God concerning the State and Actions of Men on Earth and the Transactions in Heaven in relation to them He then that pronounces agreeably with that word pronounces as Heaven does and will pronounce Heaven binds what he binds and looses what he looses because he speaks the Voice of Heaven in both Cases But that there should be any Binding or Loosing except in the Power of this Word and according to it in its Vertue in its Truth nothing can be more contrary to the Ends to the Glory to the Soveraignty of Christ To bind any single Christian by Excommunication and not according to this Word is as much a Brutum Fulmen a Thunder to no purpose a causeless Curse that shall not come as for the Pope to Excommunicate whole Protestant Churches Quest What is a Particular Church Answ It is the Catholick Church in a Neighbourhood or number of Christians Communicating one with another ordinarily even as the whole Cotholick Church would if it were possible Communicate with it self in the Ordinances and Worship of Christ exactly according the to Rules of his Word wherein this is the distinguishing Character of the True Church that its Communion is not with it self primarily but â—ts Communion is so with it self as to be with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ principally as the Fountain-Head Center and Rule of the Communion and therein it holds out and invites to its Communion CAP. X. Of the Officers appointed by Christ in his Church Quest CAn there be either an Orderly or an Effectual Actuation of the Truth by the Church as a Congregation without distinct and separate Offices and Officers that may attend continually on this very thing Answ It is imposible for an Assembly without Order would cease to be an Assembly and fall into a Confusion or Rude Multitude All Wise and Prudent Assemblies have always had Elders to preside over them and our Lord hath ordained such to moderate throughout his Congregation or Church to conduct all the Publick Services of Religion For all things therein are actually administred by the Ministers of Christ the Noblest Organical Parts of the Church like those Senses that attend upon the Understanding most immediately Seeing Eyes and Hearing Ears so these upon the Word of Christ And that they may be most fitted ingaged and provoked hereunto they are even according to the very Laws of Nature separated to their Offices and unto all Preparations for them by Reading and Meditation as to their Proper Calling and Business of Life seeing they do not pretend to Immediate and Extraordinary Inablements or Excitations to their Service Quest What Titles or Characters does the New Testament place upon these Officers Answ Those that we have especial Respect to for in the Deacons if strictly taken we are less concerned receive Denominations either from their Work and Service or from that Honour and Estimation due to the Faithful Discharge of such a Service From their Work they are stiled Apostles Evangelists Pastors Teachers Ministers Servants of God and Christ and in a just sense of the Church also From the Estimation and Honour due to the Discharge of their Work and the Authority it ought to carry in the Hearts and Consciences of Christians they are styled Bishops Elders Rulers Guides and Ensamples as also Embassadours And the Work and the Honour do so enclose one another that they ought not to be separated and are in their Institution the Measure one of another extending both to Obedience and Support of them in their Work and the Titles are so prepared by the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost that they ought not to be changed for any other nor the Scripture-Language herein to be altered for any Words not importing the same proper Sense Quest How shall the True Ministers of Christ be known that there may be that Obedience and Submission paid to them that is commanded Answ There can be no other Means to discern them but by the Word of Righteousness of which all True Ministers are the Ministers on account of which alone Obedience and Submission to them is due Their bringing that Word in its own Life Evidence and Power is their best Commission Quest But how are they most orderly enstall'd into so high a Function Answ Christ as the Head of the Church hath ascended up on high and given gifts to Men and as the Lord of the Harvest takes it upon him as his Supreme Care to thrust forth Labourers into his Harvest The several Congregations of Christians observing Ministerial Abilities and Meetness to Teach call out to such to help them and herein in the Cessation of Extraordinary Gifts the Schools of Learning and Religious Education like the Schools of the Prophets do best prepare and the Judgment of those that have been Pastors and Teachers before them does most orderly recommend to Choice and Acceptance in the great Service such as are Scribes instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven and commits to them the Charge of Teaching others For in this as in all other Acts the Elders of the Church are to preside with due Respect to the Congregation Quest Is the Lord Christ pleased then to act generally by the Elders and Officers of the Church Answ Generally and ordinarily he does so the Officers are therefore more particularly entrusted by Christ with the Keys even as the Church in general is Thus eminently by the Ministry of the Apostles our Lord founded his Church and so edifies and builds it up in After-ages by Pastors and Teachers and when great Defections have prevailed upon it summons it to Reformation by some rais'd up among those Officers and whom he sends out as such to reform and recover his Church Yet still all this Power is in and according to his Word and no other and so that in all things as much as may be the Knowledge Judgment and Approbation of the Church is to be joyn'd in all the Officers do as having their Interest in the Keys also because they have their Interest in the Word of God in the Understanding Opening and Applying of which to Particular Cases the whole Power of the Keys rests The Apostles Elders and the Brethren or whole Church were together pleased and together joyn'd in that Famous Conciliary Epistle Acts 15. 22. Quest I desire your more full Explanation of the Publick Offices of the Christian Church and the Power accompanying it Answ I will very willingly do as you desire and begin with the Apostles Quest Wherein stood their Power Answ It stood in their Preaching Acting Directing Governing by that Immediate and Infallible Assistance of the Divine Spirit by which they writ and sealed Scripture and by which they were so guarded every way that they could turn neither to the Right Hand nor to the left in any thing wherein they exercised this Power Quest How was this Power Justified Answ By the Divineness substantial Goodness and Reasonableness of all their Prescriptions propos'd in all the Methods of
