Subordination in the several parts thereof either in way of proper authority or of mutual agreement And the Associated Churches and particular Members therein are naturally bound to maintain the orderly state of the whole Association and to comply with the Rules thereof when they are not repugnant to the Word of God A Bishop or Pastor and the People adhering to him are not declared to be the only true Church and Pastor within such a Precinct by their conjunction with the largest Combination of Bishops or Pastors and their Churches For the greater number of Bishops may in such manner err in their Constitutions as to make rightly informed Persons uncapable of their Combination A National Church is not a particular Church properly so called but a Combination or Coagmentation of particular Churches united under one Civil Supream either Personal as in a Monarchy or Collective as in a Republick And the true notion thereof lies not in any Combination purely Ecclesiastical and Intrinsecal but Civil and Extrinsecal as of so many Churches that are collected under one that hath the Civil Supremacy over them The National Church of England truly denotes all the Churches in England united under one Supream Civil Church-Governour the Kings Majesty Civil Magistrates as such are no Constitutive parts of the Church The Christian Church stood for several Centuries without the support of their authority But Supream Magistrates have a Civil Supremacy in all Ecclesiastical matters and a political extrinsecal Episcopacy over all the Pastors of the Churches in their Dominions and may compell them to the performance of their Duties and punish them for negligence and mal-Administration and they may reform the Churches when they stand in need of Reformation The possession of the Tithes and Temples doth not of it self declare the true Pastor and Church nor doth the Privation thereof declare no Pastor and no Church For these are disposed of by the secular power which of it self can neither make nor make void a Pastor or Church A Diocess is a collective body of many Parishes under the Government of one Diocesan If the several Parishes be so many particular Churces and if their proper and immediate Presbyters be of the same order with those which in Scripture are mentioned by that name and were no other than Bishops or Pastors then a Diocess is not a particular Church but a Combination of Churches and the Diocesan is a Bishop of Bishops or a Governour over many Churches and their immediate Bishops If the Parishes be not acknowledged to be Churches nor their Presbyters to be realy Bishops or Pastors but the Diocess be held to be the lowest Political Church and the Diocesan to be a Bishop of the lowest rank and the sole Bishop or Pastor of all the included Parishes I confess I have no knowledge of the Divine right of such a Church or Bishop or of any precept or precedent thereof in Scripture For every particular Church mentioned in Scripture was but one distinct stated Society having its own proper and immediate Bishop or Bishops Elder or Elders Pastor or Pastors who did Personally and immediately Superintend over the whole Flock which ordinarily held either at once together or by turns Personal present Communion with each other in Gods Worship But a Diocess consists of several stated Societies to wit the Parishes which are Constituted severally of a proper and immediate Presbyter or Elder having cure of Souls and commonly called a Rector and the People which are his proper and â—…rge or cure And the People of thâ—… not live under the Personal and inâ—…rsight of their Diocesan but under â—…legates and Substitutes Nor do they oâ—…ly hold Personal present Communion with each other in Gods Worship either at once together or by turns Nevertheless which way soever a Diocess be considered I have nothing to object against submission to the Government of the Diocesan as an Ecclesiastical Officer established by the Law of the Land under the Kings Supremacy There is nothing in the nature of the Office of Presbyterate which according to the Scripture is a Pastoral Office that shewe it ought to be exercised no otherwise than in Subordination to a Diocesan Bishop Christ who is the Author and only proper giver of all Spiritual Authority in the Church hath not so limited the said Office and men cannot by any act of theirs enlarge or lessen it as to its nature or essential state or define it otherwise than it is stated of Christ in his word No power Ecclesiastical or Civil can discharge any Minister of Christ from the exercise of his Ministery in those circumstances wherein Christ commands him to exercise it nor any Christians from those duties of Religion to which the Command of Christ obligeth them As the Magistrate is to judge what Laws touching Religion are fit for him to enact and execute so the Ministers of Christ are to use a judgment of discretion about their own Pastoral acts and all Christians are to do the same about their own acts of Church-Communion The too common abuse of the judgment of discretion cannot abrogate the right use thereof it being so necessary that without it men cannot act as men nor offer to God a reasonable Service CHAP. II. Of true Church-Unity WHen the names of Unity and Schism are by partiality and selfishness commonly and grosly abused and misapplied the nature of the things to which those names do of right belong ought to be diligently inquired into and clearly and distinctly laid open For a groundwork in this inquiry I fix upon two very noted texts of Scripture The one is Eph. 4. 3. Indeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace The other is Rom. 16. 17. Mark them that cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine that ye have learned and avoid them The former guides us to the knowledge of true Church-unity and the latter shews us the true nature of Schism By the former of these Texts all Christians are obliged to maintain that Spiritual Unity which they have one with another under Christ their Head by the Holy Ghost in all due acts of holy Communion in Peace and Concord Several important things are here to be taken notice of 1. There is a Spiritual unity between all Christians in the form of one mystical Body as there is a natural unity between all the members of the natural Body The members being many are one body and members one of another 2. This Unity is under Christ as the Head of it What the head is to the natural Body that is Christ and much more to his mystical Body the Church 3. This Unity of Christians one with another under Christ is by the Holy Ghost and therefore called the Unity of the Spirit The Spirit of Christ the Head doth seize upon and reside in all the Faithfull by which they become Christs mystical Body and are joyned one to another as fellow-members 4. This Unity of
Their Union and Fellowship being chiefly mystical and invisible their Unity is far greater than what outwardly appears to the World and sometimes than what themselves can discern among themselves in particular by reason of many inferior yet very disquieting differences and discords Nevertheless it behoves them to provide that it might appear as much as may be what it is indeed and that it be conspicuous and illustrious in the sight of Men by their walking in love and peace Unity is the Churches strength and beauty the honour of the Faithfull and an argument for the certainty of their most holy Faith It makes Religion lovely and draws forth blessing praise from the Beholders of it and wins the World to a love and reverence of that Piety which makes the Professors of it to live in brotherly kindness and mutual charity But Division is the Church's weakness and deformity the reproach of Christians and a scandal against Christianity and an objection put into the mouths of Infidels against the Faith and an occasion of stumbling unto many In the present divided state of Religion each Party is apt to appropriate Godliness to themselves or at least to carry it towards others as if they did so And they that are loudest in accusing Dissenters of uncharitableness in this kind are themselves as uncharitable as any others It is true that God hath a peculiar People distinguished from all others by a peculiar Character but it is not confined to any Party of this or that Persuasion or Denomination that is narrower than meer Christianity And all true Christians are to receive one an other as God hath received them Indeed the best Christians are to be best esteemed and their fellowship is most desired But if they should be severed from the universality and in a strict combination set up as divided Party it tends to the Churches Ruine For a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand and if the nobler parts of the Body forsake the rest the whole must needs die Christian Concord doth not signifie an aggregation of things inconsistent as the fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness the communion of light with darkness the concord of Christ with Belial To set up Unity against Piety is a conspiracy against Christ who is King of righteousness and to pretend Piety against Unity is to oppose Christ the Prince of Peace whose Kingdom is the Reign of Love in the Soul Holiness and Peace must kiss each other and as inseperable Companions walk together It is the unity of the Spirit we are charged to keep in the bond of Peace But concord in any external Order without fellowship in the Divine Life is not the unity of the Spirit which is to partake of the same new nature and to walk together in the same holy way This is far more excellent than the greatest compliance in matters of meer external order and consequently much more regardable in our estimation and reception of Persons Though to meet in one place be not of so great importance as to be joyned in one Spirit yet it must not be counted a small matter The unity of Faith and Love is much concern'd in the unity of Church Communion it will be a matter of some difficulty for them to live together in Love whom one Church cannot hold Church divisions commonly divide affections and draw men into Parties and divided Interests and make them seek to strengthen their own Party by weakening all others to the great dammage of true Religion in general For