became possessed of them scraped over their Altars being Tables of wood in detestation of them as Apostates persecutors while the Catholicks called them brethren and acknowledg'd them rightly baptized and received them that were converted from that Schism in their respective Orders The unity of the Church is of such consequence to the salvation of all Cristians that no excess on one side can cause the other to increase the distance but they shall be answerable for the souls that perish by the means of it And therefore not departing from the opinion which I have declared concerning the termes upon which all parties ought to reconcile themselves untill I shall have reason showed me why I should do it I shall now go no further then the matters that are actually questioned among us not extending my discourse to points that may perhaps more justly become questionable then some of those which have come into dispute Professing in the beginning that I believe they may and ought to be setled by a Law of the Kingdom obliging all parties beside Recusants But that the matter of that Law ought to be limited by the consent and Authority of the Church respective to this Kingdom And withall that I think it ought to be held and shall for mine own part hold it an act meerly ambulatory provisionall for the time For though there is no hope of reconcilement with the Church of Rome as thinges are yet is there infinite reason for all sides to abate of their particular pretensions for the recovering of so incomparable a benefit as the unity of the whole If ever it shall please God to make the parties appear disposed to it Now the errors which we are to shut out if â—e will recover the unity of a visible Church that is of Gods whole Church are two in my judgment First though some things have been disputed in other parts from whence the same consequence may be inferred yet England is the place and ours the times which first openly and downright have maintained that there is no such thing as a Church in the nature of one visible Communion founded by God But it is maintained by severall parties among us upon severall grounds For some do not or will not understand that there can be any Ecclesiasticall Power founded by that act of God which foundeth Christianity where there is Secular Power founded also by those acts of God whereby he authorizeth and inforceth all just Soveraignties Though all times all parts all Nations of Christendom since Constantine profess to maintain the Church in that Power in which they found it acknowledged by Christians when he first undertook to maintain that Christianity which he professed all this must be taken either for meer hypocrisy or meer nonsense Others there are that do not think themselves obliged to the unity of Gods Church upon farre different Principles There are of our Enthusiasts such as are themselves every one a Church to themselves and by themselves as being above Ordinances and the Communion of the Church provided only for proficients But all Independent Congregations make the same profession and are manifestly grounded upon the same For how can they imagine themselves members of one visible Church who profess that they cannot be obliged to hold communion with any Congregation but their own And yet with favour the same consequence insuing upon so different pretenses there must be some supposition common to both upon which both do ground themselves And it is easily visible what that is Both opinions must suppose that a man may be heir to Christs Kingdom and indowed with Gods Spirit without being or before he be a member of Gods Church And the Independents indeed do manifestly profess that knowing themselves and others to be Gods Children and indowed with his Spirit they are in a capacity to joyn in Ecclesiasticall Communion with those whom they know to be such So they become members of a Church being Gods Children before without considering how they shall be members of the Whole Church The others are satisfied that by being members of a State which professeth Christianity they are also members of that one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church which by our Creed we profess to believe A ground which holdeth accidentally so long as that State constituteth a visible member of the Whole or the Catholick Church But not imaginable to serve the turn when States differ in point of Christianity and may every day appeal to force whither is the true Church and whither the false For is it not manifest that the professions of the Lutheranes the Calvinists the Greekes the Abyssines are protected by Soveraign Powers as well as the profession of the Church of Rome or the Church of England Is it not manifest that the Powers that profess them maintain them respectively to be Gods truth Why then do we dispute any longer which is the true Religion and which is the false if it be enough for Christians to resolve all the doubt they can have concerning Religion into the command of their Soveraigns only professing Christianity Is it not manifest that Soveraigns do use to punish their Subjects that conform not to their Lawes concerning Religion but follow that Religion which is in force under other Soveraignties Is it possible to imagine that Subjects can be obliged by one and the same will of God to follow contrary Lawes under severall Soveraigns Or that Soveraigns can be inabled by one and the same Law of God to punish their Subjects for serving God