A DISCOURSE Concerning Evangelical Love Church-Peace and Unity With the OCCASIONS and REASONS of present Differences and Divisions about Things Sacred and Religious Written in the Vindication of the Principles and Practise of some Ministers and others Speciosum quidem nomen est Pacis et pulchra opinio Unitatis sed quis ambigat eam solam unicam Ecclesiae Pacem esse quae Christi est Hilar. London Printed 1672. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Christian Love and Peace CHAP. I. Complaints of want of Love and Vnity among Christians how to be mannaged and whence fruitless Charge of Guilt on some why now remov'd and for whose sakes Personal miscarriages of any not excused Those who mannage the Charge mentioned not agreed THe great Differences that are in the world amongst Professors of the Gospel about things relating to the Worship of God do exercise more or less the minds of the Generality of men of all sorts For either in themselves or their Consequents they are looked on to be of great importance Some herein regard principally that disadvantageous influence which they are supposed to have into mens spiritual and Eternal Concernments Others that Aspect which they fancy them to have upon the Publick Peace and tranquility of this world Hence in all Ages such divisions have caused great thoughts of heart especially because it is very difficult to make a right judgement either of their Nature or their Tendency But generally by all they are looked on as evil by some for what they are in themselves by others from the disadvantage which they bring as they suppose unto their secular interest Hence there are amongst many great Complaints of them and of that want of Love which is looked on as their cause And indeed it seems not only to be in the Liberty but to be the Duty of every man soberly to complain of the Evils which he would but cannot remedy For such complaints testifying a Sense of their Evil and a desire of their Cure can be no more than what Love unto the Publick Good requireth of us And if in any case this may be allowed it must be so in that of Divisions about sacred things or the worship of God with their causes and manner of mannagement amongst men For it will be granted that the Glory of God the Honour of Christ the Progress of the Gospel with the Edification and peace of the Church are deeply concerned in them and highly prejudiced by them And in these things all men have if not an equal yet such a special interest as none can forbid them the due consideration of No man therefore ought to be judged as though he did transgress his Rule or goe beyond his Line who soberly expresseth his sense of their Evil and of the Calamities wherewith they are attended Yet must it not be denyed but that much Prudence and moderation is required unto the due mannagement of such Complaints For those which either consist in or are accompanyed with Invectives against the Persons or ways of others instead of a Rational discourse of the causes of such Divisions and their Remedies do not only open enflame and irritate former wounds but prove matters of new contention and strife to their great increase Besides in the manifold Divisions and Differences of this nature amongst us all men are supposed to be under an adherence unto some one Party or other Herein every Man stands at the same Distance from others as they do for him Now all complaints of this kind carry along with them a tacit Justification of those by whom they are made For no man can be so profligate as to judge himself and the way of Religious worship wherein he is ingaged to be the cause of blaneable Divisions amongst Christians and yet continue therein Reflections therefore of Guilt upon others they are usually replenished withall But if those are not attended with evident Light and unavoidable Conviction because they proceed from Persons supposed not indifferent yea culpable in this very matter more of less themselves by them whom they reflect upon they are generally turned into Occasions of new exasperations and contests And hence it is come to pass that although all good men do on all occasions bewail the want of Love forbearance and condescention that is found among Professors of the Gospel and the Divisions which follow thereon yet no comfortable nor advantagious effects do thence ensue Yea not only is all Expectation of that blessed fruit which a general serious consent unto such Complaints might produce as yet utterly frustrated but the small remainders of Love and Peace amongst us are hazzarded and impaired by mutual charges of the want and loss of them on the Principles and Practices of each other We have therefore need of no small Watchfulness and care least in this matter it fall out with us as it did with the Israelites of old in another occasion For when they had by a sinful sedition cast out David from amongst them and from reigning over them after a little while seeing their folly and iniquity they assembled together with one consent to bring him home again But in the very beginning of their indeavours to this purpose falling into a dispute about which of the Tribes had the greatest interest in him they not only desisted from their first design but fell into another distemper of no less dangerous importance then what they were newly delivered from It must be acknowledged that there hath been a sinful decay of Love amongst Professors of the Gospel in this Nation if not a violent casting of it out by such prejudices and corrupt Affections as wherewith it is wholly inconsistent And it would be a matter of no small lamentation if upon the blooming of a design for its Recovery and Reduction with all its trains as forbearance Condescention Gentleness and Peace if any such design there be by contests about the occasions and causes of its Absence with too much seriousness in our own vindication and pleas of a special Interest in it above others new distempers should be raised hazzarding its everlasting exclusion In this state of things we have hitherto contented our selves with the Testimony of our own hearts unto the sincerity of our desires as to walk in Love and Peace with all Men so to exercise the fruits of them on all occasions administred unto us And as this alone we have thus far opposed unto all those Censures and Reproaches which we have undergone to the contrary so therewithall have we supported our selves under other things which we have also suffered Farther to declare our thoughts and Principles in and about the worship of God than they are evidenced and testified unto by our Practice we have hitherto forborne least the most moderate claims of an especial interest in the common Faith and Love of Christians should occasion new contests and troubles unto our selves and others And we have observed that sometimes an over-hasty indeavour to
Empire under himself by their common consent In the mean time by the Original Divisions of the Empire and the Revolutions that happened afterwards amongst the Nations of the World the greatest number of Christians were wholly inconcerned in this new Church Soveraignty which was erected in the Western Provinces of that Empire So was the Mystery of Iniquity consummated for whereas the Pope to secure his new Acquisitions endeavoured to empale the Title and Priviledges of the Catholick Church unto those Christians which professed Obedience unto himself unto an exclusion of a greater number there ensued such a confusion of the Catholick and a particular Church as that both of them were almost utterly lost Concerning these several sorts of conceited particular Churches it is evident that some of them as to their nature and kind have no Institution in nor warrant from the Scripture but were Prudential Contrivances of the men of the Dayes wherein they were first formed which they effected by various degrees under the conduct of an Apprehension that they tended unto the increase of Concord and Order among Christians Whether really and effectually they have attained that end the event hath long since manifested And it will be one day acknowledged that no Religious Vnion or Order among Christians will be lasting and of spiritual use or advantage unto them but what is appointed and designed for them by Jesus Christ. The truth is the mutual intestine Differences and Contests among them who first possessed the Rule of such Churches about their Dignities Pre-eminences Priviledges and Jurisdictions which first apparently let in Pride Ambition Revenge and Hatred into the Minds and Lives of Church-Guides lost in the peace of Christendome and the degeneracy of theâ—r Successors more and more into a secular Interest and worldly frame of Spirit is one great means of continuing us at a loss for its retrival How far any man may be obliged in Conscience unto communion with these Churches in those things wherein they are such and as such behave themselves in all their Rule and Administrations may be enquired into by them who are concerned What respect we have unto them or what Duty we may owe them as they may in any place be established by the Civil Laws of the Supream Magistrate is not of our present consideration But whereas in their Original and Rise they have no other warrant but the Prudential contrivance of some men who unquestionably might be variously influenced by corrupt Preâ—udâ—ces and Affections in the finding out and mannagement of their Inventions what ground there is for holding a Religious communion with them and wherein such communion may consist is not easie to be declared For the notion that the Church-communion of the generality of Christians and Ministers consists only in a quiet subjection unto them who by any means may pretend to be set over them and claim a right to rule them is fond and impious In the mean time we wholly deny that the Mistakes or Disorders of Christians in complying with or joyning themselves unto such Churches as have no warrantable institution ought to be any cause of the diminishing of our Love towards them or of withdrawing it from them For notwithstanding their Errors and Wanderings from the Paths of Truth in this Matter