which cause the unchurching of Churches and renouncing of Communion with them that are sound in the Doctrine of Faith and Sacrament and in the substance of Divine Worship should be dreaded by all sober Christians yea all unnecessary distances should be avoided least they lead to greater alienations and direct enmities and oppositions Those Churches that cannot hold local communion one with another by reason of differences that destroy not the essentials of Christianity should yet maintain a dear and tender Christian love one to another and profess their owning of each other as Churches of Jesus Christ and should agree together upon certain just and equal Rules for the management of their unavoidable differences so as may least prejudice charity and common good and least harden the ungodly and grieve the weak or dishonour God or hinder the success of common great and necessary truths upon the Souls of men amicably promoting the common cause of Christianity and every part thereof in which they are agreed and opening their disagreements to the People as little as they can Schism is an unwarrantable separation from or division in a Church and without controversie it is a heinous sin and to be detested both for its exceeding sinfulness and wofull consequents But it hath been so disguised and the odious name hath been so confusedly cast abroad and so unreasonably and maliciously misapplied that it is too slightly thought of where it should be sadly laid to heart For it is common with the strongest Party be it right or wrong to call themselves the Church and to have no better name for others than Schismaticks And so the reproach is but contemned by them that suffer it and the sin it self is too little feared on all sides But it is not a Temporal Law nor Secular Power nor any prevalence of Strength or Interest that makes a Church and none of these things will excuse them from Schism that act uncharitably against their Brethren and obstruct the progress of the Gospel and the increase of Godliness Nor are they forthwith to be counted Schismaticks who cannot in all points observe the Commandments of men and cannot neglect to yield their help to the saving of Souls that would otherwise want due means of Salvation when God hath called them to that Service with a woe unto them if they Preach not the Gospel For as much as all must dread the guilt of Schism truly so called let it be well considered that Ecclesiastical Superiors are as much concerned to take heed of Schismatical impositions as the People are to shun Schismatical Recusancy and Disobedience As well the Pastors Wisdom as the Peoples due submission is here importunately called for When Superiors know how to Command and Inferiors how to Obey things will go as well as may be hoped for in this our imperfect state here upon Earth As the Peace of a corrupt state of Religion is best assured by suppressing all conscientious inquiries into its Decrees so the Peace of the true Church and of the sound state of Religion is most secured by the most perfect exercise of sound Judgment and upright Conscience in all its adherents That Church that claims to her self an infallibility or challenges and obtains from her partakers an implicit Faith in her determinations without further enquiry needs not fear the breaking of the bond of her Peace if she multiply constitutions and impose any devised Doctrines and Ordinances sutable to
state as a Jewel that hath its greatest lustre by the brightest light is maintain'd by the clearest knowledge In bright times the impostures and carnal designs of devised Doctrines and superstitious vanities will be made manifest and the hypocrisie being detected the Merchandize thereof will be quite marr'd In such times even the vulgar sort will expect from those in sacred Functions at least the appearance of a sober righteous and godly conversation with diligence in holy administrations Then the enemies of real Sanctity are put to hard shifts and forc'd to appear either in some colours of Truth or in the shame of their own nakedness For this cause the Followers of Truth make it their special interest as throughly to promote the most ample diffusion and universal increase of Knowledge among all ranks and sorts of Men as the Adverse partly seek to oppose and debase it We do not hereby mean an intermedling in difficult matters a smattering in controversies and certain curiosities of Opinions a store of unnecessary notions and of meer words and phrases which things are commonly erroneous and at the best but injudicious and puff up the half-witted and self-conceited and make them troublesom to themselves and others But that which is here commended for an universal increase and propagation is to understand the Principles of the Essential Truths of Christianity to see their evidence to judge rightly of their weight and worth and to view their coherence and besides these to know so much of other Truths as the different Capacities of Men will inable them for the bettering of their Knowledge in the Essentials The means of diffusing this Light are well known as the constant Preaching of the Word and the