according to contrary professions True it is Subjects that suffer in a good cause shall be gainers thereby gaining Heaven by their losses of this world But what shall become of the Soveraigns that persecute them being in a good cause Or how shall not some of them bepersecuted in a good cause who are persecuted in contrary causes I know not whither this peremtory difficulty was the cause But I am sure recourse hath been had to a more desperate answer that every Subject is bound to profess the Religion of his Soveraign yea though it injoin him to renounce Christ with his mouth remaining bound all the while to believe in him with his heart and that by this belief he shall be saved as a Christian Neither is this position tenable but upon this answer nor doth this answer import any less than the utter renouncing of Christianity I know that in the records of the ancient Church those who only professed to believe Christianity who were called Catechumeni or Scholars to the Church are sometimes called by the name of Christians But I know withall that they were never counted in the state of Salvation till they had taken upon them the profession of Christianity by being admitted to the Sacrament of Baptisme I know also that this Baptisme though it was not counted void when it was Ministred in due form yet it was never counted effectuall to Salvation but when a man is baptised
into the true Faith and that in the Unity of Gods Church For though the names of Hereticks and Schismaticks have been made only Bug-bears to fright children with in this time of our troubles yet so long as Christianity continues those that separate themselves from the Church upon pretenses concerning the substance of Faith shall be properly called Hereticks But if the cause concern not the substance of Christianity Schismaticks And therefore Christianity consisting not only in believing or purposing with the heart but also in professing with the mouth first sincerely then the true Faith lastly by being baptised he that professeth himself free to renounce his Christianity as farre as the mouth hath effectively renounced it Because he hath effectively drawn back that promise upon condition whereof he was baptized of professing Chistianity to the death And truly if every Christian State be the Church of God within the territories thereof then cannot all Churches concurr to make up that one visible Church of God which our Creed professeth For there is nothing more evidently true than the saying of Plato that all States are naturally enemies one to another especially those that are borderers And this enmity in our dayes consisteth visibly in those differences of Religion upon which the neighbor Soveraignties of Christendome are now at distance It is therefore no way imaginable how all Christian States should concur to make up that one visible Church whereinto by being Baptized we obtain the spirituall and eternall priviledges of Christians But that it is the profession of the whole Rule of Christianity that makes any people or State a part of the visible Church being governed by such rules in the exercise of Gods service as may make it the same Society with that which was once unquestionably Gods Church or part of it For otherwise how should the visible Church continue one and the same from the first to the second comming of our Lord And here you have the second point of our differences For all our Sects under the title of Gods free grace do maintain that the promises of the Gospell and our right in them depends not upon the truth of mens Christianity As if God were not free enough of his Grace if he should reserve himself a duty of being served as by Christians upon those whom he tenders life everlasting to upon such termes It is no new thing in England to hear of those who professe that God sees not nor can see any sinne in his elect So that in their opinion there is no mortall sinne but repentance because that must suppose that a man thought himself out of the State of grace by the sin whereof he repents I think I am duly informed of a Malefactor dying upon the Gallows that professed to the strengthening of his brethren that he had overcome all temptation to repentance acknowledging that since his being in Prison he had been strongly moved to repent And that one of Hackets three conspirators when he was come to himself continued to profess that he thought himself in the State of Gods grace all the while But I will go no further then the words which I have quoted in another place out of a Pamphlet written to satisfy the Godly party in Wales being offended at the late Usurpers proceedings which alledgeth that we are not to be judged at the last day either by our works or by our faith but by Gods everlasting purpose concerning each of us By virtue whereof Christ being alive at the heart the violation of all his ingagements to them by usurping over them as over others made no difference in his estate towards God Whosoever writ this I think I am duly informed that himself caused it to be published But I am certain that to the everlasting infamy of a Christian Nation if reparation be not made it is supposed to be the sense of all the Godly in it And to the same effect my memory assures me to have read in one of his speeches That there are at this day inspirations of Gods Spirit besides the Scriptures though not against the Scriptures Now certainly that which a man hath by virtue of the Scriptures that is of Christianity