and carnall interests to false ways and vain inventions For which cause it behooves the zealous Religionist to be carefull even to jealousie that he be not imposed upon by himself or others and in this care heartily and intirely to resign and conform himself to the Law of God By such resignation and conformity he secures his own Soul and what in him lies the Sound state of Religion It is here acknowledged that what is written in nature is Gods Law as well as what is written in Scripture and that natural Revelation as well as supernatural is Divine and whatsoever is known of God by the Light of nature in the matter of Religious Worship is to be received as well as that which is known by the Light of Scripture and the divine Goodness is to be owned in both though in the latter it hath appeared more abundantly because therein is given us a full instruction in all things pertaining to Gods Kingdom which in the other is not given For the great mysteries of the Gospel could not be known by nature and in things that could be known thereby the light is but weak and glimmering and not easily able to fix the heart therein not so much for want of evidence in the object as from the pravity of our mind reason being laid asleep and all our faculties being sunk into the brutish life What is the utmost capacity of that light among the Heathens is hard for us to define and though it be harsh to determine that they were all utterly and universally forsaken of God yet it is evident both by Scripture and the lives of the Gentiles that Gentilism was a very forlorn state This is enough to shew the high favour of God toward the Church in supernatural Revelation by which he hath not only instructed us in things supernatural not otherwise to be known in this life but also more perfectly in the Laws of nature now transcribed into the Books of the Old and New Testament so that there is nothing of Religion or Morality that may not be found therein Besides the Law of God written in Nature and Scripture what certain and stable rule of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Conversation hath the Church to walk by that there can be no certainty or consent in meer or all Tradition or in the judgment of the ancient Fathers or the ancient practice of the Catholick Church is so evident as needs no confirmation and there can be no acquiescence or accord in the determinations of any visible universal Supream Power For whereas all Christians acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scripture they neither do nor ever did nor will unanimously acknowledge that there is such a Power in being And the main Body of them that maintain'd such a Catholick Supremacy cannot agree in what subject the same resides whether in the Pope or a General Council And as several Popes so have several Councils of equal amplitude and authority often crossed one another and consequently some of both kinds must needs have erred And it still remains a controversie undeterminable which Councils are to be received and which to be rejected unless the whole Christian World hitherto disagreeing herein will be bound up by the resolves of one Party that can bring no better proof than their own pretended infallibility To all which may be added that an Oecumenical Council truly so called or a Representative of the universal Church was never yet congregated Wherefore let the Faithfull rest upon the old right foundation the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles whose infallibility is unquestionable Such being the fulness and perfection of holy Scripture which was given by Divine inspiration and that for this end that the man of God might be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works it must needs be safest in Divine matters not to be venturous without its warrant They best secure themselves from error who keep to that rule which is both perfect and infallible some pretending to lay open the folly of the way which they call puritanism affirm that the mystery thereof lies in this principle that nothing ought to be Established in the Worship of God but what is authorized from the Word of God Indeed there are those of that denomination who disallow whatsoever instituted Worship is not so authorized but they are not so ignorant as to suppose that all particular circumstances belonging to Divine Worship which admit of endless variation are defined in the Word of God such as are those natural and civil circumstances without which actions are not performable But they suppose a wide difference between these matters such as time place method furniture c. and those ordinances of Religion which they take for parts of Worship as being made direct and immediate signs of honour given to God by their use And all of this kind some do judge or at least suspect to be unlawfull that are not of Gods appointment My design obligeth me to shun the intangling of this Discourse with controversie and therefore I write not either for or against the lawfulness of such uncommanded Worship But it is sufficient for me to shew that the purity of Religion is more safe by acquiescence in that only which God hath prescribed than by addition of new ordinances of Worship devised by men who even the best of them may too easily deviate from the truth And who knows not that too much yielding to mens devised Forms and Rights which had a shew of Wisdom made way for the departure of so great a part of Christendom from the primitive Christianity All duties of the Law of nature may be clearly proved from Scripture though the particular instances thereof that are innumerable and their infinitely variable circumstances cannot be there expressed As for instituted Worship it is unquestionable that