opening of the Principles of Religion in a due form of Cathechism the strict observation of the Lords Day repetition of Sermons â—…ious Conferences reading the Word and Prayer in Families profitable Communication among neighbour-Christians in their daily converse the spreading of practical Books written by Men of sound judgment and Ministers private applications to those of their own Charges with prudence and meekness For the same end that main Principle of Protestanism the judgment of Discretion as â—elonging to all Christians is to be asserted and â—…indicated against that Popish and brutish Doâ—…trine of implicit Faith in the Church's deâ—…rminations This is not to subject matters of â—aith to a private Spirit but to refer them to â—…e divine Authority of the holy Scriptures to â—…e apprehended in the due and right use of â—eason which is a publick and evident thing â—…d lies open to the tryal and judgment of all Men. And to Men of sober minds serious for the saving of their own Souls the Analogy of Faith in the current of Scripture is easily discernable Moreover the general increase of Knowledge lies much in the ingenuous Education and condition of the common People in opposition to sordidness slavery and brutish rudeness Though some look upon the vulgar sort with contempt and seem to value them no more than brute Animals and think it enough that their Governors understand and consider for them and not they for themselves yet Christ hath shed his Blood as much for the redemption of that Sort as of the Noble and Mighty and Prudent and he hath made no difference between the one and the other in the conditions of Salvation and in the priviledges and ordinances of his Kingdom As for the receiving of the Grace of God the Scripture casts the advantage on the poorer and meaner side Not many wise Men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called was the observation of St. Paul and St. James witnesseth that God hath chosen the Poor of this world rich in Faith and Heirs of his Kingdom And those whom God hath chosen must needs be instructed in his Will That reasonable service that he requires none can perform without Knowledge Ignorance is opposite to the nature and being of true Christian Piety which is not at all where it is not received with understanding This general increase of Knowledge hath fallen under a great suspicion of evil and it may be under the jealousie of Rulers as disposing Men to Sedition Rebellion Herisie and Schism But how great a reproach is hereby cast upon human Nature or political Government or both that the more rationally apprehensive the Body of a People are they are so much the more ungovernable as if Government could not stand with the proper dignity and felicity of human Nature What manner of civil State is that which degrades the Subjects from Men to Beasts for a more absolute Dominion over them What manner of Christian Church is that which to prevent Heresie and Schism takes order that its Members be no Christians It is an unchristian inhuman policy in Church or State the foundation whereof is laid in the Peoples ignorance As for the true interest of Rulers it is not weakened but strengthened by their Peoples knowledge which in its right and proper tendency makes them more conscientious and however more circumspect and considerate and consequently more easily manageable by a just and prudent Government But gross ignorance tends to make them barbarous and belluine and in their mutinies and discontents uncounsellable and untameable and therefore very incongruous to a State governed by the Principles of Christianity or Humanity CHAP. XX. The advantage of Human Learning to the same end THough Religion rests not on human Learning as its main support yet it seeks and claims the necessary help thereof Those whom God designs for eminent service he indues with eminent gifts either by means or miracle and he gives every intrusted Servant a measure answerable to his degree The Apostles who laid the foundation were wise Master-builders and surely it was not the mind of Christ that Wisdom should die with them when he settled his Church to indure throughout all Ages and promised to be with it to the end of the World It is said indeed that the foolishness of God is wiser than Men and the weakness of God is stronger than Men. But that which is so called is not foolishness and weakness indeed but only so accounted by the pride of carnal Wisdom In this Learned age the Antichristian State in Christendom is forced to advance Learning in its own defence And now without Learning either divinely inspired or acquired by means we cannot defend our selves against it Wherefore to destroy the supports of Learning is the way to subvert Religion Yea though we were not ingaged by such strength of the Adversary to provide for our own defence yet solid human Learning doth of it self notably advance Divine Truth The Learning that was spread over the World in the primitive times of Christianity apparently made way for that sudden and ample spreading of the Gospel And the Reviving thereof after an universal decay no less apparently made way for the breaking forth of this clearer Light of the Gospel