they do or may continue interested in all that Love which is due from us unto the Church of Christ upon the double account before insisted on For they may be yet persons born of God united unto Christ made partakers of his Spirit and so belong to the Church Catholick Mystical which is the first principal Object of all Christian Love and Charity The Errors wherewith they are supposed to be overtaken may befal any persons under those Qualifications the admittance of them though culpable being not inconsistent with a state of Grace and acceptation with God And they may also by a due profession of the fundamental Truths of the Gospel evince themselves to be professed Subjects of the visible Kingdom of Christ in the world and so belong to the Church Catholick vâ—sibly professing under which notion the Disciples of Christ are in the next place commended unto our Love And it is the fondest imagination in the world that we must of necessity want Love towards all those with whom we cannot join in all acts of Religious Worship or that there need be any Schisme between them and us on the sole account thereof taking Schisme in the common received notion of it If we bear unkindness towards them in our minds and hearts if we desire or seek their hurt if we persecute them or put them to trouble in the world for their Profession if we pray not for them if we pity them not in all their Temptations Errors or Sufferings if we say unto any of them when naked be thou cloathed and when hungry be thou fed but relieve them not according unto our abilities and opportunities if we have an aversation to their Persons or judge them any otherwise than as they cast themselves openly and visibly under the sentence of Natural Reason or Scripture-Rule we may be justly thought to fail in our Love towards them But if our Hearts condemn us not in these things it is not the difference that is or may be between them and us about Church-Constitutions or Order that ought be a cause or can be an evidence of any want of Love on our parts There will indeed be a distinct and separate practice in the things wherein the difference lies which in it self and without other avoidable evils need not on either side to be Schismatical If by censures or any kind of power such Churches or Persons would force us to submit unto or comply with such things or ways in Religious Worship as are contrary unto our Light and which they have no Authority from the Lord Christ to impose upon us the whole state of the Case is changed as we shall see afterwards As for those Particular Churches which in any part of the world consist of Persons assembling together for the worship of God in Christ under the Guidance of their own Lawful Pastors and Teachers we have only to say that we are full well assured that where-ever two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ there he is present with them and farther than this there are very few concerning whom we are called to pass any other Censure or Judgment So we hope it is with them and so we pray that it may be And therefore we esteem it our Duty to hold that Communion with all these Assemblies when called thereunto which is required of any Christians in the like cases and Circumstances Unless we are convinced that with respect unto such or such Instances it is the Mind of Christ that neither among our selves nor in Conjunction with others nor for the sake of present Communion with them we should observe them in his worship we judge our selves under an Obligation
God we can with confidence and much assurance of mind own as dear a valuation of Love Unity and Peaceableness in the Profession of the Gospel as any sort of Professors whatever And we are perswaded that our Principles do as much tend and and conduce unto the improvement of them as any that are or can be proposed unto that end For we either do or are in a readiness to embrace every thing or way that the Lord Christ hath appointed or doth bless thereunto We doubt not as hath been before acknowledged but that there have been many failings and sinful miscarriages among all sorts of Professors who separate or are rather driven from the present Publick worship There is no question but that in them all there are some remainders of the bitter Root of corrupt affections which under the various temptations and provocations they have been exposed unto hath brought forth fruit of an unpleasant relish It is no new thing that irregular prejudices should be found acting themselves in Professors of the Gospel It hath been so among them from the Beginning And we hope that where there is or hath been any guilt of this nature that the Reproofs which have been publickly given unto it with what Spirit or Intention soever mannaged may be useful to the amendment of them who have offended But for our own Parts we must bear this Testimony unto our sincerity that we not only condemn but abhor all evil surmises among Professors all rash and uncharitable censures all causless aversations of Mind and Affections all strife wrath anger and debate upon the account of different apprehensions and practises in and about the concerns of Religious worship Much more do we cast out all thoughts of judging mens eternal state and condition with respect unto such differences nor do we nor dare we give countenance unto any thing that is in the least really opposite to love Peace Unity or Concord amongst the Disciples of Christ. And as we shall not excuse any of those Extravagancies and intemperate Heats in words or otherwise which some it may be have been guilty of who until their Repentance must bear their own Judgment so we will not make a recharge on others who differ in Perswasion from us of the same or the like crimes nor indeed need we so to do their Principles and Practises contrary unto all Christian Love and Charity being written as with the beams of the Sun And we do not complain of our Lot in the world that the appearance of such things iu any of us would be esteemed a scandalous crime which others that condemn them in us indulg in themselves without the least check or controul The Law of this condition is put upon us by the Profession which we do avow Only we are not willing that any should make advantage against us by their Pleas for Love Unity and Concord as if indeed they were for Peace but that we make our selves ready for warr Could they convince us that we come behind them in the valuation and secking after these things by all ways and means blessed by Christ to that purpose we should judge our selves with a severity at least commensurate to the utmost they are able to exercise against us whilst free from malice and evil designs Only we must adde that there is no true measure of Love to be taken by the Accessions that men can make towards them who depart from Truth If it were so those must be judged to abound most with it who can most comply with the practises of the Church of Rome But we are perswaded that such Discourses with the application of them unto those who differ from their Authors do proceed from sincerity in them only as we fear somwhat leavened with an apprehension that their Judgments and Practices being according unto truth ought to be the Standard and Measure of other mens perhaps no less sincere and confident of the Truth than themselves though differing from them And hence it is unhappily fallen out that in the Reproofs which some do mannage on the foundations mentioned and in the way of their mannagement many do suppose that there is as great an appearance if not evidence of evil surmises ungrounded temerarious censures of self-conceit and elation of mind of hard thoughts of undue charges on and the contempt of others and in all of a want of real love condescention and compassion as in any things that are true and to be really found among Professors blamed by them For these things both as charged and recharged have a double appearance Those from whom they proceed look on them in the light of that sincerity and integrity which they are conscious of to themselves wherein they seem amiable useful and free from all offence whereas others that are concerned viewing of them in the disordered Reflections of their opposition unto them and the disadvantage which they undergo by them do apprehend them quite of another nature And it is a matter of trouble unto us to find that when some are severely handled for those Principles and ways wherein they can and do commend their Consciences unto God and thereby apprehending that their Intentions Purposes Principles and Affections are injuriously traduced and perverted they fall with an equal severity on them by whom they are reproved though their Reproofs proceed from an equal Sincerity unto what themselves profess and expect to be believed in Especially are such mutual Reflections grievous and irksome unto Men when they apprehend that in them or by them Professed Friends do industriously expose them to the contempt and wrath of Professed Adversaries CHAP. IV. Want of Love and Vnity among Christians justly complained of Causes of Divisions and Schisms 1. Misapprehensions of Evangelical Vnity Wherein it doth truly consist The ways and means whereby it may be obtained and preserved Mistakes about both 2. Neglect in Churches to attend unto known Gospel-Duty Of preaching unto Conversion and Edification Care of those that are really Godly Of Discipline How neglected how corrupted Principles seducing Churches and their Rulers into miscarriages 1. Confidence of their place 2. Contempt of the people 3. Trust unto worldly Grandeur Other causes of Divisions Remainders of corruption from the General Apostacy Weakness and Ignorance Of Readiness to take offences Remedies hereof Pride False Teachers UPon the whole matter it is generally acknowledged that there is a great Decay of Love a great want of Peace and Unity among Professors of the Gospel in the world And it is no less evident nor less acknowledged that these things are frequently commanded and enjoyned unto them in the Scripture Might they be obtained it would greatly further the Ends of the Gospel and answer the mind of Christ And their Loss is obstructive unto the one and no less dishonourable unto that Profession which is made of the Name of the other For the Divisions of Christians occasioned chiefly by false notions of Unity and undue means