there is no such defect in those parts thereof that are of Divine authority as needs to be made up by the human addition of other new parts And it is granted on all hands that there are things meerly circumstantial belonging to it which are necessary in general but in particular not determined of God and must be ordered by the light of nature and human prudence according to the general rules of Gods word None that know what they say in magnifying the written Word will teach the People not to rely upon impartial reason which no true Revelation did ever contradict But we are so conscious of the weakness of human understanding that in case of any seeming contrariety between Scripture and Reason not to give the Scripture the preeminence we know is most unreasonable Is Scripture liable to be perverted so is Reason Is there obscurity and difficulty in the interpretation of Scripture so in human ratiocinations much more Whosoever can apprehend right reason can rationally apprehend Gods written word which is its own interpreter and whose authentick interpretation of it self we are inabled to discern by rational inferences and deductions
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
chiefest point thereof being in the essentials and weighty matters of Christian Faith and Life the highest violation thereof and the chiefest point of Schism lies in denying or enormously violating the said essentials or weighty matters And it is directly a violation of the Unity of the Catholick Church and not of particular Churches only Not only particular Persons but Churches yea a large combination of Churches bearing the Christian name may in their Doctrine Worship and other avowed Practice greatly violate the essentials or very weighty matters of Christian Faith and Life and be found guilty of the most enormous breach of Unity It is no Schism to withdraw or depart from any the largest combination or collective body of Churches though for their amplitude they presume to stile their combination the Catholick Church that maintain and avow any Doctrine or Practice which directly or by near and palpable consequence overthrows the said essentials The next point of external Unity being about the essentials and integrals of Church state the Sacraments and other publick Worship the Ministery and Discipline of the Church considered as of Christs institution the next chief point of Schism is the breach hereof And this may be either against the Catholick or a particular Church Of such Schism against the state of the Catholick Church there are these instances 1. When any one part of professed Christians how numerous soever combined by any other terms of Catholick Unity than what Christ hath made account themselves the only Catholick Church excluding all Persons and Churches that are not of their combination 2. When a false Catholick Unity is devised or contended for viz. a devised Unity of Government for the Catholick Church under one terrene Head personal or collective assuming a proper governing power over all Christians upon the face of the whole Earth 3. When there is an utter disowning of most of the true visible Churches in the World as having no true Church state no not the essentials thereof and an utter breaking off from communion with them accordingly Of Schism against a particular Church in point of its Church state there be these instances 1. The renouncing of a true Church as no Church although it be much corrupted much more if it be a purer Church though somewhat faulty 2. An utter refusing of all acts of communion with a true Church when we may have communion with it either in whole or in part without our personal sin of commission or omission 3. The causing of any Divisions or Distempers in the state or frame of a true Church contrary to the Unity of the Spirit But it is no Schism to disown a corrupt frame of Polity supervenient to the essentials and integrals of Church state in any particular Church or combination of Churches like a leprosie in the Body that doth grosly deprave them and in great part frustrate the ends of their constitution The last and lowest point of external Unity lying in the accidental modes of Religion and matters of meer order extrinsick to the essentials and integrals of Church-State the violation thereof is the least and lowest point of Schism I mean in it self considered and not in such aggravating circumstances as it may be in Those accidental Forms and Orders of Religion which are necessary in genere but left in specie to human determination are allowed of God when they are determined according to prudence and charity for Peace and Edification and accordingly they are to be submitted to Consequently it is one point of Schism to make a Division from or in a Church upon the accountal of accident Forms and Orders so determined according to Gods allowance But if any of the accidentals be unlawfull and the maintaining or practicing thereof be imposed upon us as the terms of our communion it is no Schism but Duty to abstain from communion in that case For explicitly and personally to own errors and corruptions even in smaller points is evil in it self which must not be committed that good may come In this case not he that withdraws but he that imposes causeth the Division And this holds of things sinfull either in themselves or by just consequence And herein he that is to act is to discern and judge for his own practice whether the things imposed be such For Gods Law supposeth us rational creatures able to discern its meaning and to apply it for the regulating of our own actions else the Law were given us in vain Submission and reverence towards Superiors obligeth no man to resign his understanding to their determinations