the Spirit among Christians is witnessed maintained and strengthened by their holy communion of Love and Peace one with another but is darkened weakened and lessened by their uncharitable Dissentions Hence it is evident that the Unity here commended is primarily that of the Church in its internal and invisible State or the Union and Communion of Saints having in themselves the Spirit and Life and Power of Christianity T is the unity of the Spirit we are charged to keep in the bond of Peace But concord in any external order with a vital Union with Christ and holy Souls his living members is not the unity of the Spirit which is to partake of the same new Nature and Divine Life Secondarily it is the Unity of the Church in its external and visible State which is consequent and subservient to the internal and stands in the profession and appearance of it in the professed observation of the duties arising from it Where there is not a credible Profession of Faith unfeigned and true Holiness there is not so much as the external and visible Unity of the Spirit Therefore a sensual Earthly generation of men who are apparently lead by the Spirit of the World and not by the Spirit that is of God have little cause to glory in their adhering to an external Church order whatsoever it be Holy love which is unselfed and impartial is the Life and Soul of this unity without which it is but a dead thing as the Body without the Soul is dead And this love is the bond of perfectness that Cement that holds altogether in this mystical Society For this being seated in the several members disposeth them to look not to their own things but also to the things of others and not to the undue advancement of a Party but to the common good of the whole Body Whosoever wants this love hath no vital Union with Christ and the Church and no part in the Communion of Saints The Church is much more ennobled strengthened and every way blessed by the Communion of holy love among all its living members or real Christians than by an outside uniformity in the minute circumstances or accidental modes of Religion By this love it is more beautifull and lovely in the eyes of all intelligent beholders than by outward pomp and ornament or any worldly splendor The Unity of the Church as visible whether Catholick or particular may be considered in a three-fold respect or in three very different points The first and chief point thereof is in the essentials and all weighty matters of Christian Faith and Life The second and next in account is in the essentials and integrals of Church state that is in the Christian Church-Worship Ministery and Discipline considered as of Christs institution and abstracted from all things superadded by men The third and lowest point is in those extrinsecal and accidental Forms and Orders of Religion which are necessary in genere but left in specie to human determination Of these several points of Unity there is to be a different valuation according to their different value Our first and chief regard is due to the first and chief point which respects Christian Faith and Life The next regard is due to that which is next in value that which respects the very constitution or frame of a Church And regard is to be had of that also which respects the accidentals of Religion yet in its due place and not before things of greater weight and worth Things are of a very different nature and importance to the Churches good Estate and a greater or lesser stress must be laid upon Unity in them as the things themselves are of greater or lesser moment The Rule or Law of Church Unity is not the will of man but the will of God Whosoever keeps that Unity which hath Gods word for its Rule keeps the Unity of the Spirit And whosoever boasts of a Unity that is not squared by this Rule his boasting is but vain An Hypothesis that nothing in the Service of God is lawfull but what is expresly prescribed in Scripture is by some falsly ascribed to a sort of men who earnestly contend for the Scriptures sufficiency and perfection for the regulating of Divine Worship and the whole state of Religion God in his Word hath prescribed all those parts of his Worship that are necessary to be performed to him He hath likewise therein instituted those Officers that are to be the Administrators of his publick Worship in Church Assemblies and hath defined the authority and duty of those Officers and all the essentials and integrals of Church state As for the circumstantials and accidentals belonging to all the things aforesaid he hath laid down general Rules for the regulation thereof the particulars being both needless and impossible to be enumerated and defined In this point God hath declared his mind Deut. 4. 2. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it Deut. 12. 