of attaining it are the chief cause of Offences unto them who are yet strangers from Christianity The Jews object unto us the Wars among Christians which they suppose shall have no place under the Kingdom and Reign of the true Messiah And we have been reproached with our intestine Differences by Gentiles and Mahumetans For those who never had either Peace or Love or Unity among themselves do yet think meet to revile us with the want of them because they know how highly we are obliged unto them But any Men may be justly charged with the neglect of that Duty which they profess if they be found defective therein Under the sad Effects of the want of these things we may labour long enough if we endeavour not to take away ihe Causes of it And yet in the entrance of our Disquisition after them we are again entangled Christians cannot come to an Agreement about these Causes and so live under the severity of their Effects as not being able to conclude on a Remedy The multitude of them is here divided and one cryeth one thing another another Most place the Cause of all our Differences in a dissent from themselves and their Judgments Yea they do so apparently who yet disavow their so doing And it may be here expected that we should give some account of our thoughts as to the Causes of these Differences whereof we also have now complained so far as they are contrary to the nature or Obstructive of the Ends of the Gospel We shall therefore briefly endeavour the satisfaction of such as may have those Expectations Particular Evils which contribute much unto our Divisions we shall not insist upon much less shall we reflect upon and aggravate the failings of others whether Persons or Societies Some of the Principal and more General Reasons and Causes of them especially amongst Protestants it shall suffice us to enumerate The Principal Cause of our Divisions and Schisms is no other than the Ignorance or Misapprehension that is among Christians of the true nature of that Evangelical Vnity which they ought to follow after with the ways and means whereby it may be attained and preserved Hence it is come to pass that in the greatest Pleas for Vnity and endeavours after it most men have pursued a shadow and fought uncertainly as those that beat the Air. For having lost the very notion of Gospel Vnity and not loving the thing its self under what terms soever proposed unto them they consigned the Name of it unto and cloathed with its ornaments and Priviledges a vain Figment of their own which the Lord Christ never required nor ever blessed any in their Endeavours to attain And when they had changed the End it was needful for them also to change the Means of attaining it and to substitute those in their Room which were suited to the new Mark and Aim they had erected Farther to evidence these things we shall give some account of the Nature of Evangelical Vnity the means of attaining it with the false notion of it that some have embraced and the corrupt means which they have used for the compassing of the same First that Unity which is recommended unto us in the Gospel is spiritual and in that which is purely so lies the Foundation of the whole Hence it is called the Vnity of the Spirit which is to be kept in the bond of Peace because there is one Body and one Spirit whereby that Body is animated Thus all true Believers become one in the Father and the Son or perfect in one It is their Participation of and quickening by the same Spirit that is in Christ Jesus whereby they become his Body or Members of it even of his flesh and of his bones that is no less really Partakers of the same Divine Spiritual Nature with him than Eve was of the Nature of Adam when she was made of his flâ—sh and his bones The real Union of all true Believers unto the Lord Christ as their Head wrought by his Spiâ—iâ— which dwelleth in them and communicates of his Grace unto them is that which we intend For as hereby they become one with and in him so they come to be one among themselves as his Body and all the Members of the Body being many are yet but one Body wherein their oneness among themselves doth consist The Members of the Body have divers forms or shapes divers uses and Operations much more may be diversly cloathed and adorned yet are they one Body still wherein this Unity doth consist And it were a ridiculous thing to attempt the appearance of a dead useless Unity among the Members of the Body by cloathing of them all in the same kind of Garments or Covering But granting them their Vnity by their Relation unto the Head and thence to one another unto the Constitution of the whole and their different Forms shapes Uses Operations ornaments all tend to make them serviceable in their Unity unto their proper Ends. And saith the Apostle as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one body so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit And he doth elsewhere so describe this Fundamental Unity of Believers in one Body under and in dependance on the same Head as to make it the only means of the usefulness and Preservation of the whole They grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ From whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the Edifying of its self in Love The conjunction of all the Members into one Body their mutual usefulness unto one another the Edification of the whole with its increase the due exercise of Love which things contain the whole nature and the utmost Ends of all Church-Communion do depend meerly and solely upon and flow from the Relation that the Members have to the Head and their Union with him He speaketh again to the same purpose in the reproof of them who hold not the Head from which all the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God This is the Foundation of all Gospel Vnity among Believers whereunto all other things which are required unto the compleating of it are but accessory nor are they without this of any value or acceptation in the sight of God Whatever Order Peace Concord Vnion in the Church any one may hold or keep who is not interested herein he is but like a Stone in a building laid it may be in a comely order but not cemented and fixed unto the whole which renders its station useless to the
building and unsafe unto its self or like a dead mortifyed part of the Body which neither receives any vital Influence from the Head nor administers nourishment unto any other part Now it cannot be denyed but that in the Contests that are in the world about Church Vnion and Divisions with what is pleaded about their nature and Causes there is little or no consideration had thereof Yea those things are principally insisted on for the constituting of the One atd the according of the Other which cast a neglect yea a contempt upon it It is the Romanists who make the greatest outcryes about Church Union and who make the greatest Advantage by what they pretend so to be But hereunto they contend expresly on the one side that it is indispensibly necessary that all Christians should be subject to the Pope of Rome and united unto him and on the other that it is not necessary at all that any of them be spiritually and savingly united unto Christ. Others also place it in various Instances of Conformity unto and Complyance with the Commands of Men which if they are observed they are wondrous cold in their enquiries after this Relation unto the Head But the truth is that where any one is interested in this Foundation of all Gospel Unity he may demand Communion with any Church in the world and ought not to be refused unless in Case of some present Offence or scandal And those by whom such Persons are rejected from Communion to be held on Gospel terms on the account of some Differences not entrenching on this Foundation do exercise a kind of Church Tyranny and are guilty of the Schism which may ensue thereon So on the other side where this is wanting mens complyance with any other terms or conditions that may be proposed unto them and their obtaining of Church-Communion thereon will be of little Advantage unto their Souls Secondly Unto this Foundation of Gospel Unity among Believers for and unto the due improvement of it there is required an Vnity of Faith or of the belief and Profession of the same Divine Truth For as there is one Lord so also one Faith and one Baptism unto Believers And this ariseth from and followeth the other For those who are so united unto Christ are all taught of God to believe the Truths which are necessarily required thereunto And however by the Power of Temptation they may fall in it or from it for a season as did Peter yet through the Love and care of Jesus Christ they are again recovered Now unto this Vnity of Faith two things are required First a precise and express Professio 1 of the Fundamental Articles of Christian Religion For we outwardly hold the Head by a consent unto the form of wholsome words wherein the Doctrine of it is contained Of the Number and Nature of such Fundamental Truths whose express Acknowledgment belongs unto the Unity of Faith so much hath been discoursed by others as that we need not add any thing thereunto The sum is that they are but few plainly delivered in the Scripture evidencing their own necessity all conducing to the begetting and increase of that Spiritual Life whereby we live unto God Secondly It is required hereunto that in other things and Duties every man be fully perswaded in his own mind and walking according to what he hath attained do follow Peace and Love with those who are otherwise perswaded than he is For the Vnity of Faith did never consist in the same precise Conceptions of all revealed Objects Neither the nature of Man nor the means of Revelation will allow such a Unity to be morally Possible And the figment of supplying this variety by an implicit Faith is ridiculous For herein Faith is considered as professed and no man can make profession of what he knoweth