or in compliance with them to violate his own conscience Persons meek humble peaceable and throughly conscientious and of competent judgment may not be able by their diligent and impartial search to see the lawfulness of things injoyned and t is a hard case if they should thereupon be declared contumacious Seeing there be several points of Unity the valuation whereof is to be made according to their different value mens judgment and estimation of Unity and Schism is very preposterous who lay the greatest stress on those points that are of least moment and raise things of the lowest rank to the highest in their valuation and set light by things of the greatest moment and highest value as indeed they do who set light by soundness of Faith and holiness of Life and consciencious observance of Divine institutions where there is not also unanimity and uniformity in unscriptural Doctrines and human ceremonies And they that make such an estimate of things and deal with Ministers accordingly do therein little advance the Unity of the Spirit or indeavour to keep it in the bond of Peace Seeing the word of God is the rule of Church Unity a breach is made upon it when other bounds thereof are set than this rule allows An instance hereof is the devising of other terms of Church-communion and Ministerial liberty than God hath commanded or allowed in his Word to be made the terms thereof Also any casting or keeping out of the Church or Ministery such as Gods Word doth not exclude from either but signifies to be qualified and called thereunto God doth not allow on the part of the Imposer such tearms of Church communion or Ministerial station as are neither Scriptural nor necessary to Peace and Edification nor are any part of that necessary order and decency without which the Service of God would be undecent nor are in any regard so necessary but that they may be dispensed with for a greater benefit and the avoiding of a greater mischief And they are found guilty of Schism that urge such unscriptural and unnecessary things unto a breach in the Church Such Imposers are not only an occasion of the breach that follows but a culpable cause thereof because they impose without and against Christs warrant who will not have his Church to be burdened nor the consciences of his Servants intangled with things unnecessary Nevertheless such unscriptural or
there is a real hazard of a greater mischief and in hasty attempts of changes things may be carried on beyond the commendable end designed even to its utter ruin For commonly men are not Masters of what they get in such precipitate ways CHAP. XXVIII Considerations tending to a due inlargement and unity in Church-communion AN unhappy kind of controversies about Forms of Divine Worship Ecclesiastical Government and qualification of Church Members hath been the calamity of our times The differences in these points have made a sad breach upon Church unity and divided Brethren of the same Reformed Profession both in affection and interest and have been the occasion of much misery In regard whereof some things that make for an amicable condescention among Brethren and for humble submission to Superiors are here propounded for consideration but not as peremptory resolves Though many or most of them seem to me to carry their own evidence Yet it becomes one who is sensible of human weakness and of his own meaness to write modestly in these points about which there is so great a variety of apprehensions The Communion of Saints is the Communion of the Catholick Church and of particular Christians and Churches one with another as Members thereof and therefore we may not restrain our fellowship to any particular Church or Churches so as to with-hold it from the rest of the Catholick Church Our Communion with the Catholick Church is as well in Religious Worship as in Christian Faith and Life As there is one Faith so one Baptism and one Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and we being many are one Bread and one Body Though we cannot at once locally communicate with the whole Church in external Worship because it cannot possibly meet in one place yet according to our capacity and opportunity we are so to communicate with the several parts thereof and not unwarrantably withdraw from any and this is a vertual communicating with the whole Church Discipline and Government as to the particular Form thereof hath much more obscurity than the Doctrine of Christian Faith and Life and is much more controverted among the Godly Learned And in more dark and doubtfull points humility charity and good discretion teacheth mutual forbearance In Ecclesiastical Regiment all Church Members are not so concern'd as Church Guides and Pastors are Christ hath not left the affairs of his Kingdom in so loose a posture as to give a liberty of leaving or chusing the Communion of a Church according to our own affections without regard to order A particular visible Church being a Body politick cannot subsist without rules of stable Policy Her censures and judgments ought to be clear certain and uniform or of the same tenor and therefore may not proceed upon such a kind of Evidence as at the most is but conjectural and of variable apprehension Our arbitrary conjecture of an others Regeneration is but an uncertain way of admission to sacred Priviledges wherein no uniform judgment can be held between several Churches nor the several Members of the same Church nor by the same Person with himself at several times For mens apprehensions about the Spiritual Estate of others are exceeding different and inconstant But whether a Person make a credible profession or be competently knowing or grosly ignorant whether he be scandalous or walk