32. What soever thing I command you observe to do it Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it The prohibition is not meerly of altering the Rule Gods written Word by addition or diminution but of doing more or less than the Rule required as the precept is not of preserving the Rule but of observing what is commanded in it Such human institutions in Divine Worship as be in meer subserviency to Divine institutions for the necessary and convenient modifying and ordering thereof are not properly additions to Gods commandments For they are of things which are not of the same nature end and use with the things which God hath commanded but of meer circumstantials and accidentals belonging to those things And these circumstantials are in genere necessary to the performance of Divine Institutions and are generally commanded in the Word though not in particular but are to be determined in specie by those to whom the power of such determination belongs They that assert and stand to this only Rule provide best for the Unity of Religion and the Peace of the Church For they are ready to reject whatsoever they find contrary to this Rule they are more easily kept within the bounds of acceptable Worship and all warrantable obedience they lay the greatest weight on things of the greatest worth and moment they carefully regard all Divine institutions and whatsoever God hath commanded and they maintain Love and Peace and mutual forbearance towards one another in the more inconsiderable diversities of Opinion and Practice Those things that are left to human determination the Pastors Bishops or Elders did anciently determine for their own particular Churches And indeed it is very reasonable and naturally convenient that they who are the Administrators of Divine institutions and have the conduct of the People in Divine Worship and know best what is most expedient for their own Society should be intrusted with the determination of necessary circumstances within their
knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they shall be alike good Whatsoever scornfull or careless Men conceit hereof the Divine Wisdom hath made it praise-worthy and precious The tongue of the just is as choice silver and the lips of the righteous feed many And to good Hearts this Practice will not be burdensom for they will recreate their Minds herewith as an holy divertisement and serious Pastime while others spend their leasure in that mirth and laughter which the Wise Man calls madness CHAP. IX The Prevalence of Religion or real Godliness in the Civil Government of a Nation IN Christian States and Kingdoms Religion being Gods interest ought to have the preeminence in all things And its Preeminence is no incroachment upon the Rights of the Higher Powers but their Establishment God alone hath an underived and unlimited Empire over Man his creature The People are primarily Gods Subjects and then are subject to Princes as to his Vicegerents and obedience to him is the grand interest both of Prince and People None can doubt that God hath made his own Glory and mans Salvation the supreme ends of government and subjection And consequently that is the best Policy which gives these ends the highest place and makes temporal advantages and the wellfare of the outward Man subordinate thereunto And this requires that the Constitution give the highest regards to Gods Laws and maintain their Authority and that the whole publick Administration tend to the promoting of Righteousness and true Holiness and to the suppressing of all unrighteous and impious Practice As it is the Church's duty and honour to teach and command her Children to do whatsoever Christ hath commanded so it is the proper work and chiefest glory of the Magistrate who is Gods Minister to defend the Faith and uphold the Ordinances of the Gospel and to further the most lively and powerfull Dispensation of them and to incourage and command obedience to the Divine Law written in Nature or Scripture In subserviency hereunto his Power is to determine such things as are requisit in general but in particular are left undetermined of God and therefore called indifferent and are to be ordered by human Prudence according to the general Rules of Gods word And for these ends the chief Magistrate hath a Supremacy in all causes and over all persons Civil and Ecclesiastical But it is no diminution of his Authority to remove from it things unnecessary unprofitablē and offensive in their use and for their doubtfull nature apt to perplex the Subjects conscience And he is the general Bishop of his Dominions in a political sense without any incroachment upon that Authority wherewith Christ the King of the Church hath invested spiritual Pastors As he is such an Officer it is worthy of his chiefest care to provide and send forth able and faithfull Dispensers of the Word that may teach the People the good knowledge of God after the example of the good King Jehoshaphat and to see that every one who hath the Cure of Souls be resident with his Flock and constantly instruct them by preaching the Word and Catechizing them in the Principles of Religion and not to suffer Pluralists to seise upon several Congregations as a prey to fleece but not to feed them to incourage laborious Ministers that watch for the Peoples Souls as those that must give an account and strictly to injoyn the Sanctification of the Lords Day which was sanctified to