not It is therefore condescention and mutual forbearance whereby the Vnity of Faith consisting in the joynt belief of necessary Truths is to be preserved with respect unto other things about which Differences may arise Yet is not this so to be understood as though Christians especially Ministers of the Gospel should content themselves with the knowledge of such Fundamentals or confine their Scripture inquiries unto them Whatever is written in the Scripture is written for our instruction and it is our duty to search diligently into the whole Counsel of God therein revealed Yea to inquire with all diligence in the use of all means and the improvement of all advantages with fervent supplications for light and aid from above into the whole Mistery of the will of God as revealed in the Scripture and all the Parts of it is the principal duty that is incumbent on us in this world Aud those who take upon them to be Ministers and Instructors of others by whom this is neglected who take up with a superficiary knowledg of general Principles and those such for the most part as have a coincidence with the Light of Nature do but betray the souls of those over whom they usurp a charge and are unworthy of the Title and Office which they bear Neither is there any thing implyed in the means of preserving the Vnity of Faith that should hinder us from explaining confirming and vindicating any Truth that we have received wherein others differ from us provided that what we do be done with a spirit of meekness and love Yea our so doing is one principal means of ministring nourishment unto the Body whereby the whole is increased as with the increase of God But in the Room of all this what contendings fightings destructions of men body and soul upon variety of Judgments about sacred things have been introduced by the Craft of Satan and the carnal interest of men of corrupt minds is known to all the world Thirdly There is an Vnity of Love that belongs unto the Evangelical Unity which we are in the description of For Love is the bond of perfection that whereby all the Members of the Body of Christ are knit together among themselves and which renders all the other ingredients of this Unity useful unto them And as we have discoursed of the nature of this Love before so the exercise of it as it hath an actual influence into Gospel Vnity among Christians may be reduced unto two Heads For First it worketh effectually according to the measure of them in whom it is in the Contribution of supplyes of Grace and Light and helps of obedience unto other Members of the body Every one in whom this Love dwelleth according to his Ability Call and Opportunities which make up his measure will communicate the spiritual supplies which he receiveth from the Head Christ Jesus unto others by Instructions Exhortations Consolations and Example unto their Edification This he will do in Love and unto the ends of Love namely to testifie a joynt Relation unto Christ the Head of all and the increase of the whole by supplyes of life
Schismatick a Divider of the Churches Vnity and an enemy unto the Peace and Order of it Howbeit of Conformity unto such Institutions and Orders of men of Vniformity in the observation of such external Rites in the worship of the Church there is not one word spoken nor any thing of that nature intimated in all the Commands for Vnity which are given unto us nor in the Directions that are sanctified unto the due preservation of it Yet such an Vniformity being set up in the room of Evangelical Unity and Order Means suited unto the preservation of it but really destructive of that whose name it beareth and whose Place it possesseth have not been wanting And it is not unworthy consideration how men endeavour to deceive others and are deceived themselves by manifold Equivocations in their arguings about this Matter For first they lay down the necessity of Vnity among Christians with the evil that is in Breaches Divisions and Schismes which they prove from the Commands of the one and the Reproofs of the other that abound in the Scripture Then with an easie deduction they prove that it is a Duty incumbent on all Christians in their several Capacities to observe keep further and promote this Vnity and to prevent oppose resist and avoid all Divisions that are contrary thereunto If so the Magistrate must do the same in his place and capacity Now seeing it is his Office and unto him of God it is committed to exercise his power in Laws and Penalties for the promoting of what is good and the punishing of what is contrary thereunto it is his Duty to coerce restrain and punish all those who oppose despise or any way break or disturb the Unity of the Church And this Ratiocination would seem reasonable were it not doubly defective For first the Vnity intended in the first Proposition whose necessity is confirmed by Scripture-Testimonies is utterly lost before we come to the Conclusion and the outward Vniformity mentioned is substituted in the room thereof And hereby in the second place are they deceived to believe that external force and penalties are a means to be used by any for the attaining or preserving of Gospel-Vnity It is not improbable indeed but that it may be suited to give countenance unto that external Vniformity which is intended but that it should be so unto the promotion of Gospel-Vnion among Believers is a weak imagination Let such persons keep themselves and their Argument unto that Vnion which the Scripture commends amongst the Disciples of Christ and his Churches with the means fitted and appointed unto the preservation of it and they shall have our compliance with any Conclusion that will thence ensue Herein therefore lies the Fundamental Cause of our Divisions which will not be healed until it be removed and taken out of the way Leave Believers or Professors of the Gospel unto their Duty in seeking after Evangelical Vnity in the use of other Means instituted and blessed unto that End impose nothing on their Consciences or Practice under that Name which indeed belongs not thereunto and although upon the Reasons and Causes afterwards to be mentioned there may for a season remain some Divisions among them yet there will be a way of healing continually ready for them and agreed upon by them as such Where indeed men propose unto themselves different Ends though under the same Name the use of the same Means for the compassing of them will but encrease their variance As where some aim at Evangelical Vnion and others at an External Vniformity both under the name of Vnity and Peace in the use of the same Means for these Ends they will be more divided among themselves But where the same End is aimed at even the debate of the Means for the attaining of it will insensibly bring the Parties at difference into a Coalition and work out in the issue a compleat Reconciliation In the mean time were Christians duly instructed how many lesser Differences in Mind Judgment and Practice are really consistent with the Nature Ends and genuine Fruit of the Vnity that Christ requires among them it would undoubtedly prevail with them so to mannage themselves in their Differences by mutual forbearance and condescention in Love as not to contract the guilt of being Disturbers or Breakers of it For suppose the Minds of any of them to be invincibly prepossessed with the Principles wherein they differ from others yet all who are sincere in their Profession cannot but rejoyce to be directed unto such a Mannagery of them as to be preserved from the guilt of dissolving the Unity appointed by Christ to be observed And to speak plainly among all the Churches in the world which are free from Idolatry and Persecution it is not different Opinions or a difference in Judgment about revealed Truths nor a different practice in sacred Administrations but Pride Self-interest Love of Honour Reputation and Dominion with the influence of Civil or Political Intrigues and Considerations that are the true cause of that defect of Evangelical Vnity that is at this day amongst them For set them aside and the real differences which would remain may be so mannaged in Love Gentleness and Meekness as not to interfere with that Vnity which Christ requireth them to preserve Nothing will from thence follow which shall impeach their common Interest in one Lord one Faith one Love one Spirit and the Administration of the same Ordinances according to their Light and Ability But if we shall cast away this Evangelical Vnion among the Disciples and Churches of Christ if we shall break up the Bounds and Limits fixed unto it and set up in its place a compliance with or an agreement in the Commands and Appointments of men making their Observations the Rule and measure of our Ecclesiastical Concord it cannot be but that innumerable and endless Divisions will ensue thereon If we will not be contented with the Union that Christ hath appointed it is certain we shall have none in this world For concerning that which is of mens finding out there have been and will be Contentions and Divisions whilst there are any on the one side who will endeavour its imposition and on the other who desire to preserve their Consciences entire unto the Authority of Christ in his Laws and Appointments There is none who can be such a Stranger in our Israel as not to know that these things have been the great Occasion and Cause of of the Divisions and Contentions that have been among us near an hundred years and which at this day make our Breaches wide like the Sea that they cannot be healed Let therefore those who have Power and Ability be instrumental to restore to the minds of men the true Notion and Knowledge of the Unity which the Lord Christ requireth among his Churches and Disciples and let them be left unto that Liberty which he hath purchased for them in the pursuit of that Vnity which he hath prescribed