orderly is capable of certain evidence and of constant regular proceeding thereupon Let it be considered whether of these two either to proceed with men according to our private hopes and fears about their internal state or according to stated Rules and certain Evidence be the surer way to preserve the Church in Peace and to propagate true Piety Also whether Persons passable by such publick Rules can in Ecclesiastical Tryal be judged to be ungodly or to make a false profession whatsoever our private fears are concerning them And if their Profession be not proved false whether it be not to pass for credible in that Tryal Human Laws and publick Judgments presume them to be good that are not evicted to be bad Private familiarity is at every ones choice but our Church-communion being a publick matter must be Governed by publick and common Rules and not by private will If a Church impose such Laws of her Communion as infer a necessity of doing that which is unlawfull there is a necessity of abstaining from her Communion so far as those unlawfull terms extend Churches mentioned in Scripture had their corruptions in Doctrine Worship and Manners yet the Godly did not separate from them for those corruptions nor were commanded so to do Indeed they are commanded to come out of Babylon which is no other than to separate from Idolatrous Heretical Antichristian Societies Yet in suggesting this I do not encourage to a stated Communion in such Churches as have no other Ministers placed in them than such as are altogether unfit to have the charge of Souls commited to them that is who are unable to teach or teach corruptly either teaching pernicious Doctrine or abusing mishandling and misapplying sound Doctrine to encourage the Ungodly and discourage the Godly For the Scripture bids us beware of blind Guides and false Prophets By continuing in Church-communion we partake not of the Sins of others which we have no power to redress nor are we made guilty by their leaven if it doth not infect us and profane Persons are no more countenanced by our presence than those lewd Priests the Sons of Eli were by the Peoples coming to sacrifice In communicating in holy things we have internal Communion only with the faithfull and as for the meer external Communion it is with those that have as yet an outward standing in Christ till they are cut off by the hand of God or due order of Discipline When a Minister hath done his part to keep off the unworthy in the dspensing of the Sacrament to such he is in a moral sense meerly passive so that their unworthy participation cannot be imputed to him Nor in such an Administration is a practical lie or any falshood uttered For the Sacrament seals the mercy of the Covenant not irrespectively but conditionally and the words of the application must be so understood If we have not power to separate an obstinate scandalous offender from the Church yet the withdrawing of our selves from him is an Excommunication in some degree and the effect thereof is hereby in part obtained When Ministers and People do their duties in their Places without usurpation of further Power than they have warrant for then all will be though not so well as it might yet as it can be at present Of several modes and methods of publick Action Prudence makes choice not always of what is simply best but of that which is most passable if it be not so disorderly as to marr the substance or frustrate the end of an Administration In sacred Adminstrations we may yield without sin to others sinfull weaknesses
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
well reckon that they have made the most of their advantages when they can secure its interests in the common interest of a Nation A firm liberty and security founded in a national interest is more agreeable to the condition of regenerate Christians than an intire potency to themselves alone For they would scarce well comport with so great a weight of power Hypocrites for carnal ends would addict themselves to their party and overact them The sincere would prove but men corruptions would appear and miscarriages would marr their reputation which is not their least Support Hereunto may be added many incongruities that would happen to them The Gallantry and Splendor of the world will be no help to that humble and contrite frame of Spirit and real mortification and holy walking and heavenly mindedness which is the power of Christianity The various and versatile ways of worldly policy turning to innumerable occasions are not very passable to truly tender Consciences Besides if the power were inclosed within these narrow limits many of low Birth and Breeding must needs be lifted up both to the envy of the excluded party and the disesteem of Magistracy And persons of low condition being raised above their own Sphere upon the account of Religion may be easily tempted to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think and to grow busie peevish and rigid in needless matters which will provoke a People and fire their Spirits and though the rage be pent up for a season within their breasts it will at length break out into a flame The power of Christianity as to human strength is best established and extended by leaning upon some common interest with which it falls in as the Vine is born up and spreads abroad by the support of a wall or frame It is therefore most sutable to the terms upon which it stands in this world to be in a complex state with some other just large and stable interest such as is the common peace and safety both of Prince and People And being a holy and wise Profession it leads its Followers in safe and right Paths and teacheth them to wait therein with patience The nature of its interest