all Arguments that Truth of Scripture and so persisting in it for ever Quest Cannot then the Church fail Answ It hath been said before the True Church cannot fail For the True Church is as hath been described the House of God the Pillar and Ground of Truth and that which is so cannot fail and God will have such a Church always in the World If any Person City or Nation that seem to have been the Church have this Light eclipsed the Candlestick removes for it is only a Candlestick for the sake of the Light and the Pillar it self shakes and falls if the Records fixed to it are taken away and the Palace and Court remove with the Prince who is always with his Truth and the lively Motion of it So much Truth therefore and active Display of it so much a Church in any Place and the Truth removing or lying dead the Church removes also or is ready to die in that Place Quest But is thâ—re no higher Sense of the Church being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Answ No other but what arises from the most intimate and inseparable Union betwixt the Church and Truth Truth taking an undefailable possession of the Church so that whereever Truth in that Fulness as to lead to Life and Happiness is there is the Church and no where else The True Church then may be stiled a Pillar and Ground of Truth in the highest Sense if rightly understoo that is Truth it self that is the unmovable Pillar and everlasting Foundation hath so closely banded the Church with it self that it is One Pillar and Foundation with it Thus the Church may be both the Building and the Rock and Foundation to succeeding Parts and Members of the Church The Building as it self rests upon the Pillar and Foundation of Truth else it can't be the Church The Pillar and Foundation of Truth to the still succeeding and rising Church as it is One with Truth it self to which every True Member first comes and unites and therein to the Church even as every Degree of Building is a Foundation and Support to the still growing Building not in it self but as it is surely cemented to the Foundation regulated by it and partakes its Strength Yet if it swerve never so little from the Foundation it is presently a Deformity and the more it swerves the greater danger of the Ruine of it self and all that rests upon it Quest May not this help to explain that so much disputed Expression of our Saviour Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not preval against it Answ I shall be glad if it may give any Light to it and hope it may For the Apostle Peter making that Confession of the Divinity of Christ not singular but representing the whole Body of Apostles and Christians and being possessed with and by that Truth he confess'd was both part of the Building upon that Rock and as united with that Rock he became Rock it self upon which succeeeding Christians were to be built The Prophets and Apostles are in this Sense Foundations and the Twelve Apostles Twelve Foundations Christ himself being the Corner-stone in whom alone the whole Building even the Apostolick Foundation it self rises in a strict and proper Sense Quest Is there not a good Security then in joyning our selves to the Church to those that have been in the Building before us Answ No otherwise than as we joyn our selves by their Ministry to that Foundation it self which always lies sure upon which they themselves must alone rest if the True Church For by placing our selves not upon them but upon that Common Foundation we are adjusted to the whole Building that was before us that lies regular with that Foundation by the Care of him who is both the Foundation Corner-stone and is also he that built all things even God in Christ Quest We must then seek to find the Truth by it self and then the Church by that Truth and not the Church by it self and then the Truth by the Church Answ Very true For God hath so in his Infinite Wisdom establish'd the very Nature of Things Truth can give many Assurances of it self to us by it self so suited to our Faculties The Church can give us none but by its agreement with Truth revealed in the Word of God We could not have known such a Congregation as the Church at all to be much less which it is but by that Word manifesting it self in our Consciences and so distinguishing to us the True Church among the many Associations in the World each calling to us as having the best Religion among themselves Even the True Apostles themselves could be known to be so and False Apostles tried and found Liars no other way but by this Truth view'd and considered singly and distinctly by it self Quest But when we have found the Church by the Truth may we not then deliver up our selves wholly to the Church as so united to Truth Answ No by no means We can never so deliver up our selves nor will the True Church desire any such thing of us seeing its Office is not to hold out it self but the Word of Truth and in doing any thing else it acts not as a Church but as any other ordinary Society and on no other Terms can we have to do with it For the very Attempt to hold out as a Church any Laws of its own ought to enter us into a Jealousie whether it be the True Church which is as a Church the Pillar and Rest of Divine Truth only Quest What Reason is there of such a Jealousie when once we have found it a Church by the Truth it holds out Answ Because a Church that hath been a True Church may several ways decline from its State Quest How then can it he said The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Answ That Prophetick Promise does not secure this or that Particular Church but that there shall be a Seed of the Church in the World with which the Covenant of God is Eternal My Word shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed or thy Seed's Seed for ever But it is yet further true the True Seed the Holy Seed the Substance of the Church can never utterly and finally fail in any Particular Member of it for if it could it were too great a violation of our Saviour's Truth in that Declaration The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church or force that Immortal retrograde into Mortality even that most dreadful one of the Second Death for which a Succession of others and in the same Danger is but a faint Salvo though it go on so to the End of the World Quest Who are this True Church in every Age and Place Answ They which are by True Saving Faith united to Christ the Son of God the Rock of Eternity and being so founded upon him are Pillars
