all our hearts to see any of us mend our pace in Religion and make it appear that we are not guilty of this sinfull distemper It would speak fair for our admission into Churchship in the quality of adult members of the visible Church of Christ Quest Whether is Lukewarmness a state to be rested in or no Resp Lukewarmness is not a state to be rested in Rat. 1. For 1. To halt between two opinions is a very unreasonable thing No Apology can be made for it at the last day 1 Reg. 18.21 2. To be Lukewarm is opposite to Christs express command Rev. 3.19 3. A divided heart is a barren and an empty heart Hos 10.1 2. 4. Professors of a divided and lukewarm temper are severely threatned by God both in the Old and New Testament Hos 10.2 Rev. 3.16 5. Men of that frame can have no Communion with God in Church-Ordinances 1 Cor. 10.21 22. 6. Such a state is opposite to exactness in Religion Through-Reformation and giving up our selves wholly to God and his Truth 7. A Lukewarm-heart cannot let out it self holily to any thing in the world Divided affections cannot run out upon any thing in subordination to the Glory of God nor aim singly at the honor of Christ c. Quest What is England to do in this Condition Resp It s Englands duty in this condition to lay aside all carnal considerations and in an orderly Scriptural way to attempt a Through-Reformation Personal Civil and Ecclesiastical For a divine Correspondency is the best Policy Quest What is Reformation Resp Reformation in the general is a working up of a thing to its regular state and condition or to the very mind of the Owner to what he would have it in his best conception to be Leu. 26.23 Isa 1.25 26 27. Amos 9.11 Mal. 3.2 3. Acts 1.5.16 2 Tim. 3.16 Titus 1.5 Heb 9.10 Quest What is Personal Reformation Resp Personal Reformation is the working up of a person to the regular state of a Reformed Saint Quest What is Civil Reformation Resp Civil Reformation is the working up of a people to the regular state of a Common-wealth Quest What is Ecclesiastical Reformation Resp Ecclesiastical Reformation is the working up of Reformed Saints to the regular state of a Reformed Church Quest What is a Church Resp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Church amongst the ancient Greeks especially the Athenians from whom it is taken denoted three things 1. And most properly a Civil Society in Court or a company of great ones gathered together by a lawfull Authority or the Command of the Supream Magistrate for a Politique end or the good of the Common-wealth Act. 19.39 thus a Parliament or Councel of State is a Church 2. It denotes a Company of people called and met together by whom and for what cause soever though the Gatherer have no Authority and the gathered as little knowledge c. Act. 19.32 Thus a company of the most covetous and ignorant Mechanicks are a Church 3. It signifies a Company met together for wicked ends Act. 19.40 thus a company of Riotors are a Church Resp 2. Secondly During the Raign of Anti-Christ four things have been abusively called a Church 1. A Company of people joyned together by the Power of Anti-Christ to give obedience to his Traditions
R. 2. A company of people met together by the Power of the Civil Magistrate to receive holy things P 3. The place of such meetings 4. A company of Apostates joyned together by a Jesuitical bond to seduce people from the publique Ordinances of Jesus Christ A. Q c. Resp 3. Thirdly This word Ecclesia or Church is very often used by the holy Ghost in Scripture but that which it seemeth good to the most blessed Spirit to call most frequently by this name is a Company of visible Saints joyned together by a special bond for the constant exercise of the Communion of Saints amongst themselves Quest What condition is every Church of Christ in Resp Every Church of Christ is either in a Reformed or in a planted constituted state Quest Is there any difference betwixt a planted and a Reformed Church of Christ Resp Yea Their Agreement is very extensive and emphatical and yet they differ In the discovery whereof these two considerations must be diligently eyed 1. It is one thing to preach the Gospel another thing to plant the Gospel and a third to plant Churches by the Gospel preacht heard and planted As it is one thing for Work-men to work upon those things that are to be the Materials of a Building in a preparatory way another thing for those things to be actually prepared and fit to be put into the Building and a third thing to have all those Materials so fitted joyned together and the building compleated 1 Cor. 3.9 2. Reformation supposeth the building not compleated and yet somewhat done in order thereunto be it more or less sometimes and in some places it finds the Gospel to have been preached only and not planted Sometimes it finds that the Gospel hath been received by some but that those are not united or agreed to walk together in Church-fellowship and so do not constitute a particular Church according to the