will bear such patient waiting For it is not carnal consisting of the great things of this world which may call for an eager and quick pursuit and daring interprizes but it is the upholding of such a cause as needs not fear a sinking if it catch not hold of every sudden offer that is not clear in regard of Conscience or prudence but by an unchangable reason it indures throughout all ages and if it fall it shall rise again It needs not the making of Parties and drawing people to its side by a pragmatical importunity nor to enter into any suspected ways but wheresoever it is managed like it self in righteous and prudent Counsels it makes the fairest progress and of longest continuance The reasons aforegoing do hold in due proportion against the ingrossing of privileges in particular in corporate Societies and the making of Parties to interrupt the settled order of promotions and to keep back persons legally intitled that the Religious alone might be promoted Such Practises make sad breaches and upon change of Affairs will turn to the great detriment if not the depression of the Party so advanced CHAP. XXXI Of Leading and following and of Combinations GOds Providence useth to dispose into all quarters some men not only of known integrity but eminent for wisdom and reputation who see more than the ordinary sort of good men and are able and meet to give advice like those children of Issachar men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do These are much the stay of this Profession and by their influence keep things right and preserve the weaker sort from manifold aberrations It is supposed that they seek not their own glory in being made Heads of Parties but that in sincerity and self-denial they follow truth and peace and use their Authority and ability to promote a Catholick interest and true concord among all Christians Nevertheless sometimes the understanding of the prudent fails and Counsel is hidden from them It pleaseth the only wise God sometimes to permit strange resolves to proceed from good and wise men that our main stress of hope might rest upon him alone and on his infallible Word and that we might not become the absolute Disciples of any Masters upon Earth One or two eminent men in a Country though wise and faithfull may not be followed as it were by implicit Faith which may lead into great mistakes It is to be supposed that there be many discreet persons though not of eminent ability whom it may become to hear and reverence their eminent men yet to see with their own eyes that is to judge by their own reason In this matter there be two extreams either to be too morose or too sequacious the one being the effect of a sullen pride and Self-conceit the other of pusillanimity temerity and such like weakness and both tending to make breaches and lead into parties We may have the persons of Worthy men in due veneration but not in excessive admiration Avoid precipitate Leaders for though the service of hot Spirits may be sometimes prosperous yet in this temperate cause their conduct is pernicious And there is as much reason to avoid such Leaders as care not or at least consider not what they do against the common interest of Christianity to advance a particular Form or Party But above all beware of such persons whose apparent worldly interests lead them to adhere to some divided Party to cherish Faction If much be committed into such hands we shall be lead into a wrong course or disabled to follow the right though we see it plain before us Yea the cause of Religion will be inthralled to the service of a Faction and be left with disgrace enough when men have serv'd their turns of it A people of honest zeal may easily be over-credulous of great and powerfull men that pretend to favour Religion and take it into their Patronage Yet the more discerning sort will look to it that while Grandees retain them with such favour and Friendship they overact them not to the dishonor and dammage of this Profession which is more worthy than to be held in vassalage and made to lackey after corrupt designs and more noble than to bear such indignity It is good for the younger sort of Professors to reverence the ancient and more experienced and for all sorts in their choice of Guides and Patterns to prefer solid judgment with integrity of Life and Conversation before taking parts heat of zeal and high affections Amidst diversities of Parties and Persuasions it is safe to hold communion with the generality of Serious and Pious Christians and yet to receive with love the several disagreeing Parties who for the main walk in the truth and to have
communion with them all as far as Catholick Principles will give leave In pursuing the ends of this Interest there is no need of private or unauthorized Persons entring into such stated combinations and correspondences as the Jesuits and other Orders under the Papacy have setled in their Societies throughout the World For all Pious Christians are taught of God and have one Spirit touching the main of this design and are inclined to pursue the same with one accord And indeed so it is that only the sincere friends of truth men of upright hearts and humble spirits and honest lives will observe and follow the rules of this Interest And it sufficeth if they keep close to their common rule of Faith and Life and follow after the things that make for Peace and know the present state of Gods Israel and acquaint themselves with each other as opportunity of converse offers it self and so govern themselves and carry on the advancement of Religion by such honest and harmless means as need not shun the light but may stand before the face of all opposers CHAP. XXXII The Wisdom of the Higher Powers in promoting the