unto them and let us all labour to stir up those Gracious Principles of Love and Peace which ought to guide us in the use of our Liberty and will enable us to preserve Gospel-Unity and there will be a greater Progress made towards Peace Reconciliation and Concord amongst all sorts of Christians than the spoiling of the Goods or imprisoning of the Persons of Dissenters will ever effect But it may be such things are required here unto as the world is yet scarce able to comply withal For whilst men do hardly believe that there is an efficacy and power accompanying the Institutions of Christ for the compassing of that whole end which he aimeth at and intendeth whilst they are unwilling to be brought unto the constant exercise of that spiritual Diligence Patience Meekness Condescention Self-Denial Renunciation of the world and Conformity thereunto which are indispensibly necessary in Church-Guides and Church-Members according to their measure unto the attaining and preservation of Gopel-Unity but do satisfie themselves in the disposal of an Ecclesiastical Vnion into a subordination unto their own secular Interests by external force and power we have very small expectation of success in the way proposed In the mean time we are herewith satisfied Take the Churches of Christ in the world that are not infected with Idolatry or Persecution and restore their Vnity unto the Terms and Conditions left unto them by Christ and his Apostles and if in any thing we are found uncompliant therewithal we shall without repining bear the reproach of it and hasten an amendment Another Cause of the evil Effects and Consequents mentioned is the great neglect that hath been in Churches and Church-Rulers in the pursuance of the open direct Ends of the Gospel both as to the Doctrine and Discipline of it This hath been such and so evident in the world that it is altogether in vain for any to deny it or to attempt an Excuse of it And men have no reason to flatter themselves that whilst they live in an open neglect of their own Duty others will always according to their wills or Desires attend with diligence unto what they prescribe unto them If Churches or their Rulers would excuse or justifie their Members in all the evils that may befal them through their Miscarriages and Mal-administrations it might justly be expected that they should go along with them under their conduct whither-ever they should lead them But if it can never be obliterated out of the Minds and Consciences of men that they must every one live by his own Faith and every one give an account of himself unto God and that every one notwithstanding the interposition of the help of Churches and their Rulers is obliged immediately in his own person to take care of his whole Duty towards God it cannot be but that in such cases they will judge for themselves and what is meet for them to do In case therefore that they find the Churches whereunto they do relate under the guilt of the neglect mentioned it is probable that they will provide for themselves and their own safety In this state of things it is morally impossible but that Differences and Divisions will fall out which might all of them have been prevented had there been a due attendance unto the Work Doctrine Order and Discipline of the Gospel in the Churches that were in possession of the Care and Administration of them For it is hard for men to believe that by the Will and Command of Christ they are inevitably shut up under spiritual disadvantages seeing it is certain that he hath ordered all things in the Church for their Edification But the consideration of some particular Instances will render this Cause of our Divisions more evident and manifest The first End of Preaching the Gospel is the Conversion of the Souls of men unto God Acts 26. 17 18. This we suppose will not be questioned nor denied That the work hereof in all Churches ought to be attended and pursued with Zeal Diligence Labour and Care all accompanied with constant and fervent Prayers for success in and by the Ministers and Rulers of them 1 Tim. 5. 17. 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. is a Truth also that will not admit of any Controversie among them that believe the Gospel Herein principally do men in Office in the Church exercise and manifest their Zeal for the Glory of God their compassion towards the Souls of men and acquit themselves faithfully in the Trust committed unto them by the great Shepherd of the Sheep Christ Jesus If now in any Assembly or other Societies professing themselves to be Churches of Christ and claiming the Right and Power of Churches towards all persons living within the bounds or limits which they have prescribed unto themselves this work be either totally neglected or carelesly perfunctorily attended unto if those on whom it is immediately incumbent do either suppose themselves free from any Obligation thereunto upon the pretence of other Engagements or do so dispose of themselves in their relation unto many Charges or Employments as that it is impossible they should duly attend unto it or are unable and insufficient for it so that indeed there is not in such Churches a due representation of the Love Care and Kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ towards the Souls of men which he hath ordained the Administrations of his Gospel to testifie it cannot be but that great thoughts of heart and no small disorder of mind will be occasioned in them who understand aright how much the principal end of constituting Churches in this world is neglected among them And although it is their duty for a season patiently to bear with and quietly seek the Reformation of this Evil in the Churches whereunto they do belong yet when they find themselves excluded it may be by the very Constitution of the Church its self it may be by the iniquity of them that prevail therein from the performance of any thing that tends thereunto it will increase their disquietment And whereas men do not joyn themselves nor are by any other ways joyned unto Churches for any Civil or Secular Ends or Purposes but meerly for the promotion of Gods Glory and the Edification of their own Souls in Faith and Gospel-Obedience it is altogether vain for any to endeavour a satisfaction of their Consciences that it is sin to withdraw from such Churches wherein these ends are not pursued nor attainable And yet a confidence hereof is that which hath countenanced sundry Church-Guides into that neglect of Duty which many complain of and groan under at this day The second end of the Dispensation of the Gospel in the Assemblies of the Churches of Christ by the Ministers of them is the Edification of them that are converted unto God and do believe Herein consists that feeding of his Sheep and Lambs that the Lord Christ hath committed unto them And it is mentioned as the principal end for which the Ministry
Body of the Church promising it should be bound and loosed in Heaven whatever they did bind and loose on earth and that whatever they did ask with a common consent should be granted by the Father In this charitable office to give satisfaction to the offended and pardon to the offendor the Primitive Church was alwayes exercised And in conformity to this St. Paul ordained that brethren having Civil Suits one against another should not go to the Tribunals of Infidels but that wise men should be appointed to judg the Differences and this was a kind of Civil Judgment as the other had the similitude of a Criminal but were both so different from the Judgments of the world that as these are executed by the Power of the Judg who enforceth submission so those only by the will of the guilty to receive them who refusing of them the Ecclesiastical Judge remaineth without execution and hath no power but to foreshew the Judgment of God which according unto his omnipotent good pleasure will follow in this life or the next And indeed the Ecclesiastical Judgment did deserve the name of Charity in regard that it did only induee the guilty to submit and the Church to judg with such sincerity that neither in the one any bad effect could have place nor just complaint in the other and the excess of charity in correcting did make the Corrector to feel greater pain than the corrected so that in the Church no punishment was imposed without lamentation of the multitude and greater of the better sort And this was the cause why to correct was called to Lament So St. Paul rebuking of the Corinchians for not chastising the incestuous said you have not lamented to separate such a Transgressor from you And in another Epistle I fear that when I come unto you I shall not find you such as I desire but in contentions and tumults and that at my coming I shall lament many of those who have sinned before The Judgment of the Church as it is necessary in every multitude was fit that it should be conducted by one who should preside and guide the action propose the matters and collect the poynts to be consulted on This care due to the most principal and worthy psrson was alwayes committed to the Bishop And when the Churches were many the propositions and deliberations were made by the Bishop first in the Colledge of the Priests and Deacons which they called the Presbitery and there were ripened to receive afterwards the last resolution in the general Congregation of the Church This form was still on foot in the year 250 and is plainly seen by the Epistles of Cyprian who in the matter concerning those who did eat of meats offered to Idols and subscribe to the Religion of the Gentiles writeth to the Presbitery that he doth not think to do any thing without their counsel consent of the people writeth to the people that at his return he will examine the causes and merits thereof in their presence and under their judgment and he wrote to those Priests who of their own brain had reconciled some that they should give an account to the people The Goodness and Charity of the Bishops made their Opinion for the most part to be followed and by little and little was cause that the Church Charity waxing cold not regarding the Charge laid upon them by Christ did lean the ear to the Bishop and Ambition a witty Passion which doth insinuate it self in the shew of Virtue did cause it to be readily embraced But the principal cause of the change was the ceasing of the Persecutions For then the Bishops did erect as it were a