the publick Worship of God by the Apostles of our Lord who were guided by an infallible Spirit in setling this as all other Ordinances pertaining to Christs Kingdom and was observed by the Apostolick Churches and so hath continued in all Ages and in all places of Christianity and is conveyed down to us by as unquestionable Tradition as the Scripture it self It is not of little moment to suppress or at least to bring into disgrace whatsoever customs serve for nought but to feed inordinate Sensuality and to make those that use them profane vicious and licentious There are frequented shews and pastimes well known that increase unto all ungodliness and may be called the Devils ordinances Those that wish well to Piety have an ill part to act when they take upon them to defend some exercises from which an extreem abuse is inseperable and which are made a trade of gain arising from the impurity and profaness of them and therefore are incorrigible and can admit no reformation The Piety of any Nation is not to be measured by formalities and opinions and uniformity in little things but by substantial Devotion by solid zeal in the weighty matters of the Law and main concerns of Religion by righteousness of life by sobriety purity modesty by peace and concord with mutual forbearance in those differences that should not and need not make breaches among Brethren by dutifulness in all relations by industry frugality and by abounding Charity that is full of good Works Happy is that State where religious influence is predominant where the pious and prudent bear sway not by intrusion but by lawfull Admission also where it ariseth to that strength as to carry along with it the affection and interest of a Nation not by setting up the Faction of a few but by making the generality or at least the greater number of considerable men some of them truly regenerate Christians and the rest orderly and well affected One would think it were out of question that it were more desirable that Religiousness should be in fashion than open dissoluteness and profaness For uncontrolled profaness will run down all Religion But when those that reach not the Power of Godliness indeed come so far as to take up an outward garb thereof it is a great external advantage to true Religion and shews its prevalent Influence on the publick State If any should demur upon this Assertion by making it a question whether Phariseim or Profaness be the worser evil let him know first that profane and dissolute Christians are notorious Hypocrites for professing to know God when in works they deny him Besides Phariseism is not simple insincerity but a compound hypocrisie wherein malignity and enmity against the Power of Godliness is the chief ingredient it is a kind of strict externalness that seeks to destroy the inward life and spirit of that Religion which it pretends to own I have no list to say that such malignity is less mischievous than filthy lewdness or debauchery But the garb of strict Profession here mentioned is of another nature and serviceable to the Churches good though we must continually and strictly charge all Men to beware of resting in it to the ruine of their own Souls CHAP. X. Christian Unity and Concord ALl faithfull Christians are Members of one mystical Body having all one Spirit one Lord and Head one Faith one Baptism and one God and Father of them all one Hope of their Calling and one Heaven to receive them all
And though we may not please them in doing that which is evil yet we may in that which is lawfull but less edifying and so we may let go some good in the manner of performance rather than omit the whole Service Here is indeed a sinfull defect yet not on our part but on theirs who urge the way that is less edifying and refuse the better The exercise of Church Discipline being a means and not the end must be govern'd by rules of Prudence among which this is a chief one that the means must not be asserted so stifly as to indanger or destroy the end The exercise of Spiritual Authority is necessarily more regulated by the determination of the Civil Magistrate in a State that maintains the true Religion than in a State that either persecutes or disregards it If it were supposed that Spiritual Power is radically the same in all Ministers of the Gospel let it be considered whether the exercise of that Power may not be more restrained in some and let forth to a larger extent in others upon prudential grounds provided it be not inlarged in some to an exorbitancy and streightened in others to an extream deficiency Likewise if there be a dissent or doubting about a Superiority or Pre-eminence of Spiritual Power in some distinct Ecclesiastical Office let it be considered how far submission may be yielded to a Power objectively Ecclesiastical but formally Political derived from the Civil Magistrate and seated in Ecclesiastical Persons by Temporal Laws Lastly in reference to things imposed there is a wide difference between a quiet submission and an approving free choice It may be the duty of Subjects to do that which may be the sin of Governors to command For in the same things wherein