can by no means be understood to be besides the Scriptures And certainly he that presumeth upon any motion of Gods Spirit not supposing Christianity that is not supposing the Scriptures may by the same reason prefume of his own Salvation not supposing that he believes and lives as a Christian The same is the consequence of a Position I will not say injoyned by any party but notoriously allowed among us That justifying Faith consisteth in believing that a man is one of them that are predestinate whom God sent our Lord Christ to redeem and none else For how can he think himself obliged to make good the profession of a Christian who thinks himself assured of all that he can attain to by so doing not supposing it Indeed it may be said that our Antinomians and Enthusiasts and other Sects among us whom no conceit without this could have seduced to their several frenzies do think themselves justified from everlasting by Gods decree to send Christ for that purpose whereas this opinion dateth Justification from the instant that God revealeth the said decree by his spirit in which revelation they think that justifying Faith consisteth And certainly there can be no reason why God receiving men into grace only in consideration of Christs obedience should suspend their reconcilement upon that knowledge of his purpose which he giveth them by Faith For what can be more unreasonable than that God should justifie a man by revealing to him that he is justified But the opinion is not the less destructive to Christianity because it is the more unreasonable Now it is possible that the effect of this position may bestifled and become void in some by reason of other truths which contradict the same in deed and yet are believed by them not seeing the consequence of their own perswasions But those who besides this position do pertinaciously hold absolute predestination to glory those I maintain are in an errour destructive to Christianity that is in an Heresy And therefore this Doctrine being such it is no way enough that it is no way injoyned to be taught but it is requisite that it be disclaimed by those that pretend to recover the unity of a visible Church For there can be no Church where any thing destructive to Christianity which the being of the Church supposeth is notoriously allowed to be taught Novv betvveen these two points of our differences I am to observe a vast difference For this latter is necessary for all Christians to knovv as being the principle of all those actions vvhich being just for the matter of them must render the men acceptable to God in order to life everlasting And therefore he that thinketh he can be regenerate or justified or the child of God or indovved vvith Gods Spirit
not supposing that he undertakes and performs the profession of a Christian renounces the Article of his Creed concerning one baptisme to remission of sins But the being of Gods visible Church consisteth in that Unity which ariseth upon the agreement of all Christians to hold communion in the visible Offices of Gods service And therefore though it be an Article of our Creed to believe one Catholick Church yet can it not concern the Salvation of every particular Christian to understand the nature of that Society or Corporation which the bond of this Unity createth Nay even they who are best seen in that Government by which this Unity is preserved may well fail in comprehending the reason thereof by reflecting their discourse upon it In the mean time it is necessary for all that believe their Creed to think themselves tied by this Article to maintain the Unity of the Church according to their estate That is for every ones part not to be accessory to any Schism that dissolveth it And therefore to deny the crime of Schism is to deny this Article The consequence of this observation will be the difference which the Church hath reason to use in reconciling parties at distance from it to the unity thereof according to the difference of those pretenses upon which they are at distance For those who have only disputed against the being of the Church upon misunderstanding the right of secular Power which they think the being of the Church inconsistent with shall be sufficiently reunited to the Church by conforming to the Law by which the Church is and was and may be established For that there ought to be provision against such disputes for the future it concernes not me to give warning Only where willfullness hath proceeded so farre in maintaining a false position as to make no bones of denying Christianity and teaching Atheism by obliging to renounce Christ if the Soveraign command it it concerneth the Christianity of the Nation to see reparation made But where the Hereticall positions mentioned afore have notoriously been maintained especially where Congregations have been framed and used for the exercise of Religion upon pretense of them there will it be absolutely necessary that they be expressly renounced and disclaimed either by persons in particular or in Body by Congregations To this head I reduce all Anabaptists and Congregations of Anabaptists Those of the fift Monarchy and Congregations of the fifth Monarchy Quakers and Congregations of Quakers Nay all Independent Congregations in my opinion ought to be reduced under this measure Not only because their profession is grounded upon the denial of one visible Church But because they suppose themselves Children of God and indowed with his Spirit