that never remove and a Rest of Truth for ever having been taught and learnt it as it is in Jesus Quest Who are the Professionary Church only Answ They that though they may as Artificial Pillars give some Ornament to the House of God and offer Truth yet not being indeed united to the Foundation are movable and may go out of the House They are such as have not received the Truth in the Love and Obedience of it within themselves and so may fall away from it It cannot be said of them as of the former The Truth shall be with them for ever having made its Edraioma or Settlement in them Quest How does the Professionary Church fall away in the Bulk and Body of its Professors and Profession Answ The Office of the Church being to Actuate Truth and only Truth it may fail either in abating the Fervours due to Truth though nothing False or Forreign be admitted or in receiving Falshood or things of a baser Alloy for Truth and wasting those Fervours due only to Truth upon them The one may be called a departing from the true State of a Church the other from the State of a True Church and they usually meet one in another Quest How does this come to pass Answ From the Judgment of God upon the present sinful State permitting things so to themselves that in very few Instances it is but that the Imperfections of Good Men and the prevailing Corruptions of Professionary Christians change the Holy Lively Activities of the True State of a Church into Lukewarmness and Formality or by admitting Falshood and impure Mixtures into Doctrine Worship and Discipline corrupt the State of the Church so that it loses its Truth Quest What becomes of the Professionary Church when it loses the True State of a Church Answ It is as the Prophet expresses a Civil State or a City that hath lost its Splendour It becomes like a burnt Mountain or extinguish'd Globe of Light It retains the Form but loses the Life and Vigour of a Church like Ephesus that lost its First Love or Sardis that had a Name to live but was dead or Laodicea that was neither cold nor hot Quest What becomes of it when it is corrupted and loses in its Truth Answ It exchanges the Lively Oracles for Forms of Doctrine and Lifeless Discourse not of the High Spirit of Scripture It debases pure Worship into Ceremonialness Superstition or Idolatry and the Gospel Rule and Discipline it sells for a Worldly Politie and the true Graces of Christianity expressed in a Holy Conversation for what is much beneath or contrary Sometimes it forsakes Truth in some Fundamental Article that it swells out from the Foundation in a Breach ready to fall And there is one Instance of all these in the Anti-Church which will deserve a greater Consideration Quest How does God deal with such Churches Answ Sometimes sweeps them with the Beesom of Destruction taking away both the Candlestick and Place of it together Alienes Both to them and their Religion thrusting them out of their whole Possession Sometimes he suffers them to continue even for Ages yet so that their Candlestick is moved out of its due stately Positure hardly appearing like a Candlestick and that by the Indignation of God Quest In these Cases how does it fare with the True Holy Seed the Substantial Church Answ God chastens them to Repentance Self-purification and greater Zeal in that Case of the Churches losing its Brightness and Vigour that they may recover their first State and Work aad sets them on work to retrive Truth lost in that other Case of the Churches Defection Quest How is it with them when the very Place and Candlestick are taken away Answ They are either first removed into the higher State of the Church in Heaven or driven before into other Parts of the World by Persecution or the violence of the Judgment makes no distinction but carries them Captive with the rest though in different Baskets as the Prophet Jeremy represents Quest How do they survive in the time of the displac'd and dejected Candlestick Answ They are either called out to a Zealous Appearance and Suffering for Truth or sometimes retired into Corners like the Seven thousand in Israel or the Church in the Wilderness that they cannot appear like a Church offering those Publick Notices of Divine Truth a Church is designed for Quest How is a Visible Profession lost from Particular Persons Answ It is too often thrown up by Apostasie or Profaneness or dwindled into a very Spiritless Form but very often a Profession without the Power being not inconsistent with the working of Iniquity it may pass out of this World like a Lamp burning but being found to burn only in a small Temporary Light without Oyl in the Vessel a Plenitude of Grace in the Heart shutting out every Lust it becomes a Lamp put out in utter Darkness Quest What is to be inferred from all this Answ That there is no Trust but in the Lord himself the Truth it self by which at all times the Church that is indeed the Pillar and Ground of Truth and wherein it is so will be known to us and in uniting to Truth we are united to That Quest There remains one thing yet to be understood in the Description of the Church which is its Power of Governing even as it is Governed by the Word of God Vnder what Notions I beseech you is that Government expressed in Scripture Answ That Power is by our Saviour represented under the Mataphor of Keys and the Use of those Keys in opening and shutting or in Binding and Losing Quest What is the meaning hereof Answ The meaning is plainly this When the Church of Christ hath by the Key of Knowledge inquir'd into all the Divine and Heavenly Doctrine of the Gospel and Word of God it hath in and according to that Word and only so a Power of Application of that Doctrine to Particular Cases binding Men under the Sense of Guilt and fear of Damnation in such or such Sins and an impenitent Continuance in them or of Absolving and assuring Men of the Divine Favour and Acceptance in a holy course of Life and Obedience to God and of Pardon upon Repentance after Falls into Sin and Disobedience and so of Declaring and Pronouncing upon Men as to their present State in the Church by Excommunication or Absolution all these are the Power of Binding and Loosing according to what our Saviour speaks in parallel Words Whose Sins you remit they are remitted whose Sins you retain they are retained meaning still according to his Word the Pole-Star by which they are to direct all their Motions who claim any such Power For only where it is declard according to the Word is it that what is bound on Earth is also bound in Heaven and what is loosed on Earth is loosed in Heaven there being an Invariable Agreement between what is Published from Heaven in the Word of