Governors refuse the better way Subjects may do their parts and choose the best way they can If these considerations or others of the like Catholick tendency be found allowable and will pass among Brethren of different judgments they may prevent and heal many breaches and unite dissenters in the bond of Peace and Love and afford unto such as have been intangled a more free scope and large capacity for publick aims and actions CHAP. XXIX Whether the purity and power of Religion be lessened by amplitude and comprehensiveness A Doubt may arise in this place whether it ben ot safer to make the Church-doors narrow and to keep a strict guard upon the entrance into it and to insist upon the exactest purity that Religion may continue uncorrupt and that the Church be not defiled nor its Interest ravished by Strangers In resolving this doubt I forget not that the way is narrow and the Gate is straight that leadeth unto Life But self-denial and real mortification and a conversation in Heaven and not strictness of opinion in Church Order is this narrow way and straight Gate and our Salvation lies upon purity of heart and life and not upon Church purity Besides God hath made the Gate of the visible Church much wider than the Gate of Heaven and Church Discipline cannot be set in that strictness in which the Doctrine of Salvation is to be preached For Doctrine directly judgeth the heart and requireth truth in the inward parts but Discipline judgeth only the exterior conversation and must be satisfied in the credibility of Profession In walking by rigid rules of Discipline though with an aim to advance purity we may easily shut out those whom Christ hath taken in True Piety may be found in many who retain such things as some Godly Christians judge Erroneous or Superstitious and Godly sincerity may be found in many whom some of greater zeal but too censorious may judge to be but formalists It is not good to neglect sober and serious People though in a lower degree of profession who conform to Gods Ordinances and regard a sound Ministery and shew themselves teachable lest we reject those that would help to uphold and honour Religion more than many who will put themselves forward among the strictest sort but indeed are either carnal projecters or busie bodies or froward and fickle Persons and a stain to the Profession in which they seem to glory This narrowness of Church-communion and other reservedness of some strict Professors tends neither to the increase nor stability of pure Religion Zealous Christians are a kind of good leaven like that in the Gospel Parable which if kept alone is of no efficacy but being diffused will season the whole lump If they sever themselves into distinct visible Societies from the body of a Nation professing the true Religion their vertue cannot spread far but they leaven the whole mass of People by being diffused throughout the whole And then they gain reverence and reputation and by their example profane and dissolute Persons may be convinced and much reformed and among those that walk orderly many may be carried on from common to saving Grace Hereunto may be added this inestimable benefit to wit the apparent hope of the propagation of true Religion to the Generations to come which otherwise being unfixed might in time wear away and fail in such a Nation Furthermore sincere Christians are comparatively but a little Flock and of that little Flock the greater number are of low capacities and very defective in political prudence and if they were wholly left to govern themselves in separated Societies they might easily be insnared into Parties and Breaches and manifold inconveniencies Indeed those of them that are best able to govern themselves are most convinced of the need of publick Government Wherefore it is the security of the faithfull to live under a publick and fixed rule and order and consequently to be imbodied with a Nation if it may be in one way of Communion CHAP. XXX Factious usurpations are destructive to Religions interest REligion is by the maligners of it too often called Faction But the name is not more reproachfull than the thing it self is hurtfull to it And the prudent promoters of it will avoid Factious usurpations and all such ways as would turn to a general greivance But if any number of men in a higher degree of profession should seek the ingrossing of profits and preferments within themselves upon the account of their being Religious and the assuming of such power as cannot be maintained but by injury or disregard really or in appearance offered to all others and should so act in Civil Affairs as if they only were the people and think to do this for the advancement of Religion they would much mistake their way For besides the iniquity of this practice the vanity and weakness of it is manifest The intrinsick and permanent strength of strict Religion must be well considered For that which is adventitious is very mutable and may be soon turn'd against it Occasional advantages may suddenly raise it up to reputation and power among men and as suddenly leave it to sink and fall again Wherefore its friends and followers may