before they be members of Gods Church That is setting aside their Baptism and the Covenant which is solemnly inacted by it between God and each soul And though I do referre my self to the wisdom of Superiors in what form this reconciliation be solemnized yet I must express my opinion thus far that there can be none so fit as that which the wisdom of the Catholick Church from the beginning hath allwayes frequented By granting them the blessing of the Church with Imposition of hands renouncing for their part their severall Sects and errors That is by the prayers of the Church for the spirit of God to rest upon them who have barred their baptism to give it by opposing the peace of the Church which now they retire unto For how shall the unity of the Church be secured but by declaring them who violate the same accursed of God Nor let it be thought that our Sectaries of their own accord retiring themselves unto the Communion of this Church it will be requisite for the Church to admit them without taking notice of any thing that hath passed For neither is it to be presumed that they who have made their own wills their Law for so many yeares will so much as profess conformity to the Rule of the Church And if they did profess it there is no reason to think that they should stand to it having a dispensation dormant of the Spirit to stand to their profession as the interest of their faction shall require So their coming to Church would be only an advantage for them to infect others And how should that Communion be counted a Church which intertains Hereticks as Hereticks and Schismaticks as Schismaticks that is without renouncing positions destructive to the Faith without obliging themselves for the future to hold Unity with the Church Certainly there is no just answer for this if the Church of Rome should object it for the reason why they refuse to hold communion with us Certainly S. Augustine when he was charged by the Donatists that the Church received their Apostates without rebaptizing them and in their respective Orders could have had no answer if he had not had this That the Church received them not as Donatists but as converted from being Donatists they not refusing to profess so much Certainly it may be and perhaps is justifiable for the Secular power to grant them the exercise of their Religion in private places of their own providing under such moderate penalties as the disobeying of the Laws of a mans Countrey might require For persecution to death for that cause the whole Reformation condemneth in the Church of Rome And I conceive there is no reason for that which will not condemn persecution to banishment But this would require the like moderation to be extended to Recusants of the Church of Rome True it is in mine opinion those Papists that think themselves tied by the Bull of Pius V. against Queen Elizabeth or that they may be tied by the like Acts of his Successors against hers are justly lyable to the utmost of penalties as professed enemies to their Countrey But besides that it is manifest that all Papists are not of that opinion which the said Bull presupposeth The State may easier he secured of Papists against all such power in the Pope than of our Sectaries against that dispensation to their Allegiance which the pretense of Gods Spirit may import when they please And whereas it is manifest that many Papists hold against those equivocations and reservations which destroy all considence of the Soveraign in his Subjects allegiance How shall a State be secured against that infamous falsehood of the late Usurper in any man that pretends Gods Spirit upon his terms which I mentioned afore Besides the Recusants being for the most part of the good Families of the Nation will take it for a part of their Nobility freely to professe themselves in their Religion if they understand themselves whereas the Sectaries being people of mean quality for the most part cannot be presumed to stand upon their reputation so much So if they cannot be tolerated in the exercise of their Religion it must be provided upon what terms they may be received by the Church And by that which
hath been said it may appear what my opinion will require of the Presbyterians for the condition of reconciling our selves into one Church again Namely in the first place their concurrence to the Act or Decree or Order according to which the Sectaries ought to be tied to renounce the damnable positions which they have notoriously set on foot For if they should refuse this what reason could be alledged why they should be counted Strangers to that infection which they will not exclude As for the other Article of the Creed concerning one visible Church it is evident that they cannot belong to that Church supposing the Premises For it is evident that there was a time when the whole Church was governed by Bishops and that not against Gods Law for then there had remained no Church And therefore for them to break the unity of the Church upon pretence of governing this Church by Presbyters is to break unity unless a part may give Law to the whole which who so do are for so doing Schismaticks And the Church of Rome would have due cause to cast us off for Schismaticks if we should admit this pretense But this is a point the knowledg whereof cannot belong to the substance of Christianity for the reason alleged before And therefore I do not think the Church tied to exact the express profession of it or the disclaiming