Religiousness of their People THe advancement of true Religion is the interest of the Higher Powers if to maintain Gods honour and mans chief good be their interest and if the defying of God and the utter undoing of men be against it Yea if the Tranquility and Peace of Governours and the stability of Government be regarded human Wisdom will direct to promote that way which is no other than the exercise of a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man Godliness includes Prudence Justice Temperance Fortitude and all Goodness It is an internal Law effectually subduing them that have it to all external Laws that are just and good and the example of it goes far to the bettering of many others in things pertaining to humanity It is regular and harmonious in every part it leads to Order Peace and Unity and there is nothing in it inconsistent with right Policy It is the way of true Wisdom and apt to take most among the serious and well advised part of the People and when it hath taken hold of them it makes them Wise and Serious more abundantly It corrects rash rugged wrathfull and fierce natures and to say the least whatsoever turbulency may afterwards remain in such it makes them of far more sedate and castigate Spirits than otherwise they would be And though it doth not forthwith exterminate yet it so debilitates all Complexional Distempers that they cannot break forth into a course of mischief and ordinarily it works an evident notable change Of so great force is an attentive and active Conscience over all human passions And doubtless it is the strongest bond to hold Subjects in obedience to their Governours For the Conscientious are held in by the terrour of the Lord and the dread of the wrath to come besides the sense of mans wrath which they have in common with all considerate Persons Wherefore it is clearly the Princes Interest that his Subjâ—cts universally if it can be should be Religious and consequently it is the Wisdom of his Government to indeavour it as far as it is attainable And if he would bring them to such a state he is to take care to exalt Gods immediate Soveraignty over their Consciencies and under that Soveraignty to hold them in subjection to himself For where Conscience is not preserved in its awfull regard to Gods Law as its Supream rule true Religion is extinguished And they are the Patrons of Irreligion who propagate such principles as tend to alienate the Conscience from its true Soveraign and Proprietor and either to make it servile to those who have no just dominion over it or to debauch it into searedness or dead security One way most needfull and advantagious for preserving Gods Authority over Conscience is most effectually to bind Gods Laws upon the People and to order what things else are necessary for the due observation thereof and to lay no other yoke upon them in things pertaining to God And as this way imports much to the sincerity and reality of Religion so it doth no less to the keeping of Religious minds in unity For in what center will the judiciously Conscientious unite if not in the revealed mind and will of God as it is apprehended by them Will the injunctions of the Civil Magistrate or the Authority of Ecclesiastical Superiors better resolve the doubts of such men or silence their Disputes This is not urged to prove that Superiors can injoyn nothing in Religion but what is particularly before enjoyned of God or that the Consciences of Inferiors are not bound by their Commands in subordination to Gods Commands but only that they take the best course for the unfeigned Piety and truly Christian concord of their People that by their injunctions seek mainly to promote obedience to the Divine Laws and add no more of their own than what is clearly necessary thereunto And what more just and prudent course than to forbear things that are unnecessary and unserviceable to the promoting of Truth and Peace yet with a perplexity and a stumbling block an easie inlet to all dissolute or ductile Spirits and a bar against many of known sincerity and to use that moderation in the publick Rule and Standard which takes away or exceedingly lessens dissents and consequently the occasions of dissention The Spirit of Christianity forbids Christian Magistrates to destroy sincere Christians for their little differences and narrow principles in Forms of Church Order And no reason of State will oblige them to that severity how importunately soever some Interessed men may urge it Judicious charity or a prudent indulgence towards such cannot undermine Religion or the Civil State And a sound Ecclesiastical Polity set for the increase of true Godliness will receive no dammage by it but it will rather gain upon those Dissenters and if their scruples be not removed it shall abide firm and stable and grow in strength by the reputation of its own goodness and sufficiency in that it is not hazarded or impaired by this charity and forbearance The Higher Powers by granting some limited liberty do more universally protect the faithfull and having no interest in competition with the advancement of Christs Kingdom are able and wise enough to provide against any dangerous inconveniencies The bounds and rules of this indulgence are not so undiscoverable as to make it a vain proposal yet it is but an idle demand of those that require an enumeration of all particulars than which nothing more or less may be tolerated in any case All particularities in any human affairs are not easie nor necessary to be known at one view nor are they so fixed but they may admit considerable variations according to the different state of things There be general rules of Prudence that are a sufficient indication of what ought to be done at any