Man's Conscience beyond the valuableness of the Reasons of that Prudence and Order Except undeniable Holiness Industry and Improv'd Understanding recommend any Person to such Eminency For Eminency and being Taller than others in those Qualifications will make any Person a Bishop in the true sense of one whether so ordinated or not and cannot make him that is a Dwarf in these truly a Bishop however for Orders sake he may stand in the place of that Figure He that excels in his Knowledge of Obedience to Zeal for and Authority in the Word of God seeing that Word conveys all this kind of Power from it self must needs have more of that kind of Power so conveyed than others for the more purely this Word is understood and Preached the more Power goes out of it and along with those that display it and so they become Pastors of a higher Character whether of a higher Order or not CAP. XI Of every Man's Obligation to be wise for himself to Salvation Quest ACcording to all the precedent Accounts of the Church it seems not only reasonable but most necessary every Man should be wise for himself unto Salvation Answ It is certainly so for every Man is to be determin'd by the Word of God to the True Religion to which purpose he is to apply his Mind to search for true Wisdom as for Silver and to seek for it as for hidden Treasure Quest How should Men of so great Disadvantages to such High Things be inabled to Judge Answ Wisdom assumes most justly to it self to be of so high Value that every Man should think it worth his while to Labour and Travel herein and to them that do so it hath promised the most certain Success even the pouring out its Spirit to them and that they shall understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God The Things of greatest moment are not of such difficulty but that they are attainable in the use of Right Means under so great Promises Quest What are those Right Means Answ Bowing down our Ears to the Words of the Wise that is of those that by Inspiration from God have been Wise and written their Wisdom for Future Ages and by applying our Hearts to Divine Knowledge upon which they come to be inlay'd within us and to be fitted to our Lips to be agreeable and well matched to our Discourse and not like a Parable in a Fools Mouth Quest But are not these things spoken and written to the Learned and Elders of the Church that they might know for the People and the People put their trust in them Answ No They are written to thee even to thee that is to every one that they might have their Trust only in God that is find the Rock of Divine Veracity and Infallibility and have no need to trust in Men but to know the certainty of the Words of Truth and be able to answer the Words of Truth either to those that advise with them as Friends or challenge them as Enemies Quest If this was the sense of the Old Testament it is undoubtedly much more so of the New Answ It must needs be so as a higher and more Intellectual State of the Church as much freer and clearer in its Notions of Truth The Apostles Discourse Christians as no Christians if they are not able to Judge as Wise Men what they say If they are not Men in understanding if they attain not to the state of Teachers by skill in the Word of Righteousness and have senses exercised to discern by an Intellectual and Spiritual Gust Things Good and Evil if they cannot give an Apology or Defence of the Hope that is in them that is of their Christianity to every one that asks them a Rational Account of it Quest But in things of Perplexity and Doubt are not Christians bound to submit to the Judgments of their Teachers Answ If they can receive and digest their Reason and take in the Light they judge by so as to make it their own else if they cannot find their Reasons nor acquit themselves from doubt they must suspend For a Christian is Commanded by his Lord to call no Man upon Earth Master or Father Quest What is the meaning of that Answ It is this very Thing that we should receive nothing as Doctrine or Indisputable Truth or Precept upon any Man's Word that does not offer such Reason and Authority from God and his Word that we our selves see Reason not to receive it as the Word of Man but of God Quest But is it not said that they that have the Rule over us watch for our Souls as they that must give an Account for the same If we are not to believe them and surrender our Judgment to theirs how can they give an Account Answ They that Rule over us watch for our Souls and must give an Account as Ezekiel's Prophets and Watchmen by giving Warning laying Truth before us offering the sincere Word of God in all Cases the success of which upon Souls Converted and Saved is their Crown and Glory and their unsuccess lookes like a sorrow to see those Souls lost for whom they laboured in vain and spent their strength upon them for nought yet so that if they have been faithful though without success their reward is with the Lord and their Work with God But notwithstanding this every Man is so to account for his own Soul that the very success is not a Blind Obedience to Rulers but as is said a Receiving the Word not as the Word of Men but as it is indeed the Word of God And if these Watchmen neglect their Duty or Seduce instead of Teaching Men are to apply to better Means afforded by God and if they do not they still die in their Iniquity and following their Blind Leaders fall into the Pit which is an unanswerable Argument that we may trust in no Man but in God only For if an implicit Faith could be a saving Faith it should save those that followed such Guides though they themselves were justly Condemned in not discharging their Trust Quest But were not the Apostles and Prophets to be Trusted at a higher rate than thus Answ No There were such evident Marks of Divine Doctrine always given by God to those that desired to Know Love and Obey him that even the very Prophets and Apostles were not to be received without them nor to be believed but according to them nay to be plainly Anathematiz'd if they varied from it Christians were therefore to judge to try the Spirits to search the Scriptures whether the things spoken were so to have recourse to undoubted Principles of Truth that were as standards to all that came after besides the Unction from the Holy One whereby they were inabled to know all things necessary to Salvation Quest But is not all Humane Teaching and Instruction hereby taken away and what becomes of the Ministry the Eldership of the Church and their Rule