Tribunal which was much frequented because as Temporal Commodities so Suits did encrease This Judgment though it were not as the former in regard of the Form to determine all by the Opinion of the Church yet it was of the same Sincerity Whereupon Constantine seeing how profitable it was to determine Causes and that by the Authority of Religion captious actions were discovered which the Jadges could not penetrate made a Law that there should lie no Appeal from the Sentences of Bishops which should be executed by the Secular Judge And if in a Cause depending before a Secular Tribunal in any state thereof either of the Parties though the other contradict shall demand the Episcopal Judgment the Cause shall be immediately remitted to him Here the Tribunal of the Bishop began to be a common Pleading Place having Execution by the Ministry of the Magistrate and to gain the name of Episcopal Jurisdiction Episcopal Audience and such like The Emperor Valence did enlarge it who in the Year 365. gave the Bishop the care over all the Prizes of vendible things This Judicial Negotiation pleased not the good Bishops Possidonius doth recount that Austin being employed herein sometimes until Dinner-time sometimes longer was wont to say that it was a trouble and did divert him from doing things proper unto him and himself writeth that it was to leave things profitable and to attend things tumultuous and perplexed And St. Paul did not take it unto himself as being not fit for a Preacher but would have it given to others Afterwards some Bishops beginning to abuse the Authority given them by the Law of Constantine that was seventy years after revoked by Horcadius and Honorius and an Ordination made that they should judge Causes of Religion and not Civil except both Parties did consent and declared that they should not be thought to have a Court Which Law being not much observed in Rome in regard of the great power of the Bishops Valentinian being in the City in the year 452. did renew it and made it to be put in execution But a little after some part of the Power taken away was restored by the Princes that followed so that Justinian did establish unto them a Court and Audience and assigned unto them the Causes of Religion the Ecclesiastical Faults of the Clergy and divers voluntary Jurisdictions also over the Laity By these Degrees the charitable correction of Christ did degenerate into Domination and made Christians lose their ancient Reverence and Obedience It is denied in words That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is Dominion as is the Secular yet one knoweth not how to put a difference between them But St. Paul did put it when he wrote to Timothy and repeated it to Titus that a Bishop should not be greedy of gain nor a Striker Now on the contrary they made men pay for Processes and imprison the Parties as is done in the Secular Court c. This Degeneracy of Discipline was long since esteemed burdensome and looked on as the cause of innumerable troubles and grievances unto all sorts of people Yea it hath had no better esteem among them who had little or no acquaintance with what is taught concerning these things in the Scripture Only they found an Inconsistency in it with those Laws and Priviledges
blind lead the blind as well he that is led as he that leads will into the Ditch Add hereunto the thoughts of some that Secular Grandeur and outward Pomp with a Distance and Reservedness from the Conversation of ordinary men are necessary in Ecclesiasticks to raise and preserve that popular veneration which they suppose to be their due Without this it is thought Government will not be carried on nor the minds of men awed unto Obedience Certain it is that this was not the Judgment of the Apostles of old nor of the Bishops or Pastors of the Primitive Churches It is certain also that no Direction is given for it in any of the Sacred or ancient Ecclesiastical Writings And yet they all of them abound with Instructions how the Guides of the Church should preserve that respect which is their due The sum of what they teach us to this purpose is Readiness to take up the Cross in Labours Kindness Compassion and Zeal in the exercise of all the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit they should excel and go before the Flock as their Example This way of procuring veneration unto Church Guides by worldly State Greatness seeming Domination or Power was as far as we can find an utter stranger unto the primitive times Yea not only so but it seems to be expressly prohibited in that Direction of our Saviour unto them for avoiding Conformity in these things unto the Rulers of the world But those times they say are past and gone There remains not that piety and Devotion in Christians as to reverence their Pastors for their Humility Graces Labours and Gifts The good things of this world are now given them to be used and it is but a Popular Levelling Spirit that envies the Dignities and Exaltation of the Clergy Be it so therefore that in any place they are justly and usefully at least as unto themselves possessed of Dignities and Revenues and far be it from us or any of us to envy them their Enjoyments or to endeavour their deprivation of them But we must crave leave to say that the use of them to the End mentioned is vain and wholly frustrate And if it be so indeed that Christians or professors of the Gospel will not pay the Respect and Duty which they owe unto their Pastors and Guides upon the account of their Office with their work and labour therein it is an open evidence how great a necessity there is for all men to endeavour the reduction of primitive Light Truth Holiness and Obedience into Churches For this is that which hath endangered their Ruine and will effect it if continued namely an Accommodation of Church-Order and Discipline with the State and Deportment of Rulers unto the Decayes and Irreligion of the people which should have been corrected and removed by their Reformation But we hope better things of many Christians whose Faith and Obedience are rather to be imitated than the corrupt Degeneracy of others to be complied with or provided for However it is evident that this corrupt perswasion hath in most Ages since the days of Paulus Samosatenus let out and given countenance unto the Pride Covetousness Ambition and Vain-glory of several Ecclesiasticks For how can it be otherwise with them who being possessed of the Secular Advantages which some Churches have obtained in the world are otherwise utterly destitute of those Qualifications which tue Names of the places they possess do require And yet all this while it will be impossible to give one single Instance where that Respect and Estimation which the Scripture tequires in the people towards their Spiritual Guides were ever ingenerated or improved by that worldly Grandeur Pomp and Domination which some pretend to be so useful unto that end and purpose For that Awe which is put thereby on the Spirits of the common fort of men that Terror which these things strike into the minds of any who may be obnoxious unto Trouble and Disadvantage from them that outward Observance which is by some done unto persons vested with them with the Admission which they have thereby into an equality of Society with great men in the world are things quite of another Nature And those who satisfie and please themselves herewith instead of that Regard which is due unto the Officers or Guides of the Churches of Christ from the people that belong unto them do but help on their Defection from their Duty incumbent on them Neither were it difficult to manifest what innumerable scandalous offences proceeding from the Pride and Elation of Mind that is found among many who being perhaps Young and Ignorant it may be corrupt in their Conversations having nothing to bear up themselves withal but an Interest in Dignities and worldly Riches have been occasioned by this corrupt Perswasion And it is not hard to judge how much is lost hereby from the true Glory and Beauty of the Church The people are quietly suffered to decay in that Love and Respect towards their Pastors which is their Grace and Duty whilst they will pay that outward Veneration which worldly Grandeur doth acquire and Pastors satisfying themselves therewith grow neglective of that exemplary Humility and Holiness of that Laborious Diligence in the dispensation of the Word and care for the Soules of the Flock which should procure them that Holy Respect which is due unto their Office by the Appointment of Jesus Christ. But these things are here mention'd only on the occasion of what was before discoursed of Another great Occasion of Schismes and Divisions among Christians ariseth from the Remainders of that Confusion which was brought upon the Churches of Europe by that general Apostacy from Gospel-Truth Purity and Order whereiu they were for sundry Ages involved Few Churches in the world have yet totally freed themselves from being influenced by the Relicks of its Disorders That such an Apostacy did befall these Churches we shall not need to prove A supposition of it is the foundation of the present Church-state of England That things should so fall out among them was of old foretold by the Holy Ghost That many Churches have received a signal Deliverance from the principal Evils of that Apostasie in the Reformation we all acknowledge For therein by several ways and in several degrees of success a return unto their pristine Faith and Order was sincerely endeavoured And so far was there a Blessing accompanying of their endeavours as that they were all of them delivered from things in themselves pernitious and destructive to the Souls of men Nevertheless it cannot be denied but that there do yet continue among them sundry Remainders of those Disorders which under their fatal Declension they were cast into Nor doth there need any further proof hereof than the incurable Differences and Divisions that are found among them For had they all attained their primitive condition such Divisions with all their Causes had been prevented And the Papists upbraiding Protestants with their