Gospel sometimes it finds them joyned together but very loosely Sometimts it finds them fast joyned together but under a defect of some particular Officers Sometimes it finds the Church to have been builded and compleated but relapsed degenerated or apostatiz'd less or more as a decayed Building not utterly ruined or not having more of the Devil than of Christ in it though too much This supposed these four things may be concluded 1. A Planted and Reformed Church of Christ agree 1. In their Causes 2. In their Properties 3. In their Practices And 4. In their Priviledges 1. In their Causes and so first in their Efficient causes thus 1. Christ was the Institutor and Ordainer both of the first Planted and of Reformed Churches under the Gospel Mat. 16.18 Rev. cap. 2. 3. 2. Christ and his Officers by his Word and Spirit are the Makers of both the Ministry is before both and none but Ministers by divine Appointment and Commission as Paul Timothy c. are originally ordinarily and equally employed by Christ in either 2. In their matter Visible Saints are the matter whereof both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ are constituted and made 3. In their form Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ are formed Et in unum coalescunt omnes sancti Ecclesiae by a mutual Consent and Agreement to walk towards God and one another respectively according to Gospel Rules 4. In their ends The end both of the first Planted and our Reformed Churches of Christ is his Glory and his Saints salvation 2. In their Properties Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ can visibly perform the conditions of the New Covenant and act according to Gospel-Rules of Church Communion 3. In their Practices Both the first Planted and Reformed Churches of Christ do visibly perform the conditions of the New Covenant and walk according to Gospel Rules of Church-Communion 4. They agree in their Priviledges Christ hath given very glorious Priviledges both to his first Planted and to his Reformed Churches Yet 2. They differ But 3. The difference that is betwixt them is but Parallel to the difference that was betwixt the Church at its first Constitution and the Church Reformed under the Law And 4. But accidental 1. In their Order 2. In their Officers 3. In their Matter 4. In their Form 5. In their End 6. In their Properties 7. In their Practices And 8. In their Priviledges Mat. 16.18 1 Cor. 3.11 Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. Quest What difference is there in their Order Resp 1. Christ in the first Planting of his Churches proceeded as it were in an Analytical Order he made the Gospel so successfull that thousands were converted at a time and made as it were one Catholick visible Church by joyning themselves voluntarily to the Lord and to the Apostles then altogether at Jerusalem out of which as out of a Fountain there issued at it were particular Churches Resp Christ in the Reforming of his Churches proceeds as it were in a Synthetical Order He first moulds particular persons into particular Churches and then those particular Churches into one Catholick Church Sensu Amesiano Medul lib. 1. cap. 31.32 Quest Wherein do the first Planters and Reformers of the Churches of Christ differ Resp They agree in the Essentials of the Ministery as 1. the Spirit of Christ hath furnisht both of them invisibly at the least with gifts and graces proportionable to the work whereunto he hath appointed them in the times and places wherein they live For eminency in gifts and graces is as necessary for all Church-Officers as sincerity in them is for all Church-members and therefore God sends none to Church-work but those that appear to their Judges to be such though they be not all of them equally qualified 2. They are both of them called and sent Licensed and commanded by Christ to be his Vicegerents and chief Ministers about soul and Church affairs on earth Heb. 5.4 3. Both of them have the same commission for the substance and body of it both of them may by the special Law of Christ dispence the Mysteries of God or preach administer Sacraments and govern according to his Word 4. Both of them may providentially be suspended as to the exercise of these Acts which are properly Ministerial but not ex humana libertate arbitrio proprio 5. Both of them have a right by Divine grant to a comfortable maintenance that may free them from being necessitated to work with their own hands and encourage them and put them into a capacity of attending wholly upon the execution of their Commission 1 Cor. 9 to the end 2 Tim. 2.4 Resp They differ accidentally and circumstantially in the extra-essentials of the Ministery As 1. in the manner of their receiving of their gifts graces vocation mission and commission For 1. the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel John the Baptist and Christ had them all immediatly from the Spirit without any humane Instrumentality 2. The first Fathers and Planters of Churches by