16. 17. calls making Divisions or Parties beside or contrary to the Doctrine received The great Evil of this adding to the Word of God is that it lays Scandals before Men and draws them into this great mischief that instead of the pure nourishment of Divine Truth all runs into this over-beloved Sentiment and so deprives the Soul of the true and vigorous Spirits of Truth and also the Service due to True Christianity is drain'd away and consumed upon this private Opinion which is indeed the mischief of all Falshood in Religion and Devotion in Things not appointed by God who only can prescribe what is truly fitted to our Good and bless it with suitable Effect Miscarriage from Divine Truth is always found in Schism with this mischievous Consequence that it deceives the Soul with a Cloud and Wind instead of Truth and solid Good 2. A Second kind of Schism the Apostle Notes 1 Cor. 11. 19 20. was the Disorder in Divine-Worship in that great Ordinance of the Lords Supper wherein they that were reprov'd were necessitated to withdraw and to stand apart for the manifesting themselves in the purity of that Worship and Service for the very honor of it The great Evil of this Schism is that it brings in a necessity of divided Parties in Publick Religion and the Duties of it seeing good Men must separate from such Corruptions and stand at a Distance from them on Account of which Religion it self is dishonoured as if it were a Jumble of Sects and gave an uncertain sound and further than that is charged as if it were but a Sect it self because it stands by it self Thus Christianity was called This Sect and the Sect of the Nazarenes Idolatry damns the True Worship of God as a Heresie from it self and the False Church charges the truly Publick-Assembly with Schism and a Private Religion 3. Another Degree of Schism the Apostle taxes in the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 11. c. 4. 3. was that this one intire Profession of Christianity in the one Universal Church of Christ they thought ought to be shred into little Fraternities under the Names of some prime Minister of Christianity or even under the Name of Christ himself as an ordinary Master of a Party except we will understand that Those Approved who stood firm in Christ alone were manifested and stood alone by being at a distance from the Schism of others and so appeared as was said before like a Schism themselves Thus vain Philosophy parcell'd out it self under its great Masters The great Evil of this is that it raises Feuds Contentions and Factions as if this one Integral Christianity could have distinct Interests and some ingross one Interest others another Whereas the Apostle thus reduces this Schism all Ministers saith he with all their Gifts Graces and Functions are the whole Churches without any cantoning other than that Order and Conveniency requires the more constant administration of Religion in certain Congregations with their Elders Cephas the Apostle of the Circumcision was the Corinthians though Gentiles as well as the Apostle of the Gentiles Paul himself and not only the Churches Ministers but the whole World and the Cargo of Light and Truth in it are the Churches Every Truth every Ordinance every Minister whether of Truth Natural or Revealed Religion with all the happy Effects of them are all the Donation of Christ to the Catholick Church whose the Catholick Church is and no Ministers whatever and Christ is Gods who is the Foundation Center and Supream Head of this Unity and Union 4. The last Instance of Schism I find in Holy Scripture is intimated to us under that curious Parable 1 Cor. 12. 12. of the Wise and Excellent Temperament betwixt the several Members of the same Body set in different Degrees of Dignity the less comely parts have more abundant Comliness and those that we think to be less Honourable on these we bestow more abundant Honour that there should be no Schism in the Body but that the Members should have the same care one for another under this Elegant Shade the Apostle teaches that a neglect and a contemptuous over-looking the Rights and Interest of the lower and less Honourable Members in the Church incurs the guilt of Schism as arguing the want of that Compassion and Feellingness that springs from the head of the Church down through the higher to the meanest of his Members for no Man ever hated his own Flesh even the meanest and lowest part of it but nourishes and cherishes it even as the Lord the Church They therefore that carry the greatest Grace and Honour in the Church should invest the least comely Members with more abundant Honour and Comliness in the most humble Christian Condescensions and kindest Treatment covering all their defects in Imitation of God who hath given most abundant Honour to that part which lacked and being more tenderly careful of deferring to them the utmoâ—t God hath allowed them On the other side the groundless and unreasonable Repining and Discontent of those Inferior Members that they are not the most noble parts is Schismatical also not feeling the Glory of those more excellent Members as their own Glory with delight and complacency even till it rises up to the Glory of the Head Christ and God To be perfectly united therefore in the same Judgment and Mind and to speak the same thing God hath spoken in his Word and herein to Love one another to observe the same pattern of Worship given by God himself to look upon our selves as only Christs and all Ministers to be the whole Churches given it by Christ alike so far as God gives us opportunity to enjoy them to rejoyce in the Honour of the highest Members and to Honour more abundantly the meanest as being all the Body of Christ and so tempered by him and wherein we cannot in this State of the Church come up to the exactness of these things yet to perform thus in the greatest instances of each of them and in the smaller to tollerate and forgive one another these are our security and certain preservation from Schism Quest Is there not another sort of Schism yet to be spoken of Answ No other that I can find spoken of by the Scripture Quest Is it not Schism when the Church or that part of it wherewith we are conversant prescribes Indifferences to make orderly and decent the Worship of God and any Christians separate themselves into particular Assemblies to Pray to Hear and Speak the Word of God to Admininister Sacraments that they may be free from such prescriptions For this is setting up an Altar against an Altar and one Part of the Church against another what can it then be but most notorious Schism and so esteemed in all Antiquity Answ I know not whether it is at all Schism I am sure if things were rightly managed it were the least Guilty kind for there being an Union as is supposed in all things that are Commanded