diligently sought out and improved Nothing but a deceiving Apprehension that they are some way or other meet to have a Dominion over the Faith of their Brethren and Fellow-Servants would prevail with men otherwise Sober and Learned so to deal with all that dissent from them as they are pleased to do Fourthly All these Evils mentioned are much increased in the minds of men when they are puffed up with a conceit of their own Knowledge and Wisdom This therefore we are warned to avoid that the Edification of the Church may be promoted and Love preserved For hence are very many apt to take false measures of things especially of themselves and thereon to cast themselves into many mischievous Mistakes And this is apt to befal them who for ends best known unto themselves have with any ordinary diligence attended to the study of Learning For upon a supposal of some competent furniture with Natural Abilities they cannot but attain some skill and knowledge that the common sort of unstudied persons are unacquainted withal Oft-times indeed their Pre-eminence in this kind consists in matters of very small consequence or importance But whatever it be it is ready to make them think strange of the Apostles advice If any man seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a Fool that he may be wise apt it is to puffe them up to influence their minds with a good conceit of themselves and a contempt of others Hence may we see some when they have gotten a little skill in Languages and through custome advantaged by the reading of some Books are able readily to express some thoughts perhaps not originally their own presently conceit themselves to be so much wiser than the multitude of unlettered persons that they are altogether impatient that in any thing they should dissent from them And this is a common frame with them whose Learning and Wit being their All do yet reach but half way towards the useful ends of such things Others also there are and of them not a few who having been in the ways wherein the Skill and Knowledge mentioned are usually attained yet through their Incapacity or Negligence or some depraved Habit of Mind or course of Life have not really at all improved in them And yet these also having once attained the countenance of Ecclesiastical Offices or Preferments are as forward as any to declaim against and pretend a contempt of that Ignorance in others which they are not so stupid as not to know that the guilt of it may be reflected on themselves However these things at best and in their highest improvement are far enough from solid Wisdom especially that which is from above and which alone will promote the Peace and Edification of the Church Some have no advantage by them but that they can declare and speak out their own weakness others that they can rail and lie and falsly accuse in Words and Language wherewith they hope to please the vilest of men And certain it is that Science which whatever it be without the Grace of God is but falsly so called and oftentimes falsly pretended unto for this evil end of it alone is apt to lift up the minds of men above others who perhaps come not behind them in any useful understanding Yea suppose men to have really attained a singular degree in useful knowledge and wisdom and that either in things spiritual and divine or in Learning and Sciences or in Political pâ—udence yet Experience shews us that an hurtful elation of mind is apt to arise from them if the Souls of men be not well ballanced with Humility and this evil particularly watched against Hence ariseth that Impatience of Contradiction that Jealousie and tenderness of mens own Names and Reputations those sharp revenges they are ready to take of any supposed Inroads upon them or disrespects towards them that contempt undervaluation of other mens Judgments those Magisterial Impositions and censures which proceed from men under a Reputation of these Endowments The Cautions given us in the Scripture against this frame of Spirit the Examples that are proposed unto us to the contrary even that of Christ himself the Commands that are multiplied for Lowliness of mind Jealousie over our selves the Soveraignty of God in chusing whom he pleaseth to reveal his Mind and Truth unto and by may in the consideration of them be useful to prevent such Surprizals with Pride Self-conceit and contempt of others as supposed or abused knowledge are apt to cast men into whereby Divisions are greatly fomented and increased among us But it may be these things will not much prevail with them who pretending a Zeal and Principle above others in Preaching and urging the Examples of Christ do in most of their ways and actings and in some of their Writings give us an unparallel'd Representation of the Devil Lastly It is confessed by all that False Teachers Seducers Broachers of Novel Corrupt and Heretical Doctrines have caused many Breaches and Divisions among such as once agreed in the Profession of the same Truths and Points of Faith By means of such persons whether within the present Church-State or without there is scarce any Sacred Truth which had formerly secured its station and possession in the minds of the generality of Christians in this Nation but what hath been solicited or opposed Some make their Errors the principal Foundation Rule and Measure in Communion Whoever complies with them therein is of them and whoso doth not they avoid so at once they shut up themselves from having any thing to do with them that love Truth and Peace And where these consequents do not ensue mens Zeal for their Errors being overballanced by their love of and concern in their secular interest and their minds influenced by the novel prevailing Opinion of a great Indifferency in all things appertaining unto Outward Worship yet the advancing and fomenting of Opinions contrary unto that Sound Doctrine which hath been generally owned and taught by the Learned and Godly Pastors and received by the People themselves cannot but occasion Strife Contentions and Divisions among Professors And it may be there are very few of those Articles or Heads of Religion which in the beginning of the Reformation and a long time after were looked on as the most useful important and necessary parts of our Profession that have not been among us variously opposed and corrupted And in these Differences about Doctrine lie the hidden Causes of the Animosities whereby those about Worship and Discipline are mannaged For those who have the advantage of Law and Power on their side in these lesser things are not so unwise as to deal openly with their Adversaries about those things wherein the Reputation of established and commonly received Doctrines lie against them But under the pretence and shelter of contending for Legal Appointments not a few do exercise an Enmity against those who profess the Truth which they think it not meet
as yet openly to oppose Such are the Causes and such are the Occasions of the Differences and Divisions in and about Religious Concerns that are among us by such means have they been fomented and encreased Heightned they have been by the personal faults and miscarriages of many of all sorts and parties And as the reproof of their sinful failings is in its proper season a necessary duty so no Reformation or Amendment of persons will give a full relief nor free us from the evil of our Divisions until the Principles and ways which occasion them be taken out of the way CHAP. V. Grounds and Reasons of Non-Conformity HAving briefly declared our Sense concerning the general Causes and Occasions of our Differences and that present want of Christian Love which is complained of by many we shall now return to give some more particular account concerning our Inconformity unto and Non-compliance with the Observances and Constitutions of the Church of England It is acknowledged that we do in sundry things dissent from them that we do not that we cannot come up unto a joint Practice with others in them It is also confessed that hereon there doth ensue an appearance of Schisme between them and us according as the common notion of it is received in the world And because in this distance and difference the Dissent unto Compliance is on our parts there is a semblance of a voluntary relinquishment of your Communion And this we know exposeth us in Vulgar Judgments and Apprehensions unto the Charge of Schisme and necessitateth us unto self-defence as though the only matter in question were whether we are guilty of this evil or no. For that advantage have all Churches which have had an opportunity to fix terms of Communion right or wrong just or unequal the Differences which ensue thereon they will try out on no other terms but only whether those that dissent from them are Schismaticks or not Thus they make themselves Actors oft-times in this Cause who ought in the first place to be charged with Inâ—ury and a Trial is made meerly at the hazard of the Reputation of those who are causelesly put upon their Purgation and Defence Yea with many a kind of Possession and Multitude do render Dissenters unquestionably Schismatical so that it is esteemed an unreasonable Confidence in them to deny themselves so to be So deals the Church of Rome with those that are Reformed An open Schisme there is between them and if they cannot sufficiently fix the Guilt of it on the Reformed by confidence and clamours with the advantage of Prepossession yet as if they they were perfectly innocent themselves they will allow of no other Enquiry in this Matter but what consists in calling the Truth and Reputation of the other Party into question It being our present condition to lie under this Charge from many whose Interest it is to have us thought guilty thereof we do deny that there is any culpable secession made by us from the Communion of any that profess the Gospel in these Nations or that the blame of the appearing Schisme that is among us can duly or justly be reflected on us which in the Remainder of our Discourse we shall make to appear What are our Thoughts and Judgments concerning the Church-state and Interest of the Professors of the Gospel in this Nation we