of the error that is opposite to it On the other side the Church maintaining the Ordinations of Presbyters alone to be meer nullities in themselves can never own their Ordinations without renouncing the Catholick Church yet may it consent in the persons upon their consent to the order which shall be established for the future And indeed what can they challeng by the meer consent of certain Presbyters which the Ministers of Congregations may not pretend to by the consent of their respective Congregations And yet I suppose both parties are agreed not to own them in that Power which the celebration of the Eucharist importeth Let any man that is capable to judg of such matters think upon the madness of the Lancashire Presbyterians without prejudice Of whome I am duly informed that they caused those who were ordained only Deacons in the Church of England to do the office of Presbyters which they had no title to in celebrating the Eucharist And tell me what reason there can be excluding the Ordinations of the Congregations to admit the usurpations of the Presbyterians As for the form and solemnity in which the consent of the Church to their Ordinations shall be celebrated therein I refer my self to the wisdom of Superiors Thinking it would be a great impertinence in the Presbyterians if finding a necessity of submitting those whom they have allready promoted to the judgment of the Church for the condition upon which they are to Minister which without doubt is the principall they should insist upon the accessory which is the form and solemnity by which the power is visibly convayed And thus I think the second great difficulty concerning their Ordinations may be composed But supposing these great difficulties set aside the composing of our first differences about the Order of Bishops and the Service cannot seem difficult if the parties be content to give up their ingagements to the advantage which the Christianity of the Nation may have by it For what reasonable Christian can think much to acknowledge that by reason of those partialities which at length have produced this Schisme the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land are capable of amendment in those two points On the other fide doth not dear evperience tell all parts that the change of them by force though it must be called Reformation if the Law of the Land call it so yet it is not likely to be that which it is called Besides Consider the kindness which his Majesties return and Gods goodness that hath over-ruled mens hearts in it hath bredde in all parties consenting to it For can we have this before us and not hope that it will be enough to subdue all prejudices and animosities to the interest of our common Christianity Had the peace of the Church never been questioned it might be charity in a discreet Christian not to call it into question by proposing what might be amended because the hope of amendment might not countervail the danger of that Peace But now that unity is not to be had without setling of agreement in matters of difference to propose what may seem best for the Community of Gods Church in the cure of our breaches is not to give offence but to take it away I will therefore premise here one consideration which I mean to assume for a supposition to ground that which I shall propose to this purpose It shall contain that which I observe in the New Testament and the primitive practice of Gods Church pointing out the meaning of it concerning the difference between the Clergie and People in all Churches and the ground of it For though the edict of our Lord in the Gospel be peremptory that who so forsaketh not all things cannot be my Disciple that is a Christian For they who were other whiles called Disciples were called Christians at Antiochia as we read in the Acts yet common reason evinceth that all Disciples professed not to forsake the World which we all profess to forsake at our Baptisme according to the same rate For we see by the Gospel that the voluntary oblations of those who followed our Lord ministring to him made a stock of money which Judas was trusted with for charity to the poor after that his followers were provided for But it is against the evidence of commmon sense to imagine that all those who professed to follow Christ and to be his Disciples were provided for out of this Stock It is true our Lord promiseth in the Gospell that whosoever shall forsake kindred or wife or house or goods for the Gospell shall receive an hundred fold here and in the World to come life everlasting A thing visibly fullfilled in the primitive state of the Church when whosoever was persecuted for Christianity all Christians acknowledged themselves bound to provide for his support Neither can it be said how S. Paules saying that godliness hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come could be otherwise fullfilled when those who had undertaken Christs Cross where subject to powers that did or might persecute Christianity at their pleasure But though all Christians in case of persecution are bound by their Baptisme to leave all they have that they may carry Christs Cross after him Yet it was something more that S. Peter meant when he said Lord we have left all to follow thee what shall we have For though a Net and a Fisher-boat were no great thing to leave yet so firm a faith as to forsake a mans whole course of living casting himself upon the word of Christ for his very being whither here