in the Church of God to be confined within the Monarchy and Word of Christ and nothing to be Imposed or Forbidden but according to that so it doth every where disinterest the Church of Christ to judge or intermeddle in Civil Government or Things pertaining to it it supposes Civil Powers will oblige to and determine Indifferencies in Civil things this way or that way as they please and therein exercise a Lordship but Christ having declared it shall not be so among his Disciples does yet Command by himself and his Apostles all Obedience to these Principalities and Powers even thus Commanding if not against Gods Command directly so that in all such things the Doubting Conscience is only to be instructed in its Rule and Duty but can have no more Relief against Obedience to Civil Commands than it hath against Obedience to the Commands of God when it is mistaken about those Commands for such Obedience to Magistrates is Obedience to the Divine Command Quest There appears so near an Affinity in the Commands concerning Indifferent Things of those that have Rule in the Church with the Commands of those that have Civil Rule that the one may be a Measure for the other or wherein is the difference especially when they joyn in one in their Commands concerning these Indifferoncies Answ The Commands of Civil Authority concerning Indifferent Things in Religion deserves a particular consideration for which a proper place shall be reserv'd But that the Church is such a kind of Political Regiment that should set up for it self as one of the Polities of this World by Canons and Constitutions of its own not founded in the Word of God but introduced on other pretences and that if Christians do not Submit to them they should be accounted Schismaticks and Excommunicated as Heathens if they do not hear the Church that is the Rulers of the Church thus Ordaining in their own Wisdom and all this by the Charter of the Keys or the Power of Binding or Loosing is as gross a Forgery as Popery hath any in this Point Indeed if there were such a state of things there were reason to believe the whole Church should by proper ways and means found out by Christ be modelled into one universal Uniformity of Government and Ceremony seeing the whole Church is but one and that the Romane supposing it had not so grossly contradicted the Laws of Christ might sooner pretend to be the Metropolis of it and the Bishop of Rome the Head of the Unity than any other it being the first Imperial City that was famous for Christianity But how little Uniformity is to Christ or his Kingdom in those things wherein he hath not interposed at all but left Christians free and intended they should be free appears in the Ununiform Unity of the History of the Evangelists concerning his Life Doctrine Death and Resurection To suppose therefore the Church to be in this manner Uniformed by the Prudence of its Governours is to turn it so far into a Civil State and the Bishops of it into Lay-Elders CAP. XIII Of the Anti-Church and its Opposition in every Thing to the True Church Quest IS there not an Anti-Church or Antichristian-Church that stands in Opposition to the True-Church Answ There is and hath been so for many Ages and that hath taken upon it in the most Publick way to be the Church of Christ the House of the Living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth Quest With what Advantages hath it been arm'd thus to take upon it self at all the Name of a Church Answ It having risen out of the True Ancient Apostolick Church that received the True Christianity from the Apostles at Rome and the Faith of which as the Apostle Paul witnesses Rom. 1. 8. was spoken of throughout the World it hath retain'd the Scriptures and the Fundamentals of Christianity the Writings of the First Christians and Apostolical Men and so hath continued to do from that very time of the Apostles to this Day and hath also actuated the Truth of the Scripture and those Fundamentals of it according as its Interest hath led it in some Ages more in some less as shall be presently more discovered Quest Having then the Scriptures those Fundamentals of Christianity and the Discourses of the Ancient Fathers and Doctors upon them in such a length of time with what reason can it be looked upon as an Anti or Antichristian-Church Answ With very great reason because by a multitude of Additions fowlest Idolatrous and Superstitious Corruptions and false Interpretations upon the Scriptures the Fundamentals of Christianity and the Discourses of the Ancients shamefully interpolated and by Spurious Writings under their Names despited it hath turned whole Christianity into a very contrary thing to it self while therefore it holds those points of Christianity and the Records of it in veneration and yet supports all its Falshoods thereby it becomes perfectly an Antichurch or Antichristian It hath in regard of those Articles of Truth it holds and actuates so much as to have the Name of a Church and Christian and yet having them so falsified corrupted and changed from themselves it becomes a mock-Mock-Church a Mock-Christianity that is an Antichurch and anti-Anti-christian in despite of the True-Church and True-Christianity And as to its Actuation of Truth it hath so Actuated Truth as to Actuate by Truth its own Falshoods and Lies upon Truth Quest How then did it rise to such an Eminency and pretence of being Catholick and Publick Answ The many Concurrences of Divine Providence under his deep and unsearchable Judgments in the Government of the World in relation to that state he had appointed for his Church I leave to the History of the Church and Roman Empire in those times by which may be understood how the Papacy took the advantage to Exalt it self not only above the Episcopal Chairs then in an Ambitious Contest for Supremacy but above all that was called God that is the Imperial Power it self and so set its Foot upon the Necks of Christian Princes throughout the World till the great Cheat began to be detected and all this by and upon pretence of being the Vicar of Christ or the Head of the Catholick that is the Roman-Church Quest These things I confess not so convenient to my Inquiry I desire only to know how in the middle of so many horrible Corruptions this Antichurch could be so bold as to vaunt it self the Vniversal Church of Christ Answ Taking the utmost benefit of its Antiquity in the Christian-Faith and Fundamentals of it and especially of the Conspicuousness and Famousness of its State and in the mean time the Corruptions growing up by degrees and not so observably as at once for Papal Rome was not built in a Day It usurped the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as its own the Key of Knowledge in its Infallibility the Keys of Power in opening and shutting Heaven Gates so as that in the Darkness then overspreading