have before declared And we hope they are such that in the Judgment of persons sober and impartial we shall be relieved from those clamorous Accusations which are without number or measure by some cast upon us Our Prayers are also continually unto the God of Love and Peace for the taking away of all Divisions and their Causes from among us Nor is the satisfaction which ariseth from our sincerity herein in the least taken off or rent from us by the uncharitable Endeavours of some to rake up pretences to the contrary And should those in whose power it is think meet to imitate the Pastors and Guides of the Churches of old and to follow them in any of the wayes which they used for the Restauration of Vnity and Agreement unto Christians when lost or endangered we should not decline the contribution of any assistance by Counsel or Fraternal Compliance which God should be pleased to supply us withal But whilst some whose advantages render them considerable in these matters seem to entertain no other Thoughts concerning us but what issue in Violence and Oppression the principal duty incumbent on us is quietly to approve our Consciences unto God that in sincerity of heart we desire in all things to please him and to conform our Lives Principles and Practises to his Will so far as he is graciously pleased to make it known unto us And as for men we hope so to discharge the Duty required of us as that none may justly charge us with any Disorders Vnpeaceableness or other evils For we do not apprehend that we are either the cause or culpable occasion of those Inconveniences and Troubles which some have put themselves unto by their endeavours for our disturbance impoverishing and ruine Let none imagine but that we have considered the Evils and evil Consequents of the Schismes and Divisions that are among us and those who do so do it upon the forfeiture of their Charity We know how much the great work of Preaching the Gospel unto the Conversion of the Souls of men is impeded thereby as also what prejudice ariseth thence against the Truth wherein we are all agreed with what Temptations and mutual exasperations to the loss of Love and the occasioning of many sinful Miscarriages in persons of all sorts do hereon ensue But we deny that it is in our power to remove them or take them out of the way nor are we conscious unto our selves of any Sin or Evil in what we do or in what we do not do by our not doing of it in the Worship of God It is Duty alone unto Jesus Christ whereunto in these things we attend and wherein we ought so to do And where Matters of this nature are so circumstanced as that Duty will contribute nothing towards Unity we are at a loss for any progress towards it The Sum of what is objected unto us as hath been observed is our Non-Conformity or our forbearance of actual personal Communion with the present Church-Constitutions in the Modes Rites and Ceremonies of its Worship Hence the Schisme complained of doth ensue Unless this Communion be total constant without endeavour of any Alteration or Reformation we cannot in the judgment of some be freed from the guilt hereof This we deny and are perswaded that it is to be charged elsewhere For First All the Conditions of absolute and compleat Communion with the Church of England which are proposed unto us and indispensibly required of us especially as we are Ministers are Vnscriptural such as the Word of God doth neither warrant mention nor intimate especially not under any such consideration
whose Cause they plead we are cast out and excluded from Church Communion with them by the unscriptural Conditions of it which they would force upon us The Distance between us that ensues hereon they are the Causes of not we for we are ready to joyn with them or any others upon the Terms of Christ and the Gospel And do they think it meet that we should revenge their fault upon our selves by a voluntary abstinence from all the wayes and means of our edification Doth any man think that Jesus Christ leaves any of his Disciples unto such a condition as wherein it is impossible they should observe his Commands and Institutions without sin That we should joyn in some Societies that in them we should assemble together for the worship of God in him and that we should in them do and observe whatever he hath appointed we look upon as our indispensible Duty made so unto us by his Commands These things say some you shall not do with us if you will do no more and if you do them among your selves you are Schismaticks But this is a severity which we know we shall not meet with at the last Day We stand at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ. It will it may be be demanded by what Warrant or Authority we do assemble our selves in Church Societies for the Administration of Gospel Ordinances and who gave us this Authority VVe answer That it is acknowledged there is a Difference between them and us so that with them we cannot enjoy the VVorship of God But of this Difference we are not the Cause nor do give occasion to any blameable Divisions by our Principles or Practises VVhere the Cause is found there the guilt remains This being the state of things with us it is fond to imagine that any Professors of the Gospel do absolutely want a Warranty or Authority to obey Jesus Christ to observe his Commands and to serve him according to his revealed VVill. His Command in his Word his Promise of the acceptance of them and of his presence among them in all the Acts of their holy obedience the assistance and guidance of his holy Spirit which he affords graciously unto them are a sufficient Warranty and Authority for what they do in express complyance with his Commands and more they will not plead a power for VVhere the Spirit and Word of Christ are there is his Authority And this is no otherwise committed unto men but to enable them to act obedientially towards him and Ministerially towards others And were Church Actings considered more with respect unto the Obedidience that in them is performed unto Christ which is their first and principal Consideration it would quickly be evident whence men might have Authority for their performance And by the same means are we directed in their Order and Manner Besides the Ministers who go before the people in their Assemblies are all of them so far as we know solemnly set apart unto their Office and VVork according unto what Christ hath appointed and their Duty it is to teach unto all men the good wayes of Christ and to go before them who are convinced and perswaded by them in their practise These things hath their Lord and Master required of them and an account concerning them will he call them unto at the last Day A Dispensation is committed unto them and a necessity is thence incumbent on them to preach the Gospel and who shall excuse them if they neglect so to do For that all those who are Ministers of the Gospel are called to preach the Gospel and that diligently every one according as he hath received the Gift of the Grace of God is out of question with them that do believe the Gospel And of the Stewardship which is committed unto them herein are they to give an Account And we do know that it is a fearful thing for sinners that is wilful neglecters of his Commands to fall into the hands of the living God Our Lord Jesus Christ also hath testified beforehand that he who setteth his hand to this Plough and looks back again is not fit for the Kingdome of God He alone who calls them to this work can discharge them of it and that either by the Rule of his Word or his Providence And when men are invincibly hindred as many are at this day it is their suffering but not their sin Otherwise none can absolve them from the Duty they owe to Jesus Christ in this matter and that Debt which they owe to the Souls of men in undertaking the work of the Ministry Some indeed suppose or pretend to suppose that a Prohibition given them by Superiors forbidding them to preach though not by nor according unto any Rule of the Gospel doth discharge them from any Obligation so to do that it shall be no more their Duty It would do so no doubt had they received no other command to preach the Gospel nor from any other Authority than that of and from those Superiors by whom they are forbidden But being perswaded that they have so from him who is higher than the highest they cannot acquiesce in this Discharge nor being bought with a price can they now be Servants of men But by whom are they thus forbidden to preach It will be supposed that the Church which differs from them and which originally makes it self a part in these Differences by the conditions of communion which it would impose upon them is no competent Judge in this case Nor will their Prohibitions who apparently thereby revenge their own Quarrel influence the Consciences of them that dissent from them For we speak not of what will or may take place but what the Consciences of men will or may be concerned in By the Civil Magistrate they are not forbidden to preach that we know of It is true they are prohibited to preach in the Legal Publick Meeting Places or Churches and these places being in the power and care of the Magistrate it is meet his Terms and conditions of their use should be accepted of or his Prohibition observed or his Penalty quietly undergone where a peaceable occasion is made use of contrary unto it As to other places Ministers are not absolutely forbid to preach in them no such power is as yet assumed or exercised Only the Manner of Assemblies for Sacred Worship and the Number of them that may assemble are regulated by Laws for Secular Ends or Civil Security and that under express Penalties incurred on a contrary practice But the Consciences of Ministers cannot be concerned in such Laws so far as to be exempted by them from the Obligation that lies upon them from the command of Christ to preach the Gospel This they are commanded by him to do and others know the penalties from men under the danger whereof they must attend unto them Besides the reason of these Legal Prohibitions so far as they do extend are taken from Civil considerations alone namely of