the World and the Church Ignorance the Mother of False-Devotion so bewitching the Minds of Men that they all wondered after the Roman-State as new modelled under the Beast Arm'd with two Horns like those of a Lamb counterfeiting Power from Christ the Lamb but that spake as a Dragon pursuing all its pretendedly Christian Decrees with the extreamest Salvageness of any of the greatest Earthly Tyrants but all under a Mask of the Catholick Apostolick Church by which Fascination of Zeal to the most excellent Religion though so Vitiated Princes and People Surrendred their Power to this great Sorceress using at once all the Frauds and Cheats of False-Prophesie and the Arts and Policy of the most Designing Universal Monarchy Thus while this Antichurch stole into Power by the best appearances of True-Religion and secured it by all the Blandishments of a Meretricious Religion it found it self so strong as to force its False-Religion by its Power and using both together raised the Grandeur of both a Secular and Spiritual Tyranny to such a height Quest But how did the True-Church in this time Actuate Truth or agree with those Characters of being the House of God the Pillar and Ground of Truth Answ It was by the might and prevalency of this Secular and Spiritual Tyranny so suppressed that it was in a manner known only to God who reserv'd a number to himself in the midst of so great a Defection wherein that promise was made Good the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church Exposing and Actuating Truth pure from those Corruptions is hardly and very hardly to be found in History in any of the Lines and Motions of it in the most dark and dolesom period of that Defection Quest How was it with the True-Church recovering it self from this great Darkness Answ God raised up by extraordinary Measures of though but an ordinary presence such who by Indefatigable searches into his Truth and Word and those Records of Christianity that Antichurch was concerned to preserve because as was said it could not without so much of a Church be an Antichurch and by bold Publications of it shook so that Inchanted City that a tenth part of it fell And by the great contrivance of Providence even the chief of that Antichurch were forc'd by way of Repercussion to raise greater Light by endeavours to defend themselves from Scripture Antiquity and Reason by the Summons of all that Learning Wit and Industry could levy in their Defence so that they were necessitated to awaken out of that Barbarity and Ignorance in which they had been so long drown'd and to Actuate even Truth more fiercely that they might together with it make as potent and prevalent as they could and give countenance to those great Falshoods they had interwoven with it From all which broke out such a light in the World that Princes rowz'd themselves and no longer crouch'd down under such an intoxicated Servitude which had long gall'd and pinch'd them but that they knew not how to rid themselves from it till the Sorcery was laid bare which still gave greater scope for the display of Truth Quest Could the Scripture be inconscious or silent concerning so great Revolutions in the Church of God as these Answ It is in all True Reason most impossible and therefore it is a mighty Argument that those great places of Scripture that do so notoriously agree to such a purpose as the Discovery of this Antichristian State are justly apply'd to it by Protestant Interpreters Quest If you please point me to the chief of those places you refer to Answ I will do it very briefly as being too large for the present purpose to enumerate many or enlarge upon any of them But what more proper to delineate such a State than the Apostasie the Apostle describes 2 Thess 2. 3. and 1 Timoth. 1. 4. or than the Church in the Wilderness Revel 12. 14. the Witnesses Prophecying in Sackcloth being slain and lying dead three Days and a half True Christianity being in all appearance extinct The measuring the Altar the Temple and those that Worship in it signifying the close Retirement of Pure Religion and the outward Court left to be trodden down by the Gentiles or Heathen Christians and their impure Rites and Worship and therefore excluded from those strict measures true undefiled Christianity is enclos'd within Revel 11. 1. Now upon all these Representations of such a State of the Church so exquisitely shadowed and resembled and compared with that deep plunge and immersement of Christian Religion in the time of the Popish Midnight who can but believe these with many concurrent Delineations in all those forecited Scriptures were on purpose to give the Portraicture of that so Fatal Apostasie that believes it at all to be Prophesied in the Book of God and who that considers the weight of the thing can but believe it foretold if there be any thing prophetick of the State of Christianity to the end of the World As it most evidently appears there is But if any be so incredulous as to suppose such a State of Christianity beneath the prefigurations of the Divine Spirit he cannot if he be indeed a Protestant but agree that nothing does with more Art and Divine Skill Pourtray and Draw to the Life such a Devastation of Christs True Religion as all History knows Popery hath made and as far as it can prevail does now and would do much farther and in its very Frame is constituted so to do Quest But seeing you suppose these Types of Popery may be applyed another way though it is I confess very hardly to be supposed yet I desire if any thing hath fallen under your Observation that can be less avoided to make plain how different a Religion Popish-Christianity is from the Scripture-Christianity you would give me leave to ask what it is Answ I must needs commend your Rational Enquiry for I know neither the Veneration given to any Religion by the Natives of it nor the ill Words against any Relion by those that are Strangers and Enemies to it should conclude against it The Professors of every Religion are startled at any reproach of their own Religion as at horrible Blasphemy but freely speak ill of a diverse from it Mahometans call themselves Believers and Christians Infidels Popish Religion calls it self Catholick and Protestancy a Grand Heresie and Schism Judaism charges whole Christianity with Cheat and Imposture It is therefore necessary we should have some Magnetick Needle to point us to the True Religion and to the True Christianity seeing its Name is not only distributed to many but so solemnly divided into the Popish and Protestant Profession of Christianity Quest What then can be our Invariable Northpole in Religion in such a Wide and Tumultuous Ocean Answ I hope you have not forgotten what was at first given in Instruction concerning Natural and Revealed Religion their exact Agreement with one another and with all our Faculties so
that no Religion in the World can deserve the Name of a Religion but looks monstrous and horrid only so far as it borrows some or more of the Grand Principles of our True Religion nor can be at all Weighty and Considerable but is vain and ridiculous if it receive no Ballast from True-Religion That then which was accounted for in the beginning being remembred I shall especially apply my self to ascertain True Christianity in contradiction to the false or Popish Christianity by that which will much ascertain all True Religion also in General and difference it from all False Religion Quest I much desire to have some such Test as you seem to intimate and promise Answ I cannot furnish you with a better surer and more lively than that Emblem of the Divine Spirit representing the New Jerusalem by a four-square City the Length and the Bredth and the Height of which are equal The Walls and the Gates and the City it self amounting to so many Square Solid Furlongs all exactly regulated by the Number Twelve all of Massy-Gold and most precious Pearil Rev. 21. Quest The very General view of so rich an Embleme much affects me but I desire you to lead me into the Application of it to each Particular purpose and in the first place what am I to understand by the City Answ It is evidently told us it is the New Jerusalem that is coming down from Heaven the True Church Seated in the Christian Religion for so the Apostle Paul assures us the Christian Church so Spirited with True Christianity is Jerusalem which is above the Divine and Spiritual Jerusalem which is free and is the Mother of us all if True Christians Gal. 4. 26. Quest What do you understand by the Foundations the Wall the Gates the City it self Answ I am not bold or curious in pursuing Emblems too close but understand in general by the whole of all these the Doctrine the Worship the Rules of Life the Discipline of the True Church Quest What are we directed to by all being reduced to the Number Twelve Answ It is very evident the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb give the Honour to the Number Twelve for the Prophets and Apostles that is the Truth ministred infallibly by them is the Foundation upon which the True Christian Church is built Jesus Christ himself being the Corner-Stone and so to shew True Religion hath been always Substantially the same The Twelue Tribes of Israel and the Name of Jerusalem the People and City of God of old are Recorded with Honour as expressive of the True Church fixed in the True Religion in the Times before Christ Quest Why are all things in the Christian State deserib'd to be of Pure Gold and Precious Pearl Answ To teach us by sensible things the transcendent Purity and Worth of Christian Religion and the equal Purity and Worth of all things in it of a most transparent clearness being all Spiritual Intellectual full of Light and Truth and so to be received and enjoy'd by Purity and Intellectuality or Clearest Understanding Wisdom and Prudence in the Knowledge of this Divine Revelation and by greatest Innocency Cleanness and Heavenliness of Heart Affections and Life Quest But can this be supposed to be the present State of the Church of God as it is here upon Earth Answ This is the certain and most unalterable Constitution and Designation of God concerning it and whoever plants it lower in any of the Things before Named viz. the Doctrine Worship Rules of Life or Discipline contradicts the very thing it self or degrades and embases it though it must be acknowledged its being thus prepared and adorned as a Bride must be from Heaven in some just season appointed by the Father This is yet always the Tryal of the True Church and the True Religion although the Church be not yet perfected to it Quest But you seem to have forgotten the City and all the Parts of it lying Foursquare and being solid square measure for so it must be if the Length Bredth and Height are all equal Answ I did not at all forget it but suffered your Questions to lead through all I less design'd that they might come to the Principal Character of the True Religion and the True Church so exactly adequate to one another Quest Will you then more fully explain this Similitude Answ That I may the better do it I must repeat it from the very Ground and Bottom of it which is that God makes use as he pleases of all the Knowledge and Science â—hat is in the World to Minister to Divine Knowledge â—â— which he principally intends to Instruct as being most absolutely necessary for all of what condition soever As then Mathematicks is the most Demonstrative Science and some things in it are of most retired and fine Speculation so are others most known and necessary to all imployed in Mechanicks Thus God hath been pleased to deposite some Prophetick Truths in the most mystick parts of that Learning and some of the more general use in the most known and acquainted parts of it now those that are more secret and not so necessary I shall leave to those that are most fitted thereunto But what is most plain and imports what is most necessary for all I will insist upon As then Number and Measure are means Ordained for Humane Nature and principal Instruments of Reason to come to the most certain knowledge of things and to be secured they are and continue what they justly ought to be so True Religion is thereupon presented to us under exact Number and Measure falling in one with another the Number Twelve multiplied into a Square Cube of Twelve thousand Furlongs And as the Foursquare Figure does so bind and is so compact with it self that it cannot receive the least Addition but with the loss of its Square nor the least Diminution but under the same Forfeiture thus True Religion is so perfectly it self that it can neither be added to nor diminished from but with a proportionable loss of it self God was pleased upon this account to chuse this Figure for the Altar under the Law for the Breast-Plate of Judgment this was the Measure of Solomons Oracle how far the Measures in Ezekiel agree I leave The Heathen by Natural Wisdom had such a Sense of the so Just to it sel Foursquare that they called a Good Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Foursquare Man And lastly as Solid Square Measure is in all parts of it and throughout every part exactly Square and gives the most certain account of the whole content of a Body so is True Religion in all its Parts exactly so it self and every Part of every Part is reduced to the same exactness for so the Length Bredth and Height of it are equal and so is the True Church exactly adequated to True Religion The Faith is therefore said to be at once delivered to the Saints because it can receive no New Measures and it